But, my Lords, I said at the beginning that this inquiry into the average, a point upon which the learned counsel against the petition said so much, and, as I thought I perceived, with strong impression upon your Lordships' minds, is really, in my judgment, of no importance; because, in comparing the present value of the living with the value of it under the circumstances of the proposed allotment, the produce of the year 1790 ought rather to be made the basis of calculation than the average value, if the average could be proved to have been greatly short of the amount of that year. My Lords, I shall in very few words show upon what ground I advance what may seem so singular a notion. My Lords, the acknowledged expected ef fect of the enclosure will be a rapid improvement of the cultivation of the whole parish, consequently a rapid improvement of the

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living, were the lands to continue subject to the payment of tithes in kind. And in another way, the enclosure will greatly advance the value of the rector's tithes; because, as your Lordships well know, more land will come under that cultivation which yields its whole tithe to the rector, and less will continue in that cultivation which yields a moiety of its tithes to the impropriator. For both these reasons, my Lords, the value of the living is from this moment in a state of rapid growth; and whatever the average may have been of former years, I think it never could again (except in seasons of extraordinary scarcity) produce so little, were the tithes to be taken in kind, as it produced in the year 1790. I consider the value of that year as the minimum of all years from that time forward, though it should exceed the average of years past; and the rector takes no undue advantage,—

he gives all the advantage that he ought to give more than might in justice be demanded of him,-when he takes that year for the basis of his calculation. Will it be asked, why is no account taken of the later year, of the year 1791? My Lords, it has appeared in evidence that 1791 was an excessive year; it was rendered excessive by the expectation of immediate enclosure: And it is an argument of fair dealing on the rector's side, that he has not attempted to avail himself of the vast profit of that year to enhance his claim.

My Lords, I have gone through every point of my argument: Before I sit down"

(Here the Mace entered the room, and required the attendance of the Peers in Westminster Hall. What the Bishop was going to say was of no great consequence. The Committee adjourned to the next day, Wednesday May 23d.)

The Bishop was heard through the whole of this long speech with the greatest marks of favour and attention. Whenever he attempted to apologize for the length of it, or for the delay that he often made by referring to the minutes of the evidence, he was always encouraged by the general and eager cry of "Hear, hear!" The Bishop observed, while he was speaking, that his argument was carefully minuted by a noble viscount, whose family connexions might be supposed not to incline him to favour the petition. The Bishop observed that every unguarded expression that fell from him, such as fall from every speaker in the fever of debate, was marked and minuted by the noble viscount. In short, it was evident to the Bishop himself, and, as he thought, to the whole Committee, that it was from that noble viscount, if from any noble lord, that the Bishop was to expect a reply; and, considering the great abilities and the habits of that noble viscount in Parliamentary debate, upon all subjects, the Bishop did expect the strongest reply that an argument so impugnable as he conceived his own to be in all its points could receive. The appearance of the Mace in the committee-room, as has been mentioned, stopped the Bishop abruptly, and of consequence prevented the opportunity of a reply on that day. The next day, Wedaesday the 23d, when the Committee met according to adjournment, after some short speeches upon the question of consent, from the Bishops of Bangor, Peterborough, and St David's, the noble viscount from whom the Bishop of St David's expected an answer to his argument upon the evidence, rose in his place, and said—" My Lords, I do not rise to speak; I rise to make a proposal." His Lordship then made a proposal of compromise in the name of Mr Hatton, and sat down. The Committee approved of the

proposal; and the Bishop of St David's was asked if he would recommend the terms to Miss Raye, who was understood to be intrusted by her father with the entire management of the business. The Bishop of St David's, seeing little hope of success in any farther opposition to the bill, after a proposal had been made which received the approbation of so numerous a Committee that it might seem almost equivalent to the approbation of the whole House, (the Bishop of the diocese himself being in that Committee, and concurring warmly in that approbation), took it upon him to recommend the proposed accommodation; though his own opinion remained then (and remained to the last) unchanged with respect to the value of the living; and the terms offered, though very liberal as referring to the allotment, were far short of an equivalent for the tithes in kind. One great motive with the Bishop to close with the proposal was, that it left him in possession of an undisputed victory upon the interesting question of a most deserving young woman's character, most unjustly and injuriously impeached. Not a syllable had been said in reply to the Bishop's defence of her evidence; not a syllable could be said if the compromise took place, the noble viscount who proposed it having by this very measure (if it took effect) deprived himself of any future opportunity of the reply that was expected from him. Under these circumstances, the Bishop of St David's strongly recommended the acceptance of the offered terms. It was not without difficulty that Miss Raye was persuaded; she insisted to the last, and with great reason, that the terms of the proposal were far short of the value of the tithes in kind. She yielded however to the advice and entreaties of her two friends the Bishop of St David's and the Reverend Mr Graham; who both urged,