292 On the past and present State of Ireland. went on in the good old way of using only one, which was lent from house to house! These people seem to have been always of the same character. As an old author said, "Their virtue is, they will do nothing but what their fathers have done before them.' There was formerly a barbarous custom, which, for aught I know, may be still in some places practised, of yoking the horses to the plough and harrow by a fastening to the tail! Amongst other efforts to civilize and meliorate the country, it was deemed proper to abolish this cruel and inefficient mode of carrying on their agricultural operations; but so far were the Irish from think ing the change advantageous, that they actually made it a subject of complaint to the English Parliament, that they were not allowed to plough in their own way! This occasioned King James to remark, in answer to a deputation who were representing their grievances, that their affairs seemed to go untowardly like their ploughs.' Τι It may be said of the Irish that they carry their hostility against the Sussanach only, who have never used them with generosity or kindness; but this can be confidently denied. The EngJish are obnoxious, because they prevent broils and outrage, and wish to improve the country. The natives are impatient of restraint, and prefer settling their own disputes with the shillelagh, rather than a peaceful submission to the laws. They are unquestionably excellent soldiers when brought under military discipline; but on their native plains, at their 'peep of day' work, they too frequently seem to forget the dictates of humanity, and stain by their atrocities the national character. From the most early period (bating the Heremonian and other dynasties, too sublime in splendour and too remote from our times to approach) the Irish have been a factious and disunited people, and hence were unable to protect themselves against the Danes who subdued them about 1000 years since, or the English, who established themselves at a later period. These last were indeed invited over; but, with a fickleness characteristic of the nation, a feeling of deep resentment took possession of their breasts, and * Barnaby Riche, p. 39. [April, has there rankled ever since, the cruelties and injustice of the sassanach being the usual incentive to acts of insubordination. These imputations do not, however, appear very well founded, when their enemies had it in their power so easily to inflict chastisement. In the end of the sixteenth century, notwithstanding their formidable outrisings, 800 foot and 300 English horse were reckoned an invincible army' in Ireland! It does not therefore appear that their conquerors were desirous of increasing the severities of bondage, when they had so ample power to do so. In tracing the history of the Irish, we find them stigmatised in terms scarcely applied to any other subjects of the empire. Diodorus says they eat men, and Strabo tells us, they not only devoured human flesh, but thought it becoming to eat the bodies of their relations! Solinus calls them 'rudis' and dispersa,' and says that the country was become altogether inhuman, from the savage manners of the people, who were accustomed to besmear their faces with the blood of the slain before they drank it. Pomponius Mela says, they were devoid of all virtue, and Strabo asserts, that they not only lay openly with other women, but even with their mothers and sisters! How unlike this to the simple Britons, who were remarkable for attention to their religious duties, for their sincerity and hospitality. Before the time of St. Patrick, who was a Briton, the Irish were pagans, and had no knowledge of God, but worshipped idols and unclean spirits. It may be said, these times are too remote to be now brought under review, but they are noticed to show that the Irish continued in almost as deep barbarity until comparatively recent times; and the civilization that has taken place is in consequence of the English settlement. Spenser relates, that in his time they drank human blood, and bathed their faces in it, and that they eat raw flesh! Ireland has not been reduced from a state of happiness and prosperity by the English, but improved wherever the perverse and stiff-necked people allowed just laws to take place of their barbarous customs: and this was not to be easily accomplished; for the settlers, who were founding cities, cultivating the land, and establishing manufactures, were so mercilessly persecuted, 1829.] On Ireland.-Popish Peers. The sons of Erin were not formerly remarkable for their virtues, and are not now quite so fine' a people as some would have us believe. Look at them in their native cottages, and observe them here, and their inferiority to the peasantry of England and Scotland is apparent. · 293 latter, who seem most attached to it I POPISH PEERS. Mr. URBAN, L. April 2. WAS lately much amused by meeting with the following passage in a letter of the date 1625, relative to the behaviour of the Popish Lords at the opening of the first Parliament of King Charles the First. It appears that they were "enforced to be present" against their will: "On Saturday his Majesty made a speech in the Upper House to the Lords and Commons; but before he would enter into the before the beginning whereof he made the business, he caused a Bishop to say prayers; doors suddenly to be shutt, and so [probably unintentionally] enforced the Popish Lords to be present; some whereof kneeled down, some stood upright, and one did nothing but crosse himself!"