shews the writer's familiar acquaintance with our great models of language, both prose and verse; and by no mean vein of poetical fancy. Songs of La Colonna. By M. A. T. 12mo. Bristol: 1835. EVERY one will feel respect for the piety, and the right feelings and intentions of the author of this volume, even if they cannot admire its poetry. THE following books deserve notice as quite respectable in their class, i. e., Religious Tales:— -Mary and Florence, by A. F. T. (London: Hatchards.) A Lady's Gift, by Jane Stanford. (Smith and Elder.) The Friends, by M. A. E. Hansard. 1834. The whole question of the good or evil of such works requires careful consideration. But that cannot be shortly or easily done. The present examples have no peculiar faults. Mr. Whewell has published a noble Sermon, preached by him before the Trinity House-like all which he does. Mr. Henry Manning's excellent Visitation Sermon at Chichester, Mr. Blackburn's Case of the Irish Church, and Mr. Beresford's "Stand!" an Earnest Address to the Friends of the Church, (Hatchards,) deserve a particular notice. It is a subject of deep regret that temporary matter prevents the insertion of an important extract from the Bishop of Gloucester's Sermon before the University of Cambridge. DOCUMENTS. LANGUAGE OF THE ROMAN BISHOPS IN IRELAND. THE following, from the " Dublin Evening Mail," is very well worth the consideration of our Protestant countrymen : It appears that a Father Prendergast, Roman-catholic chaplain of the county gaol of Waterford, preferred charges against the Governor of the gaol. These charges were investigated before Henry Villiers Stuart, Esq., governor of the county, George Pierse Barron, high sheriff, and Mr. Dennehy, his deputy(the former being a liberal, and the two latter being Roman catholics.) The result was a full and honourable acquittance of Mr. Bruce. Subsequently a government inquiry was held, with the same effect. But the high sheriff, at the last assizes, complaining to the grand jury that the gaol was in a state of insubordination, in consequence of Prendergast's conduct, the latter was dismissed from the chaplaincy, and the priest of the parish in which the prison is situate appointed in his stead. Though there were nine Roman catholics on the grand jury, there was but one dissentient; and his objection was not to the dismissal of the priest, but to some point of form. Now, the law of the land expressly gives the right of appointing chaplains to the grand jury. The usurping Bishop of Rome sets himself above the law, and arrogates the right. The following circular will tell the sequel Circular to the Gentlemen who composed the last Grand Jury for the "Sir, I herewith send you a copy of a letter addressed to me (as foreman of the last grand jury for this county) by the Roman-catholic Bishop of Waterford. I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient servant, " Το 2 Esq." "ROBERT Power." (Copy.) "Clonmel, July 28, 1835. "SIR, I never was more astonished than on receiving a document purporting to be a decree of the county of Waterford grand jury, passed at the last assizes a decree as slovenly in its verbiage as it was arrogant in its conception. This conduct might well become the mild meridian of Elizabeth's reign, but certainly ill accords with the vaunted liberality of modern jurists. What! a box of laymen to usurp the patronage of a catholic bishop? I can scarcely believe it. But to guard against the possibility of any infringement on my rights, I now tell you, as foreman of that said grand jury, that no other priest but the Rev. Mr. Prendergast shall dare officiate as chaplain of the county gaol, and this you may publish from the highest to the lowest places. What right had the grand jury to dispose of my subjects in the fulness of their wisdom, and this without a single appeal to the proper authority? The world shall see, by the result of this very affair, not only the usurping propensity of that said jury, but also its impotence in ecclesiastical affairs. I mean nothing personal in this address, but really I can with difficulty restrain my feelings on such a subject, and in such times as these. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, W. ABRAHAM." [How easily would an English government rule Ireland if a popish hierarchy were established, where this is the tone assumed by them before that consummation!-ED.] EXTRACTS FROM A LETTER OF MR. M'GHEE TO THE (From "The Times," August 1.) "Let me entreat your attention to one or two passages in Mr. Woods' letter, marking how he substantiates every word of the statements made by Mr. Coyne, and brought forward at Exeter Hall. "He says, 'When I was named to compile the Directory, the questions for discussion for Dublin only were proposed by me; every other diocese had its own matter for conference. By a subsequent arrangement the bishops of the province of Leinster, four in number, agreed to have the same matter discussed, and the same order observed in discussion, at their respective conferences. The person who furnished the questions before me was understood to have followed the order of Antoine. My education at Maynooth gave me a bias in favour of the treatises most familiar to me, and I adopted that of Bailly; the provincial bishops, however, judged it expedient to have a fixed order, and gave the preference to that of Dens.' "Now, granting this statement true, look at the express assertion of the fact: This gentleman's predecessor, he