"We are sometimes referred to the Gallican church as an example that the Roman Catholic religion may be established without detriment to the temporal sovereignty, and that it may exist, though dominant, in a qualified form, disarmed of every thing that might justly be deemed obnoxious. In so far, however, as that church possesses any Liberties, they are possessed against the approbation of the Papal court; every book, as Sir Robert Inglis tells us, which has been written in defence of the liberties of the Gallican church, being, at this day, prohibited by the Pope. It must not be forgotten also, that in the worst acts of inhuman bigotry, by which the Roman Catholic religion has rendered itself odious, the Gallican church has been as much engaged as the Papal; the French bishops have been as remorseless as the Spanish Inquisition, and the Most Christian kings as deeply dyed in the blood of their heretical subjects, as the most Catholic. Before any one ventures to deny this, let him inquire into the history of the French Huguenots and of the Spanish Moriscoes.

"Has any one persuaded himself that the character of this corrupt church is changed? Let him look at the proofs adduced in Sir Robert Inglis's admirable speech of its present intolerance, of its existing prohibitions, of the unrelaxing tyranny which it at this day exercises over the human mind. Let him see what are its feelings and practices at this time abroad and at home,

far and near, in the New World and in the Old,in France, among the most enlightened of the Roman Catholic people, and in Ireland among the most ignorant. The earthquakes in South America are attributed by the priests and friars to the heretics, the Inglezes, who pollute their soil; it is their presence which has drawn rain from heaven upon the dry country of Peru, and washed away the mud dwellings in which the true believers had formerly dwelt secure; the same unholy presence has caused the mines to fail. Such are the feelings which prevail in emancipated South America, among the liberalized states, and in the very capital of Bolivar the Liberator! From Germany and from Switzerland, as well as from Dublin, there come authenticated reports, of Prince Hohenlohe's miraculous performances. In France, a relic of the Virgin Mary's dress is sent for to secure a happy delivery for the Duchess of Berry; the papers tell us of a crucifix at Migné which emitted a miraculous light; and how at Hartmansweiller, on the Upper Rhine, on the evening of the octave of the Féte Dieu, the host, during the last prayers, became transparent and luminous, and presented to the eyes of the astonished spectators a miniature portrait of their Saviour: the details of this miracle were published for the edification of the pious! In Italy the measure of the Virgin Mary's foot is sold at Rome, as taken from her shoe; and on the paper, which is of the exact size and shape of

the aforesaid shoe, three hundred years of indulgence are promised to any who shall kiss the measure three times, and recite three Ave Marias. John XXII. granted the indulgence, Clement VIII. confirmed, and Leo XI. allows of the sale, and the imposture, and the superstition!

"This is in the eternal city, the Pope's own seat. In his patrimonial kingdom, Ireland, the island of saints, there are holy wells at which multitudes annually assemble, coming from far and wide, bareheaded and barefooted, that they may crawl on their knees round these wells, which are generally near some old oak, or upright unhewn stones (for, in fact, the practice is a remnant of Druidical times): the crawling is performed westward, after the course of the sun; some do it three, some do it six, some nine times, or more, but always in uneven numbers, till the penance is fulfilled. There, too, is the Cursing Altar, built of loose round stones, where the Roman believer turns one of the stones, and utters an imprecation upon his enemy, in the fervent and pious belief that it will draw upon him some dreadful and inevitable evil. There we have (and in Maynooth College) the sodality of the sacred heart of Jesus, and devotional books, in which the devotee is instructed to address his prayers to the heart of Jesus, through the heart of Mary! There we have the penny-a-week Purgatory Society; and there we find purgatory itself, St. Patrick's purgatory, flourishing still!

6

But it is not the original purgatory island, not that which was formerly visited; the clerk of the present purgatory confesses this. The old island, Sir,' said he, was too near the shore, and, in summer time, the people could come from the main land to it by a little wading; and often, Sir, ungodly people used to bring over to the pilgrims liquor, and other things, that used to spoil their devotions and interrupt their fasts: but now, he must be a good swimmer who could get to our present holy places!' Herein the cause of changing the place is explained; for not fewer than thirteen thousand pilgrims are said annually to visit this den of superstition at this time: the ferry is rented for two hundred and sixty pounds a year; the fare is five-pence, and the priest's fee from twenty-pence to two and sixpence; for which, however, he is bound by his assistants to keep the pilgrims awake during four-and-twenty hours, an office for which the use of a switch is required. When Mr. Gamble visited this remarkable place, the island, which is little more than an acre in circumference, was literally strewn with the more zealous pilgrims, who on their bare knees performed their devotions, and moved about in ceaseless

* Sketches in Ireland, descriptive of hitherto unnoticed districts in the North and South, p. 180;—a very able and delightful book, which most certainly, if Ireland were in a tranquil state, would draw thither annual shoals of picturesque tourists.

Views of Society in the North of Ireland, p. 260.

activity, and crossed each other in mazes intricate and intervolved, but doubtless regular. The hum of their voices, as they repeated their prayers, and counted their rosaries, resembled the buzz of bees, or the sound of flies on a summer's day.' At this place the pilgrims lighten their hearts, their conscience, and their pockets."

If further proof is required of the unchanged spirit of the Romish religion, the contents of the breviary will amply supply it.

V.

Contents of the Breviary, or Popish PrayerBook.

"A Christian church cannot employ a more effectual instrument to fashion and mould the minds of her members, than the form of prayer and worship which she sanctions for daily use. Such is the breviary or prayer-book of the Roman Catholic clergy. In consequence of a decree of the council of Trent, Pope Pius V. ordered a a number of learned and able men to compile the breviary. Urban VIII., in 1631, had the language of the whole work, and the metres of the hymns revised. The value which the church of Rome sets upon the breviary, may be known