tary corps was formed from among the students of the university; and in this Doyle was conspicuous. To the British army under Sir Arthur Wellesley, which landed in Mondego Bay in the summer of that year, he and some other Irish students rendered, from his intelligence and intimate knowledge of the language and the people, important services; and for the short six months which elapsed before he finally quitted Portugal, he spent a busy, hurried, and adventurous time, during which he saw much of men and of affairs, and mingled both in war and in diplomacy. Many offers were, it seems, made to him, if he would enter permanently the Portuguese service; but he declined all, and returned to Ireland in December, 1808.

Doyle now went back to his convent at Ross; and in 1809 and 1810 was ordained successively deacon and priest. For some years he had charge of a class in theology there, and in 1813 he was invited to fill the chair, at first of Rhetoric and afterwards of Divinity, in Carlow College, one of the most important at that time of the theological institutions of the Roman Church in Ireland. We have an amusing account of his first introduction to the head of it :—

'Mr. Doyle was shown into Dean Staunton's presence. He had never before seen Mr. Doyle. He surveyed the lofty figure from top to toe, and, after a momentary scrutiny, inquired what he could teach. "Anything," replied Doyle, sonorously, "from A, B, C, to the Extra Vagantes." This supplement to the books of canon law,1 and which, among students, sometimes gives rise to obvious punning, embraces a stage of theological lore rarely attained by the ordinary run of ecclesiastics. Dr. Staunton did not quite like the confidence of the answer, nor the tinge of haughtiness which stamped his mien. Long accustomed to the tuition of youth, a rebuke flowed with ease from the president's lips: "Pray, young_man," he said, "can you teach and practise humility?" "I trust I have at least the humility to feel,” replied the friar, "that the more I read the more I see how ignorant I have been, and how little can, at best, be known "' (i. p. 49).

During the six years which he retained this post his mind and powers were visibly maturing, and 'his reputation as a wise and learned ecclesiastic increased daily.' He had now outgrown that rusticity of habits and manners which had marked him when he emerged from his convent to go to Carlow.

1 The author does not describe quite accurately. The Extravagantes are certain decretals of the later Popes, beginning with Pope John XXII., which were not digested or ranged with the rest in the earlier collections. But they form a part of the existing canon law, and therefore can hardly be called a supplement to it.

He had become most punctilious in person and dress, ' erect, grave, reserved, dignified and austere;' he was now ad unguem the college don, and, as some said, the future Bishop. Rumours became frequent of his nomination to this or that see. The aged Bishop of Kildare, if we are to credit a story somewhat hesitatingly told by his biographer, uttered a kind of prophecy that he should in three years be succeeded by 'the greatest ecclesiastic that ever graced Kildare;' and referred in thus speaking to Doyle. Dr. Doyle was nominated to the See of Kildare and Leighlin as dignissimus in 1819; and having been selected by the Pope out of the three names sent, as is (we are told) usual, to Rome as candidates, he was consecrated in November, 1819.1

He seems to have received the news of his nomination with a proper seriousness of spirit; 'he coloured deeply as good-natured congratulations came from those around.' There is not much cause for congratulation,' he said; 'nevertheless, if it is God's will that I should accept this responsibility, then God's will be done.' He would have been more or less than mortal had he not looked forward with a pardonable ambition, and been gratified when the object of it was attained. His nolo episcopari, therefore, was in all probability no more than was usual and considered decent. But he resisted with becoming seriousness the proposal of friends at Rome, more zealous than discreet, to bring personal influence to bear to ensure the selection of his name. He protests: 'I am ready to accept of any responsibility which the Church in its wisdom may think me fitted to bear; but if I thought for a moment that my elevation to the mitre was attributable to any irregular influence among my friends, I would resist to my last breath that burden which should be "dreaded by even the shoulders of an angel."2 Nothing under heaven could induce me to grasp a crozier on such terms.' And he rightly observes, in writing to a private friend about this time, that the apparent advantages of it (the Episcopate) are few and transitory, while the labours and dangers of it

1 It is curious to learn that during the imprisonment of Pius VII. by Napoleon (1809-1814), Monsignor (afterwards Cardinal) Quarantotti, who had the chief direction of ecclesiastical affairs during the Pope's absence, had granted a veto to the English Government on the appointment of Roman Catholic bishops in Ireland. But the Act was afterwards annulled by the Pope on the remonstrances of the bishops in Ireland. Probably Quarantotti, during the oppression of the Pope by Napoleon, thought it well to make friends in any way he could with Napoleon's bitterest enemies.

2 Council of Trent.

are great and permanent.' Yet we must not acquit him of palpable affectation, when, having been informed that the Episcopal soutane and cope were being made for him, he exclaimed: Would that it were my shroud they were preparing!

