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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, An Illustrated History of Ireland from AD 400
+to 1800, by Mary Frances Cusack, Illustrated by Henry Doyle
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: An Illustrated History of Ireland from AD 400 to 1800
+
+Author: Mary Frances Cusack
+
+Release Date: January 22, 2005  [eBook #14754]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF IRELAND
+FROM AD 400 TO 1800***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Project Rastko, Zoran Stefanovic, Nenad Petrovic, Susan
+Skinner, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
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+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
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+
+
+
+
+
+AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF IRELAND FROM AD 400 TO 1800
+
+by
+
+MARY FRANCES CUSACK
+
+'The Nun of Kenmare'
+
+Illustrations by Henry Doyle
+
+1868
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+TO THE
+
+RIGHT HONORABLE JUDGE O'HAGAN,
+
+AND TO
+
+HIS SISTER MARY,
+
+FOUNDRESS AND ABBESS OF SAINT CLARE'S CONVENT, KENMARE,
+
+THIS VOLUME
+
+IS AFFECTIONATELY AND RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
+
+By
+
+The Author.
+
+
+
+
+List of Full-Page Illustrations
+
+ETC.
+
+THE EMIGRANTS' FAREWELL
+SPECIMENS OF ANCIENT IRISH MANUSCRIPTS
+ST. PATRICK GOING TO TARA
+KING BRIAN BOROIMHE KILLED BY THE VIKING
+MARRIAGE OF EVA AND STRONGBOW
+INTERVIEW BETWEEN MACMURROUGH AND THE OFFICERS OF RICHARD II.
+INTERVIEW BETWEEN ESSEX AND O'NEILL
+MASSACRE AT DROGHEDA
+IRETON CONDEMNING THE BISHOP OF LIMERICK
+GRATTAN'S DEMAND FOR IRISH INDEPENDENCE
+O'CONNELL REFUSING TO TAKE THE OATH
+IRELAND AND AMERICA
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+TO THE SECOND EDITION.
+
+
+A demand for a Second Edition of the "Illustrated History of Ireland,"
+within three months from the date of the publication of the First,
+consisting of 2,000 copies, is a matter of no little gratification to
+the writer, both personally and relatively. It is a triumphant proof
+that Irishmen are not indifferent to Irish history--a fault of which
+they have been too frequently accused; and as many of the clergy have
+been most earnest and generous in their efforts to promote the
+circulation of the work, it is gratifying to be able to adduce this fact
+also in reply to the imputations, even lately cast upon the
+ecclesiastics of Ireland, of deficiency in cultivated tastes, and of
+utter neglect of literature.
+
+Nor, as a Catholic and a religious, can I fail to express my respectful
+gratitude and thankfulness for the warm approbation which the work has
+received from so many distinguished prelates. A few of these
+approbations will be found at the commencement of the volume--it was
+impossible to find space for all. It may be, however, well to observe,
+that several of the English Catholic bishops have not been less kind and
+earnest in their commendations, though I have not asked their permission
+to publish their communications. Some extracts are given from the
+reviews, which also are necessarily condensed and limited; and, as the
+Most Rev. Dr. Derry has observed, the press has been most favorable in
+its criticisms. Even those who differed from the present writer _toto
+coelo_, both in religion and politics, have not been less commendatory,
+and, in some instances, have shown the writer more than ordinary
+courtesy.
+
+Nor should I omit to acknowledge the encouragement which so many
+gentlemen, both English and Irish, have given to the work, and the
+assistance they have afforded in promoting its circulation. In a
+circular, quite recently published in London, and addressed to the
+members of a society for the republication of English mediæval
+literature, gentlemen are called on by the secretary, even at the risk,
+as he himself admits, of "boring them, by asking them to canvass for
+orders, like a bookseller's traveller," to assist in obtaining
+additional subscribers to the series, and he requests every subscriber
+"to get another at once." I am happy to say that, without such
+solicitation on our part, many Irish gentlemen have done us this
+kindness, and have obtained not one, but many orders from their friends.
+I confidently hope that many more will exert themselves in a similar
+manner, for the still wider dissemination of the Second Edition. It is a
+time, beyond all others, when Irish history should be thoroughly known
+and carefully studied. It is a disgrace to Irishmen not to know their
+history perfectly, and this with no mere outline view, but completely
+and in detail. It is very much to be regretted that Irish history is not
+made a distinct study in schools and colleges, both in England and
+Ireland. What should be thought of a school where English history was
+not taught? and is Irish history of less importance? I have had very
+serious letters complaining of this deficiency from the heads of several
+colleges, where our history has been introduced as a class-book.[A]
+
+There are some few Irish Catholics who appear to think that Irishmen
+should not study their history--some because they imagine that our
+history is a painful subject; others, because they imagine that its
+record of wrongs cannot fail to excite violent feelings, which may lead
+to violent deeds. I cannot for one moment admit that our history is
+either so very sorrowful, or that we have cause to do anything but
+rejoice in it. If we consider temporal prosperity to be the _summum
+bonum_ of our existence, no doubt we may say with truth, like the
+Apostle, that of all peoples we are "most miserable;" but we have again
+and again renounced temporal advantages, and discarded temporal
+prosperity, to secure eternal gain; and we have the promise of the
+Eternal Truth that we shall attain all that we have desired. Our
+history, then, far from being a history of failures, has been a history
+of the most triumphant success--of the most brilliant victories. I
+believe the Irish are the only nation on earth of whom it can be truly
+said that they have never apostatized nationally. Even the most Catholic
+countries of the Continent have had their periods of religious
+revolution, however temporary. Ireland has been deluged with blood again
+and again; she has been defeated in a temporal point of view again and
+again; but spiritually--NEVER! Is this a history to be ashamed of? Is
+this a history to regret? Is this a history to lament? Is it not rather
+a history over which the angels in heaven rejoice, and of which the
+best, the holiest, and the noblest of the human race may justly be
+proud?
+
+On the second count, I shall briefly say that if Irish history were
+taught in our Irish colleges and schools to children while still young,
+and while the teacher could impress on his charge the duty of
+forgiveness of enemies, of patient endurance, of the mighty power of
+moral force, which has effected even for Ireland at times what more
+violent measures have failed to accomplish, then there could be no
+danger in the study. Perhaps the greatest human preservative of the
+faith, for those whose lot may be cast hereafter in other lands, would
+be to inculcate a great reverence for our history, and a _true_
+appreciation of its value. The taunt of belonging to a despised nation,
+has led many a youth of brilliant promise to feel ashamed of his
+country, and almost inevitably to feel ashamed of his faith. A properly
+directed study of Irish history would tend much to remove this danger.
+During the debate on the Irish Church question, Mr. Maguire, M.P. for
+Cork, significantly remarked on the effect produced by the "deliberate
+exclusion" of any instruction in Irish history from National schools. It
+does seem curious that national history should be a forbidden subject in
+National schools, and this fact makes the appellation of "National" seem
+rather a misnomer. The result of this deliberate exclusion was
+graphically described by the honorable member. The youth comes forth
+educated, and at a most impressible age he reads for the first time the
+history of his country, and burns with indignant desire to avenge her
+many wrongs. The consequences are patent to all. It is, then, for the
+advantage of England, as well as of Ireland, that Irish history should
+be made the earliest study of Irish youth; nor is it of less importance
+that Irish history should be thoroughly known by Englishmen. It is the
+duty of every Englishman who has a vote to give, to make himself
+acquainted with the subjects on which his representative will give, in
+his name, that final decision which makes his political opinion the law
+of the land. I suppose no one will deny that the Irish Question is the
+question of the day. The prosperity of England, as well as the
+prosperity of Ireland, is involved in it. No educated man, however
+humble his station, has a right to assist in returning a member to
+Parliament without clearly comprehending the principles of his
+representative. But unless he has some comprehension of the principles
+themselves, it is of little use for him to record his vote. I do not say
+that every English voter is bound to study Irish history in detail, but
+I do say that, at the present day, he is bound to know what the Irish
+themselves demand from England; and if he considers their demands
+reasonable, he should record his vote only for those who will do their
+utmost to obtain the concessions demanded. A man is unworthy of the
+privilege of voting, if he is deficient either in the intellect or the
+inclination to understand the subject on which he votes.
+
+But it is of still more importance that members of Parliament should
+read--and not only read, but carefully study--the history of Ireland.
+Irishmen have a right to _demand_ that they shall do so. If they
+undertake to legislate for us, they are bound in conscience and in
+honour to know what we require, to know our past and our present state.
+Englishmen pride themselves on their honour; but it is neither honorable
+to undertake to govern without a thorough knowledge of the governed, or
+to misrepresent their circumstances to others whose influence may decide
+their future.
+
+It was manifest from the speech of her Majesty's minister, on the night
+of the all-important division on the Irish Church question, that he
+either had not studied Irish history, or that he had forgotten its
+details. If his statements are correctly reported by the press, they are
+inconceivably wild. It may be said that the circumstances in which he
+found himself obliged him to speak as he did, but is this an excuse
+worthy of such an honorable position? The Normans, he is reported to
+have said, conquered the land in Ireland, but in England they conquered
+completely. The most cursory acquaintance with Irish history would have
+informed the right honorable gentleman, that the Normans did _not_
+conquer the land in Ireland--no man has as yet been rash enough to
+assert that they conquered the people. The Normans obtained possession
+of a small portion, a very small portion of Irish land; and if the
+reader will glance at the map of the Pale, which will be appended to
+this edition, at the proper place, he will see precisely what extent of
+country the English held for a few hundred years. Even that portion they
+could scarcely have been said to have conquered, for they barely held it
+from day to day at the point of the sword. Morally Ireland was never
+conquered, for he would be a bold man who dared to say that the Irish
+people ever submitted nationally to the English Church established by
+law. In fact, so rash does the attempt seem even to those who most
+desire to make it, that they are fain to find refuge and consolation in
+the supposed introduction of Protestantism into Ireland by St. Patrick,
+a thousand years and more before that modern phase of religious thought
+appeared to divide the Christian world.
+
+But I deny that Ireland has ever been really conquered; and even should
+the most sanguinary suggestions proposed in a nineteenth-century serial
+be carried out, I am certain she could not be. Ireland has never been
+permanently subdued by Dane or Norman, Dutchman or Saxon; nor has she
+ever been _really_ united to England. A man is surely not united to a
+jailer because he is bound to him by an iron chain which his jailer has
+forged for his safe keeping. This is not union; and the term "United
+Kingdom" is in fact a most miserable misnomer. Unity requires something
+more than a mere material approximation. I believe it to be _possible_
+that England and Ireland may become united; and if ever this should be
+accomplished, let no man forget that the first link in the golden chain
+issued from the hands of the right honorable member for South
+Lancashire, when he proposed equality of government on religious
+questions--the first step towards that equality of government which
+alone can effect a moral union of the two countries. It might be
+treasonable to hint that some noble-hearted men, who loved their country
+not wisely but too well, and who are paying in lifelong anguish the
+penalty of their patriotism, had anything to do with the formation of
+this golden chain--so I shall not hint it.
+
+I believe the Fenian movement, at one time scouted as a mere ebullition,
+at another time treated as a dangerous and terrible rebellion, has done
+at least this one good to England--it has compelled honest and honorable
+men to inquire each for himself what are the grievances of Ireland, and
+why she continues disaffected to English rule. For men who are honest
+and honorable to make such inquiries, is the first step, and a certain
+step, towards their remedy; and as I glanced down the list of the _ayes_
+in the division, I could see the names of men who, in England, have been
+distinguished during years for their private and public virtues, and who
+have been lavish in their charities whenever their own countrymen
+required their assistance.
+
+There can be little doubt that a new era has dawned upon old Erinn's
+shores. It remains to be proved if her sons shall be as faithful in
+prosperity as they have been in adversity. It remains to be proved, if
+opportunities are afforded us of obtaining higher intellectual culture
+without the danger of the moral deterioration which might have attended
+that culture under other circumstances, whether we shall avail ourselves
+of them to the full. May we not hope that Ireland will become once more
+famous both for learning and sanctity. The future of our nation is in
+the hands of the Irish hierarchy. No government dare refuse anything
+which they may demand perseveringly and unitedly. The people who have
+been guided by them, and saved by them for so many centuries, will
+follow as they lead. If their tone of intellectual culture is elevated,
+the people will become elevated also; and we shall hear no more of those
+reproaches, which are a disgrace to those who utter them, rather than to
+those of whom they are uttered. Let our people be taught to appreciate
+something higher than a mere ephemeral literature; let them be taught to
+take an interest in the antiquities and the glorious past of their
+nation; and then let them learn the history of other peoples and of
+other races. A high ecclesiastical authority has declared recently that
+"ecclesiastics do not cease to be citizens," and that they do not
+consider anything which affects the common weal of their country is
+remote from their duty. The clergy of the diocese of Limerick, headed by
+their Dean, and, it must be presumed, with the sanction of their Bishop,
+have given a tangible proof that they coincide in opinion with his Grace
+the Archbishop of Westminster. The letter addressed to Earl Grey by that
+prelate, should be in the hands of every Irishman; and it is with no
+ordinary gratification that we acknowledge the kindness and
+condescension of his Grace in favouring us with an early copy of it.
+
+This letter treats of the two great questions of the day with admirable
+discretion. As I hope that every one who reads these pages possesses a
+copy of the pamphlet, I shall merely draw attention to two paragraphs in
+it: one in which Fenianism is treated of in that rational spirit which
+appears to have been completely lost sight of in the storm of angry
+discussion which it has excited. On this subject his Grace writes: "It
+would be blindness not to see, and madness to deny, that we have entered
+into another crisis in the relation of England and Ireland, of which
+'98, '28, and '48 were precursors;" and he argues with clearness and
+authority, that when Englishmen once have granted justice to Ireland,
+Ireland will cease to accuse England of injustice.
+
+To one other paragraph in this remarkable letter, I shall briefly
+allude: "I do not think Englishmen are enough aware of the harm some
+among us do by a contemptuous, satirical, disrespectful, defiant,
+language in speaking of Ireland and the Irish people." From peculiar
+circumstances, the present writer has had more than ordinary
+opportunities of verifying the truth of this statement. The wound caused
+by a sarcastic expression may often fester far longer than the wound
+caused by a hasty blow. The evil caused by such language is by no means
+confined entirely to Protestants. There are, indeed, but few English
+Catholics who speak contemptuously of Ireland, of its people, or of its
+history; but, if I am to credit statements which have been made to me on
+unquestionable authority, there are some who are not free from this
+injustice. A half-commiserating tone of patronage is quite as offensive
+as open contempt; and yet there have been instances where English
+Catholic writers, while obliged to show some deference to Ireland and
+the Irish, in order to secure the patronage and support of that country
+for their publications, have at the same time, when they dared, thrown
+out insinuations against peculiarities of Irish character, and made
+efforts to discredit Irish historical documents.
+
+I had intended, in preparing the Second Edition of the "Illustrated
+History of Ireland," to omit the original Preface, in order to leave
+more space for the historical portion of the work. When this intention
+was mentioned, several laymen and ecclesiastics expostulated so
+earnestly against it, that I have been obliged to yield to their
+request. I am aware that some few persons objected to my remarks on the
+state of land laws in Ireland, or rather on the want of proper land
+laws; but the opinion of those interested in maintaining an evil, will
+always be averse to its exposure; and I cannot conceive how any one who
+desires an injustice to be removed, can object to a fair and impartial
+discussion of the subject. An English writer, also, has made some
+childish remarks about the materials for Irish history not being yet
+complete, and inferred that in consequence an Irish history could not
+yet be written. His observations are too puerile to need refutation. I
+have been informed also that some objection has been made to a
+"political preface;" and that one gentleman, whose name I have not had
+the honour of hearing, has designated the work as a "political
+pamphlet." Even were not Irish history exceptional, I confess myself
+perplexed to understand how history and politics can be severed. An
+author may certainly write a perfectly colourless history, but he must
+state the opinions of different parties, and the acts consequent on
+those opinions, even should he do so without any observation of his own.
+I never for a moment entertained the intention of writing such a
+history, though I freely confess I have exercised considerable
+self-restraint as to the expression of my own opinion when writing some
+portions of the present work. You might as well attempt to write an
+ecclesiastical history without the slightest reference to different
+religious opinions, as attempt to write the history of any nation, and,
+above all, of Ireland, without special and distinct reference to the
+present and past political opinions of the different sections of which
+the nation is composed. Such suggestions are only worthy of those who,
+when facts are painful, try to avert the wound they cause by turning on
+the framer of the weapon which has driven these facts a little deeper
+than usual into their intellectual conception; or of those uneducated,
+or low-minded, even if educated persons, who consider that a woman
+cannot write a history, and would confine her literary efforts to
+sensation novels and childish tales. I am thankful, and I hope I am not
+unduly proud, that men of the highest intellectual culture, both in
+England and Ireland, on the Continent of Europe, and in America, have
+pronounced a very different judgment on the present work, and on the
+desire of the writer to raise her countrywomen to higher mental efforts
+than are required by the almost exclusive perusal of works of fiction.
+If women may excel as painters and sculptors, why may not a woman
+attempt to excel as an historian? Men of cultivated intellect, far from
+wishing to depreciate such efforts, will be the first to encourage them
+with more than ordinary warmth; the opinions of other persons, whatever
+may be their position, are of little value.
+
+On the Irish Church question I feel it unnecessary to say more than a
+word of congratulation to my countrymen, and of hearty thanks for the
+noble conduct of so many Englishmen at this important crisis. Irish
+Protestants have been quite as national as Irish Catholics; and now that
+the fatal bane of religious dissension has been removed, we may hope
+that Irishmen, of all classes and creeds, will work together
+harmoniously for the good of their common country: and thus one great
+means of Irish prosperity will be opened. The Irish are eminently a
+justice-loving people. Let justice once be granted to them, and there is
+that in their national character which will make them accept as a boon
+what others might accept as a right.
+
+In concluding the Preface to this Edition, I cannot omit to express my
+grateful thanks to Sir William Wilde, and other members of the Royal
+Irish Academy, through whose kindness I obtained the special favour of
+being permitted to copy some of the most valuable illustrations of Irish
+antiquities contained in their Catalogue, and which has enabled the
+reader, for the first time, to have an Irish history illustrated with
+Irish antiquities--a favour which it is hoped an increase of cultivated
+taste amongst our people will enable them to appreciate more and more.
+To John O'Hagan, Esq., Q.C., I owe a debt of gratitude which cannot
+easily be repaid, for the time he bestowed on the correction of the
+proofs of the First Edition, and for many kind suggestions, and much
+valuable advice. I am indebted, also, to M.J. Rhodes, Esq., of
+Hoddersfield, for a liberal use of his library, perhaps one of the most
+valuable private libraries in Ireland, and for permitting me to retain,
+for a year and more, some of its most costly treasures. The same
+kindness was also granted by the Rev. D. M'Carthy, Professor of Sacred
+Scripture and Hebrew at Maynooth, who is himself doing so much for its
+ecclesiastical students by his valuable literary labours, and who was
+one of the first to urge me to undertake this work. In preparing the
+Second Edition, I am not a little indebted to the Rev. James Gaffney,
+C.C., M.R.I.A., of Clontarf, who, even during the heavy pressure of
+Lenten parochial duties, has found time to give me the benefit of many
+important suggestions, and to show his love of Ireland by deeming no
+effort too great to further a knowledge of her glorious history. I am
+also indebted to the Rev. John Shearman, C.C., M.R.I.A., of Howth, for
+the valuable paper read before the R.I.A., on the "Inscribed Stones at
+Killeen Cormac;" and to many other authors who have presented me with
+their works; amongst the number, none were more acceptable than the
+poems of Dr. Ferguson, and the beautiful and gracefully written _Irish
+before the Conquest_, of Mrs. Ferguson, whose gifts are all the more
+treasured for the peculiar kindness with which they were presented.
+
+To my old friend, Denis Florence MacCarthy, Esq., M.R.I.A., who should
+be the laureate of Ireland--and why should not Ireland, that land of
+song, have her laureate?--I can only offer my affectionate thanks, for
+his kindnesses are too numerous to record, and are so frequent that they
+would scarcely bear enumeration. At this moment, Roderick O'Flanagan,
+Esq., M.R.I.A., has found, or rather made, leisure, amongst his many
+professional and literary occupations, to prepare the valuable and
+important map of Irish families, which will be given _gratis_ to all
+subscribers, and in which W.H. Hennessy, Esq., M.R.I.A., at present
+employed by Government on the important work of publishing ancient Irish
+MS., will also give his assistance.
+
+To many of the gentlemen in Cork, and principally to Nicholas Murphy,
+Esq., of Norwood, and Eugene M'Sweeny, Esq., I cannot fail to offer my
+best thanks, for the generous help they have given in promoting the sale
+of the First Edition, and for over-payments of subscriptions, made
+unasked, and with the most considerate kindness, when they found the
+heavy cost of the First Edition was likely to prove a loss to the
+convent, in consequence of expenses which could scarcely be foreseen in
+the increased size of the work, and the high class of engravings used,
+which demanded an immense outlay in their production. The subscribers to
+the Second Edition are indebted to not a few of the subscribers to the
+First, many of them priests with limited incomes, for the generosity
+which has enabled them to obtain this new issue on such favourable
+terms. It is with feelings of no ordinary pleasure that I add also the
+names of the Superioresses of nearly all the convents of the order of
+Our Lady of Mercy and of the order of the Presentation, to the list of
+our benefactors. With the exception of, perhaps, two or three convents
+of each order, they have been unanimous in their generous efforts to
+assist the circulation of the Irish History, and of all our
+publications; and this kindness has been felt by us all the more deeply,
+because from our own poverty, and the poverty of the district in which
+we live, we have been unable to make them any return, or to assist them
+even by the sale of tickets for their bazaars. Such disinterested
+charity is, indeed, rare; and the efforts made by these religious--the
+true centres of civilization in Ireland--to promote the education and to
+improve the moral and intellectual tone of the lower and middle classes,
+are beyond all praise, combined, as these efforts are, with
+never-ceasing labour for the spiritual and temporal good of the poor in
+their respective districts. Nor should I omit a word for the friends
+across the wide Atlantic, to whom the very name of Ireland is so
+precious, and to whom Irish history is so dear. The Most Rev. Dr.
+Purcell, Archbishop of Cincinnati, has pronounced the work to be the
+only Irish history worthy of the name. John Mitchel has proclaimed, in
+the _Irish Citizen_, that a woman has accomplished what men have failed
+to do; and Alderman Ternan, at a banquet in New Fork, has uttered the
+same verdict, and declares that there, at least, no other history can
+compete with ours, although Moore and D'Arcy Magee have preceded us in
+their efforts to promote the knowledge of what Ireland has been, and the
+hope of what Ireland may yet become.
+
+M.F.C.
+ST. CLARE'S CONTENT, KENMARK, CO. KERRY,
+May 8th, 1868.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[A] The Rev. U. Burke, of St. Jarlath's College, Tuam, has a note on
+this subject, in a work which he is at this moment passing through the
+press, and which he kindly permits me to publish. He says: "This book
+[the "Illustrated History of Ireland"] ought to be in the hands of every
+young student and of every young Irish maiden attending the convent
+schools. Oh, for ten thousand Irish ladies knowing the history of
+Ireland! How few know anything of it! The present volume, by Sister
+Francis Clare, is an atoning sacrifice for this sin of neglect."
+
+I am aware that the price of the "Illustrated History of Ireland," even
+in its present form, although it is offered at a sacrifice which no
+bookseller would make, is an obstacle to its extensive use as a school
+history. We purpose, however, before long, to publish a history for the
+use of schools, at a very low price, and yet of a size to admit of
+sufficient expansion for the purpose. Our countrymen must, however,
+remember that only a very large number of orders can enable the work to
+be published as cheaply as it should be. It would save immense trouble
+and expense, if priests, managers of schools, and the heads of colleges,
+would send orders for a certain number of copies at once. If every
+priest, convent, and college, ordered twelve copies for their schools,
+the work could be put in hands immediately.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+TO THE FIRST EDITION.
+
+
+The history of the different races who form an integral portion of the
+British Empire, should be one of the most carefully cultivated studies
+of every member of that nation. To be ignorant of our own history, is a
+disgrace; to be ignorant of the history of those whom we govern, is an
+injustice. We can neither govern ourselves nor others without a thorough
+knowledge of peculiarities of disposition which may require restraint,
+and of peculiarities of temperament which may require development. We
+must know that water can extinguish fire, before it occurs to us to put
+out a fire by the use of water. We must know that fire, when properly
+used, is a beneficent element of nature, and one which can be used to
+our advantage when properly controlled, before we shall attempt to avail
+ourselves of it for a general or a particular benefit. I believe a time
+has come when the Irish are more than ever anxious to study their
+national history. I believe a time has come when the English nation, or
+at least a majority of the English nation, are willing to read that
+history without prejudice, and to consider it with impartiality.
+
+When first I proposed to write a History of Ireland, at the earnest
+request of persons to whose opinion. I felt bound to defer, I was
+assured by many that it was useless; that Irishmen did not support Irish
+literature; above all, that the Irish clergy were indifferent to it, and
+to literature in general. I have since ascertained, by personal
+experience, that this charge is utterly unfounded, though I am free to
+admit it was made on what appeared to be good authority. It is certainly
+to be wished that there was a more general love of reading cultivated
+amongst the Catholics of Ireland, but the deficiency is on a fair way to
+amendment. As a body, the Irish priesthood may not be devoted to
+literature; but as a body, unquestionably they are devoted--nobly
+devoted--to the spread of education amongst their people.
+
+With regard to Englishmen, I cannot do better than quote the speech of
+an English member of Parliament, Alderman Salomons, who has just
+addressed his constituents at Greenwich in these words:--
+
+     "The state of Ireland will, doubtless, be a prominent subject of
+     discussion next session. Any one who sympathizes with distressed
+     nationalities in their struggles, must, when he hears of the
+     existence of a conspiracy in Ireland, similar to those combinations
+     which used to be instituted in Poland in opposition to Russian
+     oppression, be deeply humiliated. Let the grievances of the Irish
+     people be probed, and let them be remedied when their true nature
+     is discovered. Fenianism is rife, not only in Ireland, but also in
+     England, and an armed police required, which is an insult to our
+     liberty. I did not know much of the Irish land question, but I know
+     that measures have been over and over again brought into the House
+     of Commons with a view to its settlement, and over and over again
+     they have been cushioned or silently withdrawn. If the question can
+     be satisfactorily settled, why let it be so, and let us conciliate
+     the people of Ireland by wise and honorable means. The subject of
+     the Irish Church must also be considered. I hold in my hand an
+     extract from the report of the commissioner of the Dublin
+     _Freeman's Journal_, who is now examining the question. It stated
+     what will be to you almost incredible--namely, that the population
+     of the united dioceses of Cashel, Emly, Waterford, and Lismore is
+     370,978, and that of those only 13,000 are members of the
+     Established Church, while 340,000 are Roman Catholics. If you had
+     read of this state of things existing in any other country, you
+     would call out loudly against it. Such a condition of things, in
+     which large revenues are devoted, not for the good of the many, but
+     the few, if it does not justify Fenianism, certainly does justify a
+     large measure of discontent. I am aware of the difficulties in the
+     way of settling the question, owing to the fear of a collision
+     between Protestants and Catholics; but I think Parliament ought to
+     have the power to make the Irish people contented."
+
+This speech, I believe, affords a fair idea of the opinion of educated
+and unprejudiced Englishmen on the Irish question. They do not know much
+about Irish history; they have heard a great deal about Irish
+grievances, and they have a vague idea that there is something wrong
+about the landlords, and something wrong about the ecclesiastical
+arrangements of the country. I believe a careful study of Irish history
+is essential to the comprehension of the Irish question; and it is
+obviously the moral duty of every man who has a voice in the government
+of the nation, to make himself master of the subject. I believe there
+are honest and honorable men in England, who would stand aghast with
+horror if they thoroughly understood the injustices to which Ireland has
+been and _still is_ subject. The English, as a nation, profess the most
+ardent veneration for liberty. To be a patriot, to desire to free one's
+country, unless, indeed, that country happen to have some very close
+connexion with their own, is the surest way to obtain ovations and
+applause. It is said that circumstances alter cases; they certainly
+alter opinions, but they do not alter facts. An Englishman applauds and
+assists insurrection in countries where they profess to have for their
+object the freedom of the individual or of the nation; he imprisons and
+stifles it at home, where the motive is precisely similar, and the
+cause, in the eyes of the insurgents at least, incomparably more valid.
+But I do not wish to raise a vexed question, or to enter on political
+discussions; my object in this Preface is simply to bring before the
+minds of Englishmen that they have a duty to perform towards Ireland--a
+duty which they cannot cast aside on others--a duty which it may be for
+their interest, as well as for their honour, to fulfil. I wish to draw
+the attention of Englishmen to those Irish grievances which are
+generally admitted to exist, and which can only be fully understood by a
+careful and unprejudiced perusal of Irish history, past and present.
+Until grievances are thoroughly understood, they are not likely to be
+thoroughly remedied. While they continue to exist, there can be no real
+peace in Ireland, and English prosperity must suffer in a degree from
+Irish disaffection.
+
+It is generally admitted by all, except those who are specially
+interested in the denial, that the Land question and the Church question
+are the two great subjects which lie at the bottom of the Irish
+difficulty. The difficulties of the Land question commenced in the reign
+of Henry II.; the difficulties of the Church question commenced in the
+reign of Henry VIII. I shall request your attention briefly to the
+standpoints in Irish history from which we may take a clear view of
+these subjects. I shall commence with the Land question, because I
+believe it to be the more important of the two, and because I hope to
+show that the Church question is intimately connected with it.
+
+In the reign of Henry II., certain Anglo-Norman nobles came to Ireland,
+and, partly by force and partly by intermarriages, obtained estates in
+that country. Their tenure was the tenure of the sword. By the sword
+they expelled persons whose families had possessed those lands for
+centuries; and by the sword they compelled these persons, through
+poverty, consequent on loss of property, to take the position of
+inferiors where they had been masters. You will observe that this first
+English settlement in Ireland was simply a colonization on a very small
+scale. Under such circumstances, if the native population are averse to
+the colonization, and if the new and the old races do not amalgamate, a
+settled feeling of aversion, more or less strong, is established on both
+sides. The natives hate the colonist, because he has done them a
+grievous injury by taking possession of their lands; the colonist hates
+the natives, because they are in his way; and, if he be possessed of
+"land hunger," they are an impediment to the gratification of his
+desires. It should be observed that there is a wide difference between
+colonization and conquest The Saxons conquered what we may presume to
+have been the aboriginal inhabitants of England; the Normans conquered
+the Saxon: the conquest in both cases was sufficiently complete to
+amalgamate the races--the interest of the different nationalities became
+one. The Norman lord scorned the Saxon churl quite as contemptuously as
+he scorned the Irish Celt; but there was this very important
+difference--the interests of the noble and the churl soon became one;
+they worked for the prosperity of their common country. In Ireland, on
+the contrary, the interests were opposite. The Norman noble hated the
+Celt as a people whom he could not subdue, but desired most ardently to
+dispossess; the Celt hated the invader as a man most naturally will hate
+the individual who is just strong enough to keep a wound open by his
+struggles, and not strong enough to end the suffering by killing the
+victim.
+
+The land question commenced when Strongbow set his foot on Irish soil;
+the land question will remain a disgrace to England, and a source of
+misery to Ireland, until the whole system inaugurated by Strongbow has
+been reversed. "At the commencement of the connexion between England and
+Ireland," says Mr. Goldwin Smith, "the foundation was inevitably laid
+for the fatal system of ascendency--a system under which the dominant
+party were paid for their services in keeping down rebels by a monopoly
+of power and emolument, and thereby strongly tempted to take care that
+there should always be rebels to keep down." There is a fallacy or two
+in this statement; but let it pass. The Irish were not rebels then,
+certainly, for they were not under English dominion; but it is something
+to find English writers expatiating on Irish wrongs; and if they would
+only act as generously and as boldly as they speak, the Irish question
+would receive an early and a most happy settlement.
+
+For centuries Ireland was left to the mercy and the selfishness of
+colonists. Thus, with each succeeding generation, the feeling of hatred
+towards the English was intensified with each new act of injustice, and
+such acts were part of the normal rule of the invaders. A lord deputy
+was sent after a time to rule the country. Perhaps a more unfortunate
+form of government could not have been selected for Ireland. The lord
+deputy knew that he was subject to recall at any moment; he had neither
+a personal nor a hereditary interest in the country. He came to make his
+fortune there, or to increase it. He came to rule for his own benefit,
+or for the benefit of his nation. The worst of kings has, at least, an
+hereditary interest in the country which he governs; the best of lord
+deputies might say that, if he did not oppress and plunder for himself,
+other men would do it for themselves: why, then, should he be the loser,
+when the people would not be gainers by his loss?
+
+When parliaments began to be held, and when laws were enacted, every
+possible arrangement was made to keep the two nations at variance, and
+to intensify the hostility which already existed. The clergy were set at
+variance. Irish priests were forbidden to enter certain monasteries,
+which were reserved for the use of their English brethren; Irish
+ecclesiastics were refused admission to certain Church properties in
+Ireland, that English ecclesiastics might have the benefit of them.
+Lionel, Duke of Clarence, when Viceroy of Ireland, issued a
+proclamation, forbidding the "Irish by birth" even to come near his
+army, until he found that he could not do without soldiers, even should
+they have the misfortune to be Irish. The Irish and English were
+forbidden to intermarry several centuries before the same bar was placed
+against the union of Catholics and Protestants. The last and not the
+least of the fearful series of injustices enacted, in the name of
+justice, at the Parliament of Kilkenny, was the statute which denied,
+which positively refused, the benefit of English law to Irishmen, and
+equally forbid them to use the Brehon law, which is even now the
+admiration of jurists, and which had been the law of the land for many
+centuries.
+
+If law could be said to enact that there should be no law, this was
+precisely what was done at the memorable Parliament of Kilkenny. If
+Irishmen had done this, it would have been laughed at as a Hibernicism,
+or scorned as the basest villany; but it was the work of Englishmen, and
+the Irish nation were treated as rebels if they attempted to resist. The
+confiscation of Church property in the reign of Henry VIII., added a new
+sting to the land grievance, and introduced a new feature in its
+injustice. Church property had been used for the benefit of the poor far
+more than for the benefit of its possessors. It is generally admitted
+that the monks of the middle ages were the best and most considerate
+landlords. Thousands of families were now cast upon the mercy of the new
+proprietors, whose will was their only law; and a considerable number of
+persons were deprived of the alms which these religious so freely
+distributed to the sick and the aged. Poverty multiplied fearfully, and
+discontent in proportion. You will see, by a careful perusal of this
+history, that the descendants of the very men who had driven out the
+original proprietors of Irish estates, were in turn driven out
+themselves by the next set of colonists. It was a just retribution, but
+it was none the less terrible. Banishments and confiscations were the
+rule by which Irish property was administered. Can you be surprised that
+the Irish looked on English adventurers as little better than robbers,
+and treated them as such? If the English Government had made just and
+equitable land laws for Ireland at or immediately after the Union, all
+the miseries which have occurred since then might have been prevented.
+Unfortunately, the men who had to legislate for Ireland are interested
+in the maintenance of the unjust system; and there is an old proverb, as
+true as it is old, about the blindness of those who do not wish to see.
+Irish landlords, or at least a considerable number of Irish landlords,
+are quite willing to admit that the existence of the Established Church
+is a grievance. Irish Protestant clergymen, who are not possessed by an
+anti-Popery crochet--and, thank God, there are few afflicted with that
+unfortunate disease now--are quite free to admit that it is a grievance
+for a tenant to be subject to ejection by his landlord, _even if he pays
+his rent punctually_.
+
+
+I believe the majority of Englishmen have not the faintest idea of the
+way in which the Irish tenant is oppressed, _not by individuals_, for
+there are many landlords in Ireland devoted to their tenantry, but by a
+system. There are, however, it cannot be denied, cases of individual
+oppression, which, if they occurred in any part of Great Britain, and
+were publicly known, would raise a storm, from the Land's End to John o'
+Groat's House, that would take something more than revolvers to settle.
+As one of the great objects of studying the history of our own country,
+is to enable us to understand and to enact such regulations as shall be
+best suited to the genius of each race and their peculiar circumstances,
+I believe it to be my duty as an historian, on however humble a scale,
+not only to show how our present history is affected by the past, but
+also to give you such a knowledge of our present history as may enable
+you to judge how much the country is still suffering from _present
+grievances_, occasioned by past maladministration. Englishmen are quite
+aware that thousands of Irishmen leave their homes every year for a
+foreign country; but they have little idea of the cause of this
+emigration. Englishmen are quite aware that from time to time
+insurrections break out in Ireland, which seem to them very absurd, if
+not very wicked; but they do not know how much grave cause there is for
+discontent in Ireland. The very able and valuable pamphlets which have
+been written on these subjects by Mr. Butt and Mr. Levey, and on the
+Church question by Mr. De Vere, do not reach the English middle classes,
+or probably even the upper classes, unless their attention is directed
+to them individually. The details of the sufferings and ejectments of
+the Irish peasantry, which are given from time to time in the Irish
+papers, and principally in the Irish _local_ papers, are never even
+known across the Channel. How, then, can the condition of Ireland, or of
+the Irish people, be estimated as it should? I believe there is a love
+of fair play and manly justice in the English nation, which only needs
+to be excited in order to be brought to act.
+
+But ignorance on this subject is not wholly confined to the English. I
+fear there are many persons, even in Ireland, who are but imperfectly
+acquainted with the working of their own land laws, if, indeed, what
+sanctions injustice deserves the name of law. To avoid prolixity, I
+shall state very briefly the position of an Irish tenant at the present
+day, and I shall show (1) how this position leads to misery, (2) how
+misery leads to emigration, and (3) how this injustice recoils upon the
+heads of the perpetrators by leading to rebellion. First, the position
+of an Irish tenant is simply this: he is rather worse off than a slave.
+I speak advisedly. In Russia, the proprietors of large estates worked by
+slaves, are obliged to feed and clothe their slaves; in Ireland, it
+quite depends on the will of the proprietor whether he will let his
+lands to his tenants on terms which will enable them to feed their
+families on the coarsest food, and to clothe them in the coarsest
+raiment If a famine occurs--and in some parts of Ireland famines are of
+annual occurrence--the landlord is not obliged to do anything for his
+tenant, but the tenant _must_ pay his rent. I admit there are humane
+landlords in Ireland; but these are questions of fact, not of feeling.
+It is a most flagrant injustice that Irish landlords should have the
+power of dispossessing their tenants if they pay their rents. But this
+is not all; although the penal laws have been repealed, the power of the
+landlord over the conscience of his tenant is unlimited. It is true he
+cannot apply bodily torture, except, indeed, the torture of starvation,
+but he can apply mental torture. It is in the power of an Irish landlord
+to eject his tenant if he does not vote according to his wishes. A man
+who has no conscience, has no moral right to vote; a man who tyrannizes
+over the conscience of another, should have no legal right. But there is
+yet a deeper depth. I believe you will be lost in amazement at what is
+yet to come, and will say, as Mr. Young said of penal laws in the last
+century, that they were more "fitted for the meridian of Barbary." You
+have heard, no doubt, of wholesale evictions; they are of frequent
+occurrence in Ireland--sometimes from political motives, because the
+poor man will not vote with his landlord; sometimes from religious
+motives, because the poor man will not worship God according to his
+landlord's conscience; sometimes from selfish motives, because his
+landlord wishes to enlarge his domain, or to graze more cattle. The
+motive does not matter much to the poor victim. He is flung out upon the
+roadside; if he is very poor, he may die there, or he may go to the
+workhouse, but he must not be taken in, even for a time, by any other
+family on the estate. The Irish Celt, with his warm heart and generous
+impulses, would, at all risks to himself, take in the poor outcasts, and
+share his poverty with them; but the landlord could not allow this. The
+commission of one evil deed necessitates the commission of another. An
+Irish gentleman, who has no personal interest in land, and is therefore
+able to look calmly on the question, has been at the pains to collect
+instances of this tyranny, in his _Plea for the Celtic Race._ I shall
+only mention one as a sample. In the year 1851, on an estate which was
+at the time supposed to be one of the most fairly treated in Ireland,
+"the agent of the property had given public notice to the tenantry that
+expulsion from their farms would be the penalty inflicted on them, if
+they harboured _any one_ not resident on the estate. The penalty was
+enforced against a widow, for giving food and shelter _to a destitute
+grandson of twelve years old_. The child's mother at one time held a
+little dwelling, from which she was expelled; his father was dead. He
+found a refuge with his grandmother, who was ejected from her farm for
+harbouring the poor boy." When such things can occur, we should not hear
+anything more about the Irish having only "sentimental grievances." The
+poor child was eventually driven from house to house. He stole a
+shilling and a hen--poor fellow!--what else could he be expected to do?
+He wandered about, looking in vain for shelter from those who dared not
+give it. He was expelled with circumstances of peculiar cruelty from one
+cabin. He was found next morning, cold, stiff, and dead, on the ground
+outside. The poor people who had refused him shelter, were tried for
+their lives. They were found guilty of manslaughter _only_, in
+consideration of the agent's order. The agent was not found guilty of
+anything, nor even tried. The landlord was supposed to be a model
+landlord, and his estates were held up at the very time as models; yet
+evictions had been fearfully and constantly carried out on them. Mr.
+Butt has well observed: "The rules of the estate are often the most
+arbitrary and the most sternly enforced upon great estates, the property
+of men of the highest station, upon which rents are moderate, and no
+harshness practised to the tenantry, who implicitly submit." Such
+landlords generally consider emigration the great remedy for the evils
+of Ireland. They point to their own well-regulated and well-weeded
+estates; but they do not tell you all the human suffering it cost to
+exile those who were turned out to make room for large dairy farms, or
+all the quiet tyranny exercised over those who still remain. Neither
+does it occur to them that their successors may raise these moderate
+rents at a moment's notice; and if their demands are not complied with,
+he may eject these "comfortable farmers" without one farthing of
+compensation for all their improvements and their years of labour.
+
+I have shown how the serfdom of the Irish tenant leads to misery. But
+the subject is one which would require a volume. No one can understand
+the depth of Irish misery who has not lived in Ireland, and taken pains
+to become acquainted with the habits and manner of life of the lower
+orders. The tenant who is kept at starvation point to pay his landlord's
+rent, has no means of providing for his family. He cannot encourage
+trade; his sons cannot get work to do, if they are taught trades.
+Emigration or the workhouse is the only resource. I think the efforts
+which are made by the poor in Ireland to get work are absolutely
+unexampled, and it is a cruel thing that a man who is willing to work
+should not be able to get it. I know an instance in which a girl
+belonging to a comparatively respectable family was taken into service,
+and it was discovered that for years her only food, and the only food of
+her family, was dry bread, and, as an occasional luxury, weak tea. So
+accustomed had she become to this wretched fare, that she actually could
+not even eat an egg. She and her family have gone to America; and I have
+no doubt, after a few years, that the weakened organs will recover their
+proper tone, with the gradual use of proper food.
+
+There is another ingredient in Irish misery which has not met with the
+consideration it deserves. If the landlord happens to be humane, he may
+interest himself in the welfare of the _families_ of his tenantry. He
+may also send a few pounds to them for coals at Christmas, or for
+clothing; but such instances are unhappily rare, and the alms given is
+_comparatively_ nothing. In England the case is precisely the reverse.
+On this subject I speak from personal knowledge. There is scarcely a
+little village in England, however poor, where there is not a committee
+of ladies, assisted by the neighbouring gentry, who distribute coals,
+blankets, and clothing in winter; and at all times, where there is
+distress, give bread, tea, and meat. Well may the poor Irish come home
+discontented after they have been to work in England, and see how
+differently the poor are treated there. I admit, and I repeat it again,
+that there are instances in which the landlord takes an interest in his
+tenantry, but those instances are exceptions. Many of these gentlemen,
+who possess the largest tracts of land in Ireland, have also large
+estates in England, and they seldom, sometimes _never_, visit their
+Irish estates. They leave it to their agent. Every application for
+relief is referred to the agent. The agent, however humane, cannot be
+expected to have the same interest in the people as a landlord _ought_
+to have. The agent is the instrument used to draw out the last farthing
+from the poor; he is constantly in collision with them. They naturally
+dislike him; and he, not unnaturally, dislikes them.
+
+The burden, therefore, of giving that relief to the poor, which they
+always require in times of sickness, and when they cannot get work,
+falls almost exclusively upon the priests and the convents. Were it not
+for the exertions made by the priests and nuns throughout Ireland for
+the support of the poor, and to obtain work for them, and the immense
+sums of money sent to Ireland by emigrants, for the support of aged
+fathers and mothers, I believe the destitution would be something
+appalling, and that landlords would find it even more difficult than at
+present to get the high rents which they demand. Yet, some of these same
+landlords, getting perhaps £20,000 or £40,000 a-year from their Irish
+estates, will not give the slightest help to establish industrial
+schools in connexion with convents, or to assist them when they are
+established, though they are the means of helping their own tenants to
+pay their rent. There are in Ireland about two hundred conventual
+establishments. Nearly all of these convents have poor schools, where
+the poor are taught, either at a most trifling expense, or altogether
+without charge. The majority of these convents feed and clothe a
+considerable number of poor children, and many of them have established
+industrial schools, where a few girls at least can earn what will almost
+support a whole family in comfort. I give the statistics of one convent
+as a sample of others. I believe there are a few, but perhaps only a
+very few other places, where the statistics would rise higher; but there
+are many convents where the children are fed and clothed, and where work
+is done on a smaller scale. If such institutions were encouraged by the
+landlords, much more could be done. The convent to which I allude was
+founded at the close of the year 1861. There was a national school in
+the little town (in England it would be called a village), with an
+attendance of about forty children. The numbers rose rapidly year by
+year, after the arrival of the nuns, and at present the average daily
+attendance is just 400. It would be very much higher, were it not for
+the steady decrease in the population, caused by emigration. The
+emigration would have been very much greater, had not the parish priest
+given employment to a considerable number of men, by building a new
+church, convent, and convent schools. The poorest of the children, and,
+in Ireland, none but the very poorest will accept such alms, get a
+breakfast of Indian meal and milk all the year round. The comfort of
+this hot meal to them, when they come in half-clad and starving of a
+winter morning, can only be estimated by those who have seen the
+children partake of it, and heard the cries of delight of the babies of
+a year old, and the quiet expression of thankfulness of the elder
+children. Before they go home they get a piece of dry bread, and this is
+their dinner--a dinner the poorest English child would almost refuse.
