"I tell a tale of other years, come listen then to me:

Full twice five hundred years have passed since I was like to thee;
Upon the battle-field I stood, and gazed upon the foe,

And glory's plume waved o'er my head, and bright my arms did glow;

"Love's tender joys my spirit filled, and urged my lance away
To drink his blood, who, dark and strong, would make those joys his prey;
And home's delightful ties were then fast twined around my heart,
As on I pressed to chase the foe who sought those bonds to part.

"From morn to eve the battle raged, full many a warrior fell,
And all around bestrewed the ground, a scene too sad to tell;
While streams of blood like angry flood, rolled down upon the plain,
And hearts once strong, a helpless throng, sunk ne'er to rise again.

་་

Upon that battle-field we lay, to all a ghastly sight;

The sun its beams threw down by day, the sky its dews by night;
The vulture's bill our flesh did fill, and wolves, with ravening maw,
The heart that once with rapture beat, from out our breasts did draw.

"Ten moons had passed, and sun and blast did bleach us on the plain,
When friends drew nigh, and silently our whitened bones did gain ;
With reverence true they placed us here, within our dark, cold bed,
And holy words, to rest our souls, by priestly lips were said,

"Then why should laugh and careless glee our long repose molest?
A little while, and in the grave your healthful limbs shall rest;
Those eyes, now bright with living fire, in darkness melt away,
And worms among those limbs so strong, shall twine themselves and play.”

It ceased the skull once more reposed, and silence reigned around;
The light of heaven I quick regained above that charnel-ground;

The tale of other years disclosed within that vault to me,
"That man is like the fallen flower," a record sure shall be.

THE FEAR OF PAPISTS.

I AM often amused at the manifest anxiety of certain persons respecting the spread of the Roman Catholic religion. As though there were no other pestilent heresies but those which breathe out from its precicnts, all their efforts are directed to the avoiding the polluted contagion. The movements of foreign states and of British agitators; of various parties both religious and secular, appear to them to be hastening on the reign of the inquisition and the stake. That the early Protestants who drove out the Papists, and without hesitation appropriated their wealth to their own purposes, should have lived in fear and trembling, cannot be wondered at. The claims of justice were not then silenced by the lapse of centuries, and the dispossessed had not lost in death their sense of injury and aggression. Protestants felt that they held all they valued only while physical strength kept the foe at a distance. Hence laws were enacted for the suppression of every opinion opposed to their interest and the name of Papist became an object of universal alarm. I do not wonder that the persecutors, for such the early protestants were, should dread a collision with their victims, since popery, naturally vindictive and cruel, would certainly have wreaked its full vengeance when smarting under recent wrongs.

But now that centuries have quite altered the state of things between us, I am astonished to find that the utmost alarm is still felt by many at the name of a Roman Catholic. One would almost believe in the transmigration of souls, and suppose that the first reformers still lived in the persons of these affrighted beings. The bustle and commerce of Smithfield cannot break the horrid associations with which it is united in their breasts. Again the procession of cowled ecclesiastics emerges from some neighbouring haunt of priest-craft and tyranny;-the victims covered with the flame-emblazoned garment, the sign of condemnation, again turn their eyes to heaven and move slowly along;-the pile

is raised; the torch is applied, and as the smoke of the martyr ascends to heaven, the lively imaginations of these day dreamers whisper, this may ere long be your doom! We cannot wonder that those who are favoured with such visions in the heart of the British metropolis, should tremble at every change, and eye O'Connell with the keenest suspicion.

I am personally acquainted with some of these alarmists, and believe they are perfectly sincere in their apprehensions. One assures me that since Catholic emancipation was granted, his Holiness the Pope has directed the movements of the House of Commons. He believes that O'Connell is a disguised jesuit, and that under a jolly face and a laughing eye, he carries a blood-thirsty soul. Another has discovered that all Papists in his neighbourhood have a careworn and sallow complexion, which he attributes to intense plotting against the welfare of Protestants. A third is always prying into the niches and corners, the cellars and garrets of old churches and houses, to discover immured skeletons, iron staples, and chains; the indications of the dark doings of other years.

