-2 1825.] REVIEW. Bishop of Landaff's Speech. ministry exclusively belong to the priesthood "Mad, madder than the maddest of March We utterly protest against these re- 7. Substance of a Speech in the House of 8vo. IN this masterly and logical pamphlet, his Lordship states that the obJection to the Emancipation of the Catholics does not proceed from their religious tenets as such, but from the connection of them with the Pope; that is to say, the objection does not he against them as Roman Catholics, but as Papists. Some excellent argument then follows, touching ecclesiastical supremacy, in which it is shown that, though spiritual functions (as baptizing, administering the Sacraments, &c.) belong exclusively to the Church, yet that spiritual jurisdiction belongs to the State, because it is and must be in se a civil act. But, asks his Lordship, p. 16, will the Catholics allow that the Pope has no spiritual jurisdiction in these realms? And he then proceeds to show that the very system of Popery is not only subversive of civil liberty, but also may form in the State a body of secret conspirators against its well-being in any other form than that of its own (in a rational view contemptible and degrading) superstition. "Let it be remembered, my Lords, that the spiritual authority of the Church of Rome extends to matters of practice as well as of faith. Such also is the spirit of proselytism she cherishes, that her Clergy are bound to it by the most solemn engagements at their ordination; an obligation never imposed upon our own Clergy. Above all, my Lords, look at the absolute domi 51 My nion exercised by the Romish Bishops and upon His Lordship then shows, from the admission of Dr. Doyle himself, that notwithstanding that part of the proposed oath of allegiance, which requires the subject to disclose to the Government any treasonable designs or practices which may come to his knowledge, yet if such knowledge came to the Priest, through the medium of conhilated the obligation of the oath of fession, that circumstance alone anniallegiance, and misprision of treason must therefore ensue. Our readers will of course see that this and similar tenets infuse dangerous disease into the whole body politic, merely for the selfish benefit of the Pope, and to sanction it would be just as reasonable as to account Guy Fawkes a martyr, and vote him a monument All countries who have become Proin St. Paul's Cathedral, or the Abbey. testant, have been great civil gainers; and all Popish countries have been great civil losers. The Protestants are roused, but we hope with the determination only of supporting their own ascendancy. If the legislative power cannot be safely conceded to the feudal vassals of the Pope, those vassals, as fellow subjects, have every right to all civil privileges which do not affect the ascendancy in question. Such we understand to be the sentiments of Mr. Peel, and we think that this able Statesman has here drawn the proper line of demarcation. 8. State of Ireland. Letters from Ireland on the present Political, Religious, and Moral State of that Country. Republished from the "Courier" Newspaper; with Emendations and Notes. 2d Edit. 8vo. pp. 87. Hatchard. KISSING the King's hand and the Pope's toe are very opposite things; -and 52 REVIEW.-State of Ireland. and though the former is very desirable, the latter to an Englishman is much like taking physic, and for no purpose. Every body knows that a Dissenter, by applying to a QuarterSessions, and discarding the Pope, may sit in Parliament (if he can get there), or any where else, and that the Catholics might do the same if they thought fit. But then their religion without the Pope, is, they think, a bottle without a bottom. Now we do not think so. We cannot see why they should not sail on a new tack; why they should not do, as St. Paul did with regard to himself and Apollos, acknowledge no head but Christ, and get rid of the mill-stone round their necks. But there is a part of unknown history attached to this bustle. We have seen continental works which have broadly stated, that as the Bourbons have been restored, the Pope ought to be restored also: and because foreigners hate and envy England, they will try to get her into a cleftstick with her Irish subjects; and produce one or other of these results, destruction of patriotism or allegiance in her Catholic population, or a present equality, and subsequent hope for paramountship. Throughout the whole of English history, in the Catholic æra, we find that it was not King, Lords, and Commons, but Pope, King, Lords, and Commons, four estates of the realm, and that the said fourth estate interfered in all public or private concerns, ex arbitrio, and exercised this tyranny by imposture, by pretending to a connexion with the Omnipotent and Christ, which every one knows must