114 



ON THE STATE OF IRELAND. [BOOK I, 



The following table shows the proportion of the mem- 

 bers of different religious persuasions in every 100 persons. 



REMARKS. 



The tithes, which, at the period when they were 

 fixed in each parish, were regarded as a benefit, 

 have been so perverted in Ireland from the object 

 of their institution, that they are regarded as a cry- 

 ing abuse, and have in fact become such. There 

 is no country where the Catholic religion struck 

 deeper root than in England : the periodical inva- 

 sions to which Europe was a prey, from the sixth 

 to the twelfth century, did not harass England 

 in an equal degree. The ecclesiastical establish- 

 ments, upon which the spoliators principally fell, 

 prospered so much in this island, that it was able 