+The number of meals given at present is 350 per diem. The totals of
+meals given per annum since 1862 are as follows:--
+
+During the year 1862 ...... 36,400
+  "     "       1863 ...... 45,800
+  "     "       1864 ...... 46,700
+  "     "       1865 ...... 49,000
+  "     "       1866 ...... 70,000
+  "     "       1867 ...... 73,000
+                           _______
+
+       Making a total of   320,900
+
+There were also 1,035 _suits_ of clothing given.
+
+The Industrial School was established in 1863. It has been principally
+supported by English ladies and Protestants. The little town where the
+convent is situated, is visited by tourists during the summer months;
+and many who have visited the convent have been so much struck by the
+good they saw done there, that they have actually devoted themselves to
+selling work amongst their English friends for the poor children.
+
+The returns of work sold in the Industrial School are as follows:--
+
+                          £  s. d.
+Work sold in 1863 .....  70  3  6-1/2
+ "     "     1864 ..... 109 18  5
+ "     "     1805 ..... 276  1  3-1/2
+ "     "     1866 ..... 421 16  3
+ "     "     1867 ..... 350  2  4-1/2
+                       ______________
+
+   Making a total of £1,228  1 10-1/2
+
+The falling off in 1867 has been accounted for partly from the Fenian
+panic, which prevented tourists visiting Ireland as numerously as in
+other years, and partly from the attraction of the French Exhibition
+having drawn tourists in that direction. I have been exact in giving
+these details, because they form an important subject for consideration
+in regard to the present history of Ireland. They show at once the
+poverty of the people, their love of industry, and their eagerness to do
+work when they can get it. In this, and in other convent schools
+throughout Ireland, the youngest children are trained to habits of
+industry. They are paid even for their first imperfect attempts, to
+encourage them to go on; and they treasure up the few weekly pence they
+earn as a lady would her jewels. One child had in this way nearly saved
+up enough to buy herself a pair of shoes--a luxury she had not as yet
+possessed; but before the whole amount was procured she went to her
+eternal home, where there is no want, and her last words were a message
+of love and gratitude to the nuns who had taught her.
+
+The causes of emigration, as one should think, are patent to all.
+Landlords do not deny that they are anxious to see the people leave the
+country. They give them every assistance to do so. Their object is to
+get more land into their own hands, but the policy will eventually prove
+suicidal. A revolutionary spirit is spreading fast through Europe.
+Already the standing subject of public addresses to the people in
+England, is the injustice of certain individuals being allowed to hold
+such immense tracts of country in their possession. We all know what
+came of the selfish policy of the landowners in France before the
+Revolution, which consigned them by hundreds to the guillotine. A little
+self-sacrifice, which, in the end, would have been for their own
+benefit, might have saved all this. The attempt to depopulate Ireland
+has been tried over and over again, and has failed signally. It is not
+more likely to succeed in the nineteenth century than at any preceding
+period. Even were it possible that wholesale emigration could benefit
+any country, it is quite clear that Irish emigration cannot benefit
+England. It is a plan to get rid of a temporary difficulty at a terrific
+future cost. Emigration has ceased to be confined to paupers.
+Respectable farmers are emigrating, and taking with them to America
+bitter memories of the cruel injustice which has compelled them to leave
+their native land.
+
+Second, _How misery leads to emigration_. The poor are leaving the
+country, because they have no employment. The more respectable classes
+are leaving the country, because they prefer living in a free land,
+where they can feel sure that their hard earnings will be their own, and
+not their landlord's, and where they are not subject to the miserable
+political and religious tyranny which reigns supreme in Ireland. In the
+evidence given before the Land Tenure Committee of 1864, we find the
+following statements made by Dr. Keane, the Roman Catholic Bishop of
+Cloyne. His Lordship is a man of more than ordinary intelligence, and of
+more than ordinary patriotism. He has made the subject of emigration his
+special study, partly from a deep devotion to all that concerns the
+welfare of his country, and partly from the circumstance of his
+residence being at Queenstown, the port from which Irishmen leave their
+native shores, and the place where wails of the emigrants continually
+resound. I subjoin a few of his replies to the questions proposed:--
+
+     "I attribute emigration principally to the want of employment."
+
+     "A man who has only ten or twelve acres, and who is a
+     tenant-at-will, finding that the land requires improvement, is
+     afraid to waste it [his money], and he goes away. I see many of
+     these poor people in Queenstown every day."
+
+     "I have made inquiries over and over again in Queenstown and
+     elsewhere, and I never yet heard that a single farmer emigrated and
+     left the country who had a lease."
+
+Well might Mr. Heron say, in a paper read before the Irish Statistical
+Society, in May, 1864: "Under the present laws, no Irish peasant able to
+read and write ought to remain in Ireland. If Ireland were an
+independent country, in the present state of things there would be a
+bloody insurrection in every county, and the peasantry would ultimately
+obtain the property in land, as _they have obtained it in Switzerland
+and in France_." That the Irish people will eventually become the
+masters of the Irish property, from which every effort has been made to
+dispossess them, by fair means and by foul, since the Norman invasion of
+Ireland, I have not the slightest doubt. The only doubt is whether the
+matter will be settled by the law or by the sword. But I have hope that
+the settlement will be peaceful, when I find English members of
+Parliament treating thus of the subject, and ministers declaring, at
+least when they are out of office, that something should be done for
+Ireland.
+
+Mr. Stuart Mill writes: "The land of Ireland, the land of every country,
+belongs to the people of that country. The individuals called landowners
+have no right, in morality or justice, to anything but the rent, or
+compensation for its saleable value. When the inhabitants of a country
+quit the country _en masse_, because the Government will not make it a
+place fit for them to live in, the Government is judged and condemned,
+It is the duty of Parliament to reform the landed tenure of Ireland."
+
+More than twenty years ago Mr. Disraeli said: "He wished to see a public
+man come forward and say what the Irish question was. Let them consider
+Ireland as they would any other country similarly circumstanced. They
+had a starving population, an absentee aristocracy, an alien Church,
+and, in addition, the weakest executive in the world. This was the Irish
+question. What would gentlemen say on hearing of a country in such a
+position? They would say at once, in such case, the remedy is
+revolution--not the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act. But the
+connexion with England prevented it: therefore England was logically in
+the active position of being the cause of all the misery of Ireland.
+What, then, was the duty of an English minister? To effect by policy all
+the changes which a revolution would do by force." If these words had
+been acted upon in 1848, we should not have had a Fenian insurrection in
+1867. If a peaceful revolution is to be accomplished a few persons must
+suffer, though, in truth, it is difficult to see what Irish landlords
+could lose by a fair land law, except the power to exercise a tyrannical
+control over their tenants. I believe, if many English absentee
+landlords had even the slightest idea of the evil deeds done in their
+names by their agents, that they would not tolerate it for a day. If a
+complaint is made to the landlord, he refers it to his agent. It is
+pretty much as if you required the man who inflicted the injury to be
+the judge of his own conduct. The agent easily excuses himself to the
+landlord; but the unfortunate man who had presumed to lift up his voice,
+is henceforth a marked object of vengeance; and he is made an example to
+his fellows, that they may not dare to imitate him. The truth is, that
+the real state of Ireland, and the real feelings of the Irish people,
+can only be known by personal intercourse with the lower orders.
+Gentlemen making a hurried tour through the country, may see a good deal
+of misery, if they have not come for the purpose of not seeing it; but
+they can never know the real wretchedness of the Irish poor unless they
+remain stationary in some district long enough to win the confidence of
+the people, and to let them feel that they can tell their sorrows and
+their wrongs without fear that they shall be increased by the
+disclosure.
+
+Third, one brief word of how this injustice recoils upon the heads of
+the perpetrators, and I shall have ended. It recoils upon them
+indirectly, by causing a feeling of hostility between the governors and
+the governed. A man cannot be expected to revere and love his landlord,
+when he finds that his only object is to get all he can from him--when
+he finds him utterly reckless of his misery, and still more indifferent
+to his feelings. A gentleman considers himself a model of humanity if he
+pays the emigration expenses of the family whom he wishes to eject from
+the holding which their ancestors have possessed for centuries. He is
+amazed at the fearful ingratitude of the poor man, who cannot feel
+overwhelmed with joy at his benevolent offer. But the gentleman
+considers he has done his duty, and consoles himself with the reflection
+that the Irish are an ungrateful race. Of all the peoples on the face of
+the globe, the Irish Celts are the most attached to their families and
+to their lands. God only knows the broken hearts that go over the ocean
+strangers to a strange land. The young girls who leave their aged
+mothers, the noble, brave young fellows who leave their old fathers, act
+not from a selfish wish to better themselves, but from the hope, soon to
+be realized, that they may be able to earn in another land what they
+cannot earn in their own. I saw a lad once parting from his aged father.
+I wish I had not seen it. I heard the agonized cries of the old man: "My
+God! he's gone! he's gone!" I wish I had not heard it. I heard the wild
+wailing cry with which the Celt mourns for his dead, and glanced
+impulsively to the window. It was not death, but departure that prompts
+that agony of grief. A car was driving off rapidly on the mountain road
+which led to the nearest port. The car was soon out of sight. The father
+and the son had looked their last look into each other's eyes--had
+clasped the last clasp of each other's hands. An hour had passed, and
+still the old man lay upon the ground, where he had flung himself in his
+heart's bitter anguish; and still the wail rung out from time to time:
+"My God! he's gone! he's gone!"
+
+Those who have seen the departure of emigrants at the Irish seaports,
+are not surprised at Irish disaffection--are not surprised that the
+expatriated youth joins the first wild scheme, which promises to release
+his country from such cruel scenes, and shares his money equally between
+his starving relatives at home, and the men who, sometimes as deceivers,
+and sometimes with a patriotism like his own, live only for one
+object--to obtain for Ireland by the sword, the justice which is denied
+to her by the law.
+
+I conclude with statistics which are undeniable proofs of Irish misery.
+The emigration _at present_ amounts to 100,000 per annum.
+
+[Illustration: The Emigrants' Farewell.]
+
+From the 1st of May, 1851, to the 31st of December, 1865, 1,630,722
+persons emigrated. As the emigrants generally leave their young children
+after them for a time, and as aged and imbecile persons do not emigrate,
+the consequence is, that, from 1851 to 1861, the number of deaf and dumb
+increased from 5,180 to 5,653; the number of blind, from 5,787 to 6,879;
+and the number of lunatics and idiots, from 9,980 to 14,098. In 1841,
+the estimated value of crops in Ireland was £50,000,000; in 1851, it was
+reduced to £43,000,000; and in 1861, to £35,000,000. The number of
+gentlemen engaged in the learned professions is steadily decreasing; the
+traffic on Irish railways and the returns are steadily decreasing; the
+live stock in cattle, which was to have supplied and compensated for the
+live stock in men, is fearfully decreasing; the imports and exports are
+steadily decreasing. The decrease in cultivated lands, from 1862 to
+1863, amounted to 138,841 acres.
+
+While the Preface to the Second Edition was passing through the press,
+my attention was called to an article, in the _Pall Mall Gazette_, on
+the Right Rev. Dr. Manning's Letter to Earl Grey. The writer of this
+article strongly recommends his Grace to publish a new edition of his
+Letter, omitting the last sixteen pages. We have been advised, also, to
+issue a new edition of our HISTORY, to omit the Preface, and any remarks
+or facts that might tend to show that the Irish tenant was not the
+happiest and most contented being in God's creation.
+
+The _Pall Mall Gazette_ argues--if, indeed, mere assertion can be called
+argument--first, "that Dr. Manning has obviously never examined the
+subject for himself, but takes his ideas and beliefs from the universal
+statements of angry and ignorant sufferers whom he has met in England,
+or from intemperate and utterly untrustworthy party speeches and
+pamphlets, whose assertions he receives as gospel;" yet Dr. Manning has
+given statements of facts, and the writer has not attempted to disprove
+them. Second, he says: "Dr. Manning echoes the thoughtless complaints of
+those who cry out against emigration as a great evil and a grievous
+wrong, when he might have known, if he had thought or inquired at all
+about the matter, not only that this emigration has been the greatest
+conceivable blessing to the emigrants, but was an absolutely
+indispensable step towards improving the condition of those who remained
+at home;" and then the old calumnies are resuscitated about the Irish
+being "obstinately idle and wilfully improvident," as if it had not been
+proved again and again that the only ground on which such appellations
+can be applied to them in Ireland is, that their obstinacy consists in
+objecting to work without fair remuneration for their labour, and their
+improvidence in declining to labour for the benefit of their masters. It
+is the old story, "you are idle, you are idle,"--it is the old demand,
+"make bricks without straw,"--and then, by way of climax, we are assured
+that these "poor creatures" are assisted to emigrate with the tenderest
+consideration, and that, in fact, emigration is a boon for which they
+are grateful.
+
+It is quite true that many landlords pay their tenants to emigrate, and
+send persons to see them safe out of the country; but it is absolutely
+false that the people emigrate willingly. No one who has witnessed the
+departure of emigrants dare make such an assertion. They are offered
+their choice between starvation and emigration, and they emigrate. If a
+man were offered his choice between penal servitude and hanging, it is
+probable he would prefer penal servitude, but that would not make him
+appreciate the joys of prison life. The Irish parish priest alone can
+tell what the Irish suffer at home, and how unwillingly they go abroad.
+A pamphlet has just been published on this very subject, by the Very
+Rev. P. Malone, P.P., V.F., of Belmullet, co. Mayo, and in this he says:
+"I have _seen_ the son, standing upon the deck of the emigrant ship,
+divest himself of his only coat, and place it upon his father's
+shoulders, saying, 'Father, take you this; I will soon earn the price of
+a coat in the land I am going to.'" Such instances, which might be
+recorded by the hundred, and the amount of money sent to Ireland by
+emigrants for the support of aged parents, and to pay the passage out of
+younger members of the family, are the best refutation of the old
+falsehood that Irishmen are either idle or improvident.
+
+
+
+
+AN
+
+ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF IRELAND.
+
+
+[Illustration: IRISH HISTORY.]
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+Celtic Literature--Antiquity of our Annals--Moore--How we should
+estimate Tradition--The Materials for Irish History--List of the Lost
+Books--The Cuilmenn--The Saltair of Tara, &c.--The Saltair of
+Cashel--Important MSS. preserved in Trinity College--By the Royal Irish
+Academy--In Belgium.
+
+
+The study of Celtic literature, which is daily becoming of increased
+importance to the philologist, has proved a matter of no inconsiderable
+value to the Irish historian. When Moore visited O'Curry, and found him
+surrounded with such works as the _Books of Ballymote and Lecain_, the
+_Speckled Book_, the _Annals of the Four Masters_, and other treasures
+of Gaedhilic lore, he turned to Dr. Petrie, and exclaimed: "These large
+tomes could not have been written by fools or for any foolish purpose. I
+never knew anything about them before, and I had no right to have
+undertaken the _History of Ireland_." His publishers, who had less
+scruples, or more utilitarian views, insisted on the completion of his
+task. Whatever their motives may have been, we may thank them for the
+result. Though Moore's history cannot now be quoted as an authority, it
+accomplished its work for the time, and promoted an interest in the
+history of one of the most ancient nations of the human race.
+
+There are two sources from whence the early history of a nation may be
+safely derived: the first internal--the self-consciousness of the
+individual; the second external--the knowledge of its existence by
+others--the _ego sum_ and the _tu es_; and our acceptance of the
+statements of each on _matters of fact_, should depend on their mutual
+agreement.
+
+The first question, then, for the historian should be, What accounts
+does this nation give of its early history? the second, What account of
+this nation's early history can be obtained _ab extra_? By stating and
+comparing these accounts with such critical acumen as the writer may be
+able to command, we may obtain something approaching to authentic
+history. The history of ancient peoples must have its basis on
+tradition. The name tradition unfortunately gives an _a priori_
+impression of untruthfulness, and hence the difficulty of accepting
+tradition as an element of truth in historic research. But tradition is
+not necessarily either a pure myth or a falsified account of facts. The
+traditions of a nation are like an aged man's recollection of his
+childhood, and should be treated as such. If we would know his early
+history, we let him tell the tale in his own fashion. It may be he will
+dwell long upon occurrences interesting to himself, and apart from the
+object of our inquiries; it may be he will equivocate unintentionally if
+cross-examined in detail; but truth will underlie his garrulous story,
+and by patient analysis we may sift it out, and obtain the information
+we desire.
+
+A nation does not begin to write its history at the first moment of its
+existence. Hence, when the chronicle is compiled which first embodies
+its story, tradition forms the basis. None but an inspired historian can
+commence _In principio_. The nation has passed through several
+generations, the people already begin to talk of "old times;" but as
+they are nearer these "old times" by some thousands of years than we
+are, they are only burdened with the traditions of a few centuries at
+the most; and unless there is evidence of a wilful object or intent to
+falsify their chronicles, we may in the main depend on their accuracy.
+Let us see how this applies to Gaedhilic history. The labours of the
+late lamented Eugene O'Curry have made this an easy task. He took to his
+work a critical acumen not often attained by the self-educated, and a
+noble patriotism not often maintained by the gifted scions of a country
+whose people and whose literature have been alike trodden down and
+despised for centuries. The result of his researches is embodied in a
+work[1] which should be in the hands of every student of Irish history,
+and of every Irishman who can afford to procure it. This volume proves
+that the _early_ history of Ireland has yet to be written; that it
+should be a work of magnitude, and undertaken by one gifted with special
+qualifications, which the present writer certainly does not possess; and
+that it will probably require many years of patient labour from the
+"host of Erinn's sons," before the necessary materials for such a
+history can be prepared.
+
+The manuscript materials for ancient Irish history may be divided into
+two classes: the historical, which purports to be a narrative of facts,
+in which we include books of laws, genealogies, and pedigrees; and the
+legendary, comprising tales, poems, and legends. The latter, though not
+necessarily true, are generally founded on fact, and contain a mass of
+most important information, regarding the ancient customs and manner of
+life among our ancestors. For the present we must devote our attention
+to the historical documents. These, again, may be divided into two
+classes--the lost books and those which still remain. Of the former
+class the principal are the CUILMENN, _i.e._, the great book written on
+skins; the SALTAIR OF TARA; the BOOK OF THE UACHONGBHAIL (pron. "ooa
+cong-wall"); the CIN DROMA SNECHTA; and the SALTAIR OF CASHEL. Besides
+these, a host of works are lost, of lesser importance as far as we can
+now judge, which, if preserved, might have thrown a flood of light not
+only upon our annals, but also on the social, historical, and
+ethnographic condition of other countries. The principal works which
+have been preserved are: the ANNALS OF TIGHERNACH (pron. "Teernagh");
+the ANNALS OF ULSTER; the ANNALS OF INIS MAC NERINN; the ANNALS OF
+INNISFALLEN; the ANNALS OF BOYLE; the CHRONICUM SCOTORUM, so ably edited
+by Mr. Hennessy; the world-famous ANNALS OF THE FOUR MASTERS; the BOOK
+OF LEINSTER; the BOOK OF LAWS (the Brehon Laws), now edited by Dr. Todd,
+and many books of genealogies and pedigrees.
+
+For the present it must suffice to say, that these documents have been
+examined by the ordinary rules of literary criticism, perhaps with more
+than ordinary care, and that the result has been to place their
+authenticity and their antiquity beyond cavil.
+
+Let us see, then, what statements we can find which may throw light on
+our early history, first in the fragments that remain of the lost books,
+and then in those which are still preserved.
+
+The CUILMENN is the first of the lost books which we mentioned. It is
+thus referred to in the Book of Leinster:[2] "The _filés_ [bards] of
+Erinn were now called together by _Senchan Torpéist_ [about A.D. 580],
+to know if they remembered the _Táin bó Chuailgné_ in full; and they
+said that they knew of it but fragments only. Senchan then spoke to his
+pupils to know which of them would go into the countries of _Letha_ to
+learn the _Táin_ which the _Sai_ had taken 'eastwards' after the
+_Cuilmenn_. Eminé, the grandson of Nininé, and Muirgen, Senchan's own
+son, set out to go to the East."
+
+Here we have simply an indication of the existence of this ancient work,
+and of the fact that in the earliest, if not in pre-Christian times,
+Irish manuscripts travelled to the Continent with Irish scholars--Letha
+being the name by which Italy, and especially what are now called the
+Papal States, was then designated by Irish writers.
+
+The SALTAIR OF TARA next claims our attention; and we may safely affirm,
+merely judging from the fragments which remain, that a nation which
+could produce such a work had attained no ordinary pitch of civilization
+and literary culture. The Book of Ballymote,[3] and the Yellow Book of
+Lecan,[4] attribute this work to Cormac Mac Art: "A noble work was
+performed by Cormac at that time, namely, the compilation of Cormac's
+Saltair, which was composed by him and the Seanchaidhe [Historians] of
+Erinn, including Fintan, son of Bochra, and Fithil, the poet and judge.
+And their synchronisms and genealogies, the succession of their kings
+and monarchs, their battles, their contests, and their antiquities, from
+the world's beginning down to that time, were written; and this is the
+Saltair of Temair [pron. "Tara," almost as it is called now], which is
+the origin and fountain of the Historians of Erinn from that period down
+to this time. This is taken from the Book of the Uachongbhail."[5]
+
+As we shall speak of Cormac's reign and noble qualities in detail at a
+later period, it is only necessary to record here that his panegyric, as
+king, warrior, judge, and philosopher, has been pronounced by almost
+contemporary writers, as well as by those of later date. The name
+_Saltair_ has been objected to as more likely to denote a composition of
+Christian times. This objection, however, is easily removed: first, the
+name was probably applied after the appellation had been introduced in
+Christian times; second, we have no reason to suppose that King Cormac
+designated his noble work by this name; and third, even could this be
+proven, the much maligned Keating removes any difficulty by the simple
+and obvious remark, that "it is because of its having been written in
+poetic metre, the chief book which was in the custody of the _Ollamh_ of
+the King of Erinn, was called the _Saltair of Temair;_ and the Chronicle
+of holy Cormac Mac Cullinan, _Saltair of Cashel;_ and the Chronicle of
+Aengus _Ceilé Dé_ [the Culdee], _Saltair-na-Rann_ [that is, Saltair of
+the Poems or Verses], because a Salm and a Poem are the same, and
+therefore a _Salterium_ and a _Duanairé_ [book of poems] are the
+same."[6]
+
+[Illustration: SITE OF TARA.]
+
+The oldest reference to this famous compilation is found in a poem on
+the site of ancient Tara, by Cuan O'Lochain, a distinguished scholar,
+and native of Westmeath, who died in the year 1024. The quotation given
+below is taken from the Book of Ballymote, a magnificent volume,
+compiled in the year 1391, now in possession of the Royal Irish
+Academy:--
+
+    Temair, choicest of hills,
+    For [possession of] which Erinn is now devastated,[7]
+    The noble city of Cormac, son of Art,
+    Who was the son of great Conn of the hundred battles:
+    Cormac, the prudent and good,
+    Was a sage, a filé [poet], a prince:
+    Was a righteous judge of the Fené-men,[8]
+    Was a good friend and companion.
+    Cormac gained fifty battles:
+    He compiled the Saltair of Temur.
+    In that Saltair is contained
+    The best summary of history;
+    It is that Saltair which assigns
+    Seven chief kings to Erinn of harbours;
+    They consisted of the five kings of the provinces,--
+    The Monarch of Erinn and his Deputy.
+    In it are (written) on either side,
+    What each provincial king is entitled to,
+    From the king of each great musical province.
+    The synchronisms and chronology of all,
+    The kings, with each other [one with another] all;
+    The boundaries of each brave province,
+    From a cantred up to a great chieftaincy.
+
+From this valuable extract we obtain a clear idea of the importance and
+the subject of the famous Saltair, and a not less clear knowledge of the
+admirable legal and social institutions by which Erinn was then
+governed.
+
+The CIN OF DROM SNECHTA is quoted in the Book of Ballymote, in support
+of the ancient legend of the antediluvian occupation of Erinn by the
+Lady _Banbha_, called in other books Cesair (pron. "kesar"). The Book of
+Lecan quotes it for the same purpose, and also for the genealogies of
+the chieftains of the ancient Rudrician race of Ulster. Keating gives
+the descent of the Milesian colonists from Magog, the son of Japhet, on
+the authority of the Cin of Drom Snechta, which, he states, was compiled
+before St. Patrick's mission to Erinn.[9] We must conclude this part of
+our subject with a curious extract from the same work, taken from the
+Book of Leinster: "From the Cin of Drom Snechta, this below. Historians
+say that there were exiles of Hebrew women in Erinn at the coming of the
+sons of Milesius, who had been driven by a sea tempest into the ocean by
+the Tirrén Sea. They were in Erinn before the sons of Milesius. They
+said, however, to the sons of Milesius [who, it would appear, pressed
+marriage on them], that they preferred their own country, and that they
+would not abandon it without receiving dowry for alliance with them. It
+is from this circumstance that it is the men that purchase wives in
+Erinn for ever, whilst it is the husbands that are purchased by the
+wives throughout the world besides."[10] The SALTAIR OF CASHEL was
+compiled by Cormac Mac Cullinan King of Munster, and Archbishop of
+Cashel. He was killed in the year 903. This loss of the work is most
+painful to the student of the early history of Erinn. It is believed
+that the ancient compilation known as Cormac's Glossary, was compiled
+from the interlined gloss to the Saltair; and the references therein to
+our ancient history, laws, mythology, and social customs, are such as to
+indicate the richness of the mine of ancient lore. A copy was in
+existence in 1454, as there is in the Bodleian Library in Oxford (Laud,
+610) a copy of such portions as could be deciphered at the time. This
+copy was made by Shane O'Clery for Mac Richard Butler.
+
+The subjoined list of the lost books is taken from O'Curry's _MS.
+Materials_, page 20. It may be useful to the philologist and interesting
+to our own people, as a proof of the devotion to learning so early
+manifested in Erinn:--
+
+     "In the first place must be enumerated again the _Cuilmenn_; the
+     Saltair of Tara; the _Cin Droma Snechta;_ the Book of St. Mochta;
+     the Book of _Cuana_; the Book of _Dubhdaleithe_; and the Saltair of
+     Cashel. Besides these we find mention of the _Leabhar buidhe
+     Sláine_ or Yellow Book of Slane; the original _Leabhar na
+     h-Uidhre;_ the Books of _Eochaidh O'Flannagain_; a certain book
+     known as the Book eaten by the poor people in the desert; the Book
+     of _Inis an Duin_; the Short Book of St. Buithe's Monastery (or
+     Monasterboice); the Books of Flann of the same Monastery; the Book
+     of Flann of _Dungeimhin_ (Dungiven, co. Derry); the Book of _Dun da
+     Leth Ghlas_ (or Downpatrick); the Book of _Doiré_ (Derry); the Book
+     of _Sabhall Phatraic_ (or Saull, co. Down); the Book of the
+     _Uachongbhail_ (Navan, probably); the _Leabhar dubh Molaga_, or
+     Black Book of St. Molaga; the _Leabhar buidhe Moling_, or Yellow
+     Book of St. Moling; the _Leabhar buidhe Mhic Murchadha_, or Yellow
+     Book of Mac Murrach; the _Leabhar Arda Macha_, or Book of Armagh
+     (quoted by Keating); the _Leabhar ruadh Mhic Aedhagain_, or Red
+     Book of Mac Aegan; the _Leabhar breac Mhic Aedhagain_, or Speckled
+     Book of Mac Aegan; the _Leabhar fada Leithghlinne_, or Long Book of
+     Leithghlinn, or Leithlin; the Books of O'Scoba of _Cluain Mic Nois_
+     (or Clonmacnois); the _Duil Droma Ceata_, or Book of Drom Ceat; and
+     the Book of Clonsost (in Leix, in the Queen's County)."
+
+[Illustration: (A) MS. in the "_Domhnach Airgid,_" [R.I.A.] (temp. St.
+Patrick, circa A.D. 430.)]
+
+[Illustration: (B) MS. in the "_Cathach_," (6th century MS attributed to
+St. Colum Cillé)]
+
+Happily, however, a valuable collection of ancient MSS. are still
+preserved, despite the "drowning" of the Danes, and the "burning" of the
+Saxon. The researches of continental scholars are adding daily to our
+store; and the hundreds of Celtic MSS., so long entombed in the
+libraries of Belgium and Italy, will, when published, throw additional
+light upon the brightness of the past, and, it may be, enhance the
+glories of the future, which we must believe are still in reserve for
+the island of saints and sages.[11]
+
+The list of works given above are supposed by O'Curry to have existed
+anterior to the year 1100. Of the books which Keating refers to in his
+History, written about 1630, only one is known to be extant--the
+_Saltair-na-Rann_, written by Aengus Céile Dé.
+
+The principal Celtic MSS. which are still preserved to us, may be
+consulted in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, and in the Library
+of the Royal Irish Academy. The latter, though founded at a much later
+period, is by far the more extensive, if not the more important,
+collection. Perhaps, few countries have been so happy as to possess a
+body of men so devoted to its archæology, so ardent in their
+preservation of all that can be found to illustrate it, and so capable
+of elucidating its history by their erudition, which, severally and
+collectively, they have brought to bear on every department of its
+ethnology. The collection in Trinity College consists of more than 140
+volumes, several of them are vellum,[12] dating from the early part of
+the twelfth to the middle of the last century. The collection of the
+Royal Irish Academy also contains several works written on vellum, with
+treatises of history, science, laws, and commerce; there are also many
+theological and ecclesiastical compositions, which have been pronounced
+by competent authorities to be written in the purest style that the
+ancient Gaedhilic language ever attained. There are also a considerable
+number of translations from Greek, Latin, and other languages. These are
+of considerable importance, as they enable the critical student of our
+language to determine the meaning of many obscure or obsolete words or
+phrases, by reference to the originals; nor are they of less value as
+indicating the high state of literary culture which prevailed in Ireland
+during the early Christian and the Middle Ages. Poetry, mythology,
+history, and the classic literature of Greece and Rome, may be found
+amongst these translations; so that, as O'Curry well remarks, "any one
+well read in the comparatively few existing fragments of our Gaedhilic
+literature, and whose education had been confined solely to this source,
+would find that there are but very few, indeed, of the great events in
+the history of the world with which he was not acquainted."[13] He then
+mentions, by way of illustration of classical subjects, Celtic versions
+of the Argonautic Expedition, the Siege of Troy, the Life of Alexander
+the Great; and of such subjects as cannot be classed under this head,
+the Destruction of Jerusalem; the Wars of Charlemagne, including the
+History of Roland the Brave; the History of the Lombards, and the almost
+contemporary translation of the Travels of Marco Polo.
+
+There is also a large collection of MSS. in the British Museum, a few
+volumes in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, besides the well-known,
+though inaccessible, Stowe collection.[14]
+
+The treasures of Celtic literature still preserved on the Continent, can
+only be briefly mentioned here. It is probable that the active
+researches of philologists will exhume many more of these long-hidden
+volumes, and obtain for our race the place it has always deserved in the
+history of nations.
+
+The Louvain collection, formed chiefly by Fathers Hugh Ward, John
+Colgan, and Michael O'Clery, between the years 1620 and 1640, was widely
+scattered at the French Revolution. The most valuable portion is in the
+College of St. Isidore in Rome. The Burgundian Library at Brussels also
+possesses many of these treasures. A valuable resumé of the MSS. which
+are preserved there was given by Mr. Bindon, and printed in the
+Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy in the year 1847. There are also
+many Latin MSS. with Irish glosses, which have been largely used by
+Zeuss in his world-famed _Grammatica Celtica_. The date of one of
+these--a codex containing some of Venerable Bede's works--is fixed by an
+entry of the death of Aed, King of Ireland, in the year 817. This most
+important work belonged to the Irish monastery of Reichenau, and is now
+preserved at Carlsruhe. A codex is also preserved at Cambray, which
+contains a fragment of an Irish sermon, and the canons of an Irish
+council held A.D. 684.
+
+
+[Illustration: DOORWAY OF CLONMACNOIS.]
+
+[Illustration: CLONMACNOIS.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] _Work._--_Lectures on the MS. Materials of Ancient Irish History_.
+This work was published at the sole cost of the Catholic University of
+Ireland, and will be an eternal monument of their patriotism and
+devotion to literature. A chair of Irish History and Archæology was also
+founded at the very commencement of the University; and yet the "Queen's
+Colleges" are discarding this study, while an English professor in
+Oxford is warmly advocating its promotion. Is the value of a chair to be
+estimated by the number of pupils who surround it, or by the
+contributions to science of the professor who holds it?
+
+[2] _Leinster._--Book of Leinster, H.2.18, T.C.D. See O'Curry, p. 8.
+
+[3] _Ballymote._--Library R.I.A., at fol. 145, a.a.
+
+[4] _Lecan._--Trinity College, Dublin, classed H.2.16.
+
+[5] _Uachongbhail_.--O'Curry's _MS. Materials_, p. 11.
+
+[6] _Same_.--Ibid. p. 12. The Psalms derived their name from the musical
+instrument to which they were sung. This was called in Hebrew _nebel_.
+It obtained the name from its resemblance to a bottle or flagon.
+Psaltery is the Greek translation, and hence the name psalm.
+
+[7] _Devastated_.--This was probably written in the year 1001, when
+Brian Boroimhé had deposed Malachy.
+
+[8] _Fené-men_.--The farmers, who were not Fenians then certainly, for
+"Cormac was a righteous judge of the _Agraria Lex_ of the Gaels."
+
+[9] _Erinn._--Keating says: "We will set down here the branching off of
+the races of Magog, according to the Book of Invasions (of Ireland),
+which was called the Cin of Drom Snechta; and it was before the coming
+of Patrick to Ireland the author of that book existed."--See Keating,
+page 109, in O'Connor's translation. It is most unfortunate that this
+devoted priest and ardent lover of his country did not bring the
+critical acumen to his work which would have made its veracity
+unquestionable. He tells us that it is "the business of his history to
+be particular," and speaks of having "faithfully collected and
+transcribed." But until recent investigations manifested the real
+antiquity and value of the MS. Materials of Ancient Irish History, his
+work was looked on as a mere collection of legends. The quotation at
+present under consideration is a case in point. He must have had a copy
+of the Cin of Drom Snechta in his possession, and he must have known who
+was the author of the original, as he states so distinctly the time of
+its compilation. Keating's accuracy in matters of fact and
+transcription, however, is daily becoming more apparent. This statement
+might have been considered a mere conjecture of his own, had not Mr.
+O'Curry discovered the name of the author in a partially effaced
+memorandum in the Book of Leinster, which he reads thus: "[Ernín, son
+of] Duach [that is], son of the King of Connacht, an _Ollamh_, and a
+prophet, and a professor in history, and a professor in wisdom: it was
+he that collected the Genealogies and Histories of the men of Erinn in
+one book, that is, the _Cin Droma Snechta_." Duach was the son of Brian,
+son of the monarch _Eochaidh_, who died A.D. 305.
+
+[10] _Besides._--O'Curry, page 16.
+
+[11] _Sages._--M. Nigra, the Italian Ambassador at Paris, is at this
+moment engaged in publishing continental MSS.
+
+[12] _Vellum._--The use of vellum is an indication that the MSS. must be
+of some antiquity. The word "paper" is derived from _papyrus_, the most
+ancient material for writing, if we except the rocks used for runes, or
+the wood for oghams. Papyrus, the pith of a reed, was used until the
+discovery of parchment, about 190 B.C. A MS. of the _Antiquities of
+Josephus_ on papyrus, was among the treasures seized by Buonaparte in
+Italy.
+
+[13] _Acquainted_.--O'Curry's _MS. Materials_, page 24.
+
+[14] _Collection_.-A recent writer in the _Cornhill_ says that Lord
+Ashburnham refuses access to this collection, now in his possession,
+fearing that its contents may be depreciated so as to lessen its value
+at a future sale. We should hope this statement can scarcely be
+accurate. Unhappily, it is at least certain that access to the MSS. is
+denied, from whatever motive.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+Tighernach and his Annals--Erudition and Research of our Early
+Writers--The Chronicum Scotorum--Duald Mac Firbis--Murdered, and _his_
+Murderer is protected by the Penal Laws--The Annals of the Four
+Masters--Michael O'Clery--His Devotion to his
+Country--Ward--_Colgan_--Dedication of the Annals--The Book of
+Invasions--Proofs of our Early Colonization.
+
+
+Our illustration can give but a faint idea of the magnificence and
+extent of the ancient abbey of Clonmacnois, the home of our famous
+annalist, Tighernach. It has been well observed, that no more ancient
+chronicler can be produced by the northern nations. Nestor, the father
+of Russian history, died in 1113; Snorro, the father of Icelandic
+history, did not appear until a century later; Kadlubeck, the first
+historian of Poland, died in 1223; and Stierman could not discover a
+scrap of writing in all Sweden older than 1159. Indeed, he may be
+compared favourably even with the British historians, who can by no
+means boast of such ancient pedigrees as the genealogists of Erinn.[15]
+Tighernach was of the Murray-race of Connacht; of his personal history
+little is known. His death is noted in the _Chronicum Scotorum_, where
+he is styled successor (_comharba_) of St. Ciaran and St. Coman. The
+Annals of Innisfallen state that he was interred at Clonmacnois. Perhaps
+his body was borne to its burial through the very doorway which still
+remains, of which we gave an illustration at the end of the last
+chapter.
+
+The writers of history and genealogy in early ages, usually commenced
+with the sons of Noah, if not with the first man of the human race. The
+Celtic historians are no exceptions to the general rule; and long before
+Tighernach wrote, the custom had obtained in Erinn. His chronicle was
+necessarily compiled from more ancient sources, but its fame rests upon
+the extraordinary erudition which he brought to bear upon every subject.
+Flann, who was contemporary with Tighernach, and a professor of St.
+Buithe's monastery (Monasterboice), is also famous for his Synchronisms,
+which form an admirable abridgment of universal history. He appears to
+have devoted himself specially to genealogies and pedigrees, while
+Tighernach took a wider range of literary research. His learning was
+undoubtedly most extensive. He quotes Eusebius, Orosius, Africanus,
+Bede, Josephus, Saint Jerome, and many other historical writers, and
+sometimes compares their statements on points in which they exhibit
+discrepancies, and afterwards endeavours to reconcile their conflicting
+testimony, and to correct the chronological errors of the writers by
+comparison with the dates given by others. He also collates the Hebrew
+text with the Septuagint version of the Scriptures. He uses the common
+era, though we have no reason to believe that this was done by the
+writers who immediately preceded him. He also mentions the lunar cycle,
+and uses the dominical letter with the kalends of several years.[16]
+
+Another writer, _Gilla Caemhain_, was also contemporary with Flann and
+Tighernach. He gives the "annals of all time," from the beginning of the
+world to his own period; and computes the second period from the
+Creation to the Deluge; from the Deluge to Abraham; from Abraham to
+David; from David to the Babylonian Captivity, &c. He also synchronizes
+the eastern monarchs with each other, and afterwards with the Firbolgs
+and Tuatha Dé Danann of Erinn,[17] and subsequently with the Milesians.
+Flann synchronizes the chiefs of various lines of the children of Adam
+in the East, and points out what monarchs of the Assyrians, Medes,
+Persians, and Greeks, and what Roman emperors were contemporary with the
+kings of Erinn, and the leaders of its various early colonies. He begins
+with Ninus, son of Belus, and comes down to Julius Cæsar, who was
+contemporary with _Eochaidh Feidhlech_, an Irish king, who died more
+than half a century before the Christian era. The synchronism is then
+continued from Julius Cæsar and _Eochaidh_ to the Roman emperors
+Theodosius the Third and Leo the Third; they were contemporaries with
+the Irish monarch Ferghal, who was killed A.D. 718.
+
+The ANNALS and MSS. which serve to illustrate our history, are so
+numerous, that it would be impossible, with one or two exceptions, to do
+more than indicate their existence, and to draw attention to the weight
+which such an accumulation of authority must give to the authenticity of
+our early history. But there are two of these works which we cannot pass
+unnoticed: the CHRONICUM SCOTORUM and the ANNALS OF THE FOUR MASTERS.
+
+The Chronicum Scotorum was compiled by Duald Mac Firbis. He was of royal
+race, and descended from _Dathi_, the last pagan monarch of Erinn. His
+family were professional and hereditary historians, genealogists, and
+poets,[18] and held an ancestral property at Lecain Mac Firbis, in the
+county Sligo, until Cromwell and his troopers desolated Celtic homes,
+and murdered the Celtic dwellers, often in cold blood. The young Mac
+Firbis was educated for his profession in a school of law and history
+taught by the Mac Egans of Lecain, in Ormonde. He also studied (about
+A.D. 1595) at Burren, in the county Clare, in the literary and legal
+school of the O'Davorens. His pedigrees of the ancient Irish and the
+Anglo-Norman families, was compiled at the College of St. Nicholas, in
+Galway, in the year 1650. It may interest some of our readers to peruse
+the title of this work, although its length would certainly horrify a
+modern publisher:--
+
+"The Branches of Relationship and the Genealogical Ramifications of
+every Colony that took possession of Erinn, traced from this time up to
+Adam (excepting only those of the Fomorians, Lochlanns, and Saxon-Gaels,
+of whom we, however, treat, as they have settled in our country);
+together with a Sanctilogium, and a Catalogue of the Monarchs of Erinn;
+and, finally, an Index, which comprises, in alphabetical order, the
+surnames and the remarkable places mentioned in this work, which was
+compiled by _Dubhaltach Mac Firbhisigh_ of Lecain, 1650." He also gives,
+as was then usual, the "place, time, author, and cause of writing the
+work." The "cause" was "to increase the glory of God, and for the
+information of the people in general;" a beautiful and most true epitome
+of the motives which inspired the penmen of Erinn from the first
+introduction of Christianity, and produced the "countless host" of her
+noble historiographers.
+
+Mac Firbis was murdered[19] in the year 1670, at an advanced age; and
+thus departed the last and not the least distinguished of our long line
+of poet-historians. Mac Firbis was a voluminous writer. Unfortunately
+some of his treatises have been lost;[20] but the CHRONICUM SCOTORUM is
+more than sufficient to establish his literary reputation.
+
+The ANNALS OF THE FOUR MASTERS demand a larger notice, as unquestionably
+one of the most remarkable works on record. It forms the last link
+between the ancient and modern history of Ireland; a link worthy of the
+past, and, we dare add, it shall be also worthy of the future. It is a
+proof of what great and noble deeds may be accomplished under the most
+adverse circumstances, and one of the many, if not one of the most,
+triumphant denials of the often-repeated charges of indolence made
+against the mendicant orders, and of aversion to learning made against
+religious orders in general. Nor is it a less brilliant proof that
+intellectual gifts may be cultivated and are fostered in the cloister;
+and that a patriot's heart may burn as ardently, and love of country
+prove as powerful a motive, beneath the cowl or the veil, as beneath the
+helmet or the coif.
+
+Michael O'Clery, the chief of the Four Masters, was a friar of the order
+of St. Francis. He was born at Kilbarron, near Ballyshannon, county
+Donegal, in the year 1580, and was educated principally in the south of
+Ireland, which was then more celebrated for its academies than the
+north. The date of his entrance into the Franciscan order is not known,
+neither is it known why he,
+
+    "Once the heir of bardic honours,"
+
+became a simple lay-brother. In the year 1627 he travelled through
+Ireland collecting materials for Father Hugh Ward, also a Franciscan
+friar, and Guardian of the convent of St. Antony at Louvain, who was
+preparing a series of Lives of Irish Saints. When Father Ward died, the
+project was taken up and partially carried out by Father John Colgan.
+His first work, the _Trias Thaumaturgus_, contains the lives of St.
+Patrick, St. Brigid, and St. Columba. The second volume contains the
+lives of Irish saints whose festivals occur from the 1st of January to
+the 31st of March; and here, unfortunately, alike for the hagiographer
+and the antiquarian, the work ceased. It is probable that the idea of
+saving--
+
+          "The old memorials
+    Of the noble and the holy,
+    Of the chiefs of ancient lineage,
+    Of the saints of wondrous virtues;
+    Of the Ollamhs and the Brehons,
+    Of the bards and of the betaghs,"[21]
+
+occurred to him while he was collecting materials for Father Ward. His
+own account is grand in its simplicity, and beautiful as indicating that
+the deep passion for country and for literature had but enhanced the yet
+deeper passion which found its culminating point in the dedication of
+his life to God in the poor order of St. Francis. In the troubled and
+disturbed state of Ireland, he had some difficulty in securing a patron.
+At last one was found who could appreciate intellect, love of country,
+and true religion. Although it is almost apart from our immediate
+subject, we cannot refrain giving an extract from the dedication to this
+prince, whose name should be immortalized with that of the friar patriot
+and historian:--
+
+"I, Michael _O'Clerigh_, a poor friar of the Order of St. Francis (after
+having been for ten years transcribing every old material that I found
+concerning the saints of Ireland, observing obedience to each provincial
+that was in Ireland successively), have come before you, O noble
+_Fearghal_ O'Gara. I have calculated on your honour that it seemed to
+you a cause of pity and regret, grief and sorrow (for the glory of God
+and the honour of Ireland), how much the race of Gaedhil, the son of
+Niul, have passed under a cloud and darkness, without a knowledge or
+record of the obit of saint or virgin, archbishop, bishop, abbot, or
+other noble dignitary of the Church, or king or of prince, of lord or of
+chieftain, [or] of the synchronism of connexion of the one with the
+other." He then explains how he collected the materials for his work,
+adding, alas! most truly, that should it not be accomplished then, "they
+would not again be found to be put on record to the end of the world."
+He thanks the prince for giving "the reward of their labour to the
+chroniclers," and simply observes, that "it was the friars of the
+convent of Donegal who supplied them with food and attendance." With
+characteristic humility he gives his patron the credit of all the "good
+which will result from this book, in giving light to all in general;"
+and concludes thus:--
+
+"On the twenty-second day of the month of January, A.D. 1632, this book
+was commenced in the convent of Dun-na-ngall, and, it was finished in
+the same convent on the tenth day of August, 1636, the eleventh year of
+the reign of our king Charles over England, France, Alba, and over
+_Eiré_."
+
+There were "giants in those days;" and one scarcely knows whether to
+admire most the liberality of the prince, the devotion of the friars of
+Donegal, who "gave food and attendance" to their literary brother, and
+thus had their share in perpetuating their country's fame, or the gentle
+humility of the great Brother Michael.
+
+It is unnecessary to make any observation on the value and importance of
+the Annals of the Four Masters. The work has been edited with
+extraordinary care and erudition by Dr. O'Donovan, and published by an
+Irish house. We must now return to the object for which this brief
+mention of the MS. materials of Irish history has been made, by showing
+on what points other historians coincide in their accounts of our first
+colonists, of their language, customs, and laws; and secondly, how far
+the accounts which may be obtained _ab extra_ agree with the statements
+of our own annalists. The _Book of Invasions_, which was rewritten and
+"purified" by brother Michael O'Clery, gives us in a few brief lines an
+epitome of our history as recorded by the ancient chroniclers of
+Erinn:--
+
+"The sum of the matters to be found in the following book, is the taking
+of Erinn by [the Lady] _Ceasair;_ the taking by _Partholan;_ the taking
+by _Nemedh;_ the taking by the Firbolgs; the taking by the _Tuatha Dé
+Danann;_ the taking by the sons of _Miledh_ [or Miletius]; and their
+succession down to the monarch _Melsheachlainn_, or Malachy the Great
+[who died in 1022]." Here we have six distinct "takings," invasions, or
+colonizations of Ireland in pre-Christian times.
