Were a catalogue printed now, it is supposed the number of volumes or different articles could not be less than eight thousand.* What a contrast is now presented in the condition of two Celtic tribes, within the precincts of the same kingdom, the enlightened or favoured party consisting of about 600,000, the other of 3,000,000! But if the state is now more emphatically one, and the British heart be in a healthy condition, to what quarter of the empire should the tide of philanthropy and benevolence flow if not to the long-neglected? Many are the voices which speak, even from the tomb, enforcing this upon us. With regard to the Irish Scriptures in particular, there is a voice even from the grave of Erasmus with all his faults, sufficient to awaken them that are asleep. More than three hundred years ago, when publishing his Greek New Testament, he could not forbear casting his eye over to Ireland and upon the Native Irish. "The mysteries of kings," said he in his preface, "the mysteries of kings ought, perhaps, to be concealed, but the mystery of Christ strenuously urges publication. I would have even the meanest of women to read the Gospels and the Epistles of Paul; and I wish that the Scriptures might be translated into all languages, that they might be known and read not only by the Irish and the Scots, but also by Saracens and Turks. Assuredly the first step is to make them known. For this purpose, though many might ridicule, and others might frown, I wish the husbandman might repeat them at his plough-the weaver sing them at his loom-the traveller beguile the tediousness of the way by the entertainment of their stories, and the general discourse of all Christians be concerning them; * For these last paragraphs I am indebted to a correspondent of the Scotsman, resident in Wales, dated the 13th of February, 1828. since what we are in ourselves, such we almost constantly are in our common conversation." " In supplying copies of the Scriptures generally, however, there is one consideration which may not be unseasonable. Although the Saviour, when here below, could multiply loaves and fishes at his will to an indefinite extent, yet even He, and at such a time, demanded of his disciples, that they should gather up the fragments that nothing might be lost. "The food divine for pious souls," as I remember a Native Irishman once phrasing it, demands much more regard. It has, however, frequently seemed to the writer that in presenting children or adults when at school, with complete copies of the Bible, in many instances there was much of needless waste. That the Scriptures should be read at school is an infinitely important measure; but instead of one hundred Bibles, in most instances ten or twenty would answer the purpose much better, by simply dividing each of these copies into ten or five parts. Bind these separately, and then the book will not be soon injured, the back of it will not then be broken, nor the boards worn away from it, as is too frequently the case when entire copies are given to each scholar. In short, the books would not only preserve their first appearance much longer, but the interest of the scholar would be excited and kept up by the circumstance of receiving a different book so frequently. Independently of this expedient, I would venture to suggest the extension of an excellent old custom to the Native Irish which their fellow-subjects have frequently and long enjoyed,-that of printing, separately, certain distinct books of Scripture. The proverbs of Solomon * See the preface to the Greek Testament of Erasmus; which was indeed the first published edition of the Greek Testament after the invention of printing; for although the Complutensian edition was first printed, it was not published till 1522, but that of Erasmus came out six years before, in 1516, or three hundred and fourteen years ago. were at one period generally so used, in most of the parochial schools of Scotland. For example, the Psalms, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, in one neat 18mo; Luke, the Acts, and the Epistle to the Romans, in another; Mark and John, with the Epistles of Peter and John, in a third; might be of great use not merely as school-books, but for general and extensive circulation, at small expense. As for other books, it is difficult to know where to begin but it is strange that Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress has never been translated into Irish. The man who shall accomplish this may be assured that the Pilgrim never met with a warmer welcome than he would do in an Irish cabin of a winter evening. Only it should be done with great care, by an individual who understands the original. There is a translation in Gaelic, but I am not sufficiently aware of its character, though it might be of considerable service for an Irish version.* There is also a translation of Newton's Life and Burder's Village Sermons. Scott's Essays and some of Beddome's Village Discourses would have good effect in Ireland. For single tracts, M'Laurin's Sermon on the Cross; the Excellency of Christ, by President Edwards; Extracts from Archbishop Leighton; from Bishop Hall's Contemplations on the Old Testament; the Sermon of Dr Grosvenor on Luke xxiv. 47; Extracts from Owen, Howe, Richard Baxter, and some from the Honourable Robert Boyle,-would be of great use. With regard to useful and safe but entertaining smaller works, thirty or forty of a most valuable description have been published in Dublin, by the Society for promoting the Education of the Poor, and the Cheap Book Society, from which at first two or three of the fittest might be selected for translation. Since the first edition of this volume in 1828, a translation, I believe, has been at least commenced, with a view to publication. A very cheap periodical work, if well-conducted, by a man of principle, who, upon certain subjects, well understood the doctrine of non-interference, but was thoroughly imbued with the desire of benefiting his countrymen in every way, cautious of admitting speculative opinions, and determined to insert no mere idle reports, on whatever authority, but resolved to put the Native Irish reader of the day in possession of what is indubitable as to Nature, Science, and Art, would be of essential service. There is not a people upon earth who would read such a thing with as much avidity, nor would any reader have a greater number of such eager hearers. Since the first edition of this volume was published, eighteen months ago, even the Highlanders have got their Gaelic Magazine-but I forbear-as certain very desirable elementary things for the Irish will occur more naturally under the next section. "Now these were more noble than those in Thessalonica, who received the word with all eagerness, daily searching the Scriptures, whether these things were so. And many indeed of them believed, and of honourable women that were Gentiles, and of men not a few." VULGATE "And I wish that they might be known and read, not only by the Irish and the Scots, but also by the Saracens and Turks. Assuredly the first step is to make them known. For this very purpose, though many might ridicule, and others might frown, I wish the husbandman might repeat them at his plough-the traveller beguile the tediousness of his way by the entertainment of their stories, and the general discourse of all Christians be concerning them; since what we are in ourselves, such we almost constantly are in our com. mon conversation."-Anno 1516. ERASMUS. "I use the Scriptures, not as an arsenal to be resorted to only for arms and weapons to defend this party or defeat its enemies-but as a matchless temple, where I delight to be, to contemplate the beauty, the symmetry, and the magnificence of the structure, and to Increase my awe, and excite my devotion to the Deity there preached and adored." Hon. ROBERT BOYLE SECTION VIII. DESIDERATA-EDUCATION Through the medium of the Irish language, whether by means of Stationary or of Circulating Schools. "It certainly were ridiculous enough," says Mr Foster, "to fix on a labouring man and his family, and affect to deplore that he is doomed not to behold the depths and heights of science, not to expatiate over the wide field of history, not to luxuriate among the delights, refinements, and infinite diversities of literature; and that his family are not growing up in a training to every high accomplishment, after the pattern of some neighbouring family, favoured by wealth, and perhaps unusual ability, combined with the highest cultivation in those at their head. But it is a quite different thing to take this man and his family, unable perhaps, both himself and they, even to read, and therefore sunk in all the debasement of ignorance, and compare them with another man and family in the same sphere of life, but who have received the utmost improvement within the reach of that situation, and learnt to set the proper value on the advantage; who often employ the leisure hour in reading, (sometimes socially and with intermingled converse,) such instructive and innocently entertaining things as they can procure; are detached from constant and chosen society with the absolute vulgar, have acquired much of the decorums of life, can take some intelligent interest in the great events of the world, and are prevented, by what they read and hear, from forgetting that there is another world. It is, |