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church or public chapel of or belonging to the parish or chapelry within which, the usual place of abode of one of the persons to be married should have been for the space of four weeks immediately before the granting of such licence; or where both or either of the parties to be married should dwell in any extra-parochial place having no church or chapel wherein banns had been usually published, then in the parish church or chapel belonging to some parish or chapelry adjoining to such extra-parochial place, and in no other place whatever ;" and certain penalties were by the same Act imposed on the solemnization of matrimony in any other place than a church or public chapel where banns had been usually published, unless by special licence from the Archbishop of Canterbury; and all marriages solemnized elsewhere, except those of Quakers and Jews, or marriages solemnized beyond sea, were by the said Act declared to be null and void:

And whereas many of his Majesty's good and faithful subjects, who conscientiously dissent from the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England as by law established, regard the necessity of solemnizing matrimony in a parish or chapel, and according to the rules prescribed by the Rubric in the Book of Common Prayer, as a grievance repugnant to their religious feelings, and have at various times petitioned Parliament to be relieved therefrom:

And whereas it is expedient to grant ease to scrupulous consciences in this respect, without infringing on the general policy of the aforesaid Act:

Be it therefore enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, by aud with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, That at any time from and after the passing of this Act it shall and may be lawful to and for the occupier of any place which now is or hereafter may be registered or recorded according to law, as and for a place of religious worship, to cause the same to be registered in the court of the archbishop, bishop, or other ordinary having authority to grant marriage licences, within whose local jurisdiction the said place is situated, as and for a place for the solemnization of marriages under this Act; and the registrar of such court is hereby required to register and record the same accordingly, and to give a certificate of such registry to the person or persons requesting the same, for which registration and certificate there shall be no greater fee or reward taken than shillings: And that from and after the expiration of [one year] from such registration,

it shall and may be lawful to solemnize marriages in every such place, provided. that the same be publicly solemnized with open doors, in the presence of two or more credible witnesses, between the hours of eight and twelve in the forenoon, and likewise subject to the further provisions of this Act: And that such certificate shall be given upon parchment or vellum, and shall or may be in the form or to the effect following, with such variations as the case may require (that is to say)

Court of the Archbishop [bishop or arch"I, A B, registrar of the deacon] of do hereby certify that a certain house or tenement, situate in street, in the town of parish of

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archdeaconry] of been duly registered as a place of religi gious worship, was on the day of 1822, duly registered in the abovementioned court as a place for the solemnization of marriages, at any time after the day of 1823, under the provisions of an Act of Parliament passed in the third year of his present Majesty's reign, intituled [here set forth the title of this Act]. As witness my hand this 1822. day of "A B, Registrar."

And be it further enacted, That if, at any time after the expiration of [one year] from the passing of this Act, the banns of marriage shall have been duly published three several Sundays in the proper church or churches, chapel or chapels, without any declaration of just cause or impediment to the marriage proclaimed, between any two parties, either of whom shall be a Dissenter from the Church of England, and shall entertain conscientious objections to the use of the office of matrimony contained in the Book of Common Prayer; then and in such case it shall and may be lawful to and for any such Dissenter, upon presenting a declaration in writing to that effect, which shall be deemed and accepted as conclusive evidence of such dissent, to demand from the officiating minister of each and every parish, chapelry, or ecclesiastical district in which such banns shall have been proclaimed, a certificate in writing under the said minister's band, specifying the time of each publication, and certifying also that no cause or just impediment had then and there been declared why the parties so proclaimed should not be joined together in holy matrimony; which certificate each and every such minister is hereby authorized and required to give to the party so demanding it, on the payment of one shilling and no more. And no person or persons shall solemnize matrimony between any man

