The natural advantages of Ireland being such as we have seen them to be, easily lead us to the consideration of such manufactures as would be at once suggested by its position and profitable to the people. The facilities afforded for grazing, enabled the people to raise wool in great quantities, of the finest kind; and the manufacture of this commodity was a most profitable, and, while it lasted, happy employment for the surplus population, who had not the means to be employed in agricultural pursuits. With this was associated the manufacture of linen, the soil of Ireland being peculiarly suited to the growth of flax. The manufacture of flax into linen was, doubtless, known in Ireland at a very early period. As far back as the year 1673, Sir William Temple, in his letter to the Earl of Essex, then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, advocates strongly the continuance and improvement of the manufacture of flax. Not only was the land congenial, the habits of the people suited to it, but the soil and climate, aided by the brooks and winds, were said to be eminently suited for whitening. The efforts of the Irish people to secure an amelioration of their condition by the honest and useful pursuits of industry, were not, however, suffered to pass unnoticed. The trade in cattle, which was of essential service to the people of Ireland, by enabling them to dispose of their surplus stock, was a privilege too favorable to be allowed by the rapacious ministers of a profligate king. What substantial reason could have operated upon England to interfere with this trade, it is difficult to discover. To be at all fortunate, however, was at once to excite the jealousy of the ministry; and that jealousy once excited, it failed not to gratify the vengeance which it created, by the most unjust, if potential measure. Accordingly, this traffic was prohibited. The 18 Charles II. c. 2, made great cattle, sheep, swine, beef, pork and bacon, imported from Ireland, a common nuisance and subject to forfeiture; and by the 32 Charles II. c. 2, the forfeiture was extended to mutton, lamb, butter and cheese, and made perpetual. The next prohibition to which we shall direct attention, was that of the woollen trade. We have had occasion to refer, already, to this prohibitory enactment. In the reign of William III., this prohibition was consummated. Upon the application for this measure, founded on no other cause than a most unworthy jealousy, and adopted on the principle of keeping Ireland dependant on England: so, to use the language of the king's minion, that the people of Ireland "could not depart without nakedness and beggary," the 10 and 11 William III., c. 10, were passed, forbidding the exportation of wool into any other place than England, on pain of forfeiting the cargo, ship and £500 for every offence. The permission to export even to England, was a cruel mockery. The duties there laid upon the exportation, were such as to forbid the people of Ireland from finding there a market for their fabrics. In order that the last blow should be struck to this branch of industry, by a subsequent statute in the same reign, the exportation of fullers' earth and scouring clay to Ireland, was prohibited, under severe penalties. Thus was the seal placed upon this branch of industry, and the obsequious commons, and heartless king, were alike gratified in the accomplishment of their mutual wishes. The people of Ireland, thus forced to seek new modes of labor, commenced next the manufacture of silk. In this, if they had been permitted to continue, they would have been, in some measure, solaced for the wrong lately done them, in the interference with their trade in woollens. But no device that they could adopt, would enable them to escape the jealous eye of the British king. The influence of the British Parliament was brought to bear on the wretched and degraded body that then called itself the Parliament of Ireland. The manufacture of silk was virtually prohibited, and the capital, labor and industry invested in this new enterprize, were again sacrificed at the impious altar of ministerial rapacity. At the time when the legislation on this subject commenced, 800 silk looms were at work in Ireland. Thirty-six years after, there were but 50. And thus were thousands driven to beggary or emigration. There were still the manufactories of glass,-a single boon left to the people,-but not even in this branch of industry were they allowed to expend their labor. Legislation was again resorted to, and severe prohibitory enactments forbade the exportation of the article from Ireland to any place whatsoever, under penalty of forfeiture of ship and cargo, and a heavy fine for each pound of glass found on board. This was the complete extinguishment of the hopes of the people of Ireland, from this manufacture. To what else should they turn? Hope, indeed, withering fled. The cup of bitterness had been drained to the dregs, and little more was left to the people, but to starve in their cabins, or die on the field of battle. To illustrate this narrative of legislative wrong, we ask attention to the following table, drawn from an authentic source, by which we may perceive, at a glance, the comparative effects of this legislation on England and Ireland.