three centuries, is to be levelled ON OUR NATURAL REPRESENTA- again to the earth, to satisfy the TIVES. On the 15th ult. the long expected meeting of our Prelates took place in this City, to consider on the projected measure of giving the King a Veto in the nomination of the Catholic Bishops. The following are the Resolutions adopted by the Prelates on this occasion. "That it is the decided opinion of the Roman Catholic Prelates of Ireland here affembled, that it is inexpedient to intro- duct." Notwithstanding this solemn decision of our Prelates, of adhering to the established usages of the Church, and so explanatory of their opinion, that any alteration that would place the appoint. ment of Catholic Bishops in the hands of a Protestant Prince, or in other language, in a Protestant Privy Council, would tend to the introduction of heresy and schism into the Universal Church. Some perverse upstart gentry among us, continue to convene meetings, and even menace our Rev. Bishops in the most scandalous language, for their pastoral vigilance in not acceding to the heretical arrangements modelled by the hands of a place hunting Cabal for our Church, which after outliving unprecedented persecution near tempers and views of aggrandisement of the very dregs of our peasantry, whom an accidental success in the meanest occupa tions, had recently raised to a monied opulence, and who forgetting their obscure and illiterate origin, on the bare assumption of their wealth, have dubbed themselves the Natural Representatives of five millions of Irish Catholics. One gentleman of this body of Natural Representatives, has publicly declared, that he would teach the Bishops, that though his party were of their flock, they would not continue to be their sheep. We understand this protesting Reprefentative is of the name of Byrne, and a principal leader of this Anti-popery faction; were we to condescend to a personal explanation with this Representative, on the impudent appellation he assumes, we would ask him, where was this illustrious House of Byrne forty years ago, and where would the Irish Catholics find their embryo Representatives? Not like Gordius or Cincinnatus, at the tail of a plow, but at the head of a whiskey cask, lecturing to a tippling mob, in Francisstreet, drawing from their labours and vices, these pecuniary treasures, that have raised the aspiring clan of Byrne, to become the Representatives of those they first made drunk. They must be intoxicated indeed, who would dig a Representative from the cellar of an Ale House. If we are to have Representa tives, and that money is an absolute criterion of capacity, we would recommend a more reason3 G able able plan of making Representa tives, than by resorting to the voluntary services of this Mr. Byrne. Suppose that the five millions of Irish Catholics should annually subscribe a penny each, which would amount to twenty thousand eight hundred pounds, this would be a very decent qualification to adorn a Representative, who might be selected among any rank of life, where abilities, religion, and honour could be as eminently conspicuous as in this Mr. Byrne, and if it were necessary to have half a dozen of Representatives, it could be done by raising the subscription to six pence, these six would be more naturally our Representatives, as they would be chosen by ourselves, and paid by ourselves, and would have the legal advantage of not acting contrary to the Gonvention Act, as it does not extend to the prevention of harmless acts of generosity, where a numerous people would display their spirit and taste, by rejecting ignorant pride, and selecting whatever embellishes our nature. If this Mr. Byrne has no other mode of acquiring a Nick Name, than by offering the Irish Church to a British Minister, we think by adopting this penny subscription, we will be able to disappoint him in his favourite speculation, and compel him to arrive at the honour of a Coronet by some less laborious artifice than that of professing the Catholic Religion, for the purpose of applying its extinction to the aggrandisement of his family. We have cogent reasons to think that the Government have as little opinion of his influence, as we have for his capa city, and if they are disposed to bestow titles, they will apply them to other men more eminent for their useful talents, than any candidates for such distinctions, who have appeared among our monied rabble. Priories, and Preceptories of Knights Hospitalers, or Knights of the Order of ST. JOHN OF JERUSA LEM, under the Rule of St. Auguftin, to whom the lands of the extina Knights Templars were granted. THIS Order began at Jerusa