closely correspond with those of Berkeley; especially do they do so in regard to the condition of certain Charter Schools. Take that at Castlebar as he found it in 1773-'No gate to the courtyard, a large chasm in the wall, heaps of rubbish before the house-door, broken windows in abundance; the whole a picture of slothfulness, nastiness, and desolation! I did not dream there were any inhabitants, till, the next day, I saw about forty boys and girls walking from church.' The scholars were apparently out for exercise without either master or mistress in attendance, and their tattered, dirty, or generally unkempt condition was altogether in keeping with the aspect of their schoolhouse as described. The Charter School at Ballinrobe was conducted on similar lines. I went thither about five in the afternoon,' remarks Wesley, 'but found no master or mistress. Seven or eight boys, and nine or ten girls (the rest being rambling abroad), dirty and ragged enough, were left to the care of a girl half a head taller than the rest. She led us through the house.' For some fifteen boys there were three beds, and for nineteen girls five beds; the schoolroom itself, corresponding to this limited accommodation, being 'not much bigger than a small closet.' A veritable hedge school was almost to be preferred to this; but what hope could be entertained of a peasantry who were not better housed than uncivilised savages? During one of his earliest visits to Ireland, Wesley was struck with the savage-like outlook of the common mode of life: ' For no light can come into the earth or

straw-built cavern, on the master and his cattle, but at one hole; which is both window, chimney, and door.'

What will strike readers in general as one of the most remarkable letters ever addressed by a great Christian leader to one of his subordinates, was sent by Wesley to Hugh Saunderson in 1769, when the latter was engaged in service in the Armagh district. The preacher was to avoid all laziness, sloth, indolence.' Then the preacher was to avoid all nastiness, dirt, slovenliness,' etc. Under the third head it was found necessary to say, 'Whatever clothes you wear, let them be whole: no rents, no tatters, no rags.' It was even necessary to add, 'Clean yourself of lice.' 'Cure yourselves and your family of the itch.' Both tobacco and snuff were proscribed; and, as dram-drinking was so general in Ireland, spirits were to be refused. As regarded snuff: 'I suppose no other nation in Europe is in such vile bondage to this silly, nasty, dirty custom as the Irish are,' remarked Wesley; 'but let the Christians be in this bondage no longer.'

In regard to the county towns of Ireland, Wesley's idea was that they were altogether remarkable for the reason that half a dozen, including Donegal, would not have matched Islington in point of size. Then he asks the question, 'Is not this owing in part to the fickleness of the nation, who seldom like anything long, and are so continually seeking new habitations, as well as new fashions, and new trifles of every kind?' He

closely correspond with those of Berkeley; especially do they do so in regard to the condition of certain Charter Schools. Take that at Castlebar as he found it in 1773-No gate to the courtyard, a large chasm in the wall, heaps of rubbish before the house-door, broken windows in abundance; the whole a picture of slothfulness, nastiness, and desolation! I did not dream there were any inhabitants, till, the next day, I saw about forty boys and girls walking from church.' The scholars were apparently out for exercise without either master or mistress in attendance, and their tattered, dirty, or generally unkempt condition was altogether in keeping with the aspect of their schoolhouse as described. The Charter School at Ballinrobe was conducted on similar lines. I went thither about five in the afternoon,' remarks Wesley, but found no master or mistress. Seven or eight boys, and nine or ten girls (the rest being rambling abroad), dirty and ragged enough, were left to the care of a girl half a head taller than the rest. She led us through the house.' For some fifteen boys there were three beds, and for nineteen girls five beds; the schoolroom itself, corresponding to this limited accommodation, being 'not much bigger than a small closet.' A veritable hedge school was almost to be preferred to this; but what hope could be entertained of a peasantry who were not better housed than uncivilised savages? Daring one of his earliest visits to Ireland, We

with the savage-like outlook

straw-built cavern, on the master and his cattle, but at one hole; which is both window, chimney, and door.'

What will strike readers in general as one of the most remarkable letters ever addressed by a great Christian leader to one of his subordinates, was sent by Wesley to Hugh Saunderson in 1769, when the latter was engaged in service in the Armagh district. The preacher was to avoid all laziness, sloth, indolence.' Then the preacher was to avoid all nastiness, dirt, slovenliness,' etc. Under the third head it was found necessary to say, 'Whatever clothes you wear, let them be whole: no rents, no tatters, no rags.' It was even necessary to add, 'Clean yourself of lice.' 'Cure yourselves and your family of the itch.' Both tobacco and snuff were proscribed; and, as dram-drinking was so general in Ireland, spirits were to be refused. As regarded snuff: 'I suppose no other nation in Europe is in such vile bondage to this silly, nasty, dirty custom as the Irish are,' remarked Wesley; 'but let the Christians be in this bondage no longer.'

In regard to the county towns of Ireland, Wesley's idea was that they were altogether remarkable for the reason that half a dozen, including Donegal, would not have matched Islington in point of size. Then he asks the question, 'Is not this owing in part to the fickleness the nation, who seldom like anything long, and

continually seeking new habitations, as well as hions, and new trifles of every kind?' He

was not at all in love with the language, thinking that many of its characteristics made it intolerably difficult to an Englishman.

He gives many particulars relating to the county towns, and in 1760 he seems to have had a vision of what might have been when he took notice of three colonies of Germans in the Limerick district. 'I suppose three such towns are scarce to be found again in England or Ireland,' he says. 'There is no cursing or swearing, no Sabbath-breaking, no drunkenness, no alehouse in any of them.' The contrast to the squalor and misery of the mud-cabin on a potato- plot swarming with children was altogether striking. So, indeed, was the contrast between North and South in 1756: 'No sooner did we enter Ulster than we observed the difference. The ground was cultivated just as in England; and the cottages not only neat, but with doors, chimneys, and windows.' This seems to tally with the picture drawn by Bishop Berkeley.

As he passed through the country during successive tours, Wesley closely observed the characteristics of many of the towns at which he halted. Glenarm, a small seaport and wateringplace, County Antrim, one hundred and thirty-seven miles from Dublin, was a place in which Methodist preaching began in 'an uncommon manner.' A travelling preacher named John Smith, who died soon after, overtook a young lady travelling with a servant, learned that though the town was a wicked place there was one good man there— William Hunter. Smith was emboldened to ride