viduals most able, as they ought to be most desirous, to preserve order and tranquillity in their flocks. They ought to consider themselves as the coadjutors of the Protestant clergyman in all good works, his opponents only in theological questions. They ought cordially to join with him in promoting the education of their parishioners, not oppose by every means in their power his laudable exertions. We might pursue this picture furtherbut we abstain, for it is unnecessary to dilate on duties which must be manifest to all.

We have seldom read a more meagre production than the Report before us. It contains no analysis of the evidence, no expression of opinion, and the reason assigned for this defect is, that the commissioners could not agree in the conclusions to be drawn from the facts stated by their witnesses. We regret much that the dissentients, who, we understand, were Mr. Leslie Foster and Mr. Glassford, did not think fit, as in their sixth and ninth reports, to withhold their signatures, and to state at length their reasons for disagreeing with their colleagues, as their presence during the examinations must have enabled them to judge with much more accuracy of the value of the testimony given, than we can hope to do on a mere perusal of the printed pages now on our table.

The commissioners examined the president of Maynooth College; most of the present, and some of the late professors; Dr. Murray, one of the trustees; some of the actual students, and a few who, after receiving their education at this seminary, have become Protestants. We understand that the commissioners have suppressed some portions of the evidence they received, especially the whole of Mr. Hannan's, and part of Mr. Dixon's. In this, we think, they have acted wisely, as from what we believe to be the substance of the former gentleman's testimony, we should not be inclined to place much reliance on it,—and for other reasons of a peculiar nature, the publication of it was not advisable. We must, however, remark, that a more than usual latitude in correcting evidence was given to the witnesses-in certain cases, we think, far beyond what was proper, as it has enabled crafty persons, on finding their answers objectionable, to invent, with due deliberation, such explanations as might seem best calculated to remove the unfavourable impressions made on the commissioners.

The large majority of those brought up at this institution are the sons of persons in very inferior situations of life. Their previous education they can obtain at a very reasonable rate, as the rudiments of classical knowledge are taught at the country schools for a sum seldom exceeding, and often much less than 31. or 41. a-year. On their entrance at Maynooth 9l. are demanded of them,

which are always paid by instalments; and once placed on the foundation, they are liable to no expense whatever, except for the necessary furniture of their rooms, their clothes, and their books. Dr. Crotty, the president, estimates the value of the first at a very few pounds—the rest may cost 10l. or 12l. per annum. Their travelling charges must be very low, as they seldom leave the college, even to enjoy the short annual vacation allowed. Formerly, when those destined for orders were educated abroad, principally at Paris, Douay, Salamanca, and Rome, a much larger expenditure was required-seldom less than 401. or 501. a-year. Such students, it is evident, must have come from a higher class of society. It was when the state of Europe at the close of the 18th century rendered the maintenance of this system of foreign education impossible, that Maynooth was founded by the 35 Geo. III. c. 21, (Ireland.) Two acts have subsequently been passed, 40 Geo. III. c. 85, (Ireland,) and 48 Geo. III. c. 145. By these the chancellor and the three chief judges of Ireland for the time being, together with three Catholics specified by name, are made visitors-eleven. Catholic prelates and fourteen Catholic laymen trustees; the interior government of the college being vested in the president and council, all of whom, as well as the professors, are elected by the trustees. The 48 Geo. III. relates only to the legal powers of the trustees, with regard to suing and being sued, and enables them to purchase and acquire land, beyond what they then possessed, (seventy-four acres on leases renewable for ever,) to the amount of 1000l. per annum. They now receive from the public an annual grant of about 9000l., besides two sums of 8000l. paid in 1795, and 50001. in 1808. From donations they have property producing about 900l. a-year. The number of the students at the date of this report was three hundred and ninety-one, of whom two hundred and fifty were on the foundation, one hundred and ten pensioners, who pay 217. annually to the collcge, twenty bursers, and eleven in the Dunboyne class;* the whole of them being recommended by the Roman Catholic bishops of the dioceses to which they belong.

They are divided into seven classes, in each of which they spend

The Bursers are those for whose education provision has been made by private individuals. The Dunboyne class ought to consist of twenty, selected from the senior scholars. They receive an annual income from the College where they may remain three years longer than the other students. The fund for their support arises partly from an estate left by Lord Dunboyne of 5007. a-year, partly from a parliamentary grant of 7007. a year, given on the understanding that there should always be twenty in that class, in hopes, we suppose, that some few students might have time to acquire general information. The trustees, however, in direct violation of this arrangement, have never kept the number complete, and have taken upon themselves to devote the surplus arising by this means to other and totally different purposes.

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one year the first is devoted to the classics; the second, to rhetoric and belles-lettres; the third, to logic, metaphysics, and ethics; the fourth, to mathematics and natural philosophy. The three next comprise the students of divinity, under the superintendence of the professors of Hebrew and sacred scriptures, of moral, and of dogmatic theology. With this ends their course of instruction, unless the student should have been elected to the Dunboyne class. By this time they have attained the age for priests' orders, as they generally enter about seventeen, and they then return, in number about fifty annually, to their respective dioceses. Undoubtedly the time occupied in their classical and mathematical education is sufficient to give them as much knowledge in those branches as it is necessary for a parish priest to possess. It does not seem, however, that the extent of their learning is commensurate with the time devoted to it. A book or two of Homer, and half a dozen odes of Horace appear to be almost a twelvemonth's employment; and their rhetoric, of which, it is said, they know something-and their ethics, of which it is owned they know nothing, fill up another year. We are, of course, unable to pronounce on the merits and learning of the professors; but were we to judge of all from the qualifications of one of them, we should not rate their acquirements high. Mr. Callan, the mathematical lecturer, was asked, if his course embraced the subject matter of the sixth book of Euclid? In his answer, he professed total ignorance of its contents. It would have been perfectly consistent with this, had the classical lecturer disclaimed all knowledge of Virgil and Herodotus, or the rhetorician, of Quinctilian and Aristotle.

