Soon after this, Sir John Stuart was invested with the insignia of the most honourable military Order of the Bath; the regiments which had distinguished themselves, were permitted to bear the word "Maida, as a testimony of their gallantry, both in their colours and appointments;* medals† * Horse-Guards, Feb. 24, 1807. His Majesty has been pleased to grant his most gracious permission to the following regiments of infantry, viz. the 20th, 27th (or Inniskillen), the 59th, the 78th, and the 81st, and to the regiment of Watteville, to assume, in addition to any other devices or badges to which they may be severally entitled, and to bear in their colours and on their appointments, the word "Maida," as an honourable and lasting testimony of the distinguished gallantry displayed by those corps in the action fought on the 4th of July, 1800, on the plains of Maida, in Calabria. By order of his Royal Highness the Commander-in-chief. HARRY CALVERT, Adjutant-general. The medals were ordered to be distributed as follow: 1. To Major-general Sir John Stuart, K. B. 2. Brigadier-general Cole, 1st brigade. 3. Ackland, 2nd ditto. 4. Colonel Oswald, 3d ditto. 5. Lieutenant-colonel Mone, 23d dragoons. 6. Lieutenant-colonel Watteville, regiment de Watteville. 7. Lieutenant-colonel O'Callaghan, grenadiers. 8. Lieutenant-colonel Kempt, light infantry. 13. Major Plenderleath, 81st ditto, 16. Mr. Grimes, inspector of barracks. were also struck on the occasion; a model in commemoration of the victory, was exhibited in the Royal Academy, and one of the new buildings of the capital was decorated with the name of the plain in Calabria, where England had reaped her laurels. The General himself was soon after rewarded with the command of the 74th regiment of foot, and was also appointed Lieutenant-governor of Grenada. We have already observed, that early in life he received a wound in the groin, while combating in America, and that on the memorable 4th of July, he received a blow by the fall of his horse, which was wounded under him. His health even now is far from being confirmed, but his mind, animated with the same energetic zeal, burns with all its pristine ardor to fight the battles of his country. DR. HENRY BATHURST, LORD BISHOP OF NORWICH. Dignum laude virum Musa vetat mori." HOR. THE clergy have always enjoyed an extraordinary degree of respect and pre-eminence in England. The Druids, at once priests, legislators, and judges, were exempt from taxes, as well as military service; they were consulted as oracles, and they punished the refractory by means of penalties so dreadful, that death itself was deemed less terrible than excommunication. After the retreat of the Romans, the conversion of a portion of the Saxons was effected by the piety of Bertha, the zeal of Augustin, and the charitable interposition of Gregory the Great, and such a lively interest had the church excited towards the conclusion of the heptarchy, that we find the people pertinaciously engaged in disputes about the celebration of Easter, and the form of the clerical tonsure! The appeal from Winifred, Archbishop of York, to Rome, and the grant of tythes by Ethelwolf, at once confirmed the supremacy of the Pope and the opulence of the priesthood. At length St. Dunstan* completed the authority of the Holy See, by establishing the celibacy of ecclesiasties. The countenance of the reigning Pope to the invasion of William the Norman, and the support afforded to the pretensions of that warlike prince, by the foreign dignitaries residing in England, proved in the end not a little favourable to the prelacy. The distribution of property by the Conqueror, exhibits a conclusive proof of this assertion; for of the 60,215 knight's fees into which he St. Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, is said at one time to have been suspected of " licentious manners.” This is not at all surprising, considering what bad company he kept, for we are gravely told, that the devil having one day called upon him in his cell, which was so small that he could not stretch out his limbs in it when he slept, he seized his visitor "by the nose with a pair of red-hot pincers," and sent him away howling. This obtained for him, first the see of Worcester, and then the Primacy! divided the kingdom, there were no fewer than Such an immense 28,015 held by ecclesiastics. power and influence, alarmed future kings, and we soon after find Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, supported by Pascal II. triumphing over Henry I. a prince of great talents, who was, however, humbled in the dust, and obliged not only to resign several of his prerogatives, but even to cut off his long hair," because deemed offensive to the priesthood. We gladly pass over this gloomy period with hasty steps, and would willingly dwell on the memorable and glorious epoch, which led to the formation of our boasted constitution. On that occasion, the clergy of the Anglican church, headed by the Cardinal Archbishop Langton, a native of our own country, obliged King John to sign the charter of Liberty at Runnymede. In this grand act the Catholic ecclesiastics cheerfully coincided, and without them, our liberties, perhaps, would never have been achieved. At length Henry VIII. the most cruel, vindictive, and tyrannical prince who had ever sat on the English throne, became the happy instrument of a separation from the church of Rome, which had freely enjoyed and scandalously abused her pretended apostolical powers. Heaven on this occasion was pleased to recur to a worthless engine, for the reigning monarch was doubtless incited alike by his lust and his avarice to this singular project, as it originated in his passion for a female, and was followed by the confiscation of the estates of the religious houses, which amounted to 161,000l. per annum, a sum then equal to about one-half of the national income.* From that moment the church of England spurned at the idea of foreign interposition, and the clergy have been in general eminent for their piety and abilities. In fine, her discipline has been maintained, her power supported, and the honours of the hierarchy augmented, by a succession of illustrious men, among whom we rank a Sherlock, a Secker, a Hoadley, a Warburton, a Hurd, and a Bathurst. The dignitary who forms the subject of this memoir, was born about the year 1748. His descent * The worldly power of the clergy has been undoubtedly diminished by the Reformation, as well as their possessions; on the other hand their order has been constantly supported and upheld by all the authority of the state. Anterior to the dispute with the court of Rome, their political influence was commen, surate with the extent of their lands; for previously to the dissolution of the monasteries, in addition to the archbishops and bishops, twenty-six mitred abbots, and two priors sat in the House of Peers, forming together, a body equally numerous with the temporal nobility. During the Saxon period, their lands were held by the spiritual tenure of frank almoign, but they now hold by barony. At this moment, in consequence of a very nice distinction, they are not peers of the realm," but merely lords of Parliament: and yet as such they sit, vote, and decide with equal authority as the temporal dignitaries, with whom indeed they enjoy a co-equal and concurrent jurisdiction. See Stamford, P. C. 153, and also Black stone's Commentaries, vol. 1. p. 157, 8vo. edition, |