ome a fair
purchaser of tithes, and of exemption from tithes.

By the statute of Elizabeth, the lands took the same course, (I will not
inquire by what justice, good policy, and decency,) but they passed into
lay lands, became the object of purchases for valuable consideration,
and of marriage settlements.

Now, if tithes might come to a layman, land in the hands of a layman
might be also tithe-free. So that there was an object which a layman
might become seized of equitably and _bona fide_; there was something
on which a prescription might attach, the end of which is, to secure the
natural well-meaning ignorance of men, and to secure property by the
best of all principles, continuance.

I have therefore shown that a layman may be equitably seized of Church
lands,--2. of tithes,--3. of exemption from tithes; and you will not
contend that there should be no prescription. Will you say that the
alienations made before the 11th of Elizabeth shall not stand good?

I do not mean anything against the Church, her dignities, her honors,
her privileges, or her possessions. I should wish even to enlarge them
all: not that the Church of England is incompetently endowed. This is to
take nothing from her but the power of making herself odious. If she be
secure herself, she can have no objection to the security of others. For
I hope she is secure from lay-bigotry and anti-priestcraft, for
certainly such things there are. I heartily wish to see the Church
secure in such possessions as will not only enable her ministers to
preach the Gospel with ease, but of such a kind as will enable them to
preach it with its full effect, so that the pastor shall not have the
inauspicious appearance of a tax-gatherer,--such a maintenance as is
compatible with the civil prosperity and improvement of their country.

HINTS

FOR

AN ESSAY ON THE DRAMA.

NOTE.

These hints appear to have been first thoughts, which were probably
intended to be amplified and connected, and so worked up into a regular
dissertation. No date appears of the time when they were written, but it
was probably before the year 1765.

HINTS

FOR AN ESSAY ON THE DRAMA.

It is generally observed that no species of writing is so difficult as
the dramatic. It must, indeed, appear so, were we to consider it upon
one side only. It is a dialogue, or species of composition which in
itself requires all the mastery of a complete writer with grace and
spirit