Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

however, regarded him with the utmost satisfaction, and at Mr. Pennington's he was gratified by hearing himself commended from the lips of Louisa. This pleasure, however, was not without alloy there was a rival in attendance-one Sir Harcourt Lees-We beg pardon, it was the Rev. Sir Starcourt Gibbs.

argument,

'He was a living monopoly of and passion, and pretension-an union, in his small sphere, of the Villiers and the Shaftesbury of Dryden-being

"All in the course of one revolving moon, A sportsman, statesman, fiddler, and buffoon."

Whilst his dimunitive person, contrasted with the mercurial and restless spirit that animated, made this answer to his, "Whose else through the pigmy body work'd its way,

And o'er-informed its tenement of clay."

'There were other points of resemblance between these factious courtiers of Charles' day and Sir Starcourt, who was no despicable partisan, if, indeed, he was not altogether and alone a party in himself. A man of rank and wealth, it is impossible to conceive what preposterous motive could

have led him to choose the church as a

profession, unless the general one, by which that Charibdis of Irish talent and ambition continues to swallow up threefourths of the Irish population. For Ireland is, in fact, not a government, but a hierarchy. In the minds of all, anywise interested in passing events, the church is the predominant object of consideration; in society it is the prevailing topic, which, in such society, never yields place but to a word, fair readers, that for your sake I will not make legible. Of

b

families, one half at least of the males are destined to a clerical life, and this from the noble to the shopkeeper; the streams, in fact, of all Irish interests, private and public, flow and centre in this Black Sea; and thousands are carried along with the current, the natural and unbiassed tendency of whose dispositions would have led them rather to be Buccaneers or dema

gogues than ministers of the Gospel. Commerce, the staple pursuit of English life, is never thought of by that class of life that always turn their thoughts thither in England. If ten youths are met in an Irish crowd, of all ranks of life, nine of them, to a certainty, are going to be ordained. The consequence is, that in a few years there will be more pastors than sheep; and in the general press of all orders and dispositions into the ranks of the church, those pastors naturally can,

many of them, be no better than they should be.

'Whatever motive enlisted Sir Starcourt

in those ranks, certain it is, that he was there most grievously misplaced. His proand to love his neighbour as himself; but fession told him to be patient of injuries, how fulfil this, when, by disposition, he was the most impatient man on earth; one, who to live, must necessarily hate? He that was formed to be the barking, biting terrier of newspaper or Parliament opposition; how was he to mope contented with the life of a listless and pampered house dog? The thing was impossible. I need not say, that the course of his zeal directed itself against the Catholics; they were, in fact, the fair and obvious objects of a churchman's spleen, and the most ample scope was here allowed for the zeal of partisanship. An Orangeman, a purpleman, consequently, Sir Starcourt became ; into a comfortable state of frenzy he soon worked himself. And the only question zeal was to be exerted. He was above remaining was, in what exact mode his dragooning like our quondam friend, Mr. Crostwaite; and scorned to make himself a

policeman, under the order of a Castle Secretary. He chose another vent for his restless ambition. And this was, leaving their hackneyed ways of warfare-the sword, the constabulary staff, and the pulpit, to his brethren, to write down the Catholics and their bigotry. It was an enter prise more bold than new, especially in one of extreme ignorance both as to the history of his country and to religious controversy; still he had zeal and imagina. tion, and resolved to supply every other want with these. It was very unlucky for him, that Sir Starcourt resided in a part of the kingdom most undisturbed by Catholic bigotry or persecution; his time being, for the most part, spent either in his princely villa near the metropolis, or at his living, not far from Ardenmore.

'It was not, consequently, from any facts that came under his own observation that he gathered the mighty hostility of the Catholics; his imagination here likewise supplied his pen. Every month he sent forth a fresh diatribe, more intemperate and frenetic than the foregoing, till at last this Orange Cobbett of Ireland, having exhausted argument, fell to prophecy as a last resource, and poured forth such dreadful denunciations, amounting to such extravagance of horror and absurdity, that the better-tempered of the Catholics themselves began to gather up his pamphlets, which they bound as the "Revelations of Sir Starcourt Gibbs."

