then closed, there being at least two thousand ladies and gentlemen in the church.

The service commenced with the 100th Psalm, which was sung by the whole of the children, accompanied by the choir and full band, with a minuteness of execution which really astonished and delighted us. Upon the termination of the 100th Psalm, the morning service commenced, in the course of which the Venite, and other Psalms of the day were sung to Handel's grand Chaunt.. The Te Deum was next sung to a chaunt composed expressly for the occasion by Dr. Smith, which reflects great credit on his taste and judgment. The Jubilate to Lord Mornington's celebrated chaunt was sung, and at intervals, (as were the others,) accompanied by the full band, with all the children joining, which produced a most powerful effect. Just at the termination of this beautiful Psalm, a vivid flash of lightning and a most awful peal of thunder re-echoed through the building, producing a most solemn effect upon the assembled multitude.

were

Before the prayer for the King, Handel's splendid Coronation Anthem and Chorus,-"Zadock the Priest," sung with great solemnity of effect. The exactness with which" God save the King-Long live the King-May the King live for ever, Amen, Amen, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Amen," was chorused, was very remarkable.

The Lessons were read by the Rev. Mr. Cotton. The Litany was chaunted by the Rev. Mr. Maguire. The sermon, appropriated equally to the assemblage of the children, and the meeting of the members of the Association, was preached by The Right Rev. the Bishop of Down and Connor.

After the sermon the Choir sung "Luther's Hymn"

"Great God, what do I see and hear, The end of things created."

The order and appearance of the children were highly creditable to their respective institutions.

Extract of a letter from Sligo, dated May 16th, 1829.

"How little are people in England acquainted with the oppressive burthens of the Romish Church, borne by the people in this country. They hear of the imaginary injustice and oppression in the levying of tithes allotted for the support of the National Church; but the cry of the wretched victims to the

frauds and extortions of the Romish Church, overwhelmed as they are with ignorance and superstition, is almost as little heard in England, as if it were uttered within the walls of the Inquisition. It may with certainty be alleged, that where the poorer occupiers of land pay a shilling of tithe, or in years of unusual prosperity and fine crops, two shillings, they pay at the least, six times the sum to the priests for churchings, confessions, station dinners, extreme unctions, month's-minds, purgatorial masses, marriages, offices for sick cattle, masses to lay ghosts and prevent witchcraft, &c. All these, and many more, are exclusive of the stated sums paid for familymoney, rent to build chapels, and other such impositions. It should be also taken into the account, that when their crops are plentiful the parson's tithe is increased; but it is in the season of loss or increased expense in their household affairs, that the priest comes in to glean the last farthing that superstitious terror can extort. It is at the moment of sickness or death, or at the first struggle to establish themselves in the world, that he reaps his illgotten gains. Allow me to instance two cases that have lately occurred in this neighbourhood. They are not marked by any very peculiar features, but such as daily take place, and by no means equal in enormity to many that could be cited by a close observer. An industrious young woman who had laboured hard and saved the earnings of several years, at length became mistress of about eight pounds, a large store in her rank of life, (the very lowest). She was attacked by a disease by which she slowly wasted away, and by which in spite of all the powers of relics and holy water she died at length. Her's was a slow, and in the sense of the Romish church, a righteous death. She had full time to deliberate and consult her spiritual guides, as to the best appropri ation of her fortune. Let the disposal of it prove the state of society in that class, and furnish an evidence of the principles and motives by which the great majority of our peasantry are actuated. She bequeathed to the priest to say masses for the repose of her soul, a guinea; to some pious persons to perform stations, (i. e. to creep on their knees round a well, muttering certain prayers to the saints, valued by the dozen), for the same purpose as the masses, a guinea likewise; for whiskey to give her a "dacent birl," (i. e. a drunken mob at the funeral, and a noisy, riotous meeting at

the wake), four pounds; and in legacies to her relations, including the expense of her coffin, and some offerings or fees to the priest, two pounds. Such is Popery, and such the tyranny of the brutal habits which Popery engenders and perpetuates.

The second case is one in which the money for religious uses was less willingly given, being paid, not by the party who was to reap the benefit of a deathbed bargain, but by a surviver, for a dying and subsequently a deceased friend. A young man died, and left a property producing three pounds yearly to his mother, who took care of him in his last moments. The poor woman had no money in hands, and was compelled to mortgage his income of three pounds for one year, paying fifteen shillings for extreme unction and masses after death to release the soul from purgatory; and the remainder for the coffin, (costing about six shillings), the whiskey, pipes and tobacco, necessary to keep up the mirthful revelry of the neighbours at the wake, and some little offerings at the funeral. The poor widow left in a state of destitution, was unable from the dishonesty of the debtors, to procure peaceable payment of some small debts due to her deceased son, in all amount ing to about four pounds; and fleeced by the Romish officials. went to the Vicar General of the diocese, to beg administration without payment of fees, in order to act under the will,

"Neither this nor any other country, oppressed by the ignorance-loving power and grinding avarice of the agents of the Romish Court, can ever be the residence of any but a wretched and a turbulent population.

A very poor woman was taken, soon after her confinement in child-bed, into the Fever Hospital for some disease. The doctors observed that she loitered in the house after her recovery, longer than the patients in general wish to do, and at length enquired the cause.They found that the poor woman, after the birth of her child, having been unable to pay the half crown, invariably exacted for Churching" by the Roman Catholic Priests, could not get her child baptized until she had pawned her only cloak for the money. She was ashamed to leave the Fever Hospital in so naked a condition; and hence her delay within the range of pestilence and death. The revenues thus collected from a half starying population, exceed all that has hitherto been conceived. The Priests profess to baptize gratuitously, because, say

they, it may save the child's soul, which must be lost if it die without baptism; but they in general refuse to baptize without the Churching, and the latter costs, 2s. 6d. Popery turns to account every superstition and weakness of the unregenerate mind. Among the lower classes of Romanists in this country, it is considered most dangerous and unlucky to touch meat that has been dressed by a mother who is not yet churched, or to be in the same house with her. She is avoided until after that ceremony, nearly as much as a Jew under leprosy, or other legal uncleanness.

"I omitted on a former occasion to mention a case of a man in whose house a friend of mine lodges. The landlord has taken a solemn oath against spirituous liquors; but whenever the priest of the parish visits him they get roaring drunk together. This is a case in point with the incident in your story of the "Broken Oath" and the Priestly absolution from guilt in breaking that tie."

Lord Kenyon has given five hundred pounds to the institutions of Bishop Chase, in the State of Ohio, for which his Lordship's Chaplain, the Reverend George Montgomery West, has been preaching successfully at Bradford last week.

At the close of the meeting of the London Missionary Society, held in the Rev. Rowland Hill's Chapel, upwards of 25001. was received in contributions from the congregation. At a similar meeting lately held at Manchester, 2000l. was contributed.

Episcopal Floating Church Society.

We are happy to state, that, after five years of repeated disappointments, an Episcopal Floating Chapel has at length been opened in the port of London.

The chaplain is the Rev. J. Hough, of Madras. The object is patronized by his Majesty, and also by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishops of London and Winchester, and various noblemen and gentlemen, and public bodies; but pecuniary assistance is still wanted to defray the expenses of the outfit, and to furnish an income to main

tain the establishment.

THE CHURCH.

An association has been formed for consolidating a fund for the benefit of the Curates of the Diocese of Dublin. It is patronized by his Grace the Archbishop and other dignitaries of the Dio