+
+It may startle some of our readers to find any mention of Irish history
+"before the Flood," but we think the burden of proof, to use a logical
+term, lies rather with those who doubt the possibility, than with those
+who accept as tradition, and as _possibly_ true, the statements which
+have been transmitted for centuries by careful hands. There can be no
+doubt that a high degree of cultivation, and considerable advancement in
+science, had been attained by the more immediate descendants of our
+first parents. Navigation and commerce existed, and Ireland may have
+been colonized. The sons of Noah must have remembered and preserved the
+traditions of their ancestors, and transmitted them to their
+descendants. Hence, it depended on the relative anxiety of these
+descendants to preserve the history of the world before the Flood, how
+much posterity should know of it. MacFirbis thus answers the objections
+of those who, even in his day, questioned the possibility of preserving
+such records:--"If there be any one who shall ask who preserved the
+history [_Seanchus_], let him know that they were very ancient and
+long-lived old men, recording elders of great age, whom God permitted to
+preserve and hand down the history of Erinn, in books, in succession,
+one after another, from the Deluge to the time of St. Patrick."
+
+The artificial state of society in our own age, has probably acted
+disadvantageously on our literary researches, if not on our moral
+character. Civilization is a relative arbitrary term; and the ancestors
+whom we are pleased to term uncivilized, may have possessed as high a
+degree of mental culture as ourselves, though it unquestionably differed
+in kind. Job wrote his epic poem in a state of society which we should
+probably term uncultivated; and when Lamech gave utterance to the most
+ancient and the saddest of human lyrics, the world was in its infancy,
+and it would appear as if the first artificer in "brass and iron" had
+only helped to make homicide more easy. We can scarce deny that murder,
+cruel injustice, and the worst forms of inhumanity, are but too common
+in countries which boast of no ordinary refinement; and we should
+hesitate ere we condemn any state of society as uncivilized, simply
+because we find such crimes in the pages of their history.
+
+The question of the early, if not pre-Noahacian colonization of Ireland,
+though distinctly asserted in our annals, has been met with the ready
+scepticism which men so freely use to cover ignorance or indifference.
+It has been taken for granted that the dispersion, after the confusion
+of tongues at Babel, was the first dispersion of the human race; but it
+has been overlooked that, on the lowest computation, a number of
+centuries equal, if not exceeding, those of the Christian era, elapsed
+between the Creation of man and the Flood; that men had "multiplied
+exceedingly upon the earth;" and that the age of stone had already given
+place to that of brass and iron, which, no doubt, facilitated commerce
+and colonization, even at this early period of the world's history. The
+discovery of works of art, of however primitive a character, in the
+drifts of France and England, indicates an early colonization. The
+rudely-fashioned harpoon of deer's horn found beside the gigantic whale,
+in the alluvium of the carse near the base of Dummyat, twenty feet above
+the highest tide of the nearest estuary, and the tusk of the mastodon
+lying alongside fragments of pottery in a deposit of the peat and sands
+of the post-pliocene beds in South Carolina, are by no means solitary
+examples. Like the night torch of the gentle Guanahané savage, which
+Columbus saw as he gazed wearily from his vessel, looking, even after
+sunset, for the long hoped-for shore, and which told him that his desire
+was at last consummated, those indications of man, associated with the
+gigantic animals of a geological age, of whose antiquity there can be no
+question, speak to our hearts strange tales of the long past, and of the
+early dispersion and progressive distribution of a race created to
+"increase and multiply."
+
+The question of transit has also been raised as a difficulty by those
+who doubt our early colonization. But this would seem easily removed. It
+is more than probable that, at the period of which we write, Britain, if
+not Ireland, formed part of the European continent; but were it not so,
+we have proof, even in the present day, that screw propellers and iron
+cast vessels are not necessary for safety in distant voyages, since the
+present aboriginal vessels of the Pacific will weather a storm in which
+a _Great Eastern_ or a _London_ might founder hopelessly.
+
+Let us conclude an apology for our antiquity, if not a proof of it, in
+the words of our last poet historian:--
+
+     "We believe that henceforth no wise person will be found who will
+     not acknowledge that it is possible to bring the genealogies of the
+     Gaedhils to their origin, to Noah and to Adam; and if he does not
+     believe that, may he not believe that he himself is the son of his
+     own father. For there is no error in the genealogical history, but
+     as it was left from father to son in succession, one after another.
+
+     "Surely every one believes the Divine Scriptures, which give a
+     similar genealogy to the men of the world, from Adam down to
+     Noah;[22] and the genealogy of Christ and of the holy fathers, as
+     may be seen in the Church [writings]. Let him believe this, or let
+     him deny God. And if he does believe this, why should he not
+     believe another history, of which there has been truthful
+     preservation, like the history of Erinn? I say truthful
+     preservation, for it is not only that they [the preservers of it]
+     were very numerous, as we said, preserving the same, but there was
+     an order and a law with them and upon them, out of which they could
+     not, without great injury, tell lies or falsehoods, as may be seen
+     in the Books of _Fenechas_ [Law], of _Fodhla_ [Erinn], and in the
+     degrees of the poets themselves, their order, and their laws."[23]
+
+[Illustration: BEREHAVEN]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[15] _Erinn_.--O'Curry, page 57. It has also been remarked, that there
+is no nation in possession of such ancient chronicles written in what is
+still the language of its people.
+
+[16] _Years_.--See O'Curry, _passim_.
+
+[17] _Erinn_.--_Eire_ is the correct form for the nominative. Erinn is
+the genitive, but too long in use to admit of alteration. The ordinary
+name of Ireland, in the oldest Irish MSS., is (h)Erin, gen. (h)Erenn,
+dat. (h)Erinn; but the initial _h_ is often omitted. See Max Müller's
+Lectures for an interesting note on this subject, to which we shall
+again refer.
+
+[18] _Poets_.--The _Book of Lecain_ was written in 1416, by an ancestor
+of Mac Firbis. Usher had it for some time in his possession; James II.
+carried it to Paris, and deposited it in the Irish College in the
+presence of a notary and witnesses. In 1787, the Chevalier O'Reilly
+procured its restoration to Ireland; and it passed eventually from
+Vallancey to the Royal Irish Academy, where it is now carefully
+preserved.
+
+[19] _Murdered_.--The circumstances of the murder are unhappily
+characteristic of the times. The Celtic race was under the ban of penal
+laws for adherence to the faith of their fathers. The murderer was free.
+As the old historian travelled to Dublin, he rested at a shop in
+Dunflin. A young man came in and took liberties with the young woman who
+had care of the shop. She tried to check him, by saying that he would be
+seen by the gentleman in the next room. In a moment he seized a knife
+from the counter, and plunged it into the breast of Mac Firbis. There
+was no "justice for Ireland" then, and, of course, the miscreant escaped
+the punishment he too well deserved.
+
+[20] _Lost_.--He was also employed by Sir James Ware to translate for
+him, and appears to have resided in his house in Castle-street, Dublin,
+just before his death.
+
+[21] _Betaghs_.--Poems, by D.F. Mac Carthy.
+
+[22] _Noah_.--This is a clear argument. The names of pre-Noahacian
+patriarchs must have been preserved by tradition, with their date of
+succession and history. Why should not other genealogies have been
+preserved in a similar manner, and _even the names of individuals_
+transmitted to posterity?
+
+[23] _Laws_.--MacFirbis. Apud O'Curry, p. 219.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+First Colonists--The Landing of Ceasair, before the Flood--Landing of
+Partholan, after the Flood, at Inver Scene--Arrival of Nemedh--The
+Fomorians--Emigration of the Nemenians--The Firbolgs--Division of
+Ireland by the Firbolg Chiefs--The Tuatha Dé Dananns--Their Skill as
+Artificers--Nuada of the Silver Hand--The Warriors Sreng and Breas--The
+Satire of Cairbré--Termination of the Fomorian Dynasty.
+
+[A.M. 1599.]
+
+
+We shall, then, commence our history with such accounts as we can find
+in our annals of the pre-Christian colonization of Erinn. The legends of
+the discovery and inhabitation of Ireland before the Flood, are too
+purely mythical to demand serious notice. But as the most ancient MSS.
+agree in their account of this immigration, we may not pass it over
+without brief mention.
+
+The account in the _Chronicum Scotorum_ runs thus:--
+
+"Kal. v.f.l. 10. Anno mundi 1599.
+
+"In this year the daughter of one of the Greeks came to Hibernia, whose
+name was h-Erui, or Berba, or Cesar, and fifty maidens and three men
+with her. Ladhra was their conductor, who was the first that was buried
+in Hibernia."[24] The Cin of Drom Snechta is quoted in the Book of
+Ballymote as authority for the same tradition.[25] The Book of Invasions
+also mentions this account as derived from ancient sources. MacFirbis,
+in the Book of Genealogies, says: "I shall devote the first book to
+Partholan, who first took possession of Erinn after the Deluge, devoting
+the beginning of it to the coming of the Lady Ceasair," &c. And the
+Annals of the Four Masters: "Forty days before the Deluge, Ceasair came
+to Ireland with fifty girls and three men--Bith, Ladhra, and Fintain
+their names."[26] All authorities agree that Partholan was the first who
+colonized Ireland after the Flood. His arrival is stated in the
+Chronicum Scotorum to have taken place "in the sixtieth year of the age
+of Abraham."[27] The Four Masters say: "The age of the world, when
+Partholan came into Ireland, 2520 years."[28]
+
+Partholan landed at Inver[29] Scene, now the Kenmare river, accompanied
+by his sons, their wives, and a thousand followers. His antecedents are
+by no means the most creditable; and we may, perhaps, feel some
+satisfaction, that a colony thus founded should have been totally swept
+away by pestilence a few hundred years after its establishment.
+
+The Chronicum Scotorum gives the date of his landing thus: "On a Monday,
+the 14th of May, he arrived, his companions being eight in number, viz.,
+four men and four women." If the kingdom of Desmond were as rich then as
+now in natural beauty, a scene of no ordinary splendour must have
+greeted the eyes and gladdened the hearts of its first inhabitants. They
+had voyaged past the fair and sunny isles of that "tideless sea," the
+home of the Phoenician race from the earliest ages. They had escaped the
+dangers of the rough Spanish coast, and gazed upon the spot where the
+Pillars of Hercules were the beacons of the early mariners. For many
+days they had lost sight of land, and, we may believe, had well-nigh
+despaired of finding a home in that far isle, to which some strange
+impulse had attracted them, or some old tradition--for the world even
+then was old enough for legends of the past--had won their thoughts. But
+there was a cry of land. The billows dashed in wildly, then as now, from
+the coasts of an undiscovered world, and left the same line of white
+foam upon Eire's western coast. The magnificent _Inver_ rolled its tide
+of beauty between gentle hills and sunny slopes, till it reached what
+now is appropriately called Kenmare. The distant Reeks showed their
+clear summits in sharp outline, pointing to the summer sky. The
+long-backed Mangerton and quaintly-crested Carn Tual were there also;
+and, perchance, the Roughty and the Finihé sent their little streams to
+swell the noble river bay. But it was no time for dreams, though the
+Celt in all ages has proved the sweetest of dreamers, the truest of
+bards. These men have rough work to do, and, it may be, gave but scant
+thought to the beauties of the western isle, and scant thanks to their
+gods for escape from peril. Plains were to be cleared, forests cut down,
+and the red deer and giant elk driven to deeper recesses in the
+well-wooded country.
+
+Several lakes are said to have sprung forth at that period; but it is
+more probable that they already existed, and were then for the first
+time seen by human eye. The plains which Partholan's people cleared are
+also mentioned, and then we find the ever-returning obituary:--
+
+"The age of the world 2550, Partholan died on Sean Mhagh-Ealta-Edair in
+this year."[30]
+
+The name of Tallaght still remains, like the peak of a submerged world,
+to indicate this colonization, and its fatal termination. Some very
+ancient tumuli may still be seen there. The name signifies a place where
+a number of persons who died of the plague were interred together; and
+here the Annals of the Four Masters tells us that nine thousand of
+Partholan's people died in one week, after they had been three hundred
+years in Ireland.[31]
+
+The third "taking" of Ireland was that of Nemedh. He came, according to
+the Annals,[32] A.M. 2859, and erected forts and cleared plains, as his
+predecessors had done. His people were also afflicted by plague, and
+appeared to have had occupation enough to bury their dead, and to fight
+with the "Fomorians in general," an unpleasantly pugilistic race, who,
+according to the Annals of Clonmacnois, "were a sept descended from
+Cham, the sonne of Noeh, and lived by pyracie and spoile of other
+nations, and were in those days very troublesome to the whole
+world."[33] The few Nemedians who escaped alive after their great battle
+with the Fomorians, fled into the interior of the island. Three bands
+were said to have emigrated with their respective captains. One party
+wandered into the north of Europe, and are believed to have been the
+progenitors of the Tuatha Dé Dananns; others made their way to Greece,
+where they were enslaved, and obtained the name of Firbolgs, or bagmen,
+from the leathern bags which they were compelled to carry; and the third
+section sought refuge in the north of England, which is said to have
+obtained its name of Briton from their leader, Briotan Maol.[34]
+
+The fourth immigration is that of the Firbolgs; and it is remarkable how
+early the love of country is manifested in the Irish race, since we find
+those who once inhabited its green plains still anxious to return,
+whether their emigration proved prosperous, as to the Tuatha Dé Dananns,
+or painful, as to the Firbolgs.
+
+According to the _Annals of Clonmacnois, Keating_, and the
+_Leabhar-Gabhala_, the Firbolgs divided the island into five provinces,
+governed by five brothers, the sons of Dela Mac Loich:--"Slane, the
+eldest brother, had the province of Leynster for his part, which
+containeth from Inver Colpe, that is to say, where the river Boyne
+entereth into the sea, now called in Irish Drogheda, to the meeting of
+the three waters, by Waterford, where the three rivers, Suyre, Ffeoir,
+and Barrow, do meet and run together into the sea. Gann, the second
+brother's part, was South Munster, which is a province extending from
+that place to Bealagh-Conglaissey. Seangann, the third brother's part,
+was from Bealagh-Conglaissey to Rossedahaileagh, now called Limbriche,
+which is in the province of North Munster. Geanaun, the fourth brother,
+had the province of Connacht, containing from Limerick to Easroe. Rorye,
+the fifth brother, and youngest, had from Easroe aforesaid to Inver
+Colpe, which is in the province of Ulster."[35]
+
+The Firbolg chiefs had landed in different parts of the island, but they
+soon met at the once famous Tara, where they united their forces. To
+this place they gave the name of _Druim Cain_, or the Beautiful
+Eminence.
+
+The fifth, or Tuatha Dé Danann "taking" of Ireland, occurred in the
+reign of Eochaidh, son of Erc, A.M. 3303. The Firbolgian dynasty was
+terminated at the battle of _Magh Tuireadh_. Eochaidh fled from the
+battle, and was killed on the strand of Traigh Eothailé, near
+Ballysadare, co. Sligo. The cave where he was interred still exists, and
+there is a curious tradition that the tide can never cover it.
+
+The Tuatha Dé Danann king, Nuada, lost his hand in this battle, and
+obtained the name of Nuada of the Silver Hand,[36] his artificer, Credne
+Cert, having made a silver hand for him with joints. It is probable the
+latter acquisition was the work of Mioch, the son of Diancecht, Nuada's
+physician, as there is a tradition that he "took off the hand and
+infused feeling and motion into every joint and finger of it, as if it
+were a natural hand." We may doubt the "feeling," but it was probably
+suggested by the "motion," and the fact that, in those ages, every act
+of more than ordinary skill was attributed to supernatural causes,
+though effected through human agents. Perhaps even, in the enlightened
+nineteenth century, we might not be much the worse for the pious belief,
+less the pagan cause to which it was attributed. It should be observed
+here, that the Brehon Laws were probably then in force; for the
+"blemish" of the monarch appears to have deprived him of his dignity, at
+least until the silver hand could satisfy for the defective limb. The
+Four Masters tell us briefly that the Tuatha Dé Dananns gave the
+sovereignty to Breas, son of Ealathan, "while the hand of Nuada was
+under cure," and mentions that Breas resigned the kingdom to him in the
+seventh year after the cure of his hand.
+
+A more detailed account of this affair may be found in one of our
+ancient historic tales, of the class called _Catha_ or _Battles_, which
+Professor O'Curry pronounces to be "almost the earliest event upon the
+record of which we may place sure reliance."[37] It would appear that
+there were two battles between the Firbolgs and Tuatha Dé Dananns, and
+that, in the last of these, Nuada was slain. According to this ancient
+tract, when the Firbolg king heard of the arrival of the invaders, he
+sent a warrior named Sreng to reconnoitre their camp. The Tuatha Dé
+Dananns were as skilled in war as in magic; they had sentinels carefully
+posted, and their _videttes_ were as much on the alert as a Wellington
+or a Napier could desire. The champion Breas was sent forward to meet
+the stranger. As they approached, each raised his shield, and cautiously
+surveyed his opponent from above the protecting aegis. Breas was the
+first to speak. The mother-tongue was as dear then as now, and Sreng was
+charmed to hear himself addressed in his own language, which, equally
+dear to the exiled Nemedian chiefs, had been preserved by them in their
+long wanderings through northern Europe. An examination of each others
+armour next took place. Sreng was armed with "two heavy, thick,
+pointless, but sharply rounded spears;" while Breas carried "two
+beautifully shaped, thin, slender, long, sharp-pointed spears."[38]
+Perhaps the one bore a spear of the same class of heavy flint weapons of
+which we give an illustration, and the other the lighter and more
+graceful sword, of which many specimens may be seen in the collection of
+the Royal Irish Academy. Breas then proposed that they should divide the
+island between the two parties; and after exchanging spears and promises
+of mutual friendship, each returned to his own camp.
+
+[Illustration: FLINT SPEAR-HEAD, FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE R.I.A.] The
+Firbolg king, however, objected to this arrangement; and it was decided,
+in a council of war, to give battle to the invaders. The Tuatha Dé
+Dananns were prepared for this from the account which Breas gave of the
+Firbolg warriors: they, therefore, abandoned their camp, and took up a
+strong position on Mount Belgadan, at the west end of _Magh Nia_, a site
+near the present village of Cong, co. Mayo.
+
+The Firbolgs marched from Tara to meet them; but Nuada, anxious for
+pacific arrangements, opened new negociations with King Eochaidh through
+the medium of his bards. The battle which has been mentioned before then
+followed. The warrior Breas, who ruled during the disability of Nuada,
+was by no means popular. He was not hospitable, a _sine qua non_ for
+king or chief from the earliest ages of Celtic being; he did not love
+the bards, for the same race ever cherished and honoured learning; and
+he attempted to enslave the nobles. Discontent came to a climax when the
+bard Cairbré, son of the poetess Etan, visited the royal court, and was
+sent to a dark chamber, without fire or bed, and, for all royal fare,
+served with three small cakes of bread. If we wish to know the true
+history of a people, to understand the causes of its sorrows and its
+joys, to estimate its worth, and to know how to rule it wisely and well,
+let us read such old-world tales carefully, and ponder them well. Even
+if prejudice or ignorance should induce us to undervalue their worth as
+authentic records of its ancient history, let us remember the undeniable
+fact, that they _are_ authentic records of its deepest national
+feelings, and let them, at least, have their weight as such in our
+schemes of social economy, for the present and the future.
+
+The poet left the court next morning, but not until he pronounced a
+bitter and withering satire on the king--the first satire that had ever
+been pronounced in Erinn. It was enough. Strange effects are attributed
+to the satire of a poet in those olden times; but probably they could,
+in all cases, bear the simple and obvious interpretation, that he on
+whom the satire was pronounced was thereby disgraced eternally before
+his people. For how slight a punishment would bodily suffering or
+deformity be, in comparison to the mental suffering of which a
+quick-souled people are eminently capable!
+
+Breas was called on to resign. He did so with the worst possible grace,
+as might be expected from such a character. His father, Elatha, was a
+Fomorian sea-king or pirate, and he repaired to his court. His reception
+was not such as he had expected; he therefore went to Balor of the Evil
+Eye,[39] a Fomorian chief. The two warriors collected a vast army and
+navy, and formed a bridge of ships and boats from the Hebrides to the
+north-west coast of Erinn. Having landed their forces, they marched to a
+plain in the barony of Tirerrill (co. Sligo), where they waited an
+attack or surrender of the Tuatha Dé Danann army. But the magical skill,
+or, more correctly, the superior abilities of this people, proved them
+more than equal to the occasion. The chronicler gives a quaint and most
+interesting account of the Tuatha Dé Danann arrangements. Probably the
+Crimean campaign, despite our nineteenth century advancements in the art
+of war, was not prepared for more carefully, or carried out more
+efficiently.
+
+Nuada called a "privy council," if we may use the modern term for the
+ancient act, and obtained the advice of the great Daghda; of Lug, the
+son of Cian, son of Diancecht, the famous physician; and of Ogma
+Grian-Aineach (of the sun-like face). But Daghda and Lug were evidently
+secretaries of state for the home and war departments, and arranged
+these intricate affairs with perhaps more honour to their master, and
+more credit to the nation, than many a modern and "civilized" statesman.
+They summoned to their presence the heads of each department necessary
+for carrying on the war. Each department was therefore carefully
+pre-organized, in such a manner as to make success almost certain, and
+to obtain every possible succour and help from those engaged in the
+combat, or those who had suffered from it. The "smiths" were prepared to
+make and to mend the swords, the surgeons to heal or staunch the wounds,
+the bards and druids to praise or blame; and each knew his work, and
+what was expected from the department which he headed before the battle,
+for the questions put to each, and their replies, are on record.
+
+Pardon me. You will say I have written a romance, a legend, for the
+benefit of my country[40]--a history of what might have been, of what
+should be, at least in modern warfare, and, alas! often is not. Pardon
+me. The copy of the tracts from which I have compiled this meagre
+narrative, is in existence, and in the British Museum. It was written on
+vellum, about the year 1460, by Gilla-Riabhach O'Clery; but there is
+unquestionable authority for its having existed at a much earlier
+period. It is quoted by Cormac Mac Cullinan in his Glossary, in
+illustration of the word _Nes_, and Cormac was King of Munster in the
+year of grace 885, while his Glossary was compiled to explain words
+which had then become obsolete. This narrative must, therefore, be of
+great antiquity. If we cannot accept it as a picture of the period, in
+the main authentic, let us give up all ancient history as a myth; if we
+do accept it, let us acknowledge that a people who possessed such
+officials had attained a high state of intellectual culture, and that
+their memory demands at least the homage of our respect.
+
+The plain on which this battle was fought, retains the name of the Plain
+of the Towers (or Pillars) of the Fomorians, and some very curious
+sepulchral monuments may still be seen on the ancient field.
+
+In those days, as in the so-called middle ages, ladies exercised their
+skill in the healing art; and we find honorable mention made of the Lady
+Ochtriuil, who assisted the chief physician (her father) and his sons in
+healing the wounds of the Tuatha Dé Danann heroes. These warriors have
+also left many evidences of their existence in raths and monumental
+pillars.[41] It is probable, also, that much that has been attributed to
+the Danes, of right belongs to the Dananns, and that a confusion of
+names has promoted a confusion of appropriation. Before we turn to the
+Milesian immigration, the last colonization of the old country, let us
+inquire what was known and said of it, and of its people, by foreign
+writers.
+
+[Illustration: CAVITY, CONTAINING OVAL BASIN. NEW GRANGE.]
+
+[Illustration: THE SEVEN CASTLES OF CLONMINES]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[24] _Hibernia_.--Chronicum Scotorum, p. 3.
+
+[25] _Tradition_.--O'Curry, p. 13.
+
+[26] _Names_.--Four Masters, O'Donovan, p. 3.
+
+[27] _Abraham.--_Chronicum Scotorum, p. 5.
+
+[28] _Years_.--Four Masters, p. 5.
+
+[29] _Inver.--Inver_ and _A[=b] er_ have been used as test words in
+discriminating between the Gaedhilic and Cymric Celts. The etymology and
+meaning is the same--a meeting of waters. Inver, the Erse and Gaedhilic
+form, is common in Ireland, and in those parts of Scotland where the
+Gael encroached on the Cymry. See _Words and Places_, p. 259, for
+interesting observations on this subject.
+
+[30] _Year_.--Annals, p. 7.
+
+[31] _Ireland._--Ib. p. 9.
+
+[32] _Annals._--Ib. I. p. 9.
+
+[33] _World_.--See Conell MacGeoghegan's Translation of the Annals of
+Clonmacnois, quoted by O'Donovan, p. 11.
+
+[34] _Maol_.--The Teutonic languages afford no explanation of the name
+of Britain, though it is inhabited by a Teutonic race. It is probable,
+therefore, that they adopted an ethnic appellation of the former
+inhabitants. This may have been patronymic, or, perhaps, a Celtic prefix
+with the Euskarian suffix _etan_, a district or country. See _Words and
+Places_, p. 60.
+
+[35] _Ulster_.--Neither the Annals nor the Chronicum give these
+divisions; the above is from the Annals of Clonmacnois. There is a poem
+in the Book of Lecain, at folio 277, b., by MacLiag, on the Firbolg
+colonies, which is quoted as having been taken from their own account of
+themselves; and another on the same subject at 278, a.
+
+[36] _Hand_.--Four Masters, p. 17.
+
+[37] _Reliance_.--O'Curry, p. 243.
+
+[38] _Spears_.--O'Curry, p. 245.
+
+[39] _Eye_.--There is a curious note by Dr. O'Donovan (Annals, p. 18)
+about this Balor. The tradition of his deeds and enchantments is still
+preserved in Tory Island, one of the many evidences of the value of
+tradition, and of the many proofs that it usually overlies a strata of
+facts.
+
+[40] _Country_.--We find the following passages in a work purporting to
+be a history of Ireland, recently published: "It would be throwing away
+time to examine critically _fables_ like those contained in the present
+and following chapter." The subjects of those chapters are the
+colonization of Partholan, of the Nemedians, Fomorians, Tuatha Dé
+Dananns, and Milesians, the building of the palace of Emania, the reign
+of Cairbré, Tuathal, and last, not least, the death of Dathi. And these
+are "fables"! The writer then calmly informs us that the period at which
+they were "invented, extended probably from the tenth to the twelfth
+century." Certainly, the "inventors" were men of no ordinary talent, and
+deserve some commendation for their inventive faculties. But on this
+subject we shall say more hereafter. At last the writer arrives at the
+"first ages of Christianity." We hoped that here at least he might have
+granted us a history; but he writes: "The history of early Christianity
+in Ireland is obscure and doubtful, precisely in proportion as it is
+unusually copious. If legends enter largely into the civil history of
+the country, they found their way tenfold into the history of the
+Church, because there the tendency to believe in them was much greater,
+as well as the inducement to invent and adopt them." The "inventors" of
+the pre-Christian history of Ireland, who accomplished their task "from
+the tenth to the twelfth century," are certainly complimented at the
+expense of the saints who Christianized Ireland. This writer seems to
+doubt the existence of St. Patrick, and has "many doubts" as to the
+authenticity of the life of St. Columba. We should not have noticed this
+work had we not reason to know that it has circulated largely amongst
+the middle and lower classes, who may be grievously misled by its very
+insidious statements. It is obviously written for the sake of making a
+book to sell; and the writer has the honesty to say plainly, that he
+merely gives the early history of Ireland, pagan and Christian, because
+he could not well write a history of Ireland and omit this portion of
+it!
+
+[41] _Pillars_.--The monuments ascribed to the Tuatha Dé Dananns are
+principally situated in Meath, at Drogheda, Dowlet, Knowth, and New
+Grange. There are others at Cnoc-Ainè and Cnoc-Gréinè, co. Limerick, and
+on the Pap Mountains, co. Kerry.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+The Scythians Colonists--Testimony of Josephus--Magog and his
+Colony--Statements of our Annals confirmed by a Jewish Writer--By
+Herodotus--Nennius relates what is told by the "Most Learned of the
+Scoti"--Phoenician Circumnavigation of Africa--Phoenician Colonization
+of Spain--Iberus and Himerus--Traditions of Partholan--Early
+Geographical Accounts of Ireland--Early Social Accounts of Ireland.
+
+
+The writer of the article on Ireland, in Rees' Cyclopædia, says: "It
+does not appear improbable, much less absurd, to suppose that the
+Phoenicians might have colonized Ireland at an early period, and
+introduced their laws, customs, and knowledge, with a comparatively high
+state of civilization; and that these might have been gradually lost
+amidst the disturbances of the country, and, at last, completely
+destroyed by the irruptions of the Ostmen." Of this assertion, which is
+now scarcely doubted, there is abundant proof; and it is remarkable that
+Josephus[42] attributes to the Phoenicians a special care in preserving
+their annals above that of other civilized nations, and that this
+feeling has existed, and still exists, more vividly in the Celtic race
+than in any other European people.
+
+The Irish annalists claim a descent from the Scythians, who, they say,
+are descended from Magog, the son of Japhet, the son of Noah. Keating
+says: "We will set down here the branching off of the race of Magog,
+according to the Book of Invasions (of Ireland), which was called the
+Cin of Drom Snechta."[43] It will be remembered how curiously O'Curry
+verified Keating's statement as to the authorship of this work,[44] so
+that his testimony may be received with respect. In the Scripture
+genealogy, the sons of Magog are not enumerated; but an historian, who
+cannot be suspected of any design of assisting the Celts to build up a
+pedigree, has happily supplied the deficiency. Josephus writes:[45]
+"Magog led out a colony, which from him were named Magoges, but by the
+Greeks called Scythians." But Keating specifies the precise title of
+Scythians, from which the Irish Celts are descended. He says they had
+established themselves in remote ages on the borders of the Red Sea, at
+the town of Chiroth; that they were expelled by the grandson of that
+Pharaoh who had been drowned in the Red Sea; and that he persecuted them
+because they had supplied the Israelites with provisions.
+
+This statement is singularly and most conclusively confirmed by Rabbi
+Simon, who wrote two hundred years before the birth of Christ. He says
+that certain Canaanites near the Red Sea gave provisions to the
+Israelites; "and because these Canaan ships gave Israel of their
+provisions, God would not destroy their ships, but with an east wind
+carried them down the Red Sea."[46] This colony settled in what was
+subsequently called Phoenicia; and here again our traditions are
+confirmed _ab extra_, for Herodotus says: "The Phoenicians anciently
+dwelt, as they allege, on the borders of the Red Sea."[47]
+
+It is not known at what time this ancient nation obtained the specific
+appellation of Phoenician. The word is not found in Hebrew brew copies
+of the Scriptures, but is used in the Machabees, the original of which
+is in Greek, and in the New Testament. According to Grecian historians,
+it was derived from Phoenix, one of their kings and brother of Cadmus,
+the inventor of letters. It is remarkable that our annals mention a king
+named Phenius, who devoted himself especially to the study of languages,
+and composed an alphabet and the elements of grammar. Our historians
+describe the wanderings of the Phoenicians, whom they still designate
+Scythians, much as they are described by other writers. The account of
+their route may differ in detail, but the main incidents coincide.
+Nennius, an English chronicler, who wrote in the seventh century, from
+the oral testimony of trustworthy Irish Celts, gives corroborative
+testimony. He writes thus: "If any one would be anxious to learn how
+long Ireland was uninhabited and deserted, he shall hear it, as the most
+learned of the Scots have related it to me.[48] When the children of
+Israel came to the Red Sea, the Egyptians pursued them and were drowned,
+as the Scripture records. In the time of Moses there was a Scythian
+noble who had been banished from his kingdom, and dwelt in Egypt with a
+large family. He was there when the Egyptians were drowned, but he did
+not join in the persecution of the Lord's people. Those who survived
+laid plans to banish him, lest he should assume the government, because
+their brethren were drowned in the Red Sea; so he was expelled. He
+wandered through Africa for forty-two years, and passed by the lake of
+Salinæ to the altars of the Philistines, and between Rusicada and the
+mountains Azure, and he came by the river Mulon, and by sea to the
+Pillars of Hercules, and through the Tuscan Sea, and he made for Spain,
+and dwelt there many years, and he increased and multiplied, and his
+people were multiplied."
+
+Herodotus gives an account of the circumnavigation of Africa by the
+Phoenicians, which may have some coincidence with this narrative. His
+only reason for rejecting the tradition, which he relates at length, is
+that he could not conceive how these navigators could have seen the sun
+in a position contrary to that in which it is seen in Europe. The
+expression of his doubt is a strong confirmation of the truth of his
+narrative, which, however, is generally believed by modern writers.[49]
+
+This navigation was performed about seven centuries before the Christian
+era, and is, at least, a proof that the maritime power of the
+Phoenicians was established at an early period, and that it was not
+impossible for them to have extended their enterprises to Ireland. The
+traditions of our people may also be confirmed from other sources.
+Solinus writes thus: "In the gulf of Boatica there is an island, distant
+some hundred paces from the mainland, which the Tyrians, who came from
+the Red Sea, called Erythroea, and the Carthaginians, in their language,
+denominate Gadir, i.e., the enclosure."
+
+Spanish historians add their testimony, and claim the Phoenicians as
+their principal colonizers. The _Hispania Illustrata_, a rare and
+valuable work, on which no less than sixty writers were engaged, fixes
+the date of the colonization of Spain by the Phoenicians at 764 A.C. De
+Bellegarde says: "The first of whom mention is made in history is
+Hercules, the Phoenician, by some called Melchant." It is alleged that
+he lived in the time of Moses, and that he retired into Spain when the
+Israelites entered the land of promise. This will be consistent with old
+accounts, if faith can be placed in the inscription of two columns,
+which were found in the province of Tingitane, at the time of the
+historian Procopius.[50] A Portuguese historian, Emanuel de Faria y
+Sousa, mentions the sailing of Gatelus from Egypt, with his whole
+family, and names his two sons, Iberus and Himerus, the first of whom,
+he says, "some will have to have sailed into Ireland, and given the name
+Hibernia to it."
+
+Indeed, so strong has been the concurrent testimony of a Phoenician
+colonization of Ireland from Spain, and this by independent authorities,
+who could not have had access to our bardic histories, and who had no
+motive, even had they known of their existence, to write in confirmation
+of them, that those who have maintained the theory of a Gaulish
+colonization of Ireland, have been obliged to make Spain the point of
+embarkation.
+
+There is a curious treatise on the antiquities and origin of Cambridge,
+in which it is stated, that, in the year of the world 4321, a British
+prince, the son of Gulguntius, or Gurmund, having crossed over to
+Denmark, to enforce tribute from a Danish king, was returning victorious
+off the Orcades, when he encountered thirty ships, full of men and
+women. On his inquiring into the object of their voyage, their leader,
+_Partholyan_, made an appeal to his good-nature, and entreated from the
+prince some small portion of land in Britain, as his crew were weary of
+sailing over the ocean. Being informed that he came from Spain, the
+British prince received him under his protection, and assigned faithful
+guides to attend him into Ireland, which was then wholly uninhabited;
+and he granted it to them, subject to an annual tribute, and confirmed
+the appointment of Partholyan as their chief.[51]
+
+This account was so firmly believed in England, that it is specially set
+forth in an Irish act (11th of Queen Elizabeth) among the "auncient and
+sundry strong authentique tytles for the kings of England to this land
+of Ireland." The tradition may have been obtained from Irish sources,
+and was probably "improved" and accommodated to fortify the Saxon claim,
+by the addition of the pretended grant; but it is certainly evidence of
+the early belief in the Milesian colonization of Ireland, and the name
+of their leader.
+
+The earliest references to Ireland by foreign writers are, as might be
+expected, of a contradictory character. Plutarch affirms that Calypso
+was "an island five days' sail to the west of Britain," which, at least,
+indicates his knowledge of the existence of Erinn. Orpheus is the first
+writer who definitely names Ireland. In the imaginary route which he
+prescribes for Jason and the Argonauts, he names Ireland (Iernis), and
+describes its woody surface and its misty atmosphere. All authorities
+are agreed that this poem[52] was written five hundred years before
+Christ; and all doubt as to whether Iernis meant the present island of
+Ireland must be removed, at least to an unprejudiced inquirer, by a
+careful examination of the route which is described, and the position of
+the island in that route.
+
+The early history of a country which has been so long and so cruelly
+oppressed, both civilly and morally, has naturally fallen into
+disrepute. We do not like to display the qualifications of one whom we
+have deeply injured. It is, at least, less disgraceful to have forbidden
+a literature to a people who had none, than to have banned and barred
+the use of a most ancient language,--to have destroyed the annals of a
+most ancient people. In self-defence, the conqueror who knows not how to
+triumph nobly will triumph basely, and the victims may, in time, almost
+forget what it has been the policy of centuries to conceal from them.
+But ours is, in many respects, an age of historical justice, and truth
+will triumph in the end. It is no longer necessary to England's present
+greatness to deny the facts of history; and it is one of its most patent
+facts that Albion was unknown, or, at least, that her existence was
+unrecorded, at a time when Ireland is mentioned with respect as the
+Sacred Isle, and the Ogygia[53] of the Greeks.
+
+As might be expected, descriptions of the social state of ancient Erinn
+are of the most contradictory character; but there is a remarkable
+coincidence in all accounts of the physical geography of the island. The
+moist climate, the fertile soil, the richly-wooded plains, the navigable
+rivers, and the abundance of its fish,[54] are each and all mentioned by
+the early geographers. The description given by Diodorus Siculus of a
+"certain large island a considerable distance out at sea, and in the
+direction of the west, many days' sail from Lybia," if it applies to
+Ireland, would make us suppose that the Erinn of pagan times was
+incomparably more prosperous than Erinn under Christian rule. He also
+specially mentions the fish, and adds: "The Phoenicians, from the very
+remotest times, made repeated voyages thither for purposes of
+commerce."[55]
+
+The descriptions of our social state are by no means so flattering; but
+it is remarkable, and, perhaps, explanatory, that the most unfavourable
+accounts are the more modern ones. All without the pale of Roman
+civilization were considered "barbarians," and the epithet was freely
+applied. Indeed, it is well known that, when Cicero had a special object
+in view, he could describe the Celtae of Gaul as the vilest monsters,
+and the hereditary enemies of the gods, for whose wickedness
+extermination was the only remedy. As to the "gods" there is no doubt
+that the Druidic worship was opposed to the more sensual paganism of
+Greece and Rome, and, therefore, would be considered eminently
+irreligious by the votaries of the latter.
+
+The most serious social charge against the Irish Celts, is that of being
+anthropophagi; and the statement of St. Jerome, that he had seen two
+Scoti in Gaul feeding on a human carcass, has been claimed as strong
+corroboration of the assertions of pagan writers. As the good father was
+often vehement in his statements and impulsive in his opinions, he may
+possibly have been mistaken, or, perhaps, purposely misled by those who
+wished to give him an unfavourable impression of the Irish. It is
+scarcely possible that they could have been cannibal as a nation, since
+St. Patrick never even alludes to such a custom in his _Confessio_,[56]
+where it would, undoubtedly, have been mentioned and reproved, had it
+existence.
+
+[Illustration: CROSS AT GLENDALOUGH, CO. WICKLOW.]
+
+[Illustration: CROMLECH AT DUNMORE, WATERFORD.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[42] _Josephus_.--Con. Apionem, lib. i.
+
+[43] _Snechta_.--O'Curry, p. 14.
+
+[44] _Work_--See ante, p. 43.
+
+[45] _Writes_.--Josephus, lib. i. c. 6. Most of the authorities in this
+chapter are taken from the Essay on the ancient history, religion,
+learning, arts, and government of Ireland, by the late W. D'Alton. The
+Essay obtained a prize of £80 and the Cunningham Gold Medal from the
+Royal Irish Academy. It is published in volume xvi. of the Transactions,
+and is a repertory of learning of immense value to the student of Irish
+history.
+
+[46] _Sea_.--Lib. Zoar, p. 87, as cited by Vallancey, and Parson's
+Defence, &c., p. 205.
+
+[47] _Sea_.--Herodotus, l. vii. c. 89.
+
+[48] _Me_.--"Sic mihi peritissimi Scotorum nunciaverunt." The reader
+will remember that the Irish were called Scots, although the appellative
+of Ierins or Ierne continued to be given to the country from the days of
+Orpheus to those of Claudius. By Roman writers Ireland was more usually
+termed Hibernia. Juvenal calls it Juverna.
+
+[49] _Writers_.--The circumnavigation of Africa by a Phoenician ship, in
+the reign of Neco, about 610 B.C., is credited by Humboldt, Rennell,
+Heeren, Grote, and Rawlinson. Of their voyages to Cornwall for tin there
+is no question, and it is more than probable they sailed to the Baltic
+for amber. It has been even supposed that they anticipated Columbus in
+the discovery of America. Niebuhr connects the primitive astronomy of
+Europe with that of America, and, therefore, must suppose the latter
+country to have been discovered.--_Hist. of Rome_, vol. i. p. 281. This,
+however, is very vague ground of conjecture; the tide of knowledge, as
+well as emigration, was more probably eastward.
+
+[50] _Procopius.--Hist. Gen. d'Espagne_, vol. i.c.l. p.4.
+
+[51] _Chief.--De Antiq. et Orig. Cantab_. See D'Alton's _Essay_, p. 24,
+for other authorities.
+
+[52] _Poem_.--There has been question of the author, but none as to the
+authenticity and the probable date of compilation.
+
+[53] _Ogygia_.--Camden writes thus: "Nor can any one conceive why they
+should call it Ogygia, unless, perhaps, from its antiquity; for the
+Greeks called nothing Ogygia unless what was extremely ancient."
+
+[54] _Fish_.--And it still continues to be a national article of
+consumption and export. In a recent debate on the "Irish question," an
+honorable member observes, that he regrets to say "fish" is the only
+thing which appears to be flourishing in Ireland. We fear, however,
+from the report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons on the
+question of Irish sea-coast fisheries, that the poor fishermen are not
+prospering as well as the fish. Mr. Hart stated: "Fish was as plenty as
+ever; but numbers of the fishermen had died during the famine, others
+emigrated, and many of those who remained were unable, from want of
+means, to follow the pursuit." And yet these men are honest; for it has
+been declared before the same committee, that they have scrupulously
+repaid the loans which were given them formerly; and they are willing to
+work, for when they can get boats and nets, _they do work_. These are
+facts. Shakspeare has said that facts are "stubborn things;" they are,
+certainly, sometimes very unpleasant things. Yet, we are told, the Irish
+have no real grievances. Of course, starvation from want of work is not
+a grievance!
+
+Within the few months which have elapsed since the publication of the
+first edition of this History and the present moment, when I am engaged
+in preparing a second edition, a fact has occurred within my own
+personal knowledge relative to this very subject, and of too great
+importance to the history of Ireland in the present day to be omitted. A
+shoal of sprats arrived in the bay of ---- and the poor people crowded
+to the shore to witness the arrival and, alas! the departure of the
+finny tribe. All their nets had been broken or sold in the famine year;
+they had, therefore, no means of securing what would have been a
+valuable addition to their poor fare. The wealthy, whose tables are
+furnished daily with every luxury, can have but little idea how bitter
+such privations are to the poor. Had there been a resident landlord in
+the place, to interest himself in the welfare of his tenants, a few
+pounds would have procured all that was necessary, and the people,
+always grateful for kindness, would long have remembered the boon and
+the bestower of it.
+
+[55] _Commerce_.--"Phoenices a vetustissimis inde temporibus frequenter
+crebras mercaturæ gratiâ navigationes instituerunt."--Diod. Sic. vers.
+Wesseling, t.i.
+
+[56] _Confessio_.--Dr. O'Donovan states, in an article in the _Ulster
+Archæological Journal_, vol. viii. p. 249, that he had a letter from the
+late Dr. Prichard, who stated that it was his belief the ancient Irish
+were not anthropophagi. He adds: "Whatever they may have been when their
+island was called _Insula Sacra_, there are no people in Europe who are
+more squeamish in the use of meats than the modern Irish peasantry, for
+they have a horror of every kind of carrion;" albeit he is obliged to
+confess that, though they abuse the French for eating frogs, and the
+English for eating rooks, there is evidence to prove that horseflesh was
+eaten in Ireland, even in the reign of Queen Elizabeth.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+Landing of the Milesians--Traditions of the Tuatha Dé Dananns in St.
+Patrick's time--The Lia Fail, or Stone of Destiny--The Milesians go back
+to sea "nine waves"--They conquer ultimately--Reign of Eremon--Landing
+of the Picts--Bede's Account of Ireland--Fame of its Fish and
+Goats--Difficulties of Irish Chronology--Importance and Authenticity of
+Irish Pedigrees--Qualifications of an Ollamh--Milesian
+Genealogies--Historical Value of Pedigrees--National Feelings should be
+respected--Historic Tales--Poems.
+
+[A.M. 3500.]
+
+
+The last colonization of Ireland is thus related in the Annals of the
+Four Masters: "The age of the world 3500. The fleet of the sons of
+Milidh came to Ireland at the end of this year, to take it from the
+Tuatha Dé Dananns, and they fought the battle of Sliabh Mis with them on
+the third day after landing. In this battle fell Scota, the daughter of
+Pharaoh, wife of Milidh; and the grave of Scota[57] is [to be seen]
+between Sliabh Mis and the sea. Therein also fell Fas, the wife of Un,
+son of Uige, from whom is [named] Gleann Faisi. After this the sons of
+Milidh fought a battle at Taillten[58] against the three kings of the
+Tuatha Dé Dananns, MacCuill, MacCeacht, and MacGriéné. The battle lasted
+for a long time, until MacCeacht fell by Eiremhon, MacCuill by Eimheur,
+and Mac Griéné by Amhergen."[59] Thus the Tuatha Dé Danann dynasty
+passed away, but not without leaving many a quaint legend of magic and
+mystery, and many an impress of its more than ordinary skill in such
+arts as were then indications of national superiority. The real names of
+the last chiefs of this line, are said to have been respectively Ethur,
+Cethur, and Fethur. The first was called MacCuill, because he worshipped
+the hazel-tree, and, more probably, because he was devoted to some
+branch of literature which it symbolized; the second MacCeacht, because
+he worshipped the plough, i.e., was devoted to agriculture; and the
+third obtained his appellation of MacGriéné because he worshipped the
+sun.
