Great Britain -- Description and travel; Great Britain -- Rural conditions
I must not forget the _churches_. That of Donnington is very small for a
church. It is about twenty feet wide and thirty long. It is, however,
sufficient for the population, the amount of which is two hundred and
twenty-two, not one half of whom are, of course, ever at church at one
time. There is, however, plenty of room for the whole: the "tower" of
this church is about double the size of a _sentry-box_. The parson,
whose name is Davidson, did not, when the Return was laid before
Parliament, in 1818, reside in the parish. Though the living is a large
living, the parsonage house was let to "a lady and her three daughters."
What impudence a man must have to put this into a Return! The church at
Upwaltham is about such another, and the "tower" still less than that at
Donnington. Here the population is seventy-nine. The parish is a
rectory, and in the Return before mentioned, the parson (whose name was
Tripp) says that the church will hold the population, but that the
parsonage house will not hold him! And why? Because it is "a miserable
cottage." I looked about for this "miserable cottage," and could not
find it. What on impudent fellow this must have been! And, indeed, what
a state of impudence have they not now arrived at! Did he, when he was
ordained, talk anything about a fine house to live in? Did Jesus Christ
and Saint Paul talk about fine houses? Did not this priest most solemnly
vow to God, upon the altar, that he would be constant, in season and out
of season, in watching over the souls of his flock? However, it is
useless to remonstrate with this set of men. Nothing will have any
effect upon them. They will keep grasping at the tithes as long as they
can reach them. "_A miserable cottage!_" What impudence! What, Mr.
Tripp, is it a fine house that you have been appointed and ordained to
live in? Lord Egremont is the patron of Mr. Tripp; and he has a _duty_
to perform too; for the living is _not his_: he is, in this case, only
an hereditary _trustee_ for the public; and he ought to see that this
parson resides in the parish, which, according to his own Return, yields
him 125_l._ a-year. Eastdean is a Vicarage, with a population of 353, a
church which the parson says will hold 200, and which I say will hold
600 or 700, and a living worth 85_l._ a-year, in the gift of the Bishop
of Chichester.
Westdean is united with Singleton, the living is in the gift of the
Church at Chichester and the Duke of Richmond alternately; it is a large
living, it has a population of 613, and the two churches, says the
parson, will hold 200 people! What careless, or what impudent fellows
these must have been. These two churches will hold a thousand people,
packed much less close than they are in meeting houses.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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