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 j^^lTERARY 
 
 
 <Q 
 
 
 
 
 E. BARTON, 
 
 EDITED 
 
 
 
 
 BJ F. DAN I BR: 
 
 
 
 WITH 
 
 ATK£FATORY NOTICE^.BY R R, OF CAPTAIN ROCK; 
 FAI^AGE. BY HIM. NORTH ABOUT. 
 
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 CONTENTS. 
 
 Rock'Barton preface, page i 
 
 North abotU xix 
 
 Letter from 0. Banter 1 
 
 Billets from other gens de lettres 24 
 
 Bartoniana .,. . * . . 32 
 
 Letter from a Namesake •••...•. 6l 
 
 Collations 64 
 
 Syllabus of Irish Tracts and Topics 72 
 
 Notices of S.N. 90 
 
 Notes 129 
 
 Parrallels bettoeen C. B. and E, B, 134 
 
 Epilogue 147 
 
 t :■ 
 
 -5 
 
 403589 
 
 1 
 

 ■«*,.> 
 
 =3*. 
 
 
 
1..- -* * i V 
 
 '% l^yrMEftlQIBS OF CAPTAIN ROCK 
 
 ' " ■" i 
 
 RoriBUs 
 Vidi docenlem ; • ' ■ 
 
 e^ aures 
 
 Capripedum* Satyrorum acutas. 
 Evce, recenli mens trepidat metu : 
 ' evae, parce L>awiK ! 
 
 What shall I say of this work i Undoubtedly that it is a 
 spirited and lively one : full of wit, and playfulness, and point, 
 and information ; occasionally servhig up wholesome lessons 
 and important truths, in a seasoning of smiles and pleasantry, 
 that while they give these flavour, conceal perhaps some 
 sprinklings of pernicious falsehood, which (a V ins^u du Cuisi- 
 nierf ) are mingled in the dish. 
 
 *" ** I have seen my father, and some of my uncles, bending for houn, 
 with melancholy faces, over their spades ; when suddenly one would fling his 
 in the air, and instantly the whole party would take to capering^" &cet. — 
 Mnc OF Captain Rock, p. 247, As for the trepidations which I have 
 acknowledged, perhaps page 275, and some others, might explain them. As 
 for my implying that the Jtock family are of the Satyr kind, their capering 
 may be considered as some evidence that they are : and how does Ariosto 
 (or is it Tasso ?) describe the martial sons of Erin ? 
 
 — — — — — irsuti manda 
 
 La ^visa dal mondo, ultima Irlanda. "^^ ' 
 
 f N'est ce pasqu' il faut parler Frangais, Tor^u* on parle de la cuisine? 
 
 .' . ■*' Vv"'V 
 
 

 If the instructions which this writer gives, could be co nned 
 to those for whom alone, I hope they were intended, and would v;. 
 be conned with diligence, and without prejudice, by these, 
 I think there is counsel in his book, which might be followed 
 with advantage ; though I will not say that the whole of his 
 advice ought to be taken ; nor perhaps that any of it should be 
 pursued to the length which he would recommend. ^ 
 
 But his lessons cannot be confined, in the way that I have been 
 supposing. They are as audible to the Turbulent and Discon- 
 tented, as to their would-be Rulers ; and proclaim as distinctly 
 to the supposed misgo^rned that they are right, as they inform 
 the supposed misgoverning that they are wrong. 
 
 Now those whose passions are already dangerously up, are 
 exactly the persons, who ought not to be supplied with the stimu- 
 lant of an assurance that they are right. If as yet they be so, ^ 
 the probable consequence of such encouragement is, that 
 they will speedily be wrong : that they will rush beyond those 
 certos fines, which, less incited, they might not have passed ; and 
 that their violence and error will thus defeat the corrective pur- 
 pose, which I am willing to suppose that their rash encourager 
 had in view. 
 
 Est quodam prodire tenus ; si non datttr ultra. 
 
 When did the practice of a turbulent multitude acquiesce in 
 this position ? When did their proceedings fail to give it a 
 rude and reckless contradiction ? Ditm cequari velle simulant, J 
 
 ita se quisque extollet, uf deprimet alium ; and in the headlong 
 fury of this career, the ffjorferfl/zo /«cwcte /«6cr/fl//** will be lost. 
 
 •\ '■ , i - . 
 
 Besides, merely to suggest evils, is generally to do mischief: 
 for it is to provoke an impatience and discontent, the effects of 
 
 • Livy. 
 
 , I 
 
1 
 
 
 111 
 
 ::%^';jf: 
 
 which may be pernicious. The suggestion of evil should be 
 only what the lawyers call inducement. Our description of the 
 malady should be but introductory of our plan of cure. We 
 know that there be remedies, which are worse t;han the disease ; 
 and when the supposed bane and antidote are both before us, 
 we have opportunity for a choice, which should be made with 
 caution. It not only is madness to get rid of bady by merely 
 changing it for ivorse ; but it will frequently be wisdom to bear 
 the ills we have, rather than fly perhaps to others that we know 
 not of; and consequently which we cannot know to be more 
 easy of endurance. *' 
 
 Now what are the cures which this animated work proposes f 
 Perhaps one of its faults is, that it gives us no distinct or de- 
 finite view of these. Thus it becomes insidious in effect ; 
 though possibly not so in intention. It paints in such lively 
 colours the misery of our present situation, that in pur haste to 
 migrate, we forget to inquire where we are going. 
 
 What, I say again, are the cures which this work proposes ^ 
 Let the author and the reader pause, and endeavour, from its 
 pages, to collect and construe the mysterious answer. 
 
 Abolition, total prompt and unqualified, of tithe ; — a re- 
 duction of our Church Establishment, from its present — say 
 gigantic — size, to very little more than lilliputian stature ; — 
 a removal, without condition, security, or delay, of whatever 
 remnant of disability attaches on the Catholic religion ; — the 
 establishment, for the peasant's comfort, of a minimum-maxi- 
 mum of rent ; — a surrender of the entire system of public 
 education, into the hands and guidance of the multitude, to 
 be regulated by the wisdom of this numerisumus class ; the 
 State reserving to itself nothing but the right of bearing the 
 expense: — a speedy, total, and everlasting separation from that 
 country, which for more than six centuries has been sowing, 
 in havock and oppression, the poisonous seeds of misery and 
 revolt ;~I am not without fears, if these be not the remedies 
 
 _^<fe 
 
 '■*■ 
 
'•^tj-' 
 
 
 ,r ^r':^KlW ^■'' .-9. -"■' ^'-'^^ 
 
 which this publication recommends, yet that the exasperated 
 
 portion of our community might interpret it as recommending 
 
 '^ '[^ them; or might at least determine for themselves, tliat such 
 
 would be the only road to permanent reformation.* - • j^^jff*^ 
 ;.:^ ' ■ . . . ■ ■ -i . • .■r.y. 
 
 "With regard to the Roman Catholics, my opinions are on 
 
 what is called the liberal side ; and if it be not fulsome to cite 
 
 pages written by myself, I can refer to * Recent Scenes^* in 
 
 voucher of the above assertion.f But on the other hand, I 
 
 |(A agree with a writer who signs himself i/aro^: O'Brien^ (differ- 
 
 ^- '^.. ing, in the degree of this concurrence, from the Biographer of 
 
 Captain Rock,) that "amongst the opponents of the Roman 
 
 ' <^&1. ** Catholic demand of further privilege, are to be found per- 
 
 ■ > ■% " sons who are neither illiberal nor unwise; and whose senti- 
 
 / '\ " ments towards Catholics, while they conscientiously resist 
 
 < " their claims, are, notwithstanding, those of chanty and good 
 
 ''will. Their resistance is on grounds which I consider as 
 
 ''insufficient: but he must be a weak or an uncandid roan, 
 
 " who treats those grounds as merely frivolous and idle. The 
 
 ^- ''\^ "question is a complicated and momentous one. Buried in 
 
 "futurity, its remote consequences are beyond our ken; and 
 
 " can be no otherwise reached, than by conjecture. The na- 
 
 " ture of those consequences must therefore be a question, on 
 
 " which reasonable and honest men may disagree ; and of 
 
 " this difference the necessary result will be a correspondent 
 
 " diversity of opinion on the subject of Catholic pretensions."^ 
 
 I agree indeed in the entire view, which the same writer pro- 
 
 * " Great indeed" (observes S. N.) " must be the caution with which 
 any proceedings are adopted, that an enemy, for such the combinators in 
 the South must be deemed, can interpret into an admission of their right to 
 dictate, or an acknowledgment of their power. — Miscellaneous Observations, 
 /I. 42. 
 
 f Page 73, and ;?aM/m. 
 
 I Reflections on the Lieutenancy of the Marquess Wellesley, p. 90, 91- 
 

 ceeds to take of this important subject. Aixotdini^j I can- 
 not but be startled by the doctrines, which I extract from thcwe 
 verses in the Memoirs,* which conclude the first chapter of 
 the second book. -d: 
 
 It is true, the authpr impliedly intimates that insurrection 
 should have an end. But I doubt whether he does not, by as - 
 strong an implication, connive at, if not countenance its con- 
 tinuance, until certain Greek calends, whose arrival is neither 
 to be expected nor desired. 
 
 Then the passage to which I have adverted, insists on the 
 numbers of the Catholics, in a way that I do not like.f Their 
 number supplies an argument; and to my views a strong one. 
 But it is an argument which may with ease be pushed mis- 
 chievously far ; and which is so, when its point and gist is in- 
 timidation. 
 
 Are English Catholics better situated, than those who pro- 
 fess the same religion in this island ? If not, are they to re- 
 main quiet, and are Irish Catholics to rise ? What better 
 would such a doctrine be, than a two-fold recurrence to the 
 droit du plus fort ? The British Catholic is to submit, because 
 there the Protestant is le plus fort; the Irish Protestant is to 
 yield, not because he has a weak and flimsy case, (its merits 
 are not discussed, ) but because the vis consili expers of the 
 country is against him. 
 
 Now though the murmurs of a multitude must be entitled 
 to the more weight, by reason of the many from whom they 
 are extorted, (for show any thing to be a grievance, and the 
 
 * Of Captain Rock, p. 156, 157. In conceiving that there is some mis- 
 chief in those verses, I do not neaa to deny that there i»>a»^ truth. 
 
 t As long as millions, &C, 
 
 ■'■■%' X'' '■ 
 
 ■i 
 
 % 
 
-^?. 
 
 m^ 
 
 . more extensively it operates, the more it requires to be re- 
 dressed,) yet I shrink from admitting the argument of num- 
 bers, unless so far as it can connect itself with the merits of 
 the case. I cannot bear, while we are employed in weighing 
 these, that any thing should occur, like flinging a sword into 
 
 scither scale.* 
 
 ^ * ^ ., • Nay, while the number of Irish Roman Catholics supplies 
 
 ' \ an argument for M^m, I feel as if, consistently with my allow- 
 
 .-",fr» -. ingthis, I might found one, for the English Catholics, on the 
 
 very smallness of their numbers. Forif it can be said to those 
 
 ' '-] in Ireland, " we are apprehensive of the consequence of a 
 
 compliance with your demands : we fear, that aquari velle 
 
 simulandoj ita vosmei extoUetisj ut deprimetis nos :" — if such an 
 
 objeotion may be raised on this side of the channel, yet east of 
 
 ''■\'^ ** Mona high," it cannot be said that it exists. 
 
 I am disposed to allow largely for the feelings of a writer, 
 ^j ' i' whose soul is full, to overflowing, of freedom and of his coun- 
 
 * May I offer the following lines, as a counterpoise to Captain Rocks* 
 . ' at long as millions,* &c ? See p. 156. 
 
 While of our swarming millions 'tis the aim, 
 A whelming force of numbers to proclaim, 
 * To such, it is no tyranny to say 
 
 * Give place, proud throng, you seek to overplay: 
 You preach not that we ought, but that we muit — 
 And what, forsooth ? Be trampled in the dust' 
 When millions hold such language, thousands may, 
 And, reader, ought they not to— answer nay ? 
 t-^- - As tho* you were but suffering thousands, call 
 
 For wants, and rights ; and prove, and take them alL 
 But bullying mobs we brave ; tho' Rock combine 'em ; 
 And madly menace -war—iutemecinum. ' 
 
 If the millions have the best of the argument, they ought, for this Very 
 reason, the less to resort to suggestions of their force. Stet pro ralione vo- 
 luntas more resembles the idiom of oppressors, than oppressed. 
 
 ^4:-^v 
 
Vll 
 
 try. But if I had weight or influenpe (I have not any) Ifaia - 
 would moderate, what I was reluctant to condemn. The spi- , 
 rited painter, on whose canvass I am gazing, has indulged in 
 a strength of colouring, which deviates from truth and na- : 
 ture : he has introduced some groupings that we must wish : 
 away : he has given to what he calls resemblance, the distortions - 
 of caricature. Whether he has done so with ill intention, is a 
 question which I will not withdraw from the tribunal of his 
 own conscience. KJeeit IndignatiOf (which may be the case,) 
 he is, in favour of his patriotism, entitled to be forgiven : nor 
 even while we blame the exaggerations of the artist, can we 
 fail to detect the likeness which they shroud ; nor ought . 
 we to exempt from every share of censure, those who have' 
 furnished the sinister subject, and alarming features of such a 
 picture. . • . V ■ 
 
 But while I allow for that enthusiasm on behalf of Country, 
 which would give force to every touch that delineated her tale 
 of grievance. 
 
 Sunt verba et voces, quibus hunc lenire dolorem 
 possis ; 
 
 and the same sentiment, which produces the tendency, will 
 generally hold it in sufficient check. 
 
 Heard ye the din of battle bray, 
 
 Lance to lance, and horse to horse ? 
 
 Long years of havoc urge their destined course; 
 
 And thro' the kindred squadrons mow thdr way. 
 
 Rapt into future times, the anxious Patriot hears it all ; 
 and even in the swift career, and bold HAPPHZIA of his free- 
 dom, there are topics full of peril, which Jerddis evitat rotis. 
 He recoils from the hazard of exciting that motum civicum, of 
 which the issue must be a conflict, that, dabbled in domestic 
 blood, may lead the country he knows not whither : perhaps 
 to a catastrophe of stern oppression, through a course of 
 
» ... - .. .^;. .\f>.-vr-.. :-..::,-.^-,r, vin 
 
 knee-deep slaughter. The following effusion seems to mingle 
 
 some good feeling with its bad verse.* ,^ ,.. 
 
 r ■.'■■■' 'V '■"■' ;a • 
 t • . .■'■■-'- ' 
 
 Dear Erin, my country, I love thee well : j 
 
 Better, oh better, than words can tell! 
 <n^ Ere civil gore moisten, or tyrant enslave, ^ . 
 
 'z' ' ' ' '-' May the verdure that brightens thee, cover my grave ! 
 
 K ' ■ - To jrour gales, may the breath, they have lent me, be given ; 
 
 And Death, for your rights, waft my spirit to heaven ! 
 ' '* ' - 
 
 !:; Our Biographical Allegorist taxes England with having 
 
 < ;?> pursued a selfish policy towards this country, of which the 
 
 mere object was to retain it as a part of her national and im- 
 
 ^ :, perial gre;itnes8. Perhaps, in the annals of the two islands, 
 
 "I ,• the traces of such a policy may be discerned. But if one 
 
 h < ' country desires that, which is conducive to the interests of 
 
 nother, what matters it to this latter, though the motive, in 
 . which this wish originated, should have been a selfish one ?f 
 
 ; A man, wishing me to live, does all he can to preserve me from 
 
 want, and sorrow, and disease. Is this because he has a friend- 
 ship for me ? No : but because he is an annuitant for th 
 term of my life. Shall I commit suicide, in order to punish 
 the mercenary motives of his nursing care ? 
 
 '■ .. i . 
 
 Suppose Ireland should shake off her connexion with the 
 
 Sister Country. This latter sibiconstet. She will endeavour to 
 regain by arms, what her policy is said to have been directed 
 to preserving. Suppose her martial efforts, to be crowned with 
 prompt success. Behold us reduced to a vanquished and dis- 
 trusted province. Are our circumstances thereby improved? Sup- 
 pose that spite of her resources, her naval and other power, the 
 conquest is delayed. Can it be more? And shall we not be 
 the worse off, for this delay ? For what is the postponement, 
 
 * And its third line is to my purpose. 
 
 f The doctrine, which this question insinuates, requires some qualifica-. ^ ' 
 tion ; which shall be given before I have done. ^- 
 
 ■i'V' 
 
 .. I 
 
 1.*> 
 
 ^«,'.* 
 
IX 
 
 ■but a prolonging of that miserable and destructive struggle, 
 ^which, after -M.^. • :-''^X'^W'-:::%'-:'\'::^^^ 
 
 ■ ' many > mortal bout - 
 
 Of lioked carnage, long drawn out, , ;. "". \ / * 
 
 Ts ultimately to terminate in nothing better than defeat? 
 Would our consequent situation be better than it was before ? 
 Or should we be placed at the mercy of a conqueror, (or jrather % 
 
 4it his foot,) whose military labours indeed were at an end, but „:>. 
 whose hostile feelings, provoked by our resistance, still en- 
 dured ?• * . r ' 
 
 ■■-''■ - •- " - -**. 
 
 '¥-"_■. ■;,.' 
 
 Take another hypothesis, if you will. An enemy of Eng- ; i 
 land assists this country, in its attempts at separation. Will 
 not this Ally have a selfish object, and wish to appropriate the 
 revolted country, — to set in her own crown the fair emerald, 
 which has fallen from that of Britain ? Emmett thought so ; 
 and acted (in 1803) on this opinion. For patriotism was > 
 
 strongly mingled with the poor young;^ fellow's treason: his 
 guilt may be said to have been political ; and was rather to be 
 looked for in his head, than in his heart. 
 
 Scarcely then ha» France relieved us from one embrace, 
 until fresh and sanguinary struggles are begun, for the purpose 
 of escaping from the Gallic one, which is proffered in its 
 room. And who knows but in this new contest, we might look 
 to Britain as an ally ? 
 
 * But the stake is worth contending for, at this risk. Before you pro- 
 nounce this, inspect your maps, and page 95 of Captain Rock. In solving 
 questions such as these (if they were open to us) we should have to calculate 
 — not merely the value of the prize, but the possibility of obtaining it. I am 
 assuming for argument, without conceding, that to dissolve the connexion 
 of the two islands would improve the circumstances of our own. 
 
 b , ' ■■•:-' 
 
 '.-■*.■ 
 

 h 
 
 ■<?: 
 
 .*'• 
 
 ••»> 
 
 te 
 
 .< 
 
 But suppose the foreign power jbins the separatist cause* 
 not with any view to uniting us to herself; but merely for the 
 purpose of annoying and crippling England. By and by the 
 diplomacy of this latter suggests to (in truth) the common 
 foe, that there is a West India Island, or a commercial advan- 
 tage, which would be more valuable to such foreign power, than 
 the hot water it was keptin here ; and that Great Britain would 
 rather part with the. aforesaid island or advantage, than go 
 on, mangling and mangled by a portion of herself. France 
 
 r could not object to a bait, in which no hook was lurking; 
 
 ;:j-?t^ while Ireland would gain no benefit by this denouement, but 
 
 _;v . that of at length ceasing to be the theatre of war; and xvould 
 
 • . .', pay for this advantage, by being left to her altered state; 
 
 y'M one of more dependence then she had previously endured. 
 
 To recur to what, at the opening of this topic, I observed. 
 The motive can only be immaterial, where, be this generous 
 or selfish, the conduct which follows is the same. But I ad- 
 mit, that between motive and conduct there is an intimate con- 
 nexion ; and that where the former is narrow and interested, 
 the latter is not likely to be liberal or wise. Honesty (the 
 best policy in great matters as well as small) will not suffer 
 itself to be made the tool of a selfish purpose. It will not mi- 
 nister ; it must guide. It must direct the end ; and call on 
 Prudence to supply the means. It is the influence which it 
 thus has on conduct, that makes interested motive so pernfi- 
 cious. Let the object of our rulers be to govern Ireland 
 well ; and in accomplishing it they will produce, sooner or 
 later, that attachment, which will firmly rivet its connexion 
 with Great Britain. But let the retaining possession of this 
 country, and its resources, be the end which their shrewd po- 
 litical avarice has in view,— and their treatment of us will be 
 tinged, and their object may be defeated, by the mean and 
 mercenary motives, by which their conduct is inspired. They 
 will give way to a dishonest fear of our becoming too power* 
 
rg^ffWyr^- 
 
 n*l 
 
 XI 
 
 ful to be ruled ; and may find the estrangement which is ge- 
 nerated by such a grudging system of half-faced fellou'ship, 
 more hostile to the connexion, than our power or prosperity 
 could be.;:"^;'^.3?i';^':r'v;\; ' ■ . -;r^' --r-v-^^^' ; :■'■'. ^^?''^^^::^0'^^' 
 
 That Ireland has been misgoverned— is a position which I 
 leave to the enterprise of others to deny. But delicta Majorum 
 immeritus lues is a denunciation, the justice of which is suffi- 
 ciently recondite; and what is there in thie conduct of the 
 present Government, that betrays hoistility or indifference to 
 the interests of the public ? They have resorted to measures 
 of coercion. What is this, under the circumstances of the 
 country, but to say that they have quelled a spirit of insurrec- 
 tion, which was laying that country waste I What, but that 
 they have stood between an infatuated people, and the ruinous 
 consequence of its own fury and excess f And if, in carrying 
 any part of this salutary object into execution, their Police 
 have sanguinarily or oppressively outstept the line of duty, 
 have these not been visited with the exemplary and instructive 
 rigour of the law ?* 
 
 * Latterly. Indeed I hope and believe that this has been so, as often as 
 the case was brought within the cognizance of the Law. As to earlier pro- 
 ceedings, and the exercise of discretion on the part of some vtho were in- 
 vested with it, this is a part of the subject, on which I have no deare to dwell : 
 though, if they knew who I am, Mr. ■■ ' ■ <, and at least two others, would at 
 the same time know that there are some thinss Which I could botii say and 
 prove : and let me add, if they knew what I am, they perhaps would not 
 suffer a supercilious disregard of my suggestions to f<Nrm a part of what I 
 could thus prove. Had discretion done more lit first, possibly law might 
 have had less to do at the latter end. 
 
 By the way, if the tithe-composition bill-~its core and principle—* be 
 (but is it?) of Mr. * • •'s creation, I either over-rate it, or have been under- 
 rating him. Independently of what I consider to'be the merits of this mea- 
 sure, nothing which that gentleman has done, that I know of, — or written, 
 that 1 have seen, — or spoken, that I have read, — appears to mark an intellect, 
 materially exceeding par, or quite answering the' urgent call of the present 
 exacting times. Besides, I am not given to rely implicitly on a mind, which 
 
 X" 
 
7; ■■• Xll 
 
 
 v.-r 
 
 ; v ;■• 
 
 
 But the disabilities of the Roman Catholics remain. I, for 
 * ■ ' my part, wish they did not. But their removal awaits the so- 
 
 lution of a momentous question of national policy, on which 
 the opinions of wise and honest statesmen are divided. ^C&n' 
 those, who agree in sentiment with me, urge no better argu- % 
 ment in support of our common theory, than insurrection ? '^ 
 Are we to assert the doctrines of Liberty, at the expense of the ;| 
 principles of the Constitution ? Are we to maintain freedom, 
 by intimidating the legitimate and public councils, — and in- j 
 terdicting cautious deliberation, and uncontrolled debate ? ' 
 Before the march of Government can be said to heperpacata 
 omniat shall we urge discussions, which are of too complicated 
 and delicate a nature, to be undertaken with any prospect of 
 advantage, unless when the political atmosphere is tranquil 
 and serene ? Of such discussions it may be said, that inter 
 arma silent.* It is not at the moment when a country was 
 
 deputes to others the task of forming judgments f(nr it ; and prefers being ap 
 obsequious echo, to beiag the voice of its own thought. Some time after his 
 &cet, I snw a letter from Mr. '** *, written in a tone of much courteous 
 consideration. He then had not learned his Ijesson. In some months af- 
 terwards, I saw a second letter from (as the old trash novels say) ' the same to 
 the same.' In the mean time the bulb of his judgment had been plunged, by 
 
 . ■ ■■ I II ■, in cold claret, or iced champagne ; and his mercurial tone 
 
 was fallen,— 'I may not say to lofty dryness and supercilious distance ; for 
 the expression feenutn habet in comu ; which is latin for its being a bull. 
 Hce nugce seria ducent in mala ; et scepe duxerunt, as I believe. Not that 
 slight of an individual must necessarily be of importance to any but himself : 
 but that probably, if notes could be compared, the conduct to one may be a 
 sample of an insolence of office, which is galling and revolting many ; and 
 vrhich is rendered the less tolerable, if it but act on the traducing tattle,(a) 
 and administer the paltry malevolence and shallow sauciness of others, 
 (a) Generally whispered in mysterious, folse, and slanderous confidence. 
 
 * And who force the silence (or at the very least supply a plausible pre- 
 text for maintaining it) but those who complain that it is not interrupted by 
 the triumph of emancipation ? The same persons who compel us to con- 
 tinue the insurrection act, are those who thereby force us to postpone the 
 Catholic Question ; or to press it forward under circumstances and prejudices 
 unfavourable to their claims. 
 

 t* 
 
 invaded, that its lawgivers would introduce subjectsof intricate 
 legislation. But it is the postponement of these correctives 
 that has led to the invasion. Let this, for argument, be 
 granted. — And because our predecessors may have suffered a 
 good opportunity to escape, are we currere in contrarian and to 
 choose a bad one ? But our legislative rulers require to be 
 watched and awed. Instead of objecting, as we might, to such 
 a doctrine, as unconstitutional, let us inquire whether the po- '.; 
 
 sition, which it turns on, can be sustained. Let us see whe- 
 ther this legislature, unawed and uncoerced, has not, within 
 the last fifty years, been striking off, one by one, the heaviest 
 and most irksome links, of what is still said to be a chain ; and 
 still felt to be a galling one. Who am I, that thus (I will say 
 honestly*) am preaching patience ? The lineal and not re- '-; 
 
 mote descendant of a wealthy Roman Catholic gentleman of 
 ancient family; whose a// a protestant discoverer was allowed '^ -'■- ^'^x-: 
 to swallow up ; leaving him nothing but a large family and an 
 honest heart; the former nearly beggared, and the latter al* - 
 
 together broken.f • f 
 
 But the Government is doing nothing; while the Country 
 is suffering from a knot of grievance, which it expected would :^: 
 
 be loosened. Will the writer, whose work I am considering, 
 allow me to borrow an answer from himself? " It is no such 
 easy matter to unwind a wrong, knit up so many years."f— 
 
 * And most impartially, if not against the natural bias of my feelings. ^^ 
 
 For the tendency of my observations is in favour of a Government, which .. .'y 
 {especially in Us head) I believe^ means eminently well towards the country; > - 
 but agunst some of the individuals and hangers-on of which, I should scorn 
 myself if my gorge did not continuaUy rise; or if I could otherwise appease 
 the insurrectionary spasm, than by a determination so far to overcome my 
 indolence (and perhaps placable and easy nature) as at length, if I live, to 
 
 demonstrate what I am, to all Insoleuts, chief and subwdinate, whom it may ' 
 
 concern. 
 
 I See Note K. at end. 
 
 I Memoirs of Captain Rock, p. 178. i^ 
 
■>■•//■•■. ■ -J . • 
 
 •.-■■■• ., ... ■■■- XIV 
 
 V ■ 
 
 - y' That which is difficult, will take time; and sufficient tirae should 
 be given. In the interim, we ought not to fall into a passion 
 with the knot ; or we shall but thereby baffle our own efforts 
 to untie it. Still less should we abuse and execrate ii, in 
 the hearing of a furious multitude ; who will be for cutting it 
 at once; and who in doing — or in attempting to do — this, 
 may sever that by which all their best interests are upheld. 
 
 To return to the Catholics. On this subject, Rock's Bio- 
 grapher advance^ a doctrine of some novelty :* viz. that the 
 penal code was a true peace-preservation system ; and th^t we 
 had less to apprehend from the discontent of Roman Catho- 
 lics, while the Law held a ruthless foot upon their necks, and 
 its penalties ground their fortunes, hopes, and families to 
 powder, than now, when she has raised their body from the 
 dust, and made them all but equal to their Protestant fellow 
 subjects. I myself consider the acquisitions which Roman 
 Catholics have made, as including reasons for our compliance 
 with their further expectations. But the argument which I 
 extract from them is by no means this ; that to accumulate 
 favours is to generate just displeasure; and that every boon 
 should excite— not a benevolent, but an angry feeling ; not a 
 joyous consciousness that much has been obtained ; but an 
 indignant recollection that something is withheld.f 
 
 Such reasoning, unless I misconstrue it, would tend to show, 
 that where a State can not, consistently with its fundamental 
 maxims, place one class of its subjects on a footing of full and 
 perfect equality with another, it must, if it would preclude 
 disturbance and discontent, hold the former in deep, unquali- 
 fied, and eternal degradation. 
 
 If the argument be a good one nffto, it must have been so 
 
 * P. 229, 230. 
 
 f Nil reputans actum, dum quid supertiset ogendum. 
 
 ■j- 
 
 ■ ■ 4 
 
 CM'' 
 
before any concesgioiis were yet made. For illustrationi let us 
 suppose'it to have been used in the year 1775 ; when the penal 
 code was (I belfeve) in detestably full vigour. Let us imagine 
 a colloquy to have then taken place, between the Biographer 
 whom we are reviewing, — a friend to Catholic emancipation 
 in its^fullest sense,- — and one who to a certain degree was fa- 
 vourable, and beyond that length was a conscientioas oppo- 
 nent of their claims. We will name the interlocutors RockitCf 
 CatholicuSf and Anti-Cath<dic. 
 
 R. What do you both think of the penal code ? 
 
 C. and A. That it 'is a most atrocious system^ 
 
 R. Then you are for putting Roman Catholics on a footing of 
 complete equality with their Protestant brethren. ''.■■■C:}, 
 
 C. If not altogether, yet very nearly so. I would go the ; H|% 
 length that Mr. Burke has recommended.* 
 
 A. C. I love my Roman Catholic brethren: but with my 
 views of the Constitution, I could not go so far. I would 
 give them every civil right ; and put their religion on that 
 respectable footing, on which a concern, so sacred as Chris- 
 tianity, ought to stand. Of political power and privilege I 
 would also give them share. But this I would deal out with 
 somewhat a more sparing hand. ' 
 
 R. But do you recollect the overwhelming numbers of the 
 Catholics? 
 
 A. C. I do. The recollection forms no small part of the 
 grounds on which I act. I would (though reluctantly) be 
 frugal, in my grants of political power to so numerous a 
 body. I have to reconcile two objects, as well as circum- 
 stances will allow. I have to rescue Catholics from disfran- 
 chisement and depression ; and at the same time to preserve - 
 to Protestants their franchises and their grade. 
 
 
 I 
 
 * I ask permission to commit an anachronism here ; and to suppose that I 
 
 what Mr. Burke wrote in the last ten years of the eighteenth century, was 
 already written in 1775. ,; 
 
 /-- 
 
o 
 
 XVI 
 
 
 R. Their grade! I see you are an ascendancy man. ' ■ i 
 
 A.C. Nay, I should not desire this grade to be a high one. 
 Let Protestantism be placed beyond the reach of those who 
 would pull it down; and all my wishes on its behalf will be 
 fully satisfied. 
 
 R. Pardon me; you are, without knowing it, a bigot. None, 
 who was not, would refuse to place Catholics on an equality 
 with their Protestant brethren. 
 
 A. C. So far from being a bigot, I consider the two churches 
 as standing less wide asunder than is usually supposed : and 
 as for equality, if this could be accomplished^,'! do not know 
 that I would oppose it. But considering our relative num- 
 bers, I am apppehensive that to make Roman Catholics 
 nominally our equals, might be to render them really our 
 superiors, in a degree perilous to that great national esta- 
 blishment, which we call Church and State. 
 
 C. I concur in the principles which A. C. has been laying 
 down. The diiFerence between us is but this ; that I con- 
 ceive we might go the lengths which Mr. Burke has recom- 
 mended, without incurring the dangers which A. C. has 
 been suggesting. 
 
 R. If the Legislature be not prepared to go the entire length 
 of " greatly emancipating," (in the language of Mr. Grat- 
 tan,) it is much better to leave the penal code untouched. 
 You will but irritate, by relaxing. 
 
 C. and A. C. We can not agree with you, that slavery, inse- 
 curity, and degradation, are preferable to freedom and 
 its appurtenants; and this freedom clothed with powers 
 suflRcient permanently to protect it; tljough not equalling 
 those which the Protestant community possesses. We can- 
 not agree, that it is more offensive to give nearly every 
 thing, than to deprive of all ; or that liberty and respecta- 
 bility are less tolerable than oppression and disgrace. 
 
 But I am neglecting the advice given me, by a letter which 
 
 
here follows;* and the writer of which is, doubtless, impatient 
 to have it read. I- conclude then at once by saying to the 
 historian of The Rocks, — and in one page at least,f the apolo- ' . 
 gist of Rebellion,— that while on the score of talent I give in, ? 
 and decline all competition, I at the same time doubt whether 
 he, to whom I yield this palm, is not a more brilliant advo- ■^:''r'^^':'.- 
 cate than he is a sound adviser; and whether in the dash and ': 
 
 daring of his thoughts, the Catholics of Ireland could find as 
 secure a foundation for their claims, as is contained in my 
 comparatively flat and sober page. Some, indeed, in this 
 country, seem to be entering on the same field which Rock's 
 Apologist has chosen. But I consider it as less a field of 
 argument, than a champ de Mars; and as better adapted to ' v|| . 
 raising standards, than to constructing hopes. . 
 
 Ruj}U)us 
 Vidi docentemj (credite posteri,) 
 Nymphasque discentes / et aures 
 Cajyripedum Satyrorum acutas. 
 Evoe, recent! mens trepidat metu ; 
 ' Evoe, parce Liber ! 
 
 PARAPHRASE. 
 
 When first thy soft, voluptuous Muse appeared, 
 
 And Maids — or call them Nymphs — unblushing heard, 
 
 T little thought the not too * pensive nun* 
 
 Would e'er reverse what Hannibal had done : 
 
 Music hath power to soften ' raging rocks : ' 
 
 He preferred vinegar ; and ' shivering shocks : ' \ 
 
 * From O. B. to E. B. f P. 275. 
 
 ^ Whence I have borrowed this, I do not hide : 
 From Livy, Bottom, and the Mourning Bride. 
 
