giving quarter or scarcely assigning a reason. The Church, the navy, and the ordnance-nothing can stand before them. Then, when they come to provide for the Church, out of her own resources, Amalthæa's horn is in their hands, and they pour forth, with an inexhaustible bounty, loans and revenues, without éntailing a tittle of burthen on the public! Nay, as respects the Establishment, government has hit upon some secret which Cocker might envy them. They promise to increase her funds by dimi nishing them! to draw the effects of addition from the operations of subtraction. A select committee is sitting to facilitate the working of their problem; but it is not very material, when the principle is so wicked, and the policy so erroneous, whether the arithmetic be just or otherwise. Poor vain men! they are accustomed to take it for granted in all their measures, that they have ascertained a revenue whenever they can point out the possibility of an imposition; and this seems to be the extent of their financial ability. It is most absurd in every point of view. They would fain treat the Church as the rogue in the Winter's Tale served the shepherd-pillage her first, and then bribe her with her own money. But, in truth, the matter is too serious in its consequence for ridicule: indignation and scorn check every lighter emotion, on hearing the vain cozener acknowledge, that "for the life and punishment to come he sleeps out the thought of it." An ecclesiastical impost may be cut off, the national church straitened, and ecclesiastical property seized upon as a reimbursement; and if the appropriation fail, as it must do, owing to a deficiency of funds, with such scanty provision, ministers have nothing at all to do! Though there should be a formidable gaping breach in the whole project, it can be no wish and no fault of theirs! But with regard to their douceur to dissent, the matter is very different-that is all their own; there they take all credit, and protest to the three denominations, that they have gleaned the field of Church economy very closely, for the sake of their dear friends without the Establishment; solely for their sakes! solely for their sakes! But this is a flimsy pretence which deceives nobody. They have squandered their credit, and the nation's happiness thoughtlessly, with little regard for any party or any object but their own present, immediate, tangible advantage. They are conscious of the alarm they have created, and how their continuance in office is opposed to the sense of every man who understands or wishes well to the English constitution; but they think only of the emolument of place, and the violence of their proceedings indicates how every day they look for their dismissal. In one sense 66 they make no sign,' but, nevertheless, their mad pranks of despair give token of approaching dissolution. The recklessness of their conduct is exactly analogous to that of broken tenants, who, although they may not have received warning, know well enough that they

must shortly quit the premises; so on principle they let all things go to rack and ruin. They overcrop the land, destroy the fences, fell the old oak timber, and, in short, anticipate their dispossession by the ruin of the estate.

Nevertheless, will our countrymen, after forcing such bankrupts in all laudable qualifications upon the councils of our late beloved and royal master, wait patiently for the period of their discharge? If they do, we tell them that they adjourn the rescue of the realm to a long day. If, by forbearing to signify their pleasure with an emphasis that will be heard and must be heeded, they leave it to ministers to eject themselves, they adjourn it even to Doomsday!

GLOUCESTER AND BRISTOL DIOCESAN CHURCH BUILDING

ASSOCIATION.

To the distinguished prelate who now so efficiently presides over the united sees of Gloucester and Bristol, this important. institution is indebted, not only for its first establishment, but in a very great degree for all its subsequent progress and success. We have before us the printed Charge delivered by Bishop Monk at his triennial visitation in the year 1835, in which we find the following passage:

"The supineness of our ancestors in neglecting for nearly a hundred years to erect churches in places of a growing population, has entailed upon us a duty much heavier than ought fairly to have been imposed upon a single generation. But without a great and continuous effort both to repair the omission of former periods, and to keep pace with the increasing population of the present, all other endeavours to make the church of England answer the spiritual wants of the community will prove ineffectual. I have hitherto consecrated only four new churches and chapels, but the erection of others is in actual progress, and still more are in contemplation. In the mean time many churches have been enlarged for the increased accommodation of the poorer classes. In every case great assistance has been afforded by the Incorporated Society for Promoting the Building and Enlarging of Churches and Chapels, whose grants have generally been liberal beyond our anticipation. But in this diocese there exists an obstacle to the erection and endowment of places of worship, where the want of them is most felt, resulting from the local circumstances of the hamlets in which a considerable portion of the population resides. Owing to the growth of manufactories or other causes, numberless small townships have sprung up in parts of a parish very remote from the church, inhabited exclusively by persons whose only property consists in the labour of their hands, and who are able to contribute nothing towards providing themselves a chapel or a minister. It often happens that the time of the incumbent is too closely occupied by the care of the parishioners, among whom he lives, to bestow much attention upon those distant and detached portions of his flock.

