mi ion unable to bear the fhame of remaining in a fituation he had filled fo badly, refigned in difgrace, and the confequence was a confiderable change for the better, both in the difcipline and ftudies of the houfe. The ftudent, however, in the end, fell a victim to the increased refentment of his LordShip, for his bifhop was prevailed on to refufe him ordination, declaring at the fame time his conviction of the pure and upright character of the ftudent, and the "neceflity he was under of yielding to an oppofition against him, respectable from rank, and formidable from numbers." The original parliamentary grant for building and endowing a Catholic college in Ireland was £8000. but it has fince by the late adminiftration been raised to £13000. a year, a fum equal to the fupport of more than 300 fcholars. The college trustees are permitted by act of parliament to receive bequests not exceeding 1000. a year; the legacies already left them have been but few: that of Lord Dunboyne has been litigated, and as yet we know not the iffue of the fuit between the college and his heirs. Laft year a gentleman who died in the Queen's county, bequeathed the intereft of £1000. for ever, to the college, for the maintenance of a profeffor of the Irish language who is now on the establishment. We have been informed alfo, that an Irish gentleman who died lately on the continent, has bequeathed to the college of Maynooth, fome property the amount of which we have not learned. The Duke of Leinster,to please whom the college was built at Maynooth, in a low, wet, unhealthy fituation, attached to it 75 acres of ground, at the yearly rent of £1. an acre. We have never heard of any other boon that this nobleman conferred on it, though he is generally tiled by those who fpeak of Maynooth, its benefactor. Donations of books to the library have been made, amongst which are fome from the celebrated* Edmund Burke. It confits now of nearly 7000 volumes, but ftrange as it may be confidered, this valuable library is rendered entirely ufelefs, and merely a monument of learning, by being fcarcely ever open to the students. It is neceffary to be of four years ftanding in the houfe before a scholar is admitted into it, and not even then without the particular leave of his profeffor; of this power the profeffors have invariably made a very bad ufe, not giving tickets of admiflion to any, except a few of their own favourites. In Maynooth the student has chambers, commons and education gratis. At his matriculation he pays eight guineas entrance-money, which is forfeited though he fhould remain there but a month. To whom, or for what purpose this money is given or expended we have not been able to af certain. The profits alfo, of the produce of the college land, are not publickly accounted for, but we fuppose that they are not mifapplied or converted to private emolument. The course of studies at Maynooth as established by the ftatutes is on a very extended fcale. It embraces both the useful and the elegant; it connects the lighter and more delightful NOTE. *Perhaps it is not generally known, that this ornament of Ireland, who during his lifetime, was often reproached for his attachment to the Romish church and its ofeffors,' (fee Purfuits of literature) died a Catholic. He was attended fpiritually in his last illnefs, by Dr. Huffey. lightful purfuits of literature, with the folid fubjects of divinity and univerfal fcience. Though the courfe of study appointed by the academical code be calculated for one of the first feminaries in the world, 'tis much to be regretted that in practice it is not in the moft diftant manner adhered to. There is as much difference between the plan of education appointed, and the one followed, as between light and darkness. We can eafily pardon Dr. Miluer for defcribing in fo pompous a ftile the studies of the Maynooth ftu. dent. We cannot imagine him guilty of an intentional miftatement, hut we fuppofe he looked into the college fiatute-book, and took it for granted, that the course there ordained was tinguifh themfelves either in college, or more honourably afterwards on the great theatre of fe, deviate from this inglorious track which the CENSON would fain make them tread in, and who steal from the very hours allotted to fleep, a forbidden time to enrich and adore their minds with claffic knowledge. Thefe lucklefs geniufes however, have been frequently the abjects of virulent perfecution, and from the year 1802, to 1807, numbers have fuffered expulfion, whofe talents rendered them obnoxious to the immediate governors of the house. Let no one for an inftant imagine that we speak not truth our information is moft correct-we could ftate facts, and mention names, were it neceffary reduced to practice. What must not to corroborate what we advance. The be the regret of fuch a real well- grand fpring from whence this terwither to Ireland, fuch a lover and de-rible evil has taken its rife, was the fender of the catholic religion when he is undeceived, when he finds that inftead of fpending three years in the ftudy of the languages, two in