Fielding might have written without being accused of particular irreverence:—
"The Anglican clergy have retained many Catholic ceremonies, and, above all, that of receiving tithes, with scrupulous exactness. They have also the pious ambition which makes them desire to be the masters; for what vicar does not want to be pope in his own village?" "With respect to morals, the English clergy is better regulated than that of France." This he ascribes to our universities, and to the fact that "they are not called to the dignities of the Church till very late, and at an age when men have no other passions than avarice. Besides, the priests are nearly all married, and the awkward manners contracted at the university, and the little they enjoy of female society there, are the causes why a bishop is ordinarily obliged to be content with his own wife. The priests go sometimes to the tavern because custom allows it; and if they get tipsy, it is with gravity and without scandal."
"That indefinable being who is neither churchman nor layman—in one word, an abbé—is a species unknown in England. The clergy are all set apart, and nearly all pedants. When they hear that in France young men noted for profligacy, and raised to the prelacy by the intrigues of women, make love publicly, cheer themselves with love-songs, give elaborate dinners, and then go to implore the light of the Holy Spirit, boldly calling themselves successors to the apostles—they thank heaven they are Protestants. But these are, as Master Francis Rabelais says, nothing but vile heretics, to be burnt and sent to all the devils—which is the reason why I do not concern myself at all in their affairs."
Presbyterianism fares no better:—
"It is nothing but pure Calvinism, such as had been established in France, and now exists at Geneva. As the clergy of this sect have only very middling salaries from their Church, and consequently cannot live like bishops, they have taken the natural course of exclaiming against honours to
