Dr. Bale was one of the first founders of the Establishment in our island: in fact he was for awhile the great pillar of that state institution, and hence has found many eulogists amongst those who succeeded him in the enjoyment of its temporalities and rich benefices. Thus Dr. Mant devotes several pages of his _History of the Irish Church_ (i. 220, seqq.) to commend “the zeal, assiduity, activity, and devotion to the reformed faith in opposition to the Romish errors”, displayed by this apostle of the Established Church. It will not, therefore, be uninteresting to inquire a little into Dr. Bale’s true character, although we do not reckon him amongst the bishops of this see, that thus, whilst we await the _historical_ grounds on which Mr. Whiteside _promises_ to justify that most monstrous institution which ever provoked a nation’s anathema, we may supply one faithful sketch at least for the consideration of our readers. He was born in Suffolk in 1495, and having embraced a religious life, passed through the various scientific grades in Norwich and Cambridge. Notwithstanding his solemn vows, he availed himself of the libertinism which prevailed in 1530, to take a wife, and adopt the new tenets of the Reformers. He himself avowed that _a temporal lord_ was the instrument of his “conversion”, and Nicholson, in his _Historical Library_, adds, “that in truth his wife Dorothy had as great a hand in that happy work as the Lord”. More than once he was threatened with imprisonment, but he always escaped through the protection of Lord Cromwell, on whose death he fled from the kingdom and took refuge in Germany. On the accession of Edward VI., he returned to England, and happening to be presented to the king in Southampton, received at once a promise of the vacant bishopric. Bale first arrived from England at Waterford, and he himself attests that “he was forcibly impressed by the appearance of the old idolatry”;[12] that is, he found there a fine devoted Catholic people, true to the faith of their fathers. His consecration in Dublin met with great opposition “_from the popishly inclined clergy_”, and even the two Irish assistant bishops protested against the use of the English liturgy on the occasion.[13] During the six months that he held the temporalities, he tells us that he “enjoyed great peace”, but at the same time both clergy and people remained devotedly attached to the Catholic faith: “helpers”, he says, “I found none among my prebendaries and clergy, but adversaries a great number”. On the accession of Queen Mary, his episcopal career was quickly brought to a close in Ossory. “On the 20th day of August”, he writes, “was the lady Mary with us at Kilkenny proclaimed queen of England, France, and Ireland, with the greatest solemnity that could be devised of processions, musters, and disguisings, all the noble captains and gentlemen thereabout being present. What ado I had that