s former rent; and with no great abatement of the
fine; and this he did in the parts near Dublin, where land is at the
highest rates, leaving a small chiefry for the minister to pay, hardly a
sixth part of the value. I doubt not that almost every bishop in the
kingdom may do the same generous act with less damage to their sees than
his late Grace of Dublin; much of whose lands were out in fee-farms, or
leases for lives, and I am sorry that the good example of that prelate
hath not been followed.

[Footnote 1: The Right Rev. Dr. William King (see p. 241). [T. S.]]

But a great majority of the Clergy's friends cannot hitherto reconcile
themselves to this project, which they call a levelling principle, that
must inevitably root out the seeds of all honest emulation, the legal
parent of the greatest virtues, and most generous actions among men; but
which, in the general opinion (for I do not pretend to offer my own,)
will never more have room to exert itself in the breast of any clergyman
whom this kingdom shall produce.

But, whether the consequences of these Bills may, by the virtues and
frailties of future bishops, sent over hither to rule the Church,
terminate in good or evil, I shall not presume to determine, since God
can work the former out of the latter. But one thing I can venture to
assert, that from the earliest ages of Christianity to the minute I am
now writing, there never was a precedent of SUCH a proceeding, much less
to be feared, hoped, or apprehended from such hands in any Christian
country, and so it may pass for more than a phoenix, because it hath
risen without any assistance from the ashes of its sire.

The appearance of so many dissenters at the hearing of this cause, is
what, I am told, hath not been charged to the account of their prudence
or moderation; because that action hath been censured as a mark of
triumph and insult before the victory is complete; since neither of
these bills hath yet passed the House of Commons, and some are pleased
to think it not impossible that they may be rejected. Neither do I hear,
that there is an enacting clause in either of the Bills to apply any
part of the divided or subdivided tithes, towards increasing the
stipends of the sectaries. So that these gentlemen seem to be gratified
like him, who, after having been kicked downstairs, took comfort when he
saw his friend kicked down after him.

I have heard many more objections against several particulars of both