 ■;-■♦•-•-• 
 
 .<r* 
 
 J 
 

 
 <rV. 
 
 
 
 XVIU 
 
 But your U«k is to Aardffn, in their bed, 
 ,^ .. . . ■ And bid them topple on the Warder s head.' 
 
 Nay, in your Satyrs, they come capering down. 
 Like those that followed Orpheus into town : 
 Less like Amphion's Train, (andmore's the pity,) 
 These rather would destroy, than build a city."*^ 
 ^^ Should they succeed, ' what heart of stone could long 
 
 Dry-ey'd behold the sequels of thy song ! 
 ^ Free I — that thou art ; — aye, LAer-Xiaef as air ; 
 
 And seemingly as well disposed to spare 
 Reliques of sacred Eld, and works of men, 
 As that same air, when swoln to Hurricane. 
 When you * untie the winds, and bid them fight 
 Against the churches,' shall we not unite. 
 For Altars, Laws, Tradition, Truth, and Aight 
 :, 5, Shall Fury's grin, and Treason's stifled roar 
 
 Not bind us to Establishment the more? 
 - I know you say, that Rock's a generous crater : 
 
 But whisper : I am a volcano hater. 
 Juxla, too, just at hand, tonat minis ; 
 Which words remind me of another ; — 
 
 riMis. 
 
 .} 
 
 * IlaAi; ; which means a city, or a state : 
 
 Pardon these notes : whatever be their weight 
 of reason, they are rhyme at any rate. 
 
 ■f* Liber (into your dictionaries look,) 
 
 Means Bacchus : true ;«— but a\so/ree, and boot. 
 
 See Notes G. 1, and G. 2, at end. 
 
XIX 
 
 STRIDKMS AQOILOME rROCELLA 
 TXLUK ADVKBSA FKBIT. 
 
 VIRGIL. 
 
 1 have just been reading, in The Freeman s Journal of the 
 15th instant,* a report of Mr. North's speech upon Lord 
 Althorp's motion. Perhaps it is not an accurate report ; but 
 being the only one that I have seen, it must answer for my 
 text. I admire the talents of the speaker ; I do not impeach 
 his principles ; but I cannot applaud his speech. Indeed 
 there is more in it of " no-meaning puzzle," than I should 
 have expected to find in any thing that came from him. His 
 conflicting topics ail-but treat him as the waves did the Trojan 
 helmsman, in Virgil's storm. 
 
 exCutUurf proku$fue magister 
 Volvitur in caput, 
 
 I had been much more used than reconciled, to certain cold 
 and shallow intricacies of debate, which belong indeed to 
 *" climes beyond the solar road"f of Reason, but in which ques- 
 tions respecting Ireland have been long condemned to wander ; 
 looking out in vain for a gleam of genial warmth, or brighter 
 hope of final extrication. I persupided myself bow«ver timt The 
 North was doomed to open that loqg wished for passage, 
 which at length) conducting to a regenerate Erin, should present 
 
 a happier island In the watery waste. 
 
 But ** what" (says Johnson) " are the hopes of Man?" Be- 
 hold me land-locked, or ice-imprisoned, or fog-circled, in Re- 
 pulse Bay. 
 
 v,,-^- 
 
 * May. 
 
 t Gray. 
 
 ■V. ■■ 
 
. -f 
 
 ..».;■■ '.i' '"..'■•- . 
 
 Mr. North describes the Irish peasant, as ** placed at the 
 very bottom of the scale of human being ; callous to all fear ; 
 uninfluenced by hope ; beholding every thing like prosperity 
 thrust immeasurably beyond his grasp.'* 
 
 Assuredly a situation so dreadful calls for change ; and does 
 not the less require amendment, because it is the case of mil- 
 lions. But the describer does not know (nor is it, I admit, 
 too easy to discover) what course should be pursued, towards 
 procuring this amendment. Thus far we are agreed. But for 
 the inference I was unprepared. My inference would not 
 have been, that a proposal to take the subject into consideration 
 should be rejected. 
 
 Our premises being these, — that there is a something which 
 is so desirable, as to be nearly indispensable,— and that it seems 
 difficult to pronounce how this something is to be obtained, — 
 shall our conclusion, introduced with its appropriate thereforct 
 be — that all inquiry is to be declined — all information to be 
 nauseated, — all intellectual assistance to b& spurned ? 
 
 But Mr. North is for committing Ireland to the management 
 (I had almost said to the custody) of its Country Gentlemen. 
 Is this because they have managed it so wisely, diligentl}', 
 and prosperously heretofore i 
 
 I presume he will either oppose that contmuance of the in- 
 surrection act, for which Mr. Goulburn is about shortly to 
 apply ; or else that he will pause, before he surrenders Ireland 
 to a superintendence, which has not precluded the necessity 
 for re-enacting such a statute ; or retaining it as the annual 
 satellite of Lord Wellesley's vice-regal course. 
 
 But what, according to the speech which I am reviewing, is 
 the cardinal evil of our State i The evil calling most loudly 
 for correction ? That speech tells us, and I believe truly, that 
 it is the situation of the Irish peasant. And whose offspring 
 
 c- 
 

 XXI 
 
 is this miserable and degraded being ? Many derive his ex- 
 istence from that landlord system, which they accuse the coun- 
 try gentlemen of Ireland of pursuing. The censure of common 
 Fame, they and tlie clergy share between them ; and Mr. North 
 does not think that it is with tl>e latter th^ fault lies. I do not 
 pretend to say that it rests wi^h either : but^cintil investigation, 
 ascertaining where blame ought to attach, shall have excul- 
 pated the landed lajty^om such a charge, is it statesman-like, 
 to resign the pea^nt to their hands, and expect that those who 
 may perhaps have degraded him to what he is, will rabe him 
 from a state which he has been plunged to by themselves, — and 
 make him all he ought to be, and would have been, but for 
 them i Is it policy, to surrender the peasantry of Ireland to 
 those, who, if Mr. North be right, — and he is an intelligent and 
 close observer, — having run the gauntlet of education, through 
 Gton, Oxford, and a Continental Tour, return to give their 
 tenantry the fruit of all their studies, by discovering, in their 
 fathers' leases, certain flaws, which shall deprive these tenants 
 of their estates ? 
 
 This eloquent man observes, that '* its imperfect conquest 
 was the first great evil which Ireland had endured." He does 
 not follow up this topic ; nor shall I. What he did mean, I 
 cannot very distinctly see. What he did not mean, is appa- 
 rent. He cannot have meant that we ought to profit by the 
 talents of that Great Captain whom our age affords ; and supply 
 deficiencies which Henry, Elizabeth, and Cromwell left be- 
 hind. 
 
 It were unreasonable to expect, that a man shall be per- 
 spicuous and decisive, where there is obscurity and difficulty 
 in the subject which he has to treat : and this may be the case, 
 with regard to raising the Roman Catholic clergy in the scale 
 of society. But when Mr. North, having expressed a wish that 
 they should be so elevated, adds, that '* above all, this eleva- 
 tion should be the apt of Government," — I do not know what to 
 pronounce upon his plans, until I hear more precisely what these 
 projects are. In his objects, if practicable, I concur. But 
 
© 
 
 Cj) 
 
 I am not without my fears that his proposal may amount to 
 this ; that the Catholic Clergy shall be raised, in a way in 
 which they will not consent to rise. To insist too rigorously 
 "' on certain means, might be to defeat and sacrifice the end : 
 nor in general do I like to make an offer, merely in order to 
 construct an argument on the rejection which 1 anticipate. 
 
 In the subject of Orangeism too, I feel that difficulties are 
 to be found. For more reasons than it can be necessary here 
 to enumerate, I would treat the Orangemen with delicacy and 
 respect.* For this one, ainongst many others; that I am 
 persuaded a strong Protestant feeling (as it has been called) 
 has been imbibed, — perhaps too deeply, — by many estim- 
 able, upright, and soundly loyal men. But while (in fa- 
 vour of such persons,) I made every allowance for OraUge 
 scruples, I should not be equally indulgent to Orange obsti- 
 nacy or perverseness. If I were the Government, and that ^ 
 they tried their strength with me, I would endeavour to 
 show them they were over-matched. The question is not ex- 
 actly that which Mr. North has stated ; whether *' we should 
 interfiere with the opinions of individuals." Of course I agree 
 with him, that we should not. But we may forbid their form- 
 ing a political university of factious colleges^ — for studying, 
 cherishing, and perpetuating irritating prejudice through the 
 land. The Legislature has attempted to put these seminaries 
 down. But the letter could not keep pace with the spirit of 
 the law ;t and, without transgressing the former, zealots find 
 themselves still able to bid defiance to the latter. Now might 
 not Government afford a suppletory aid to law, — and lending } ' 
 it«elf to the kftert give this an extrinsic efficacy, that should 
 enforce its spirit? It does not seem to me unconstitutional, j 
 
 * And not with the mere appearance, but with the ideality of these. My 
 ti^ttEient would not be the mere profesaon of what T did not in any degree 
 feel. 
 
 f 'ATH (which I ttiay reader Sanction) has limped ever since the day» 
 of Homer. 
 
— 4}ut the reverse,^~that Goveraraent should show discoan-^ 
 tenance to those, who beard or elude the spirit of the Law; 
 and should deter them from continuing such defiance or eva- 
 sions, by proving to them, that though they may not incur a J 
 statutable penalty, they will, by such perversenws, mar their - ~ ' 
 interests and prospects; and incur the displeasure of those 
 whose province it is, not only to administer, but to uphold the ' v 
 law. I see no objection to such a principle as the above ; — • 
 though I may indeed discern difficulties in its application ; and 
 admit that it ought to be most cautiously apd delicately ap- :^ 
 plied. ^: 
 
 But I come to the grand sedative, or anodyne of Mr. North ; 
 that which if he had not ^ggested, we might have been at a 
 loss to know distinctly what he meant to recommend. '* Elmi- . 1> 
 
 gration on an extensive scale" is what he would advise. We 
 are toshipthe People off. We are to restore our disafforested " 
 
 districts to a state of scenery, which Rufus would have re- jj, 
 
 lished; but which Goldsmith did not admire. We are to do 
 what Rome was taxed with having done : to create a solitude; '■■'■^j^:' 
 
 and dignify its stillness with the name of Peace. And this is i -^ 
 
 to be but " a palliative" after all. Where su,ch proceedings .are "^'^'.4. 
 
 to palUate, I tremble to hear of the measures that are to cure ; 
 and should even think Lord Althorp's investigation accom- 
 plished something, if it obviated the necessity, for such an 
 assuaging course. , r*^ 
 
 That prompt transportation for life, which the Insurrection 
 Act assured us was a punishment for guilt, is now to be 
 adorned and decked into a boon ; and proffered by afostering 
 governments not to individuals, but to myriads. But is not V \M 
 
 this for their rulers tp inform the people, impliedly t-hat they 
 cannot, and expressly that they will not, endeavour to improve ; ": . 
 
 their situation here at home ? Is not this for the sHate physi- ^ 
 
 cian, to send the impatient patient, whom after mismanaging, 
 he has given over, to die abroad, beyond the region of his 
 sight and ear ? The latter could not endure the annoyance 
 of the wretch's moans ; (perhaps of his reproaches ;) the former N 
 
 \ - . :■ 1. 
 
■<l^^:-:\ 
 
 ■ ■*;<.•.. 
 
 
 e?,?; V^^-- 1; 
 
 •■■■*.?y,-- 
 
 7- '^.;; .;..•,;.;.,:■ 
 
 • ■_' 
 
 * 
 
 
 xxiv ''■■":'/' --i^^-'v-.'^ 
 
 -■^^i:' 
 
 would as soon not witness that uliimo croBa which may soon 
 occur ; and in which all his insurrectionary movebients will 
 have an end. 
 
 ■< 
 
 But how shall Emigration and Insurrection Act proceed 
 harmoniously, hand in hand ? The one sends a single peasant 
 off as penalty : the other transports a barony of peasants as a 
 boon. The one punishes the Irishman, for being up and out 
 afler sun-set ; fretting over his misery ; and perhaps devising 
 mischievous plans for its removal : and when about to be car- 
 ried off, he is possibly expostulated with, for quarrelling re- 
 fractorily with his lot ; and being blind to the blessings of 
 Country, and of a free and happy Constitution. Meantime the 
 migratory plan admits that the country and situation with 
 which he was guiltily discontented, were in fact not worth 
 living in ; and even so little to be endured, that to be exiled 
 for his life from both, is indubitable and very bliss. 
 
 But probably my Reader is impatient to have done. Cer- 
 tainly my Printer is so. I therefore will gratify both ; and 
 indeed myself. For I have no pleasure in noticing, otherwise 
 than with mere praise, what has issued from the lips and mind 
 of Mr. North. At least nine times out of ten he affords me 
 this indulgence. But in the present instance, I repeat, that 
 while I admire his talents, and do not doubt his principles, I 
 find myself quite unable to approve his speech. - 
 
 Note 
 
 tef erring to Pages V, and VI. Text and Note.. 
 
 In looking through the Commons' Journals, £. B. has accidentally fallen 
 upon a passage, which furnishes an authority that he reveres, and many 
 will respect, in support of some opinions \* hich, in the foregoing pages, 
 he has expressed. — " Sir, I have more than onre alluded to the . relative 
 numbers of our Roman Catholic Brethren. But let it not l>e surmised, that 
 in doing so, I could intend to convey the language of intimidation. No 
 Sir : there would in this be a folly, or a meanness, from which I hold my- 
 self exempt. I meant not to excite the terror, but to awaken die justice of 
 the House. The feeling of my heart is, that no number vtould be too great 
 to contend against, in a just and righteous cause ; but that thtee millions of 
 acknowledged loyal and faithful subjects are too manv, to be exclvded from 
 the blessings of our free and happy Constitution.'" — SrEKCw or thk Right 
 HoNOKABbz Sir. Michael Smith, Babt. ly the Irish House or Commons, 
 ON THE 25th or Februart, 1793. 
 
 xl_ 'i-i ,-.'■* 
 
 ,/ 
 
 / 
 
-5 
 
 I -1 ~ y -^Kf- 
 
 «?>* « ^ ^ * I ' X* - 
 
 h-'^ 
 
 
 \_ ^IT' , JpSTTER I. 
 
 
 FROM 
 
 O. BANTER, TO E. BARTON. 
 
 Well, my literary friend, (for assuredly you and 
 I are men of lettersy and nothing else,) what have 
 you now to say, why judgement of pen-shun and 
 ink-avoidance should not be awarded against you, 
 according to law ? I mean the law of Prudence 
 and Discretion. Do as you will, I do not believe 
 you will be ever seen in your true colours : but at 
 least you will not, as long as you appear in black 
 and white. And ** simpleton," as was said to 
 Mason, * *' you must be meek." Nay be so, in 
 in the name of the most childish inexperience ; 
 and, in the homely language of the same expostu- 
 lator, " see what you will get by it." 
 
 ' t ',"- 
 
 ' 5 
 
 • By his correspondent, Gray. The Author of Observations 
 
 occasioned hy the Letter of J. K. L. complains (p. xxxv.) of the 
 
 ** provoking modesty of E. Barton ;" and, in page viii. of his 
 
 preface, Declan admits of this Duncan, (not Dunce,) that he is 
 
 "meek." 
 
 A 
 
 ^f 
 
.•'-■vj'. <;• ■■ " _ ■ _-:- .:■",■■'..'.•'■■ : '^ ;: '■;,;", . 
 
 ;; -^^"^ . 1 - '^v 
 
 Pope describes a learned friend of his, as much 
 
 «* too wise to write." A succeeding poet, not sage 
 enough for this, 
 
 *• Yet left Church and State to Charfes Towilshend and Squire." 
 
 And why should not E. Barton do the same? 
 What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba, that he 
 should go out of his way, to meddle with her af- 
 fairs? She is as Iktfe to him, as the^vitfe Mrs. 
 Twitcher was to Gray. * In the name of a quiet 
 life then hold your tongue ; and cease at length to 
 hold your restless pen. Quiescas : peream male 
 si non optimum eriL You have not Horace's ex- 
 cuse. I know enough of you, to be assured that 
 nequeo dormire can never be your plea : and as to 
 the reader-class, there be essayists enow, to supply 
 them with poppy and mairdragora, without your 
 being at the trouble of contributing your mite; or 
 sending a quire of pages, to chant their lullaby, t 
 
 If hactenus et tacuit be henceforth your maxim, 
 I shaR forgive you what is past. Meaning at once 
 to amuse yourself and entertain your readers, your 
 object was to put the Public in good humour with 
 all its members ; or in other words, to reconcile it 
 to itself. But hark you Comrade, you have alto- 
 gether failed ^ and risk bringing an attack on your 
 officious self. I know all that you would say j and 
 
 * She appears to have been the Muse or Symbol of Gam- 
 bridge Divinity, \a his dey. S«e ' The Cambridge Courtship,' 
 in Mitford's Gray. f See Note A at end. 
 
V--. • ' ^■^: 
 
 
 will reply it for you. Declan, in expressing a dis- 
 pleasure which you are glad to know he no longer 
 feels, did not forget that you were a gentleman, 
 or that he was one himself. Even in his passion, 
 lie did not treat you substantially ill ; and dealt 
 most generously with you, on discovering the mis- 
 take which had made him angry. As for S. N, he 
 appears to be less your <;ritic than your friend ; and 
 if the Author of * Observationsi on the Letter of J, 
 K. L.* has sometimes quizzed you, he has general- 
 ly done so with good humour, and good nature ; 
 with considerable pleasantry, and no ill breeding* 
 The ludicrous account of your " hesitations,'* * 
 and of your " moonlight rambles," t abound in 
 drollery ; and are by no means destitute of truth : 
 and if ever you prefix a frontispiece to * Tracts and 
 Topics,' I beg to recommend the reel in a bottle 
 to your choice, t To the Author of * Thoughts 
 on Tithes* § too, your best acknowledgements are 
 justly due ; and the debt is one which you ought 
 to feel pleslsure in discharging. 
 
 In short all this is as you say ; and is nearly as 
 gratifying as it is true. But how can w-e be sure 
 that you will fare as well, with all whom you may 
 come across ? That all your critics will be as 
 mindful of what is due to themselves and you ? 
 Besides, he who so humorously describes your saun- 
 
 » Page 33. f Page 36. % See Note B at emL 
 
 § A Munster Farmer. 
 

 
 ''i:'--i 
 
 terings imminente luna, has in some few instances 
 approached to being severe. After bestowing upon 
 you a first-rate genius, — which Nature certainly had 
 not given, — in brevia et.syrtes urget : he represents 
 it as lost, amongst the shallows of a judgement 
 of no depth. He proceeds sorrowfully to contem- 
 plate the supposed wreck of your mental p,owers, 
 in a passage which might be compressed into qu<B 
 te dementia cepit ? and which contrasts strangely 
 withS. N*s honourable and gratifying description of 
 you, as " a sincere and serious inquirer after truth ; 
 well qualified for the search ; pursuing it with 
 soberness and candour ; and ready to estimate at 
 their fair value, all the arguments which are of- 
 fered, in refutal of your opinions, or for removal of 
 your doubts." Lastly the Observer, having clothed 
 you with the powers, seems also disposed to array 
 you in the caprice of a magician : * forgetful per- 
 haps that scepticism is one of the items of his 
 charge against you. Caprice is never sceptical. 
 Its judgements are as decisive, as they are short- 
 lived. It is as peremptory as it is fickle ; and will 
 not hear a syllable against the Cynthia of this mi- 
 nute, — until the next minute ; when being passee, 
 she is jilted for a fresher whim. 
 
 But let critics call you consili eocpertewy demen^ 
 tern, varium ac mutabilem, t what forsooth care 
 callous and never-minding you ? Nay, if you 
 
 * See Note C. at end. 
 
 t Perhaps I ought to say muiahile ,- for you are a Moderate ; 
 J. e. Neutral. 
 
#^ 
 
 ■ V.-- :• 
 
 ■-f . 
 
 And fwe are apt to be ostentatious of what we 
 have the least of") to mend the matter, you must 
 be dabbling in law. Others indeed had cited 
 Blackstone, and appositely, without suspicion: but 
 your A. B. C. quotations have at once^produced 
 conjecture ; and a wig and gown — or robes — are 
 set down as covering E. Barton.* -" 
 
 Accordingly T, 0*Beam went to Court to look 
 for you, some days ago. He first stepped into 
 Chancery : where he saw your manners, which are 
 not bad ; and your honour, which I agree with him 
 in thinking to be unblemished : but he failed to 
 find yourself. His next visit was to the King's 
 Bench ; a Court which some describe as too good 
 
 * Or else, a 1' Irlandaise, as covered by him. Stat parvi 
 nominis umbra. 
 
 
 choose to be hef oic at your own expense, a la bonne 
 
 heure : but you have no right to be fool-hardy at 
 
 the expense of others. If " the griding sword** 
 
 pass through E. Barton, there is little harm done : 
 
 " th' aerial substance," of which he is " compact,'* 
 
 will quickly " close." But he ought not to expose 
 
 others to a random thrust ; or to what they might ^ 
 
 less relish, any thing like pelting or aspersion. 
 
 Though to be spattered is not criminal, it may be 
 
 disgraceful : nor is any man so destitute, as to 
 
 want a ** good-natured friend," who will point out 
 
 to himself and others, that he is bemired. - 1 
 
 
 \; 
 
 B 
 
...*.?«,.. 
 
 to need a bush ; while others contend that at least 
 it is the better for having one. There be fancied 
 §&r a moment that he had caught you ; and tliaX, 
 towards causing your mask to fall at once, he had 
 but to substitute the fifth vowel for the first. But 
 he quickly abandoned this idea ; and the reason of 
 that was this : — but no matter what his reason was, 
 he then proceeded to the Common Pleas ; and 
 gazed curiously for a time on its gaze-worthy mem- 
 bers, including him whose inteilectua} strength re- 
 sembles that of his robustious (and eke periwig, 
 pated) namesake. O'Bearn's conclusion was, that 
 if * Irish Tracts and Topics' had issued from 
 that Court, there would have been more of ve- 
 hemence in its arguments, and more of pleasan- 
 try in its puns : that while its adversaries were 
 laughed out of some positions, the remaining ones 
 would have been stormed. He therefore crossed 
 the hall, to the Exchequer: where observing a pen 
 at one end, and a standish from Rock-Barton at 
 the other,* he deemed it likely that the author 
 might be found between them ^ and those grow- 
 ling and brutal manners, from which the Bar 
 suffers so severely, seemed at once to enable him 
 to put the saddle on the right bear, t 
 
 * There are places of this name in Ireland. Thus we learned 
 from the Freeman's Journal of the 6th of April, that ** the 
 Lord Chief Bartm had arrived at his seat RocHmrtonj County 
 Limerick.'* — I do not take £. Barton to bye of this Rockbarton 
 family. f See Note D. at end. ■ _ 
 
 
 
-^r.- «■" 
 
 
 \ -, 
 
 By the way, he ftmst (pmdi CBeaTn) be a Gurioffs ' 
 animal enough ; and more versatile than hi» spe- 
 cies usually are. For example, he began last year 
 (if Report spoke true) by producing the " One 
 Year of Lord Wellesley's Adroiffistration." Quickly 
 after, he replied to it, by a tract called *« Recent 
 Scenes." He then was provoked to exhibit " A 
 complete Exposure of the Miracles ;"' and while 
 compliments were crowding in on him, for the 
 merits of this work, he encountered it with ** A 
 Rhapsody,'* which some interpreted to be a Hohen- 
 lohe defence. He then changed places ; and in " a 
 preface and notes" to the second edition of the 
 exposure, by criticising the rhapsody, enabled him- 
 self to add to it " a postscript,'* in which he Was 
 seen to skirmish with the Exposer. What was he 
 tor do next ? To call forth an ancient treatise of 
 his own, entitled " The State of Ireland ;** in or- 
 der to combat some of its doctrines, by *• Irish 
 Tracts and Topics ;'* and then to file what some 
 consider as a rejoinder, under the newly assumed 
 signature of H. O. B : who, if he be the Hob that 
 sojourns in a well, it is to be hoped has chosen 
 that, in which Truth is reported (rather inconsis- 
 tently) to lie A — If our Bruen be indeed the author 
 of all these essays, he is an uncommon bear enough ; 
 
 f " Truth, they say, lies in a well" — Sheridan. This must 
 be Irish Truth. — As for" i/o5, see the signature, at foot of the 
 last page of " Reflections on the lieutenancy of The Marquess 
 Wellesley." 
 
 ■.:.: & 
 
 
 ^.* 
 
.:■«»■> ■ 
 
 
 
 
 ■■^^vr^' • ' 
 
 
 
 
 
 (with a freiafesh Bptinkk of the monkey in his 
 composition, I should say ;) and there is as strong 
 evidence that he wrote all, as that he wrote any of 
 them. Yet hold! I go too far. The Complete 
 Exposure is the pamphlet, which was ascribed most 
 generally and confidently to him. > ^ t 
 
 But I have done with my digression ; and return 
 to my advice. In humble paraphrase of what rung 
 in the mind's ear of the startled Cawdor, 
 
 Still r cry write no more, to all the house: f ' 
 Scribbling hath murder'd Time ; and therefore Barton 
 Shall write no more : the Bear shall write no more. 
 
 I know what you would say. You do not like 
 the idea of being cowed.* I confess I do not 
 over-relish it myself. Mais voyons un peu. If, as 
 you went giddily along, — your eyes taking one 
 direction, your feet another, and possibly your 
 thoughts a third, — you unintentionally ran foul of 
 Declan ; at first he might feel vexed, and lustily 
 retort the shove. But the feeling would be tran- 
 sient; and terminate good humouredly and quickly, 
 in a mutual ecclaircissement, apology and shake- 
 hands : and when, pour comUe, it came out that 
 
 f Of Barton : which I hope will not prove Rock-Barton ; 
 no more moveable to my entreaties, . 
 
 quam si dura silex, aut stet Marpesia cautes. 
 
 * A word which has been used by Shakspeare, I need not 
 reject. 
 
 ■4- - 
 
 .'*>r' 
 
♦ 
 
 you were not the author of -the state of Ireland,, m^^ 
 jostle which had seemed io. threaten a dis|>ute» 
 might prove the rough and awkward prelude ta a 
 footing of good will. f^«^^i>'^^^'-'^-^^^^^ -j^- ^ 
 
 ^> But suppose, as you were proceeding more cau- • 
 tiously after this rencontre, there occurred another, 
 with a widely different sort of person ; and of a 
 proportionably different description. We know not 
 .whom we msyr come across, upon the pavement, or 
 at the press. Suppose then you should innocently 
 give offence to some captious knight companion of 
 the " inky cloak ;" who rejecting all your apolo- 
 gies, insisted on the immediate satisfaction of a 
 wrestling match. Whether would you take to your ^ ; 
 heels, or accept " the sable warrior's'* challenge? 
 I shrewdly suspect that you would run away : nor 
 ought the choice, which you thus made, to stigma- 
 tize you as a coward. Besides, if £. Barton be not 
 your name, it is your mask : and this your oppo- 
 nent, contrary to the privileges of incognito, might 
 pluck off; or you yourself might let it fall, in the 
 slippery confusion of such a conflict. Then sciju 
 dit se nvbes : the garish eyi^ of day breaks in upon 
 you ; and farewell twilight perplexities, and dear 
 mponlight reveries ! • 
 
 Suppose us rescued, by Flight or Fortune, from 
 
 . ....... * . ' .. ■« . ■ • 
 
 * Second Editbu of Obseirations, p. 33, 36. -• 
 
 "i^:: 
 
.■>■ ■ V- ■ ^ . '■ ' "'''■ '. ' > 
 
 -f ' ■ ' , ■ ■ • . < 
 
 10 
 
 <J 
 
 . / 
 
 this grimy strife with the sable Verres; * und 
 after procuring ** an ounce of civet" fi-om some 
 "good apothecary," wherewith "to sweeten our 
 imaginations/' to have emerged from vulgar brawb 
 to ■ ■■ I may not say genteel society ; for this not 
 unuseful adjective our modern ]Glegants have pro- 
 scribed. In the last century it was not scorned by 
 Cowper ; nor in the century before^ by Addison 
 or Swift. Nay, in the days of your learned Ox- 
 ford relative and namesake, t lean even remember 
 when this dissyllable might have beeti heard within 
 Peckwater ^ and a Christ Church man would have 
 endured to find himself described as a genteel one.t 
 But we order these things better now ; though at 
 the expense of some enlargement of our vocabu- 
 lary. Genteel had the advantage of being common 
 to both sexes. Since its disuse, we have been 
 obliged to find a helpmate for geritlemanlike ; and 
 females, who if they lived thirty years ago, would 
 have been genteel, are now altered, if not improved, 
 ijb lady4ike^% , 
 
 To tetum flben to a circle, which, if the title 
 
 ■ ■ ' III , ■ I . I .. I ^j fc i T ■ '■ . 1 I . ■ ■ I 
 
 '* This name will suit oar 8wcep<»opponent, whether we con- 
 sider it as derived from verroy or admit him to be a bore* 
 
 '<-.■ . . . 
 
 f For some account of this worthy member of the Barton 
 family, see Reghald Dalton, Vol. I. Book 11. Chap. VI. 
 
 X See (if it have not already become waste paper) The Apo- 
 logetic Postcript, p. 53, Note. 
 
 § Th6 gentleman, who itftfodaced this change, seem to have 
 been a little }ady>like, themselves. 
 

 II 
 
 had not become exfinct, wciuld have been genteel ; 
 your friend Dedan must have &llen into some 
 mistakes; or he knows more of your secrets :than 
 are partaken of bj me. I was surprised to find 
 him state, and as on your own authority, that you 
 were tlie acquaintance oi Doctor Doyle. On look- 
 ing into the page referred to, I merely found you 
 asserting that you had never seen hiuL If from 
 this it was inferred that there was an epistolary in- 
 timacy between yeu,-^to such an inference I 
 should have ventured to object ; even though I 
 had not known the fact to be, that your Tracts and 
 Topics could not with truth make pretension to 
 such * correspondence.* Could note B • have been 
 what led your Reviewer to this conclusion ? I 
 will not say that the communication to which that 
 note adverts, did not proceed from a Dignitary of 
 the Church. I will not say whether he who made 
 it was right, or very reverend ; or venerable only. 
 But I know he was not Doctor Doyle; nor of 
 Doctor Doyle's religion, t W^ 
 
 If all the information which Decbn has ^ven 
 me were authoritative, I shpuild have ground for 
 somflBimigt either of my own slowness of appre- 
 hension, or of your reserve. I, who claim to be 
 your alter ego, did not know that your last essay had 
 been written in three weeks ; and still less was I 
 
 * At the end of TracU and Topics. 
 t See Note £ at end. 
 

 ..12 ^'i': ■ 
 
 ; ^: 
 
 II ware that you had taken pains to inform us 80» 
 You have told 'Declan that you would recommend 
 a tax on Absentees. * You declared to me, in the 
 hearing of hundreds, t that «* you wished to re- 
 ** concile yourself to theprindpk of such a tax ; 
 « but had hitherto been unable to do so : though 
 " you thought, that to a premium on resideitcethere 
 ** would be no objection ; if such a one could by 
 " any ingenuity be devised." You kept from me, 
 your old. acquaintance, what you are supposed to 
 have imparted to your new one ; that you were im- 
 mersed — ^not in business, but in an overwhelm- 
 ingly ' superabundant leisure, t I had not ima- 
 gined this to be the case : though, in common with 
 many others, you might occasionalli/ have time; 
 •which you were foolish enough to lavish and throw 
 away upon your pen. The real state of the matter 
 you must have communicated to your critic ; while 
 you seem to have withheld it even from your con- 
 fidant, J. K. L. ; who represents you, not as im- 
 mersed in leisure; but as " in want of time.*' § 
 The Author of the tract signed " a rational Chris- 
 tian," II indeed conceived you to be surfeiting on 
 dulce otium ; and Declan appears to be tinder a si- 
 milar impression. Lastly, until Declan told me ko, 
 
 ♦ Declan*8 preface, page 16. 
 
 •)* Could this haye been in the Irish House of Commons ? 
 
 X Declan's preface, pagp 6. 
 
 § Defence page 65. 
 
 I) The signature to The Comprete Exposure. 
 
M'--f: 
 
 I never, knew (no tract of yours had announced It 
 tome, *) that you were engaged in reviewing the 
 decisions of Lord Redesdale. I -^"^^ ^ . • ^7 ^ n 
 
 Surely Declan will somewhat relax the rule, 
 which his preface may be construed to have laid 
 down; t that if, in thinking aloud (or me-th— > 
 2n^in^ upon paper) I repeat to myself a dialogue, 
 actual or supposed, occurring between real or 
 merely imaginary persons, the self-rehearsal which 
 contains this scene at once ceases to be soliloquy ; 
 and to call it so becomes as flaming and violent 
 a bull, as any of those which Hannibal let loose 
 against Cunctator, t Were I to accede to this doc- 
 trine, I must admit that the question, of soliloquy 
 or not, will depend — not on whom you talk with ; 
 but whotp or what you talk about. But you were 
 talking to the Public ; not to yourself. — ♦« No :*' 
 (you will say ;) " I was merely talking loud enough, 
 through that speaking trumpet called the Press, 
 for the Public to hear me, if they were so disposed. 
 Wolsey*s continues to be a soliloquy, let it be ut- 
 tered in the hearing of never so full a house." 
 
 By the way, the title of Cunctator, (which 1 
 mentioned a sentence or two ago) is thought by 
 some of your critics, to be very suitable to you ; % 
 and, fatebor enim^ I am not sure that they are 
 
 ♦ See I. T. and T. page 79. f Page 6. :j: Lroy. 
 
 j Observations, &c. p. 83 and passim : Declan, preface p. 7. 
 
