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FATHER MATHEW.

WITH A PORTRAIT.

THERE is a small Capuchin friary in the city of Cork, in an obscure place called Blackamoorlane. It possesses some historic interest from the fact that it was built by Arthur O'Leary, after whom it was for many years called "Father O'Leary's Chapel." It is a small building, exceedingly plain outside, though it is neat within, and fitted up with some taste. It is situated in a very poor and neglected neighborhood, where poverty and wretchedness abound. Nearly thirty years since a young Capuchin joined the mission attached to this chapel. In appearance, as well as reality, he was very youthful, and he was strikingly handsome. About the middle stature, active and well formed in his body, with a comely and ingratiating presence, his countenance, in which natural courtesy and religious feeling strove for predominance, was the index of his disposition. He had a manly complexioneyes, large, bright, and sweet in expression-a slightly curved nose, and rounded cheeks, with black hair. In the words of Massinger

"the fair outside

Was but the cover of a fairer mind."

To great suavity of manners, which was a prominent characteristic in his deportment, he joined dignity of carriage, and a composed serenity of mind. A steady self-control presided over all his acts and emotions. A cordial politeness and unvarying affability distinguished him. To the higher classes he was exceedingly respectful; to the poor he was so gentle in his bearing, and so patient of their little requests and petitions-so earnest in pleading their cause, and, what was better than kind words or noble speeches, so practically useful and humane, that they also (the more Christian compliment) regarded him as one of themselves.

This handsome, courteous, and popular young friar was a stranger in Cork. Born at Thomastown, near Cashel, in the county of Tipperary, on the 10th of October, 1790, Theobald Mathew was left an orphan at an early age. His father, James Mathew, of Thomastown, son of James Mathew, of Two-Mile-Borris, near Thurles, having lost his parents when a child, was taken under the care and patronage of the well-known Major-general Montagu Mathew, brother of the

Earl of Llandaff. James Mathew, the younger, married a daughter of George Whyte, Esq., of Cappawhyte, who was married to a niece of the celebrated Mr. Mathew, mentioned in Sheridan's Life of Swift. Mr. Mathew had a large family, all of whom were remarkable for beauty of appearance, grace of manner, and energy of charCharles Mathew, brother of the Apostle of Temperance, acquired a large fortune, and is a gentleman highly respected in the city of Cork, near which he resides at a very handsome seat. Two other brothers became eminent distillers at Cashel.

acter.

When Mr. Mathew lost his parents, he was adopted by the late Lady Elizabeth Mathew. At thirteen years of age he was sent to the lay academy of Kilkenny, where he became a great favorite. After having remained there for seven years, he was sent to Maynooth, where he pursued ecclesiastical studies for some time. Two aged Capuchin friars induced him to become a member of their order, and he repaired with them to Kilkenny, where he remained until appointed to Cork. On Easter Sunday, in 1814, he was ordained in Dublin. The habitual polish of his manner indicated a man of refinement, accustomed to move in those circles where Elegance is worshipped as a minor deity. To the ease of his address, his early intimacy with persons distinguished for manner may have contributed; but after all, politeness with Mr. Mathew was a dictate of his heart, and attention to his solemn duties was never weakened by the discharge of the trivial homages which the artificiality of society exacts from all its members. If he never shocked the social prejudices of the higher classes, neither did he ever cringe to them, nor dally with their vices, nor preach, in glozing style, doctrines palatable to their ears. On the other hand, in his intercourse with the humble poor, he did not inflame their feelings of wrong to exasperation, or by bitter specches add fuel to their animosities. Yet it would be difficult to say with which extreme of society he was most popular. It is a curious fact, that both claimed him as a clergyman after their desires, in itself a satisfactory proof that as he was not a courtier of the great, so neither was he an incendiary amongst the people. In a few years his friary became

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FATHER MATHEW.

the fashionable resort. Thither the devout belle went to enjoy mass later by an hour than could be heard in any other chapel in Cork. The crème of the Catholic society might have been seen there. Mr. Mathew himself was always at the door to receive the visitors to his place of worship. But while his notice was eagerly sought by the rich and gay, no confessional was besieged by the poor with the same ardor as that where " our own Father Mathew" sat to rebuke vice, assuage grief, and console misery.

Such is the man to whom Ireland owes the debt of her social regeneration. No one could have been more admirably adapted to the mission he undertook. He had made himself well known and esteemed as a zealous friend to the poor. He had established a religious society for visiting the sick and indigent, which exerted an influence so marked and so beneficial, as to attract the notice and elicit the commendation of the government. He was precisely the man to wield a powerful influence in a cause which enlisted his zeal and gave scope to the energy of his character and the strength of his benevolence. The history of his conversion to teetotalism is singular.

