door, being never permitted to remain in the middle. When the mass is over, the women must all have departed before any of the men dare go forth. This account we have from Abraham Ecchellensis, but there can be no doubt that it remains correct to the present day, oriental people being very tenacious of their ancient

customs.

Pope Gregory XIII. granted a college at Rome to the Maronites, for the education of their ecclesiastical students, and great facilities have thus been afforded for ensuring correctness and uniformity in the liturgical books which had previously existed only in manuscript. When Clement VIII. sent Father Dandini to the Maronites in Syria, one especial object of his mission was to make proper regulations as to the students who were to be sent to Rome for instruction in that college. The Pontifical government defrays the whole expenses of that establishment; the students are not only taught but maintained gratuitously till they are sent back to their own country; and a number of learned men who have been thus educated, attest the excellence of the system. Among these may be mentioned Joseph Simon Assemani, who in the year 1715 was sent by Pope Clement XI. into Egypt and Syria to explore the monastic libraries in search of ancient Christian MSS. The Bibliotheca Orientalis Clementina Vaticana, in four volumes folio, which he published at Rome in 1719-28, contains but a part of his extensive labours, and is highly commended by the learned. It has commanded the praise of even the unbelieving Gibbon, and like many other great monuments of literature, was printed at the sole cost of the papal government, which, moderate as its resources were, always managed to devote them to the service of learning and religion, while other monarchs were expending and exceeding their ample revenues in armaments and aggressive wars. His Eminence Cardinal Wiseman, in his learned Horae Syriacae, has shown how important the ancient Syrian literature is capable of becoming in the service of theology, and he remarks that for almost every thing published in that language we are indebted to the Roman Pontiffs. The Arabic has now for many centuries been the common language of Syria, but the Maronites retain in their divine service that ancient Syriac language which was spoken on earth by our Lord and his Apostles, There is a very old and not improbable tradition that the Evangelist St. Mark first wrote his gospel in Latin, then in Syriac, and at last in Greek, so that all three were equally authentic and original.

But the Maronites are not more remarkable for their constancy in the Christian faith, than they are for their strong feeling of nationality, and the valour with which they have always defended themselves against invaders and oppressors. In the early ages of Mohammedanism, when the Saracens were rapidly extending their conquests in the East, the first effectual resistance that they encountered was from the inhabitants of the mountain region of Libanus. The greater part of Syria had been quickly over-run. Damascus, Hems, the Holy City of Jerusalem, Antioch, and Aleppo had successively been

conquered, but the people of the highland country still presented an undaunted front to the Mohammedan invaders. In the time of the Caliph Moawiyah, about the middle of the seventh century, the people of Libanus, finding that no military assistance could be obtained from their sovereign the Eastern Emperor, provided for their own defence, and elected a chieftain, under whose command they gained many advantages over the Saracens, and not only repelled attack, but made predatory incursions into the enemy's territory. Their success however was not pleasing to the Imperial Government, which was so far from approving of those volunteers, that it designated them Rebels, and hence the Maronites were long afterwards known by the appellation of Mardaites, derived from a Syriac word which means to resist lawful authority. They had even reduced the neighbouring Saracens to become tributary to the Eastern Emperor, when Justinian II. sent an army into Libanus, and compelled twelve thousand of these Mardaites to remove into the provinces of Cilicia and Armenia. The Maronites, together with the other inhabitants of Libanus, succeeded in always preserving a considerable degree of independence under their own princes or Emirs. They maintained this advantage of their position under the Eastern Emperors, and afterwards under the Sultans of Egypt; nor was it until near the end of the sixteenth century that they, as well as their heathen neighbours, the Druses, were so far subjugated as to become tributary to the Turks. Both the Christian and Druse inhabitants of Libanus still remained under their own princes with suzereign authority, and never were subject immediately to the Turkish Sultan. From the earliest appearance of the Maronites in history, to the present day, the Maronites have been noted for their bravery and skill in arms. The Cardinal Jacobus de Vit riaco speaks of them as expert archers at the time of the first crusade, when they must have been most useful auxiliaries to

"The sacred armies, and the godly knight,

That the great sepulchre of Christ did free." "They are a very stout and warlike people, very well provided with bows and guns," says the old traveller, Rauwolff; and that they have not degenerated is testified by all who have visited their country, one of the latest of whom is the eloquent and poetical Lamartine; but he is far from being exact in his historical details. A strange example of incorrectness is that of the German lady, Frau Ida Pfeiffer, who speaks of the Maronites as if they were not yet Christians. The recent attempt made to extirpate them evinces a most atrocious policy. The united arms of the inhabitants of Libanus were always sufficient to secure their independence; but by instigating one party against the other, by hounding on the Drases to the slaughter of the Christians, the Turks would have attained a long-desired object, and have become more completely masters of the country than they ever had been before, and that withont encountering the risks and chances of undisguised warfare.

