"Now, Sir, would it not be an act of cruelty to break in upon these rural sports and suppress them, when we well know that they constitute the only source of felicity which our villagers have access to."

Rev. Mr. O. "I certainly do not wish to abridge the poor of the few comforts which Providence has allotted them indeed, I would rather promote them; and though I think they ought to attend Church more regularly, yet I do not wish to see them become melancholy."

"But they will, Sir, if the doctrines which are preached at the Chapel are suffered to prevail. Even, already, there is not half the company on the Green which there used to be; and one of my own servants, who went unknown to me, had the impudence to tell me, when I was remonstrating with him on the subject, that he thought it sinful to sport on a Sunday evening."

Rev. Mr. O. "Well, Gentlemen, I certainly think that the poor, no less than the rich, ought to be left to choose their own pleasures, without being controuled by others; and if any of them prefer worshipping their Maker on a Sunday evening, to joining in a public gambol, they ought to be permitted to do it. I cannot consent to impose any restraint on the consciences of others, for this very powerful reason, I should not like to submit to any restraint myself. Indeed, opposition on our part would be no less impolitic than unjust; as the native spirit of an Englishman rises up in defiance against all coercive measures which may be employed to interfere with his religious preferences and pursuits; and he imperceptibly becomes more decided and more zealous, from the very efforts which are sometimes employed to cool his ardour."

"But do you think, Sir, that our Maker condescends to accept worship, which is conducted by a man, who has never received an education at one of our Universities; and who holds forth in a place which has never been consecrated ?"

Rev. Mr. O "Why not? if the people wor ship him in spirit and in truth. The fishermen of Galilee received no education in any University, and yet they were the Ministers by whom Christianity was introduced and established; and they preached like their

Divine Master in high ways, and under hedges, before there were any churches erected in which they could officiate."

Though these Gentlemen could not induce the amiable and intelligent Rector to unite with them in their attempt to put down, what they termed, the new religion, yet they resolved to employ all the influence they possessed to accomplish it. How to do it in the most effectual way, and yet not involve themselves in any difficulty, wás a question which perplexed them. After various discussions they resolved, with only one dissenting voice, to prohibit all their tenants and servants from attending the Chapel-to withhold parish pay from those paupers who dared to go-and to refuse associating with the more independant and respectable parishioners who gave it the sanction of their presence. Having agreed on their plan of operation, they acted on it with great vigour, and the effects were immediately felt; for on the following Sabbath the congregation was reduced to less than one half of its usual number. This determined opposition at first discouraged the few who still continued to attend; but they were permitted to remain in peace. No rude insults were offered to the Minister, whose familiar manners and amiable disposition had won the esteem of the people, who expressed their deep regret, that they were not allowed to hear him preach. But a storm was gathering; and the evil spirits who had resolutely set themselves against the introduction of the Gospel into the village, resolved to make one desperate effort to expel it. Some of the baser sort, according to the established custom amongst the persecutors of the faith of Christ, were selected as the agents of the plot; and every thing being adjusted, they came in a body on a Sunday evening, and when the Minister was preaching an interesting discourse from the following words of the Apostle, “Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you:" they entered the Chapel, and by their noise and tumultuous behaviour, compelled him to desist, and forced the people to retire. As he was passing away from this scene of confusion, he was assailed by the missile of weapons insult, and threatened, that if he dared enter the Chapel

