token that they believed them to be actuated by evil spirits, and as a charm against their evil influence; for that though they seemed like friends, that appearance was merely a clever pretence assumed in order to effect the ruin of their souls. Many of the poor people found it hard to swallow these doctrines, but the plan recommended by the monks was not only sanctioned, but was actually adopted at once by the Romish priest in the parish, and when, driving along the public road in his gig, he happened to meet the Protestant clergyman, he, with great parade, made the sign of the cross. The example was followed by a great number of the poor, and in a few days, wherever the Protestant clergyman went, he was saluted with these exorcisms instead of with the friendly smiles that had welcomed him before.

During the time that the monks were carrying on their course of instruction, the following circumstance occurred. One of the curates of the parish happened to have hired apartments from a Roman Catholic at a weekly rent. This man whilst attending the ministrations in the chapel, was so influenced by his spiritual exercises, that he told the Protestant clergyman he could no longer let him have his apartments, unless he paid him a very considerable advance of rent. Accordingly, such is the difficulty of procuring in so remote a place any apartments in which a gentleman can reside, that although paying already too much for the rooms, he was forced to agree to the advance of rent. This, however, did not procure him quietness or peace, for he was subjected to continual insults and annoyances-nay, even told to his face that, as the messenger of the devil, it was only by sufferance he was allowed to remain, and even at the risk of the eternal ruin of the souls of the family of the house. This bigotry reached such a height that, during his absence from home one day, the owner of the house went into his rooms and sprinkled his furniture, books, &c., plentifully with holy water, for the purpose of averting the curse consequent upon having a Protestant clergyman's furniture in his house. And in the end he was fairly persecuted out of the lodgings.

Having succeeded, thus far, in exciting feelings of bigotry and personal hostility, the monks next entered upon the question of the schools, and told the poor ignorant creatures that whatever might be the advantages of education, it was far better for them to keep their children without those advantages than to send them to heretic schools, and they assured them, that any one who followed their advice and withdrew their children from the schools, might be certain of an easy admission into heaven. It was remarkable that these men abstained altogether from cursing the people, on these occasions, as the priests are geneVOL. XXXV.-January, 1849.

D

rally in the habit of doing. It would seem as if they found the influence of Protestantism in this parish too strong to render such a measure advisable. They accordingly cajoled the people with professions of kindness, until they had persuaded them to return to the superstitions which many of them had almost entirely forsaken, and then they did their utmost to build up the barriers once more, with all the strength possible. One very extraordinary instance of this was the following: In order to give the people greater confidence and comfort from attending their religious ministrations, they recommended them to purchase from the women in the tents new rosaries, and to bring them to them, and they would bless them, and to give up the old beads, &c., which they had hitherto been using, as they were not so efficacious as the new ones would be. This was a novel idea, and it took immediately. There were, however, in several instances, some hard struggles, before the people could be induced to part with the rosaries which had been the companion of their devotions for some thirty or forty years; and in others, there was the difficulty, amounting almost to an impossibility, of finding money enough for the purchase of the new ones. But the superstitious hope of increased efficacy in their prayers had a powerful influence, and by degrees overcame all these difficulties.

A very curious circumstance, among many, occurred, which will prove the extent to which the struggle was carried in such cases. A poor aged woman, on her way to the chapel, happened to overtake another woman who was going apparently to the same place; and, taking it for granted, that the person she overtook was a Roman Catholic, she unguardedly began to tell her griefs;—that the monks were "calling in all the old beads;" and that when, a week before, she had gone to them, they required her to bring them her old beads, and to purchase new ones; she stated that she had remonstrated, and earnestly begged them to bless the old ones to which she was attached, because they had been given to her by a beloved daughter when on her deathbed, and that she would rather almost part with life itself than give them up. These spiritual guides, however, saw that they were sure of their victim, and they were therefore inexorable. They now no longer left the matter in any measure to her own choice, but declared that she must produce and give up the old beads; and when she appeared at confession again in a week's time, and had again entreated to be allowed to retain her old rosary, endeared by so many ties, they peremptorily refused, and turned her away home again to fetch it. "And here," said the poor old creature to her unknown companion, "here am I, almost tired to death, with travelling, after going home for my poor daughter's beads; and nothing will do, but I must give

them up and never see them again." Such heartless, mercenary tyranny over a superstitious and ignorant people ought surely to make every humane man, not to say every conscientious member of the Church of England, shudder at the thought of the British government attempting to govern Ireland through the influence of such persons, and aiding and assisting them in their warfare against the Protestant religion.