* It is to be hoped that the modern now allowed, not 'enforced,' to be present in the 'Upper Houset,' will not be so nervously affected at our innocent Protestant prayers. Shonld, however, that be the case, and any attacks be made on our they, like their ancestors, be able to Liturgy or Church establishment, may 'do nothing but crosse themselves!' Yours, &c. The old Irish were wont to wilful fire raising,' and some in these days have unfortunately a similar propensity. Nobody will dispute their uncontroulable passion for fighting, so like that of their fathers, who would keep all Ireland in turmoil, for the unmeaning terms 'Aghmabo' and Coromabo,' or any other incompre-Popish Lords,' hensible watchword adopted by their chiefs, the better to enable them to levy their black rents and spendings,' and other oppressions on the people, who were sworn by the priests to spare neither life nor land, nor goods t,' in resisting the English deputy, as the Lord Lieutenant was then called. The hell-hound horseboys,' and the Keru,' were 'the dross and the scum of the country,' and received ready absolution and even encouragement for all they might do in their rebellion. Hence an old writer said that they thought to get to Heaven by their doings, but it must be through a halter.' These bands, like the Rockites, kept the country awake, and occasioned Derrick, who witnessed the desolation they occasioned, to exclaim, Mr. URBAN, H. Gloster Terrace, Horton, April 2. betr sharply tested, when you affordURELY your urbanity must have clamatory effusion which appeared in ed a place in your last Number to the dep. 198. I trust that you will allow an forty years' continuance, to lay before occasional correspondent, of more than your readers a view of the popular projects referred to by Anti-quackery, very different from that which he has given; and to which projects, with your permission, I will refer in the order in which be has noticed them. 1. Slave Trade; of which he observes, that "the violent abolition, so furiously pressed, would take from the Crown of Great Britain the West Indies." Ellis's "Original Letters," 1st Series, vol. III. P. 202. + This term, it may be remarked, is here found at a period anterior to the Protectorate of Cromwell. 294 Slave Trade.-Missionary Societies. Can this gentleman be ignorant of the fact, that the Slave Trade has been abolished by law now nearly twenty years? and that the only debateable point between the West India interest, as it is called, and the friends of humanity, is, whether Negro Slavery shall continue, in violation of every principle of natural right, and of all sound policy; or whether it shall not rather be abolished, at least progressively? It is a remarkable fact, Mr. Urban, that the defenders of the Slave Trade itself, when the abolition of that nefarious traffic was under discussion in Parliament, prophesied, as your Correspond ent now does, the loss of the West Indies as the inevitable consequence of that measure. Of that prophecy the failure is now matter of history; and the fact that such a prophecy was uttered and failed, may serve as a useful warning to us not to repose confidence in the prognostications of such alarmists. от 2.Missionary Societies; which would, it is observed, "if urged in the same violent manner, detach the East Indies from our Empire, and occasion the flight massacre of all the Europeans." The writer of this paragraph seems to be fighting at a shadow; for I am unaware that there are any persons connected with Indian missions who either urge or intend to urge them in a violent manner. But I do suspect, from its context, that this alarming prognostication emanates from a mind inimical to all missions to the heathen, however temperately urged. On this topic you will perhaps allow me to offer a very few observations. From the first establishment of the British authority in India, the conversion of the heathen to Christianity appears to have been contemplated, even by the Government, as an object every way desirable, and as furnishing a reasonable apology for that which might otherwise have been censured as the intrusion of foreign settlers into a land already possessed by tribes of our own species. The first Charter which the United East India Company received from King William the Third, in the year 1698, directed that the Company's Chaplains should "apply themselves to learn the native language of the country," the better" to enable them to instruct the Gentoos in the Protestant religion:" nor was this object ever lost sight of. Surely your Correspondent cannot have heard of