at Cluain Eidhnech in the present Queen's | fragment of the Liber Hymnorum already county, in the year 798. The collection con- spoken of, and which is a work of great imtains, besides, the Festology of Cathal M'Guire, portance to the ecclesiastical history of Irea work only known by name to the Irish land; and besides these the collection contains scholars of the present day; and it includes several important pieces relating to Irish histhe autograph of the first volume of the Annals tory of which no copies are known to exist of the Four Masters. There is also a copy or elsewhere. WILLIAM ARCHER BUTLER. BORN 1814- DIED 1848. [The Rev. William Archer Butler was born | being smaller than his former one. He still at Annerville, near Clonmel, county Tipperary, in 1814. He came of an ancient and respectable family. When old enough he was sent to the endowed school at Clonmel, where he gained a high place in classic and scientific studies. In 1829 he entered the Dublin University, and the pages of the Dublin University Magazine soon brought before the world many of his well-known and brilliant poems, essays, sketches, and reviews. A number of these poems had existed in embryo in the mind of the boy in the days when he wandered through the delightful scenery of Garnavilla, on the banks of the Suir, to which his parents had removed shortly after his birth; and "constant allusions to his early home," writes his biographer, "are scattered through his poetry." As to his prose works, the same authority says, "It would be hard to point to compositions which exhibit greater variety of power in a single mind than the Analysis of the Philosophy of Berkeley, the Articles on Sismondi, on Whewell's History of the Inductive Sciences, and on Oxford and Berlin Theology. In 1835 he was elected president of the College Historical Society. Two addresses delivered by him in this capacity are models of eloquence and power. About the time at which, in the ordinary course, he would have quitted the university, a professorship of moral philosophy was founded by Dr. Lloyd, and Mr. Butler was elected to the new chair. He shortly afterwards entered the ministry, and was presented by the board of Trinity College to the rectory of Clonehoska, in the county of Donegal and diocese of Derry. In 1842 Mr. Butler was promoted to the rectory of Raymoghy, in the diocese of Raphoe, also in Donegal, a more valuable living, though involving less onerous duties, the new parish continued to discharge the duties of his pro- place." These are brave words, and do the | That pilgrimed by; and, as I list, they take writer honour. A form, a being-such as deep repose Begets a reverie, almost a dream. In 1848 Professor Butler was appointed to preach at an ordination in the church of Dun That low monotonous murmur of sweet sound, That language known but to the delicate daughters The thrilling tones gush forth to silent heaven. "We come," they sweetly sang, "we come from roving, The long still summer day, 'mid banks of flowers, boe on Trinity Sunday. He appeared to be in I heard, I read the language of the waters— his usual health, but on returning home on the Friday following he was prostrated by fever, and died on Wednesday, the 5th of July, of that year. His loss was mourned by all classes and denominations of his parishioners. A series of his sermons, with a memoir, was published by the Rev. Thomas Woodward in 1849. Letters on the Development of Christian Doctrine in 1850, A Reply to Cardinal Wiseman in 1854, and Lectures on the History of Ancient Philosophy, edited, with notes, by W. H. Thompson in 1856. His poems have not yet been collected, but are to be found scattered through the pages of Blackwood and the University Magazine. It is said that in the latter publication alone there appeared, during his university career, enough poetry and essays, critical, historical, and miscellaneous, to fill several volumes.] THE EVEN-SONG OF THE STREAMS. Lo! couch'd within an odorous vale, where May I was alone in thought one sunny even: I was alone, and watch'd the glittering threads, By severing clouds, as parting into lines A mountain lay below the sun, its blue A broken turret near, and the rich hue But evening grew more pale. Her zoneless hair And dews like heavenly love, with unseen fall, Unsleeping thus—yet dreamingly awake— To the soft sistering music of a stream and woods. Ours were delights: the lilies, mild and loving, bowers For fays hung floating on our bubbling floods. "We come and whence? At early morn we sprung, Like free-born mountaineers, from rugged hills, have sped Through many a quiet vale, and there have sung To thank the winds for the sweet scent they "Our sapphire floods were tinctured by the skies With their first burst of blushes, as we broke At morn upon a meadow. Not a voice Rose from the solemn earth as ruby dyes Swam like a glory round us, and awoke The trance of heaven, and bade the world rejoice. "Enwreath'd in mists, the perfumed breath of morn, Our infancy of waters freshly bright Cleft the hush'd fields, warbling a matin wild; While beaming from the kindled heavens, and borne On clouds instinct with many-coloured light, The Spirit of nature heard the strain, and smiled! "Heaven's flushing east, its western wilds as pale As is the wan cheek of deserted love, Its changeful clouds, its changeless deeps of Lay glass'd within us when that misty veil "An echo of Heaven's loveliest tints! But lo! The maniac waves sunk murmuring into rest. "The imaged sun floats