[21] I was unwilling to interrupt the reader at the last quotation from Mr. Fox, but I beg leave here to say a few words relative to the insinuated calumny on the catholic priests of Ireland, to which I then alluded. As I have before observed, it is easy to see, that this attack, under cover of assailing the Jesuits, is aimed at catholics in general. The priests in Ireland are charged, in the pamphlet, with great venality and corruption of morals, and this, the writer says, may be affirmed without the fear of contradiction. To notice this slander is allowing myself to be led from my particular subject into the general one; I will not, therefore, dwell upon it, but, referring the reader to a volume of indisputable authority, though written by a catholic (Dr. Milner's Inquiry into certain vulgar Opinions, Letter xviii), for an interesting account of the Irish clergy and of the Irish poor, I will content myself with extracting a note, or rather reference, from page 182 of the book. "If, gentlemen, you are not under the influence of very gross prejudice, you will, in receiving representations of the necessitous state of Ireland, maturely weigh the allegations of men, who have stigmatized, and still stigmatize as the last of mankind, some of the most deserving and useful men in the community. There are among them preachers and teachers of the first excellence: there are men of profound erudition, men of nice classical taste, and men of the best critical acumen. They are not formed, it is true, to shine in the drawing-room or at the tea-table; nor are such qualifications very desirable in churchmen; for you well know, that the refined manners of fashionable life are often as incompatible with Christian morality, as the grosser vices of the vulgar herd. Their manners are, in general, decent; but their exertions are great, their zeal is indefatigable. See them in the most inclement seasons, at the most unseasonable hours, in the most uncultivated parts, amidst the poorest and most wretched of mankind! They are always ready at a call; nothing can deter them; the sense of duty surmounts every obstacle! And there is no reward for them in this world! The good effects of their zeal are visible to every impartial and discerning mind; notwithstanding the many great disadvantages under which it labours. For instance, you may often find a parish so extensive and populous as to require two or three clergymen properly to serve it, and yet the poverty of the parish is such as to be scarcely able to maintain one in a tolerably decent manner. I could point out many other disadvantages, but I forbear at present," &c.--"After all, the good effects are so conspicuous, that, I repeat it, the lower orders of Irishmen are better instructed in the doctrines of Christianity than the lower orders of Englishmen."