passed from the stage into the
recesses of private life, wrought itself into the feelings until it
became a prejudice, and the Irishman was consequently looked upon, and
treated, as being made up of absurdity and cunning,--a compound of knave
and fool, fit only to be punished for his knavery, or laughed at for
his folly. So far, therefore, that portion of English literature
which attempted to describe the language and habits of Irishmen, was
unconsciously creating an unfriendly feeling between the two countries,
a feeling which, I am happy to say, is fast disappearing, and which
only requires that we should have a full and fair acquaintance with each
other in order to be removed for ever.

At present, indeed, their mutual positions, civil, commercial, and
political, are very different from what they were half a century ago,
or even at a more recent period. The progress of science, and the
astonishing improvements in steam and machinery, have so completely
removed the obstructions which impeded their intercourse, that the
two nations can now scarcely be considered as divided. As a natural
consequence, their knowledge of each other has improved; and, as will
always happen with generous people, they begin to see that the one was
neither knave or fool, nor the other a churl or a boor. Thus has
mutual respect arisen from mutual intercourse, and those who hitherto
approached each other with distrust are beginning to perceive, that in
spite of political or religious prejudices, no matter how stimulated,
the truthful experience of life will in the event create nothing but
good-will and confidence between the countries.

Other causes, however, led to this;--causes which in every state of
society exercise a quick and powerful influence over the minds of
men:--I allude to literature.

When the Irishman was made to stand forth as the butt of ridicule to his
neighbors, the first that undertook his vindication was Maria Edgeworth.
During her day, the works of no writer made a more forcible impression
upon the circles of fashionable life in England, if we except the
touching and inimitable Melodies of my countryman, Thomas Moore. After
a lapse of some years, these two were followed by many others, who
stood forth as lofty and powerful exponents of the national heart and
intellect. Who can forget the melancholy but indignant reclamations
of John Banim,--the dark and touching power of Gerald Griffin,--or the
unrivalled wit and irresi