* In England, there are woollen factories, 1,102-Persons employed, 65,461 In Ireland, In England, there are cotton factories, 36 1,070 1,523 182,092 In Ireland, 4,134 In England, there are power looms, 97,564 In Ireland, 1,516 Such has been the condition of Ireland. Such is a brief, but faithful outline of the manifold wrong and suffering which have been inflicted on that land. Such have been the oppression and restraint imposed under the iron sway of a despotism, worse than that of the East. Such are the causes which have driven the people into revolution; and when the superior power of the British crown had extinguished, in the blood of the people, the torch which was lighting them to freedom, still would drive them into those combinations in particular districts, where moral obligations were lost sight of, in the keen sense of the persecution thus inflicted. In all the relief which it is pretended the government of Britain has extended to the people of Ireland, it may be safely said, not the slightest has ever sprung from a confession of wrong done to that unhappy people. If there has been any abatement in their suffering, it has been the consequence of fear. We do not recollect a single instance to the contrary; and each concession has been doled out with the wretched parsimony of the miser who parts with his gold. Within the last few years, an element of power has been given to the people of Ireland, that they never before possessed. The influence of sectarianism has been banished from the councils of their leaders, the excesses of licentious passion from the body of the people. The grand experiment of a peaceful revolution, has struck the world with admiration for the people by whom it is conducted. Hundreds of thousands of men, indignant at the wrongs under which they are suffering, peaceably meet and discuss the remedy, and depart * Porter. thence to their homes without the slightest disturbance. Whether this mode of seeking redress is likely to be successful-and, if successful, whether its proposed results will be conducive to the permanent happiness of the people,-are questions that we may discuss at another time. If successful, the civilized world will profit by the lesson. Peace will then boast a triumph mightier than war could accomplish: and the welcome of freedom will not be mingled with the lament of sorrow for its martyrs. ART. II.-MILTON'S GENIUS. 1. An Essay on Milton's Imitation and Use of the Moderns. By WM. LAUDER. 1750. Co 2. Sarcotis Carmen. Auctore P. JACOBO MASENIO. logne: 1644. Londini; et venit Parisiis, apud J. Barbou. 1771. 3. Poemata Sacra Andrea Ramsæi Pastoris Edinburgeni. Edinburgi: 1663. Gentleman's Magazine: 1747. 4. Hugonis Grotii Adamus exul. Tragedia. Edition of the Hague: 1601. Gentleman's Magazine: 1747. 5. The Life of Milton; with Conjectures on the Origin of Paradise Lost. By WM. HAYLEY, Esq. 1796. 6. Remarks on the Character and Writings of John Milton. By WM. ELLERY CHANNING. 1826. 7. Milton's Paradise Lost. Newton's Edition. Article on Mr. Prendeville's Milton, Blackwood's Magazine, May, 1840. IN resuming our inquiries into the extent of Milton's imi. tation of the modern Latin authors here referred to, we find that we have no need to dwell longer upon the Sarcotis. The two remaining books go on to describe Avarice, Gluttony, Pleasure, Envy and Anger. The parallel between the two poems here ceases. Milton's plan led him to seek for hints elsewhere; and if he profited at all, as it is reasonable to think, by the work of Masenius, he here leaves him. It would be a task, as much beyond our power as our limits, but one which, performed with judgment, would be interesting, and at the same time not tend to lower our estimation of Milton's genius, to trace and follow the different sources which contributed singly, and in succession, or in combination, to form the plan of Paradise Lost, and elicit the noble conceptions, images and language which fill it up. No doubt it were possible to discover most of these rudiments; still, our discoveries would only lead us to recognize more fully, the power and skill of the great Architect, who applied them so successfully as to produce an immortal work. Our anatomy might be ever so perfect, still we could give no account of the living soul, without which these disjecta membra are but vain monuments of something apart which presided over them,—something wonderful, mysterious, and which, though connected with them, we yet deem to have had a prior and independent existence. We confine ourselves, therefore, to the partial glance, which the few authors enumerated enable us to throw on the subject; and our pages will be sufficiently occupied with those versions which, it seemed, ought to be full enough to show the resemblance of ideas or language in them to those of Milton, if any. The following extracts from the Poemata Sacra of the Rev. Dr. Andrew Ramsay, are found in the original Latin printed in the continuation of Lauder's charges against Milton, in the Gentleman's Magazine. We quote likewise the prefatory remarks: "Milton represents Satan's malignity against Man, and envy at his happiness, as partly arising from the meanness of his origin, calling him a man of clay, son of despight, etc. Ramsay also expresses the same sentiments: Nos genii æterni, cœlo quibus ortus ab alto, Siccine nos genii ruimus? stat pulvere cretus ?" Which may be thus rendered into English: We, spirits eternal, offspring of high heav'n, |