Star. — London, England, 1829-10-08 00:00:00

STATE OF PORTUGAL. LISBON, Sam 17 Leaving the glOrious event at Terceira, alluded to in my last, to produce its effect both in England and among the Cabinets of Europe generally, I now proceed to offer you the result of my inquiries relative to the in ternal state of the country. Certain prints and persons, have been so much in the habit of distorting the truth and eulogizing the usurper's government, if government it can be called, that I am aware, numbers of the well-wishers of Portugal, not ex cepting many of our public men, either believe the as sertions of mercenary hirelings, or become indifferent to the fate of a country whose claims on England are of the strongest kind, while its alliance is really essential to our maritime supremacy. Whatever the effect of the statement I am about to offer may be, I challenge the partizan of the faction hero and in England, to disprove what I advance, and I hope to have adopted such a mode of ascertaining the real state of things, as will remove all future doubts on the subject. In the first place, it has been incessantly repeated by the partizans of Dox MI6 LTEL in London, that he was not merely the choice of the nation, but felt anxious to govern with moderation. The state of the country after the expiration of the eighteen months during which he has held the reins of power, furnishes a lamentable commentary ou the above assertion. All the prisons of the kingdom are still gorged with victims, whose • only crime is their wish to maiiatain a political system of which they had sworn fealty. Thousands of the most enlightened and respecta ble families are proscribed, their property confiscated ; and as to personal security, it is out of the question, as in this ill-fated country, under its present regime, no man's house is his castle, as domiciliary visits take place at the option of the lowest police-man. Yet are there persons in England, who represent Portugal to be in a state or the most perfect tranquility ! I need not tell you, that. there are Apostolical Jour nals paid by the party in London, as well as other places ; from one of these lately received, and which con tains a weekly panegyric on Don MI6 um. and despotism, I cannot help quoting the following passage :—" The King of Portugal, adopting a conduct most congenial to his feelings, where it could be safely acted upon, and the result has already been the liberation of EIG lIT UUN DRED individuals who have been confined for political offences against the Government." Having perused the above, what will you say when I state, on the most ac curate and positive data, that while the number liberated have not exceeded two hundred, and I speak within the mark, a much larger proportion of new victims have been immured on the most frivolous pretences. I have told you that several arrests have taken place here since the news of the event at Terceira arrived, nor does a day pass without the arrest or ill-treatment of some one or other in the capital and provinces. But I will oppose a specific fact to the assertions of the Journal in question. Twelve highly respectable individuals, chiefly the mem bers of the same family, of whom several happened to be females, were suddenly arrested at Maffra, five leagues from this, on the 24th of last month, and thrown into prison, where they still remain, for no other earthly crime than having dined together on that day. The circum stance of its being the anniversary; of the first Constitu tion is the only motive to which this outrage can be attributed, as it does not appear that the smallest mani festation of their opinions was given. Among the ladies thus seized, it may be as well to state, that one is the wife of an Englishman, Mr. STOREY ; she is a native of this country, and two of her brothers were of the com pany. I will leave you to make your own comments on this statement, for the accuracy of which I pledge my self most unequivocally. The following passage from the same paper is also worthy of being cited. After alluding to the personal attentions of the King to Donna MARIA, attentions which do honour to the head and heart of his Majesty, this writer observes, " The Portuguese nation have now, after two years of trial, shewn that the Con stitution is not desired by them, and, as the TIMES' says, even goes so far as to interfere with the leniency of the Kixo towards those who have upheld it." Can there be a more convincing reply to this barefaced assumption, than to point to the large mass of emigrants, the numbers who are imprisoned, and the