are few of them in the remote parts of the country who are not drinkers of spirits, while many are systematic and habitual drunkards,

The venality, fraud, and extortion of the Irish Priests, are almost proverbial: they direct pilgrimages to be performed by the deluded people, and they assign the particular stations to which they are to proceed; from whence arises a considerable revenue to the Priests, who reside in the vicinity of the places resorted to. The pecuniary profit accruing from Indulgences, and other spiritual articles of traffic, is not more overlooked in Ireland, than in other Popish countries; and it is no uncommon practice with the Priests, after having enjoined some humiliating or vexatious penance to a wealthy member of their own communion, to commute such penance for a heavy pecuniary fine*. In Ireland too, where money is scarce, the Priests are commonly remunerated by their people in kind. Presents of various sorts are frequently exacted, where they are not bestowed so liberally as the Priests expect them to be; and instances are constantly occurring in Ireland, where the infliction of penance, and the threats of excommunication, compel the unwilling contributions of the Catholic poor, both in money and other offerings. When spiritual influence has lost its effect, it is no unusual thing for ecclesiastical terrors to supply its place, both on this and other occasions; and the power usurped over the conscience is not the only one, nor often the worst, which the unfortunate Devotee experiences at the hands of his Pastor: such, however, is the force of the religious system by which he is bound, and so great the infa tuation with which he is taught to respect the commands of his Priest, that, generally speaking, it would be considered the

* There exists, at this moment, publicly in DUBLIN, a "Purga"torian Society," the professed object of which is to pray the souls of the Subscribers' Relatives and Friends out of Purgatory, and for which avowed object, considerable sums are collected by the Priests, in weekly subscriptions of a penny and upwards.-See Dr. Thorpe's work, referred to before, p. 132, Note.

height of impiety to appeal to the laws of the land, for redress against his spiritual tyranny, since the complainant would thereby expose the character, and violate the authority of one who is, in effect, the Pope of the district over which he presides.

The task of developing the personal delinquencies of the Priesthood is sufficiently painful, or the present article might be considerably extended: the interests of truth, however, appeared to require that thus much should be adduced in reply to BISHOP MILNER's defence of his Clergy; nor can it be considered any violation of the Laws of Charity, that plain facts should be stated in a case where rebellion is so audacious, bigotry so violent, and vice so flagrant, as among the Catholic Priests of the Sister Country.

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In p. 47, MB. DALLAS quotes RAPIN for the purpose of proving the cruelty of the Judges in the reign of QUEEN ELIZABETH, and also of further invalidating the evidence furnished by THE STATE TRIALS and the ACTIO IN PRODITORES; but it is a fraudulent Quotation, and a reference to RAPIN will shew, that MR. DALLAS was not justified in presenting that Quotation to his readers in such a mutilated form. He produces no more of what RAPIN says than the following words: "Meanwhile the Queen sent for the Judges of the "realm, and sharply reproved them for having been too severe in the tortures they had made these men suffer." Now, this being a very small part of what RAPIN says, and only that part which it suited MR. DALLAS to produce, while all the rest of that author's statement is directly opposed to Mr. DALLAS's assertion, let us hear what RAPIN really does say: “Several Books, as well printed as manuscript, were handed "about, wherein the Queen was slandered to the highest de "gree. She was taxed with putting to death many Catholics "without cause, having first racked them, in order to compel "them to confess crimes whereof they were innocent. Her "maids of honour were exhorted to serve her in the same

"manner Judith did Holofernes, and render themselves, by "such an action, worthy of the applause of the Church, "throughout all future ages. Meanwhile, the Queen, willing "to shew it was not for their religion that some Catholics "had been punished, sent for the Judges of the realm, and "sharply reproved them for having been too severe in the ❝tortures they had made these men suffer. In all likelihood, "this was done to afford them an opportunity to clear them"selves from this charge, by an apology which was made public: they affirmed that no person had been made to "suffer for his Religion, but only for dangerous practices

against the Queen and State; that, indeed, CAMPION the "Jesuit had been put to the rack, but with so little violence, "that he was presently able to walk and subscribe his confes"sion; that BRYAN, one of his accomplices, obstinately refus

