hile it was
notorious that the majority of incumbents had shown such liberality in
these matters that the compositions rarely amounted to two-thirds of the
sum to which they were legally entitled. And it was hardly denied that
the measure did involve some sacrifice of the extreme legal rights of
the clergy; but it was urged and generally felt by the most judicious
friends of the Church that the peace and harmony which might be expected
to be the fruit of the measure was worth some sacrifice, and the bill
was passed with very general approval; a bill on similar principles,
with such variations as were required by the differences between the two
countries, being also passed for Ireland.

The last measure on ecclesiastical subjects was also chiefly of a
financial character, though its details were calculated, some directly,
others indirectly, to produce benefits of a still more important nature.
The condition of the property of the bishops and the ecclesiastical
chapters had long been a subject of censorious remark. The various
dioceses differed greatly in extent, as did, therefore, the labors of
the diocesans. Some sees contained above 1000, one (London) even above
1200 parishes; others contained under 150. The revenues of some were
very large, in one or two instances approaching L20,000 a year, while
those of others scarcely exceeded L1000 or L1500 a year, thus affording
incomes palpably inadequate to the support of the Episcopal dignity; so
inadequate, indeed, that they were generally supplemented by the
addition of some better endowed deanery or canonry. It was universally
felt that such a deficiency and such a mode of supplying it were in
themselves a scandal, which was greatly augmented by the system of
translations to which it had given birth. The poorer bishoprics would
hardly have been accepted at all had they not been regarded as
stepping-stones to others of greater value; and the hope of such
promotion had in some cases the not unnatural, however deplorable,
effect of making the bishop anxious to please the minister of the day,
to whom alone he could look for translation, by parliamentary
subservience; and the still more mischievous result (if possible) of
rendering the whole Bench liable to the same degrading suspicion; while
the canonries and prebends in the different chapters, whose revenues
also varied greatly, were in every diocese so numerous that they had
become nearly sinecures, the duties rarely exceedi