and woman in a place registered for that purpose under this Act, unless it shall plainly appear to him or them, by the exhibition of such certificate or certificates, that the said banns have been duly published according to law in some church or chapel within five statute miles of the said registered place of marriage, and that no just impediment to the said intended marriage hath been declared; or unless a licence for the solemnization of such marriage without previous publication of banns, from some person having authority to grant the same, shall have been exhibited to him or them; nor shall any such marriage be proceeded in, if at the time of solemnization any person present shall declare a just and lawful impediment to the same, and shall be bound with sufficient sureties to prove the same. And be it further enacted, That from and after the expiration of [one year] from the registration of any place as a place for the solemnization of marriages under this Act, it shall and may be lawful to and for any person to pray a licence from the ordinary in whose court the registration has been made, to solemnize a marriage in such registered place, without previous publication of banns, provided that the party so applying do and shall sign a written declaration that the parties proposing to be married are Dissenters, or that one of them is a Dissenter from the Church of England as by law established, and that they are desirous of taking the benefit of this Act; and provided also that the party so applying do and shall truly declare upon oath the state and degree of himself (or herself) and of the person with whom he (or she) intendeth to marry, and likewise the parish or parishes to which they respectively belong, and whether either of them, not being a widower or widow, is under the age of twenty-one years, and that he (or she) the said applicant knoweth of no lawful impediment by reason of any pre-contract, consanguinity, affinity, or any other means whatsoever, to hinder the said intended marriage; and that the usual place of abode of him (or her) the said applicant (or of the other party to the intended marriage, or of both, as the case may be) has been within five statute miles of the registered place where the marriage is prayed to be solemnized, for the space of four weeks next preceding the date of such affidavit. And that it shall and may be lawful to and for any archbishop, bishop, or other ordinary, or person having authority for the granting of marriage licences, and he is hereby authorized, upon the exhibition to him of such a written declaration, and also of such an affidavit as is hereinbefore de scribed, and upon satisfying himself of

the truth of such affidavit, and also upon due proof of the consent of every parent or parents, guardian or guardians, whose consent may be required by law to the validity of the intended marriage, to grant a licence for the solemnization of the same at the place desired, on any day within three calendar months from and after the date of the said licence, without any previous publication of bauns, and without requiring that the said marriage shall be solemnized by a minister of the Church of England, or according to the rites of the Book of Common Prayer: Provided always, that if any fraud shall have been suggested or truth suppressed at the time of obtaining the licence, then such licence to be void and of no effect in the law, as if the same had never been granted: And that it shall and may be lawful for the person granting the licence to take bond from the person praying the same, for the due execution thereof, in the sum of two hundred pounds of good and lawful money of Great Britain; and that no greater fee or reward shall be demanded or received from any person on account of the said affidavit, licence, or bond, than now is, or hereafter may be, legally demanded and taken from a person of the like degree or estate, in the case of a licence to marry in a parish church, and according to the rites of the Book of Common Prayer.

And whereas, in order to preserve the evidence of marriages, and to make the proof thereof more certain and easy, it is among other things enacted by the aforesaid Act of his late Majesty King George the Second, "That on or before the 25th day of March 1754, and from time to time afterwards, as there shall be occa. sion, the church-wardens and chapel-wardens of every parish or chapelry shall provide proper books of vellum, or good and durable paper, in which all marri ages and banns of marriage respectively there published or solemnized shall be registered; and every page thereof shall be marked at the top with the figure of the number of every such page, beginning at the second leaf with number one; and every leaf or page so numbered shall be ruled with lines at proper and equal distances from each other, or as near as may be; and all banns and marriages published or celebrated in any church or chapel, or within any such parish or chapelry, shall be respectively entered, registered, printed, or written upon, or as near as conveniently may be, to such ruled lines; and shall be signed by the parson, vicar, minister, or curate, or by some other person in his presence and by his direction:" and certain other directions for the making such entries are given in the said Act: And whereas the preservation of the

evidence of marriages by means of entries made in parish registers under the care and superintendence of the parochial clergy, has been found by experience to be productive of very great convenience and public benefit, and has been further secured and provided for by an Act of Parliament passed in the 52d year of his late Majesty's reign, intituled "An Act for the better regulating and preserving parish and other registers of births, baptisms, marriages and burials in England:" And it is expedient to subject the marriages to be solemnized under the authority of this Act to the same or the like provisions, in respect of registration, as marriages solemnized according to the rites of the Church of England:

Be it therefore enacted, &c., That in any case in which a marriage shall be intended to be solemnized under the provisions of this Act, and in which the banns of marriage shall have been duly published and certified, as hereinbefore directed, or a licence shall have been duly obtained for such solemnization, it shall and may be lawful to and for either of the parties intending to be married, to give notice thereof in writing, twelve hours at least before the intended solemnization, to the officiating minister of the parish or chapelry within which the place of intended solemnization shall be situated; or, if it be situated in an extra-parochial place, then to the officiating minister of the parish church or chapel nearest thereto; or, in the absence of such minister, then to the parish-clerk or chapel-clerk; and such minister or clerk respectively is hereby authorized and required immediately on the receipt of such notice, or as shortly thereafter as may be, to appoint a convenient time and place for registering the said marriage, within [four] hours after its solemnization, in the usual register book of marriages for the said parish or chapelry; at which time and place the said officiating minister, or in his stead some other minister of the Church of England by him deputed for that purpose, shall attend with the said register book; and the married parties, after the solemnization shall have taken place, shall appear before the said minister, and shall produce their certificate or certificates of banus, or their licence, as the case may be, and also the certificate of registration for the purposes of this Act, of the place of worship where their marriage has been solemnized; and either or both of them dissenting from the Church of England shall declare such dissent: And if either or both of them, being married by licence, and not being a widower or widow, shall be under age, they shall both declare whether their marriage has been had with the consent VOL. XVII.

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of parents or guardians required by law; and two credible witnesses at the least, who shall have been present at the solemnization of the marriage, shall declare that they were so present; and thereupon book, and shall be signed by the parties an entry shall be made in the register married, and by such two witnesses as aforesaid, and likewise by the said minister with his proper addition; which entry shall be made in the form or to the effect following, with such variations as say, circumstances may require: that is to

"A. B. of the [this] parish and C. D. of the [this] parish were married in this parish [or chapelry] banns [or licence] with consent of [parents or guardians], this provisions of the statute 3d Geo. IVth. in the year day of , according to the

by

ch.

"Acknowledged before me,
"I. I.

"[Rector, vicar, curate, or minister,
deputed by K. K.]

"This marriage was solemnized between us [A B, C D,] in the presence of [E F, G H]."

is hereby directed, empowered, and reAnd the said minister in every such case quired to make such alterations in the printed forms required by law for the registers of marriages as are specified and authorized by this Act; and to number every entry of a marriage under the provisions of this Act progressively, in like solemnized according to the rights of the manner as if such marriage had been Church of England.

That upon every marriage solemnized and Provided also, and be it further enacted, registered under the provisions of this Act, it shall and may be lawful to and for the parson, vicar, minister, or curate, and clerk respectively, of the parish or chapelry within which the same shall be registered, to demand and receive such and no other fees, duties, and emoluments, as they would have been entitled by law or custom to demand and receive, if the said marriage had been solemnized in the parish church or chapel of the said parish or chapelry.

That in every case of wilful neglect, delay, Provided also, and be it further enacted, marriage duly solemnized according to or unavoidable accident, by which any the provisions of this Act shall be prevented from being registered on the day may be lawful for the Court of King's on which it is solemnized, it shall and Bench, on application of either of the married parties, their parents or guardians, and on due proof of the facts within six months after the solemnization, to order

the said marriage to be registered in the proper marriage register, in such form as to the said Court shall seem meet.

Provided also, and be it further enacted, That all marriages which shall have been solemnized and registered according to the provisions of this Act, shall be as valid, binding, and effectual in the law, to all intents and purposes, as if they had been solemnized in a church or public chapel where banns had been usually published before the year of our Lord 1753, and had also been solemnized by a parson, vicar, minister, or curate, of the Church of England, and according to the rites of the Book of Common Prayer; but no further or otherwise.