A SCHOOL HISTORY OF IRELAND.*

Ir is universally admitted that no department of profane history should be dearer or more useful to a man, than that which treats of the land that gave him birth; and we may add, that no one deserves to be called educated, as long as he remains ignorant of the general history of the country from which he derives his origin, nurture, nay, and all that he has of good. A knowledge of Greek and Roman history has at all times been deemed indispensable for any one desiring to be ranked among the well-instructed classes; but while we admit the great value of such lore, we will insist that a familiarity with one's own native history is paramount. In the absence, however, of a School History of Ireland, it was almost impossible for those who are charged with the education of youth, to impart that knowledge, without which a man may be said to be an alien in his own land; unconscious of its bygone glories and vicissitudes, and deprived of those sources of grand inspirations with which almost every page of our chequered annals abounds. Spenser has justly stigmatized ignorance of one's native country as "brutish," nor do we think that any one can censure him for his choice of such an unenviable predicate. Surely it is "brutish" to pass through life with no other knowledge than that which the present supplies, heedless of the great events which preceded us, and untaught by the example of those-the great and renowned in their generation-whose virtues, genius, and valour still flame in the dim past like so many constellations.

We are well aware that no class of men lamented the absence of such a work as this, more than did the superiors of schools, who have been obliged to eliminate the study of Irish history from the course, simply because they had no book which could have enabled them to make it easy and agreeable to the teacher and the pupil. Happily, however, the want no longer exists, and we feel assured that Mr. Haverty's work will be the means of introducing a new element into the curriculum of every college and school in Ireland. The results will be highly beneficial to both literary teachers and their pupils; for we need hardly remind the former, that some of our most celebrated men, of all creeds, are devoting their best energies to the diffusion of Irish history; and as for the latter, be their calling what it may, we can assure them that the time has come, when polite society will set little value on their general acquirements, if they do not comprise a thorough knowledge of their native history.

What country is there that can lay claim to a history like ours, so intensely interesting, and so replete with wonderful episodes? Assuredly no other people ever devoted so much attention to the preservation of their antient records and genealogies; and it is beyond doubt, that our native chronologers have bequeathed to us a series of annals, of which any other nation might be justly proud. The industry and love of fatherland exhibited, in almost every age, by Irishmen, who, at home and abroad, have devoted themselves to the investigation of our historical resources, might be instanced as a proof of this. But irrespective of such a reflection, the painstaking and earnest fidelity with which those treasures have been transmitted to our times, should persuade us that it is a shame, nay a disgrace, to be ignorant of the all-important facts which they evolve. Pitiful, indeed, is the condition of an Irishman who, standing in the presence of the cromlechs and sepulchral mounds, with which the fields and hill-sides of his country abound, can form no definite idea of the purposes for which those monuments of the pre-Christian period were erected! Surely no Irishman can say that he is thoroughly educated as long as he is ignorant of the social condition of his forefathers, anterior to the introduction of Christianity, and of the events which succeeded that great revolution in religion, arts, and literature. 'Tis little less than "brutish," to wander among the memorials of the past, unconscious of the associations identified with them; and if this be true in respect of

A School History of Ireland, Ancient and Modern, for the Use of Schools and Colleges. With Questions for Examination, &c. BY MARTIN HAVERTY, Esq. Dublin: James Duffy, and Paternoster Row, London.