+
+It appears from a very curious and ancient tract, written in the shape
+of a dialogue between St. Patrick and Caoilte MacRonain, that there were
+many places in Ireland where the Tuatha Dé Dananns were then supposed to
+live as sprites and fairies, with corporeal and material forms, but
+endued with immortality. The inference naturally to be drawn from these
+stories is, that the Tuatha Dé Dananns lingered in the country for many
+centuries after their subjugation by the Gaedhils, and that they lived
+in retired situations, where they practised abstruse arts, from which
+they obtained the reputation of being magicians.
+
+The Tuatha Dé Dananns are also said to have brought the famous. Lia
+Fail, or Stone of Destiny, to Ireland. It is said by some authorities
+that this stone was carried to Scotland when an Irish colony invaded
+North Britain, and that it was eventually brought to England by Edward
+I., in the year 1300, and deposited in Westminster Abbey. It is supposed
+to be identical with the large block of stone which may be seen there
+under the coronation chair. Dr. Petrie, however, controverts this
+statement, and believes it to be the present pillar stone over the
+Croppies' Grave in one of the raths of Tara.
+
+A Danann prince, called Oghma, is said to have invented the occult form
+of writing called the Ogham Craove, which, like the round towers has
+proved so fertile a source of doubt and discussion to our antiquaries.
+
+The Milesians, however, did not obtain a colonization in Ireland without
+some difficulty. According to the ancient accounts, they landed at the
+mouth of the river Sláingé, or Slaney, in the present county of Wexford,
+unperceived by the Tuatha Dé Dananns. From thence they marched to Tara,
+the seat of government, and summoned the three kings to surrender. A
+curious legend is told of this summons and its results, which is
+probably true in the more important details. The Tuatha Dé Danann
+princes complained that they had been taken by surprise, and proposed to
+the invaders to re-embark, and to go out upon the sea "the distance of
+nine waves" stating that the country should be surrendered to them if
+they could then effect a landing by force. The Milesian chiefs assented;
+but when the original inhabitants found them fairly launched at sea,
+they raised a tempest by magical incantations, which entirely dispersed
+the fleet. One part of it was driven along the east coast of Erinn, to
+the north, under the command of Eremon, the youngest of the Milesian
+brothers; the remainder, under the command of Donn, the elder brother,
+was driven to the south-west of the island.
+
+But the Milesians had druids also.[60] As soon as they suspected the
+agency which had caused the storm, they sent a man to the topmast of the
+ship to know "if the wind was blowing at that height over the surface of
+the sea." The man reported that it was not. The druids then commence
+practising counter arts of magic, in which they soon succeeded, but not
+until five of the eight brothers were lost. Four, including Donn, were
+drowned in the wild Atlantic, off the coast of Kerry. Colpa met his fate
+at the mouth of the river Boyne, called from him Inbhear Colpa. Eber
+Finn and Amergin, the survivors of the southern party, landed in Kerry,
+and here the battle of Sliabh Mis was fought, which has been already
+mentioned.
+
+The battle of Taillten followed; and the Milesians having become masters
+of the country, the brothers Eber Finn and Eremon divided it between
+them; the former taking all the southern part, from the Boyne and the
+Shannon to Cape Clear, the latter taking all the part lying to the north
+of these rivers.
+
+This arrangement, however, was not of long continuance. Each was
+desirous of unlimited sovereignty; and they met to decide their claims
+by an appeal to arms at Géisill,[61] a place near the present Tullamore,
+in the King's county. Eber and his chief leaders fell in this
+engagement, and Eremon assumed the sole government of the island.[62]
+
+[Illustration: ANCIENT FLINT AXE.]
+
+He took up his residence in Leinster, and after a reign of fifteen years
+died, and was buried at _Ráith Beóthaigh_, in _Argat Ross_. This ancient
+rath still exists, and is now called Rath Beagh. It is situated on the
+right bank of the river Nore, near the present village of Ballyragget,
+county Kilkenny. This is not narrated by the Four Masters, neither do
+they mention the coming of the Cruithneans or Picts into Ireland. These
+occurrences, however, are recorded in all the ancient copies of the Book
+of Invasions, and in the Dinnseanchus. The Cruithneans or Picts are said
+to have fled from the oppression of their king in Thrace, and to have
+passed into Gaul. There they founded the city of Poictiers. From thence
+they were again driven by an act of tyranny, and they proceeded first to
+Britain, and then to Ireland. Crimhthann Sciath-bél, one of King
+Bremen's leaders, was at Wexford when the new colony landed. He was
+occupied in extirpating a tribe of Britons who had settled in
+Fotharta,[63] and were unpleasantly distinguished for fighting with
+poisoned weapons. The Irish chieftain asked the assistance of the new
+comers. A battle was fought, and the Britons were defeated principally
+by the skill of the Pictish druid, who found an antidote for the poison
+of their weapons. According to the quaint account of Bede,[64] the
+Celtic chiefs gave good advice to their foreign allies in return for
+their good deeds, and recommended them to settle in North Britain,
+adding that they would come to their assistance should they find any
+difficulty or opposition from the inhabitants. The Picts took the
+advice, but soon found themselves in want of helpmates. They applied
+again to their neighbours, and were obligingly supplied with wives on
+the condition "that, when any difficulty should arise, they should
+choose a king from the female royal race rather than from the male." The
+Picts accepted the terms and the ladies; "and the custom," says Bede,
+"as is well known, is observed among the Picts to this day."
+
+Bede then continues to give a description of Ireland. His account,
+although of some length, and not in all points reliable, is too
+interesting to be omitted, being the opinion of an Englishman, and an
+author of reputation, as to the state of Ireland, socially and
+physically, in the seventh century: "Ireland, in breadth and for
+wholesomeness and serenity of climate, far surpasses Britain; for the
+snow scarcely ever lies there above three days; no man makes hay in
+summer for winter's provision, or builds stables for his beasts of
+burden. No reptiles are found there; for, though often carried thither
+out of Britain, as soon as the ship comes near the shore, and the scent
+of the air reaches them, they die. On the contrary, almost all things in
+the island are good against poison. In short, we have known that when
+some persons have been bitten by serpents, the scrapings of leaves of
+books that were brought out of Ireland, being put into water and given
+them to drink, have immediately expelled the spreading poison, and
+assuaged the swelling. The island abounds in milk and honey;[65] nor is
+there any want of vines, fish,[66] and fowl; and it is remarkable for
+deer and goats."
+
+The chronology of Irish pagan history is unquestionably one of its
+greatest difficulties. But the chronology of all ancient peoples is
+equally unmanageable. When Bunsen has settled Egyptian chronology to the
+satisfaction of other literati as well as to his own, and when Hindoo
+and Chinese accounts of their postdiluvian or antediluvian ancestors
+have been reconciled and synchronized, we may hear some objections to
+"Irish pedigrees," and listen to a new "Irish question."
+
+Pre-Christian Irish chronology has been arranged, like most ancient
+national chronologies, on the basis of the length of reign of certain
+kings. As we do not trace our descent from the "sun and moon" we are not
+necessitated to give our kings "a gross of centuries apiece," or to
+divide the assumed period of a reign between half-a-dozen monarchs;[67]
+and the difficulties are merely such as might be expected before
+chronology had become a science. The Four Masters have adopted the
+chronology of the Septuagint; but O'Flaherty took the system of
+Scaliger, and thus reduced the dates by many hundred years. The
+objection of hostile critics has been to the history rather than to the
+chronology of the history; but these objections are a mere _petitio
+principii_. They cannot understand how Ireland could have had a
+succession of kings and comparative civilization,--in fact, a national
+existence,--from 260 years before the building of Rome, when the
+Milesian colony arrived, according to the author of the _Ogygia_, at
+least a thousand years before the arrival of Cæsar in Britain, and his
+discovery that its inhabitants were half-naked savages. The real
+question is not what Cæsar said of the Britons, nor whether they had an
+ancient history before their subjugation by the victorious cohorts of
+Rome; but whether the annals which contained the pre-Christian history
+of Ireland may be accepted as, in the main, authentic.
+
+We have already given some account of the principal works from which our
+annals may be compiled. Before we proceed to that portion of our history
+the authenticity of which cannot be questioned, it may, perhaps, be
+useful to give an idea of the authorities for the minor details of
+social life, the individual incidents of a nation's being, which, in
+fact, make up the harmonious whole. We shall find a remarkable
+coincidence between the materials for early Roman history, and those for
+the early history of that portion of the Celtic race which colonized
+Ireland.
+
+We have no trace of any historical account of Roman history by a
+contemporary writer, native or foreign, before the war with Pyrrhus; yet
+we have a history of Rome for more than four hundred years previous
+offered to us by classical writers[68], as a trustworthy narrative of
+events. From whence did they derive their reliable information?
+Unquestionably from works such as the _Origines_ of Cato the Censor, and
+other writers, which were then extant, but which have since perished.
+And these writers, whence did they obtain their historical narratives?
+If we may credit the theory of Niebuhr,[69] they were transmitted simply
+by bardic legends, composed in verse. Even Sir G.C. Lewis admits that
+"commemorative festivals and other periodical observances, may, in
+certain cases, have served to perpetuate a true tradition of some
+national event."[70] And how much more surely would the memory of such
+events be perpetuated by a people, to whom they had brought important
+political revolutions, who are eminently tenacious of their traditions,
+and who have preserved the memory of them intact for centuries in local
+names and monumental sites! The sources from whence the first annalists,
+or writers of Irish history, may have compiled their narratives, would,
+therefore, be--1. The Books of Genealogies and Pedigrees. 2. The
+Historic Tales. 3. The Books of Laws. 4. The Imaginative Tales and
+Poems. 5. National Monuments, such as cromlechs and pillar stones, &c.,
+which supplied the place of the brazen tablets of Roman history, the
+_libri lintei_,[71] or the chronological nail.[72]
+
+The Books of Genealogies and Pedigrees form a most important element in
+Irish pagan history. For social and political reasons, the Irish Celt
+preserved his genealogical tree with scrupulous precision. The rights of
+property and the governing power were transmitted with patriarchal
+exactitude on strict claims of primogeniture, which claims could only be
+refused under certain conditions defined by law. Thus, pedigrees and
+genealogies became a family necessity; but since private claims might be
+doubted, and the question of authenticity involved such important
+results, a responsible public officer was appointed to keep the records
+by which all claims were decided. Each king had his own recorder, who
+was obliged to keep a true account of his pedigree, and also of the
+pedigrees of the provincial kings and of their principal chieftains. The
+provincial kings had also their recorders (Ollamhs or Seanchaidhé[73]);
+and in obedience to an ancient law established long before the
+introduction of Christianity, all the provincial records, as well as
+those of the various chieftains, were required to be furnished every
+third year to the convocation at Tara, where they were compared and
+corrected.
+
+The compilers of these genealogies were persons who had been educated as
+Ollamhs--none others were admissible; and their "diplomas" were obtained
+after a collegiate course, which might well deter many a modern aspirant
+to professorial chairs. The education of the Ollamh lasted for twelve
+years; and in the course of these twelve years of "hard work," as the
+early books say, certain regular courses were completed, each of which
+gave the student an additional degree, with corresponding title, rank,
+and privileges.[74]
+
+"In the Book of _Lecain_ (fol. 168) there is an ancient tract,
+describing the laws upon this subject, and referring, with quotations,
+to the body of the _Brethibh Nimhedh_, or 'Brehon Laws.' According to
+this authority, the perfect Poet or _Ollamh_ should know and practise
+the _Teinim Laegha_, the _Imas Forosnadh_, and the _Dichedal do
+chennaibh_. The first appears to have been a peculiar druidical verse,
+or incantation, believed to confer upon the druid or poet the power of
+understanding everything that it was proper for him to say or speak. The
+second is explained or translated, 'the illumination of much knowledge,
+as from the teacher to the pupil,' that is, that he should be able to
+explain and teach the four divisions of poetry or philosophy, 'and each
+division of them,' continues the authority quoted, 'is the chief
+teaching of three years of hard work.' The third qualification, or
+_Dichedal_, is explained, 'that he begins at once the head of his poem,'
+in short, to improvise extempore in correct verse. 'To the _Ollamh_,'
+says the ancient authority quoted in this passage in the Book of
+_Lecain_,' belong synchronisms, together with the _laegha laidhibh_, or
+illuminating poems [incantations], and to him belong the pedigrees and
+etymologies of names, that is, he has the pedigrees of the men of Erinn
+with certainty, and the branching off of their various relationships.'
+Lastly, 'here are the four divisions of the knowledge of poetry (or
+philosophy),' says the tract I have referred to; 'genealogies,
+synchronisms, and the reciting of (historic) tales form the first
+division; knowledge of the seven kinds of verse, and how to measure them
+by letters and syllables, form another of them; judgment of the seven
+kinds of poetry, another of them; lastly, _Dichedal_ [or improvisation],
+that is, to contemplate and recite the verses without ever thinking of
+them before.'"[75]
+
+The pedigrees were collected and written into a single book, called the
+_Cin_ or Book of Drom Snechta, by the son of Duach Galach, King of
+Connacht, an Ollamh in history and genealogies, &c., shortly before[76]
+the arrival of St. Patrick in Ireland, which happened about A.D. 432. It
+is obvious, therefore, that these genealogies must have existed for
+centuries prior to this period. Even if they were then committed to
+writing for the first time, they could have been handed down for many
+centuries orally by the Ollamhs; for no amount of literary effort could
+be supposed too great for a class of men so exclusively and laboriously
+devoted to learning.
+
+As the Milesians were the last of the ancient colonists, and had subdued
+the races previously existing in Ireland, only their genealogies, with a
+few exceptions, have been preserved. The genealogical tree begins,
+therefore, with the brothers Eber and Eremon, the two surviving leaders
+of the expedition, whose ancestors are traced back to Magog, the son of
+Japhet. The great southern chieftains, such as the MacCarthys and
+O'Briens, claim descent from Eber; the northern families of O'Connor,
+O'Donnell, and O'Neill, claim Eremon as their head. There are also other
+families claiming descent from Emer, the son of Ir, brother to Eber and
+Eremon; as also from their cousin Lugaidh, the son of Ith. From four
+sources the principal Celtic families of Ireland have sprung; and though
+they do not quite trace up the line to
+
+    "The grand old gardener and his wife,"
+
+they have a pedigree which cannot be gainsaid, and which might be
+claimed with pride by many a monarch. MacFirbis' Book of
+Genealogies,[77] compiled in the year 1650, from lost records, is the
+most perfect work of this kind extant. But there are tracts in the Book
+of Leinster (compiled A.D. 1130), and in the Book of Ballymote (compiled
+A.D. 1391), which are of the highest authority. O'Curry is of opinion,
+that those in the Book of Leinster were copied from the Saltair of
+Cashel and other contemporaneous works.
+
+The historical use of these genealogies is very great, not only because
+they give an authentic pedigree and approximate data for chronological
+calculation, but from the immense amount of correlative information
+which they contain. Every free-born man of the tribe was entitled by
+_blood_, should it come to his turn, to succeed to the chieftaincy:
+hence the exactitude with which each pedigree was kept; hence their
+importance in the estimation of each individual; hence the incidental
+matter they contain, by the mention of such historical events[78] as may
+have acted on different tribes and families, by which they lost their
+inheritance or independence, and consequently their claim, however
+remote, to the chieftaincy.
+
+The ancient history of a people should always be studied with care and
+candour by those who, as a matter of interest or duty, wish to
+understand their social state, and the government best suited to that
+state. Many of the poorest families in Ireland are descendants of its
+ancient chiefs. The old habit--the habit which deepened and intensified
+itself during centuries--cannot be eradicated, though it may be
+ridiculed, and the peasant will still boast of his "blood;" it is all
+that he has left to him of the proud inheritance of his ancestors.
+
+The second source of historical information may be found in the HISTORIC
+TALES. The reciting of historic tales was one of the principal duties of
+the Ollamh, and he was bound to preserve the truth of history "pure and
+unbroken to succeeding generations."
+
+"According to several of the most ancient authorities, the _Ollamh_, or
+perfect Doctor, was bound to have (for recital at the public feasts and
+assemblies) at least Seven Fifties of these Historic narratives; and
+there appear to have been various degrees in the ranks of the poets, as
+they progressed in education towards the final degree, each of which was
+bound to be supplied with at least a certain number. Thus the _Anroth_,
+next in rank to an _Ollamh_ should have half the number of an _Ollamh_;
+the _Cli_, one-third the number, according to some authorities, and
+eighty according to others; and so on down to the _Fochlog_, who should
+have thirty; and the _Driseg_ (the lowest of all), who should have
+twenty of these tales."[79]
+
+The Ollamhs, like the druids or learned men of other nations, were in
+the habit of teaching the facts of history to their pupils in verse,[80]
+probably that they might be more easily remembered. A few of these tales
+have been published lately, such as the Battle of _Magh Rath_, the
+Battle of _Muighé Leana_, and the _Tochmarc Moméra_. Besides the tales
+of Battles (Catha), there are the tales of Longasa, or Voyages; the
+tales of Tóghla, or Destructions; of Slaughters, of Sieges, of
+Tragedies, of Voyages, and, not least memorable, of the Tána, or Cattle
+Spoils, and the Tochmarca, or Courtships. It should be remembered that
+numbers of these tales are in existence, offering historical materials
+of the highest value. The Books of Laws demand a special and more
+detailed notice, as well as the Historical Monuments. With a brief
+mention of the Imaginative Tales and Poems, we must conclude this
+portion of our subject.
+
+Ancient writings, even of pure fiction, must always form an important
+historical element to the nation by which they have been produced.
+Unless they are founded on fact, so far as customs, localities, and mode
+of life are concerned, they would possess no interest; and their
+principal object is to interest. Without some degree of poetic
+improbabilities as to events, they could scarcely amuse; and their
+object is also to amuse. Hence, the element of truth is easily separated
+from the element of fiction, and each is available in its measure for
+historic research. The most ancient of this class of writings are the
+Fenian Poems and Tales, ascribed to Finn Mac Cumhaill, to his sons,
+Oisín and Fergus Finnbheoill (the Eloquent), and to his kinsman,
+Caeilité. There are also many tales and poems of more recent date. Mr.
+O'Curry estimates, that if all MSS. known to be in existence, and
+composed before the year 1000, were published, they would form at least
+8,000 printed pages of the same size as O'Donovan's Annals of the Four
+Masters.
+
+[Illustration: FROM SCULPTURES AT DEVENISH.]
+
+[Illustration: ROUND TOWER OF DYSART, NEAR CROOM, LIMERICK.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[57] _Scota_.--The grave is still pointed out in the valley of Gleann
+Scoithin, county Kerry.
+
+[58] _Taillten_.--Now Telltown, county Meath.
+
+[59] _Amhergen_.--Annals of the Four Masters, vol. i. p. 25.
+
+[60] _Also_.--This tale bears a simple and obvious interpretation. The
+druids were the most learned and experienced in physical science of
+their respective nations; hence the advice they gave appeared magical to
+those who were less instructed.
+
+[61] _Géisill_.--The scene of the battle was at a place called _Tochar
+eter dhá mhagh_, or "the causeway between two plains," and on the bank
+of the river _Bri Damh_, which runs through the town of Tullamore. The
+name of the battle-field is still preserved in the name of the townland
+of Ballintogher, in the parish and barony of _Géisill_. At the time of
+the composition of the ancient topographical tract called the
+Dinnseanchus, the mounds and graves of the slain were still to be
+seen.--See O'Curry, page 449. The author of this tract, Amergin Mac
+Amalgaidh, wrote about the sixth century. A copy of his work is
+preserved in the Book of Ballymote, which was compiled in the year 1391.
+There is certainly evidence enough to prove the fact of the _mélee_, and
+that this was not a "legend invented from the tenth to the twelfth
+centuries." It is almost amusing to hear the criticisms of persons
+utterly ignorant of our literature, however well-educated in other
+respects. If the treasures of ancient history which exist in Irish MSS.
+existed in Sanscrit, or even in Greek or Latin, we should find scholars
+devoting their lives and best intellectual energies to understand and
+proclaim their value and importance, and warmly defending them against
+all impugners of their authenticity.
+
+[62] _Island_.--The axe figured above is a remarkable weapon. The copy
+is taken, by permission, from the collection of the Royal Irish Academy.
+Sir W. Wilde describes the original thus in the Catalogue: "It is 3-1/8
+inches in its longest diameter, and at its thickest part measures about
+half-an-inch. It has been chipped all over with great care, and has a
+sharp edge all round. This peculiar style of tool or weapon reached
+perfection in this specimen, which, whether used as a knife, arrow,
+spike, or axe, was an implement of singular beauty of design, and
+exhibits great skill in the manufacture."
+
+[63] _Fotharta_.--Now the barony of Forth, in Wexford.
+
+[64] _Bede.--Ecclesiastical History_, Bohn's edition, p. 6.
+
+[65] _Honey_.--Honey was an important edible to the ancients, and,
+therefore, likely to obtain special mention. Keating impugns the
+veracity of Solinus, who stated that there were no bees in Ireland, on
+the authority of Camden, who says: "Such is the quantity of bees, that
+they are found not only in hives, but even in the trunks of trees, and
+in holes in the ground." There is a curious legend anent the same useful
+insect, that may interest apiarians as well as hagiologists. It is said
+in the life of St. David, that when Modomnoc (or Dominic) was with St.
+David at Menevia, in Wales, he was charged with the care of the
+beehives, and that the bees became so attached to him that they followed
+him to Ireland. However, the Rule of St. Albans, who lived in the time
+of St. Patrick (in the early part of the fifth century), may be quoted
+to prove that bees existed in Ireland at an earlier period, although the
+saint may have been so devoted to his favourites as to have brought a
+special colony by miracle or otherwise to Ireland. The Rule of St. Alban
+says: "When they [the monks] sit down at table, let them be brought
+[served] beets or roots, washed with water, in clean baskets, also
+apples, beer, and honey from the hive." Certainly, habits of regularity
+and cleanliness are here plainly indicated as well as the existence of
+the bee.
+
+[66] _Fish_.--It is to be presumed that fish are destined to prosper in
+Hibernia: of the ancient deer, more hereafter. The goats still nourish
+also, as visitors to Killarney can testify; though they will probably
+soon be relics of the past, as the goatherds are emigrating to more
+prosperous regions at a rapid rate.
+
+[67] _Monarchs_.--See Bunsen's _Egypt, passim_.
+
+[68] _Writers_.--The first ten books of Livy are extant, and bring Roman
+history to the consulship of Julius Maximus Gurges and Junius Brutus
+Scoene, in 292 B.C. Dionysius published his history seven years before
+Christ. Five of Plutarch's Lives fall within the period before the war
+with Pyrrhus. There are many sources besides those of the works of
+historians from which general information is obtained.
+
+[69] _Niebuhr_.--"Genuine or oral tradition has kept the story of
+Tarpeia for _five-and-twenty hundred years_ in the mouths of the common
+people, who for many centuries have been total strangers to the names of
+Cloelia and Cornelia."--_Hist_. vol. i. p. 230.
+
+[70] _Event.--Credibility of Early Roman History_, vol. i. p. 101.
+
+[71] _Libri lintei_.--Registers written on linen, mentioned by Livy,
+under the year 444 B.C.
+
+[72] _Nail_.--Livy quotes Cincius for the fact that a series of nails
+were extant in the temple of Hostia, at Volsinii, as a register of
+successive years. Quite as primitive an arrangement as the North
+American _quipus_.
+
+[73] _Seanchaidhé_ (pronounced "shanachy").--It means, in this case,
+strictly a historian; but the ancient historian was also a bard or poet.
+
+[74] _Privileges_.--We can scarcely help requesting the special
+attention of the reader to these well-authenticated facts. A nation
+which had so high an appreciation of its annals, must have been many
+degrees removed from barbarism for centuries.
+
+[75] _Before_.--O'Curry, p. 240.
+
+[76] _Before_.--This, of course, opens up the question as to whether the
+Irish Celts had a written literature before the arrival of St. Patrick.
+The subject will be fully entertained later on.
+
+[77] _Genealogies_.-There is a "distinction and a difference" between a
+genealogy and a pedigree. A genealogy embraces the descent of a family,
+and its relation to all the other families that descended from the same
+remote parent stock, and took a distinct tribe-name, as the Dalcassians.
+A pedigree traces up the line of descent to the individual from whom the
+name was derived.
+
+[78] _Events_.--Arnold mentions "the _family traditions_ and funeral
+orations out of which the oldest annalists [of Roman history] compiled
+their narratives." vol. i. p. 371. Sir G.C. Lewis, however, thinks that
+the composition of national annals would precede the composition of any
+private history; but he adds that he judges from the "example of modern
+times." With all respect to such an authority, it seems rather an
+unphilosophical conclusion. Family pedigrees would depend on family
+pride, in which the Romans were by no means deficient; and on political
+considerations, which were all-important to the Irish Celt.
+
+[79] _Tales_.--O'Curry, p. 241.
+
+[80] _Verse_.--See Niebuhr, _Hist_. vol i. pp. 254-261. Arnold has
+adopted his theory, and Macaulay _has acted on it_. But the Roman poems
+were merely recited at public entertainments, and were by no means a
+national arrangement for the preservation of history, such as existed
+anciently in Ireland. These verses were sung by boys _more patrum_ (Od.
+iv. 15), for the entertainment of guests. Ennius, who composed his
+_Annales_ in hexameter verse, introducing, for the first time, the Greek
+metre into Roman literature, mentions the verses which the _Fauns_, or
+religious poets, used to chant. Scaliger thinks that the _Fauns_ were a
+class of men who exercised in Latium, at a very remote period, the same
+functions as the Magians in Persia and _the Bards in Gaul_. Niebuhr
+supposes that the entire history of the Roman, kings was formed from
+poems into a prose narrative.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+Tighearnmas--His Death--Introduces Colours as a Distinction of
+Rank--Silver Shields and Chariots first used--Reign of Ugainé Môr--The
+Treachery of Cobhthach--Romantic Tales--Queen Mab--Dispute which led to
+the celebrated Cattle Spoil--The Story of the Táin bó Chuailgné--The
+Romans feared to invade Ireland--Tacitus--Revolt of the Attacotti--Reign
+of Tuathal--Origin of the Boromean Tribute.
+
+[B.C. 1700.]
+
+
+Our annals afford but brief details from the time of Eremon to that of
+_Ugainé Môr_. One hundred and eighteen sovereigns are enumerated from
+the Milesian conquest of Ireland (according to the Four Masters, B.C.
+1700) to the time of St. Patrick, A.D. 432. The principal events
+recorded are international deeds of arms, the clearing of woods, the
+enactment of laws, and the erection of palaces.
+
+Tighearnmas, one of these monarchs, is said to have introduced the
+worship of idols into Ireland. From this it would appear, that the more
+refined Magian, or Sun-worship, had prevailed previously. He died, with
+"three-fourths" of the men of Ireland about him, on the night of
+Samhain,[81] while worshipping the idol called Crom Cruach, at Magh
+Slacht, in Breifné.[82] Tighearnmas reigned seventy-five years. He is
+said to have been the first who attempted the smelting of gold in
+Ireland; and the use of different colours,[83] as an indication of rank,
+is also attributed to him.
+
+Silver shields were now made (B.C. 1383) at Airget-Ros, by Enna
+Airgtheach, and four-horse chariots were first used in the time of
+Roitheachtaigh, who was killed by lightning near the Giant's Causeway.
+Ollamh Fodhla (the wise or learned man) distinguished himself still more
+by instituting triennial assemblies at Tara. Even should the date given
+by the Four Masters (1317 B.C.) be called in question, there is no doubt
+of the fact, which must have occurred some centuries before the
+Christian era; and this would appear to be the earliest instance of a
+national convocation or parliament in any country. Ollamh Fodhla also
+appointed chieftains over every cantred or hundred, he constructed a
+rath at Tara, and died there in the fortieth year of his reign.
+
+At the reign of Cimbaoth (B.C. 716) we come to that period which
+Tighernach considers the commencement of indisputably authentic history.
+It is strange that he should have selected a provincial chief, and a
+period in no way remarkable except for the building of the palace of
+Emania.[84] But the student of Irish pre-Christian annals may be content
+to commence with solid foundation as early as seven centuries before
+Christ. The era was an important one in universal history. The Greeks
+had then counted sixteen Olympiads, and crowned Pythagoras the victor.
+Hippomenes was archon at Athens. Romulus had been succeeded by Numa
+Pompilius, and the foundations of imperial Rome were laid in blood by
+barbarian hordes. The Chaldeans had just taken the palm in astronomical
+observations, and recorded for the first time a lunar eclipse; while the
+baffled Assyrian hosts relinquished the siege of Tyre, unhappily
+reserved for the cruel destruction accomplished by Alexander, a few
+centuries later. The prophecies of Isaiah were still resounding in the
+ears of an ungrateful people. He had spoken of the coming Christ and His
+all-peaceful mission in mystic imagery, and had given miraculous
+evidences of his predictions. But suffering should be the precursor of
+that marvellous advent. The Assyrian dashed in resistless torrent upon
+the fold. Israel was led captive. Hosea was in chains. Samaria and the
+kingdom of Israel were added to the conquests of Sennacherib; and the
+kingdom of Judah, harassed but not destroyed, waited the accomplishment
+of prophecy, and the measure of her crimes, ere the most ancient of
+peoples should for ever cease to be a nation.
+
+Ugainé Môr is the next monarch who demands notice. His obituary record
+is thus given by the Four Masters:--"At the end of this year, A.M. 4606,
+Ugainé Môr, after he had been full forty years King of Ireland, and of
+the whole of the west of Europe, as far as Muir-Toirrian, was slain by
+Badhbhchad at Tealach-an-Choisgair, in Bregia. This Ugainé was he who
+exacted oaths by all the elements, visible and invisible, from the men
+of Ireland in general, that they would never contend for the sovereignty
+of Ireland with his children or his race."
+
+Ugainé was succeeded by his son, Laeghairé Lorc, who was cruelly and
+treacherously killed by his brother, Cobhthach Cael. Indeed, few
+monarchs lived out their time in peace during this and the succeeding
+centuries. The day is darkest before the dawn, in the social and
+political as well as in the physical world. The Eternal Light was
+already at hand; the powers of darkness were aroused for the coming
+conflict; and deeds of evil were being accomplished, which make men
+shudder as they read. The assassination of Laeghairé was another
+manifestation of the old-world story of envy. The treacherous Cobhthach
+feigned sickness, which he knew would obtain a visit from his brother.
+When the monarch stooped to embrace him, he plunged a dagger into his
+heart. His next act was to kill his nephew, Ailill Ainé; and his
+ill-treatment of Ainé's son, Maen, was the consummation of his cruelty.
+The fratricide was at last slain by this very youth, who had now
+obtained the appellation of Labhraidh-Loingseach, or Lowry of the Ships.
+We have special evidence here of the importance of our Historic Tales,
+and also that the blending of fiction and fact by no means deteriorates
+from their value.
+
+Love affairs form a staple ground for fiction, with a very substantial
+under-strata of facts, even in the nineteenth century; and the annals of
+pre-Christian Erinn are by no means deficient in the same fertile source
+of human interest. The History of the Exile is still preserved in the
+Leabhar Buidhé Lecain, now in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin. It
+is a highly romantic story, but evidently founded on fact, and full of
+interest as descriptive of public and private life in the fifth century
+before Christ. It tells how Maen, though supposed to be deaf and dumb,
+was, nevertheless, given in charge of two officers of the court to be
+educated; that he recovered or rather obtained speech suddenly, in a
+quarrel with another youth; and that he was as symmetrical of form and
+noble of bearing as all heroes of romance are bound to be. His uncle
+expelled him from the kingdom, and he took refuge at the court of King
+Scoriath. King Scoriath had a daughter, who was beautiful; and Maen, of
+course, acted as a knight was bound to do under such circumstances, and
+fell desperately in love with the princess. The Lady Moriath's beauty
+had bewildered more heads than that of the knight-errant; but the Lady
+Moriath's father and mother were determined their daughter should not
+marry.
+
+The harper Craftiné came to the rescue, and at last, by his
+all-entrancing skill, so ravished the whole party of knights and nobles,
+that the lovers were able to enjoy a tête-a-tête, and pledged mutual
+vows. As usual, the parents yielded when they found it was useless to
+resist; and, no doubt, the poet Craftiné, who, poet and all as he was,
+nearly lost his head in the adventure, was the most welcome of all
+welcome guests at the nuptial feast. Indeed, he appears to have been
+retained as comptroller of the house and confidential adviser long
+after; for when Labhraidh Maen was obliged to fly the country, he
+confided his wife to the care of Craftiné. On his return from
+France,[85] he obtained possession of the kingdom, to which he was the
+rightful heir, and reigned over the men of Erinn for eighteen years.
+
+Another Historic Tale gives an account of the destruction of the court
+of Dá Derga, but we have not space for details. The Four Masters merely
+relate the fact in the following entry:--
+
+"Conairé, the son of Ederscél, after having been seventy years in the
+sovereignty of Erinn, was slain at Bruighean Dá Dhearga by insurgents."
+Another prince, Eochaidh Feidhlech, was famous for sighing. He rescinded
+the division of Ireland into twenty-five parts, which had been made by
+Ugainé Môr, and divided the island into five provinces, over each of
+which he appointed a provincial king, under his obedience. The famous
+Meadhbh, or Mab, was his daughter; and though unquestionably a lady of
+rather strong physical and mental capabilities, the lapse of ages has
+thrown an obscuring halo of romance round her belligerent
+qualifications, and metamorphosed her into the gentle "Faery Queen" of
+the poet Spenser. One of Méav's exploits is recorded in the famous Táin
+bó Chuailgné, which is to Celtic history what the Argonautic Expedition,
+or the Seven against Thebes, is to Grecian. Méav was married first to
+Conor, the celebrated provincial king of Ulster; but the marriage was
+not a happy one, and was dissolved, in modern parlance, on the ground of
+incompatibility. In the meanwhile, Méav's three brothers had rebelled
+against their father; and though his arms were victorious, the victory
+did not secure peace. The men of Connacht revolted against him, and to
+retain their allegiance he made his daughter Queen of Connacht, and gave
+her in marriage to Ailill, a powerful chief of that province. This
+prince, however, died soon after; and Méav, determined for once, at
+least, to choose a husband for herself, made a royal progress to
+Leinster, where Ross Ruadb held his court at Naas. She selected the
+younger son of this monarch, who bore the same name as her former
+husband, and they lived together happily as queen and king consort for
+many years. On one occasion, however, a dispute arose about their
+respective treasures, and this dispute led to a comparison of their
+property. The account of this, and the subsequent comparison, is given
+at length in the _Táin_, and is a valuable repertory of archæological
+information. They counted their vessels, metal and wooden; they counted
+their finger rings, their clasps, their thumb rings, their diadems, and
+their gorgets of gold. They examined their many-coloured garments of
+crimson and blue, of black and green, yellow and mottled, white and
+streaked. All were equal. They then inspected their flocks and herds,
+swine from the forests, sheep from the pasture lands, and cows--here the
+first difference arose. It was one to excite Méav's haughty temper.
+There was a young bull found among Ailill's bovine wealth: it had been
+calved by one of Méav's cows; but "not deeming it honorable to be under
+a woman's control," it had attached itself to Ailill's herds. Méav was
+not a lady who could remain quiet under such provocation. She summoned
+her chief courier, and asked him could he a match for Finnbheannach (the
+white-horned). The courier declared that he could find even a superior
+animal; and at once set forth on his mission, suitably attended. Méav
+had offered the most liberal rewards for the prize she so much coveted;
+and the courier soon arranged with Daré, a noble of large estates, who
+possessed one of the valuable breed. A drunken quarrel, however,
+disarranged his plans. One of the men boasted that if Daré had not given
+the bull for payment, he should have been compelled to give it by force.
+Daré's steward heard the ill-timed and uncourteous boast. He flung down
+the meat and drink which he had brought for their entertainment, and
+went to tell his master the contemptuous speech. The result may be
+anticipated. Daré refused the much-coveted animal, and Méav proceeded to
+make good her claim by force of arms. But this is only the prologue of
+the drama; the details would fill a volume. It must suffice to say, that
+the bulls had a battle of their own. Finnbheannach and Donn Chuailgné
+(the Leinster bull) engaged in deadly combat, which is described with
+the wildest flights of poetic diction.[86] The poor "white horn" was
+killed, and Donn Chuailgné, who had lashed himself to madness, dashed
+out his brains.[87]
+
+[Illustration: FLINT SPEAR-HEAD, FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE R.I.A.]
+
+Méav lived to the venerable age of a hundred. According to Tighernach,
+she died A.D. 70, but the chronology of the Four Masters places her
+demise a hundred years earlier. This difference of calculation also
+makes it questionable what monarch reigned in Ireland at the birth of
+Christ. The following passage is from the Book of Ballymote, and is
+supposed to be taken from the synchronisms of Flann of Monasterboice:
+"In the fourteenth year of the reign of Conairé and of Conchobar, Mary
+was born; and in the fourth year after the birth of Mary, the expedition
+of the Táin bó Chuailgné took place. Eight years after the expedition of
+the Táin, Christ was born."
+
+The Four Masters have the following entry after the age of the world
+5194:--
+
+THE AGE OF CHRIST.
+
+"The first year of the age of Christ, and the eighth year of the reign
+of Crimhthann Niadhnair." Under the heading of the age of Christ 9,
+there is an account of a wonderful expedition of this monarch, and of
+all the treasures he acquired thereby. His "adventures" is among the
+list of Historic Tales in the Book of Leinster, but unfortunately there
+is no copy of this tract in existence. It was probably about this time
+that a recreant Irish chieftain tried to induce Agricola to invade
+Ireland. But the Irish Celts had extended the fame of their military
+prowess even to distant lands,[88] and the Roman general thought it
+better policy to keep what he had than to risk its loss, and, perhaps,
+obtain no compensation. Previous to Cæsar's conquest of Britain, the
+Irish had fitted out several expeditions for the plunder of that
+country, and they do not appear to have suffered from retaliation until
+the reign of Egbert. It is evident, however, that the Britons did not
+consider them their worst enemies, for we find mention of several
+colonies flying to the Irish shores to escape Roman tyranny, and these
+colonies were hospitably received.[89] The passage in Tacitus which
+refers to the proposed invasion of Ireland by the Roman forces, is too
+full of interest to be omitted:--"In the fifth year of these
+expeditions, Agricola, passing over in the first ship, subdued in
+frequent victories nations hitherto unknown. He stationed troops along
+that part of Britain which looks to Ireland, more on account of hope
+than fear,[90] since Ireland, from its situation between Britain and
+Spain, and opening to the Gallic Sea, might well connect the most
+powerful parts of the empire with reciprocal advantage. Its extent,
+compared with Britain, is narrower, but exceeds that of any islands of
+our sea. The genius and habits of the people, and the soil and climate,
+do not differ much from those of Britain. Its channels and ports are
+better known to commerce and to merchants.[91] Agricola gave his
+protection to one of its petty kings, who had been expelled by faction;
+and with a show of friendship, he retained him for his own purposes. I
+often heard him say, that Ireland could he conquered and taken with one
+legion and a small reserve; and such a measure would have its advantages
+even as regards Britain, if Roman power were extended on every side, and
+liberty taken away as it were from the view of the latter island."[92]
+
+We request special attention to the observation, that the Irish ports
+were better known to commerce and merchants. Such a statement by such an
+authority must go far to remove any doubt as to the accounts given on
+this subject by our own annalists. The proper name of the recreant
+"regulus" has not been discovered, so that his infamy is transmitted
+anonymously to posterity. Sir John Davies has well observed, with regard
+to the boast of subduing Ireland so easily, "that if Agricola had
+attempted the conquest thereof with a far greater army, he would have
+found himself deceived in his conjecture." William of Neuburg has also
+remarked, that though the Romans harassed the Britons for three
+centuries after this event, Ireland never was invaded by them, even when
+they held dominion of the Orkney Islands, and that it yielded to no
+foreign power until the year[93] 1171. Indeed, the Scots and Picts gave
+their legions quite sufficient occupation defending the ramparts of
+Adrian and Antoninus, to deter them from attempting to obtain more, when
+they could so hardly hold what they already possessed.
+
+The insurrection of the Aitheach Tuatha,[94] or Attacotti, is the next
+event of importance in Irish history. Their plans were deeply and wisely
+laid, and promised the success they obtained. It is one of the lessons
+of history which rulers in all ages would do well to study. There is a
+degree of oppression which even the most degraded will refuse to endure;
+there is a time when the injured will seek revenge, even should they
+know that this revenge may bring on themselves yet deeper wrongs. The
+leaders of the revolt were surely men of some judgment; and both they
+and those who acted under them possessed the two great qualities needed
+for such an enterprise. They were silent, for their plans were not even
+suspected until they were accomplished; they were patient, for these
+plans were three years in preparation. During three years the helots
+saved their scanty earnings to prepare a sumptuous death-feast for their
+unsuspecting victims. This feast was held at a place since called _Magh
+Cru_, in Connaught. The monarch, Fiacha Finnolaidh, the provincial kings
+and chiefs, were all invited, and accepted the invitation. But while the
+enjoyment was at its height, when men had drank deeply, and were soothed
+by the sweet strains of the harp, the insurgents did their bloody work.
+Three ladies alone escaped. They fled to Britain, and there each gave
+birth to a son--heirs to their respective husbands who had been slain.
+
+After the massacre, the Attacotti elected their leader, Cairbré
+Cinn-Cait (or the Cat-head), to the royal dignity, for they still
+desired to live under a "limited monarchy." But revolutions, even when
+successful, and we had almost said necessary, are eminently productive
+of evil. The social state of a people when once disorganized, does not
+admit of a speedy or safe return to its former condition. The mass of
+mankind, who think more of present evils, however trifling, than of past
+grievances, however oppressive, begin to connect present evils with
+present rule, and having lost, in some degree, the memory of their
+ancient wrongs, desire to recall a dynasty which, thus viewed, bears a
+not unfavourable comparison with their present state.[95]
+
+Cairbré died after five years of most unprosperous royalty, and his son,
+the wise and prudent Morann,[96] showed his wisdom and prudence by
+refusing to succeed him. He advised that the rightful heirs should be
+recalled. His advice was accepted. Fearadhach Finnfeachteach was invited
+to assume the reins of government. "Good was Ireland during this his
+time. The seasons were right tranquil; the earth brought forth its
+fruit; fishful its river-mouths; milkful the kine; heavy-headed the
+woods."[97]
+
+Another revolt of the Attacotti took place in the reign of Fiacha of the
+White Cattle. He was killed by the provincial kings, at the slaughter of
+Magh Bolg.[98] Elim, one of the perpetrators of this outrage, obtained
+the crown, but his reign was singularly unprosperous; and Ireland was
+without corn, without milk, without fruit, without fish, and without any
+other great advantage, since the Aitheach Tuatha had killed Fiacha
+Finnolaidh in the slaughter of Magh Bolg, till the time of Tuathal
+Teachtmar.[99]
+
+Tuathal was the son of a former legitimate monarch, and had been invited
+to Ireland by a powerful party. He was perpetually at war with the
+Attacotti, but at last established himself firmly on the throne, by
+exacting an oath from the people, "by the sun, moon, and elements," that
+his posterity should not be deprived of the sovereignty. This oath was
+taken at Tara, where he had convened a general assembly, as had been
+customary with his predecessors at the commencement of each reign; but
+it was held by him with more than usual state. His next act was to take
+a small portion of land from each of the four provinces, forming what is
+now the present county of Meath, and retaining it as the mensal portion
+of the Ard-Righ, or supreme monarch. On each of these portions he
+erected a palace for the king of every province, details of which will
+be given when we come to that period of our history which refers to the
+destruction of Tara. Tuathal had at this time two beautiful and
+marriageable daughters, named Fithir and Dairiné. Eochaidh Aincheann,
+King of Leinster, sought and obtained the hand of the younger daughter,
+Dairiné, and after her nuptials carried her to his palace at Naas, in
+Leinster. Some time after, his people pursuaded him that he had made a
+bad selection, and that the elder was the better of the two sisters;
+upon which Eochaidh determined by stratagem to obtain the other daughter
+also. For this purpose he shut the young queen up in a secret apartment
+of his palace, and gave out a report that she was dead. He then
+repaired, apparently in great grief to Tara, informed the monarch that
+his daughter was dead, and demanded her sister in marriage. Tuathal gave
+his consent, and the false king returned home with his new bride. Soon
+after her arrival at Naas, her sister escaped from her confinement, and
+suddenly and unexpectedly encountered the prince and Fithir. In a moment
+she divined the truth, and had the additional anguish of seeing her
+sister, who was struck with horror and shame, fall dead before her face.
+The death of the unhappy princess, and the treachery of her husband, was
+too much for the young queen; she returned to her solitary chamber, and
+in a very short time died of a broken heart.
+
+The insult offered to his daughters, and their untimely death, roused
+the indignation of the pagan monarch, and was soon bitterly avenged. At
+the head of a powerful force, he burned and ravaged Leinster to its
+utmost boundary, and then compelled its humbled and terror-stricken
+people to bind themselves and their descendants for ever to the payment
+of a triennial tribute to the monarch of Erinn, which, from the great
+number of cows exacted by it, obtained the name of the "Boromean
+Tribute"--_bo_ being the Gaedhilic for a cow.
+
+The tribute is thus described in the old annals:
+
+    "The men of Leinster were obliged to pay
+    To Tuathal, and all the monarchs after him,
+    Three-score hundred of the fairest cows,
+    And three-score hundred ounces of pure silver,
+    And three-score hundred mantles richly woven,
+    And three-score hundred of the fattest hogs,
+    And three-score hundred of the largest sheep,
+    And three-score hundred cauldrons strong and polished[100]."
+
+It is elsewhere described as consisting of five thousand ounces of
+silver, five thousand mantles, five thousand fat cows, five thousand fat
+hogs, five thousand wethers, and five thousand vessels of brass or
+bronze for the king's laving, with men and maidens for his service.
+
+The levying of the tribute was the cause of periodical and sanguinary
+wars, from the time of Tuathal until the reign of Finnachta the Festive.
+About the year 680 it was abolished by him, at the entreaty of St.
+Moling, of Tigh Moling (now St. Mullen's, in the county Carlow). It is
+said by Keating, that he a ailed himself of a pious ruse for this
+purpose,--asking the king to pledge himself not to exact the tribute
+until after Monday, and then, when his request was complied with,
+declaring that the Monday he intended was the Monday after Doomsday. The
+tribute was again revived and levied by Brian, the son of Cinneidigh, at
+the beginning of the eleventh century, as a punishment on the Leinster
+men for their adherence to the Danish cause. It was from this
+circumstance that Brian obtained the surname of _Boroimhé_.
