than nothing, as if it every year gave three thoufand pounds to one who liad performed fome real and fignal fervice.The injuftice is ftill more ftriking if a man is appointed to any lucrative office, in church or ftate, because his relative has" done the ftate fome fervice." There is one kind of application which should be mentioned feparately: I mean that made by the female fex: this feems very much in fashion at prefent; but it may have been fo in all ages when manners have been polished, and any thing of a fpirit of chivalry, or gallantry,* has prevailed. Female influence on Patronage has been very powerful in France, and contributed, I fhould conjecture, in no trifling degree, to the Revolution, with all its difgufting and deteftable hor Jors. But what does reafon dictate on this head? Reafon feems to fay, that authority, fo often conferred by female influence, is no light matter; it is not a feather, to be placed fo as best to gratify female tafte and elegance; it is that power which is to regulate very important acts of great numbers of men; to abridge their liberty, to over-rule their judgment, their learning and experience; perhaps to endanger their lives. Surely conferring this in order to avoid the imputation of defective politeness to a fine lady, is a curious as well as cruel facrifice of the public good!-When the mother, the fifter, the virtuous female friend interferes, the fentiment which is to influence Patronage, being refpectable in itself, is with more difficulty overcome by a good mind; but yet it should be recollected, that filial affection was not implanted in our breafts for purposes of political government; and that great harm may arife from its being perverted to purposes very diftant from thofe for which it was intended and the obfervation may be extended to other connections. No one has been more happy in the exercise of filial affection than myself; yet it would have given me infinite pain had the to whom I am obliged above all other females, endeavoured to ufe maternal influence to turn me from executing any truft to the best of my own judgment.But why do I fpeak of myfelf? the great pattern of moral excellence, who whilft in agonizing pain made provifion for his mother, by recommending her to the protection of a beloved friend, did not think it wrong to check her importunity when the interfered with the business of his facred and moft *For Gallantry, in the sense in which it is here used, see Mr. Hume's Essay on the Rise of Arts and Sciences. moft important office, though his expreffion would appear more refpectful at the time than it does now, in a translation: "Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come." (John ii. 4.)-This is not the proper occafion for an interchange of affectionate regards between mother and for.--How odious and defpicable after this, if not still worse, would appear an inftance drawn from hiftory, of thousands of lives being committed to the care of a worthlefs general, or admiral, merely because he happened to be the illegitimate offspring of fome favourite concubine!-Not that I am a woman-hater, or that I have a mean idea of the peculiar excellencies of the genuine female character: few have been more conftant than myself in treating females, whilst they endeavoured to excel as females, with respect and attention: nay even in the cafe of Patronage, I think I have known inftances where the acutenefs of female penetration has contributed to discover good and useful qualities in a man, to which his own fex would have been infenfible. It seems happily ordained by nature, that women in general Thould be interested in every minute characteristic of the men with whom they converfe; and that men also, in the fociety of women, fhould lay afide their fears of appearing unmanly, or trifling; and fhould open their minds, and expose what fome would deem amiable weakneffes, but what are, in reality, virtues; that thus they should bring to light a number of good qualities, which over the bottle would hide their diminifhed heads.-I might obferve, that, in like manner, men can often fee good qualities in women, which women do not perceive in each other; but that would not be to the present purpofe.--It is, however, to the prefent purpose to mark the diftinction between a female friend opening the true character of a candidate for preferment, fhewing useful and amiable qualities to the Patron which had efcaped his notice; and a great duchefs or princess, or an artful and interested miftefs, overawing or bewitching the Patron's judgment, and demanding preferment without any regard to character or qualifications. We are directed to give honor to woman as the weaker vessel (1. Pet. iii, 7.); but if the difdains refpect upon that footing, and is determined to be the fronger, the forfeits all her claim to the honor enjoined. But to return to Patronage in the church in particular.Some difficulty arifes, and fome occafion for the exercise of fairnefs and integrity, when, by any revolution in church or fate, or by any great and acknowledged improvements, im portant portant changes have taken place, fo that the property which has been fet apart in order to establish certain offices, can no longer be applied to the precife ends for which it was originally intended. Emoluments were inflituted by laws, or by bequefts, for certain ufes; thofe ufes have ceafed; what is to become of the emoluments? men in power will endeavour to fize upon them, as your biographer, in his life of Whitgift, fays was the cafe with regard to the earl of Leicefter. Great numbers of religious foundations were demolished at the time of our Reformation. What was done at that time is now fo completely established, that it would be vain to doubt its propriety. Indeed it does feem poffible, that fuperftition may have fo over-run a nation, and that religious weakness may have dedicated to the church fo much property, beyond what was neceffary for a liberal fupport of every thing really ufeful, that when a reformation takes place, that is, when one national religion is abolished, and another fubftituted in its room, the fupreme civil power may, not unreasonably, confidering the cafe as extraordinary, and leaving enough for a plentiful fupport of all the dignities and offices of the new religion, difpofe of the overplus for the public good. Yet the kind of good fhould feemingly approach as near as