Provided also, That after the solemnization of any marriage under the provisions of this Act, it shall not be necessary in support of such marriage to give any actual proof of the previous residence of the parties required by this Act, nor that the place whereiu such marriage was solemnized was duly registered for the solemnization of marriages under this Act, nor that the same in any case of a marriage by banns was situated within five statute miles of some church or chapel where such banns had been duly published; nor shall any evidence in any of the said cases be received to prove the contrary in any suit touching the validity of such marriage.

Provided also, and be it further enacted, That nothing in this Act contained shall be construed to alter or affect any of the provisions contained in the aforesaid Act of his late Majesty King George the Second, for the due publication of banns; or for the grant of special licences by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and his successors, to marry at any convenient time and place; or for the taking of any oath of office by surrogates; or for making it punishable as felony to solemnize matrimony without banns or licence, or for limiting the time of prosecution for such offence; or for requiring the consent of parents or guardians, or the order of the Lord Chancellor, or other high officers therein named, to the marriages of minors, or for the prohibition of suits to compel celebrations of marriage in facie Ecclesia; and that the same pains and penalties shall be incurred by any person who, with intent to elude the force of this Act, shall knowingly and wilfully insert or cause to be inserted in the register book of any parish or chapelry, any false entry of any matter or thing relating to any marriage; or falsely make, alter, forge, or counterfeit, or cause or procure to be falsely made, altered, forged, or counterfeited, or act or assist in falsely making, altering, forging, or counterfeit ing, any such entry in such register, or

falsely make, alter, forge, or counterfeit,
or cause or procure to be falsely made,
altered, forged, or counterfeited, or as-
sist in falsely making, altering, forging er
counterfeiting, any licence of marriage, or
utter or publish as true any such false, al-
tered, forged, or counterfeited register, or
a copy thereof, or any such altered, forged,
or counterfeited licence of marriage, know-
ing such register or licence of marriage
respectively to be false, altered, forged,
or counterfeited, as are imposed by the
said Act of his late Majesty King George
the Second on the like offences, if com-
mitted with intent to elude the force of
that Act.

Provided always, That this Act, or any
thing therein contained, shall not extend
to the marriages of any of the Royal
Family.

.

Provided likewise, That nothing in this Act contained shall affect, or be construed to affect, the solemnization of any marriage according to the rites of the Church of England, as by law established, or by a minister of the same, in a parish church or chapel by banns or licence, or elsewhere by the special licence of the Archbishop of Canterbury or his successors, or to affect the jurisdiction of archbishops or bishops, or other persons exercising lawful authority in and over the said Church of England, according to the rules and discipline of the same, and to the laws and statutes of the realm; but such jurisdiction shall remain and conti. nue as if this Act had not passed.

Provided also, and be it further enacted, That this Act shall only extend to England and Wales, and to the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed.

And be it further enacted, That this Act shall be deemed and taken to be a public Act; and shall be judicially taken notice of as such by all judges, justices, and others, without specially pleading the same.

Manchester College, York.

ON Monday the 24th, and to Thursday the 27th of June, was held the Annual Examination of this Academical Institution. On Monday afternoon, during three hours, the Mathematical Classes had their first examination by written papers, contaiuing Answers to Lists of Questions, &c. prepared by them on the spot in the presence of the Examiners, according to the Cambridge method. On Tuesday morning, for five hours, the Students were employed in a similar manner, in order to ascertain their comparative proficiency in the Greek and Latin languages: and in the afternoon, a further examination took place of the Mathematical Classes. Wednesday morning commenced with an examination, on the same plan, of all the

books.