+
+[Illustration: LOUGH HYNE.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[81] _Samhain_.--Now All Hallows Eve. The peasantry still use the pagan
+name. It is a compound word, signifying "summer" and "end."
+
+[82] _Breifné_.--In the present county Cavan. We shall refer again to
+this subject, when mentioning St. Patrick's destruction of the idols.
+
+[83] _Colours_.--Keating says that a slave was permitted only one
+colour, a peasant two, a soldier three, a public victualler five. The
+Ollamh ranked, with royalty, and was permitted six--another of the many
+proofs of extraordinary veneration for learning in pre-Christian Erinn.
+The Four Masters, however, ascribe the origin of this distinction to
+Eochaidh Eadghadhach. It is supposed that this is the origin of the
+Scotch plaid. The ancient Britons dyed their _bodies_ blue. The Cymric
+Celts were famous for their colours.
+
+[84] _Emania_.--The legend of the building of this palace will be given
+in a future chapter.
+
+[85] _France_.--It is said that foreigners who came with him from Gaul
+were armed with broad-headed lances (called in Irish _laighne_), whence
+the province of Leinster has derived its name. Another derivation of the
+name, from _coige_, a fifth part, is attributed to the Firbolgs.
+
+[86] _Diction_.-This tract contains a description of arms and ornaments
+which might well pass for a poetic flight of fancy, had we not articles
+of such exquisite workmanship in the Royal Irish Academy, which prove
+incontrovertibly the skill of the ancient artists of Erinn. This is the
+description of a champion's attire:--"A red and white cloak flutters
+about him; a golden brooch in that cloak, at his breast; a shirt of
+white, kingly linen, with gold embroidery at his skin; a white shield,
+with gold fastenings at his shoulder; a gold-hilted long sword at his
+left side; a long, sharp, dark green spear, together with a short, sharp
+spear, with a rich band and carved silver rivets in his hand."--O'Curry,
+p. 38. We give an illustration on previous page of a flint weapon of a
+ruder kind.
+
+[87] _Brains_.--My friend, Denis Florence MacCarthy, _Esq_., M.R.I.A.,
+our poet _par excellence_, is occupied at this moment in versifying some
+portions of this romantic story. I believe he has some intention of
+publishing the work in America, as American publishers are urgent in
+their applications to him for a complete and uniform edition of his
+poems, including his exquisite translations from the dramatic and ballad
+literature of Spain. We hope Irish publishers and the Irish people will
+not disgrace their country by allowing such a work to be published
+abroad. We are too often and too justly accused of deficiency in
+cultivated taste, which unfortunately makes trashy poems, and verbose
+and weakly-written prose, more acceptable to the majority than works
+produced by highly-educated minds. Irishmen are by no means inferior to
+Englishmen in natural gifts, yet, in many instances, unquestionably they
+have not or do not cultivate the same taste for reading, and have not
+the same appreciation of works of a higher class than the lightest
+literature. Much of the fault, no doubt, lies in the present system of
+education: however, as some of the professors in our schools and
+colleges appear to be aware of the deficiency, we may hope for better
+things.
+
+[88] _Lands_.--Lhuid asserts that the names of the principal commanders
+in Gaul and Britain who opposed Cæsar, are Irish Latinized.
+
+[89] _Received_.--"They are said to have fled into Ireland, some for the
+sake of ease and quietness, others to keep their eyes untainted by Roman
+insolence."--See Harris' Ware. The Brigantes of Waterford, Tipperary,
+and Kilkenny, are supposed to have been emigrants, and to have come from
+the colony of that name in Yorkshire.
+
+[90] _Fear_.--"In spem magis quam ob formidinem."
+
+[91] _Merchants_.--"Melius aditus portusque per commercia et
+negotiatores cognitis."
+
+[92] _Island.--Vita Julii Agric. c._ 24.
+
+[93] _Year.--Hist. Rer. Angl_. lib. ii. c. 26.
+
+[94] _Aitheach Tuatha_.--The word means rentpayers, or rentpaying tribes
+or people. It is probably used as a term of reproach, and in
+contradiction to the free men. It has been said that this people were
+the remnants of the inhabitants of Ireland before the Milesians
+colonized it. Mr. O'Curry denies this statement, and maintains that they
+were Milesians, but of the lower classes, who had been cruelly oppressed
+by the magnates of the land.
+
+[95] _State_.--"Evil was the state of Ireland during his reign:
+fruitless the corn, for there used to be but one grain on the stalk;
+fruitless her rivers; milkless her cattle; plentiless her fruit, for
+there used to be but one acorn on the oak."--Four Masters, p. 97.
+
+[96] _Morann_.--Morann was the inventor of the famous "collar of gold."
+The new monarch appointed him his chief Brehon or judge, and it is said
+that this collar closed round the necks of those who were guilty, but
+expanded to the ground when the wearer was innocent. This collar or
+chain is mentioned in several of the commentaries on the Brehon Laws, as
+one of the ordeals of the ancient Irish. The Four Masters style him "the
+very intelligent Morann."
+
+[97] _Woods_.--Four Masters, p. 97.
+
+[98] _Magh Bolg_.--Now Moybolgue, a parish in the county Cavan.
+
+[99] _Teachtmar_, i.e., the legitimate, Four Masters, p. 99.--The
+history of the revolt of the Attacotti is contained in one of the
+ancient tracts called Histories. It is termed "The Origin of the
+Boromean Tribute." There is a copy of this most valuable work in the
+Book of Leinster, which, it will be remembered, was compiled in the
+twelfth century. The details which follow above concerning the Boromean
+Tribute, are taken from the same source.
+
+[100] _Polished_.--Keating, p. 264.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: ORATORY AT GALLARUS, CO. KERRY.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+Tuathal-Conn "of the Hundred Battles"--The Five Great Roads of Ancient
+Erinn--Conn's Half--Conairé II.--The Three Cairbrés--Cormac Mac
+Airt--His Wise Decision--Collects Laws--His Personal Appearance-The
+Saltair of Tara written in Cormac's Reign--Finn Mac Cumhaill--His
+Courtship with the Princess Ailbhé--The Pursuit of Diarmaid and
+Grainné--Nial "of the Nine Hostages"--Dathi.
+
+
+Tuathal reigned for thirty years, and is said to have fought no less
+than 133 battles with the Attacotti. He was at last slain himself by his
+successor, Nial, who, in his turn, was killed by Tuathal's son. Conn "of
+the Hundred Battles" is the next Irish monarch who claims more than a
+passing notice. His exploits are a famous theme with the bards, and a
+poem on his "Birth" forms part of the _Liber Flavus Fergusorum_, a MS.
+volume of the fifteenth century. His reign is also remarkable for the
+mention of five great roads[101] which were then discovered or
+completed. One of these highways, the Eiscir Riada, extended from the
+declivity on which Dublin Castle now stands, to the peninsula of Marey,
+at the head of Galway Bay. It divided Conn's half of Ireland from the
+half possessed by Eóghan Môr, with whom he lived in the usual state of
+internecine feud which characterized the reigns of this early period.
+One of the principal quarrels between these monarchs, was caused by a
+complaint which Eóghan made of the shipping arrangements in Dublin.
+Conn's half (the northern side) was preferred, and Eóghan demanded a
+fair division. They had to decide their claims at the battle of Magh
+Lena.[102] Eóghan was assisted by a Spanish chief, whose sister he had
+married. But the Iberian and his Celtic brother-in-law were both slain,
+and the mounds are still shown which cover their remains.
+
+Conn was succeeded by Conairé II., the father of the three Cairbrés, who
+were progenitors of important tribes. Cairbré Muse gave his name to six
+districts in Munster; the territory of Corcabaiscinn, in Clare, was
+named after Cairbré Bascain; and the Dalriada of Antrim were descended
+from Cairbré Riada. He is also mentioned by Bede under the name of
+Reuda,[103] as the leader of the Scots who came from Hibernia to Alba.
+Three centuries later, a fresh colony of Dalriadans laid the foundation
+of the Scottish monarchy under Fergus, the son of Erc. Mac Con was the
+next Ard-Righ or chief monarch of Ireland. He obtained the royal power
+after a battle at Magh Mucruimhé, near Athenry, where Art the
+Melancholy, son of Con of the Hundred Battles, and the seven sons of
+Oilioll Oluim, were slain.
+
+The reign of Cormac Mac Airt is unquestionably the most celebrated of
+all our pagan monarchs. During his early years he had been compelled to
+conceal himself among his mother's friends in Connaught; but the severe
+rule of the usurper Mac Con excited a desire for his removal, and the
+friends of the young prince were not slow to avail themselves of the
+popular feeling. He, therefore, appeared unexpectedly at Tara, and
+happened to arrive when the monarch was giving judgment in an important
+case, which is thus related: Some sheep, the property of a widow,
+residing at Tara, had strayed into the queen's private lawn, and eaten
+the grass. They were captured, and the case was brought before the king.
+He decided that the trespassers should be forfeited; but Cormac
+exclaimed that his sentence was unjust, and declared that as the sheep
+had only eaten the fleece of the land, they should only forfeit their
+own fleece. The _vox populi_ applauded the decision. Mac Con started
+from his seat, and exclaimed: "That is the judgment of a king." At the
+same moment he recognized the prince, and commanded that he should be
+seized; but he had already escaped. The people now recognized their
+rightful king, and revolted against the usurper, who was driven into
+Munster. Cormac assumed the reins of government at Tara, and thus
+entered upon his brilliant and important career, A.D. 227.
+
+Cormac commenced his government with acts of severity, which were,
+perhaps, necessary to consolidate his power. This being once firmly
+established, he devoted himself ardently to literary pursuits, and to
+regulate and civilize his dominions. He collected the national laws, and
+formed a code which remained in force until the English invasion, and
+was observed for many centuries after outside the Pale. The bards dwell
+with manifest unction on the "fruit and fatness" of the land in his
+time, and describe him as the noblest and most bountiful of all princes.
+Indeed, we can scarcely omit their account, since it cannot be denied
+that it pictures the costume of royalty in Ireland at that period,
+however poetically the details may be given. This, then, is the bardic
+photograph:--
+
+"His hair was slightly curled, and of golden colour: a scarlet shield
+with engraved devices, and golden hooks, and clasps of silver: a
+wide-folding purple cloak on him, with a gem-set gold brooch over his
+breast; a gold torque around his neck; a white-collared shirt,
+embroidered with gold, upon him; a girdle with golden buckles, and
+studded with precious stones, around him; two golden net-work sandals
+with golden buckles upon him; two spears with golden sockets, and many
+red bronze rivets in his hand; while he stood in the full glow of
+beauty, without defect or blemish. You would think it was a shower of
+pearls that were set in his mouth; his lips were rubies; his symmetrical
+body was as white as snow; his cheek was like the mountain ash-berry;
+his eyes were like the sloe; his brows and eye-lashes were like the
+sheen of a blue-black lance."[104]
+
+The compilation of the Saltair of Tara, as we mentioned previously, is
+attributed to this monarch. Even in Christian times his praises are
+loudly proclaimed. The poet Maelmura, who lived in the eighth century,
+styles him Ceolach, or the Musical, and Kenneth O'Hartigan, who died
+A.D. 973, gives a glowing account of his magnificence and of his royal
+palace at Tara. O'Flaherty quotes a poem, which he says contains an
+account of three schools, instituted by Cormac at Tara; one for military
+discipline, one for history, and the third for jurisprudence. The Four
+Masters say: "It was this Cormac, son of Art, also, that collected the
+chronicles of Ireland to Teamhair [Tara], and ordered them to write[105]
+the chronicles of Ireland in one book, which was named the Saltair of
+Teamhair. In that book were [entered] the coeval exploits and
+synchronisms of the kings of Ireland with the kings and emperors of the
+world, and of the kings of the provinces with the monarchs of Ireland.
+In it was also written what the monarchs of Ireland were entitled to
+[receive] from the provincial kings, and the rents and dues of the
+provincial kings from their subjects, from the noble to the subaltern.
+In it, also, were [described] the boundaries and mears of Ireland from
+shore to shore, from the provinces to the cantred, from the cantred to
+the townland, from the townland to the traighedh of land."[106] Although
+the Saltair of Tara has disappeared from our national records, a law
+tract, called the Book of Acaill, is still in existence, which is
+attributed to this king. It is always found annexed to a Law Treatise by
+Cennfaelad the Learned, who died A.D. 677. In an ancient MS. in Trinity
+College, Dublin (Class H.L. 15, p. 149), it is stated that it was the
+custom, at the inauguration of Irish chiefs, to read the Instructions of
+the Kings (a work ascribed to Cormac) and his Laws.
+
+There is a tradition that Cormac became a Christian before his death. In
+the thirty-ninth year of his reign, one of his eyes was thrust out by a
+spear, and he retired in consequence to one of those peaceful abodes of
+learning which were so carefully fostered in ancient Erinn. The
+high-minded nobility of this people is manifest notably in the law which
+required that the king should have no personal blemish; and in obedience
+to this law, Cormac vacated the throne. He died A.D. 266, at Cleiteach,
+near Stackallen Bridge, on the south bank of the Boyne. It is said that
+he was choked by a salmon bone, and that this happened through the
+contrivances of the druids, who wished to avenge themselves on him for
+his rejection of their superstitions.
+
+This reign was made more remarkable by the exploits of his son-in-law,
+the famous Finn Mac Cumhaill (pronounced "coole"). Finn was famous both
+as a poet and warrior. Indeed, poetical qualifications were considered
+essential to obtain a place in the select militia of which he was the
+last commander. The courtship of the poet-warrior with the Princess
+Ailbhé, Cormac's daughter, is related in one of the ancient historic
+tales called _Tochmarca_, or Courtships. The lady is said to have been
+the wisest woman of her time, and the wooing is described in the form of
+conversations, which savour more of a trial of skill in ability and
+knowledge, than of the soft utterances which distinguish such narratives
+in modern days. It is supposed that the Fenian corps which he commanded
+was modelled after the fashion of the Roman legions; but its loyalty is
+more questionable, for it was eventually disbanded for insubordination,
+although the exploits of its heroes are a favourite topic with the
+bards. The Fenian poems, on which Macpherson founded his celebrated
+forgery, are ascribed to Finn's sons, Oísin and Fergus the Eloquent, and
+to his kinsman Caeilté, as well as to himself. Five poems only are
+ascribed to him, but these are found in MSS. of considerable antiquity.
+The poems of Oísin were selected by the Scotch writer for his grand
+experiment. He gave a highly poetical translation of what purported to
+be some ancient and genuine composition, but, unfortunately for his
+veracity, he could not produce the original. Some of the real
+compositions of the Fenian hero are, however, still extant in the Book
+of Leinster, as well as other valuable Fenian poems. There are also some
+Fenian tales in prose, of which the most remarkable is that of the
+Pursuit of Diarmaid and Grainné--a legend which has left its impress in
+every portion of the island to the present day. Finn, in his old age,
+asked the hand of Grainné, the daughter of Cormac Mac Airt; but the lady
+being young, preferred a younger lover. To effect her purpose, she
+drugged the guest-cup so effectually, that Finn, and all the guests
+invited with him, were plunged into a profound slumber after they had
+partaken of it. Oísin and Diarmaid alone escaped, and to them the Lady
+Grainné confided her grief. As true knights they were bound to rescue
+her from the dilemma. Oísin could scarcely dare to brave his father's
+vengeance, but Diarmaid at once fled with the lady. A pursuit followed,
+which extended all over Ireland, during which the young couple always
+escaped. So deeply is the tradition engraven in the popular mind, that
+the cromlechs are still called the "Beds of Diarmaid and Grainné," and
+shown as the resting-places of the fugitive lovers.
+
+There are many other tales of a purely imaginative character, which, for
+interest, might well rival the world-famous Arabian Nights'
+Entertainments; and, for importance of details, illustrative of manners,
+customs, dress, weapons, and localities, are, perhaps, unequalled.
+
+Nial of the Nine Hostages and Dathi are the last pagan monarchs who
+demand special notice. In the year 322, Fiacha Sraibhtine was slain by
+the three Collas,[107] and a few short-lived monarchs succeeded. In 378,
+Crimhthann was poisoned by his sister, who hoped that her eldest son,
+Brian, might obtain the royal power. Her attempt failed, although she
+sacrificed herself for its accomplishment, by taking the poisoned cup to
+remove her brother's suspicions; and Nial of the Nine Hostages, the son
+of her husband by a former wife, succeeded to the coveted dignity. This
+monarch distinguished himself by predatory warfare against Albion and
+Gaul. The "groans"[108] of the Britons testify to his success in that
+quarter, which eventually obliged them to become an Anglo-Saxon nation;
+and the Latin poet, Claudian, gives evidence that troops were sent by
+Stilicho, the general of Theodosius the Great, to repel his successful
+forays. His successor, Dathi, was killed by lightning at the foot of the
+Alps, and the possibility of this occurrence is also strangely verified
+from extrinsic sources.[109]
+
+[Illustration: GAP OF DUNLOE, KILLARNEY.]
+
+[Illustration: ARMAGH.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[101] _Roads_.--Those roads were Slighe Asail, Slighe Midhluachra,
+Slighe Cualann, Slighe Dala, and Slighe Môr. Slighe Môr was the Eiscir
+Riada, and division line of Erinn into two parts, between Conn and
+Eóghan Môr. These five roads led to the fort of Teamair (Tara), and it
+is said that they were "discovered" on the birthnight of the former
+monarch. We shall refer to the subject again in a chapter on the
+civilization of the early Irish. There is no doubt of the existence of
+these roads, and this fact, combined with the care with which they were
+kept, is significant.
+
+[102] _Magh Lena_.--The present parish of Moylana, or Kilbride,
+Tullamore, King's county.
+
+[103] _Reuda_.--Bede, _Eccl. Hist_. p. 7.
+
+[104] _Lance_.--O'Curry, p. 45. This quotation is translated by Mr.
+O'Curry, and is taken from the Book of Ballymote. This book, however,
+quotes it from the _Uachongbhail_, a much older authority.
+
+[105] _Write_.--Professor O'Curry well observes, that "such a man could
+scarcely have carried out the numerous provisions of his comprehensive
+enactments without some written medium. And it is no unwarrantable
+presumption to suppose, that, either by his own hand, or, at least, in
+his own time, by his command, his laws were committed to writing; and
+when we possess very ancient testimony to this effect, I can see no
+reason for rejecting it, or for casting a doubt upon the
+statement."--_MS. Materials_, p. 47. Mr. Petrie writes, if possible,
+more strongly. He says: "It is difficult, if not impossible, to conceive
+how the minute and apparently accurate accounts found in the various
+MSS. of the names and localities of the Attacottic tribes of Ireland in
+the first century, could have been preserved, without coming to the
+conclusion that they had been preserved in writing in some
+work."--_Essay on Tara Hill_, p. 46. Elsewhere, however, he speaks more
+doubtfully.
+
+[106] _Land_.--Four Masters, p. 117.
+
+[107] _Collas_.--They were sons of Eochaidh Domlen, who made themselves
+famous by their warlike exploits, and infamous by their destruction of
+the palace of Emania.
+
+[108] _Groans_.--Bede, _Eccl. Hist_. c. 12.
+
+[109] _Sources_.--The Abbé M'Geoghegan says that there is a very ancient
+registry in the archives of the house of Sales, which mentions that the
+King of Ireland remained some time in the Castle of Sales. See his
+_History_, p. 94.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+St. Patrick--How Ireland was first Christianized--Pagan Rome used
+providentially to promote the Faith--The Mission of St.
+Palladius--Innocent I. claims authority to found Churches and condemn
+Heresy--Disputes concerning St. Patrick's Birthplace--Ireland receives
+the Faith generously--Victoricus--St. Patrick's Vision--His Roman
+Mission clearly proved--Subterfuges of those who deny it--Ancient Lives
+of the Saint--St. Patrick's Canons--His Devotion and Submission to the
+Holy See.
+
+[A.D. 378-432.]
+
+
+It has been conjectured that the great Apostle of Ireland, St. Patrick,
+was carried captive to the land of his adoption, in one of the
+plundering expeditions of the monarch Nial--an eminent instance of the
+overruling power of Providence, and of the mighty effects produced by
+causes the most insignificant and unconscious. As we are not writing an
+ecclesiastical history of Ireland, and as we have a work of that nature
+in contemplation, we shall only make brief mention of the events
+connected with the life and mission of the saint at present; but the
+Christianizing of any country must always form an important epoch,
+politically and socially, and, as such, demands the careful
+consideration of the historian. How and when the seed of faith was sown
+in ancient Erinn before the time of the great Apostle, cannot now be
+ascertained. We know the silent rapidity with which that faith spread,
+from its first promulgation by the shores of the Galilean lake, until it
+became the recognized religion of earth's mightiest empire. We know,
+also, that, by a noticeable providence, Rome was chosen from the
+beginning as the source from whence the light should emanate. We know
+how pagan Rome, which had subdued and crushed material empires, and
+scattered nations and national customs as chaff before the wind, failed
+utterly to subdue or crush this religion, though promulgated by the
+feeblest of its plebeians. We know how the material prosperity of that
+mighty people was overruled for the furtherance of eternal designs; and
+as the invincible legions continually added to the geographical extent
+of the empire they also added to the number of those to whom the gospel
+of peace should be proclaimed.
+
+The first Christian mission to Ireland, for which we have definite and
+reliable data, was that of St. Palladius. St. Prosper, who held a high
+position in the Roman Church, published a chronicle in the year 433, in
+which we find the following register: "Palladius was consecrated by Pope
+Celestine, and sent as the first Bishop to the Irish believing in
+Christ."[110] This mission was unsuccessful. Palladius was repulsed by
+the inhabitants of Wicklow,[111] where he landed. He then sailed
+northward, and was at last driven by stress of weather towards the
+Orkneys, finding harbour, eventually, on the shores of Kincardineshire.
+Several ancient tracts give the details of his mission, its failure, and
+his subsequent career. The first of those authorities is the Life of St.
+Patrick in the Book of Armagh; and in this it is stated that he died in
+the "land of the Britons." The second Life of St. Patrick, in Colgan's
+collection, has changed Britons into "Picts." In the "Annotations of
+Tierchan," also preserved in the Book of Armagh,[112] it is said that
+Palladius was also called Patricius,[113] and that he suffered martyrdom
+among the Scots, "as ancient saints relate."
+
+Prosper also informs us, that Palladius was a deacon[114] of the Roman
+Church, and that he received a commission from the Holy See to send
+Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre, to root out heresy,[115] and convert the
+Britons to the Catholic faith. Thus we find the Church, even in the
+earliest ages, occupied in her twofold mission of converting the
+heathen, and preserving the faithful from error. St. Innocent I.,
+writing to Decentius, in the year 402, refers thus to this important
+fact: "Is it not known to all that the things which have been delivered
+to the Roman Church by Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, and preserved
+ever since, should be observed by all; and that nothing is to be
+introduced devoid of authority, or borrowed elsewhere? Especially, as it
+is manifest that no one has founded churches for all Italy, the Gauls,
+Spain, Africa, and the interjacent islands, except such as were
+appointed priests by the venerable Peter and his successors."
+
+Palladius was accompanied by four companions: Sylvester and Solinus, who
+remained after him in Ireland; and Augustinus and Benedictus, who
+followed him[116] to Britain, but returned to their own country after
+his death. The _Vita Secunda_ mentions that he brought relics of the
+blessed Peter and Paul, and other saints, to Ireland, as well as copies
+of the Old and New Testament, all of which were given to him by Pope
+Celestine.
+
+The birthplace of the great Apostle of Ireland has long been, and still
+continues, a subject of controversy. St. Fiacc states that he was born
+at Nemthur,[117] and the Scholiast on St. Fiacc's Hymn identifies this
+with Alcuith, now Dumbarton, on the Firth of Clyde. The most reliable
+authority unquestionably is St. Patrick's own statements, in his
+_Confessio_. He there says (1) that his father had a farm or villa at
+Bonavem Taberniæ, from whence he was taken captive. It does not follow
+necessarily from this, that St. Patrick was born there; but it would
+appear probable that this was a paternal estate. (2)The saint speaks of
+Britanniæ as his country. The difficulty lies in the identification of
+these places. In the _Vita Secunda_, Nemthur and Campus Taberniæ are
+identified. Probus writes, that he had ascertained as a matter of
+certainty, that the _Vicus Bannave Taburniæ regionis_ was situated in
+Neustria. The Life supposed to be by St. Eleran, states that the parents
+of the saint were of Strats-Cludi (Strath-Clyde), but that he was born
+in Nemthur--"Quod oppidum in Campo Taburniæ est;" thus indicating an
+early belief that France was the land of his nativity. St. Patrick's
+mention of Britanniæ, however, appears to be conclusive. There was a
+tribe called Brittani in northern France, mentioned by Pliny, and the
+Welsh Triads distinctly declare that the Britons of Great Britain came
+from thence.
+
+There can be no doubt, however, that St. Patrick was intimately
+connected with Gaul. His mother, Conchessa, was either a sister or niece
+of the great St. Martin of Tours; and it was undoubtedly from Gaul that
+the saint was carried captive to Ireland.
+
+Patrick was not the baptismal name of the saint; it was given him by St.
+Celestine[118] as indicative of rank, or it may be with some prophetic
+intimation of his future greatness. He was baptized by the no less
+significant appellation of Succat--"brave in battle." But his warfare
+was not with a material foe. Erinn received the faith at his hands, with
+noble and unexampled generosity; and one martyr, and only one, was
+sacrificed in preference of ancient pagan rites; while we know that
+thousands have shed their blood, and it maybe hundreds even in our own
+times have sacrificed their lives, to preserve the treasure so gladly
+accepted, so faithfully preserved.[119]
+
+Moore, in his _History of Ireland_, exclaims, with the force of truth,
+and the eloquence of poetry: "While in all other countries the
+introduction of Christianity has been the slow work of time, has been
+resisted by either government or people, and seldom effected without
+lavish effusion of blood, in Ireland, on the contrary, by the influence
+of one zealous missionary, and with but little previous preparation of
+the soil by other hands, Christianity burst forth at the first ray of
+apostolic light, and, with the sudden ripeness of a northern summer, at
+once covered the whole land. Kings and princes, when not themselves
+amongst the ranks of the converted, saw their sons and daughters joining
+in the train without a murmur. Chiefs, at variance in all else, agreed
+in meeting beneath the Christian banner; and the proud druid and bard
+laid their superstitions meekly at the foot of the cross; nor, by a
+singular blessing of Providence--unexampled, indeed, in the whole
+history of the Church--was there a single drop of blood shed on account
+of religion through the entire course of this mild Christian revolution,
+by which, in the space of a few years, all Ireland was brought
+tranquilly under the dominion of the Gospel."
+
+It is probable that St. Patrick was born in 387, and that in 403 he was
+made captive and carried into Ireland. Those who believe Alcuith or
+Dumbarton to have been his birthplace, are obliged to account for his
+capture in Gaul--which has never been questioned--by supposing that he
+and his family had gone thither to visit the friends of his mother,
+Conchessa. He was sold as a slave, in that part of Dalriada comprised in
+the county of Antrim, to four men, one of whom, Milcho, bought up their
+right from the other three, and employed him in feeding sheep or swine.
+Exposed to the severity of the weather day and night, a lonely slave in
+a strange land, and probably as ignorant of the language as of the
+customs of his master, his captivity, would, indeed, have been a bitter
+one, had he not brought with him, from a holy home, the elements of most
+fervent piety. A hundred times in the day, and a hundred times in the
+night, he lifted up the voice of prayer and supplication to the Lord of
+the bondman and the free, and faithfully served the harsh, and at times
+cruel, master to whom Providence had assigned him. Perhaps he may have
+offered his sufferings for those who were serving a master even more
+harsh and cruel.
+
+After six years he was miraculously delivered. A voice, that was not of
+earth, addressed him in the stillness of the night, and commanded him to
+hasten to a certain port, where he would find a ship ready to take him
+to his own country. "And I came," says the saint, "in the power of the
+Lord, who directed my course towards a good end; and I was under no
+apprehension until I arrived where the ship was. It was then clearing
+out, and I called for a passage. But the master of the vessel got angry,
+and said to me, 'Do not attempt to come with us.' On hearing this I
+retired, for the purpose of going to the cabin where I had been received
+as a guest. And, on my way thither, I began to pray; but before I had
+finished my prayer, I heard one of the men crying out with a loud voice
+after me, 'Come, quickly; for they are calling you,' and immediately I
+returned. And they said to me, 'Come, we receive thee on trust. Be our
+friend, just as it may be agreeable to you.' We then set sail, and after
+three days reached land." The two Breviaries of Rheims and Fiacc's Hymn
+agree in stating that the men with whom Patrick embarked were merchants
+from Gaul, and that they landed in a place called Treguir, in Brittany,
+some distance from his native place. Their charity, however, was amply
+repaid. Travelling through a desert country, they had surely perished
+with hunger, had not the prayers of the saint obtained them a miraculous
+supply of food.
+
+It is said that St. Patrick suffered a second captivity, which, however,
+only lasted sixty days; but of this little is known. Neither is the
+precise time certain, with respect to these captivities, at which the
+events occurred which we are about to relate. After a short residence at
+the famous monastery of St. Martin, near Tours, founded by his saintly
+relative, he placed himself (probably in his thirtieth year) under the
+direction of St. Germain of Auxerre.
+
+It was about this period that he was favoured with the remarkable vision
+or dream relating to his Irish apostolate. He thus describes it in his
+_Confessio_:--
+
+"I saw, in a nocturnal vision, a man named Victoricus[120] coming as if
+from Ireland, with a large parcel of letters, one of which he handed to
+me. On reading the beginning of it, I found it contained these words:
+'The voice of the Irish;' and while reading it I thought I heard, at the
+same moment, the voice of a multitude of persons near the Wood of
+Foclut, which is near the western sea; and they cried out, as if with
+one voice, '_We entreat thee, holy youth, to come and henceforth walk
+amongst us.'_ And I was greatly affected in my heart, and could read no
+longer; and then I awoke."
+
+St. Patrick retired to Italy after this vision, and there spent many
+years. During this period he visited Lerins,[121] and other islands in
+the Mediterranean. Lerins was distinguished for its religious and
+learned establishments; and probably St. Germain,[122] under whose
+direction the saint still continued, had recommended him to study there.
+It was at this time that he received the celebrated staff, called the
+_Bachall Isu_, or Staff of Jesus.
+
+St. Bernard mentions this _Bachall Isu_, in his life of St. Malachy, as
+one of those insignia of the see of Armagh, which were popularly
+believed to confer upon the possessor a title to be regarded and obeyed
+as the successor of St. Patrick. Indeed, the great antiquity of this
+long-treasured relic has never been questioned; nor is there any reason
+to suppose that it was not in some way a miraculous gift.
+
+Frequent notices of this pastoral staff are found in ancient Irish
+history. St. Fiacc speaks of it as having been richly adorned by an
+ecclesiastic contemporary with the saint.
+
+A curious MS. is still preserved in the Chapter House of Westminster
+Abbey, containing an examination of "Sir Gerald Machshayne, knight,
+sworn 19th March, 1529, upon the Holie Mase-booke and the _great relicke
+of Erlonde, called Baculum Christi_, the presence of the Kynge's
+Deputie, Chancellour, Tresoror, and Justice."
+
+Perhaps it may be well to conclude the account of this interesting relic
+by a notice of its wanton destruction, as translated from the Annals of
+Loch Cè by Professor O'Curry:--
+
+"The most miraculous image of Mary, which was at _Bailé Atha Truim_
+(Trim), and which the Irish people had all honoured for a long time
+before that, which used to heal the blind, the deaf, the lame, and every
+disease in like manner, was burned by the Saxons. And the Staff of
+Jesus, which was in Dublin, and which wrought many wonders and miracles
+in Erinn since the time of Patrick down to that time, and which was in
+the hand of Christ Himself, was burned by the Saxons in like manner. And
+not only that, but there was not a holy cross, nor an image of Mary, nor
+other celebrated image in Erinn over which their power reached, that
+they did not burn. Nor was there one of the seven Orders which came
+under their power that they did not ruin. And the Pope and the Church in
+the East and at home were excommunicating the Saxons on that account,
+and they did not pay any attention or heed unto that, &c. And I am not
+certain whether it was not in the year preceding the above [A.D. 1537]
+that these relics were burned."
+
+St. Patrick visited Rome about the year 431, accompanied by a priest
+named Segetius, who was sent with him by St. Germanus to vouch for the
+sanctity of his character, and his fitness for the Irish mission.
+Celestine received him favourably, and dismissed him with his
+benediction and approbation. St. Patrick then returned once more to his
+master, who was residing at Auxerre. From thence he went into the north
+of Gaul, and there receiving intelligence of the death of St. Palladius,
+and the failure of his mission, he was immediately consecrated bishop by
+the venerable Amato, a prelate of great sanctity, then residing in the
+neighbourhood of Ebovia. Auxilius, Isserninus, and other disciples of
+the saint, received holy orders at the same time. They were subsequently
+promoted to the episcopacy in the land of their adoption.
+
+In the year 432 St. Patrick landed in Ireland. It was the first year of
+the pontificate of St. Sixtus III., the successor of Celestine; the
+fourth year of the reign of Laeghairé, son of Nial of the Nine Hostages,
+King of Ireland. It is generally supposed that the saint landed first at
+a place called Inbher De, believed to be the mouth of the Bray river, in
+Wicklow. Here he was repulsed by the in habitants,--a circumstance which
+can be easily accounted for from its proximity to the territory of King
+Nathi, who had so lately driven away his predecessor, Palladius.
+
+St. Patrick returned to his ship, and sailing towards the north landed
+at the little island of Holm Patrick, near Skerries, off the north coast
+of Dublin. After a brief stay he proceeded still farther northward, and
+finally entering Strangford Lough, landed with his companions in the
+district of Magh-Inis, in the present barony of Lecale. Having
+penetrated some distance into the interior, they were encountered by
+Dicho, the lord of the soil, who, hearing of their embarkation, and
+supposing them to be pirates, had assembled a formidable body of
+retainers to expel them from his shores. But it is said that the moment
+he perceived, Patrick, his apprehensions vanished. After some brief
+converse, Dicho invited the saint and his companions to his house, and
+soon after received himself the grace of holy baptism. Dicho was St.
+Patrick's first convert, and the first who erected a Christian church
+under his direction. The memory of this event is still preserved in the
+name Saull, the modern contraction of _Sabhall Padruic_, or Patrick's
+Barn. The saint was especially attached to the scene of his first
+missionary success, and frequently retired to the monastery which was
+established there later.
+
+After a brief residence with the new converts, Patrick set out for the
+habitation of his old master, Milcho, who lived near Slieve Mis, in the
+present county of Antrim, then part of the territory called Dalriada. It
+is said that when Milcho heard of the approach of his former slave, he
+became so indignant, that, in a violent fit of passion, he set fire to
+his house, and perished himself in the flames. The saint returned to
+Saull, and from thence journeyed by water to the mouth of the Boyne,
+where he landed at a small port called Colp. Tara was his destination;
+but on his way thither he stayed a night at the house of a man of
+property named Seschnan. This man and his whole family were baptized,
+and one of his sons received the name of Benignus from St. Patrick, on
+account of the gentleness of his manner. The holy youth attached himself
+from this moment to his master, and was his successor in the primatial
+see of Armagh.
+
+Those who are anxious, for obvious reasons, to deny the fact of St.
+Patrick's mission from Rome, do so on two grounds: first, the absence of
+a distinct statement of this mission in one or two of the earliest lives
+of the saints; and his not having mentioned it himself in his genuine
+writings. Second, by underrating the value of those documents which do
+mention this Roman mission. With regard to the first objection, it is
+obvious that a hymn which was written merely as a panegyric (the Hymn of
+St. Fiacc) was not the place for such details. But St. Fiacc _does_
+mention that Germanus was the saint's instructor, and that "he read his
+canons," _i.e._, studied theology under him.
+
+St. Patrick's Canons,[123] which even Usher admits to be genuine,
+contain the following passage. We give Usher's own translation, as
+beyond all controversy for correctness:--"Whenever any cause that is
+very difficult, and unknown unto all the judges of the Scottish nation,
+shall arise, it is rightly to be referred to the See of the Archbishop
+of the Irish (that is, of Patrick), and to the examination of the
+prelate thereof. But if there, by him and his wise men, a cause of this
+nature cannot easily be made up, we have decreed it shall be sent to the
+See Apostolic, that is to say, to the chair of the Apostle Peter, which
+hath the authority of the city of Rome." Usher's translation of St.
+Patrick's Canon is sufficiently plain, and evidently he found it
+inconveniently explicit, for he gives a "gloss" thereon, in which he
+apologizes for St. Patrick's Roman predilections, by suggesting that the
+saint was influenced by a "special regard for the Church of Rome." No
+doubt this was true; it is the feeling of all good Catholics; but it
+requires something more than a "special regard" to inculcate such
+absolute submission; and we can scarcely think even Usher himself could
+have gravely supposed, that a canon written to bind the whole Irish
+Church, should have inculcated a practice of such importance, merely
+because St. Patrick had a regard for the Holy See. This Canon was acted
+upon in the Synod of Magh-Lene, in 630, and St. Cummian attests the fact
+thus:--"In accordance with the canonical, decree, that if questions of
+grave moment arise, they shall be referred to the head of cities, we
+sent such as we knew were wise and humble men to Rome." But there is yet
+another authority for St. Patrick's Roman mission. There is an important
+tract by Macutenius, in the Book of Armagh. The authenticity of the
+tract has not, and indeed could not, be questioned; but a leaf is
+missing: happily, however, the titles of the chapters are preserved, so
+there can be no doubt as to what they contained. In these headings we
+find the following:--
+
+"5. De ætate ejus quando iens videre Sedem Apostolicam voluit discere
+sapientiam."
+
+"6. De inventione Sancti Germani in Galiis et ideo non exivit ultra."
+
+Dr. Todd, by joining these two separate titles, with more ingenuity than
+fairness, has made it appear that "St. Patrick desired to visit the
+Apostolic See, and there to learn wisdom, but that meeting with St.
+Germanus in Gaul he went no further."[124] Even could the headings of
+two separate chapters be thus joined together, the real meaning of _et
+ideo non exivit ultra_ would be, that St. Patrick never again left
+Germanus,--a meaning too obviously inadmissible to require further
+comment. But it is well known that the life of St. Patrick which bears
+the name of Probus, is founded almost verbally on the text of
+Macutenius, and this work supplies the missing chapters. They clearly
+relate not only the Roman mission of the saint, but also the saint's
+love of Rome, and his desire to obtain from thence "due authority" that
+he might "preach with confidence."
+
+[Illustration: ANCIENT SWORD, FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE R.I.A., FOUND
+AT HILLSWOOD, CO. GALWAY.]
+
+[Illustration: SCULPTURES AT DEVENISH.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[110] _Christ_.--"Ad Scotos in Christum credentes ordinatur a papa
+Cælestino Palladius et primus episcopus mittitur."--_Vet. Lat. Scrip.
+Chron. Roncallius_, Padua, 1787.
+
+[111] _Wicklow_.--Probably on the spot where the town of Wicklow now
+stands. It was then called the region of Hy-Garchon. It is also
+designated _Fortreatha Laighen_ by the Scholiast on Fiacc's Hymn. The
+district, probably, received this name from the family of _Eoichaidh
+Finn Fothart_, a brother of Conn of the Hundred Battles.
+
+[112] _Armagh_--Fol. 16, a.a.
+
+[113] _Patricius_.--This name was but an indication of rank. In the
+later years of the Roman Empire, Gibbon says, "the meanest subjects of
+the Roman Empire [5th century] assumed the illustrious name of
+Patricius."--_Decline and Fall_, vol. viii. p. 300. Hence the confusion
+that arose amongst Celtic hagiographers, and the interchanging of the
+acts of several saints who bore the same name.
+
+[114] _Deacon_.--This was an important office in the early Roman Church.
+
+[115] _Heresy_.--The Pelagian.
+
+[116] _Followed him_.--The Four Masters imply, however, that they
+remained in Ireland. They also name the three wooden churches which he
+erected. Celafine, which has not been identified; Teach-na-Romhan, House
+of the Romans, probably Tigroni; and Domhnach-Arta, probably the present
+Dunard.--Annals, p. 129.
+
+[117] _Nemthur_.--The _n_ is merely a prefix; it should read Em-tur.
+
+[118] _Celestine._--See the Scholiast on Fiacc's Hymn.
+
+[119] _Preserved._--It is much to be regretted that almost every
+circumstance in the life of St. Patrick has been made a field for
+polemics. Dr. Todd, of whom one might have hoped better things, has
+almost destroyed the interest of his otherwise valuable work by this
+fault. He cannot allow that St. Patrick's mother was a relative of St.
+Martin of Tours, obviously because St. Martin's Catholicity is
+incontrovertible. He wastes pages in a vain attempt to disprove St.
+Patrick's Roman mission, for similar reasons; and he cannot even admit
+that the Irish received the faith as a nation, all despite the clearest
+evidence; yet so strong is the power of prejudice, that he accepts far
+less proof for other questions.
+
+[120] _Victoricus_.--There were two saints, either of whom might have
+been the mysterious visitant who invited St. Patrick to Ireland. St.
+Victoricus was the great missionary of the Morini, at the end of the
+fourth century. There was also a St. Victoricus who suffered martyrdom
+at Amiens, A.D. 286. Those do not believe that the saints were and are
+favoured with supernatural communications, and whose honesty compels
+them to admit the genuineness of such documents as the Confession of St.
+Patrick, are put to sad straits to explain away what he writes.
+
+[121] _Lerins.--See Monks of the West_, v. i. p. 463. It was then styled
+_insula beata_.
+
+[122] _St. Germain_.--St. Fiacc, who, it will be remembered, was
+contemporary with St. Patrick, write thus in his Hymn:
+
+"The angel, Victor, sent Patrick over the Alps; Admirable was his
+journey-- Until he took his abode with Germanus, Far away in the south
+of Letha. In the isles of the Tyrrhene sea he remained; In them he
+meditated; He read the canon with Germanus-- This, histories make
+known."
+
+
+
+[123] _Canons_--This Canon is found in the Book of Armagh, and in that
+part of that Book which was copied from _St. Patrick's own manuscript_.
+Even could it be proved that St. Patrick never wrote these Canons, the
+fact that they are in the Book of Armagh, which was compiled, according
+to O'Curry, before the year 727, and even at the latest before the year
+807, is sufficient to prove the practice of the early Irish Church on
+this important subject.
+
+[124] _Further.--Life of St. Patrick_, p. 315.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+St. Patrick visits Tara--Easter Sunday--St. Patrick's Hymn--Dubtach
+salute him--He overthrows the Idols at Magh Slecht--The Princesses
+Ethnea and Fethlimia--Their Conversion--Baptism of Aengus--St. Patrick
+travels through Ireland--His Success in Munster--He blesses the whole
+country from Cnoc Patrick--The First Irish Martyr--St. Patrick's
+Death--Pagan Prophecies--Conor Mac Nessa--Death of King Laeghairé--The
+Church did not and does not countenance Pagan Superstition--Oilioll
+Molt--Death of King Aengus--Foundation of the Kingdom of Scotland--St.
+Brigid--Shrines of the Three Saints--St Patrick's Prayer for Ireland,
+and its Fulfilment.
+
+[A.D. 432--543.]
+
+
+On Holy Saturday St. Patrick arrived at Slane, where he caused a tent to
+be erected, and lighted the paschal fire at nightfall, preparatory to
+the celebration of the Easter festival. The princes and chieftains of
+Meath were, at the same time, assembled at Tara, where King Laeghairé
+was holding a great pagan festival. The object of this meeting has been
+disputed, some authorities saying that it was convoked to celebrate the
+Beltinne, or fire of Bal or Baal; others, that the king was
+commemorating his own birthday. On the festival of Beltinne it was
+forbidden to light any fire until a flame was visible from the top of
+Tara Hill. Laeghairé was indignant that this regulation should have been
+infringed; and probably the representation of his druids regarding the
+mission of the great apostle, did not tend to allay his wrath.
+Determined to examine himself into the intention of these bold
+strangers, he set forth, accompanied, by his bards and attendants, to
+the place where the sacred fire had been kindled, and ordered the
+apostle to be brought before him strictly commanding, at the same time,
+that no respect should be shown to him.
+
+Notwithstanding the king's command, Erc, the son of Dego, rose up to
+salute him, obtained the grace of conversion, and was subsequently
+promoted to the episcopate. The result of this interview was the
+appointment of a public discussion, to take place the next day at Tara,
+between St. Patrick and the pagan bards.
+
+[Illustration: St. Patrick going to Tara.]
+
+It was Easter Sunday--a day ever memorable for this event in the annals
+of Erinn. Laeghairé and his court sat in state to receive the ambassador
+of the Eternal King. Treacherous preparations had been made, and it was
+anticipated that Patrick and his companions would scarcely reach Tara
+alive. The saint was aware of the machinations of his enemies; but life
+was of no value to him, save as a means of performing the great work
+assigned him, and the success of that work was in the safe keeping of
+Another. The old writers love to dwell on the meek dignity of the
+apostle during this day of trial and triumph. He set forth with his
+companions, from where he had encamped, in solemn procession, singing a
+hymn of invocation which he had composed, in the Irish tongue, for the
+occasion, and which is still preserved, and well authenticated.[125] He
+was clothed as usual, in white robes; but he wore his mitre, and carried
+in his hand the Staff of Jesus. Eight priests attended him, robed also
+in white, and his youthful convert, Benignus, the son of Seschnan.
+
+Thus, great in the arms of meekness and prayer, did the Christian hosts
+calmly face the array of pagan pomp and pride. Again the monarch had
+commanded that no honour should be paid to the saint, and again he was
+disobeyed. His own chief poet and druid, Dubtach, rose up instantly on
+the entrance of the strangers, and saluted the venerable apostle with
+affection and respect. The Christian doctrine was then explained by St.
+Patrick to his wondering audience, and such impression made, that
+although Laeghairé lived and died an obstinate pagan, he nevertheless
+permitted the saint to preach where and when he would, and to receive
+all who might come to him for instruction or holy baptism.
+
+On the following day St. Patrick repaired to Taillten, where the public
+games were commencing; and there he remained for a week, preaching to an
+immense concourse of people. Here his life was threatened by Cairbré, a
+brother of King Laeghairé; but the saint was defended by another of the
+royal brothers, named Conall Creevan, who was shortly after converted.
+The church of Donough Patrick, in Meath, was founded by his desire. It
+is said that all the Irish churches which begin with the name Donough
+were founded by the saint, the foundation being always marked out by him
+on a Sunday, for which Domhnach is the Gaedhilic term.
