Accustomed  as  we  are  to  the  pacific  character  of  the
Catholic  clergy  in  these  times,  when  no  Prince-Bishop  claims
to  be  a  warlike  leader,  this  will  appear  startling.  We  saw  in
Ireland,  some  seventy  years  ago,  a  noble  bishop  of  the  Esta-
blished Church  (the  Earl  of  Bristol,  Bishop  of  Derry),  iden-
tifying himself  with  the  Volunteers ;  and  some  ten  or  twenty
years  later,  another  prelate,  Doctor  Fowler,  who  for  some  rea-
son or  other  was  distinguished  as  "  The  Boxing  Bishop ;"  we
have  also  seen  reverend  captains  of  yeomanry  cavalry  shrouding
their  uniforms  with  their  surplice,  when,  having  dismounted,
they  would  ascend  the  pulpit ;  but  a  fire-eating  abb<5  is  some-


240  THE    IRISH

thing  new  and  racy ;  and  a  very  remarkable  person  was  this
abb6  in  every  way.'*'

The  Abb6  Ferris  resided  iu  Paris  at  the  commencement
of  the  Revolution,  and  emigrated  with  the  Princes.  Subse-
quently he  distinguished  himself  in  the  campaigns  of  1792,
1793,  and  1794,  in  the  army  of  Conde,  not  as  almoner  of  a
regiment,  but  as  an  intrepid  captain  of  grenadiers.  Thanks  to
the  clemency  of  Napoleon,  he  was  allowed  some  years  later  to
return  to  France,  and  continued  to  reside  in  Paris.  Here  he
renewed  his  acquaintance  with  a  man  named  Somers,  a  native
of  the  county  of  Wexford,  Ireland,  who,  like  Ferris,  had  been
a  Catholic  priest  at  the  period  of  the  Revolution,  but  who  fol-
lowed a  line  of  conduct  different  from  that  of  Ferris.  He  re-
nounced his  religious  habit,  professed  himself  a  sans-culotte,
and  married  the  widow  of  a  shoemaker;  and  carried  on,  it
would  seem,  from  his  appearance  and  expenses,  a  profitable
business.  It  will  naturally  be  conceived  that  no  sympathy
could  subsist  between  him  and  Ferris ;  still  they  continued  on
amicable  if  not  intimate  terms.
