AN ACT TO ALTER THE MODE OF GIVING NOTICES FOR THE HOLDING OF VESTRIES, OF MAKING PROCLAMATIONS IN CASES OF OUTLAWRY, AND OF GIVING NOTICES ON SUNDAYS WITH RESPECT TO VARIOUS MATTERS.

ANNO PRIMO VICTORIE REGINE. CAP. XLV.

[12th July, 1837.]

So much of the first recited Act as directs Publication of Notices repealed.— Notices not to be given in Churches during Divine Service, &c.

WHEREAS by an act of parliament, passed in the fifty-eighth year of the reign of his Majesty King George the Third, intituled "An Act for the Regulation of Parish Vestries," it is enacted, that no vestry or meeting of the inhabitants in vestry of or for any parish shall be holden until public notice shall have been given of such vestry, and of the place and hour of holding the same, and the special purpose thereof, three days at the least before the day to be appointed for holding such vestry, by the publication of such notice in the parish church or chapel on some Sunday during or immediately after divine service, and by affixing the same, fairly written or printed, on the principal door of such church or chapel: And whereas by an act passed in the thirtyfirst year of Queen Elizabeth it is enacted, that before any outlawry shall be had and pronounced proclamation shall be made at the door of the church or chapel of the town or parish where the defendant shall be dwelling immediately after divine service on a Sunday: And whereas by divers acts relative to the assessing and collecting of highway and poor-rates and land tax, and other matters, it is directed or required that public notice shall be given with reference to certain proceedings relating thereto respectively in the parish churches or chapels during divine service: And whereas by ancient custom notice is usually given in churches during divine service of the times appointed for holding courts leet, courts baron, and customary courts: And whereas it is expedient that such mode of giving notices should be altered: Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that from and after the passing of this act so much of the said first-recited act as directs the publication of such notices to be made in the parish church or chapel on some Sunday during or immediately after divine service shall be and the same is hereby repealed; and that from and after the first day of January next no proclamation or other public notice for a vestry meeting or any other matter shall be made or given in any church or chapel during or after divine service, or at the door of any church or chapel at the conclusion of divine service.

Notices heretofore usually given during or after Divine Service, &c., to be affixed to the Church Doors.

2. And be it further enacted, That from and after the first day of January next all proclamations or notices, which under or by virtue of any law or statute, or by custom or otherwise, have been heretofore made or given in churches or chapels during or after divine service, shall be reduced into writing, and copies thereof either in writing or in print, or partly in writing and partly in print, shall previously to the commencement of divine service on the several days on which such proclamations or notices have heretofore been made or given in the church or chapel of any parish or place, or at the door of any church or chapel, be affixed on or near to the doors of all the churches and chapels within such parish or place; and such notices when so affixed shall be in lieu of and as a substitution for the several proclamations and notices so heretofore given as aforesaid, and shall be good, valid, and effectual to all intents and purposes whatsoever.

Notices for holding Vestries to be signed as herein directed.

3. And be it further enacted, That no such notice of holding a vestry shall be affixed on the principal door of such church or chapel unless the same shall previously have been signed by a churchwarden of the church or chapel, or by the rector, vicar, or curate of such parish, or by an overseer of the poor of such parish; but that every such notice so signed shall be affixed on or near to the principal door of such church or chapel.

Decrees, &c., of Ecclesiastical Courts not to be read in Churches.

4. And be it further enacted, That from and after the first day of January next no decree relating to a faculty, nor any other decree, citation, or proceeding whatsoever in any ecclesiastical court, shall be read or published in any church or chapel during or immediately after divine service.

Act not to extend to Notices purely ecclesiastical.

5. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That nothing in this act shall extend or be construed to extend to the publication of banns, nor to notice of the celebration of divine service or of sermons, nor to restrain the curate, in pursuance of the rules in the Book of Common Prayer, from declaring unto the people what holy days or fasting days are in the week following to be observed, nor to restrain the minister from proclaiming or publishing what is prescribed by the rules of the Book of Common Prayer, or enjoined by the Queen or by the ordinary of the place.

Extension of Act.

6. And be it further enacted, That all the provisions of this act shall extend and be construed to extend to the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Isle of Man, and the islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, and Sark.

ALTERATIONS RESPECTING THE MAKING OF WILLS.