The young lady treated Sir Starcourt with so much apparent con

tempt, that St. George considered himself the favoured lover, and thought himself quite comfortable, until he received a visit from his friend, Father M'Dowd, who came to bid him adieu in consequence of an anticipated rupture between them, which he feared would result from a proposed Bible Meeting. The priest is made to speak very coarse and vulgar language, but in the following, notwithstanding, there is much truth.

The young may be taught.'

No doubt: young Catholics may be taught to read in Protestant Bibles and their parents and pastors are to be grate ful and contented for this kindness? What gomerils they take us to be! That's the way your big people are always treating us poor Irish:-They set us down as asses; lay their plans and proposals accordingly; and when, to their disappointment, they find us to be beasts of a little spirit, they cry out against us as nothing less than cute foxes and uncivilized wolves. Now, here we are, Mr. St. George, you and I, brother clargy, over our tumbler-suppose, for a moment, we had the upper hand here, as we had of ould, and will again, please God! afore long (but ye need'nt hear that), and that ye were the persecuted, suffered sect; suppose we took your children, kindly offered to instruct them, and then set them to learn their lessons out of the Bulls of his blessed Holiness the Pope, and the Decrees of his Consistory, all as sacred to us and hateful to you, and the Protestant version and collection of the Scriptures is sacred to you and hateful to us, what would you say to it? Isn't it like erecting a charity-house for young Jews, and then rearing them on pork? Would you bear it? I ask you. And would you not, had you the advising of us, bid us rather leave your children in ignorance, than force you to turn at last insurrectionists, rebels, and cut-throats, instead of being a peaceable, unreading, industrious set of men, going to their own place of worship? Isn't it as clear as the sup of native in my glass, Mr. St. George? Those Layland saints, and the O'Singites, are just ructionizing the country with their societies and Bible talk. Not a Roman in the country bore ill-will to his neighbour Protestant for the last ten years; but now ye'll be hearing another story. The first mention of this meeting has raised every drop of ill blood in Louth; and discontent, suspicion, and hatred, fill the same hearts that were good-natured a week ago as myself. A change you must look to. I must not be even known to hold any sort of intimacy with you, War is declared; and

I'll bet you any even sum of tenpennies, that afore a twelvemonth the country's a proclaimed one, with military and police, horse and foot, quartered upon it, and driving us to open rebellion; and all this their head to teach our spalpeens to read in the Bible!'

because a few ould maids ha' taken into

In much of the priest's apprehension St. George participated, and saw with regret that the little village of Ardenmore was about to be disturbed by a Bible meeting.

"The momentous day at length, of which hand-bill and circular had been for weeks the dreadful note of preparation, arrived. Crowds, more of the curious than the zealous, were in attendance; and Light, both Old and New, for the former would not seem behind-hand in zeal, filled the spacious hall of assembly. Delegates from the Parent Society in the metropolis had travelled down to the meeting, with speeches ready made, to astound and bedazzle rustic ears but this was bringing coals to Newcastle; for many among the Ardenmorites were as ambitious of holding forth and making use of this, their only field of display, as the metropolitans were of missionarizing the godly assembly. What there was to say upon the subject may seem to the sterile imaginations of my readers difficult to divine, especially as there was but one opinion pervading the assembly, and the sole end of the meeting but for each comer to deposit his pound. But business, in any country, can never be gone through by congregated folk, unless some innocent pastime be united with it. In England, when people meet on matters of importance, they devour a dinner: in Ireland they prefer speechifying; and never do the eloquent natives of the Island of Saints miss an opportunity for displaying their tropes, and "airing" their parts of speech.