+
+Having preached for some time in the western part of the territory of
+Meath, the saint proceeded as far as Magh Slecht, where the great idol
+of the nation, Ceann [or Crom] Cruach was solemnly worshipped. The
+legend of its destruction, as given in the oldest annals, is singularly
+interesting. We give a brief extract from Professor O'Curry's
+translation: "When Patrick saw the idol from the water, which is named
+_Guthard_ [loud voice] (i.e., he elevated his voice); and when he
+approached near the idol, he raised his arm to lay the Staff of Jesus on
+him, and it did not reach him; he bent back from the attempt upon his
+right side, for it was to the south his face was; and the mark of the
+staff lies in his left side still although the staff did not leave
+Patrick's hand; and the earth swallowed the other twelve idols to their
+heads; and they are in that condition in commemoration of the miracle.
+And he called upon all the people _cum rege Laeghuire;_ they it was that
+adored the idol. And all the people saw him (i.e., the demon), and they
+dreaded their dying if Patrick had not sent him to hell."[126]
+
+After this glorious termination of Easter week, the saint made two other
+important converts. He set out for Connaught; and when near Rath
+Cruaghan, met the daughters of King Laeghairé, the princesses Ethnea and
+Fethlimia, who were coming, in patriarchal fashion, to bathe in a
+neighbouring well. These ladies were under the tuition of certain
+druids, or magi; but they willingly listened to the instruction of the
+saint, and were converted and baptized.
+
+The interview took place at daybreak. The royal sisters heard the
+distant chant of the priests, who were reciting matins as they walked
+along; and when they approached and beheld them in their white garments,
+singing, with books in their hands, it was naturally supposed that they
+were not beings of earth.
+
+"Who are ye?" they inquired of the saint and his companions. "Are ye of
+the sea, the heavens, or the earth?"
+
+St. Patrick explained to them such of the Christian mysteries as were
+most necessary at the moment, and spoke of the one only true God.
+
+"But where," they asked, "does your God dwell? Is it in the sun or on
+earth, in mountains or in valleys, in the sea or in rivers?"
+
+Then the apostle told them of his God,--the Eternal, the Invisible,--and
+how He had indeed dwelt on earth as man, but only to suffer and die for
+their salvation. And as the maidens listened to his words, their hearts
+were kindled with heavenly love, and they inquired further what they
+could do to show their gratitude to this great King. In that same hour
+they were baptized; and in a short time they consecrated themselves to
+Him, the story of whose surpassing charity had so moved their young
+hearts.
+
+Their brother also obtained the grace of conversion; and an old Irish
+custom of killing a sheep on St. Michael's Day, and distributing it
+amongst the poor, is said to date from a miracle performed by St.
+Patrick for this royal convert.
+
+Nor is the story of Aengus, another royal convert, less interesting.
+About the year 445, the saint, after passing through Ossory, and
+converting a great number of people, entered the kingdom of Munster. His
+destination was Cashel, from whence King Aengus, the son of Natfraech,
+came forth to meet him with the utmost reverence.
+
+This prince had already obtained some knowledge of Christianity, and
+demanded the grace of holy baptism.
+
+The saint willingly complied with his request. His courtiers assembled
+with royal state to assist at the ceremony. St. Patrick carried in his
+hand, as usual, the Bachall Isu; at the end of this crozier there was a
+sharp iron spike, by which he could plant it firmly in the ground beside
+him while preaching, or exercising his episcopal functions. On this
+occasion, however, he stuck it down into the king's foot, and did not
+perceive his mistake until--
+
+    "The royal foot transfixed, the gushing blood
+    Enrich'd the pavement with a noble flood."
+
+The ceremony had concluded, and the prince had neither moved nor
+complained of the severe suffering he had endured. When the saint
+expressed his deep regret for such an occurrence, Aengus merely replied
+that he believed it to be a part of the ceremony, and did not appear to
+consider any suffering of consequence at such a moment.[127]
+
+When such was the spirit of the old kings of Erinn who received the
+faith of Christ from Patrick, we can scarcely marvel that their
+descendants have adhered to it with such unexampled fidelity.
+
+After the conversion of the princesses Ethnea and Fethlimia, the
+daughters of King Laeghairé, St. Patrick traversed almost every part of
+Connaught, and, as our divine Lord promised to those whom He
+commissioned to teach all nations, proved his mission by the exercise of
+miraculous powers. Some of his early biographers have been charged with
+an excess of credulity on this point. But were this the place or time
+for such a discussion, it might easily be shown that miracles were to be
+expected when a nation was first evangelized, and that their absence
+should be rather a matter of surprise than their frequency or
+marvellousness. He who alone could give the commission to preach, had
+promised that "greater things" than He Himself did should be done by
+those thus commissioned. And after all, what greater miracle could there
+be than that one who had been enslaved, and harshly, if not cruelly
+treated, should become the deliverer of his enslavers from spiritual
+bondage, and should sacrifice all earthly pleasures for their eternal
+gain? Nor is the conversion of the vast multitude who listened to the
+preaching of the saint, less marvellous than those events which we
+usually term the most supernatural.
+
+The saint's greatest success was in the land[128] of Tirawley, near the
+town of Foclut, from whence he had heard the voice of the Irish even in
+his native land. As he approached this district, he learned that the
+seven sons of King Amalgaidh were celebrating a great festival. Their
+father had but lately died, and it was said these youths exceeded all
+the princes of the land in martial courage and skill in combat. St.
+Patrick advanced in solemn procession even into the very midst of the
+assembly, and for his reward obtained the conversion of the seven
+princes and twelve thousand of their followers. It is said that his life
+was at this period in some danger, but that Endeus, one of the converted
+princes, and his son Conall, protected him.[129] After seven years spent
+in Connaught, he passed into Ulster; there many received the grace of
+holy baptism, especially in that district now comprised in the county
+Monaghan.
+
+It was probably about this time that the saint returned to Meath, and
+appointed his nephew, St. Secundinus or Sechnal, who was bishop of the
+place already mentioned as Domhnach Sechnail, to preside over the
+northern churches during his own absence in the southern part of
+Ireland.
+
+The saint then visited those parts of Leinster which had been already
+evangelized by Palladius, and laid the foundation of many new churches.
+He placed one of his companions, Bishop Auxilius, at Killossy, near
+Naas, and another, Isserninus, at Kilcullen, both in the present county
+of Kildare. At Leix, in the Queen's county, he obtained a great many
+disciples, and from thence he proceeded to visit his friend, the poet
+Dubtach, who, it will be remembered, paid him special honour at Tara,
+despite the royal prohibition to the contrary. Dubtach lived in that
+part of the country called Hy-Kinsallagh, now the county Carlow. It was
+here the poet Fiacc was first introduced to the saint, whom he
+afterwards so faithfully followed. Fiacc had been a disciple of Dubtach,
+and was by profession a bard, and a member of an illustrious house. He
+was the first Leinster man raised to episcopal dignity. It was probably
+at this period that St. Patrick visited Munster, and the touching
+incident already related occurred at the baptism of Aengus. This prince
+was singularly devoted to religion, as indeed his conduct during the
+administration of the sacrament of regeneration could not fail to
+indicate.
+
+The saint's mission in Munster was eminently successful. Lonan, the
+chief of the district of Ormonde, entertained him with great
+hospitality, and thousands embraced the faith. Many of the inhabitants
+of Corca Baiscin crossed the Shannon in their hidecovered boats
+(curaghs) when the saint was on the southern side, in Hy-Figeinte, and
+were baptized by him in the waters of their magnificent river. At their
+earnest entreaty, St. Patrick ascended a hill which commanded a view of
+the country of the Dalcassians, and gave his benediction to the whole
+territory. This hill is called Findine in the ancient lives of the
+saint; but this name is now obsolete. Local tradition and antiquarian
+investigation make it probable that the favoured spot is that now called
+Cnoc Patrick, near Foynes Island.
+
+The saint's next journey was in the direction of Kerry, where he
+prophesied that "St. Brendan, of the race of Hua Alta, the great
+patriarch of monks and star of the western world, would be born, and
+that his birth would take place some years after his own death."[130]
+
+We have now to record the obituary of the only Irish martyr who suffered
+for the faith while Ireland was being evangelized. While the saint was
+visiting Ui-Failghe, a territory now comprised in the King's county, a
+pagan chieftain, named Berraidhe, formed a plan for murdering the
+apostle. His wicked design came in some way to the knowledge of Odran,
+the saint's charioteer, who so arranged matters as to take his master's
+place, and thus received the fatal blow intended for him.
+
+The See of Armagh was founded about the year 455, towards the close of
+the great apostle's life. The royal palace of Emania, in the immediate
+neighbourhood, was then the residence of the kings of Ulster. A wealthy
+chief, by name Daire,[131] gave the saint a portion of land for the
+erection of his cathedral, on an eminence called _Druim-Sailech_, the
+Hill of Sallows. This high ground is now occupied by the city of Armagh
+(Ard-Macha). Religious houses for both sexes were established near the
+church, and soon were filled with ardent and devoted subjects.
+
+The saint's labours were now drawing to a close, and the time of eternal
+rest was at hand. He retired to his favourite retreat at Saull, and
+there probably wrote his _Confessio_.[132] It is said that he wished to
+die in the ecclesiastical metropolis of Ireland, and for this purpose,
+when he felt his end approaching, desired to be conveyed thither; but
+even as he was on his journey an angel appeared to him, and desired him
+to return to Saull. Here he breathed his last, on Wednesday, the 17th of
+March, in the year of our Lord 492. The holy viaticum and last anointing
+were administered to him by St. Tussach.[133]
+
+The saint's age at the time of his death, as also the length of his
+mission in Ireland, has been put at a much longer period by some
+authors, but modern research and correction of chronology have all but
+verified the statement given above.
+
+The intelligence of the death of St. Patrick spread rapidly through the
+country; prelates and priests flocked from all parts to honour the
+mortal remains of their glorious father. As each arrived at Saull, he
+proceeded to offer the adorable sacrifice according to his rank. At
+night the plain resounded with the chanting of psalms; and the darkness
+was banished by the light of such innumerable torches, that it seemed
+even as if day had hastened to dawn brightly on the beloved remains. St.
+Fiacc, in his often-quoted Hymn, compares it to the long day caused by
+the standing of the sun at the command of Joshua, when he fought against
+the Gabaonites.
+
+It is said that the pagan Irish were not without some intimation of the
+coming of their great apostle. Whether these prophecies were true or
+false is a question we cannot pretend to determine; but their existence
+and undoubted antiquity demand that they should have at least a passing
+notice. Might not the Gaedhilic druid, as well as the Pythian priestess,
+have received even from the powers of darkness, though despite their
+will, an oracle[134] which prophesied truth?
+
+There is a strange, wild old legend preserved in the Book of Leinster,
+which indicates that even in ancient Erinn the awful throes of nature
+were felt which were manifested in so many places, and in such various
+ways, during those dark hours when the Son of God hung upon the accursed
+tree for the redemption of His guilty creatures.
+
+This tale or legend is called the _Aideadh Chonchobair_. It is one of
+that class of narratives known under the generic title of Historical
+Tragedies, or Deaths. The hero, Conor Mac Nessa, was King of Ulster at
+the period of the Incarnation of our Lord. His succession to the throne
+was rather a fortuity than the result of hereditary claim. Fergus Mac
+Nessa was rightfully king at the time; but Conor's father having died
+while he was yet an infant, Fergus, then the reigning monarch, proposed
+marriage to his mother when the youth was about fifteen, and only
+obtained the consent of the celebrated beauty on the strange condition
+that he should hand over the sovereignty of Ulster to her son for a
+year. The monarch complied, glad to secure the object of his affections
+on any terms. Conor, young as he was, governed with such wisdom and
+discretion as to win all hearts; and when the assigned period had
+arrived, the Ulster men positively refused to permit Fergus to resume
+his rightful dignity. After much contention the matter was settled
+definitely in favour of the young monarch, and Fergus satisfied himself
+with still retaining the wife for whose sake he had willingly made such
+sacrifices. Conor continued to give ample proofs of the wisdom of his
+people's decision. Under his government the noble Knights of the Royal
+Branch sprang up in Ulster, and made themselves famous both in field and
+court.
+
+It was usual in those barbarous times, whenever a distinguished enemy
+was killed in battle, to cleave open his head, and to make a ball of the
+brains by mixing them with lime, which was then dried, and preserved as
+a trophy of the warrior's valour. Some of these balls were preserved in
+the royal palace at Emania. One, that was specially prized, passed
+accidentally into the hands of a famous Connaught champion, who found a
+treacherous opportunity of throwing it at Conor, while he was displaying
+himself, according to the custom of the times, to the ladies of an
+opposing army, who had followed their lords to the scene of action. The
+ball lodged in the king's skull, and his physicians declared that an
+attempt to extract it would prove fatal. Conor was carried home; he soon
+recovered, but he was strictly forbidden to use any violent exercise,
+and required to avoid all excitement or anger. The king enjoyed his
+usual health by observing those directions, until the very day of the
+Crucifixion. But the fearful phenomena which then occurred diverted his
+attention, and he inquired if _Bacrach_, his druid, could divine the
+cause.
+
+The druid consulted his oracles, and informed the king that Jesus
+Christ, the Son of the living God, was, even at that moment, suffering
+death at the hands of the Jews. "What crime has He committed?" said
+Conor. "None," replied the druid. "Then are they slaying Him
+innocently?" said Conor. "They are," replied the druid.
+
+It was too great a sorrow for the noble prince; he could not bear that
+his God should die unmourned; and rushing wildly from where he sat to a
+neighbouring forest, he began to hew the young trees down, exclaiming:
+"Thus would I destroy those who were around my King at putting Him to
+death." The excitement proved fatal; and the brave and good King Conor
+Mac Nessa died[135] avenging, in his own wild pagan fashion, the death
+of his Creator.
+
+The secular history of Ireland, during the mission of St. Patrick,
+affords but few events of interest or importance. King Laeghairé died,
+according to the Four Masters, A.D. 458. The popular opinion attributed
+his demise to the violation of his oath to the Leinster men. It is
+doubtful whether he died a Christian, but the account of his burial[136]
+has been taken to prove the contrary. It is much to be regretted that
+persons entirely ignorant of the Catholic faith, whether that ignorance
+be wilful or invincible, should attempt to write lives of Catholic
+saints, or histories of Catholic countries. Such persons, no doubt
+unintentionally, make the most serious mistakes, which a well-educated
+Catholic child could easily rectify. We find a remarkable instance of
+this in the following passage, taken from a work already mentioned:
+"Perhaps this [King Laeghairé's oath] may not be considered an absolute
+proof of the king's paganism. To swear by the sun and moon was
+apparently, no doubt, paganism. But is it not also paganism to represent
+the rain and wind as taking vengeance? ... for this is the language
+copied by all the monastic annalists, and even by the Four Masters,
+Franciscan friars, writing in the seventeenth century." The passage is
+improved by a "note," in which the author mentions this as a proof that
+such superstitions would not have been necessarily regarded two
+centuries ago as inconsistent with orthodoxy. Now, in the first place,
+the Catholic Church has always[137] condemned superstition of every
+kind. It is true that as there are good as well as bad Christians in her
+fold, there are also superstitious as well as believing Christians; but
+the Church is not answerable for the sins of her children. She is
+answerable for the doctrine which she teaches; and no one can point to
+any place or time in which the Church taught such superstitions.
+Secondly, the writers of history are obliged to relate facts as they
+are. The Franciscan fathers do this, and had they not done it carefully,
+and with an amount of labour which few indeed have equalled, their
+admirable Annals would have been utterly useless. They do mention the
+pagan opinion that it was "the sun and wind that killed him [Laeghairé],
+because he had violated them;" but they do not say that they believed
+this pagan superstition, and no one could infer it who read the passage
+with ordinary candour.
+
+It is probable that Oilioll Molt, who succeeded King Laeghairé, A.D.
+459, lived and died a pagan. He was slain, after a reign of twenty
+years, by Laeghairé's son, Lughaidh, who reigned next. The good king
+Aengus[138] died about this time. He was the first Christian King of
+Munster, and is the common ancestor of the MacCarthys, O'Sullivans,
+O'Keeffes, and O'Callahans. The foundation of the kingdom of Scotland by
+an Irish colony, is generally referred to the year 503.[139] It has
+already been mentioned that Cairbré Riada was the leader of an
+expedition thither in the reign of Conairé II. The Irish held their
+ground without assistance from the mother country until this period,
+when the Picts obtained a decisive victory, and drove them from the
+country. A new colony of the Dalriada now went out under the leadership
+of Loarn, Aengus, and Fergus, the sons of Erc. They were encouraged and
+assisted in their undertaking by their relative Mortagh, the then King
+of Ireland. It is said they took the celebrated _Lia Fail_ to Scotland,
+that Fergus might be crowned thereon. The present royal family of
+England have their claim to the crown through the Stuarts, who were
+descendants of the Irish Dalriada. Scotland now obtained the name of
+Scotia, from the colony of Scots. Hence, for some time, Ireland was
+designated Scotia Magna, to distinguish it from the country which so
+obtained, and has since preserved, the name of the old race.
+
+Muircheartach, A.D. 504, was the first Christian King of Ireland; but he
+was constantly engaged in war with the Leinster men about the most
+unjust Boromean tribute. He belonged to the northern race of Hy-Nial,
+being descended from Nial of the Nine Hostages. On his death, the crown
+reverted to the southern Hy-Nials in the person of their representative,
+Tuathal Maelgarbh.
+
+It would appear from a stanza in the Four Masters, that St. Brigid had
+some prophetic intimation or knowledge of one of the battles fought by
+Muircheartach. Her name is scarcely less famous for miracles than that
+of the great apostle. Broccan's Hymn[140] contains allusions to a very
+great number of these supernatural favours. Many of these marvels are of
+a similar nature to those which the saints have been permitted to
+perform in all ages of the Church's history.
+
+Brigid belonged to an illustrious family, who were lineally descended
+from Eochad, a brother of Conn of the Hundred Battles. She was born at
+Fochard, near Dundalk, about the year 453, where her parents happened to
+be staying at the time; but Kildare was their usual place of residence,
+and there the holy virgin began her saintly career. In her sixteenth
+year she received the white cloak and religious veil, which was then the
+distinctive garment of those who were specially dedicated to Christ,
+from the hands of St. Macaille, the Bishop of Usneach, in Westmeath.
+Eight young maidens of noble birth took the veil with her. Their first
+residence was at a place in the King's county, still called Brigidstown.
+The fame of her sanctity now extended far and wide, and she was
+earnestly solicited from various parts of the country to found similar
+establishments. Her first mission was to Munster, at the request of Erc,
+the holy Bishop of Slane, who had a singular respect for her virtue.
+Soon after, she founded a house of her order in the plain of Cliach,
+near Limerick; but the people of Leinster at last became fearful of
+losing their treasure, and sent a deputation requesting her return, and
+offering land for the foundation of a large nunnery. Thus was
+established, in 483, the famous Monastery of Kildare, or the Church of
+the Oak.
+
+At the request of the saint, a bishop was appointed to take charge of
+this important work; and under the guidance of Conlaeth, who heretofore
+had been a humble anchorite, it soon became distinguished for its
+sanctity and usefulness. The concourse of strangers and pilgrims was
+immense; and in the once solitary plain one of the largest cities of the
+time soon made its appearance. It is singular and interesting to remark,
+how the call to a life of virginity was felt and corresponded with in
+the newly Christianized country, even as it had been in the Roman
+Empire, when it also received the faith. Nor is it less noticeable how
+the same safeguards and episcopal rule preserved the foundations of each
+land in purity and peace, and have transmitted even to our own days, in
+the same Church, and in it only, that privileged life.
+
+The Four Masters give her obituary under the year 525. According to
+Cogitosus, one of her biographers, her remains were interred in her own
+church. Some authorities assert that her relics were removed to Down,
+when Kildare was ravaged by the Danes, about the year 824.
+
+It has been doubted whether Downpatrick could lay claim to the honour of
+being the burial-place of Ireland's three great saints,[141] but there
+are good arguments in its favour. An old prophecy of St. Columba
+regarding his interment runs thus:--
+
+    "My prosperity in guiltless Hy,
+    And my soul in Derry,
+    And my body under the flag
+    Beneath which are Patrick and Brigid."
+
+The relics of the three saints escaped the fury of the Danes, who burned
+the town and pillaged the cathedral six or seven times, between the
+years 940 and 1111. In 1177, John de Courcy took possession of the town,
+and founded a church attached to a house of Secular Canons, under the
+invocation of the Blessed Trinity. In 1183 they were replaced by a
+community of Benedictine monks, from St. Wirburgh's Abbey, at Chester.
+Malachy, who was then bishop, granted the church to the English monks
+and prior, and changed the name to that of the Church of St. Patrick.
+This prelate was extremely anxious to discover the relics of the saints,
+which a constant tradition averred were there concealed. It is said,
+that one day, as he prayed in the church, his attention was directed
+miraculously to an obscure part of it; or, according to another and more
+probable account, to a particular spot in the abbey-yard, where, when
+the earth was removed, their remains were found in a triple
+cave,--Patrick in the middle, Columba and Brigid on either side.
+
+At the request of De Courcy, delegates were despatched to Rome by the
+bishop to acquaint Urban III. of the discovery of the bodies. His
+Holiness immediately sent Cardinal Vivian to preside at the translation
+of the relics. The ceremony took place on the 9th of June, 1186, that
+day being the feast of St. Columba. The relics of the three saints were
+deposited in the same monument at the right side of the high altar. The
+right hand of St. Patrick was enshrined and placed on the high altar. In
+1315, Edward Bruce invaded Ulster, marched to Downpatrick, destroyed the
+abbey, and carried off the enshrined hand. In 1538, Lord Grey, who
+marched into Lecale to establish the supremacy of his master, Henry
+VIII., by fire and sword, "effaced the statues of the three patron
+saints, and burned the cathedral, for which act, along with many others
+equally laudable, he was beheaded three years afterwards." The
+restoration of the old abbey-church was undertaken of late years, and
+preceded by an act of desecration, which is still remembered with
+horror. The church had been surrounded by a burying-ground, where many
+had wished to repose, that they might, even in death, be near the relics
+of the three great patron saints of Erinn. But the graves were exhumed
+without mercy, and many were obliged to carry away the bones of their
+relatives, and deposit them where they could. The "great tomb," in which
+it was believed that "Patrick, Brigid, and Columkille" had slept for
+more than six centuries, was not spared; the remains were flung out into
+the churchyard, and only saved from further desecration by the piety of
+a faithful people.
+
+The shrine of St. Patrick's hand was in possession of the late Catholic
+Bishop of Belfast. The relic itself has long disappeared; but the
+shrine, after it was carried off by Bruce, passed from one trustworthy
+guardian to another, until it came into his hands. One of these was a
+Protestant, who, with noble generosity, handed it over to a Catholic as
+a more fitting custodian. One Catholic family, into whose care it passed
+at a later period, refused the most tempting offers for it, though
+pressed by poverty, lest it should fall into the hands of those who
+might value it rather as a curiosity than as an object of devotion.
+
+This beautiful reliquary consists of a silver case in the shape of the
+hand and arm, cut off a little below the elbow. It is considerably
+thicker than the hand and arm of an ordinary man, as if it were intended
+to enclose these members without pressing upon them too closely. The
+fingers are bent, so as to represent the hand in the attitude of
+benediction.
+
+But there is another relic of St. Patrick and his times of scarcely less
+interest. The _Domhnach Airgid_[142] contains a copy of the Four
+Gospels, which, there is every reason to believe, were used by the great
+apostle of Ireland. The relic consists of two parts--the shrine or case
+and the manuscript. The shrine is an oblong box, nine inches by seven,
+and five inches in height. It is composed of three distinct covers, in
+the ages of which there is obviously a great difference. The inner or
+first cover is of wood, apparently yew, and may be coeval with the
+manuscript it is intended to preserve. The second, which is of copper
+plated with silver, is assigned to a period between the sixth and
+twelfth centuries, from the style of its scroll or interlaced ornaments.
+The figures in relief, and letters on the third cover, which is of
+silver plated with gold, leave no doubt of its being the work of the
+fourteenth century.
+
+The last or external cover is of great interest as a specimen of the
+skill and taste in art of its time in Ireland, and also for the highly
+finished representations of ancient costume which it preserves. The
+ornaments on the top consist principally of a large figure of the
+Saviour in _alto-relievo_ in the centre, and eleven figures of saints in
+_basso-relievo_ on each side in four oblong compartments. There is a
+small square reliquary over the head of our divine Lord, covered with a
+crystal, which probably contained a piece of the holy cross. The smaller
+figures in relief are, Columba, Brigid, and Patrick; those in the second
+compartment, the Apostles James, Peter, and Paul; in the third, the
+Archangel Michael, and the Virgin and Child; in the fourth compartment a
+bishop presents a _cumdach_, or cover, to an ecclesiastic. This,
+probably, has a historical relation to the reliquary itself.
+
+One prayer uttered by St. Patrick has been singularly fulfilled. "May my
+Lord grant," he exclaims, "that I may never lose His people, which He
+has acquired in the ends of the earth!" From hill and dale, from camp
+and cottage, from plebeian and noble, there rang out a grand "Amen." The
+strain was caught by Secundinus and Benignus, by Columba and Columbanus,
+by Brigid and Brendan. It floated away from Lindisfarne and Iona, to
+Iceland and Tarentum. It was heard on the sunny banks of the Rhine, at
+Antwerp and Cologne, in Oxford, in Pavia, and in Paris. And still the
+old echo is breathing its holy prayer. By the priest, who toils in cold
+and storm to the "station" on the mountain side, far from his humble
+home. By the confessor, who spends hour after hour, in the heat of
+summer and the cold of winter, absolving the penitent children of
+Patrick. By the monk in his cloister. By noble and true-hearted men,
+faithful through centuries of persecution. And loudly and nobly, though
+it be but faint to human ears, is that echo uttered also by the aged
+woman who lies down by the wayside to die in the famine years,[143]
+because she prefers the bread of heaven to the bread of earth, and the
+faith taught by Patrick to the tempter's gold. By the emigrant, who,
+with broken heart bids a long farewell to the dear island home, to the
+old father, to the grey-haired mother, because his adherence to his
+faith tends not to further his temporal interest, and he must starve or
+go beyond the sea for bread. Thus ever and ever that echo is gushing up
+into the ear of God, and never will it cease until it shall have merged
+into the eternal alleluia which the often-martyred and ever-faithful
+children of the saint shall shout with him in rapturous voice before the
+Eternal Throne.
+
+[Illustration: ST. PATRICK'S BELL.]
+
+[Illustration: CROMLECH, AT CASTLE MARY, CLOYNE.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[125] _Authenticated_.--A copy of this ancient hymn, with a Latin and
+English translation, may be found in Petrie's _Essay on Tara_, p. 57, in
+Dr. Todd's _Life of St. Patrick_, and in Mr. Whitley Stokes'
+_Goidilica_. We regret exceedingly that our limited space will not
+permit us to give this and other most valuable and interesting
+documents. There is a remarkable coincidence of thought and expression
+between some portions of this hymn and the well-known prayer of St.
+Ignatius of Loyola, _Corpus Christi, salve me_. Such coincidences are
+remarkable and beautiful evidences of the oneness of faith, which
+manifests itself so frequently in similarity of language as well as in
+unity of belief. The Hymn of St. Patrick, written in the fifth century,
+is as purely Catholic as the Prayer of St. Ignatius, written in the
+sixteenth. St. Patrick places the virtue or power of the saints between
+him and evil, and declares his hope of merit for his good work with the
+same simple trust which all the saints have manifested from the earliest
+ages. This hymn is written in the _Bearla Feine_, or most ancient
+Gaedhilic dialect. Dr. O'Donovan well observes, that it bears internal
+evidence of its authenticity in its allusion to pagan customs. Tirechan,
+who wrote in the seventh century, says that there were four honours paid
+to St. Patrick in _all monasteries and churches throughout the whole of
+Ireland_. First, the festival of St. Patrick was honoured for three days
+and nights with all good cheer, except flesh meat [which the Church did
+not allow then to be used in Lent]. Second, there was a proper preface
+for him in the Mass. Third, his hymn was sung for the whole time.
+Fourth, his Scotic hymn was sung always. As we intend publishing a
+metrical translation of his hymn suitable for general use, we hope it
+will be "said and sung" by thousands of his own people on his festival
+for all time to come.
+
+[126] _Hell_.--O'Curry, p. 539. This is translated from the Tripartite
+Life of St. Patrick.
+
+[127] _Moment_.--Keating, Vol ii. p. 15.
+
+[128] _Land_.--Near the present town of Killala, co. Mayo.
+
+[129] _Protected him_.--Book of Armagh and Vit. Trip.
+
+[130] _Death_.--Vit. Trip. It was probably at this time St. Patrick
+wrote his celebrated letter to Caroticus.
+
+[131] _Daire_.--Book of Armagh, fol. 6, b.a.
+
+[132] _Confessio_.--This most remarkable and interesting document will
+be translated and noticed at length in the _Life of St. Patrick_, which
+we are now preparing for the press.
+
+[133] _St. Tussach_.--All this Dr. Todd omits. The Four Masters enter
+the obituary of St. Patrick under the year 457. It is obvious that some
+uncertainty must exist in the chronology of this early period.
+
+[134] _Oracle_.--It is said that, three years before St. Patrick's
+apostolic visit to Ireland, the druids of King Laeghairé predicted the
+event to their master as an impending calamity. The names of the druids
+were Lochra and Luchat Mael; their prophecy runs thus:--
+
+"A _Tailcenn_ will come over the raging sea, With his perforated
+garment, his crook-headed staff, With his table at the east end of his
+house, And all his people will answer 'Amen, Amen.'"
+
+The allusions to the priestly vestments, the altar at the east end of
+the church, and the pastoral staff, are sufficiently obvious, and easily
+explained. The prophecy is quoted by Macutenius, and quoted again from
+him by Probus; but the original is in one of the most ancient and
+authentic Irish MSS., the Book of Armagh.
+
+[135] _Died_.--O'Curry, p. 273.
+
+[136] _Burial_.--"The body of Laeghairé was brought afterwards from the
+south, and interred with his armour of championship in the south-east of
+the outer rampart of the royal rath of Laeghairé, at Tara, with his face
+turned southwards upon the men of Leinster, as fighting with them, for
+he was the enemy of the Leinster men in his lifetime."--Translated from
+the _Leabhar na Nuidhre._ Petrie's _Tara_, p. 170.
+
+[137] _Always_.--National customs and prejudices have always been
+respected by the Church: hence she has frequently been supposed to
+sanction what she was obliged to tolerate. A long residence in
+Devonshire, and an intimate acquaintance with its peasantry, has
+convinced us that there is incalculably more superstitions believed and
+_practised_ there of the _grossest kind_, than in any county in Ireland.
+Yet we should be sorry to charge the Established Church or its clergy,
+some of whom are most earnest and hard-working men, with the sins of
+their parishioners. The following extract from St. Columba's magnificent
+Hymn, will show what the early Irish saints thought of pagan
+superstitions:
+
+"I adore not the voice of birds, Nor sneezing, nor lots in this world,
+Nor a boy, nor chance, nor woman: My Druid is Christ, the Son of God;
+Christ, Son of Mary, the great Abbot, The Father, the Son, and the Holy
+Ghost."
+
+
+
+[138] _Aengus_.--
+
+"Died the branch, the spreading tree of gold, Aenghus the laudable."
+
+--Four Masters, p. 153. The branches of this tree have indeed spread far
+and wide, and the four great families mentioned above have increased and
+multiplied in all parts of the world.
+
+[139] _Year_ 503.--The Four Masters give the date 498, which O'Donovan
+corrects both in the text and in a note.
+
+[140] _Broccan's Hymn_.--This Hymn was written about A.D. 510. See the
+translation in Mr. Whitley Stokes' _Goidilica_, Calcutta, 1866.
+Privately printed.
+
+[141] _Saints_.--St. Patrick, St. Columba, and St. Brigid. See Reeves'
+_Ecc. Anti. of Down and Connor_, p. 225, and Giraldus Cambrensis, d. 3,
+cap. 18.
+
+[142] _Domhnach Airgid_.--See O'Curry, _MS. Materials_, p. 321, for a
+complete verification of the authenticity of this relic. The Tripartite
+Life of St. Patrick mentions the gift of this relic by the saint to _St.
+MacCarthainn_. Dr. Petrie concludes that the copy of the Gospels
+contained therein, was undoubtedly the one which was used by our
+apostle. We give a fac-simile of the first page, which cannot fail to
+interest the antiquarian.
+
+[143] _Famine years_.--During the famous, or rather infamous, Partry
+evictions, an old man of eighty and a woman of seventy-four were amongst
+the number of those who suffered for their ancient faith. They were
+driven from the home which their parents and grandfathers had occupied,
+in a pitiless storm of sleet and snow. The aged woman utters some slight
+complaint; but her noble-hearted aged husband consoles her with this
+answer: "The sufferings and death of Jesus Christ were bitterer still."
+Sixty-nine souls were cast out of doors that day. Well might the _Times_
+say: "These evictions are a hideous scandal; and the bishop should
+rather die than be guilty of such a crime." Yet, who can count up all
+the evictions, massacres, tortures, and punishments which this people
+has endured?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+[Gothic: The Religion of Ancient Erinn]--The Druids and their
+Teaching--The Irish were probably Fire-worshippers--[Gothic: The Customs
+of Ancient Erinn]--Similarity between Eastern and Irish Customs--Beal
+Fires--Hunting the Wren--"Jacks," a Grecian game--"Keen," an Eastern
+Custom--Superstitions--The Meaning of the Word--What Customs are
+Superstitious and what are not--Holy Wells--[Gothic: The Laws of Ancient
+Erinn]--Different kinds of Laws--The Lex non Scripta and the Lex
+Scripta--Christianity necessitated the Revision of Ancient Codes--The
+Compilation of the Brehon Laws--Proofs that St. Patrick assisted
+thereat--Law of Distress--Law of Succession--[Gothic: The Language of
+Ancient Erinn]--Writing in pre-Christian Erinn--Ogham Writing--[Gothic:
+Antiquities of pre-Christian Erinn]--Round
+Towers--Cromlechs--Raths--Crannoges.
+
+
+Eastern customs and eastern superstitions, which undoubtedly are a
+strong confirmatory proof of our eastern origin, abounded in ancient
+Erinn. Druidism was the religion of the Celts, and druidism was probably
+one of the least corrupt forms of paganism. The purity of the
+divinely-taught patriarchal worship, became more and more corrupted as
+it passed through defiled channels. Yet, in all pagan mythologies, we
+find traces of the eternal verity in an obvious prominence of cultus
+offered to one god above the rest; and obvious, though grossly
+misapplied, glimpses of divine attributes, in the many deified objects
+which seemed to symbolize his power and his omnipotence.
+
+The Celtic druids probably taught the same doctrine as the Greek
+philosophers. The metempsychosis, a prominent article of this creed, may
+have been derived from the Pythagoreans, but more probably it was one of
+the many relics of patriarchal belief which were engrafted on all pagan
+religions. They also taught that the universe would never be entirely
+destroyed, supposing that it would be purified by fire and water from
+time to time. This opinion may have been derived from the same source.
+The druids had a _pontifex maximus_, to whom they yielded entire
+obedience,--an obvious imitation of the Jewish custom. The nation was
+entirely governed by its priests, though after a time, when the kingly
+power developed itself, the priestly power gave place to the regal. Gaul
+was the head-quarters of druidism; and thither we find the Britons, and
+even the Romans, sending their children for instruction. Eventually,
+Mona became a chief centre for Britain. The Gaedhilic druids, though
+probably quite as learned as their continental brethren, were more
+isolated; and hence we cannot learn so much of their customs from
+external sources. There is no doubt that the druids of Gaul and Britain
+offered human sacrifices; it appears almost certain the Irish druids did
+not.
+
+Our principal and most reliable information about this religion, is
+derived from Cæsar. His account of the learning of its druids, of their
+knowledge of astronomy, physical science, mechanics, arithmetic, and
+medicine, however highly coloured, is amply corroborated by the casual
+statements of other authors.[144] He expressly states that they used the
+Greek character in their writings, and mentions tables found in the camp
+of the Helvetii written in these characters, containing an account of
+all the men capable of bearing arms.
+
+It is probable that Irish druidical rites manifested themselves
+principally in Sun-worship. The name of Bel, still retained in the
+Celtic Beltinne, indicates its Phoenician origin; Baal being the name
+under which they adored that luminary. It is also remarkable that Grian,
+which signifies the sun in Irish, resembles an epithet of Apollo given
+by Virgil,[145] who sometimes styles him Grynæus. St. Patrick also
+confirms this conjecture, by condemning Sun-worship in his Confession,
+when he says: "All those who adore it shall descend into misery and
+punishment." If the well-known passage of Diodorus Siculus may be
+referred to Ireland, it affords another confirmation. Indeed, it appears
+difficult to conceive how any other place but Ireland could be intended
+by the "island in the ocean over against Gaul, to the north, and not
+inferior in size to Sicily, the _soil of which is so fruitful_ that they
+mow there twice in the year."[146] In this most remarkable passage, he
+mentions the skill of their harpers, their sacred groves and _singular
+temple of round form_, their attachment to the Greeks by a singular
+affection from _old times_, and their tradition of having been visited
+by the Greeks, who left offerings which were noted in _Greek letters_.
+
+Toland and Carte assume that this passage refers to the Hebrides,
+Rowlands applies it to the island of Anglesea; but these conjectures are
+not worth regarding. We can scarcely imagine an unprejudiced person
+deciding against Ireland; but where prejudice exists, no amount of proof
+will satisfy. It has been suggested that the Irish pagan priests were
+not druids properly so called, but magi;[147] and that the Irish word
+which is taken to mean druid, is only used to denote persons specially
+gifted with wisdom. Druidism probably sprung from magism, which was a
+purer kind of worship, though it would be difficult now to define the
+_precise_ limits which separated these forms of paganism. If the
+original pagan religion of ancient Erinn was magism, introduced by its
+Phoenician colonizers, it is probable that it had gradually degenerated
+to the comparatively grosser rites of the druid before the advent of St.
+Patrick. His destruction of the idols at Magh Slecht is unquestionable
+evidence that idol worship[148] was then practised, though probably in a
+very limited degree.
+
+The folklore of a people is perhaps, next to their language, the best
+guide to their origin. The editor of Bohn's edition of the Chronicle of
+Richard of Cirencester remarks, that "many points of coincidence have
+been remarked in comparing the religion of the Hindoos with that of the
+ancient Britons; and in the language of these two people some striking
+similarities occur in those proverbs and modes of expression which are
+derived from national and religious ceremonies."[149] We are not aware
+of any British customs or proverbs which bear upon this subject, nor
+does the writer mention any in proof of his assertion: if, however, for
+Britons we read Irish, his observations may be amply verified.
+
+The kindly "God save you!" and "God bless all here!" of the Irish
+peasant, finds its counterpart in the eastern "God be gracious to thee,
+my son!" The partiality, if not reverence, for the number seven, is
+indicated in our churches. The warm-hearted hospitality of the very
+poorest peasant, is a practical and never-failing illustration of the
+Hindoo proverb, "The tree does not withdraw its shade even from the
+woodcutter."
+
+The celebration of St. John's Eve by watchfires, is undoubtedly a
+remnant of paganism, still practised in many parts of Ireland, as we can
+aver from personal knowledge; but the custom of passing cattle through
+the fire has been long discontinued, and those who kindle the fires have
+little idea of its origin, and merely continue it as an amusement. Kelly
+mentions, in his _Folklore_, that a calf was sacrificed in
+Northamptonshire during the present century, in one of these fires, to
+"stop the murrain." The superstitious use of fire still continues in
+England and Scotland, though we believe the Beltinne on St. John's Eve
+is peculiar to Ireland. The hunting of the wren[150] on St. Stephen's
+Day, in this country, is said, by Vallancey, to have been originated by
+the first Christian missionaries, to counteract the superstitious
+reverence with which this bird was regarded by the druids. Classic
+readers will remember the origin of the respect paid to this bird in
+pagan times. The peasantry in Ireland, who have never read either Pliny
+or Aristotle, are equally conversant with the legend.
+
+The common and undignified game of "jacks" also lays claim to a noble
+ancestry. In Mr. St. John's work on _The Manners and Customs of Ancient
+Greece_, he informs us that the game was a classical one, and called
+_pentalitha._ It was played with five _astragals_--knuckle-bones,
+pebbles, or little balls--which were thrown up into the air, and then
+attempted to be caught when falling on the back of the hand. Another
+Irish game, "pricking the loop," in Greece is called _himantiliginos_,
+pricking the garter. Hemestertius supposes the Gordian Knot to have been
+nothing but a variety of the himantiliginos. The game consists in
+winding a thong in such an intricate manner, that when a peg is inserted
+in the right ring, it is caught, and the game is won; if the mark is
+missed, the thong unwinds without entangling the peg.
+
+The Irish keen [_caoine_] may still be heard in Algeria and Upper Egypt,
+even as Herodotus heard it chanted by Lybian women. This wailing for the
+deceased is a most ancient custom; and if antiquity imparts dignity, it
+can hardly be termed barbarous. The Romans employed keeners at their
+funerals, an idea which they probably borrowed from the Etruscans,[151]
+with many others incomparably more valuable, but carefully
+self-appropriated. Our _wakes_ also may have had an identity of origin
+with the funeral feasts of the Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans, whose
+customs were all probably derived from a common source.
+
+The fasting of the creditor on the debtor is still practised in India,
+and will be noticed in connexion with the Brehon Laws. There is,
+however, a class of customs which have obtained the generic term of
+superstitions, which may not quite be omitted, and which are, for many
+reasons, difficult to estimate rightly. In treating of this subject, we
+encounter, _primâ facie_, the difficulty of giving a definition of
+superstition. The Irish are supposed to be pre-eminently a superstitious
+people. Those who make this an accusation, understand by superstition
+the belief in anything supernatural; and they consider as equally
+superstitious, veneration of a relic, belief in a miracle, a story of a
+banshee, or a legend of Finn Mac Cumhaill. Probably, if the Celts did
+not venerate relics, and believe in the possibility of miracles, we
+should hear far less of their superstitions. Superstition of the
+grossest kind is prevalent among the lower orders in every part of
+England, and yet the nation prides itself on its rejection of this
+weakness. But according to another acceptation of the term, only such
+heathen customs as refer to the worship of false gods, are
+superstitions. These customs remain, unfortunately, in many countries,
+but in some they have been Christianized. Those who use the term
+superstition generically, still call the custom superstitious, from a
+latent and, perhaps, in some cases, unconscious impression that there is
+no supernatural. Such persons commence with denying all miraculous
+interventions except those which are recorded in holy Scripture; and
+unhappily, in some cases, end by denying the miracles of Scripture.
+
+To salute a person who sneezed with some form of benediction, was a
+pagan custom. It is said to have originated through an opinion of the
+danger attending it; and the exclamation used was: "Jupiter help me!" In
+Ireland, the pagan custom still remains, but it has been Christianized,
+and "God bless you!" is substituted for the pagan form. Yet we have
+known persons who considered the use of this aspiration superstitious,
+and are pleased to assert that the Irish use the exclamation as a
+protection against evil spirits, meaning thereby fairies. When a motive
+is persistently attributed which does not exist, argument is useless.
+
+Devotion to certain places, pilgrimages, even fasting and other bodily
+macerations, were pagan customs. These, also, have been Christianized.
+Buildings once consecrated to the worship of pagan gods, are now used as
+Christian temples: what should we think of the person who should assert
+that because pagan gods were once adored in these churches, therefore
+the worship now offered in them was offered to pagan deities? The
+temples, lite the customs, are Christianized.
+
+The author of a very interesting article in the _Ulster Archæological
+Journal_ (vol. ix. p. 256), brings forward a number of Irish customs for
+which he finds counterparts in India. But he forgets that in Ireland the
+customs are Christianized, while in India, they remain pagan; and like
+most persons who consider the Irish pre-eminently superstitious, he
+appears ignorant of the teaching of that Church which Christianized the
+world. The special "superstition" of this article is the devotion to
+holy wells. The custom still exists in Hindostan; people flock to them
+for cure of their diseases, and leave "rags" on the bushes as
+"scapegoats," _ex votos_, so to say, of cures, or prayers for cures. In
+India, the prayer is made to a heathen deity; in Ireland, the people
+happen to believe that God hears the prayers of saints more readily than
+their own; and acting on the principle which induced persons, in
+apostolic times, to use "handkerchiefs and aprons" which had touched the
+person of St. Paul as mediums of cure, because of his virgin sanctity,
+in preference to "handkerchiefs and aprons" of their own, they apply to
+the saints and obtain cures. But they do not believe the saints can give
+what God refuses, or that the saints are more merciful than God. They
+know that the saints are His special friends, and we give to a friend
+what we might refuse to one less dear. _Lege totum, si vis scire totum_,
+is a motto which writers on national customs should not forget.
+
+Customs were probably the origin of laws. Law, in its most comprehensive
+sense, signifies a rule of action laid down[152] by a superior. Divine
+law is manifested (1) by the law of nature, and (2) by revelation. The
+law of nations is an arbitrary arrangement, founded on the law of nature
+and the law of revelation: its perfection depends obviously on its
+correspondence with the divine law. Hence, by common consent, the
+greatest praise is given to those laws of ancient nations which
+approximate most closely to the law of nature, though when such laws
+came to be revised by those who had received the law of revelation, they
+were necessarily amended or altered in conformity therewith. No
+government can exist without law; but as hereditary succession preceded
+the law of hereditary succession, which was at first established by
+custom, so the _lex non scripta_, or national custom, preceded the _lex
+scripta_, or statute law. The intellectual condition of a nation may be
+well and safely estimated by its laws. A code of laws that were observed
+for centuries before the Christian era, and for centuries after the
+Christian era, and which can bear the most critical tests of forensic
+acumen in the nineteenth century, evidence that the framers of the code
+were possessed of no slight degree of mental culture. Such are the
+Brehon laws, by which pagan and Christian Erinn was governed for
+centuries.
+
+The sixth century was a marked period of legal reform. The Emperor
+Justinian, by closing the schools of Athens, gave a deathblow to Grecian
+philosophy and jurisprudence. But Grecian influence had already acted on
+the formation of Roman law, and probably much of the Athenian code was
+embodied therein. The origin of Roman law is involved in the same
+obscurity as the origin of the Brehon code. In both cases, the mist of
+ages lies like a light, but impenetrable veil, over all that could give
+certainty to conjecture. Before the era of the Twelve Tables, mention is
+made of laws enacted by Romulus respecting what we should now call civil
+liabilities. Laws concerning religion are ascribed to Numa, and laws of
+contract to Servius Tullius, who is supposed to have collected the
+regulations made by his predecessors. The Twelve Tables were notably
+formed on the legal enactments of Greece. The cruel severity of the law
+for insolvent debtors, forms a marked contrast to the milder and more
+equitable arrangements of the Brehon code. By the Roman enactments, the
+person of the debtor was at the mercy of his creditor, who might sell
+him for a slave beyond the Tiber. The Celt allowed only the seizure of
+goods, and even this was under regulations most favourable to the
+debtor. The legal establishment of Christianity by Constantine, or we
+should rather say the existence of Christianity, necessitated a complete
+revision of all ancient laws: hence we find the compilation of the
+Theodosian code almost synchronizing with the revision of the Brehon
+laws. The spread of Christianity, and the new modes of thought and
+action which obtained thereby, necessitated the reconstruction of
+ancient jurisprudence in lands as widely distant geographically, and as
+entirely separated politically, as Italy and Ireland.