universal system of proscription which continues to pre vail throughout the whole country ? Many other proofs of a settled hatred to the tyrant and his abettors, as well as of an intense anxiety to live under the Charter of Don PEDRO, might be adduced ; I shall content myself with expressing my conviction, that the time is not very far distant, when the assertions I have quoted will be con tradicted somewhat more powerfully than by any thing I could say. There is, however, a part of the above passage which requires more particular notice. It is said on the autho rity of the Times, that the nation has interfered with the leniency of the Kiri° towards the Constitutionalists. Let me call your particular attention to the secret of this allusion. It has been from the very first moment of the usurpation notorious, that the Usurper's supporters were composed of the vilest portion of the community, and that the only object of their efforts, more especially the old Aristocracy impoverished by its pro fligate habits, and the rabble, was to seize on the property of the Constitutionalists. What then is the interference to which the writer alludes? Why, that Don MIGUEL and his worthy coadjutors, have refused to divide the said property, immense in extent and amount, without going through some shadow of legal forms, so as to be jus tified in the eyes of those Cabinets which have become their patrons and supporters. This, and nothing else, is the solution of a passage which has doubtless created no small surprise among the readers of the two newspapers in question. As to the property marked for confiscation, those who fancy that Don Alt UEL and the persons about him, are not impatient and most willing to seize it, with out any legal forms whatever, are egregiously in error, and know but little of the parties. It is ascertained beyond a. doubt, that the King, as he is styled by the London scribe, has been recommended by his foreign friends, not to be in too great a hurry either with completing the confiscations, or following up that system of persecution to which his natural inclinations have hitherto led him. There is another motive attributed to this delay, and it is probably the most powerful of all. It has been pretty clearly ascertained by the faction, that if even the confis cated lands were put up for sale, no bidders would be found ! Such being the class of persons whom the Miguelite writer calls the " Portuguese Nation," it next remains for me to notice the " moderation" of MATTOS and Vizo a, alluded to by him, as also his continued asser tions relative to the internal tranquillity of Portugal. I have stated the whole number of liberations not to have amounted to two hundred ; I will now add, that among these, there is not a single individual of the smallest note or political importance. To this it may truly be added, that not a shadow of crime could be attributed to those set free, except their sentiments in favour of a libe ral government. It is, however, worthy of remark, that on the return of a part of these unfortunate men to Elvas, their native place, the priests and royalists, aided by their usual mercenaries, rose and threatened to mur der them if they attempted to enter the town. When I state that the authorities did not make the slightest effort to interpose or prevent this outrage, it is quite needless to point to the source whence it must have emanated. The frequency of arrests since the appointment of M A•rros, and especially the affair at Maffra, have been already noticed. Notwithstanding these acts of injustice, by which alone the system could last an hour, there is no doubt but even the apparent return to moderation was caused by the repeated admonitions and remonstrances of the friends of Don MIGUEL, in England, connected with some members of the British Government. By a strange coincidence, however, though this salutary advice may have been followed in a few instances, with regard to the constitutional peasanty, it has been totally disregarded where the liberty and property of British subjects were concerned ! On the score of internal tranquiflity, I shall merely observe, that robberies and murders are ex ceedingly frequent both here and in the provinces— what is more, these are invariably perpetrated tinder the mask of royalism. With regard to Lisbon itself, I will appeal to any English resident, whether a day passes without some desperate acts of violence ; and also, whe ther many persons who occupied houses in the suburbs, have not been forced to abandon their dwellings and come into the city in order to save