land, and submitted to the yoke of Rome. This ominous apostacy has been followed by a series of calamities, hardly to be equalled in the world. From the days of Patrick to the council of Cashel, was a bright and glorious career for Ireland; from the sitting of this council to our times, the lot of Ireland has been unmixed evil, and all her history a tale of woe." O'Driscol, Vol. II. p. 84.

"The ancient church of Ireland, like the churches of the apostolic age, exacted no tithe; but was supported by the voluntary offerings of the people. Its bishops also, like the bishops of that period, had, for the most part, authority over one church or congre gation only they were what were called choressis, cossi, or village, or parish bishops; or, generally, what we would now call rectors. Of these, the number in Ireland exceeded three hundred. These bishops were mostly married men, as was the case in the first Chris tian churches; and it appears frequently to have happened, that son succeeded to father in the ministry for several generations. This would naturally be the case in a pious age, and among an uncor rupted people.

"All these are evidences of the simple and apostolical character of the ancient church of Ireland. But we have stronger testimony. We should infer much excellence, and good, and many great works, even from the construction of this church solely, as we should infer good work from a machine rightly constructed for its purposes: but, in such a case as this, we would not be satisfied with mere inference; nor are we left to it. We have before us the plan of the machine, but we have the history of its working also.

"A church disclaiming human authorities, and acknowledging no superior but Almighty God-a church simple and free in its internal structure, uncorrupted by the fatal power of seizing, by authority of law, upon the property of the people-from such a church we should expect much.

"The seventh and eighth centuries were periods of great calamity, upon the Continent and in England. Dreadful wars had scourged and barbarised the nations; Christianity was nearly shaken from her throne of mild dominion; humanity and letters shared her misfortunes, and fled when her sceptre was broken.

"They found a peaceful and secure abode in Ireland: they were welcomed to her hospitable shore; and those who valued them came hither from all parts of the world, to study and to be instructed. There is abundant and unquestionable evidence of foreigners, that Ireland, at this period, opened wide her arms to receive and to shelter the students, and the distressed of all nations.

"She possessed numerous colleges, where learning and religion were cultivated; and with a generosity seldom equalled, she afforded to indigent foreigners the means of support, as well as of instruction. And when the ravages of the northern barbarians upon the Continent, and of the Danes in England, permitted a breathing time, she sent forth, at every opportunity, men eminent for piety and learning, to keep alive some seed of Christianity abroad. The

Church of Ireland extended her concern over all the churches of Europe at this period; but assumed no authority over them. She attended also to the interests of learning; and, chiefly by her zeal, a number of colleges were founded on the Continent; and she continued, for a long time, to supply them with able, pious, and learned professors. In England she was equally active; and Alfred, if not educated in Ireland, as there is some reason to think, knew how to value her acquirements. He invited and encouraged the learned missionaries of Ireland to bring into order the church and the colleges of his kingdom." O'Driscol, Vol. II. p. 99.

Those who are acquainted with the early history of Britain and Ireland, will not require to be informed, that Mr. O'Driscol has studied Antiquities with just as much success as he has studied Scripture. The uninitiated may be assured, that 'the bright and glorious career,'' the great works,' the 'open arms,' the 'numerous colleges,' the number of 'pious, able, and learned professors,' are facts which a child may disprove, and which the most credulous has no excuse for believing. Doubtless there were Christian Bishops, and Christian congregations in Ireland-doubtless some of these Christians travelled to the Continent, and distinguished themselves by their proficiency in the learning of those times. But as to the mass of the people being converted or civilized, there does not exist a tittle of evidence in support of such an assertion. Mr. O'Driscol is not ignorant of the real state of the question, but pretends that Ireland lost her manuscripts, her learning, her churches, and her colleges, during the Danish invasion. It is singular that pure Christianity should go so completely to wreck, when the Romanised and established religion of the Anglo Saxons weathered a severer storm, and bequeathed to us the only knowledge which we really possess respecting the Scotch and Irish Christians. Bede, who was intimately acquainted with them, informs us that their faith and practice was, in all important points, the same as those of England, one half of which derived its Christianity from the Highlands of Scotland. Thither it had retreated from the assaults of the Saxons-thence, in all probability, it was originally introduced into Ireland-thence it certainly issued, neither more or less pure, than the Christianity generally professed on the Continent, to share with St. Austin the honour of converting England from paganism.

Perhaps our readers will blame us for wasting more time upon Mr. O'Driscol. But in spite of their anticipated censure, we must treat them with a few more of his opinions on things in general and things in particular. He tells us, Vol. II. p. 92, that "the spirit of the times is against all esta

blishments," and that it must and "will prevail." He assures us (p. 82) that "it is a monstrous assumption that the religious instruction of the people belongs exclusively to the clergy," and proves his case by enquiring whether "the state has no interest in this matter?" He quotes and highly lauds the famous pamphlet upon the "Consumption of public Wealth by the Clergy." And a full year after its absurdities have been exposed and confessed, he gravely argues upon its information, respecting the eighteen thousand clergymen, and the two thousand six hundred churches and chapels of the Established Church of England. This is at the rate of eight clergymen to a church; and the assertion is so absurd, so much on a par with what we have been told about primitive Christianity, Constantine, and St. Patrick, that we cannot help surmising, that Mr. O'Driscol may have been its original inventor. An Englishman could not have talked such nonsense. None but a parent could persist in fondling such a rickety bairn; and the Morning Chronicle, in which this pamphlet was originally noticed, is under 'deep obligations to the fluent pen of Mr. O'Driscol.

