PREFACE. 9 



am sure I shall be applauded by true Irishmen. 

 It is well that, as a bishop, so, in some measure, 

 a people should "have good testimony from 

 them who are without, lest they should fall 

 into reproach," 



" Good name in man or woman, dear my lord, 

 Is the immediate jewel of their souls." 



When people " filch from us our good name 

 and make us poor indeed," by libels on our 

 moral, mental, and physical characteristics, it 

 is not enough " to lie low," or to '' hang our 

 heads for shame," or to meet the reviler merely 

 with the scorn of scorn, or with strenuous 

 denials, or by " letting ourselves go " in various 

 forms of the ninth part of speech, or by a strong 

 and long-drawn interjection, such as this of the 

 Sage of Chelsea in presence of a gross fabrica- 

 tion : " That a son of Adam should venture on 

 constructing so majestic a piece of blague, and 

 hang it out dexterously, like the moon itself, 

 on nothing there is in this a kind of sublimity, 

 that strikes us silent, as if we had a glimpse 

 of the ancient reign of Chaos and Nox ! 

 Miraculous Mahomet, Apollonius with the 

 Golden Thigh, Mendez Pinto, Miinchausen, 



