wisdom. He was as remarkable for his eloquence as a preacher as for the indomitable energy with which he discharged the duties of his ministry. His testimony is the more valuable, as for the greater part of his life he had performed the duties of a working curate in the parish of SS. Peter and Paul, in the city of Cork, and had been brought into daily contact with his friend Father Mathew. Father Justin had been for some years parish priest of Kinsale, and one of the vicars of the diocese of Cork. The letter bears date November 28:

I always considered it cruel and unjust that you, dear Sir, should have been burdened with the enormous expense necessarily attendant on an undertaking of such vast extent and magnitude, for its machinery should have been worked out from the beginning by benevolent funds, not by your individual resources. I long anticipated that you could not continue to sustain such an immense, unequal pressure, and I therefore regard our present interference in your affairs as an honest repayment of a debt you incurred on the part of the public, obviously for the beneficial interest of all, and also, I may say, as the recognised agent of every man that loves his country, and feels a concern for the moral and social improvement of her people.

One happy result from the unavoidable exposure of your circumstances is the decisive evidence it affords to all, even to your captious enemies, that you never trafficked in temperance, or engaged in such a glorious cause for any selfish, lucrative, or unworthy motive. I trust you will be placed, by the gratitude of the empire, in an independent position, not for any advantage to yourself, but that being freed from pecuniary difficulties you may be enabled in future to consecrate all your undivided energies to the great apostleship to which you have been so providentially deputed. Kinsale is a locality that, equally with a thousand others, owes you many obligations, which its parish priest and people will hold in lasting and grateful remembrance.

I remain, dear Sir, yours very sincerely and respectfully,

To the Very Rev. Theobald Mathew.

JUSTIN F. M NAMARA,

A most gratifying testimony was borne to Father Mathew by Lord John (now Earl) Russell, at a meeting held in Exeter Hall on the 19th December in the same year. This speech was in the highest degree creditable to the noble lord, who spoke as follows :

:

To make a great impression upon a whole nation-to bring them at once from a habit in which they were too apt to indulge, to the practice of those virtues by which their domestic happiness may be increased, and their moral and religious conduct improved, must, I say, have called for no ordinary diligence; no common exertions would have sufficed for such an object. But we all know the extraordinary eloquence, the untiring energy, the disinterested forgetfulness of all selfish objects, which did enable Mr. Mathew to accomplish this moral miracle, and, by his exertions, to effect a change in Ireland which was surprising to the whole civilised world. But, gentlemen, although Mr. Mathew was endowed with this zeal and energy, and although he felt it as a great reward to be able to effect such a change in the conduct of his countrymen, unhappily he did not accompany his course with that prudence which a person whose soul and heart were less engaged in the cause might have been able to follow. Hence his difficulties; and let me assure you that, from all the inquiries which I have made,

EARL RUSSELL'S SPEECH.

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the stories that have been circulated as to any wealth amassed by Mr. Mathew, or anyone belonging to him, of immense sums being poured into his hands, are entirely without foundation. In numbers of cases-when I say numbers, I believe that in hundreds and thousands of instances-the medals obtained by persons who took the pledge were given gratuitously by Mr. Mathew to those who received it. In many other instances nothing was received whatever, and no medal was carried by those who took the pledge. Mr. Mathew also became involved in expense by the journeys which he made in promoting the cause which he had so much at heart, and by the career in which he engaged with a zeal and enthusiasm with which worldly prudence was not compatible. What, then, should be the conduct of that country to which he belongs, and of this country, which is closely and, I trust, perpetually united with it? What should be our conduct, but that, if we have not shared in this merit-if we have not undergone the fatigues which he has endured--if we have not achieved that great moral victory which Father Mathew has obtained, we should at least have the satisfaction of contributing something to his success by relieving him from some of his present difficulties, and enabling him to start afresh in his most glorious career? The fact is, a man oppressed by pecuniary difficulties and embarrassments cannot persevere in such a career with that vigour and that disregard of worldly considerations which he would be able to evince if relieved from his incumbrances, first by the generosity of the people of Ireland, and afterwards by his countrymen in England. I say, therefore, let us embrace this opportunity of being sharers in the glory of Father Mathew, by contributing in this country, and in the sister country, to promote the cause of temperance; and let us have the satisfaction of thinking that we have done something that will be grateful in the eyes both of God and of man.

