The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1873-03-04 00:00:00

GI ontsponbence.
-4,--
:R FAIR FIELD.
To th &law.

FALILOUTH RECTORY IN TIN MARKET.

Iralmeatk Itesaary, preinaig ,fia Ita fortunate
iatambent, aa la oompstaii, mil • MINK Idea than
Ilevonteen hundred gonads perammem,Mla $o market;
not to dpeak or the more modest praitamitma of Code
brooks, in Mouth Devon, which Is to be aired first as
• kind of whet to the appetite of the sp•ottlator in
eociasiastioal property. At thievery moment Falmouth
Is r• ported to hi in great excitement about this
momentous ..to, appointed to take place here in the
Ane ion. Mart of the City of Loudon at two P.M
preeiself. There have been lodlgnation meetin,,
proenied over by the Mayor, at whiob angry words have
been avoken about the rector" rate of sixteen penes in
the pound, and reeolutioas hare been palmed oondemc-
leg sales of the right to appoint ministereess''oootrary
to the spirit of Christianity and • foal blot on the
nationol Church." But the old, deserted City ',harsh.,
yard, wherein through our windows we can see the
sparrows crowding the leafier tree above the gravs.
stones, is not mire salm and retired than we in this
assembly. Here no angry passions rap; for @oboe
calculations of percentages on capital and probable
duration of Ilya oesupy tit, to the eiMusion of all
ruder ioduecose. Plain men of business are these bore
gatheral together to the number of about one hundred.
1 Th• casrical element seems to be decently absent.
Lawyers and agents chiefly, I should ray, though there
' is a it anger with • geeing iron.grey beard and bugs
felt hat, who looks very like a Mormon elder come to
contemplate the strange ways of the Gentiles in Church
matters; and not far from him a portly visitor, whom
ruitie sorb and fresh colour betoken some oonnection
with the agricultural professioo. Hut we are not •
eommunisative body ' • sad why seed man is Lore, and
whether he moats to bid, sod, if so, how far he means
to go, are secrete toiled in the breasts of all.

