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In a clever volume of tales, entitled, "Alice Allan, the Country Town, &c." recently published, we find the following notice of the origin of tythes

'The vicar took his breakfast with me on the morning of the trial, and as may be supposed, we talked of little else but tythes and the forthcoming cause.

It was while the doctor paused over his second cup of coffee, that I muttered something about the evils of the system, and alluded to the common error, that the existence of tythes is to be traced as far back as we can follow our history.

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Why certainly," observed the vicar, "I do not mean to say that the tythe system was known in the earlier ages of the Christian church, although an able writer observes, that possibly they were contemporary with the planting of Christianity among the Saxons, hy Augustine the monk, about the end of the sixth century!"

"I think, Sir," said I," Bishop Barlow, in his Remains, tells us, that during the first five centuries after the establishment of the Christian church, the churches and priesthood were maintained by free gifts and oblations only. And it does not appear, from any documents, that tythes were introduced into England till about the year 786. This is Selden's opinion, and the first mention made of them in any English written law, appears to be in a constitutional decree, made in a Synod held A D. 786, wherein the payment of tythes in general is strongly enjoined, and this canon did not at first bind the laity."

"But," observed the Doctor, "the decree was afterwards confirmed by two kingdoms of the Heptarchy, in their parliamentary conventions of estates, respectively consisting of the kings of Mercia and Northumberland, the bishops, dukes, senators, and people "

"That is true, Sir, and it is somewhat curious to trace the motive of the former monarch (Offa) in thus giving the tythes of his kingdom to the church, which, in after ages, grew so rich from the crimes and superstition of princes; for had he not, in the previous year, basely murdered Ethelbert, the king of the East Angles, it is probable the Christian church would have waited some time longer for its tythes; and when the right was actually established, although every person was obliged to pay, yet he was at liberty to give his tythes to what priest he pleased, or might pay them into the hands of the bishop, to be distributed amongst his diocesan clergy, all the revenues of the church being then in common."

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"And surely," said the Doctor, do not think that these arbitrary consecutions of tythes were at all beneficial to the interest or character of the church. On the contrary, the practice enabled the intriguing clergy and monks, to draw the riches of the establishment into the coffers of their monasteries and religious houses, whilst the poor laborious parish priests were left almost wholly unprovided for. Indeed, the evil grew to such an extent, that pope Innocent III., about the year 1200, in a decretal epistle to the archbishop of Canterbury, enjoined the payment of tythes to the pastors of the respective parishes where every man resided.

"This letter of the pope's, Sir, seems to me to be a tacit reflection on the overgrown endowments, and shameful system of pluralities, which obtain amongst us at the present day.

"Truly, my young friend, all the parts of our venerable establishment are not to be admired; but the work of reformation is a dangerous work, and should be proceeded in with great caution. I have no doubt that the evil you allude to will be gradually remedied;

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the march of improvement, and the consequent power of public opinion, will, though almost unperceived, work their full and sure effect upon the institutions of the country.

"I am certainly, Sir, not an advocate for any measure that would endanger our establishment; but I think it is impossible not to see, that when a nation has increased in energy and wealth, in so great a degree as this country has done, an appropriation of a full tenth of its income to the church, is a much larger appropriation, bearing in mind the altered nature of circumstances, than even our superstitious forefathers would have made. At the same time, I admit, that the clergy rightly found their title to tythes on the law of the land.

"To be sure they do. As to the notion of a divine right to their property, that is completely exploded; though I apprehend such a right to tythes commenced and ceased with the Jewish theocracy. Blackstone, however, very fairly says, that an honourable and competent maintenance for the ministers of the gospel, is undoubtedly jure divino; whatever the particular mode of that maintenance may be.

"And I agree with him. We may observe, that all municipal laws have provided a liberal and decent maintenance for their national priests or clergy; but the question with us is, whether our establishment does not take too large a portion from the national income; and whether that portion is not most unfairly distributed amongst the ministers of the gospel? And I may remark here, that when Charlemagne established the payment of tythes in France, (A. D. 778), he made a division of them into four parts; one to maintain the edifice of the church; the second to support the poor; the third the bishop; and the fourth the parochial clergy.'

