1831.] Affairs in General. 555 



and some strange mountebank proceedings are now reported to have 

 taken place in his chapel. A pretended prophetess exhibited^ on 

 Sunday last^ who claimed the gift of tongues^ and howled terrifically^ 

 to the great edification of the congregation." 



The history is^ half a dozen hypochondriacs in some remote corner 

 of Scotland, having discovered that they talked nonsense whenever they 

 opened their mouths, persuaded themselves that the nonsense was 

 inspiration, and that the gift of tongues was again come upon the earth- 

 It would of coiurse be idle, if not directly proftme, to compare their 

 brutish gabble to any work of miracle ; yet on they go, gabbling a 

 parcel of brute sounds, which bear no resemblance to any language 

 under the sun, which the fools who gabble it cannot even conjecture to 

 be any human language, and Avhich no living ear can comprehend. 

 When the Apostles spoke, they spoke the recognised languages of their 

 day ; they spoke in the midst of assemblages of natives of the countries 

 Avhere those languages were spoken ; and they spoke words with a 

 definite meaning. But these poor creatures, whether actual fools, or 

 worse, chatter and gibber away like so many guinea-fowl ; and only 

 when the flood of gibberish is run dry, attempt to interpret their own 

 nonsense — an attempt which settles the opinion of the hearer at once. 

 Yet, these people are now flourishing in the Rev. Edward Irving's chapel, 

 where crowds flock to listen to their fooleries. We leave the conclusion 

 to the reader. 



We are not likely to fall in love with Mr. O'Connell's politics, nor to 

 be much charmed with his proceedings, yet it must be acknowledged 

 that he has played his cards with either prodigious dexterity, or prodi- 

 gious good fortune — we think the latter ; for we remember no charlatan 

 of our time, who has got into more scrapes, or more unnecessary ones. 

 But the time has " worked well" for him, and he lives to set his oppo- 

 nents at defiance, to hold his betters in utter scorn, to trample upon 

 every shape of resistance in government, and to accomplish every darker 

 object that he can set his heart upon. 



After fighting under the banners of English reform, for a reform of a 

 very different kind, he has returned to Ireland to lord it over the vice- 

 roy, and has already received the homage of his subjects, in a general 

 deputation from the " Trades," as the congregated cobblers and tinkers 

 of the Irish metropolis denominate themeelves. Those trades presented 

 an address, carried up by knights of the O'Connell order of the Garter, the 

 liberators ! — and all was haranguing and happiness. IMr. O'Connell 

 kissed this beloved testimony of his people's affection, and pronounced 

 his political creed in a form which he is too much a man of honour to 

 suppress, and which the government too deeply confide in the patriot to 

 punish as it deserves. We give one specimen, not from our objecting 

 to his flogging his quondam friend, Hunt, through every village of the 

 empire, with either tongue or horsewhip; but for the sake of the " sen- 

 timent." 



" O'Connellv.Himt. — Mr. O'Connell, on his arrival in Dublin, harangued 

 a large body of his friends, and took care, in the course of his speech, 

 to denounce his quondam friend, Henry Hunt : — ' At my trade, I 

 always go to work by degrees. I first looked for Catholic emancipa- 

 tion. I (lid not then mind ])arliameiitary reform : I kept it in my 

 sleeve. Now, I want parliamentary reform ; will you help me to pro- 



