After thus roaming over these Irish islands, when the eye is cast but a little farther to the north-east, although even there much remains to be done, what a singular contrast do some of the Hebrides present! They also were long and sadly neglected, but within these seventeen years we began to teach their vernacular tongue; and now in only one Gaelic school we see 368 scholars, of whom 224 are above twenty years of age: in another, 287, of whom 143 are also above twenty; but both these are in one island,-nay there are ten schools besides, or in the whole about 1500 pupils: all this is in Lewis. In Skye we see 330; in Islay above 530. To these western isles also, independently of the Gaelic schools and the books for their express use, only since 1824, there have been voted above 1100 Bibles, 1650 New Testaments, and 1100 Scripture extracts, or in all above 3850 distinct volumes. But the Glasgow Society have been in the habit of following up these Gaelic schools with English. There is beside, the useful schools of the Society for Propagating Christian knowledge; and to close the account, the schools more recently established in the islands alone, under the sanction of the General Assembly, now amount to seventeen, in which not only Gaelic is taught, but English, writing, arithmetic, and geography,-three of these are in Islay, three in Skye, and one in Lewis. And from whence has all this more recent activity in conveying instruction sprung? I have no he

of his prognostic; and he began to translate for me as follows: I asked him what was Good Friday? It was on that day that the Lord of Mercy gave his life for sinners; a hundred thousand blessings to him for that.' What is Watch-Saturday?' It was the day when watch was kept over the holy tomb that held the incorruptible body of my Saviour.' Thus the man gave, in Irish, clear and feeling answers to questions, concerning which, when addressed in English, he appeared quite ignorant; and yet of common English words and phrases he had the use; but like most of his countrymen in the south, his mind was groping in foreign parts when conversing in English, and he only seemed to think in Irish; the one was the language of his commerce, the other of his heart."-Sketches in Ireland, by the Rev. Caesar Otway.

sitation in adding, from the simple operation of having begun to teach the people their native language.

.

Now at the present moment, a man may wander over all these Irish islands, which, though smaller in size, are more than double the number of the Hebrides-but he will meet with nothing but one unbroken contrast to such proceedings as these now mentioned-a contrast for which not a single reason can be adduced to those who know the country, which is worthy of one moment's reflection. Yet the writer well remembers the time when there was nothing of this kind known, even in the Hebrides-and then it was, that the idea of teaching the vernacular tongue was scouted, and then too, opposed by those who now see its absolute necessity and importance. In Ireland, therefore, let the patrons of privation but stand a while aside, and admit the operation of positive principles-they will soon behold the same results, and, like former opponents of similar measures in Britain, they also will rejoice to assist.

It may now, however, very naturally be inquired,But are there no schools in any of these islands? I reply, there are schools in the islands of Raghlin, Inch, and Aranmore, in Clare and Inisherkin, such as they are, and, of course, in Cove, situated in Great Island, and perhaps one or two more. But none of these are Irish schools, though Irish is spoken. One Irish school has bee proposed for the island of Tory, where, out of five hundred, about half a dozen can also speak English; but as for all the rest, the eye will search in vain for schools or scholars, or places of worship. When the peculiarity of their situation is observed, and the number of generations is remembered, which, alas! in this state must have passed away, surely there is no man of common sympathy who would not instantly inquire, "What can be, what shall be done for them?" During the long and dreary past many a bark has foundered upon their

shores, but they, themselves, in a sadder sense, have been wrecked by one common storm, and, though actually within sight of our shore, have scarcely ever heard of our common and glorious Deliverer !

I am perfectly aware of their natural shrewdness, and how much they can entertain a traveller by their occasional replies; but still "one thing is needful," and while that is wanting, perhaps some readers may not be able to refrain from accommodating the lines of the poet :

Methinks I see them straying on the beach,
And asking of the surge that bathes their feet,
How often it has wash'd our shore-in sight!
You see one weep, and his are honest tears,
Like patriot's for his country-they are sad
At thought of her forlorn, neglected state,
From which no pow'r of theirs can raise her up.
Thus Fancy paints them, and, though apt to err,
Perhaps errs little, when she paints them thus.
These, therefore, I must pity-placed so near
To all that science traces, art invents,
Or inspiration teaches.

In but a few short years circulating Irish teachers, if they were men who fear God, might work wonders here; and what a field is this for the powers of oral instruction! There was once ONE who not only taught in the temple and the synagogue, but preached on mountains, and in barges and ships-his immediate followers imitated his example-convenience for the time was consecration of the place; and the voice of that authority under which they acted, reaches to the end of time. Were this voice but once heard and obeyed, one can scarcely conceive of a more delightful change on a Sabbath morning, than that of the voice of praise ascending from these numerous islets of the sea. By the blessing of Heaven they would thus form, as it were, a wall of fire round this long-neglected country, not forgetting what, by similar means and an Irish ministry, might also, before long, be styled the glory in the midst. For why should not this praise be heard in the language natural to this people? And what perverse policy is that which would

forbid it! I know not why I may not add, what heart must he have, who would stand proof against their own simple and plaintive petition, uttered lately by one of their best friends? It at least shows what an anxiety is felt on the subject of vernacular instruction ::

And oh! be it heard in that language endearing,

In which the fond mother her lullaby sung,

Which spoke the first lispings of childhood, and bearing
The father's last prayer from his now silent tongue :
That so, as it breathes the pure sound of devotion,
And speaks with the power that still'd the rough ocean,
Each breast may be calm'd into gentler emotion,

And Erin's wild harp to Hosannas be strung.

And soon from the cliffs, by the ocean surrounded,
To that milder shore, by the shallow sea bounded,
May the call of the Shepherd be faithfully sounded,

O'er marshes and mountain, through isle and through grove!

At all events, their situation being now brought more fully before the public eye, I cannot believe, that, in such a day as this, these islanders will be suffered to remain longer, much less die in their present condition, without any regarding it. It may indeed seem to the reader as if a mist had risen and dispersed, exhibiting to his view an assemblage of his countrymen hitherto unknown; but no man can innocently desire that this misty obscurity should descend again, to conceal them from the eye of the intelligent and humane.

In the inhabited Western Isles of Scotland, amounting to sixty-eight in number, there are at present above seventy schools, where the vernacular language is taught, and in many of these, other branches of education :-In the inhabited islands round the coast of Ireland, amounting to one hundred and forty, we know that there has been appointed-one Irish school! but know not whether it is yet in active operation.

"If obedience to the will of God be necessary to happiness, and knowledge of his will be necessary to obedience, I know not how he that withholds this knowledge, or delays it, can be said to love his neighbour as himself." JOHNSON.

SECTION VII.

DESIDERATA-BOOKS,

Or brief Catalogue of Desirables for the Native Irish Population.

HAVING endeavoured to collect every particular which might serve to be of use in forming some fixed opinion as to what is so much wanted for this long-neglected people, I may be permitted to say-How meagre is the history of the past compared with what it ought to have been in such a country as this! In a country so near, and which ought to have been so much more dear to every British subject, how melancholy the reflection that centuries are embraced, and that, after so long a period, such upon the whole is the present condition of above three millions of our fellow-subjects! Is it possible, it may be asked,-is it true, that these people, in their successive generations, have thus breathed away their existence and died, in a country which, as to its natural position, has been reposing in the very lap of Great Britain, and nominally united to it for more than six hundred and fifty years? So it should seem; and would that, with the sombre review of the past, here also terminated the prevalence of those things which make the aspect sombre !

Meanwhile let it not be imagined by any one, that a retrospect such as this, however painful, is impolitic, unprofitable, or vain. Nothing as to Ireland, and par