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established for the purpose of remov- of the Greek Testament, Lucian, and ing the difficulty of procuring a suita- Xenophon, construed and explained,ble education, to which students in- Belles Lettres, or first class of Greek tended for the Catholic Ministry in and Latin, Greek and Latin, Greek Gospel of St Ireland were subject, in consequence Luke, Acts of the Apostles, Epistles of the suspension of intercourse be- of St Paul, Homer, Epictetus, Xenotween that country and the continent, phon, explained, &c. Latin-Cicero's occasioned by the late war. It was Orations, Offices, Livy, part of Senesupported by an annual parliamentary ca, Pliny's Letters, Horace, explaingrant, aided in some degree by pri- ed, &c.-Rules of Latin versification. vate donations and legacies, which Philosophy.-Logic, Metaphysics, and have amounted, since the commenceEthics. The Professor is obliged, ment of the institution, to upwards of through paucity of books, to compile eight thousand pounds. In the pre- a treatise, and dictate it to his schosent state, the establishment is not con- lars. The authors to whom reference sidered as adequate to the wants of the is given, are, Seguy, philosophy, and Irish Church. The buildings are ex- Locke. Natural and Experimental tensive, as 32,000/. have been expen- philosophy, different branches of Eleded on them, and they are not yet mentary Mathematics, Aigebra, Geocomplete. The number of students metry, Conic Sections, Astronomy, for the present year is about two hun- Mechanics, Optics, Hydraulics, &c. dred. They are provided with lodg- Chemistry-Various English authors, ing, commons, and instruction, from Divinity-Dogmatical, 1st course, de the funds of the establishment, but Religione; 2d course, de Incarnatioeach student pays 91. 2s. entrance mo- ne et Ecclesia; 3d course, de Sacraney, and his personal expences through mentis in genere, de Eucharista. The the year are calculated at 20/. There Professor is obliged to compile these is a recess during the months of July treatises, which are chiefly taken from and August, and a recess for a few the following books: Hooke, Bailly, days at the festivals of Christmas, Eas- Duvoisin, Le Grand, Tournely, Ń. ter, and Pentecost. As it is requisite, Alexander, P. Collet, Co. Tour. Moeven during the time of vacation, for ral.-1st course, de actibus humanis, students, who wish to be absent from de conscientia, de peccatis, de matricollege, to obtain the permission of monio; 2d course, de legibus, de virtheir respective prelates, they, for the tutibus theol. et moral, de sacramento most part, remain during the whole pænitentiæ; 3d course, de jure et jusyear, and are employed in study, com- ticia, de contradictibus, de obligatioposition, and preparation for the ensu- ne statuum, de ceneuris, &c. Authors, ing course. During term, the obiiga- Paul Antoine, P. Collet, Continuator tion of residence imposed by the sta- Tournelii. There is at present no retates is religiously enforced. For the gular Professor of sacred scriptures, admission of a student, besides other but a portion of the New Testament conditions, the recommendation of his is committed to memory every week, prelate is required. He is to be exa- the Gospel and the Acts of the Aposmined in the classics, and admitted by tles are explained, the epistles from the majority of examiners. The fol- Bom. Calmet, Maldonatus, Esthius, lowing is an outline of the course of Synopsis criticorum, and other biblistudies: Humanity, under class, Latin cal expounders. The modern langua and Greek, Sallust, Virgil, and Ho-ges which are taught, are English, race explained, select passages of native Irish, and French. Goldsmith's Roman History occasionally translated into Latin, portions July 1808.

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It will be readily perceived that the lectures retain much of that old scho

lastic

lastic form, which is little calculated for the promotion of true knowledge. The classical instructions are very mited.

The bye-laws chiefly relate to internal regulations, enforcing much of the discipline and formality of monachism, and tending to train up the students to that habitual observance of exterior decorum, which is usually to be remarked in the performance of Catholic rites, During meals, the scriptures and other prontable books, selected by the President, are to be read. Constant employment is recommended. The students are to be obedient to their President, not to yield too far to the dictates of their own understanding, and to use only such books as shall be recommended by the President and Professors. The following is the general order of each day: The students are summoned by a bell at 5; at 5 they meet for public prayer; from 6 they study in the public halls; at 74 mass is performed; at 8 they breakfast; 9 study in public halls; 10 attend class; 11 recreation; 12 study in public halls; 14 attend class; 3 dinner; 5 class for modern languages; 6 study in public halls; 8 supper; 9 common prayer; 9; all retire in silence to their cham

bers.

