The preamble of that act will at once show what was at first contemplated: "Whereas by the laws now in force in this kingdom, it is not lawful to endow any college or seminary for the education exclusively of persons professing the Roman Catholic religion, and it is now become expedient that a seminary should be established," &c. The act then proceeds to name the persons who "shall be trustees for the purpose of establishing, endowing, and maintaining one academy for the education only of persons professing the Roman Catholic religion: and that the said trustees shall have full power and authority to receive subscriptions and donations to enable them to establish and endow it, and to purchase and acquire lands not exceeding the annual value of one thousand pounds, and to erect buildings," &c. And the 10th section

permits the commissioners of His Majesty's treasury to issue any sum or sums not exceeding £8,000, "towards establishing the said academy."

How far removed the intended college was from a public foundation, is shown by the fact, that His Grace the late Duke of Leinster gave every encouragement to the establishment. A house, and fifty-four acres of land adjoining to the town of Maynooth, were granted by His Grace on a lease for lives, renewable for ever, at the annual rent of £72. Twenty acres of land immediately contiguous were afterwards granted on a lease for ever by Mr. Stoyte, at an annual rent of £140, and have been added to the property of the college."+

As a further illustration of the design of the Roman Catholic body to sustain the college with their own funds, it may be mentioned, that Lord Dunboyne, who had been a Roman Catholic bishop, but conformed to the Established church, bequested his property on his death-bed to this institution, as an evidence of his repentance and reconciliation to Rome; and though his heir litigated the bequest, yet eventually its trustees established their claim for an annual payment of £500.

The changes also that have been made in the amount of the grants from year to year, prove, that whatever understanding may have been originally come to between certain members of a coalition government and the projectors of the seminary, parliament does not stand committed by any such pledge, but is free to take that course which the voice of the country may dictate.I

* 35 Geo. III. cap. 21. Irish Stat. vol. xvii. 511.

+ Eighth Report of the Commissioners of Irish Education Inquiry, pp. 5, 6. "Account of the annual parliamentary grants to the Roman Catholic College of Maynooth:"-1796-£7759 2s. 1d.; 1797-6790; 1798-£9700; 1799-£9993; 1800-£4093 10s.; 1801-£5820; 1802-£7760. The same sum was annually voted till 1808, when £12,610, being £4850 extra, were given, to enable the trustees to erect buildings, capable of containing fifty additional students. In

Before we proceed to consider the results of this educational experiment, we will first describe to our readers the situation of the college and the general appearance of the place where it has been made.

The market-town of Maynooth is in the province of Leinster, county Kildare, about twelve miles north-west of Dublin, and has nothing to recommend it to the notice of the traveller but the college in question, which stands near the church; though separated from the town by a large open area, which is kept in good order. "The buildings form three sides of a quadrangle, containing a chapel, a refectory, a library, lecture-rooms, and the apartments of the professors and students; and though they present in the distance rather an imposing front, yet when approached, they are a mean, rough-cast, and white-washed range, standing without one architectural recommendation, on a dull and gloomy flat."

We shall now avail ourselves of observations from the pens of two competent and liberal visitors, whose independent but concurring testimony will have its due influence. We refer to the late Mr. Henry D. Inglis, and the Hon. and Rev. Baptist W. Noel.

“Provided with a satisfactory letter to the then vice-president, Mr. Montague, I, of course, found," says the former gentleman, "a courteous reception, and much apparent willingness to communicate every information. When I visited Maynooth the number of students somewhat exceeded four hundred. They are admitted at an early age; and when first received into the college, must possess some knowledge of Latin. The course of study at Maynooth is arduous, and, as laid down in the Report of the Commissioners on Education, very extensive. I was shown this report, in answer to my interrogatories as to the course of education; and I confess I was greatly surprised to find it so varied and so liberal. But upon a little further questioning, I learned that this course is not adhered to; and that only as much of it is followed, as can be accomplished: these were the words used, from which I infer that the course of instruction is entirely optional with, and varies at the pleasure of, the heads of the college; and that whoever forms any opinion of the course of education pursued at Maynooth, from what he has read in the Report of the Education Commissioners, will fall into grievous error."-Inglis's Ireland in 1834, vol. ii. 332, 333.

"The superintendence and instruction of the students is committed to the following officers a president, vice-president, two deans, a librarian, a bursar, and nine professors. In 1826, there were 391 students, of whom 250 were maintained by the grant, 110 were pensioners, 20 were bursars, and 11 were in the Dunboyne class. The number of students is now increased to 450. No one of these young men can be admitted to the college without the recommendation of his bishop, who holds an annual examination of candidates within his diocese, and recommends whom he thinks fit. To the bishops also is allotted the right of naming the 250 students who are

1809 it was reduced to £8973, although Sir John Newport moved for £13,000, and that sum was continued till 1813, when it was increased to £9673, since which that grant has been annually repeated until now.