It is already • quarter past two whin • beetvolett-
lo.king gentleman, with thin white hair, tripe with
juvaale pace into the roetrum, aud, with • biw to the
msembiy, and • whisper to his cleric upon the right,
and another to a gentlemen on the left, declares the '
boldness of the day to be opened. There is the mockery
to be gone throuho of the sale of some lease., groaoa
roots, and what not, which completed, we rouse at ease
to Dodbrooks. The conditioas of este are to be taken
as read, and then there is a general unfolding of par-
ticulars of sale. The oompeat of the rostrum then
blandly invites soy questioan He will be very pleased '
to answer any; but the silent gathering is not to be '
coaxed out of its reserve, This, it appears, is • place
producing • net inmate of only L'2l9 per annum, and
not mach tints ought, therefore, to be devoted to it.
The rosary boom I. handsome, with els bedrooms and '
a dressing-room. The chsreh seats 400 people; the
population is USD, ehisfiy agricultural. Taste are
good sehools which, says our instraster la pareathests,
are "always good thinga" To MUD all, the neigh-
bourhood affords imeellent 'misty • and there is but one
Dissenting plaits of worship in tge parish. A kind of
ghost of a laugh is raised at this remark, but the
&walls), quickly :Meows into its habstu.l repose. And
now the tab o ot enobaotm.ut seems to be oompleted ;
but one poiefal foot remains to be told, mud toe
ccoupeut of the rostrum is too honourable a man, and
too will sin sainted e ill his duty, to withhold it from
the Inectiler. The feat is that there is • oarless
difference of opinion betwasa the present rector of
Doibrooke and the possessor of the patronage on the
qemtion of age. The vendors are clearly under the
tuipresaion that the rector is in his 68th year. This
statement stares you in he bee on the very front of
the particulars of asla But there is an awkward letter
from the rector himself, protesting ageing this attempt
to thrust upon bits the honours of old age. It appear@
that he protests that be wee born on the 16th of August,
1817; and it 'meld clearly be rash to dispute b. There
is a feeble suggestion of seeptisisai in the remark f MID
somebody that the writer "doesn't say where ;" sad
then tbe occupant of the rostrum leans down to the
professional gentleman and says, "Better take it at 56,
• ? ' to which the probational gentleman promptly
answers "Oh, I think se," and the bidding' prowled.
Whether this unhappy insidemt damped the speculative
'obit of the sliest mesuibly, or wheffitor Dud brooks amid
L'2l9 • year bad few attractions for them, is of course
difficult to say ' • but it is a fact that after this the
huskies' proeseded somewhat languidly, and it filially
stuck fast at • bidding of E. 940, whereupon the Meow.
son to the reetory of Dodbirooks was withdrawn from
oorapetitiou.
It is now that the real bugloss of the day begins;
but the miring observer would look in vein among the
assembled bidders for any token of excitement. A few
Dome in from the opal doorway, and the ocompants of
the banishes dont their ranks • little. but that is all.
The same formid remark that the 000ditions are to be
takes as read; the same offer to answer any questions
are then made, with the same result, and filially we get
Or 110 more to business.
This., at our President reminds n.,ts • very valaalle
save wean, hot he is content for the present to glean
with us about it in • genial and a confiding spine,
sailing now and then like one who would gladly give
any man the whole thing to bestow upon a deeerviog
eon, in orders, if it were oaly his to give. Bat it is his
clients' property, and in their interest he is booed to
e itmeal no.. of its manifold advantages. He remarks
very justly that there are many gentlemen who may
have the means but not the inflows* to obtain prefer-
ment. Be need hardly say that there has been ea
enormous number of applications about the rectory. It
Is true, there la • oertaie amouat of exaitionont in F.I.
mouth on the subjoin and the sal* in whisk we are now
engaged; but that has nothing to do with as We are
here to mil a very valuable property. Let an itse what
it is, To begin with, there is no doubt bete shoat
age. The preterit Inourobect will enter his 77th year
neat limeh • and Marsh is new at heed. The booms
is yearly increasing from the extension of the town and
port. The °herrn was made • perish in the reign of
Charles the Sewed ; and it was in the twenty-third ,
year of the reign of that raoaareh that the Ist wee
pared which gives to "the parson of Falmouth and his
anceemen for ever " a right to a portion of the earnings
of the inhabitants of that town, to be levied in the
shape of a tax of sixteen-pence in the pound on " all
houses, ahoy., warehouses, milers, and outhouses, this
or thereafter to be built." Figures, whieh our infor-
mant is able to quote, show clearly bow the total of
this rate Las grown in recent years, and bow likely it is
Mill to grow. Than there are tithe. and" surplice
fee.," and a .' parsocags house (and," and lastly, great
importance is st-ashed to certain exactions known as
the Black Rock Beacon Due.," coexisting of 2i, on
every closeting vessel, and halls-arown on every other
vessel which shell peas the aforesaid beimou, and stens-
tins of the tied* of Felmouth show how important this
source of revenue's becoming. Lod now we sample the
limbs of dry figures, and immerge into the wow
atmosphere of Mead!, suggeetioe. It appeers that tin
excited town of Falmouth may have some notion of
buying its own rectory—or rather, the next propestatioe
sbevino—and thus own tut to make • bargain to get
rid of the Bleak Book bleak mid, and wham of the
tax of sixteen-pease in the poand by diplomatic
ossomavres. It is • good Idea; and our lostruotor has
not the least obi eotioa to any representative of the towel
staking an offer for the property. It ie,he admitnevea
desirable that the town should have it. At to the rata,
or the claim which Him Majesty Ring Charles the
Second conferred for ever the earnings of the Fal-
mouthitew we are assured that it "sot never be got
rid of." Its legality was sontested twig ago, when
greet legal authorities pronotomed in he favour. And,
gentlemea," eantinase the bland oecuptrit of the rest.
rum, depend upon it, whatever some parties may sap,
this is a ciuntrir, to whish vested interests will not be
suffered to be extinguished without due oompoosation."
lo fact, this right me never be eat aside by any Leek-
nature whatever, Bo make your ealealatiens. This is
not an ordinary, but an extraordinary &deems., and
such a one VI the speaker has rarely to offer. Thews Ic
• chapel of saes attached to it, whit* he had forgotten
to mention, though it is telf-sapporting, and the rester
hes the patronage.
"And now, gentleman, what shall I my I'
The orator panic" Led looks around; stall there is no
answer. The swedes is repeated. But it seems like
whipping a dead horse to attempt to stir the paseloos
of this singularly phlegmatie assemblage. They will
not even look at the rostrum now. Some drum with
their fingers on the little desks; some 'laces MMus spar-
rows and the soaking tomb-stooes outside others mom
their knee., and close their eyes as if menially engaged
in sortie abstract calculations, having no referee/le whet-
ever to the.proesedings of the room. Bat our Pre.
'idiot's good-natured mulles are itiexhanstible, and he
merely inquires again kindly: "What shall I start
with? Surely (be scatinaes it must be worth some-
thing to any op. d you. T it at the most moderate
ealsoletion—st 7 per seat. We have •Meat 77 no
calculation is simple Come; it Is with the room, and
I should like you to begin."
Still no token. Can it be that this hundred ponces
are but idlers, who have merely taken name here
from the driving rain and mod outside, and have no
more idea of bidding for the edvoweset of Falmouth
than of buying • travelling menagerie? Impoesible I
Our instrustor will try them again.
"Come now, 4000? £7,000! Will any one make
an offer of £8,000?"
to break the charm. Somebody has started with
bbunPl:::;son£77llNdopn7ewPkihkrio:irelli"ywilgrvitobiditiiiageb‘rgaeooPaainnu"pan":aaatt°ilekingihtheboy hundreds
up
who, manning their fame, takes for • bidding • nod or
some other roationis bites which be knows too well to

