This yard, no longer the villagers’ unbought resting-place, in which the almost sacred yew-tree {139} grew, had now become necessary for the support of the church; it must be increased therefore, and every inch of ground must be made the best of. Besides securing this income, another object was attempted to be gained by this Act. The trustees were empowered to contract for the purchase of any quantity of land, “not exceeding three acres in the whole, _with_ or without _buildings thereon_;” and “corporations, &c., were empowered to sell and convey.” The “house for two tenants called the vicarage house;” had long since been converted into the manor-house; and occupants, more profitable to the Paddington Estate, than the curate, had been found for it; and the house which I believe was afterwards built for a “Parsonage-house,”—a house still standing close to the spot where the old church stood, and which is depicted in John Carey’s map of 1797, as the “Parsonage,”—had been, before this time, converted into the “manor farm-house.” {140a} In fact, the curate had no residence provided for him in the parish. But at the time of passing this Act, the old manor-house had been unoccupied for some time, and was rapidly falling to decay for want of a tenant, whose interest it was to keep it in repair; {140b} and the bishop and his lessees having no further use for it, were anxious to sell; and so the manor house, with a portion of its grounds, was purchased by the church trustees. The inhabitants, now, much to the chagrin of the schemers, began to find out which way the wind blew; and seeing, (when it was too late,) how their birthright had been sold, resolved to take this little bargain into their special consideration—determining, if possible, to make the best of it, as it had been bought, and to have some control over the receipts and the mode of levying the income which was to be derived from the purchase. This resolution had the effect of producing many parish squabbles, into some of which even the venerable diocesan himself was dragged. In attempting to regulate the fees to be paid for burials in “the new ground,” certain resolutions were passed by the inhabitants in vestry assembled, by which the bishop “feels himself affronted;” and he declares, he “will not consecrate the new ground, till the offensive resolution is rescinded.” The resolution is not, at once, rescinded. It is resolved that it shall not be. But the bishop is to be informed no offence was intended. All, indeed, that was intended by the people of Paddington, at that time, seems to have been expressed by a resolution of May, 1813; to the effect that “it would be a dereliction of their duty not to leave to posterity the same _privileges_ they have enjoyed.”