+
+Those who have studied the subject most carefully, and who are therefore
+most competent to give an opinion, accept the popular account of the
+revision of our laws.
+
+The Four Masters thus record this important event:--"The age of Christ
+438. The tenth year of Laeghairé. The Feinchus of Ireland were purified
+and written, the writings and old works of Ireland having been collected
+[and brought] to one place at the request of St. Patrick. Those were the
+nine supporting props by whom this was done: Laeghairé, i.e., King of
+Ireland, Corc, and Daire, the three kings; Patrick, Benen, and
+Cairneach, the three saints; Ross, Dubhthach, and Fearghus, the three
+antiquaries." Dr. O'Donovan, in his note, shelters himself under an
+extract from Petrie's _Tara;_ but it is to be supposed that he coincides
+in the opinion of that gentleman. Dr. Petrie thinks that "little doubt
+can be entertained that such a work was compiled within a short period
+after the introduction of Christianity in the country, and that St.
+Patrick may have laid the foundations of it;"[153] though he gives no
+satisfactory reason why that saint should not have assisted at the
+compilation, and why the statements of our annalists should be refused
+on this subject, when they are accepted on others. A list of the
+"family" [household] of Patrick is given immediately after, which Dr.
+O'Donovan has taken great pains to verify, and with which he appears
+satisfied. If the one statement is true, why should the other be false?
+Mr. O'Curry, whose opinion on such subjects is admittedly worthy of the
+highest consideration, expresses himself strongly in favour of receiving
+the statements of our annalists, and thinks that both Dr. Petrie and Dr.
+Lanigan are mistaken in supposing that the compilation was not effected
+by those to whom it has been attributed. As to the antiquity of these
+laws, he observes that Cormac Mac Cullinan quotes passages from them in
+his Glossary, which was written not later than the ninth century, and
+then the language of the Seanchus[154] Mor was so ancient that it had
+become obsolete. To these laws, he well observes, the language of Moore,
+on the MSS. in the Royal Irish Academy, may be applied: "They were not
+written by a foolish people, nor for any foolish purpose;" and these
+were the "laws and institutions which regulated the political and social
+system of a people the most remarkable in Europe, from a period almost
+lost in the dark mazes of antiquity, down to about within two hundred
+years of our own time, and whose spirit and traditions influence the
+feelings and actions of the native Irish even to this day."[155]
+
+But we can adduce further testimony. The able editor and translator of
+the _Seanchus Mor_, which forms so important a portion of our ancient
+code, has, in his admirable Preface, fully removed all doubt on this
+question. He shows the groundlessness of the objections (principally
+chronological) which had been made regarding those who are asserted to
+have been its compilers. He also makes it evident that it was a work in
+which St. Patrick should have been expected to engage: (1) because,
+being a Roman citizen, and one who had travelled much, he was probably
+well aware of the Christian modifications which had already been
+introduced into the Roman code. (2) That he was eminently a judicious
+missionary, and such a revision of national laws would obviously be no
+slight support to the advancement of national Christianity. It is also
+remarked, that St. Patrick may not necessarily have assisted personally
+in writing the MS.; his confirmation of what was compiled by others
+would be sufficient. St. Benignus, who is known to be the author of
+other works,[156] probably acted as his amanuensis.
+
+The subject-matter of the portions of the Seanchus Mor which have been
+translated, is the law of distress. Two points are noticeable in this:
+First, the careful and accurate administration of justice which is
+indicated by the details of these legal enactments; second, the custom
+therein sanctioned of the creditor fasting upon the debtor, a custom
+which still exists in Hindostan. Hence, in some cases, the creditor
+fasts on the debtor until he is compelled to pay his debt, lest his
+creditor should die at the door; in other cases, the creditor not only
+fasts himself, but also compels his debtor to fast, by stopping his
+supplies. Elphinstone describes this as used even against princes, and
+especially by troops to procure payment of arrears.[157]
+
+One of the most noticeable peculiarities of the Brehon law is the
+compensation for murder, called _eric_. This, however, was common to
+other nations. Its origin is ascribed to the Germans, but the
+institution was probably far more ancient. We find it forbidden[158] in
+the oldest code of laws in existence; and hence the _eric_ must have
+been in being at an early period of the world's civil history.
+
+The law of succession, called _tanaisteacht_, or tanistry, is one of the
+most peculiar of the Brehon laws. The eldest son succeeded the father to
+the exclusion of all collateral claimants, unless he was disqualified by
+deformity, imbecility, or crime. In after ages, by a compact between
+parents or mutual agreement, the succession was sometimes made alternate
+in two or more families. The eldest son, being recognized as presumptive
+heir, was denominated _tanaiste_, that is, minor or second; while the
+other sons, or persons eligible in case of failure, were termed
+_righdhamhua_, which literally means king-material, or king-makings. The
+_tanaiste_ had a separate establishment and distinct privileges. The
+primitive intention was, that the "best man" should reign; but
+practically it ended in might being taken for right, and often for less
+important qualifications.
+
+The possession and inheritance of landed property was regulated by the
+law called gavelkind (gavail-kinne), an ancient Celtic institution, but
+common to Britons, Anglo-Saxons, and others. By this law, inherited or
+other property was divided equally between the sons, to the exclusion of
+the daughters (unless, indeed, in default of heirs male, when females
+were permitted a life interest). The _tanaiste_, however, was allotted
+the dwelling-house and other privileges.
+
+The tenure of land was a tribe or family right; and, indeed, the whole
+system of government and legislation was far more patriarchal than
+Teutonic--another indication of an eastern origin. All the members of a
+tribe or family had an equal right to their proportionate share of the
+land occupied by the whole. This system created a mutual independence
+and self-consciousness of personal right and importance, strongly at
+variance with the subjugation of the Germanic and Anglo-Norman vassal.
+
+The compilation of the Brehon laws originated in a question that arose
+as to how the murderer of Odran, Patrick's charioteer, should be
+punished. The saint was allowed to select whatever Brehon he pleased to
+give judgment. He chose Dubhthach; and the result of his decision was
+the compilation of these laws, as it was at once seen that a purely
+pagan code would not suit Christian teaching.
+
+The Celtic language is now admittedly one of the most ancient in
+existence. Its affinity with Sanscrit, the eldest daughter of the
+undiscoverable mother-tongue, has been amply proved,[159] and the study
+of the once utterly despised Irish promises to be one which will
+abundantly repay the philologist. It is to be regretted that we are
+indebted to German students for the verification of these statements;
+but the Germans are manifestly born philologists, and they have
+opportunities of leisure, and encouragement for the prosecution of such
+studies, denied to the poorer Celt. It is probable that Celtic will yet
+be found to have been one of the most important of the Indo-European
+tongues. Its influence on the formation of the Romance languages has yet
+to be studied in the light of our continually increasing knowledge of
+its more ancient forms; and perhaps the conjectures of Betham will, by
+the close of this century, receive as much respect as the once equally
+ridiculed history of Keating.
+
+It is almost impossible to doubt that the Irish nation had letters and
+some form of writing before the arrival of St. Patrick. There are so
+many references to the existence of writings in the most ancient MSS.,
+that it appears more rash to deny their statements than to accept them.
+
+[Illustration: RUNES FROM THE RUNIC CROSS AT RUTHWELL.]
+
+The three principal arguments against a pre-Christian alphabet appears
+to be: (1) The absence of any MS. of such writing. (2) The use of the
+Roman character in all MSS. extant. (3) The universal opinion, scarcely
+yet exploded, that the Irish Celts were barbarians. In reply to the
+first objection, we may observe that St. Patrick is said to have
+destroyed all the remnants of pagan writing.[160] Cæsar mentions that
+the druids of Gaul used Greek characters. It appears impossible that the
+Irish druids, who were at least their equals in culture, should have
+been destitute of any kind of written character. The ancient form of
+Welsh letters were somewhat similar to the runes of which we give a
+specimen, and this alphabet was called the "alphabet of the bards," in
+contradistinction to which is placed the "alphabet of the monks," or
+Roman alphabet. The alphabet of the Irish bard may have been the
+Beith-luis-nion, represented by the Ogham character, of which more
+hereafter.
+
+The difficulty arising from the fact of St. Patrick's having given
+_abgitorium_, or alphabets, to his converts, appears to us purely
+chimerical. Latin was from the first the language of the Church, and
+being such, whether the Irish converts had or had not a form of writing,
+one of the earliest duties of a Christian missionary was to teach those
+preparing for the priesthood the language in which they were to
+administer the sacraments. The alphabet given by the saint was simply
+the common Roman letter then in use. The Celtic characteristic
+veneration for antiquity and religion, has still preserved it; and
+strange to say, the Irish of the nineteenth century alone use the
+letters which were common to the entire Roman Empire in the fifth. The
+early influence of ecclesiastical authority, and the circumstance that
+the priests of the Catholic Church were at once the instructors in and
+the preservers of letters, will account for the immediate disuse of
+whatever alphabet the druids may have had. The third objection is a mere
+_argumentum ad ignorantiam_.
+
+[Illustration: CUNEIFORM CHARACTERS.]
+
+It is to be regretted that the subject of Ogham writing has not been
+taken up by a careful and competent hand.[161] There are few people who
+have not found out some method of recording their history, and there are
+few subjects of deeper interest than the study of the efforts of the
+human mind to perpetuate itself in written characters. The Easterns had
+their cuneiform or arrow-headed symbols, and the Western world has even
+yet its quipus, and tells its history by the number of its knots.
+
+[Illustration: The Quipus]
+
+The peasant girl still knots her handkerchief as her _memoria technica_,
+and the lady changes her ring from its accustomed finger. Each practice
+is quite as primitive an effort of nature as the Ogham of the Celtic
+bard. He used a stone pillar or a wooden stick for his notches,--a more
+permanent record than the knot or the Indian quipus.[162] The use of a
+stick as a vehicle for recording ideas by conventional marks, appears
+very ancient; and this in itself forms a good argument for the antiquity
+of Ogham writing. Mr. O'Curry has given it expressly as his opinion,
+"that the pre-Christian Gaedhils possessed and practised a system of
+writing and keeping records quite different from and independent of the
+Greek and Roman form and characters, which gained currency in the
+country after the introduction of Christianity." He then gives in
+evidence passages from our ancient writings which are preserved, in
+which the use of the Ogham character is distinctly mentioned. One
+instance is the relation in the _Táin bó Chuailgné_ of directions having
+been left on wands or hoops written in Ogham by Cuchulainn for Méav.
+When these were found, they were read for her by Fergus, who understood
+the character. We have not space for further details, but Professor
+O'Curry devotes some pages to the subject, where fuller information may
+be found. In conclusion, he expresses an opinion that the original
+copies of the ancient books, such as the Cuilmenn and the Saltair of
+Tara, were not written in Ogham. He supposes that the druids or poets,
+who, it is well known, constantly travelled for educational purposes,
+brought home an alphabet, probably the Roman then in use. "It is, at all
+events, quite certain that the Irish druids had written books before the
+coming of St. Patrick, in 432; since we find the statement in the
+Tripartite Life of the saint, as well as in the Annotations of Tirechan,
+preserved in the Book of Armagh, which were taken by him from the lips
+and books of his tutor, St. Mochta, who was the pupil and disciple of
+St. Patrick himself."
+
+[Illustration: Ogham stone]
+
+[Illustration: SAGRANI FILI CUNOTAMI]
+
+We give two illustrations of Ogham writing. The pillar-stone is from the
+collection of the Royal Irish Academy. It is about four and a-half feet
+high, and averages eleven inches across. It was found, with three others
+similarly inscribed, built into the walls of a dwelling-house in the
+county Kerry, to which it is believed they had been removed from the
+interior of a neighbouring rath. The bilingual Ogham was found at St.
+Dogmael's, near Cardiganshire. The Ogham alphabet is called
+_beithluisnion_, from the name of its two first letters, _beith_, which
+signifies a birch-tree, and _luis_, the mountain-ash. If this kind of
+writing had been introduced in Christian times, it is quite unlikely
+that such names would have been chosen. They are manifestly referable to
+a time when a tree had some significance beyond the useful or the
+ornamental. It has been supposed that the names of the letters were
+given to the trees, and not the names of the trees to the letters. It is
+at least certain that the names of the trees and the letters coincide,
+and that the trees are all indigenous to Ireland. The names of the
+letters in the Hebrew alphabet are also significant, but appear to be
+chosen indiscriminately, while there is a manifest and evidently
+arbitrary selection in the Celtic appellations. The number of letters
+also indicate antiquity. The ancient Irish alphabet had but sixteen
+characters, thus numerically corresponding with the alphabet brought
+into Greece by Cadmus. This number was gradually increased with the
+introduction of the Roman form, and the arrangement was also altered to
+harmonize with it. The Ogham alphabet consists of lines, which represent
+letters. They are arranged in an arbitrary manner to the right or left
+of a stemline, or on the edge of the material on which they are traced.
+Even the names of those letters, _fleasg_ (a tree), seem an indication
+of their origin. A cross has been found, sculptured more or less rudely,
+upon many of these ancient monuments; and this has been supposed by some
+antiquarians to indicate their Christian origin. Doubtless the practice
+of erecting pillar-stones, and writing Oghams thereon, was continued
+after the introduction of Christianity; but this by no means indicates
+their origin. Like many other pagan monuments, they may have been
+consecrated by having the sign of the cross engraven on them hundreds of
+years after their erection.
+
+During the few months which have elapsed between the appearance of the
+first edition and the preparation of the second edition, my attention
+has been called to this portion of the history by four or five eminent
+members of the Royal Irish Academy, who express their regret that I
+should appear to have adopted, or at least favoured, Mr. D'Alton's view
+of the Christian origin of the round towers. I cannot but feel gratified
+at the interest which they manifested, and not less so at their kind
+anxiety that my own views should accord with those of the majority. I am
+quite aware that my opinion on such a subject could have little weight.
+To form a decided opinion on this subject, would require many years'
+study; but when one of these gentlemen, the Earl of Dunraven,
+distinguished for his devotion to archæology, writes to me that both
+Irish, English, and Continental scholars are all but unanimous in
+ascribing a Christian origin to these remarkable buildings, I cannot but
+feel that I am bound to accept this opinion, thus supported by an
+overwhelming weight of authority. It may, however, be interesting to
+some persons to retain an account of the opposing theories, and for this
+reason I still insert page 115 of the original edition, only making such
+modifications as my change of opinion make necessary.
+
+The theories which have been advanced on this subject may be classified
+under seven heads--
+
+(1) That the Phoenicians erected them for fire temples.
+
+(2) That the Christians built them for bell towers.
+
+(3) That the Magians used them for astronomical purposes.
+
+(4) That they were for Christian anchorites to shut themselves up in.
+
+(5) That they were penitentiaries.
+
+(6) That the Druids used them to proclaim their festivals.
+
+(7) That the Christians used them to keep their church plate and
+treasures.
+
+[Illustration: URN AND ITS CONTENTS FOUND IN A CROMLECH IN THE PHOENIX
+PARK, DUBLIN.]
+
+Contradictory as these statements appear, they may easily be ranged into
+two separate theories of pagan or Christian origin. Dr. Petrie has been
+the great supporter of the latter opinion, now almost generally
+received. He founds his opinion: (1) On the assumption that the Irish
+did not know the use of lime mortar before the time of St. Patrick. For
+this assumption, however, he gives no evidence. (2) On the presence of
+certain Christian emblems on some of these towers, notably at Donaghmore
+and Antrim. But the presence of Christian emblems, like the cross on the
+Ogham stones, may merely indicate that Christians wished to consecrate
+them to Christian use. (3) On the assumption that they were used as
+keeps or monastic castles, in which church plate was concealed, or
+wherein the clergy could shelter themselves from the fury of Danes, or
+other invaders. But it is obvious that towers would have been built in a
+different fashion had such been the object of those who erected them.
+The late Mr. D'Alton has been the most moderate and judicious advocate
+of their pagan origin. He rests his theory (1) on certain statements in
+our annals, which, if true, must at once decide the dispute. The Annals
+of Ulster mention the destruction of fifty-seven of them in consequence
+of a severe earthquake, A.D. 448. He adduces the testimony of Giraldus
+Cambrensis, who confirms the account of the origin of Lough Neagh by an
+inundation, A.D. 65, and adds: "It is no improbable testimony to this
+event, that the fishermen beheld the religious towers (_turres
+ecclesiasticas_), which, according to the custom of the country, are
+narrow, lofty, and round, immersed under the waters; and they frequently
+show them to strangers passing over them, and wondering at their
+purposes" (_reique causas admirantibus_). This is all the better
+evidence of their then acknowledged antiquity, because the subject of
+the writer was the formation of the lough, and not the origin of the
+towers. Mr. D'Alton's (2) second argument is, that it was improbable the
+Christians would have erected churches of wood and bell towers of stone,
+or have bestowed incomparably more care and skill on the erection of
+these towers, no matter for what use they may have been intended, than
+on the churches, which should surely be their first care.[163]
+
+The cromlechs next claim our notice. There has been no question of their
+pagan origin; and, indeed, this method of honouring or interring the
+dead, seems an almost universal custom of ancient peoples.[164]
+Cremation does not appear to have been the rule as to the mode of
+interment in ancient Erinn, as many remains of skeletons have been
+found; and even those antiquarians who are pleased entirely to deny the
+truth of the _historical_ accounts of our early annalists, accept their
+statements as to customs of the most ancient date. When the dead were
+interred without cremation, the body was placed either in a horizontal,
+sitting, or recumbent posture. When the remains were burned, a fictile
+vessel was used to contain the ashes. These urns are of various forms
+and sizes. The style of decoration also differs widely, some being but
+rudely ornamented, while others bear indications of artistic skill which
+could not have been exercised by a rude or uncultivated people.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+We give a full-page illustration of an urn and its contents, at present
+in the collection of the Royal Irish Academy. This urn was found in a
+tumulus, which was opened in the Phoenix Park, near Dublin, in the year
+1838. The tumulus was about 120 feet in diameter at the base, and
+fifteen feet high. Four sepulchral vases, containing burnt ashes, were
+found within the tomb. It also enclosed two perfect male skeletons, the
+tops of the femora of another, and a bone of some animal. A number of
+shells[165] were found under the head of each skeleton, of the kind
+known to conchologists as the _Nerita littoralis_. The urn which we have
+figured is the largest and most perfect, and manifestly the earliest of
+the set. It is six inches high, rudely carved, yet not without some
+attempt at ornament. The bone pin was probably used for the hair, and
+the shells are obviously strung for a necklace. We give above a specimen
+of the highest class of cinerary urns. It stands unrivalled, both in
+design and execution, among all the specimens found in the British
+isles. This valuable remain was discovered in the cutting of a railway,
+in a small stone chamber, at Knockneconra, near Bagnalstown, county
+Carlow. Burned bones of an infant, or very young child, were found in
+it, and it was inclosed in a much larger and ruder urn, containing the
+bones of an adult.
+
+Possibly, suggests Sir W. Wilde, they may have been the remains of
+mother and child.[166]
+
+[Illustration: GOLD HEAD-DRESS, R.I.A.]
+
+The collection of antiquities in the Royal Irish Academy, furnishes
+abundant evidence that the pagan Irish were well skilled in the higher
+arts of working in metals. If the arbitrary division of the ages of
+stone, bronze, and iron, can be made to hold good, we must either
+suppose that the Irish Celt was possessed of extraordinary mental
+powers, by which he developed the mechanical arts gradually, or that,
+with successive immigrations, he obtained an increase of knowledge from
+exterior sources. The bardic annals indicate the latter theory. We have
+already given several illustrations of the ruder weapons. The
+illustration appended here may give some idea of the skill obtained by
+our pagan ancestors in working gold. This ornament, which is quite
+complete, though fractured in two places, stands 11-1/2 inches high. It
+weighs 16 oz. 10 dwts. 13 grs. The gold of which it is formed is very
+red. It was procured with the Sirr Collection, and is said to have been
+found in the county Clare.[167] Our readers are indebted to the kindness
+of the Council of the Royal Irish Academy, for the permission to depict
+these and the other rare articles from the collection which are inserted
+in our pages.
+
+The amount of gold ornaments which have been found in Ireland at various
+times, has occasioned much conjecture as to whether the material was
+found in Ireland or imported. It is probable that auriferous veins
+existed, which were worked out, or that some may even now exist which
+are at present unknown. The discovery of gold ornaments is one of the
+many remarkable confirmations of the glowing accounts given by our
+bardic annalists of Erinn's ancient glories. O'Hartigan thus describes
+the wealth and splendour of the plate possessed by the ancient monarchs
+who held court at Tara:--
+
+    "Three hundred cupbearers distributed
+    Three times fifty choice goblets
+    Before each party of great numbers,
+    Which were of pure strong carbuncle,[168]
+    Or gold or of silver all."
+
+Dr. Petrie observes that this statement is amply verified by the
+magnificent gold ornaments, found within a few yards of this very spot,
+now in the possession of the Royal Irish Academy. We shall see, at a
+later period, when the cursing of Tara will demand a special notice of
+its ancient glories, how amply the same writer has vindicated the
+veracity of Celtic annalists on this ground also.
+
+A remarkable resemblance has been noticed between the pagan military
+architecture of Ireland, and the early Pelasgian monuments in Greece.
+They consist of enclosures, generally circular, of massive clay walls,
+built of small loose stones, from six to sixteen feet thick. These forts
+or fortresses are usually entered by a narrow doorway, wider at the
+bottom than at the top, and are of Cyclopean architecture. Indeed, some
+of the remains in Ireland can only be compared to the pyramids of Egypt,
+so massive are the blocks of stone used in their construction. As this
+stone is frequently of a kind not to be found in the immediate
+neighbourhood, the means used for their transportation are as much a
+matter of surprise and conjecture, as those by which they were placed in
+the position in which they are found. The most remarkable of these forts
+may still be seen in the Isles of Arran, on the west coast of Galway;
+there are others in Donegal, Mayo, and in Kerry. Some of these erections
+have chambers in their massive walls, and in others stairs are found
+round the interior of the wall; these lead to narrow platforms, varying
+from eight to forty-three feet in length, on which the warriors or
+defenders stood. The fort of Dunmohr, in the middle island of Arran, is
+supposed to be at least 2,000 years old. Besides these forts, there was
+the private house, a stone habitation, called a _clochann_, in which an
+individual or family resided; the large circular dome-roofed buildings,
+in which probably a community lived; and the rath, intrenched and
+stockaded.
+
+But stone was not the only material used for places of defence or
+domestic dwellings; the most curious and interesting of ancient Irish
+habitations is the _crannoge_, a name whose precise etymology is
+uncertain, though there is little doubt that it refers in some way to
+the peculiar nature of the structure.
+
+The crannoges were formed on small islets or shallows of clay or marl in
+the centre of a lake, which were probably dry in summer, but submerged
+in winter. These little islands, or mounds, were used as a foundation
+for this singular habitation. Piles of wood, or heaps of stone and bones
+driven into or heaped on the soil, formed the support of the crannoge.
+They were used as places of retreat or concealment, and are usually
+found near the ruins of such old forts or castles as are in the vicinity
+of lakes or marshes. Sometimes they are connected with the mainland by a
+causeway, but usually there is no appearance of any; and a small canoe
+has been, with but very few exceptions, discovered in or near each
+crannoge.
+
+Since the investigation of these erections in Ireland, others have been
+discovered in the Swiss lakes of a similar kind, and containing, or
+rather formed on, the same extraordinary amount of bones heaped up
+between the wooden piles.
+
+The peculiar objects called celts, and the weapons and domestic utensils
+of this or an earlier period, are a subject of scarcely less interest.
+The use of the celt has fairly perplexed all antiquarian research. Its
+name is derived not, as might be supposed, from the nation to whom this
+distinctive appellation was given, but from the Latin word _celtis_, a
+chisel. It is not known whether these celts, or the round, flat,
+sharp-edged chisels, were called _Lia Miledh_, "warriors' stones." In
+the record of the battle of the Ford of Comar, Westmeath, the use of
+this instrument is thus described:--
+
+"There came not a man of Lohar's people without a broad green spear, nor
+without a dazzling shield, nor without a _Liagh-lamha-laich_ (a
+champion's hand stone), stowed away in the hollow cavity of his
+shield.... And Lohar carried his stone like each of his men; and seeing
+the monarch his father standing in the ford with Ceat, son of Magach, at
+one side, and Connall Cearnach at the other, to guard him, he grasped
+his battle-stone quickly and dexterously, and threw it with all his
+strength, and with unerring aim, at the king his father; and the massive
+stone passed with a swift rotatory motion towards the king, and despite
+the efforts of his two brave guardians, it struck him on the breast, and
+laid him prostrate in the ford. The king, however, recovered from the
+shock, arose, and placing his foot upon the formidable stone, pressed it
+into the earth, where it remains to this day, with a third part of it
+over ground, and the print of the king's foot visible upon it."
+
+Flint proper, or chalk flint, is found but in few places in Ireland;
+these are principally in the counties of Antrim, Down, and Derry. In the
+absence of a knowledge of the harder metals, flint and such-like
+substances were invaluable as the only material that could be fashioned
+into weapons of defence, and used to shape such rude clothing as was
+then employed. The scarcity of flint must have rendered these weapons of
+great value in other districts. Splitting, chipping, and polishing, and
+this with tools as rude as the material worked on, were the only means
+of manufacturing such articles; and yet such was the perfection, and, if
+the expression be applicable, the amount of artistic skill attained,
+that it seems probable flint-chipping was a special trade, and doubtless
+a profitable one to those engaged in it.
+
+When flints were used as arrows, either in battle or in the chase, a bow
+was easily manufactured from the oak and birch trees with which the
+island was thickly wooded. It was bent by a leathern thong, or the
+twisted intestine of some animal. The handles of the lance or
+javelin--formidable weapons, if we may judge from the specimens in the
+Museum of the Royal Irish Academy--were also formed of wood; but these
+have perished in the lapse of ages, and left only the strangely and
+skilfully formed implement of destruction.
+
+Among primitive nations, the tool and the weapon differed but little.
+The hatchet which served to fell the tree, was as readily used to cleave
+open the head of an enemy. The knife, whether of stone or hard wood,
+carved the hunter's prey, or gave a deathstroke to his enemy. Such
+weapons or implements have, however, frequently been found with metal
+articles, under circumstances which leave little doubt that the use of
+the former was continued long after the discovery of the superior value
+of the latter. Probably, even while the Tuatha De Danann artificers were
+framing their more refined weapons for the use of nobles and knights,
+the rude fashioner of flint-arrows and spear-heads still continued to
+exercise the craft he had learned from his forefathers, for the benefit
+of poorer or less fastidious warriors.
+
+[Illustration: CROMLECH IN THE PHOENIX PARK.
+The urn and necklace, figured at page 154, were found in this tomb.]
+
+[Illustration: CLONDALKIN ROUND TOWER.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[144] _Authors_.--Strabo, l. iv. p. 197; Suetonius, _V. Cla._; Pliny,
+_Hist. Nat._ l. xxv. c. 9. Pliny mentions having seen the serpent's egg,
+and describes it.
+
+[145] _Virgil_.--_Ec._. 6, v. 73.
+
+[146] _Year_.--Dio. Sic. tom. i. p. 158.
+
+[147] _Magi_.--Magi is always used in Latin as the equivalent for the
+Irish word which signifies druid. See the _Vitæ S. Columbæ_, p. 73; see
+also Reeves' note to this word.
+
+[148] _Worship_.--In the Chronicle of Richard of Cirencester, ch. 4,
+certain Roman deities are mentioned as worshipped by the British druids;
+but it is probable the account is merely borrowed from Cæsar's
+description of the Gauls.
+
+[149] _Ceremonies_.--Bohn's edition, p. 431.
+
+[150] _Wren_.--In Scotland the wren is an object of reverence: hence the
+rhyme--
+
+"Malisons, malisons, more than ten, That harry the Ladye of Heaven's
+hen."
+
+But it is probable the idea and the verse were originally imported from
+France, where the bird is treated with special respect. There is a very
+interesting paper in the _Ulster Archæological Journal_, vol. vii. p.
+334, on the remarkable correspondence of Irish, Greek, and Oriental
+legends, where the tale of Labhradh Loinseach is compared with that of
+Midas. Both had asses' ears, and both were victims to the loquacious
+propensities of their barbers.
+
+[151] _Etruscans_.--See _Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria_, vol i p.
+295, where the bas-reliefs are described which represent the _præficæ_,
+or hired mourners, wailing over the corpse.
+
+[152] _Laid down_.--Law, Saxon, _lagu, lah_; from _lecgan_==Goth.
+_lagjan_, to lay, to place; Gael. _lagh_, a law; _leag_, to lie down;
+Latin, _lex_, from Gr. _lego_, to lay.
+
+[153] _It_.--Four Masters, vol. i p. 133. The Seanchus Mor was sometimes
+called _Cain Phadruig_, or Patrick's Law.
+
+[154] _Seanchus_.--From the old Celtic root _sen_, old, which has direct
+cognates, not merely in the Indo-European, but also in the Semitic;
+Arabic, _sen_, old, ancient--_sunnah_, institution, regulation; Persian,
+_san_, law, right; _sanna_, Phoenicibus idem fuit quod Arabibus _summa_,
+lex, doctrina jux canonicum.--Bochart, _Geo. Sæ_. 1. ii. c. 17. See
+Petrie's _Tara_, p. 79.
+
+[155] _Day_.--O'Curry, page 201.
+
+[156] _Works_.--He appears to have been the author of the original Book
+of Rights, and "commenced and composed the Psalter of Caiseal, in which
+are described the acts, _laws,"_ &c.--See Preface to Seanchus Mor, p.
+17.
+
+[157] _Arrears_.--Elphinstone's _India_, vol. i. p. 372.
+
+[158] _Forbidden_.--"You shall not take money of him that is guilty of
+blood, but he shall die forthwith."--Numbers, xxxv. 31.
+
+[159] _Proved_.--See Pictet's _Origines Indo-Européennes_. He mentions
+his surprise at finding a genuine Sanscrit word in Irish, which, like a
+geological boulder, had been transported from one extremity of the Aryan
+world to the other. Pictet considers that the first wave of Aryan
+emigration occurred 3,000 years before the Christian Era.
+
+[160] _Writing_.--"Finally, Dudley Firbisse, hereditary professor of the
+antiquities of his country, mentions in a letter [to me] a fact
+collected from the monuments of his ancestors, that one hundred and
+eighty tracts [tractatus] of the doctrine of the druids or magi, were
+condemned to the flames in the time of St. Patrick."--_Ogygia_, iii. 30,
+p. 219. A writer in the _Ulster Arch. Journal_ mentions a "Cosmography,"
+printed at "Lipsiæ, 1854." It appears to be a Latin version or epitome
+of a Greek work. The writer of this Cosmography was born in 103. He
+mentions having "examined the volumes" of the Irish, whom he visited. If
+this authority is reliable, it would at once settle the question.--See
+_Ulster Arch. Journal_, vol. ii. p. 281.
+
+[161] _Hand_.--A work on this subject has long been promised by Dr.
+Graves, and is anxiously expected by paleographists. We regret to learn
+that there is no immediate prospect of its publication.
+
+[162] _Quipus_.--Quipus signifies a knot. The cords were of different
+colours. Yellow denoted gold and all the allied ideas; white, silver, or
+peace; red, war, or soldiers. Each quipus was in the care of a
+quiper-carnayoe, or keeper. Acorta mentions that he saw a woman with a
+handful of these strings, which she said contained a confession of her
+life. See Wilson's _Pre-Historic Man_ for most interesting details on
+the subject of symbolic characters and early writing.
+
+[163] _Care_.--Annals of Boyle, vol. ii. p. 22. _Essay_, p. 82.
+
+[164] _Peoples_.--See _Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria_, vol. ii. p.
+314, where the writer describes tombs sunk beneath a tumulus, about
+twenty-five or thirty feet in diameter, and also tombs exactly
+resembling the Irish cromlech, the covering slab of enormous size, being
+inclined "apparently to carry off the rain." In his account of the
+geographical sites of these remains, he precisely, though most
+unconsciously, marks out the line of route which has been assigned by
+Irish annalists as that which led our early colonizers to Ireland. He
+says they are found in the presidency of Madras, among the mountains of
+the Caucasus, on the steppes of Tartary, in northern Africa, "_on the
+shores of the Mediterranean they are particularly abundant_," and in
+Spain.
+
+[165] _Shells_.--Cat. Ant. R.I.A.; Stone Mat. p. 180. The ethnographic
+phases of conchology might form a study in itself. Shells appear to be
+the earliest form of ornament in use. The North American Indians have
+their shell necklaces buried with them also. See Wilson's _Pre-Historic
+Man_.
+
+[166] _Child_.--Mr. Wilson gives a most interesting description of an
+interment of a mother and child in an ancient Peruvian grave. The mother
+had an unfinished piece of weaving beside her, with its colours still
+bright. The infant was tenderly wrapped in soft black woollen cloth, to
+which was fastened a pair of little sandals, 2-1/2 inches long; around
+its neck was a green cord, attached to a small shell.--_Pre-Historic
+Man_, vol. i. p. 234.
+
+[167] _Clare_.--In 1855, in digging for a railway-cutting in the county
+Clare, gold ornaments were found worth £2,000 as bullion.
+
+[168] _Carbuncle_.--This word was used to denote any shining stone of a
+red colour, such as garnet, a production of the country.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+Pestilence of the _Blefed_--The Cursing of Tara by St. Rodanus--Extent
+and Importance of Ancient Tara--The First Mill in Ireland--The _Lia
+Fail_--Cormac's House--The Rath of the Synods--The Banqueting
+Hall--Chariots and Swords--St. Columba--St. Brendan and his
+Voyages--Pre-Columbian Discovery of America--The Plague again--St.
+Columba and St. Columbanus--Irish Saints and Irish Schools--Aengus the
+Culdee.
+
+[A.D. 543-693.]
+
+
+From time to time, in the world's history, terrible and mysterious
+pestilences appear, which defy all calculation as to their cause or
+probable reappearance. Such was the _Blefed_,[169] or _Crom Chonaill_,
+which desolated Ireland in the year 543.
+
+The plague, whatever its nature may have been, appears to have been
+general throughout Europe. It originated in the East; and in Ireland was
+preceded by famine, and followed by leprosy. St. Berchan of Glasnevin
+and St. Finnen of Clonard were amongst its first victims.
+
+Diarmaid, son of Fergus Keval, of the southern Hy-Nial race, was
+Ard-Righ during this period. In his reign Tara was cursed by St. Rodanus
+of Lothra, in Tipperary, in punishment for violation of sanctuary;[170]
+and so complete was its subsequent desertion, that in 975 it was
+described as a desert overgrown with grass and weeds.
+
+But enough still remains to give ample evidence of its former
+magnificence. An inspection of the site must convince the beholder of
+the vast extent of its ancient palaces; nor can we, for a moment,
+coincide with those who are pleased to consider that these palaces
+consisted merely of a few planks of wood, rudely plastered over, or of
+hollow mounds of earth. It is true that, from an association of ideas,
+the cause of so many fallacies, we naturally connect "halls" with marble
+pavements, magnificently carved pillars, and tesselated floors; but the
+harp that once resounded through Tara's halls, may have had as
+appreciating, if not as critical, an audience as any which now exists,
+and the "halls" may have been none the less stately, because their floor
+was strewn with sand, or the trophies which adorned them fastened to
+walls of oak.[171]
+
+According to Celtic tradition, as embodied in our annals, Tara became
+the chief residence of the Irish kings on the first establishment of a
+monarchical government under Slainge:--
+
+"Slaine of the Firbolgs was he by whom Temair was first raised."
+
+One hundred and fifty monarchs reigned there from this period until its
+destruction, in 563. The _Fes_, or triennial assembly, was instituted by
+Ollamh Fodhla. The nature of these meetings is explained in a poem,
+which Keating ascribes to O'Flynn, who died A.D. 984. It is clear that
+what was then considered crime was punished in a very peremptory manner;
+for--
+
+    "Gold was not received as retribution from him,
+    But his soul in one hour."[172]
+
+In the reign of Tuathal a portion of land was separated from each of the
+four provinces, which met together at a certain place: this portion was
+considered a distinct part of the country from the provinces. It was
+situated in the present county of Meath.
+
+In the tract separated from Munster, Tuathal[173] built the royal seat
+of Tlachtga, where the fire of Tlachtga was ordained to be kindled. On
+the night of All Saints, the druids assembled here to offer sacrifices,
+and it was established, under heavy penalties that no fire should be
+kindled on that night throughout the kingdom, so that the fire which was
+used afterwards might be procured from it. To obtain this privilege, the
+people were obliged to pay a scraball, or about three-pence, yearly, to
+the King of Munster.
+
+On the 1st of May a convocation was held in the royal palace of the King
+of Connaught. He obtained subsidies in horses and arms from those who
+came to this assembly. On this occasion two fires were lit, between
+which cattle were driven as a preventative or charm against the murrain
+and other pestilential distempers. From this custom the feast of St.
+Philip and St. James was anciently called Beltinne, or the Day of Bel's
+Fire.
+
+The third palace, erected by Tuathal, was on the portion of land taken
+from the province of Ulster. Here the celebrated fair of Tailtean was
+held, and contracts of marriage were frequently made. The royal tribute
+was raised by exacting an ounce of silver from every couple who were
+contracted and married at that time. The fair of Tailtean had been
+instituted some years before, in honour of Tailte, who was buried here.
+This fair, says Keating, was then kept upon the day known in the Irish
+language as La Lughnasa, or the day ordained by Lughaidh, and is called
+in English Lammas-day.
+
+The fourth and the most important of the royal seats was the palace of
+Temair, or Tara: here, with the greatest state and ceremony, the affairs
+of the nation were discussed and decided. On these occasions, in order
+to preserve the deliberations from the public, the most strict secrecy
+was observed, and women were entirely excluded.
+
+The Dinnseanchus, a topographical work, compiled in the twelfth century
+from ancient MSS., is the principal source of information on this
+subject. Dr. Petrie, in his famous _Essay_, has given both the original
+and translation of this tract, and of other documents on the same
+subject; and he remarks how exactly the accounts given by the poet
+historians coincide with the remains which even now exist. In fact, each
+site has been ascertained with precise accuracy--an accuracy which
+should very much enhance our appreciation of the value of our ancient
+histories.
+
+The well _Neamhnach_ was first identified. Tradition asserts that the first
+mill[174] erected in Ireland was turned by the stream which flowed from
+it, and even at the present day a mill is still worked there. The
+situation of the _Rath-na-Riogh_ was then easily ascertained. This is
+the most important of these ancient sites, but it is now, unfortunately,
+nearly levelled to the ground. This rath is oval and measures about 853
+feet from north to south; it contains the ruins of the _Forradh_ and of
+_Teach Cormac_ (the House of Cormac). A pillar-stone was removed in 1798
+to the centre of the mound of the Forradh. It formerly stood by the side
+of a small mound lying within the enclosure of Rath-Riogh. This stone
+Dr. Petrie considers identical[175] with the famous _Lia Fail_, or Stone
+of Destiny, which other authorities suppose to have been removed to
+Scotland, and subsequently to Westminster. The _Rath-na-Riogh_ is
+identical with Teamur, and is, in fact, _the_ ancient Tara, or royal
+residence, around which other scarcely less important buildings were
+gradually erected. It was also called _Cathair Crofinn_. The name of
+_Cathair_ was exclusively applied to circular stone fortifications built
+without cement; and stones still remain which probably formed a portion
+of the original building. In ancient Irish poems this fortification is
+sometimes called the Strong Tower of Teamur, an appellation never
+applied to a rath, but constantly to a _Cathair_, or circular stone
+fort.
+
+The Rath of the Synods obtained its name at a comparatively recent
+period. The situation is distinctly pointed out both in the prose and
+verse accounts. Here was held the Synod of Patrick, the Synod of Ruadhan
+and Brendan, and lastly, the Synod of Adamnan. The next existing
+monument which has been identified with certainty, is the
+_Teach-Miodhchuarta_, or Banqueting Hall, so famous in Irish history and
+bardic tradition. This was also the great house of the thousand
+soldiers, and the place where the _Fes_ or triennial assemblies were
+held. It had fourteen doors--seven to the east and seven to the west.
+Its length, taken from the road, is 759 feet, and its breadth was
+probably about 90 feet. Kenneth O'Hartigan is the great, and indeed
+almost the only authority for the magnificence and state with which the
+royal banquets were held herein. As his descriptions are written in a
+strain of eloquent and imaginative verse, his account has been too
+readily supposed to be purely fictitious. But we have already shown that
+his description of the gold vessels which were used, is amply
+corroborated by the discovery of similar articles. His account of the
+extent, if not of the exterior magnificence, of the building, has also
+been fully verified; and there remains no reason to doubt that a
+"thousand soldiers" may have attended their lord at his feasts, or that
+"three times fifty stout cooks" may have supplied the viands. There was
+also the "House of the Women," a term savouring strangely of eastern
+customs and ideas; and the "House of the Fians," or commons soldiers.
+
+Two poems are still preserved which contain ground-plans of the
+different compartments of the house, showing the position allotted to
+different ranks and occupations, and the special portion which was to be
+assigned to each. The numerous distinctions of rank, and the special
+honours paid to the learned, are subjects worthy of particular notice.
+The "_saoi_ of literature" and the "royal chief" are classed in the same
+category, and were entitled to a _primchrochait_, or steak; nor was the
+Irish method of cooking barbarous, for we find express mention of a spit
+for roasting meat, and of the skill of an artificer who contrived a
+machine by which thirty spits could be turned at once.[176] The five
+great Celtic roads[177] have already been mentioned. Indistinct traces
+of them are still found at Tara. The _Slighe Môr_ struck off from the
+Slope of the Chariots,[178] at the northern head of the hill, and joined
+the Eiscir Riada, or great Connaught road, from Dublin _via_ Trim. Dr.
+Petrie concludes his Essay on Tara thus: "But though the houses were
+unquestionably of these materials [wood and clay, with the exception of
+the Tuatha Dé Danann Cathair], it must not be inferred that they were
+altogether of a barbarous structure. It is not probable that they were
+unlike or inferior to those of the ancient Germans, of which Tacitus
+speaks in terms of praise, and which he describes as being overlaid with
+an earth so pure and splendid, that they resembled painting." And the
+historian Moore, writing on the same subject, observes: "That these
+structures were in wood is by no means conclusive either against the
+elegance of their structure, or the civilization, to a certain extent,
+of those who erected them. It was in wood that the graceful forms of
+Grecian architecture first unfolded their beauties; and there is reason
+to believe that, at the time when Xerxes invaded Greece, most of her
+temples were still of this perishable material."
+
+But the cursing of Tara was by no means the only misfortune of
+Diarmaid's reign. His unaccountable hostility to St. Columba involved
+him in many troubles; and, in addition to these, despite famine and
+pestilence, the country was afflicted with domestic wars. It is said
+that his war with Guaire, King of Connaught, was undertaken as a
+chastisement for an injustice committed by that monarch, who, according
+to an old chronicle, had deprived a woman, who had vowed herself to a
+religious life, of a cow, which was her only means of support. It is
+more probable, however, that the motive was not quite so chivalric, and
+that extortion of a tribute to which he had no right was the real cause.
+The high character for probity unanimously attributed to Guaire, makes
+it extremely unlikely that he should have committed any deliberate act
+of injustice.
+
+The first great convention of the Irish states, after the abandonment of
+Tara, was held in Drumceat, in 573, in the reign of Hugh, son of
+Ainmire. St. Columba and the leading members of the Irish clergy
+attended. Precedence was given to the saint by the prelates of North
+Britain, to honour his capacity of apostle or founder of the Church in
+that country.
+
+Two important subjects were discussed on this occasion, and on each the
+opinion of St. Columba was accepted as definitive. The first referred to
+the long-vexed question whether the Scottish colony of Alba should still
+be considered dependent on the mother country. The saint, foreseeing the
+annoyances to which a continuance of this dependence must give rise,
+advised that it should be henceforth respected as an independent state.
+The second question was one of less importance in the abstract, but far
+more difficult to settle satisfactorily. The bards, or more probably
+persons who wished to enjoy their immunities and privileges without
+submitting to the ancient laws which obliged them to undergo a long and
+severe course of study before becoming licentiates, if we may use the
+expression, of that honorable calling, had become so numerous and
+troublesome, that loud demands were made for their entire suppression.
+The king, who probably suffered from their insolence as much as any of
+his subjects, was inclined to comply with the popular wish, but yielded
+so far to the representations of St. Columba, as merely to diminish
+their numbers, and place them under stricter rules.
+
+Hugh Ainmire was killed while endeavouring to exact the Boromean
+Tribute. The place of his death was called Dunbolg, or the Fort of the
+Bags. The Leinster king, Bran Dubh, had recourse to a stratagem, from
+whence the name was derived. Finding himself unable to cope with the
+powerful army of his opponent, he entered his camp disguised as a leper,
+and spread a report that the Leinster men were preparing to submit.
+
+In the evening a number of bullocks, laden with leathern bags, were seen
+approaching the royal camp. The drivers, when challenged by the
+sentinels, said that they were bringing provisions; and this so tallied
+with the leper's tale, that they were permitted to deposit their burdens
+without further inquiry. In the night, however, an armed man sprang from
+each bag, and headed by their king, whose disguise was no longer needed,
+slaughtered the royal army without mercy, Hugh himself falling a victim
+to the personal bravery of Bran Dubh.
+
+The deaths of several Irish saints, whose lives are of more than
+ordinary interest, are recorded about this period. Amongst them, St.
+Brendan of Clonfert demands more than a passing notice. His early youth
+was passed under the care of St. Ita, a lady of the princely family of
+the Desii. By divine command she established the Convent of _Cluain
+Credhuil_, in the present county of Limerick, and there, it would
+appear, she devoted herself specially to the care of youth. When Brendan
+had attained his fifth year, he was placed under the protection of
+Bishop Ercus, from whom he received such instruction as befitted his
+advancing years. But Brendan's tenderest affection clung to the gentle
+nurse of his infancy; and to her, in after years, he frequently
+returned, to give or receive counsel and sympathy.
