from each house to St. Peter. If, therefore, you accomplish your design, be it your endeavour to civilize that nation; and, both personally, and by others, whom fortheir faith, doctrine, and life, you shall see to be proper persons, to make the church flourish there, that the Christian religion may be PLANTED and grow there; and, in like manner, to regulate what appertains to the honour of God, and the salvation of souls. So may you deserve an ample eternal reward from God, and, on earth, obtain a glorious name from age to age."

From this Bull it appears (and it is necessary,

*It is very remarkable that his Holiness, who was an Englishman, does not say a word of St. Patrick; neither does he, or Giraldus Cambrensis, who would have been delighted with such an account, mention a word of St. Patrick's having been sent from Rome to convert the Irish, as a ground of claim to spiritual authority over Ireland; and yet, if any record to the purpose had been known in his time, he could not well be ignorant of it; nor is it probable that he would not have been happy to advance such an argument. Was the legend of St. Patrick then forged after the date of this Bull, and interpolated into Bede, &c ? It is extremely probable. Such a tale as his having been at Rome was much wanted; and, in an age abounding with forgeries, this might well find a place. Bishop Nicholson quotes the Cambrensis Eversus of Lynch for an assertion, that Giraldus had destroyed many of the old Irish annals, of which he had the perusal. And, as so little remains of the history of the Irish church, before the church of Rome seized upon it, which is not in conformity to her wishes, it is very probable that it was a part of the policy of that church at that time to destroy them, as Bishop Nicholson himself complains of the scarcity of records, ecclesiastical and civil, in Ireland. The same complaint is made in Wales, where every inquiry tends to prove that the records were destroyed or carried off for the purpose above mentioned.

in reading ecclesiastical history, to observe it), that all Christian churches, by whomsoever founded, or how different soever they might be in doctrine or discipline, were, by the policy of the church of Rome, in the middle ages at least, to be considered as belonging to that church, and subject, or such as ought to be made subject, conformable, and tributary to that, church.

It appears, secondly, that at the time when this Bull was sent to Henry II. the Irish church was neither subject, conformable, nor tributary to the church of Rome.

And this is confirmed by signal circumstances, viz. That no Pall had before this time been sent thither from Rome, and from the Address of the Bull itself; for had it been otherwise, the Bull would have been addressed to the clergy of Ireland, commanding them to conform ; nor could the words planting the Christian religion in Ireland, or extending the limits, that is, the pale of the Romish church, with any appearance even of propriety have been used.

Lastly, it appears evidently, from the whole business, that the Roman Catholics of Ireland did go out of their ancient church, and did go, in fact, by being forced to it, and much against their will.

If this wanted more proof, it may be found in what occurred after the council of Dublin, under King John. The people of Connaught burned the churches,

Ecclesiis igne consumptis in nostræ gentis injuriam cruces et imagines sanctorum ad terram deponentes in hostium prospectum, per campestria projecerunt.-Gir. Camb. Hib. Expug. lib. 2. cap, 17.

took down the crosses, and images of the saints, and threw them away in the sight of the enemy, to show their resentment to the English. Let it now be judged in what latitude the expression of not going out of any church can rationally be taken, and how far merit attaches to those who have, and those who have not, gone out of other churches; and whether Popery was not as much a misfortune to Ireland, in its introduction there, as it has been by its continuance.

As the question, "How it has happened that the natives of Wales should so readily have embraced the new faith at the time of the Reformation, while those of Ireland remained unmoved," is again asked, it would be a great deficiency to leave it unanswered.

In objecting to the statement of the question, as to the words new faith, I by no means impute any intentional error to the Hon. Author in point of fact; on the contrary, I give him full credit for having stated the case as he believed it to be, though I hope to prove satisfactorily that they merely returned to their old faith. It has been already shewn, that the Welsh differed from Rome as to their principles of religion in some remarkable points, at the time when Austin came to preach to the Saxons; and the dissension between the Welsh Bishops and him did not tend to give the Welsh a very favourable opinion of his doctrines. The aversion to the Romish doctrines was not lessened by the inroads of the Saxons, nor did the Welsh poets fail to keep it alive. This is proved by a quotation from an ancient Welsh poem, given by Archbishop Usher. As the translation quoted by the Archbishop is an old one, and does not give

the sense fully, the original, with a more correct translation, is here presented to the reader.

"Woe to the priest that is dumb; who reproveth not sin, and preacheth not; who watcheth not over his flock, nor defendeth it, though he be a shepherd; nor keepeth his sheep in safety from the Romish wolves, and their crooked staff."

It is deserving of notice, that when this poem was written, which it probably was in the tenth century, that the Welsh Bishops did not bear the crooked (i. e. the pastoral) staff, as the Romish Bishops did.

Taliesin also, in his poem, called the Primary Gratulation (published in the Welsh Archaiology), affords a very decisive proof that the Welsh, in his time, had no idea of the office attributed by the modern church of Rome to St. Peter. He says,

1

Pwy gw'r Porthawr?

Pwy y Periglawr ?

Y fab Mair mwynfawr.

"Who is the Porter, or Door-keeper ?" (of heaven ;) "who is the Intercessor? The great and beneficent Son of Mary."

Had Taliesin held the Romish doctrine, his answer to the first question would almost infallibly have been St. Peter, and, like the simple King Oswy, he would have congratulated himself on having St. Peter as the heavenly porter.

In none of the works of the earliest Welsh poets, published in the Archaiology of Wales, is there any trace of the invocation of saints. The first instance I find of it is in a poem of Golyddan, nearly a century after the arrival of Austin. In the 11th century it was frequent, but it was the Virgin Mary, St. Michael, St. John, and St. David, who were invoked. St. Peter is scarcely noticed till the 14th century. In the 12th century, the aversion to Rome was strongly marked by the following lines of one of the poets of that time.

Credwch a glywch, cedwch Dewi

Yn eich llaw, a llu bydd gyd a chwi.
A'r fagl awr ei phen, ffowch rhagddi
Fel tan tost; ydd wan, tyst Duw iti.

That is," Believe in, hearken, and adhere to David, and a host will be with you.

*

As for the golden

headed crosier, fly from it, as from wild-fire, for God knows that it is of little avail."

In the same poem are also the following lines.

Edewis Padrig drwy dir dagreu
Lloneid Llech llafar hygar hygleu
Pan aeth i Werddon y wrth ynteu.

* This crosier was that of the Romish church.