*Hon. B. Noel's Ireland in 1836.

maintained by the grant, in the following proportions; the provinces of Armagh and Cashel present each 75 students, and those of Dublin and of Tuam, each 50." "At his admission, each pensioner is said to expend as follows:

"From this sum must be deducted for each of the free students, the £21 pension, making their first year's expences £48. It may be seen by this statement that the students cannot be taken from the lowest class.

"They are usually admitted about the age of seventeen, and continue about six years in the college. The first three they pass through the class of rhetoric, the logic class, and the class of mathematics; and they then enter the class of theology, in which they continue likewise three years. At the end of the first year of theology, the student, being now twenty-one years of age, is usually made sub-deacon: the second year, he is made deacon: and the third year he is ordained priest. Some students come at an earlier age, and are placed in the humanity class, which is one year below the rhetoric; and occasionally they come later. In the one case the academical course would be seven years, in the other, it would only be five, or even less. For the lowest class a youth should have read Cæsar's Commentaries, Sallust, Virgil's Eclogues, and parts of Cicero. For the higher humanity class he must be conversant with Cicero, Livy, Horace, Virgil, Juvenal, Xenophon, and Homer. For the logic class he must likewise have read parts of Tacitus, Demosthenes, and Longinus. One year is devoted to mathematics, in which they are expected to make themselves well acquainted with arithmetic, with the elements of algebra, with a treatise on geometry, with plane and spherical trigonometry, with the elements of mechanics, and with astronomy. Youths under twenty years of age are expected to learn this in one year. I can remember my freshman's year at Trinity College, Cambridge, and believe that the majority of these students must know about as much on these subjects at the end of the year as at the beginning, and no more. The course of theology, on the other hand, seems to be very Romish. Ten Latin treatises are to be waded through. 1. De Religioni. S. S. Trinitatis. 4. De Sacramento Penitentiæ. 6. De Actibus Humanis, &c. 7. De Præceptis, &c. Irregularitatibus. 9. De Ordine, et de Matrimonio. firmatione, de Extremâ Unctione; and then at the end of the 10th tract comes, De gratiâ Dei, et de Deo! What a mass of reading apparently upon forms, and ceremonies, and sacraments, and discipline! and what omission of all that constitutes the essence of the Gospel! On the fall of man, on the atonement of Jesus Christ, on justification, on the work of the Spirit, on the promises of the Gospel, on regeneration, on sanctification, on devotedness to the will of God, on communion with God, and on heavenly happiness, they appear to read almost nothing! All the life, all the thoughts, and all the heart of the Roman Catholic priest, are to be devoted to the mass, to the seven sacraments, to the precepts of the church, to the confessional, and to extreme unction, &c.; with these, therefore, must his ten tracts, and his three years of theology be chiefly filled. Scripture is not, however, wholly concealed from their view. There is a professor of Hebrew and of sacred Scripture, whose duty it

2. De Ecclesiâ. 3. De Mysterio 5. De Sacramentis in Genere. 8. De Simonia, de Censuris, et 10. De Baptismo, de Con

is to give the whole theological class, containing 200 stndents, two lectures every week on Scripture. In 1826, the professor, Mr. Browne, lectured on the whole of St. Matthew and St. John, on the Epistles to the Romans, to the Galatians, to the Corinthians, to the Hebrews, to Timothy, and to Titus, and on those of St. Peter too. On the Old Testament he had rarely time to enter."-Noel's Ireland in 1836, pp. 338-343.

"The Maynooth discipline is severe. The students rise at five in the summer months, and at six during the winter. Their rule of domestic discipline, in true Roman Catholic style, orders, on the signal being given, and the Benedicamus Domino being heard, let each person answer Deo Gratias, and immediately let him arise from bed, and making the most holy sign of the cross, let him put on his clothes, and as soon as he has done so, let him employ himself sedulously for the space of half an hour in washing his hands, adjusting his bed, and in making up his room.' They then assemble in the chapel for morning prayer, after which they study till eight, and then attend mass. Mass is followed by breakfast. From half-past nine till half-past ten they study; from that time till half-past eleven they attend lectures. From twelve till two they study, and from two to three attend lectures; then follows dinner and exercise till five. From five till eight they study; at nine they assemble for evening prayer, after which they retire to their rooms, and must be in bed by ten. The relaxation in the midst of these studies is rather triste. Behind the college is a square space, and beyond this a gravel walk for a quarter of a mile. Here they make their melancholy promenade, unless they play at ball or at prison bars. If any student should pass the boundaries of the college without leave, or designedly withdraw himself from the body of the students on the public walk, or from the eyes of the person to whose charge he may have been committed, he is liable, by the college statutes, to expulsion. He is liable to the same punishment if he should bring into the college books or writings tending to calumniate the Roman Catholic religion,' &c., or use any books forbidden to the entire community by the president or dean. To render the surveillance more complete, all letters, in or out, pass through the hands of the dean, who has the right of opening them, but does not exercise it. By night and day, too, the deans have the right of entering every apartment; and by the statutes they are enjoined to do so at least twice a fortnight, when they are to examine their books, and, with the president's consent, even their desks and papers."-Ibid. pp. 348–350.