merely pagan remains, what are we to think of a system of education which has hitherto left our youth entirely ignorant of the men who raised those splendid Christian temples and monasteries, whose ruins strew our island from end to end? We have no hesitation in pronouncing such a system highly defective, so much so, indeed, that no amount of ordinary school acquirements can compensate for its shortcomings. If the literary teacher be really anxious to elevate an Irish boy's intellect, it is his duty to make him conversant with every battle-field in the country, till he is able to realise to his own mind the men who fought and fell on those memor able scenes, the ambition that impelled, and the hopes that nerved their arms. The round-tower, rath, sculptured crosses, anchorets' cells and those battlemented piles-strong even in their decay-so numerous in this island of ours, are adamantine witnesses of an early civilization, with whose history a well-educated Irish boy should be familiar; and we have no difficulty in affirming that it is the duty of the teacher to see that his pupil be not one day compelled to resort to some superficial guide-book, for that information which should have been imparted to him with the same care that is usually bestowed on what relates to Greek and Roman antiquities. Let the lads who leave our educational establishments come back to us with minds richly stored with all that is remarkable and noteworthy in our history, ancient and modern-let them be familiar with the memories and deeds of the men who, in times past, as well as in those nearer our own, impressed the ages in which they lived, and then indeed the mighty moral of history shall not have been hidden from them; nor shall they be deprived of advantages which lessons so great and grand are calculated to impart.

At no former period was learning of this sort so absolutely necessary, and we need only point to what is being done, just now, for the dissemination of Irish history, in order to stimulate the zeal of those to whom Irish boys are entrusted, and to impress on them the paramount duty of making their pupils intimately familiar with a department of literature hitherto overlooked or disregarded. The learned societies springing up in every province, the researches of O'Donovan, Curry, Todd, Reeves, Petrie, Wilde, Gilbert, and other eminent men who have devoted themselves to investigating our native records, are so many arguments which should have due weight with those who undertake the educating of our youth; and they may be certain that society will think very little of their fitness for such a responsibility, if the present generation of their scholars does not excel their predecessors in larger knowledge of all that pertains to Irish History.

Mr. Haverty's work has removed a reproach from us, and placed our educational establishments in possession of a manual which will facilitate the duty of the teacher and the taught, and render it a pleasing one to both. The mode which Mr. Haverty has adopted in compiling this volume from his larger work leaves nothing to be desired, either as regards the general matter or the style. Every thing that the student can desire to know of Irish History, from the earliest colonization of the island till the Act of Union, will be found in the pages of this faultless school-book, which comprises chronological tables of reigning popes and other sovereigns, and what we value just as much, a succinct series of questions on the subjects of the various chapters, in order to exercise the pupil's memory catechetically. Why should not this volume be included in the entrance course for our colleges at home and abroad? The pains bestowed on the work, and the amount of research which it exhibits, do honour to the latest and best of our historians, and it will be no fault of his if those for whom it is intended do not leave their respective seminaries with minds truly patriotic and enriched with lore so eminently calculated to make them a credit to the land of their nativity. The few observations we have made apply chiefly to those who have devoted themselves to the education of youth, and we trust that they will estimate the spirit in which they are written. The book is admirably brought out, and at an exceedingly low price.

No. 5.

THE RAPPAREE.

A HISTORICAL SKETCH. BY WILLIAM CARLETON.
CHAPTER V.

WHEN Patchy noticed Captain Power, who was then, as always, in the garb of a gentleman, he respectfully touched his hat to him, observing as he did it:

"I think I see a gentleman here who's a stranger to me-I'm Patchy Baccah, sir, the setter-and now that you know me, I hope you won't keep the advantage of me."

"Not at all, Patchy, I have heard of you from the chief; you are a very valuable man, Patchy-I'm Captain Power."

"God bless my sowl, sir," replied Patchy, taking off his hat is it possible that the great Captain Power is one of us."

"Yes, but only for a time, Patchy. I thought myself at the head of my profession, Patchy, and I came down here to have an interview with the Great Northern; but I soon found that clever and able as I considered myself, I had much to learn from him!".

"Well, indeed, I'm not surprised at that, sir," replied Patchy "for if ever there was a maricle at the business, he is one. He never was done but once, and that was by the Dundalk apprentice."

"How was that?" asked Power.