'As all the fair ladies of Ardenmore and its neighbourhood were present, in their best bibs and tuckers, to barter their halfcrown subscription for oratory, it became

a more nervous task to address the assembly. Addressed, however, it was, blandly and figuratively, with no great intellectual expense on the part of the speaker, since he now made use of the same phrases and metaphors for the ninety-ninth time; and the orator poured forth his opinions in all the security and self-complacency of a dignitary in the pulpit, secure in the impossibility of being replied to. Here, however, our Biblican reckoned without his host.'

The son of a shopkeeper at Ardenmore, who had studied in the vul

garized college of Dublin, and who longed for an opportunity of making a speech, had posted down to his native village on this occasion, determined to astonish the townsmen as

well as the Biblemen.

'Not dreaming of any debate or difference of opinion that could possibly ensue, these gentlemen had oratorized their brief hour in their own figurative and slovenly style, when Master Slater arose, and commenced in a very eloquent and alarming exordium, to beg leave to differ with them on divers minor points. As Mr. Slater's dissent arose from the dire necessity of having some new argument and matter to advance, and nothing more, the youth neither knew nor cared whither his eloquence tended, or what it overturned: he had given his imagination carte blanche to find him a speech, without any scruples as to sides or parties. And when he put his tongue and arms in motion for the delivery of this philippic, he found himself, to his own and the assembly's astonishment, indulging in most flowery and extravagant indignation at the diabolical conspiracy and nefarious attempt to give Bibles to the poor.

"I, for my part, Mr. President," said Master Slater, winding up a fairish sort of tirade, "shudder, and am shocked at the idea of trusting the naked Scriptures to the peasantry; 'tis like trusting a sword without a scabbard into the hands of an ignorant savage, who is sure to grasp the blade and cut his fingers, instead of laying hold upon the hilt, and using the weapon as a safeguard and defence!"-here a pause for applause; but there was none in Ardenmore for poor Slater. This irritated the orator. He had intended this show of opposition to be nothing but a digression; and his purpose was to rally, in conclusion, to the Bible side of the question, and by that means allow himself to enumerate the acts and benefits of the Society to foreign countries, which would thus lead his harangue an agreeable tour round the four quarters of the globe"the sandy Afric,"-"the palmy Asia," and the untrodden regions of the New World. All this was written in the bond; but, alas! the orator had wandered from his track; he had been betrayed into warmth; and he laboured in vain to get back to the right side of the question for a long time. The regards of contempt, the cold refusal of the least applause, nettled the embryo advocate; and he resolved to abide and conclude in the opposition into which his eloquence had led him. "Of old," continued he, "when supplicants asked for bread, they were given a stone ;

and now, when the poor ask for oatmeal and potatoes, we kind-hearted folk present

them with a new Bible; the sole consequence of which is, not the extension of religion, but that pawnbrokers' shops are glutted with those cheap editions of the Scriptures; for in those sinks your charitable subscriptions are sure, in a little time, to settle. Bibles, indeed!-find Bibles for a starving poor! labouring each at sixpence a-day! Charity, says the proverb, begins at home; but even when it goes abroad, it should observe the principle, and begin with the stomach before it catered for the head. And with all deference to this assemblage, I, for one," concluded the orator, "had rather see Potatoe Societies established through the kingdom for feeding the poor, than Bible Societies to convert us all into Puritans, Presbyterians, and New Light."

'The clamour that arose in the assembly, upon these words, may be conceived. An harangue against the Bible might be listened to,--there was nothing personal in it; but Puritans and New Light were venturesome expressions, looked upon as little less than treason by one half of the assemblage. The Miss Lowries, like damsels in feudal times, dependent on the prowess of some gallant knight, overlooked the lists, and saw no champion of their cause. The doughty O'Sing was exiled, never so much regretted as at present; the very tears filled Jemima's eyes at the thought of how her beloved ecclesiastic would have triumphed over the profane Slater. The regards of the New Light party were all turned upon St. George, expecting that he would take up the gauntlet that had been flung down; but our curate appeared quite an uninterested spectator of the debate; and was, moreover, inclined to think, at times, that Slater spoke something like sense.'

