ture. He certainly was not then an accomplished pulpit orator, if at any period of his life he could lay claim to that distinction; and in the earlier years of his ministry he was frequently guilty of errors of taste and violations of those rules laid down by rhetoricians of ancient and modern schools. . . What was the charm that held spell-bound the close-packed hundreds beneath the pulpit, that riveted the attention of the crowded galleries, and moved the inmost hearts even of those who had come to criticise? The earnestness of the preacher—. . . the earnestness of the truth, of sincerity, of belief. Father Mathew practised what he preached, and believed what he so persuasively and urgently enforced." His striking personal appearance is thus described: "A finely-formed, middle-sized person, of exquisite symmetry; the head of admirable contour, and from which a finished model of the antique could be cast; the countenance intelligent, animated, and benevolent; its complexion rather sallow, inclining to paleness; eyes of dark lustre, beaming with internal peace, and rich in concentrated sensibility, rather than speaking or kindling with a super-abundant fire; the line of his mouth harmonizing so completely with his nose and chin, is of peculiar grace; the brow open, pale, broad, and polished, bears upon it the impress not merely of dignified thought, but of nobility itself." Endowed with such capacities of mind and body, and divested of sectarian bitterness, it is not surprising that he exercised a considerable influence not only over his co-religionists, but over persons of all persuasions in the south of Ireland. Through his exertions, a new cemetery was opened at Cork, and he established several literary institutions and industrial schools. He was fearless and untiring in the cholera epidemic of 1832. During all these years his ministrations were mostly amongst the poor, and he saw more clearly day by day that most of the miseries of their lot arose from drink. Already considerable efforts had been made in Ireland by different associations in the direction of temperance, or abstinence from the use of spirits of all kinds. About 1830, however, a new movement was inaugurated—that of teetotalism, or total abstinence from all intoxicating liquors. The apostles of this reform in the south of Ireland were Rev. Nicholas Dunscombe, a Church clergyman; Richard Dowden, a Unitarian gentleman; and William Martin, or "Billy Martin," as he was familiarly called, a member of the Society of Friends. Of these, perhaps William Martin most closely identified himself with the cause, and through his influence. Father Mathew, in April 1838, was induced to sign the total abstinence pledge at a public meeting in Cork, and to promise to the movement all the aid in his power. His brother and many of his intimate friends were brewers or distillers, so that this decided step showed great depth of conviction and determination. The influence that Father Mathew—a popular Catholic clergyman—exercised by thus throwing himself into the temperance cause can scarcely be over-estimated. Thousands flocked to hear him, and take a pledge to abstain from all intoxicating liquors; and the immediate benefit to those who abstained appeared so great that it was thought by many, forgetting the weakness of human nature, that the habits of a people were about to be permanently changed through his means. Father Mathew extended his temperance crusade from Cork to the most remote parts of Ireland, and wherever he went addressed and gave the pledge to enormous multitudes of people. The face of Irish society was almost revolutionized; public-houses and distilleries were closed in many places, temperance halls were opened, and temperance musical bands organized. It was estimated that at one time the pledged abstainers in Ireland numbered some millions. Comparing the years 1839 and 1842, the annual consumption of spirits in Ireland fell from 12,296,000 to 6,485,443 gallons; the duty from £1,434,573 to ₤86 1,725; and the number of persons committed to jail from 12,049 to 9,875. Dr. Channing said: " History records no revolution like this; it is the grand event of the present day." After a few years Father Mathew extended his ministrations beyond Ireland, and was warmly received in different parts of England and Scotland, where some 600,000 took the pledge from him. An observer, writing on his mission there, says: " The secret of his success consists chiefly in the fact that he has wholly abstained from doing what his opponents have accused him of. He has avoided making his labours subservient either to religious or political objects; but it is by this singleness of purpose—this determination to make temperance his chief and only object—that he has been able to achieve so much for the cause he has undertaken." He gave away much in charity, and subscribed largely for eccleiastical purposes, contributed to the support of temperance bands, and spent much money in the gratuitous distribution of thousands of medals; and although he