In the spring of 1838, there was a meeting of the teetotallers at the Infant School-room, in St. Nicholas' parish, in Cove-street, Cork. The meeting was attended by several of the local advocates of temperance; and it was resolved to send two of the members as a deputation to Mr. Mathew, asking for his adoption of the views of the society. In the mean while William Martin, the father of teetotalism in Cork, spoke earnestly to Mr. Mathew. One of the deputation was an enthusiastic teetotaller, James M'Kenna. He was a pensioner who had seen much service in the army, and being a constant reader of the Scriptures, and possessing a Celtic imagination, with a limited education, he formed a style of extravagant and flowery quaintness; and when he poured forth his views on his darling subject of teetotalism, he sometimes produced very amusing effects. His name, however, deserves to be recollected by all friends to teetotalism.

Father Mathew said he would consider the subject, and told the deputation to see him in a few days, which was attended to. On the second visit, he cheerfully acceded to the ardent wishes of the society, and requested a meeting of the friends and advocates of temperance, on the following Monday evening, in the small room adjacent to the little chapel in Blackamoor-lane. It was on the 10th of April, 1835, this committee meeting was held. The Very Rev. Mr. Mathew, addressing the members, said, "Gentlemen, I

hope you will aid and give me such information as may be necessary for the formation of the new Total Abstinence Society," and in the most emphatic manner said, if only one poor soul was rescued from intemperance and destruction, it will be doing a noble act, and adding to the glory of God. On taking the pen into his hand, he said these remarkable words, "Here goes in the name of the Lord," and then wrote down his name-the Very Rev. Theobald Mathew, C. C., Cove street, No. 1. It was proposed that the reverend gentleman should accept the presidency of the society, and he was accordingly appointed.

The first public meeting was held at seven o'clock in the evening, at the old school-room in Blackamoor-lane, when thirty-five new members took the pledge at the hands of Father Mathew. On the following day large placards were provided by James M'Kenna, and were posted through the city. On these bills, the Very Rev. Mr. Mathew's name, as president of the society, was publicly announced, signed James M'Kenna, secretary. For one person who gave credit to Father Mathew heading the society, hundreds, nay, thousands laughed, sneered, and disbelieved, and said it was all a falsehood and a humbug. The second and third meeting caused the greatest panic to the poison venders in Cork, as well as excitement and astonishment to others, many of whom rejoiced. Three hundred and thirty members were enrolled at the second meeting. The old, dilapidated school-room was soon found inadequate and too small, as well as dangerous to the lives of the people, who were flocking in thousands from all parts of the city; some to satisfy and convince themselves, others to laugh and smile at what they called the Utopian scheme of sobriety. Father Mathew applied to Mr. Conway and Mrs. O'Connor, the proprietors of the bazaar on Sullivan's-quay, which spacious building was capable of containing about four thousand persons at the time, with several doors for ingress and egress. This extensive square was of the utmost importance to the glorious cause, in which the people seemed to be animated by universal excitement to become members of Father Mathew's Total Abstinence Society, which before long became generally known through all the towns and villages of Munster, Leinster, and Connaught. Mrs. O'Connor, the proprietor of the bazaar, took the pledge, and all men and women in the employment followed the noble example of this estimable lady; hundreds every day, particularly after divine service on the Sabbath-day, when several thousands were pledged, which occupied upwards of a dozen writers registering the names.

SUMMER BIRDS.

From the 10th of April to the 14th of June, 1838, 25,000 persons of all denominations took the pledge from the Rev. Mr. Mathew. In the following month of December, being a period of five months, 131,000 were registered on the temperance books, making a total of 156,000 who took the pledge in Cork from April to December, 1838.

At this time multitudes were coming to Cork from all parts of Munster to take the pledge— some sixty, fifty, forty, and twenty miles distant, were seen on the public cars from Limerick, the counties of Galway, Clare, Kerry, Waterford.

From the city of Cork the movement spread to the neighboring districts, and soon the rustic population of the south, with their eager minds, noised it from one to another, "that there was virtue in Father Mathew." Thousands upon thousands wished to take the pledge. And, in their ignorance, numbers of the lower orders believed that the pledge administered by Father Mathew had a secret charm. The worthy friar himself never entertained such opinions, nor did he in anywise administer incentives to the popular credulity.

When the movement had gone a certain way, it was thought advisable for him to go about the country, and administer the pledge in various districts. On the 3d of December, 1839, he was publicly invited to Limerick, and the excitement caused by his visit was prodigious. Crowds from the farthest part of Connaught came to meet the "Apostle of Temperance," as he was now called. The excitement was almost unequalled. The throng into the city was so great, that the gravest apprehensions were felt for the public peace, and the question came, how were the multitudes to be fed? Bread rose to three times its ordinary price; a quart of milk sold for sixpence, and two shillings were paid for the humblest nightly lodging. But for the generosity of some leading citizens, many of the people might have perished for want of sustenance. So numerous were the crowds, that several were trampled down and grievously injured. Many

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with fractured limbs were taken to the hospitals and the dragoons were called out by the authorities to keep the masses in order. Mr. Mathew's sister, a most amiable lady, distinguished by beauty and intellect, resided at Limerick, and her famous brother was her guest during his sojourn. The house was surrounded by the dense multitude, and for hours Mr. Mathew stood upon the door-steps, administering the pledge. His voice was completely gone-he was inaudible from his exertions after four days administering the pledge.