lem, where some Religious Men obtained leave of the Caliph of Egypt to build a Monastery, and have chosen St. John Baptist their Patron, from whence it was called the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. They employed themselves in defending Pilgrims, going to visit the Holy Sepulchre, also in entertaining, and relieving them in Hospitals and Houses built for them, and lived according to the Rule of St. Augustin. They behaved themselves so well upon the Christians taking Jerusalem in 1099, that they were held in high esteem with Godfrey of Bolloigne and other Kings of Jerusalem, stoutly defending with their swords the Christian Religion, until the Princes of the West failing to send them succour, they were by the Infidels quite beaten out of Syria in 1308. Soon after they invaded the Island of Rhodes, took it from the Turks, and maintained it 214 years, from whence they were commonly called Knights of Rhodes; thence are Rhodes; but, after a bloody siege of six months, they lost it. At length Charles the Fifth, Emperor of the Romans, bestowed them the Island of Malta, which they possess to this day, and from commonly called Knights of Malta, though they still retain the primitive title of Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. The Order was not of itself any way considerable in Ireland, until the dissolution of the Knights Templars; for before that it had but one Priory, which was that of Wexford, and nine Preceptories, or Commanderies, to wit, Kilbegs, Kilheel, and Tullow, in the County of Kildare Kilmainham-beg, and Kilmainham-wood, in the County of Meath; St. John Baptist of Ardes, in the County of Down; Any, in the County of Limerick ; and Kinalekin, in the County of Galway. The Knights Templars were founded also at Jerusalem in 1118, by some Religious Men, who undertook to secure the roads for the sake of Pilgrims going to the Holy Sepulchre. As for their religious observance, it was much according to the rules of the Canons Regular; and Baldwin de Burgo, King of Jerusalem at that time, having assigned them their residence near the Temple of that city, from thence they were called Knights Templars. They were of great service against the Infidels in the Holy War, but at length were suppressed, and dissolved by Pope Clement V. in the General Council of Vienna, in France, A. D. 1311; and their Houses were bestowed to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. This Order then grew up in Ireland, upon the ruins of the. Templars, as thereby it obtained the Grand Priory of Kilmainham near Dublin, and all its Preceptories, or Commanderies, And observe by the way, that what is mentioned as a Preceptory in the Court of Rome, and the Papal Bulls, is commonly called a Commandery. Observe also, that the Priors of this Order in Ireland, viz. the Prior of Kilmainham, and the Prior of Wexford, were, before the dissolution of Religious Houses, Spiritual Peers, and sat in the House of Lords. Observe lastly, that Robert Outlaw, Prior of Kilmainham, was Lord Justice of Ireland, in 1327, 1330, 1340; as was Thomas Butler, another Prior of Kilmainham, in 1413. Moreover the following Priors of Kilmainham, were Lords Chancellors of Ireland, to wit, Roger Outlaw, before mentioned, constituted in 1321, 1326, 1332, 1338, 1340; John le Archer, in 1341, 1344, 1349; Thomas Burley, in 1357, 1359, 1368; Wm. Tany, in 1372, 1374, 1387; Richard White, in 1887; William Fitz-Thomas, in 1416, 1421, 1426; Thomas Talbot, in 1448. The Priories, and Preceptories of this Order, after it obtained the Houses of the Knights Templars, were, 1. KILMAINHAM, near Dublin, Grand Priory of St. John Baptist, founded by Richard de Clare, surnamed Strongbow, Eari of Pembroke, about 1174. It was afterwards greatly enriched by the donations of others, especially under Edward II. when the revenues of the Templars, then newly extinct, were granted to this 302 Order, Order, Walter de l'Ewe, being then G and Prior of the Hospitallers. The place took its name from St. Mainham, a Bishop, who lived about the beginning of the seventh Century, and whose memory is celebrated on the 18th of December. This Priory was likewise an Hospital, for strangers and pilgrim. It was so large and fair a fabric before is dissolution, that it was deservedly esteemed. one of the most beautiful Church buildings in the whole Kingdom. The Prior of Kilmainham was the Proto-Prior of Ireland; and this noble Priory was suppressed in 1539, and near the ruins of it was built in 1684 the Royal Hospital, at the expence of the army, for the support of 400 aged and maimed soldiers. It ought not to be forgotten, that several Writers