was Dean of St. Paul’s as well as Bishop of Bristol, and, before he became a bishop, held a living in the City, a Prebend of Westminster, the Precentorship of York, the Lectureship of St. George’s, Hanover Square, and “the genteel office of Sub-Almoner.”  Richard Watson (who is believed never to have set foot in his diocese) was Bishop of Llandaff and Archdeacon of Ely, and drew the tithes of sixteen parishes.  William Van Mildert, afterwards Bishop of Durham, was Rector of St. Mary-le-Bow, Cheapside, and also held the living of Farningmam, near Sevenoaks, “as an agreeable retreat within a convenient distance from town.”  Richard Valpy was Head Master of Reading School, and Rector of Stradishall in Suffolk.  George Butler, afterwards Dean of Peterborough, was Head Master of Harrow and Rector of Gayton in Northamptonshire.  Nearly every bishop had a living together with his see.  The valuable Rectory of Stanhope in Durham was held by four successive bishops.  Henry Courtenay, Bishop of Exeter, was Rector of St. George’s, Hanover Square.  George Pelham, Bishop of Exeter, had a living in Sussex, and Christopher Bethell, Bishop of Exeter, had a living in Yorkshire.

When Sydney Smith was appointed to the rectory of Foston, there had been no resident Rector since the reign of Charles II.  The churches of non-resident Rectors were commonly served by what were called “galloping parsons,” who rattled through the services required by law, riding at full speed from parish to parish, so as to serve perhaps three churches on one Sunday.  In many places the Holy Communion was celebrated only three times a year.  At Alderley, before Edward Stanley, afterwards Bishop of Norwich, became Rector there, “the clerk used to go to the churchyard stile to see whether there were any more coming to church, for there were seldom enough to make a congregation.  The former Rector used to boast that he had never set foot in a sick person’s cottage.”  When the shepherds thus deserted and starved their flocks, it was only natural that the sheep betook themselves to every form of schism, irreligion, and immorality.  To remedy these evils, Spencer Perceval, whose keen interest in the affairs of the Church had a curiously irritating effect on Sydney Smith, took in hand to pass the Clergy Residence Bill, and the Bill became an Act in 1803.  In 1808 a new Archbishop[60] was enthroned at York.  He immediately began to put the Act in force, and summoned Sydney Smith from the joys of London to the austerities of Foston-le-Clay.  The choice lay between complying and resigning, for no exchange of livings seemed practicable.  On the 8th of October 1808, Sydney wrote to Lady Holland—­“My lot is now cast, and my heritage fixed—­most probably.  But you may choose to make me a bishop, and, if you do, I think I shall never do you discredit; for I believe it is out of the power of lawn and velvet, and the crisp hair of dead men fashioned into a wig,[61] to make me a dishonest man.”