provement, and, as a means best calculated to produce these desirable ends, the Bible simply, without note, comment, or catechetical lectures of any kind, has been introduced into their schools, one would reasonably suppose that no objection could be taken against the morality of the Bible as a reading book; but this is not the case, the most violent determined opposition is every where given to the admission of Roman Catholic children into these schools by their priests, who, dreading the effects of a moral and religious education, denounce publicly and repeatedly the parents of those few children who attend. In the town where I live, at this present time, week after week, the thunders of the church are hurled from the altar against some, whose only crime is the anxiety they have to get instruction for their children. Their names are individually called out, to make them obnoxious to the rest, and every curse poured forth upon their devoted heads. It is of no avail to inform the priests that during the fifteen years which this school has been established no one instance of any attempt to proselyte, by drawing away the Roman Catholics from the communion of their church, can be adduced; it is of no value to assure them that the object of the school is solely to convey moral and religious instruction by means of the Bible and the Bible alone, without any notes, comments, or catechetical lectures whatsoever, and that they recognise no sect or party amongst the children in their schools. The priest's answer invariably is, "we cannot allow the Bible to be read by the people," "they must only hear such explanations from it as we choose to give." On expostulating with a younger priest here, on this subject, he replied, he was only obeying the orders of his bishop, whom he was bound to obey, by the most solemn and sacred oaths taken at his ordination, and of which his bishop often reminded him, nor did he execute his directions with that severity he ought; for he was positively directed by his bishop to bring all the children who were sent by their parents to this school before him; and while he denounced all the curses of the church against their parents by name, the children were ordered to curse their own parents, by pronouncing audibly at the end of each curse, Amen!!!

"It is a precept of the divine law to honour thy father and mother; and he that curseth father or mother let him die the death.' Matt. xv. 4. But the popish bishops and priests order, that children shall curse their fathers and mothers; and they that shall refuse to curse their fathers and mothers, shall be cursed, and that bitterly by the holy mother church.

"To counteract the growing avidity for education amongst the lower orders of the people of Ireland, the priests have established in most parishes, what are called monks' and nuns' schools, that is, schools kept by monks and nuns, for what they are pleased to term, the moral and religious education of the poor Roman Catholic children, the entire of which nearly consists in teaching the children to repeat their catechisms and rosaries-it is evident that the sole object of establishing these schools is to prevent the children's being sent to the free schools of the Hibernian school society, and thereby hold them in ignorance; complaints are frequently made by the parents that their children, after a close attendance at these schools for two or three years, do not learn as much as children sent to the free schools do in as many months; and the writer has known instances, where even poor labourers have pre

ferred paying something for their children's education, rather than lose their time at the schools of these monks and nuns, who are generally as ignorant as their predecessors of the ninth and tenth centuries. To support these establishments, every means are used to prevail on Roman Catholics, living and dying, to give or bequeath a proportion of their properties to such pious uses; and the great merit of keeping poor Catholics from Protestant heresy, is pointed out to them in the most glowing colours.

"However, in the division of the booty thus obtained, things do not always go on as smoothly as they could wish. Take a recent instance of some notoriety, which occurred in a pretty large town in Ireland. The pastors of the holy mother church having prevailed on a wealthy Papist to bequeath, for the good of his soul, the interest of a large sum of money for the education of poor children in the Roman Catholic faith; the monks and nuns each contrived to possess themselves of a moiety of this property for the purpose or pretence above mentioned, and left the parish priest in the lurch; but as his reverence thought that he had as good a right to his share of the booty as the monks and nuns, who had made vows of poverty! he endeavoured to wrest it out of their hands, and made representations to the trustees that the parties in possession were totally unqualified to teach the children, being ignorant themselves of the very rudiments of learning. Now as the priest's opponents could not perhaps well rebut this charge without first going to school, for which they were rather elderly, they attacked the priest where he was most vulnerable, they charged him upon oath, with being guilty of certain practices, not reckoned among Protestants, at least, very moral; such as kissing the young females at confession, &c., but although these nuns did not throw the veil over the grossest crimes with which they charged their priest, I must, for they are too indelicate to be mentioned. The priest, you may be sure, did not remain an idle or an indifferent spectator during these proceedings; he also accused the brotherhood and sisterhood, upon oath, with perjury, the subornation of witnesses, and with other immoral practices of a more personal and private nature. How this dispute will end is uncertain, it being referred to a higher tribunal.

"The parishioners have also divided, part siding with the priest, and part with the holy fraternity; and to such a height has this enmity been excited, that they have more than once from invectives come to blows.