"Why sir, there was a merchant in Dundalk who had a draft on another in Newry for the sum of two hundred pounds. Such was his terror, howandever, of the Captain, that he was afeard either to go for the money himself, or to send for it by another. In this state of mind he was one day consultin' wid his wife as to what was best to be done in the matter, when his apprentice a lad about sixteen-happened to overhear them. He offered to go for the cash, and said, he would let them cut the ears off his head if he did not bring it home safe to them. Now, both the merchant and his wife knew he was a smart chap, and always had his wits about him, so after another consultation. they agreed to let him make the trial, and accordingly gave him the draft. Well, sir, the first thing he did was to saddle an ould entire horse, so lame wid the spavy, that he could hardly go a mile an hour; an', what was worse than all, the brute, from sheer viciousness and a hellfire temper, would suffer neither horse nor man to come near him on the road-the 'prentice himself bein' the only person he would allow to handle or mount him. Well and good; the lad got two pounds changed into halfpence, which he tied in a bag-one half in

VOL. I.

1860.

each end, wid a string about the middle, and havin' mounted his horse, he went on his way towards Newry; when, as it happened, on comin' to a lonely part of the road, who comes up wid him but the Captain. The chap seemed very innocent, and soon tould him the whole story of the money; and how he was to bring it back the next day. The Captain said it was wrong of him to mention the circumstance to any one, for 'fraid he might be robbed; and on partin' gave him a guinea to drink his health, and hire another horse if he wished. "When do you expect to be back, my lad,' he asked.

"About this time to-morrow, sir,' replied the boy; ' and bedad I wish I had you along wid me all the way, for then I'd have no fear of bein' robbed of it.'

"All right so far; the lad got to Newry, where he remained that night; and the next mornin', havin' got the cash in bank-notes, he sewed them up in the linin' of his waistcoat, and set out on his return home. Well, to make a long story short, he had just come to the same lonesome part of the road where he met the gentleman the day before, and, sure enough, there he met him again.

"Well, my good boy,' said the Captain, did you get the money?'

"Bedad I did so, sir,' replied the shaver, 'every penny,'

6

"And how did you get it?' asked the gentleman. “Faix, in hard goold,' said the other; and here I have it, a hundred in each end o' this bag; but I wouldn't tell that, sir, to any one but yourself, for fraid I might be aised of it but I know by your appearance you're a gentleman, and that I needn't be afeared of you."

"Yes, but hand me the money,' said the Captain, 'till I see if it's all right.'

"I know it's right,' said the boy, for I counted it myself; and, besides, my masther made me take an oath, before I left home, that afther I got it I wouldn't let it into anyone's hands but my own.'

"Hand it out immediately,' said the Captain, I must have it.'

"But, sir,' said the chap, 'my masther will blame me for it, and say that I made away wid it myself.'

6

"Deliver the money immediately, you young scoun drel,' says the Captain, pulling out a pistol, or I'll blow your brains out.'

"I couldn't think of doin' sich a thing,' says the youth; I promised to let him cut my ears off if I didn't bring it safe home to him, and I will, too.'

"The Captain immediately rode up to him, in ordher

2 D

to secure it, but, lo and behould you, the devilish ould cappul (horse) the lad was on turns round and threw out at him and his horse, which made him keep his distance; and, in the manetime, the cunnin' young vagabone moved him over to the roadside, and threw the bag that contained the coppers across the hedge, and a good distance into a quagmire that happened to be in the place.

"If you want to get it, sir,' says he, 'you must go for it, bekaise I tuck an oath to my masther, that I wouldn't give it into the hands of any one; and now he can't say I perjured myself.'

"The Captain immediately lit down off his horse, hooked him to the branch of a tree, and with a good deal of time and strugglin' got through the hedge, and afther that had quite as much difficulty in wadin' through the quagmire. This ripe youth, in the manetime, unhooked the Captain's fine horse-mounted him, set off at full speed, laving him two pounds' worth of coppers in a bag, and a spavined ould garran, as full of venom and mischief as an egg is of mate, instead of the two hundred pounds he expected; and what was better still, robbin' the robber of his fine horse before his own face into the bargain. There now is the only case in which the Captain was ever done-but, be my sowl, he was done there, and in style too."

"But did he ever recover his horse ?" asked Captain Power..