their lives and property. The truth is. that a more complete system of terror on the one hand, and of anarchy on the other, couid not well prevail; and if Messrs. Vitt; o and 'Alarms have acquired a little more credit for moderation than some former agents of the usurper, it is simply because they are more deeply versed in the arts of deception and hypo cracy than their predecessors. Both these men are, in fact, well convinced, that even if inclined to be moderate, those who placed them where they are, would not sanc tion a milder system. They know but one system of terror alone. After all that the literary partisans of Don Mn EL in England have said about " internal tranquillity" it is strange they should have been so silent relative to the com mercial and financial prosperity of the country. While pursuing a system of calumny and falsehood, unexampled in the worst periods of the most degraded country, it would have cost these conscientious persons as little to dilate on the above topics as on any others. Here it may be as well, to fill up the mysteries with a few facts which I call on them to controvert if they can. The usurpation having put an end to all confidence, and either led to the exile or imprisonment of such numbers of the most wealthy and enterprising men in the country, the natural conse quence was an immediate stagnation, which is continuing to increase up to the present moment, and has caused an in calculable degree of public misery among all classes. None have escaped the hateful effects of a change which was founded on fraud and injustice ; ruin, wide spread ruin, has alike overtaken the noble and the peasant. The suspension of all public works has thrown thousands out of employ, while the sequestrated lauds, remaining without culture, is another source of poverty. It is needless to say, that with a Government which, so far front offering any security to person or property, has, from the first day of the usurpation, acted on a system of plunder and proscription, there is not much probability of the commercial or agricultural state of the country being improved. As to foreign trade, to which Portugal was in former days indebted for so large a portion of her wealth and power, it may fairly be said to have ceased altogether with the destruction of the charter. It is only necessary to cast one's eyes over the splendid river which spreads before me, where four or five hundred ships were fre quently seen, it is now extremely rare to find half a dozen, and these a small class of trading vessels. Nearly the whole of the merchants' ships belonging to the India and Brazilian trade, once so opulent, are laid up and rotting at their moorings. Upon the whole, a more dreary and deplorable picture than that presented by a view of the Tagus, in its present deserted state, cannot well be conceived. The destructive effect of such a state of things in the population of Lisbon, is truly pitiable ; the streets are covered with beggars, while thousands of artisans and porters are deprived of all means of exist ence. Speaking of trade, I have heard a circumstance which, though not immediately connected with my pre sent object, may as well he mentioned, en passant. You have been told a great deal of the encouragement which English commerce was to receive from the apostoli cals ; I am now enabled to assert, upon unquestionable authority, that, for the last fifteen months, a decided pre-: ference has been given by the whole of the Miguclites to French manufactures ! Owing to the whole of our factory considering trade as at an end, several have pro ceeded with their property to Cadiz, whence I know from a personal knowledge of the fact, English manufactures and Colonial produce, have already begun to find their way into Portugal. I should not omit to add that a mer chant who has just arrived from Oporto, represents that once flourishing city to be, if possible, in a worse state than the capital. After such a picture of the foreign and domestic trade of the kingdom, you will hardly require to be told that the finances bear a close affinity to its commercial condition. —I shall only say on this subject, that were it not for the subscriptions, or rather forced loans, under that spe cious appellation, and which continue with unabated vi gour, sums lent by rich individuals who look to the con • fiscated estates for repayment, and the Crown jewels, those who are the best informed on what is passing assert that the system would not hold together for twenty-four hours. Touching the Crown jewels, it will be mortify ing to certain persons in