rhetoric, and one in poetry; that the ftudent learns no rhetoric at all, that he is forbidden under pain of the Cenfor's difpleasure to read an English poem of any kind; that as to the languages, Greek is not ftudied by twenty out of the two hundred students, and that the generality without being able to conftrue a paffage in Livy or Tacitus, are hurried into a clafs of fcholaftic logic and Metaphyfics, where after fpending a year; and two, orfometimes three more in the clafs of theology, they are turned out on the Catholic miffion, and on the world, almoft as ignorant as they entered college. This is the general routine of education at Maynooth; and it is what every true Irish patriot fhould deplore. It must be allowed that among the students of Maynooth, there are fome young men, who, fired by native genius, and lifted up to fuperior thinking, by the impulfe of an honeft and noble ambition, to dif appointment of certain ignorant, vulgar men, to the places of confequence on the Maynooth eftablifhment. By what intrigue or undue influence this was affected we know not; but we are affured that the late prefident un pauvre bon homme, whofe talents were fcarcely equal to the direction of an obfure parish, and whofe mental incapacity rendered him liable to become a tool in the hands of others, lefs principled than himfelf, was a favourite and patronized by the Lay Lord we have fpoken of before. What a pity to fee fuch a fine feminary, the laft hope of oppreffed and perfecuted Ireland, committed to fuch care, to fee it through neglect and ill treatment, falling in its infancy, prematurely into decay, inftead of being nurtured to vigour and to manhood, by patriotic and paternal attention. We certainly feel great diffidence when we are thus obliged to contradict fo great a character as Dr. Milner; but particu larly as he challenges the most minute enquiry into his ftatements concerning the courfe of ftudies at Maynooth. Dr; Dr. Milner, however, spent but a fhort time in our country, and cannot be fuppofed to have aquired on every local fubject the most accurate information. We look forward with high expectation to the future advancement of our Catholic national College, in literary improvement and literary fame. The fenfible and learned man who is now at its head, will, we hope roufe the broken fpirits of the ftudents to laborious exertion and animate them to a rivalry with the old univerfity. This was the grand object which Dr. Huffey had in view when he prefided at Maynooth. His aim was to infpire the scholars with a dignity of mind and an elevation of fentiment equal to the character which he wifhed them to fill afterwards in the world, He planted in Maynooth the germ of literary and moral excellence, but he was unfortunately too foon exalted from this active fituation to do that good for his religion and his country which unmitred he might have performed. Dr. Flood fucceeded Dr. Huffey, in the prefidency; but though more learned, he did not feem fo well fitted for the government of an Irish feminary. He was of a peevish, fufpicious, contemning difpofition; and tho' he was a promoter of learning, he rendered the ftudents incapable of ftudy, by actually starving them. He was known to fave £700 during one year out of the annual grant, by curtailing their commons. This conduct produced fo much difcontent on their part that when he died in the beginning of 1803, he left the college ia a terrible state of turbulence and confulion. Since his death Maynooth has rapidly declined both in difcipline and learning, notwithstanding the perfevering efforts to the contrary of one of the most virtuous and learn. ed ecclefiaftics that the Catholic Church can boast in any age or in any country. The perfon to whom we allude is the Rev. Dr. Ferris, with a fummary account of whofe life we fha clofe this article. This illuftrious man whose ambition is to be forgotten, and who defpifes the perishable fame which the world can bestow, was born in the county of Kerry, about the year 1738-9. At an early period of his life he left his own country, where there exifted then no encouragement for Catholic enterprise, where every profeflion was fhut against catholic genius. The ardour of his youth first inclined him to a military life, but the fpirit of God who destined him for more noble and more useful purfuits, foon turned him from the profeffion of blood, and changed his inclination to the ecclesiastical state. The impulfe which determined him in the choice of a profeflion, feems to have governed the whole tenor of his life, and accordingly we find him always the real lover of mankind, unceasingly the promoter of man's true happiness.. He was ordained a priest amongst a fociety of clergymen, known by the name of the Brothers of the Mission, whofe revenues were then confiderable, and who were fpread all over the world, great numbers of them being even in China. Dr. Ferris by his extraordinary merit, his tranfcendant picty, and his univerfal learning, raif. ed himself to the highest confideration in the fociety, and his knowledge of human nature and human