ting, and in view of their incomes
their patronage of the working man is simply disgusting. Pah! An ounce
of civet, good apothecary! The bishops smell to heaven. Whatever they
say is an insult to the miners--because they say it. The "living wage"
of the poorest bishop would keep fifty miners' families; that of the
richest would keep two hundred. "Nay," the bishops say, "we are poorer
than you think." Only the other day, the Archbishop of Canterbury stated
that most of the bishops spent more than they received. Indeed! Then the
age of miracles is _not_ past. By what superhuman power do they make
up the deficiency? We tell the Archbishop that _he lies_. It is not a
polite answer, we admit, but it is a true one; and this is a case where
good plain Saxon is most appropriate. Edward White Benson forgets that
bishops die. Their wills are proved like the wills of other mortals,
and the Probate Office keeps the record. Of course it is barely
possible--that is, it is conceivable--that bishops' executors make false
returns, and pay probate duty on fanciful estates; but the probability
is that they do nothing of the kind. Now some years ago (in 1886) the
Rev. Mercer Davies, formerly chaplain of Westminster Hospital, issued
a pamphlet entitled _The Bishops and their Wealth_, in which he gave a
table of the English and Welsh prelates deceased from 1856 to 1885, with
the amount of personalty proved at their death. Of one bishop he could
find no particulars. It was Samuel Hinds, of Norwich, who resigned as
a disbeliever, and died poor. The thirty-nine others left behind them
collectively the sum of L2,105,000; this being "exclusive of any real
estate they may have possessed, and exclusive also of any sums invested
in policies of Life Assurance, or otherwise settled for the benefit
of their families." Divide the amount of their _mere personalty_ by
thirty-nine, and you have L54,000 apiece. This is how the Bishops spend
more than they receive! One of these days we will go to the trouble and
expense of bringing the list up to date. Meanwhile it may be noted that
there is no falling off in the figures towards 1885. No less than five
bishops died in that year, and they left the following personalities:
--L72,000--L85,000--L29,000--L85,000--L19,000; which more than maintain
the average.

So much for the poor bishops. As for the rest of the clergy, it is
enough to say that the Church they belong to has a total revenue of
about L10,000,000 a