At the special request of the Cork Committee, the authorised statement made by the writer of these pages, at the meeting of the 11th of November, was published for circulation in a pamphlet form and as the preface, which was appended to it, expressed what the friends of Father Mathew felt as to the disposal of the funds which were certain to be raised in response to the appeal originating in the Cork meeting, may not be out of place to quote from it the following extract :

it

The Cork Committee are in possession of Mr. Mathew's entire confidence, and are actuated only by two grand motives-a wish to relieve him from his present difficulties, and an earnest desire to advance and render permanent the temperance reform.

To effect the first object, in the best manner, they wish that all persons who are anxious to subscribe towards the present fund SHOULD FORWARD THEIR SUBSCRIPTIONS DIRECT TO CORK, either to their Treasurers-the Mayor and Alderman Thomas Lyons; or, if persons should prefer it, to Father Mathew himself. Every sum received by either party shall be acknowledged in the public prints; and, if received by one or other of the Treasurers, immediately handed over to Father Mathew, who, the Committee rightly think, is the only one who should have the disposal of the funds for an object so peculiar and so delicate.

Then, as to the surplus the large surplus which they confidently hope may remain after discharging all the pecuniary obligations of Father Mathew, they are also of opinion that, as no man is so well acquainted with the working of the temperance movement as its successful leader, he alone should be entrusted with the funds placed at his disposal by the gratitude and wisdom of the nation.

The Committee are well aware that no movement, and more particularly a vast

one, can be carried on without a liberal command of money upon the part of him who leads or directs it; and while they are anxious to place the pecuniary means of carrying on the temperance reformation in the hands of its illustrious Apostle, they would jealously guard him from even the semblance of control-which the entrusting of the funds to other hands, in trusteeship or otherwise, would undoubtedly be. They have unlimited confidence in the wisdom and prudence of Father Mathew, being satisfied that whatever funds are placed at his disposal by the nation, will be expended for the benefit of the nation. They, above all things, repudiate the notion of any body of men attempting to fetter the movements, or control the disbursements, of one who must be free to be powerful, and liberal to be useful.

Father Mathew, though not caring for the possession of money on his own account, appreciated its value as a means of prosecuting his great work; and he was naturally disappointed at not having been left by Lady Elizabeth the large legacy which, on several occasions, she had expressed her intention of bequeathing to him. Between Lady Elizabeth and the priest the most affectionate relations subsisted through life. The love which she lavished on her little protégé, the engaging child, she never withdrew from the man. She was proud of his fame, and of the veneration in which he was held by all classes of his countrymen; and so far as she could promote the cause by personal encouragement, and the influence of her position, she cheerfully did, as much, indeed, to afford pleasure to her 'good Toby,' as to assist a great and useful work. Lady Elizabeth was not eminent as a letter writer, though she continued to keep up a rather extensive correspondence with her friends. Several of her letters, yellow with time, lie before me. Some are addressed to Father Mathew himself, and others, though written to third persons, are full of allusions to him. The few extracts given are only valuable as indications of the interest which the early protectress of 'little Toby' took in the great work of the moral reformer of the age, and of the affection which nearly half a century had not power to weaken. Thus her ladyship writes to a friend :

The dear Viscount leaves me to-morrow. Mr. Estays some time longer. I gave a great teetotal party on St. Stephen's day, to three hundred teetotallers. They danced until seven in the morning, and I gave them plenty of beef, cakes, apples, tea, coffee, lemonade, &c. &c.

I had yesterday three priests to dine with me-Dr. Father Mathew.

Mr.

2

and

I went to Tipperary to hear Father Mathew preach. He preached most beau tifully, and he gave the pledge to 14,000 persons.

Alluding to a subsequent visit from Father Mathew, Lady Elizabeth announces that 'Toby Mathew is to dine with me on that day.'

Her ladyship could evidently do a little speech-making on her own account, for she tells her friend, 'I am going on St. Patrick's day to * Viscount de Chabot, the present possessor of the Llandaff property.

DISAPPOINTED IN THE LEGACY.

207

give a great tea party to the teetotallers, and I am going to give them a fine speech. I expect the great man (Father Mathew) here in a few days.'

The mode of designating her distinguished namesake was, as may be seen, rather varied. Thus she says, 'Lord Glengall gave a great party in compliment to Father Toby, who dined at the castle;' and she winds up another letter with, 'We expect our good Toby in a few days here.'

