6

times, and in some cases only twice in the year, and in five instances this duty is said to be performed by deputy. Some prebendaries are not required to preach at all, and have no other duty than attendance at chapter meetings; and three only are said to be charged with occasional management of the economy 'fund.' We find that seventy-five offices above enumerated are sinecures, by the admission of those who hold them-that some of the others are virtually sinecures, inasmuch as their duties are performed by deputy-and that the duties performed by the remainder are few, slight, and easy.

In the constitution of the parochial clergy of Ireland, there is intrinsically nothing sufficiently remarkable to require notice, except with reference to the numbers and distribution of that part of the population who are members of the established church, and the ecclesiastical divisions which exist in Ireland. These subjects, therefore, we will separately consider.

Among the information afforded by the Report of the Commis sioners of Public Instruction, is a census of the population of Ire land, more accurate, we believe, than any previous census, and exhibiting for the first time the respective numbers of the members of the Established Church, Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, and other Protestant Dissenters. Till the year 1814, our infor mation respecting the population of Ireland was very defective. Successive estimates had been made; but they resulted from no more certain source than the number of houses or families, as ascertained by the hearth-money returns, multiplied by the probable average of persons to each house, or of members of each family. The returns which were the basis of these calculations are known to have been defective; and the ratio of calculation was not always the same. Sir William Petty took five to each house. Dr Beaufort took rates varying from five to six. Anderson, in his "History of Commerce,' takes five for each family in the country, ten in Dublin, and seven in Cork. Others have taken six for each house as the rate of calculation. Captain South's calcula tion was founded on a poll-tax, returns of which are stated for three counties, and for the city of Dublin, and an average struck for the rest of the kingdom, according to the first quarter's assess ment. The results thus obtained by various calculators at successive periods were as follows:

Population

1,100,000

1,034,102

From returns of the hearth-money

collectors,

The hearth-money returns of houses, on which some of the above calculations are founded, were as follows:

In July, 1812, the bill was passed for taking the population of Ireland by enumeration; the enquiry was commenced in May, 1813, and the result in 1814 was the Parliamentary return; giving as the amount of the population 5,937,856,-a result which showed that Newenham's estimate was probably very near the truth. The succeeding censuses of 1821 and 1831 were more entitled to confidence than any which preceded; but no previous enumeration of the people of Ireland deserves that confidence which is due to the census here exhibited by the Commissioners of Public Instruction, when we consider the high character of the persons (chiefly clergymen of the Established Church) from whom a considerable portion was obtained, the scrupulous care that was shown the publicity afforded to every statement-and the watchfulness employed in the detection of error. A description of the process of obtaining this census, which we need not recapitulate, is very circumstantially given by the Commissioners in the first part of their Report.

The total population of Ireland exhibited in their census, of whom the religion could be ascertained (which includes all except a very small number), is 7,943,940. The religious persuasions are distinguished as follows:

Established Church,

Roman Catholics,

Presbyterians,

Other Protestant Dissenters,

852,064 6,427,712

642,356

21,808

Thus the members of the Established Church are about 103 per cent of the total population. The Roman Catholics nearly 81 per cent, and the Presbyterians a little more than 8 per cent. The proportion of members of the Established Church to all other persuasions, is about 1 to 81.

The total Protestant population amounts to 1,516,228; and the proportion of Protestants to Catholics is about 1 to 41.

The distribution of the members of all these religious persuasions is very unequal; and the proportions in various parts of Ireland will be found extremely different. This will be the case even if we take the broadest distinction-that of Protestants and Catholics, and compare the largest ecclesiastical divisions. We shall find that in the province of Armagh, Protestants are to Catholics as about 1 to 1, or 10 to 17; in Dublin they are about as 1 to 53, or 10 to 58; in Cashel about 1 to 18 or 10 to 188; in Tuam as about 1 to 26, or 10 to 259.

+2

100

The distribution of the Roman Catholics is much less unequal than either that of Protestants generally, or of either of the two great Protestant denominations, the Established Church and Presbyterian. Yet the proportion even of the Roman Catholics ranges from 26 per cent of the total population in the diocese. of Connor, to 99 per cent in the diocese of Kilfenora. In 18 out of 32 dioceses, they are more than 90 per cent of the total population. Though much less numerous in the north, they pervade every part of Ireland; and it is remarkable, that though the portion of territory which constitutes a benefice is frequently very small, there is not one in all Ireland in which a Roman Catholic is not to be found. With the Presbyterians it is otherwise. They reside almost exclusively in the north, and principally in the dioceses of Down, Connor, Derry, Dromore, Armagh, Clogher, and Raphoe. These seven dioceses, comprising the greater part of the civil province of Ulster, contain 629,127 out of the 642,356 Presbyterians who are to be found in Ireland. The province of Armagh contains 638,303, the diocese of Dublin 2290; and in the whole of the rest of Ireland only 1993 Presbyterians can be found. Of these 966 are in the province of Cashel, and 800 in that of Tuam.

