Surely they cannot be thus deceived. They are now required to mistranslate a simple Latin phrase, for the purpose of believing that eight volumes of a most pestilent work, containing matter against which it was most important that the Roman Catholic clergy should have been put upon their guard, without a single hint that the objectionable matter was to be rejected—a work, the cost-price of which was two guineas were all printed for no other purpose than that of suggesting the order in which Roman Catholic ecclesiastics should pursue their religious inquiries; an object which would have been much better answered by a few pages of letterpress, which would not have cost sixpence! Will they not, one and all, say, "Credat Judeus Apella, non ego Will they not ask in what consisted the necessity of following that particular order? The conclusion of each one of the chapters in Dens suggests the following; so that, if there was any particular necessity for following his order, his reasoning must be adopted (which is only a more roundabout way of arriving at the inference by which they affect to be so much scandalised): and if there was no such particular necessity, their pretext falls to the ground, and they are driven to maintain that, for the purpose of following an order of discussion, which was by no means necessary, every Roman Catholic clergyman must pay two guineas for a system of theology, two-thirds of which, at least, can only serve to mislead him in his religious inquiries. I press this point, not for the sake of the gross bulk of the Roman Catholic population, who can be made to believe any thing, but of the more educated classes, who affect to think for themselves, and many of whom have been greatly shaken by the exposures which have taken place in Exeter Hall. I would entreat of them to examine this question calmly and dispassionately for themselves, and see whether, indeed, their spiritual guides have dealt fairly with them on this important subject. That body are at present sustained by no small share of secular influence: they are virtually the patrons of a majority of the representatives of Ireland. Just as the progress of light and knowledge was divesting them of their spiritual influence, the insane provisions of the Reform-bill conferred upon them a plenitude of political power; and they can now maintain their authority by an instrumentality that could before be but little thought of. They now wield a double-edged sword; and while, in their sacerdotal character, they are objects of veneration to the lower classes, in their political they are enabled to command the obedience, if not the respect, of a vast number of land-proprietors, both Protestant and Roman Catholic, by whom, under other circumstances, they would be wholly disregarded. This it is, in reality, which at the present moment disorganises society, and retards the progress of the reformation in Ireland. The reader is requested to hold in mind the allusion, in Mr. Seymour's letter, to that politico-religious association amongst the Roman Catholic peasantry, which menaces the peaceable part of the community with so much danger. This is no other than a continuation of the old defender system,* which existed in 1795, and on which not a little light has been recently thrown in Wolf Tone's Memoirs. It now assumes the name of the Ribbon Society; and bears much the same relation to the Romish church in Ireland, that the inquisition did to the Romish church in Spain. The members are bound together by an oath, which pledges them to wage war upon Protestants even to extermination. They vow to be faithful to each other, and to be always ready to swear any thing in a court of justice by which the interests of the confederacy may be served. The consequence of this is, that defenceless Protestants are frequently waylaid, and either cruelly maimed or barbarously murdered. If they should escape with their lives from the atrocious assailants, and threaten a prosecution, their adversaries are beforehand with them, and, by dint of hard swearing, are often enabled to procure their conviction in a court of justice, and thus to accomplish by perjury the vengeance which they failed to effect by assassination. A most able and devoted clergyman has assured me that several of his parishioners are at this moment languishing in gaol, whose only offence was that they were marked as victims by the ribbon-men, and having had the spirit and the good fortune to resist • Mr. O'Connell's evidence before the parliamentary committee 1825 them successfully in open conflict, were no match for the wily dexterity by which the miscreants have learned to entangle them in the meshes of the law; and thus not only to defeat the ends, but to poison the source, and pervert the very nature of justice. This conspiracy, in Wolf Tone's time, extended over three parts of Ireland. At present it is not less extensive, and it is, if possible, more malignant. The reader will, therefore, judge what the condition of defenceless Protestants must be in those parts of the country where this system prevails, and how little they are calculated to contend against such assailants. But I have alluded to the subject at present, only for the purpose of directing your attention to the tactique of the Popish members in parliament. What have they done? It was obviously not their play to suffer the attention of the legislature to be attracted to the machinations of a sanguinary banditti, by whom the peace of the country is thus disturbed, and they therefore move for a special committee to inquire into the origin and effect of Orange societies-societies consisting of loyal men, and aiming at strictly constitutional objects; thus doing, on a large scale, through the instrumentality of the House of Commons, what they were previously in the habit of doing, on a small scale, by the instrumentality of a court of justice. The loyal party are impeached and put upon their trial for supposed offences; and though the result must be a triumphant