The Sun.
London, England, 1840-08-26 00:00:00

VII NT

ING PP T ; ON••
LITERATURE.

LETTER TO THE MOST REV. THE
AUCI2I3IShOP OF CANTERBURY, 6*c.
By Sir ARTHUR BROOKE FAULKNER,
Member y' the Universities y Oxford and Cambridge.
lt.cinonstrances ”gailist Elie conduct of the Church
arc now so numerous, that langinge—w h.ch we are.
told has withered .:rinses—inust have lost its power
if the Church survive. Sir A. B Faulkner is not, -
however, a new remonstrant, for the present letter
speaks of a series on the same subject which he has
written during the last eight or nine years, pointing
out to the Bishop of the diocese some neglect, Of
which the parish of Evington Leigh, Gloucester-
shire, is the victim. Hu says that there is as little
benefit to be expected from time Clergy when they
are resident as when the} are not—
.. Because though my parish church is not far from
deserted, there is no part of the machinery of the
establishment wanting to secure an cverflowing attend'
ance—Because fifteen years' experience in this parish
has taught me that no remonstrance or importunity with
either Bishop or incumbent has succeeded to bring
about the slightest improvement—and because n'Y
Bishop, foeling no doubt considerably incommoded by
my representations and importunity, at last fair'y.
backed out of the thing by confessing he had no po'sn
to give redress. I consider myself, therefore, justifie"
to conclude that in most parishes the same unhappy
re-
suit may be more or less expected as in my own, tie
dfference only depending upon the mere accidental chr
racter or motives of the individual pastor.
Now, if to half the land which your Grace TOO"
sents as so deplorably destitute, you add those parishes
where resident clergymen are of little or no use, what
a spectacle we shall have presented of a Church which
would be regarded as so pre-eminent for diffusing re
ligion among us, what comfort it holds out for eu,r
having parted company with the Queen of Harlots, an"
the beast spoken of in the Revelations!'
f
After many remonstrances to the Bishop - o
Gloucester the Bishop refuses to interfere, alleging
that he had no power to give relief,—
"so that he receives," adds Sir Brooke," 9,000.
a-year for overseeing that the shepherds are idle rind
the sheep rotting, On our part, we are compelled to
put up with the mere Sunday services of curates livieg
at a distance, the other six days being little better than,
absolutely blotted out of the pastor's calendar.
course, those among us who may be overtaken by aie"7
ness or sorrow are alike neglectei on Sunday and Da:
turday ; contrary to the Bishop's own requiremeu"
counsel can neither be given to the young, nor color
lotion to the old,' nor comfort to the penitent, Dr%
warning to the reprobate ; and should any dying per'°!..
ever so anxiously desire to receive the sacrament from •
the hands of a clergyman, he may either not be found'"
or he comes too late, or it is not known where be
sides, or when he is accessible, the consequence of which
is, that the people seldom think of sending for a elergr ,
man at all in any of their needs or distresses, however
urgent. This treatment of the people surprises ine,tl
more, as the Bishop has so expressly intimated, lnaeek
plainly stated, that the clergy have duties on the wee
days as well as on Sunday."
'These are specimens of the conduct of the Clergy
in one parish, but it is not generally very different;
whence it is appropriately concluded the Church 1,1
in danger, but her danger comes from herself, a"
from no external enemies.
We pass by—as unwilling to believe that any nier..
gyman can be so mean as to appropriate to his covalt
use the Sacrament money—what Sir B. Fatale)
says on this subject. The Clergy, we know we
are extortioners, plunderers within the law, but they
plunder not without having it for a protector.

THE RETURN TO ENGLAND, 2 Vo
Cadell, London, 1840.
This is a pleasant, off-hand, rambling story, the
main incidents of which are bound together by t?e
slightest possible ligaments. From the fall;
the
liarity which he everywhere shows with the
usages of the service, we suspect that to
author is a military man, who has taken
the
He by way of beguiling his leisure n°o
Ile has many of the requisites for success in ihe
lighter branch of literature—that is to say, in
cor
novel—for he conceives and developes char%its
with force and skill, as he has shown in his Prtroes
of Major Glendower and Capt. Mariana; P°soe,,,vs
a fertile and salient fancy, and carefullY . er-
those frequently besetting sins of the novelist,
baseness and•prolixity. Teeming, as it does. "lttt
to
cident, stitring yet unexaggerated, the " Return .5
England" can seal cell- fail to please the lovers of this
species of composition. The first volume is thi
best, being written with the most vivacity ; and the
scene at night in the wood during a thunder-stornit
where a young lady, Bella Mowbray, is beset bf
an anonymous ruffian in the attire of a musi•
clan, and is rescued by an officer who has
assumed the disguise of an old woman, in nv
der the more successfully to carry on a flirtation
with the adopted daughter of the Countess of An-
nandale, displays no ordinary graphic energy. T',°
tale, we understand, in some of its main parts, Is
founded on facts ; and the author adds, in his Pre
i;
face, that " some of the chief pictures whi/ive
presents have been drawn from real objects!" y
should conclude as much from the spirit
which they are detailed.