Theological Students in Hebrew, which lasted three hours and a half, closing with the Senior Class translating, viva voce, a number of passages, selected at the time, from the Prophets and the prophetical Short viva voce examinations then followed on Ancient History, Natural Philosophy, and Classics, (Junior Division,) interspersed with Orations, by Mr. Payne, on "the rapid Diffusion of the Gospel an Evidence of its Divine Origin," including a brief refutation of Mr. Gibbon's Secondary Causes; by Mr. Chatfeild, on the question "Whether the Iliad was the work of more than one Poet" by Mr. Worthington, on "the Desire of the Praise of Men, as a princi ple of Action;" by Mr. Bowen, ou" the Origin, Structure, and Design of the Book of Job;" by Mr. Tagart, on "Berkley's Theory of the Non-existence of a Material World" and by Mr. Beard, on the ground of the maxim" Magna est Veritas, et prevalebit." On Thursday, the fourth and fifth year's Students underwent a long and satisfactory examination in Theology; and afterwards the Classes in Modern History, in the Belles Lettres, in the Evidences of Natural and Revealed Religion, in Metaphysics, and Classics (Senior Division). Orations also were delivered, by Mr. Shawcross, on "Religious Controversy;" by Mr. Brown, on "Field Sports" by Mr. Carter, on" the Assassination of Julius Cæsar;" by Mr. Wreford, ou" the Origin of Poetry, and the Sources of the Pleasure derived from it;" by Mr. Mitchelson, on "Fortitude;" and a Sermon on 1 John iv. 19, by Mr. Kell. The Students having enjoyed, during a part of the present session, the advantage of instruction in Elocution, by Mr. Bartley, the Examination was varied and enlivened by Readings, with which, and with the improved mode of delivering the Orations, the Examiners were much pleased.

On the whole, the Examination was highly satisfactory to all who attended it; and it was pleasing to observe, that the mode pursued on the first two days, though it subjected the Students to much greater labour, was much more agreeable to themselves; while to the Examiners it afforded the opportunity of judging much more accurately of the advantage which they had respectively taken of the opportuni

ties afforded them.

The Examination was closed by the following Address from the Visitor:

Gentlemen,-It now becomes my pleasing duty to close this long and laborious Examination by returning you our best thanks for the attention and patience with which you have submitted to it; and I assure you, that I do not propose to add to your fatigue by detaining you for many

minutes longer. For your encouragement I shall begin with promising you, that every means shall be used to shorten it in future years; as far as this can be done, consistently with securing the obvious advantages arising from the intermixture of a mode of examination, which has long been pursued with so much success in the University of Cambridge; but the details of which, as we become more familiar with it,. will certainly admit of some considerable improvements.

"I have the pleasure to congratulate you, in the name of this assembly, on the good advantage which you appear to have generally taken of the opportunity which the Committee have this year provided for you, of improving in the important art of Elocution; and though I cannot go so far as to say that there is not, still, some peculiarity of tone remaining, which I trust will, in another year, give way to a completely natural and easy delivery, or that there is not room for further advancement towards a deliberate, distiuct, and forcible utterance, and towards keeping up a full volume of voice without falling, to the very close of the sentence; yet I cordially admit, that there is a very great improvement in the manner in which your several discourses have been read, and that I have been much pleased with the other specimens of elocution which have been exhibited. I have been particularly gratified to observe, that there does not appear to be any tendency towards a fine delivery, or a theatrical mode of speaking or gesture, which I take as a proof of the judgment of your teacher, and of your own good taste. Finery, indeed, and ornamental decoration, I conceive to be in general out of place on most, if not all the occasions, on which gentlemen cau be called upon to address the public in the course of civil and active life; and entirely so in addresses from the pulpit, where the earnest and affectionate manner which nature dictates to one who is duly impressed with the importance of his subjects and the best interests of his hearers, is apt to lose its effect on the minds of the judicious, when adulterated with the tricks of artificial oratory.

"In the discharge of a pleasing part of my annual duty, I have the pleasure to inform this assembly, that the Prizes for Diligence, Regularity, and Proficiency, are awarded to Mr. Beard, Mr. Worthington, and Mr. Tagart; the Mathematical Prizes, by a Friend to the College, to Mr. Worthington and Mr. Busk; the Prize for proficiency in Elocution, agreeably to the decision of Mr. Bartley, to Mr. Brown; for the best delivered Oration, to Mr. Tagart.

"A Prize of Two Guineas was pro

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