acquittal, the object of the party moving this prosecution is completely gained, by diverting public indignation from the real delinquents. Thus, the ribbon-men, if any such there be, in parliament, co-operate most completely with those who are without; each, in his vocation, taking the best means in his power to aid in the overthrow of religion and loyalty in Ireland. I am glad to perceive that a notice has been given, by one of the best of our county members, to call the attention of the house, at an early day in the next session, to the nature of this portentous conspiracy, by which this unhappy country is overspread. could, sir, say much upon it; but I am restrained by a conviction that the disclosures which might be made had better be reserved for the meeting of parliament, when their utterance may It is my firm conviction that there never But already the people of England WILLIS'S PENCILLINGS.* THIS is, really and truly, a goose of a book-or, if any body wishes the idiom to be changed, a book of a goose. There is not a single idea in it, from the first page to the last, beyond what might germinate in the brain of a washerwoman. Willis tells us that he was an attaché to some American embassy; and, for any thing we know to the contrary-being perfectly ignorant of what are the materials composing the lower, or, indeed, the higher orders of American diplomacy-he may in this instance have spoken the truth.† If it be the case, we are happy to find that the lick spittle spirit of the red-tape school-the school of lickspittleism all over the world-breaks out so gloriously in his very first volume (p. 208), as to make him declare the man on whose patronage he depended for his " position, General Jackson, to be superior to any monarch of Europe he (Willis) had ever seen. Such is the true tact of all attachés; and it will be, of course, swallowed by that most open-throated of flummery gulpers, old Hiccory. But if the "grey old chieftain," as he is called in these foolish books, be deprived of his presidential chair, and of political influence in the States, at the next election, we are tolerably sure that the freespoken penciller will be prepared to denounce him as a mixture of the blusterer and the sneak, with as much readiness as is at present daily done by the liberal journals of the liberal LouisPhilippe. Two and a half more useless volumes than the opening portions of Willis's work cannot be conceived. • Pencillings by the Way. By N. P. Willis, Esq., Author of "Melanie," the Slingsby Papers," &c. 3 vols. London, 1835. Macrone. The last number of the Metropolitan Magazine throws some light on the business. Although we are well acquainted with the birth, parentage, and history of Mr. Willis, previous to his making his continental tour, we will pass them over in silence; and we think that Mr. Willis will acknowledge that we are generous in so doing. Mr. Willis shall first make his appearance as an attaché to the American Legation at Paris. And here we must tell our friends in America, that they must be more circumspect on this point. Letters of recommendation are certainly necessary to procure admission into the best English society; for there is one inconvenience attending a democratic form of government, which is, that where all assume equality, it is not easy to know who people are: but the American government have committed a very great error in allowing the travelling part of their community to hoist what in England would be considered as false colours. We presume that this mistake arises from their form of government, which very much affects opinions upon certain points. In England, being attached to an embassy implies that the parties so employed are of high connexion, or of acknowledged talent. The very circumstance, therefore, of presenting your card with attaché engraved on it, is sufficient, in England, to serve as a passport to the highest circles. Now, with the Americans the case is very different; they have their real attachés, who receive the salary and perform the duty. Washington Irving was one in this country; and every one who was acquainted with him is ready to acknowledge that, in every point, no better selection could have been made. But the American government allows what may be termed spurious attachés; that is, the permission to their countrymen so to call themselves, for the convenience of travelling. This is the American phrase used; and, to give the English reader some idea of the carelessness with which these passports to society have been granted, we are credibly informed that Mr. M'Lean, the former American ambassador at Paris, had granted not less than twenty-five to different persons. The French authorities took umbrage at this, and as all the attachés of every description were considered as dismissed when the ambassador was recalled, his successor, Mr. Livingstone, has been much more particular. Mr. Willis, however, obtained a renewal of his, for the convenience of travel. But we again repeat, that this system is unfair. The old world is left to suppose that Mr. Willis, who presents his flourishing card, is a person selected by the American government for his abilities or consequence in their country, who is receiving their pay, and is intrusted with diplomatic secrets, when, in fact, he is only a traveller, paying his own way by his Pencillings on the Way in the New York Mirror." Mr. Willis has caught a Tartar in Marryat; but we do not think the author of The most commonplace road-book has told us every thing of the picturegalleries in Italy, the wonders of Pompeii, the glories of Naples, the splendours of Constantinople, the cafes of the various towns of the Continent, the Simplon, the Domo D'Ossola, &c. &c.; and all these hacked and hashed matters of all manner and kinds of tourists, are here again narrated in a style as creeping as a guide-book, and, at the same time, as affected as that of a namby-pamby writer in twaddling albums, kept by the mustachoed and strong-smelling widows or bony matrons of