There is less inequality in the distribution of the members of the Established Church, but it exists to a considerable extent. Like the Presbyterians, they are most numerous in the northern parts of Ireland, and most of all in the diocese of Clogher, where they form of the total population more than 26 per cent. They are comparatively fewest in the south and west; and fewest of all (if we compare dioceses) in the little diocese of Kilfenora, where they form scarcely two-thirds per cent of the total population.

265

They are 16 per cent of the whole in the province of Armagh; 14 per cent in the province of Dublin; 478 per cent in Cashel; and 3 100 per cent in Tuam. Of dioceses there are three, Emly, Kilfenora, and Kilmacduagh, in which the members of the Established Church are less than one-fiftieth of the total population. There are eight others,- Ardfert and Aghadoe, Cashel, Cloyne, Limerick, Achonry, Lismore, Clonfert, and Tuam, in which they constitute less than a twentieth. There is only one, Clogher, in which they are more than a quarter; and only three others, Armagh, Dromore, and Dublin, in which they are more than a fifth of the whole.

The census of the members of the Established Church nevertheless exhibits a greater number than was expected by many. The reason is this: many are included in these returns, who in England would be called Dissenters. They are almost exclusively Wesleyan, or Primitive Wesleyan Methodists; and since, although attending places of worship of their own, they also frequently attended the service of the Church of England-would not admit that they dissented from its doctrines often called themselves Established Churchmen, and always refused to be enumerated as Protestant Dissenters-the Commissioners were compelled to class them as members of the Established Church. Their number is not specified; but that it is great, is sufficiently evident from the numerous places of worship which are appropriated to their use. Of the 403 places of worship which do not belong to the Established Church, Roman Catholics, or Presbyterians, 283 belong to Wesleyans and others, who are stated to be in connexion with the Established Church; and the average congregations of these is sometimes upwards of 300. If we take 100 as the average of the whole, it will give 28,300 as the aggregate congregation of such places of worship; and if, making deduction for children, age, infirmity, sickness, and absence produced by other causes, we estimate such congregations at two-fifths of the whole, the conclusion we shall arrive at from such calculation is, that the Methodist population included in the census as members of the Established Church, are about 70,000 persons. These 283 places of worship, inasmuch as they are supported by voluntary contributions, and divine service is not performed in them by ministers of the Established Church, have been reported by the Commissioners alongst with chapels belonging to Protestant Dissenters, from which, however, they ought to be distinguished. It might be inferred, without the aid of any statement to that effect, that many of the attendants at these places of worship are included in one of the two great Protestant denominations; from the extraordinary dispro

portion which appears to exist between the number of such edifices and that of Protestant Dissenters. Four hundred and three places of worship to 21,808 persons, or about one to every ten families, is a proportion which outrages probability. But this is nothing to what appears in the summary of the diocese of Clogher, where, under the heads of other Protestant 'Dissenters' and their 'places of worship,' we find thirty places. of worship, and only twenty-six persons!

The 21,808 who are enumerated as other Protestant Dis'senters,' are chiefly Quakers, Moravians, Independents, Separatists, and Baptists. Of these denominations we believe the Quakers to be most numerous. We are unable to ascertain the

relative proportions of the others.

A few words now upon the manner in which Ireland has been divided, for the purposes of religious instruction to be afforded to the 852,064 members of the Established Church. The ecclesiastical division does not agree with the civil division. The provinces, civil and ecclesiastical, most nearly coincide respectivelybut between the dioceses and counties there is no appearance of relation. Limits and extent are hardly any where identical. A diocese sometimes comprises parts of five counties—and a county of five dioceses. The latter is the case both in Galway and Queen's county, which last is of very small extent. An equal absence of identity prevails in the parochial divisions. The ecclesiastical parish is often not identical either in name or extent with the civil parochial divisions adopted for the purpose of grand jury assessments. Thus it is only with reference to ecclesias tical purposes that the ecclesiastical boundaries are to be considered. Some of them, too, are at present merely nominal, as is the case with many of the thirty-two dioceses into which Ireland has been divided. These dioceses vary extremely in extent, in population, and in number of benefices. In extent, they vary from Tuam, with a surface of 1,135,600 acres - Ardfert and Aghadoe of 670,450-Meath of 663,600, and Derry of 659,000, down to Kilmacduagh with a surface of 64,000-Kilfenora of 37,000, and Waterford of only 31,300 acres. In population, they vary from Dublin, with its 501,977 souls, and Armagh, with 500,636, down to Kilmacduagh with 46,132, and Kilfenora, with 36,405. With respect to number of benefices, Kilmacduagh, with its four, is at the lowest extremity of the scale, while Meath, which is at the highest, contains not less than 105. In the parochial divisions there is great inequality in point of extent, and considerable intermixture of boundary. Sometimes,' says Mr Erck, in his valuable work, The Irish Ecclesiastical Register,' 'a district of land in the middle of one parish may belong to another