VOL. LXIV.

However this may be, 'tis sure
With such a bird he was secure ;
And when he felt in lively vein,
And from his fancy loos'd the rein,
The sole companion of his mirth,
That saw him thus descend to earth
Was the sweet bird of crimson breast,
That cheer'd his home, and shar'd his rest.
No marvel that he lov'd it well,

Ay, more than tongue of mine could tell.
But while this pass'd, it so befell
He had, one day, to leave his cell,
His robin, and his school awhile,
A sick man's sorrows to beguile;
With wallet, staff, and sandall'd shoon,
The saint went forth one sunny noon.
Then came mischance:

The scholars saw with eager glance
The Master on his mission bent,
And to their pastimes quickly went:
Some to the brook, the rippling stream,
To fish for perch and trout or bream;
While others to the woods went forth,
And roused the echoes with their mirth.
A few remain'd, to watch the bird,
Whose joyous carols they had heard,
As if to tell them by the tone,
It did not wish to be alone.
The robin pass'd from hand to hand,
But quarrels soon divide the band;
They scuffle to possess the pet,
And then comes vain and sad regret,
For helpless, dying, rudely torn,
The songster that had woke the morn
To gladd'ning anthems with its breath,
Lies bleeding, in the throes of death!
Sorrowing o'er the robin, now
Each gazes with a downcast brow.
Their fears are easy to conceive,
For much the holy Serf would grieve!
His kindly heart would long deplore
The bird that he would see no more!
But soft, a step-the master's? No,
As yet deferr'd the bitter blow.
But Kentigern, a saintly youth,
Of virtue, godliness, and truth,
Belov'd of heav'n, his master's friend,
With pensive brow doth hither wend.
"Sure Fate is kind this boon to send,"
Exclaim the youths, who now concert
Each honest feeling to subvert,
And lay their guilt and shame on one,
Who best could bear the master's frown.

So placing in his hands the bird,

Without extenuating word,
They hasten from the scene of strife.

29.

POLITICO-ECCLESIASTICAL PARTIES.

THE politico-geographical" Eloise" is one of those inconvenient creatures who will not let "well alone." Instead of attending to domestic duties and household affairs, she denies the legal ties, and yet inconveniently demands, at the expense of her more prudent partner, all the amusements of the season, the indulgence of a taste for finery, and a life of ease and pleasure, while her Abelard is toiling at his counting-house, and entreating her to remember that she is his lawful wife, and not his mistress.

But while the education of the eye by public provincial museums, lectures, and so forth is withheld from the people, those who by a natural aptitude get ahead of their fellows, instead of showing their patriotism by improving and imparting their knowledge, rather pervert it, as a means of obtaining a precarious, but still a livelihood, by preying on the fears of their fellow-countryThis middle-class agitator, with his farm of four acres, practically aims at a place in the addenda to Ulster's "Dictionary of the Landed Gentry," and affects a local importance, which either ends in the bankruptcy of himself or of his sureties.

men.

Then, again, there is a clever class of legal harpies, who live on the quarry of the "Encumbered Estates Courts," and by local conspiracies of a friendly nature use the banks as a means of "changing their spots," and appearing ultimately as the "new proprietary

The remark in a popular Irish paper,* on the celebration in Dublin of the fall of Magdala, is one of those happy double entendres in which "the Hibernian Celt" who has anything to hope from government is generally so felicitous. But whether the bells of St. Patrick rang a merry peal for the death of a Christian sovereign or the narrow escape of a prince of the blood royal from a Fenian bullet matters not. Grotesque loyalty grapples both ideas!

We may legislate for Ireland, and give her the means of improving herself, but that we shall ever satisfy her by mere legisla tion seems highly problematical. The question even arises, would any extent of legislation really satisfy her? No doubt she labours under serious disadvantages; but, then, are not most of these traceable to herself? When she had a parliament, was it not rather taken up with the political claims of country gentlemen, who sought the honours of that anomalous peerage, than with the welfare of the labouring classes? These bygone local politicians lived beyond their means, and on the credulity of their tenants, whose indignation they seem often to have cleverly diverted from

* Freeman's Journal.

themselves to the imperial government. Thus Ireland's wrongs have been inherent. The Irish middle classes have themselves fostered them-one class preying on the other-and then, when matters began to assume a dangerous aspect, England has been made the convenient scapegoat.