proudly on our breast, Of Nature, changing with her changeful hours. Sunk in our crystal depths and glassy caves; And every cloud beneath the heavens unfurled, And every shadowy tint they wear, sleeps here, Here in this voiceless kingdom of the waves. "On to the ocean! ever, ever on! Our banded waters, hurrying to the deep, Lift to the winds a song of wilder strife; Our sources who unlock'd with hand divine!" But waters, waters dyed in deepening blue- HENRY COOKE, D.D., LL.D. BORN 1788-DIED 1868. [Henry Cooke, leader of the Ulster Presby- | after-life was considerably influenced by them. terians and a great platform and pulpit orator, was born at Grillagh, near Maghera, county Londonderry, 11th May, 1788. His father was a farmer, and, like most men of his class in that province, he was sensible, sturdy, and self-reliant. His mother, who was remarkable for her decision of character, owed her descent to a Scotch family who settled in Ireland during the plantation of Ulster, and her retentive memory was stored with legends and stories of Border raids and struggles of her forefathers in Scotland in defence of their faith, and later, of their sufferings during the rebellions and party feuds in their adopted land. The boy eagerly drank in these tales, and no doubt his | give light, but admitted free ventilation as His first school, little better than a hedgeschool, stood about a mile distant from his father's house, and here under the hazel rod of Mr. Joseph Pollock, a tall, lanky Scotchman, young Cooke drank in his earliest lessons; and so great was his aptitude even at that early age, that his master, who had no mean opinion of his own genius, declared if the boy lived he would one day rival, if not excel, himself. Dr. Cooke describes a classical school he attended when some years older, conducted by a Mr. Frank Glass. The room had two windowframes but no glass, one of them was stuffed with sods; but the other not only served to VOL. III. 54 well as occasionally the rain and snow. They had stones for seats, for which they ultimately substituted slabs of oak from the neighbouring bog, and by a penny subscription they procured the aid of a glazier. "We thus became wonderfully content," writes the doctor, "for we had the best master and the most comfortable school-house in all the country." He passed through the disturbance of the memorable year '98, and although many of the Presbyterians of Ulster were disaffected, his family remained on the side of the government. During that year, as he himself has told us, for weeks together he never slept in his father's house, as all families supposed to be well affected to England were watched and marked. One night when the family ventured to go to bed they were roused, and hurrying out, half clothed, they saw five houses in flames in different directions. "It was then and thus," writes the doctor, "I learned my political principles." The storm, however, passed over, and Dr. Cooke's family escaped all pecuniary loss. At fourteen he became a student in the Glasgow University. After completing his university course Henry Cooke was licensed to preach as a Presbyterian minister, and in 1808 he began his career as pastor of the congregation of Duneane, near Randalstown. His first charge proved unsatisfactory alike to his congregation and to himself. Accustomed to a tamer and less intellectual style of pastor, the people received Cooke's eloquence with coldness, and styled his energy methodistical; while as to Cooke himself, he naturally found a post uncomfortable whose income amounted to the magnificent sum of about twenty-five pounds a year. After trying it for two years he resigned his appointment, and for a time he resided at Kells as tutor in the family of Mr. Brown. But his light could not long be hidden, and on the 22 January, 1810, he was appointed minister of Donegore, near Templepatrick, where he found a more appreciative congregation. At this period he preached strongly against Socinianism, and a bitter struggle for years with the many members and ministers of the Presbyterian Church who had embraced the doctrine was the result. But Dr. Cooke never flinched, and in the end, mainly owing to his firm purpose and unassailable reasoning, the Unitarians withdrew from the Presbyterian body and formed a synod and government of their own. In 1813 Dr. Cooke married Miss Ellen Mann of Toome. course had not been so complete as he could desire, he spent two years at the Glasgow University, where he studied moral philosophy, natural history, and medical science; and in 1817, to still further complete his training, he, with the permission of his presbytery, entered Trinity College, Dublin. While here he resumed his study of medicine and walked the hospitals. He also found time for ecclesiastical labour, and not only in Dublin, but in Carlow and Stratford, his preaching was so highly successful that the synod of Munster unanimously agreed to return Dr. Cooke thanks for his mission work amongst them. In 1818 the reverend gentleman accepted the pastorship of Killyleagh, near Strangford Lough. This was one of the earliest Scotch settlements in Ulster. The lord of the manor was Archibald Hamilton Rowan, the patriot, and his son Captain Sidney Hamilton Rowan was a friend and admirer of Dr. Cooke. In 1829 his friends built a magnificent church in May Street, Belfast, and Dr. Cooke accepted a call from the congregation. Men of all sects and parties flocked to May Street, drawn by the fame of the preacher. In 