affirm, that the bodies of Brizn Boro, King of Munster, and Monarch of Ireland (who after a long and bloody battle, with the Danes at Clontarf, near Dublin, Good-Friday, the 23d of April, 1014, got the victory, yet died of his wounds,) and Muichard his son; and also of Donough O'KelIv, Doulan O'Hartegan, and Gille Barmed, were buried at Klmainham, near the old stone Cross, a part of which stands to this day; not far from which springs a crystal fountain, the water whereof is most excellent, and is called St. John of Jerusalem's Well. on It is mentioned by some Writers, that the Templars are supposed to have had a Priory in the South suburb of Dubin. to which Walter de Fernsfield was reputed to have been a grea benefactor. It was probably built in Kevin's-street, on a place, which the Irish call Casgot, very likely on the spot of ground, where now stands the Archbishop's Palace, which to this very day retains the name of St. Sepulchre's. But of it there is no satisfactory account, no more than of Baldongan, in Fingal, which some say belonged to the Templars, and was dedicated to the Assumption of the B. Virgin Mary. 2. CLONTARF, near Dublin, Preceptory of St. Congall, founded by King Henry II. in the twelfth century. 3. KILSARAN, in the County of Louth, Preceptory founded by Maud de Lacy, of the family of the Lacies, Lords of Meath, in the same century.. 4. KILBARRY, in the County of Waterford, Preceptory founded in the same century. 5. KILLURE, same county, Preceptory founded in the same century. 6. CROOK, same county, Precep tory fourded in the same century. 7. RIN CRIOH, alias TempleMichael, same county, by tradition an House, or Hospital. 8. BALLYNEMONY, alias Morne, or Mora, in the county of Cork, Preceptory of St. John Baptist, founded by Alexander of St. Ilelen's, in the thirteenth century. 9. CLONAUL, in the county of Tipperary, Preceptory founded in the same century. 10. TEAGH-TEMPLE, in the ce. of Sligo, Preceptory founded in the same century. 11. KILLERGY, in the county of Carlow, Preceptory of St. John Baptist, founded by Gilbert de Borard, in the same century. 12. KILCLOGAN in the county of Wexford, Preceptory founded by the the O'Mores, formerly Kings of Leix (now part of the Queen's county,) in the same century. 13. BALLY-HEWK, or BallyCauk, same county, Preceptory of St. John Baptist. 14. WEXFORD, Priory of St. John Baptist, and St. Brigid, founded in the twelfth century, by William Marshal, senior, Earl of Pembroke, whose wife was Isabel de Clare, Daughter to Richard, surnamed Strongbow, 15. KILBEGS, in the county of Kildare, Preceptory founded -. 16. KILHEEL, same county, Preceptory founded by Maurice Fitz-Gerald, ancestor to the Earls of Kildare, and Desmond, in the thirteenth century. 17. TULLOW, same county, Preceptory founded 18. KILMAINHAM-BEG, in the county of Meath, near Nobber, Preceptory founded by Walter de Lacy, Lord of Meath, in the twelfth century. 19. KILMAINHAM-WOOD, same county, Preceptory founded by the Preston's, ancestors to the Lords Viscounts Gormanston, in the thirteenth century. 20. ARDES, (a Peninsula) in the county of Down, Preceptory of St. John Baptist, founded by Sir Hugh de Lacy, father to Hugh de Lacy, Earl of Ulster, in the twelfth century. 21. ANY, in the county of Limerick, Preceptory of St. John Baptist, founded by Geoffry de Mariscis, in the thirteenth cen Eir-Connaught, (a part of the county of Galway,) in the thir teenth century. (To be continued.) NEW DESCRIPTION OF THE CITY OF SARAGOSSA. Saragossa, or as it is written in Spanish Zaragoza, the capital of the kingdom of Arragon, and an Archbishop's see, is situated on the south or right bank of the river Ebro, in the concave part of a bend of the river, which there forms the segment of a large cir sle to the northward, so that the buildings along the river, are but partially seen, from any one point. The Ebro is large, but navigable in general only for small boats, on account of the many sandbanks in its bed, which frequently change their position. Over the river is a stone bridge of six arches, and about six hundred feet in length, communicating with a suburb on the north side; and a little lower down is a wooden bridge, for foot passengers. The town is above a mile long, by three quarters of a mile in its greatest breadth, and the population is calculated at forty-five thousand. The old town is still easily distinguished from the new, being an oblong of above half a mile along the river, by one third of a mile in breadth. It is surrounded by ancient walls, with gates in the middle of its four sides, in all of which, vestiges of Roman architecture may be traced. The stone |