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.ÿþ11.Stationa.tindal hart s succinct summary of the slow, subtle but significant shift inthe social position of England s eighteenth-century country clergy providesthe essential backdrop for a consideration of the social status of Virginia sparsons:   The country-clergyman, in fact, who was at best no more than agentleman-by-profession in Queen Anne s reign, and at worst regarded as asort of superior servant, had by the time of the Napoleonic Wars in some cases1at least become accepted by the gentry as almost their social equal.  His ob-servation reminds one, first of all, of the clergy s singular social position.Theywere   gentlemen-by-profession,  which means that by virtue of their officeand their learning they had claims to the rank of gentry.Many could not re-inforce these claims by pointing to gentle birth and upbringing.In England theministry afforded the   poor but clever  a continuing avenue of upward socialmobility.A majority of England s country clergy, Hart believes, came from  parsonage, farm house, shop and even labourer s cottage.  2 For the   clever, free education might be accessible at local grammar schools.Grammar schoolsuccess afforded entrance to the university where   servitor  or   sizar  posi-tions (attending or waiting upon their wealthier classmates) supported theirstudies.So frequently was this road taken that the church could not readilyabsorb the men qualifying for ordination.3There is reason to believe that parsons coming from the British Isles hadorigins at best similar to and perhaps even less impressive than the majorityof country clergy Hart described.These men, after all, were not obtaininglivings within the church at home.Those for whom there is information aboutparental occupation disproportionately came from clerical homes, revealinglittle more than that a parsonage upbringing was far more likely to be recordedthan the circumstances from which the great majority of clergymen derived.134 [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]