On this day week, Dr. Stephens applied to the Dean
of the Court of Arches, Lord Penzance, to ask that the Rev. Arthur Tooth might be declared contumacious, for having defied the notice of suspension pronounced by the Court, and performed service in the Church of St. James, Hatcham, on the 24th and 31st of December last, in a manner contrary to the inhibi- tion; and also for having published a libel on the Court, on the 22nd December last. Dr. Stephens pointed out that—con- trary to a general impression which the Ritualists had appeared to share,—Mr. Tooth had not been inhibited from any of the prac- tices now under the consideration of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in the Ridsdale case, so that it was a complete misrepresentation to say that practices which might soon be pro- nounced not to be unlawful, were prohibited pending that decision. Mr. Tooth was only inhibited from processions, from elevating the elements, from tolling the bell, from singing the Agnus, and from other practices not involved in the appeal against the Purchas Judgment. Yet Mr. Tooth had not only ignored the inhibition, but had refused Canon Gee, who was deputed by the Bishop of Rochester to take the duty in his place, permission to participate in the service, or to officiate in any spiritual function in his parish.