In another work we find the following:

"He will take a tenth of your sheep," said the good prophet, when advising the Israelites, among many other unanswerable arguments against a king. Now, the kings of Christianity, feeling how odious to their subjects this tenth would be, did, very early in its primitive state, resign their share to the priesthood. In England, that portion of the settled maintenance of the clergy, called first fruits, and belonging to the bishops, was granted by parliament, in the time of king Ina. After these, we find, that tythes became a legal assignment under Offa. The bishop was the general receiver of these also, and by him they were divided into three parts: one to the poor, another to the maintenance of the church in general, and the third part to the presbyter in particular. Subsequently, with many acts of state altered or amended, this regulation, amongst which, the important grant of Athelwolfe stands highest in the estimation of the clergy; yet, unfortunately for them, is not clearly understood. Some maintain, that this monarch gave the tenth mansion, and the tenth of all his goods, whilst Malmsbury expressly hath it, that the tenth of the hides of land was the gift; yet, from the deed, as recited by him, Selden was inclined to read it as the tenth mansion only Matthew Westminister understands, that he gave the tenth of his kingdom; but in the donation by him published, it runs, decimam partem tena mea, which makes quite another thing of it, and perhaps, much more to the purpose; for with his own land he might do as it pleased him, but the tenth of his kingdom was not at his disposal. He, as a pious prince, set the example to the clergy,

* Montesq. de l'Esprit des Loix, b. 31, c. 13.

and in so far as his subjects chose to follow it, the gift went through the state form of being in the king's name. N. Bacon assumes, that were not this the case, it might be the tenths of the profits of the lands throughout the kingdom: that it was done by public acts of state, and that clause lost, or forgotten by historians.

EXCHEQUER BILLS.

In the years 1696 and 1697, the silver currency of the kingdom being, by clipping, washing, grinding, filing, &c. reduced to about half its nominal value, acts of parliament were passed for its being called in and recoined; but whilst recoinage was going on, Exchequer Bills were first issued, to supply the demand of trade. The quantity of silver recoined, according to D'Avenant, from the old hammered money, amounted to 5,725,933l. It is worthy of remark, that through the difficulties experienced by the Bank of England (which had been established only three years) during the recoinage, they having taken the clipped silver at its nominal value, and guineas at an advanced price, bank notes were in 1697 at a discount of from 15 to 20 per cent.

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During the recoinage," says D'Avenant, "all great dealings were transacted by tallies, bank bills, and goldsmiths' notes. Paper credit did not only supply the place of running cash, but greatly multiplied the kingdom's stock; for tallies and bank bills did to many uses serve as well, and to some better than gold or silver; and this artificial wealth, which necessity had introduced, did make us less feel the want of that real treasure, which the war and our losses at sea had drawn out of the nation."

POOR LAWS AND POOR HOUSES.

"A prison, with a milder name,

Which few inhabit without dread of shame."

The Poor Laws were enacted in the reign of Elizabeth. An eagerness for depopulating the lands, in order to traffic in sheep and wool, may be classed among the imperative reasons of that queen's government for the enactment of them. The people were thus as thoroughly deprived of the means of life, as if the grain should be given to the moors of Africa. It is vain to say that the benefit of the traffic would have returned to them in another shape. There was neither arts nor manufactures whereby they could create a claim to the lowest rate of provision. A good modern economist would say, that they ought to have been left to the pinching of their fate, to compel them to that discovery: but the laws had left them no such liberty, and they were mostly the property of the owners of the land.

That parish excrescence, the Poor-house, however, did not make its appearance till the reign of Queen Anne; an introduction which has created more dissolute and idle lieges in a century, than the poor laws of themselves would have done in five. Prior to that reign, the poor were farmed out, as they are in some parishes at the present day, and it would have been as well if it had been continued ; but, alas! we have had some sad Solomons as legislators.

GUILDHALL.

Guild, signified among our Saxon ancestors, a fraternity, derived from the Saxon word to pay, because every man paid his share towards the expences of the community, and hence the place of meet

ing was called Guild, or Guildhall. Hence also the term the Guild of Merchants, in Dublin.

KING'S BENCH.

So called from our Kings being wont to preside in our courts of justice, as our judges do now. Edward the First, our English Justinian, as he has been called, often did so; and indeed, what could be a more gratifying sight, than an English monarch dispensing justice to the feudal lord and bonded slave alike.

