go Prefent State of Ireland in refpect to Indufiry, Manners, ce. { Auge 
indulges jn that way, and her parties are 
more tumerous, as well as more expenfive. 
From fuch a character it may be inferred 
a@ priori, that mothers in Ireland feldom 
nurfe their children: in four cafes out of 
five the mother commits her offspring to 
the care of a venal nurfe, inftead of dif- 
charging herfelf the duty which nature 
has urged by fo many powerful fym- 
pathies. 
Anerror fimilar to that in the educa- 
tion of girls prevails allo, in fome degree, 
in refpect to boys. ‘The liberal profef- 
Gons are too much followed. Whenever 
= father has fo far -fucceeded in his bufi- 
nefs as to be able to live independently of 
it, his next care is to make his fon a gen- 
tleman; the lad is, therefore, educated 
either for phyfic, the church, or the bar, 
but without genius to make his way, or 
‘@ competence to enable him to live inde- 
pendently. The confequence is, that all 
the profeffions are overftocked ; and it 
eannot be truly faid that the evil is yet 
working its own cure. At this moment 
it is matter of very confiderable dithculty 
in the univerfity of Dublin to procure a 
nomination to a curacy of 50]. a year; 
yet, making due allowance for the di- 
minution which always takes place in the 
number of fiudents in time of war, the 
number is greater than at any former 
time. There are at prefent nearly fix 
hundred names of ftudents on the college 
books. 
The conftitution of the univerfity of 
Dublin is generally known. It confifts 
of a provoft, feven fenior fellows, fifteen 
junior fellows, and feventy fcholars, on 
the foundation. The place of provoft is 
worth 30001]. per annum; the emolu- 
ments of a fenior fellow are eftimated at 
zool.; and the income of a junior at 
about rool. per annum, exclufive of 
pupils, which on the average make his 
fituation worth 4001. The emeluments 
of a {cholar are only 41]. per annum and 
his dinner, with fome cafual exhibitions, 
at the difcretion of the board. ‘The 
fcholarfhips laft five years, and are given, 
after an examination ef two days, to thofe 
ftudents who have made the greateft pro- 
ficiency in claflical literature; that is, to 
thofe who can tranflate moft correctly the 
feveral Greek and Latin authors which 
had been prefcribed to them in the forme 
part of the courfe. The fellowfhips. are 
for life, or during celibacy; but the 
greater part of the body contrive to keep 
wives and their fellowfhips too, fome of 
them by difpenfations, others clandef- 
-tinely. The paucity of literary works 
-which have iffued from the univerfity of 
* Dublin has long been a fubjeét of remark 
and reproach*. One , 

* There are fome circumftances in the 
conftirution of that body, which partly ac- 
count for its inactivity. It is doubted whe- 
ther, generally fpeaking, the fellows be men. 
of found learning, from the manner in which 
fellowfhips are obtained, and the kind of 
learning which is required in the candidate. 
Whren a fellowfhip becomes vacant, it is 
filled by ele€tion, after a public examination 
of three days, and a private examination on 
the fourch. The examination is made by 
the feven fenior fellows, each of whom ex- 
amines in a particular {cience or language. 
The courfe prefcribed for the candidate is ex- 
ceedingly volumineus and defultory. Befides 
the books which conftitute the undergradu- 
ate courfe, they read in phyfics, the whole 
of the Principia of Newton, his optical works, 
and feveral of his annotators—They alfo read 
detached parts of the works of Cotes, Smith, 
é&c. In mathematics they read the Elements, 
the Analytical works ef Newton, the Co- 
nics cf Hamilton, &c. In hiftory they are 
examined only in that portion which is called 
antient, and feldom beyond the common 
Greek and Roman hiftory. They read Be- 
veridge and Newton for chronolozy—But, 
in logics and morality, their labour is great 
indeed—It would fill a page to enumerate the 
mob of authors from they are obliged to glean 
their learning on thefe fubje@ts. What ren- 
ders the-tafk more difficult and tefs ufeful is, 
that the examiner who prefcribes the courfe 
in a great meafure ad /ibitum, frequently fe- 
le@ts for the candidates three pages of one 
book, two pages of another, and five of a 
third, fo that the ftudent cannot exercife his 
underftanding in judging the whole of a fyf- 
tem, but muft encumber his memory with 
“detached paffages. The fame method is pur- 
fued refpe&ting /ogic, in which is included 
ufelefs metaphyfics. The ftudent is confe- 
quently exhaufted, and he comes to his ex- 
amination with a mind ftuffed with the moft 
heterogeneous and garbled materials. Even 
mathematics and phyfics are ftudied with a 
view to be able to anfwer queftions of a cer- | 
tain caft, which are fubtly di€tated by a 
partial view, or comparifon of two or threé 
propofitions, rather than froma comprehenfive 
view of the whole fcience. It is much to be 
doubted whether the man who fpends eight 
years of his time in this contracted and bar-~ 
ren ftudy, the operations of his under{tand- 
ing and his tafte dire€ting all his efforts ra- ~ 
ther to the being able to an/wer than to ow, 
can ever acquire real learning. But if he does 
not acquire it in this ftage, as a fellow of 
Dublin college, he can never obtain it:- he 
is no fooner a fellow, than his hands become 
fall of bufinefs. He rifes at fix o’clock in 
the morning to le€ture a elafs of the ftu- 
dents, and devotes the middle of the-day a 
fone . 