Lady Elizabeth had always given Father Mathew to understand that she would provide for him in her will; and this assurance she repeated within a day of her death, which was quite unexpected. She thought she had time enough to carry her intention into effect, but it was fated to be otherwise. The day before her sudden death, which occurred in Dublin, she was accompanied by her beloved friend to have her likeness taken, and it was he who selected the bonnet in which she was to sit for her picture. 'You will see, Toby,' said she to him that very day, 'that I have not forgotten you, and that I have kept my word.' To each of Father Mathew's sisters-Mrs. Dunbar and Mrs. Hackett-to whom she was much devoted, she left the sum of 1,2007.; but the as many thousands which she had allowed their brother to believe was to be his share, never came to him or his family. The disappointment which he naturally felt was not on his own account. He had no reason to suspect that the oft-repeated promise was not to be realised; and when incurring debts, solely with a view to promote the temperance cause, he, not unfairly, had in his mind the certainty of receiving a large legacy at one time or other. Referring to this disappointment, in many years after, he said, 'If I had to begin life over again, and to go through what I have done, I never would depend on the promise or expectation of a legacy.'

*

Father Mathew's embarrassments were now for the moment wiped out; but, as the reader will see, new and more pressing claims were created, mainly by that great national calamity, in the presence of which prudence and calculation would have been, at least in his eyes, a crime against humanity. We must not, however, anticipate. The sad story of the Irish Famine is yet to be touched upon, not told, in

these pages. The pen of the historian is required to picture for pos

terity the awful horrors of that period, which indeed tried the souls of men, but out of which the fame of Theobald Mathew came purer and brighter, glowing, as it were, with a holier lustre.

* It would be impossible to do adequate justice to the generous zeal of Father Mathew's very many English friends, who came so promptly to his relief in the hour of his greatest difficulty. Indeed, any attempt on my part to do so would appear partial, as many names should of necessity be omitted in the enumeration. But there

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CHAPTER XXIII.

The Parish Priest of Blarney--The Water-party at Blarney--Father Mat's ingenious Device-The Antiquaries-The Ogham Valentine— Death busy with the Antiquaries-Killarney-Fidelity of the Boatmen. THE two most remarkable meetings attended by Father Mathew during the year 1844 were held in the parish of Blarney, and amidst the matchless beauty of Killarney. To mention Blarney, and not to refer to its famous parish priest, the Rev. Matthew Horgan, or Father Mat,' as he delighted to be styled, would be a treason to friendship; for the writer knew and loved the simple-minded priest, and stood by his grave in the humble parish chapel until his coffin was covered with the sacred mould.

Father Mat, whose name was known to every Irish scholar of the three kingdoms, was as homely in his appearance as he was simple and kindly in his manner. Innocent as a child in the ways and wiles of the world, he was also as credulous in his guileless vanity. He regarded himself as the highest authority on all questions appertaining to the science of agriculture, and, without disparagement of any other man, he held himself to be possessed of a more thorough and comprehensive knowledge of the principles of architecture, sacred as well as secular, ancient as well as modern, than any architect of any age or country. He was as conversant with the Cyclopean as with the Greek and Roman styles-with the fire-pillars of the Persians, as with the cavern temples of the Egyptians. From various styles he derived a new order of his own, which might be termed Horganian. Father Mat was not content with being a theorist; he was a practical propagandist as well. As ready to superintend the erection of a cathedral as the building of a school-house, he was ever on the look-out for the opportunity of undertaking one of those great works, through which the name and fame of the erudite and accomplished Pastor of Blarney were to be transmitted to future ages. I cannot pretend to say how many are the now existing proofs of the architectural genius of Father Mat; but there is, still extant,* a church which he was permitted to adorn externally, by the addition of an excrescence, partly of the

is one name that eminently deserves mention,-that of the Rev. Thomas Hincks, now of Leeds, who, through the columns of the Inquirer the well-known organ of the Unitarian body-rendered most important services to his beloved friend, the Apostle of Temperance. To the Inquirer' belongs, in a great degree, the merit of originat ing the movement made to rescue Father Mathew from the embarrassment and humiliation of debt.

*Happily, the entire structure is doomed. Ere long, a noble church will be erected on its site.