where, after explaining the divine myfteries of Religion, and cheering them with the profpects of a happy hereafter, he celebrates Mafs perhaps in the midst of rain and under the very shelter of a temporary coyering. compofed of a winnowing sheet or two, or three frize wrappers, which are fupplied and fupported during Mals, by men who, whilft performing this grateful fervice, are fuffering dreadfully from the killing rage of the Elements, without a change of linen or clothes, on their return nome to a wretched hovel. or without perhaps a good potatoe, to regale them after a week's hard labour. Such are the fervices of men, from whom we have lately had the ac counts alluded to, and we moft anxionly wish, would to God we could fay hope; that the Royal College of Maynooth, under the enlightened direction of our lifh minity and our catholic lay lords and baronets, may give us a fucceffion oi fuch noble paftors. We have been forced into this defcription of the important fervices rendered by our faithful paftors to the people of Ireland, for the last three Centuries of our fluggle for Religion, from the perufal of a letter figned by a very refpectable curate in a real Catholic County. He ftates (and is willing to come forward in proof of his statement) that from his Parish Prieft he receives no money whatsoever-even his Hay and Oats he is obliged to procure for a horse that must travel on parochial duty, day and night throughout the year. The only compliment he receives that way is permillion to collect among the Parifhoners a little corn at his own expence, which he generally fells at eight or ten pounds. About feven miles from his refidence he has a chaplaincy with a certain Baronet, from whom he gets 12'. per year, and if the gauger or parifh conftable who are conftant vifi tors (a line of conduct he inherits from his father.) are not expected to dinner, the poor curate is informed he may ftay, although he never accepts the invitation fince one day, on the unexpected arrival of the guager (who is the fpurious offspring of an English Officer) he was ordered to remove from his feat to the fide table. We have calculated the amount of three journeys on foot or horfe back, and fuppofing 14 Holidays and 52 Sundays in the year, his journeys thus performed amount to 924 Irifh, or 1176 Englth miles, which he must perform at a fixed hour, and on a fafting spittle, be the ftate of the weather what it may. This cafe as well as many others which we will infert hereafter, have convinced us that this highly meritorious clafs of our fellow fubjects are the worst rewarded Men in fociety for their extraordinary labours, particularly by those who are beft able to pay them. Ought not fomething be done at our next National Coun cil, by fettling a decent competency for thefe Gentlemen of Education and firft rate merit. The following Letter from another curate, we cannot avoid inferting, as the Gentleman gives his name, and pledges himself to prove his charge at the national council, where he will appear for that purpofe. Extract of a Letter from D. Sir, As your ufeful Magazine has already terved Maynooth fntially, by making the Prefident and Profeffors fee that their conduct will be prailed or condemned by the public as it may deferve. I beg your infertion of my cafe:-I am now fitteen years in this country, after having paffed my college courfe on the continent; I am curate under a man younger than myfelf, and living within a few perches of my Father's houfe, whilt my Parish Prieft is a stranger, without any thing extraordinary to recommend him, except that his family are favourites with the Bishop, becaufe they happened to fludy in the fame place. From time immemorial this Parish had at least three curates, with occafional affiftance from the Bishop, to whom this parish belongs, until about fix years ago, this Family of Favourites prevailed on the Bifhop to refign on a penfion of 2001. per annum. in favour of the the prefent incumbent. On his promotion, I was called from a very comfortable curacy, and condemned to do nearly all the duty of a Parish containing nearly thirty thousand fouls. : But the moft degrading part of my condition I fhall now mention By a fort of difcipline hitherto unknown in the church, I am deprived of the power of Baptizing or Marrying, becaule the Parish Priest who has more than treble the ufual dues fince his appointment, thinks he can extort more money by that plan. He indulges me indeed with the pleasure of attending all the fick in garrets and cellars, often without a Thilling in my pocket to relieve the moft diftreffed objects on earth, when he is speculating in Debentures (he has now 12 of them) and never vifits a fick perfon in his parish, except about half a dozen of our firft families; Throughout every other parish in the diocefe, the modes of rewarding the clergy is as follows: At Marriage halt a guinea, Baptifm two fhillings, and at Eafter, from five fhillings to half a guinea from refpectable house-keepers :-In his new affeffiment, at Marriage he infitts on getting from one guinea to five, at Baptifm from a crown to a guinea, and at Eafter from half a guinea toa guinea; I have often known him to charge poor clerks at Marriage three