may be found practicable, to that aimed at by those, who provided the wealth now to be diverted from its primary channel. What had been provided for the church by the public, in the way of taxes, rates, tithes, or contributions, if recovered from the church by new laws, should be returned, as nearly as poffible, to the contributors, or their reprefentatives, either immediately, or if that were found impracticable, by fome works, fuch as they might be fuppofed to expend money upon, were they now alive, on account of their utility. Certainly, if any office becomes wholly use. lefs, the pecuniary fupport of it fhould be applied to fome ufeful purpose or other. If the property of the old church can be applied fo as to fupport ufeful inftitutions in the new one, answering the original end, and differing only as to fome modes, that may be confidered as tightly applied; by reafon not corrupted by intereft. This feems to be the cafe with colleges and cathedrals, founded by papifts, and conducted by protef tants. Our colleges now aim at the fame ends which they had in view before the Reformation; and so do our cathedrals; the one laying a foundation for learning and piety; the other exercifing that fpecies of public devotion, which has has the greatest tendency to give men grand, awful, fublime views of the Deity; and to exalt, and at the fame time rectify their notions of religion, by facred eloquence, intermixed with fuch strains of holy mufic, as meliorate our affections and fentiments for the prefent, and feem more likely than any thing else, to give us a foretafte of that rapturous gratitude and admiration, which the faints may pour forth in their future, heavenly existence. If any one found much fcruple in applying the wealth of the papift to the ftudies and religious exercifes of the proteftant, perhaps he might receive fome fatisfaction from reflecting, that both aimed at establishing a national church in England; and that each judged of the particular means according to the most improved reafon and knowledge of his own time: this being the cafe, it might not be abfurd, confidering the gradual and fometimes flow progress of religious truth, to conceive, that had the pious and thinking papift lived a little later, and been free from the fhackles of papiftical dominion, he would, in all probability, have been convinced by the reafonings of the reformers, and would have gladly confented, that his wealth fhould be employed as we now employ it. But this fuppofition can have no place unlefs we take for granted that colleges do really cultivate good learning and piety, according to the present establishment; and that cathedrals do honeftly employ their wealth and their moft ftrenuous endeavours in fo conducting their kind of worship, that it may have all the good effects upon the hearts and minds of thofe who are able to join in it, which it is ca pable of producing: and that it may attract great numbers, not only of the more ordinary people, but of the most accomplished and improved. The bifhop has naturally an opportunity of appearing at his cathedral, in all the mild dignity of Chriftian lowlinefs; yet the bufinefs of his diocefe is fo great, that if he governs fteadily, and ufes his Patronage difinterestedly, he may reafonably expect others to labour in the regulation and cultivation of the cathedral worship. But the dean and chapter I conceive to be responsible for the right ufe of their revenues, and for their inftitution being made to anfwer its peculiar ends. Hence it is incumbent on Patrons to felect fuch perfons as are most likely to maintain the kind of worship beft adapted to the nature and character of cathedrals which has been already defcribed. It does really feem to me, that thofe Patrons who appoint clergy for a cathedral with any other views, act a part that is not honeft; that that they embezzle the revenues of the church, and apply them to purposes which may be fairly called felfifh; that they act as unjustly, (to return to our former illuftration) as a guardian would do, who should employ his ward's funded property, flanding in his name, in favour of these who had fupported him in fome conteft, or were likely to fupport him. If we come to particulars, we may fay, the nature of cathedral worship requires, that Patrons of cathedrals fhould provide the beft preachers, the best mufical performers, and those who are qualified to execute ceremonies in the most graceful and impreffive manner. The reading, fo neceffary in other churches, may here be included in the mufic; as it is often chanting, and as those who have remarkably good voices for finging, generally read very well. And after all is rightly provided, care fhould be taken, by those who would avoid all abuse and perverfion of the church-property, that all fhould be conducted with fuch devout attention, fuch -order and decorum, fuch a fenfe of the awful character of the magnificent edifice, and the mode of worship fuited to it, that no incident, no levity, fhould interrupt the devout fenti ments of the worshippers: that they may freely indulge their holy love, their heart-felt penitence, their humble admiration and gratitude; and may depart edified and delighted. I fhould doubt whether fufficient attention be always paid to these provisions and regulations by thofe who confer offices to which authority in cathedrals is annexed. The deans, I think, though generally eminent in fome respects, have not always been trained to mufic. I wish we could now fee and hear the choir of Chrift-Church as conducted by dean Aldrich. Of our king Henry VIII. it is faid (Anecdotes 1798, vol. 1. p. 42.) "Henry was intended for the church, while "his eldeft brother, prince Arthur, lived, and was of courfe "brought up to mufic and to Latin. A Te Deum of his com "pofition is ftill fung at Chrift-Church Oxford." If this be needlefs now, why is cathedral fervice continued, and the rich endowments not turned to fome purpose thought really ufeful?--I was once in company with two deans, one of them fill living (a very worthy, fenfible, and well-informed man), and happened to fay to fome one near me, who was fpeaking of a voluntary, that the fubject feemed good, but that it had not been treated fo as to fatisfy the expectation it had raifed. The deans both laughed at me for talking of a subject in mufic; and this was a standing joke against me for feveral years. Perhaps |