CHAP. III:

WE left Kilkinik (Kilkenny) and arrived at Kalon (Callan), six miles on the road. On our arrival, a gentleman, named Edward Comerfort,36 offered us his castle, where we rested, not being able to refuse so civil a request. The next day we were drenched by extraordinary rain, which obliged us to seek shelter in a castle,37 where we were well received. The master of the house came to beg us to remain some days there; we could not excuse ourselves. This nobleman was called Lord Ikerin,38 and was general of the cavalry of the Irish Catholics. At

36 Edward Comerford of Callan was a Member of the General Assembly of Confederate Catholics, which met in Kilkenny on the 10th January, 1647.-Burke's Hiberni. Dominic. p. 884.-C.

This Edward Comerford was ancestor to the Comerfords of Cork and Kerry, and to the Duchess of Wharton, wife to the celebrated Philip, whose fortunes are described by Pope, in emulation of Dryden's picture of the second Duke of Buckingham.—R.

37 Probably Lismullen or Lismallin, in the County of Tipperary, six miles distant from Callan, and thirteen from Cashel.-Taylor and Skinner's Roads, 193.-C.

He ac

38 Sir Pierce Butler, created Viscount Ikerrin in 1629. cepted the rank of Lieutenant General in the Catholic Army, under Lord Mountgarret, and was engaged in the principal Irish sieges and battles of the year 1643, for which he was indicted and outlawed. His will, dated 1st March, 1660 (proved 26th March, 1674), directs his body to be buried in the Abbey of Kilcooley, County of Tipperary.-Lodge's Irish Peerage, by Archdale, ii. 314.-C.

supper a friar from Spain brought the conversation from Spanish diet to the religion of that country, and bearing a mortal dislike to the French, my countrymen, he could not refrain from giving vent to his antipathy in my presence, stating, that as we had no Inquisition in France, we were but a set of reprobates, and partial to heretics, whom instead of tolerating as we do, we ought rather to exterminate, as the progress of the Catholic faith could not co-exist with this pestilent sect (the Calvinists), whose very name ought to be abhorred by the people. That Spain had the advantage of never having been infected with heresy, and hence their monarch was called the Catholic King, and hence also the great preponderance of that power in war.

I felt it my duty thus to reply to this monk, whose zeal appeared to me to be most indiscreet. "My My reverend father, I am surprised that you, born in Ireland, a neutral country, should be so much under the influence of prejudice and womanish imbecility as to prefer Spain so unjustly to France, a land where religion and valour are equally found, if not in a higher degree. And whatever charms the Inquisition may have for you, and however useful you may think it as a means of purging a country of impiety and preserving religion in its integrity, the French nation is too well informed that faith, which is the basis and foundation of Christianity, cannot be established by persecution. And as to Spain, although it may be true as you assert that Huguenots

never could thrive there, still the Moors and Infidels of Grenada are so mixed up with the population that you can hardly discriminate between them and real Catholics. Appearances often mislead us. The French, to outward semblance, seem free and careless, but are in reality excellent Christians, while your Spaniard, with the look of a devotee and an angel, is very often the reverse at heart. As to the prosperous career of His Catholic Majesty's arms, he never will encounter the Most Christian King in fair fight without discomfiture."

From this castle we came in one day to Cachel (Cashel), a distance of ten miles. This town is an archbishop's see, founded by St. Patrick. There are two convents, [one of] Dominicans, and [one of] Franciscans.

CHAP. IV.

DURING my stay at Kachel (Cashel) the Rev. Father Ryan, prior of the Dominicans, an Irish friar educated in France, invited me to dine at his Convent; and as I felt reluctant to accept the good man's offer, he begged earnestly that I would grant him that favour, as he wanted me to render him a service at the monastery. He had in his establishment two members of the order who had gone through their course of studies in Spain, and who presumptuously maintained, that the French knew nothing, while Spain was the cradle of true theology and sterling philosophy. Now he was glad to have met me to take part with him in vindicating the College studies of France, for he candidly confessed, he took pride in the country where he had been educated, and would be glad to humiliate the Salamanca students.39 I at once consented for the honour of my native land.

39 The Students of this University were particularly proud of their Alma Mater. The licentiate Pedrillo, (according to Lord Byron,) thus swears in the Shipwreck,

"Nothing should tempt him more (this peril past),

To quit his academic occupation,

In cloisters of the classic Salamanca,

To follow Juan's wake, like Sancho Pancha."

Don Juan, c. 2, st. 37.-M.

While at table these two Spanish Dominicans, full of the cant and prejudice of that country, had nothing in their vocabulary of more familiar use than the terms "Lutheran," "Huguenots," 40 and "French Blockheads." They would hardly let me swallow in quiet my (Soupe a l' Iroise) 41 Irish mess of potage, but kept up a sort of rambling fire to annoy me : 1 begged they would let me dine in comfort, and when the repast had terminated, I took the liberty of putting a few questions in my turn, among others the following drawn from the Science of Theology. (Tract. de Trinitate.)

1. God in his capacity of Father hath begotten the Son.

God in his capacity of God has begotten nought. Now as it is by the knowledge he hath of himself as the Father [quâtenus Pater], that he has produced the Son, how comes it that by the same knowledge which he has of himself as God [quátenus Deus] he has produced nothing?

2. The nature of the Godhead being infinite, how can it have become united with the finite nature of man in the Christ?

40 Words terminating in ôt have a peculiar tinge of contemptuous meaning in French, thus, Bigot, cagôt, magôt, busingot, cachôt, malingrôt, devôt, fagot, idiot, ilot, sot, tripôt, impôt. The real etymology of the word Huguenot has not been yet settled. It is known to have been first used in the city of Lyons.-M.

41 Names of barbarous nations are always written-ois. Those of civilized terminate in-ais. Ex. gr. Anglais, Francais, &c.; per contra. Chinois, Iroquois, Irois, Hongrois, &c.-M.