rector be a man of worth and talents, his friendship will be the necessary consequence of the curate's merit. In all his conduct and manners he will show becoming deference and attention to his superior clergy, and he will conform to their regulations with cheerful and punctual obedience: he will thus recommend himself to the esteem and good will of his superiors, without practising any servile arts, to obtain their patronage, or to accelerate his own advancement. There should be no difference between the mind and general conduct of a good rector and a good curate, except the distinction, which must necessarily arise from the rector's superior station and affluence. He will, in the first place, treat his curate as he, when a curate, wished to be treated by his rector. As his curate will relieve him from some part of his most laborious duties, he will have more leisure to cultivate society and literature. He may give greater attention to the composition of his sermons, in which he may, if he be of a suitable age, assume a more pastoral tone to direct his flock: he may, whenever he sees occasion, advert to particular circumstances among the higher classes of his parishioners, which it would be shameful in him to countenance, but in which it would not be proper for a curate to interfere. It is not by public exhortations, it is not from the pulpit, that a minister of the Gospel has it most in his power to be of service to those, who boast superior affluence, or fashion, or what they deem superior information. It is often in the freedom and familiarity of the domestic circle, that a clergyman of winning manners and benevolence, whose mind is imbued with classical literature, and tinctured with various knowledge, may, if . he possess the happy arts of conversation, infuse into the minds both of men of the world and of academic learning, a taste for true philosophy, for virtue, and piety; even in mixed companies, in the careless hours of gayety and festivity, he may seize fortunate occasions, to soften the animosities of party, to infuse a liberal, tolerant spirit into the open heart, and to improve the feelings of casual conviviality into the principles of permanent benevolence: a few well-timed words have made peace between enemies, who have been supposed to be irreconcilable. A judicious hint, an inference, an allusion, has sometimes excited reflection in the minds of the most thoughtless, and has operated changes in the conduct of many, whose pride would have resisted direct counsel, or open exhortation. Know there are words and spells, which can control, It is scarcely necessary to say, that a good clergyman should not interfere in county politics, or meddle with the intrigues of elections, or with any species of intrigue. It is scarcely necessary to observe, that he should never, in his external appearance, sacrifice to fashion any of the decencies of his order. An appropriate dress is becoming in a clergyman. These are things, which to trifling people seem trivial, but which to the truly wise always appear important, from the effect they produce on the public mind. There is no reason why a clergyman, who has sufficient leisure, should not cultivate any branch of polite literature, or any science, for which he may have a taste. Watson, the celebrated Bishop of Llandaff, gave up his favourite study of chemistry in compliance with the notions of some, who thought it unsuited to the clerical character. This sacrifice was certainly made from good motives, and therefore it should be treated with respect: but it was not surely a reasonable concession; it was rather an amiable weakness, than an example of strength of mind proper for imitation. Unless he devotes an undue portion of his time to them, can the study of chemistry, of mineralogy, of mathematics, of astronomy, of any part of natural history, be unbecoming a clergyman?—he, who is "to look through nature up to nature's God!" No amusements can be better suited to a clergyman, who resides in the country, than botany and gardening. Agriculture also is allowable, as far as it is confined within certain limits. A rector is suitably employed in cultivating his glebe to the utmost perfection of neatness; he does service by setting his country neighbours an example of the best modes of culture and rural economy; but further he should not go. He should in this, as in all other things, avoid excess; and where the fashion, as at present, is in extremes, he should guard against countenancing it by his example. A clergyman should never enter into competition with his parishioners; he should never farm for profit, or become a professed grazier or breeder of cattle. These are not times of primitive pastoral simplicity, when the occult mysteries of breeding were the only science of a patriarch. It is not becoming, that a clergyman's talk should be of bullocks; or that he should value himself upon his breed of pigs. It is not decorous for a clergyman to be a frequenter of fairs, a driver of bargains, or a buncher of oxen. It is not decorous, that he should be found, like parson Trulliber, in his sty, or with his dungcart. We may talk of Virgil's throwing about his dung with an air of majesty; but this can be done only by a poet, and by poetic licence: the times are past, and the manners are changed, since Cincinnatus held the plough, and princesses washed linen. In our days, mean occupations lower the dignity of those, by whom they are practised: even where no bodily share is taken in these, the mind, that is continually intent upon mercenary views and petty gains, grows sordid, and its thoughts descend to what is vulgar. Clergymen, who become professed farmers, too often forget, that they are clergymen; they are so much engrossed by their low concerns, that they have no leisure for the high duties of the clerical profession; they are so bound to earth, that they cannot lift their thoughts to Heaven, or spare time to think of eternity. If a country clergyman have much leisure, and no peculiar taste for any of the liberal sciences, yet the vast field of litera ture lies open to him; he may employ his hours profitably for himself, and usefully for the publick, in writing on any subject of belles-lettres, or morality. Many instances might be mentioned of clergymen, who have distinguished themselves by their literary productions, and many instances could be cited, in which this exertion of talents has obtained rewards and dignities of the church. In these countries every man, who goes into the church, has at least a possibility of rising to its dignities; and, as few learn late in life to fill stations of great responsibility in a becoming manner, unless their minds have been in some degree prepared for it by early education, it cannot be foreign to the present purpose to inquire, what constitutes the character of a good bishop. The best praise of a clergyman newly exalted to the dignity of a prelate is, that the change in his external circumstances makes no alteration in the inward man, but the pastor and the prelate are one and the same individual; that he bears his honours meekly, and evinces in worldly exaltation true Christian humility; that he shows none of that affected condescension, which is more offensive than arrogance itself. By residing in his diocese, he will prove the sincerity of his care for the flock committed to his charge, and he will set a becoming example to his clergy, whose residence, and whose punctual discharge of parochial duties, he is called upon to enforce by authority. In his episcopal palace he will maintain order, dignity, and unostentatious hospitality. In his own habits of life, he will be neither ascetic nor luxurious, but he will set an example of temperate enjoyment and liberal participation of the goods of this life. His elevated station and increased influence in society enlarge his power of being useful to all classes of his fellow-creatures, both by public instruction and by private conversation. The revenues of his see enable him to dispense charity upon a larger scale. Mere almsgiving is a doubtful virtue. To those of his own clergy, who are in distress, and whose merits deserve attention, our good bishop delights in convey |