1831.] Dublin Saints. 307 



vast expence, and rescued for at least a fortnight from " the pomps and 

 vanities of this wicked world." Tract societies, Jew societies, Bible 

 societies, Missionary societies, Sunday-school societies, Reformation 

 societies, Episcopal floating-chapel societies hold their anniversary meet- 

 ings in continual succession. Every day " the great room" is crowded 

 to overflowing. The assemblage may be simply divided into the sub- 

 lime and the beautiful : the former consisting of the orators and, exalted 

 on a platform, the latter of the audience composed almost entirely of 

 the fair sex, and occupying the whole body of the building. Business 

 generally commences with the reading of a report, in length and perspi- 

 cuity to be compared to nothing but one of Cromwell's speeches ; and 

 although it is irregular to weep or exclaim until the eloquence begins, 

 instances have occurred, of ladies who have lost command over their sen- 

 sibilities in the first stage of the proceedings. After the lapse of one, 

 or sometimes two hours, the report is finished ; and Dr. Singer, Devon- 

 shire Jackson, the minister of Monastereven, or sweeter still, the man 

 from Madagascar or Greenland, rises amidst the waving of a thousand 

 handkerchiefs, and every species of enthusiastic encouragement a female 

 auditory can give. He begins ; the odour of sanctity fills the entire 

 edifice. He proceeds ; his oratory seems unearthly ; his unction is 

 declared miraculous. At length a fit of ungovernable transport seizes 

 the fair assemblage, and you would not be astonished if the Beautiful 

 were to rush in a body to the platform, and smother the Sublime in their 

 rapturous embraces. He arrives, however, in safety at the peroration, 

 and concludes an harangue of three long hours with a clap of rhetoric 

 that shakes Rutland-square to its foundations, and sometimes occasions a 

 fright, or a fainting-fit, in the adjoining hospital. 



Such is an attempt at a generic description of a Rotunda meeting ; 

 but perhaps we may be allowed to particularize one or two species, in 

 order to throw some light on their objects and utility. We select the 

 Tract and Missionary Societies as specimens of the rest. The former 

 generally leads the way, and, indeed, it appears to merit its patent of 

 precedency. As the sower scatters the seed, so does this prodigal 

 institution shed its benefits over the earth. Light and volatile as the 

 thistledown, the tract is, of all the devices of the religious world, the 

 most effective in the propagation of the word. The Atlantic or Andes 

 are no impediments to its progress ; it spreads its wings, and flies with 

 ease over the widest seas and loftiest mountains ; " Ears of Wheat" have 

 been plucked in Ceylon, and " Crumbs of Comfort" picked up on the 

 pathless steppes of Tartary. Now for the day of missions ! The second 

 is usually devoted to that object ; and Missionaries come from every 

 wind of heaven to report the large expenditure of money, and the small 

 advancement of the word. But the stories they relate are so charming, 

 and the scenes they have witnessed so moving, that far from regretting 

 the sums already contributed, their hearers only regret they did not 

 subscribe fifty times as much, and resolve, in their fair and beating 

 bosoms, to be more liberal than ever to these holy and heroic men, who, 

 if they have saved no souls, have travelled so far to save them, and are 

 " such truly divine and interesting persons." One has seen the dark 

 idolatries of Juggernaut ; another has seen the temple of the White 

 Elephant, whose unwieldy godhead the Burmans have honoured with a 

 regular church establishment ; another has sauntered on the banks of 

 Jordan; and plucked the rose of Sharon with his own hunt! ; a fourth 



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