628 



lalent, ami we know tliat there is, 

 amongst lliL' ft Ih.ws, it has made its way, 

 spite ol its own nalnic, into tliis cave ol 

 Trophonius, an»l sits ill at case in its 

 dull cliaii. 'J'lic fine genius of Biirkc 

 could never have made its way to the 

 honours which waited upon the intellect 

 of Barrett ; G rattan could never have 

 groped to a fellowship, and Curran felt 

 the hopelessness of the case. 



The University of Dublin is too rich : 

 like the reformed CInirch of Ireland, the 

 collofjo was liberally endowed with lands, 

 originally "not their own;" and both 

 these learned and pious bodies, arc suf- 

 fering under a woeful profusion of tlic 

 good things of this world. Learning 

 needs not vvcaltii, but competence: 

 riches and |)ovcrly arc alike injurious to 

 it ; the one cloys, the other chills it. It 

 would bo of the greatest advantage to 

 these bodies, if some mode were devised 

 to purge them, without violence of their 

 excess of wealth — a power of making 

 very long leases, would, perliaps, do 

 this. It would be of the greatest advan- 

 tage to the country also, which sull'ers 

 severely by the great extent of this pro- 

 perty, and the law which restrains its 

 disposal. 



EDUCATION. 



The stale takes little care for the edu- 

 cation of the people ; it instructs them 

 neither in the laws of society, nor informs 

 llicm of theordhiancesof Ciod ; it leaves 

 the important season of youth all un- 

 guarded and uncultivated ; it looks with 

 cold neglect upon l!ie friendless outcast, 

 whose early age has been exposed to the 

 blight of vice, and the awful \isilati()n of 

 indigence and calamity ; but, when 

 grown up to tiie ngc of manhood, the sa. 

 vagc whom society has formed by neg- 

 lecting — who has grown ferocious in the 

 crowded uilds of civilized depravity, 

 without any of the high and redeeming 

 qualities of his icd brother of tiie woods, 

 without his knowledge of nauirc, or even 

 ills impel feet nsorality, and without any 

 of tiic culture or the humanities of tiiat 

 order of society which suriounds him ; — 

 when he comes to fake his revenge-, with 

 what expense, with what efl'ort and diffi- 

 culty is he guarded against, or cut oil' — 

 if he |)crish, he has, ere this, perhaps in- 

 ilictcd on some iiuioccnt individuals that 

 ruin he was preparing for himself; his 

 ruthless hand has cut ott the father 

 from his children, or he has plundered 

 the orphan of his biead. 



Trace the carcei of one of these vic- 

 tims of society, and mark how, at every 

 step, he accumulates crime, and scatters 



O'DriscoVs Views of Ireland. 



misery nnd destroys properly ; and then, 

 think an instant, at how trifling an ex- 

 pense, and how simple an arrangement, 

 ;ili this mi^;ht have been pr(;vented. Had 

 there been but some clicap and hund)le 

 provision for the education of this ciiild 

 of misforlunc, — iiad his mind been ele- 

 vated by the history of God's dealings 

 with his creatures, and his heart softened 

 by the Gospel, — if he had been soothed 

 by some little attention bestowed upon 

 his infant years, — if he had been taught 

 to know that Heaven looked down with 

 interest upon his course, and to feel that 

 sDcirly look care for his welfare, — ho 

 would have repayed this cheap, but pre- 

 cious conceni, by supporting those laws 

 which he has violated, and added his 

 portion to the general stock of the in- 

 dustry and happiness of the community. 

 It is in the cold and desolate regions of 

 wretchedness and dcsi)air tiiat crime 

 recruits her battalions, and marks her 

 victims. 



Experience has clearly shewn, that 

 little is to be effected towards the pre- 

 vention of crime, by a process whicii 

 leaves the licart to its natural corruptions, 

 and to the brutalizing influence of vicious 

 associations; and tiien coldly exhibits the 

 gibbet and the prison to check the career 

 of wickedness in its matmity. It has 

 been ascertained, that it is much cheaper, 

 and better, to educate the young and 

 ductile mind ; to train it up to the love 

 of God, and of goodness, and to inijilant, 

 in the young heart, respect for the order 

 of society, and the law of the land, than 

 by prosecution and conviction, by shed- 

 ding tiie blood, or transporting the per- 

 son, of the grown and hardened offender, 

 to vindicate the safety of society. 



Education nuistgo before religion ; the 

 labours of the sciiool-maslcr must |>re- 

 pare tiie way for those of the clergyman. 

 It is enough for the latter if he sow the 

 seed, and water the field in due season, 

 and attend to the giowtii of the weak 

 and tender slioofs, and be vigilant to re- 

 move obstructions, and to " bind up the 

 bruised reed." But if he must also put 

 his hand to the plough — to break up the 

 stubborn soil, and to be burdened with 

 the toil and the drudgery ol every pre- 

 paratory process; or if, what is worse, 

 he be required to sow tlie pie(!ious seed 

 upon the barren heatii, which no |)lougli 

 has touched, or industry laboured, ho 

 will have, with all his care and exertion, 

 but a poor crop. 



Liberty, philosophy, truth, and reason, 

 came with llie opening of the books of 

 the gospel ; and when all maukiiid shall 



have 