In a discussion upon the Poor Laws we are informed, Vol. I. p. 240, that "they are the corner stone of England's manufacturing greatness:" with respect to the Universities, it is observed, that "some of the brightest men of our country were never at college," and equally at home in matters of trade as of learning, Mr. O'Driscol assures us, that Dissenters make better manufacturers than Churchmen. The moderation of his political sentiments may be appreciated from two passages. In one of them he asserts, that "the principle of Toryism is absolute power;" in the other, he insinuates, that the Irish rebellion was fostered and excited by government for the purpose of preparing the way for the Union. We are unwilling to call names, even in imitation of such a high example as that before us; but can Mr. O'Driscol require to be told that these railing accusations are not very consistent with his regard for unestablished Christianity. To give him a specimen of more liberal treatment we proceed to notice some parts of his work which must be excepted from the censure to which the rest is entitled.

He informs us that the Presbyterians in the North of Ireland are supposed to be generally tainted with Socinianism; and that their Socinianism itself is considered as little moer than a cloak for infidelity. He deplores and condemns their errors in a spirited manner; and sums up the subject with unwonted brevity.

"A socinian must consider the Divine Spirit as the worst author that ever put pen to paper; and accordingly he treats him as never author was treated before." O'Driscol, Vol. I. p. 162.

The remonstrance with the Papists upon their antipathy to the Scriptures, and to education, is also deserving of com mendation; and without subscribing to his doctrine respect+ ing the all-sufficiency of school-masters and Bibles, we heartily wish that he could establish a school in every parish. He also exposes the folly of making collections for the Jews Society, and others of the same kidney, in a country so poor and so distressed as Ireland. The declaration on this head is rendered more praiseworthy from the pain which the writer must naturally feel at the exposure.

Having carefully picked this handful of grain from two pondrous volumes of chaff, we proceed to introduce our readers to the pamphlet entitled "Lachrymæ Hibernicæ." It differs in every respect from the other work under review; and furnishes succinct and valuable information upon the predominant grievances of Ireland. These are the small number of resident gentry, the forty shilling freeholders, excessive rents, tithes, the county cess, the payments to the Popish Clergy, and Popery. We extract the writer's statements respecting several of the e particulars.

"It is the policy of the Irish Tantord to make as many freeholders as he can, who will vote as he directs, in the election of members to represent the county in parliament. A freehold worth 40s. a year is the qualification of an elector; to create these, the land is divided into portions of from 2 to 10 acres. If a tenant has got a larger proportion he is called upon as soon as his sons attain the age of 21, to demise a portion of it to each, to make him a freeholder. If his daughters marry, the same is done for the husband, and so small are the divisions and subdivisions, that I do assert, without fear of contradiction, in truth, that if they held the land without rent or taxes, they would be poor. How wretched then must be their state, when they are charged for this land a rent altogether disproportioned to its value? A rack rent! besides the yearly imposts of county cess, tythes to the Protestant, and most heavy exactions to the Catholic clergy. This 40s. system is one of the many curses of this most wretched country; the effect of it upon the minds of these freeholders, (I beg pardon for using such a misnomer) is pernicious; they are brought forward by the driver to a registry, many of them express great reluctance at taking the oath, conscious that it is false, and that their holding is not worth 40s. a year above the rent and taxes, nor in nine cases out of ten worth what they pay-but necessity is laid upon them, they are threatened, they are obliged to swear, and to perjart themselves;

thus the obligation of an oath upon the mind is gone, and they are habituated to falsehood.

"It may be enquired from what cause are the Irish landlords so anxious to make those freeholders? To those acquainted with the internal policy of Ireland, it is not necessary to answer such an enquiry. But for the information of others it may be necessary to state, that the government naturally look to the representatives of the county for its peace and safety, and that the government patronage generally passes through them; besides it is for various political reasons a desirable object to get a seat in the British House of Commons; and every landlord feels his real consequence in the county to be in proportion to the number of freeholders which he can poll at an election. It would lead me too far to enter into a discussion of the various evils of bribery, of county jobbing, of misapplication of patronage arising from this electioneering policy, which probably is not to be altogether avoided. The writer would rather confine himself to the evil arising from it, of pauperism to the population, and which may be remedied by a change in the law. Let no person vote for a representative in parliament but a bona fide freeholder, who has himself some stake of property in the country; the minimum should not be less than 201. a year; by this law the landlords would be obliged to create a class of men, of which Ireland is now so miserably deficient, raised above pauperism. They would lower their enormous rents, they would enlarge the lettings, and the face of the country would be spotted with comfortable cottages, in place of those wretched hovels, which now disfigure it, and disgrace the landlords." Lachrymæ Hibernica. P. 4.

"It may be necessary to inform the English reader, that in Ire land tithe is scarcely ever collected in kind; indeed it is impossible, in many cases, from the nature and extent of the parishes, that it should: the custom is this, the tithes are valued one year, and promised to be paid in the next; so that the state of the clergy through Ireland, in the present summer, can be readily conceived to be very bad. We write in large characters, it is the alternative of the Protestant Clergy in Ireland-COMMUTATION, OR STARVATION. Thus also the poor Irish peasant will be relieved from a charge, to him peculiarly oppressive. Some of our Irish landlords represent tithes as the principal grievance in this aggrieved country; they ought to be ashamed to hold up their faces in the British Parliament, and say so; they well know that they are not the chief grievance, the grievance of tithe is, to that of rack-rent, as the lighting down of the grasshopper, which is felt to be oppressive, when coming upon a body enfeebled, while rack-rent is the millstone hanging on the neck. Tithe is also the constant pretext for insurrection, too, much encouraged by speeches in and out of Parliament. On these several accounts, the grievance should be removed, as well for the sake of the clergy as of the people." Ibid. p. 13.