life, foon pointed him out as the moft proper perfon to aflift in regulating its affairs. He was therefore appointed Vice General of the order, which office he held until the period of the revolution. Dr. Ferris was well known at the French court, and efteemed at Paris as one of the heads of the clergy.. His fame rendered him obnoxious to the infidels of the revolution, who ex pected to rear deifm on the ruins of the catholic church in France. He was obliged to fly, and he had the good fortune to efcape into Italy, where he was kindly received by Pius VI. at the court of Rome. The wars in Italy afterwards forced him from his affylum, and he traveled norhwards to Switzerland, and from thence to Vienna, attributing to the providence of God, the wonderful efcapes he had effected from the most immenent dangers, even through camps and fields of flaughter, After an abfence of forty-five years, he at length returned to his native country, and from being a director of the greateft fociety in the world, next to the Jefuits, he became Dean of MayBooth college. The conduct of this great man in fo humble a fituation, foon endeared him to the ftudents. His humanity, his exemplary piety, and his rigid felf denials operated as the moft eloquent leffons of morality. The amiability of his difpofition his tenderness of heart frequently dif played, and his elegant manners made him him an object of love. The ftudents worthiped his very name, they adored his virtues. To fuch a pitch of difcipline did he raise the college, tha for fanctity of manners, Maynooth in 1800 and. 1801, might be ftyled the BANGOR of modern times. Alas the fcene is terribly changed, but Dr. Ferris is no longer Dean. Will it be believed, that he was fucceeded in his office by an illiterate. vulgar ftudent, who was defpifed by his fellow scholars, for the meanness of his manners, and the littleness of his talents, who was brought from the most uncivilized part of Connaught, to direct a community composed of young men, moft of whom were lads of high fpirit and cultivated genius. Dr. Dr. Ferris is now profeffor of Moral theology, and though his old age renders him unequal to the arduous tifk of teaching, he bears up with fortitude against the rigours of his fituation. The celebrated Irish Remonftrance, in anfwer to the calumnies of Henry II. and his Miniflers, who by mil tating the Irish people and clergy, fo impofed on Pope Adrian, that he granted his Bull, vefting the kingdom of Ireland in the hands of Henry the English monarch; no ་ the kings of England, and of their barons, fonie of whom, though born among us, continue to practise the fame rapine and cruelties against us, which their ancestors did against ours ⚫ heretofore. We shall speak nothing • but the truth, and we hope that your holiness will not delay to inflict condign punishment on the authors and abettors of fuch inhuman calamities. Know then, that our fathers came from Spain, and our chief Apoftle St. Patrick, fent by your predeceffor, Pope Celeftine, in the year of our Lord 435, did by the inspi ration of the Holy Ghoft, most thing more iniquitous appears ineffectually teach us the truth of the hiftory, nor has any calumy been holy Roman Catholic faith, and evermore ably refuted; the ftile and fince that, our kings, well instructftructure of the Remonftrance, ised in the faith that was preached to an elegant memorial of the learning and abilities of the Irish Clergy of thofe days. IT is extremely painful to us; that the viperous detractions of flanderous Englishmen, and their iniquitous fuggeftions against the them have, in number fixty one, without any mixture of foreign blood, reign'ed in Ireland to the year 1170. And thofe kings were not Englifhmen, nor of any other nation, but our own, who, with pious liberality defenders of our rights, fhould ex-beftowed ample endowments in lands afperate your holiness against the Irish nation. But alas! you know us only by the mifreprefentation of our enemies, and you are expofed to the danger of adopting the infamous falfehoods, which they propagate, without hearing any thing of the deteftable cruelties they have committed against our ancestors, ⚫ and continue to commit even to this day against ourselves. Heaven forbid, that your holinefs fhould be thus mifguided; and it is to protect our unfortunate people from fuch a calumny, that we have refolved to give you here a faithful account of the prefent ftate of our kingdom, if 2 and many immunities, on the Irish church; though in modern times, our churches are most damnably plundered by the Anglicans, by whom they are almost entirely defpoiled. And though those our kings, fo long and fo strenuously defended, against the tyrants and kings of different regions, the inheritance given them by God, preferving their innate liberty at all times inviolate; yet, Adrian IV. your predeceffor, 6 an Englishman, more even by affection and prejudice, than by birth, blinded by that affection and by the falfe fuggeftions of Henry II. King of England, under whom, and per indeed a kingdom we can call thehaps by whom, St. Thomas of Can |