After the death of Charles the First, the Court of King's Bench was called the Court of Public Bench, and some Republicans were so cautious of acknowledging monarchy anywhere, that in repeating the Lord's Prayer, instead of saying, "Thy kingdom come," they chose to have it said, "Thy commonwealth come."

COMMON PLEAS.

This Court, which seems to please nobody, was first designated by its present name in the reign of Edward the First, and which was given merely to distinguish it from the King's Bench, where the king himself presided. The engines of the law, however, especially the Serjeants, have created other profitable technicalities, and who have been keenly satirized by the late Lord Erskine in the following celebrated impromptu : :

The Serjeants are a grateful race,

And all their actions show it;

Their purple garments come from Tyre,
Their arguments go to it!

COURT OF CHANCERY.

This Court, according to divers learned men, owes its name to certain cross bars of wood, or iron, wherewith it was enclosed, to prevent the officers who sat therein from being incommoded by the people. Such grates, or cross bars, were by the Romans denominated cancelli; which, according to the opinion of some, gave likewise the name to that part of a church called the chancel, from its being separated from the body of the church by such grates or lattices, by order of Pope Felix, for the use of the priests.

EXCHEQUER COURT.

This, which is one of the four great courts (says Maitland) of the kingdom, derives its name from a chequered cloth, which anciently covered the table where the judges or chief officers sat; and being coeval with the Norman conquest, it was at first erected by William the Conqueror, for the trial of all causes relating to the revenues of the Crown.

MARSHALSEA COURT.

Marshalsea Court, says Maitland, is a corruption of Marshal's Court. This Court, which is held in Southwark, under the Knight Marshal, was first erected for hearing and determining all differences that might happen among the royal domestics. The judge of this court is the Knight Marshal's Steward, to whom belong four counsellors, and six attornies.

DOCTORS' COMMONS.

The several courts and offices, whereof this college is at present composed, says Maitland, were anciently dispersed, and held in

several parts of the city; which being relative, and in some measure depending upon one another, occasioned great inconveniences to the respective practitioners; wherefore the Doctors and Proctors of the several courts unanimously united in a collegiate manner, and, by dining together in common, obtained the appeilation of Doctors' Commons. This college, which is a spacious and stately edifice, situate on the west side of St. Bennet's Hill, is inhabited by several of the Doctors and Proctors of the civil law in this city; who before they removed to this house, which was provided for them by Dr. John Hervey, Dean of the Arches, they cohabited in a small house, now the Queen's Head Tavern in Paternoster-row.

ARCHES COURT.

This Court was originally held in the church of St. Mary le Bow, which is built on arches, and which simple circumstance gave a name to this court.

PREROGATIVE COURT.

This Court, says Maitland, which is held in Doctor's Commons> is thus denominated from the Prerogative of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who by a special privilege, beyond those of his suffragans, can here try all disputes that happen to arise concerning wills and administrations of persons who have left goods to the value of Five Pounds without the diocess wherein he or she died; unless such things are settled by composition between the metropolitan and his suffragans, as in the diocess of London, where it is Ten Pounds.

DUTCHY OF LANCASTER COURT.

This Court owes its origin to Henry 4th, who deposing Richard 2d, usurped the crown; and possessing the Dutchy of Lancaster in right of his mother, was seized thereof as duke, as well as king. But imagining his right to the dutchy better than that to the crown, he resolved to secure the same by separating it from the crown; which being effected, he erected this court for its use, wherein all matters of law and equity belonging to the Dutchy, or County Palatine of Lancaster, are heard and decided by the Chancellor thereof.

PRINCIPALITY OF CHESTER.

"Charge, Chester, charge! on Stanley on!
Were the last words of Marmion."

In 1398, says Maitland, Richard the Second brought into Shrewsbury a numerous guard of the militia of Cheshire, who expressed so strong an inclination to serve him, that to gratify the county he erected it into a Principality, and added to the rest of his titles that of Prince of Chester.

STAR CHAMBER.

The origin of this Court was derived from the most remote antiquity, and its title, as Barrington relates, is supposed to be derived from starrum, a barbarous word for a Jewish contract; as business with the Jews had probably been transacted there. By Henry 7th, it was, however, carried to its greatest height, and by some thought to have had its origin: others, that it was established by Archbishop Laud in 1487. It is also said to be so called from its having its roof painted with silver or gilt stars, wherein the Chancellor, assisted by others appointed for that purpose, had authority to punish routs, riots,

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