The instructions given in divinity require rather more particular notice. We shall presently examine into the nature of the doctrines inculcated; but we wish here to call the attention of our readers to the different portions of Scripture read, and more especially to those omitted. Of the Old Testament seldom above two, or at most three, books of Moses are read. Of the New, the greater part of the four Gospels, and the Epistles to the Romans, the Corinthians, the Hebrews, Titus, Timothy, and some of those of St. Peter. The principal omissions are, the whole of the Prophets, the Apocrypha, which are reckoned canonical by the church of Rome, the second Epistle to the Thessalonians, first general Epistle of St. John and the Revelations parts which, we cannot but feel, require almost more than any others the explanation of an able commentator. Of these, the Prophets contain many passages relating to antichrist, which Protestants apply to the pope and the Catholic church. The two Epistles, we have mentioned, are considered as bearing strongly

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on the same question, especially 2 Thess. c. ii., and 1 Gen. Ep. of St. John, c, ii. and iv. We do not affirm, that, in omit→ ting these very important and beautiful parts of Scripture, they were solely guided by a desire to escape from the difficulty in which they would have found themselves, had they been called upon by the students to explain the passages considered by Protestants as most particularly applicable to the Catholic religion. These omissions, however, have a suspicious appearance, and we cannot avoid laying considerable weight upon this fact; the more so, when we recollect their conduct with regard to the decalogue, on which no lectures are delivered, and to which reference is seldom or never made. Indeed, in Catholic catechisms, and books of religious instruction, the second commandment is frequently omitted. We remember, in the course of the debate in the House of Commons, last year, on the Catholic question, that Mr. Peel was violently attacked for having ventured to mention this fact, and for having produced the twenty-fifth edition of a catechism, printed with the approbation of Dr. Milner, and of the four Roman Catholic archbishops in Ireland, by Mr. R. Coyne, the publisher, we beg leave to remark, of Maynooth. In this, the second commandment is omitted; but the tenth is divided into two, that the name Decalogue may not appear ex facie a misnomer, and this omission, we can safely affirm, is very usual in Ireland. We can further add, that in many Catholic countries on the continent, we have ourselves seen a vast variety of religious works, in which the decalogue is inserted in this mutilated form; and we must honestly confess that, however unjustifiable is such an alteration in the words of the Bible, we do not, by any means, consider it as impolitic or uncalled for on the part of the Roman Catholics.

In the course of their examinations, many of the professors stated, that every student possessed the Bible, and was not only encouraged, but expected to study it. This assertion, unlooked for, as we are sure it was, by some of the commissioners, was certainly calculated to impress them with the belief, that a greater liberty of investigation was allowed at Maynooth than is usually met with in Catholic seminaries. They might thus be induced to imagine, that the Bible was not a sealed book, of which small portions only were selected for comment, or permitted to be read; but that the whole was laid before the students, and they were desired to inquire and satisfy their minds. When, however, strict scrutiny was made into the facts, the result was very different. It is true, that a regulation exists, by which every student is desired to provide himself with a Bible on his arrival at college. The regulation is, however, of very recent date in the first place, and in the second place it is very negligently enforced. The fact

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seems to be, that, before this rule was made, very few possessed the Bible; and that, since that time, many are without it; and, moreover, that the professors, though nominally encouraging the young men to peruse it, contrive that little leisure shall be left at their disposal for that object: for so restricted are they by the number of hours occupied in the public lectures, and by the necessary preparation, that they have barely time to examine those pas sages pointed out to them in class. Nor does it appear that the students themselves are in the least anxious to profit even by the very limited opportunities they may enjoy, as few or none ever read the Bible in private. One answer in particular struck us as most remarkable. Mr. George Chapman might, perhaps, in an idle mood, have taken up the volume (the New Testament) if it lay before him, and read merely to see the thing;' and another student of twenty-two had never read any part of it, except the Gospel of St. John.' This virtual exclusion of the Scriptures is, indeed, in perfect accordance with the doctrines of the Roman Catholic church; and if some indulgence, in that respect, is granted to those destined for orders, the same reluctance still remains to open the book to the laity. "The church of Rome,' says Dr. Curtis, titular archbishop of Armagh, in the Appendix to the Ninth Report of these Commissioners, p. 46, never has yet, and most likely never will, give a formal sanction to a translation of the Scriptures into any of the vulgar languages;' and Dr. Crotty owns he apprehends danger from a use of the Bible. In unison with these feelings has been the conduct of the Catholic clergy; and reluctantly, from want of space, do we content ourselves with referring our readers to the testimony of the Roman Catholic archbishops contained in the Appendix to the Ninth Report, to which, were we not fearful of exceeding our limits, we would gladly devote some pages, as affording the strongest possible confirmation of the charges brought against them, of resisting the distribution of the word of God.

The discipline enforced at Maynooth is a question of some consequence, since much may be done in early life by a too strict or a too relaxed system of education, towards rendering the character gloomy and morose, or careless and licentious. Between these there is a just medium, difficult, perhaps, to attain, but which is not even sought after at this college.

It is avowed, that the restrictions upon the liberty of the students are greater than in any other seminary in Ireland: we have no difficulty in adding, that they are greater than in almost any other seminary in Europe. Two months in every year are nominally assigned for vacations; but a student cannot return to his home, even during that short space, without express permission from his, superiors,

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