 *.-' 
 
 :• '*- 
 
■••",i; . •• --'''. ■ ■■,.■■. ■ ■ •,. • • -"^ ;!; A< 
 
 n .::- ?■ v.. ' - .^ • ■ . ■. . .•■■'■ ■'^^:" 
 
 wronge Your un^e^iidiced desire audire alteram 
 jxzrtem, makes you sometimes take a more zig-zag 
 and tacking course, than (pardon your friend 
 Banter) the nature of the case requires. Yourdeli- 
 berativeness * at times becomes so lingfering, (or I 
 grow so impatient,) that I long to clap you on the 
 back, and cry, « my dear Barton, do — :in tde name 
 of Decision and Brevity— let us get on ; or our 
 readers and we shall be in the dark, by the time we 
 get to our journey's end ; if we be destined ever 
 to arrive there.'* t But what are these critics so 
 angry with you for ? — For not writing altogether 
 vn behalf of tithes ? They would not be so in- 
 tolerant as this. For not writing against them ? 
 Surely, with their sentiments, they cannot quarrel 
 with you for this. For sometimes hesitating and 
 doubting? May not this (in spite of what I have 
 just been saying,) be rather the fault of your 
 subject, than of yourself? It is not as easy to 
 discuss logarithms, or construct intricate equa- 
 tions, as to discover and demonstrate that two and 
 two make four. Or is their ire excited, by your 
 having assumed to treat a matter, on which you 
 as yet had formed no unqualified opinion ? There 
 may be some ground for this last kind of displea- 
 sure. But when others seem clear, upon what 
 
 * I am determined there is, or shall be such a word. 
 f Perge modo, d, qua ie duett iv'o, dirigc grcuum* 
 
' to .' -^ 
 
 strikes you as being doubtful^ may it not be use- 
 ful to submit— and state the grounds for — hesita- 
 tion? J. K. L. is peremptory upon one. side; 
 several of his alphabetic brethren are no less de* 
 termined on the other : may you not shew, that 
 against each opinion there is something to be said ^ 
 and this, for the purpose of suggesting, that per- 
 haps between them there luric truths, from which 
 both parties have been inadvertently digressing ? * 
 If ever you shall hold the seals, it seems conceded, 
 that the more cunctatory you are, the better, t That 
 day, if not a happy one, would be a splendid one, 
 friend Barton. To the " frugality," which is now 
 prescribed, and which for the present suits your 
 means, both pecuniary and intellectual, you might 
 then, without imprudence, bid a long adieu ; for 
 surely he who keeps the seals, is Fortunatics ; and 
 my nursery reading informs me that he will there- 
 fore hold the purse. 
 
 LvciAy. 
 
 f Preface, p. 7. —The following paragraph is copied from 
 the Freeman's Journal of the 5th of February, (1824).-^" The 
 following piece of judicial pleasantry, of one noble and learned 
 personage upon another, recently circulated in the hall of the 
 Four Courts, Dublin. A barrister having cited a case " de- 
 " cided'* by I^ord E n, the Irish C, Lord M, drily ob- 
 served, ** you will much oblige me, Mr. , by citing any 
 ** case decided by my Lord " E — n." 
 
 London Paper. 
 
16 
 
 In the meantime, (a period of mortal length, ^ 
 if it mean till ^ou become our Chancellor) there is 
 found, with your production, an uncommon fault 
 enough. It is objected to it, that it i* pretty much 
 what it is called. The title page informs your 
 reader, that a selection of Irish Tracts and Topics 
 will compose the farrago that is to follow. To 
 this fare he was invited ; and might decline the 
 invitation, if he would. The pretensions of the 
 Roman Catholics, the missionary projects of Bir 
 shop Mant, the systems of public education, the 
 late still-fine code, the sentiments of Doctor Doyle, 
 the claims and questions touching tithe, — wer^ 
 these not Irish topics, and which are of interest at 
 the present day ? The state of Ireland, the pri- 
 mary charge of Bishop Mant, the remarks on it 
 by Athamik, the vindication of J. K. L, the an- 
 swers which it received, the letters on Catholic 
 questions, from Mr. Burke to Sir Hercules Lan- 
 grish, and Sir William Smith, — what were these, I 
 beg to know, but Irish Tracts ? 
 
 Ridicule sometimes is a test, by which false- 
 hood may be exposed : but it is also sometimes a 
 provocative, which encourages us to deride truth. 
 For example, my friend E. B, though in reading^ 
 «' the case of the Church of Ireland," you at first 
 very nearly stopped at page 59, I know you afler- 
 
 * As French idiom might terra it. Irish idiom might call 
 it an interminable interval. 
 
\ 
 
 17 
 
 wards read the next twenty pages with miich in- 
 terest ; derived instruction from them, on curious 
 matters, * with which you had been previously 
 unacquainted ; and relished them the more from 
 your strongly rooted Monkbarnish predilections. 
 I know too that you abstracted their substance 
 into your common place book ; inasmuch as having 
 very little memory in your head, you find it ne- 
 cessary to possess a reserve + in your scrutoire, 
 or in your pocket.— -But the miscellaneous charac- 
 ter of your investigations had been comically 
 quizzed by their Reviewer. — Mr. Burke, Doctor 
 Doyle, Bishop Mant, Lord Redesdale, Athamik, 
 and Baron Smith ; 
 
 f6xpfi»fvycig ^hihto ■^— ^eiOf,i»^t it BvfcSt 
 
 J - • 
 
 • \ 
 
 He seemed indeed to think of your paragraphs, 
 as Gray did of a straggling town ; the houses of 
 which looked to him as if they had been engaged 
 in a country dance, and were out. t Now sup- 
 pose that by way of retorting this imputation of 
 farrago, you had levelled sarcasms at a discussion, 
 which commences at page 60 of Declan*s former 
 letter ; and assuming the tone of Banter, had 
 treated jestingly of an episode, in which Saint 
 
 c 
 
 * And, I may add, important. 
 
 f This may be called, not a corps, but an esprit de reserve. 
 
 X The same idea is found in one of Pope's Letters. 
 

 18 , ;■ ^•: 
 
 Patrick and Archbishop Usher, Prosper, Celes- 
 tioe and Palladius, Bede, Columba, both the 
 Cumians, Ledwich, the Cottonian Manuscript, 
 the Martyrologies, the hymn of Fiech, and Anti- 
 phonary of Bangor— in which, I say, these various 
 personages " enter, solemnly tripping," • for the 
 purpose of informing the spectator, that he who 
 objects to you (and perhaps not without reason) 
 as an Academician, t is (jn-o hoc vice} a member 
 of your Academy himself; who doubts whether 
 Ledwich and his opponents were not equally and 
 all wrong ; t-^if you had done this, you would 
 possibly have made your readers laugh ; or at least 
 given their ill-nature the enjoyment of a sneer : 
 but you would hav^e been deriding what is neither 
 uninstrucfeive, uninteresting, nor foreign from 
 Declan's 'subject : what you had yourself read 
 with attention, and taken pains to guard against 
 forgetting. In short you would have been jesting, 
 not on behalf of, but at the expense of truth. 
 
 
 You seem censured, for having described " Mr. 
 as now Baron Smith." One of your reasons 
 
 ♦ See Shakspeare, Henry VIII. 
 
 f Declan's Preface, p. 8. 24. — E. 6. does not mean to con- 
 trovert the justice of criticisms, which on the contrary he con- 
 siders as at least in some degree well founded ; and by which 
 accordingly he means and hopes to profit. 
 
 t Declan's first letter, p. 62. 
 

 iff '^ » . * 
 
 • 19 
 
 may have been, that you found him so describ- 
 ed, in a note appended to the letter addressed 
 to him, as it appears published in Burke's works* 
 Even though this had not been so, yet Smith (with 
 the Baron's leave) is no uncommon name ; and 
 thus it might not have been superfluous, to ap- 
 prize the reader, to what individual of a sept so 
 numerous, the letter, from which you were extract- 
 ing, had been written. I have heard Smith called 
 the first grand division of that term Homo, which 
 the latin grammar informs us is << a common name 
 " for all men." Independently too of these 
 grounds for designation, the Baron seemed enti- 
 tled to have it recorded, that he had the honour 
 of receiving such a letter, from such a man* For 
 having introduced and recurred to tlie document 
 itself, your justification saute aux yeux, •• It is re- 
 markable that it is the only portion of that highly 
 celebrated writer's works, which gives an opinion 
 on the expediency of admitting Roman Catholics 
 to seats in parliament. Again, those, with whom 
 you were discussing some of the topics of your 
 essay, had relied on the opinions of Mr. Burke ; 
 and thus enabled you to cite him, as one whose au* 
 thority was undisputed. 
 
 I can truly say that it might, in you or me, be 
 unwarrantable presumption, to claim acquaintance 
 with Mr. Baron Smith : though without flattery I 
 can add, that I wish him sincerely well; should be 
 sorry he acted unworthily ; and even feel a string 
 
 :- *•' 
 

 interest in his reputation. Without knowing more 
 of him than I do, it is impossible I should pro- 
 nounce with confidence, whether he be, or be not 
 a vain man. If he be, he probably will have 
 wished that you had edged into your quotations, 
 from the letter of Mr. Burke, certain parts which 
 are more or less complimentary to himself. If 
 however he have good taste, he will scarcely cen- 
 sure you for the omission. 
 
 But I have been so occupied with the qualities 
 of Baron Smith*s supposed "good name," that 
 I seem to have forgotten the burlesque complexion 
 of my own. What, in the name of appropriate 
 nomenclature, has seriousness to do with Banter ? 
 As little as E. Barton had to do with tithes* 
 AUons V Ami Persiffleur^ (this apostrophe is, 
 like your last pamphlet, a soliloquy,) you will 
 never again, I hope, resume those sober airs, 
 which so little suit your style and title ; but like 
 the spirit of Adrian, tU soles, dabis jocos. 
 
 But would you then, or your Reviewers, allow 
 me to put on motley, * assume the cap and bells, 
 and thus suitably arrayed and decked, attempt 
 to rally some of those pages, which have made 
 a joke of yours ? If teased by grotesque anticks, 
 this portion of their forces should be prevailed on 
 to quit the field, it might give time for your weah* 
 
 ■ - T -' ■■■" 1. ■—■■■■■-■.■ ■ , __ ■ I I ■ I — ■ n . . 
 
 * Which, even if I did, should not be party-coloured. 
 
 4 
 

 
 91 
 
 >;■ 
 
 we*5^ to rally, — in another meaning of that word. 
 1 scarcely indeed discern any so effectual means, as - 
 badinage, for appeasing a laugh that has been 
 raised at your expense ; and which, though it may 
 have been fairly and moderately begun, has been 
 echoed more a gorge deploy ee, than the case war- 
 ranted or required. ^ ,...^ 
 
 But I know you would not permit me to skir- 
 mish for you. Your nerves do not shrink from a 
 sharp encounter of the kind ; but you dislike en- 
 gaging in a raillery, which might approach to 
 altercation, and generate offence. Soyons amis 
 is indeed a proposal, which your heart (if I know 
 it) is even too prompt to make. But without in- 
 dulging a placability, which Experience calls ro- 
 mantic, or pushing the conciliatory principle to 
 excess, you may adopt the sentiment of ^neas^ 
 (not HibemicuSf* but Troivs^^ and express it in 
 his words : v . . - 
 
 *Hftif KtfTOfAiXf iy xirvXx fcv^rxa^xt. "j* 
 
 * Though the sentiments of the former too seem entitled tp 
 respect. Nor do I object to him for being a friend to Rome ; 
 of which the Asiatic ^neas was — ^will Declan let me say the 
 quasi founder ? If Virgil's hero had been of Irish extraction, 
 his matronymic, (or Pat-ronymic) I presume would have been 
 Mc. Aphrodite. 
 
 t Iliad. Lib* xx. 
 
 ^ 
 
 >r'^^. 
 
 '^*r_ 
 

 ^. ■■^^^-:- -1: 
 
 I hope that hereafter you may be what the chil- 
 dren call * let alone.' / perhaps shall be less spared. 
 Banter may be thought, on the side of humour, 
 to be akin to Punch ; of which facetious person- 
 age Doctor Johnson once pronounced, that he "has 
 no feelings." In general it may be so : but the 
 rule has (indeed where is the rule that has not ?) 
 its exceptions. 1 know one, who has feelings, and 
 malignant ones ; and who (worse again) afiects 
 to share the spite of others; from a wish to recom- 
 mend himself, through their venom, to his patrons. 
 For these acrimonies I have sometimes thought of 
 making up a cure; and giving this not better half 
 of Joan, the benefit of its administration. The 
 Punch 1 speak of is one of the Dramatis Personae, 
 in a puppet-show which has been long exhibiting 
 amongst us. He is still upon his legs ; and to be 
 seen there, or in a chair; not on a table, or like a 
 cul-de-jattBy in a bowL But to this latter less un- 
 palatable, though name-sake composition, he may 
 be compared for the purpose of being pronounced 
 inferior to it. The fiiss of his vapid warmth is 
 mere hot water ; his spirit is illicit, and with less 
 of fire than smoke about it ; his. ill-flavoured (or 
 ill-favoured) sweetness is molosses ; and his acid 
 is the crabbed sharpness of an at once sour and 
 unsound orange. 
 
 But, while urging you to lay aside your pen, 
 how perseveringly I cling to mine ! Nevertheless 
 take my advice, rather than follow my example. 
 
I \/5 
 
 93 
 
 t* ' 
 
 Indeed if I find you refractory and author-like, 
 and withholding your consent to settle quietly in 
 Dumb-barton, I am resolved to appeal to your re- 
 spectable publisher, — who I believe has a regard 
 for you» — and to say to iiim, as emphatically and 
 impressively as I can^ — Milliken, my dear feUow»« 
 if you love me, mum 1 .^^ , . > 
 
 
 And now all that remains, is for me to hope' that ^ 
 none of your Reviewers may be induced to giv^,* 
 what^ (appositely to the tithe-subject) might be 
 called a Row — land for your Oliver, — to wit (or 
 to absurdity,) 
 
 p. Banter. • 
 ■ ■*' 
 
 P. S. If you zcill write, pray accept and make 
 use of the enclosed* It is unfinished ; but you 
 can add whatever is wanting to complete it ; aad 
 wiU find it as good as if it had been composed by 
 your scribbling self. I have caught your manner, 
 and (a force de battre la me#re) your rhythm. You 
 may think I have caricatured them. But who 
 care for your opinion? Veldtto, velnemo. What 
 shall we call the fragment ? Bartonianum ? t 
 
 * From the sentence just above, it might seem ai if (Miver 
 were the proenomen of Mr. Banter. 
 
 * The papers alluded to in this postcript and in the fi^owing - 
 letters, or some of them,, will perhaps be given, or extracted 
 from, at the end. 
 
 •^•^r 
 

 
 M 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 TO E. BARTON. 
 
 ■^^::;. . 
 
 ■M; 
 
 
 What in the name of Laziness are you about ? 
 and why have you not answered Declan's preface 
 *' before now ? You ought to have been at press at 
 > least a month ago. Have done with your loiter- 
 ing ; and set to work upon your answer. Until it 
 • is published, you know what you may expect from 
 me : for while I briefly subscribe myself N. T. 
 you are used to supply deficiencies, by pronounc- 
 ing me ' 
 
 A. Bore. * 
 
 % 
 
 Meplt/, endorsed on the above biUet, by JE, B, 
 
 1 commend the candour and condescension of 
 N. T, in frankly allowing himself to be called A 
 Bore. Towards calming his impatience, I would 
 
 ♦ This may be one of the many forms, taken by that literary 
 Proteus, to whom my motto makes allusion. 
 
 * '' Varia eludent species atque ora : ; ,; 1 
 
 ' ( Fiet enim subUo sus horridus. j 
 
 -Of course the two last words mean a shocking bore. For the 
 rest, whether the billet given above be the ipsissimum which E. 
 B. received, is amongst these secrets which the Pamphletian 
 Muse will not divulge. But assuredly E. B. rfw? receive more 
 than one stimulant communication, expostulatory, urgent, and 
 (in substance,) of the import above given. | 
 
 NoTif BY THE Editor. 
 
 Y 
 
 y 
 . -i 
 
 
refer hini to an epistle of O. Banter, enjoining the 
 very silence, which he on the contrary condemns. 
 I would also direct his attention to Declan's preface 
 to his second letter ; which seems to me to show, 
 that the most becoming interruption of my silence 
 
 might be 
 
 my 
 
 thanks. 
 
 * 
 
 
 
 
 
 ■* ^ ~ 
 
 :'■■'- I 
 
 
 
 
 
 ♦ ■ .. 
 
 .^,A 
 
 i,r .i' Kl 
 
 • 
 
 •r- '/ 
 
 W-^'^ 
 
 
 
 \ : ■'^-: .-. 
 
 *■ '■-.:■■ ■: : 
 
 - 
 
 
 LETTBB 
 
 Ill- :■ 
 
 *-. 
 
 
 '^*X^r-- 
 
 ' « 
 
 
 
 
 
 -.' ■ ■ <r^; - ■'■^v:;.^; 
 
 
 
 -* . 
 
 f;ti?;r^- 
 
 r» 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 TO E. BARTON. 
 
 
 •' 
 
 '•a^? :•^i^■ 
 
 ■■*•■- 
 
 t 
 
 -'' *^'',. 
 
 '-t-:r+ 
 
 I enclose a brief syllabus of your treatise upon 
 tithes. * It may brace the too great laxity of 
 your diffuse discussion; and such a ^&nM; comes 
 appropriately from 
 
 Your attached 
 
 Abr. Tone, 
 
 LBTTER IV,' 
 
 TO THE SAME. 
 
 I have seen our friend Tone's letter, and the 
 fymic which it contains. I too would fain do some- 
 thing, that may suit my friendship and my name ; 
 vand accordingly request your acceptance of some 
 
 * Hather of that portion of it, which has been animadverted 
 on. ' This syllabus will be given ; lew for the purpose of justi- 
 fying, than of showing, what the tract contains. 
 
 -.■■J--. 
 
 -* 
 
-■■-■■•■ ■" ,^~ ■ ■ ■%■ 
 
 m 
 
 ^T^- 
 
 memoraada on tithe-law, loosely made fr<m time 
 to time^ and (as the French express it) d baton 
 rompu, by Paj^. Notjc, 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 TQ THE SAME, 
 
 • When Sir William Betham shall have made out 
 your pedigree, (in which my name, in some way 
 or other, must appear,) it will be seen that you 
 are no connewn c^ the fanjily of Bruen : neither 
 that of the Major, which I admit to be a high one, 
 (decorated with the splendour of stars and nights ; 
 
 hood ; •) nor yet the Bradwardine bran,ch j which 
 is but a low (at least a low-land) house, t No : y^ 
 
 you do not quarter Bruen, npr Qrsini, jn your *^ 
 
 coat. On the contrary I allow your claim to be a 
 Bearnot: a name which, while it openly repels 
 the charge that I am refuting, jcovertly implies 
 your unwillingness to endure the imputation. 
 
 ' Your noble kinsman, 
 
 . . Beaiu^ot. 
 
 ■■ , • ■,■(-•• " 
 
 P. S. I oannot say much fbr yonr achievineots ; / 
 but you Height like to know your arms. | take 
 them to be or ; a bar g%^ : if^ base, m a mU 
 sahkf an anwula €f the ftrsU As for supporters, 
 
 '■ ♦ So spelled in the MS. by mistiJte, of cpurse, for knighthood, 
 
 f Preface (page viii.) of Deqlan, ci-devant; and befbre he 
 yet had honoured £. Barton with his good will. ^, 
 
 i 
 
'.Hi'" 
 
 though I may think you entitled to them, I never- 
 thekss veiy much doubl yotir having my. Banter 
 indeed contends that you bear Fresiter Joim on 
 one side, and a Cardinal on the other ; and infers 
 thait you hold the rig^t protestant medium be- 
 tween both. But we dl knorw how much of hoax 
 tiiere is in Banter. Your family crest is an olive 
 branch. Whether yoa be descended from the 
 Mowbrays I cannot exactly say. But I believe 
 they spruug from the Bigots ; and not a drop of 
 this latter blood is circulating m , your veins. 
 From your not too intelligible motto (A.Breton) 
 I am led to a conjecture that your &miiy is of 
 French extraction. Quoiqu* U en soit^ this post- 
 script has thrown a shield over you ; and is there- 
 fore entitled to your thanks. 
 
 %'■■■■ 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 COLLATINUS BEUTO, S.*^ ' 
 
 You are partial to collations ; t (perhaps I ought 
 
 • ♦ WlHch may bfc tratelated The CoUator to ihe Bear, Tht 
 wtitearboii^vet wili have perceived tbat aiioiher of £. B's cor- 
 respondents insists that he is not « Bear; xn* (whicfa comes to 
 the same thing) that be is a Bear-noL If ibe caae be other- 
 wise, I know whom, or what, we shall have to celebrate. In 
 the language of the poet, Major-'a canemus. For, though I 
 i/listSLJbf — SiMr to state B. Barton's age, I may go the length 
 of sejf^i% ^t be ha^ ceasedf to b6 a BlBnor, Civert (by A« 
 trayiy whether S{llBndfaf.«arca»iteJB#4<(Mn^ ^V 
 
 t 3ee apologetic postcript. 
 
• W /.^ 
 
 -•■•^i- P-*-'!^"'"' ■^■■r-v; 
 
 £8 
 
 v>t; 
 
 to say to cold ones :) accordingly I beg to supply 
 you with a few; which I hope you, and all who - 
 , partake of them, may relish and digest. [ ' ^^ 
 
 * Without passages to collate, it is plain that 
 there can be no collations : and where shall we / 
 
 look with more propriety for a passage^ than in 
 an idem sonans witli the surname of . > • 
 
 R. N. BOATE? 
 
 LBTTEll VII. 
 
 TO E. BARTON. 
 
 I hear it said that E, Barton is a key to your real 
 title. But may it not be a false key ? May it not be 
 a sportive semblance, or deception, fallen acci- 
 dentally, or flung on purpose, in the curious rea- 
 der's way, in order (in the latter case) that he 
 may amuse you, by opening a door to wrong 
 conjecture ? The principle of such guesses might 
 carry us too far. They might lead us to pro- 
 nounce that the letter subscribed Declan, must 
 be* written by a gentleman of the name of Candle, V 
 
 Now there would be something rash (your friend 
 Banter would say wick-ed) in so very light-headed 
 a surmise. To pass from Beclan to MilneVy is to y 
 
 make a violent transition. But if a work be pub- 
 lished under the latter name, are we to pronounce 
 the author a Welch wizard, a portrait painter, or 
 a sign dauber sX the least ? This would be to follow 
 
 
 
the method pf the Laputans ; who extracted the 
 communication of a plot from "our brother Tom 
 " has got the piles." • Consent to lend me but 
 four letters, and I will return you the enormous 
 profit of two words for each.. I will engage to 
 present you with a Cahph and an Epic Poet ; the 
 midnight guest of Anacreon, and the Mistress of 
 the world : you shall be sheltered by me ; and 1 will 
 furnish you with arms ; nor will I come to my end 
 or limit, until I have been a source to you of 
 delay. Who knows then how much E. Barton 
 may produce, when so ample an undertaking can 
 be so easily accomplished, by means of that shred 
 of literature, the tetragrammaton which I have 
 mentioned ? If readers were allowed to pervert 
 the letters which compose E. Barton into means 
 for detecting your supposed incognito, they might, 
 without taking much greater liberties with the 
 alphabet, and by a process not very dissimilar, 
 demonstrate that whil^ the Greeks were before 
 Troy, potatoes usually made their appearance on 
 the festive board ; and had the distinguished ho- 
 nour of being fed on by Achilles, t But if I say 
 
 ♦ Yoyage to Laputa, chap. vi. 
 
 ifftvrtt A^iAAiv; 
 
 £$ «yt x**f^f ix«f, KXTti ^ iif^tc»rB»^ etiuy% 
 
 mm I I * f /ft tl y I a' * I 
 
 BUUIC r fV ZFCtfVJItKif, tCTt fytlOlf ttftif tTTtt, 
 
 AvT«p iwH ncfznifist t^rv«$ v^e ■mtrnTfy &C. 
 
 : ■ "is .;•-;/; Iliad Lib. XI. r. 776. Ac. 
 
 What course of husbandry was pursued by the hospitable hero, 
 does not appear. But probably his Myrmidons and his Pota* 
 
SO 
 
 much more, yaa will be inquiring what I would 
 be at ; and I do not relish questions which I have 
 hot the means of answering. As it is^ you will 
 be apt to think me as mere a gos5i|»^ ss^in the pre 
 &ce to Tracts and Topics, you admit yourself to 
 be : and I confess you would not be without 
 excuse, though on the strength (or rathef weak- 
 ness) of what you have just been reading, yoit 
 should pronounte me to be old-womanish *y and 
 
 at least 
 
 A. Granam. 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 Biliet d' un Ipconnu ; 
 d Je ne sais qui; sur Je ne sais quoi, 
 
 Je suis parent de celle qui vient de vous ad- 
 dresser. Qu* elle m' ait produit, ou.que moi je I' 
 aie prodirite, — qu* importe ? La liaison subsiste 
 toujours. Allons 1 — certain mystere, qui regarde 
 certaine brochure, veut se faire penetrer par un 
 petit nombre de lecteurs ; en se derobant pourtant 
 modestement de la foule. Bon I Msus qui est il 
 done, r auteur modeste et mysterieux ?— La bro- 
 chure est sur la table : ouvrez la : pent etre que 
 vous verrez son nom an commencement. — Mais 
 
 toes were both reared in drills ; and he may have committed 
 the care of the latter, as well as of the former, to Pat Roclus. 
 
 0. E 
 

 .v<: ■>:.■' ^.^ 
 
 not! : elle e9% aDonyine.-«-Pardon, mon cher lec- 
 teur ; elle n' est pas anonyme. — Au moins je ne 
 vois pas le nom dont vous me parlez, — Mais vous 
 ne devriez pas abandonner sitot la recherche, 
 f* Tel brille au second, qui $' eclipse au premier.*' 
 Toumez done les feuilles, comme a fait jadis cer- 
 tain Roi, vis a vis la tete de feu son medecln. * — 
 Vous avez raison : je le vois.— Pour le coup vous 
 vous trompez : ce que vous trouvez la n' est pas le 
 nom. AUons ! combien y a t il de devises ?— Trois. 
 — D' accord ; et en autant de langues. But I write 
 en Francqis, et pent etre you not understand. C'est 
 dommage ; for my Inglis not understandable, non 
 plus. Well ! 'tis better I come at my conclusion ; 
 in saying I am not your odd friend Banter ; quot- 
 qu', in my initials, dere go no letter before. 
 
 a B. t 
 
 ]^F0N8£. 
 
 Qui ^es vpui, 1* Inconnu ? JJ -^ ' ' ■ ■ i . 
 An moins il n' est p^ le mieai i ce — — -'— 
 Mais qu' £tes vous done vous mene ? Je — — 
 Un honn£te homme, un peu maltraite ? i . 
 
 Mais ou demeurez yous ?— Le dirai je ? 1 
 
 I^ daiuB im — — . ; avcic ■■■. ! m i» ^ U ' ' k». \ % >> • ., > .ii , 
 
 * JDouMn* Voyes les mille et une nuit$. 
 
 f Notwithstanding whal tHis writer has just stated, I sus- 
 pect he is bantering, when he gives O. B. as his initials, or «8 
 amongst them, Writing inadvertently on what appears to have 
 served at aaenvclopff^ he overlooked adireciioQUipeQpiihng, 
 
.-» ,'• \ 
 
 » 
 
 •■(;. 
 
 BARTONIANA. • 
 
 (Sfe Postcript of O. Banter.) 
 
 In frusta secant. . 
 
 Virgil. 
 
 Declan's preface to his first letter may supply- 
 grounds for re-considering the views which I had 
 taken of tithe ; but affords none for retracting my 
 expressions of consideration towards himself, t In 
 some of its pages indeed, an asperity and sarcasm 
 may be found, which / at least must wish away : 
 but even in these the amari aliquid is occasionally 
 assuaged ; and would probably have been still more 
 diluted, but for an error, into which others be- 
 side Declan have also fallen, t His severity 
 
 which I have found upon it. Henri Char : La Bragome. Be 
 this, — or be it not — ^his name, I must decline the honour of 
 bis correspondence. I learn from the Memoirs of Captain 
 Rock, page 91, that if a letter written in the French language 
 were found upon me, the consequences might prove unpleasant ; 
 and a certain endorsement be put — ^not on the Bill — et, but the 
 Bearer. ' . * E, B. 
 
 • Though not partial to pluralities, I change the title of my 
 friend Banter's enclosure, from Bartonianum to Bartoniana. It 
 is not a single fragment ; but a collection of them. 
 
 £. B. to Editor. 
 
 t I. T. and T. p. 1. 68. 80. 92. 108. 109. 115. 116. 127. 
 144. 
 
 X Declan's preface, p. viii. and xi. And see note F. at end. 
 
 •v- 
 
T:^::W>i'^ -r'^r.'; 
 
 ' fhainty ttirns on-'^or'hss its sdiiroe iti thh mistake ; 
 -and if the supposition, instead of being erroneoufii, 
 had been correct, I should 'have merited, by my 
 disingenuousness, whatever sharpness I have in- 
 curred. 1 happen toiendw too, that my meaning— 
 in at least One passage — was misconceived ; • and 
 that I was supposed to throw an imputation, which 
 I never thought of casting. Inaccuracy of ex- 
 pression may, in other instances, have produced 
 similar misconception ; and exposed me to a re- 
 tort, seemiTi^— though not really — -provoked. My 
 raillery too, though confined to the arguments 
 which I was discussing, and (I flatter myself) not 
 of ^ert or arrogant extraction, may yet have 
 assumed, at times, too petulant an air. Again, I, 
 in rni/ turn, may have misconstrued. For examp^le, 
 I may have interpreted Declan as treating of the 
 present state df the Roman Catholic Religion'; 
 when in truth he was describing its condition thbee 
 centuries ago. I understand indeed that I have 
 faillen into .this mistake, t But was it not a par- 
 ^onable one ? Does not Declan dweU — and war- 
 
 * I. T. and T. p. 93. towards the end. My mode of ex- 
 pression may have been clumsy; but the '* meaning/' which I 
 *' blundered round about" vas not -to -intimate that impudence 
 was imputable to Declan ; but that even if J. K. L. had been 
 (as he was said to have been) impudent, his fault could not be 
 cpnsid^ed 'to ba^ergone unpunished* ' 
 
 t A letter from a highly respectable quarter informt me io. 
 

 ■*■<? 
 
 
 34 
 
 rantably dwell— on the semper eadem character of 
 that religion ? * Does he not impliedl^r contrast, 
 with a sectarian " Cynthia of the minute," the 
 immutability of doctrines, which their harmo- 
 nious advocate has called " immortal and unchang- 
 ed ?" But though my error may have been ex- 
 cusable, it was one. I admit that at least the 
 practice of the Roman Catholic Church may be 
 so susceptible of improvement, as to have latterly 
 shaken off abuses which hung about it in the days 
 of Wolsey ; and that the censure which it might 
 have provoked in one age, would be unmerited 
 in another. I make the admission with the more 
 pleasure, because while I canot doubt (for I am 
 a Christian) t that the period must arrive, when 
 there will be one fold, under one shepherd ; I 
 feel that a consummation, which is so devoutly 
 to be wished, must be far distant, so long as the 
 flocks that are to be thus united, eye each other 
 as if they were not sheep, but wolves. Lastly, 
 may I not have done my respectable opponent t a 
 sort of injustice, which I suspect to be of not 
 unusual occurrence ? By collecting (while I quo- 
 ted) scattered sentences together, may I not have 
 given an import to the whole, which its parts. 
 
 * First letter, page 4 and 5. 
 
 f In belief and theory I mean. In life and practice, who 
 (God help us !) is 80 ? 
 
 I I hope I may add^ to this term opponent, ci-devant. 
 
..rfj* ■ TV 
 
 ^*.. <- ■■■■ 
 
 ... ■..#,.. 
 
 if not dissevered from their respective contexts, j-' 
 would not have had ? My object, it is true, was;^ v 
 a widely different, and not uncandid one. I mere- » 
 ly aimed at condensation. But by treating the , 
 pages of Declan in this way, I may have changed , 
 the pattern, and quite altered the effect, of their 
 mosaic. 
 
 To impute to Declan, that he has described 
 the Established Church as a ** Cynthia of the 
 minute," is strangely to misapprehend what he 
 has said. He was speaking of Protestant secta- 
 rianism ; not of Protestantism itselfl If I presum- 
 ed to submit any thing to his consideration, upon 
 this part of his subject, it would be, first a doubt 
 whether the opinions, which he is noticing, be not 
 less evanescent than he thinks them; secondly 
 whether, if they were as flitting as he supposes, 
 they would be the less mischievous on this ac- 
 count; and thirdly wliether a comparison of 
 their unstable character, with the more invariable 
 one of the Church of Rome, might not conduct 
 to results so far favourable to her tenets, as com- 
 pared with theirs. 
 
 In some of the irregular religious opinions of the 
 present day, I have traced, and traced with pain, 
 what struck me as an hereditary likeness, which 
 connected them with the Puritans of two centu-^ 
 ries ago j and gave this degree of permanence to 
 
 I 
 
 A 
 
 *.^ 
 

 'i,ryn^i.%,>- , 
 
 ^,' 
 
 :^ 
 
 
 tbe- Qore) erf" di^k opiniotw., 4it jUI; ^veqits,^ very 
 nearly a qentpry has elapsed, sinqej unider White-., 
 field and Wesley,, th0; sect of- Methodists arose : 
 and i|Ot, oflly does the MethodisticaL doctrioe still 
 aubast; but its two varieties in a great degree, 
 ridtain the distinctive characters^, originally impres* 
 sed on them by the founders whom I have named* 
 Again, the Calvinistic doctrines of Methodism, 
 }n one of these two branches, assert for it a still 
 earlier origin, and proportionable duration. GaU 
 vin, I believe, was born in the year of Henry 
 the Eighth's accession. * 
 
 Even if sectarian opinions were more transitory 
 than perhaps they are, yet if each Ephemera had 
 a successor, — if every minute was provided with 
 its Cynthia,— the sum total of mischief might be 
 the same. It may be added, that in general that 
 is numerous, which is short lived; and again, 
 perhaps the languid tamenes^ of an old and sated 
 swarm might be more tolerable, than the freshness 
 find appetite of one newly raised. 
 
 Lastly, as inconstancy appears as appropriate 
 to falsehood, as immutability may be thought to 
 be appurtenant to truth ,t it can be no recommem 
 
 * The religion^ of those, whom we call Quakers, iftalcti 
 nearly, two centuries ol4* 
 
 f Bat, as a member of the Established Ghurchj I may ob- 
 ferve^ that error will po^ become truth, by in^texibly r^usin^ 
 
dalion* of opinioas, that they- are: so whimsicdlj' 
 transient, as; that; we can with difficulty "catch** 
 them '* ere: they chauge" ; and may best represreni 
 them,, by -an aliuaonito tlie Poet's personifioatioo! 
 of C^rice. 
 
