“. . . . . No inference concerning Ireland can be drawn from the state of Canada, where we have continued the system which we found there, and where I am inclined to think there is a better condition of society than is likely to be found in the Upper Province. Look at the evidence concerning Maynooth College, and you will see that it has produced and could produce nothing but evil.
“In Scotland the general
condition of the clergy is above the standard in England. In villages and
remote places, indeed, the manse is generally the best house, perhaps the only
good one, and appears like a mansion in comparison with the dwellings about it.
Still the Kirk has been injured by spoliation, and the manner in which
Episcopacy was betrayed there at the Revolution is one of the stains upon that
portion
| Ætat. 52. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 293 |
“The prizes of our Church draw into it unfit men; yet it is a small part of the prizes which falls to their share; and I think that in proportion more unworthy clergy will be found in the middle and lower than in the higher ranks of the Church. The evil (an evil certainly there is) is corrigible by public opinion. You will see that I have touched upon it.
“God bless you!