Schwartz, of Kier [April, nander, of Carey, and of other distinguished names, some of whom were missionaries in India even before the commencement of the territorial possessions of Britain in that country. Kiernander, as he himself informs us, proceeded to Fort St. George as a missionary "when we possessed no territory there, but only a fort and garrison," which being taken by the French, he was permitted to go to Calcutta, where he was hospitably received by the Government, and there remained, prosecuting his missionary enterprize. That greater attention should be given to this subject at the present time, when Britain feels herself responsible to the Judge of the whole Earth for the proper government of more than 80,000,000 of human beings in India, than was given to it at any former period of her history, ought not, I think, to excite surprise or incur censure. It is, on the contrary, for those who disapprove of missions to the heathen to show that they have been in any respect prejudicial, either to the governing State or to the dependent Colony. With much pleasure do I refer you, upon this important question, to the opinion of a competent judge, by transcribing the substance of a speech delivered at an annual meeting of the Mongomeryshire Missionary Association at Welshpool, on Oct. 12th, 1827, by the Right Hon. C. W. W. Wynne, then President of the Board of Commissioners for Affairs of India. Mr. Wynne stated, that, in common with all sincere Christians, he had always felt impressed with the duty of giving the blessings of Christianity to the natives of heathen countries; and he candidly confessed that, some years ago, influenced by the weight of important authorities, who were opposed to the design, under the idea that it would be attended with dangerous consequences, he had experienced doubts whether, in the strong disposition which he felt to favour such attempts, he might not be carried farther than strict prudence would justify. Still, however, he had thought that the work ought not to be impeded; and he was most happy to acquaint the meeting that, from the official opportunities of understanding the progress of those designs which he derived from the situation he had the honour to fill, he found that such apprehensions were without foundation; and he assured the persons 1829.] Missionary Societies-Bible Society. there present, on the authority of information derived from the most authentic source, that the conduct of the Missionaries was highly praiseworthy. Mr. Wynn spoke with much feeling of the part taken in this work by the lamented Bishop Heber, whom he designated as one of his own personal friends, whom he had loved through life, and whose memory he should cherish to the latest hour of his earthly existence. "When," said Mr. Wynn, "that distinguished prelate was proceeding to India, he declared that it should be his glory, so far as he could allow himself to glory in any thing, that he was the Chief Missionary from England." Mr. Wynn admitted that delicacy was requisite in the execution of such a work; he deprecated the idea of putting a force on the religious opinions of any man; and urged the necessity of a most exemplary demeanour on the part of those who undertook the conversion of the heathen. With reference to the objection, too frequently made against such undertakings, that it is impossible they should succeed without the aid of miracles, he emphatically demanded, "Where is it that we are now considering this objection? In Britain, where the Gospel has been already successfully planted without miraculous aid; and where a people sunk in barbarism, and under the influence of bigoted and interested priests and druids, were persuaded to relinquish their superstitious rites, and their horrid custom of sacrificing human victims, and submit to the mild influence of Christianity, by Missionaries." He remarked, that we ought to be governed in this work rather by a regard to our duty than by any other consideration. Yet it was not to be disputed that success had attended missionary exertions, and if the question were asked, why do you not show some conquests over the prejudices of the people in other places where the difficulties are less than in India? the answer was at hand: By a steady perseverance in this course, whole islands in the South Sea have already been induced to abandon their superstitions, and receive Christianity. Similar success may be expected in India. "The lamented prelate," Mr. Wynn remarked, "to whom I have already alluded, in the last letter which I received from him, informed me that he 295 was then writing in the midst of a population of 40,000 native Christians, the spiritual children of Schwartz, who laboured at first under great discouragements." 