No. XVI.

N

SUNDAY SCHOOLS AT DROMORE.

In the Sunday Schools which the Bishop of Dromore has established in his neighbourhood, children of all persuasions are admitted, and in considerable numbers. On a Sunday, when I visited the Bishop last autumn, there were above one hundred children assembled on the lawn in the front of his Lordship's palace, half a mile from the town of Dromore; and they were all carefully examined and rewarded according to their merits. I have since learnt that they frequently assemble there in far greater numbers; and I have received the following particulars concerning the establish ment of these schools.

There are five Sunday Schools in the parish of Dromore; two of them entirely supported by the Bishop. He contributes to the three others, giving occasionally to them all, books and other premiums. Twenty years have

Reports, No. CXLII.
Q

passed since he first established them. Having for a few months tried the effect of a certain number of children of the religious persuasions, he had a meeting of some of his own clergy at an examination of the schools, uniting with them the Roman Catholic Priest, and two Dissenting Ministers of the different congregations, called here old and new lights.* With them was settled a plan of instruction, for instilling the fundamental principles of Christianity, chiefly taken from our Church Catechism; and for teaching them their duty to God and their neighbour; impressing them with a particular abhorrence of lying and theft.The effect has answered his most sanguine expectations; the surrounding peasantry being now remarkable for their truth and honesty.

Every Sunday morning the children attend their teachers in the school-houses; and aster Divine Service, three and sometimes four of the schools (the fifth being too remote) assemble with their masters, as is above mentioned, before the Bishop's Palace. Every one

• The Old Lights strictly adhere to the Calvinistic Doctrine. Both agree in the same Presbyterian Church govern

ment.

that can answer the question proposed is rewarded with a halfpenny; afterwards they withdrew with the greatest regularity, arranged two and two together; the first step towards improvement being to accustom children to a respectful, decent, and orderly demeanour. They are also required to come neat and cleanly, and the Bishop has given amongst them for a Christmas gift, a gross, or twelve dozen of combs. The children of all the poor families around him, whether their parents be Roman Catholics, Dissenters, or of the established Church, are all equally desirous of receiving this instruction, and of enjoying these benefits, of which they all partake without distinction. In order to remove every prejudice, the Bishop is not so exactly scrupulous in the choice of masters, as to confine them entirely to members of the established Church; but he is careful to see, that they strictly follow the plan of instruction, which had been prescribed; and for that purpose they are constantly examined by his own Agent, and inspectors appointed by himself; and he has never found that any undue advantage has been taken of his con fidence in the teachers.

The members of the established Church form here a very respectable and large congregation, which has so increased, that it has been found necessary to make the addition of another aisle to Dromore church. This church was rebuilt after the Restoration, by that excellent prelate, Dr. Jeremiah Taylor, then Bishop of Down, Connor, and Dromore, and author of many valuable works, particularly his Rule of Holy Living and Dying. In this church he was buried. There are also two large congregations of Dissenters, distinguished as above, and one of Roman Catholics, not so To the erection of their chapel,

numerous.

and to the rebuilding of one of the meetinghouses, the Bishop contributed. Indeed he pays the kindest attention to the Dissenting Ministers, and to the Roman Catholic Priest, whom he frequently invites to his table; and whenever the Titular Bishop visits this part of the diocese, he is always invited, with his clergy to Dromore House. By this, and by a variety of other instances of conciliating and liberal conduct, he has produced the greatest harmony among his neighbours. They are no less distinguished for their loyalty; so that a

well disciplined corps of yeomanry having been formed, he never once, in the late rebellion, quitted his residence there, during the whole of that alarming period.