"Yes, Mihil, but the gospel has given to the clergymen only in trust for God's people. He is the steward of the Most High, Mihil, and you nor yours shall never want a meal while your priest has one for himself. I'll go down to the grave with joy when I know that the flock I loved will act as you and your father acted, Mihil. Thanks be to God!" and a tear fell on the old priest's cheek as he spoke- thanks be to God, that my little flock think, in this way, of the word of instruction their old pastor spoke."

A bag of meal was instantly sent to the house of old Tyrrel, and the young man was retained in the house of the clergyman until he should obtain some permanent employment.

The story of Tyrrel's destitution, and his extraordinary honesty, meantime rapidly spread abroad. It was the theme of universal approbation, and the commendation of every tongue. Arising from grade to grade, the report at length reached the ears of the proprietor of the estate, to whom Tyrrel, as an under-tenant, was totally unknown. Such an act of generous virtue was calculated to make a great impression on the mind of the landlord, and the example was one of too much importance to pass by unnoticed.

One evening, in the beginning of May, old Mihil, of whom we have spoken so much, was sitting on a snug and warm hearth.-He talked to his grandchildren about honesty and confidence in God-his everlasting theme. He was forcibly delineating the character of true virtue, and telling of the reward which heaven bestows on the good, when a carriage drove up to his little door, and at the next moment the landlord of the property stood in his cottage. "Are you the father of young Mihil Tyrrel, who found the piece of gold?" asked the gentleman.

Yes, Sir, I am his father, thanks be to God!" replied old Mihil. "I am his father, Sir."

"Old man," answered the gentleman, "you are an honour to each other so much virtue should not pass unrewarded. How long have you lived on this estate?"

"Man and boy, Sir, I have been three score and ten years in the cabin where you stand-next Candlemas I mean, Sir."

"Too long, and to be unknown to your landlord-where is your son?" continued the gentleman.

"He's at the priest's, Sir-our good parish priest, Sir, that kept us alive out of the little he has himself; 'twouldn't do to wait till we'd ask, Sir, he found out we were in want, and we never wanted after. God bless our priest."

"Well, I've heard of the minister, too," replied the gentleman, "though attached to the church that he governs, I would be sorry to subscribe to the morality which he practises. You shall never again be in his power, or in the power of a mere accidental fortune. Here is thirty pounds: send your grandchildren to any school that will teach them such honesty as you have taught your son, and call on me annually for the same sum."

Mihil Tyrrel lives now in a happy and contented old age. His favourite Katey unites to the loveliness and volatility of sixteen, the virtue which the example of her grandfather was calculated to confirm, and she is the little patroness of a female school in her neighbourhood, that she watches with untiring attention. Young Mihil has succeeded to the stewardship of the estate, the patron's further manifestation of regard for honesty of conduct; and Johnny, who is at present studying on the Continent, promises one day to be an honour to the church, as its minister, which from infancy he had been taught to revere. I cannot conclude without remarkingthough Miss Katey Tyrrel is now in possession of a competencythat she has not excited one spark of envy in the whole female district. She is not like many foolish young ladies who imagine that a gaudy exterior enhances internal worth, and who forget that simplicity in appearance is the first mark of wisdom in the heart. No; her natural beauty, of which heaven has bestowed on her a large share, is graced by the guileless innocence of her manners, and her days are divided between her domestic duties and the amusement of her beloved grandfather. Only it is a great secret I would say one little word on a project connected with his son and heir, which has been for some time contemplated by the proprietor of the estate. But though I am sure that no fortune shall induce Katey to leave her grandfather's roof before she will have shed a tear to his memory, I shall not be surprized to hear that she made as good a landlord's bride as she made an humble tenant's daughter. The priest and the minister only remain; the former will tell you Mihil's story the thousand and first time before you know him a week, and I suppose in due course of things the zeal of the latter has made him a bishop.

Reader, nay, don't lay down the Magazine for a moment. There's something in the tale which your interest for Mihil Tyrrel may have induced to pass by. Did you trace the mysterious dispositions of Providence when OMNIPOTENCE made the hand of persecution the very one from which its blessing was to flow? Be patient beneath injury then; the Lord looketh on while your enemy strikes. Did you remark the triumph of virtue in rags, and even the temporal reward bestowed on that triumph by an all-judging God? Remember it when a dishonouring temptation to assail your neighbour's right would deceive you; for the same God liveth! If Mihil Tyrrel had not been refused by the minister be had never gone to borrow a meal for his family; he had never met the gold which proved his honesty and made his fortune; but above all, if he had sirificed rectitude of principle to momentary relief, would he be, on this day. happy and independent. The story, reader, proves a moral maxim, and speaks a moral instruction; both of which no man should ever forget.

"Honesty is the best policy.".
"GO THOυ and do likewise."

R. B.

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No. 1.

