They display the power of the copyist in his accuracy of sketch, his happiness in catching every expression and attitude, his justness of colouring, his harmony of toning-in all that the great master brought to the creation of the original, save the mind to conceive it. Such being our estimate of translators and translations, we should proceed to the examination of Mr. M'Carthy's performances in this line upon these principles, were he nothing more than a translator. As, however, we have shown that he is an original mind, we shall content ourselves with observing, that his translations are, as we might expect them to be, very graceful, very spiritual, and, as far as we have had opportunity to examine them, very faithful.

But it is not with translation that we would have Mr. M'Carthy chiefly Occupy himself. If we be at all right in our estimate of him, he has original powers that should conduct him to higher and better things than he has yet achieved; and most assuredly he is amply endowed with those accessorial qualifications of taste, language, and sense of harmony, without which the greatest minds are inadequate to communicate their thoughts to others without the loss of much of their strength and splendour in the medium of transmission. We think he is capable of producing a longer and more continuous poem than any in the volume before us. He will find subjects in abundance; let it not be one of mere narrative or description. Let it be one of thought and passion, rather than mere action; let it have a high purpose-the evolution of a great moral principle, the inculcation of some

great truth. Were we to offer an opinion as to its form, we would say there is no vehicle so manageable, and, at the same time, so effective, as the dramatic.

We have another mission for Mr. M'Carthy, one which we would forward with all the energy of Irishmen ; one which has long been a favourite speculation of our hearts. Let him aid in that great national work to which we have already alluded in the commencement of our observations the preservation of our beautiful national airs by the aid of national words. This his lyrical powers abundantly qualify him for. It is a debt of patriotism which every real poet owes to his native land; a debt which Scottish bards have paid with filial piety to their mother land, till her name is famous, and her melodies familiar through the world, chaunted in every court and every bower, as the troubadours of old sung the charms of their mistresses wherever they went; a debt which Irishmen have yet so ill discharged. Let him, however, in doing so, not subserve the purposes of party politics, or sects, or creeds. Independent of these, the neutral ground is ample enough, upon which the poet may wander, and meet with others, fellow-labourers in the same grateful work, the celebration of our native land, her beauties, her capabilities, her legends, her loves, her pastimes; the instruction of her people, by drawing out and fostering the personal and social feelings, by cultivating all kindly affections, repressing strife and enmity, and giving them a taste for those harmless and healthy enjoyments of song and music, which civilise and soften the human heart.

WHETHER in rivalry or in sympathy, Science in the world of nature, and Will in the world of man, have been, for more than five-and-twenty years past, accomplishing great changes, with a rapidity which would have appeared to the men of former generations wholly unattainable. Everywhere we see proofs of the dominion which man has gained over external nature; not, like the necromancers of old, to cherish his acquisitions as a mystery, but to place them at the disposal of society, and make them conducive to the convenience of all its members. And everywhere we discern, in evidences of change effected and premonitions of change to come undeniable proofs, that human will has not been less enterprising and authoritative in dictating change to institutions, social and political, than art and science have been in compelling the elements to do their bidding.

In this marvellous progress, social and scientific, the British Empire has now, as ever, held a foremost place. Spirits seem to have toiled at her command; under the earth, on the earth, on the waters, her work has been featly done; and Prospero was never endowed by the poet's genius with ampler authority, or provided, as his ministers, with daintier sprites, than the genius of Science and Art have realised for England. Nor has progress been less marked in her political history. Emancipation of the slave; abolition of civil disabilities on account of religion; reform, parliamentary and municipal; enlargement of educational advantages; repeal of corn law protection; and a free trade so daring as to contemn reciprocity; such are the enter

prises with which the England of the politician makes response to the England of art and science, as distinguished in its mines and steam-boats, and railways, and telegraphs, and in its systems of machinery more complex and more powerful than the world ever witnessed in days of old.

