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Stuntney Church, near Ely, Cambridgeshire, 1806.

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sion into Cambridgeshire, I passed through the little hamlet of Stuntney. The antient Chapel here being in the Norman style of Architecture, I was induced to stop, and make a sketch from it, which is much at your service, should you think it deserving a place in your Miscellany. (See Plate I.)

is in the hundred and deanery of Ely, and situated on a gentle eminence, overlooking the fens towards that city, from which it lies S. E. about a mile and a half. The Chapel consists of a nave and chancel, separated by an arch ornamented with chevron mouldings; the doorways on the North and South sides of the nave being also enriched in the same manner. Against the West wall hang two small bells, which are enclosed in a projecting frame of wood: being a Chapel of Ease to the parish of the Holy Trinity in Ely, it is without the appropriate addition of tombs, &c.

Having spent a day most agreeably at Ely in admiring its very magnificent Cathedral, 1 pursued my excursion Westward for about six miles, when I reached

MEPAL,

which is situated in the hundred of Witch-ford, and deanery of Ely; the living is a rectory, and valued in the King's books at £3. 68. 8d. and in the gift of the Dean and Chapter.

The Church is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and consists of a nave and chancel, with a small Chapel at the N. E. corner of the nave. The walls of the chancel, as well as the North side of the fabrick, are supported by buttresses of brick work. Instead of a tower at the West end, it has two open arches, in one of which is a bell.

I

Mr. URBAN,

FEEL perfect conviction in my own mind, that when His Majesty dismissed from his Councils the men who had the unparalleled assurance to endeavour to set themselves above their Sovereign, and to force the conscience of their King, it was his own act and deed, and a genuine exercise of his high and indisputable prerogative; and those who maintain that the King cannot act at all without advisers, do, in my humble opinion, rather mistake the Constitution they admire; for though very rarely indeed will a prudent Monarch so act, yet our noble-minded King has shewn, that be better knows the Constitution of which he is the head; that in a most serious conjuncture the voice of the Monarch may be individually heard, without a breach of the Constitution; and that the British King

The altar is elevated on two steps; and on each side the East window is a niche, with a recess or piscina. Against the North wall is a mural monument to the memory of Samuel Fortrey (son of Sam. Fortrey, esq. of Byal-is not a mere puppet decorated with a taining and carrying into effect their taken a solemn oath to maintain the

Fen) who died Feb. 10, 1688, aged 38 years. Another monument for a younger brother James Fortrey *, esq. records his descent from an antient stock in Brabant, and having

* Vide Lysops's Magna Britannia,
GENT. MAG. July, 1810.

crown, to be danced up and down by his Ministers, but one, and the first of the three great Estates of the Realm, to each of which belongs perfect independence, and, for the better main

* Cole's MSS. in British Museum. taining

important functions, various high rights and powers, under the names of Prerogative and Privilege. And surely, though the Constitution has wisely ordained, that whoever advises the King, shall be responsible for the advice he gives, it never meant to say that he may not be his own adviser if he will, and according to his own judgment adopt or reject the opinions of his counsellors; otherwise, what is his Veto but an empty name? Yet the Constitution has still interposed this farther check (the whole Constitution is a system of salutary checks) that, whether with or without advisers, he can only rule according to Law. Strange then that the Catholicks will persist in agitating a question which (the Constitution having already settled it) ought to be at rest for ever: but, stranger still, that with all their professions of loyalty and attachment (the sincerity of which however I do not mean to doubt), they shouldalmost in so many words have declared, and this after knowing his Majesty's sentiments, that they will never cease teizing him upon the subject, till they have as it were compelled him to yield to their desires-compelled the well-poised mind of a Brunswick, acting on conviction, to waver and to swerve! O wonderful delusion of persevering obstinacy! Wonderful! that such an expectation could for a moment be seriously entertained!

