Father Tom and the Pope,
OR
A Night in the Vatican.
NEW YORK:
A. SIMPSON & CO.,
1867.
Agathynian Press, 60 Duane Street, N.Y.
PREFACE.
There are several questions which at this present time remainunsettled. One of them is, "who invented gunpowder?" Another is,which of them was it, Faust or Guttemberg, "that invented printing?"Another is, "whether the Deity created nature, or nature createditself?" That is a poser. Another is "whether the original egg wasthe parent of the chicken, or the egg was the original ancestor ofthat celebrated feathered fowl?" "De novum ovum," says Xinctillios,"inseperatum primero, cum possibilitas, et credentia, in meo judicio,quam supra calcis phospas, qui est, in the bones of the chicken."In other words, and to make it plain to the reader, he, Xinctillios,cannot understand how it is possible for human comprehension to see anew laid egg, without permitting in his judgment the idea of phosphateof lime existing in the osseous structure of the bones of the originalhen. St. Bardolphus entertains a contrary opinion, "Anam, aname, monamike," says he, "Barcelona bona strike," says he, "harum scarum, wyfrone whack!" (I give you the original Coptic) "Harrico barrico, wewon frac!"
Between these two contending opinions I have nothing to say. Thedogmas of the Roman Catholic Church, and the folatreries of thephilosophers of the high school of nature, differ so widely, that it isimpossible for common sense to adopt either the one or the other—andthe Greek Church on these points has given no decided opinion!
Such a dilemma presents itself when we come to consider the contents ofthis volume. Who wrote it? Some say, Lord Brougham; and some attributeit to the Duke of Wellington, who understood the Irish vernacular toa dot. I have a shrewd suspicion that Maginn, a high tory, althougha good Roman Catholic, and one of the prominent contributors toBlackwood, lent his helping hand to it, if he were not the realauthor of it all? "Howandiver," to use a phrase of the author, let uslook into the history of it.
Father Tom Maguire, a prominent Roman Catholic priest in Killeshandra,Ireland, of the parish of Innismagrath, was one of the most celebratedmen of his time. He was a splendid orator, trained at Maynooth; hewas a high liver—everything consisting of meat and drink on histable was of the best; his wines were excellent, and he kept the beststable and the finest greyhounds in Ireland. He was a bold fox-hunter;rode over ditch, hedge and five-barred gate, and when his good Bishopinterdicted these sports of the Irish clergy, says he, "I will giveup my hunting," says he; "but if I must give up my greyhounds, thereis a little Protestant parish church hard by waiting for me." Whetherthis threat had the desired effect is not known. It is said thathe abjured his church and died a heretic. How much of this we canbelieve depends altogether upon the amount of our credulity. Itmay be true, and, alas! it may not! Father Tom, as the great RomanCatholic controversialist