PUBLISHED WEEKLY,

UNDER THE INSPECTION OF CATHOLIC DIVINES.

DUBLIN, SATURDAY, JANUARY 3, 1835.

VOL. II.

: BRIEF MEMOIRS OF SIR THOMAS MORE. [COMPILED FOR THE CATHOLIC PENNY MAGAZINE. BY A CATHOLIC PRIEST.]

SIR THOMAS MORE, Lord High Chancellor of England, who was beheaded for his religion by the tyrant Henry VIII., was born in Milk-street, in the city of London, in the year 1480, in the reign of Edward IV. His father, Sir John More, was of gentle descent, being entitled from his birth to armorial bearing. He became Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench, and continued in this office until his death. According to his son's account he was of affable deportment, and distinguished for meekness and impartiality. Sir Thomas received the rudiments of learning at St. Anthony's School, in Threadneedle-street, under Nicholas Holt.Archbishop Heath, and Archbishop Whitgift, were educated at the same school. About his fifteenth year he was placed in the house of Cardinal Moreton, Archbishop of Canterbury. It was the custom of the times that young gentlemen should spend a portion of their youth in some prelate's or nobleman's house, in order to improve themselves by the experience of their superiors, and acquire a knowledge of the world. The cardinal was much delighted with young More's wit and talent, and was wont to say of him to his noble guests: "This child here waiting at the table, whosoever shall live to see it, will prove a marvellous man." The event justified his sagacity; for a more wonderful man than Sir Thomas More has seldom appeared in any age or country. It was most probably in the Cardinal's house that he became acquainted with the celebrated Dean Colet, the founder of St. Paul's school, and one of the chief restorers of classic literature in England before the Reformation. The Dean entertained such an opinion of him that he was in the habit of saying "there was but one wit in England, and that was young More."

He was sent to Oxford in 1497, where he pursued his studies in Latin and Greek, and formed the acquaintance of several remarkable men and distinguished scholars. Amongst these was Erasmus, with whom he contracted a most intimate friendship, which lasted during their lives.

When he had completed his course at Oxford he returned to London, and diligently applied himself to the study of the law, his future profession during life, first at New Inn, and afterwards at Lincoln's Inn. He was soon appointed Reader at Furnival's Inn, where he delivered lectures for three years. He also gave public lectures in St. Lawrence's Church, in the Old Jewry, on St. Augustine's famous work of "the City of God," which were attended by some of the most learned men in the city, both lay and clerical. As he lived in the neighbourhood of the great Carthusian Monastery, called the Charter House, he was so charmed by the edi

fying lives of its inmates, that he resolved to renounce the world and devote himself to the service of God in the monastic state.He actually lived there four years, and submitted to all the austerities prescribed by the rules. But after having consulted the will of heaven on his vocation, and employed all those means which religion suggests for that purpose, he concluded that he was not called by God to the ecclesiastical state.

He soon after married Jane Colt, the eldest daughter of a gentleman of Essex. It was a most happy union except in its duration, for Mrs. More, after having given birth to three daughters and a son, left her affectionate husband a widower at an early age. Her eldest daughter Margaret, was Sir Thomas's favourite child. She inherited the features, the form, and the genius of her father, and requited his fond partiality by a most tender and endearing affection.

In about two years after the death of his first wife he married Alice Middleton, a widow, who was seven years older than himself, and not more remarkable for beauty than youth. He seems to have wedded this lady rather for the care of his family and the management of his house, and yet Erasmus, who was a frequent guest, assures us, that More " lived with her on terms of as much respect and kindness as if she had been fair and young." He further declares that "no husband ever gained so much obedience from a wife by authority and severity as he did by gentleness and pleasantry. With the same gentleness he ruled all his family, so that it was without broils or quarrels. He composed all differences and never parted with any one on unkind terms. The house was fated to the peculiar happiness that those who dwelt in it were always raised to a higher fortune, and that the good name of its happy inhabitants was never tarnished. With him you might imagine yourself in the academy of Plato. But I should wrong his house by comparing it to Plato's academy, where numbers and geometrical figures, and sometimes moral virtues were the subjects of discussion. It would be more just to call it the school and exercise of the Christian religion. All its inhabitants, male or female, applied their leisure to liberal studies and profitable reading, although piety was their first care. No wrangling nor angry word was heard in it; no one was idle; every one did his duty with alacrity, and with a well-regulated cheerfulness."

This favourable account of his friend Erasmus is fully confirmed by the relation of his son-in-law and biographer, Roper, who gives us the most edifying picture of this Christian father in the midst of his household. "As Sir Thomas More's custom was daily (if he were at home) besides his private prayers, to say the seven Psalms, the Litany, and the suffrages following, so was his guise nightly before he went to bed, to go to his chapel with his wife, children, and household, and there on his knees ordinarily to say certain