SHER, a _nephew of the
late bishop of Salisbury_, who has not resided here for a long while; and
who has a curate, named JOHN GALE, who being the son of a little farmer
and shop-keeper at BURBAGE in Wiltshire, was, by a parson of the name of
BAILEY (very _well known and remembered_ in these parts), put to school;
and, in the fulness of time, became a _curate_. So that, _away go_ also
the small tithes (amounting to about 500_l._ or 600_l._ a year); and, out
of the large church revenues; or, rather, large church-_and-poor_
revenues, of these two parishes; out of the whole of them, there remains
only the amount of the curate, Mr. JOHN GALE'S, salary, which does not,
perhaps, exceed seventy or a hundred pounds, and a part of which, at any
rate, I dare say, he does not expend in these parishes: _away goes_, I
say, all the rest of the small tithes, leaving not so much as a mess of
milk or a dozen of eggs, much less a tithe-pig, to be consumed in the
parish.

67. As to _the poor_, the parishes continue to be _in two_; so that I am
to be considered as speaking of the parish of UPHUSBAND only. You are
aware, that, amongst the last of the acts of the famous JUBILEE-REIGN, was
an act to enable parishes to establish SELECT VESTRIES; and one of these
vestries now exists in this parish. And now, let me explain to you the
nature and tendency of this Jubilee-Act. Before this Act was passed,
_overseers of the poor had full authority to grant relief at their
discretion_. Pray mark that. Then again, before this Act was passed, _any
one justice of the peace might, on complaint of any poor person, order
relief_. Mark that. A select vestry is _to consist of the most
considerable rate-payers_. Mark that. Then, mark these things: this
Jubilee-Act _forbids the overseer to grant any relief other than such as
shall be ordered by the select vestry_: it forbids ONE _justice_ to order
relief, in any case, except in a case of _emergency:_ it forbids MORE
THAN ONE to order relief, except _on oath_ that the complainant has
_applied to the select vestry_ (where there is one,) and has been refused
relief by it; and that, in no case, the justice's order _shall be for more
than a month_; and, moreover, that when a poor person shall appeal to
justices from a select vestry, the justices, in ordering relief, or
refusing, shall have "_regard to the conduct and_ CHARACTER _of the
applicant_!"

68. From this Act, one would imagine, that _overseers_ and _justice