quently fused into one mass by some singular process of founding, which in the present day appears to have been lost.

The croziers of the founders of the churches in Ireland were preserved in like manner-short, simple-shaped, and yet elegant bronze crooks, remarkable chiefly for the beauty of their detailed workmanship, especially the interlaced triquetra filagree so peculiar to Ireland; and they are not unfrequently ornamented with enamel and jewels. Of these very many are still in existence, and may be authenticated as genuine relics of the most eminent saints of the sixth and seventh centuries, the original form being preserved, although repaired and embellished at different periods.

Of a still later date may be seen in the Museum of the Academy the most beautiful specimen of jeweller's work to be found in the empire, the celebrated cross of Cong-the identical cross, as inscriptions on it prove, made to receive the piece of the true cross' which was sent over by the Pope to Turlogh O'Conor king of Ireland in 1123; and the casing of which in gold is recorded in the Annals. In the abbey of Cong it was preserved apparently from the death of the last king of Ireland, Roderick, who died in the twelfth century within the walls of the abbey. At the dissolution of the body it passed into the hands of the priest of the parish, who still held the nominal office of abbot, as the head of the Augustinian order in Ireland, and was recognised as such by the people-even with the title of lord--though living in a poor cabin, and stripped of all the dignity of his order. With the death of the last priest this order became extinct; but before he died Mr. Petrie had obtained a sight of the relic-had learned that it had been found in an old oak chest, together with many illuminated manuscripts of exquisite beauty, which, during the absence of the priest on the continent, his curate had torn up and destroyed. At the death of the priest it became the property of his successor, by whom it was allowed to be exhibited in the chapel, and there most seriously injured; and from him it was obtained by Professor Mac Cullagh for the sum of one hundred guineas, and deposited in the Academy, of which it now forms the most remarkable ornament, though it must be added that as an ecclesiastical relic it might be deposited in a more appro. priate locality. The ecclesiastical interest of this cross is not a little enhanced by remembering that it is a memorial of the strenuous efforts made at this period by the see of Rome to subjugate the Irish Church. And as a work of jewellery it is no less valuable from exhibiting, as the inscriptions on it prove, the extraordinary perfection of Irish art at a period when it is commonly imagined that the whole country was lost in barbarism.

And now we must close these remarks with one practical sug

gestion,

gestion, with a view to which they have chiefly been made. Το those who really understand the state of Ireland, it is obvious that any attempt to pacify, to elevate, or to purify it will be futile, which does not take into consideration two great elements on which an English politician in the nineteenth century will be very much disposed to look down as the extravagances of an idle enthusiasm-nationality and religious feeling. In what way these elements are to be dealt with, so as to draw most closely the ties which may bind together the hearts and minds of the Irish people to the British empire, is a question on which we have no intention to enter here; but to overlook them, or to think of extinguishing them, is as mischievous as it is idle. Such instincts in the minds of a people are vast powers, which a wise statesman will think not of destroying, but of employing to good. And we do believe that one of the great avenues to the hearts of the Irish nation is by recognising, fostering, appealing to, valuing as a great treasure, in which Englishmen have a common interest, their deeply cherished, worthily cherished nationality, fed as it is to this day by the traditions and memories of that very period to which Mr. Petrie's researches have carried us back. These memories have been never forgotten among the peasantry: and now that they have been exhumed and set before the more cultivated classes, they will produce on them also a very powerful impression. The nobility of Ireland are beginning to take in them deep and increasing interest. The formation of the Museum of Antiquities in the Academy, a work the merit of which must be given to Mr. Petrie, has given a powerful stimulus to his own branch of study. The cultivation of the Irish language is proceeding rapidly, and a class has been formed in the Academy itself. To the same Academy, and the Prize proposed by it for the Investigation of the Round Towers, we owe the present volume; and had the Society accomplished nothing more, it would deserve the support of every lover of Ireland. Within the last of the zealous energy year, in consequence Adare, three great exertions have been made, all bearing in the same direction. A large and valuable collection of Irish manuscripts has been purchased, and deposited in the library of the Academy. A College has been founded (under the highest ecclesiastical authority) for the purpose of providing for the higher classes in Ireland the highest form of education, and giving to them at the same time a knowledge of the Irish language, as the most powerful means of reaching the hearts and understandings of the people, whether as their landlords or their clergy. And efforts, we hope and believe not yet to be wholly despaired of,

of Lord

have been made to bring before the Government, and to obtain from it aid in carrying on, one of the most grand designs of topographical and antiquarian research ever projected or commenced. When the Ordnance survey of Ireland was undertaken, the active and intelligent officers to whom it was intrusted (and we believe more particularly the Local Director, Captain Larcom), conceived the idea of employing at leisure hours the expensive machinery required by it for a far wider field of inquiry than the mere geometrical survey. For the utility of this survey itself, it was of great importance to fix with accuracy the topographical names. To do this they recurred to the manuscripts, of which so much has been said already; collected every mode of spelling they could find, and selected, with the assistance of good Irish scholars, the most correct etymology. In making this inquiry they collected from the manuscripts and digested a vast amount of curious topographical and antiquarian history. They followed it up by examinations into the oral traditions of the places where they were stationed, and by careful investigations of all discoverable monuments of antiquity, in which they had the assistance of able draughtsmen, and of Mr. Petrie's own antiquarian knowledge. They extended their search into the geological and natural history of their localities, and by this employment of the time which was not required for the survey, they formed an interesting and very valuable museum. The result of one portion of these researches has been given to the world in the 'Memoir of the County of Derry,' the antiquarian part of which was executed by Mr. Petrie. And a vast mass of materials has been accumulated for more publications of the kind, if Government will venture to undertake the expense; and the expense would be well and wisely incurred, if it only indicated a consciousness and feeling that the whole empire is interested deeply in all that relates not only to the physical well-being, but to the national glory and ancient memorials of Ireland.