The statutes are employed in describing the duties and qualifications of the members of the Institution. The President must be a native subject of the British Empire, not under thirty years of age, in priest's orders, and must have passed through a complete course of academical learning. It is his duty to superintend the general discipline of the college. In the performance of his office he is assisted by a Vice-President. The Dean, who is likewise styled Magister Officii, in spects manners and morals, and is to be of the same order, age, country, &c. as the President. "Libros curiose inspicito, et si justissima suspicio præiverit, ipsa quoque, annuente præside,

scrinia et chartas."-The 5th and 6th chapter of the Statutes relate to the Professors and Lecturers, the 7th to the choice of Professors; the 8th to the students. The districts of Armagh and Cashel, furnish 60 each; those of Dublin and Tuam, 40 each. The 9th chapter respects public examinations, of which four are held in the course of the year; the 10th and 11th describe the duties of the Librarian and Bursar:-The following are the present officers:

Rev. Pat. J. Byrne, D.D. President. Rev. R. F. Power, A. M. Vice President.

Rev. Tho. Coen, Dean.
Rev. E. Montague, Burs.
Rev. E. Delahogae, D. D. Prof. Dog-

Rev. L. Ferris, D. D. Prof. Moral
matum Theologicorum.
Philosophy.

Rev. A. Darre, A. M. Natural and
Rev. Fr. Anlade, Logic.
Experim. Philosophy.
Rev. Charles Lovelock, A. M. Belles
Lettres.

Rev. Pat. M'Nichols, Greek and Latin.

Rev. M. Crowley, Lect. Dogm. Theol.
Rev. D. Sinnot, Lect. Mor. Theol.
Rev. W. Crolley, Lect. Logic
Mr M. Usher, Professor of English

Elocution.

Rev. P. O'Brien, Prof. of Irish Lan

Rev. A. Dunne, Treasurer. guage.

The emoluments of the Professors are very moderate. The President has L. 227..10s. The Vice-President, and two Theological Professors, L. 106; the other Professors, L.75 to L.85.— They derive also some advantages from residing in the house.

The allegiance of the members of the institution to the government from which they derive their support, is testified in various ways. Each student, on his admission, takes an oath, that he is and will remain, unconnected with any conspiracy. The duty of fideli

ty

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with the talents and virtues which have influenced the destiny of nations. We see their birth, their education, their manners. Sometimes a number of great men come forward at once, meet and struggle against each other; at other times great men appear insulated, thrown, as it were, out of the order of nature, into periods of weak. ness and languishing. We see the struggles of a great character against the degenerate manners of a sinking people; the rapid progress of a rising nation which receives strength from a a man of genius; the impulse given to nations by laws, by conquest, by eloquence; great virtues always rarer than talents, the one powerful and impetuous, the other calm and deliberate; plans sometimes deeply laid and ripened by years, sometimes inspired, conceived, executed almost at once, with that vigour which carries every thing before it, because it leaves no room for foresight and precaution. We see, in short, splendid lives, deaths illustrious and almost always violent; for by an inevitable law, the action of those men who set the world in mo

On the Characters of PLUTARCH and tion, produces an equal resistance in

TACITUS.

From the French of Thomas.

PLUTARCH.

"CALL up before me great men ; I "wish to see and converse with them," said a young prince to a celebrated priestess of the east, who pretended to raise the dead. A retired sage, who stood by, approached and said: "I will perform what you ask. Hold, take this book; read over attentively the characters which are written in it: as you read, you will see the shades of great men rising around you." This book was the "Lives of illustrious men" by the philosopher of Cheronea. There in fact we find all antiquity. There men in succeszion appear in their real character,

all that surrounds them; they press against the universe and the universe against them; and behind glory, exile, the sword, or poison, is almost always concealed.

Such is nearly the spectacle which Plutarch presents. With regard to his style and manner, they are well known. They are those of an old man full of good sense, habituated to the spectacles presented by human things, who is hot warmed, is not dar zled; admires with tranquillity, and blames without indignation. His pace is moderate, and never becomes hurried. Like a calm river, he stops; he re turns, he suspends his course; he slowly embraces a vast extent of ground. He spreads out tranquillity, and by chance, as it were, as he goes along, all that his memory retains. Every

where,

where, in short, he converses with his reader; he is the Montagne of the Greeks; but he has not, like him, that picturesque and bold manner of painting his ideas. Like him, however, he attaches and interests, without appearing to aim at doing so. Above all, his great art consists in painting men by minute details. He draws none of those brilliant portraits, of which Sallust first set the example, and which Cardinal de Retz, by his memoirs, has brought so much into vogue among us; he does better, he paints in action. We think we see all these great men act and converse. All his figures are All his figures are genuine, and have the exact proportions of nature. Some persons think this to be the style in which all panegyrics ought to be written. We should be less dazzling, say they, but more satisfactory; and admiration must sometimes be renounced for the sake of esteem.

TACITUS.