 The abovB^observatibns are leas at variance with: 
 thfc paragraph in Declan*s letter, which has pro- 
 duced thejn^. than arising out of topics, to whicb 
 that paragraph directs the mind. I agree with, 
 his positions, (and. they are pertinent to his pun- 
 pose,) in the main. I merely seek, after my^ 
 fashion, to : attach to them a. few subordinate and 
 qualifying doubts, . He knows my propensities by 
 this time ; and will make allowance for them. 
 Independently of his own observation, he hasi 
 learned- from others,- how much I " love to wan- 
 Aqx ilk, the twilight: of diMety." * • 
 
 (i^-t 
 
 I had observed, that a Laic does not hold' the 
 income which his land produces, qimmdiu he 
 performs^ and is competent to discharge, certain: 
 public duties ; nor is consequently liable to be 
 
 to be changed; nor truth become: otbenrise altered, than by; 
 being purified and refined, when it rids itself of errors, which 
 had been suffered to mingle with, or encrust it. 
 
 * Observations ocp«»ioned by the letter of J. K. L. second 
 edition, p. xxxvi, 
 
38 
 
 deprived of this income, for a non feasance, which 
 yet may be rendering him a very useless membef 
 of that society, on which, in the language of 
 Doctor Johnson, " he hangs loose." This situa- 
 tion I compared with that of the Ecclesiastic ; 
 who may incur a deprivation of his income, by 
 becoming unfit for the performance of his public 
 duties. 1 have every disposition to yield to rea- 
 son : and the arms of reason — Declan uses pow- 
 erfully and well. But I am not quite satisfied 
 that he has shewn the nothingness of my distinc- 
 tion. A Court of Justice may unquestionably 
 fine a layman ; and in so far act upon his proper- 
 ty ; and make a portion of it forfeitable, for the 
 neglect of a public duty expressly imposed by 
 law. But the operation of this authority of 
 Courts of Justice is not confined to the Laic : it 
 extends itself to the Clerk : * while superadded 
 to a responsibility, which may end in mulct, and 
 which he shares equally with jthe layman, — there 
 seems to attach upon the income of theEcclesiastic, 
 a liability which appends this income to the per- 
 formance of his public duties ; in a way, or at 
 the least in a degree, peculiar to church pro- 
 perty, and which does not extend to lay. 1 am 
 not however contending for the value of this dis- 
 tinction. Perhaps it ought not to have been in- 
 sisted on at all. At least the arguments which 
 
 * Where he neglects a duty cast on him by the law ; or in- 
 curs a fine by misdemeanour. See Declan's preface, p. xii. 
 

 it furnishes (if it ftirriish any) ought to be pursu- 
 ed slowly, and with caution ; least in following 
 them too far, we might lose sight of established 
 principles of law. Indeed in this speculative 
 course I could not proceed far, without being 
 very seriously interrupted by encountering the 
 case of Impropriations : and instead of eliciting 
 arguments from the name,* or considering the 
 Impropriator's sinecure case as excepted from a 
 general rule, — I should probably determine tliat 
 it was much my best plan to return. Be this 
 however as it may, and let the reasonableness of 
 my suggestion have been what it may, I never 
 denied that church property had an extremely 
 close affinity to private. I merely doubted, as to 
 the income of the Parson, whether there was not 
 a mixture of public in its nature, which also gave 
 it some, although a less resemblance, to — say the 
 salary which is paid a Chancellor, for the perfor- 
 mance of his high duties. At least whether this 
 was not the case of clerical income originally, 
 and in its rudimental state ; before the influence 
 of ripening usage, time, and law, had yet matured 
 it to a more simply and perhaps unmixedly private 
 nature. But Declan will perhaps remind me, that 
 we are discussing — not a question of remote anti- 
 quity ; but of modern right : that our inquiry is 
 not into what was formerly ; but into what is nmo. 
 
 * To impropriate (say the Dictionaries, and on the autho- 
 rity of Bacon,) is to convert to private use. 
 
o ® 
 
 ■ .V ■ • , : : ■'■?': . :■ ■*■• I ' ' -'. 
 
 40 
 
 Dedan is rights The past may ibe investigate^, 
 in order to throw light 4}pon the present If we 
 can lessen or remove our doubts, as to how a 
 matter stands at present, hy asoertaining how it 
 stood many centuries ago, it wJH be useful to 
 retrograde. But if we be surrounded by no dark- 
 ness, that has need of illustration, we may leave 
 to the antiquary, to extract and pore upon the 
 precious reliques of the oldea time. 
 
 Around the subject of church property there 
 seems to me to be an obscurity, which occasionally 
 casts a shadow upon the paragraphs that attempt to 
 treat it; and renders it difficult for a writer to ex- 
 press himself with consistency and clearness. In 
 proof of this, I might perhaps quote Declan. I 
 certainly might quote myself. I plead not guilty 
 to the charge of "chuckling."* It is an unseemly 
 4Sort of convulsion, into which I am not apt to fall : 
 but I doubt whether I have not smiled, where it 
 would have been difficult to point out the joke ; 
 and impossible to shew that Declan had made 
 himself a fit subject for derision. 
 
 The following burlesque scene may serve to il- 
 lustrate this. I should not give it, but for what 
 will be its palinodial sequel. Meanwhile, as it is 
 
 ♦ Preface, p. xk. 
 
'^-fti'wr^ . sr';;^v'7- ■" -i-w.-t,' -^'^.''ph 
 
 in the sportive tone of Banter, he shall be the 
 narrator; and address it 
 
 To JS» Barton^ 
 
 «* The parson does not claim tithes as heredi- 
 tary j'* observes Declan.* "Then you must not," 
 cries flippant Banter, " call him his predecessor's 
 Tieir." " The parson," continues Declan, " never 
 dies." " Right;'* replies the Law. " He is heir 
 to his predecessor ;" repeats the former. " Nemo 
 est Jusres viventis,*' objects the latter. •' You 
 forget," says Declan, ** the two-fold character of 
 a parson. At one time I speak of the corporate 
 parson ; at another of the natural : so that Banter 
 need not chuckle ; nor ought you, my Lady The- 
 mis, to demur. Substitute King for Parson, and 
 you will see how the matter stands." Here pert 
 Banter exclaims again, " 1 i^exceivQ, per accidens, 
 that conversio simplex will not suit the case. The 
 King's heir t may be his successor ; but we cannot 
 therefore say that the Parson's successor is his 
 
 * Preface, p. xx. 
 
 f Or rather the King's Protestant heir; — which favours 
 Declan's reasoning, page 32. — Indeed the whole of what he 
 says, when fairly and without cavil taken together, leaves E. 
 B.'s " archness," in Tracts and Topics, little better than a— not 
 quarrel, but — raillery about xoords. For the rest, iif Declan 
 would but indulge this writer with a Quasi, it might often 
 turn out as successful a peacemaker as If. 
 
 ■ F 
 
;]-:^ 
 
 <S' 
 
 42 
 
 I 
 
 \ 
 
 heir." ** The King," (rejoins me Law) " is » 
 Corporation ; and never dies. The person who, 
 if the realm were a private inheritance, would be 
 his heir, and as such take it, on his death,^-on the 
 contrary, in the case before us, assumes the crown 
 on its de7nise, and as successor ; and not, in legal 
 contemplation, on the death of that royal corporate 
 being wlio never dies. Suppose the monarchy to 
 be elective, while this principle and royal attribute 
 of perpetuity remained. Would the monarch's 
 successor be his heir ? Now the successor parson 
 is elected (or if you please selected) by him in 
 whom the right of advowson is ; and of the once 
 still more elective nature of the Episcopal Dignity, 
 we still trace the form and vestiges, in the con^e 
 d^elire** Here E. Barton seemed, to my mind's 
 ear, to put in his word. But that word being 
 ** quasi** Declan stopped him, with •• friend Bar^ 
 ton, you must not ride off upon 2i quasi** " I do 
 not mean it," replied Barton. '* It is no horse- 
 plea," muttered I. " For example," said Dame 
 Law : — but before she eodld proceed further. De- 
 clan interrupted u« very fairly and forcibly, as fol- 
 lows. — •• Three to one are fearful odds. Let me 
 be allowed to pray in aid. Let two Counsel be 
 assigned n^e. Assuredly Law ought not to coun- 
 tenance oppression; nor, though she be called 
 Astr^ea* to show partiality to The Bear. In term- 
 ing thie new Incumbent his predecessor's heir, 
 what more have I done^ in substance, than rq>re- 
 sent tithe as ap inheritance ? And for doing so. 
 
'■'^'^fi^-^''^i!^i'^-rT:^.--Y^^ 
 
 ■'-^■^ri'r 
 
 
 J.-'-A- 
 
 43 
 
 ::r>"K 
 
 have I not the express authority of Lord Coke?* 
 Id asserting that the parsoo never dies> what have 
 I done^but inves thim with a corporate character? 
 And do we not know firom BlackstonCy amongst 
 others, that every Parson is a Corporation ?f Thus 
 all that I have said, and for which 1 have been so 
 joked, seems to resolve itself into two positions ; 
 neither one nor the other of which, any lawyer 
 will deny. If Law give an inheritance to him who 
 is not heir,-— or, in corporate cases, infringe its 
 maxim ofnem&mventis hares, — I beg to ask is diis 
 any fault of mine? If I forget that he w&ose ob- 
 sequies I attended, is in his ecclesiastical capacity 
 still alive, and that he who has become seised of 
 his hereditaments is not hia heir /•—but, like the 
 great priest Lama» is at once another and the 
 immortal same,— ^am 1 nnpardonably dull? Or 
 again, must I express seemingly inconsistent re- 
 alities, in critically consistent terms ? If so, nemo 
 viveniis hteres is not the only of its axioms, which 
 the Law appears to violate. Lex neminem cogU 
 ad impossiidlia it seems equally to disregaitdb 
 Then as to tithe being a tax, (I know that £• Bar- 
 ton does not say it is ; but may not some of his 
 
 ♦ 11th Reports, 13 b. 
 
 f Blackst., Comnu Boak, 1. cfa. r&*~Thiu Coke and Bfaok- 
 stone appear to be the Counsel, whom Declan claimed to have 
 assigned him. E. Barton would be sorr^ to find himself on 
 the other side. 
 
• c -. 
 
 .«K- 
 
 dubieties tend unwittingly tbat way?) as to 
 tithe, I say, being a tax, let me put the question, 
 which S. N. has more than once proposed ;* and 
 to which there is no objection, except that the 
 argument which it involves cannot be answered;— 
 let me ask, are the impropriate tithes a tax ?" "By 
 this time the strength of Declan's vindication had 
 made impression ; and the cries of" hear ! hear !*' 
 (in which I doubt whether Coke and Blackstone 
 did not join) became so thick and noisy, that I 
 could not hear another word ; and when the cheer- 
 ing had subsided, it was Law that was upon her 
 legs. When once she takes a question up, you 
 know she is never in haste to lay it down ; nor 
 liable to be put out of her way by interruptions. 
 Accordingly she resumed the very words, with 
 which she had been beginning, when Declan 
 stopped her. •* Fqr example," said the Dame, (in 
 support of E. Barton's quasis,) " in nothing but 
 an inheritance can there be an estate-tail. But in 
 a mere freehold there may be a quasi estate-tail j 
 which, blending the nature and qualities of inhe* 
 ritance and freehold, is governed by a class of 
 rules, which adapt themselves to its mixed nature. 
 In somewhat the same manner, E. Barton hazarded 
 a conjecture, (he certainly ought not to have gone 
 farther : quaere, ought he to have gone so far ?) 
 that there was a mixture of public and private in 
 
 * Miscellaneous Observations, p. 46, and elsen^I^er^^ 
 

 
 
 
 
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 the rudimental character of tithe, which mfght 
 subject it to a correspondently compound class of 
 rules." The Lady Blackletter, or Coifly, (which- 
 ever be her style) said a good deal more, that it 
 might not be in the line of Banter to repeat. But 
 she seemed disposed to give every succour in 
 her power to E. Barton ; (who, to say truth, ap- 
 pears to me to have bewildered himself more or 
 less ; and wanted a clue to extricate him from his 
 self-constructed maze :) — and accordingly I have 
 a drowsy notion, that amongst her not too brief 
 prosings there were these, by way of apology for 
 the doubts and semhles of her protege. " The 
 estate of every parson is a fee : for the interest is 
 to endure for his time ; and, corporately and con- 
 stitutionally, he must last for ever. Accordingly, 
 so long as the Church is void, this fee is in abe- 
 yance. Yet since the thirteenth of Elizabeth, his 
 dominion more resembles that of tenant for life, 
 with a leasing power. I do not rest upon this 
 statute, as interfering by a public act, with property 
 which is described as private ; — because I feel as 
 if it interposed, on behalf of the qiuasi inheritance, 
 against the quasi tenant for life ;— considering that 
 the Incumbent, while he was seised in fee as to 
 all others, was but tenant for life towards the 
 Church. I rather dwell on the act of Elizabeth, as it 
 establishes intheparson an anomalous estate, (which 
 however can perhaps be accounted for in the same 
 way,) differing widely from that which a lay 
 tenant in fee would have. This latter iiwiy carvo 
 
 '•'ni- 
 
46 
 
 * ■-■■:.'■*.. ■. \ ■'• 
 
 and limit, — charge, waste^ and give or sell $ fHi(^'v 
 may choose (with Declan's leave I aay it) A^ oum 
 heirs ;* for he may transfer his estate, at his death, 
 to a hoeres factus^ or Devisee. But though I should 
 succeed in establishing a distinction between pro* 
 perty ecclesiastical and lay, I admit (and make th^ 
 admissianffladlt/i,) that I should not thereby show 
 the former to be less inviolable than the latter. 
 Nay, though I should demonstrate the spirit of 
 that distinction to be this ; that lay property is of 
 a more strictly unqualified private nature, — yet 
 Declan's suggestion is at once pertinent and truej 
 that the epithet ptiblicy as applied to property, is 
 of ambiguous import ;t and thus, having sliown 
 church property to be public in one meaning of 
 of the word, E. Barton may inadvertently, (fori 
 believe him to be honest,) construct conclusions, 
 (or give seeming grounds tor others to construct 
 them on,) which will not be supported^ unless 
 church property be public, in a sense in which he 
 has not shown us that it is. I return from the 
 digressive admission which I have been making, 
 to terminate this branch of my subject by oh* 
 serving, that of a character so anomalous is the fee 
 simple of a^ Corporation, that a reversion is ex. 
 pectant on it : the single instance, where, after a 
 grant in fee simple absolute, any unparted with 
 
 * Declan's Preface, p. xvi. 
 f Ibid. p. xvii. 
 

 
 If-' 
 
 residuum is to be found.* I lay no more stress 
 (yet perhaps I might) on that legislative interfe- 
 rence, which, in the reign of Edwatd the Sixth, 
 exempted barren lands (brougiit into cultivation J| 
 for seven years from tithe, then I have laid upon 
 the act of Elizabeth just now referred to. Neither 
 do I wish to insist too much on what I am about 
 to add : that in the tenth century, the consecration 
 of tithes was arbitrary. Every man paid them 
 to what church or parish he thought fit ;t or into 
 the hands of the Bishop, for the use of the Clergy 
 and pious purposes. Parish tithes were at first 
 distributed in a four-fold division : first for the use 
 of the Bishop ; secondly for maintaining the fabric 
 oftheChurch; thirdly for the poor; and fourthly 
 for the Incumbent. When the Bishops were 
 otherwise amply endowed, this division became 
 three-fold only.t With regard to impropriations, 
 the point seems deserving of the most serious 
 consideration ; and accordingly curia advisari 
 vtdt. In allowing to the suggestion the weight 
 which I am disposed to give, I assume that these 
 impropriations did not conflict with principle ; since 
 if they did, I might scruple to build an argument 
 upon them ; (though quod fieri rum debuit, tamen 
 
 o 
 
 * Blackst. Comm. Book, 2 ch. 15. 
 
 \ But with a proviso (it 18 to bci ftdmitted) that in some 
 quarter they should be paid. 
 
 % Blackst. Comm. Introd. i 4. and Book l.ch. 11. 
 
?f^v- ■■ .'y--'^'::''^^^ 
 
 48 
 
 factum valet ;) and I also decline searching criti- 
 cally, with a view to inference, into the meaning of* 
 the term impropriation ; and wave all notion of 
 this being a kind of possession, excepted out of 
 the general rule ; and all argumentative benefit 
 from the maxim, that wherever the performance of 
 a condition subsequent is impossible, the estate, 
 already vested, becomes absolute in the grantee j 
 say a Laic, who of course cannot perform the 
 duties of a Clerk. Now:" * 
 
 The above word " now*' was the last which 
 reached my waking ear. After having for some 
 time nodded encouragement, (can the reader be 
 surprised?) to the soft advances of the sleepy 
 Power, I now surrendered myself to all his pop- 
 pies ; and was voluntarily overcome. In my 
 dreams, I fancied that Declan was a parson ; and 
 that you were setting out the tithe of your farm of 
 Urbally, entirely to his satisfaction : insomuch 
 that I could not forbear observing that you were , 
 not of the family of l?oc^-Barton ; and laughed so 
 vehemently at my own jest, that I suddenly 
 awoke. 
 
 No doubt, your black-letter Patroness, in ex- 
 cuse for your guess-work theories, and academic 
 doubts, meant to point to the public purposes, to 
 which tithe, in the tenth century, was in part ap- 
 plied ; and to suggest, that, so far from belonging 
 to any private individual, this property apper- 
 
js^i^^'-" ■■ ;. - ■■ //'^ ;■ \ ■ ■ :.v ':<:irr '■: .^:.^c>-i\:'-\' ■ ■ ■ / ■ ■■■ ^ - 
 
 
 ■ 49 -- ;:■ : .,.-:■;; ■■.;: 
 
 tained to a personified abstraction ; to an owner 
 which devout imagination bodies forth; and which, 
 if any thing be public, is so ; the National Esta* 
 Wished Church. But my good E. B., as your so- 
 liloquy is a collection rather of questions than as* 
 sertions, I do not run foul of your opinions, (any 
 more than I do violence to your inclinations, which 
 1 know are favourable to the Church,) by asking 
 you first, whether every man was not bound to 
 pay tithe somewhere ? Secondly, whether the 
 question is not rather whose property it teas not, 
 than whose it was ? And thirdly, whether it could 
 be the property of him who owed it to some other? 
 or of him on whom this charge descended, along 
 with the estate which it encumbered ? You may 
 point to the doubts, and they are not a few, which 
 our subject-matter yields, for the purpose of re- 
 commending a not too confident or rigorous,— 
 but, on the contrary, a moderate and cautious 
 course. But you must not so oscillate and uncer- 
 tainize yourself and me, that we shall not venture 
 to take up an opinion, or pursue a steady course. 
 You must not enable your detractors to insinuate, 
 that you bear a stronger resemblance to Waverly 
 than to Sir W. S.* In short I have nearly made 
 up my mind to quit (and bring you with me) your 
 
 * Banter seems to have adopted the prevalent opinion, as to 
 who the author of Waverly is ; though he does not venture to 
 rocead be y ond initials. * 
 
 G 
 
 # 
 
50 I ■ 
 
 labyirinth for good ; and to travel with Declan, and 
 under the auspices of S. N., the safe, old, beaten, 
 and established high-church road. They look 
 merely to the law ; while you attempt to pry be- 
 hind it. They read their rights, in the words and 
 sentences, in which Common and Statute Law 
 record them ; while you are for going back to the 
 Saxon alphabet ; and studying them there. I will 
 not attempt (for I know the endeavour would be 
 vain) to prevent your sympathising with the desti- 
 tute and «uftering peasant ; or feeling for the si- 
 tuation of Roman Catholic tithe-payers of the 
 humbler class. But you will recollect, that you 
 must not draw upon your feelings, for your law. 
 Again, the beauties of a theory which generates op- 
 pressive practice, I allow you to disregard; andfair, 
 handsome, and authentic as that theory may be, to 
 sacrifice it, if it be a mischief; if the sacrifice will 
 produce redress ; and in doing so, not involve a 
 greater evil than it cures. But waving, for the pre- 
 sent, the first and third of these considerations, has 
 not S.N. suggested much, that is highly pertinent to 
 the second ? Assuming the St&te to have a right to 
 do that which you have not recommended,— viz. 
 .to abolish tithe, — has he not raised an inquiry, well 
 worth prosecuting with deep attention,^whether, 
 in doing so, we might not be spoiling the innocent 
 and unoffending, not for the benefit of those op- 
 pressed, whom we designed to succour, — but for 
 the profit of those with whom the oppression had 
 
'■■•■■■■ - -^ '•'-•*- •■i.^. , .-. fe ...-..- ..^;^. : -, 
 
 
 
 begun, and by whom it would be likely to be con- 
 tinued, if not encreased ? I do not say what might 
 be the issue of* such an investigation. The pages 
 of S. N. anticipate results different from those 
 which your Soliloquy might seem to promise. 
 But I do say, that an answer to this inquiry should 
 be had, before tithe property was made a subject of 
 encroachment, even (for argument) assuming that 
 it is at the disposal of the State. 
 
 E. Barton now retakes, or seems* to retake the 
 pen, which has been wielded for a good many 
 pages by Q. Banter ^ who, in the last paragraph, 
 appeared forgetful of his character and name. 
 
 Declan has rebuked me,t for supposing him. 
 quite serious, in describing tithe as an encourage- 
 ment to tillage ;1: adding that he had *' treated the 
 matter with sufficient levity," to guard me against 
 this mistake. On a reperusal, I am disposed to 
 admit this to have been the case ; but yet cannot 
 consider my error as having been other than a na. 
 tural and venial one ; into which 1 should not be 
 surprised if others, beside myself, had fallen. 
 Amongst Declan's own words are the following : 
 
 • See Postscript to O. Banter's Letter. 
 
 f Preface, page XX. 
 
 t Case of the Church, p. 56t 57, 59. 
 

 , . * 
 
 ' 1 '■ •♦ - 
 
 • 
 
 ^y^ 
 
 ' . ' 
 
 
 
 " ' . ' .. ■ 
 
 
 52 : 
 
 ' ■ -: - 
 
 ' 
 
 " What harm if the Crown, for the improvement 
 of agriculture, should confer the tithes on some 
 few hundreds of middling gentry ? Yes, my Lord; 
 for the encouragement of agriculture : I say so, 
 upon the authority of J. K. L. himself." I do 
 now perceive in this, and in what follow^ afler, 
 that air of levity to which the writer has adverted 5 
 but to which I was the more blind, because I had 
 interpreted S. N, as seriously adopting the same 
 view;* and found the Munster Farmer, (who 
 writes and reasons well,) unquestionably, and with- 
 out jest or raillery, doing so. His words are these : 
 ** considering the circumstances of the country, I 
 " am rather disposed to regret that tithes are not 
 " a sufficiently powerful check upon our agricul- 
 «*ture, than happy to admit what I believe to be 
 ** the truth ; that they have been in many cases an 
 " encourayement"f As an imperfect apology for 
 supposing St N, to have adopted the same view, 
 I would refer to pages 18, 19, and 20 of his * In-, 
 quiryi* But what seems more to my present pur, 
 pose, is tp observe, that this last mentioned able 
 writer appears to have understood Declan pretty 
 much as I did. His words are these: " J. K. L. 
 «* indeed contends, that, under peculiar circum, 
 *< stances, tithes did operate as an encouragement 
 " to agriculture ; and Declan employs that theory 
 
 * But see Miscellaneous Observations, page 31 « 
 f Thoughts oa Tithes, page 13, 
 
 / / 
 
 « 
 
53 
 
 ... 7- 
 
 r 
 
 «« to support his own argumelitY but I have wished 
 «* to limit myself to the maintenance of a few po- 
 «« sitions essential to the defence of my cause, &c. 
 «« &c"* These are my excuses for the error into 
 which I fell ; and Declan, I am satisfied, will take 
 them in good part. 
 
 I had, in page 90 of my Soliloquy, observed that 
 " the allegation, that the right of the Established 
 «« Church to tithe has nothing public in its com- 
 ** plexion, but is of a mere and purely private na- 
 *' ture, if pushed to the extreme of inference which 
 " it supplies, might be found to demonstrate this ; 
 •* that the title of our clergy to take tithe could 
 '* remain unaltered and unalterable, though the 
 ** inhabitant)^ of this country were Roman Catholic 
 •♦ to a man.** Declan asks does this require a 
 serious answer ?t Every man is apt to be partial 
 to his own reasoning ; and this partiality may be 
 what stands in the way of my perceiving the jus- 
 tice of that censure, which involves itself in the 
 ^bove inquiry ; a censure which I should the more 
 regret my having provoked, because I respect the 
 intellect from which it comes. 1 conceived my- 
 self to be merely and allowably wielding the wea- 
 pon which is termed argumervtum ad absurdum, 
 
 * Miscellaneous Observations, &c. by S. N., p. 31. 
 t preface, p. xix. 
 
J..' 
 
 .. V' 
 
 I 
 
 ?. 'U'^-w '.v".'' ■'^'^ 
 
 
 ■ •■- ' '■ ■ '•'. J.' . ;;,..:_. . , .' 
 
 - 
 
 : " ' ■ . ' ■' "' .' 
 
 " -' : ;-. 
 
 54 
 
 
 The doctrine which I was disciissifig, and sbm6» 
 V what questioning, rather than confidently rejecting, 
 
 would be' clearly objectionable, if it proved too 
 much ; and I was searching to discover whether 
 this was indeed the case. I should servethe cause of 
 the Church, by removing their claims from a weaker, 
 to a more solid and firm foundation. To retufn 
 to my reasoning ; I but pursue a course of which 
 Horace set me the example. Demo unum ; demo 
 item unum ; and arrive at the conclusion, that after 
 all the Protestants had thus been one byi)ne pur- 
 loined, the argument which I am examining would 
 remain; quod esset absurdum. Again, my rea- 
 soning (as appeared to me) suggested this : that 
 what would be highly absurd, if the entire of the 
 protestant community had disappeared, — might be 
 in a less degree objectionable, if of the population 
 of Ireland, those of our religion formed a veiy 
 small proportion. — But Declan observes, that my 
 proposition (of protestant shepherds, without any 
 flock) *' cannot even be enuntiated without a bull." 
 i Assume this to be the case : can that which may 
 
 not be stated without a blunder, be at the same 
 I time right and reasonable in fact ? Can any thing 
 
 j approaching to it be so ? But after all, a church 
 
 i V by being empty does not perhaps cease to be a 
 
 -^ church; though if it be never more to hold a con- 
 
 ) gregation, it may not be necessary to expend 
 
 money on its repairs. 
 
 But Declan observes, that my hypothetic case is 
 
.■v'S-W 
 
 an extreme one ; and quotes what I have said of 
 cases of this description. I am happy to think 
 with him, that the case put is an extreme one ; and 
 improbable in the same degree : a degree, in which 
 the improbable and the morally impossible unite. 
 Neither do I retract what I have said of extreme 
 cases. I would not put an extreme case in order 
 to reason from it myself; but I would put one, in 
 order to show that a certain argument, which I 
 was questioning, might prove it ; and to infer that 
 such an argument was therefore naught, and 
 proved too much. Let me close by saying, that I 
 am not insisting on the soundness of the opinions 
 which my soliloquy contains : I am but offering 
 apologies for the arguments to which I resorted in 
 their support. That soliloquy, indeed, contains 
 little that can be called opinion. It is a collec- 
 tion of doubts and questions; and I believe Declan 
 may be right, when he considers it as Academic to 
 a fault. 
 
 As / appear to have, in at least one instance, 
 misapprehended Declan, so he in his turn has 
 fallen into a mistake, in conceiving me to have pro- 
 posed, that the income of, the clergy should be in 
 part made up by voluntary contribution.* In the 
 page from which he quotes,t he will find me re- 
 
 * Preface, p. xi. 
 
 t Page 151 of Tracts and Topics; of which see also p. 14. 
 
 . «i.'>» 
 
'.h: 
 
 <>> 
 
 i'^ 
 
 ■% 
 
 ■ 5(5. • : ■.-^v-;-.:*-.,, 
 
 ;■■'■■ ■ ■^'\.::'.'r;;'J^ 
 
 quiring for this body, " affluence, security, and 
 independence^^* as sine qwUms nan. It would 
 therefore be what at college I should have called 
 a good one^ to suppose that I meant this indepen- 
 dence to dependt not even upon the duties, but 
 upon the spontaneous generosity, nay almost upon 
 the caprice of individuals. My meaning may not 
 have been eminently well expressed ; but I hope is 
 not too clumsily conveyed to be understood. It 
 was this; that /f Church property was less private, 
 it certainly was more sacred, than the country 
 gentleman's estate ; and thus that whatever might 
 be lost upon the one side, of that inviolability 
 which is derived from the utterly private nature 
 of a possession, would be made up by its ecclesias- 
 tical character on the other ; and by the religious 
 veneration which this sacred character inspires.* 
 In rescuing my meaning from misconception, I 
 again however beg not to be understood as obsti- 
 nately stickling for the rectitude of my opinions. 
 These I intended to submit respectfully to the 
 consideration of others; who, both from intellect 
 and opportunity, were more competent than I 
 could claim to be, to form a correct judgment on 
 the matters in discussion. With this feeling of 
 deference, I should under any circumstances have 
 submitted my ideas : but especially I did so, first 
 from being conscious that they were conversant 
 with a cause, which it might be presumptions in 
 
 \ See last paragraph qF page 151 in Irish Tracts and Topics. 
 
-.:i^,.^. 
 
 me to touch; but which, beyond all questron, I 
 should not wish to injure ; and secondly because 
 much of what I laid before the Public consisted 
 rather of floating notion, than of fixed opinion. 
 Be it the better or the worse for this, my soliloquy» 
 plurima vohensy abounds considerably more in 
 doubt and query, than in averment. It is a tissue 
 rather of premises, than of conclusions : the im^ 
 perfect statement of both sides of an account ; 
 which leaves the reader to add items, and to strike 
 a balance. But was I wrong, it may be asked, in 
 presenting to the Public a collection of thoughts 
 so uncertain and immature? Perhaps I was. But 
 yet have I produced no good ? Is that Public in* 
 debted in no degree to me, for the " Miscellaneous 
 Observations" lately published by S. N. ?-**A work 
 which it is not for E. Barton to eulogize ; its ex- 
 cellence is blended with so much kindness to him- 
 self; 
 
 To the Author of Thoughts on Tithes my best 
 acknowledgments are due ; and the debt is one 
 which I must feel pleasure in discharging* If he 
 have not treated me according to my deserts, it is 
 only because he has pushed his courtesies beyond 
 them. He seems to have attended less to the 
 merits of the work, than to the 'motives of the 
 writer ; and to have regulated bis carnage towards 
 me by this latter view. In giving me credit for 
 
 H 
 
:?.c. 
 
 •y^f 
 
 fair intention^ I hope he has but done me justice ; 
 but his remuneration for this uprightness has been 
 liberal, if not lavish. Yet I sincerely think that 
 the cause of truth, as well as of benevolence, 
 is promoted by such a tone. This author's cour- 
 tesy has rendered me incompetent to praise. But 
 I may find fault Accordingly I do not hesitate 
 to say that his pages are too few : a censure which 
 I the less fear to cast, because assuredly it can- 
 not be retorted. Be the defects of the Soliloqut/ 
 what they may, it scarcely will be contended that 
 the number of its pages is deficient. 
 
 And now, with a prima dicte mihh summa 
 dicende caimenay will Declan allow me to return 
 to him again ? I do so, from a wish to repeat, 
 and make addition to my thanks. Jf over his 
 first preface '* an air of asperity" to adopt his 
 own expressions, " was diffused," yet that asperity 
 was tempered, and was seemingly provoked ; and 
 was not, with his impressions, undeserved : — and 
 even assuming this not to have been the case, 
 what abundant compensation has his second letter 
 madel The roughness of the first preface but 
 whetted my relish for the kindness of the last. 
 Let me advert to the courteous questions, with 
 which this preface closes. " Why do I not leave 
 lower objects to the ambition of others ?" There 
 is in fact no reason why I should not. Nor was 
 it ambition that lately covered so many pages with 
 my ink. I wrote for my amusement j and if my 
 
 r 
 
J'W' 
 
 
 
 health and sight had both been firmer, than during 
 this scribbling fit they were, instead of writing, I 
 should have been reading, which I like much 
 better ; or else employed, if not as a Munster, yet 
 as a Leinster Farmer, in first supplying, and then 
 satisfying my rector's claim to tithe. But again, 
 why do I not ** aspire at once to the highest ho- 
 nours in the literary commonwealth ?'* The ques- 
 tion is a kind one ; and rendered highly gratifying 
 by the quartei from which it comes. But it greatly 
 over-rates my powers. Doubting whether I am cu- 
 pidusj my answer to it is, that at all events vires 
 deficiuntf if I be. The Biographer of Captain 
 Rock forms a juster estimate of my pretensions, 
 when he confines me to the hope that my reputa- 
 tion may live as long, tis — not the fame but— the 
 grief of Arbuthnot endured,* 
 
 End of JBartoniana^ 
 
 * Poor Pope faiU grieve a month" &c. If m Irish Tracts and 
 Topics I had gone positively too far, at least a comparison of 
 what I have written, with what may be found upon the tithe 
 subject, in the Memoirs of Ci^tain Rock, might show that re- 
 latively I had not proceeded to great lengths. Yet is not the 
 Captain's Biographer entitled to be called a moderate man? 
 At least he appears an even-handed one. With him the Esta- 
 blished Clergy seem described as mammon-graspers, and mer- 
 •ciless grinders of the peasant : the Roman CathoKc Priesthood 
 as silly miracle-vouchers, or wicked miracle fabricators ; and 
 little better than bigotted anti-educationists to boot. He ap- 
 pears to agree with Mr. North's,' ^ftnd disagree from Doctor 
 

 «:■ 
 
 ^7 
 
 
 .■y. > : ., : ■;:.:;-. ••!='•;■ 
 
 m 
 
 to CORREaPONDENTS. 
 
