The parish of Lowestoft, in Suffolk, is a large parish, consisting of about three or four and twenty hundred souls; and the living, which is a vicarage only, is but meanly endowed; there being no house, and but one acre of land belonging to it, and out of that piece of land the crown claims a pension of 3s. 4d. per year, and 8d. for an acquittance; the vicarage tithes are not worth above £20 per year, one year with another; and all the rest of the minister’s income depends on the offerings, surplice fees, and fisheries, which are very precarious and uncertain. And as the number of the poor increaseth greatly in the said parish (the poor’s rate, which about 35 years ago came only to £13 a quarter, cometh now to £63 per quarter, besides a great deal that is paid to the poor out of the town lands), so doth the number of the inhabitants in general increase too (several families coming to us almost every year from other places, and the number of our christenings exceed the number of our burials); so that the duty of the minister is plainly increasing, whilst his revenue must as certainly decrease as the poor increase. But under this melancholy prospect it hath pleased God to order things so that the great tithes of the said parish are to be sold, by a decree in Chancery, to the highest bidder; and to put it into the hearts of several, both in the parish and places adjoining, to contribute according to their abilities, towards purchasing the said tithes for the benefit of the vicar for the time being, for ever. But as all that can be raised hereabouts will go but a little way towards so large a purchase, we are forced to ask the assistance of charitable and well-disposed persons further off, hoping they will not be backward in promoting so good a work. It is thought that these tithes will cost £1,800, which being a larger sum than can possibly be raised by benefactions; the method proposed is, to raise as much as we can by benefactions, and to borrow the rest of the money; and to have the tithes conveyed to divers persons, in trust for payment of the money borrowed; and when both principal and interest of that is paid off, then to be for the use and benefit of the minister for the time being, for ever. So that it is uncertain whether the present minister will ever have any benefit of it. And therefore he hopes that all whom he applies himself to on this account will believe that he acts more, in what he herein doth for the good of the church than out of any principle of self-interest.