or an affectionate expression of sympathy; but she was often the ready and cheerful instrument of distributing her benefactor's bounty. Her adopted parents were good and charitable people, and she was usually the channel through which their charity was distributed. But her care was not limited to mere material wants. She took pity also on the spiritual ignorance of those she relieved; and remembering her father's usefulness, she was anxious to prove herself in all things worthy of his virtues. She collected the poor children of the neighbourhood in the lodge which was placed at her disposal, and devoted to their instruction whatever leisure time she could spare. She soon drew around her those who hoped to derive relief and consolation from her advice. Every one who had distress to be relieved, or affliction to be mitigated, or troubles to be encountered, came, and to the best of her judgment she told them what to do. Her zeal made her a kind of missionary in her district. In these works of usefulness and charity she continued for several years; during which time she was rendering herself each day more and more dear to her adopted parents. In the course of time, the increasing infirmities of age began to undermine the constitutions of the latter, and they departed this life within a short interval of one another. Miss McAuley had the inexpressible consolation to see them both follow her example, and become Catholics on their dying bed. For this she had prayed with many sighs and tears, and when her prayers seemed hopeless, they were, by a special favour from above, crowned with complete success. Their sense of her worth and affection, and of her long and meritorious services, was proved after their deaths, for it was found that they left her sole heiress of all their property, which was considerable.

If a young lady with a large fortune at her disposal, remains unmarried, it will seldom be for want of persons to solicit the honour of her hand. Miss McAuley was soon honoured with the attentions of more than one aspiring individual. These proposals and addresses she at once rejected; and declared to all whom it might concern that her firm determination was to lead a single life, and disclaim for ever any intention of marriage. Her real objects were known only to the Rev. Mr. Armstrong, a Catholic clergyman in Dublin, who possessed her confidence, and to whom she had communicated her real in

tentions. These intentions were to devote her whole means to the relief of the needy and the destitute, and to establish some permanent institution for the mitigation of their sufferings. This project she had revolved in her mind, even when there seemed no human probability of its being ever carried into effect; and now when God gave her the means of doing so, she resolved on commencing the good work without delay. The Rev. Mr. Armstrong remarked that it had been formerly too much the custom for Catholics to place their charitable and religious institutions in some obscure street, or narrow lane, that was almost inaccessible; that it would be desirable to make a change in this respect, and place them so that all might see and be edified, that thus they might not be less advantageously circumstanced as regarded the publicity of their benevolent_institutions, than their Protestant fellow-countrymen. In compliance with these suggestions, it was resolved to take, not a house already built, which there would perhaps have been some difficulty in accommodating to these purposes, but a plot of ground, and erect thereon an edifice that would be not only holy in its use, but consecrated to God and to his service from its very foundations. An eligible situation presented itself in Lower Baggot Street, and was purchased. A plan and estimate of a building to answer the proposed objects was procured, and the work was commenced immediately.

Whilst the new building was in progress, and being prepared for the purposes to which it was to be applied, Miss McAuley was employed in preparing herself to accomplish them, with every probability of success. One of the principal objects she contemplated, was the education of the poor, and while the works were going on, she resolved on becoming acquainted with the system of instruction that was adopted in the best regulated schools. The Kildarestreet system was then in active operation, and though its other faults were many and considerable, there can be little doubt, that the system of literary instruction employed, was a considerable improvement on that which had been pursued before its time. Miss McAuley made several visits to the principal school in Dublin, in order to acquire a practical knowledge of its details, that she might subsequently be able to make them available and introduce them into her own.

When the building in Baggot-street was prepared for her reception, she took up her abode in it. She gave accommodation also to a few poor but respectable young women, to whom it was a temporary advantage until suitable situations could be procured them. Some ladies, who had kindly volunteered to help her in the schools, seeing the good she did, and imbibing a portion of her zeal, expressed a willingness, with the consent of their friends, to devote themselves entirely to the objects she had in view. After a short experience of its working, it was resolved to draw down a blessing on the entire establishment by placing it under the divine protection. Miss McAuley had a particular devotion to the festival of our Blessed Lady of Mercy. The 24th of September, on which it is celebrated, was approaching, and she wrote to the Most Rev. Dr. Murray, for permission to have the small chapel, which she took care to have ready for the occasion, solemnly blessed, and a somewhat religious character imparted to the duties in which she and her associates were engaged. This prelate, who had been from a very early period her sincere friend, and who has proved himself ever ready to sanction any good work by which the glory of God or the salvation of souls is to be promoted, consented without hesitation. On the appointed morning her little chapel was blessed, and her undertaking placed under the protection of our Blessed Lady of Mercy.

