“Good God!” said I, surprised, “and this from one of their own order!” “These are sentiments I never should have hazarded,” returned the priest, “could I not have opposed to those natural conclusions, drawn from well known facts, innumerable instances of benevolence, piety, and learning among the order. While to the whole body let it be allowed as _priests_, whatever may be their failings as _men_, that the activity of their lives, * the punctilious discharge of their duty, and their ever ready attention to their flock, under every moral and even under every physical suffering, renders them deserving of that reverence and affection which, above the ministers of any other religion, they receive from those over whom they are placed.” * “A Roman Catholic clergyman is the minister of a very ritual religion; and by his profession, subject to many restraints; his life is full of strict observances, and his duties are of a laborious nature towards himself, and of the highest possible trust towards others.”--Letter on the Penal Laws against the Irish Catholics, by the Right Honourable Edmund Burke. “And which,” said I, “if opposed to the languid performance of periodical duties, neglect of the moral functions of their calling, and the habitual indolence of the ministers of other sects, they may certainly be deemed zealots in the cause of the faith they profess, and the charity they inculcate!” While I spoke, a young lad, almost in a state of nudity, approached us; yet in the crown of his leafless hat were stuck a few pens, and over his shoulder hung a leathern satchel full of books. “This is an apposite rencontre,” said the priest--“behold the first stage of _one_ class of Catholic priesthood among us; a class however no longer very prevalent.” The boy approached, and, to my amazement, addressed us in Latin, begging with all the vehement eloquence of an Irish mendicant, for some money to buy ink and paper. We gave him a trifle, and the priest desired him to go on to the castle, where he would get his breakfast, and that on his return he would give him some books into the bargain. The boy, who solicited in Latin, expressed his gratitude in Irish; and we trotted on. “Such,” said Father John, “formerly was the frequent origin of our Roman Catholic priests This is a character unknown to you in England, and is called here ‘_a poor scholar_.’ If a boy is too indolent to work and his parents too poor to support him, or, which is more frequently the case, if he discovers some natural talents, or, as they call it, _takes to his learning_, and that they have not the means to forward his improvement, he then becomes by profession a _poor scholar_, and continues to receive both his mental and bodily food at the expense of the community at large.