 
 The matter of the enclosure of ilfr. Bar: Note, 
 —one of the alteregos or umbrae of JS, JBarton,"-^ 
 will be found incorporated in the conference or 
 consultation, between this latter, Declan, O. Ban< 
 ter, and the Lady Blackletter rullbpttom, or (as 
 some call her) Coifly. The communications of 
 A. Robnet, Ter. Q-Nab, Ar. Bonet, T, Aroben, 
 and Abr. Eton, are all valuable, no doubt : not tq 
 
 Doyle's) report, that Moll fi'landera, and Iritth Rogues 9nd Bap* 
 ^ ... parees, fonq a principal part of the elementary literature with 
 
 ' which pur humbly clauses are imbued. Quo semd est imbuta, 
 
 &C. 1 presume the life of Captain Rock is to be the classic, 
 £('jbstiti(ted for the history of our other latronic heroes. By 
 >i^ > the way, has a cqrsory glance misled me, or does this Biogra- 
 
 f pher rebuke the ' gentlemen whiteboys' and their Parliamen- 
 
 tary accomplices of 1734<, and yet rate S. N. for having written 
 , disparagingly of the non-^gistraent proceedings ? That same 
 
 ^ Biographer quotes the sketch of the State of Ireland with 
 
 seeming fpproba^oo and concu^'enc^. Yet ** on some points, 
 >./ cqethinks" th^y differ. The eighth editi<wi pf the State of Ire- 
 
 ^ * : land is addressed ^o the Marquess 'VV^ellesley ; ^nd the follow- 
 
 '.■^/■: ing is the motto chosen ; Imperaturus es hom^nibut, qui nee 
 
 totan ierdttttem pati poasunti nee Uttam iibpiaiem. Would the 
 Annalist of the Rocks be content with anydiing short of /c^ 
 6eri^ toui €iUiere\ In tru(h Lord Welieslsy's Adviser it mo* 
 ' ) : \ > ; derate enough in his demands ob our behalf, fle seemsbilt to re- 
 
 quire that we should be no more than semi-sfatves. Wl^ch of tlie 
 ^ . twq following hypotheses is the true oatl That the Englida 
 
 have nqt totam liberiatem fis their lot ; or that Ireland ought 
 not to possess aU the liberty enjoyed by ^nglao(i, and which 
 the British Constitution gives ? 
 
 I * 
 

 mention those of other gens de lettres of the same 
 character and stamp j who have occasionally made 
 a capital figure in the literary line, and in instances 
 innumerable, had the gratification de se voir inv- 
 primes. But every one knows of E. Barton, that 
 brevis esse laborat ; and to this his notorious de- 
 sire for conciseness, the Editor sacrifices his wish 
 to enrich the present publication with their letters. 
 The following one however, which came too late 
 for earlier insertion, is here given, at the particular 
 desire of O, Banter. 
 
 LETTEA, • 
 
 if not from Nobody^ from a Namesake,* 
 Banter, I am informed that you have been 
 fiddling jt but you must not attempt to lead.t I 
 will not deny that you are said to have a band ; 
 but that yon are qualified for leading the social 
 band of public opinion, I never can admit. He 
 indeed would be drawing a long bow, who con^ 
 tended that you were. You ! who I will venture 
 to say had never €ven two strings to your own. 
 
 * The signature is at once so scrawled and blotted, that only 
 the first and last letters can be guessed at. From these it might 
 appear that the communication came from N — obod — y. But 
 the surmises of £. Barton attribute St to a namesake — not of 
 Nobody; |)ut of Himself. 
 
 f Possibly the infbrmation came fVom the Author of Ob* 
 servations, &c. p. xxxiii. 
 
 :t^ See * one year of the administration of the Marquess 
 Wellesley,' postscript, page 149. 
 
 

 .'iS3 
 
 ••■■--'?■■ 
 
 62 
 
 
 Away then with all presumptuous overtures of the 
 sort ! Have done, in the name of harmony, with 
 fugues, capriccios, and cadenzas;* and giving 
 yourself no more unwarrantable or bravura airs, 
 give w*, as expeditiously as may be, your finale. 
 Some will have it that you are a lawyer.t At 
 least you will make no figuTe, at our bar. Remem- 
 ber that de minimis rum curat lex ; and confine 
 yourself to the crotchets which belong to your 
 profession ; or aspire, at the very most, to semi- 
 briefs, lu the mean time do not hope, brandish, 
 ing your roll of scribbles, to beat Time. Inquire 
 of Captain Rock's historian, whether Time has 
 not already beaten you.t Aye, whether he has not 
 
 - * Declan has been obliged (preface, p. ix.) to tax E. B. 
 with " i9Xt\yfitfing away from the question :" his magician-like 
 caprice is hinted in page xxxiv of the Observations ; and his 
 cadenzas, or Jallings qffy have not escaped his friend, the Au- 
 thor of the Complete Exposure. See preface to the second 
 Edition of it, page 1 . 
 
 . t Others represent E. Barton as a " Utile red riding hood'* 
 See Observations, page xxxiv. 
 
 X See an implied list of the killed and wounded in page 
 24<9. — But why do we talk of killed and wounded ? Did nofe 
 the Trash Conscriptions of E. Barton die a very natural death ? 
 All that annoys me, is to observe tliat a portion of the mortal 
 dulness, which sent them to their snuffy graves, has escaped 
 from the 56th and 57th pages of the Apologetic Postcript, and 
 settled in the 7th of the Memoirs of Captain Rock. The play- 
 ful, witty, and clever Memoirist {cujus ego ingenium ita laudo ut 
 
 

 M'l: 6S 
 
 beaten your flat array, if not to stock-fish, to waste 
 paper : whether your elite of pages be not em- 
 balmed in the thtis et odores which awaited them ; 
 whilein place of the mortal flimsiness with which you 
 had stuffed them, their contents are now quuiquid 
 chartis amicitur ineptis. Let the tenor of my 
 present letter make a due impression on you. For 
 should you make further base attempts to encroach 
 on our department, I will apply for full redress to 
 the harmonious system of the Law ; and, as the 
 old song has it, " make vocal every Spray** on our 
 behalf. The charge is a regular and even classic 
 one : SympJwniacos ahdiucebat per injuriam ;* and 
 it will go hard with us, acting as we do in concert, 
 if we are not able to mulct you in treble costs. 
 
 As for what they say, of your having a nack at 
 composing reels ;t — but hold ! the topic is an awk- 
 ward one. It comes too near a bottle ; and re- 
 news the discords of December twelvemonth. 
 
 non pertimescantt as Cicero once said,) ought to apply to his friend 
 Mr. Crampton without delay, to cut out the Bartonian mawk- 
 ishness, before its taint can spread. We know, from the 
 great poetic Rock, what a short lived race the <pvx?iif ytttn 
 is : nor are the leaves of a pamphlet more vivacious than those 
 of an oak, 
 
 * Cicero in Cgbcilium. 
 
 f . See a pleasant account of £. Barton's reel in a bottlcf, Ob- 
 servations, p. xxxiii. 
 
 . »,-• 
 
 

 
 I 
 
 
 ft 
 
 ■C' 
 
 
 •■■•>'- 
 
 >!•- V ■ 
 
 -.■^. 
 
 
 
 
 U •■•*-: 
 
 COLLATIONS.* 1 
 
 " E. Barton has lately written an excelfent and 
 
 eloquent political pamphlet, entitled Recent 
 
 Scenes." . ' 
 
 Complete Exposure^ 
 
 " In the various tracts of which E. Barton has 
 been of late prolific, one knows not whether most 
 to admire the genius, or lament the want of judg- 
 ment, by whicli they are almost equally distin- 
 guished." 
 
 Observations occasioned by the Letter ofJ,K,L. 
 
 " E. Barton appears to seek for truth, and truth 
 ordy ; and shows himself eminently qualified for 
 the search." 
 
 S. N. 
 
 " E. Barton seems to delight in creating around 
 him a labyrinth of moral and political perplexities , 
 where he may be at liberty to roam in pimsing 
 delusUm^* 
 
 Observations. 
 
 " The great object which Mr. Barton has at 
 heart, is to relieve the peasantry of Ireland^ and 
 
 * Vide CoIIatini Epistdain ad Brutum Bradwardinengeni. 
 f First page to preface of Second EdiUon. 
 
 1 1 
 
™r-T7'-3'v'v . 
 
 ♦, • 
 
 r 
 
 -i^\jf& 
 
 by so doings to benefit the country. In his se- 
 cond argument thece certainly is some appearance 
 of force ; and I remember a time when my ob- 
 jections to the tithe system exceeded his. His 
 third argument is founded on the annoyance of 
 yearly valuators &cet. There certainly needs 
 much amendment in this particular. Proctors 
 are frequently litigious and dishonest ; and have 
 ample opportunity to indulge themselves in ktOr 
 very. * Their exactions the peasant had felt to be 
 vexatious." 
 
 Thoughts on tithes, by a Munster Farmer* 
 
 « E. Barton indulges in moonlight rambles, 
 upon the confines of truth; and loves to wan-- 
 der in the twilight of dubiety. q. 
 
 " E. Barton adduces a variety of arguments, 
 in a disposition which belongs to minds seriously 
 disposed to seek for truth." „ ^^ 
 
 " Nero fiddled while Rome was burning, t E. 
 Barton^ while his Country's dearest interests are 
 at stake, dallies with paradoxes ; and delights to 
 ramble in the twilight of dubiety." ^, 
 
 * It is right to add, that the writer attributes this to " the 
 manner in which the gervtry abandon their tenantry/' p. 6. . 
 
 f The writer whom I am quoting disclaims, with manifest 
 kindness of feeling, and great courtesy of expression, apply- 
 
"Such are the questions, on which E, Barton 
 assumes the right of judging in the last resort." ^ 
 
 Case of the Church of Ireland ; preface to 
 second Edition, 
 
 " Discussing, without intending to decide, he 
 
 doubts, and pauses, and deliberates, and resolves, 
 
 and hesitates, and doubts again ; until objections 
 
 and difficulties assume, in his transparent mind, 
 
 something like the appearance of a reel in a 
 
 bottle." t 
 
 Observations, 
 
 " That my endeavours" (to defend' the cause 
 which I had undertaken) "have attracted the 
 notice, and met the approbation of E. Barton, 
 has been a very high gratification indeed. With 
 
 ing this to E. Barton. But have his readers all been equally 
 forbearing ? While tithe-mooting, he appropriately strayed 
 
 thro* verdant vales, and Ceres' golden reign, 
 
 only sec what his supposed *• fiddling'' produced. I of course 
 refer to the letter which has just been given ; and which is 
 furmised to come from the leader of a power, formidable, 
 (and perhaps even dangerously connected,) if what the poet 
 has said of it be true. 
 
 Headlong, impetuous, see it pour : 
 
 The Rocks and nodding groves, rebellow to the roar. 
 
 f This is very pleasant ; and £. B. left himself open to the 
 pleasantry. But it entitles him to an acquittal of the charge 
 of assuming to decide in the last resort. 
 
-^•ti^«S^>'.^'.- 
 
 him we discuss questions, as men who have the 
 same object in view, and join their strength, to 
 
 attain it." 
 
 S. N. . 
 
 «* It is provoking to those who know E. Bar- 
 ton's powers, to witness the perverse and unsatis- 
 factory nature of his speculations.** t 
 
 ., Observations. 
 
 " A pamphlet of no common kind has just is- 
 sued from the press, under the name of Barton. 
 The author calls it a Rhapsody, We should ra- 
 ther incline to call it one of the most logical spe- 
 cimens of ratiocination, which it has ever been 
 our fortune to peruse. It appears to commence 
 rhapsodically enough ; and to dart in medias res^ 
 like an epic : but the very first sentence, though 
 figuratively conceived, is an exact definition of 
 a miracle ; and though the author might seem to 
 a cursory reader, episodial in his manner, there 
 is not, in our opinion, a single deviation from 
 the most rigid principles of induction, from th^ 
 
 first page to the last." ' ^, :^ 
 
 Dublin Evening Post, 
 
 Compare with the above, the three last extracts 
 which have been given from Observations. I, the 
 
 X There is in the very anger of this writer, a kindness which 
 E. B. thankfully feels, even while he endeavous to rescue him- 
 self from the charge of having provoked it. 
 
 'y- :<i 
 
 .^, 
 
Editor, beg to say, at the desire of E. Barton, 
 that the above is so true a copy from the D. £. 
 Post, that there is not an Italic given, whieh is 
 not in the original. I also take this opportunity, 
 (in the name of the same E. B.) to thank that 
 thoroughly well edited and independent Paper, 
 for the kind and gratifying, the generous and de- 
 fensive notice, which it has taken of a person, 
 amongst whose many faults, he flatters himself, in- 
 gratitude is not one. 
 
 " I venture * to offer some suggestions, which 
 I address to E. Barton, with an equal confidence 
 in their truth, as that in which the artisan of old 
 commented upon &cet ; t and with much more of 
 deference in manner and feeling.'* 
 
 Munster Farmer, 
 .» 
 
 Why such deference, if he considered E. Bar- 
 ton as merely * dallying with paradoxes ?' If he 
 thought that this (according to the author of Rock's 
 Memoirs) " dead corse,"1: was but "revisiting 
 
 ♦ ' Venture !* — seriously this is not the language which ought 
 to be used, by one who comes to his subject, better qualified 
 to. treat it than E. Barton was. It is kind and unassuming 
 language. But it is self-disparaging. His readers however 
 do him justice. 
 
 f I am not vain enough to give the passage : but I am proud 
 enough to refer to the page (3) in which it may be found. £.6. 
 
 :^ Memoirs of Captain Rock, page 249. 
 
 ( ; 
 
 t 
 

 .^^ 
 
 W9 
 
 a-.--i:'-^ ;. 
 
 those glimpses of the moon," which he had alrea- 
 dy, in a former serenading pamphlet, woo'd?-^. 
 
 «* To enter into a discussion of objections, ur- 
 ged as these are by E. Barton, where thfey bear 
 ie unequivocal marks of sincere inquiry after 
 truth, and evince by the manner in which they 
 are brought forward, that the endeavour to an- 
 swer them, will be estimated fairly, and the im- 
 pression which it makes cancUdly acknowledged, 
 is to me a most gratifying employment." 
 
 - S. N. 
 
 " It is provoking to witness, in times like these, 
 
 the perverse and unsatisfactory nature of E. Bar-^ 
 
 ton's speculations." 
 
 Observations, 
 
 " Quasi, quodammodo, very near, with strcjxig 
 similitude, somewhat amphibious, and aliiiost di- 
 vine." Declan's pr^ace to the second edition of 
 his first letter. He is noticing E. Barton* s mode 
 of treating the title of the Clergy to tithe, * ' \ 
 
 " I pursue my argument with pleasure, because 
 I flatter myself it may fall into the hands of E. 
 
 * Declan was displeased with B. B. when he wrote Uiis. 
 Accordingly it should not here be quoted, but that the Editor 
 thinks the passage involves some just criticism ; and that the 
 reader medio tutissimus ibitf between the encomium with which 
 E. B. has bteen honoured, and the (not ill-natured) censure by 
 which he has been instructed. 
 
♦** 
 
 70 
 
 Barton ; and X know that by him it will be fairly 
 
 examined." 
 
 S. N. . 
 
 «• E. Barton's thoughts turn out their silver lin- 
 ing upon a night of gloom; but it is only to 
 render darkness visible. They do not disinherit 
 chaos. If they are as bright, they are also as 
 brief, 
 
 As the lightning in the collied night, 
 That in its spleen, &cet. - -' 
 
 Observations. 
 
 " I think it important to enter minutely into the 
 
 detail of E. Barton's discussion." &cet. 
 
 S. N. 
 
 <* E. Barton is a moonlight rambler on the con- 
 fines of truth : a dallier with paradoxes ; a wan- . 
 derer in the twilight of dubiety." 
 
 Observations, 
 
 " The fairness of E. Barton's mind, evinced 
 by his manner of treating the subject, entitles his 
 objections to respect ; and the importance of re- 
 moving them appears to me to be very great. 
 
 S. N. 
 
 Oh ! what a noble mind is here o'erthronn ! 
 
 Observations. 
 
 (« 
 
 Why" (Declan has most kindly asked) «* does 
 
 ( I 
 
'w-**V i jt -i' 
 
 ^ V- 
 
 not £. Barton aspire at once to the highest ho- 
 noiirs in the literary commonwealth ?" 
 
 Preface to second letter. 
 
 Let the author of Observations (who yet is far 
 from being unkind,) answer the above very gra- 
 tifying inquiry. '* Objecting without intending 
 to oppose, arguing without intending to refute, 
 and dicussing without intending to decide, his 
 motto would seem to be, 
 
 Caedimur, et totidem plagis consumimus hpstem, 
 Lento Samnltes ad lumina prima duello. 
 
 Ought he to aspire to the first literary honours, 
 who at one time, reminds the author of Observa- 
 tions of that not very wise personage, "the 
 little red riding hood," — and at another, of "the 
 half-witted traveller, who good-naturedly carried; 
 his own ass ?" 
 
 End of the Collations, 
 

 %' 
 
 :"^-<. 
 
 mf.r 
 
 
 .. < ■ 
 
 - t 
 
 ■it.iiT--'''^;'.-' ¥' 
 
 - ^^ ^^^^^ ■■^ >v?w5f vC 
 
 72 
 
 SYLLABUS 
 
 OF ^TRACTS AND TOPICS. 
 
 The Author's object, in the following pages, is rather 
 to submit questions, and to insinuate doubts, than 
 to close the former, or remove the last - Preface. 
 
 i^ 
 
 
 
 The intricacy of his subject, and diveruty of the opi- 
 nions formed upon it, seem to justify this undecided 
 course. - - Tract, page 2. 
 
 Accordingly, in this treatise, there will be found 
 contras as well as pros. 
 
 The Author strongly doubts whether the clergy ou^A^ 
 to he so paid. - - 
 
 He thinks they are not so paid. 
 
 Accordingly, he disputes the position, that in the case 
 of our clerical establishment, the State possesses 
 powers of change, modification, and control, equal 
 to those, which in the case of its civil, military, and 
 fiscal o£Eicers, it may possess. 
 
 » 
 The Legislature may perhaps give itself that degree 
 of power ; for it may abrogate the legal principle, 
 which for the present seems to lie in the way of its 
 attempts at fundamental change. < - 
 
 But Parliament will be very cautious how it meddles 
 with first principles. 
 
 Ibid. 
 
 As the law stands, it seems inaccurate to say, as in 
 The State of Ireland it is said, that the State pays 
 its ecclesiastical, as it does its other oflScers. Ibid. 
 
 Ibid. 
 
 Ibid. 
 
 3. 
 
 Ibid 
 
 4. 
 
■Kf'j.i-.'-t-S 
 
 "*'- 
 
 
 
 
 '^'.V- 
 
 la theory it is omnipotent: but there are axioms of 
 the Constitution, which set a practical limit to this 
 vast power - - ;. - Ibid. 
 
 Cottld the Legislature rescind magna charta, repeal 
 the habeas corpus act, and bill of rights ; and en- 
 act that the Royal Authority should henceforward 
 be despotic ? At least they would not. - Ibid. 
 
 Tliey will be, in general, averse from that adventu- - 
 rious repair, of which the preliminary step is de- 
 molition - >- - .- S 
 
 Our clergy cannot rest their proprietary claims on 
 any foundation deeper than that which our law 
 supplies. - - 6b 
 
 But their right to tithe, though not divine, is sacred; 
 it bears a venerable resemblance to that which the v 
 Priesthood of God's own people once enjoyed ; and 
 is to be approached with that pious caution, which 
 things sacred should inspire. Ibid, and 14^9^^150. 
 
 Even assuming our right to meddle with tithes, we 
 should not do so without necessity. Ibid, and 150. 
 
 Nor in a degree exceeding that, which such neces- 
 sity requires. • page 6 and 150. 
 
 Tithes seem indeed to have beeome encrusted with . y. 
 some abuses. - -. & 
 
 And are also entangled in objections, derived from 
 the peculiar situation (in point of religion, and in 
 other particulars,) of this country. - Ibid 
 
 '.'■U ^~' 
 
 4'. 
 
. 7.i • • i 
 
 ■ 
 
 But still, before we touched them, we should not only , .' 
 
 be satisfied that the system, as it stands at present, .. 
 is a grievance ; but that it is one which our inter- 
 ference will be morally certain of removing. Ibid, and 150. 
 
 We are not to make them a subject for experiments; 
 with a dim prospect of benefits whiph are preca- 
 rious and contingent. - 7 and J 50 (Note.) 
 
 But the more scrupulously reluctant is the legislature 
 to trespass on clerical right, the more tractable and 
 liberal our clergy ought to be ; the more averse to 
 sufiering those rights to mar the present, or pre- 
 clude the future welfare of the country. - 10. 
 
 Mr. Burke considers the estate of the church to be 
 
 incorporated with the mass of private property. 11. 
 
 With this (pinion, that of the author very nearly co- 
 incides. - - - Ibid. 
 
 But, from the context, it might be inferred that Mr. 
 Burke rather meant to suggest a close a£Snity be- 
 tween Church property and private, than to insist 
 on such strict generic identity, as would make 
 them indissolubly one. - - 12 and 85. 
 
 And if permitted thus to expltun it, the author goes 
 the whole length of this opinion. - 12. 
 
 While Church property partakes mainly of the cha- 
 racter of that which is called private, he conceives 
 it also to present us with vestiges of a public 
 origin and nature - - 14 — 68, and 150. 
 
 It would appear as if originally it was a provisioa of 
 the quantum meruit kind; and its qualities seem 
 
•J^BS5T?wi^.vj?.-:7i«^3T'^|?¥:^ 
 
 suggested by the Divine declaration^ that the la- 
 bourer is worthy of his' hire. ••-: . 14— 681. 
 
 .'■*:. «. 
 
 . ■ '. ' '4 ' *■" *-^ ■ " ■ ■• 
 
 The Public were to pay this hire; religious instruc- 
 tion, the performance of religious rites, &c. were 
 the quid pro quo ; and thus to ecclesiastical pro- 
 perty something of a public complexion and cha- 
 racter seems given. - - Ibid. 
 
 But though for some purposes, and to some extent, 
 we may endeavour to trace ecclesiastical property 
 to its source, we are not to define the present rights 
 of the Clergy, by means of a reference to what we 
 suppose them, in their rudiments, to have been. 14 and 110. 
 
 In determining upon them, we are to consider what 
 they are, by the laws of this country, at the present 
 day. - - - Ibid. 
 
 < . . ■"■ 
 
 Even if the matter were res Integra, the author would 
 say that their provision ought to be liberal, perma- 
 nent, independent, and secure. ^ - Jbid. 
 
 And that the higher classes of society should find 
 themselves surrounded with a clergy, on whom 
 their pride could not look down. Ibid, and 110. 
 
 But while the Clergy, with regard to their income^ 
 resemble the possessors of private property, there 
 is a distinction between the two kinds of pro- 
 prietorship. - - - 1j. 
 
 The Lay proprietor, in private right, of land, so long 
 as he pays any rent-demand to which it is subject, 
 and refrains from certain crimes which induce for- 
 feiture, continues (however grossly he misbehave) 
 to enjoy his estate, - '»'* ^l^'^* 
 
 --■% 
 
•-•^j; ',^^" 
 
 76 
 
 
 But the spirhual proprietor earns a public pro? Islonr ., 
 not by the rendering of a private service, but by 
 the performance of a public duty. - ItMcL 
 
 And is liable to be deprived of his iuconae, if he be 
 found unfit for the performance of tlwse public 
 duties. - - - Ibidr 
 
 And this is successively true of all who jure ecclesia; 
 
 succeed him. ' - Ibid. 
 
 In the same degree in which clerical income differs 
 from that of the private proprietor, it approaches 
 (yet is quite distinguishable from) that of the pub- 
 lic officer who receives a salary; that, for example, 
 of a judge. •> . - • Ibid, 
 
 Kor can it be essential to the independence of the 
 clerical order, that this resemblance should not 
 exist : for it is of recognised and vital consequence, 
 that the judges, who yet are paid by salaries, should 
 be independent. - -■ Ibid. 
 
 In proportion as clerical property is coimected, rather 
 with income of a public, than of a private kind, 
 it seems attracted within the sphere of legislative 
 
 control ; 
 
 16 and 150. 
 
 Though the mixture of private that is found in it* 
 blended nature, must more or less restrain and set 
 limits to this control, and entitle it to be touched 
 witli extreme delicacy and circumspection. 16. 6&, and 150# 
 
 in pronouncing the parson to be a corpoHration, we 
 
 at once infuse a portion of puUic nature into his 
 
 . rights. - - 
 
 The disabling Statutes, operating by j»tf6&'c'enactment 
 on the property of the Church, seem to intimate & 
 
 16, 
 
■j^'^mfy?^:; 'i:'Wt^-^:--iimtTW\ 
 
 
 difference between private property and eccleMt' 
 
 tical possessionif ..>;/,^;. ; - . 17» 
 
 The Legislature does not thus, by public statute, 
 take the dominion of his property out of the handi» 
 of a private individual, who is compos, - Ibid. 
 
 A layman, seized in fee, may, suitably to such abso- 
 lute ownership, sell or give the property all away. Ibid. 
 
 A rector is, jure ecclesiae, seized in fee: yet he can- 
 not sell, or charge, or commit waste. • Ibid. 
 
 In the situation held by the present occupants, each 
 and every of their successors, one after the other, 
 will for ever be. - • • 1 9. 
 
 Thus if the present occupants assented to regulative 
 alterations, the Church would not be without secu- 
 rity against being permanently injured by such as- 
 sent: for each man, in attending to his own in- 
 terests, would be prospectively guarding his suc> 
 cessor's quite similar concerns. • • Ibid.^ 
 
 It is to be hoped, either that the. present possessors 
 of Church property can bind, by their acquic' 
 scence, the quasi fee simple of the Church ; or 
 that the Legislature have the right coercively to 
 interpose. - * Ibid. 
 
 Since otherwise, however indispensable some regula- 
 tive modification might become, there would be no 
 legitimate authority that could effect it. • Ibid* 
 
 It is said to be the landlord, who in fact pays the tithe. 22. 
 
 But this the Author doubts ; - - Ibid. 
 
'•'.■ 
 
 *. 
 
 78 • . 
 
 For the following teaaooBiJirtt, that to what unount 
 the tenant should claim deduction from his rent, on 
 the score of tithe, is, as things stand at present, a 
 matter of difficult, — scarcely of practicable— ^cal- 
 culation : secondly that the demand for land is too * 
 great in Ireland, for the eager competitors to urge 
 such claims as these. <- • Ibi d 
 
 Again, even assuming that the occupant does not pay 
 the tithe, he seems to himself to do so ; and this 
 semblance is as afflicting as the reality could be. Ibid. 
 
 And the Roman Catholic peasant is also liable, in 
 conscience, to his own priest's dues ; which makes 
 his burden the heavier and more severe; and the 
 numbers of the Roman Catholicks show how ex- 
 tensively operative this severity must be. Ibid. 
 
 He will be the more sensible to the pressure, because 
 the return which he has for one payment serves to 
 remind him that for the other he has none. This 
 may not affect the intrinsic validity of the tithe- 
 claim; but it helps to account for a discontent, which 
 it is desirable should be allayed, if, without too 
 great a sacrifice, this could be done. • 25. 
 
 This propensity to discontent is encreased by the va- 
 luator ; an annoyance of annual recurrence ; and 
 often by the conduct of tithe proctors and con- 
 tractors; if this race be not traduced. •> 24. 
 
 They both have an interest, that might lead to high 
 
 valuations. - - - Ibid. 
 
 The fall of prices encreases the pressure of tithe, as 
 long as rents are not proportionably abated; be« 
 

 ■ ,79 •:;- ■"• ■;■■■.:.■/•;■ 
 
 cause the profit, from which the tithe is to be taken, . ' 
 
 has become a more scanty fund* ' - Ibid. 
 
 ^. ■- >- ";r- ■ ■ ^.. ■:■■-.■:'' '^ -'■'■ '■ , ' — -- 
 
 Land tithe-free is said, by Lord Maryborough, to let 
 for lOs. more by the acre, than land of equal qua- 
 lity subject to an acreable tithe of Is. 2d. - Ibid. 
 
 This seems to show how odious to the peasantry the 
 
 tithe demand must be. • - Ibid. 
 
 Tithes cannot encourage agriculture ; and if it flou- 
 rish under them, this must be where other circum- 
 stances, inducive of tillage, more than countervail 
 the discouragement which they produce. - 25. 26. 
 
 But if while tillage flourished, the tillers of the earth 
 were in distress, such unprosperous condition of 
 our agricultural population might call for a modi- 
 fication of the tithe system. - • 26. 
 
 Now, notwithstanding the increase of our com ex- 
 ports, the condition of our peasantry has been, and 
 continues wretched. - • Ibid. 
 
 On the whole, the author suspects that in the present 
 tithe-system there may lurk grievance, which re- 
 quires correction ; but adds, that suspicion is ill 
 ground for innovating, or encroaching upon rights ; . 
 and that to be acted on, even short of such viola- 
 tion, the surmise should be strengthened to a mo- 
 ral certainty. - - - 22, 
 
 And it not only should appear that the present sys- 
 tem needs correction, but that the change, which 
 we contemplate, will be corrective. Until this also 
 appear, no alteration should be made. 6 and. 150. 
 
 ■*^ 
 
 ^ 
 
:^-:^^ 
 
 80 
 
 Whether the tithe system ought to be reformed, the 
 author does not pronounce: but it ought, he thinks, 
 to be examined and scrutinized. 
 
 Helielieves that the tithe payer is charged not a 
 tenth ; nor more than a twentieth at most. 
 
 29. 
 
 41. 
 
 Whilethisfactdisplaysthemoderation of the clergy, it 
 may also perhaps show, that their claim, pushed to 
 its full extent, might become an intolerable griev- 
 ance. Even that twentieth which they now de- 
 mand, the peasant sometimes feels it difficult to 
 pay. - . - 
 
 Ibid- 
 
 But the clergyman may, at any moment, proceed to 
 enforce his legal title to a full tenth. Is not some 
 modification, which shall preclude this danger, to 
 be desired ? - • - 
 
 Ibid. 
 
 In the mean time too, the valuator might wield this 
 summum Jus to purposes of oppression. If he 
 overvalue the twentieth, and the occupant remon- 
 strate, he may intimidate him, by threatening to 
 estimate and demand a tenth. 
 
 42. 
 
 The amount of tithe, to which he will become liable, 
 is not a priori so certain and defined, as that the 
 person who will have to pay it can indemnify him- 
 self, by the terms of his treaty with his landlord, 
 when about to take the ground* - 4^. 
 
 But even if such calculations were more practicable 
 than they are, yet the poverty and redundancy of 
 our popoitttipn, and the strong competition for 
 land, which these produce, forbid the entering 
 upon any such preliminary computations. - Ibid. 
 

 i»^ 
 
 ^'r;''M''^''^^'^;'-;V;^: 
 
 ■ .•.'-■^'. 
 
 The poor Irish bid for \md, as a starvingjman would 
 for a loaf of br^ ; and afterwards consider where 
 they are to find the purchase money ; or discover 
 that it is not to be found. - - - 44. 
 
 Quaere is the title of the Clergyman to tithe any thing 
 materially ^Ufierent from a Uen upon a tei^kth of 
 that produce, the property of the whole of which 
 is in him who raised it ? - • - ^ 45. 
 
 It is alleged, * in defining the tiller's right, that 
 there is a portion of the crop whidi was never his. 
 The author questions the accuracy of this view. 48. 
 
 The right to tithe arises ex contractu. It is a tem- 
 poral price, paid for spiritual aid and counsels. ~ 
 Now a stipulation to pay a price implies, ^rst a 
 value, actually — or by presumption of law f — re- 
 ceived ; secondly that up to the moment when the 
 contract was consummated, the price formed part 
 of the property of him who undertook to pay it. 
 The contractor could not pass by his. agreement 
 that '* which was never his." ... 48, 49. 
 
 The very title of the tithe revenue acknowledges its -.^ . 
 
 ^fractional character. It is the tenth part of a xt^ole» 
 It must have been severed, before it was set apart. 
 Until it was so severed (I do not mean in fact, but 
 in the eye of law) it, and the other nine parts 
 which formed the whole, were the property of him 
 to whom that integral belonged. . . - 85* 
 
 • S. N'» inquiry, p. 17. 
 
 '3. * 
 
 "*■ 
 
 f As, between the Established Chiuch and the Roman C^thdic titiie 
 payer, the cause perhaps may stand. 
 
 J. 
 
I ■ » * ■ 
 
 ^ 82 " I ''■-' 
 
 t 
 
 r ■ • "" , 
 
 Some facts, characteristical of tithe, evince its intrin* • . 
 secally remuneratory nature. For we find the 
 amount of the reward depend on the quantity of 
 service. - - - - - •' • 67. 
 
 Thus, in England^ the more populous is the parish, 
 the heavier will be the duty, and the more ample 
 will be the income. - - - - Ibid. 
 
 But change the scene to Ireland ; and suppose five 
 sixths of these numerous parishioners to be Roman . 
 Catliolics, and that these all pay : — ^the proportion 
 between service and reward disappears ; or rather 
 is inverted. - - • Ibid, and 82, 83. 
 
 If for tithe, any other payment of the nature of a 
 tax were substituted by the Legislature, — this the 
 community at large, including Catholics, would have 
 to pay. What difference would this make, so far as 
 Roman Catholics are concerned ? What substan- 
 tial difference is there between a taxy and a price 
 paid by the Public for a public service ? And do 
 not Roman Catholics, as things stand at present, 
 pay this price ? - - - - - 49. 
 
 It is said that " no difference, with respect to their 
 state of cultivation, can be observed between those 
 lands which are tithe free, and those which are 
 not." So far as regards the state of tillage, the 
 ttuthor admits the force of this observation. - 50. 
 
 It is farther observed, that "England is better cul- 
 - tivated than Ireland ; and yet pays a tithe much 
 more strict." This proves little. The superior cul- 
 tivation may be accounted for in various ways ; and 
 
 ' seems not to have been occasioned ^, but to have 
 ^r\s,exi notxmthstanding \\ihe, - - - 51. 
 
rf:m^W''-:K;<'r' 
 
 
 Again, in England, the population \& a Protestant^ ' '■.' ^ 
 one : few, scarcely any, have to contribute to the 
 support of a second Church. - - - 51. 
 
 It is observed that " the Scottish Peasant is worse 
 clothed, and lodged, and fed, than his neighbour 
 
 south of Tweed." — But surely this inferiority is >' ; | 
 
 not produced by his exemption from tithe. We 
 know, not only tliat it may be^ but that it is the 
 consequence of other adequate causes, operating 
 in spite of this exemption. - - - 52. 
 
 * 
 
 It is not, in the author's mind, enough, that a provi- 
 sion be made, which shall amply compensate the . \ 
 labours and services of the Clergy. The Ecclesi- 
 astical property ought to be such, as will support 
 the dignity of the Church. - - . 62,64'. *^ V 
 
 He would not Jcncnn the constitution, if he found 
 
 Bishops excluded from the House of Lords. Ibid and 110. "r^^ 
 
 And while they sit there, ought not their posses- 
 sions to be affluent, and perhaps territorial? 63 and 110. 
 