"The horse," replied Patchy, 66 was put to livery in Dundalk, and advertised; but I need not tell you that the Captain, for a reason that he had, never claimed him but he wrote a letter widout a name to his masther, statin' that his owner made a present of him to the young rogue, in reward for his cleverness and ingenuity. He never can tell that story himself widout laughin heartily, and wishin' that he had the trainin' of the lad "

It is not to be supposed that these worthy Rapparees sat here without the necessary requisites to keep them comfortable. There was a large fire, around which they disposed themselves on such temporary seats as they could procure, together with an ample stock of provisions, and other refreshments, such as wine, whiskey, brandy, and malt liquor in abundance. Of those they partook, some sparingly, some more freely, but not one to excess or intoxication; for on this necessary point their captain kept them in an excellent state of discipline.

66 Come, my bowld comrades," said Patchy, "let us have a glass of comfort, and amuse ourselves as well is we can until the Captain and the others come back, Captain Power, here's long life, good health, and a happy death-bed to you; and, as I said before, may none of us ever see his own funeral! anim a chiernah

This was drank, and Patchy proceeded: "Come, Billy Peters, or Delany, or whatsomever you call yourself, let us hear a little of your skill and experience. You're nearly as great a horsestealer as Cahir na Cappul there."

"Me" replied Cahir, in his broken English-a man, by the way, in every lineament of whose face nature had set the stamp of thief and robber-" me, Patchy-fwhy now, Patchy, don't she knows dat Í never staled a baste in my life. Sure I haven't gotted no canscience about stalin' 'em-I never staled any, sure."

"Well, if you don't stale them yourself, Cahir, you know who does, so that it all comes to the same thing. But you, Billy Pethers, in the manetime, tell us something to amuse us and pass the time."

"Troth, the story I'm goin' to tell,” replied Peters, is as much Cahir na Cappul's there as mine; but sich as it is you shall have it."

66

Ay do," said Cahir, "tell her up for de gentlemin.” "Well, then," proceeded Peters," some time after I got the bite from the girl that was whipped through the town of Maryborough, for several acts of thievin' she committed, and who palmed herself upon my father and me as Captain P- -'s daughter, I became acquainted wid worthy Cahir na Cappul here; and, becoorse, I wasn't long a croneen of his until I tuck a strong fancy for horse-stealin'."

"You wor a big tief afore you comes to me," observed Cahir.

"Well, if I was, Cahir, you soon improved me; troth, I was nothing till I knew you; but no matter. Soon afther I got rid of my doxy, it so happened that I tuck a strong fancy to a fine sorrel horse, wid a bald face and a white foot, that belonged to a gentleman in the county of Carlow. I got into the stable one night, by means of a thing that I'm sure," he added, with a grin, "none of you ever heard of-a false key. It isn't, nor ever was, my custom to do a thing unfairly, so, says I, whispering to the horse, have you any objection to come wid me and see the world?'-throth I thought it but fair and reasonable to put the question to him-but, at any rate, devil a word he said against it. That's all right,' says I, 'silence gives consent;' and off we went on the best of terms wid each other. Well, I sowld the horse at a good price, but the toir (pursuit) was soon up afther me, and in a short time I was lodged in Carlow jail, wid every proof strong against me, so that I saw clearly there was little else for me but to dance that pleasant jig called the Hangman's Hornpipe. Not that I was much troubled about that either, in regard that I was once hanged before, and escaped the noose twist afterwards, and all by raison of a charm I got against hangin' from the same woman that gave Cahir na Cappul there the enchantment that enables him, wid a weeshy whisper in his ear, to tame the wildest and wickedest horse that ever went upon four feet. Be this as it may, I was very much troubled about the matter, and hardly knew how to act. At last I bethought me of Cahir here, and sent to let him know how I was fixed. I desired him to look at the horse, and to find me out a mare as like him as possible, and

• A fact.

to try and exchange the one for the other otherwise I had little chance, as the evidence was so clear against me. Ah troth, Cahir my boy, it's you that wasn't long gettin' me the mare I wanted, nor in giving instructions how to have the thing done. The trial was now within a day or two of comin' on, and the stolen horse was put under the care of the jailor, as is usual, till it should be over. When Cahir's messenger arrived, he put up at a place near the river-side, where the hostler used to water the horse. He had got acquainted wid him, and on this occasion asked him in to have a drink, to which he willingly consented, lavin' the horse at the door. In the manetime, the animals were exchanged by a comrogue of the messenger's; and when the hostler came out, after gettin' his mornin', he mounted the mare and rode her to the stable instead of the horse. Well, very soon afterwards, in about an hour or so, my trial came on, and, to tell the truth, every thing went against me-nothing could be clearer than the evidence; and the judge was goin' to charge the jury, when I thought it was time to speak:

"My lord,' says I, 'every man's life is precious to him-you all think me guilty, but I deny it, and will prove my innocence, if you'll grant me one request.' "What is it?' asked the judge.