The more that our thoughts can be carried back to the period of its greatest glory, the sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries, the better spirit will be awakened in all classes. Ireland and

England were then bound together in the closest and most endearing ties by which nation was ever united to nation. England placed her children under the teaching of the saints of Ireland, and Ireland threw open her sanctuaries as a refuge of peace and holiness to the nobles and kings of England. Rome had not yet succeeded in setting subject against sovereign, and brother against brother. The early church of Ireland, like the churches of the East, offers one of the strongest protests in history against her aggressions

aggressions and usurpations. Political society, though rude, was neither barbarous nor irreligious: it exhibits its distinct classes, its defined rights; a homage paid to literature and talent-cultivation of arts-reverence for piety, courage, and honour, and patriotism, even amidst the war and bloodshed which form the history of every federal people until, what never happened in Ireland owing to the invasion of the English, the supreme power is permanently established in some one branch.

ART. III-1. Military Miscellany; comprehending a History of the Recruiting of the Army, Military Punishments, &c. &c. By Henry Marshall, F.R.S.E., Deputy Inspector-General of Hospitals. London, Svo. 1845.

By the

2. A Sketch of the Military History of Great Britain Rev. G. R. Gleig, Principal Chaplain to the Forces. London, 12mo.

1844.

3. A View of the Formation, Discipline, and Economy of Armies. By the late Robert Jackson, M.Ď., Inspector-General of Army Hospitals. A New Edition, from the Copy corrected by the Author immediately before his decease; with a Memoir of his Life and Services, prepared from the personal records of the Author, and of his friends. London, 1845.

THE three works of which we have transcribed the titles, are

all possessed of merits peculiarly their own. Mr. Marshall's contains a well-digested account of the causes of many of the evils which attach to our military system; of the improvements which have in late years taken place; and of the still further improvements of which it is susceptible. Mr. Gleig's is what it undertakes to be, a rapid but interesting and correct account of the rise and progress of the British army from the earliest to the latest times, and of the manner in which it has conducted itself in the presence of an enemy in every age-those of Julius Cæsar and the Duke of Wellington inclusive. The author's style is familiar to us' all: we think on the present occasion he has been more successful than in several of his preceding performances-writing with a love and an intimate knowledge of his subject, he condenses clearly, and now and then expatiates with happy energy. Dr. Jackson's is a more elaborate performance than these, and though here and there out of date, well deserves attention. However our present business is not to give a detailed account of works which are sure to find their own level in the world of readers. We have a graver and more important object before us.

Perhaps

Perhaps there is nothing which more surprises a foreigner, on his first visit to this country, than the almost total absence from the streets and public places in the capital of military uniforms. A few sentries planted beside the royal palaces, and in other situations where the call for them is of more doubtful urgency; a couple of orderlies at the entrance to the HorseGuards; with here and there a group of private soldiers lounging upon the esplanade, or passing to or from their quarters in Portman Street, at Knightsbridge, or in the Wellington Barracks: these make up the whole amount of the pomp and circumstance of glorious war' which on ordinary occasions meets the eye of the stranger in London. To be sure, guard-mounting is a fine thing, and so is a review in Hyde Park; for the household troops, both infantry and cavalry, are magnificent, and their bands and corps of drums and trumpets perfect; and if we pass but a few miles beyond the suburbs, we arrive on Woolwich Common, at the head-quarters of the best appointed, best worked, best organized, and most efficient artillery that the world has ever produced. But guard-mounting in London is an affair of duty, not of show; and reviews occur but rarely; and the Royal Artillery, few in number, practise their evolutions in order to become perfect in them, not to gratify the sovereign or amuse the people, or rouse in the bosoms of the more ardent of the youth of England a thirst for military glory. Accordingly, unless he lay himself out to look for it, the stranger may pass whole weeks, perhaps months, in London, without meeting with any external indication of our being one of the greatest of military powers.

We do not object to this state of things, at least entirely. We are not, in the ordinary sense of the term, a military nation; and we desire never to become such. War is a great evil, let it be undertaken for what cause it may; and to create among our young men a love of military parade, and to shun at the same time frequent occasions of war, is impossible. Besides, we are no admirers of those arrangements in social life which give precedence to military rank above all others.

In Russia, such rank is the sole passport to distinction. In Austria, the white coat, if it cover only the back of a serjeant, or even a private, commands very great deference, especially in the more remote dependencies. As to Prussia, she is a nation of soldiers-a gallant and high-minded nation, we acknowledge, yet so completely under the influence of not the best of the impulses to which the military spirit gives rise, that the King has found it necessary of late to reprove them. In France the case is different. A military people, if ever people deserved to be so called, our neighbours have learned discretion enough to keep the

profession