One of my friends lately came into possession of a house which for thirty years had sheltered a catholic. It was a subject of wonder that he consented to become its proprietor. However, he did, but not without secret trepidation and misgiving. The mansion was narrowly inspected, but nothing was found which claimed kindred with murdering Babylon. This circumstance only confirmed my friend in his conviction that Papists were crafty as well as cruel. A mound in the garden accounted for the absence of relics in the house, and it was forthwith concluded that there the results of wicked practices were concealed. The reader may judge what was the surprise of my friend, when he discovered that a female servant of this suspected heretic, was a Protestant, who for twenty years had lived in his family! Perhaps this circumstance only still further illustrated the efforts made by these foes to Protestants, to lull suspicion.

While this expressed dread of papistry is in many cases sincere, arising from want of proper consideration, in others it is entirely hypocritical, and employed to further certain selfish ends. The hue and cry raised on this subject in the two Houses of Parliament, must often originate in political and party scheming, since we cannot believe that the men who raise it are themselves deceived. The connection of secular and religious matters which so generally exists in this country, furnishes numerous opportunites of frightening the nation by the exhibition of a Catholic. Let any one propose some improvement in political institutions, or some inroad on corruption, and he is immediately transformed into a Guy Fawkes, with tinder-box and matches, ready to forward the work of destruction. The feelings of the vulgar being thus wrought upon, this bug-bear often succeeds in retarding reform.

I would advise all who incline to this morbid terror, to recollect that at the time the Papists persecuted in this country, all other sects did the same, when the opportunity was furnished them. Forget not, gentle reader, that if Bonner employed the sword and the faggot, Cranmer was not unwilling to call in their aid. If Mary is justly called bloody, Elizabeth must have the same appellation. Even in the time of the Commonwealth, when a profession was made of liberal sentiments, the predominant party persecuted those who maintained different religious opinions. A persecuting spirit was the spirit of the age.

I do not say that there is no disposition in certain parties to suppress freedom of conscience by the secular power; we need not go so far as the Roman church to feel convinced of this. But I do maintain that the disposition is unconnected with power. The lapse of years has altered the aspect of society. Religion and learning have shed their humanizing influences over the continent of Europe, and rendered it vastly different from its past condition. The few who would employ fetters to procure uniformity of religious belief, are scattered; they are found in the last

retreats of priest-craft and tyranny, which already are tottering over their heads. I will conclude these remarks by quoting the expressive words of the celebrated Bunyan, on this subject.

"Now I saw in my dream, that at the end of this valley lay blood, bones, ashes, and mangled bodies of men, even of pilgrims that had gone this way formerly: and while I was musing what could be the reason, I spied a little before me a cave, where two giants, Pope and Pagan, dwelt in old time; by whose power and tyranny the men, whose bones, blood, ashes, &c. lay there, were cruelly put to death. But by this place Christian went without much danger, whereat I much wondered; but I have learnt since, that Pagan has been dead many a day; and as for the other, though he be yet alive, he is by reason of age, and also of the many shrewd brushes that he has met with in his younger days, grown so crazy and stiff in his joints, that he now can do little more than sit in his cave's mouth, grinning at pilgrims as they go by, and biting his nails, because he cannot come at them."

What follows is a capital description of the present state of the case.

"So I saw that Christian went on his way; yet at the sight of the old man, that sat in the mouth of the cave, he could not tell what to think; especially because he spake to him, though he could not go after him, saying, 'You will never mend till more of you be burned.' But he held his peace and set a good face on it, and so went by and catched no hurt.'

THE RELIQUES OF FATHER PROUT.

Two elegant volumes have just appeared, bearing the above title. The papers which compose them were published in various numbers of Fraser's Magazine, and con