1829 the degree of D.D. was conferred upon him by the Jefferson College in the United States as a tribute of the esteem felt by his American brethren, and in recognition of his zealous earnestness in the promotion of evangelical truth. As a Conservative in principle he opposed O'Connell's policy, and challenged him to a political controversy. O'Connell refused on the ground that he did not come as an antagonist to Presbyterians; but on the contrary he wished to serve them. Unfortunately O'Connell was betrayed into expressions personally offensive to the doctor, and thus deeply offended the Presbyterians of Belfast. An antirepeal meeting was organized, and largely attended by the nobility and gentry of Belfast and the neighbourhood. On this occasion Dr. Cooke made one of his most eloquent speeches. In recognition of his services in opposition to repeal his friends presented him with £2000. At this period his labours seemed to increase. He not only took an active part in the great ecclesiastical conflict which led to the formation of the Free Church of Scotland, but attended the House of Lords on the Presbyterian Marriage Bill. For years he had devoted all his spare time to the preparation of an Analytical Concordance of Scripture. In 1841 the work was complete, and he took it to London for publication, but the hotel in In 1815, with the conviction that his academic which he was residing was burned down, and his manuscript, the result of seven years of toil, destroyed. "He had no copy, and he never found time to resume his task." For some years he devoted two hours in the mornings-from four to six-to the editing, with notes and introductions, a new edition of Brown's Family Bible. veneration of his congregation. The Life and Times of Dr. Cooke, by J. L. Porter, D.D., LL.D., appeared in 1871. It leaves nothing to be desired, and not only paints the inner life of this great man, his motives and incentives, but gives an eloquent and deeply interesting picture of the times in which he lived.] DR. COOKE AND SLAVERY. Dr. Cooke was elected president of the Assembly's College, Belfast, in 1853. To the last he preserved his wondrous energy. Late or early he was found at his post, in the pulpit, in the lecture-hall, or on the platform. In 1865 another tribute of esteem was presented him in the shape of an illuminated volume, containing the names and addresses of sub-parative merits of Voluntaryism and State scribers, and a cheque for sixteen hundred guineas. [In the course of a discussion on the com endowment, Mr. McIlwaine, an American clergyman, had objected to some allusions by Dr. Cooke to the negro slavery question in the United States. This is the reply:-] "My American friend has called my allusion to slavery ungenerous; and let him call it so if he will; but in Ireland men are accustomed to say, Be just before you be generous. My observation was just, for it was a thoroughgoing application of the great Franklin's principle. But my observation was not merely just; it was generous, too. I am one of those who have always thanked Providence for American Independence. England and America under one government would have unbalanced the freedom of the world. America, no doubt, like England, has her faults; but, like England, with all her faults, I love her still.' But, if ever it be my lot, as I wish it may one day be, to visit America, I shall devote myself exclusively to my religious duties, and I shall keep studiously aloof from all her political parties. I shall neither spout on her platforms as a Federalist nor as an anti-Federalist. I shall admire her Jacksons and her Clays, but refuse to be either Jack His last attempt at public speaking was at the Hillsborough Protestant Demonstration in 1867; but though his intellect still remained clear, his physical power was gone; and, as in the case of the last speech in the House of Commons by his old antagonist O'Connell, the once powerful voice had sunk to an inaudible whisper. On the 5th of May in the same year he bade farewell to his congregation. The scene was most affecting, and the solemn service of that day left a deep impression on many hearts. Still holding by the political convictions of his life, he published an address to the Protestant electors of Ireland previous to the general election, in which, differing from many of his colleagues in the Presbyterian ministry, he denounced the proposed disestablishment of the Irish Church. On the 30th of June, 1868, the death of Mrs. Cooke, his companion of fifty-five years, gave him a severe stroke, from which he never rallied, and on the following 13th December he peacefully breathed his last. His funeral, a public one, will be long remembered. Students, professors, the clergy of all denomina-sonite or Clayite. I shall visit her as a citizen tions, Dr. Doran the Roman Catholic bishop, the corporation of Belfast, and representatives from every municipality in Ulster, formed a portion of the procession, two miles in length. The Primate of Ireland, the bishop of the diocese, and many members of parliament acted as pall-bearers. The houses along the route were covered with mourning drapery. His remains rest in the Malone Cemetery outside Belfast, and a tombstone erected by his daughters marks the spot. A statue in bronze was erected to his memory, and in his own church a portal of the Corinthian order of white Italian marble and polished Aberdeen granite stands as a memorial to the love and of the world, and return without having iden- |