1860. ] 
faidard of tafte; the former a Jeaft may 
have derived a variety from the Monthly 
Publication of Fafhions, and have un- 
coubtedly refeued themfelves from the iro- 
ny in No. 176 of the Speétator, which pro- 
pofed ‘ that no perfon or perfons {hall pre= 
fume to appear fingularly habited in any 
part of the country without a teftimonial 
from the fociety in Lindon for the infpec- 
tion of modern fafhions;’” and as the 
Exonianes were once ftiled the “ truly 
fair,” we may now well fay of them 

‘¢ A native grace 
Sits fair proportion’d on their polifh’d limbs, 
Veil’d in a fimple robe, their beft attire, 
Beyond the pomp of drets.’? 
Exeter, Sept. 1800. 
- ee 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
Amifimus, mi Pomponi, omnem non modo 
fuccum ac fanguinem, fed etiam colorem et 
{peciem priftinam civitatis. Cre- 
HE manners of a people are merely 
the habits which predominate among 
individuals. In an early ftate of civiliza~ 
tion fuch habits are ftronger and take more 
tenacious hold, than where the minds of 
men are occupied by a multiplicity of pur- 
fuits and a variety of pafftons. ‘The 
civilized maa can accommodate. himfelf 
much betterthan the favage to great change 
of circumftance or fituation. The habits 
of the Irifh commonaity are derived chiefly 
from their religion, their political infula- 
tion, their ignorance, their hopeleffne‘s, 
and their intemperance in the ule of {pi- 
rituous liquors. 
1. The influence of religion, whether 
falfe or true, upon manners, even on mo- 
dern manners, is much greater than is ge- 
nerally reprefented, not only on the vul- 
gar, but even on thole of a higher order, 
who perhaps are littie confcious themifelv<s 
of this latent but operative influence. The 
early impreffions made on the fenfes by 
the cercmental rites and pompous obferv- 
ances of the Catholic worfhip ace never 
totally effaced from the mind even of the 
deift. It has been ooterved, ‘* that every 
mode of religion, to make a deep and lat- 
ing impreffion on the human mind, mutt 
exercife our obedience by enjoining prac- 
tices of devetion for which we cin aflign 
no reafon ;”’ ard it is by acting wpon this 
forewd remark, by exterior ornaments, by 
the ufe of pictures and images, by fre- 
quent and forcible appeal to the fenfes, 
that the Catholic religion has attached not 
only that mafs of mankind, who have no 
mind, but merely fendes, whofe ymprefhons 
“ 
State of Menaers in Dublin. 
507 
ftop in thefe avenues to mind, and never 
go forward into the cabinet of reflexicn 3 
but thofe of fuperior rank and education 
who, however loofcly they wear their creed 
during the prime of jife, and in the work- 
ing funfhine of their days, yet in periods 
of ficknefs, in reverfes of fortune, ia. 
their declining years, the original princi= 
ple or prejudice with which the childith 
mind has been tinctured or ftained, again 
makes its appearance through the varnifh 5 
then even the difcipie, the devotee of inf. 
delity, the bigot of deilm, generally re- 
verts, or relapfes into the quiet bofom of 
what he once deemed an ignorant and fer- 
vile fuperftition.. ‘ Being apon the point 
of death, he fent for his landlady, and 
defired that fhe fhould not fuffer any mite 
nifter to fee him tm that condition, fearful 
that the weaknefs of hia fenles might make 
him fuy fomething againfi his principles.” 
This teftifies a hardihood of icepticifm 
which neverthelefs was fully confcious of 
the frength and tenacioufnels of early im- 
preffions, even againft the fway of fubfe- 
quent conviétion; and [I fhould wifh to 
know, whether in the laft hours of Edmund 
Burke, while his thoughts hovered over 
the dark and terrific unknown, he did not 
make ufe of all the ancdyne formularities 
afforded by the moft anciet faith, to af. 
fuage the pongs of memory, and ftrike 
fome light irom the chaos of futurity. I 
am inclined to believe (without the {malle& 
difrefpecét to this mode of faith), that Ed- 
mund Burke was as much and as real a 
Catholic, as he was a penfioner, aliliough 
in*octh cafes this.was kept a fecret’ trom 
the world, and, fuch is the power of felf- 
deception, he might not himfelf be per- 
fe€ily confcious ot the faét: but tf a mind 
of fuch ative and diverfified employment 
till paflively retained its early impreffions 
(like an ancient miflal partly erafed and 
written upon ina more’m-dern character) ; 
it is not to be wondered sat that the com- 
mon Irifh fhould retain their {piritual fub- 
jegation, and be inclined, by a fecod na- 
ture, to yicld with blind atonifnment to 
the moft impudent ‘pretenfions of facer- 
dotal authority*. 
as AV EE UREA Ye ET dale NN MR IO a 
* ¢ Andrew Kelly, a child of tex years 
old, fworn, and gave teftimony againit his fa- 
ther! W. Farmers, Efg. queftioned by court. 
Has often heard the chila give an account of 
the circumftances of the murder, and in 
wanting the child to give examinations, he 
faid he would not take an oath until he 
kiffed the prieft’s knee, and got leave of his 
clergy, which having obtained, he gave 
the examination in the mcf circumantial 
S40 OF 