But there is a marked and a most instructive distinction between the processes through which science has made secure advance, and those in which the spirit of political enterprise exerts itself. The distinction is not less than is found between principle and passion or predilection. Science, in every stage of its advances, has truth for its companion and guide; it discards prejudice, discriminates between the permanent and the accidental, and sees in principles of universal application, the germs of beneficial results. Thus, in the world of nature, the spirit of science is a spirit of prophecy. Not so in political enterprise. There passion, party, "time and the hour," prevail against the enduring and the true; and in many an instance the predictions and promises that succeed best, because they dazzle most, are those that are not "attained to," but contradicted by "old experience."

It seems to be a vice of British legislation that it is governed to an extent little to be excused in a reflecting people, and (notwithstanding all that may justly be said) a moral people, by rash promises of great good to come.

Yet

perhaps we ought not to wonder that it should be so. It is a rare thing to find a man who will endure the labour of thought necessary to ascertain the value of evidence, where contention is sharp, and where the assurance attaina

ble can be no more than high probability. We have heard of juries persuaded to bring in a verdict of guilty by the foreman's confident asseveration that the sentence would be mild; and we ought to remember that juries afford no unfair specimen of the ordinary resources and extent of human intelligence and credulity. Promises, however untrue, when confidently and perseveringly repeated, have great power over the multitude in and out of parliament. And thus it came to pass that Reform, as one of its most zealous promoters candidly avowed, was carried by enormous lying; so was FreeTrade; so was "Catholic Emancipation ;" and, perhaps, the only circumstance which can excuse a feeling of surprise as we reflect on these mishaps of legislation, is, that the parties whose false professions and delusive promises led the people and the legislature astray, would be as ready, after their exposure as before it, to promise and profess, and the people and the legislature equally ready to be again deluded.

There is another unhappy characteristic of modern legislation. It is the readiness of eminent men to become instruments of what they believe to be popular will, in opposition to their own declared convictions. If this vice be not corrected or carefully watched over, there can be no stability in the administration of public affairs. Sir Robert Peel, we believe, in his advocacy of the great measure of 1829, was the first statesman of high reputation and great authority who acted, in a momentous question, on this perilous principle. He did not, it is true, defend his change of policy and his new measure simply on the plea that the masses "would have it so." Parliamentary majorities gave increased authority to the popular voice, or rather to the voice of the Roman Catholic association; and because the declared opponent of the Relief Bill (in any form, with any securities) found it difficult to prolong his opposition with credit or effect, he became patron of the measure of which he knew, and had made others know, all the evil, and actually retained his place in the Cabinet for the express purpose of carrying it. "Hinc illa clades." The perilous example had a large "following." The Right Hon. Baronet, who was responsible for it, did not seem

alarmed or instructed by its conse quences. Again and again he repeated the lacheté of 1829. Again and again his bad example had imitators, "facilis descensus Averni.” Again and again the violence of the people or the convenience of party furnished reasons or pretexts for abandonment of principle, forfeiture of pledges, disregard of justice, rude practices upon and against the constitution; until the minds of men have become so bewildered and confused by processes of incessant change in schemes of policy and principles of government, that at this moment when Romanism, on the one hand, threatens the British Empire with her terrible Canon Law, and a British minister, on the other, menaces the Crown and the country with a new revolution, were it not for the religious feeling and the earnest remonstrance of persons whose political sagacity is denied or despised, the land would be given up to experiments in legislation, which would have anarchy for their immediate result, and would end, after some years of rapine and disorder, in abasing our country under the sway of Papal despotism.

