hey are nearly always recruited from the ranks of the smaller Irish
gentry, and whilst, perhaps, richer in proportion than many of the
curates and incumbents in England, there are no 'fat' livings, and all
are distinctly poorer since the Disestablishment.

The average in Kerry, and over most of the south of Ireland, is a
stipend of two hundred pounds a year, which involves reading services in
two churches each Sunday, and therefore puts the clergyman to the
expense of keeping a horse and trap.

About 1820 the district around Castleisland was divided into three
parishes--Castleisland, Ballincushlane, and Killeentierna--the joint
revenues of which were eighteen hundred a year. These were vested in the
Lord Bandon of the time, who lived in the lovely cottage on the upper
Lake of Killarney.

He allowed a curate fifty pounds a year to do the joint duties, and I
hardly think the man was worth the money. He subsequently obtained a
Government living and was in the habit of asking his congregation, as
they went into church, whether they wanted a sermon or not. The general
concensus of opinion was a polite negative--to the relief of all
parties.

The method of electing a vicar in Ireland since the Disestablishment is
both sensible and practical.

Three parish nominators, one lay diocesan nominator, two clerical
diocesan nominators, and the bishop, between them, choose the new
incumbent. By the constitution of this Court of Election, it is certain
that no one will be appointed to whom the parish objects, whilst if the
parish desires the nomination of an incompetent man, that is checked by
the diocesan voters in conjunction with the bishop.

In fact it is an admirable system, far better than the patronage plan
still rampant in England.

The Irish bishops are also chosen by nominators drawn from the clergy
and laity of the diocese, provided a two-thirds majority be obtained for
any one candidate. If not, the Irish bench of bishops jointly selects
the new wearer of lawn sleeves.

This, again, works with perfect smoothness and never arouses the
ill-feeling aroused by the selections nominally made by the Prime
Minister. To-day the _Foundations of Belief_ may not be an essay which
causes confidence in the ability of the author to pick the best bishops,
and all the much-vaunted religious convictions of Mr. Gladstone did not
make his nominations to the Episcopacy particularly successful. It is
now no secret that Lord Cairns used