Passing Rich

Goldsmith tells us in his Deserted Village, that the clergyman was “passing rich with £40 a year.” This is no covert satire, but a sober fact. Equal to about £350.

“A man he was to all the country dear,

And passing rich with forty pounds a year.”

Goldsmith: Deserted Village.

In Norway and Sweden the clergy are paid from £20 to £40 a year, and in France £40 a year is the usual stipend of the working clergy. Of St. Yves it was said (1251–1303):—

“Il distribuait, avec une sainte profusion aux pauvres, les revenus de son bénéfice et ceux de son patrimoine, qui étaient de £60 de rente, alors une somme très notable, particulièrement en Basse Bretagne.”—Dom Lobineau: Lives of the Saints of Great Britain.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

Passing Rich

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