possessed by other dignitaries, and bound only to keep the residence prescribed by that Act, that is, of three months in the year.

If I might presume to offer any suggestions to the Cathedral Commissioners recently appointed, (and having been a member of the Cathedral Commission which deliberated for two years and a half on these matters a quarter of a century ago, perhaps I may be allowed to take that liberty,) I would say-If you desire to save Cathedrals from further spoliation, and to make them really efficient, do two things

1. Assign specific duties to every Dean and Canon Residentiary; and

2. Require residence from them all. Require a term of residence, if not equal to that which is required of every parochial clergyman on his benefice, namely, nine months a year,—yet at least eight months annually. The reason of this is obvious. This is the best way of securing that these dignities may be well bestowed.

It has been the fashion to impute the inefficiency of Cathedrals to an abuse of patronage on the part of those who had the appointment to dignities in them. And no doubt the patronage was often abused. But the fault was not so much in the Patrons, as in the non-observance and evasions of laws by the members of Cathedrals themselves. The fault was in their seeking for dispensations from them; and also in unwise Legislation concerning Cathedrals, like that of the Act of Parliament of 1840, which despoiled the

Cathedrals of the greater part of their revenues, but did not make them more efficient by assigning specific duties to those members whom it suffered to survive.

Bad appointments were often made to Deaneries and Canonries because it was supposed that Deans and Canons had nothing to do. And because it was supposed that they had nothing to do, therefore it was said by the Legislature in 1840 that the Church would not suffer if a large number of those dignities were suppressed.

For example, in this Diocese, all the sixteen. Canonries in the Collegiate Church of Southwell were suppressed by that Act, because the Canons had tampered with their own laws, specially as to Residence, and had reduced themselves to nonentities by allowing themselves to be non-resident for three years and nine months in every four years. Is it wonderful that the Legislature made the Chapter to be wholly non-resident, by abolishing it ?

I well remember, that when, four years after the passing of that Act, I was appointed to a Canonry at Westminster, I was congratulated on having been promoted to a sinecure. To be sure it was not quite a sinecure. There were two sermons to be preached on every Sunday, and one on every Holy-day, and attendance in the Choir twice on all days during residence, which, in the case of the other Canons, had (in defiance of the Statutes, but under the dispensing indulgence of a Royal Letter) dwindled down to one month in the year; but after the passing of the Act

(which reduced the Canons of that Church from 12 to 6) became three months in the year. But no specific

duties were assigned by that Act to any Canon of the Church.

In illustration of what I have asserted-that Cathedral Patronage will be well administered if specific duties are assigned to Capitular Dignitaries, and if residence is required of them, and if they are obliged to devote themselves to their special work as such, let me mention a circumstance, which I may do without breach of confidence, because it is honourable to all parties, and shews, in a clear light, the value of our own Statutes.

When the Chancellorship of this Cathedral became vacant by an event, more than two years ago, which caused us joy and sorrow, the elevation of Dr. Benson to the Episcopal See of Truro, the appointment to that dignity lapsed to the Crown. It was intimated to me from the constitutional advisers of the Crown, that perhaps it might be well that a precedent, which had, I believe, been adopted under different circumstances at York, might be followed at Lincoln; and that the Canonry held by the Chancellor might be filled up by the Crown; and that the Bishop might appoint to the Chancellorship. But to this overture I demurred. My reply was that the second Canonry in our Church was indissolubly united by our Statutes to the Chancellorship, and could not be severed from it; and I further added that by the Statutes of Lincoln Cathedral, specific duties, of a very important

Right exercise of Patronage.

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kind, are annexed to the Chancellorship; and that those duties implied special qualifications in the person to be appointed to it; and that therefore I did not doubt that a person would be appointed by the Crown who possessed those qualifications, and would perform those important duties. I need not say that those hopes have been abundantly realized; and that while we thankfully recognize the foresight of those who framed our Statutes, especially in those provisions concerning the office of Chancellor, we ought also to express our gratitude to the Crown and its advisers. We may also from this example infer generally the important practical principle that if good laws are made for Capitular offices, and if those good laws are faithfully kept, good men will be appointed by Patrons to fill those offices.

Let me add here, that this question of Patronage has become more important on account of the reduction of the number of Ecclesiastical dignities in the Church of England. In England and Wales there are now about 23,000 clergy. Of Capitular dignities there are 29 Deans, and only 116 endowed Canonries; the revenues of 382 Prebends or Canonries have been sequestered and applied to other uses. No similar event has happened in England since the Dissolution of the Monasteries by the Parliament of Henry the Eighth.

It appears also that, virtually at least, that Act almost destroyed the ancient Colleges of Priest

Vicars in our Cathedrals, inasmuch as it ordered (sect. 93) that the term "Minor Canon" should be construed to extend to every Vicar, Vicar Choral, Priest Vicar, and Senior Vicar; and that in no Cathedral Church should there be more than six Minor Canons (sect. 45). It is much to be desired that suspended Canonries should be re-endowed; and powers are given under the 20th section of that Act, and in Mr. Beresford Hope's Act, for this purpose.

Such a process of restoration is requisite, not only for the encouragement of meritorious Clergy, but for the increase of the efficiency of Capitular Bodies, And it is much to be hoped that the Cathedral Commission, recently appointed, will encourage and facilitate such a work of restoration.

Let me now advert to another important function of Cathedrals-that of encouraging and maintaining sound Learning, especially among the Clergy.

The destinies of a Nation depend, in no small degree, on the intellectual attainments of the Clergy. Foreign Countries present a warning to England in this respect. The social and political restlessness of France and Italy may be ascribed, in some respects, to the decay of Literature and Learning in the Clergy, and to the consequent failure of their influence on the educated classes.

In Russia and Greece, and throughout the East, the Clergy are socially and intellectually in a degraded condition. In Germany Theological Science has passed from the hands of the Clergy into those of University