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years, of reviewing the price of wheat z; and in caſe it ſhall appear, that the average price of a buſhel of wheat is more or leſs than the average-price thereof ſet forth in the ſaid award, by the value of 3. per buſhel or upwards, the ſaid yearly rent is in- creaſed or diminiſhed in proportion. This, with all due ſubmiſſion to the legiſlature, does not entirely correſpond with the idea of a corn-rent, and it 15 nearly the ſame as a modus; whereas a corn-rent makes the payment of tithes riſe or fall in the ſame proportion that the value of money, or of the neceſſaries of life, riſe or fall.

It is many years ſince I firſt thought of this method of commuting the tithes: I was led to it, by reflecting on the manner of paying the miniſters ſtipends in Scot- land; and I rejoiced to have this opinion confirmed by Mr. Pryce of Saliſbury, in his valuable Eflay, on the moſt pradticable method of fixing an equitable commutation for tithes in general throughout the kingdom.--We differ indeed in one point z Mr. Pryce propoſes*, that a certain proportion of the parties intereſted in the tithes ſhould conſent, before the meaſure could be adopted. This, I am afraid, would produce great wrangling and diſagreement among the parties: and being firmly perſuaded, that the meaſure is greatly for the advantage of the individuals intereſted in the pay- ment, as well as for the community at large, I could wiſh that a bill was brought into parliament, compelling the tithes in every pariſh to be valued, and the commu- tation for them to be paid by a corn-rent enforced on all.

Whether the mode of valuing the tithes was taken from the Scotch law, or whe- ther they were valued by commiſſioners choſen as propoſed by Mr. Pryce, or in the manner ſuggeſted by Mr. Pitt in his Agricultural Survey of Staffordſhire, it would make but little difference: The great obje& would be obtained by any of theſe me- thods--the having the value of the tithes fixed. In whatever way the value of the tithes are taken, an accurate ſurvey and plan of the lands ſhould be made(as propoſcd by Mr. Pryce):<“ As the boundaries and names of lands, as well as the owners, are « frequently changed; and, in proceſs of time, fences are grubbed up and deſtroyed; « ſeveral encloſures made into one,:or one divided into ſeveral; and the ancient « names forgotten. Hence it 15 not uncommon to find, that an old terrier without « a plan 1s unintelligible.

« And the commiſlioners award ſhould be drawn up, and lodged with a plan and « terrier, ſetting forth the lands, chargeable and exempt, the money-payments now « fixed by the corn-rents, and the quantity of wheat that was to be given for the « tithes from the ſeveral lands to be mentioned; and the prices of it that were to be « annually paid, by the prices of the wheat of the county, taken off the average of the « year from the tables of the collector of corn-returns, as printed in the gazette; and « that price ſhould be payable to the clergyman, or lay impropriator, at the term of «« Candlemas, and the ancient moduſſes allowed in the hands of the clerks of the << peace; and a copy of the ſame ſhould alſo be lodged in a box or cheſt, within the «« church or chapel of the pariſh where the lands and tithes are fituated.--If any of << the eſtates ſhould afterwards be divided, and alienated in ſeparate parcels, the plan << will always ſhew the lands originally charged. And the quota for each parcel, es after ſuch diviſion, may be fixed by agreement of the parties, at the time of ſuch

* See page 103. of Vol. IV. of the Bath Papers on Agriculture, « alienation,