“They have acted generously and nobly,” added Reilly, “and in a truly Christian spirit. Were it not for the shelter and protection which I myself received from one of them, my mangled body would probably be huddled down into some obscure grave, as a felon, and my property--which is mine only by a necessary fiction and evasion of the law--have passed into the hands of Sir Robert Whitecraft. I am wrong, however, in saying that it could. Mr. Hastings, a generous and liberal Protestant, took it in his own name for my father, but gave me a deed of assignment, placing it as securely in my hands, and in my power, as if I were Sir Robert Whitecraft himself; and I must add--which I do with pleasure--that the deed in question is now in the possession of the Rev. Mr. Brown, the amiable rector of the parish.” “But he is a heretic,” said a red-faced little man, dressed in leather breeches, top boots, and a huntsman's cap; _vade retro sathanas_, It is a damnable crime to have any intercourse with them, or to receive any protection from them: _vade retro, sathanas_.” “If I don't mistake,” said the cook--an archdeacon, by the way--“you yourself received protection from them, and were glad to receive it.” “If I did receive protection from one of their heretic parsons, it was for Christian purposes. My object was not so much to seek protection from him as to work out his salvation by withdrawing him from his heresy. But then the fellow was as obstinate as _sathanas_ himself, and had Greek and Hebrew at his fingers' ends. I made several passes at him--tried Irish, and told him it was Italian. 'Well,' said he, smiling, 'I understand Italian too;' and to my astonishment he addressed me in the best Irish I ever heard spoken. 'Now,' said he, still smiling, 'you perceive that I understand Italian nearly--I will not say so well--as you do.' Now, as I am a sinner, that, I say, was ungenerous treatment. He was perfectly irreclaimable.” This man was, like Mr. Maguire, what has been termed a hedge-priest--a character which, as we have already said, the poverty of the Catholic people, during the existence of the penal laws, and the consequent want of spiritual instruction, rendered necessary. There were no Catholic colleges in the country, and the result was that the number of foreign priests--by which I mean Irish priests educated in foreign colleges--was utterly inadequate to meet the spiritual necessities of the Irish population. Under those circumstances, men of good and virtuous character, who understood something of the Latin tongue, were ordained by their respective bishops, for the purpose which we have already mentioned. But what a difference was there between those half-educated men and the class of educated clergymen who now adorn, not only their Church, but the literature of the country!