be impossible. Resistance to this dupery is deemed injustice; and because the Catholic question offered a possible opening for innovation, the naked hideousness of the fiend was drest up by sophistication; and the fox's head once in, children's books will tell the rest.. In short, it is evident, from the existing laws, that the Pope, and nothing but the Pope, is the sole obstruction to the Catholic demands, and that it would be much more reasonable, as English not Italian privileges are the objects sought, that the Pope should rather give up his claims, as head of the Church, than our King his; but then it is utter ruin for him to concede such a possible supremacy; and [July, so the Catholic Question is made up, like the quack-doctor's medicine, of a mixture that will not mix. To make Christians without the Bible is to make men without souls, automata only; and we have a letter of a very active dignitary in Ireland which says, "I see no prospect of civilizing these people without the Bible." Now hear the author before us. "The Roman Catholic Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin tells us, that a Protestant Bible having been left at the dwelling of a peasant, in his diocese, the man became dreadfully alarmed at the presence of such a dangerous inmate, and when night came, he took it up with a pair of tongs, not wishing to pollute his hands with its touch, and went and buried it in his garden. This is the fact. Now mark the Bishop's comment:-I admire his zeal,' says he, nay I admire it highly, and if ever I meet him, I will reward him for it."" P. 40. As to serving God and Mammon, we see it done every day; but to invest with legislative powers persons who claim a divided allegiance-who. claim a command over the press by an Index Expurgatorius-who deny any character whatever to the Bishops or other clergy of the Protestant Church (see our author, p. 25)—who will not even give up the names of murderers to justice, if of their own religion (see p. 31)-who can sanction alterations of the canon of Scripture (see p. 38)— who can expunge whole commandments (ibid)-who disregard reverent observation of the Sabbath-and last of all, who prohibit the perusal of the Bible-to invest such men with legislative power, in a free and Protestant country, can have no other tendency but to obstruct the progress of liberty, reason, and morals. What has been the result of Protestantism in Ireland? In Ulster, a province almost exclusively Protestant, you may leave your door open at midnight: in Munster, almost exclusively Catholic, a troop of dragoons will hardly preserve your home or person from aggression at noon-day. See pp. 42, 43. 1995.] REVIEW.-Joyce's Lay of Truth. Our tables are groaning under the super-incumbent weight of poetry. The walks of Parnassus are crowded and fashionable. We say nothing of its glorious heights, or of the few who have reached an eminence; which but the few can ever hope to attain. Among those few, if our feeble voice were fame, we would place the author of this poem; and if he shall deem that we have entered upon the perusal of his fine lines with a trifling spirit, we can assure him that we have been awed and subdued at once into a better frame; for he has wooed to immortal verse' the holiest musings and the sublimest thoughts that can occupy the mind of man. We will not stop to discuss the point whether poetry be the best mode of combating the infidelity of which the author complains. We e are quite sure that it is a legitimate weapon. It has been a weapon, in no unskilful hands, of great offence to Christianity. We are glad to see it wielded with at least not inferior skill by Mr. Joyce, in its support. The poem is divided into three parts. The first, taking too wide a range for our analysis, opens with the following lines of appropriate invocation, expressed with much beauty:"Sun of immortal minds, whose sapphire blaze 53 The sainted spirit spurns her late abode, Oh! glorious change! still felt and priz'd ́ She mounts and shines in Heaven's own song, Greets the bright virtues which on earth she knew, [true; Each love made perfect and each friendship Perchance a mother's angel vision moves With fond embrace to clasp the child she loves ; Or early snatch'd from Earth-the child on high, In cherub splendour greets the parent's eye." But we might with pleasure extract the greater part of the poem. We have nothing to remark, nothing to offer but unmingled praise; and we might hazard our sincerity, our good faith with the reader, if we pursued the current of our present feelings and inclinations. We will only offer our unfeigned thanks to Mr. Joyce for his poem; and conclude with an extract, which, if there be a heart that can feel its pathetic beauty without sympathy, we understand not its construction:"Ah! tell me not I chant a venal