"Thus in effect the consolations of religion are denied to those who most stand in need of them. To meet this difficulty I can make no suggestion except the formation of a Diocesan Society for Building Churches and Chapels, in order to assist the operation of the Incorporated Society in our own diocese, thereby to supply the want of that aid which might have been expected from the opulent, had there been any such among the inhabitants. Such an institution it is my wish to establish, provided the proposal meets with the support of the wealthy laity of the diocese. Of the cooperation of the clergy I feel secure; but I am sensible that the moderate incomes of all, except few, pressed as they already are by the unnumbered calls of public and private charity, and seriously diminished by the reduction in the value of agricultural produce, will not enable them, unassisted, to sustain such an institution with an adequate degree of efficacy."

Thus the evil which is now so happily in course of remedy was not overlooked, even when the diocese was of comparatively limited extent; but which presented itself in much more fearful magnitude, when, at the recommendation of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, the see of Bristol was annexed to that of Gloucester by the Act of last session of parliament.

It was this foreseen union of the two dioceses which chiefly delayed the design of the "Diocesan Church Building Association" being carried into immediate execution, whilst other causes concurred to render a temporary postponement of the good work desirable. No sooner, however, had the arrangements consequent upon the union of the two sees taken place, than the enterprising spirit of the right reverend prelate was allowed to take its free course.

On Tuesday, the 13th of December, 1836, his lordship, then resident in the newly-created portion of his diocese, convened a meeting at the Guildhall of the city of Bristol, which was most numerously and respectably attended. His Grace the Duke of Beaufort came purposely from his seat at Bodminton to aid the good cause; thus setting an example to the whole aristocracy of the county, which in many instances was well followed. The Lord Bishop of the diocese was unanimously called to the chair, and was supported by the principal gentry and clergy of the city of Bristol and its neighbourhood. His lordship opened the proceedings by a luminous statement of the whole plan and purposes of the intended association. "The bishop's opening address," says the Bristol Journal of the 17th December last, "was distinguished by deep piety, a winning frankness, and a terse and conciliating mode of reasoning, which must remove the objections of all parties, if any can be fairly entertained towards the scheme; and the force of his lordship's statements is best attested by the warmth with which they were responded to by an audience comprising a large portion of the learning, piety, and wealth of the diocese."

The speakers who followed the bishop, and proposed the several resolutions were, his Grace the Duke of Beaufort, A. G. H. Battersby, Esq., Edward Sampson, Esq., Rev. Prebendary Bankes, Major-General Sir Wm. Davy, Rev. John Hensman, Ven. Thos. Thorp, archdeacon of Bristol, C. George, Esq., J. Cook, Esq., Rev. T. Biddulph, C. L. Walker, Esq., J. Osborne, Esq., J. S. Harford, Esq., Rev. R. Carrow, Dr. Howell, Rev. J. Eden, G. Worrall, Esq., and the Right Worshipful the Mayor of Bristol. The resolutions went to the formation of the Society, the appointing a patron, committee, secretary, and treasurer, the vesting the patronage of the new churches and chapels, in the hands of the bishop, and to other matters connected with the general design of the institution. The Duke of Beaufort was appointed patron, J. S. Harford, Esq. of Blaize Castle, treasurer, and Mr. W. L. Clarke, secretary of the association within the archdeaconry of Bristol. The committee to consist of all laymen subscribing 50l. and all clergymen subscribing 251. It was also resolved, that, if desired, subscriptions to the amount of 100%. might be paid in four years' instalments.