"By their fruits ye shall know them,' is a short but very comprehensive direction, given us by our Lord himself for the examination of individual or collective character:- For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit;' now applying this rule to the religion of Papists, we shall find that their practice produces fruit the very reverse of every moral law contained in the Bible. Every religious rite and ceremony from the cradle to the grave is, amongst them, succeeded by the grossest sensualities: and whether we observe their christenings, weddings, wakes, or funerals, they are all attended with the grossest idolatry and superstitions, and succeeded (among the lower orders) by revellings, drunkenness, and such like; of the which,' says the apostle, I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things, shall not inherit the

kingdom of God.' The priests in Ireland look upon the unmarried daughters of their parishioners as forming a considerable proportion of their wealth; for a large share of their fees or perquisites arises from their weddings,-no female being allowed to marry out of her own parish; the priests therefore are extremely anxious to encourage matrimony, and they are frequently engaged in match makings. It being the rule or custom for the guests invited to the weddings of the better sort, to pay the priest according to their abilities, he is anxious that a large number should be invited, and that a plentiful dinner be provided at the bride's father's expense; the whiskey is so abundant on these occasions as to be sometimes brought out in cans, the priest himself partaking largely of the banquet; piping, dancing, and drinking, continues through the night. On these occasions the priest himself generally opens the dance with the bride, particularly if the collections are large. A melancholy accident not long since occurred at one of these weddings-the chimney happening to catch fire, one of the party took up a can of whiskey, which he supposed to contain water, and dashed it on the flames, the spirits instantly exploded, and blew up most of the company.

"One very bad effect must always result from the interest the priests have to promote marriages; which is, that instead of dissuading, they induce the poorest sort who can beg, borrow, or steal a guinea, to marry, without having any provision made for a family; and they thus entail poverty and mendicity on the country. I have known matches of this kind so hastily made up, that the parties contracting had not seen each other before that day, and so poor as to be obliged to borrow a guinea for the priest, for he won't take less, and if the parties should be under any church censures, he requires more. Ireland is thus over-peopled with a poor, ignorant, superstitious peasantry; and what is worse, there is no prospect of any change in their circumstances, while popery holds them in her iron grasp, whose interest it is to keep them superstitious, by keeping them in ignorance. Nothing except a national system of general education for the poor, agreeably to the plans of the Hibernian school society, where the scriptures alone are made the reading book, can effectually and finally promote the moral, intellectual, and religious improvement of Ireland, and this subject is well worthy the attention of the legislature. J. A."

This plain, unvarnished narrative exhibits such a view of popery, as ought to excite universal detestation, not against the poor deluded people, but at the conduct of their priests, whose sole business seems to be, to maintain the reign of ignorance and error, to rob the people of their little hard-earned property, and to fatten upon the spoil: yet it has lately become fashionable to eulogize these priests as if they were the most virtuous men in the world. Panegyrists of their own communion boast of the "spotless purity" of their character; Protestant senators, in both houses, vie with one another in expressions of commendation, or in tacitly admitting the extraordinary merit of these ghostly deceivers ; and it is esteemed of so much importance to Ireland to preserve the breed, that a college was erected twenty-five years ago at Maynooth for the purpose, at an expense to the public, originally, of about 40,000. and an annual charge of about 8000Z. ever since. This was no doubt meant for the best; but I am persuaded nothing of the kind would have

occurred, had the real character of the priests been better known to men in power. No dissenting sect in Britain ever received such countenance and support as is thus granted to Irish Papists, and yet these Papists are incessantly complaining of being an insulted, oppressed, and persecuted people.

"In 1795," says a late writer, "Maynooth college was established by an act of parliament; by which, certain trustees were empowered to receive donations for establishing and endowing an academy for the education of persons professing the Romish religion, and to acquire lands, free from forfeiture by mortmain. Little short of 40,000l. was granted for its establishment at first; and in every subsequent session, a regular charge of 80001. has been made to parliament for its annual support. I may add, too, that this does not appear to content them. I have heard it represented as trifling, by gentlemen of that better informed, or rather deeper initiated class of Romanists, as to faith and doctrine, which is recognised as composed of 'competent expounders; while the encouragement of the Protestant charter schools, has been spoken of with contempt, dislike, and jealousy." The true state of the question, by Joseph Spearing, jun. p. 229, Cork, 1816. The tithe of the money thus thrown away by Protestants, in bolstering up a system of idolatry and superstition, would go a great length in teaching the people to read the word of God, upon the economical plan of the Hibernian society; but it has not yet appeared politically necessary to teach the poor Irish to read the Bible; at least not so necessary as the maintaining a regular succession of popish priests. Candour, however, requires me to say, that in this matter there was only a choice of evils. The Maynooth college was not endowed because our government wished to encourage popery; but because it was reckoned better to have the priests educated at home, than to lay them under the necessity of going abroad for education. My opinion is, that the worst of the evils was chosen; but I do not profess to be a politician.