"No conversation is allowed," says Mr. Inglis, "during breakfast and dinner. Some individual is appointed to read aloud: sometimes it is history that is read, sometimes the lives of saints; but I have reason to think that the latter is the usual kind of reading. From the moment of meeting at supper, until meeting again at breakfast, there is total silence, in order, as I am told, that meditation might have its due effect. By study, is meant preparation for lecturing; and students may either study in their own rooms, or in the library; but they are not permitted, as at Carlow, to study in the open air. In the library, which I visited, all the books are open, and there is apparently free access to them. The books are chiefly theology, sacred biography, philosophy, history, and some few travels. I glanced at the shelves with some attention, and saw no work improper, by its levity of character, for the perusal of a minister of religion; and yet I was informed that a strict watch is kept on the studies of the students; and it is soon discovered if their studies be improper! Now, what is the inference to be necessarily drawn from this admission? What are the studies that require so much watching? What are considered improper studies? No fictions are there, nor profane poetry, nor the lucubrations of freethinkers. I saw only the standard histories, and most unexceptionable works of

Christian philosophers: from which, then, it necessarily follows, that history, philosophy, and discovery,-that all books not strictly theological,-all, in short, by which the mind can be informed and enlarged,-are considered to be 'improper studies.'

"As to the precise nature of the studies and lectures, I could obtain no accurate information. I have already said, that in answer to my inquiry, I was shown the printed course contained in the Commissioners' Report; but that this imposing enumeration of studies was afterwards admitted to be an enumeration, and nothing more; and coupling this with the kind of reading alone permitted in the libraryamounting nearly to a prohibition of all but theological studies,-we are, perhaps, entitled to conclude, that the lectures are almost exclusively directed towards the maintenance of the Catholic faith."—Inglis's Ireland, vol. ii. 334–336.

Who that has read of the free and animated discussions of the youthful Arnold, with the fledgling Puseyites of Corpus Christi College; or who that can recal the healthy intellectual excitement which the unrestrained conversations and regular debates of our dissenting colleges produced on his opening mind, but must pity these poor youths, doomed either to extinguish in their breasts all the warm emotions and generous feelings of a rising manhood, or to assume the garb of sanctity, though conscience reproaches them as surpliced deceivers ?

"When I visited the college it was vacation: forty or fifty students were still however in residence. They were generally athletic youths, with good countenances, and with all the appearance of robust health. Several were dressed as priests. Their caps and gowns are very much like those of the smaller colleges at Cambridge: and although the statutes prescribe Neve ipsi vestibus dilaceratis in publicum prodeant, ut agrestem fugiant negligentiam,' many of the gowns were indescribably ragged, and occasionally I observed a yawning rent at the knee. I had heard something of the dirt of the place. This, if true, is a great disgrace to the college, not only because it is ungentleman-like, but especially because it is one of the duties of the priesthood to raise the habits of the poor from dirt to cleanliness; from disorder neatness; and how shall the priest do this if he be himself slovenly and dirty?" -Noel's Ireland, pp. 350, 351.

“The students are allowed, if they desire it, two months' leave of absence during the summer. I inquired if it ever, or often happened, that youths changed their views, acquiring during their absence a relish for the world, or perhaps disinclined for a life of celibacy: and it was candidly enough admitted, that this happened every summer; and that during the present year's vacation, five or six had withdrawn from the novitiate. The reason usually given for this step by such indivi duals is, that they find Providence has not destined them for the life.' I was also told, that when the college was first instituted, backsliding was of very frequent occurrence; and the reason for this, assigned by my informant, was, that there were then a greater number of individuals candidates for the priesthood, who had, in a worldly sense, better prospects. The Catholic students of Maynooth now, with few exceptions, belonging to the lower classes of Catholic landholders, have been accustomed to regard the parish priest as a being almost of another nature, and with no prospect of independence as a cultivator of the land. He has nothing to tempt him from the course which he knows will place him in a higher sphere than