Portland Place or Curry Row. Pleasant it is to know that Bonconvento is "the place where Henry VII. of Germany (not of England, be it observed) was poisoned by a monk on his way to Rome (vol. i. p. 47)— that the ancient Volscinium was the Peter Simple and Jacob Faithful should have troubled his head about such small deer. But the end of the Captain's article is worth quoting: "We have not said all that we could say, because we do not care to break a butterfly on the wheel. We know much more about America, and what is going on there, than Mr. Willis may imagine. Did Mr. Willis ever read a work called Truth, or a New-Year's Gift for Scribblers, published in Boston about four years ago? If so, he must have seen a description, with which we will now conclude, as it shall be from an AMERICAN tomahawk that he receives his coup de grace. This will prove that Mr. Willis's character has long been well known in America, and that his countrymen have been more severe upon him than we are now; for, out of charity, we shall leave out the major part. Dishonest critic and ungrateful friend, If the remainder of the poem is as good as this quotation, the author of Truth, &c., is a very clever fellow. Can any of our transatlantic friends tell us who he is! Such writing would redeem any country from the disgrace of a shipload of such rubbish as Melanie. I Mrs Child.” scholars by men of genius, of taste, of learning, of research. His chambermaid gabble is tedious to the last degree. It has not even the piquancy of personal adventure to relieve it. He appears to have shewn off as a ninny of the first magnitude throughout all his tour, and to have been treated accordingly. We request any reader who has the patience-nay, we request Willis himself to count up how often he has used the words "noble" and beautiful," as applied to what he has seen, and to wonder at his utter sumphishness. There are two ways in which egregious folly may be displayed. One is, that of contemning what all the world admires, or passing over with lacklustre eye what rivets the glance of genius. The other, equally odious, is the affectation of being penetrated with admiration of what are long recognised as productions of art or nature worthy of worship; and worshipping them, accordingly, with an idolatry as stupid and unreasoning as that which old Polonius affects for the vagaries of Hamlet when depicting the appearances of the clouds. Look, for instance, in Willis's second volume (p. 12, &c.), at the critiques on the pictures of Guido, Giorgione, Corregio, &c., in the Leuchstenstein gallery. They are extolled in a trumpery swell of penny-trumpet eloquence as the finest things in the world-but so extolled as to prove that the writer had never bestowed more than a cursory survey on the most brilliant among them. "Alike to him is time and tide -there hangs a picture, said by the catalogue to be painted by Correggio, and it is noble, beautiful, and so forth. He would have said the same if it had been executed by West. He honestly confesses that he was heartily tired of looking over galleries of pictures - the foolish fellow never seems to have dreamt that time, study, knowledge, patience, are requisite for the due understanding of any one of those famous pictures to which he shouts "Bravo!" with a bray as void of sense as the ejaculation of a jackass. The jackass, in fact, is the superior animal, because his bray is elicited in general by something that calls forth his appetites or instincts. Willis's bray is that of nothing better than mere affectation -a paltry parody on the musical intonation of the hero of Peter Bell. Enough of this: We leave all foreign lands alone, And turn our eyes upon our own. About two-thirds of the third volume relate to the doings and seeings of Willis in England. The Quarterly has already done justice to this part of the performance, and Willis is mortified at soul. Sir Fretful Plagiary was never more serene under infliction. instance "Those of my letters which date from England were written within three or four months of my first arrival in this country. Fortunate in my introductions, almost embarrassed with kindness, and, from advantages of comparison gained by long travel, qualified to appreciate keenly the peculiar delights of English Society, I was little disposed to find fault. Every thing pleased me. Yet in one -one single instance-I indulged myself in stricture upon individual character; and I repeat it in this work, sure that there will be but one person in the world of letters who will not read it with approbation,- the editor of the Quarterly himself. It was expressed at the time with no personal feeling, for I had never seen the individual concerned, and my name had probably never reached his ears. I but re peated what I had said a thousand times, and never without an indignant echo to its truth-an opinion formed from the most dispassionate perusal of his writings -that the editor of that Review was the most unprincipled critic of the age. Aside from its flagrant literary injustice, we owe to the Quarterly, it is well known, every spark of ill feeling that has been kept alive between England and America for the last twenty years. The sneers, the opprobrious epithets of this bravo in literature, have been received in a country where the machinery of reviewing was not understood as the voice of the English people, and an animosity for which there was no other reason has been thus periodically fed and exasperated. I conceive it to be my duty as a literary man -I know it is my duty as an Americanto lose no opportunity of setting my heel on the head of this reptile of criticism. He has turned and stung me. Thank God, I have escaped the slime of his approbation. "N. P. WILLIS," Was ever small-beer poured out with a more magnificent air of the effusion of champagne! Heaven preserve us! here is Niagara in a jordan! We are sorry, however, to be a little more serious. We do not wish to accuse so ridiculous a person as poor Willis of any design of committing |