Before I proceed farther, it may be proper to relate some particulars wherein the circumstances of the English clergy differ from those of Ireland.

The districts of parishes throughout England continue much the same as they were before the Reformation; and most of the churches are of the gothic architecture, built some hundred years ago; but the tithes of great numbers of churches having been applied by the Pope’s pretended authority to several abbeys, and even before the Reformation bestowed by that sacrilegious tyrant Henry VIII., on his ravenous favourites, the maintenance of an incumbent in most parts of the kingdom is contemptibly small; and yet a vicar there of forty pounds a year, can live with more comfort, than one of three times the nominal value with us.  For his forty pounds are duly paid him, because there is not one farmer in a hundred, who is not worth five times the rent he pays to his landlord, and fifty times the sum demanded for the tithes; which, by the small compass of his parish, he can easily collect or compound for; and if his behaviour and understanding be supportable, he will probably receive presents now and then from his parishioners, and perhaps from the squire; who, although he may sometimes be apt to treat his parson a little superciliously, will probably be softened by a little humble demeanour.  The vicar is likewise generally sure to find upon his admittance to his living, a convenient house and barn in repair, with a garden, and a field or two to graze a few cows, and one horse for himself and his wife.  He hath probably a market very near him, perhaps in his own village.  No entertainment is expected from his visitor beyond a pot of ale, and a piece of cheese.  He hath every Sunday the comfort of a full congregation, of plain, cleanly people of both sexes, well to pass, and who speak his own language.  The scene about him is fully cultivated (I mean for the general) and well inhabited.  He dreads no thieves for anything but his apples, for the trade of universal stealing is not so epidemic there as with us.  His wife is little better than Goody, in her birth, education, or dress; and as to himself, we must let his parentage alone.  If he be the son of a farmer it is very sufficient, and his sister may very decently be chambermaid to the squire’s wife.  He goes about on working days in a grazier’s coat, and will not scruple to assist his workmen in harvest time.  He is usually wary and thrifty, and often more able to provide for a numerous family than some of ours can do with a rectory called 300_l_. a year.  His daughters shall go to service, or be sent ’prentice to the sempstress of the next town; and his sons are put to honest trades.  This is the usual course of an English country vicar from twenty to sixty pounds a year.