The Magistrate" Tut, its not possible that religion was ever in so utterly degraded a state as that such a prayer was offered up to God by Christian ministers. Prayer! such a vile travestie upon every sacred and solemn association; or if it was, why all I say is, that such an occurrence was truly characteristic of a barbarous age.” The Surgoon Just think for a moment into what a daring and ludicrous impiety it involves the person who offers it up: and how revolting the blasphemy of it is, as far as the awful character of the Almighty is concerned. There was, as the legends go, once upon a time, a young woman who, by refusing to marry the king of Sicily, sets in the first place parental authority at defiance; the father, however, being determined to effect a point which he considered calculated to establish his daughter in life to the best advantage, locks her up, probably on ascertaining that less harsh measures were insufficient to subdue her undutiful obstinacy. In the mean time what happens? Why, in order to get herself out of the scrape, she prays for a swinging beard! Kneels down solemnly and says; "Oh! that I might be graciously endued with a liberal sweep of beard, to save me from a marriage with this king of Sicily! Grant that my chin may be thus a set off against his crown, I beseech thee; and if it be pleasing to thee, O holy Barbara, (by whose intercession we may presume the prayer was granted) grant me, in addition to the dependency from my chin, a pair of permanent whiskers, for which I would be truly thankful; acknowledging also as I would, if a farther presumption in my request be pardoned, that a slight mustachio on my upper lip would be an additional blessing!" No sooner said than done. She instantly puts up her hand, and finding her chin in full crop, the miracle is immediately proclaimed. The father seeing his ambitious projects defeated, in the fury of his disappointment, ordered her to be shaved after a peculiar fashionthat is to say, he had the beard taken off, and the head on it. This completes her glorious career- for she gains a far better crown than that of the king of Sicily-to wit, one of martyrdom, says the veracious martyrology of the Church of Rome, in which, as well as in her calendar, this gross legend has a conspicuous place. You have just heard, from the Salisbury Breviary, the rhyming Antiphon used in the service set apart for her, and the prayer which followed it; so that it is no Protestant fiction brought forward for ludicrous purposes, but one solitary prayer taken out of hundreds equally absurd and disgusting, from her rituals before the Reformation."

The Magistrate" Well, they must have been miracle-bolters to swallow that legend; such ages were worthy of Hohenlohe. However I do not think the most ignorant peasant in Ireland could let that down."

Presbyterian "Miracle-bolters! Do you suppose, Sir, that there is a peasant in Ireland who would not believe it? I can tell you to a man, they think their priests-all priests-possess the faculty of working miracles, if they would;-that the power slumbers in them, only that they do not exert it; and I will relate an authentic anecdote in illustration of this."

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"There lived some years ago, in the county of M- a certain blessed priest, who was of course a miracle-worker, as all priests bearing the epithet of blessed' are. In the chapel beside which he lived, a Roman Catholic teacher kept a few boys, to whom he gave a classical education; so you will please to observe, that this man's attainments were considerably beyond those of mere English masters. Now, it happened that the master in question and a young man of his acquaintance, who had called on him one day, went over during school-hours to a public-house, a little out of the town in which the chapel was situated. They had sauntered easily along for a short distance, when, on turning an angle of the road, they espied the blessed priest, standing with his hands thrust in his capacious waistcoat pockets-his head and body leaned a little backwards, as if he looked intently upon some distant object: he had a habit of keeping one eye shut, and on this occasion his brows were contracted into an expression of earnestness, as if, in peering with the open eye, he was altogether absorbed in the contemplation of whatever had attracted his notice. When the classical teacher saw him, he stopped, I cannot go forward,' said he, there is Father O and if he notice me, I must stand a torrent of abuse for being out of the chapel during school-hours.'Not at all,' replied the other, 'you can tell him that I am a friend whom you have not seen for some time, which will be truth, and that you are taking a walk with me a short distance out of town.' Ah!' said the other, shaking his head, and looking towards the priest, you know not what an overbearing man he is, nor the difficult card I have to play in consequence of his vile temper; you see he is standing on the road before us, consequently, we cannot avoid him: I will therefore be certain to hear a peal from him if I proceed; good-bye, I will return. You certainly shall not,' replied the other; come on-if he attack you, I will bear the brunt of the battle. I only thank God that I am not living within reach of his tongue, for I should not relish it. Come on, man, leave him to me. During the latter part of the last sentence, the other was about to return; but his friend caught him by the sleeve, and pulled him forward. After much hesitation, he was at length prevailed upon to proceed, and accordingly they walked on towards the priest, who still maintained the position in which they first saw him. On approaching him, the man found that his anticipations of what he was to receive, were perfectly correct. Ha!' the priest exclaimed in a loud voice, whilst the words flew out of his mouth

