368 KIRWAN. nor his eloquence to the imitation of his fellow-labourers in the ecclesiastical vineyard. Preaching extempore was considered an innovation on the solemn gravity of the pri vileged pulpit. It was encroaching on the old established usages of that church which had so long offered sources of provision and advancement to those younger sons of the protestant gentry, whose later birth precluded them from the advantages of patrimonial inheritance, and whose taste or capacity might disincline them from the laborious studies necessary for successful eminence at the bar, who felt neither ardour nor ambition for the army, and who were taught by the pride of rank to consider the pursuits of physic, commerce, or agriculture, in the same degrading light. A snug living, with little or no trouble, in a sporting and hospitable country, and the hopes of ad vancement through family interest or party connexion, offered a comfortable asylum to juniors of this order. A commission of the peace was frequently thrown in to increase the dignity and influence of the pastor, preserve the game, be serviceable at elections, and maintain the interests of church and state. The fathers of many sons, in the ranks of aristocracy, consoled themselves in the reflection that, if any one failed in his talents or his literary acquirements, he would, at a l l events, d o well enough for a parson. “Er quovis ligno clericus fit,” was a n adage amongst the schoolmasters, and a friend i n parliament o r a t court secured the rest. Sermons enough might b e had ready made, and i n print, t o save the trouble o f composi tion, o r consulting novelty, for the Sunday edification o f a rustic audience. And thus the most moderate genius o f the family enjoyed the otium cum dignitate i n rural retire ment, while his more talented brothers were sent t o seek their fortunes b y the drudgeries o f the bar, o r the glories o f the sword. But the cultivation o f theological eloquence, i f not impossible with the destined young divine, was a t least deemed a s unnecessary t o his future vocation, a s i t would b e troublesome i n the acquirement. I t would b e hazardous t o preach a t the vices o f the higher orders, and perhaps i t 1
