The sentence soon will publish loudly
Whom glory waits and whom disgrace;
Philosophers, who rule us proudly,

Or Jacob's scorn'd and suffering race!

In the same spirit, and touched with the strong and gentle sympathies of affection, are the lines (Vol. ii. p. 139) to Doctor Abraham Capadose*.

Nor for thee, nor for me, was earth's valley decreed,

Nor its visions of tasteless delight;

For our pinions are spread, and our fetters are freed,
For a higher, a heavenlier flight.

From the sorrowful scenes of this world and its woes,
From the dungeons and glooms of to-day,

To those regions of hope, whose resplendency throws
O'er the future the past's dearest ray.

Ah! thy heart like my own mourns our nation's decline,
Which to folly a blessing appears,

While in darkness we dwell, and in sadness we pine,
And our hearts are but fountains of tears.

"Tis a day which in sadness the universe shrouds;
'Tis an autumn which strips all the grove;

'Tis a winter that gathers the storms and the clouds-
Heav'n's spring-tide is dawning above!

Come and weep with thy friend o'er our people's disgrace,
O'er Israel's scatter'd remains-.

The deniers of God-an incredulous race

With the prophets' own blood in their veins.

O! their flesh is our flesh, and their blood is our blood,
And their shame is a night to our eyes:

Their decline whelms our souls in a comfortless flood-
No! redemption will beam from the skies!

Weep with me o'er the lion, the pride of our sires,
Which lighted all Spain with his beam;
While the West was illumed with the orient fires
Which old chivalry borrow'd from him.

In his silence he sleeps as if glory were past,
But again shall he raise his proud head
And the world shall awake at the trumpet's loud blast,
Which shall burst the dark doors of the dead.

Noch voor u, noch voor my is deze aarde gemaakt
Noch de droom van haar laffe vernaaken;

Onze vleugels gerept! onze boeien geslaakt
Om een hooger aanschouwing te smaken.

O my

O my friend! what a hope have I nursed in this lay,-
What a joy round our being it throws—
While the path of our hope, where we tranquilly stray,
With the light of eternity glows!

In that path be thou near me, and while I aspire,
Thou shalt still all the thoughts that repine;
One in blood, in belief, one in hope, in desire;
And the pinions that waft me are thine.

O be near with thy noble and verse-inspired heart,
With thy judgement, example and care;

Thou, whose patience, rejoicing through sorrow and smart,
Never bent 'neath the weight of despair.

In the desert that leads to the grave and its rest
Is thy friendship a moistening shower;

In the tempests which life's rugged pathway molest
Is that friendship a sheltering bower.

On the other side death-which still bids us "prepare”—
Lie the streams that shall freshen our soul;
Immortality's temple shall welcome us there
To a peace which no time shall controul.

All the bliss of this valueless dust soon decays,
All its pains shall ere long disappear
In the loud-swelling oceans of limitless praise,
Which the souls of the blessed ones hear.

But the friendship on earth which our spirit has found,
In the name of our God, cannot fade,

Nor be lost in the lap of the pitiless ground,

That shall gather our clay to its shade.

Children of promise! heirs with us of gospel hopes, and aspirants to a common heaven, we sympathize with you in your thoughts and your affections. We mourn over the sufferings which our ignorant forefathers imposed upon yours. We would fain wash away the stain in the overflowings of fraternal kindness.

If we were disposed to treat misgovernment and despotism lightly, we could forgive Napoleon many of his errors, were it only for that spirit of toleration, or rather of religious freedom, which he so much and so frequently encouraged. His conduct to the Jews was generous and noble; and certainly, in the modern history of this extraordinary people, no event occurs so striking as the assembling the tribes in that great Sanhedrim which met under his auspices. The security they had for some time enjoyed, by sufferance, as it were, became from that epoch guarantied. The moral character and influence of the whole nation was elevated by the recognition of their title to attention and to respect. In our days, we

have seen, under the tolerating government of Louis Buonaparte, a Jew advanced to the very highest offices of the state. If there be those who contemplate these signs of the times' with indifference, we are not among the number. We hail with no common emotion every event which tends to gather the great family of mankind into the fold of universal sympathy. We feel the weight of the fetters which so large a portion of our race are compelled to bear, of civil disqualification, of religious exclusion; even as if those fetters were our own. Every hope and every promise of emancipation; every prospect that levels the distinctions of sect and party, and blends their varied affections in one common purpose of philanthropy and benevolence, is to us most welcome and delightful.

While this article was in its progress through the press, we received the intelligence that Da Costa with several other eminent Jews had embraced Christianity. We can only exclaim with the poet,

O

Bella, immortal, benefica
Fede ai trionfi avezza

Scrivi ancor questo: alleggrati
Che più superba altezza

Al desonor di Golgota
Giammai non si chinò.

ART. XVII.-Travels in Ireland in the Year 1822.

By Thomas Reid. 1823.

