Now, in Scotland at least, we know well what has been the result of such arrangements in our Hebrides. As to the consequences round the coast of Ireland, I shall not at present enlarge. But here we see only twenty parishes embracing a population of not less than one hundred and thirty-five thousand eight hundred and ninety souls, and of this number we see nineteen thousand seven hundred and eighty living detached, in the adjoining seas, in not less than ninety islands; nay, in three parishes, embracing nearly thirty thousand souls, it will be observed that above nine thousand are so situated. At the present moment we shall find, I believe, above one hundred and forty thousand souls at least in these parishes, and of this number above twenty-one thousand in these ninety islands alone. But the inhabited islands which we have already enumerated amount to not fewer than one hundred and forty.

On referring to these Islands in general, it may be said, many of them are small. They are so; seventeen of them contain only one family, and ten not more than three in each! The feeling of solitude here occasionally must be extreme ;* but they live in the vicinity of other islands, and a plan may be suggested by which the art and delight of reading may be introduced to every one of them, provided they are instructed in their own vernacular tongue. In the preceding list, perhaps, some would except Great Island near Cork, as not being like others. It is reported, indeed, to have above 900 scholars in attendance, but then above 800 of these are in the town of Cove. Among a country population of at least 3000, I suspect not one in thirty is learning to read, and of these possibly not one in Irish. But still, independently of Great Island, here are only eleven islands, containing in all above 20,000 souls. Here are sixteen islands, each of which contain from one to

* Not so solitary, indeed, as in one of our Hebrides, the island of Rona, about 30 miles north from Lewis. During seven years, excepting one visit from the boat of the Fortunee, then cruising after the President in 1802, the occupant of this farm, tending 50 sheep, had seen no face but that of his employer and his own family, consisting of six individuals! Such is the violence and height of the mountain-billows which break on this island, that the dykes of the sheepfold are often thrown down, and large stones removed from their places at elevations reaching to 200 feet above high-water mark! The highest point of land in this island, which is not laid down in Arrowsmith's map, is about 600 feet.

two hundred inhabitants. But why may not every island containing fifty immortal beings have a circulating Irish teacher? Even his temporary residence would kindle a flame, which, far from expiring when he left, would in many an instance maintain and even propagate itself. Now of these we have not less than thirty, which, at 50 each, would be 1500, while these contain at present more than two thousand souls.

It must now, however, also be observed, that at least several of the islands, respecting which I could come to no conclusion, and have left blank, have inhabitants; therefore I have included them, to elicit information; and the population in others, I have good reason to believe, has been underrated, perhaps in many. For example, in the island of Tory, ten miles from land, there were returned, in 1821, only 297 souls, but there were said to be 59 houses. Now the average family in most of these islands, the reader must have noted, is very large -generally 6 and 7! This would give more than 350 souls; but the aggregate of Tory has been recently stated as high as five hundred. Taking these circumstances into account, and the natural increase within the last seven years, fifty thousand souls may certainly be regarded as a moderate calculation; but the total is probably even more than this.

One Irish school has but as for all the rest,

It may now very naturally be inquired,-but are there no schools in any of these Islands? I reply, there are schools in the islands of 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. been proposed for the Island of Tory; 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, poor dear souls, in a sadder sense, have been wrecked by one common storm, and, though actually within sight of our eye, have scarcely ever heard of our common and glorious Deliverer!

In but a few short years circulating Irish teachers, if they were men who fear God, might work wonders here, and I cannot conceive of a more delightful change on a Sabbath morn ing, 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 this subject:

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.

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 now 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 particularly her aborigines,

can be more incumbent.

Let us the more value the example left us by the discerning few, in whose hearts it was to have enlightened and elevated a people so often and so long left out of all calculations, meet and necessary for their present comfort and their future good. Let there be no false delicacy now to whisper that we should be tender of prejudices which were grounded upon political expediency-an expediency which has proved so hollow and foolish in itself; weak as to its professed end, nay so injurious withal every hour of its continuance to the immortal interests of so many generations.

It is indeed a very easy thing for us now to dwell upon what has been called the back-ground, or dark side, of the picture with regard to Ireland, though I envy not the man who is capable of doing so without feelings either of sympathy or selfreproach.

But no-let us no more contend, nor blame
Each other, blamed enough elsewhere ;-

For what can this avail, or does it befit the lips of their countrymen, to whom we can say as to all things else, and at any period-" "And what hast thou which thou hast not received? and why glory as if thou hadst not received it ?" What would the rest of this kingdom have been if left without books-without learning-without an intelligible ministry? So far from being surprised at any thing said of this people, and there have been many things said which are not correct, my astonishment is that they are to be found in their present condition, destitute and deplorable as it confessedly is. Naturally shrewd, and so far as natural education goes, superior in quickness of perception to any peasantry of the empire-often cheerful, under circumstances which in others would have induced habitual melancholy-retaining a buoyancy of mind under frequent extremity, and so susceptible of gratitude for disinterested kindness-there are none who know them thoroughly who would not say " And I have loved them better still, even in extremity of ill."

It would be easy too to repeat the fine things which have been said about the circulation of bank-notes, which being in English, have proved an incentive to those who see them and ever possess any, to acquire our language!-to talk of the people being said to be ashamed of their native tongue, and