I consider the exclusion of Catholicism from the higher departments of the State, to be so riveted a part of the Constitution itself, that it cannot be separated from it without the most imminent danger to the whole; and to prevent the possibility of which it has fenced itself round with those venerable bulwarks, which those who mean not to destroy, would however do well to take care how they weaken. God forbid that they should ever be thrown down. But, admitting for a moment, that they were, what is the mighty benefit that is to result to the Catholicks from it? It could amount to no more than a very bare possibility of their coming into office; and surely a matter which has not even probability in its favour, is hardly worth the struggle that is made for it. Whoever sways the sceptre of these Kingdoms must be a Protestant Prince, and must have

Protestant Religion as by Law established. Is it then to be imagined, that a Monarch so circumstanced, will ever associate with himself in the high offices of confidential intercourse, men of a different religious persuasion from himself; and more particularly members of that Communion, whose proselytising spirit would be ever on the alert to seek ог to seize occasions of combating, and, if possible, overturning what in the opinion of such his Ministers would be the mistaken notions at least of their heretical Sovereign, and in their zeal for whose conversion they might perhaps overlook, or not remember in time, that they might be paving a way to the abdication of the Throne! But this will hardly be overlooked by the Monarch himself, to whose feelings surely the Constitution as it stands is more respectful, by not allowing him to choose such Ministers if he would, than if those defences were thrown down, leaving what would in effect be the same exclusion to the Catholicks, but might make the King personally liable to the odium of a rejection, which is however indispensable. For what then do the Catholicks contend? Surely the power of benefiting their country is not so limited, that comparatively little can be effected, unless they are Ministers of State, or invested with the highest commands. If their strong desire is only to have an ampler scope for the display of their loyalty, I must answer, that, under their present restrictions, their loyalty shines a brighter and a purer flame, than it ever could do if those restrictions did not exist as a fundamental part of the Constitution. Preserving that fundamental exclusion, an exclusion not of themselves as individuals, but as professing a Religion, the tenets of which are incompatible with the State, which has a Religion of its own by Law established-I say, preserving that inviolate, whatever tends to the amelioration of the condition of loyal subjects must be grateful to all; but amelioration is not to be beyond all bounds: Toleration is not to be above the Establishment.

In this country, blest beyond all others in the enjoyment of rational Liberty, where every man has soinething he can call his own, where the destitute has still a freehold in its benevolence,

nevolence, and claims from its charity not merely a benefaction, but a debt; where the honest, the sober, and the industrious, may smile in the sunshine that will cheer his worthy endeavours for the well-being of himself and family; where every one is free to serve bis Maker according to the dictates of his conscience; where the property of the rich and of the poor is equally protected by the Laws; where flourish fair and beautiful the arts and graces that polish and adorn society, and to range through whose enchanting scenes leaves no need of foreign expioration to be charmed with all that ever-varying Nature can pourtray, from the mild retirement of the secluded glade, to the vast magnificence of snow-topped mountains; and where exists, amidst the shock of Empires and the crush of States, a Constitution, stupendous monument of the wisdom of ages, the boast of Britons, and the admiration of the world :-why should we quarrel with our happiness? why risk on the deJusive ocean of innovating theories, all that we know practically to be great and good? why set our hearts on objects unattainable? why " be content with nothing, if not blest with all"? or rather, why not, each calling his own ways to remembrance, begin with sincerity a Reform, the most patriotic Reform for his countny, the reform of what is in himself amiss, and endeavour each in his station to do his duty, and to cultivate with care and fidelity the patrimony which our forefathers have bequeathed to us, and which our sous look to receive at our hands uninjured and unimpaired? While the clamour of the tumult. nous is passed away with the breeze that bore it, I trust the sense of the country is speaking in the still small voice that is heard above the tempest, and that it is aided by a hand-writing jndelibly on our hearts,

"Nolumus Leges Angliæ mutari." Yonrs, &c,

E

A. P.

June 4.

Mr. URBAN, VERY true friend to our excellent Ecclesiastical Establishment mast observe with indignation and regret, the many unfair and insidious arts used by its adversaries to lower it in the estimation of the publick; and they have unhappily proved too successful in many districts of the