 At the same time, the peculiar situation of this Coun- - n| 
 
 try, as contrasted with that of England, is not to ", . , -^1 
 
 be overlooked ; and though we may not on this /J 
 
 ground violate the principle, we may consent to ^ : ?i 
 
 soften and modify its application. - . Ibid, ..v Sl 
 
 Ecclesiastical property seems to have issued from a 
 
 public fund, to be applied to pay the holy wages ^ ; i^ 
 
 of spiritual labour; and maintain the sacred and ^'; 
 
 sober grandeur of the Church ; the amount of * ■ , 
 
 such remuneration, and extent and splendour of ' 
 the Church Establishment, being measured by— 
 
 and bearing a fixed though liberal ratio to — ^the ^' > 
 
 wants, the means, and general circumstances of :. ; 
 
 the Country. - . - - - 6*. % 
 
i-'., -••,■:■ W^» - 
 
 84 
 
 Within certain limits^ this view seems one, to be ac- * 
 ted (though cautiously and reservedly acted) on. 66. 
 
 If the fund appropriated become far more productive 
 than the case requires ; and the appropriation of 
 so much, appear more than the circumstances of 
 the country can bear ? - • • • Ibid. 
 
 The author would be very reluctant to adopt as an 
 argument for the present tithe system, that while 
 objectionable in every other respect, it was " the 
 great stay of our connexion with Great Britain." 
 what was injurious to one Country, he would not 
 forge into a link of connexion with the other. 68, 69. 
 
 What the Clergy were prevailed on to remit, it seems 
 •|^ unlikely that the Landlord would exact from the 
 
 ■'■■■-' occupier of the land. - , • • » 71, Y** 
 
 ft 
 , r 
 
 StiH less likely is it, that where the Clergy took a 
 thirtieth, the Landlord should require a tenth. 75« 
 
 To consider the Parson as a mere Landlord, and his 
 Roman Cathdic parishioners as his tenants, not 
 his flock, resembles an admission, that he is for 
 enforcing a contract (see p. 48, 67, &c.) the consi- 
 deration for which is gone. ... 84, 
 
 The nature of the remedy is usually indicative of that 
 of the right ; and characteristic of the relation to 
 each other, iA which the parties stand : and the 
 remedies of the Parson against his parishioners do 
 not suggest that the relation beiween them is ana- 
 logous to that of Landlord and tenant ; • •> Ibid. 
 
 For the Parson to negative his being Pastor, or 
 that a cure of souls was the consideration (actual 
 
,.«?' - -. _ ^' \,-i^ "■■'.. _.'. ' . * • ■*. 'V.";. . 
 
 ' • " . ' ' ' " *• '• ■ •■ > 
 
 ' ■'■■ 85 ^' '.: ; ;' \ 
 
 - - - * ^ 
 
 or presumed) * for his demand^ might be (o de^ 
 
 feat his own claim. The pemddes (or rather for- . ^ 
 
 feitures) on non residence are pertinent to this view 
 
 of the foundations of the cluim to dChe* •^. • B4, 93. 
 
 If tithes w^e remunerative, and for services cdtiti* . : -^ 
 
 nuing, they would, on the abolitidn of the clerical v- v 
 
 order, (see Dedan) revert to the remunerating 
 source or quarter. • .^ - - 86. 
 
 A too peremptory and unqualified assertion of the 
 strictly and merely private character of Church 
 property, seems not improductive of consequences : J 
 
 somewhat difficult and entangled. A property on >. 
 
 condition becomes <As(dutef one knows not how. Si, 87* V^ 5 
 
 If those who possess a donative power, were utterly 
 destitute under any circumstances, of a resump- 
 tive one, might not our adversaries cavil with the 
 claim of the established Church to its temporalities? '^ 
 Church ^operty is called private and inviolable : 
 The papal Clergy had it ; and from them it must 
 have been resumed, before it was transferred to ^ ' 
 ours. - — - - - *• -^ 88. 
 
 The author justifies, on public ground, that resump- 
 tion, which is th9 foundation of Protestant title ; 
 and withholds alike from Protestant and Catholic, 
 the wide admission, that Church property is, to all , , ^ 
 
 intents and purposes, of a private nature^ - 89. 
 
 ">^ 
 
 He refuses to Catholics an argument, whidi they . 
 might wield against our titles } and to the Estab- 
 lished Clergy one, which would be pushed too 
 
 : y^ •!. 1', 
 
 • As in the cMe of faSs Roman Citfiofic EiurnhioiMfs. 
 
86 .^ •: -.,"■,■■■; 
 
 far, if it were pointed against legislative authority, : 
 
 or the attainment of public good. - . . _ 39. 
 
 Was Ecclesiastical property so merely public, at^the ■ 
 time of the transfer, that it might be so trans- 
 ferred, — and has it become so strictly private ■ 
 since, that it cannot now be even modified ? - Ibid. 
 
 The grant of tithes, if it resemble that of lands of 
 inheritance, conferred on settlers, is however dis- 
 tinguishable from them. Tithe is in general for 
 services performing, and to 6e performed. • 91. 
 
 It is one thing to resume the price of goods deliver- 
 ed ; and another, to stay, or to reduce the pay- 
 ment, when an article ceases to be furnished; or 
 is supplied in smaller quantity, by reason of a 
 diminution in the demand • - - Ibid. 
 
 It is said that ''the income of the Roman Catholic 
 parish priests and curates is greater than that of 
 the same ranks amongst the Protestant Clergy." — 
 But surdy it does not follow, that those who, 
 without ample means, are paying largely for servi- 
 ces which they receive, should incur a farther 
 liability, on no valuable account at all. - - 88. 
 
 The doctrine, that the right to tithe has nothing 
 public in its complexion, but is of a mere and 
 purely private nature, if pushed to the extreme of 
 inference which it supplies, might be found to - 
 demonstrate this practical bull, that the title of our 
 Clergy to take tithe would remain unaltered and 
 unalterable, though the inhabitants of the country 
 were Roman Catholic to a man. At present, in 
 
 many parts of Ireland, a great majority of the 
 
 inhabitants of. every parish are so. ~ From the mi> • 
 
^9f , V 
 
 nority in each of those cases, demo unum ; demo ^c 
 item unum ; and though we proceed to do so, until 
 
 . such minority is reduced to zero, that theoretic 
 foundation of the right to tithe, which we are ' 
 
 here objecting to, will remain ; and thus the argu- 
 mentum ad absurdumy against such a theory, seems 
 
 . let in. - - ... - - 90. 
 
 The private character of this species of Church pro- 
 perty appears therefore to be rather similitudinary, 
 than identical. - • - • - Ibid. 
 
 It is observed, that "in the reign of Henry the 
 second, the Crown relinquished the right of pro- 
 perty, in that with which it endowed the church." 
 But in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, 
 either this right remained, if not in the Crown yet 
 with the Legislature ; or became revested, by the 
 public exigency of the times. - - - -. . 91. 
 
 And if this latter were the case, it seems to folk>«^ -. 
 that public exigency may confer a- title of resump-- 
 tion. - - ... . - Ibid. 
 
 On the above grounds, the author doubts the sound- 
 ness of the doctrine, that thtf power of the Legis- 
 lature,, in the case of Church property, is nothing 
 more- than a visitatorial authority, reserved by 
 Henry the Second ; and in process of time com- 
 municated to Parliament, from the Crown. - 92. 
 
 And he (the author) rather conceives, that the Legis- 
 lature may have a right so to reduce, on an emer- 
 gency, the grant of the State, as to make it com- 
 mensurate to the objects for which that grant 
 was made. • - - -93. 
 
 ;^1 
 
 
 Sf 
 
 ^ 
 
-.■'■■•¥ ••• '■ .;•;;•■: ■^7*' ■ 
 
 88 
 
 > • i - 
 
 Such a proceeding, on the put of the L^slatnre, 
 would not be 90 properly to revoke the l^ter^ as to 
 maintain and enfbru ike spirit of guch grant. Ibid, and 1 23. 
 
 And legislatire interference may be the more war« 
 rantable, because the possesBiou which it touches 
 are not strictly or altogether of a private nature. 6^. 90, &c. 
 
 tn the clerical ri^^ there is ft mixture of public and 
 private ; or a similitode to each. « 109. 
 
 Not only have the established clergy a right to be ' 
 supported ; but that some amongst them should be 
 supported with a splendour, which may give dignity 
 to the Church. • «• 110. 
 
 Whether the dbtribution of the ecclesiastical re- 
 venues amongst the clergy be exactly what, if the 
 matter were res integra would be most desirable, 
 may perhaps be questioned. • 112. 
 
 And it may be alfo doubted whether there be not 
 some impediments in the way of their thoroughly 
 counteracting by their residence (though they may 
 mitigate) the evils of absenteeship. • Ibid. 
 
 * The enemies of England ;' by this title, in the au- 
 thor's vocabulary, those of Ireland are also meant. H^. 
 
 Much of what is observed by Declan, of our esta- 
 blished clergy, is true, material, and to their credit. ll^. 
 
 It is said, amongirt odier things, of this body, that by 
 them BrkiA connexion is strengthened and pro- 
 moted. If 90, they deserve well of the State and 
 the country ; but do not alter, by this meritorious 
 
 
f 
 
 m ■''-■■ ■ : ^^ 
 
 tfinMoe, ibe legal and tfaeoceticHl founrai^ojD of '. ' V;; 
 their claiio^ to tkbflg* ■_/\y-,---y ■'/,-,^^!:'-:.^/^'^,:-:. y -v TIS. 
 
 If from the Church a portion of that invidable ex- ' 
 emptioB v«re withdraivrn, whi<^ deriv-es Itself irom 
 die BVL^aaed v^fif priviMte nature (^ their pof^ 
 sessioDS) the author hope^ that its place would be > 
 abividantly supplied, by the scored character with v 
 which ecclesiastical property is imbued; the re- . 
 li^ous sentiments of the public mind; the regard 
 of a Protestant flock, for Uie holy revenues of its 
 eslablifiliment ; the pious delicades and devout 
 aiectioB towarc^ i^ (^jiroh, wl^eh e*Mer musfc per- ^ 
 vade A ixiily Christian popuIat^oQ.* » .t51« 
 
 ff P&rHamentary inteiference sfoottid tttke place, 
 aipple compensation ought to be made, for any loss 
 oct»sioned by the ejcercise of such le;gislative con- 
 trol, - > - l$0. 
 
 Nor would any proceeding, in the author'a miad, de- 
 serve to be approved, which d^d not leave our 
 present cler^, and those of the time to come, sck , 
 .«urity^ indepwidence, and affluence to a moderate 
 degree. - , . . - - 151. 
 
 Or which failed to provide suitably, and therefore 
 largely, for the Jtionour, iinpoeiog digjc^tyj, ^ so- 
 lemn splendour of the Church. Ibid, and 62, 63,64, and UO. 
 
 * QiwQobrcm si jpre poasis fcousare, ^uiieii, id pi« fac^re nop |Kmni— 
 CicKRo IN Coeciuux. 
 
 "f* It will be rec oU e ctod, 4httt the aboye^a b atw ct rf4ba< iontent 8X>f * Tracts . ^ 
 and Topics,' is ^yen for the mere purpose of riiowing what that jpublicatioa 
 contains, (upon tiie titfae-subjiect) and not with a view to reasserting the 
 Author's opinions ; or denying or detracting £rom the weight of ai gown ts, 
 which hare nnce been urged against them. • '^ 
 
 I 
 
 v.'.*: 
 
,- '"^■'' ' ' ' ^ 
 
 That long Sdllloquy, of part of wt^ch the abovs 
 "^ Syllabus gives an abstract, though it be, I hope, 
 
 coherent, and including little that is foreign 
 from its purpose, must yet be allowed to be mis- 
 cellaneous enough. Indeed Declan has induced 
 me to suspect that it is too much so. Such va- 
 riety may beguile weariness, and keep up atten- 
 tion; but produces a something to which the 
 simplex et unum must be wanting. The work (if 
 it can aspire to such a title) may also be open to 
 animadversion, as pursuing a too dubious and un- 
 certain course. With regard to this, a very judi- 
 cious suggestion will be found, in the twenty-fourth 
 page of Declan's preface to his first letter ; while 
 the same fault is hinted at and rallied, fairly and 
 with much humour,* in the second edition of 
 : . ' « Observations occasioned by the Letter of J.K.L.' 
 
 I can only say that vicina virtutibus sunt vitia ; 
 and if I have been too much of a Waverly^ I have 
 been made so by my caution. Not that cowardly 
 and selfish caution, 
 
 ** which dares tell neither truth nor lies ;"f 
 
 not that caution which checks expressioh merely ; 
 but that which also, and still more scrupulously, 
 reins in thought j and which is a sort of Antipode 
 
 
 ■ *., And it injustice to add, that the humour is delicate, not 
 coarse. 
 
 f Pope 
 

 91 ^ 
 
 to headlong innovation But might not my cau- 
 tion have chosen a more judicious course ? When 
 it dictated hesitation, ought it not to have imposed 
 silence ? Why should I perplex the Public with 
 my doubts, when perhaps there would have been 
 presuniption in even troubling them with my 
 opinions ? On other grounds too, it might havQ 
 been better to *' stand mute," — not " of mal;ce or 
 froward mind ;'*' — but from just diflSdence, and 
 wary prudence. My miscellany of discussion 
 involved the acknowledgment of some opinions, 
 which (by those at least who abet them) are called 
 liberal. Now the worst of liberality is, that it 
 makes us acquainted with strange bed-fellows. It 
 brings one into bad company; which is worse 
 again than being left out of good. Then is a man 
 not to be liberal ? 1 do not say so. Nay 1 am 
 far from denying that he ought,! when occasion 
 calls for the avowal, to declare his principles, and 
 act upon them. But I doubt the prudence of his 
 unnecessarily engaging in any discussion, which 
 involves a public profession of constitutional faith. 
 That this should be so, is an additional reproach to 
 those, who espouse the intolerant and anti-liberal 
 side. It is they who, if we will associate with 
 Freedom, force us to wait upon her in that Co- 
 ventry, to which she has been sent. It is they, 
 who thrust Patriotism and Public Spirit into com 
 pany with the Turbulent and Vulgar. For, strange 
 to say, it is in a quarter where these latter also 
 are to be found, that we are to look for a lib^raHty, 
 

 
 ■t) 
 
 f 
 
 ..-.> 
 
 ■.\ 
 
 ■ c 
 
 O I 
 
 ft': 
 
 92 
 
 which our Optimates ought to be as anxious tb 
 rescue from such hands, as Rome was to recover 
 the eagles of Crassus and of VartM, from the 
 Eastern and Western Barbarians, into whose pos- 
 session they had fallen. But veraprordus senioreB 
 stmt locutif displicere regnantibus civilia in^ 
 ffenia,* 
 
 To return to my doubts. S. N. appears to have 
 penetrated the motive, which led me to entertain 
 and to express them ; and accordingly they have es- 
 caped his censure. The work in which this writer 
 has honoured me with favourable notice, I have 
 f ead with the more attention, because I felt as if I 
 had something to guard against. Ifelt, in short, that 
 my gratitude for the author's kindness might in- 
 vest his arguments with more than their intrinsic 
 force. I must indeed admit that I have much 
 reason to be grateful. He has bestowed upon me 
 something more solid and valuable than praise. 
 He has manifestly and practically given me credit 
 for honest motive, and upright intention: he has 
 thought my arguinents worth discussing; and 
 myself worth convincing. I will here take the 
 liberty (without much method or ar^rangement) of 
 
 * Tacitus, Annal. L. 2i c. 82.— Hi» Majesty's visit to Ire- 
 land involved proof, Uiat Regnantibus ought not to be trans- 
 lated J^tng-;. By the way, let me here confess, that I am ungen- 
 feel enough, to pronounce tlie great City (as Shakspeare did) 
 Boom i and am iar from genilemar^ke ^no\s^ to caH: it Roanu 
 
ndveiting to the matter of his tract; and this re- 
 spectful notice shall form my conclusion. 
 
 I feel as if legal theory were with S. N. ; and as 
 if my paragraplis were too like an army of obser* 
 vation ; not indeed encoantering^ but seeming to 
 thfe^eii* the positions of Sir Williain Blackstone^ 
 ^T. Burke, and Sir Edward Coke. I could not look 
 behind the Law, without suffering the Law to turn 
 its back on me» If tithe be ** an ecclesiastical in«- 
 heritance, collateral to the estate of the land,*** I 
 must admit it to be a charge, affecting the inhe- 
 ritor ; one which must continually follow and 
 cling inseparably to that land; and attach upon 
 and encumber it, into whatever hands it come : 
 while the corporate character of the parson,t can 
 but regulate the transmission of this species of pro- 
 perty ; not affect the question of the church's la- 
 gal right. 
 
 If all this be so, tithe must issue from the land ; 
 and be to be claimedfrom the inheritor. The land- 
 owner must^ ^ cofifemplatian cfla/yb^ be the tkhe 
 payer. 
 
 And he rMty be so in facty while seemingly his 
 tenant makes the payment. The landlord pays, 
 
 * R^orts, Part xi. p. 13. Ih 
 f Blackst. Comnj. B. I. c. 1^, 
 
 
 ;. i» - 
 
 •':<:'. 
 
-:*^''\:'i«-,-- 
 
 
 
 if be reimburses liis lessee, by an allowaDce. in 
 (i. e. deduction from) his rent, equivalent to the 
 amount of the parson's demand for tithe. 
 
 S. N., with a candour which has its reward in 
 the access which it gives him to the minds which 
 he would persuade, admits that the tenant seems 
 to himself to pay the tithe. But to this admission 
 he tacks a very proj>er-^and argumentatively 
 conclusive question, — is the mistake of one man a 
 reason for our confiscating the property of another? 
 
 I shall not be foumi to lay a snare, when I ask 
 S. N. whether the tenant does not more than seem 
 to pay this ecclesiastical demand ? There is 
 nothing insidious in the question ; because I ad- 
 mit, that though it appear that he actually pays it, 
 this fact alone can not disparage the title ol' the 
 Church. 
 
 The tenant does pay the tithe, if he have not 
 been allowed for it in his rent, as money to be 
 paid laid out and expended for his landlord. 
 
 But I repeat my admission, that the rights of 
 the clergy are not to be affected, by a transaction 
 to which the church has been no party. They 
 are not to suffer, because the land-owner has with- 
 held from the land-occupier, an indemnification 
 to which in justice this latter was entitled. But 
 S. N. will agree with me, that the tenant^ in this 
 
view, would be aggrieved ; and that the grievance 
 ought, if possible, to be redressed. 
 
 But how IS it to he redressed ? Whether tit 
 trie expense of laity or clergy? If by the con*, 
 stitutional charter, under which we live, the 
 property of both be equally secured from all 
 interference of the Stale, I admit that we can 
 no more, so long as we act within the law, take 
 ii>to our hands the management of ecclesiastical/ 
 than of lay estates. What then must we do? 
 Having ascertained beyond all question (for this 
 is the first thing to be done) the existence of the 
 evil, we must next and very studiously inquire, 
 whether it can, without infringing any cardinal 
 principle, be corrected ; and if it can, to this 
 safe and legal remedy we should resort. If the 
 mischief defy all ordinary means of cure, we 
 are to compare its magnitude on the one hand, 
 with that of the peril which may attend its remo-> 
 val, on the other. On the result of this com- 
 parison we shall then have to decide, whether we 
 will continue to endure the disease under which 
 we labour, or submit to a hazardous operation 
 for its cure. Whether the evil which we are 
 bearhig, or the sacrifice of principle to its extir- 
 pation, would be the worst. I do not deny that 
 in extraordinary cases, there lies an appeal from 
 the customary establishments of law, to that sahis 
 popvUy which is described as th^ supreme law: 
 but such appeals are revolutionary; /and only td' 
 
 ■*•- 
 

 
 
 he justified by the nieces^ty of tlie cas^. They 
 are a kind of repair, which tampers with the 
 foundation ; and in prosecuting which, we might 
 bring the constitutional structure about our eiirs. 
 If however, we find the mischief to be such, and 
 so very urgent, that even a formidable risk should 
 be incurred for its removal,— yet w^ ought ta 
 obtain a certainti/, that at the risk which Wie 
 are about to run, we may remove it. We are pot^ 
 for the chance of redress, to incur the hazard of 
 demolition. The evil is also to be traced veiy 
 carefully to its source: a proceeding obviously 
 essential to its permanent and complete removal. 
 If the remedy involve an interference with any 
 lights, it is those rights, the abuse of which has 
 produced the evil, that should be interfered witli. 
 And this on two obvious grounds : first, iJiat it is 
 where the mischief has originated, the corrective 
 should be ^plied ; secondly, that those should 
 pay the penalty, who did the wroiig.-^I am here 
 supposing legal principle sacrificed to paramount 
 emergiency; and I am also assuming that this 
 sacrifice must be made, before the management 
 of property, either ecclesiastical or lay^ can he 
 taken into the hands of Parliament.^^Towards 
 such a view, it seems unnecessary to inq[i;iire, whe^ 
 ther there be any thing in the public uature of 
 Church possessions, or the public servjces re- 
 turned for them, which would render this i^edes 
 of property more pliant,, than that of laymen : 
 I meaa supposing we examined both, in what I 
 
will call theiF early rudiments, as these are to be 
 found (or to be imagined) beyond the precincts of 
 that Law, which seems to have placed them» > 
 (while within those precincts,) on the same strong 
 footing of security. Such an inquiry, I say, is un- 
 necessary: because the above hypothesis is that 
 of a sacrifice of legal institutions, to the demands 
 of an imperious crisis ; and when this is once the 
 case, the right which is about to be interfered 
 with, can derive neither argument nor protection, 
 from its mere legal strength. The only question 
 then will be, what are the rights which obstruct 
 the remedial objects that are in view. 
 
 Unless so far as what fluctuated is become more 
 fixed, — as doubts have settled into less wavering 
 opinions, — I am not conscious of having varied 
 here (or at least of having varied substantially or 
 much) from what is to be found in Irish Tracts 
 and Topics. Yet while what I have been say- 
 ing may conflict with nothing there, I do not 
 believe that I have asserted any thing from 
 which S. N. will disagree. The more especially, 
 because I have declined curiously recurring to 
 the origin and rudiments of ecclesiastic titles. 
 In such inquiries I should have to put myself 
 under the guidance of Conjecture: and even 
 though my conductress did not mislead me, 
 I must admit that arguqients drawn from what 
 property once tvas, must be sparingly applied 
 to what it is. It is one thing to be the owner 
 
 N 
 
 :" •j-*^- 
 
 '- vr 
 

 
 ."■..••'I 
 
 ■ ' i ' - 
 
 of a score of acorns ; arid quite another thing to 
 be proprietor of a grove of oaks. I can conceive 
 too that S. N. might impressively remind me, that 
 the rights of the church are no longer in their in- 
 ^ \ fancy ; but have reached a maturity which entitles 
 them to put away childish things. 
 
 I have had an experience so convincing, of the 
 candour of this writer, that I know he will at the 
 same time pardon my confession, that I have not 
 hitherto been able quite to eradicate my ideas of 
 the somewhat public character, which at its com- 
 mencement belonged to the property of the 
 church. Yet 1 almost wish to extirpate notions, 
 which perhaps may be chokiag, in their growth, 
 opinions more strictly conformable to law: more 
 legally orthodox, if I may so express it. If tithe 
 be ** an inheritance collateral to the estate of the 
 land," (and for its being so, I have the word of 
 Sir Edward Coke,) I must admit it would seem, 
 as to its commencement, to be coeval with the 
 territorial estate which it accompanies : and as to 
 the future, it would also seem, that this incorporeal 
 inheritance must have a duration commensu- 
 rate to that of the corporeal hereditament, the 
 landed fee-simple, which is to feed its claim. Nay, 
 if from treason, or defect of heirs, this latter should 
 escheat, — would not the inheritance pass tithe- 
 charged (toties guGties) to whoever was the new 
 grantee ? Therefore if church property be (as I 
 was conjecturing it to be)aprice for certain clerical 
 
.,5s, w ■ 
 
 V 
 
 #r 
 
 
 duties to be x)erform6d for the public, yet (con- 
 sidering what is the law upon the subject) it would 
 seem that the price thus paid was a proprietary 
 right, as inviolable as if' it had been lay : that the 
 time of the contract was the period of our social 
 compact ; and that the only parties to it were the \^- 
 Church and State ; or Constitution. Thus a law* 
 yer cannot, I believe, consider tithe, as a price 
 rendered by the person who actually pays it ; (or 
 more properly perhaps who pays an instalment of 
 its fruits ;) or as issuing out of the interest which 
 such person holds. That interest may be a deter- 
 minable one ; a short term for years : whereas 
 tithe is an inheritance ; and must issue from an 
 estate, that in duration is commensurate with the 
 claim ; and permanently adequate to its satisfac- 
 tion. The views which, though doubtingly, I was 
 taking, supposed the tenant to pay the tithe. This, 
 whatever be the case in point of fact, cannot be 
 the case in-contemplation of law. It is paid by th^ 
 land; and consequently not by the land-occupier, 
 but the land-owner, 
 
 I do not well know whether 1 have shown my- 
 self to be inconsistent : but I strongly hope that 
 I have proved myself to be fair ; and wiiat S. N. 
 has kindly described me to be ; an inquirer afler 
 truth. 
 
 - . ' ■ - - » 
 
 I do not understand him to affirm, that the 
 tenant does not pay the tith^ -, but that if he does^ 
 
 '«r« 
 
.^-■» 
 
 :^^~%: 
 
 ■ i. 
 
 ■u- 
 
 100 
 
 .:'»■"■ 
 
 this is the landlord's fault : that the Church has 
 been guilty of no oppression ; and therefore ought 
 to incur no forfeiture; even assuming that for 
 such malfeasance, it would be liable to any. * 
 
 ? *. U: 
 
 That the poor tillage farmer is called upon to 
 pay too much, I take to be what even an E. 
 Barton could not doubt. Whether this be an 
 effect of misconduct, or if so, where the fault 
 lies, is a question of fact, highly important to 
 decide ; but which I cannot be expected to deter- 
 mine. S. N. does not seem to fear the conse- 
 quence of a strict examination, conducted fairly ; 
 and I cannot but agree with what I interpret to 
 be his opinions ; that where the fault has been, 
 there the stigma and punishment ought to fall ; 
 and that if the blame lies not on the ecclesiastical, 
 but on the lay side, — we should, by visiting the 
 offence upon the former, be guilty at once of an 
 injustice, and a blunder. We should be mulcting 
 the innocent, and leaving the evil unredressed. 
 For if that evil be excessive rent, we do not re- 
 move it, by curtailing the demands of those to 
 whom no rent is due. If that evil be, that he is 
 compelled to pay the tithe, who in law does not, 
 and in justice ought not to pay it, — ^it is not the 
 Church that exercises this comj^ulsion. If the 
 oppression come from the lay side, those who 
 have practised it wiU not be indisposed to perse- 
 
 * $ee Note H. Bt end. 
 
* Nos patria JineSt &c* Tu Tityre lentus in umbra Sfc. 
 t Hie tameti hanamecwn poteris reqtdescerc noctem, 
 X Deiijs nobis hsc otia fecit, &q; ' 
 
 
 vere. Itie bver-population and utider-trade of 
 the country will facilitate their object, by the 
 eager competition for land which these produce ; 
 and we may be but turning from the Rectors to 
 the Landlord's purse, what we intended to return 
 to the peasant's pocket, i . \ 
 
 \ - .■ • . . ' : -■ ■■ ■ . - - ; - 
 
 J r have argued (in Tracts and Topics) against 
 the notion, that Landlord's will, or have been fe - ( 
 
 ^ting thus. The presumption seemed (and 
 seems) to me to be, that they would not pursue ' |^ 
 
 a course that is counter at once to their interests, ': ■:i^^/:'^l-:_ 
 
 and their honour. But pnesumptioni stabiturf 
 only ^'^onec prcbetur in contrarium ; and if 
 i$ ^'^e proved to me, that landlords had been 
 following this line, — I would abandon all my 
 theories against their continuing to pursue it. 
 I should at most hope, that the blame rested less 
 with Principal than Agent ; and again I should 
 sigh over the number of our Absentees. Those 
 behind them are left in a situation, little resem- 
 bling that which MelibsBUs so extolled.* Amongst 
 onr peasantry we may find the hospitality of a 
 Tityrus : t but for his comforts 1^ we shall look in 
 vain. It is not in Ireland, that a shepherd will | 
 
 be found, ^ * ' ' -&i(i 
 
 __- -.mr 
 
 \ -x 
 
 ■W: 
 
 ^:^- 
 
 
 v" 
 
 ... ^.■'" ■» 
 
 1 
 
 ■" , ' . " -'^ 
 
 1 
 
 
 1^ 
 
 
 j 
 
-•/ 
 
 
 im 
 
 309-KTtftmgt aitft^ta. 
 
 ^•jifAmf 2t» uXtTum 
 
 
 .'H 
 
 Paddy's whistle (a sad though sweet onci) is 
 addressed to his plough team; not his sheep. 
 Yet our shepherd, if he owned the flock, had 
 every reason to be chearful, — that exemption front 
 tithe liability could afford. 
 
 An allusion to one classic reminds tne of ano- 
 ther ; and suggests my acknowledgements* to S. N;; 
 for a more correct view of Cicero's statements, 
 than my memory had supplied* t I say my me- 
 mory ; for I have scarcely looked into his orations 
 for twelve years. My candid and able— not 
 adversary but instructor — has shown, tha9 the 
 oppressions which Sicilian agriculture underwent* 
 arose not from any abuse of the tithe system, of 
 Gelon i still less from its fair operation, however 
 strict; but from the overthrow, by Verres, of 
 that entire code ; which, though the work of an 
 absolute monarch, and bearing upon it .the stamp 
 and mark of this, t had, notwithstanding, formed 
 a law, qua Sieuiis arare "^xemiK^T* % 
 
 ♦ Euripides. 
 
 -)- Soliloquy, p. 26. See also IHxin .* in Q. Ceecil* § 10. 
 
 j: Ut earn scripsisse appareat, ita acute ut Siculont; ita 
 stverct ut Tyrannum, 
 
 § The next topic, briefly handled, of S. I*^, relates to what 
 he had said of agistment.; and which he appears satisfactocdy 
 and sufficiently to defend. 
 
■ ^'-'\."; ; ^ ■-;■■-'-.*'-■>" ^"' ' >'Hi ■ "■ 
 
 ;v ......' :--■,■.'■ '■' ^ ,■■. ■■'.--■- '■■ : •}" > . ■ - "^j . . 
 
 ;'■•■,- .; - , .- ■' • ■■ ■;-'•. ■ . ' r .J . 
 
 Bdt to return to a consideration of the inter- 
 esting topics of S. N. ; if indeed I can be ss^id to 
 have been digressing from them. — I had observed 
 upon the case of the Roman Catholic, as affect- 
 ed by the tithe claim. * S. N. describes the '• re- 
 turn which he receives for tithe, as consisting in 
 the diminished rent of his holding : the payment 
 of tithe as one qf the conditions, upon which his 
 land was leased to him."t I cannot controvert 
 the truth of this description. But let us put a 
 case; though I may not know to what practical 
 conclusion its statements ultimately ought to 
 lead. To this inference it seems, in the meantime 
 to conduct us; that the Protestant and Roman 
 Catholic tithe payer are not equally well off. , « 
 
 B* (a Protestant) proposes to become tenant 
 for a patch of tillage ground to A. It is to be 
 sown with wheat; and with the cultivation which 
 he intends to bestow on it, a produce of twenty 
 barrels may be reckoned on. In the first instance 
 it is agreed, that a tenth of this be delivered to 
 the lessor at harvest home, in order that he may 
 : remit it to the Rector. B. then calculates on sl* 
 ; produce of, to him, but eighteen bairds ; and 
 undertakes to pay for this a corn rent of six. 
 The consequence is (a part of our hypothesis being 
 
 ♦ SolUoquy, p. 23. 
 
 j- Miscellaneous obsenratloiu, p. 23L 
 
 .-.-i' 
 
 ■r.« 
 
 -l-:^ 
 
 
c) 
 
 I 
 
 A ■ ;•: 
 
 |3'_ •,"-•;.?>:, - ' , - • •• ■ nft'V,-' •-.-.■<'•--.■ 
 
 tr '" ^'.T-.'ifc ■"' ' -• • ■ - • 
 
 ■i'' ■:^Pf'"- ' .^ • • • '. ;:= ;. ■ ^^r.- .•■>:' -\ 
 
 / , that the crop equals his expectation,) that he h^s, 
 
 twelve barrels, to reinburse him for the expense of 
 
 ', having cultivated for twenty; and to give him 
 
 withal that profitable surplus, which formed his 
 
 inducing object when he made the bargain.— 
 
 Now all this is as it should be. The landlord 
 
 pays the tithe; for he purchases the two barrels 
 
 j that compose it, by a reduction of his rentde- 
 
 ! mand, which he makes, as upon a produce short 
 
 j ' by a tenth, of that which the ground actually 
 
 returns. Mean while he provides his tenant with 
 
 those means of religious worship and instruction, 
 
 which if they be not the consideration, are a 
 
 / consequence of tithe. Thus I think I shall have 
 
 J the sanction of S. N. for pronouncing, that for 
 
 ' the relinquished tenth of his wheat-crop, the 
 
 lessee has both a spiritual and a temporal return : * 
 
 I the one consisting in the diminution of his rent ; 
 
 ) the other in that pastoral care which his Landlord 
 
 j has provided for him. 
 
 1 ^ - ' ' 
 
 ) But repeat the case, with this mere diversity, 
 
 that the tenant professes the Roman Catholic re- 
 ligion ; and assume the amount of his contribution 
 to his own church to be equivalent to tithe,t 
 
 * " The consideration which he" (the Roman Catholic) 
 receives, for paying his tithe, is not spiritual, but temporal."^ 
 S. N. Miscellaneous observations, p. 23. 
 
 f ^ Is not the Roman Catholic Church now, in her com- 
 ** parative adversity, receiving as much as the establishment^ 
 
 c< 
 

 
 105 
 
 After deducting a rent of six barrels, a tithe of 
 two to our establishment, and an^ offering of two ' * 
 
 more to his own, his residuum of the produce is 
 not twelve, but tern What seems to fblldW ? Not 
 merely that for his tithe he receives no spiritual 
 consideration ; but that neither does he in fact 
 receive any temporal return. The claims of his 
 own clergy are to be set off against the reduction 
 of his rent ; and he will be thus found, upon ex- 
 amination, to pay both rent and tithe; or what, '. 
 in the way of loss to him, is equivalent to this. 
 For while his bargain with the landlord relieves 
 him (by a countervailing allowance) from but a , 
 tenth, he is contributing a fifth ; — i. e. the two 
 tenths; of which one is paid to our church; and 
 the other to his own. What shall we do with 
 such a case ? For we are not to plunder the Pro- 
 testant clergyman, because the Roman Catholic 
 layman is aggrieved ; nor on the other hand are 
 we to call upon this latter, to relieve himself by a 
 mercenary recantation. We would not permit, — 
 much less require, — that he should purchase a 
 tenth of his produce, with the entire of his con- 
 science. Why then do I touch a topic, the treat- 
 
 '* Her bishops probably do not receive as much ; nor perhaps 
 " her priests in the North of Ireland. But, through the rest of 
 " the island, it is notorious, that the income of the parish 
 *' priests, and still more of their curates, is greater than that of 
 " the same ranks among the established clergy.*' — Dedans 
 First Letter t ]^. 55. ■<**- 
 
 O 
 
 w* 
 
 ~ ■ ■■ ■■>. 
 
