uired. They had no pretensions to the rank or functions of the
Anglican bishops; they had no peculiar ordination, and no authority save
such as they held at the pleasure of the Assembly.

[Footnote 4: A Tulchan was a calf's skin stuffed with straw placed near
the cow to induce her to give milk.]

Side by side, however, with the Presbyterian ministry there still
existed the old Roman Hierarchy, who had been allowed to retain their
titles, the greater part of their revenues, and their seats in
Parliament. The prelates had no place within the Church, their status
being only civil and legal; and when any of them joined the Church they
entered it on the same footing as the common ministry.

This was far from being a satisfactory or safe state of things. It had
elements, indeed, which obviously threatened the integrity of the
Presbyterian order; and it is little wonder that the Church was
impatient of its continuance and eager to end it, to clear the Roman
Hierarchy off the ground, and secure for its own economy a chance of
developing itself without the entanglements that were inevitable to the
existing compromise.

The financial arrangements that had been made at the first for carrying
on the Church's work were unjust and inadequate. A portion of the third
part of the benefices was all that had been assigned for the support of
the ministry, and even this had not been fully or regularly paid, so
that in many parishes the ministers' stipends had to be provided by
their own people. In these circumstances the Church very naturally
wished the ecclesiastical revenues of the country to be transferred to
her own use, and she made the claim accordingly. But for this claim no
party in the State would have resisted the sweeping away of the
Hierarchy. The nobles, however, had set greedy eyes on the Church's
patrimony, and so they became the determined opponents of this step.
They could well have spared the bishops, but they could not forego the
benefices, and to secure this plunder to the nobles was the main object
of the Tulchan device. By this notable plan the benefices were taken
from the old Hierarchy and bestowed on the nobles, who then conferred
the titles without the functions on any of the clergy who could be
bribed into compliance.

Morton, who was the chief supporter of the scheme, was notoriously
avaricious--'wounderfully giffen to gather gear.' He hoped to enrich
himself by it, and succeeded in doing so; but he had othe