The

kingdom. Great industry is used to work upon the minds of the lower orders by Village Preaching, &c.; the effect of which has been, not to impress them with better, or indeed with any sentiments of Religion, but with sentiments of hatred and antipathy to the Church and her Clergy. Sorry I am to say, that a certain portion of her own Clergy, who have presumptuously assumed to themselves the exclusive title of Evangelical, and who very erroneously affirm that the Gospel is not preached in those Churches where one of their body is not employed, have contributed, in no small degree, to raise and foment the almost universally prevailing clamour against us. These men scruple not to attend the Meeting-houses of the Sectaries, but refuse to enter the doors of many of our Churches, for no other reason, as I conceive, but because the duties, as well as the doctrines of Christianity are recommended and enforced, and which practice they stigmatize with the epithet of mere Moral Preaching. Farmers too, in the present age a powerful and important, though in no age an enlightened body of men, are eager to join in the general outcry, and thus it is, that many a worthy, learned, and respectable Clergyman, is insulted and defamed, for no other reason, than because he happens to be a Clergyman. Without pointing out the causes of these existing evils, which must be obvious to every thinking person, I rather wish to direct the attention of your Readers to an antidote against them; for it is my firm belief, that unless some speedy and effectual measures be adopted to check the growing mischief, a serious State commotion will be the consequence.. I submit, therefore, the following outlines of a Plan to restore the Clergy to that dignified and respectable rank in society to which they are entitled, and to rescue them from that state of degradation and insult in which their opponents, on all occasions, are ready and eager to place them; and of your very numerous and respectable Correspondents I will request, in the words of Horace;

"Si quid novisti rectius istis, Candidus imperti: si non, his utere mecan.."

PLAN

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1. All livings to be raised to £150. per annum (were I to say £200. it is but a bare competency for the times) by a Grant from the Crown.

2. A. Resident Clergyman in every parish, with service twice on a Sunday.

3. A further grant, or a fund established by subscription, for the building, repairing, or purchasing houses in those parishes which have not already a habitable residence for a Clergyman.

4. Where a Curate is employed, a stipend of £100. per annum to be allowed him.

5. The commutation of tithes for land (the only means of conciliating the minds of the Farmers, and averting their hatred from the Clergy.)

6. Care to be taken that, the Churches are kept in a decent and comfortable state of reparation.

By the general adoption of this, or some such plan, the public mind would, no doubt, in time be more favourably disposed towards the Church and the Clergy; and as the amelioration of both is, at this very time, in the contemplation of Government, will you permit me, Mr. Urban, to request that a portion of your useful publication be kept open to receive the communications of your ingenious Correspondents on the subject, whom I hereby earnestly inviteto furnish hints, additions, or improve ments, on my present plan. By this means, while perhaps they aid the views of Government, they may, at the same time, be considered as conveying the sentiments of the publick in a most weighty and intricate conA COUNTRY RECTOR.

cern.

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of the Israelites (reviewed in Vol. LXXX. p. 556.) is an interesting pamphlet, because it is an incontrovertible and important fact, that

"A new era in the history of this remarkable race of people has recently commenced, which will probably produce a complete regeneration in their modes of thinking and acting."

It is not altogether strange, that to prove the validity of these assertions, the author should allude to the Decree of the French Government bearing date the 30th of May 1806, which has there placed them on an equality, in respect to civic rights, with the people who profess the Catholic, or any other religion. But it is not true that "these privileges were really enjoyed by the Jews ever since the beginning of the French Revolution." Under the French Revolution privileges were not really enjoyed by any class of persons, not even the sanguinary Rulers themselves. Besides, mere sufferance entails no security. The author goes on to say, that "the Sanhedrin (at Paris) have recommended the Jews to conform in all respects with the French civil code, morally and physically, except that of acknowledging Jesus Christ to be the Messiah, who they persuade themselves they have found in the person of Napoleon Buonaparte." But if the French Jews really acknowledge the Head of the French Government as their Deliverer, and the great Prince predicted in the sacred writings, resembling Cyrus in the Old Testament, what have the English Jews to do with all this? They have never acknowledged the validity of these proceedings, nor carried on any correspondence with those in France on the subject. The author of The Compendious History proceeds thus: "but it is not only the illiterate and the enthusiastic Jews who entertain this idea (that Napoleon is their Messiah), the Literati have also encouraged it in their writings." (Here an asterism points to the following note:) - "They have even gone so far as to apply the meaning of the second Psalm of David (Quare fremuerunt gentes) to this extraordinary man: a metrical translation of it, applicable to the present times, has been published in the French language, and circulated throughout Europe."

Now this latter assertion is so far from

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