THE RECTOR versus THE ORGANIST.
IT is a melancholy thing-to see a man of preferment and divinity fighting a battle with a poor old blind organist, and a woman too. Yet the Reverend Dr. ViviAsr, of St. Augustine and St. Faith, has not scrupled to exhibit himself in this pitiable posture, during the past week. His congregation are well satisfied with the services of the poor woman above-mentioned. They have elected her unanimously to be their organist for twenty-one years; and now the Doctor insists upon his right to turn her out, and put in her place some protegee of his own. Dr. CROTCH says the old organist plays well: the worshippers at Dr. VIVIAN'S church are pleased with her ; and are actually contesting with the Doctor, in the Ecclesiastical Court, his asserted right to appoint another in her place. How the enemies of the Establishment chuckle over such work as this ! The Church might stand for ever against heretics and infidels who make speeches and write folios, but every act of petty tyranny such as 'the one alluded to inflicts a poisonous wound on its vitals.
The conduct of the dignitaries of the Church towards their inferiors in ecclesiastical rank, is too often apt to be insulting in the extreme. Some of the most able and in many respects useful of the Bishops are perfectly hated by the Curates and small incumbents. These latter complain of' the want of even a decent hospitality at the Palace, and of decent civility at a visitation, on the part of their diocesan. There cannot be a greater mistake than to suppose that a thorough reform of the Establishment would be unpopular among the Clergy at large. Curates are of necessity cautious men; but they who have had an opportunity of ascertaining their real views and feelings on the subject of Church Reform, know that their delight is unbounded at the prospect of levelling the pride of the Bishops and the Deans.
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