UR own opinions on the state of Ireland, and on the necessity, as well as the justice, of some liberal and enlightened legislative measures, which may diminish, if not remove, the existing causes of irritation and misery in that hitherto unhappy country, were fully detailed in the very first number of THE INQUIRER. All that we shall now therefore say from ourselves is, that every event that has since occurred has tended strongly to confirm the conviction which we then expressed with regard to the sources of the numerous moral and political evils of which Ireland has so long had to complain. This is a subject, however, which cannot be too frequently brought before the public eye, or placed in too great a diversity of lights. That there is something essentially and culpably erroneous in the system of domestic government in Ireland, must be evident to every man. But it is not enough to rest satisfied with the assertion of this truth. It is not enough to declare that the patient who lies stretched before us on the bed of sickness is disordered. Every effort ought to be made to collect such facts as may illustrate the origin and progress of the disease, its present character, and the nature of the applications calculated at least to mitigate its malignity, if not to effect its cure. bet

With this conviction, we consider the cause of humanity to be much indebted to Mr. Reid, who has devoted a considerable portion of time and attention to a personal investigation of the real condition of the Irish people. His work is divided into three parts. The first comprehends a sketch of the history of Ireland; the second consists of notes taken during a tour in that country, which occu, pied nearly five months of the last year; the third contains reflections suggested to the mind of the benevolent writer by the scenes of distress which he had witnessed in the course of his journey. Without intending the least disparagement to the historical division of the work, we apprehend that the observations which Mr. Reid had himself the opportunity of making will be the part of it most interesting to our readers; we shall therefore endeavour to condense those observations into as small a compass as possible; advising, however, a reference to the work itself for more ample information upon various points on which it will be in our power only slightly to touch.

It was on the 28th of last May that Mr. Reid, after a turbulent passage from Liverpool, landed at the Pigeon-house at Dublin. He was immediately surrounded by persons, eagerly offering their services to carry his luggage, whose dress, or rather whose undress, together with their emaciated haggard looks, was well calculated to awaken feelings of compassion. Most of them were without shoes, stockings, and coats; and their other garments were composed of innumerable patches, exhibiting almost every variety of colour. Dublin, although much improved since Mr. Reid had last seen it, appeared still very deficient in cleanliness. Great depravity was also occasionally visible. In one street Mr. Reid saw several wretched females running about, furiously intoxicated, and in a state nearly approaching to nudity. Of the prisons in Dublin Mr. Reid describes Newgate as badly situated, constructed and managed, and utterly without classification, inspection, education and employment. The City Marshalsea also exhibited a crowded picture of human wretchedness; and Mr. Reid understood that the sheriff's prison was in many respects more filthy and objectionable than either of the others. Smithfield Penitentiary and the new Bridewell he commends as creditable and valuable institutions.

On the 7th of June, Mr. Reid commenced his journey northwards. He was painfully interested to witness the manner in which that wretched class of the Irish peasantry, denominated "Cotters," toiled, amidst filth of every kind, and with merely potatoes for their food, to cultivate the little patch of ground set apart for the support of their families.In the county of Tyrone, there is not, Mr. Reid believes, one in seventy of the tenants who can individually set a plough going on a farm. By far the greater num

ber

ber have only one horse, which is lent for a certain number of days to a neighbour, who leuds his in return for the same length of time. Those who have land but no horse (and there are many such) get their land ploughed at the end of the season, for which they pay by labour. Mr. Reid often saw poor people, men, women and children, digging up their ground, and endeavouring to break it, with a three-pronged fork, called "a grape," and an iron rake such as is used by gardeners. From such a mode of culture nothing but wretched crops can result. The condition of the labouring poor in the county of Armagh, is, however, much superior to that of their neighbours, and their intelligence appears to keep pace with

their comforts.

In the county of Monaghan Mr. Reid observed many of the poor peasants employed in planting potatoes. One had his ground prepared and the manure spread three weeks, but was unable to procure seed. He had been ill during the spring; his little all was soon exhausted; starvation stared him in the face, and his wife and seven children went out to beg. This poor creature called heaven to witness that he had eaten nothing but dry pota toes for nine weeks, and could not get a sufficiency even of them; and his looks too strongly bore testimony to the fact. At the door of another cabin a woman and child were crying bitterly. On asking the cause, a little girl answered, "The rid cow and wee stirk (meaning the red cow and little heifer) are gone to jail, and my father is gone with them. The labours of this family having failed to satisfy the landlord, who was a middle-man, their cow and calf (the former their main support) had been driven away and canted*.

"

Riding through an isolated and miserable district, called the Truagh, which is properly the Connemara of Ulster, Mr. Reid alighted at a cabin, and asked for some water. Receiving no answer, he approached the entrance, which had neither door nor any thing like one. A large thorn bush was placed in the opening, and was confined in its position by a heavy stone. There were voices within, but no one was to be seen. On removing the thorn, and walking in, he found two children about three or four years old, without any clothing but a short shirt each, playing on the floor. There were also two young pigs in the opposite 'corner. The father and mother had gone to the moss (or bog) and left the two youngest of their children at home. On examining closely, it appeared that the poor infants were prevented from getting to the fire by a cord with which each of them was tied by the ognen leg to a bedpost. The pigs were secured in the same way, and at a sufficient distance from the children to prevent disputes.

* Sold by auction; usually much under value. ̧

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