England to hear that there are no more diamond buttons or sword-hilts likely to reach London. If a few stray stars and crosses can be col lected, they are to be sent; but these will be the last of the " good things" which the King, as his hebdomadal panegyrist never fails to call him, will be able to bestow. By the bye, there is a curious anecdote, though I be lieve not less true, in circulation, concerning one mode of improving the finances. You have heard of the recent death of the Princess MARIA BENEDETT A , aunt to the late King JOIIN VI. a woman of exemplary character, and affectionately attached to Don PEDRO as well as the young QUEEN. Though her benevolence and extensive charities during life were proverbial, she is known to have died very rich. Among the legacies, it is said that, besides some valuable diamonds; she bequeathed large sums to the Est PEROR and Donna MARIA. No sooner, however, had her death been announced to the Usurper, than he proceeded to the apartment where she breathed her last, and having examined the will, the trifles left to her immediate attendants were distributed, but a report was at the same time circulated that her Highness the late Princess had not left more property than was neces sary to pay her debts. It is remarkable that scarcely any of the usual ceremonies of lying in state or going into mourning were observed after this excellent woman's death. The reasons assigned for this are, first, her pre ference to Don PEDRO and the QUEEN ; and, secondly, her well-known predilection for the Charter. It is not improbable but this anecdote may have already found its way to England ; but it will bear telling twice, as an il lustration of passing occurrences and the system gene rally. I had almost forgotten to add, that the deceased Princess, to mark her sense of Don MIG VEL'S merits, left him a large Mack diamond, no bad emblem of per fidy and treason, it must be confessed ! I ought not to conclude a sketch which is calculated to afford but a very imperfect notion of the wretchedness to which this country is reduced, without stating as a fact, that there are serious thoughts, (for what can be too extravagant and preposterous for such fanatics?) of esta blishing the Inquisition, a direct violation of existing treaties, by the bye, in a modified form; and I have heard, from persons acquainted with the subject, that a number of Jesuits have already arrived here, to pave the way for the intended ecclesiastical discipline and re'gime. THE DRAMA. In an article of the Morning Chronicle of yes terday, signed VERAX, the writer, after asserting that dramatic talent was never more abundant amongst us than at the present time, proceeds to ascribe the decline of the English drama " to the prevalence of puritanical nations—the fastidiousness of the taste of the day—the weakness of Clergymen who dare not attend the theatres — and the coxcombicality of our fashionable and aristocrat;' exclusives, who refuse to sit nay where with the body of the people." To his first assertion we reply that Ii h:.l x, Yo N 6 , and KEm ate, are no proofs of our b...ing superior—or even equal in dramatic talent—to our pretleepssors. KEAN has been, as it were, proscribed from the London Stage. His merits, to the extent they have been ex alted, have long been questioned ; and his rerecra,s in the melo-dramatic character he is wont to give the genuine tragedy, is adduced as an argument in proof of our degeneracy of taste. Be this ns it may, report represents his genius in decay, and soon to be eclipsed for ever. YOUNG, at the apex of his glory, was secondary indeed to the last of the Clas sic School in tragedy, namely, JoIIN K ENi hiLc : histri • onic talent is not more immortal than the body : with tare wasting vigour of the latter the spirit mast decay—and YoUNG—the ghost of what he was—offe...s but a shadow for the substance. Cll.l tuts KEM aria:, never more than a respectable actor, has long waxed into those years when gentlemen wear wigs and spectacles ; and although the stage is the region of illusion, it is expecting too much of human imagination in us, with the most ductile fancy, to transform the wrinkled face of age into the smoothy brow of youth ; and to admit the labrur;iig of asthma—the querulousness of the veteran lungs—enc. , stiffness of Ihnb and expiring eye of a set of grandfathers, holding jealous and tenacious possession of the stage even to the last—to be the attril rites of Hamlets, Romeos, Rangers, Charles Surfaces, &c. Lifros is an agreeable buffoon, holding the same dra matic rank as Print tEn in Paris; who, although