CHAPTER II. Lament, lament, old abbeys, And all your children sprung from thence Who live unchanged ever since For love of your domains. BISHOP CORBET. "Now that you are going to settle down with us, Robert," said Sir John Morley to his eldest son, a few days after the return of the latter to Teynton Park, and as they were on their way to Ayton Priory, "I hope we may be able to make one or two alterations for the better in the village. My time is so much taken up by my duties as a magistrate and by county business, and your brother is so much afraid, and it shows well in him to be so, of doing any thing which may seem to anticipate our worthy Vicar's removal, that in many respects you will be able to effect more than either of us. I wish we could put a little more energy into good Mr. Wallis ; as it is, I fear we must be content with getting his approval to our plans." "I can assure you," replied Robert Morley, "I mean to sit down to the acquirement of a knowledge of my new profession, with as hearty good will as ever I did to Mathematicks when I was a freshman. But what is there which you think my help could be serviceable in, just at present?” "I will tell you one thing," replied his father, "which has long weighed upon my mind. I have hitherto refrained from mentioning it to you, because it is a subject of importance, and I wished you to be in a condition to form an unbiassed judgement on it. I do not want you to give me a hasty answer; take your own time, if you feel any difficulty in making up your mind. You know well that the great tithes of Monk Teynton have been in our family for nearly sixty years. They were originally appropriate to Ayton Priory, and were not separated from that estate till your great-grandfather bought them from the Jolliffes, then its owners. Till lately, I had never bestowed much attention on the subject; or, if I ever felt a momentary scruple at enjoying a revenue which had once been solemnly appropriated to the service of GoD, I quieted my conscience by the thought that so long possession conferred a right, and that probably most estates were acquired, at some period or other, in a manner not perfectly just. Still, I must confess that I was not satisfied to see Mr. Wallis undertaking the duties of a large parish for £400 a year, while I, from an estate originally intended for his maintenance in the cure, derive an equal income, and do nothing for it. Shortly after I came into possession of the estate, I offered, if he wished for the aid of a curate, to find the funds this he declined, on the ground of being able to take the whole duty himself; but partly influenced, I imagine, by the desire of having things entirely his own way, and avoiding all interference." "He made no difficulty, I think, when you proposed that George should become his curate, did he?" asked Robert Morley. "On the contrary, he seemed very well pleased with the offer: but then the management of the parish was obviously getting beyond his strength. Had he had any family, it was always my intention to help them forward in the world in any way that he might wish; but as this was not the case, and as his expenses in the way of parochial charity were next to nothing, since he always had carte blanche from me, in relieving such cases as he might consider deserving, I did not feel called upon to offer any addition to his income. The rather as he has a tolerable private fortune." "It seems to me," said the other, "that Mr. Wallis, however willing he might be to increase his income, is better off than the larger part of our parish clergy, and certainly no one can blame you for having acted in any way ungenerously towards him." "But lately," continued Sir John, not heeding the interruption, "my thoughts on the subject have undergone a considerable change. At the time that the Church Revenues Bill was brought before parliament, I had occasion to go somewhat deeply into the subject. The result of my inquiries was, as you know, a conviction that, recommended by men whose motives I am bound to believe the best, and whose station and private character no one can reverence and esteem more than myself, that Bill fearfully approached to sacrilege. To divert money from the purposes to which pious founders and benefactors, now with GOD, had appropriated it, even though it were for the promotion of religion in another way, I could not but think most unjust to those who cannot now raise their voices in behalf of their own rights, most cruel to those who very willingly spent and were spent for us, and most dangerous by way of example to future depredators, and as checking many a benevolent impulse, lest the money designed for a particular charity might hereafter be diverted into a channel which the bequeather of that money would not approve. You know very well that these were my sentiments on this subject; and, as I remember, you quite agreed with me in them." "I did indeed,” replied his son. "I see to what you are coming; but I will not interrupt you." 66 Well," resumed Sir John Morley, "if this were my opinion of the diversion of funds from one religious purpose to another, what, it struck me, must be the guilt of those, who appropriate the wealth intended for the service of the Church to their own private use? And what, it naturally followed, have I been doing as a lay rector for so many-years? Have I not been, in ignorance it is true, robbing GOD, and will not all that sum be required at my hands? The more I thought, and the more I read, the more sensible did I become of the danger of such an impropriation; and I can assure you that I quite trembled as I turned page after page of Sir Henry Spelman's History of Sacrilege,' and his 'De non Temerandis Ecclesiis.' It is my earnest wish to repair, as far as I am able, the wrong I have done : and so far as concerns the past, I am determined that I will. You know that I cannot alienate the great tithes from my estate without your consent: and it is on this subject that I determined to speak to you as soon as an opportunity should offer.” "You may be quite sure, my dear father," answered his son, "that any appropriation of money which you may feel it right to make, I shall be most willing to join in, even although I were not convinced of its necessity. The consideration, however, is not new to me. I can assure you that I have no hesitation whatever in taking any step which may be necessary to carry your plan into effect. But what were the means by which you intended to make good the sums you have already received from this appropriation?" "I will tell you," answered Sir John, "after I |