The consequence of this meeting distribution of the Bible. The peawas the opening of schools, and the santry took the alarm, and the once tranquil Ardenmore was now a scene of heart-burning, party-hatred, and anarchy.

[blocks in formation]

of the religious sentiments that occupied them, was compelled in his turn to fulminate all the anathemas of his church against those parents of his flock that consented to deliver their offspring to the snares of heresy, spread for them by the ladies of Laylands. The contest afforded but amusement and excitement, perhaps, to the Lowries and M'Dowd; but, like the fable of the frogs, though play to them, it was death to the poor cottiers, who bore all the punishment and privation. That the priest conquered finally there is no need of my asserting; of the two species of despotism under which the poor of Ireland crouch, that of the landlords and that of the priests, the former, in the case of struggle, always yields to the latter. A contested election in a county is the grand proof: the puissant bashaw of a landlord, all powerful in seeming at other times, because the priests are an humbly behaved race of men, finds all his authority dwindle and pass unregarded, if opposed by the whisper of the Catholic clergyman. This power of the Romish clergy is greatly cried out against, not only as a nuisance of the first order, but as a proof of the bigoted and uncivilized state of the lower Irish. For my part, I think the influence of any pastor over his flock natural and necessary; and this devotion, with which the Catholic peasantry are always ready to sacrifice their worldly interest to the dictates of their minister, speaks more than any other trait recorded of them, in favour of their disinterestedness and honourable adherence to the only sort of principle they can understand.

'The benches of Miss Lowrie's schoolhouse were consequently left deserted by Catholic varlets. The lady, however saintly, would not forego her vengeance; and the consequence of her benevolent exertions was, that the peasantry were reduced, by petty and continual vexation, to even a greater state of misery than that in which they were generally accustomed and contented to live. The whole family of Laylands began to be held in detestation throughout the country;-there was no longer any love for the 'squire, or respect for his property; and in the ways of trespass ing, idling, and purloining, the vexations inflicted on the peasants by the family were returned tenfold on the head of Mr. Lowrie. In the short space of a month Gervas Lowrie, Esq. found himself at law with almost every tenant he had; not unfrequently foiled, and, even when successful, he found both his rent and costs paid by the key of the tenant's cabin being left under his door, after a general decampment of the poor family;-whilst other tenants were not to be had, unless those of such

bad character as would grasp at any thing. Owing to a succession of these circumstances, the saintliness of Laylands quite lost its good temper, and the progress of Puritanism, owing to these crosses, both in the habits and countenances of the mansion, became truly petrifying. In vain the uninfected Harry pointed out to his father the true cause of all these troubles, that had never before started up-in vain he urged a change of conduct, from policy at least, if not from conviction; the saints scorned to retrocede, and Harry was exclaimed against by his sisters as a renegade, who had deserted his paternal banners to join the profane ones of Ardenmore House."

While all this was going on St. George found consolation at Ardenmore House, and was so happy as to gain a promise of marriage from Miss Louisa Pennington. With a light

heart he set off to attend a Visitation at Armagh, where the coarse samples of the ministry, who were there congregated, disgusted him.

The honest clerics were, like other honest men and Pats, making themselves merry over a jug of smoking punch, in conversation of all careless kind, indulging in that ease of attitude and thought, that conviviality always inspires after fatigue. However their conversation wandered, it still returned to the idol, that for the present they all seemed to fear and worship. No mess-table, which I take to be the most flagrant specimen of despotism and slavery in the modern world of society, ever stood in half such awe of the colonel as did our ministruli of their great commanding officer, the Primate : his power was supreme, his thoughts on such a subject leaned to such a side, and were irrefragable. I never blame the haughtiness of men,-for the parvenu is never half so prone to be domineering, as the candidate parvenu iз to be servile.

