with the domeftic convenience, or even magnificence of any fubject whatsoever.

Sir William Petty, who, under the name of Captain Graunt, published fome obfervations upon the bills of mortality about five years after the refloration, tells us the parishes in London were even then fo unequally divided, that fome were two hundred times larger than others. Since that time the increase of trade, the frequency of parliaments, the defire of living in the metropolis, together with that genius for building which began after the fire, and hath ever fince continued, have prodigiously enlarged this town on all fides, where it was capable of increase; and those tracts of land built into streets have generally continued of the fame parish they belonged to while they lay in fields; fo that the care of above thirty thousand fouls hath been fometimes committed to one minifter, whofe church would hardly contain the twentieth part of his flock: neither, I think, was any family in thofe parithes obliged to pay above a groat a-year to their fpiritual paftor. Some few of those parishes have been fince divided, in others were erected chapels of eafe, where a preacher is maintained by general contribution, Such poor fhifts and expedients, to the infinite shame and fcandal of fo vaft and flourishing a city, have been thought fufficient for the fervice of God and religion, as if they were circumstances wholly indifferent.

This defect among other confequences of it hath made fchijm a fort of neceffary evil; there being at least three hundred thousand inhabitants in this town whom the churches would not be able to contain, if the people were ever fo well difpofed: and in a city not overflocked with zeal, the only way to preferve any degree of religion, is to make all attendance upon the duties of it as easy and cheap as poffible; whereas, on the contrary, in the larger parishes the prefs is fo great, and the pew-keepers tax fo exorbitant, that those who love to fave trouble and money, either stay at home or retire to the conventicles. I believe there are few examples, in any Chriftian country, of fo great a neglect of religion; and the diffenting teachers have made their advantage largely by it, fowing tares aong the wheat while men flept, being much more expert

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at procuring contributions, which is a trade they are bred up in, than men of a liberal education.

And to fay truth, the way practifed by feveral parifhes in and about this town, of maintaining their clergy by voluntary fubfcriptions, is not only an indignity to the character, but hath many pernicious confequences attending it; fuch a precarious dependence fubjecting a clergyman, who hath not more than ordinary fpirit and refolution, to many inconveniencies, which are obvious to imagine; but this defect will no doubt be remedied by the wifdom and piety of the prefent parliament, and a tax laid upon every houfe in a parish for the fupport of their paftor. Neither indeed can it be conceived, why a house whofe purchase is not reckoned above one third less than land of the fame yearly rent, fhould not pay a twentieth part annually (which is half tithe) to the fupport of the minifter. One thing I could wish, that, in fixing the maintenance of the feveral minifters in thefe new-intended parishes, no determinate fum of money may be named, which in all perpetuities ought by any means to be avoided, but rather a tax in proportion to the rent of each house, although it be but a twentieth, or even a thirtieth part. The contrary of this, I am told, was done in feveral parishes of the city after the fire, where the incumbent and his fucceffors were to receive for ever a certain fum; for example, one or two hundred pounds a-year. But the lawgivers did not confider, that what we call at prefent one hundred pounds will not in process of time have the intrinsic value of twenty; as twenty pounds now are hardly equal to forty fhillings three hundred years ago. There are a thousand instances of this all over England in referved rents applied to hofpitals, in old chiefries, and even among the clergy themselves, in those payments which, I think, they call a modus.

As no prince had ever better difpofitions than her prefent Majefty for the advancement of true religion; fo there never was any age, that produced greater occafions to employ them on. It is an unfpeakable misfortune, that any defign of fo excellent a Queen fhould be checked by the neceflities of a long and ruinous war, which the folly or corruption of modern politicians have involved

VOL. II.

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us in against all the maxims whereby our country flourishcd fo many hundred years: elfe her Majefty's care of religion would certainly have reached even to her American plantations. Thofe noble countries ftocked by numbers from hence, whereof too many are in no very great reputation for faith or morals, will be a perpetual reproach to us, until fome better care be taken for cultivating Chriftianity among them. If the governors of thofe feveral colonics were obliged at certain times to tranfmit an exact reprefentation of the state of religion in their feveral diftricts, and the legislature here would, in time of leisure, take that affair under their confideration, it might be perfected with little difficulty, and be a great addition to the glories of her Majefty's reign.

