The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-09-30 00:00:00

CITY TITHES.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE BRITISH PRESS.
St's,—ln your remarks On the claims of *lr. Kyotsfori;
the lay impropriator of St. Botolph, Ahlgate, you P3lll,
very truly. that " it was deitirable to relieve the disebssion
of the question from the difficulties that seemed to belong
to it, as relating to the Clergy." I perfectly agree with
you, and am therefore desirous of making a few observa
lions myself, leel for the purpose of going into the merits
of the general question, than of detaching it from all con,
nection with the Kitablisbed Church. The Lay hopro-
pristors are the owners of a certain specks of property, in
which the Clergy have no interest Whatever. tine of the
ailvartages of this property is, that it is free from their
claiths. Mr. Tyrrwhit, in his legal argument, has yet!:
satisfactorily traced the origin of tithes, se they are
called, rather improperly, ih the city of London ; and
he has shown that certain duties were eonitected with
the imposition of the heavy charge on the. rental. fixed
in the decree, which tie Clergy of that day, for
their own purposes, did not choose to have ennitlEd.—
I am not disposed to deny that Mr. fiyitston, though lfr•
will not contribute to the maintenance of the poor, and
though he cannot administer to the spiritual wants of the
people, is not entitled to the full enjoyment of his right':
as lay impropriator of the parish of St. Botolph; but it
really appears t s toe that, standing as he does, in a Sitll3.
6011 so widely different from those for whose benefit these
tithes were originally granted, he (night to he peculiarly
careful bow he seems to he inclined to stretch the letter of
the law unfairly to swell his ineothe. In other parishe.,
where the contest has been with clergymen, an amiable a.,
rangethent has been made in commutation of this exorbi-
tant claim, end I am sure if Mr. Kynaston had to perferm
the sacred duties, to compensate which his property was
eteatril, he would Mott- the exeellent examples of the in-
cumbents of St. Andrew and St. Dunstan. No Minister
of our pure and holy religion would expose himself
to the just odium that attaches to Mr. Kywaston's per
severance in extorting doubtful rights. It is u.itl that
he has but a secondary interest in the question. P. 3 the
tithes of St. Botolph are mortgaged 'to an amount e‘,
ceeding 30,000!.; but, that fact does not in the slight.
est degree alter the ju tice of the case. It may, ac)
I have no doubt will, ultimately Amu a serious question
between Mr. Kynatiton anti his crEllitori ; but the pa.
rishioners dr St. Botolph have only to take care that
neither lie nor they shall share the spoil on which they
calculate. I confess, Sir, I feel anxious on ells ceer-
-81011 to contrast the conElurt of the lay intpropriator with
the clerical incumbents. At this period, our yeuerahl:r
Establislitnent is assailed on all sides. Its oveithrown
predecessor is raising herself in the Sister Kingdom. and
anticipating her return to wealth and 'tower. Numerous
sectaries look with Evil eyes upon the Church, and Colobett
and his infidel crew openly avow their Wish to plunder and
destroy It. Let it then be known that if, in one pariah, the
exotbitint claims 'under the 31th of Dotty VI I I. ore still
pressed, if .there is a merciless impropriator insisting on
" his bond," without any reference to substantial justice,
the reproach rests not with the clergy, but with these oho
possess their property without discharging their duties.
I ant, Sir,

A FRIEND TO Tlik cnrnar.