ม

again, he should not be permitted to escape with his life. Aware that this daring outrage on the sanctity of the British laws, would bring the recent efforts of persecution to a crisis; and knowing that forbearance on the part of a minister, is a virtue which subdues the violence and virulence of passion, and of prejudice, more effectually, than direct and open resistance, he followed the example of his Master, "who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not;› but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously." The report of these unlawful proceedings soon spread through the hamlet, and while some raised the "loud laugh," and extolled the valour of the assailants: others condemned them, and came forward to protect the oppressed, and raise their arm of resistance against the power which was attempting to trample on the rights and liberties of the people. It was well known, that the actors on this occasion were instigated by a voice which issued from behind the scene-tnat they were the mere agents of the respectable and intelligent few, who had resolved on the extermination of this new religion; and though Christian sympathy wept over their ignorance, and mercy pleaded for their forgiveness, yet it was felt by Mr. Holmes and his friends, as a duty they owed to the reputation of the minister, who had been insulted-to the sanctity of British law which had been polluted to the majesty of religion which had been outraged to the liberties of the people which had been trampled on, to bring them to punishment. They were not actuated in their determination, by any vindicive motives; nor did they wish to have any heavy fines, or lengthened imprisonment inflicted on the offenders; but they were resolved to have the authority of the laws re-established by those sanctions which protect the peaceable villager, no less than the wealthy citizen, against the tumults and outrages of the lawless and disobedient. Warrants were immediately granted by a neighbouring magistrate for the apprehension of all the culprits, who were bound over to appear at the next sessions, when they were to be tried for disturbing the minister while officiating in his pulpit, and for threatening his life, if he attempted to resume the discharge of his labours.

No sooner had these thoughtless and misguided young men returned from the presence of the noble magistrate, who suffered no influence to divert him from the impartial administration of justice, than they began to feel the peril of their condition; and one of them very frankly confessed, that they should never have engaged in the affair, had it not been for the Esquire and his intimate friends. "They," he said, "put us up to it, and promised that no harm should come to us if we would kick up a row."

There is no class of men in society which occupy a more respectable or a more enviable station than our country gentlemen, who are usually men of influence and of property. But living on their own patrimonial estates, in the midst of a thinly scattered population of a poor and ignorant peasantry, they generally display more of the domineering spirit of the feudal times than any other class of men in the kingdom: and though they have made some progress in the cultivation of their minds, in accordance with the universal improvement of the present age, yet they still lag far behind the great mass of private citizens in liberality of sentiment, and benevolence of disposition. They hold in contempt the vassals who serve them-often in ure those whom they should protect from

"the proud man's contumely,"

and attempt to keep down, by oppression, the rising spirit of the poor and needy; because they are in the habit, like the master-spirits of tyranny who move in a higher orbit, and in a wider circuit, of looking upon those who have no riches, as having no rights-as beings beneath their notice-without claims to justiceas no more than dust, whom they may walk over without doing them wrong-whose quiet complaint is to be considered as provocation, and whose mildest remonstrance. to be regarded as insolence. Hence, they have been, from the earliest period of British persecution, the most active in opposing the introduction of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the villages over which they exercise a lordly authority, and most of the popular outrages which have been committed against the humble itinerant, or the more regular minister, have originated in their sug

But the charm of their

gestions or direct exertions. resistless authority is now dissolved by the fearless spirit of independent inquiry; which is gone abroad among the peasantry of the country; and though they may still retain the disposition of their ancestors, yet they cannot command the slavish homage which they extorted from the objects of their oppression.

If the writer of this paper could flatter himself with the hope that the humble production of his pen would meet their eye, he would ask them, on what principle of honour, or of justice, or of British independence, they can presume to interfere with the religious instruction and moral improvement of the peasantry of their neighbourhood? May not their children be instructed in the village Sunday School, as well as the children of our mechanics, in our large towns and cities? May not the minister of religion, though adorned with no flowing vestment, though graced with no polished manners or fine sense, teach them the way to heaven, by gathering them together from the various scenes of their rural sports, without having to endure

"The oppressor's wrong?"

May not the pauper enter the village chapel, and listen. to the truth which he loves, and which reconciles him to his hard lot, without being terrified by the threat of starvation coming from the lips of the rich man, who sits in his stately mansion, cloathed with purple und faring sumptuously every day? May not the servant who discharges the duties of his menial office in a faithful manner, go and worship his Maker and Redeemer in the village temple, where two or three meet together, without incurring the displeasure of his lordly master? Let these gentlemen forbear to interfere with the civil and religious liberties of others, however obscure their rank, or dependant their circumstances; as a poor man's liberty is as dear to him as the rich man's freedom is to him, and he ought to be protected in the choice of his religious opinions, no less than the mitred head, or the civic crown. Let them consult their own dignity, by promoting the temporal happiness of their more indigent countrymen, rather than tarnish their reputation by deeds of cruelty, which belong to the gone-by days of an intole