guage has been to them a cloud of darkness shutting out all light."

'It need not have proved such,' said my father, 'it was rather misguided policy which shut out the true light. The Gaelic of the Highlands is almost identical with Irish; Welsh and the Manx language are but dialects of the same Celtic origin; yet both Highlanders and Welsh received the light of the Reformation, presented to them in their own tongue, Half the population of the Isle of Man are still ignorant of the English language, yet education and religion walk to and fro the island, disseminating peace and knowledge. In the last thirty years, no less than £4000 have been expended in the publication of Manx scriptures, and books, and the effect is visible. Would that a similar sum were expended in this province, or even country!'

'I cannot believe that superstition is so prevalent among even the Connaught peasantry as you suppose,' observed a fox-hunter, who chanced to be present during the conversation, I have never met with much of the kind; stations and beads of course are everywhere, but I am not aware of any very prevalent superstitions.'

'Probably you have not spoken to the people on religious subjects, nor made any inquiries relative to their opinions,' said my father, ‘I have made them my study for years past, and regret to say that each day affords new proof of their credulity, and of the frivolous trifles in which they have been taught to place their trust. Many of the objects of their veneration have been summed up by a poet of the reign of Edward the Sixth, as correctly as if he had written but yesterday:

Holy stocks, holy stones,

Holy crosses, holy bones,

Yea, and holy, holy wood.

Holy fire, holy palm,

Holy oil, holy cream,

And holy ashes also;

Holy water, holy blessing,

Holy kneeling, holy censing,

And a hundred trim-trams mo.

' Even yon lake,' continued my father, walking over to the window, and pointing to the sun-resplendent waters of Lough Conn, 'even that lake has been deemed so sacred from olden time, that people used to cast rolls of butter into its holy waters, in order to preserve the milk of their cows from Geasa Draoideacht. I am not certain whether this custom still exists in the neighbourhood, but about forty miles off, at Lougharrow, the people still throw pieces of butter, as offerings to the saint of the lake, praying him to save their cattle for the following year; and some of our poor neighbours, who have visited Croagh Patrick as pilgrims, have even brought home bottles of the water of Lougharrow to sprinkle on their cattle, and spill into the ears of any person who should be taken ill. Their superstition is but too evident, too universal to be incredible.'

'I could believe any thing you state about holy water of any kind,' said the fox-hunter, 'for I'm aware that it is their prime agent, their most efficacious charm; but I think Mrs. Moran must have been practising on your credulity, when she stated that she saw the maimed and sick sitting up all night at the well of glass, expecting a cure, in the beginning of the nineteenth century, I may say.'

You have only to make enquiries on the subject,' said my father, ' and you will be satisfied; but it is by no means a solitary case,-a restorative well. The well

of Struel, in the county Down, is also supposed to be endowed with sanative powers, the blind especially resort thither from the most remote parts of Ireland; almost every ailment is supposed to be relieved or removed by a visit to that well. When the poor devotees find their sufferings remain unmitigated, they ascribe the failure to their own want of faith, and meekly enquire "who has got the blessing?" They are morally certain a blessing is there, and must be received by some individuals at least. There are innumerable other places, to which similar miraculous powers have been ascribed. You must remember the crosses and holy stones, for instance at Clonmacnoise, close to your uncle's residence in the king's county.'

I grew weary of the conversation at this stage, and turned to seek amusement in some new occupation, when my attention was recalled by my father's voice being raised in most earnest tones.

'I have traversed the greater part of the world, and witnessed the religious ceremonies of many nations. I have seen the Mahometans adore "one god," and Indians bow to the Great Spirit. Even on my passage home, I saw our lascar sailors prostrate themselves on deck twice every day to worship the Supreme Being; I returned to the almost-forgotten land of my birth, and found there polytheism and idolatry enthroned in the place of religion. I found that my Romanist countrymen's god is their priest, their goddess the Virgin Mary.' 'How can you call the priest their God?' said my mother.

'Because he occupies the place of God; from him they seek forgiveness of sins, and even salvation. Because, in total ignorance of the revealed will of God, they are altogether governed and guided by the will of the priest.

Are they ill from his "offices" they seek health. Are they dying from him they seek admission into Paradise. In health, they keep water sanctified by him in their houses. In sickness, they wear amulets consecrated by his touch. In death, clay blessed by him is interred with their corpses. In eternity, even still, his power is supposed to reach them,'

My father was obliged to leave the room to attend some business of importance, but his observations had sunk deeply into my mind. I began to consider that my people's subservience to the priest, might be justly ascribed to their ignorance of Scripture, I fell into a waking dream, and saw the native Irish of the eighteenth century pass before me; in millions they came, old men and children, women and youths, passed slowly before my mental vision; another generation followed, and yet another; all seeming to extend their spectral hands to implore a true guide, all apparently saddened by disappointment as they glided on into an unseen, unknown world.

Could my musing spirit then have foreseen the irradiating beams which have since burst forth in Dingle, Achill and elsewhere, how it would have bounded as at the sound of a clarion. The dawn has begun. Vainly have bishops, (even in 1830) vainly has the pontiff himself, Benedict XIV,, essayed to rivet the loosening shackles by preaching in favour of pilgrimages in general, to Lough Derg in particular; the fetters must break; the captives shall be freed; the lonely moors and wild mountains shall at length hear the trumpet of the gospel, for "knowledge shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea."

LETTERS FROM TYROL.-No. II.

BY THE AUTHOR OF

A VISIT TO MY BIRTH PLACE," &c. &c.

MY DEAR A. Of all that you and my other friends have thought or feared concerning me, I have only lately received the report, by learning that my last packet of letters had been lost, and that my first had appeared in print, and remained there in a very isolated position. Many and many a time have I endeavoured to despatch its successor, but the attempt has been as often abandoned, from the simple fact, that I knew not, nor could at all recollect, whereabouts I left off. At last I have learned that I was at Inspruck, when I ended my first letter from Tyrol; and it is well that I had not gone a little further when my silence commenced, for then indeed you might have been uneasy as to its cause, for I should in that case have told you that at our next halting-place I met with a very unpleasant accident. But as my letters have not reached you, I must retrace our route for your advantage. I must now then imagine myself going over it again. I started from Inspruck full of joy, with my rather reluctant and untoward companions, to go to the Zillerthal; but alas! my joy came to an abrupt termination.

That we, dear A, are feeble, dependent creatures, is an expression so very common, that I should not reiterate it if its truth were at all less felt at my very