a public favorite, irresistibly risible, is yet con fined to a Minor Theatre, as incapable of that chastity and identification with his author which mark the true comedian. KEztrs is not greater than ODDRY ; and like him, he owes his gn•atest triumph to a silly face and manner, together wAr a diMinutive stature—stale subject for punster's to crack jokes upon. FtRREN comes nearer to the truth; but his unchanging manner, voice, and peculiar per son, deny him the Protean facility of assuming, with distinct particularities, that variety of character which genius has delineated with so many shades through out the vast range of Comedy. MaTiltwl, to a misfortune of person, has had the weakness and bad taste to misapply his ability to the vicious walk of mere mimicry. Had he dedicated one half of his time to the study of the English dramatists, which he has directed to men, and carried but a portion of his observations on the latter into the legitimate drama, he might have been the first comedian living. Madame VESTRIs is indubitably the best comic actress on the stage ; but she is of the French school, and in France, there are many of superior calibre. Here, in tragedy, we have long possessed no female of transcendant capacity ; and Hope, for the pre sent, is confined to the young star of Covent-Garden. VERAX challenges us to name a period when the English stage was more fertile in talent than at present. We presume the days of GARRICK might be cited in contradiction of his too hasty assertions. There were a Macklin, Mossop, Quin, Quick, and others of th times, whom we hope, for the reputation of the British Drama, were superior to the mediocrity of the time being. With a SIDDONS, KEMBLE, and COOKE, We had YOUNG and ELLISTON, in their youth—JORDAN , DUNCAN, BANNISTER, MUNDEN, EMERY, and more not yet replaced. As to the musical department of our theatre, we are still inferior to all Europe. Our school of music is yet unformed ; and the Opera has no regular house assigned to it, by which it in vats struggles to escape from present obscurity and degradation. However, admitting or not, the justice of our opinions, permit us to ask, if English theatrical talent is still equal to all we suppose it to have been—why the national Theatre, deserted by the distinguished of society is fallen to neglect and ruin ? We must tell Vents, that puritanical repugnance averse to its en couragement, the objections of clergymen to assist at the Drama, and the abandonment of English plays through " coxcombicahty," in the " ezclusives," is an effect and not a cause. No,— Yera,r—it is owing to theatrical monopoly . —the mismanagement of people who abuse the stage by their cupidity ; it is that dramatic writers are lightly treated by these mere speculators on the public pocket, that a selfish, capriciuns and arbitrary judgment is passed by these histrions on iiramatic compositions, inso much as no respectable writer will choose to humiliate him sea' before them—it is because old men stick upon the stage as immortal stars to the exclusion of fresh caadidates— paid salaries which tempt them to arrogance and neg lect of assiduity—it is because tragedy, comedy, opera, farce, melo-drama, pantomime, and concert are all played on the same stage, by which neither are closely cultivated : it is because the inferior actors are most detestable, des titute of hope, and badly paid ; and it is because, Oh Vertu ! that there is a brothel attached to every London theatre, called a Saloon—to the disgrace of society and the in famy of our national theatre—from which Clergymen and Coxcombicality" choose to be exclusive. St at Extract of a commercial letter from Rio Janeiro, 30th July :—`• From the further improvement in the exchange, produce has met with a decline in proportion ; and as the new crops of coffee comes more abundantly into market, we think the prices must go much lower. The stock of sugar, hides, and horns, is lighter, and quotations nomi nal. Exchange on 'London, '27." The Guernsey paper received this morning states that. the revenue tables of the present quarter will, it is said, present a cheering increase ; that the amounts mule up to the close of last week, exhibits, above the correspond ing period of last year, an increase of nearly 501. Bermuda Papers to the 12th August have been re ceived, but are void of intelligence. ST. MARTIN-IN-THE-FIELDS. The Churchwardens having stood forwaiii as the ma pions of the Gentlemen of the Select V,•stu'," it, a paper circulated thrcnagh the parish, purportiiv; to lh " a statement of facts," in opposition to certain Ref:olutilns unanimously passed at a numerous Meeting of the Pa rishioners ; the Committee appointed on that occasion respectfully request the attention of their fellow Parish ion ers to a statement of truths, in support of those Cons, and in reply to the " statement" of our worthy Churchwarden.s. In order to bring the subtect fully under review, the Resolutions, Churchwarden's " state ment," and extracts from Minutes of Vestry in confirma tion of the Resolutions, will be found under separate heads; and the Committee only requeet a fait, unpreju diced, and candid examination. RESOLU At a General Meeting-;theiarishi.ners of St. Alat tiu•in-the Felds, held at the British 00e.