The

A correspondent has favoured me with the following recipe for making Italian soup, with which I conclude the present number. reader will not consider it below the dignity of my work, seeing it has so close a relation to the person of the present head of the Romish church. It is extracted from Galiffico's Letters, relating to Italy and its inhabitants, 1816, 1817, translated by John Murray, London, 1820. After describing Cardinal Gonsalvi as the most popular minister that any pope ever had, the author proceeds, page 23: Whatever may be the liberality of the prime minister, it is not sufficient to put a stop to the most absurd superstition. Little prints of the miracles attributed to the present pope, were publicly sold in the streets of Rome; and some time before our arrival, an immense number of his shirts were sold in retail to the common people, and perhaps to better informed persons also, who fully believed that a small piece of one of them boiled in their soup, was the surest of all remedies against any disorder. I could not have credited this story, if I had not had it from a very honest merchant, who told it to me in the simplicity of his heart, as a thing of which no real Christian could entertain a doubt." It is not said whether the shirts were first washed; but it is to be presumed they were not; for washing would take the virtue out of them.

Another curious piece has come in my way this week, for which, I

see by the proof-sheet, there is room; and I insert it here, for the sake of preserving it to future times. It is what will be called a very devout prayer, by "his most Christian majesty," the king of France, on the occasion of the baptism of his young grand-nephew, the duke of Bordeaux:-"Let us invoke for him the protection of the mother of God, the queen of the angels; let us implore her to watch over his days, and remove far from his cradle the misfortunes with which it has pleased Providence to afflict his relatives, and to conduct him by a less rugged path than I have had, to eternal felicity." This act of devotion was performed, not a fortnight ago, by the sovereign of the most enlightened popish kingdom in the world. Here there is no God acknowledged but a mere creature; and if such idolatry shall be persevered in, it is probable that the young prince, if spared as long in the world, will have to go over a still more "rugged path" than that of his predecessor.

CHAPTER CXLIX.

REPLY TO AMICUS VERITATIS RESUMED. HIS PLAGIARISMS.

INDULGENCE. TETZEL,

AND THE POPE'S NUNCIO. WHITAKER'S ACCUSATION OF FORGERY CONFUTED. CATECHISM TRANSLATED BY DR. BOGUE. TAX OF THE APOSTOLIC CHANCERY.

SATURDAY, May 19th, 1821.

I HAVE still some accounts to settle with my long forgotten opponent, AMICUS VERITATIS, though, after the exposure which I have made of the character of popery, any farther notice of his errors may be considered almost a work of supererogation. It is necessary, however, that I keep my word, and therefore I must devote a number or two to his service.

I observe, then, in the first place, that I have found him out to be a great literary thief. I have already shown that part of his declamation about good works was stolen, without acknowledgment, from a recent English publication. (See PROT. Chap. CXXI.) And I have made such farther discoveries as lead me to doubt whether he did not pilfer the greater part of what he gave as his own. In a letter which he published in the Glasgow Chronicle, dated 25th June, 1818, (See PROT. Vol. I. Part I. page 38,) we read as follows:-"If frequency of repetition could give to misrepresentation the substance of truth, an indulgence would be of all scandalous things the most scandalous. Your correspondent seems to have adopted this principle; he conceives he may justly assume the privilege of saying what has been said by hundreds before him, and, therefore, without hesitation, condemns the practice of indulgences, in terms the most pointed and severe." Now this passage is stolen verbatim, without marks of quotation, from a pamphlet, entitled, “A Vindication of the Remarks on the Charge of the Bishop of Durham," 1807, p. 42, with only this alteration, to wit, Amicus strikes out "the bishop of Durham," and puts "your correspondent," that is, THE PROTESTANT, in his place, which, if it were not mere words, would be a very comfortable translation for the said PROTESTANT; though both church and state would be losers, if a prelate so truly venerable and estimable were to be superseded by a mere layman of the north.

AMICUS then proceeds to proclaim his own courage, in the following VOL. II-25