ng sin of the Clergy in this
kingdom, to be that of non-residence. I am sure, it is many degrees less
so here than in England, unless the possession of pluralities may pass
under that name; and if this be a fault, it is well known to whom it
must be imputed: I believe, upon a fair inquiry (and I hear an inquiry
is to be made) they will appear to be most pardonably few, especially
considering how many parishes have not an inch of glebe, and how
difficult it is upon any reasonable terms, to find a place of
habitation. And, therefore, God knows, whether my lords the bishops will
be soon able to convince the Clergy, or those who have any regard for
that venerable body, that the chief motive in their lordships' minds, by
procuring these bills, was to prevent the sin of non-residence, while
the universal opinion of almost every clergyman in the kingdom, without
distinction of party, taking in even those who are not likely to be
sufferers, stands directly against them.

If some livings in the north may be justly thought too large a compass
of land, which makes it inconvenient for the remotest inhabitant to
attend the service of the Church, which in some instances may be true;
no reasonable clergyman would oppose a proper remedy by particular acts
of parliament.

Thus for instance, the deanery of Down, a country deanery, I think,
without a cathedral, depending wholly upon an union of parishes joined
together, in a time when the land lay waste and thinly inhabited; since
those circumstances are so prodigiously changed for the better, may
properly be lessened, leaving a decent competency to the dean, and
placing rectories in the remaining churches, which are now served only
by stipendiary curates.

The case may be probably the same in other parts: and such a proceeding
discreetly managed would be truly for the good of the Church.

For it is to be observed, that the dean and chapter lands, which, in
England were all seized under the fanatic usurpation, are things unknown
in Ireland, having been long ravished from the Church, by a succession
of confusions, and tithes applied in their stead, to support that
ecclesiastical dignity.

The late Archbishop of Dublin[1] had a very different way of encouraging
the clergy of his diocese to residence: When a lease had run out seven
years or more, he stipulated with the tenant to resign up twenty or
thirty acres to the minister of the parish where it lay convenient,
without lessening hi