Chap. Ill. The HIS T 0 R Y of the PuRITANs.· 4-57 Dr. Walker fays, that from the account drawn up by the commiffioners Oliver l r I . A 'l 6 . h h h d b . .o d . " h Prottflot·. t 1 em 1 e ves m rprz 1 52 It appears, t at t ere a een. e~eue 111 .;oou: 1654 • Wales, and Monmoutl:fhire, one hundred feventy-five muu(ters; that IS,~ fifty· fiX from the year 1645 to the time when this aCt took place, and Numbers e· one hundred and nineteen by the prefent commifiioner~. Mt. Vavafor ;etted.· Powel, who bad a chief hand in tbe fequefirations, fays, that by virtue of this att between fifty and fixty of the old clergy were difpofietfed of their livitws when he writ. Upon the whole, the commiflioners who continueci"'to aCt as long as the proteCtor lived, charge themfelves with between three hundred and twenty, and three hundred and thirty feveral and diftinCt livings; but there could not be an equal number of fequefiered clergymen, becaufe in the compafs of [even years a great many mufi die ; fame fled, or were killed in the wars; in many parilhes the tithes were not duly paid by reafon of the confufion of the times, and the livings being but from five to ten or twenty pounds a year, mofi of the incumbents were pluralifis. It is computed that about one half of the church lands and revenues in the principality of Wales, by the feveral accidents of death, defertion, fequefiration, &c fell into the hands .of the government before the expiration of this ordinance in 1653, the profits of which, if duly colleCted and paid, mufi amount to a very confiderable fum. There were thirteen counties in North and South Wales within the limits of the commiffion; but the largefi fum that the fequefirators and agents charge themfelves with for the county of Brecknockjhire, in any one year, till the year I6sS, when the propagation had fubfifled eight years, is one thoufand five hundred forty-three pounds, by which the reader may make a tolerable computation Qf the whole; and if we may believe Mr. Whit- p. sxSI lock, who lived through thefe times, that in the year 16 53· there were · · one hundred and fifty good preachers in the thirteen •u;e!ch counties, moft of whom preached three or four times a week; that in every market town there was a fchool-mafier, and in mofi great towns two able, learned, and univedity men ; and that the tithes were all employed to the ufes directed by aCt of parliament ; there can be no gr<:at reafon to complain q .l of the negligence of the commiffioners. T~e crime for which the old clergy were ~jeCted, were malignancy, in- 'lheir crimes; Jujjictency, drunkmn~fs, and negltgence if thetr cures. Mr. Vavafor Powel · fays, that if all the men they had put out in North Wales, be knew not any that had the power ofgodlinejs, and very Je~v the form ; but that m'!ft if them were unpreaching curates, or .fcandalous in their morals. The commiffioners affirm, that if thejixteen they had difPofftlfed inCardiganfhire, there ~vere but tbree that were preachers, and thofe mojt Jcandalous livers. And Mr. Baxter admit~, that they were all weak, and bad enougb for the mofi part. But the wnters on the other fide fay, that the commiffioners h."ld VOL. n. . N 11 n no
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