-house, Cockspur-street, uu Alm• • day, the 17th day of August, 1829, Mr. James N • yld it. the Chair. The following Resolutions, substantiated by the eykit het sal thc • parish haul's, were unanimously carried : I. Th r every householder, paying rates, his a iie,h; ta assemble in vestry. That ti hnewltoldre4 i• part•!t h.Are, according it. n.. lea usage, the legal right o: elee , inz itsa.ser sit thysts:Ayes to be a roipoinible vt..try. The the flous •holders h .ve been deprived rf their tight •. by a few as•uutioo t6c f•oe.er t•f vuct anz t,zer ci,ir.g the ri,thts ai.d power, ..1 the wlio:e 11:; :e of bouselviltlers, thereby converting a r'-p.a.•i!tlr into ..n irrupou•ible power. Con trzry to every principle of Ito a lu•rice. That the xncient eustimi of making Church tides in the • parish of St. Mattic-m•the Fic.d. was, tha the name sl.nuld be made by the gal islitotiers Claret:. who frequently tle:ibisateslaTnai - and raerci•rd that right in Ups t: Vestry snorrnliled. a. appear. by varkus tunics ft the r .riNi, lurks, as:J that .•ntivqu•nt7y all the Chords lt,tes made, retried. a. d expended, by the Select Vr•tr without ;lie cui.sent or ea•.minas' of the parishioners. are inept and void. - - 1l l. 'that, as th- perish !rooks contain the most pert. ct pro frh t the parishioners ui n exercise their just and lawful tight to chn...e . Churchwardei.s, Overseer-, Sea/tellers, Pew.Opeiier•, Ve:try Clerks, and other parish ,ervar.ts, this nieetin.; tf vretore it. commend to the inhabitants to demand the full and fret exercise of those rights. • IV. That the support of evening lecturers, i,, of itselt, pertly voluntary Oil the parts of the inhabitants ; and the parish b 0 dor record unroll+ of probationary sermons being order d, and pi e.,e,.e elected by the householders at large, it is, they. fore, quite ev•dent, that the •' ge..tleirien of the veer[)" can have nu pre...eft, tive right to interfere, as they, by the tollowing resolutidn, hay, admitted. Feb. 1-t. 1793. "The vestry take into considetivicni a let , er from the Rev. Air. Slatthews and the Rev. jr.S Harr:sun, pray - rug tor a"Ille assistauee trout the vestry ; the vestry ia.ttLvt tk.tr litubtlity to give any assistance. they having nu power to du We .. This meeting, therefore, feel it right to protest against the resolution passed uy the " get:tie:nen of the vestry," mi the ritli day of ikcember, 1813, whereby they agreed, fur the liret time, unlawfully, to pay the lecturers out of the rites, WithoUi the Con sent of the inhabitant., such illegal act having deprived the pa. ri hirmers both of their right and property. V. That the right of the parishioners to assemble in vestry every year, to examine, audit, and approve of the expenditure, and the levying of rates by the overseers, is clearly set out in the parish books; it is, therelore, expedient that the householders, pain; rates, should demand the free exercise of those impurtaat right-, as, by so doing, unlawful outlays will be prevented, :IA large suns. saved to the rate payers. CHURCHWARDEN'S STATEMENT. The following Resolutions or a 'Aleeting of some of the p.- rishiouers, of which a copy is here given, having been circulatL3 to this parish, and the name of the Churchwardens being introduced therein, they respectfully solicit the attention of the parishioners to a statement of facts, as placed against each itesolu:ion. I. On the Ist of May, 1827, in a trial in the Court of King's Bench, it was found by the Jury, that the &feet Vestry in the pa rish of St. blartin4mthe- Fields had existed from time tmatetm, rial, and is ►tated by Lord Tenterden, to be *. the third verdict finding a Select Vestry." 11. It appears, from the records of the parish, that the Church Rates have been always made by the Select Vestry. 