SEVERAL Copies of the following paper have been sent to every parochial minister :

THE PRINCIPAL REGULATIONS

Contained in the recent Act (1 VICTORIA, C. 26) for Amending the Laws with respect to Wills, which will take effect on the 1st day of 1838.

No will made by any person under the age of 21 years will be valid.Sect. 7.

The new statute does not alter the law as to the wills of married women.Sect. 8.

The regulations to be observed in making a will or codicil are as follows:1. The will or codicil must be signed at the foot or end thereof by the testator.

2. If he does not sign, it must be signed by some other person in his presence, and by his direction.

3. The signature must be made, or acknowledged, by the testator, in the presence of two or more witnesses present at the same time.

4. The witnesses must attest and subscribe the will or codicil in the presence of the testator.-Sect. 9.

Appointments by will, under a power, are made subject to the above-mentioned regulations. Sect. 10.

The testator's marriage is a revocation of this will (excepting in certain cases of exercise of powers).-Sect. 18.

The revocation of a will or codicil may be by any one of the following

means:

1. By a will or codicil executed in the manner above mentioned.

2. By a writing declaring the intent to revoke, and executed as a will. 3. By burning, tearing, or destroying of the will by the testator, with intent to revoke, or by some person in his presence, and by his direction.-Sect. 20. Alterations made in wills must be executed in like manner as wills.

N.B. The signature of the testator and subscription of witnesses may be made in the margin, or opposite, or near to, the alteration, or at the end of a memorandum, on the will, referring to the alteration.-Sect. 21.

Residuary devises in wills will include (unless a contrary intention appear in the will) estates comprised in lapsed or void devises.-Sect. 25.

It is very true that the "Edinburgh Review" has lost almost all the talent which once made it famous and formidable. But it lives on its old reputation, has still a very large, though a lessened, circulation, and still attempts to exercise, by means of all its ancient worst artifices, the same influence as it formerly did; and it consequently has still the power of doing much harm, and in all probability succeeds in so doing. A few specimens of its recent performances shall be given, that the clergy may see that it requires attention; and that unless they go on the ground that all reply to opponents and all controversy is to be given up, an opponent so malignant, and still so powerful, is not to be overlooked.

First of all, to shew that its unblushing hardihood of assertion is still the same. So late as January last, it undertook to notice Lord Brougham's work on "Natural Theology" for the first time. Every part and portion of the noble lord's intellectual and moral character is eulogized to the skies, which is all very well; but then the shameful conduct of the clergy is exposed, and the necessity of reforming them clearly shewn by their treatment of this book. They ought, it seems, to have gone down on their knees to worship the chancellor at once, and to have appointed a thanksgiving-day because he wrote a book on "Natural Theology;" instead of which, they have manifested nothing but hatred, contempt, abuse, and neglect, &c.; therefore it is clear, &c. Now all this was written in January, 1837; and yet the Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge-a tolerably distinguished person in the church, one would think-had actually paid Lord Brougham a compliment which perhaps has not been paid to any one besides for time immemorial, by a person in his station. He has actually written, not a notice of the book, not a critique, not mere remarks, but, after the most diligent examination of the work, has published another volume, following Lord Brougham through his subject, praising him highly, and giving him all honour where he is right, supplying much, and correcting more. The volume is written

with that entire absence of all party spirit which characterizes Dr. Turton; and Lord Brougham's friends might be defied to shew an uncourteous word, or a mark of an unkind spirit, all through it. It is very true that Dr. Turton is compelled to shew that Lord Brougham is much mistaken in many views and reasonings. But it is not understood that Lord Brougham thinks himself infallible, or, as a liberal, can object to his philosophical views being opposed by fair and courteous argument where persons do not agree with them. The "Edinburgh Review" takes no notice whatever of the existence of Dr. Turton's book, though it has arrived at a second edition, and then complains of the neglect and bad conduct of the church to Lord Brougham about this book. This would be incredible in the case of any less bigoted party journal than the "Edinburgh Review;" but it shews that its course and its conduct are always the same.