states, compiled the questions of conferences from Antoine; he says that he adopted Bailly, but the four bishops of Leinster agreed to supersede Antoine, to supersede Bailly, and to adopt, as the fixed order for their united conferences, Mr. Peter Dens! "But this is not all. The rev. gentleman proceeds—' When the time for the publication of the Directory next following this arrangement was at hand, Dr. Murray announced to me that we were to discuss the three treatises on human acts, sins, and conscience, in the successive conferences of the following year, and that the questions were to be taken in the order of Dens. Now, mark, Mr. Coyne gives you but the general fact—Mr. Woods gives you the detail. Mr. Coyne says, the four bishops adopted the book-Mr. Woods informs you they did so, superseding the others that he and his predecessor had used. Mr. Coyne associates Dr. Murray with the three others-so does Mr. Woods, but he goes further; he tells you that Dr. Murray expressly announced to him the subjects he was to discuss, and the author from whom he was to take them. Dr. Murray, on Coyne's statement, had the comfort of the quibble, I did not make it a conference-book,' for Coyne associated him with his brother prelates in the act. But Mr. Woods, in the officious cruelty of his friendship, deprives the unhappy Doctor of the miserable consolation of this subterfuge, and places him out before the nation in the naked solitude of his episcopal authority directing the very treatises for conference, naming the very author, and pointing him to the very page. Mr. Coyne turns out to be, as Mr. Woods states him, a respectable and worthy individual,'-every effort to subvert his testimony only more strongly establishes its authenticity. I have the honour to be, dear friends and brethren, Your faithful friend and servant, R. J. M'GHEE." DENS'S THEOLOGY. THE Editor has inquired most anxiously, but cannot find that any Roman authority, real or self-constituted (as a newspaper) has said any thing as to the disgraceful suppression of the Dedication to Dens's Theology in the copies sold to Mr. M'Ghee. What is to be said for it?-and what are we to think of those prelates who could sanction it? THE RIGHT WAY TO DEAL WITH THE CHURCH. A LITTLE tract, called the Irish Church Bill, has just been published, which shews the following facts, as to the Irish Church Bill, which, even in these days, are almost incredible. "The eighty-ninth clause of the Bill proposes to vest the property of all the minor cathedral corporations in the Ecclesiastical commissioners, immediately on the passing of the act. The ground on which so serious a measure is recommended is thus stated: And whereas it appears by the report of certain commissioners constituted and appointed by his Majesty for inquiring into ecclesiastical revenues and patronage in Ireland, bearing date the fifteenth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-four, that there are in certain cathedral churches divers subordinate corporations, kown by certain names, and that some of such corporations have dwindled down to a single individual in each, who appears to be wholly discharged of any duty whatever, and that some such offices would long since have become wholly obsolete and extinct, but for the emoluments which still attach and are enjoyed by the individuals who fill them.' Will it be believed that the commissioners (see their report p. 10 and 11) mention specifically three, Ross, Tuam, and Ardfert, out of thirteen, as the only ones to which these words (incorporated into the latter part of the extract just given) apply? They, too, do not state, as the bill does, that these things are so, but that they appear to be so. And why? Let this pamphlet answer : 'They had no documents or records which could warrant a more positive statement. It is, indeed, said, that at some remote period, there were three vicars in the corporation of Ross, and that some former bishop appropriated the estates of at least one of them to the repairs of the cathedral. Of the number of the vicars-choral of Tuam, or of the minor canons of Ardfert, no account whatever can be found; and there is reason to believe it to be wholly impossible to prove that these two corporations, as they are called, ever consisted of more than a single individual in each. Here, then, is the sum of the accusation. Three corporations, which, at some period beyond the recollection of history, may have consisted of five or six persons, and which no one can pretend to prove to have ever consisted of more than five or six individuals, do now consist, and have for many ages consisted, of but three; and, on this absurd and monstrous pretext, thirteen corporations are to be destroyed, and eighty-five unoffending VOL. VIII.-Sept. 1835. 2 U individuals are, in one moment, to be deprived of their property, and reduced from independence and respectability to be the degraded pensioners on the bounty of their destroyers.' But now, as to the amount of the sinecures enjoyed by these three persons, on account of which thirteen corporations are to be destroyed: 1. The vicar-choral of Tuam has a net income of 1671. 38.; out of which he voluntarily pays 140l. in the hope of establishing a choir. (Report, p. 154.) 2. The vicar-choral of Ross appears to have some duty (Report, p. 11,) and pays 871. per annum to the chapter curate. He has 3787. 128. 2d. (Rep. p. 152.) 3. The minor canon of Ardfer thas 2057. 