From this period the movement proceeded with astonishing velocity, and excited wonder everywhere. England heard with surprise of the Irish abandoning their drunken habits; and the press upon the Continent, and in this country, recorded the revolution as one of the wonders of the age.

The effect of his labors in Ireland hardly any statement could exaggerate. All classes have felt their influence, the extent and power of which have been attested by every species of evidence. The English Chancellor of the Exchequer has been obliged to alter his budget in consequence of the decrease of drinking ardent spirits in Ireland; the revenue of the country has been affected to the extent of thirty-two per cent., knocked off the Irish spirit duty by teetotalism. Parliamentary returns show a decrease of six millions and a half of gallons in two years, and the venerable justices on the highest bench of justice in Great Britain, have openly attributed the decrease of crime to the temperance revolution. The parallel of this revolution the world's history can hardly furnish.

Father Mathew is now the honored guest of America. That his mission may be as auspicious and as striking as that which has secured for him the blessings of a nation recovered from drunkenness, will be the prayer of all who know his history, and who appreciate the value of the influence he has so extensively and so powerfully exerted.

SUMMER BIRDS.

THE birds! the birds of summer hours, They bring a gush of glee

To the child among the fragrant flowers,
To the sailor on the sea.

We hear their thrilling voices
In their swift and airy flight,
And the inmost heart rejoices

With a calm and pure delight.

Amid the morning's fragrant dew,

Amid the mists of even, They warble on, as if they drew Their music down from heaven; And when their holy anthems

Come pealing through the air, Our hearts leap forth to meet them With a blessing and a prayer.

POETRY AND RELIGION.

Ir is by no means our wish that all poetry were confined within the bounds of what is commonly designated Religious or Sacred Poetry. We know that this is impossible; but we do not think it even desirable. We would wish the poet to lead us forth through all the fields in which his own mind delights, and in which it would find the more varied, and pure, and exalted delight from being itself subject to the elevating, sanctifying influence of true religion. This only would we stipulate, that we should be led through no fields in which a mind thoroughly subjected to such influence could not delight. But is it too much to desire that, when we are called to look upon the beauty and magnificence of God's creation, we should be called to remember that it is God's-that, when we contemplate men in all their various conditions and positions, we should be led to bear along with us some thought not evidently dissonant from the poet's strain, of their relation to their Maker with all its responsibility and all its benefits; or, at least, that there should be nothing tending to prevent such thoughts-that, when we hear of immortality, it should be obviously that immortality of which we learn the certainty from the Word of God; or, at least, not obviously such as the believer in that Word must refer only to the dreams of deluded poets, or the erring speculations of a dreamy philosophy-that human passions should always be exhibited in such lights as may show their true moral character-that religious allusions, when made, should not be so made as to exclude the Lord Jesus Christ from all regard, and that morality, when taught in poetry, should be evangelical morality, acknowledging its dependence on the doctrines of the gospel, and not appearing studiously to withdraw itself from their fellowship?

Why should not sweet Poesy

"Aid slighted Truth with her persuasive strain ?" There is the most perfect congeniality betwixt true religion and everything else which properly enters into poetry. The Psalms of David present the most admirable examples of the way in which poetry, strictly devotional, may derive much sweetness, beauty, and sublimity from allusions to external nature most harmonious with its own distinctive pervading character. The 65th and the 104th Psalms occur to us as ready

illustrations of our meaning. Beautiful examples may be found likewise in the hymns of Cowper. But this harmony of the devotional and the descriptive is delightful also, which is distinctly descriptive, rather than devotional.

Poetry may be perfectly congenial with pious feelings, even when the piety is not expressed; and if it were not so, Christian minds would find lamentably little to delight them in English literature, and fields which we gladly own to be rich would be desolate. Thus it is, that even in works whose general tenor is contrary to true religion, Christians still find passages from the perusal of which they can derive pleasure; and such pas. sages, whether occurring in the works of ancient heathen or of irreligious moderns, are perceived to be quite congenial with the feelings of true Christianity; for, in fact, they are true to nature— oases of indisputable verdure-and in their own truthfulness is the secret of their accordance with everything else that is true. We may illustrate this by reference to a few well-known lines of Byron:

"There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar;
I love not man the less, but nature more,
For these our interviews"-

Now a Christian may enter into these feelings, so far as the poet's feeling is to be learned from these lines themselves; and this pleasure in the pathless woods, this rapture by the lonely shore, and this music in the roar of Ocean, may be enjoyed by the devoted Christian most of all men, when he listens in silence to the "loud hosanna" sent up to God from all his works,

"And adds his rapture to the general praise."

And so far as aught in poetry accords with Nature, that poetry may be made subservient to religion, even as the contemplation of Nature itself may; and this, however foreign to the poet's design.

We are not such blind admirers of Shakspeare as not to be perfectly and painfully aware that there is much in his pages which will not bear to be tried by a Christian rule, and of which it is therefore important that disapprobation should be clearly expressed on Christian grounds; all allowances of course made for the possibility of

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