106 
 
 ing of which does not open a prospect of correc- 
 tion ?* To this question I do not know that 1 am 
 provided with a sufficient answer. I can only 
 say, that if a matter present difficulties, it may be 
 useful to suggest them; and thus prevent our 
 mistaking what is complicated, for what is simple. 
 Or if 1 have any other apology to add, it is a wish 
 to insinuate, on behalf of my * Tracts and Topics,* 
 that if its passages be occasionally found intricate 
 and dubious, thi^ fault may be rather in my subject 
 than myself. 
 
 . Jn truth when I turn to this, and some other 
 portions of that subject, certain speculative no- 
 tions would be for starting up, if the salutary in- 
 clemency of Lord Coke did not interpose, to check 
 their growth, and the repressive arguments of 
 S. N. too " forbid them to aspire." Those (I 
 should be for saying) who assert that predial 
 tithe is private property, or perfectly analogous to 
 what, is so ; that it is not a price paid for the per- 
 formance of a public duty ; but a rent issuing from 
 all the lay land of the country, whose rendition 
 annually acknowledges a paramount title in the 
 church ;-^or else the interest upon a great national 
 mortgage, not redeemable, and coeval with the 
 
 * For again, we cannot expect that a Landlord should let to 
 a Roman Catholic, because he was so, at a lower rent, than he 
 required a Protestant to pay. Nor indeed would we wish to 
 substitute one grievance for another. 
 
107 
 
 origin of all territorial title; — those who assert this, 
 seem to stand on solid legal ground : and tp al- 
 lege nothing, which, from the bench, the judges of 
 the land could contradict. To say that tithe 
 is but a quid pro quo, and the right to it deter- 
 minable on a failure of consideration, is to take a 
 course, in which we mav have to run foul of im- 
 propriate tithes ;* and our doctrine founder in the 
 encounter. But what might the speculatist, who 
 ventured to burst legal trammels, say ? Or how 
 at least might he be disposed to moot upon the 
 subject, if mooting be not the exclusive privilege 
 of lawyers ? He might begin by pondering on 
 those complications of the case, which a consi- 
 deration of mixed and personal tithes would per- 
 haps present ; tithes arising from stock, or upon 
 the personal industry of mankind : for that may be 
 pertinent to theory, which is obsolete in practice. 
 But confining himself again to the predial demand, 
 he might observe, that the law which is insisted on 
 made the clergy mere ecclesiastical impropriators. 
 That thus a consequence might arise, which 
 scarcely admits (as has been said with truth,) of 
 being «* enunciated without a bull." In short that 
 the income of the shepherds might survive the 
 
 * As S. N. forcibly suggests, p. 46 of his Miscellaneous 
 Observations. It might perhaps be contended, that the natuee 
 of a lay impropriator's title is an exception, taken out of the 
 general rule. But this does not satisfy me. Besides, the ge- 
 neral rule is so laid down, as to preclude an argument of thft 
 above description. 
 
o 
 
 o 
 
 108 
 
 existence of the flocks>; — the legal title of the 
 Protestant Clergy to take tithe remain unaltered 
 and unalterable, though the inhabitants of the 
 country were Roman Catholics to a man :* a case 
 which, unhappily, the less resembles an extreme 
 one, (though such I am willing it should be called) 
 from the ratio in which they stand to Protestants 
 at the present day. The theory (our speculatist 
 might thus continue) which is sanctioned by the 
 law, might raise an insuperable obstacle, topropor- 
 tioning the provision for the church to the spiritual 
 wants of the nation. The wants of but one sixth 
 of that nation might be supplied ; while the entire 
 territory of the island contributed to support a 
 temple, in which five sixths of its population did not 
 worship. When tithes were established in these 
 countries, their inhabitants were all of one religion. 
 Of England this may be said to be the case at the 
 present day.t It was probably expected that such 
 would be the case in Ireland. That expectation 
 has been disappointed ; an event which, both as a 
 politician,t and (with my protestant feelings) as 
 a Christian, I must lament; although I may la- 
 ment the less, because I agree mth^thamik, that 
 we are but diverging currents, to be traced to a 
 
 * Declan's preface to the second edition of his first letter, 
 ^ xix. Tracts and Topics, p. 90. 
 
 f Assuredly, speaking in round numbers, it may be so said. 
 
 X Moi disant. 
 
■ ' 'SS7' WWi«^^-»'^V fff^"^ *_ ^ * > ^ ,^^ > • ■^^v■^^• 
 
 109 ^ 
 
 common source; which are destined, in God's own 
 time, to be united } and to flow, (as even before 
 this confluence I trust they do,) to the depths of 
 a mysteriously just, yet unfathoraably merciful sal- 
 vation. V ; ■■} 
 
 'i i ' '■■■ • ':,:■- ... ' . ? >...:■ -'c '^'-^ ,r ' _ ' ■ \ '■ _ 
 
 To Ireland alone the above observations, vafe 
 rent qitantum, would apply. They may be but 
 cavils. I almost wish they were demonstrated 
 to be so. For assuredly, (Bi least if S. N. were 
 the demonstrator) it woidd not be supposed that 
 they were made unth cavUUms intentions ; but in 
 a mere spirit of fair and unreserved disc lission. 
 
 But even assigning to the above remarks, a 
 weight to which I may perhaps hereafter dis- 
 cover that they are not entitled, yet probably any 
 theory which could be substituted in place of that, 
 which S. N. with seeming voucher of the law main- 
 tains, might teem with at once more weighty and 
 more numerous objections. In proving that in a 
 given course there is much to be condemnedj^ alas ! 
 in human concerns, we do not show that it 
 ought not to be chosen. In sublunary a£Eairs,j9a- 
 sitive good is not to be attained : that comparative 
 good, which results from a choice of evils, is all 
 that is within our reach. 
 
 Therefore whether I be a lawyer, or be not, can 
 I do better than abide by law, as it stands before 
 me in full vigour, without pushing back my in- 
 
 ■■*•. 
 
 ■#.. 
 
110 . 
 
 quiries to the periqds of its embryo state ? In- 
 quiries, to which, aller all, it is Surmise that must 
 make answer. In one of those spirited dramas, 
 with which Plato has (under the title of dia- 
 logues) supplied us,* the State is said to guide 
 our views and conduct by its laws, as the writing 
 master does his yet inexperienced scholars, by 
 lightly tjacing lines upon the tablet, upon which 
 their letters are to be formed and drawn. This 
 proves two things : first, that a practice which 
 prevailed when I was a child, prevailed above two 
 and twenty centuries ago ;t and secondly, that I 
 should do ill, in deviating from the line which has 
 been prescribed me by Lord Coke. And with 
 these two sage remarks, I abandon speculations, of 
 which the reader can scarcely be more tired, than 
 I am myself. 
 
 * Protagoras. Lest the reader should imagine that I am 
 shffooing cffi I beg to confess that this is the only one of Plato's 
 dialogues^ of which I have even read a part; with the excep- 
 tion of that account of the last moments of Socrates, which is 
 to be found in (I believe) his Phoedo. I hope indeed that, if I 
 live, Plato and I may become better acquainted. Perhaps we 
 may, even though I should not live. 
 
 «»«y««^#i;« Yfii^ut xttrti. riit v^iynvn rStf yp«^^r, «$ h xtu i 
 vihii lOfuvi vir»yficipxo-»t xntik r«vr«vf ipttyttii^Ut &C. 
 
 X In the time of Socrates. 
 
•S'5^J"'^»lyn'^Ti""?'''*^gJ';_Tffajfi,,i^^»*y* 
 
 V;v 111 :. 
 
 What I have said in my soliloquy, between 
 pages 44 and 46 inclusive, S. N. has condescended 
 to discuss; and has given it an answer, that is 
 quite satisfactory and conclusive. The semMe 
 which I have hazarded in page 45, is not one, I 
 believe, which consistently with law can be sup- 
 ported : viz. that the clergyman's title to tithe re- » 
 sembles a lien-right to tax the produce, in the oc- 
 cupant of the soil. That which was due him by 
 the land-owner, he but takes from this land-oWner's 
 agent, or lessee. He but follows the produce into 
 other hands, as a lessor follows the distress which 
 is to secure his rent. On the whole, and consider- 
 ing what my present impressions are, I cannot but 
 reflect with pleasure, on the way in which I shall 
 be found to have expressed myself, in pages 44 
 and 47.* 
 
 I am not yet as well convinced as possibly 1 shall 
 be, of the weakness of an observation, which is to 
 be found in page 24 of Tracts and Topics : — viz. ' 
 
 that when we hear of ten shillings additional rent, 
 for an acre discharged of the incumbrance of a 
 fourteen penny tithe, there must be an error in so 
 connecting this difference of price with the rector's 
 claim, as to* prove that abolition of tithe would be 
 increase of rent. Let us again suppose a case. 
 A. (the landlord) has a farm of ten acres, worth 
 
 * Tovrards the end of the former, and beginning of the 
 latter. 
 
 . I 
 
 . I 
 
^y^i 
 
 I 
 
 -I 
 
 lis 
 
 twenty shillings by the acre to a tenant, who might 
 convert the entire produce to his own u^e. But 
 it is subject to a tithe of eighteen pence an acre. 
 Accordingly he is offered but nine pounds 'five 
 shillings rent ; and this he agrees to take from B. 
 The same landlord has another immediately con- 
 tiguous farm, containing the same quantity of 
 ground, and of precisely the same acreable value ; 
 but tithe free. If B. propose to take this latter 
 farm at ten pounds, I will say that he knew from 
 the first what he was about. I will say that ex- 
 emption from tithe may be increase of rent to that 
 amount ; and that what, in abolishing the former, 
 we took from the Church, we should be giving to 
 the landlords. But if for the ten acres which are 
 tithe free, B. should offer not ten pounds, but fifteen, 
 I should find it difficult so to construe his proceed- 
 ing, as to extract from it the inference above men- 
 tioned ; viz. that a nominal abolition of tithe would 
 be really no more than an alteration of its name ; 
 and a transfer of it, under the title of rent, from the 
 rector to the squire. I should ask myself why 
 does B, pay annually five pounds fifteen, for an ex- 
 emption from the yearly payment of the odd shil- 
 lings ? If the rent of the tithe free acres were 
 augmented by the amount, or any thing like the 
 amount, of the tithe to which the neighbouring 
 acres were subject, I could go along with the argu- 
 ment that represents tithe as but another name for 
 rent- But when the difference is so great as ten 
 shillings by the acre, 1 lose sight of such reason- 
 

 113 
 
 ing ; and refer the increase to some other and 
 unknown cause. I ask myself is it that a greater^ 
 but fixed and liquidated rent, is preferred to a 
 lesser but uncertain tithe; and to valuators, and 
 the other appurtenants of this latter ?* But I do 
 not pretend to see my way. I am but like iEneas 
 and his Sybil guide. . x 
 
 •w 
 
 Jbant obscurif sold sub nocUt per umbram. 
 
 And why should I take up so much of my rea- 
 der's time, for the purpose of telling him, afler all, 
 that I am in the dark ?t 
 
 Be the matters too, through which I have been 
 groping, as they may, — for example, if valuators 
 and tithe contractors be a grievance,— if small 
 tillage farmers be, — as I fear they are — oppressed,! 
 
 * Yet see S. N. upon this subject, Misc. Obs. p. 26. — His 
 obserTations are highly pertinent and material. 
 
 f There is at all events an extent to which the argument of 
 S. N. (founded on the higher rent that tithe free land brings) 
 will undoubtedly apply ; and he observes that this is all which 
 he uses it to prove. His words are these, " All I assert is, 
 that the Irish tenantry give less for l^nd that pays tithe, than 
 for that which is tithe-free ; and that the difference is much 
 more than adequate to the charge actually made against them 
 for tithe ; and that therefore, if they knew their real interest, 
 they would not ask for an abolition of tithes." — Miscell. Observ. 
 p. 30. ; . . 
 
 X The reader will perceive, that I do not pretend to say who 
 
114, 
 
 and if the Roman Catholic peasant more especially 
 feel the pressure, yet for these evils a powerful 
 and safe corrective may have been devised, — one 
 not drawn from speculations, nor interfering with 
 vested rights; but to be found in the tithe- 
 leasing and tithe-composition acts : and if these 
 measures have been less remedial than they were 
 calculated to be, I learn from the very persuasive 
 authority of S. N. what I must say I should have 
 anticipated, and very promptly believed, that their 
 ill success is not to be imputed to the Church ; but 
 on the contrary throws a light upon the subject, 
 highly favourable to their cause. To the principle 
 of the tithe composition bill I profess myself 
 very partial; and though it may be susceptible of, 
 and require amendment, it seems to me to have 
 originated in a deep and diligent, a penetrating 
 and mature consideration, of subjects extremely 
 complicated, intricate, and obscure ; and which 
 it has treated delicately, dexterously, and circum- 
 spectly. That Bill relieves the distress of the 
 Irish peasant, by diffusing the tithe liability over a 
 
 have been their oppressors. This is more than my h'mited in- 
 formation would allow me to determine. Nay events, not per- 
 sons, may have been the causes of this oppression. That it 
 exists S. N. admits. — Inquiry, p. IS, and Miscel. Observ.p. 21. 
 In pages 27 and 28, while he does me the honour of noticing a 
 statement which I had made, S. N. may be thought to throw 
 some light upon the question, whence the oppression comes. — 
 See also p. 40, 41. 
 
'^^!yS>i!r>';^#?7' ">" . . . V'''V;7-."^".fv'5'<-'y<'«''>vlvf .-■'... • ,^'» i»?r^^ ■ -. ■:: 
 
 .*115 
 
 wider surface; while it leaves the amount of the 
 demand no greater than it was before. And such 
 withal is the nature and character of this diffusion, 
 that the stagnant weight which it withdraws from 
 penury, it distributes over means that are better 
 able to sustain it. 
 
 If the tenant does not pay the tithe, this pay- 
 ment cannot be injurious to him. But if this be 
 so, let me in passing ask, what need had he of those 
 corrective benefits, which the Tithe Composition 
 Bill conferred, — unless we admit the principle, 
 that the distress which originated in his relation 
 of tenant, should be removed in his capacity of 
 parishioner, if consistently with the interests of the 
 church this could be done? Again, though we. 
 assume the tenant, as things stand, to pay the 
 tithe, yet if whatever was taken from the tithe 
 would be added to his rent, he can have no in- 
 terest in the reduction of the former. 
 
 S. N. thinks, that in his bargain, the Irish tenant 
 guards against the tithe ; and he gives examples of 
 his shrewdness.* He certainly is a somewhat 
 anomalous composition. His mind's eye is as mi- 
 croscopic, with regard to the points which touch 
 his interest, and are immediately around himj — as 
 it is incomprehensive of the spacious field of more 
 cultivated reason. With htm, Experience me- 
 
 * Page45. 
 
:45 
 
 ^ - . ■■■ ■■■ ■ ■ ■ -• :;'^;^o- 
 
 ■- ■ ••.•■-.• t ■:.-'■ 
 
 ■■■■■ • - :-i--: - .■ .x- 
 
 116 
 
 chanically discharges many of the i1ltellectua^func- 
 tions \ and he is withal inspired with a sort of in- 
 ^<stinct, which hits the mark,— he himself does not 
 well know how or why. 
 
 ft 
 
 But S. N. admits, that the peasant attributes the 
 misery of his situation to the demand of tithe.* 
 Now if he had been sharp enough, when bargain- 
 ing, to take tithe into account, would he be after- 
 wards simpleton enough to suppose that *' the 
 money which he gave the clergyman was his own?t 
 or that the payment was ruining him, which he 
 was making with his landlord's money, not his 
 own? Would he not on the contrary perceive ^ 
 that it was on the side of rent, that the shoe was 
 pinching so severely ? 
 
 S. N. describes him as neglectful, " unthink- 
 ing,'*$ «« not apt to reflect on any thing."|l But 
 even if the case were otherwise, are there not 
 powerful obstacles in the way of his indemnifying 
 himself against tithes, when he is bargaining ibr 
 the land ? First, neither the future season, nor 
 the future valuator, are parties to this bargain \ 
 
 • P. 86, 37. t P. 21. X P. 24.. 
 
 IJ P. 21. — S. N. admits the general improvidence of the 
 Irish farmer. He admits not only that it may be true that he 
 has, in a particular instance, agreed to pay a higher rent than 
 the land was worth, but that this class always engage to pay 
 rents higher than they ought, p. 43, 44<. — In page 30 too, he 
 observes that the Irish tenantry do not know their real interest. 
 
H^'.»»;s»-/ .;--[^>-i:y, ;>?,«-.. "-■••.= i.-.-.K*" < . -2 "5 fi% --.■ T.-.r^-yK'- <r-.-^:!i.:~^f 
 
 and thus he din ill pronounce what degree of rent 
 reduction will indemnify him ; or how far his crops 
 will give a surplus^profit, that shall bear the ^- 
 mands against them. Again, he is in urgent wipt 
 of the land ; and he has many competitors. Thys 
 he has neither time, nor wish, nor means for mak- 
 ing the necessary indemnifying calculations and 
 deductions. While he was about them, he would 
 be out-bid.* ; . ^ • 
 
 But the difference between the rents of land 
 tithe subject and tithe free, shows that he does 
 make these calculations, and obtain this reduc- 
 tion. I doubt this much. 
 
 , '-■ ■■•■ • ' ' " ■/■■■--, ■■■;■■ 
 
 If this difference were about equal to the amount 
 of tithe-demand, it might better lead to the infe« 
 rence contended for. But it greatly exceeds this 
 amount. It exceeds it in the proportion of ten 
 shillings to fourteen pence. This makes the offer 
 of so exorbitant an advance, resemble rather the 
 result of a strong dislike and panic dread of the 
 tithe-claim, than of cool and provident calculation. 
 It seems more an act of feeling than of thought. 
 Such a feeling of aversion, if it existed, would not, 
 I admit, prove that the thing so hated was odious 
 in fact* We live in such an ill and perversely 
 
 * And see 3* N. top of page 21. 
 t S. N. p. 36. 
 
 * 
 
 -.->-.■. 
 
n 
 
 ^■< 
 
 w 
 
 
 'i ■ 
 
 J, 
 
 t ; ■:^'?ri.,T5;.s«'i?g-.>3"«^3? %:Syii 
 
 118 
 
 judging world, that it might go but little, if any 
 way to dembnstrate this. But at least it would 
 seem to show that we could not argue from the 
 assumption, that what arose from mere prejudice 
 was the deliberate consequence of reflection. 
 
 If the Irish tenant were sharp enough to deduct 
 from the rent of ground tithe-subject, what would 
 countervailingly protect him from this tithe, 
 would he not be acute enough to decline paying 
 for the land that was tithe-free, a greater increase 
 of rent than was equal to the value of this exemp- 
 tion? 
 
 But it is said, that in consenting to pay this ^ 
 seemingly disproportionate advance, he is taking 
 into account, not merely the thirtieth that is, but 
 the tenth that miffht be, demanded by the Church. 
 
 Now, would not this be an ill speculation for 
 any man to act on ? Would it not be incurring 
 a certain loss, on the chance of a reimbursement, 
 possible perhaps, but as improbable as past expe- 
 rience could make it ? At ail events, is not this 
 exactly the sort of speculation, on which an Irish 
 peasant would not act ? 
 
 Allow me here to say, that I never meant to 
 intimate, that the obligations which a clergyman is 
 under to the Public, or his liability to deprivation 
 for not performing these, made the payments 
 
m 
 
 which he called for, more burtbensome than they 
 otherwise would be.* I was moulding this state 
 of things to an argumentative purpose of a dif- 
 ferent kind. I had the sanction of S. N. for hoi- 
 ding, that "tithe is received by the clergy, on 
 condition of the performance of certain duties."t 
 In attempting to build upon the possition, that 
 their title was originally distingui^ed from that 
 of private proprietors, by the public duties to 
 which clerical proprietorship was appended, I 
 seem to have been led too far ; and to have eift- ^ 
 croached upon certain grounds and principles of 
 law, on which the established clergy have a right 
 to make a stand. Yet let it be remembered, that 
 iK^hat I constructed was not a doctrine ; but a 
 doubt. A doubt which though it might want a 
 legal, had a seemingly reasonable foundation (or at 
 least excuse,) in the wretchedness of our popula- 
 tion ; in the so violent and so widely diffused t 
 dislike of tithes ; in the reality of annoyance 
 which some of their appurtenants might pro- 
 duce ; § in the state of our national religions, 
 and the anomalous effects of such a state ; in 
 much, in short, that is connected with this com- 
 plicated subject ; and which it cannot be neces- 
 sary that I should here repeat 
 
 ♦S.N. p. 55. t Ibid. p. 45. 
 
 t Yet perhaps unfairly and cuningly excited ; and founded 
 on misrepresentation. 
 
 f Tithe farmers, valuators, &c. &c. 
 
 -r-.; 
 
 ^: 
 
^^M- ^'S 
 
 ISO 
 
 I know not only that the candour of S. N. will tak^ 
 in good part what I am about to add, but that he 
 will give me credit for perfect sincerity, in saying 
 th^t (allowing for the inherent fallibility of our 
 nature) 1 believe him throughout consistent ; and 
 that if in any rare instance he seems the contrary, 
 he does but seem so, and probably but to me. 
 Accordingly, if he favour his readers with any 
 further discussion, on the important subject which 
 he has been treating, he probably will, with the 
 kindness and condescension which he has shown 
 already, correct whatever error and misapprehen- 
 sion I may have fallen into. 
 
 I find then — something like incongruity be*> 
 tween the passage which I have just extracted^ 
 and one in page 51, where it is asked <*if the 
 right to tithe had any connexion with a stipula^ 
 tion to pay a price in return for the grant ?" and 
 one again, to be found in page 55, where it is 
 said that ** the Protestant clergy are neither paid 
 ** by the Roman Catholics, nor by the Laity of 
 " their own persuasion." 
 
 The case of impropriate tithes unquestionably 
 goes to sustain the two last positions which I 
 have extracted; but seems to conflict with that 
 one which preceded them, in which tithe is said 
 to be " received by the clergy, on condition of 
 the performance of certain duties." * 
 
 IP I ■ ■ I II — ■ i III. " ■!.■ — . ) <■■-. — I fc» ■ ■■ II I I ■ ■ -^■. ^mM til »<ii.^» y 
 
I am not overlooking the distinctive force of 
 the words •* btf the Clergy :" but the doubt which, 
 as to this part of the argument, is still haunting 
 me, is this: whether a difference be not thus ac- 
 knowledged, between the case of clergy and 
 impropriators, which admits the latter to be an 
 exceptioli from some general rule; and thus 
 makes ai^uments, which are drawn from impro- 
 priate tithes, somewhat open to the objectton of 
 being from particular to universal.* 
 
 jj V 
 
 . m-- 
 
 Possibly I am but labouring under a misappre- 
 hension, which S. N* can ea»ly remove ; and 
 even though some incongruity should exbt in the 
 subject matter, and unavoidably become visible 
 in treating it, I ask no more than to turn this 
 to an excuse, fox some of those doubts and hesi- 
 tations which my soliloquy contsuns. .^^'^^^'i^ :S"- \ 
 
 - ■ • - 
 
 I^ me add, that if S. N. be (as he may be) 
 right, that what ceased to be tithe, would revive 
 immediately against the tenant in the form of 
 rent, all his arguments ab tncanvenienH seem stt 
 once let in. The whole of tithe is paid to resi- 
 dents. Much of the rent into which it was chan- 
 ged, might go to absentees. The former would 
 produce some return to him who paid it The 
 latter would be as unproductive as seed sown cm 
 the sandy shore. 
 
 ♦ Sec p. 46, 51, 56. 
 
- ■■•• ■»-'-S''^7A 
 
 1^2 * 
 
 ) ■ . 
 
 I thus have stated the only points, on which, 
 perhaps unreasonably, but not from ob$tinacy„ 
 I cling with any thing like strength to my original 
 opinions, (as compared with those of my ppwerr 
 ful auxiliary, not opponent,) or over which there 
 still appears to hang any thing of obscurity or 
 doubt. This sentence, like the sword of Cato, 
 «* in a moment brings me to my end ;" * a)id ; 
 brings, for a paiiagraph or two, before my readers, 
 a person much more deserving of their attention. 
 
 If I understand the case which S.N. has so 
 ably stated, it is this.t 
 
 Pirst, that tithe is not an impost on the pro- 
 duce of the soil, in the hands of those by whose 
 capital, skill, and industry, it had been raised ;— 
 nay that it is not properly any deduction from the 
 fruits of these ; but that the right of the Church 
 Establishment, to tithe, is proprietary, and inde- 
 feasable; that it existed long before those leases 
 
 * I cannot add, 
 
 while Rock informs me I shall never die. 
 
 He on the contrary impliedly assures me I am de^d already. 
 By Rock I m^an (through the license of Poetry, or the coer* 
 cion of Metre,) the biographer of Ruck ; to whose talents I 
 may say (for I am an Irishman) that I have always rendered 
 partial justke. 
 
 f And if I do not, the fault is mine ; for the statement is 
 perspicuous in the extreme. 
 

 ' ■ - ' ■ ■ y " , 
 
 came into being, on the faith of which each te- 
 nant-occupier of the soil has tilled: that their 
 ground came to them tithe-subject ; and this with 
 their full knowledge; and accompanied with a 
 right and power to indemnify themselves for those 
 liabilities of their landlord, which they were in- 
 curring for him: that the Clergy are the first 
 incumbrancers on all our tillage ground: that 
 whethjer land has descended, or been devised, ,|- 
 
 whether it has been conveyed to purchasers, or 
 freely given, — it has come tithe-charged to each ^% 
 
 of its successive owners; and that if we ask the 
 date of that early grant, by which this incum- 
 brance was created, the answer is, that it is coeval 
 with th(3 establishment of our political constitu- 
 tion ; with reference to which, the church is not 
 to be considered " as a thing heterogeneous and 
 ♦< separable ; but on the contrary as holding with 
 ** it an indissoluble union."* Such appears to me 
 to be the view taken by S. N. ; and any floating 
 doubts which I may have harboured or expressed, 
 have subsided into an opinion that this view is a 
 correct one; and that if such a theory present 
 some anomalies in its detail, the same thing may 
 be said of ev^y complicated system: perhaps 
 of every comprehensive one, which is of merely ' 
 
 human fabrick. ' 
 
 Secondly, — and in the way of corollary, — S. N. 
 contends, that all compulsory interference with 
 
 * Burke. f ■ 
 

 
 
 the title of our clergy to demand their tithe, is, 
 in the degree of such interference, an invasion oi' 
 vested rights ; a \'iolation of that security of pro- 
 perty, which is one of the most fundamental 
 principles of the constitution. That such inter- 
 ference meddles with " a property which has been 
 ** taken from no man : with an estate which is 
 *< identified with the mass of those private pos- 
 *' sessions, of which the State is not the owner ; 
 •* but the guardian merely.*'* 
 
 Thirdly this writer, (to whom I am indebted for 
 information, as well as for too kind encomium) 
 takes some pains to show, that if the tenant be 
 distressed, yet tithe is not his grievance ; nor the 
 clergyman his oppressor : that rent is what weighs 
 him down ; and that his landlbrd is therefore the 
 person of w^hom he should complain.t 
 
 Fourthly he conceives, that though an effectual 
 abolition of tithe were conceded to be a legal, and 
 an eligible proceeding, yet that in attempting to 
 abolish, we might be found but to transmute. 
 That we should merely prescribe to tithe, whither 
 it should henceforth go ; and what it should be 
 called : that its name hereafter should be rent ; 
 and that, desecrated, it should swell the coders of 
 
 * Burke. 
 
 f Our landlords, I fear,4i^«fit«D)f jpoprer than our Church ; 
 but scarcely rich enough to iRidceJdi ih« sacrifices which the 
 peasant's case requires, 
 
■ '■. ' ^ :'■ '" " -r^ -k' : •^■.P^" ' ■:■■'*:■'■- --■.. ^" '• '" ■' ■ V ■.- ■. -• v'^ "^ r" • 
 
 . ...,'. ,- - ■ ■ . . r ■ ■ ■ - - \- ■ - - i ■ - ■ ■ * ^-- .*'.■**,- •; .. .. 
 
 ,v ., ■■■:'.-• ■' ■ . . '• . ..-...■- ■ - --• - - . - -■ -. - -f ■- . *f - '.' ^^ ".'<■"'■'•" 
 
 >•■: ■ —--■•. ■ ■■■ ... .- ... r-v>::v-.:,y<,:.:r.> :...;...■ ^. ,."■■■ ^>fc^,-v 
 
 the landlord : but that still the purse of the ^idi' 
 husbandman should be drained; and evm mmt 
 completely drained, than it was before. c t'ihr : 
 
 If S.N. establish his first proposition, (from 
 the truth of which, that of the second cannot be 
 severed,) we have no right to call upon him to 
 go further. But it well became him to protest 
 against the conclusion, that the Clergy, in ass^r- 
 ting a legal right, were perpetrating a public cru- 
 elty and nuisance^ and while they kept a foot on 
 the prostrate peasant's neck, were merely demon- 
 strating that such uncharitable rigour was ** their 
 charter." He had a right to argue, and if within 
 his power, to show, that the tithe owner, by in- 
 sisting strenuously on his right, was so far from 
 obstructing the relief of the peasantry of this 
 country, that he was resisting an innovation, 
 which had not even the poor merit of being nuga- 
 tory ; but which, on the contrary, would aggra- 
 vate the evil which it professed to cure. 
 
 Upon the speculations which constitute this 
 part of S. N's. argument, I do not pretend to 
 form a definitive opinion. They relate to facts 
 which may be controverted, and inferences which 
 may be disputed. Above all, they are conver- 
 sant about what is contingent; about what 
 might, if a certain course were taken, be here- 
 after ; and therefore they must be more or less 
 conjectural in their nature. But, as I have alrea- 
 
 .,.v 
 
A;. K"-?? 'V , K 
 
 * ■. , » 
 
 126 
 
 dy^ granted, they aifi not necessary to S. N*s. pur- 
 pose, unless his first proposition be encountered 
 with success* They are merely meant to sbow^ 
 that rights, of which he is asserting the theory, 
 will not be rigorous in practice. 
 
 To return (a miserable falling off) to myself. 
 In my inquisitive progress, — or rather regress, — 
 to the source of those titles which I. was. investi- 
 gating, I addressed myself to certain Oracles of our 
 law 'y whose responses sent me back to modern 
 times ; and, as to a proprietary right in tithe, 
 vouched the theories of S. N. Nor did the States- 
 man differ from the Lawyer. On the contrary, I 
 found the doctrines of Lord Coke nearly echoed by 
 Mr. Burke. Nay, when this latter perceived me 
 qualmish, from a rising doubt, whether the rules 
 by which the property of the church is governed 
 now, did not swerve from those principles in 
 which its claims might be supposed to have origi- 
 nated, he calmed my scruples by an assurance that 
 this was not the case : that Jieri debuerat quod 
 hodie factum valet: that what the Law had 
 done, a wise and Christian Statesman woul^, a 
 priori^ aim to do. 
 
 Under such circumstances, and prescribed to by 
 such Authorities, 
 
 viJiat can I more, but decently retire,* 
 
 * Swift. 
 
,*■-:■ 
 
 and surrender such discussions into abler 
 hands? 
 
 But I am committing the opposite to that fault 
 which Horace once condemned.* The urceus has 
 swollen to an amphora, under my enlarging hands. 
 Let me at least recollect that the last word of 
 the classic line is exit. In a word then, I meant 
 to be concise : I fear I have been prolix : but I 
 have done. 
 
 • De arte poet. 1. 22. 
 
 t 
 
 
 ':-i 
 

 >'rn 
 
' ;;^ri^.':;<;; 
 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 Note A. 
 
 The present crisis has produced, not only what a reader may 
 slumber over ; but nnich that will keep him, to good and plea- 
 sant purposes, awake. Some of these productions are con- 
 sidered by E. Barton as gamples of excellent writing. But he. 
 may be partial in his judgment of publications, in some of which 
 he has been treated with uncommon kindness. Quaere indeed 
 whether there be any^ which have not, upon the whole, treated 
 him with more consideration, than his hasty tracts, and very 
 moderate ability deserved? 
 
 Note B. 
 
 The Author of * Observations occasioned by tlie letter of 
 J. K. L/ is entitled to the greater praise for' liberality, because 
 E. B. had given him ofienoe. Unintentionally, it is true ; but 
 by means of very incautiouls and slovenly expression^ He 
 saw, for a moment, the construction to Which the passage led ; 
 and was very near being fortunate enough to have it corrected 
 while at press. He now can only say,^r£/, that he did not 
 mean to apply the term " Bigot" individually to the Author of 
 the Observations ; nor secondly^ to use it in its most reproach- 
 ful sense. Tliat it has a milder signification, may be seen 
 from, a letter of Mr. Gray; who applies this epithet to Madame 
 
 ■^K'- 
 

 ;i 
 
 130 
 
 " - ■ i 
 
 de Maintenon, while he is making highly faYOurable mention of 
 her. By the way (and a little out of the way) in entertaining 
 and expressing a grateful sense of kindhess, I am following 
 neither the fashion of the day, nor the particular examples 
 which have been set me. In three instances, — in two of which 
 I had sown kindness, — and courtesy in the third, — I cannot 
 boast of having reaped any thing mure palatable than sheer 
 
 neglect. I guess who was the ,♦ and who was the 
 
 abettor, that in each case interfered with the crop, not above 
 board, but under ground. As for the negligents, they are pri- 
 vate individuals, or very nearly so. 
 
 Note C. 
 