12s. wholly from land. (Rep .p. 154.) No one would object, nay, every friend to the church would rejoice, at seeing any abuse-if there is any in these three situations-rectified; and especially at seeing the choirs, if possible, filled and maintained. But such legislation is destructive, and too plainly shews under what spirit we shall have to live! The actual state of many of the Irish choirs is thus most justly described:"It is notorious, that the choral establishments of Ireland have never been in so practical and efficient a state as at this moment, and that these corporations, as to the class and character of persons elected, as to their competency, and as to the whole mode of discharging their duties, are now, and have been for some years, in a course of rapid and decided improvement.' The choir of Christ Church, Dublin, is equal, to say the least, to our best. ECCLESIASTICAL REVENUES BILL. THE object of this Bill, as appears from an abstract of it, is simply thisthat, as the king, the two archbishops, divers bishops, and other patrons have agreed not to present to preferments which have no cure of souls (except archdeaconries), falling vacant since February 4th, till the Church Commissioners have settled in what way such preferments can best be disposed of—in case of any vacancy the profits shall go to Queen Anne's Bounty, the treasurer of which is empowered to recover and enforce payment as if in possession of the preferment, but not to grant leases, nor present to livings in the gift of these preferments. The patrons of the preferments themselves shall present to such livings during the vacancy of the preferments only. No right of presentation or collation shall lapse by this arrangement. QUEEN ANNE'S BOUNTY. MR. EDITOR,-Perhaps the following summary of the amount of benefactions given by various descriptions of persons towards the augmentation of poor livings may not be uninteresting to your readers. I send it you, having calculated it as accurately as I could from the data given in Hodgson's account of Queen Anne's Bounty; a book, as might perhaps be expected, by no means deficient in typographical errors, though full of valuable information. The whole amount of benefactions received since A. D. 1708, either in money, or else in land or tithes, reckoned by value in money, is, according to the table at the end of Hodgson's Appendix, no less than 771,885l. 9s. 6d.; of this sum, the following proportions (as near as they can be ascertained, that is, within a few hundreds) have been contributed by the several classes here enumerated. I have given the respective sums in round numbers, omitting the shillings and pence, as tending only to puzzle the account. According to this statement, the clergy, from whose incomes the Royal Bounty is annually drawn, have, in addition, been the most munificent of any class of society, not only relatively, but absolutely, in their benefactions towards the augmentation of poor benefices. Indeed, taking dignitaries and private clergy together, they have contributed all but a third of the whole amount of benefactions. Their benefactions exceed those of private individuals (the next largest sum) by 21317., and they have given more than five times the amount which has been raised by subscription! Indeed, with the exception of the college benefactions, the subscriptions have produced less than any of the items. So that the dignitaries of the church, and noblemen of the land have each done more out of their own purses for increasing the value of small livings than has ever been done by means of subscriptions. And, besides, augmentations have been granted in the shape of rent-charges and stipends to the annual amount of 3956l. 148. 10d.; and more than half of these were granted by the clergy, mostly dignitaries. Exclusive of these stipends, the whole amount of benefactions is, as I have stated, 771,8851. 9s. 6d. Add to this the whole amount of grants hitherto made from the Royal Bounty, 1,766,300l., and the whole amount of parliamentary grants, 1,483,900l.; and the grand total of money applied for the benefit of poor livings from Queen Anne's time to the present, will be 4,022,085l. 98. 6d. ; out of which sum 1,766,300l. royal bounty, and 261,8001. clerical benefactions, amounting together to 2,028,100l. (that is, more than half) comes from the clergy! Let these facts speak for themselves, and shew at once the zeal and disinterestedness of those engaged in that sacred profession. I remain yours, W. P. May 5th, 1835. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE FOR THE RELIEF OF THE VAUDOIS, AT A GENERAL MEETING, HELD JULY 14, 1835; SIR GEORGE HARRISON IN THE CHAIR. THE Fund entrusted to the Committee has received but a small addition, (viz., 40l. 19s.) to its general account since last Report. The amount of Stock stands as before. APPROPRIATION OF THE ANNUAL AMOUNT OF THE DIVIDENDS: £ 8. To the Hospital at La Tour 120 To the Infirmary at Pomaret 100 0 0 d. To Four Girls' Schools, at St. Jean, Villar, St. Germain, and Clots, 101. each 40 To the Girls' School at La Tour 12 To Education for the Ministry 20 The Officers of the Table, or Ecclesiastical Authorities of the Vaudois Church, receive the above for distribution, by drawing two bills on the Treasurer, at Messrs. Bosanquet and Co., the one on the 1st of January, and the other on the 1st of July in every year. By the same mode of payment, and at the same time, they receive the amount of the Royal Grant, 2771. 18. 6d., in half |