guineas, and fervants are very com→ monly under the neceffity of pawning their clothes to make up the guinea. A poor weaver if he has been able to tcrape together the price of three or four Looms, whereon to employ his fons and an apprentice, is charged at the Baptifm, of per haps his tenth living child, half a crown per Loom, then probably his houfe full of children, are that moment depending on his labour for the next days fupport. I know many inftances where children were kept eight days without baptifm because the poor father would not pay the loom tax. What renders the bufinefs worfe, is the hardness of his heart, which never allows him to give bit or fup to human being; He never was accused of a generous act in his life, except on one occafion where he gave 100l. at the time of Marriage, to a favourite, and every Prieft I converfe with on the fubject, confiders the Bishop bourd to make him refund this unlawfully extorted money, as they cannot fee what title he has for retaining it. and why he could not on the fame principle, rob them of all they have. When I am breathing the peftilential air of feverish cellars, he is riding about in his filk stockings, his red flippers, and with his horfes ears covered with calico; in short, fo difliked is he for this and many other reafons, that every other prieft in the diocefe fome time back remon ftrated against him with the Bishop It diftreffes me to make this public, but I have no other means of red refs, as I very often complained to no purpofe. For the laft fix months I found it very difficult to keep the people from rifing up like the threshers, and fhutting the chapel deors againft him. For God's fake call on the Bishops to do fomething at their national council for the relief of poor curates, and to prevent the heart burnings which muft arife from fuch arbitrary extortions as I have now described. I am very truly yours, &c. P. S. In our next we will infert the atrocious circumftances of the death of the Rev. Mr. Duane, late Parish Prieft of Mountrath, who fell a victim to a putrid Fever, which he caught on the night of the 12th July laft, when he was obliged to fly from his Bed to fave his life from the fury of a crowd of Orange Yeomen, who attacked his houfe. fired near a hun dred fhots after him, whilft crofing a wall at the rere of his house, and fwimming across a river after this he lay in a field convenient all night without a change of clothes.-What is moft unnatural, thefe affaffins were led on by a monster, who often en joyed the comforts of the poor Prieft's hofpitable table, N. B. The remaining letters of Sarsfield on the attemps at giving the King a Veto in appointing our Bifhops, and the names of all thofe who vote for and against that blafphemous measure shall be given in our next, as well as we can collect them, that they may be handed down to pofterity, to their eternal honor or difgrace. The Life of Maffelon conclued from our laft. I am affured that his letters on this fubject are masterpieces of eloquence and pathos, fuperior even to the most affecting of his fermons; and what emotions, indeed, muft not the fpectacle of human nature, fuffering and oppreffed, have excited in the virtuous and compaffionate foul of Maffillon! He died as Fenelon died, and as every bishop ought, without w alth, and without debt. It was on the 28th September 1742, that the church and eloquence, and humanity, fuffered the irreparable loss. A circumftance which happened not long ago, calculated to affect every heart of fenfibility, proves how dear the memory of Maffillon is, not only to the poor whofe tears he had wiped away, but to all who knew him. Some years ago, a traveller paffing through Clermont wished to fee the country-houfe in which the prelate used to spend the greatest part of the year, and he applied to an old vicar, who, fince the death of the bishop, had never in which the cxcellent prelate ufed worth the reader's while to reft "here a little, and confider this pe“riod of our history with great attention. In fuch a retrospect, let "him judge whether the incident "here recorded was a fufficient foundation for the abridgement of ne“tural, or even the fufpenfion of "civil rights. Whether the fpirit of ecclefiaftical hatred, which we "could ftrive to conceal even from ourfelves, is not more bufy in fuch "interdicts than any other. What lover of order would not wish that fome law were framed to re"ftrain that ftern bigotry, which "impels to believe the worst of our "ecclefiaftical adverfaries, and punish them indifcriminately on that prefumption, as the worst of men? "Can there be a greater injury in the "execution of a fingle prifoner without a legal trial, than in that "of a whole people. When any "member of our legiflature revolves 66 in his mind this event of the pow "der plot, with many more of the "like nature, let him lay his hand "to his heart, and he will, if he has a mind to be honest, readily own "that the youths who are one day to compofe both houfes of Parliament, are guarded againft piety "for the bulk of their unfortunate countrymen, in the most unfair "and uncandid manner, by anniverfary holidays, anniversary fermons, anniversary dinners, and anniverfary imprecations." It is