with the greatest rapidity Ha! blackguard Mn, where are you vagabondizing now, rascal? What brings you out from your business, scoundrel, at this hour of the day? Eh! miscreant! what! Going forward to drink-going forward to drink! You wouldn't take it in the town, you baste you, for fear of being seen -for fear it might come to my ears; but it would reach my ears, if you took it behind a ditch-if you took it behind a ditch-if you took it in a mountain-in a caveaye, or in the very bowels of the earth, you vagabond ignoramus you-aye, would it, Come, Sir, what character was that you were giving of me to this respectable looking gentleman, as you turned the corner there below? Come, Sir, answer me, Sir? I say, Sir, answer me on the instant; or if you don't, by one word of my mouth I'll make you an example to the world.'.

"Why, Sir, replied the man, we were not speaking of you at all.'

"You lie in your heart, you vile rascally pedagogue; you were misrepresenting me to that gentleman: you told him when you observed me, that you were afraid I'd see you out of your school at this hour; and you said that I was a tyrannical overbearing fellow -you did, you wooden-headed slave, you did; and I'll make you suffer for it. Sir, I appeal to you, as a gentleman, for you have every appearance of one, and I know you to be one, incapable of falsehood too-I appeal to you, as you stand in the presence of God— am I not right?':

"The poor man's friend was somewhat more scrupulous than himself, and as the priest put the question to him with such solemnity, he felt himself most unexpectedly under the necessity of requesting him not to press it further, which was a manner of getting out of it, the least injurious, he conceived, to his friend. But independently of this, the wily Thaumaturgian took him on the weak side, by exalting him at one word into a gentleman.

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"Perhaps, Sir,' said he, after he had got himself out of the embarrassment as well as he could, perhaps you would be good enough to permit him to take half an hour's walk with me, along the way? I, on my own part, will feel extremely obliged to you, you do; and I am sure you will grant that much to a stranger.' Ha!' said the priest, you are out there, Sir. I see through that; for although I only look with one eye, I can see further than you are aware of than you can with two; but if I opened both, what do you think would escape me? You think you are taking me on the soft side, by appealing to my generosity and good manners; but I know what's within you this moment, for all that ; however, that pitiful scoundrel may accompany you; and if you' treat him in the public-house there above, which, mark me, is your object in bringing him out; why, on your account he may take it, but let him not go beyond the proper bounds-though it is alto gether on account of the respectable gentleman that is along with you, (said he, addressing the poor master,) that I give you permission at all, you poor brainless animal.'

"Now, from the situation in which the priest stood, he could,

without seeming to turn himself exactly towards the direction from which they came, observe their motions most accurately; that is, by turning his eye on its s axis, without moving round his face to that particular direction. He noticed them approach observed the schoolmaster's hesitation-then saw them look at himself, like men who were holding some discourse of which he was the subject: he knew also that he richly deserved the character he got; so putting all these things together, he drew his own conclusions, and hit upon the truth. After the two men had passed, he still kept his position, without seeming to be at all affected by what had occurred.

"Well,' said the schoolmaster, when they had advanced a few perches, I have often heard of Father O's power; but that which now happened goes beyond any thing that ever took place since the days of the apostles. I had heard frequently that he could know any person's thoughts when he pleased; but now I have a proof of it in myself. The Virgin guard us! how he did repeat the very words we were speaking, and brought out the very thoughts of our hearts before us: why, that man could do any thing!'