111. By the verdict of the jury, on the Ist of May, 1827, as on two former occasions, it was found that the Churchwardens were, from time immemorial, chosen by the vestry. IV. It does not appear that the vestry ever agreed to pay the lecturers oat of the rates; they have been paid nut of the pew tents, and it has been expressly so stated to the parishioners, in the accounts published in 1828. ...some years since, the opinion sit three eminent counsel was taken on the subject, and they unani mously determined in favour of the legality of so paying the lecturers. V. We take this opportunity of stating to the parishioners, that the Board of Churchwardens and Otte; seers appointed ac cording to Act ut Parliament fur the management of the poor, is altogether independent and unconnected with the vestry, and that the appointment of the overseer is ve.:ed in the ningistrates by the law of the land. The persons cutidectin the cause against the vestry in 1828, had undistutbed access for several months, pre vious to the trial, to all the books and records in pcsst.s.ion of the vestry. It may, therefore. fairly be presumed that :hey produced before the court all the extracts favourable to their cause. The verdict above referred to, shews that, in the opinion ut the jury, their claim was not pruv,d by such extracts. It having been broadly stated in printed papers, that very large sums have been injudiciously expitidel by the vestry, i: :ppears upon the average of the last twenty years, the church rates, yearly, have not amounted to one peany in the pound. The Churchwardens invite an insptctiuti of the accounts, which they will feel great pleasure iu laying before any of the pa. tishioners. For this purpose, one of the Churchwardens will attend at the Workhou.e irons to to 12, every Alunday during the moths of October and Noveni;ler. COMMITTEES REPLY. I. The Churchwar.ens assert that, " the Select Vestry has ex isted from time immemorial," that is, ever siree t. .e year 1:89 ; now for proofs to the contrary : PROOF I.—The &are, or sentence, of the Archllishots of Can terbury, the Bishops of Winchester and Salisbury, and other,, made in the year 1222. shows that the Parish of St. Margaret then con tained the whole space, from which the six maiming parirLes have since been taken, viz. St. Martin, St. James, St. George, St. Au.,, St. Paul, Covent Garden. and St. John. This well known decree is conclusive evidence that tr• relect vestry had existed from time immemorial ; this important docu ment the Lord t }lna Justice rejected, at the trial in iti27, necause Mr. Vincent, tit? keeper or thr records at Westmaister, when he produced the ancert book in which it is reguaered, was ur...ble t • swear that he knew tar entry to have been made In the yin 1222. But the following Letters Patent show, :hat the pariah was nut formed till 4CO years after ; therefore, to te the wn:d4 of the Lord Chief justice Temerden, in his bumming up. '• It there w..s no parish, of course there could be nu select vestry. " Pamir Letters Patent of King new) , the Bth, dated 1542 : "Do will, zrant, and ordain. that all those buildings or Msses, and other tithable places, which are between the parish rat St. Clement without the bars of the New Temple, London, and our royal palace of Westmin-ter, and which hitherto stood in. and weft parcel of the parish of ithe said church of ht. Margas et, together with the inmate. and inhabnauts thereof, shall hunt heitcelt rth and he deemed to be of, and it: the parish at the said church of St. lar: in-in-the- Fields." Paoor 3.—The letters patent of King James 1. fourth year of his reign, 1607, recite, Th.t ICrig Henry VIII. caused the church in tht. parish of St. Martin tube erected, and made a Garish there." Paoor 4.--select Vestry appointed by the Bishop's Faculty i." 166% : " Gilbert, by the providence of GOD, Bishop of London, to tbs. Vicar, Churchwarti.:ns, and Parishioners of the parish of St. Mar tin-in-the-Fields, in the county of Middlesex, and of our dim' n and juri , clictls n of London, strs.'eth greeting in cur Lord Gnoever lasting : whereas divas vertu's§ ut honour, worth, and reputa tion, within your parish of St. Martin aforesaid, viz Charles Seymour, Roc. [arid twenty three-others], have, by way of peti tion for and id the name of themselves and the rest of the said parishioners, represented unto us, :did to the right worshipful Richard Chaworth, Doctor of Laws, our Chancellor, that, during the :ate unhappy times of trouble and disorder within this realm, the public affairs of the said church and parish have been nicer. skated to be managed by persons not mmitted thereunto by the authority of the diocesan, az ordinary of the place, in whew power i 1€