very obfervable, that the igBorance, either real or pretended, of the lower orders was fuch fo late as 1793-that they were excited by the contrivances of infidious perfons, to revolt against their own clergy, on pretence that they had fworn to the Declaration of the Reman catholic Committee, which was confidered a new fyftem of religion, fabricated for them by a Proteftant government. Some of them to this day alledge, that they cannot yet be perfuaded to the contrary. But let them take up the Cafe of the Roman Catholics, written by their favourite writer 40 years ago, when their fathers groaned under perfecutions, and there they will find that the above Decla ration is nothing more than the teft of allegiance propoled at that time by Mr. O'Conor, to fhew that the Roman Catholic religion was not what Proteftant writers wifhed to inculcate, a fyftem of occafional abfolution for rapine, robbery, and rebellion. They will find in it that they do not owe the Pope, or any other foreign Prince or Potentate, any civil jurifdiction. That no dif penfation can warrant the counter action of any moral duty-that they hold that religion abominable, which would propofe a breach of public faith, perjury, or treafon, as juftifiable towards any lawful government in any affignable cafe; and finally, that their paying obedience to the established government of their country, be the religion of the governors ever fo contrary to their own, is in confequence of an effential and fundamental article of the Roman Catholic religion. Mr. O'Conor fent a copy of this pamphlet to the Rev. Mr. Barton, Rector of Caftlerea, before it was known in Connaught that he himfelf was the author of it; and Mr. Barton, who from his letters, as well as the character he has left after him, feems to have been a man of great integrity, wrote him the following letter: S&R, I had the honour of yours, and am much obliged to you for the cafe of the Roman Catholics, which I longed (To be Continued.) Memoirs of Paul's Manutias, The Son of Aldus. THE labours of the Aldine press were not materially affected by the death of its founder. Andreas Asulanus, who had undertaken the care of the four young children of Aldus, continued the business, which he continued with great alacrity, assisted by his two sons Francis and Frederic. Filled with an ardent and laudable emulation, they paid the greatest attention to their editions; they first undertook to complete those which were already begun, and to produce the great number of revisals and collections which Aldus had left; they were also careful to notice in their prefaces those editions to which he had contributed by anticipative labours. Although inferior in knowledge to Aldus and to his son Paulus Manutius, most of their editions prove them to have been. deficient neither in learning nor industry. In Greek, Pausanias, Strabo, the Greek Septuagint, different commentaries on Aristo tle, Plutarch, Artemidorus, Apollonius Rhodius, Eschylus, Xenophon, Galen, Hippocrates, published for the first time; in Latin, Terence, Livy, Plautus, Pliny, Celsus, Macrobitis, Priscian, Silius Italicus, Valerius Flaccus, Clau-. dian, Justin, Quintus Curtius, Suetonius, Ausonius, and many other works in Greek, Latin and Italian, most of which were printed for the fist time, employed their presses. During the management of Andreas Asulanus, the sons of Aldus passed their childhood, and made some progress in their education. The time which they spent at Asola with their mother was not favourable to their advancement in literature; what they then learnt would have been rather injurious than useful, by vitiating their taste, had they not been early removed to Venice, where Paulus Manutius in particular, was kindly received and assisted by those who had been the sincere friends of his father, and who were celebrated in every branch of literature in that city, which was then the seat of learning and the arts. The ardour with which he applied to the study of eloquence, greatly injured his already feeble constitution, the ef fect of which was rendered doubly distressing, by his physicians prohibiting him the use of books. At length, after two years, his health was greatly restored, and he resumed his studies. Scarcely recovered from his illness, he expérienced difficulties of another nature, not less afflicting, which he calls "domesticas controversias," Ep. Saulio 1, 3. He explains himself no further, but from the inactivity of the press du ring the years which succeeded the death of Andreas Asulanus, which happened in 1529, it appears that there was some disagreement in their family, occasioned by the discussions relative to a division of the property of Aldus and of Andreas, whose interests in the print ing-office had hitherto been united. It is also very probable that the two uncles, Francis and Frederic, accustomed for fourteen years to rule as masters in the office, and to style it in their prefaces " nostra officina," considering themselves the exclusive proprietors of it, regarded with a jealous eye the young heirs of Aldus, who considering their natural right to the office which was founded by their father, were resolved not to withdraw their just claims. From this difference |