 * Observations occasioned by the letter of J. K. L.' second 
 edition, pages 32 and 34>. — ' Miscellaneous Observations by 
 S. N.' pages 17, 18, 35, 39, 51, 52, 57. — I agree with the au- 
 thor of the former Tract, (p. 34) that he who labours — or ex- 
 pects—to please every one, is as half witted as the traveller 
 who carried his own ass ; and likely to rival not only the good- 
 nature of that wiseacre, but his success. To obtain the praise 
 of one critic (so various are men's judgments) is generally to 
 secure the disapprobation of another. The Author of the 
 * Complete Exposure,* — whom I now perhaps may call E. 
 Barton's unknown friend, — bestows high commendation on his 
 first production :t and contrasts its merits with the subsequent 
 supposed falling off which he laments. On the contrary the 
 writer who smiles so pleasantly over this essayists partialities to 
 a clair de lune, declares (indiscriminately) that " in the various 
 " tracts, of which he has been of late prolific, one knows not 
 " whether more to admire the genius, or lament the want of 
 ♦'judgment, by which they are almost equally distinguished." 
 
 * The first letter of this word is blotted. But it must be T ; for H. I, 
 £. F. are the other four. 
 
 \ Recent Scenes. 
 

 151 
 
 .;~:-'r:>t' ',■■;" 
 
 £. B/s self-knowledge compels him to disclaim the genius' 
 which is thus attributed; while self-love leads him to deny the 
 want of judgment which is imputed. To do so on his own 
 authority, might be to produce an incompetent witness in his 
 defence. But may he not deny it, on the unquestionably high 
 authority of S. N. ? Is that man utterly destitute of judgment, 
 and exhibiting to public compassion the mere picturesque ruins 
 of " a mind o'erthrown,** — whom S. N. describes as showing 
 himself " eminently qualified to search for truth;** and of whom 
 in various other passages he has made such kind and honorable 
 mention; conferring an obligation which, I trust, E. B. is inca- 
 pable of forgetting? Surely, after every fair allowance for the 
 kindly exaggerations of Good Nature and Good Breeding, 
 there will remain abundantly enough in these testimonials of 
 S. N., to rescue their object from the imputation of being ut- 
 terly consiU expers. 
 
 Note D. < 
 
 The Bear of Bradwardine ; who made his — rather rough 
 than hostile — appearance in the pages of Declan's preface to the ' 
 second edition of his first letter ; into which, however, the 
 aforesaid Bruen would not have made his entry, if their author 
 had but known that E. Barton had as little to say to the writing, 
 as to the producing of the state of Ireland ; and therefore did 
 not, on this ground, require a licking. Declan says of " Tracts 
 and Topics," that he feels it " not to be a great performance." 
 In this feeliug E. B. most fully and unaffectedly agrees. But 
 D. proceeds to call it " a great effort." 1 doubt whether this 
 description be as just, as it is kind. It required neither effort, 
 time, nor power, merely to ** submit questions, and insinuate 
 doubts ;" and it is at once the fault and the apology of' Tracts 
 and Topics,' that this is what that pamphlet meant and pro- 
 fessed to do. — See its motto and its preface. Declan, whom 
 I hope I miy call the friend, and who manifestly is not the 
 enemy of E. Barton, — represents this latter as *' saying of him- 
 self, that his ultimate opinion will be a sound and strong one ;"^ 
 
, .!•■.-.'»«■ 
 
 la^ 
 
 A: 
 
 and adverts most kindly to a recent tract, in auppwt and vout 
 cher of such an-expectation> On this I have to suggest, that 
 £. B. onlyjputs the matter hypothetioally ; and admits the by* 
 pothesis to be one, which Amour Propre had inspired. His 
 words are these. *' If 1 be capable of ultim^ately forming a 
 *' sound and strong opinipinj (aqd selfrlova indulges a conjecture 
 that the case is so,) yet," &c. Secondly I wquld observe, that 
 if we were to assume that £. Barton is Harg. 0'BrieA,-^-and 
 to concur in Declan's favourable opinion of the <* I^eflectiona 
 on the Lieutenancy of the Marquess Wellesley,''^t must 
 seem that those intellectual ruins, which, by *< the glimpses of 
 the moon," E. Barton's pages had disclosed, — forming a Per- 
 sepolis over which one of their critics almost wept,* tliat tl^^se« 
 I say, had undergone a speedy and complete repair. 
 
 " Note E, 
 
 By the way, E. Barton's publications seem, in more in^ 
 stances than one, to have procured him the reputation of con- 
 nexions, which he cannot boast of. Soon after the appearance 
 of Recent Scenesy he received a letter, in which the following 
 passage was contained : ** You have defended your Jriend 
 Flunket con amore, and with complete effect." Now E. B. 
 can barely claim to be the acquaintance, and has no groiiDd for 
 pretending to be the intimate of Mr. Plunket. At most they 
 are but what I have heard called intimate strangers ; whose 
 meetings are rare and accidental, without any endeavour ta 
 make them more certain or more frequent ; but who, with an 
 innocent simulation of familiarity, shake hands and smile, 
 when these non quater anno interviews occur. For twenty 
 years E. B. has not been within Mr. Plunket's doors ; nor is 
 likely to be so for his life, though he should have the misfor- 
 tune of living twenty yea;rs more. He even doubts whether. 
 
 * Observations occasioned \fy the. letter oC J, K. L. second edition. 
 

 - - ' ■ , y 
 
 133 
 
 for the by -gone score, he is indebted to that learned and tAam 
 quent gentleman for so much as a frank. Indeed two or three 
 intimacies of Mr. P.'s, — if not too congruous or compatible 
 amongst themselves, seem however insuperable bars to his 
 seeking one with E. B. ; who on the other hand has been 
 always " too proud to importune" for this, or any other the 
 like boon. The only application which he perhaps ever made, 
 (and it was not of a personal or private nature,) terminated two 
 years ago, in an altogether lame and impotent conclusion ; on 
 which any thing might be founded, rather than an inference 
 that his opinions had weight with Mr. P. He felt sorry 
 for a failure, which has, as he conceives, engendered mischief 
 since. Thus any support which E. B. may subsequently have 
 given to Mr. P. (if indeed he can be considered to have ren- 
 dered any) has not been given ** with forward, or reverted 
 eyes," of gratitude, or expectation ; or under any of the cordiat 
 influences, which kind and familiar intercourse inspires. £. 6. 
 thought him (and the opinion is unchanged) an able and well- 
 intentioned public man ; against whom a party cry was loudly 
 and unjustly raised. His case connected itself with the topics 
 which were treated of in Recent Scenes ; and their author ac- 
 cordingly and impartially entered on his defence, with a zeal, 
 less indulged on behalf of Mr. Pluakett, than of Truth. 
 Whetbfir the latter will requite Iiim, She and Time may tell. 
 As lot Mr. P. — rwho is. somewhat timid, and somewhat friendr* 
 pecked, (if I may coin a word) he dare not, if he wmldt make 
 that return, — which c(Hi8ists in a cultivating manifestation of 
 cordial liking and esteem; and which a proud mind is so &r 
 from being called: on to reject, that it must o« the e<MitFary 
 perceive something akin to contemptuous slight, in the omission 
 to tender such friendly, unsordid, and mutually honourable re- 
 quital; a requital by so much' the more justly d«c, the more in- 
 dependent and di^nterested was the advoeatism which pro- 
 duced it. But what would Mentagtie or €aputek,wfaat would 
 Mammon or the House of Belial say to this? What they 
 have said: these wkh sleek insinuation ; that with corrosive sneer.. 
 

 
 * ^ 
 
 134 
 
 Non — Sfcet : , but some they do ; and amongst these i» 
 
 Mr. Plunket. 
 
 . Note F. 
 
 E. B. cannot go quite tlie length of saying that he did not 
 •write one word of the Sketch of the State of Ireland. He did 
 Vffite one, and only one ; (he records the facb for its sin- 
 gularity ;) and that one word was, not his favourite quasi^ but 
 " alntfist" It occurred in the encomium on Swift ; and was 
 introduced on account of the panegyric on Mr. Grattan, which 
 ' ' a subsequent page contained. The passage originally, as he 
 
 recollects, stood thus : — " her first, her last;"* and the inter- 
 polation of * almost' was after the second of those four words. 
 This addition certainly clumsied the sentence a good deal ; 
 and distorted it from its likeness to the style of Tacitus. But 
 sentence and distortion have both vanished from the edition 
 published in 1822 ; and with them may be said to have disap- 
 peared.the last memorial of connexion, between £. B. and the 
 person for whom he has had the honour of being mbtaken. 
 
 Note G. 
 
 ■ The following are instances of mere fortuitous coincidence. 
 They can be no more : for E. Barton could not copy from an 
 original yet unborn ; and Captain Rock would not imitate what 
 «? he appears to have despised. I am — in making such collations 
 
 — renewing the classical infanda of Mezentius ; and linking 
 the bloom of life to Death and its poUutions.f For the knelt 
 of E. Barton has been some time rung \X and the merry peal, 
 
 * Viz. Ireland's 6rst Patriot; and her last, 
 •f" Mortua gum etiam jungebat corpora w/w.'— Virgil. 
 \ The Captain honoured the obsequies with his flinty presence. See page 
 249, for the funeral sermon wbicl^ he preached : and in which he warned 
 the friends of the defunct Ephemeral, against expecting for him 
 '^■'_ '■"■ ' that life to come in every writer s creed. 
 
W^A 
 
 
 ' i. 
 
 135 
 
 
 which now salutes the ear, announces the entry of Captain 
 Rock on public notice ; and his accession to that xri^iet 15 ««, 
 an imperishable fame. In the mean time the parallels, which 
 I am about to give, may show, on behalf of (oh, breathe not 
 his name !) the poor departed pamphleteer, that to thoughts to 
 which the Captain has condescended, he occasionally soared. 
 
 Pajsallels. 
 The fine linen, worn by those who are to gain a victory over 
 the beast, is an evident allusion to the staple manufactufe of 
 Ireland ; while the harps which Ahey bear are no less evidently 
 intended to represent the provincial arms of Leinster. — Captain 
 Rocky p,l y published in 1824. . , 
 
 He considered Armageddon to signify Armagh ; in discuss- 
 ing the probability of >phich, he dwelt upon the quantity of fine 
 linen which its neighbourhood could supply ; upon the saintly 
 character of Erin ; the celestial nature of its ancient crown ;* 
 and the harps which formed the primitive music of our coun- 
 try. — E. Barton, Apologetic Postscript , p. 57, puhiished in 1823. 
 
 Archbishop Magee would not at this moment have been 
 throwing six millions' of people into convulsions, with an an- 
 tithesis. — CR.p. 13. 
 
 I think our Metropolitan fell into a mistake ; that Antithesis 
 was the guide, by whose allurements he was misled; and that 
 he wandered into assertions not warranted by the truth ; and 
 too well calculated to wound, in almost the tenderest point, 
 those with whom we ought to be in cordial charity. — £. Barton, 
 Recent Scenes, p. S2, published early in 1823. 
 
 O sanctas gentes, quibus hsec nascuntur in hortis 
 Numina! — C. R. p. 18, E. B, Miracles, p. 79, 
 
 * It was of the kind which heralds term celestial. 
 
@. 
 
 136 
 
 C7> 
 
 ep 
 
 ETCiy new governor is provided with a secretary to differ 
 with him for the tone being ; and both receive their instruc- 
 tions from a cabinet^ not one member of which agrees with 
 BAotber.-^C. R. p. 33. 
 
 The first parallel which I shall give to the above, is from 
 Harg. O'Brien ; the second from E. Barton. 
 
 To a Viceroy his Chief Secretary is made a counterpoise. 
 Earl Talbot, Mr. Grant ; Lord Wellesley, Mr. Goulburn. I 
 do not see the wisdom of malcing a Lord Lieutenant and hisr 
 Secretary represent the divisions of the Cabinet, rather than 
 the energies of the State. — Lieutenancy rf the Marquess Weh 
 lesleyt p. 17. 
 
 Great as Lord Wellesley 's intellect may be, how shall its 
 pow«is8 avail us, if it be not they in fact which regulate and 
 comnaDd ? If he be not seconded, and sustained ? If, on the 
 contrary, he be impeded and controlled ? ♦ •» * When 
 the mists of this but morning of our new administration have 
 cleared away, I trust we shall perceive the members of our 
 government, not crossing each others*^ paths ; &c. &c, — 
 E. B. Recent Scenes, p. 189, 1'90, 191. 
 
 When Love could teach a monarch to be wise, 
 And Crospel light first dawned from. BuHto's eyes. 
 
 E. B: SoHioquy, p, V2\. C. R.p. 37. 
 
 If Pope had been born a Munster Papist, instead of a Lon- 
 don one, he would have been voted an irreclaimable brute.— 
 C. R. p. 121. 
 
 The Roman Catholics, when taxed with besotted ignorance, 
 as inherent in their fiuth, presume to take credit for the pages 
 of Dryden and of Pope ; a couple of Papists, of whom the Pro- 
 testant reader may possibly have heard. For Pope, as seemed 
 to suit his name, was Popish. — E, Bk Seliloqui^, p* 1^. 
 
 m- 
 
WYxfy^^^l 
 
 :-ti:^ ''■:■■- : '"^S ■_ ^'.':::-'^^'■ 
 
 '■fS^K'.■t ■': 
 
 137 
 
 '-i*^ 
 
 The penal code (said Burke) " was a machine of wise and 
 elaborate contrivance ; and as well fitted for the oppression, 
 impoverishment, and degradation of a people, and the debase- 
 ment, in them, of human nature itself, as ever proceeded from 
 ,the perverted ingenuity of man." — E. B. Soliloquy^ p. 102. 
 C.R. 122. 
 
 These exclusionists would turn the law to a dead or dormant 
 letter. They would strangle in their birth, those privileges 
 which have been given to Roman Catholics by the Constitution ; 
 and pervert its boons to tantalizing disappointments. They 
 push their fellow subjects from the very stools on which the Law 
 would let them sit. These bigots, if the penal code were in 
 full vigour, would resist the most qualified relaxation of its 
 theory ; the slightest mitigation of its practical effects. — Lieu- 
 fenanci/ of Marquess WeUesley, p 86, 87.* 
 
 Let us keep some of our execrations for those persons, (they 
 are neither obscure nor few) who at this moment sigh after the 
 good old penal times ; and try to infuse into every remaining 
 fragment of that polypus of persecution, the same pestilent life 
 that pervaded the whole. — C.R. p. 123. 
 
 May I not hope, that, like our namesakes the Romans^ we 
 shall be hailed throughout all time, Romanos, rerum dominos ' — 
 C.R.p, 129. 
 
 Horace too, who though not a Catholic, was a Roman, found 
 himself in a similar predicament.— £. B. Soliloquy, p. 119. 
 
 * I am continuing, against the Captain, the barbarous practice of Mezen- 
 tius : rAortua quin etiam, ^eet. 1 am now bringing him into contact with 
 the still -bom, or as some will have it, the birth-strangled offspring of Harg. 
 O'Brien. Edward the Fifth and his brother were smothered with pillows 
 in the tower. TTiese brethren (the English and the Irish one) are not ru- 
 moured to have been cushioned there. 
 
 ^ 
 

 . y- 
 
 o 
 
 
 ' 138 ' 
 
 Nor could all the pains taken by the government in 1745, 
 and on other occasions, to persuade the Captain's father and 
 his family (here standing for the Roman Catholic lower 
 orders of Ireland) that they were notorious rebels, produce any 
 overt act that at all resembled such a propensity. — C R.p. 139. 
 
 Are those pains wisely taken, of which the object seenls to 
 be, to convince and satisfy the Roman Catholics of Ireland, that 
 they are neither more nor less than permanent and incor- 
 rigible traitors ?—E. B. Recent Scenes^ p. 9. 
 
 The tenths paid to the Levites are a ceremonial* of the Jew- 
 ish Law, which, together with its other ceremonials, was set 
 aside by the Gospel. — C. R.p.\9l» 
 
 Christians do not live under the law of Moses ; and thereforo 
 cannot well cite as authority, an item o^ its provisions. — E. B. 
 Soliloquy^ p. 53. 
 
 The grant has been made, and a right thereby instituted, 
 which, whatever may be the consequences, mat ccelum, cannot 
 be recalled. — C. R. p. 205. 
 
 The clergy will never so address the State ; nor cite a senti- 
 ment which ends so ominously, as with ruat ccelum. ^E. B. So- 
 liloquy ^ p. 67. 
 
 E. Barton and Captain Rock both appear to have been ac- 
 quainted with Astolpho. He makes his appearance ia the 
 Rhapsody, p. 80, and'the Memoirs, p. 206. 
 
 Not meaning, I presume, that such names as Fenelon and 
 Sir Thomas More are to be erased altogether from the 
 page of Christianity. — C. R. p. 256. 
 
 ■ ' — :j^- 
 
 * A ceremonial ! 
 
 '^''S . 
 
 '■-'■fc. 
 
■ ■ ^^vp'l'-^f^'^^fv^? , y^'^'^'^'i ^Wyff^^':y 
 
 
 I scruple to concur in considering Massillon and Fenelon, 
 Bourdaloue and Bossuet, as a little college of Satanic agents; V/ 
 
 go many legates sent from the abyss, to propagate infernal faith 
 upon the earth. — E. B. Apolegetic Postscript , p. 52. 
 
 Those were also the days of that papist Sir Thomas More ; ^I'^ 
 
 whose Bigotry doomed, for religious opinions, a man of distin- 
 guished eminence and probity to the block; and, though he \ /* 
 had the power to do so, refused to spare him. It may however 
 be urged, in extenuation of such rigour, that the person to ^I 
 whom he was so inexorable, was — himself. — E. B, Soliloquy ^ 
 p, 121. \ V-^h-i 
 
 The present Archbishop of Dublin pronounces the Roman ' > ,■ 
 Catholic Church of Ireland to be a Church without a religion. 
 
 When this Church without a religion shall have left the Pro- /> 
 
 testants a Church without a laity, &cet. — C. R. p. ^36. v :♦ ? 
 
 The doctrine, that the right to tithe has nothing public in 
 its complexion, but is of a mere and purely private nature, if ; ^ '^ 
 
 pushed to the extreme of inference which it supplies, might be 
 found to demonstrate the practical bull, that the title of our 
 clergy would remain, unaltered and unalterable, though the .> 
 
 inhabitants of the country were Roman Catholic to a man. — . 'f'r % 
 
 E. B, Soliloquy, p. 90. ^ * 
 
 Tithes are entangled in objections, derived from the pecu- 
 liar situation (in point of religion and in other particulars,) of 
 this country. In England the case is different. — E» B. SolUo' ^ 
 
 quy,p.6, 67,82, S3. - ■ '■■). 
 
 Obnoxious as tithes may be in England, there are manifest 
 reasons why they should in Ireland be a more odious inflic- 
 tion.— C. /?.;;. 300. 
 
 Placed between two churches, the poor peasant is made tri- 
 butary to both ; and starves between them. — C. R.p» 303. 
 

 140 
 
 In addition to tithe, the Roman Catholic peasant is also liable 
 in conscience, to his own priest's dues; which makes his bur- 
 den the heavier and more severe; and the numbers of the Roman 
 Catholics show how extensively operative this severity may be. 
 The individual too will be the more sensible to the pressure, be- 
 cause the return which he has for one payment serves to re- 
 mind him, that for thd other he has none. — E. B, Soliloquy^ p. 
 22. 
 
 Land tithe- free is said, by Lord Maryborough, to let for ten 
 shillings more by the acre, than land of equal quality, subject 
 to an acreable tithe of fourteen pence. This fact, used by those 
 who state it, for a different purpose, seems to me to show how 
 odious to the Irish peasantry the tithe demand must be. — E. 
 B. Soliloquy^ p. 24. 
 
 This sample alone (viz. the above fact) though quoted by 
 Lord Maryborough for a very different purpose, speaks vo- 
 lumes as to the feeling of repugnance, with which tithe de- 
 
 p. 315. 
 
 mand is regarded. — C. R 
 
 The concessions of 1793 had awakened a feeling of loyalty 
 in the Roman Catholic body, which the fair republican theo- 
 ries, then adopted toith such enthusiasm by the Protestants and 
 Presbyterians of the North, could not weaken or disturb. — C. R. 
 p. 330. ■ . 
 
 Our annalist slurs over the date of those smaller societies, 
 which were speedily swallowed up in that of the United Irish- 
 men ; and glides as lightly past the Protestant and Northern 
 original which they boa$t. Is it his business to suggest, that 
 amongst Presbyterians, not Papists, the principles of republi- 
 canism found their earliest Irish nest?— £. B. Recent Scenes, 
 p, 6. ' ' 
 
 1 
 
 The freedom of Corporations is one of those rights, which 
 the statute of 1793 restored to the Catholics; but which the 
 
spirit of Orangeism frustrates, and almost wholly nullifies. 
 
 C R. p> 338y 
 
 A mortification (to the Roman Catholics) rendered nothing 
 the less irksome, from their finding that what Legislative Li- 
 berality had freely given. Orange Prejudice could obstinately 
 and inexorably withhold. This refusal iofringed, (if frustra- 
 tion be infringement) a law of about thirty years standing.* — 
 E. B. Recent Scenes, p. 11. - 
 
 Out of this aggression, naturally rose that association of the 
 lower orders, called Defenders — C. R. p. 354-. 
 
 As to the origin of Orange Associations, I am old enough to 
 remember that this was a more than disputable point ; and the 
 very title of their adversaries, the DefenderSy might throw some 
 light upon the question. — E. B, Recent Scenes^ p. 7. 
 
 If I undertook to compare the Captain with himself, for the 
 purpose of putting his consistency to the test, I migbt perhaps 
 collate, — on the subject of Swift's pretensions, — pages 123 and 
 132 (Note:) on that of a free and general perusal of the Scrip- 
 tures, pages 187 (Note) and 253; and witii regard to tithe of 
 agistment, pages 152, 303, 304-, and 319. But my only re- 
 maining business with his Memoirs is to object to the parallel 
 which has been drawn (page 369,) between him at Port Jack- 
 son, and Napoleon at St. Helena. As the Captain is said to 
 have taken his departure, I may venture to insinuate that he 
 makes rather too high pretensions, when he places himself 
 de niveau with the once Imperial Exile. I recollect that when, 
 shortly after the death of this latter, some ungenerously con- 
 temptuous language was applied to his memory at the India 
 
 * Th^s brings us Ira^k to 1793 : Recent Scenes h&ving been published in 
 
 1823. 
 
,.■■■ ; . ~-iA s:j^'\"-v^: 
 
 142 
 
 ' House, (but ill received by all who heard it,) the circumstance 
 gave rise to the following unstudied lines ; which contain some 
 sentiments, that may perhaps deserve to be picked out of the 
 bad French, and indifferent English, into which they have 
 fallen.* 
 
 II est mort ; et Ton ose parler avec mepris, 
 
 D'un grand homme, dont naguere L'Europe a fremi. 
 
 Soupire qui a du coeur, au cercueil d'un heros : 
 
 Qui veut fouler ses cendres, est m6chant, poltron, et s6t : 
 
 De son vivant je I'ai brave; vous I'avez craint : 
 
 Mort, vous I'insultez ; et moi — je le plains. 
 
 His soul-throe past, and mortal anguish o'er, 
 Freed from affront. Napoleon is no more. 
 His drooping train, now ready to depart. 
 Crave, with a loyal tear, their Emperor's heart. 
 
 But who shall covet thine, ungenerous ? 
 
 Or coveting, where find it ? — heartless ! 
 
 Note G. 2. 
 
 Musick hath charms to soothe the savage breast ; 
 To soften Rockst Sfc. Mourning Bride. 
 
 Bottom. The raging rocks, 
 
 with shivering shocks, &c. Mids. N. Dream. 
 
 * The lines, in both languages, are the production of E. Barton's vert/ 
 good friend A. Trd>on ; who, being a rather fanciful genealogist, traces his 
 pedigree to the Doctut Trebanius of classic times ; whose descendant, in 
 Italy's more modern day, would be H Dottore Trebonio ; but when the 
 family settled in France, the name may have been frenchified to Trebon. 
 For the rest, it will be recollected, that Napoleon's surviving Court did apply 
 'or permission to carry his heart with them to Europe. 
 

 143 
 
 Though castles topple on their warders' heads. Macbeth. 
 
 Sight so deform what heart of stone could long 
 Dry-eyed behold ! ^^t^.^^,. . ,^* Milton. 
 
 (If an Irishman talked of a di7<«ie7Q4]'>^^t>^!0:^ 
 The Air, a chartered libertine, ^c'r^'^^t^^'jISaAKSPEARB. 
 
 Though you untie the winds, and let them fight 
 
 Against the churches. Macbeth.'.. 
 
 So the loud torrent, and the whirlwind's roar, 
 
 But bind him to his native mountains more. Traveller. 
 
 Struem ingentetn lignorum succendunt ; ardentiaque saxa aceto 
 putrefaciunt. Ita torridam incendio rupem Jerro pandunt. — 
 Liv. LiB.xxi.c. 37. 
 
 Where Hannibal got the vinegar, may be a question. Gul • 
 liver assures us, on supernatural* authority, that he had not a 
 drop of it in his camp. 
 
 Note H. 1. - 
 
 Pages 28, 29. 
 
 OmaTf Maro, AmoTy Roma, Armoy Itamo, Oram, Mora. 
 MilneVf MetUn, Limner. 
 
 Note H. 2. 
 
 Page 100. 
 
 If the humbler farming classes be distressed, (and that they 
 have been so must be conceded,) then, though we should assume 
 
 * or subternatural. 
 

 ■. < •■ . 
 
 144 ' 
 
 that for this distress, their landlords were in some degree to 
 blame, yet if— while on the one hand, relief as against these 
 landlords were impracticable, some modification of the tithe- 
 system would permanently alleviate their sufferings, and might 
 be accomplished without violating the rights of the Church, or 
 the principles of the Constitution, — if all this were so, S. N. 
 would agree with me, that such a modification ought promptly 
 to take place ; though in making the change, we should be regu- 
 lating the claims of the innocent, in o^der to correct evils for 
 which others were to blame. But unless, — when improved to 
 whatever perfection it may be susceptible of, — the tithe-com- 
 position act would constitute this corrective, I know not where 
 it can be found. It is to me an algebraic x ; and I cannot work 
 the equation which will tell me what it stands for. 
 
 Note I. 
 
 An occurrence, somewhat connected with one of the notes 
 to * Tracts and Topics,* appears to me to furnish something very 
 like matter for apology : I will not say Jrom whom ; but to E. 
 Barton. 
 
 Note K. 
 
 Of which he died, not very long after the plunder of his 
 house was quite completed. I hope the disease is not here- 
 ditary ; for it is a lingering, tiresome, and discreditable one ; 
 not knowing how to do its business in a spirited or off-hand 
 way. Yet one ^ould think it was in fashion; for I suspect it 
 is much more common than is usually supposed. At least it is 
 certainly the fashion to inflict it ; and occasionally inspect the 
 waning victim, as Roman Epicurism did the — not fading, but — 
 beautifully shifting colours of an expiring fish. Yet of those 
 whose breath and conduct wither that, which exhaled sweets of 
 kind cordiality to them, it may not be too much to say that 
 they are wrong. Their advisers ! " Let me not think of that," 
 said one, who ought to have followed his own counsel. But I 
 am getting too pathetfc on behalf of an ancestor who died 
 
.v; •- ■^■,^-^i 
 
 145 
 
 nearly fifty years ago, and for whose death I believe t con-^ 
 soled myself at the time ; for to it I was indebted for my first 
 mourning suit.— Yet I loved him afler a childish fashion ; and 
 remember to this moment his breakfasts of watered-toast and 
 ground-ivy tea ; share of the former of which I purchased, by 
 swallowing some mouthfuls of the latter. But it seems as if 
 ground ivy (whatever it may have been good for) could not 
 cure a broken heart. He died ; leavmg his children not even 
 nominally rich in any thing but blood ; and what the worth of 
 genuSf nisi cum re— is, we know. In truth its value, under any 
 circumstances, is but imaginary ; or ^;9ett/7ref. 
 
 Epilogue. 
 
*■:■'' V 
 
 ,*•> 
 
 J V, 
 
 '• r-:?" .•^-'••'.•^ 
 
^<^.^^_ 
 
 
 EPILOGUE 
 
 The foregoing pages will be read by very few ; approved by 
 fewer still ; and found fault with by great numbers. I forget 
 myself. Not so : but those misapprehend, who suppose that 
 none will censure, until they shall have read. But on what 
 number of Fautores may I reckon? I could not, without 
 being over sanguine, calculate On more than half a dozen. — 
 *' I see: you expect that about six persons will commend the 
 work." — Pardon me, gentle reader, I said no' such thing. Of 
 the twice two or three by whom my pages are approved, the 
 majority will probably dissemble their approbation. In foct it 
 were a courage too romantic, to avow it in the case of one so 
 little in fashion as E. Barton. Again, consider to whom the 
 writings, under this signature, have been ascribed. To one 
 on whom for a series of years, ■ -^— has been looking, with 
 an aversion which he never gave himself the trouble of con- 
 cealing ; and which is the more likely to continue, if not en- 
 crease, because in its origin it was wholly gratuitous and un- 
 provoked; the creature of prejudice, and of that hebenon to 
 which he bent his ear. Where is the hardihood that would 
 bestow a praise, which might interfere with these dislikes ? — 
 Such bold candour may universally pervade the Bench and 
 Bar : but beyond these learned and independent bodies, will be 
 found to be somewhat rare.— Shall we fly to the opposite 
 
 ■>» 
 

 148 
 
 ii- 
 
 pole, and hope for favour from Captain Rock ? Nay, he is 
 ignorant of my very existence ; and I hope will continue so. 
 Shall we stop half way, with the Catholic Association, which 
 may be called our equalizing circle, or equator? I naturally 
 shrink from every thing like party praise : and therefore have 
 not felt dissatisBed at finding myself, from the outset, received 
 by them, like the memory, which is toasted in deep and so- 
 lemn silence. Besides, they seem to me to have turned into 
 a road which may lead to the Rock country : and diverge as 
 widely from the political course which I pursue. Ite Capel- 
 LJG : we part at these cross roads : I wish you a better jour- 
 ney than you seem to me to have entered on ; and retain all 
 my friendly dispositions to that Body, whose interests you ap- 
 pear to me to misconduct. I have already noticed the country 
 to which your progress points ; and fear it is silice tit nuda 
 you will leave K\\e spem gregist with which you are— or profe&s 
 to be— entrusted.* 
 
 Shall wc cross the channel, in quest of favour and sup- 
 port.? Mr. r- — — - ! That gentleman and I had, 
 
 each, once the honour of being presented to the other ; and 
 
 " '*' If not our ruling, at least our influential Powers, much require to be 
 htld;n check. And they would be so, by strong cojutitutional opposition. 
 Eut the opposition, which assumes a radical or seditious air, does but 
 strengthen tlie hands which are too strong already. It throws a lustre on 
 ultra measures, which coi/ld not issue from themselves ; and seemingly iden- 
 tifies with tlie constitution, those whose arrogance, and rashness, and domi- 
 neering principles undermine it. I begin strongly to conjecture, that some 
 of our Agitators know this well ; and pursue the line they do, in order to be 
 unsuccessful. I mean, in order not to obtain the success which ihej profess to 
 aim at. Perhaps these may have another, and very different end, for the at- 
 tainment of which, their means are not ill-chosen. But if so, ought not 
 those wlio /lave realltf those objects, which certain Agitators but jrrofess to 
 have, — ought they not, J say, to take care how they eommit their interests 
 to such hands ? 
 
.■J,%^<:- 
 
 i> 
 
 i& 
 
 149 
 
 
 thttnks to the kkndneM of his buUlitttfoki, a(h aei|tiahitahee» 
 »which might be called floufkhkig, enstied. It afterwitrds how- 
 ever withered : and as thifi arMe fVetn his neglect, dbt mine, I 
 cannet malce any efforts to rienew its bloom. Nor is it likely 
 that he will offer me the newly discovered insult of amicably : 
 stretching; forth his hand. If he were to do so, I do not know 
 that I should reject it. But certainly, and at all events, I 
 
 would do no more.—" Well, what say you to — ^— — — ? 
 
 Satis esse EQUiTEi>r tihi jiauderey no dotibt." I take him to be 
 an intelligent and upright man; and on the favourable opi- 
 nions of such, I set high value. But omareme (in the idiom 
 of Cicero) is not amongsJt his equit'tible plans. An occasion 
 offered, for- putting this to the test ; and he, and a common 
 (or rather uncommon and excellent) friend of ours, are both 
 aware what the results have been. But we are forgetting Mr. 
 ... . ; whom some consider as one of the fixed Caryatides 
 
 of Church and State ; while I call him a sort of Rational State 
 Packet, continually plying between Dublin Castle and St. 
 Stephens ; and properly no more stationary in either place, 
 than a pendulum is at the extremities of the curve through 
 which it oscillates. But be this as it may, and the conse- 
 quences what thei/ may, he received, in some time after his 
 arrival here^ from his friend the Surveyor-General, a laboured 
 carte du pays. On this (at the apartments of Cellar-ius) a 
 cabinet gossip was then held ; and it was settled what ought 
 to be cultivated, and what not« In this Doton-putting terrier, 
 my poor tenement and climate are thus described. *' Atmos- 
 " phere variable ; with gusts, sometimes violent, but oftener 
 ^Might: dwelling solitary, ill-constructed, and infirm ; situate 
 '* too near a mass of over-hanging Rocks ; which this vain spe- 
 " culator is always recommending that we should rather cul- 
 " ti?ate, than blast : his own soil a sour, inert, and irreclaimr 
 *' able more-ass." 
 
 iy 
 
 Such being the celebrity, of which E. Barton has a chance. 
 
 ^1 
 

 
 ■•v 
 
 V- 
 
 ^^? 
 
 
 
 K 
 f 
 
 1. 
 
 
 1 
 
 rv. 7 
 
 
 
 *- 
 
 whiU better, in these circumstance^) could be. d<m'dian return to 
 his mooniight rambles in Uie environs of Truth, (but not within 
 the precincts of the. Insurrection Act,) and resume his mazy 
 saunters in the glimmering twilight, of dubiety ^ muttering 
 (of course) his wayward fancies as, he roves : but in too low a 
 voice, to meet the public ear. Peream male, si non optimum 
 erai ! Accordingly I much doubt whether I ever again shall 
 commit myself to press. To pledge myself by a promise more 
 decisive or distinct, would be to forget the servetur ad imum 
 golden rule; which, having been adhered to with such 
 8tl|||)lun8teadmess heretofore, ought not to be violated, in his 
 last moments, by :, . 
 
 
 
 
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