3. The Bible Society; which your Correspondent observes would spread spurious versions of the Scriptures over the whole world, &c. But, Mr. Urban, in Great Britain this Society circulates the authorized version, and no other in the English language. It does, indeed, also encourage the labouring classes to purchase Bibles, by the institution of local associations, who receive weekly the contributions of the poor, and deliver the books when the price is half paid. In this way has a small association in my immediate neighbourhood brought into use 1,200 copies of the Scriptures, to the great improvement of the morals of very many poor families. On the subject of the foreign transactions of the Society, I will only observe, that, assailed as it has been, with no little violence, on this part of its work of benevolence, I conceive it might be clearly shown, in its defence, had I not already trespassed too much on your indulgence, that scarcely any intelligible version of the Scriptures could be put into circulation, in heathen lands, which would not do some service to those by whom it might be read, and attentively considered; and that this objection of your Correspondent is precisely the same as was urged by sticklers for the claims of the See of Rome against the earliest efforts of the Fathers of our Protestant Church. It was on this very principle that the Church of Rome refused to let the laity have any version at all, because, forsooth, she would be thought to be dreadfully afraid of corrupting the Scriptures, by presenting a spurious Revelation instead of the true one; and, when the propriety of presenting his Majesty's liege subjects with a translation into English was debated in the Council of Henry the Eighth, and the Protestants had carried that point with the King, Gardiner, then Bishop of Winchester, as a last resource, presented a list of one hundred words which he desig nated untranslateable. The perusal of this list, which may be found in Fuller's Church History, will satisfy any one that, whatever difficulties they might present to a mind constructed as Gardiner's was, the rendering of them in the authorized version, has, 296 New Bath Guide.-Epitaph on Dr. Young. during three hundred years, answered every valuable purpose of religious instruction. On the subjects of Evangelical Preaching and Religious enthusiasm, it is scarcely necessary to remark, that the former phrase but ill defines something, the approval or disapproval of which is often a matter of taste. When a Clergyman, by a clear and energetic style of composition, and popular address, attracts large congregations, he is called an evangelical preacher. In this class was the present Lord Bishop of London enrolled, while he held the Rectory of St. Botolph's, Bishopsgate, and it still includes some clergymen in the metropolis: but that they should not be approved by all their brethren does not appear to me to be a just cause of surprise, or to warrant the passing an indiscriminate censure on them, or on their labours. Religious enthusiasm I take to be by no means the character. istic of our age. The extension of civil liberty and diffusion of science, and especially the free circulation of religious truth, have done much to extinguish it. Under the Church of Rome, it was, in ages past, widely extended, and often severely felt. The anchoret, "Who wore out life in his religious whim, Till his religious whimsie wore out him;" and whole armies of crusaders, "Who left their bones beneath unfriendly skies, Rome's worthless absolution all their prize;' these were unquestionably religious enthusiasts; and it is some compliment to the sobermindedness of the present age, that the instance of the maniac who fired the choir of York Cathedral is without parallel or precedent, except in the man who fired the Temple of Ephesus to immortalize his name. Yours, &c. THOMAS FISHER. [April, larity it rapidly acquired and still continues to possess. Several editions of it have gone through the press, (from sixteen to twenty,) and I am now engaged in editing and printing a new one, which is intended to surpass all the former, not merely in its typographical execution, but in embellishment and the elucidatory notes which I propose to affix to various passages. It is also my intention to precede the volume with a biographical and topographical essay. As very great alterations have been made in Bath since Mr. Anstey's time; as its amusements, and the pursuits and customs of its natives and visitors are very dissimilar to what they were in the middle of the last century, I shall be obliged for any hints or information on these subjects; or for any anecdotes of the author, or of the times when he wrote. Yours, &c. Mr. URBAN, JOHN BRITTON. April 4. HE view of Dr. Young's birthplace at Upham in Hampshire, engraved in your last, has reminded me, that in the pleasure grounds of the Rev. Samuel Johnes Knight, Rector of Welwyn, Herts, at the entrance of a fine avenue of lime-trees, an altar surmounted by an urn, of chaste and elegant design, arrests the attention of the visiter, and is thus inscribed: Ut umbra æstiva, qua ipse delectabatur, has arbores sic in ordine consevit, Ecclesiæ municipalis quondam Sacerdos, Edvardus Young, amoni et perelegantis ingenii Poets, ac sententiarum gravitate Qui, cum vitæ esset sanctitas summa, Vitia insectabatur, non homines, Errantes emendabat, non castigabat. |