IRELAND. 
many of thefe benefices are of fuch extent, that a divifion 
of them is already defirable, and will become (till more 
neceflary, fliould the number of proteltants increafe. 
The ecclefiaftical as well as the civil divifion of Ireland 
is into four provinces, over each of which prefides an 
archbifhop, who has all'o his peculiar diocefe. The arch- 
bilhop of Armagh, who is primate and metropolitan of 
all Ireland, prefides over the northern province, compre¬ 
hending the fees of Meath, Kilmore, Dromore, Clogher, 
jRaphoe, Down and Connor, Derry and Ardagh, which 
laft is now always joined to the archbilhopric of Tuam. 
The archbifhop of Dublin is primate of Ireland, and has 
three fuffragans in the ealtern province, the bifiiops of 
Kildare, Leighlin and Ferns, and Olfory. The archbi¬ 
fhop of Cafhel, who alfo unites in his own perfon the fee 
of Emly, is primate of Munller, and has under him in the 
f'outhern province the five bilhops of Waterford and Lif- 
more, Limeric and Ardfert, Killaloe and Kilfenora, Cork 
and Rofs, and Cloyne. The archbifhop of Tuam, pri¬ 
mate of Connaught, prefides over the three fees of the 
weftern province, Glonfertand Killmacduagh, Killalaand 
Achonry, and Elphin. The biihop of Meath has prece¬ 
dence of all other bilhops, and next to him is the bifhop 
of Kildare. Mr. Young above thirty years ago eftimated 
the primacy at Soool. a-year; Derry at 7000I. and the 
other bilhoprics from 4000I. to 2000I. but their value 
mult have materially increafed fince he wrote. 
The members of the eftablifhed church are far from be¬ 
ing the moft numerous clafs of the inhabitants of Ireland. 
The Roman catholics are computed to amount to four- 
fifths of the whole population. The intolerant penal laws 
enafted againft this body in the early part of the laft cen¬ 
tury, have, from the wife and liberal policy of the prefent 
reign, been either repealed or buffered to become obfolete; 
fo that the catholics now enjoy the fulleft toleration in 
their religious worfhip, and are under no reftrifitions ex¬ 
cept exclnfion from parliament and the higher offices of 
date. The hierarchy of the Romifh church in Ireland 
is nearly limilar to that of the proteftant. The metro¬ 
politans and bifhops, who are merely titular as far as re¬ 
gards temporals, have hitherto been appointed by the 
pope; but, in confequence of late events, it is not impro¬ 
bable that fome change will take place in this refpeCt. 
The catholic clergy formerly went to foreign countries 
for education ; but, through the care of government, they 
now enjoy all the requiftte advantages at home. 
Of the proteftant diflenters, the prefbyterians are by far 
the moft numerous, and partake in fome degree of the 
nature and privileges of an eftabliftirnent. They are chief¬ 
ly the defcendants of the Scottifti prefbyterians and Eng- 
lifh puritans, who were encouraged by James I. to fettle 
in Ulfter. Their minilters were at firft inducted into the 
churches, and enjoyed the tythes; and, notwithftanding 
fome interruption from the earl of Strafford, they retained 
thefe, till Cromwell, irritated by their attachment to the 
king, deprived them of the tithes, and gave them fmall 
falaries in their ftead. Thefe allowances have been fuc- 
ceffively augmented. At prefent the minifters are divided 
into three clafles; thofe of the firft receive from govern¬ 
ment iNdoI. thofe of the fecond 75I. and of the third 50]. 
a-year each, in addition to the falaries given them by their 
refpective congregations. The number of prefbyterians 
is eftimated at about half a million. 
The quakers are a numerous and refpeCtable body. 
The other clafles of proteftant diflenters are few in num¬ 
ber unlei's we include the methodifts, who coniider them- 
felves as members of the eftablifhed church, for which 
reafbn their clergy do not attempt to adminifter baptifra 
or the facrament. They have, however, their peculiar 
places of worfhip, and are rapidly increafing in all parts 
of Ireland. 