One of its next pieces of violent abuse against the church is because Mr. Malthus had no preferments but family ones given him. This is a disgrace to government, bishops, church, and all, and makes it quite clear that cathedrals ought to be destroyed. Then we have the old Paley matter over again. Now, as to governments, it is something rather new to hear the church abused because government abuses its patronage. But if all former governments overlooked Mr. Malthus, so did Lord Grey's. Lord Grey gave away livings and the highest preferments in the church, but nothing to Mr. Malthus. Lord Brougham gave away stalls right and left, to say nothing of large livings; but he gave none to Mr. Malthus. Now, as to bishops, the fact is that Mr. Malthus, besides his family preferment, whatever it was, had a professorship at Hayleybury. And whatever radicals may choose to say, they know very well that it is very seldom that a bishop has a living to give which is as good as 500l. a year paid without deduction, and with house, rent, repair, and taxes free. For example, this re viewer would of course tax the bishop of the diocese in which the college is situated, as the most guilty. But the reviewer is defied (to take a definite period) to shew that the present bishop, who has now been nine years in the see, has ever had one stall to give away worth giving, or any living worth Mr. Malthus's acceptance, unless, indeed, in his old age, he had wished to fly from the disturbances of his own library to the sweet peace of St. Martin's or Paddington. Whether in money the exchange would have been profitable, is very doubtful; but would the reviewer have counselled the philosopher to make it? In Paley's case, that eminent man had a large income from the church, and high dignities, all given him by bishops. One gave him a residentiaryship at Lincoln; another made him an archdeacon; a third gave him the great living of Bishop Wearmouth; a fourth offered him the headship of a college. Almost every one of Paley's works is dedicated to prelates who had heaped honours and preferments on him. What could they do more? Could they make the king make Paley a bishop? And was he not much fitter for the station in which he was than for a bishopric?

But it is not against the church alone that the "Edinburgh Revew" wages warfare. It cannot be said that it wages direct warfare VOL. XII.-Oct. 1837. 3 N

against Christianity; it has not courage for that, and consequently it occasionally says civil things of the Christian religion. But no book has done more to foster an infidel and scoffing spirit,-no book has more carefully seized every occasion of turning religious but mistaken men into ridicule with a design which could not be mistaken,no book has more systematically endeavoured to make out all ministers of religion to be odious monsters. What must the religion be, every one will ask, which makes all its ministers so hateful and mean, or cannot use any but hateful and mean men for its ministers?

This blessed task it is prosecuting unremittingly by its usual means, taking care, at the same time, to exhibit itself, and nourish in others, a spirit eminently antichristian. For example, take an article on Lord Bacon in a late number, which is so written that one can only imagine that the writer's heart and pen alike were "with rheum of gall still dropping," and that he wrote to get rid of it. He hates everybody and everything, church, law, lawyers, priests, &c. &c.; and of persons who have been in their graves for two or three centuries he speaks with the temper of a personal enemy, and in the language of Billingsgate. Whitgift, Coke, and Clarendon, come off worst, except that Coke does once come in for a little praise, because, by giving it, a harsher thing can be said of Lord Bacon. The whole article, indeed, is merely written for the purpose of stripping Bacon stark naked, and then covering every part of him separately with slime and venom. Not one single addition is made to what we all know of that great man, and know with so much pain; and in eighty or ninety pages, out of an article of one hundred, expended altogether in shewing how very base and black and detestable he was, not one half so much is said as in the few words "the greatest, wisest, meanest of mankind." No one (but Mr. Montagu) doubts Bacon's guilt; but what a spirit is that which will not look at anything but what is base in such a man, and will delight in doing such work, on the flimsy pretext that Mr. Montagu thinks otherwise, and that therefore all this nauseous matter must be gone into. So much for the temper of the article. But one of its objects (and it is the only novelty in it) is a backhanded stroke at Christianity. After the priest and warrior statesmen, rose, in Edward the Sixth's and Elizabeth's days, the civilians, the Bacons, Cecils, &c. &c. After great eulogies of them, we are given to understand what they thought of religion. Their thoughts were given to the only worthy occupation for great minds and great statesmen, namely, mere legislating and state manoeuvres. As to religion, they had too much sense to worry themselves by fruitless disputes. They were too enlightened to think of religion as a thing about which to trouble themselves. Therefore they went to any service which Henry VIII. pleased, —were protestants in Edward's time, went to mass with great pleasure in Mary's days, and to the Anglican service with equal satisfaction in Elizabeth's. The trumpery differences between the Roman and reformed churches were wholly below their notice. That the reviewer has foully slandered these eminent persons is quite certain; but he means to compliment them, and thus to justify (that is clearly a great object) the feelings of a large portion of modern statesmen, that