"It is, my lord,' says I, that the horse shall be produced in coort-when he is, if I don't show the whole world that I'm wrongfully charged with the crime I'm in for, why, then, hang me up as an example to all the horse-stealers in the kingdom; and I'll go to my death willingly.'

"But how could the production of the horse save you?' said the judge.

"My lord,' says I, 'I cannot tell you that till the horse comes into coort.'

"My lord,' says my lawyer, 'as the poor man thinks his life dependin' on it, surely his request ought to be complied with.'

"Very well,' said the judge, smilin', let the horse be produced in coort."

"The horse is my witness, my lord,' says I, and will bring me out clear.'

"It is the first time I ever heard of such a witness,' said the judge, laughin' outright, as did the whole coort, but as you think he'll serve you, it is but right that you should have his testimony.'

"We shall cross-examine him severely,' said the cpposite counsel, and it'll go hard or we'll make him break down.'

"By this time the whole coort was in roars of laughter, and they were all on coals to see what would happen. Well, in a short time the horse was brought into coort, and I turned round to my prosecutor.

"Now, sir,' says I, 'do you swear positively and truly that that is the animal you lost??

"I do,' says he, by the virtue of my oath, that is my horse the very one you stole from me.'

"By the virtue of your oath, sir, whether is that animal a horse or a mare ?'

"By the oath I've taken,' he says again, its a

horse, and not a mare. It was a horse I lost, and that's the animal.'

6

"Mr. Tipstaff,' says I, will you turn the hinder end of the beast towards his lordship.'

"What do you mane by that, sirrah?' said the judge.

"Simply to prove my innocence, my lord,' says I, "turn it round, Mr. Tipstaff-there, that will do.'"

"The short and the long of it was, that the animal proved to be a mare, and not a horse at all. Such a scene was never witnessed. Every one in the coort was in convulsions, with the exception of my prosecutor, who had a face on him as long as to-day and to-morrow. As for the jury, you'd tie them wid three straws.

"Gentlemen,' said the judge, addressin' them as well as he could speak for laughin', "you must acquit the prisoner."

"We do, my lord,' said the foreman, we find a verdict of acquittal.'

"Let him be immediately discharged, then,' said the judge. And so I was, comrades, and-here I am." "Give Pether a glass for that," said Patchy; "if that wasn't doin' them, I dunna what was."

"But, sure, as I tould you all, it was Cahir na Cappul here that desarves the credit of that-for, what do you think he did? Why, he painted the mare so like the horse, that livin' eyes couldn't see the difference. Ah, Cahir! Cahir! what are we all in the horse-stalin' line, when compared wid you. I'm middlin' myself, and Shane Bernah's betther still, but neither of us could hould a candle to you at the business."

"I never staled a horse in my life," repeated Cahir; sure every one knows dat I never stales no horses." "Do you take apprentices still, Cahir?" asked Manus M'O'Neil, the goldfinder.

"Yes, I does," replied Cahir, "when I gets a good fwhee (fee) wid 'em. Many o' de Munster farmers does shend der shilders to me to larn the saicrits."

"And what fee do you charge, Cahir ?”

Why, frwhom whifty to a, hundars "pounds, and fwhor dat I finishes dem."

you

"Yes, Cahir," observed Power, drily, "I dare say do."

This may seem strange, if not incredible, to our readers; but such was the fact. Some of the Munster farmers-men of wealth and substance, too-felt no scruple whatsoever in binding their sons to this celebrated cattle-stealer, in order that they might afterwards pursue such theft as a trade. Cahir, however, by his multiplied processes of ingenuity, almost elevated it to the rank of a science, although he himself did not know a letter in the alphabet.

That the singular fact of such apprenticeships argued a very loose notion of the rights of property, can scarcely be denied; but, on the other hand, it is not altogether without something in the shape of apology. The consciousness of wrong it is that constitutes guilt; but here there was no such feeling. The possession of property by Protestants was looked upon as an act of injustice to the Catholic population, and the country at