'St. George, who, from habits of independence and gentlemanly breeding, as well as from the distraction arising from his feelings, had looked forward to this Visitation with nothing like awe, began here to participate in it. Cleric after cleric dealt forth fee, fau, fum stories of the great chief, of his imperiousness, his reproofs, his dictatorial acts and manner; and it was evident that all present trembled for the morrow. Many owned that they had made propitiatory sacrifices for archiepiscopal favour, by presents of game, of fish, and of such good things as their respective parishes were most famous for producing. All this was new to our

curate, who, although he had sworn canonical obedience, yet had not the least idea of how much in reality he was a slave. Like a young officer, who has never been to head-quarters, he had as yet no concep tion of the impertinent airs, with which factitious grandeur, in striving to mimick, always out-herods the real.'

On his way home a coach and four passed him, and at Ardenmore he learned that the persons in it were none other than Miss Jemima Lowrie and the saintly O'Sing, on their way to Gretna Green. Next day he read in the Drogheda Journal the appalling intelligence of the union of Miss Louisa Pennington and Sir Starcourt Gibbs. From his mortification he had scarcely recovered, when the bride and bridegroom made their appear

ance in the country, and soon after Miss Mary was married to Harry Lowrie, this young gentleman's father having renounced the new light, in consequence of the flight of his daughter with the sanctified curate. The tale concludes with the elevation of St. George to the living of Ardenmore, the old rector having died on his way to some watering-place in England.

The fourth and last tale has too much of the Devil' in it to please; and before our author undertakes any kind of historical tale again, we would recommend a perusal of the history of Ireland, from which he might have learned that Glendaloch was in ruins long before the time of Cromwell.

MR. CROLY'S PAMPHLET.*
Rory O'Rourke, Esq. to the Editor.

[ocr errors]

MY DEAR EDITOR-The reverend George Croly, A. M. F. R. L. S. author of Cataline,' Angel of the World,' &c. &c. has just written a pamphlet to prove that I am disposed to cut your throat on the first decent opportunity! Don't be alarmed; he does not exactly mention us both, but the inference is natural; for, if popery be of such a sanguinary and virulent nature that it thirsts for the extirpation of Protestantism, where would be the wonder that I, a zealous Catholic, should prove myself a true disciple of my church, and diminish the Protestants by the destruction of the heretic Editor of the Dublin and London Magazine.' The fact of your being my friend would only make, if Mr. Croly be right, the immolation the more acceptable, as I should in that case sacrifice feeling to duty. Is not this absurd? Yet on this statement a reverend follower of Christ calls upon the people of England to oppose Catholic emancipation; for, though he speaks only in general terins, still, that which is erroneous when applied to individual cases, cannot be correct when applied to society.

The spirit of truth and liberality is now abroad. This pamphlet proves it; for, though written by one not

unknown to fame,' and teeming with mistatements, too palpable to be unintentional, it has procured no readers -no purchasers. Unnoticed and unknown, it has remained on the bookseller's shelf; for the days of Lord George Gordon are past. Priestley might now preach without molestation; and No Popery, instead of being a talisman to save private dwellings from insurrectionary rage, now stands a rubric along side of Henry Hunt's Matchless Blackingto make the beholders laugh. It is but justice, however-and I like to give every man his due to state that the Rev. George Croly, A. M. F. R. L. S. has not written in vain. The learned (for all tutors are learned) Bishop of Chester has resorted to his pamphlet for the materials. which composed his late speech; and candour obliges me to say, that he has not used one single argument, mistated a solitary fact, nor imputed an iota of doctrine to Papists,† which he did not find in Mr. Croly's

* Popery and the Popish Question, being an Exposition of the political and doctrinal Opinions of Messrs. O'Connell, Keogh, Dromgole, Gandolphy, &c. &c. By the Rev. George Croly, A. M. F. R. L. S. Whittaker, London, 1825.

Mr. Croly is so partial to this denomination, that he says adherents of the church of Rome have no right to any other. He learnt this from Archbishop Magee; but still the believers in transubstantiation are called Catholics.'

VOL. INo. 4.

2 B

« AnteriorContinuar »