But, to wave further fpeculations upon fo remote a fcene, while we have fubjects enough to employ them on at home: it is to be hoped the clergy will not flip any proper opportunity of improving the pious difpofitions of the Queen and kingdom for the advantage of the church; when, by the example of times paft, they confider how rarely fuch conjunctures are like to happen. What if fome method were thought on towards repairing of churches? for which there is like to be too frequent occafion; thofe ancient Gothic ftructures throughout this, kingdom going every year to decay. That expedient of repairing or rebuilding them by charitable collections feems, in my opinion, not very fuitable either to the dignity and usefulness of the work, or to the honour of our country; fince it might be fo cafily done with very little charge to the public in a much more decent and honourable manner, while parliaments are fo frequently called. But thefe and other regulations must be left to a time of peace; which I thall humbly prefume to wifh may foon be our fhare, however offenfive it may be to any, either abroad or at home, who are gainers by the war.

N° 43.

No 43. Thursday, May 31. 1711.

Scilicit, ut poffis curvo dignofcere rectum.

Aving been forced in my papers to use the cant words

fignifications for twenty years paft; I think it neceffary to fay fomething of the feveral changes thofe two terms have undergone fince that period; and then to tell the reader what I have always understood by each of them, fince I undertook this work. I reckon that thefe forts of conceit~ ed appellations are ufually invented by the vulgar; who, not troubling themfelves to examine thoroughly the merits of a caufe, are confequently the moft violent partifans of what they efpoufe, and in their quarrels ufually proceed to their beloved argument of calling names, until at length they light upon one which is fure to ftick: and in time each party grows proud of that appellation, which their adverfaries at first intended for a reproach. Of this kind were the Prafini and Veneti, the Guelfs and Gibelines, Huguenots and Papists, Roundheads and Cavaliers, with many others of ancient and modern date. Among us of late there feems to have been a barrennefs of invention in this point; the words Whig and Tory, although they be not much above thirty years old, having been preffed to the fervice of many fucceflions of parties with very different ideas fastened to them. This diftinction, I think, began towards the latter part of K. Charles II.'s reign, was dropt during that of his fucceffor, and then revived at the revolution; fince which it hath perpetually flourished, although applied to very different kinds of principles and perfons. In that convention of Lords and Commons, fome of both houfes were for a regency to the Prince of Orange, with a refervation of ftyle and title to the abfent King, which should be made use of in all public acts: others, when they were brought to allow the throne vacant, thought the fucceffion fhould immediately go to the next heir, according

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cording to the fundamental laws of the kingdom, as if the latt King were actually dead. And although the diffenting Lords (in whofe house the chief oppofition was) did at last yield both thofe points, took the oaths to the new King, and many of them employments; yet they were looked upon with an evil eye by the warm zealots of the other fide; neither did the court ever heartily favour any of them, although fome of them were of the moft eminent for abilities and virtue, and ferved that prince both in his councils and his army with untainted faith. It was apprehended at the fame time, and perhaps it might have been true, that many of the clergy would have been bet ter pleafed with the fcheme of a regency, or at least an un interrupted lineal fucceffion, for the fake of thofe whofe confciences were truly fcrupulous; and they thought there were fome circumftances in the cafe of the deprived bifhops, that looked a little hard, or at least deferved commiferation.

Thefe and other the like reflections did, as I conceive, revive the denominations of Whig and Tory.

Some time after the revolution the diftinction of high and low church came in, which was raised by the Diffenters in order to break the church-party by dividing the members into high and low; and the opinion raised, that the high joined with the Papifts, inclined the low to fall in with the Diffenters.

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And here I fhall take leave to produce fome principles, which, in the feveral periods of the late reign, ferved to denote a man of one or the other party. To be against a ftanding army in time of peace was all High-church, Tory, and tantivy to differ from a majority of bishops was the fame. To raise the prerogative above law for ferving a turn, was Low-church and Whig. The opinion of the majority in the houfe of Commons, efpecially of the countryparty or landed intereft, was High-fly and rank Tory. To exalt the King's fupremacy beyond all precedent, was Lowchurch, Whiggifh, and Moderate. To make the leaft doubt of the pretended Prince's being fuppofititious, and a tiler's fon, was, in their phrafe, Top and Top-gallant, and perfect Jacobitifm. To refume the most exorbitant grants that were ever given to a fet of profligate favourites, and

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