New NlaTotts.—Tonses, Wm. Doidge Taunton, Eeq.--•
Weymouth, Jelin Martin, Esq.—Poole, John Bingley
Garland, Eeq.—Winchester, Giles King Lyford, Eeq.—
Romsey, James Sharp, Req.—Southampton, Stephen Lin-
ton, Esq.—Newport. Sir Richard Basset, Knt.—Stlisbury,
George Pain, Esq.—Basingstoke, R. Hnlbert, Esq.
CoNrsurr or ('near.—lt the last American mem
we had the far:iv:big amusing story told with great gra.
vity !—" Several articles have lately appeared in the Na-
tional htelligeneer and some other paper!, pnrporting to
gives history of certain late transactions of Judge Brecken-
ridge, in Florida, and in which the Judge has alternately
been censured and defended. The difficulty arose (ruin
this circumstance :—A paragraph was published in a
Florida paper reflecting upon the Court. The editor of
that paper gave up Mr. Steele as the anthor ; and as both
Mr. Steele and the editor were members of the bar, the
Judge ordered a rule to allow cause why they should rot
be suspended from the bar. It appears, from a histmy of
the affair given by the Judge, that in snaking his defence.
Mt. Steele ofß•red a most gross insult to the Court, by sav-
ing, in a rude and violent manner to a by-stander, " The
Judge of this Court is my enemy—he is the friend of my
accuser; I have affidavits to prove it." Thus (says the
Judge) leaving me no alternative but to quit the bench. or
commit him to prison. lie was instantly committed fir
three hours, and mould have been committed for a longue
time, but that he might thereby have been furnished with
an excuse for abandoning his defence, from the very %crime:
charges made against him. Ile was sent for before the
time had expired, but positively refused to accompany the
officer. He was, in consequence, permitted to remain until
the Court was about to adjourn. Ile was again sent fur, in
order that he might be discharged, with a salutary mime-
nition. Ilium he came into Court his conduct was rink
and insulting; be had a segar in his mouth, a ztirk iu lifs
hand, a pistol in his waistcoat pocket, and appeared to ire
in a state of inebriety. ' You have sent for toe, Sir ; he:
I am, Sir ;" was the manner in which he addressed him-
self to the Court. Ile was mildly admonished, and fined
fifty dollars, for his indecorous deportment. With these
facts before us, we cannot but marvel how any persort
could be found who would step forth as the friend tent
apologist of the offender, much less cast reflections agaiest
a Judge who hail with so much milthiese and finite:lra:est
exercised the power necessary to preserve the digi.;,y
of the Bench against such repeated and wanton insults."
CURIOUS •ND NOVEL. Wank:K.—On Tuesday afar-
noon, after a party of gentlemen had dined together •t e
tavern in the Strand, a wager was offered by one of •
company, that he would open two dozen of oysters quicker
than any person present could devour them ; and that, by
the time he had °must the twenty-four, six would remain
unconsumed. This bet was immediately accepted by a
Captain ll—. and the whole party adjourned to a neigh-
' 'touring shell-fish repository, to decide the wager. Mr.
Bowen, the person who oifered the wager, after selecting
two dozen of the finest oysters from the man's stork. e -
guested he would favour hint with all the o ster-knives he
had in his poswasion, which, amounting to four, he put
three into his pocket, and commenced operations with the
' remaining one; but after opening the oyster,, instead of
separating them frmn the shell, he left that feat to be pe. -
forme: by ('aptain It., Cio, notwithstanding the aid ot*
his teeth, with the additional assistance of his thumb and
linger, was not able to effect the devouring of more than
eleven before Mr. Bowen had opened the whole of the
" Natives ;" thus losing the wager, which was for tlinne:-
and wine fur a party of twelve friends of each, to take
place on Michaelmas-day. Though the viand,: were not
specified, yet we have no doubt that, according to custom,
there was a geese at table.

POISONOUS NATUSC OF AFRICAN TEAR WOOD.-1,1
the course of the last fortnight seven shipwrights and tN% •
sawyers of Plymouth yard have died. VI these urea La
received cuts or bruises while employed on Mrioan teak
wood. and though some have attributed the deaths to a:-
mospherical influence, there arc not a few who assign th,mk
to the reception of poisonous juices of the above-nail:el
timber. (H these men, a shipwright, Gregory Nichols,
remarkably powerful and active man, scratched his leor
• against a piece of the wood, and mortification ensue
almost immediately. To ascertain the probable cans.% Dr.
Bell, the surgeon on Monday last opened the body, an
in the course of thel dissection happened to scratch one
his fingers. This passed unnoticed at the time, but in fir.-
afternoon Dr. Its became alarmed at rrceiving it, think-
ing lie might have imbibed souse of the morbid matter.
Shortly afterwards a shivering came on. and lie was oblige t
to be put to bed and bled. The best medical aid was .oi-
eninistovd, and the moat rigid attention paid to he rase;
but in spite of all, the svinomns daily became worse. amt
On Friday evening he died. We recollect a para,zratt
which appeared lately in the papers, attributin the deaf a.
of several men near London to the cause mentioned heft ;
and if on examination the wood should be found to posscSA
deleterious qualities, we trust that the use of it will be dif•
Since writing theabpre it i said that hawlins,
a shipwright, tiring at New Passage. and who had shr,litly
scratched himself, is dead, and that another, resitling at
Torp:oint, is at the point of death, front &similar
Ire3!.-q

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