" Not ball its prowl Tains, gentiamats."
The bidding moves again by raptel stages to
and than the ousambly hams to bs stimulated ono'
more.

--"'-ittet reflect ! An Insane of £1,700 per annum. As
a matter of mune the present ineumbent is Tory
Infirm and Ms nest presentation 'nut come in a Tory
short Urns."
The appeal seems fruitless, and the seller ninon-
straws kindly but trmly. " Really," hi says, "I am
astonished at you; It mast be worth more."
But the bidding form of the asegrob:y amideotly
well-uigh spent The movement is resumed but lan-
guidly—going firm in hundreds, then in fifth. only.
till it reaches L'9,0013. And now the &willing* Warms
egain into the origiaal idiot languid indiffenrom There
I. along pens., and a anteroom between the austioaem
and the gentlemen on his lilt; bat no response front
the room.
" Gentlemen, is it your pleasure to adman V'
Still no response.
"Nine thousand I Onoe, twioe ; sad nee for the
last tine." Still some. no answer; whereupon the
spo?ker, attar another oonteretton says solemnly—
' Very well, gentlemen, then my Whets roam the
right of =Mug the bidding .£10,000,"
In brief. Falmouth Rectory is bought In; and who
will be the out hair to the right to appoint a rioter;
to hvy rates on the angry town ; and to board ships
for half-orowns, In the name of the Chunk abreast of
the Bleak Rook Beam, must Mill for awhile remain a
problem.

To such souls of Falmouth, stye the lull, may
happen to have bees to the Auction-room while the
bidding was gain; oo—how trying, bow full of oon-
Rioting emotions, hope, fear, sal ant pillions fervour,
meet \awe lama the time I The "bid." ea they
escaladed each other, represented, or might represent,
phases of faith. At '1'6,000," the souls of Falaamath
might be resting in the 'Lowest" of
t 0"! Who could tell that tie f.sl;lrefet
represent a leap to High Ritualism and "GtAbolle"
preotlose ; while '' C 9,000" might sagas • divise it the
ebi.oll9 soltod.
It Is said that Vir esetiparlre it Bea Vinson*
la Ilse Solveier, tee likereeol people wee Psalm!.