The confusion of parties on "the Irish question" is highly characteristic and significant!

Although the disendowment of the Irish Church may, by relieving Dissenters of many disabilities (irksome not the less because they are trivial in themselves), tend to the increase of Protestantism by also severing the present political bond of union between Rome and the other Nonconformists, still it is likely that the first fruits will be most unsatisfactory. Rome only pleads "toleration" when in "good society" on this side of St. George's Channel, where, from being in the minority, she can even venture to assume an aristocratic air. Let, however, any impartial person, not previously heralded, visit a poor Protestant family in the heart of a Catholic district in Ireland, and then judge for himself! But he must travel in strict incognito, otherwise he will return just as he went, with, however, the disadvantage of his mind being filled with spurious local information.

There

The observations of one of the Romish bishops before a committee of the House on the Tipperary election of last year, is an ample exposition of the political creed of that priesthood. Doctrinal, theological, or metaphysical moot points which distinguish Christian sects, do not much concern our material welfare. is no peculiarity of doctrine which is not adapted to the peculiarities of certain minds, and for such minds they may practically be the best. But when spiritual jurisdiction invades the privacy of domestic life, and assumes to control the actions of the subject, to destroy his independence and to raise a moral distrust between the members of a household, then, indeed, it becomes an intolerable nuisance-let it come in whatever guise it may.

The rebuke of the Home Secretary to the member who asked the Government to interfere in the Murphyite riots was justly administered. Apropos, Murphy's "obscenity", after all, does not appear to be original. We can scarcely charge the "detective" with the offence of the criminal. Not that we defend the course pursued by such agitators; for they often damage a good cause by precipitation and and indiscretion, and give a handle against the principle at issue; and we have seen this adroitly taken advantage of, in confounding "creeds" and "nationalities," so as to lead the inattentive to imagine just the converse of what happened to be the truth.

But the whole train of argument is purely theoretical. Any one who has mixed familiarly with the lower orders in Ireland must know how fallacious are such seemingly just remarks as the following:

"As to the ascendency of the Pope, it is difficult to see how that can in any way be brought about by the descendency of the Archbishop of Armagh. Already the Pope has as much power in Ireland as we can conceive him having, and it is a power which no good citizen need grudge him. It is the same kind of power which is exercised by a great writer, living or dead--that is to say, it is simply a power over opinion and motive, which each individual may obey or not as he pleases. It is not a power to levy taxes, or order about the police, or put people in jail. The Queen has no more reason to be jealous of the ascendency of the Pope, than she has to be jealous of the ascendency of David Hume or Mr. Dickens. How this ascendency would be altered in character by the disestablishment of the Irish Church, would need more than mortal insight to divine. To pension off Archbishop Beresford is really not the same thing as making Cardinal Cullen LordLieutenant."

Certainly the disendowment of the Irish Church is preferable to the endowment also of the Romish; but at the same time it is just such power as that above quoted and undervalued (unintentionally) that sways men's minds in the political world, as well as the literary, and causes electors to return members who will struggle to pass bills in their own interests.

This kind of self-sufficient security has, in peace and war alike, led too often to the worst results. Indeed, to this undervaluing of the enemy, and false confidence, may remotely be attributed the present fall of the Church-"Jeshu had grown fat!"

With a rich minority in England, and an overwhelming majority of the poor and the superstitious in Ireland, the power of Rome is surely not so contemptible as certain persons suggest.

Michelet says that Rome makes herself agreeable to princes through their concupiscence, and to priests through their cupidity. Be this as it may, we owe the reformed faith in England to the nobility, who, as our own chroniclers tell us, were wearied of the dissolute lives of the priests. So the cycle may be completed, under different motives, by the same means.

When we are told that a native born subject in England, merely on account of his being a cardinal, ought to be received with the honour due to a foreign prince, and by the rules of such etiquette does actually take precedence of the nobles and prelates of the land, we naturally begin to review precedents. So honoured a guest ought surely, at any rate, to be a bona fide stranger. The world is not so much a stage, after all, that we can be permitted in society to make our exits and our entrances with the ease of Mr. Woodin.

When not naturalised elsewhere, and while domicued in Britain, it is difficult to understand by what subtle refinement we are expected to recognise so novel a duality.