Every generous undertaking will experience more or less of opposition. On the very morning on which her little chapel was blessed, she heard the first murmurs of disapproval. The object and constitution of the Institution were canvassed in no indulgent spirit, and censured in no very complimentary language. The words in which the censure was expressed, were whispered loud enough to reach her ears. Depressed very much by the disapprobation which her institution seemed. to receive, and fearing in her humility lest it might be an indication from God that her intentions, however well-meant, were not approved by Him, she sought advice from her ecclesiastical superiors, to guide her in the difficulty she encountered. Her kind friend, the Archbishop, was the person to whom religion bade her have recourse, and whose authority was to be in her regard even as the authority of God. If he approved her undertaking, it mattered little what others should say or

do. If he objected, it would be a sign that her views were not inspired by God's Spirit, and that they were consequently to be abandoned. Accordingly she sought an interview, and laid before him the nature and the objects of her benevolent foundation, and the method by which these objects were to be accomplished. She neither wished for fame, nor sought distinction; nor did she wish to interfere with the usefulness of any others that might be labouring in the same field. She offered to resign into his hands all right to the house she had erected, and give him full permission to employ it for whatever religious purpose he pleased. For herself personally she asked but for the poorest apartment in it, and the merit of labouring in any capacity, however humble, in carrying out his benevolent intentions. No one could have better appreciated the generosity of such an offer than he to whom it was made. From the day of her conversion, he had been the witness of her zeal and piety. He knew her worth, and had no difficulty in perceiving that her conduct, throughout, had been influenced by the purest and the most devoted charity. Her proposal of committing the establishment to the care of one of the religious institutions in Dublin, he answered by a most decided negative. He was convinced that the spirit to which it owed its existence, would best preside over its subsequent exertions, and ensure its ultimate success. Every good work, he said, was like the divine Author of our religion, a sign to be contradicted; and for trials of some sort or other, she ought always to be prepared. In accordance with these sentiments, he gave his most earnest encouragement to the undertaking, and took the preliminary steps to place it on a footing of efficient and permanent stability. He gave the inmates permission to assume a distinctive religious dress, and visit the sick, both in private houses and in public hospitals. As an instance of the good sense with which Miss McAuley made her knowledge of the world subservient to the interests of religion, we may allude to the manner in which she established a kind of right for herself and her associates to visit the public hospitals of the city, as since that period they have been in the constant habit of doing. One of the physicians attached to Sir Patrick Dunn's hospital, was her intimate friend, and profiting by this circumstance, she sought permission to see the sick wards and the treatment of the patients, along with some of her female

friends. No objection was made; and while they were passing through the apartments, she as it were incidentally mentioned that she should be very anxious to visit the patients occasionally with her young friends, to give the sick and dying whatever consolation they might be able to communicate, and hoped no objection would be made to a repetition of their visits. The reply was most satisfactory, and thenceforward they were constant and regular visitors. Not being personally acquainted with the managers of the other hospitals, she went in her own carriage, and requested as a favour to be admitted to see the internal arrangement and accommodations. What might have been refused her if she had gone on foot, was immediately granted when she presented herself in a fashionable equipage. When she had succeeded in establishing a kind of right, by the frequency of her visits, she dispensed with the equipage, and never afterwards made use of it. It was soon after sold, the servants were dismissed, and the saving thereby effected in her domestic economy, was applied to the relief of the poor, the suffering, and the afflicted.

The establishment in Baggot-street was now making itself extensively useful. The ladies who had the charge of it, not only attended the sick, but had a large school for the education of poor girls, an orphanage, and a place of refuge for poor destitute females. But notwithstanding its varied and comprehensive usefulness, it was yet in a somewhat anomalous position. A Catholic visitor, however he might value its services, and be edified by the piety of its members, would have missed the peculiar religious character that should ever pervade such communities, and the religious organization that alone could give stability and efficiency to their operations. It was at best but the creation of individual charity, presided over by private zeal, and dependant for its continuance on the will of her to whom it owed its existence. It was therefore highly desirable that the Church should take it formally under its protection, invest it with a more sacred character, and provide for its future permanence. No one could be more sensible of these defects than Miss McAuley herself, and no one more ardently desired to have them remedied. She applied repeatedly to his Grace the Archbishop of Dublin, to give to her and her associates whatever religious form and character he deemed