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them by the name of The Dean and Chapter of the cathedral church of the Holy Trinity, Dublin, (now called Christ Church,) with power to purchase and sue, and gave them a common seal, with power to make bye-laws, to allot what possessions each was to have, and to choose vicars on vacancies, and put them in actual possession, reserving to the King, his heirs and successors, the nomination, donation, and installation of the Dean, Precentor, Chancellor, and Treasurer, and their successors; and he also granted them all manors, lands, advowsons, churches, rectories, and other hereditaments, as well spiritual as temporal, which belonged to the said late prior, in right of the cathedral church aforesaid. That King James I. by letters patent, dated the 12th of June, in the 2d year of his reign, changed the six Vicars-choral, part of this Chapter, into three canonical Prebendaries, allotted to each of them possessions, and assigned to one of them, called the Prebend of St. Michan, near Dublin, the rectory of that name; and granted, that the Dean and Chapter might choose these prebendaries, and put them in possession, without application to the Archbishop, or any other, for licence or consent in that behalf.—That by an act of parliament passed in Ireland, 9 William III. this parish of St. Michan, near Dublin, was divided into three several parishes, to be called The new parish of St. Michan, The parish of St. Mary, and The parish of St. Paul, each appointed to be separate and independent of the other, and each to have all parochial rights and privileges, as distinct parishes. And it was thereby enacted, that for each of the said three parishes, there should be a several parochial church, and a Rector or Minister, several and independent of the other; and succeeding Rectors or Ministers for ever, who should each of them respectively have cure of souls in the said respective parishes, and the dues and profits arising within each. The act then assigned the district of St. Paul, and directed the building of a church, which should be a separate parish church, called St. Paul's, and appointed Ezekiel Burridge, the present and immediate Rector or Minister of the said church, subject, nevertheless, to the visitation and power of the Ordinary of the diocese, in such manner as the Rector of the old parish was, and no otherwise and to such other canons, rules and laws ecclesiastical, as Rectors or Ministers of parishes usually are, or of right ought to be subject or liable to. Then the act, in like manner, set out and constituted the rectory of St. Mary; and enacted, that the rest of the old parish of St. Michan, should be the new parish of St. Michan; and that the then parish church of St. Michan, in the old parish, should be called the Prebend of St. Michan, belonging to the cathedral church of Christ Church, Dublin, as the rectory of the old parish was; and that John Clayton should be the present Rector or Minister of the said church, and should be a Prebendary of the cathedral church of Christ Church, Dublin, as the Rector of the said old parish was, subject to ordinary jurisdiction, canons, [175] etc. ut supra. Then follows this clause,

And it is hereby further enacted, that the right of patronage of the said rectories, and of presentation to the said three churches, on the avoidance of each of them respectively, by the death, cession, or removal of the present incumbents hereby appointed for the same, shall belong unto the Dean and Chapter of Christ Church, in Dublin, and their successors, for ever, in such manner as the nomination or presentation to the Rectory of the old parish of St. Michan did belong to them, and no otherwise.

—That the parish church of St. Paul was built according to the said act, and that Ezekiel Burridge, the first incumbent named in the act, died on the 4th of August 1707, whereby the church became vacant; and being so vacant, the said Dean and Chapter of Christ Church did, on the same 4th of August 1707, choose, nominate, admit, and constitute the said William Williamson, clerk, the plaintiff's lessor, to be Rector of the said church of St. Paul; and on the 5th of August 1707, gave an instrument under their common seal, to induct him into the actual possession of the said rectory; and on the 28th of October 1707, he was thereupon inducted accordingly.—That Williamson, before admission, viz. on the 5th of August 1707, made and subscribed the declaration of uniformity, according to the Irish statute of 17 and 18 Charles II. and took, made, and subscribed the oath and declaration required by the late acts, before the Dean and Chapter, which they certified under their common seal; and that he did the same before the Archbishop of Dublin, on the 4th of September 1707, which the Archbishop certified under his seal.—That within two months after Williamson was admitted and inducted, he, on Sunday morning of the 9th of November 1707, in the said parish church, read the common prayers, and made his