The order of time, the connection of ideas, the merit of this great man, and the particular character of his works, seem to require that we should speak of him here. At the name of Tacitus, every man of the least sensibility feels his imagination warmed, and his soul raised to a higher tone. If you ask, who has better exposed vices and crimes better inspired indignation and contempt for all who brought misery upon mankind? I will say, Tacitus. Who inspires a more sacred respect for virtue in misfortune, who makes her appear more august, in chains, or under the stroke of the executioner? it is Tacitus. Who has thrown the most sovereign contempt on parasites and slaves, on all who cringed, flattered, pillaged, and corrupted at the court of the emperors? again it is Tacitus. Name to me a man who ever gave a more commanding character to history, a more terrible aspect to posterity. Philip II. Henry

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VIII. and Louis XI. ought never tohave seen Tacitus in a library, without a species of terror.

If from the department of morals we pass to that of genius, who has drawn characters more strongly? Who has descended farther into the depths of policy-has drawn greater result from the smallest events;--has better, at every line in the history of a man, given the history of the human mind and of all ages? Who has better detected meanness under every fold in which it could hide itself;-has better discriminated all the species of fear, all the species of courage, all the secret workings of the passions, all the motives of men's discourses, all the contrasts between their sentiments and actions, all the movements which the mind will not own to itself? Who has better traced the singular mixture of virtues and vices, the assemblage of different and sometimes opposite qualities; ferocity cold and gloomy ina Tiberius, ardent in Caligula, stupid in Claudius, without restraint as without shame in Nero, tinrid and hypocritical in Domitian?-the crimes of tyranny and of slavery ;-pride humbling itself on one side, to command on another; corruption either tranquil and slow, oz bold and impetuous; the revolutionary character and spirit, the opposite views of the chiefs; instinct, fierce and rapacious in the soldier, tumultuous and feeble in the multitude? In Rome, we see the stupidity of a great people, to whom the conqueror and the conquered are alike indifferent, who, without choice, without regret, and without desire, sit at the public shews, and coldly wait till their master is announced; are ready to clap their hands by chance to whoever shall arrive, whom, if another had prevailed, they would have trampled under foot. In short, ten pages of Tacitus teach us better the knowledge of mankind, than threefourths of modern histories put together. It is the book of old men, of

philosophers, of citizens, of courtiers, of princes. It consoles him who is placed in solitude, for the absence of the society of men; it enlightens him who is forced to live with them. It

is too true, that it does not teach us to esteem them; but we should be too happy if their intercourse were not, this respect, more dangerous still than Tacitus.

I have spoken of his eloquence; it is well known. In general, it is not an eloquence of words and of harmony; it is an eloquence of ideas which follow and strike against each other. His thoughts seem every where to concentrate themselves in order to occupy less space. We never foresee, we only follow it. Often it is not brought forth entire, and is hid, as it were, under a veil. Imagine a language, rapid as the movements of the soul; a language which, in order to express a sentiment, should never require to be divided into words; a language, every sound of which should express a collection of ideas; such almost is the perfection of the Roman language in Tacitus. No superAuous sign, no useless pageantry The thoughts press upon each other, and crowd into the imagination; but they fill, without ever fatiguing it. In regard to the style, it is bold, rapid, often abrupt, always vigorous. It paints by one stroke. The connection is more between the ideas than the words. Muscles and nerves predominate rather than grace. He is the Michel Angelo of writers; he has the same depth, the same strength, and perhaps a little also of the same rudeness.

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the pleasing effects arising from the perusal of poetry, none have ever treated of the introduction of Moonlight Scenery. In most of the prin cipal poems, both ancient and modern, we find that frequently the most interesting, pleasing, and pathetic part, is that which treats of the various appearances of nature as then exhibited, or of the melancholy and tender emotions which the scenery is calculated to produce. To investigate to what lengths such descriptions should be protracted; to what species of poetry they should be confined; or to give a regular detail of them in every poem of merit, would lead into a field of discussion much beyond the limits of this essay. It is not so much my present object to enumerate and classify these descriptive parts of poetry, or to elucidate them by elaborate quotations, as to shew the pleasing influence they have on the human mind, and how they contribute to call forth and refine all the finer feelings of our nature. Withdrawn from the cares and bustle of the day, we contemplate by moonlight, nature displayed in one of her most enchanting forms; and while thus our attention is warped up in the grandeur of the scene, we experience that tranquillity of mind which we look for in vain in the busy theatre of life.

Accordingly we find, that every poet of taste has availed himself of such descriptions in almost every department of poetry. In day-light, when the whole face of nature is displayed at one view, and a boundless prospect opens to the sight, the mind is apt to be so much distracted, and the thoughts so dissipated by the multiplicity of objects, as to be rendered incapable of singling out any particular part, or of surveying it with attention. Hence, whenever the poet wishes to impress upon our minds any great or sublime object, or to melt us with any tender or pathetic description, he withdraws us from the tumult and bustle of the world to the tran

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