A most interesting discussion took place as to the mode in which the patronage of the new churches and chapels should be administered, the bishop proposing to consign it to the management of trustees; but it was eventually and unanimously determined that it should be left entirely with the diocesan, according to the proposed metropolitan plan. Although the plan of the association had not been made known but a few weeks, subscriptions to a large amount had been received; amongst which were the Lord Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol 500l.; Rev. Sir George Prevost, Bart. 4007.; the Duke of Beaufort, P. J. Miles, Esq. M.P., T. Daniel, Esq., a Gloucestershire Clergyman by the Lord Bishop, the Dean and Chapter of Bristol, the Dean and Chapter of Gloucester, Sir R. R. Vyvyan, M. P., J. S. Harford, Esq. 2001. each; Earl Bathurst, Lord Redesdale, Sir C. B. Codrington, C. L. Walker, Esq., H. Bush, Esq., E. Sampson, Esq., T. Jones, of South Cerney, Esq., T. Jones, of Stapleton, Esq., W. Miles, Esq. M.P., Rev. Dr. Warneford, G. Helhouse, Esq., J. Stockwell, of Cheltenham, Esq., Rev. Richard Webster Huntley, C. George, Esq., Mrs. Haythorne, the Mayor of Bristol, J. Hurle, Esq., A. G. H. Battersby, Esq., T. G. B. Estcourt, Esq. M. P., Rev. James Sevier, J. Cooke, Esq., Ven. Archdeacon Thorp, G. Worrall, Esq. 1007. each; the Dowager Lady Haslopp, the Rev. Walker Gray, G. Daubeny, Esq., the Rev. W. Spencer Phillips, Mrs. M. Daubeny, J. Osborne, Esq., R. B. Ward, Esq., Rev. J. Eden, Mrs. Eden, W. Miles, Esq., Miss Miles, Anthony Rosenhagen, Esq., Dr. Maddy, Sir Wm. Davy, Dr. Howell, W. Blathwayte, Esq., John Winwood, Esq. 50%. each, besides many contributions of lesser amount.

On Wednesday, the 4th of January, of the present year, a

similar meeting was convened and held at Gloucester, where the same resolutions were proposed and unanimously carried. The principal speakers on this occasion were the Lord Bishop, his Grace the Duke of Beaufort (who again gave his personal attendance), R. B. Hale, Esq. M. P., Rev. Sir George Prevost, Bart., Rev. W. Spencer Phillips, J. Baker, Esq., Rev. W. T. Powell, R. B. Cooper, Esq. &c. &c.

The main feature of the association since the above period has been the formation of local committees-a system which has been attended with the happiest results. The great and opulent town of Cheltenham has highly distinguished itself in the furtherance of the good work, the committee for the deanery of Winchcomb sitting there, and carrying on very successful operations towards the promotion of the several objects of the association. We are happy, in concluding this short notice, to have it in our power to state that the subscription now amounts to upwards of 12,000l., of which, to the honour of that body be it said, more than 4000l. were subscribed by the clergy. We will report its progress in our next Number.

CHELTENHAM ASSOCIATION IN AID OF THE FOREIGN TRANSLATION COMMITTEE OF THE CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY.

THE annual meeting of this valuable branch of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge was held at Cheltenham on December 1, 1836. R. Bransby Cooper, Esq. in the chair.

The report was read by the Rev. C. Hebert, the secretary, from which it appeared that the state of the local funds was sufficiently satisfactory, and no doubt could be entertained that when its objects were more fully known, subscriptions and donations would progressively increase. The whole receipts of the institution connected with this particular part of the society's operations, is stated in the Cheltenham report to be 4321. 3s. 6d. which, if meant to include contributions in the metropolis, as well as the provinces, appears to us lamentably small, when the great importance of the object is taken into consideration. The consolation, therefore, of the concluding passage in this report was much needed: "It gives us pleasure to state, that in the second quarter of this year a legacy was received from a gentleman in Lancashire of 600l. three per cent. stock, and also another legacy of 301. from a clergyman." It appears that the Cheltenham annual subscriptions at present amount to 287. 18s. 6d; and the donations last year amounted to 6l. 4s. Od.—a very creditable proportion of contribution, if the above-mentioned sum-total be correct. We wish the institution all possible

success.

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