And if the nation is to be preserved in this emergency, and utter ruin to be averted, the human instrumentality through which the great deliverance is to be accomplished will partake, to no small extent, of the evil which has called forth from us the lan

guage of remonstrance. The aggres sion of the Papacy has been repelled (if we can with propriety call the recent Parliamentary enactment resistance to it) because the people of Eng. land declared they would not submit to it. Had they been inert when the Crown and law were audaciously insulted, the "Bill to prevent the Assumption of certain Ecclesiastical Titles," passed in the, last Session of Parliament, would not be at this moment the law of the land. If the artifices of mistaken or ill-intentioned persons can cause the people to relapse into the indifference out of which they have been awakened, the Queen's ministers will, in all probability, permit the law to remain a dead letter. It is of great moment that the people at large, in this grave emergency, be duly instructed. All whose station, abilities, or experience afford them opportunities or means to be useful, should be

ation, it was seen, examined, criticised, and adopted by those persons in whom the Roman Catholics confided, and to whom they entrusted the care of their interests. It was sanctioned in every respect. But what had happened? The assumption of titles? Had they re

garded that prohibition? He did not mean to say it had in every instance been violated to a very considerable extent. Parties were not to appear in public in their robes, but only in their places of worship. That prohibition was constantly disregarded. Another prohibition, which he had always considered one of the most important, was that against the introduction of Jesuits in this country. There were certain limitations, certain restrictions, certain boundaries drawn, to prevent the prohibition being attended with inconvenience. But the system had been carried on in defiance of the prohibition. Another important and material prohibition was that against religious establishments and monasteries in this country. There were now not only convents, but monasteries and religious houses, as the most effective means of creating proselytes to the Roman Catholic religion. These were absolutely forbidden, under severe prohibition and penalties. But there were at this time, as their lordships would find, on looking at an almanac, nearly twenty monasteries which had been established in open defiance of the prohibition to which he had referred. He said that the Roman Catholics of Ireland had not kept their promise; they had taken all that was granted-they had taken more-but they had not given one single thing which they themselves promised."

Such is the post mortem report on those important and necessary provisions which were "well considered " in 1829, and of which the whole worthless congeries is found a dead letter twentytwo years after. With all due respect and deference for "The Duke" (and our respect is deep and unfeigned), and for his colleagues, we must say the provisions to which his grace alluded were not "well considered," at least by those who thought well of them. There were many eminent men at the time who did consider well the Relief Bill, and all its guardian clauses, who condemned them, and who gave warning of their inefficiency for good. Among these censors and monitors were many wise, and upright, and liberal men; but their remonstrances were set at naught, as if they were the bodings of prejudice and superstition. The Duke of Wel

lington, in his late admirable speech, has shown that the difference of opinia between his supporters and those who separated from him is easily intelligible. Dissentients from his views grounded their opposition to the measure he proposed on the principles of the Church of Rome, the Duke was led to the adoption of the measure by professions of Roman Catholics.

"My Lords," said his grace, recently, "I am one of those who counselled your lordships, and prevailed upon your lordships to adopt the Roman Catholic Relief Act, and I have felt it my duty on all occasions and under various circumstances to object to all alterations of that Act. All its provisions were well considered at the time; they were founded upon the petitions presented by the Roman Catholics in order to obtain that which they had been for more than thirty years endea vouring to obtain, the relief of their Church from the disabilities which different Acts of Parliament had imposed, care being taken to indemnify and provide securities for the Established Church. All these points were thoroughly examined, and then the Bill was prepared and proposed to your Lordships in the shape in which it came before you, and was carried through both houses of Parliament with very large majorities."

If it were necessary to acquaint our readers with the sequel, we have but to refer them to our extract from Lord Lyndhurst, his lordship has told it. The promised securities, the gratitude, the obedience, had but an ephemeral existence,—“born to flutter but a day,” and to disappear before Reform. We do not accuse or suspect our Roman Catholic fellow-countrymen of any intention to delude the State when they made those flattering professions which put grave senators off their guard; but we understand in them the genius of the system by which they were enthralled. 'It was for the good of "the Church" that they should profess constitutional principles, and they were left ignorant enough of creeds and catechisms to make the convenient declarations with sincerity. It was for the good of the same Church that all such professions should be disregarded in the day when she had gained strength; and, accordingly, her casuistry and her terrors were put in requisition that she might extort from her children and champions a submission which seemed incompati