Note 1283 — XXVI. THE ANGLICAN CHURCH. (continued 2)
Reading edition
A causidico, medicastro, ipsaque artificum farragine, ecclesiæ rector aut vicarius contemnitur et fit ludibrio. Gentis et familiæ nitor sacris ordinibus pollutus censetur: fœminisque natalitio insignibus unicum inculcatur sæpius præceptum, ne modestiæ naufragium faciant, aut (quod idem auribus tam delicatulis sonat) ne clerico se nuptas dari patiantur.—T. Wood, Angliæ Notitia (Macaulay’s Hist. Engl. Chap. III.).
Lord Macaulay attributes the degraded position of the clergy to their indigence and want of influence. These causes doubtless had their effect, but the peculiar repugnance towards clerical marriage ascribed to all respectable women had a deeper origin than simply the beggarly stipends attached to the majority of English livings.