better endowed parochial benefices. It would entail as a certain, if not an immediate consequence, a near approach to that equalization of income among the Clergy, which is advocated by some from motives and feelings which I cannot but respect; but, as it appears to me, without that deep consideration which the importance of the subject deserves, as to the effect which such a change might produce on the composition and character of the body of the Clergy, and consequently on their influence and usefulness.

It may be well in reference to this, to direct our attention to the state and circumstances of other countries in this respect; and at the moment I am writing these remarks, I have accidentally met with a passage in a literary periodical, in an able article on the state of religion in France, which forcibly depicts the evil consequences which have resulted in that country, from the fact of the Clergy being drawn exclusively from the lower classes of society, owing to the low scale of their remuneration, and the want of posts of honour and emolument for a superior class. The writer says, "Whilst the Clergy of Christendom opens its ranks to men of the humblest conditions, it ought also to possess men drawn from the highest; for in order to diffuse the Christian spirit over the whole of society, in order even to fathom its profound significance and understand all its bearings, it ought to be connected by natural ties with all the various social regions in which the life of man passes; and to receive from each of them without

an effort-almost without reflection-by the simple spontaneous operation of facts, those lights, and those means of influence, which each is peculiarly calculated to afford. This we may say with legitimate pride, is one of the advantages which accrue to the Church of England from our excellent social organization. All classes of English society, from the most aristocratical to the most democratical, furnish their contingent to the national Clergy, are mingled in its ranks, and join in the great work of Christian education, the benefits of which are shared by the whole. The ancient Clergy of France exhibited a similar state of things, though less complete and regular. Nothing the least analogous is to be found among the French Clergy of the present day. Neither the ancient nobility of France, nor the middle classes; neither the magistracy, nor the bar; neither men in commerce, nor in the liberal professions, bring up their sons to the Church. The exceptions are so rare, that they do not deserve notice; they have not the slightest effect on society. It is among peasants and mechanics, in the part of the population entirely destitute of fortune, or even of the rudiments of education, that the Church is obliged to seek her ministers. And when she has ordained them to their sacred office, not only have they none of the advantages of personal weight and consideration, of social and family relations, to bring her in return; but, as their minds have received scarcely any other development than that which they

owe to their ecclesiastical training, their ideas and habits, in respect of every thing lying without the sphere of that education, remain narrow, vulgar, and mean. They have none of that general conception of social interests, none of those instincts of quiet independence, and unenvying self-respect, produced by living from infancy in a condition elevated above sordid want and ignorance, and by the wider and more varied horizon which such a position opens to the youthful mind*. Such are the remarks of this

writer.

I know that this is a matter to be handled only with much delicacy. I know that a ministry drawn not from those who have been educated in our universities and public schools, but from a humbler walk in life, might number in its ranks men equal or superior in piety and the gifts of God's grace, to the best of ourselves; and I should be sorry to express myself in such a manner as if I regarded any qualifications which education can give, still less any outward advantages, as equalling in their importance those fundamental qualities by which God prepares the hearts of his servants for his own work. that, in the progress of events, there will surely be a correspondence between the scale of the remuneration held out to the Clergy, and the class of society from which they are drawn, is a fact proved, as I have shown above, in the case of France, and which may

* Quarterly Review.

But

railroad; but when the works now in progress shall have been brought to a completion, it will be in my power with comparative ease to attend to the calls of duty in whatever part of my diocese, and I trust I shall be enabled to take much advantage of the opportunity thus afforded.

of

On one subject, that of the greater frequency of Confirmations, I have lately invited the expression your opinion. And I find by the answers returned to that enquiry, that in the judgment of the very great majority of the Clergy, the opportunities of Confirmation afforded by the arrangements which I have adopted for the purpose, are as frequent as the circumstances of rural parishes make necessary or desirable. When a wish for any change has been expressed, it has generally been with the view of Confirmations being held in more places, rather than more frequently-in order to avoid the necessity for the assemblage of such large numbers of young persons, and especially the bringing the young population of our rural parishes into the market towns. I am fully aware of the great desirableness of aiming as much as possible at both these objects. It was, indeed, with an express reference to them that when I first entered upon the duties of my present office, I requested each of my Archdeacons to submit to me such a scheme for Confirmations in his own Archdeaconry, as might approach to them as far as appeared practicable; and, as bearing upon the question of the deficiency, which is by some said to

be felt in this respect, compared with the better practice of former days, I will beg to call your attention to what has been the course of modern alteration in this particular.

The rule of the Church on the subject of Confirmation, as expressed in the sixtieth and sixty-first Canons, is, that the Bishop should confirm such children as are brought to him for that purpose at his visitation in every third year; or, that if he should fail to do so at that time, "he shall not omit that duty of Confirmation the next year after, as he may conveniently." The manner in which this rule of the Church used in former times ordinarily to be complied with was, I believe, that the Bishop used to hold Confirmations triennially at the same places, and at the same time as he held his Visitation. So far as I am aware, it is only within the present century that any deviation from this course has taken place in this diocese. There are persons now alive who have come to the places appointed for Confirmation, distances of eighteen or twenty miles. I remember being told by a clergyman, that he himself first suggested to Bishop Fisher the advantage of holding a Confirmation in one or other of the populous towns of the manufacturing district of Wilts, in which this had heretofore never been done. By him and by my immediate predecessor, some places were added, at which Confirmations were held; and when I entered upon the charge of the Diocese, a complete scheme was arranged, with the object of