strain, Inflam'd by party or seduc'd by gain, Tho' eight full lustrums o'er my head have flown, [strown; And Time long since his earliest snows has Tho' round my board six infant voices cheer The enduring kindness of their parent's ear; A Serving Priest 'tis still my lot to roam, My hearth-fire kindled in another's home. But shall my lips complain of Him, all kind, Whose band, thro' unknown paths.conducts the blind To Heaven's bright gate; and there bestows the ray [clouded day? Which heals their orbs and shows th' unOr rich or poor, in manhood or in age, Should Heaven preserve me to that latest stage, 54 REVIEW. Costello's Lays of a Stranger. Still may I love with willing feet to go Proclaim the news of joy which God's own 9. Lays of a Stranger. By Louisa Stuart Costello. 8vo. Taylor and Hersey, 1825. THESE are beautiful specimens of lyrical verse. Tender and delicate, they breathe a sweetness chaste and unoppressive as the South o'er its "bank of violets." These Lays are the offspring of a pure heart, and a cultivated mind; not born of sickly sentiment, nor tricked in gaudy colouring; but proceeding from a fancy, feminine as vivid; subdued by a refined taste, and chastened by virtuous feeling. It would be superfluous to add a word more. We offer the following lines as a specimen of a volume which deserves encouragment from all to whom gentle affections, expressed in elegant language, are dear. To my Mother. "Yes! I have sung of other's woes, Until they almost seem'd mine own; And Fancy oft will scenes disclose, Whose Being was in Thought alone! Her magic power I've cherished long, And yielded to her soothing sway, Enchanting is her Syren song, And wild and wondrous is her way. But thou-whene'er I think of thee, Those glittering visions fade away; My soul awakes-how tenderly! To pleasures that can ne'er decay. There's not an hour of life goes by But makes thee still more firmly dear; My sighs attend upon thy sigh, My sorrows wait upon thy tear. For Earth has nought so good, so pure, That may compare with love like thine; Long as existence shall endure, Thy star of guiding love shall shine. O'er other stars dark clouds may low'r, And from our path their light may sever; They liv'd to bless us but an hour, But thine shall live to bless us ever." 10. Tales of the O'Hara Family. In 3 vols. 8vo. Simpkin and Marshall. 1825. THE author of these Tales (who, we understand to be Mr. Banim) will not, we trust, think our comparison "odious," if we liken them to his admirable Prototype, designated by an hyperbole of compliment "The Great Unknown." [July, We do not affirm that these writers are equal in talents; but the author of the Tales before us treads more closely, upon the heels of the Scottish Novelist than any other writer with whom we have been made acquainted. They are akin in fertility of invention, and in power of description; in the same happy art of beguiling the reader of fiction into a belief that he is perusing a veritable history; and alike in awakening an interest which knows no intermission. The author of the Irish Tales is as much at home in the country which he has chosen for the detail of exploits of lawless violence, as is the Author of Waverley in his Highland fortresses, beleaguered by Royal armies, and defended by Jacobite adherents. We will endeavour to give some account of these admirable Tales, and select a specimen of the writer's powers-powers which we predict require but public encouragement to ripen into a splendid maturity, and to yield a rich harvest of amusement to the world, and of fame and profit to their owner. The first in point of place is a tale of Whiteboyism, and refers to a period of much public disturbance in the South of Ireland. The scene opens with the waking of Tony Dooling and his wife, who were found murdered, and their only daughter, Alley, forcibly abstracted. The murderer and the ravisher are immediately denounced in the person of Crohone (a man of morose feelings and elfin appearance), and the lover of Alley (Pierce Shea), immediately starts in pursuit of him. A variety of adventures, which form the materials of the tale, then ensue. Once during a hot pursuit of the refugee, Pierce Shea, unable to clear the river over which the other had bounded, is rescued from drowning by the man whom he pursues. On another occasion when he is aimed at by another, the assassin receives a shot in his arm from some unknown hand; and thus Pierce is saved a second time. For the better purpose of securing Crohone, Shea enters into a confederacy with Rhia Doran, a worthless profligate, and a faithless friend, and once the rival of Shea for the love of Alley. This man is the leader of a party of White Boys (so termed from wearing a white shirt over their dress), and in a luckless hour Pierce Shea is seduced 1825.] REVIEW.