But I spoke also of a certain description of trinket which the monks had for sale-or rather which "the women in the tents" sold for them in thousands. These I must now proceed to describe. The trinket consists of four parts, a heart, a small medal (about the size of a shilling, but oval), and two crucifixes, about an inch in length; these four being made of very thin brass, and joined together by little brass links, so as to be conveniently suspended round the neck. These little toys had inscriptions on them, which I shall now proceed to describe. Strange to say, the most of these inscriptions were in the French language. What the object could be of giving these poor wretched people trinkets with French inscriptions on them, and telling them they were preservatives amid the dangers of war, at the very time that those people were every night expecting a landing of the French on their shores, I leave to others to consider. Nor is it very difficult to conjecture what reason they would be likely, at such a time, to give the poor creatures for so strange an act as giving them amulets with French mottoes. The inscriptions, &c., were of course all connected with religion. Thus, for instance, on the heart was on one side a circular inscription," Coeur de Jesus," inside of which was another heart depicted bearing the description, "Dieu en moy:" on the reverse a circular inscription, " Coeur de Marie," inside of which was another heart inscribed with the words, "Moy en Dieu." One of the two crucifixes bore simply on the back of it the words, "Souvenir de la mission." The other crucifix was more complicated; in addition to the other parts of it, there were two ladders, one without any steps or rounds in it, and at the head of that ladder was the figure of our blessed Saviour; the other ladder had steps, and at the head of it was the figure of the Virgin Mary-in order to intimate that none could approach to God except through the Virgin Mary. The medal had on one side a figure of the Virgin Mary, with the inscription in English, "O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee;" and on the other side, two hearts suspended -one of them surrounded with something like the crown of thorns, and the other pierced with a sword, whilst above were the letters V M surmounted by a cross, and the whole surrounded by twelve stars. Possibly some of Possibly some of your readers may

have seen similar articles on some occasion or another; to me they were perfectly new, and perhaps to many who read my description they may be new also. In fact, except as matters of curiosity, they seem of little more importance than any other of the trinkets or amulets used by Romanists, except for these two reasons: 1. That they were made the instrument of extracting money from an impoverished and starving population: and 2. That they were made the instrument of connecting these poor deluded people with any hostile movement which might have been made by France.

As to the effect produced upon the minds of the Romancatholic peasantry in general by the teaching of these monks, it was not likely to be more bitter in its nature than that which the ordinary practices of the Romish priests are calculated to produce. It might tend to make the poor people keep a faster hold of their bitter prejudices, but more bitter it could not make them. What will be thought of the following? A few weeks ago, the Romish priest in this same parish was sent for by a very aged man to administer the last rites of the church to him. It so happened that the son and daughter of this poor man are converts to the Communion of the Protestant Church, and are persons of truly excellent character. The priest, upon entering the house, inquired about this matter, and asked after the books which they were in the habit of reading; and, having discovered two Bibles and a New Testament, he became greatly enraged, and gathering the books together, he said to the old man's wife, "Take these devils out of the house, for I cannot lift up the holy body of the Lord while they are under the roof." The poor woman remonstrated, and said the books were her son's property, and he would be very angry if they were taken; however, he persisted, and actually carried the books with his own hands and put them into his gig, and when he was leaving took them home with him. The young man of course was very indignant at such an outrage being committed upon him, a Protestantand the next day he sent to the priest, threatening him with a prosecution if he did not return the books; upon which, at nearly twelve o'clock at night, when there could be no witness of his defeat, the priest thought it prudent to send home the books.

But what is the end of all these proceedings? The aid of Government is obtained in order to crush the glorious work, which by their own unaided efforts it would be utterly impossible for the Romish priests to put a stop to. This is, in fact, the parish in which (as I stated in the article on the Discouragement of Protestantism, printed in your number for November,) 1400 rations of bread were granted to the priest for

his "mushroom schools," although he had so miserable a number of children under instruction; whilst to the schools in connexion with the Church Education Society, although there were 615 children in attendance, not more than 400 rations were granted. Of course I have no means of knowing what the correspondence may be which has been carried on with Government, but the priests have given out in the parish, that there are eight national schools to be built there forthwith; and that, although there are already eleven schools in connexion with the Church Education Society, and two national schools. And to prove beyond question that the object of this multiplication of schools is not to spread education, but to counteract scriptural education by means of the Government grant, it is sufficient to state, that I was on the spot myself a few days ago, at the time when the priests were choosing the site for the first school, and the place they selected is within a few hundred yards of one of the best taught and best attended schools that I have ever seen in any country parish.

THE INTEGRITY OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES WITH REFERENCE TO PHYSICAL PHENOMENA.

PART I. CHAPTER I.

THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE BOOK OF GENESIS.

SIR,-I beg you to do me the honour to admit, in the part of the Magazine reserved for such communications, the accompanying Essay, of which the object is to show the harmony existing between true science and religion. It contains a Theory of Heat, which must be regarded as resting only on an argument of Probability. But there will also be found in it the demonstratio of an astronomical fact, which has an important bearing on the science of geology.

Since the essay may be thought to have the appearance of research, it is proper that I should confess, that in most cases I was not able to do more than to consult the works to which I have referred.

I have the honour to be, Sir, your humble servant,

G.

It is sometimes forgotten that unadulterated truth is nowhere to be found but in the Bible: every other book is vitiated by human imperfection.

The authority of profane history, for example, is of necessity