J830.] ofc Affairs in General. 573 



fanatical cant to be worthy of an English clergyman. A Latin inscrip- 

 tion for Heber's tombstone is given. It is immeasurably long. The 

 use of an inscription being, not to give the history of a life, but the 

 peculiarities of a character ; and its merit consisting in giving those in 

 the most condensed expression possible. 



A curious work on the whims and oddities of Ireland has just made 

 its appearance. It is a collection of brief tales ; and is entitled " Traits 

 and Stories of the Irish Peasantry." In these two duodecimo volumes, 

 which are evidently written by an intelligent and practised writer, the 

 picture is of a generation who have hitherto been defrauded of their 

 fame by the Irish annalists Tipperary and Kerry, the south and west 

 of Ireland, have hitherto " lived in description and grown green in song." 

 Mrs. Hall's very pretty books have thrown a budding popularity round 

 Wexford, more to the east ; but the present historian takes up his weapon 

 for the honour of Ulster, or the north ; a part of the country which we 

 thought, in general, more productive of the material of shirts and trow- 

 sers than of ghosts flying by night, or conspiracies parading in noon. 

 The wars of papists and orangemen have, it is true, a little varied the 

 scene, but still the northern Irishman is a weaver ; and romance <f waves 

 her wild wings," and flies from this half tailor generation. To " draw 

 three souls out of one weaver" is beyond the mightiest labours that 

 Shakspeare attributes to man, mermaids, or music ; and the text palpably 

 intimates the difficulty of finding so much as one within that sedentary 

 and sallow flinger of the eternal shuttle. 



However, genius can work wonders ; and the author actually exhibits 

 those flax-manipulating automatons as being capable of making love 

 and making battle; of running away with red-haired Rosamonds, and 

 breaking each other's heads with native shillelahs. We recommend the 

 work to those who desire to see a neglected portion of the human race 

 raised into sudden celebrity, not less than to the curious in physiology, 

 who have hitherto conceived a weaver to be an inseparable portion of 

 his own loom. 



Another work of a graver class. " Historical Sketches of the Native 

 Irish," by C. Anderson, deserves an attentive perusal. The object of 

 the volume is the preaching and general diffusion of scriptural knowledge 

 in the native language ; which still continues to be the only language of 

 multitudes of Irish, and to be the favourite one, even where the English 

 language is understood. A historical statement of the feeble efforts 

 made, from the earliest period, to meet this difficulty, is given, and the 

 volume certainly states a case well worthy of the deepest public attention. 



We are not fond of invoking Parliament to our aid, for reasons 

 which might not be deemed sufficiently respectful to that illustrious 

 body to mention ; but we seriously wish that either Parliament or Sir 

 Richard Birnie, who so ludicrously lays down the law in Bow-street, 

 would take measures for bringing from the land of the Jews the far- 

 famed missionary, Mr. Wolf, as rapidly as possible. To judge of him 

 by his book, his preaching, and his conduct, a more thorough ass never 

 wore ears. What he did on his former peregrinations he has recorded, 

 and the record is a compound of self-sufficiency and weakness. This 

 was, indeed, sending the blind to lead the blind. ;; T -, t 



We fully respect the motives of the individuals, some of them very 