"When the two worthies had topped a little ascent of the road, about twenty perches from the spot where the priest stood, the schoolmaster, who was actually in a state of trepidation, ventured to look back; and that instant the priest raised his arm in a menacing manner, and shook it after him: the man started again, and hurried down the other side of the hill, anxious to get out of the sight of a person, who, he believed, had sufficient power to fasten him to the ground, if he thought proper, or change him at once into a mile-stone.

Now, gentlemen, do you think that such a man would not have capacity to swallow the history of Wilgefortis's beard, or the beard itself, whiskers and all ?”

The Magistrate-" But is that anecdote authentic ?"

Presbyterian--"I have it from the lips of one of the parties the person who accompanied the schoolmaster; but I myself knew the priest's character, and certainly the picture is his.”

TO THE EDITOR OF THE CHRISTIAN EXAMINER.20 - AL

VALUED SIRA friend of mine having lent me Historical Sketches of the Native Irish, by the Rev. C. Anderson, a work which shows great research on the part of the most excellent author, and affords most valuable information on the state of Ireland to those who are at all interested on the subject, the following extract strikes me most forcibly. After speaking very feelingly on the advantages of a stated ministry and oral instruction, he adds"In reference to the country at large, I know of two ministers, stationary, who are able to preach in Irish, and I believe do so,

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Mr. S and Mr. Q. Recently there may be, and I hope there are others who are acquiring, if they have not yet acquired the language; but what are these to the field before us? Yet, with these exceptions, did I know of any other instances in which the minister comes forward with regularity as the day returns, having for his grand object, in his own pulpit, to preach to his own stated congregation the everlasting gospel in the Irish tongue, I should delight to mention them: but if such exist, I know it not. And as for even the large cities and towns in that fine country, what would be thought if I could say we have no such thing as a Gaelic chapel, where the gospel is preached, in Glasgow, Inverness, or Edinburgh, no such thing as a Welsh chapel for a similar purpose in Liverpool, Bristol, or London, and in some of which it may soon become, if it is not already, an imperious duty to have an Irish one? Yet nothing of a similar spirit exists at this moment in Dublin or Cork, in Limerick or Galway, and many other parts, where the call for it is far louder than that which led to the existence of a Welsh or Gaelic ministry in the cities or towns of Britain. Your influence, Mr. Editor, is great; by your own confession, in a late number of your valuable miscellany, we find that owing to your having mentioned the circumstance of a Protestant church in Munster being neglected and deserted by its flock, it has again raised its head, and the gospel is now faithfully proclaimed to many anxious and attentive hearers. If your powers then extend to the ends of the kingdom, should they not be exerted in the centre of it? f you raise your voice on the subject, I have no hesitation in saying that in a very short period we shall have an Irish church in the metropolis, where the people "may hear in their own tongue the wonderful works of God." Materials there are in plenty; I do not pretend to calculate the number of Irish labourers and artizans in the city who think in the Irish language, but they must be considerable. Funds there would be no want of, and as for a preacher, we need not fear that God will raise up a labourer fit for the harvest, who is apt to teach, and wise to win souls. There is a constant influx of pure natives to the metropolis, who resort hither in the way of trade, and who now spend their Sabbath in a very different way from what it should be spent. Let us accompany "Q in a corner" to Thomas-street of a Sabbath morning, and we shall witness the most melancholy profanation of this sacred day. Munster and Connaught carmen lading their carts to commence their journey, and quite forgetting either the Sabbath or the nature of it. But give these poor ignorant creatures an opportunity of hearing the glorious news of salvation in a language they can understand, and can we doubt but that God will give his blessing on some at least of the seed sown; and that these poor creatures, when asked on their return home, any thing new stirring in Dublin, will have indeed joyful tidings to tell; and may here receive impressions of the value of their immortal souls, which will never be effaced.

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