“But he is a heretic,” said a red-faced little man, dressed in leather breeches, top boots, and a huntsman’s cap; vade retro sathanas, It is a damnable crime to have any intercourse with them, or to receive any protection from them:  vade retro, sathanas.”

“If I don’t mistake,” said the cook—­an archdeacon, by the way—­“you yourself received protection from them, and were glad to receive it.”

“If I did receive protection from one of their heretic parsons, it was for Christian purposes.  My object was not so much to seek protection from him as to work out his salvation by withdrawing him from his heresy.  But then the fellow was as obstinate as sathanas himself, and had Greek and Hebrew at his fingers’ ends.  I made several passes at him—­tried Irish, and told him it was Italian.  ‘Well,’ said he, smiling, ‘I understand Italian too;’ and to my astonishment he addressed me in the best Irish I ever heard spoken.  ‘Now,’ said he, still smiling, ’you perceive that I understand Italian nearly—­I will not say so well—­as you do.’  Now, as I am a sinner, that, I say, was ungenerous treatment.  He was perfectly irreclaimable.”

This man was, like Mr. Maguire, what has been termed a hedge-priest—­a character which, as we have already said, the poverty of the Catholic people, during the existence of the penal laws, and the consequent want of spiritual instruction, rendered necessary.  There were no Catholic colleges in the country, and the result was that the number of foreign priests—­by which I mean Irish priests educated in foreign colleges—­was utterly inadequate to meet the spiritual necessities of the Irish population.  Under those circumstances, men of good and virtuous character, who understood something of the Latin tongue, were ordained by their respective bishops, for the purpose which we have already mentioned.  But what a difference was there between those half-educated men and the class of educated clergymen who now adorn, not only their Church, but the literature of the country!

“Well, my dear friend,” said the bishop, “let us be thankful for the protection which, we have received at the hands of the Protestant clergy and of many of the Protestant laity also.  We now separate, and I for one am sensible how much this cruel persecution has strengthened the bonds of Christian love among us, and excited our sympathy for our poor persecuted flocks, so many of whom are now without a shepherd.  I leave you with tears—­but they are tears of affection, and not of despair.  I shall endeavor to be useful wherever I may abide.  Let each of you do all the spiritual good you can—­all the earthly good—­all good in its most enlarged and purest sense.  But we must separate—­probably, some of us, forever; and now may the blessing of the Almighty God—­of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, rest upon you all, and be with you and abide in your hearts, now and forever!  Amen!”

Having pronounced these words, he covered his face with his two hands and wept bitterly.  There were indeed few dry eyes around him; they knelt before him, kissed his ring, and prepared to take their departure out of the cavern.