_ The prevailing character (fays Newenliam) of the infe¬ 
rior order of the Iri(h,an order whofe numeral magnitude 
renders it worthy of peculiar attention, feems to be great¬ 
ly mifunderftood in England. Even arntog intelligent 
363 
and otherwife well-informed Englifhmen, a perfuafion ob¬ 
tains that the common people or Ireland are but little re¬ 
moved in any refpeCt above the level of lavages ; that they 
have no true fenfe of religion; that they are brutal and 
ferocious in their manners; that they are illiterate and 
ignorant in the extreme; and that the Roman-catholic 
clergy employ their influence with effect i» keeping 
them fo. 
The habitations of the Irifh peafantry, !t muft be ad¬ 
mitted, are little better than the huts of favages. The 
accommodations of the former furpafs in few refpeCts 
only thofe of the latter. The Irifh peafant and the fa- 
vage are almoft equally capable of enduring hunger, fa¬ 
tigue, and the inclemency of the weather; and perhaps 
it may be added, that, owing to the palt mifgovernment 
of Ireland, the Irifh peafant does not much excel the fa- 
vage in juft notions of liberty, or in due refpeCt for the 
laws and civil inftitutions of man. But here the refem- 
blance pofitively ceafes. In all other particulars the Irifh 
peafant will be found at leaft as far above the level of the 
lavage as the well-houfed, well-clad, and well-accommo¬ 
dated, peafant of England. The religion of the former 
may not be quite fo evangelical as that of the latter; but 
a high veneration for religion, a firm reliance upon it, 
a ftedfaft belief in all the articles of the Chriftian faith, 
and a fcrupuious attendance at divine worfhip, are, be¬ 
yond comparifon, more common among the inferior or¬ 
ders of the Roman-catholic Irifli than among thofe of the 
Proteftant Englilh. An individual utterly uninfluenced 
by a fenfe of religion is rarely to be found-among the for¬ 
mer ; but among the latter, efpecially in mining and ma¬ 
nufacturing diltricts, the contrary is fufficiently. noto¬ 
rious. Fierce, vindictive, and cruel, the Irifh peafant 
confefledly is, when goaded, opprefled, and tyrannically 
treated, as he often has been; but, when otherwife, he 
certainly eclipfes the peafant of England in all the minor 
virtues of civilized man, fuperadded to the hofpitality 
and occafionally to the fidelity of the lavage. Affable, 
compaflionate, generous, flexible, ready to ferve, anxious 
to pleafe, generally fubmiflive, refpeCiful where refpeCt is 
known to be due, addicted rather to flattery than rude- 
nefs, the Irifli peafant, when treated in an ur.aiTeCted con¬ 
ciliatory manner, with that kindnefs which he deferves, 
with, that generofity he is ever dilpofed to exercife, with 
that franknefs which allays his habitual fufpicions, and 
with that reftriCted polite familiarity which gratifies his 
native pride, will feldom fail to endear himfelf to his pa¬ 
tron or his benefactor, and to exhibit a character which, 
upon the whole, may be confidered as not unworthy of a 
very high degree of philofophic approbation. 
The outrages and atrocities of the Irifh white boys, 
right boys, and rebels, have, it is true, been barbarous 
and horrifying. But if authentic documents be reforted 
to; if the criminal calendars of Ireland ai\d England be- 
compared ; it will be found, that, with the exception of 
periods of infurreCtion, capital offences are not in pro¬ 
portion fo numerous in the former as in the latter. It 
will be found too, that thofe crimes which indicate an in¬ 
conceivable degree of fenfual depravity, and that which 
evinces an utter extinction of the natural, neceflary, and 
interefting, affeCtion, which predominates throughout the 
whole female world, and which are not unfrequent in 
England, are, the latter extremely rare, and the former 
utterly unknown, in Ireland. 
That the lower orders of the Irifli are extremely illite¬ 
rate and ignorant, and that the Roman-catholic clergy 
fuceefsfuliy exert their influence to keep them fo, are 
hafty aflertions, equally trite and untrue. If in two dis¬ 
tricts, comprifing about one half of the county of Cork, 
there be found 316 unendowed fchools, in which 21,892 
children, chiefly of the loweft clafs of Roman catholics, 
are inftruCted in reading, writing, common arithmetic, 
and in feveral inftances in the more ablfrufe parts of it, 
in navigation, &c. if, in other diftriCts the unendowed- 
fchools be almoft equally numerous; if the lower Irifli in 
many 
X 