After his consecration he at once began to gird himself to the performance of the task which lay before him. It was no easy nor light one: for during a century previous it had been the custom to appoint only very aged men to bishoprics, and these, through infirmity or inactivity, had permitted a great relaxation of discipline. A gradual secularity of life and habits among the clergy had become the rule, very similar to that which obtained in the Anglican Church some half century ago. Many of the parish priests carried on farming as a speculation, and (we are told) made money by it. 'Hunting priests' were as common in Kildare as 'hunting parsons' in Hertfordshire or the Midlands. At the frequent race meetings the clergy were usually to be seen. Their solemn black cloth and long clerical boots, by comparison with the scarlet coats and top-boots of the county squires, pointed painfully the contrast between their profession and their practice. Many of the priests did not, however, wear their ecclesiastical dress at all. It had fallen into disuse, probably as a tradition of the severe period of the penal laws. Almost all the Roman clergy, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, used to wear brown; and when one bolder than the rest ventured to appear in a black coat, he was blamed for 'needlessly exposing the clergy to insult and persecution.' No splendid ceremonial was attempted in their chapels. The vestments and altarcloths were, on the contrary, not unfrequently ragged and untidy; and the Bishop, after his injunctions for the amending of the evil had been apathetically disregarded, was reduced in some instances to the necessity of tearing the chasuble into ribbons or otherwise destroying it with his own hands. On one occasion he found the chalice in use to be cracked, so as to allow the sacred Element to ooze away. He called for a hammer, and one not being at hand, he took up a pavingstone, and with it crushed the chalice at a blow. Nor was this parsimony about the appointments of the Church a consequence of mere poverty. There were three parishes in the diocese of the annual value of 5col., fourteen where it was

1 The author is responsible for the story that at the first attempt to get up Benediction' at Oscott, they could procure no better incense than a little resin which the sacristan scraped out of some broken knifehandles in the kitchen!

VOL. XIV.-NO. XXVII. C

over 2007, and some few where it approached 300/. The Established Church could probably not have exceeded this, if indeed it could have equalled it. The abuses incident to the holding of 'Stations' at the houses of farmers in the country parishes, after which, as we gather, the priest had not seldom been tempted into convivialities inconsistent with his office and duties, he at once repressed. He prohibited his clergy altogether from appearing at places of public amusement or resort. The secret statutes,' written in Latin, of the diocese, which he drew up, order: 'Let them not be present at public entertainments of the laity, unless some work of charity or some function of moment may require it.' Hunting and horse-racing were also prohibited: though at a later period, when Dr. Doyle's reforming zeal had presumably somewhat cooled, this rule was relaxed so far as that each priest was permitted to attend a race in his own parish, 'with a view to the preservation of order among such of his flock as were present:' a salvâ conscientiâ which, one must hope, was satisfactory to both sides.

He was not content with enforcing by regulations external decency of life among the clergy; he strove also to promote a high tone of personal piety and earnest sanctity among them, by the revival of spiritual Retreats and of periodical 'Conferences' in the diocese. He demanded, we are told, from every priest 'individual attention to, and rigorous fulfilment of, all the various and difficult, and often painful offices of their duty.' He desired that 'every pastor should be a slave to his vocation.' He redistributed parishes for the sake of the better administration of them. The ecclesiastical fees he regulated by a fixed table. He laid down what is undoubtedly the true theory of fees by forbidding, under pain of suspension, 'any clergyman from withholding his ministry from any person, rich or poor, on account of dues or emoluments; so that the office of the priest must first be discharged, and then the individual gives what is prescribed by usage or by the letter of the statute.' Customs of collecting dues which caused scandal he prohibited. He encouraged the formation of religious confraternities, and recommended his people to join them. In every parish throughout his diocese he established. a lending library, 'stocked with books of religious and moral instruction exclusively,' which were given out to the poor gratis; to others at a charge of one penny a week. Libraries would, of course, be of little service if the ability to read was not general among the people; and accordingly he took every means in his power to promote the establishment of schools

for the poor. The Roman Church, however, has never been conspicuous in Ireland (or anywhere else) for its efforts to this end; but Bishop Doyle adopted at first what must be called, for a Roman Catholic prelate, a liberal policy towards mixed schools under Protestant management, and permitted his flock under certain conditions to send their children to such schools.

New and more stringent Lenten regulations were issued. In 1820 he held a visitation of his diocese, which revealed vast arrears of episcopal duty to be made up, and then began a round of Confirmations. The number of The number of persons confirmed almost exceeds belief. We extract one account :

'One of the first parishes in which Dr. Doyle had decided upon holding Confirmation was Portarlington, then containing a population of 9,000 Catholics. For nearly twenty years there had been no Confirmation administered here. Upon arriving at the old chapel on the appointed day, Dr. Doyle found a large concourse of people assembled outside, while within its walls there was not room for a pin to drop. The parish priest had been long blind and infirm, and did not appear; the curate, therefore, took his place. "Where are the children?" said Dr. Doyle. "Good God! can these persons stand in need of confirmation?" The priest's affirmative brought a tear into the bishop's eye. He surveyed the surging sea of heads around him, white as the foam of the ocean. There were few present under sixty years of age, and some had reached fourscore. The expression of devotion in the countenances of the poor people severely tested our prelate's sensibility. He knew that their exclusion from the light of the Holy Ghost had not been through their own fault, and he struggled hard to suppress his emotion.

""Some of these old people can hardly know their Catechism," he said. "And I fear I would not be justified in confirming them." My lord," replied the curate, "you must_only take for granted, on my assurance, that their faith is sound. I am well acquainted with their religious sentiments." Dr. Doyle turned to an old woman, not less than eighty, and asked her if she knew the Apostles' Creed and Salve Regina. She replied in the affirmative, and repeated them with such accuracy and devotion that the bishop seemed quite pleased, and forthwith prepared for a general administration of the Sacrament. One thousand people were confirmed that day. Dr. Doyle at the close preached a touching exhortation, and announced that next month he would hold a visitation at Emo in the same parish. So great were the numbers in attendance, that no church could hold them. Lord Portarlington threw open Emo Park for the occasion, and beneath a monster marquee Dr. Doyle administered Confirmation on that day to thirteen hundred persons.

'From the then Curate of Portarlington we gathered these details. The scene may be regarded as a sample of what took place in other parts of the diocese. Dr. Doyle's labours continued unceasing. He