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ing to speak or write, the person's name who penned the "papers found about him, was, indeed, denied food till such "time as he asked it in writing.' But, however, the Queen, "willing to take from her enemies all occasion of disparaging "her in foreign parts, forbid the putting any person "whatever to the rack, and was satisfied with transporting "out of England seventy Priests who were in prison, and "of whom some were under sentence of death: among these "were certain Jesuits, who afterwards proved very ungrate"ful for the kindness she did them; perhaps, indeed, she "acted upon this occasion, not so much from a motive of "clemency, as to separate two things which they studied al"ways to confound, namely, Religion, and the crimes against "the State, under pretence that most of the Conspirators સ્પંદ were Catholics."-Tindal's Rapin, Vol. ix. p. 36, Edit. 1729.

Now, if, instead of taking an insulated text from RAPIN, MR. DALLAS had given us the context, we should have seen that Queen Elizabeth did not abstractedly condemn the Judges for persecution, as he would have us think; but that

she complained of them publicly, in order (as Rapin believes) that by their public answer, or apology, her own conduct might appear to have sprung, as it really did, not from any hatred of the Jesuits, or their religion, considered in themselves, but from their " dangerous practices against the Queen and "the State." The case was, that the Jesuits, as well as the Catholic Priests, had invariably represented the Queen as hostile to their religion, and persecuting them merely on that account; they chose to deny that they had been the authors of their own misfortunes by their previous perverse and rebellious conduct; and they persisted in attributing the opposition they experienced, to the personal hatred of ELIZABETH. Now, in order to the vindication of her own conduct, she called upon the Judges to give an account of theirs, which they immediately did; and this account was made public by the Queen, in order that the world might at once estimate her motives, and those of the Jesuits and Catholics.

In all this, there is nothing which proves the Judges to have been vindictive or severe, as MR. DALLAS would insinuate, but the direct contrary: if, indeed, one paragraph of a statement is to stand for all the rest, then RAPÍN may be made to speak any thing, either on this or any other occasion; and, upon this principle, it signifies little what view may have been taken by an ancient Historian who has told the whole truth, if a modern writer is to be permitted, by quoting only a part of the truth, to draw his own conclusions from such invalid premises.

If it be any question, whether the Jesuits and Priests did or did not provoke opposition by the most perverse and criminal practices through the whole reign of ELIZABETH, let RAPIN be honestly consulted, and fairly quoted, and the fullest conviction of their intrigues and treasons must be the result. It would be endless to follow him through his statements on this point, but a few may not be useless:

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Douay, whose main object, he says, was "to send Priests "into England to preach sedition and rebellion," he observes, "As long as the Court imagined these men only administered "the sacraments in private to those of their religion, no no "tice seemed to be taken of it; but it was discovered at "length, that they were diligent in spreading pernicious principles which might be attended with ill consequences. They "maintained, that THE POPE had by divine right full power to "dethrone Kings, and that ELIZABETH being excommunica "ted and deposed by Pius Vth's Bull, her subjects were "freed from their allegiance: four of these dangerous emis "saries were condemned and executed, for daring to maintain publicly that the Queen was lawfully deposed.

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"This did not hinder the two Seminaries from continually "sending into England Incendiaries, with whom were joined "ROBERT PARSONS and EDMUND CAMPION, Jesuits, who "were the first of that Order employed to preach the above❝mentioned dangerous tenets. They had obtained of the Pope a Bull, dated 14th of April, 1580, declaring that "POPE PIUS's Bull bound ELIZABETH and the Heretics always; but in no way the Catholics, till a favourable opportunity should offer to put it in execution. These two Je"suits had professed the Protestant Religion, and even held places in the University of Oxford: after that, withdrawing "from England, they returned from time to time, appearing "one while like Clergymen, another while like Soldiers, or in "some other disguise, and frequented the Houses of the Ca"tholics, under pretence of instructing and comforting them; "but in reality to inspire them with sedition and rebellion. "All this coming to the Queen's knowledge, a Proclamation "was issued out, which (among other things) forbid all per

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sons to entertain or harbour any Jesuits or Priests, sent "forth from the Seminaries, upon pain of being punished as "rebels and seditious persons: shortly after, printed books "were dispersed, intimating that the Pope and King of Spain "had formed a design to conquer England and restore the Ca