The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1872-02-27
Virg ma Clergy in the Olden Time.
BY JAMES PARTON.

~ ~ hn Go = hhAONs
The clergymen of Virginia were iu a
position so false and demoralizing, that
as body they could not but become in.
dolent aud dissolute. The law gave them
sixteen thousand pounds Of tobacco per
annum which might be worth two hun.
dred pounds year, if the quality were
high, aud the incumbent lucky aud skill
tul in selling it; or it might be worth
sixty pounds year, if the quality were
low and the crop superabundaot. They
we're further allowed by law foar huu.
dred pounds oftobacco, or forty shilllngs,
for preaching a funeral sermon two nun.
drod pounds OF tobacco for marriage by
license fifty for marriage by bauns
and fee for baptism, which custom APP
pears to have fixed at guinea for the
rich, aud FIVE shillings Tor others. To
these revenues was added globe sufli-
cent for good farm, which liberal
vestry, We are told, were sometimes kind
enough to stock" with one or two fami-
lies of slaves. The clergy, appointed
without much regard to their fitness, were
subjected to little supervision. The par.
ishes were Of great extent, stretching
sometimes as much as thirty miles along
Il river, and yet SO thinly inhabited tina,
they could scarcely furnish a congrega-
ton; aud such was the scarcity of can.
didates, that commssary hesitated to
suspend clergyman, even for notorious
vice, because the parish might remain
vacant for two or three years.
Thus circumstanced, each clergymen
behaved according to his disposition. A
few Of them, men Of learning and virtue
did their duty, aud eked out their slender
aud changing incomes by taking pupils
and it was these few who saved civiliza.
tion in the Colony. Others, men of rude
energy and executive force, pushed the
cultivation Of their globes, bought more
slaves, raised more tobacco, speculated
sometimes in both, grew rich, reduced
their parish duty to the minimum, and
performed that minimum with haste aud
Iurmality. But the greater number liv.
I'd as idle hangers gu Of the weather.
nouses, assisting their fellow-idlers, tn {
planters, to kill time and run through
their estates, not always dissolute, bu
easy going, self indulgent, good-natureC
men of the world. 1t was not very un
common for the clergyman of parish t.
be president of its jocky.club, and person
ally assist in the details Of the race-course
such as weighing the men and timing tn,
horses. 1t was common for clergymel
to ride after the hounds in fox-nunting
and they we're as apt to nail the troph,
OF the days chase TO their stable door q
any other man. The names of clergy
men figured among the patrons Of ball
and they we're rather noted for their skill
at cards. All of which was just az prop
er for clergymen us for planters, an
more necessary. But in those days tn
bottle was the vitiatng accompaniment
Of every innocent delight. The race mus
end iu dinner, and the dinucr must en-,
under the table. The days hunt must b
followed by nights debauch. Tn
christening of child must he the pre-
text for days revel. This single ele
ueut Of mischief conv rted all ieatal day,
all houest mirth, all joyous recreation
iuto injury, shame and ruin. Nothin
can make any headway against the poter
cy OF wine, for it suspends the operato
of that within us which enables us to re
sist, and finally destroys it. 1t vtiate
the texture of the brain itself, the seat G
life and the citadel Of all the superio
forces. And the vino which flowed 5
freely at the planters tables was Madei
IA, strongest Of wines, 50 enriched b
time and two long voyages, that the uu
corkng Of one bottle filled largo hous
with fragrance,
The tales we read Of tho clergy of oil
Virginia stagger belief, though it is cler
gymen who report them. The reveren
rector of Wicomlco, we read, not approx
ing the bread placed upon the commuu
ion-table, cried out from the altar, in tn
midst Of the service, to one of his churc
wardens: George, this bread is not f
for dog" We read of another VIII
was invited after church to dinner at
planters house, where he drank so muc
that he had to be tied in his gig. and
servant sent to lead his horse home, On
! jolly parson comes down to us reeling u
aud down the porch of a tavern, bawlin
to the passers-by to come and drink wit
! him. Another lives in the memory
. his country because he fought n du
! within sight of the church in which h
had formerly officiated. Another Is r.
membered as the joyial hunter who di.
cheering on the hounds to tho chase. On
is spoken of as pocketing annually Il hui
. dred dollars, the revenue Of a legacy, fc
preaching four sermons year again
. atheism, gambling, racing aud swesrin:
: though himself notorious swearer. race
and gambler. Another is the hero OF
! story that one day parson and vestry di
tered il opinion, quarrelled, and came
blows. The parson. a giant in strengtl
put them to flight. Not content with b