-Tales of the O'Hara Family. into taking the oath, and becoming a member of this violent party: he joins them in a nocturnal attack of Peery Clancy, a tithe-proctor; and the scene of this lawless violence has all the apparent fidelity of a real transaction. Clancy in his vocation has been a piti less man, and his cruelties to Terence Delany have inflamed the gang with sentiments of revenge. The unhappy proctor is dragged from his bed amid the merriment and badinage of his assailants, and having been deprived of his ears, is buried up to the chin in mould, and left to the tender mercies of Terence Delany. Pierce Shea has an instinctive apprehension that Delany will murder his victim, and returns in time to prevent it. The scene is so powerful that we are induced to extract it. The proctor, be it remembered, is up to his chin in mould, and “Terence Delany, his guard, stood over him speechless and motionless, even his breathing was not whispered by the still air; but after a considerable pause he walked a few paces to the fence near which the grave had been dug, and returned bent and penting with some heavy burthen, round which his arms were clasped; it was a huge stone; he stooped and laid it down beside the bleeding head. "Again he paused and stood motionless; but at last his husky tones broke suddenly and ominously upon the dead calm; for the proctor's moans had subsided into the feeble breathings of exhaustion; he spoke, as was almost his invariable custom, in the Irish language, of which we will endeavour to give the substance and turn of speech. Did "Know you, Feery Clancy, who it is that stands over you in the lonesomeness and silence of this night?' The answer. also came in Irish. I know not whom you are, bat if you have a Christian's soul you will release me from this misery.' you never bring it to your mind, and did the recollection of it never put your sleep astray, when, stretched on a bed of comfort after a pleasant meal, that, by your deeds Terence Delany and his wife, and his three poor little children, were left houseless and hungry?' Oh! I am lost for ever,' moaned the wretched man. "Hah. You know who stands over you now. Yes, you sunk them and me in poverty and the grave-you made me mad, and you now lie there sure of the death-stroke from the arm of the madman you made.' The victim shrieked. Waste not your breath in idleries; I will turn away, and give you a few minutes to make your prayer of God when you hear my step again near voa, ory merey on your own soul.' 55 55 "He walked aside. By one of those singular coincidences which occur oftener than they are noticed, the face of night suddenly changed. The stars became extinleafless branches; he turned his brow upguished, and the wind howled through the wards, as if confusedly affected with the change; paused his time in that position; heedless of the frightful scream for life and but then starting wildly, hurried back, and, mercy, felt with his foot for the exact situation of the head, stooped, and, after many efforts, raised the ponderous stone, poised it for a moment over the mark-when Pierce Shea bounded upon him from the other side of the hedge, forced him from his stand, and the rock fell with a dull hollow sound harmless on the earth.” A long and violent struggle succeeds, but Shea is victorious. After binding Delany, he brings the rescued proctor home, and in a few minutes after is made prisoner by a party of dragoons. He is rescued by the mob, after a dreadful contest: he is however ultimately taken, and tried for Whiteboyism at the Kilkenny Assizes, and condemned to die. cured in the town of Kilkenny; tried In the mean time Crohone is sefor the murder of the Doolings, and found guilty upon the strongest circumstantial evidence. The Judge is pronouncing his sentence, when the criminal suddenly darts upon a man whom he recognises standing near him. "Both rolled on the ground within the dock, and a dreadful scuffle went on between them. The man fastened his hands on Crohone's throat, and the dwarf was nearly suffocated. Again he cried out for help; and Ho, Ho,' he continued, half choaking, My Lord the Judge, give your orders to saze upon this man. Help, or he is gone -he chokes me to keep down my words.Saze him, for THIS IS THE MURDERER OF THE DOOLINGS!' This man was Rhia Doran, and the denouement is fast approaching. Crohone proves to have been the son of Tony and Cauth Dooling, and to possession of Rhia on the night of the have rescued Alley from the forcible creted her from his vengeance. Pierce murder, and to have afterwards seShea is reprieved on the scaffold, and justice is done to all parties. This is indeed but a faint sketch of a Tale abounding in scenes of very powerful interest, and animated by many vigorous pictures of national manners; but it may serve as the exciter of an appetite for the whole. Did our |