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the rock of Cashel, and his Royal Psalter, in which the ancient records of his country are illustrated. The seven turbulent years of his reign was preceded by a time of peace which he passed in those employments so much more congenial to his turn of mind. The ruins of his chapel is thus described by Sir R. C. Hoare in his tour in Ireland.' 'The stone chapel of Cormac at Cashel, is no where to be surpassed, and is itself a host in point of remote and singular antiquity; and though her monastic architecture may fall short, both in design and execution, and be obliged to yield the palm of superiority to the sister kingdoms, yet Ireland, in her stone roofed chapels, round towers, and rich crosses, may justly boast of singularities unknown and unsurpassed by either of them. The two crosses at Monasterboyce, are by far the richest in their sculpture of any I have yet seen.'

Flaherty, the abbot of Iniscattery, to whom all the evil consequences of this fatal war were attributed, was taken prisoner. No one pitied him-no one wished to release him; therefore he remained in durance until after the death of Carol, king of Leinster, and after his liberation, so much was he execrated by the common people, that had he not been protected by the clergy they would have torn him to pieces. He retired to his monastry of Iniscattery,* and in that seclusion he reflected with sorrow upon his former ambition, pride and violence. With repentance came newness of life, and this same man, changed in heart, was called, after the death of Lorcan the Eugenian, to reign as the relative of Cormac the Dalcassian.

* Iniscathy is a celebrated island in the river Shannon, where the ruins of eleven churches may still be traced.

He governed his people with wisdom and integrity to the end of his days.

Upon the demise of Flaherty, the succession ought to have reverted to Kennedy the son of Lorcan, according to the enactment of Oliol Ollum; but with new kings, frequently were new regulations, and therefore the alternate succession of Dalcassian and Eugenian princes was not strictly maintained.

Kennedy had a competitor whose name stands prominent in the records of his time. This was Collaghan, whose history varies much in the different details I have seen-some represent him as a most successful warrior in reducing the power of the Danes, others say that he joined himself to them in wasting the lands, and destroying the churches. The accounts which I shall give you are abstracted from Keating, McCurtin, Dr. Warner, &c. which all agree in the detail of the principal events and which I find adopted by McGregor in his True Stories.' The contest between the rival princes was not decided by force of arms; by the persuasive eloquence of Callaghan's mother, Kennedy yielded up his claim, and from thenceforward he became a faithful friend and counsellor to Callaghan.

A PRIZE.

WE wish our readers, such at least as do not desire to cumber the ground in selfish, fruitless inactivity, would possess themselves of a small pamphlet entitled "Proceedings at the half-yearly Meeting of the Teachers instructed at the Institution of the Home and Colonial Infant School Society, held on Wednesday, July 7, 1841." Its contents are more interesting and important than we could have surmised the possibility of, without actually reading it. The information, the valuable instruction there given, on the momentous subject of early education, render it a prize indeed. Questions are proposed, bearing on the difficulties that most severely try the patience and faith of those engaged either in domestic or school teaching; and which continually cross the path of the Christian mistress too, in her household arrangements. These are answered, as scripture and a sound mind might dictate, by various gentlemen, devoted to the work ; and while the warmest interest cannot fail to be excited for these noble nurseries of loyalty to God and the Queen, the Reader's personal profit will, or ought to be, such as to entitle us to her thanks for bringing the estimable little monitor under her notice. We look with most affectionate and hopeful solicitude to this beautiful institution, which Satan would fain overthrow; but which the Lord, who has planted it, will cause to flourish and increase, and to bear fruit ten thousand fold.

POPERY IN IRELAND.

WE are indebted for the following to a friend who supplies us with names and dates. We lay it before our readers in the unstudied form in which it was drawn up.

The English often ask why it is that Ireland is never quiet, and that the Laws are never respected as in Great Britain? These questions they would scarcely put if they knew the power of that usurped authority which maintains a system of terror throughout the land far greater than the Laws; and which instead of being exercised to promote content and obedience, the only true foundation for peace and comfort, is continually exerted to serve private ends which are frequently so opposed to the good of the country and the Christian liberty of the people, that we have no hesitation in saying that nothing can improve Ireland until the usurped authority of the Roman Catholic priesthood is kept down, and a total impossibility created that such scenes as the following can be acted even towards those who on Christian principles refuse to prosecute the offenders, considering it their duty rather to suffer wrong than to swear information before a magistrate.

Any person acquainted with the state of religion in Ireland must feel it of importance to make known

to English Protestants the conduct of the Roman Catholic clergy, and the consequences both moral and political of their conduct. Yet the difficulty of doing so is greater than any general reference to the subject could lead one to suppose; for while it may naturally be imagined that a simple recital of facts ought to be sufficient to elucidate the subject, there is so much of sentiment and feeling to be considered and understood, that it requires not only to know what the priest has done, but also what the people have thought, to form even a moderately just idea of a state of things almost unknown in other countries.

It is only in a state where Protestanism is upheld and Popery not kept in complete subjection, that we could find the strange anomaly which exists in Ireland, of a people yielding the most servile obedience to the ministers of a religion they desire to be delivered from, and giving themselves up to a priesthood they rarely respect, although they will fall on their kness before them when occasions require them to do so.

This state of things, however apparent to those who take the trouble of enquiry into the situation of Erin's sons and daughters, is so little perceived by others who look only on outward appearances, that abundant testimony can be always obtained in favour of these keepers of the conscience, who wish to make it appear that the love borne them is supreme, and that any interference with their authority would be productive of grief and sorrow in the minds of their flocks which could be allayed only by the blood of their opposers. But while listening to such testimony, let it not be forgotten that however violent the war-whoop which sounds in the ears of Protestants when Popery