+
+The legend of his western voyage, if not the most important, is at least
+the most interesting part of his history. Kerry was the native home of
+the enterprising saint; and as he stood on its bold and beautiful
+shores, his naturally contemplative mind was led to inquire what
+boundaries chained that vast ocean, whose grand waters rolled in mighty
+waves beneath his feet. His thoughtful piety suggested that where there
+might be a country there might be life--human life and human souls dying
+day by day, and hour by hour, and knowing of no other existence than
+that which at best is full of sadness and decay.
+
+Traditions of a far-away land had long existed on the western coast of
+ancient Erinn. The brave Tuatha Dé Dananns were singularly expert in
+naval affairs, and their descendants were by no means unwilling to
+impart information to the saint.
+
+The venerable St. Enda, the first Abbot of Arran, was then living, and
+thither St. Brendan journeyed for counsel. Probably he was encouraged in
+his design by the holy abbot; for, he proceeded along the coast of Mayo,
+inquiring as he went for traditions of the western continent. On his
+return to Kerry, he decided to set out on the important expedition. St.
+Brendan's Hill still bears his name; and from the bay at the foot of
+this lofty eminence he sailed for the "far west." Directing his course
+towards the south-west, with a few faithful companions, in a
+well-provisioned bark, he came, after some rough and dangerous
+navigation, to calm seas, where, without aid of oar or sail, he was
+borne along for many weeks. It is probable that he had entered the great
+Gulf Stream, which brought his vessel ashore somewhere on the Virginian
+coasts. He landed with his companions, and penetrated into the interior,
+until he came to a large river flowing from east to west, supposed to be
+that now known as the Ohio. Here, according to the legend, he was
+accosted by a man of venerable bearing, who told him that he had gone
+far enough; that further discoveries were reserved for other men, who
+would in due time come and christianize that pleasant land.
+
+After an absence of seven years, the saint returned once more to
+Ireland, and lived not only to tell of the marvels he had seen, but even
+to found a college of three thousand monks at Clonfert. This voyage took
+place in the year 545, according to Colgan; but as St. Brendan must have
+been at that time at least sixty years old, an earlier date has been
+suggested as more probable.[179]
+
+The northern and southern Hy-Nials had long held rule in Ireland; but
+while the northern tribe were ever distinguished, not only for their
+valour, but for their chivalry in field or court, the southern race fell
+daily lower in the estimation of their countrymen. Their disgrace was
+completed when two kings, who ruled Erinn jointly, were treacherously
+slain by Conall Guthvin. For this crime the family were excluded from
+regal honours for several generations.
+
+Home dissensions led to fatal appeals for foreign aid, and this
+frequently from the oppressing party. Thus, Congal Caech, who killed the
+reigning sovereign in 623, fled to Britain, and after remaining there
+nine years, returned with foreign troops, by whose assistance he hoped
+to attain the honours unlawfully coveted. The famous battle of
+Magh-Rath,[180] in which the auxiliaries were utterly routed and the
+false Congal slain, unfortunately did not deter his countrymen from
+again and again attempting the same suicidal course.
+
+In 656 the country was once more visited by the fatal _Crom Chonaill_,
+and again holy prelates and sainted religious were foremost amongst its
+victims. Many orphans were of necessity thrown on the mercy of those to
+whom charity was their only claim. Nor was the call unheeded. The
+venerable Bishop of Ardbraccan, St. Ultan, whom we may perhaps term the
+St. Vincent of Ireland, gathered these hapless little ones into a safe
+asylum, and there, with a thoughtfulness which in such an age could
+scarcely have been expected, sought to supply by artificial means for
+the natural nourishment of which they had been deprived.
+
+Venerable Bede mentions this pestilence, and gives honorable testimony
+to the charity of the Irish, not only to their own people, but even to
+strangers. He says: "This pestilence did no less harm, in the island of
+Ireland. Many of the nobility and of the lower ranks of the English
+nation were there at that time, who, in the days of Bishop Finan and
+Colman, forsaking their native land, retired thither, either for the
+sake of divine studies, or for a more continent life. The Scots
+willingly received them all, and took care to supply them with food, as
+also to furnish them with books to read and their teaching gratis."[181]
+
+In 673 Finnachta Fleadhach, or the Hospitable, began his reign. He
+yielded to the entreaties of St. Moling, and remitted the Boromean
+Tribute, after he had forced it from the Leinster men in a bloody
+battle. In 687 he abdicated, and showed his respect for religion still
+further by embracing the monastic state himself. In 684 the Irish coasts
+were devastated, and even the churches pillaged, by the soldiers of
+Egfrid, the Saxon King of Northumbria. Venerable Bede attributes his
+subsequent defeat and death, when fighting against the Picts, to the
+judgment of God, justly merited by these unprovoked outrages on a nation
+which had always been most friendly to the English (_nationi Anglorum
+semper amicissimam_).
+
+It has been supposed that revenge may have influenced Egfrid's conduct:
+this, however, does not make it more justifiable in a Christian king.
+Ireland was not merely the refuge of men of learning in that age; it
+afforded shelter to more than one prince driven unjustly from his
+paternal home. Alfred, the brother of the Northumbrian monarch, had fled
+thither from his treachery, and found a generous welcome on its
+ever-hospitable shores. He succeeded his brother in the royal dignity;
+and when St. Adamnan visited his court to obtain the release of the
+Irish captives whom Egfrid's troops had torn from their native land, he
+received him with the utmost kindness, and at once acceded to his
+request.
+
+St. Adamnan, whose fame as the biographer of St. Columba has added even
+more to the lustre of his name than his long and saintly rule over the
+Monastery of Iona, was of the race of the northern Hy-Nials. He was born
+in the territory of Tir-Connell, about the year 627. Little is known of
+his early history; it is generally supposed that he was educated at
+Iona, and that, having embraced the monastic rule, he returned to his
+own country to extend its observance there. He presided over the great
+Abbey of Raphoe, of which he was the founder, until the year 679, when
+he was raised to the government of his order, and from that period he
+usually resided at Iona. The fact of his having been chosen to such an
+important office, is a sufficient testimony to his virtues, and of the
+veneration and respect in which he was held by his contemporaries.
+
+St. Adamnan paid more than one visit to his friend the Northumbrian
+monarch (_regem Alfridem amicum_). On the second occasion he went with
+the Abbot Ceolfrid, and after some conversation with him and other
+learned ecclesiastics, he adopted the Roman paschal computation. Yet,
+with all his influence and eloquence, he was unable to induce his monks
+to accept it; and it was not until the year 716 that they yielded to the
+persuasions of Egbert, a Northumbrian monk. Adamnan was more successful
+in his own country. In 697 he visited Ireland, and took an important
+part in a legislative council held at Tara. On this occasion he procured
+the enactment of a law, which was called the Canon of Adamnan, or the
+Law of the Innocents, and sometimes "the law not to kill women." We have
+already referred to the martial tendencies of the ladies of ancient
+Erinn--a tendency, however, which was by no means peculiar at that
+period of the world's history. The propensity for military engagements
+was not confined to queens and princesses--women of all ranks usually
+followed their lords to the field of battle; but as the former are
+generally represented as having fallen victims to each other's prowess
+in the fight, it appears probable that they had their own separate line
+of battle, or perhaps fought out the field in a common _mêlée_ of
+feminine forces.
+
+Had we not the abundant testimony of foreign writers to prove the
+influence and importance of the missions undertaken by Irish saints at
+this period of her history, it might be supposed that the statements of
+her annalists were tinged with that poetic fancy in which she has ever
+been so singularly prolific, and that they rather wrote of what might
+have been than of what was. But the testimony of Venerable Bede (to go
+no further) is most ample on this subject.
+
+Irish missionary zeal was inaugurated in the person of St. Columba,
+although its extension to continental Europe was commenced by another,
+who, from similarity of name, has been frequently confounded with the
+national apostle.
+
+St. Columbanus was born about the year 539. The care of his education
+was confided to the venerable Senile, who was eminent for his sanctity
+and knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. It was probably through his
+influence that the young man resolved to devote himself to the monastic
+life. For this purpose he placed himself under the direction of St.
+Comgall, who then governed the great Monastery of Bangor (Banchorr).
+
+It was not until he entered his fiftieth year that he decided on
+quitting his native land, so that there can be no reason to doubt that
+his high intellectual attainments were acquired and perfected in
+Ireland.
+
+With the blessing of his superior, and the companionship of twelve
+faithful monks, he set forth on his arduous mission; and arduous truly
+it proved to be. The half-barbarous Franks, then ruled by Thierry or
+Theodoric, lived more a pagan than a Christian life, and could ill brook
+the stern lessons of morality which they heard from, and saw practised
+by, their new teacher. The saint did not spare the demoralized court,
+and the Queen-Dowager Brunehalt became his bitterest foe. He had already
+established two monasteries: one at Luxovium, or Luxeuil, in a forest at
+the foot of the Vosges; the other, on account of its numerous springs,
+was called Ad-fontanas (Fontaines). Here the strict discipline of the
+Irish monks was rigidly observed, and the coarsest fare the only
+refection permitted to the religious.
+
+For a time they were allowed to continue their daily routine of prayer
+and penance without molestation; but the relentless Brunehalt, who, from
+the basest motives, had encouraged the young king in every vice, could
+no longer brave either the silent preaching of the cloister or the bold
+denunciations of the saint. As Columbanus found that his distant
+remonstrances had no effect on the misguided monarch, for whose eternal
+welfare he felt the deep interest of true sanctity, he determined to try
+a personal interview. For a brief space his admonitions were heard with
+respect, and even the haughty queen seemed less bent on her career of
+impiety and deceit; but the apparent conversion passed away as a summer
+breeze, and once more the saint denounced and threatened in vain.
+
+Strict enclosure had been established in the monasteries professing the
+Columbanian rule[182] and this afforded a pretext for the royal
+vengeance. Theodoric attempted to violate the sanctuary in person; but
+though he was surrounded by soldiers, he had to encounter one whose
+powers were of another and more invincible character. The saint remained
+in the sanctuary, and when the king approached addressed him sternly:
+
+"If thou, sire," he exclaimed, "art come hither to violate the
+discipline already established, or to destroy the dwellings of the
+servants of God, know that in heaven there is a just and avenging power;
+thy kingdom shall be taken from thee, and both thou and thy royal race
+shall be cut off and destroyed on the earth."
+
+The undaunted bearing of Columbanus, and, perhaps, some lingering light
+of conscience, not yet altogether extinguished, had its effect upon the
+angry monarch. He withdrew; but he left to others the task he dared not
+attempt in person. The saint was compelled by armed men to leave his
+monastery, and only his Irish and British subjects were permitted to
+bear him company. They departed in deep grief, not for the cruel
+treatment they suffered, but for their brethren from whom they were thus
+rudely torn. As the monks who were left behind clung weeping to their
+father, he consoled them with these memorable words: "God will be to you
+a Father, and reward you with mansions where the workers of sacrilege
+can never enter."
+
+Nantes was the destination of the exiled religious. Here they were put
+on board a vessel bound for Ireland; but scarcely had they reached the
+open sea, when a violent storm arose, by which the vessel was driven
+back and stranded on the shore, where it lay all night. The captain
+attributed the misfortune to his travelling companions, and refused to
+carry them any farther. Columbanus, perceiving in this accident an
+indication of the will of heaven in their regard, determined to seek a
+settlement in some other part of the Continent. In the third year after
+his expulsion from Luxeuil, he arrived at Milan, where he was hospitably
+received by the Lombard king, A.D. 612. On his journey thither he had
+evangelised Austrasia, then governed by Theodebert. This prince, though
+a brother of the monarch by whom he had been expelled, entertained him
+with the utmost courtesy. At Mentz, the bishop vainly endeavoured to
+detain him. Zeal for the conversion of souls led the saint to desire a
+less cultivated field of labour. As he passed along the Lake of Zurich,
+and in the Canton of Zug, he reaped a rich harvest; from, thence he
+directed his course to Bregentz, then inhabited by an idolatrous people.
+
+Here he was repulsed by those who most needed his apostolic labours;
+but, undaunted, he retired to the neighbouring county, where he secured
+a band of zealous converts. Surrounded by these, and attended by his
+faithful monks, he once more entered the idolatrous city, and proceeded
+boldly to the temple where their false gods were enshrined. Here he
+invoked the Holy Name, and by its power the idols were miraculously
+overthrown, and a multitude of the people were converted, including in
+their number some of the principal inhabitants of Bregentz.
+
+The theological controversy, known as that of the "Three Chapters," was
+now prevalent in northern Italy. A letter is still extant which St.
+Columbanus addressed to Pope Boniface on this subject, in which, while
+he uses the privilege of free discussion on questions not defined by the
+Church, he is remarkably, and perhaps for some inconveniently, explicit
+as to his belief in papal supremacy. A brief extract from this important
+document will show that the faith for which Ireland has suffered, and
+still suffers so much, was the same in the "early ages" as it is now. He
+writes thus to the Holy Father:--
+
+"For we Irish [Scoti] are disciples of St. Peter and St. Paul, and of
+all the divinely inspired canonical writers, adhering constantly to the
+evangelical and apostolical doctrine. Amongst us neither Jew, heretic,
+nor schismatic can be found; but the Catholic faith, entire and
+unshaken, precisely as we have received it from you, who are the
+successors of the holy Apostles. For, as I have already said, we are
+attached to the chair of St. Peter; and although Rome is great and
+renowned, yet with us it is great and distinguished only on account of
+that apostolic chair. Through the two Apostles of Christ you are almost
+celestial, and Rome is the head of the churches of the world."[183]
+
+In the year 613 St. Columbanus founded the world-famed Monastery of
+Bovium, or Bobbio,[184] in a magnificently romantic site on the
+Apennines. Near his church was an oratory dedicated to the Mother of
+God, who, as we shall presently see, was as devoutly worshipped in
+ancient as in modern Erinn.
+
+Agilulph, the Lombardian monarch, was ever a warm patron of the monks.
+Clothaire had now ascended the French throne. He earnestly pressed the
+saint to return to Luxeuil, but Columbanus excused himself on the plea
+of age and infirmities. He did not fail, however, to send advice for the
+government of the monasteries which he had founded, where his rule had
+continued to be observed with the utmost fervour.
+
+St. Columbanus died at Bobbio, on the 21st of November, 615, at the age
+of seventy-two years. His name is still preserved in the town of St.
+Columbano. His memory has been ever venerated in France and Italy.
+
+While the saint was evangelizing in Switzerland, one of his disciples
+became seriously ill, and was unable to travel farther. It was a
+providential sickness for the Helvetians. The monk was an eloquent
+preacher, and well acquainted with their language, which was a dialect
+of that of the Franks. He evangelized the country, and the town of St.
+Gall still bears the name of the holy Irishman, while his abbey contains
+many precious relics of the literature and piety of his native land. St.
+Gall died on the 16th October, 645, at a very advanced age. The
+monastery was not erected until after his decease, and it was not till
+the year 1798 that the abbey lands were aggregated to the Swiss
+Confederation as one of the cantons.
+
+Another Irish saint, who evangelized in France, was St. Fiacre. He
+erected a monastery to the Blessed Virgin in a forest near Meaux. The
+fame of his sanctity became so great, and the pilgrimage to his tomb so
+popular, that the French hackney coaches _(fiacre)_ obtained their name
+from their constant employment in journeys to his shrine.
+
+About the same period, St. Fursey founded a monastery near Burgh Castle,
+in Suffolk, where he was kindly received by Sigbert, King of the East
+Angles. From thence he proceeded to Lagny, in France, where his
+missionary zeal was long remembered. His brothers, St. Foillan and St.
+Altan, were his constant companions. St. Fursey died on the 16th
+January, 650, at Macerius. His remains were subsequently translated to
+Peronne, in Picardy. The evangelic labours of many of his Irish
+disciples, are matter of history in the Gallic Church. It is said that
+the fame of the Irish for their skill in music, was so well known on the
+Continent at this period, that St. Gertrude, daughter of King Pepin, and
+Abbess of Nivelle, in Brabant, invited the brothers of St. Fursey to
+instruct her community in sacred music. They complied with her request,
+and soon after erected a monastery at Fosse, near Nivelle. Nor were the
+Scoti without their missionary martyrs, amongst whom the great St.
+Kilian holds a distinguished place. The spirit of devotion to the Holy
+See seems almost to be an heirloom in the little island of the western
+sea. True to the instincts of his native land, the martyr-saint would
+not undertake his mission in Franconia, great as was its necessity,
+until he knelt at the feet of the Vicar of Christ to obtain his
+permission and blessing. Thus fortified, he commenced his glorious race,
+so happily crowned with the martyr's palm. His bold rebuke of the open
+scandal given by the conduct of the ruling prince, was the immediate
+cause of his obtaining this favour. St. Kilian was assassinated at
+midnight, while singing the Divine Office, with two of his faithful
+companions. Their remains were interred in the church of Wurtzberg,
+where St. Kilian is still revered as its patron and apostle.
+
+We can but name St. Mailduf, from whom Malmsbury has been named; St.
+Livin, who converted the inhabitants of Flanders and Brabant; St.
+Cataldus and his brother, St. Donatus, the former patron of the
+metropolitan see of Tarentum, and whose name is still preserved in the
+little town of _San Cataldo_, the latter Bishop of Lecce, in the kingdom
+of Naples, and both famous for miracles and sanctity of life; St.
+Virgilius, called in the ancient annals "Ferghil the Geometer," and by
+Latin writers Solivagus,[185] or the "solitary wanderer," who died
+Bishop of Saltzburg, distinguished for literary fame; St. Fridolin, "the
+traveller," son of an Irish king, who evangelized Thuringia, and was
+appointed by the Pope Bishop of Buraburgh, near Fritzlar, in the year
+741; St. Sedulius the younger, who wrote commentaries on Holy Scripture,
+and assisted at a council held in Rome, in the year 721, under Gregory
+II. It is noticeable that this saint was consecrated Bishop of Oreto, in
+Spain, while in Rome. When he entered on the mission thus confided to
+him, he wrote a treatise to prove that, being Irish, he was of Spanish
+descent; thus showing that at this period the idea of a Milesian origin
+was common to men of learning in Ireland.[186]
+
+But if Ireland gave saints and martyrs to foreign lands, her charity was
+in some measure repaid in kind. True, she needed not the evangelic
+labours of other missionaries, for the gospel-seed had taken deep root,
+and borne a rich harvest on her happy shores; still, as the prayers of
+saints are the very life and joy of the Church, she could not choose but
+rejoice in the hundreds of pure and saintly souls who gathered round her
+altars at home, who crowded her monasteries, or listened devoutly to the
+teachers of her distinguished schools. In the Litany of Aengus the
+Culdee[187] we find hundreds of foreign saints invoked, each grouped
+according to their nation. "The oldest tract, or collection of the
+pedigrees of the saints of Erinn," says Professor O'Curry, "of which we
+have now any recognizable copy remaining, is that which is ascribed to
+Aengus Ceilé Dé, commonly called Aengus the Culdee. The genuineness of
+this composition is admitted by all writers of modern times, Protestant
+and Catholic, by Usher and Ware as well as by Colgan."
+
+Aengus wrote about the year 798. He was descended from the illustrious
+chieftains of Dalriada, and completed his education in the Monastery of
+Cluain Eidhneach, in the present Queen's county. The remains of a church
+he founded at Disert Aengusa, near Ballingarry, in the county of
+Limerick, may still be seen.
+
+The Monastery of Tamhlacht (Tallaght), near Dublin, was founded in the
+year 769, by St. Maelruain, on a site offered "to God, to Michael the
+Archangel, and to Maelruain," by Donnach, the pious and illustrious King
+of Leinster. St. Aengus presented himself at this monastery as a poor
+man seeking for service, and was employed for some time in charge of the
+mill or kiln, the ruins of which have but lately yielded to "the
+improving hand of modern progress." Here he remained hidden for many
+years, until, by some happy accident, his humility and his learning were
+at once discovered.
+
+Aengus composed his "Festology" in the reign of Hugh Oirdnidhe (the
+Legislator), who was Monarch of Ireland from the year 793 to the year
+817. Hugh commenced his reign by attaching the province of Leinster, and
+then marched to the confines of Meath. The Archbishop of Armagh and all
+his clergy were commanded to attend this expedition, for such had
+hitherto been the custom. The ecclesiastics, however, protested against
+the summons, and complained to the king of the injustice and
+inconsistency of demanding their presence on such occasions. Hugh
+referred the matter to Fothadh, his poet and adviser. The learning and
+piety of the bard were well known; and a decision favourable to the
+clergy was the result. This decision was given in a short poem of four
+quatrains which is preserved in the preface to the "Martyrology" of
+Aengus. The following is a literal translation:--
+
+    "The Church of the living God,
+    Touch her not, nor waste;
+    Let her rights be reserved,
+    As best ever they were.
+
+    "Every true monk who is
+    Possessed of a pious conscience,
+    To the church to which it is due
+    Let him act as any servant.
+
+    "Every faithful servant from that out,
+    Who is not bound by vows of obedience,
+    Has liberty to join in the battles
+    Of Aedh (Hugh) the Great, son of Nial.
+
+    "This is the proper rule,
+    Certain it is not more, not less:
+    Let every one serve his lot,
+    Without defect, and without refusal."
+
+This decision obtained the name of a canon, and henceforth its author
+was distinguished as _Fothadh na Canoiné_, or Fothadh of the Canons.
+
+At the time of the promulgation of this canon, Aengus was residing at
+his church of Disert Bethech, near the present town of Monasterevan, not
+far from where the Irish monarch had pitched his camp.
+
+The poet visited Aengus, and showed him the canon before presenting it
+to the king. An intimacy was thus commenced, which must have proved one
+of singular pleasure to both parties. Aengus had just finished his
+"Festology," and showed it for the first time to his brother poet, who
+expressed the warmest approbation of the work.
+
+This composition consists of three parts. The first part is a poem of
+five quatrains, invoking the grace and sanctification of Christ for the
+poet and his undertaking:--
+
+    "Sanctify, O Christ! my words:
+    O Lord of the seven heavens!
+    Grant me the gift of wisdom,
+    O Sovereign of the bright sun!
+
+    "O bright Sun, who dost illuminate
+    The heavens with all Thy holiness!
+    O King, who governest the angels!
+    O Lord of all the people!
+
+    "O Lord of the people!
+    O King, all righteous and good!
+    May I receive the full benefit
+    Of praising Thy royal hosts.
+
+    "Thy royal hosts I praise,
+    Because Thou art my sovereign;
+    I have disposed my mind
+    To be constantly beseeching Thee.
+
+    "I beseech a favour from Thee,
+    That I be purified from my sins,
+    Through the peaceful bright-shining flock,
+    The royal host whom I celebrate."
+
+Then follows a metrical preface, consisting of eighty stanzas. These
+verses are in the same measure[188] as the invocation, Englished by
+modern Gaedhilic scholars as "chain-verse;" that is, an arrangement of
+metre by which the first words of every succeeding quatrain are
+identical with the last words of the preceding one.
+
+After the invocation follows a preface, the second part of this
+remarkable poem. In this there is a glowing account of the tortures and
+sufferings of the early Christian martyrs; it tells "how the names of
+the persecutors are forgotten, while the names of their victims are
+remembered with honour, veneration, and affection; how Pilate's wife is
+forgotten, while the Blessed Virgin Mary is remembered and honoured from
+the uttermost bounds of the earth to its centre." The martyrology
+proper, or festology, comes next, and consists of 365 quatrains, or a
+stanza for each day in the year.
+
+It commences with the feast of the Circumcision:--
+
+    "At the head of the congregated saints
+    Let the King take the front place;
+    Unto the noble dispensation did submit
+    Christ--on the kalends of January."
+
+St. Patrick is commemorated thus, on the 17th of March:--
+
+    "The blaze of a splendid sun,
+    The apostle of stainless Erinn,
+    Patrick, with his countless thousands,
+    May he shelter our wretchedness."
+
+On the 13th of April, Bishop Tussach, one of the favourite companions of
+the great saint, is also mentioned as--
+
+    "The kingly bishop Tussach,
+    Who administered, on his arrival,
+    The Body of Christ, the truly powerful King,
+    And the Communion to Patrick."
+
+It will be remembered it was from this saint that the great apostle
+received the holy viaticum. In the third division of his great work,
+Aengus explains its use, and directs the people how to read it.
+
+It will be manifest from these poems that the religious principles of
+the Culdees and of the Irish ecclesiastics generally, were those of the
+Universal Church at this period. We find the rights of the Church
+respected and advocated; the monarchs submitting to the decision of the
+clergy; invocation of the saints; the practice of administering the holy
+viaticum; and the commemoration of the saints on the days devoted to
+their honour.
+
+Usher observes, that the saints of this period might be grouped into a
+fourth order.[189] Bede says: "That many of the Scots [Irish] came daily
+into Britain, and with great devotion preached the word and administered
+baptism.... The English, great and small, were by their Scottish [Irish]
+masters instructed in the rules and observances of regular
+discipline."[190] Eric of Auxerre writes thus to Charles the Bald: "What
+shall I say of Ireland, which, despising the dangers of the deep, is
+migrating with her whole train of philosophers to our coast?" Rency,
+after describing the poetry and literature of ancient Erinn as perhaps
+the most cultivated of all Western Europe, adds, that Ireland "counted a
+host of saints and learned men, venerated in England[191] and Gaul; for
+no country had furnished more Christian missionaries." It is said that
+three thousand students, collected from all parts of Europe, attended
+the schools of Armagh; and, indeed, the regulations which were made for
+preserving scholastic discipline, are almost sufficient evidence on this
+subject.
+
+The discussions of the Irish and English ecclesiastics on the time of
+keeping of Easter, with their subsequent decision, and all details
+concerning domestic regulations as to succession to office and church
+lands, are more properly matters for elucidation in a Church History,
+for which we reserve their consideration.
+
+[Illustration: ANCIENT ADZE, FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE ROYAL IRISH
+ACADEMY.]
+
+[Illustration: CROSS AT FINGLAS.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[169] _Blefed_.--The name _Crom Chonaill_ indicates a sickness which
+produced a yellow colour in the skin.
+
+[170] _Sanctuary_.--This may appear a severe punishment, but the right
+of sanctuary was in these ages the great means of protection against
+lawless force, and its violation was regarded as one of the worst of
+sacrileges.
+
+[171] _Oak_.--Dr. Petrie mentions that there were stones still at Tara
+which probably formed a portion of one of the original buildings. It was
+probably of the Pelasgian or Cyclopean kind.
+
+[172] _Hour_.--Petrie's _Tara_, p. 31.
+
+[173] _Tuathal_.--Very ancient authorities are found for this in the
+_Leabhar Gabhala_, or Book of Conquests.
+
+[174] _Mill_.--"Cormac, the grandson of Con, brought a millwright over
+the great sea." It is clear from the Brehon laws that mills were common
+in Ireland at an early period. It is probable that Cormac brought the
+"miller and his men" from Scotland. Whittaker shows that a water-mill
+was erected by the Romans at every stationary city in Roman Britain. The
+origin of mills is attributed to Mithridates, King of Cappadocia, about
+seventy years B.C. The present miller claims to be a descendant of the
+original miller.
+
+[175] _Identical_.--First, "because the _Lia Fail_ is spoken of by all
+ancient Irish writers in such a manner as to leave no doubt that it
+remained in its original situation at the time they wrote." Second,
+"because no Irish account of its removal to Scotland is found earlier
+than Keating, and he quotes Boetius, who obviously wished to sustain the
+claims of the Stuarts." The pillar-stone is composed of granular
+limestone, but no stone of this description is found in the vicinity. As
+may be supposed, there are all kinds of curious traditions about this
+stone. One of these asserts that it was the pillar on which Jacob
+reposed when he saw the vision of angels. Josephus states that the
+descendants of Seth invented astronomy, and that they _engraved their
+discoveries on a pillar of brick and a pillar of stone_. These pillars
+remained, in the historian's time, in the land of Siris.--_Ant. Jud_. l.
+2, § 3.
+
+[176] _At once_.--See Petrie's _Tara_, p. 213.
+
+[177] _Roads_.--See Napoleon's _Julius Cæsar_, vol. ii. p. 22, for
+mention of the Celtic roads in Gaul.
+
+[178] _Chariots_.--St. Patrick visited most parts of Ireland in a
+chariot, according to the Tripartite Life. _Carbad_ or chariots are
+mentioned in the oldest Celtic tales and romances, and it is distinctly
+stated in the life of St. Patrick preserved in the Book of Armagh, that
+the pagan Irish had chariots. Different kinds of roads are expressly
+mentioned, and also the duty of road-mending, and those upon whom this
+duty devolved. See Introduction to the Book of Rights, p. 56.
+
+[179] _Probable_.--The legend of St. Brendan was widely diffused in the
+Middle Ages. In the _Bibliothéque Impériale_, at Paris, there are no
+less than eleven MSS. of the original Latin legend, the dates of which
+vary from the eleventh to the fourteenth century. In the old French and
+Romance dialects there are abundant copies in most public libraries in
+France; while versions in Irish, Dutch, German, Italian, Spanish, and
+Portuguese, abound in all parts of the Continent. Traces of
+ante-Columbian voyages to America are continually cropping up. But the
+appearance, in 1837, of the _Antiquitates Americanæ sive ita Scriptores
+Septentrionales rerum ante-Columbiarum_, in America, edited by Professor
+Rafu, at Copenhagen, has given final and conclusive evidence on this
+interesting subject. America owes its name to an accidental landing. Nor
+is it at all improbable that the Phoenicians, in their voyage across the
+stormy Bay of Biscay, or the wild Gulf of Guinea, may have been driven
+far out of their course to western lands. Even in 1833 a Japanese junk
+was wrecked upon the coast of Oregon. Humboldt believes that the Canary
+Isles were known, not only to the Phoenicians, but "perhaps even to the
+Etruscans." There is a map in the Library of St. Mark, at Venice, made
+in the year 1436, where an island is delineated and named Antillia. See
+Trans. R.I.A. vol. xiv. A distinguished modern poet of Ireland has made
+the voyage of St. Brendan the subject of one of the most beautiful of
+his poems.
+
+[180] _Magh-Rath_.--Now Moira, in the county Down. The Chronicum
+Scotorum gives the date 636, and the Annals of Tighernach at 637, which
+Dr. O'Donovan considers to be the true date.
+
+[181] _Gratis_.--Ven. Bede, cap. xxviii.
+
+[182] _Rule_.--"The light which St. Columbanus disseminated, by his
+knowledge and doctrine, wherever he presented himself, caused a
+contemporary writer to compare him to the sun in his course from east to
+west; and he continued after his death to shine forth in numerous
+disciples whom he had trained in learning and piety."--_Benedictine
+Hist. Litt. de la France_.
+
+[183] _World_.--See Herring's _Collectanea_ and the _Bibliotheca
+Patrum_, tom. xii.
+
+[184] _Bobbio_.--My learned friend, the Rev. J.P. Gaffney, of Clontarf,
+has in his possession a printed copy of the celebrated _Bobbio Missal_.
+It is contained in a work entitled "MUSEUM ITALICUM, seu collectio
+Veterum Scriptorum ex Bibliothesis Italicis," eruta a D.J. Mabillon et
+D.M. Germain, presbyteris et monachis, Benedictinæ, Cong. S. Mauré. This
+work was published at Paris in 1687. The original Missal was discovered
+by Mabillon two hundred years ago, and is at present preserved in the
+Ambrosian Library at Milan. It dates from the seventh century, and is no
+doubt the identical Missal or Mass-book used by the saint. As my friend
+has allowed me to retain the treasure for a time, I intend to give full
+details on the subject in my Ecclesiastical History. For further
+information at present, I refer the reader to the Rev. J.P. Gaffney's
+_Religion of the Ancient Irish Church_ p. 43, and to Dr. Moran's learned
+_Essays_, p. 287. I especially request the superiors of religious orders
+to afford me any information in their possession concerning the history
+of their respective orders in Ireland, and also of their several houses.
+Details of re-erections of religious houses on old sites are
+particularly desired. All books or documents which may be forwarded to
+me shall be carefully returned.
+
+[185] _Solivagus_.--Four Masters, p. 391.
+
+[186] _Ireland_.--The elder Sedulius, whose hymns are even now used by
+the Church, lived in the fifth century. The hymn, _A solis ortis
+cardine_, and many others, are attributed to him.
+
+[187] _Culdee_.--There was much dispute at one time as to the origin and
+true character of the Culdees. The question, however, has been quite set
+at rest by the researches of recent Irish scholars. Professor O'Curry
+traces them up to the time of St. Patrick. He thinks they were
+originally mendicant monks, and that they had no communities until the
+end of the eighth century, when St. Maelruain of Tallaght drew up a rule
+for them. This rule is still extant. Mr. Haverty (_Irish History_, p.
+110) has well observed, they probably resembled the Tertiaries, or Third
+Orders, which belong to the Orders of St. Dominic and St. Francis at the
+present day. See also Dr. Reeves' _Life of St. Columba,_ for some clear
+and valuable remarks on this subject.
+
+[188] _Measure_.--The subject of Irish poetical composition would demand
+a considerable space if thoroughly entertained. Zeuss has done admirable
+justice to the subject in his _Grammatica Celtica_, where he shows that
+the word rhyme [_rimum_] is of Irish origin. The Very Rev. U. Burke has
+also devoted some pages to this interesting investigation, in his
+_College Irish Grammar_. He observes that the phonetic framework in
+which the poetry of a people is usually fashioned, differs in each of
+the great national families, even as their language and genius differ.
+He also shows that the earliest Latin ecclesiastical poets were Irish,
+and formed their hymns upon the rules of Irish versification; thus quite
+controverting the theory that rhyme was introduced by the Saracens in
+the ninth century.
+
+[189] _Order_.--This refers to the vision in which St. Patrick is said
+to have seen three orders of saints, who should succeed each other in
+Ireland.
+
+[190] _Discipline_.--Bede, lib. iii. cap. 3. We have used Bohn's
+translation, as above all suspicion.
+
+[191] _England_.--Camden says: "At that age the Anglo-Saxons repaired on
+all sides to Ireland as to a general mart of learning, whence we read,
+in our writers, of holy men, that they went to study in
+Ireland"--_Amandatus est ad disciplinam in Hiberniam_.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+Christianity improves the Social State of Ireland--A Saxon Invasion of
+Ireland--Domestic Wars--The English come to Ireland for Instruction--A
+Famine and Tempests--The First Danish Invasion--Cruelty of the
+Danes--The Black and White Gentiles--King Cormac Mac
+Cullinan--Cashel--Amlaff the Dane--Plunder of the Towns--Arrival of
+Sitric--Death of Nial Glundubh--The Circuit of Ireland--Malachy the
+Second--Entries in the Annals.
+
+[A.D. 693-926.]
+
+
+Very few events of any special interest occur between the commencement
+of the seventh century and the Danish invasion. The obituaries of
+ecclesiastics and details of foreign missions, which we have already
+recorded, are its salient points. The wars of the Saxon Heptarchy and
+the Celtic Pentarchy almost synchronize, though we find several Irish
+kings influenced by the examples of sanctity with which they were
+surrounded, and distinguished for piety, while Charlemagne pronounces
+their neighbours a perfidious and perverse race, worse than pagans.
+There can be no doubt that Charlemagne's high opinion of the Irish was
+caused by the fact, that so many of the heads of his schools were of
+that nation, which was then in the vanguard of civilization and
+progress. The cloister, always the nursery of art, the religious, always
+the promoters of learning, were pre-eminent in this age for their
+devotion to literary pursuits. In the present work it is impossible to
+give details of their MSS. still preserved, of their wonderful skill in
+caligraphy, still the admiration of the most gifted, and of the
+perfection to which they brought the science of music; but I turn from
+this attractive subject with less regret, from the hope of being soon
+able to produce an Ecclesiastical History of Ireland, in which such
+details will find their proper place, and will be amply expanded.[192]
+The revolution of social feeling which was effected in Ireland by the
+introduction of Christianity, is strongly marked. Before the advent of
+St. Patrick, few Irish monarchs died a natural death--ambition or
+treachery proved a sufficient motive for murder and assassination; while
+of six kings who reigned during the eighth and ninth centuries, only one
+died a violent death, and that death was an exception, which evidently
+proved the rule, for Nial was drowned in a generous effort to save the
+life of one of his own servants.
+
+The fatal pestilence, already recorded, did not appear again after its
+severe visitation, which terminated in 667. In 693 Finnachta Fleadhach
+(the Hospitable) commenced his reign. He remitted the Boromean Tribute
+at the request of St. Moling, and eventually abdicated, and embraced a
+religious life. In the year 684, Egfrid, the Saxon King of
+Northumberland, sent an army to Ireland, which spared neither churches
+nor monasteries, and carried off a great number of the inhabitants as
+slaves. Bede denounces and laments this barbarous invasion, attributing
+the defeat and death of King Egfrid, which took place in the following
+year, to the vengeance of heaven.[193] St. Adamnan was sent to
+Northumbria, after the death of this prince, to obtain the release of
+the captives. His mission was successful, and he was honoured there as
+the worker of many miracles.
+
+The generosity of Finnachta failed in settling the vexed question of
+tribute. Comgal, who died in 708, ravaged Leinster as fiercely as his
+predecessors, and Fearghal, his successor, invaded it "five times in one
+year." Three wonderful showers are said to have fallen in the eighth
+year of his reign (A.D. 716 according to the Four Masters)--a shower of
+silver, a shower of honey, and a shower of blood. These were, of course,
+considered portents of the awful Danish invasions. Fearghal was killed
+at the battle of Almhain (Allen, near Kildare), in 718. In this
+engagement, the Leinster men only numbered nine thousand, while their
+opponents numbered twenty-one thousand. The Leinster men, however, made
+up for numbers by their valour; and it is said that the intervention of
+a hermit, who reproached Fearghal with breaking the pacific promise of
+his predecessor, contributed to the defeat of the northern forces.
+Another battle took place in 733, when Hugh Allan, King of Ireland, and
+Hugh, son of Colgan, King of Leinster, engaged in single combat. The
+latter was slain, and the Leinster men "were killed, slaughtered, cut
+off, and dreadfully exterminated." In fact, the Leinster men endured so
+many "dreadful exterminations," that one almost marvels how any of their
+brave fellows were left for future feats of arms. The "northerns were
+joyous after this victory, for they had wreaked their vengeance and
+their animosity upon the Leinster men," nine thousand of whom were
+slain. St. Samhthann, a holy nun, who died in the following year, is
+said to have predicted the fate of Aedh, Comgal's son, if the two Aedhs
+(Hughs) met. Aedh Allan commemorated her virtues in verse, and concludes
+thus:--
+
+    "In the bosom of the Lord, with a pure death, Samhthann passed
+          from her sufferings."
+
+Indeed, the Irish kings of this period manifested their admiration of
+peaceful living, and their desire for holy deaths, in a more practical
+way than by poetic encomiums on others. In 704 Beg Boirche "took a
+pilgrim's staff, and died on his pilgrimage." In 729 Flahertach
+renounced his regal honours, and retired to Armagh, where he died. In
+758 Donal died on a pilgrimage at Iona, after a reign of twenty years;
+and in 765 his successor, Nial Frassagh, abdicated the throne, and
+became a monk at Iona. Here he died in 778, and was buried in the tomb
+of the Irish kings in that island.
+
+An Irish poet, who died in 742, is said to have played a clever trick on
+the "foreigners" of Dublin. He composed a poem for them, and then
+requested payment for his literary labours. The _Galls,_[194] who were
+probably Saxons, refused to meet his demand, but Rumrann said he would
+be content with two _pinguins_ (pennies) from every good man, and one
+from each bad one. The result may be anticipated. Rumrann is described
+as "an adept in wisdom, chronology, and poetry;" we might perhaps add,
+and in knowledge of human nature. In the Book of Ballymote he is called
+the Virgil of Ireland. A considerable number of Saxons were now in the
+country; and it is said that a British king, named Constantine, who had
+become a monk, was at that time Abbot of Rahen, in the King's county,
+and that at Cell-Belaigh there were seven streets[195] of those
+foreigners. Gallen, in the King's county, was called Galin of the
+Britons, and Mayo was called Mayo of the Saxons, from the number of
+monasteries therein, founded by members of these nations.
+
+The entries during the long reign of Domhnall contain little save
+obituaries of abbots and saints. The first year of the reign of Nial
+Frassagh is distinguished by a shower of silver, a shower of wheat, and
+a shower of honey. The Annals of Clonmacnois say that there was a most
+severe famine throughout the whole kingdom during the early part of his
+reign, so much that the king himself had very little to live upon. Then
+the king prayed very fervently to God, being in company with seven holy
+bishops; and he asked that he might die rather than see so many of his
+faithful subjects perishing, while he was helpless to relieve them. At
+the conclusion of his prayer, the "three showers" fell from heaven; and
+then the king and the seven bishops gave great thanks to the Lord.
+
+But a more terrible calamity than famine was even then impending, and,
+if we may believe the old chroniclers, not without marvellous
+prognostications of its approach. In the year 767 there occurred a most
+fearful storm of thunder and lightning, with "terrific and horrible
+signs." It would appear that the storm took place while a fair was going
+on, which obtained the name of the "Fair of the clapping of hands." Fear
+and horror seized the men of Ireland, so that their religious seniors
+ordered them to make two fasts, together with fervent prayer, and one
+meal between them, to protect and save them from a pestilence, precisely
+at Michaelmas.[196]
+
+The first raid of the Danish pirates is recorded thus: "The age of
+Christ 790 [_recte_ 795]. The twenty-fifth year of Donnchadh. The
+burning of Reachrainn[197] by plunderers; and its shrines were broken
+and plundered." They had already attacked the English coasts, "whilst
+the pious King Bertric was reigning over its western division." Their
+arrival was sudden and so unexpected, that the king's officer took them
+for merchants, paying with his life for the mistake.[198] A Welsh
+chronicle, known by the name of _Brut y Tywysogion_, or the Chronicle of
+the Chieftains, has a corresponding record under the year 790: "Ten
+years with fourscore and seven hundred was the age of Christ when the
+pagans went to Ireland." Three MSS. add, "and destroyed Rechren."
+Another chronicle mentions, that the black pagans, who were the first of
+their nation to land in Ireland, had previously been defeated in
+Glamorganshire, and after their defeat they had invaded Ireland, and
+devastated Rechru.
+
+If by bravery we understand utter recklessness of life, and utter
+recklessness in inflicting cruelties on others, then the Vikings may be
+termed brave. The heroism of patient endurance was a bravery but little
+understood at that period. If the heathen Viking was brave when he
+plundered and burned monastic shrines--when he massacred the defenceless
+with wanton cruelty--when he flung little children on the points of
+spears, and gloated over their dying agonies; perhaps we may also admit
+those who endured such torments, either in their own persons, or in the
+persons of those who were dear to them, and yet returned again and again
+to restore the shrine so rudely destroyed, have also their claim to be
+termed brave, and may demand some commendation for that virtue from
+posterity.
+
+As plunder was the sole object of these barbarians, they naturally
+sought it first where it could be obtained most easily and surely. The
+islands on the Irish coast were studded with monasteries. Their position
+was chosen as one which seemed peculiarly suitable for a life of retreat
+from worldly turmoil, and contemplation of heavenly things. They were
+richly endowed, for ancient piety deemed it could never give enough to
+God. The shrines were adorned with jewels, purchased with the wealth
+which the monks had renounced for their own use; the sacred vessels were
+costly, the gifts of generous hearts. The Danes commenced their work of
+plunder and devastation in the year 795. Three years after, A.D. 798,
+they ravaged Inis-patrick of Man and the Hebrides. In 802 they burned
+"Hi-Coluim-Cille." In 806 they attacked the island again, and killed
+sixty-eight of the laity and clergy. In 807 they became emboldened by
+success, and for the first time marched inland; and after burning
+Inishmurray, they attacked Roscommon. During the years 812 and 813 they
+made raids in Connaught and Munster, but not without encountering stout
+resistance from the native forces. After this predatory and internecine
+warfare had continued for about thirty years, Turgesius, a Norwegian
+prince, established himself as sovereign of the Vikings, and made Armagh
+his head-quarters, A.D. 830. If the Irish chieftains had united their
+forces, and acted in concert, the result would have been the expulsion
+of the intruders; but, unhappily, this unity of purpose in matters
+political has never existed. The Danes made and broke alliances with the
+provincial kings at their own convenience, while these princes gladly
+availed themselves of even temporary assistance from their cruel foes,
+while engaged in domestic wars, which should never have been undertaken.
+Still the Northmen were more than once driven from the country by the
+bravery of the native commanders, and they often paid dearly for the
+cruel wrongs they inflicted on their hapless victims. Sometimes the
+Danish chiefs mustered all their forces, and left the island for a brief
+period, to ravage the shores of England or Scotland; but they soon
+returned to inflict new barbarities on the unfortunate Irish.[199]
+
+Burning churches or destroying monasteries was a favourite pastime of
+these pirates, wherever they could obtain a landing on Christian shores;
+and the number of religious houses in Ireland afforded them abundant
+means of gratifying their barbarous inclinations. But when they became
+so far masters as to have obtained some permanent settlement, this mode
+of proceeding was considered either more troublesome or less profitable
+than that of appropriating to themselves the abbeys and churches.
+Turgesius, it is said, placed an abbot of his own in every monastery;
+and as he had already conferred ecclesiastical offices on himself and on
+his lady, we may presume he was not very particular in his selections.
+The villages, too, were placed under the rule of a Danish captain; and
+each family was obliged to maintain a soldier of that nation, who made
+himself master of the house, using and wasting the food for lack of
+which the starving children of the lawful owner were often dying of
+hunger.
+
+All education was strictly forbidden; books and manuscripts were burned
+and _drowned;_ and the poets, historians, and musicians imprisoned and
+driven to the woods and mountains. Martial sports were interdicted, from
+the lowest to the highest rank. Even nobles and princes were forbidden
+to wear their usual habiliments, the cast-off clothes of the Danes being
+considered sufficiently good for slaves.
+
+The clergy, who had been driven from their monasteries, concealed
+themselves as best they could, continuing still their prayers and fasts,
+and the fervent recital of the Divine Office. The Irish, true to their
+faith in every trial, were not slow to attribute their deliverance to
+the prayers of these holy men.
+
+In 831 Nial Caille led an army against them, and defeated them at Derry;
+but in the meanwhile, Felim, King of Cashel, with contemptible
+selfishness, marched into Leinster to claim tribute, and plundered every
+one, except the Danes, who should have been alone considered as enemies
+at such a time. Even the churches were not spared by him, for he laid
+waste the termon-lands of Clonmacnois, "up to the church door." After
+his death,[200] A.D. 843, a brave and good king came to the rescue of
+his unfortunate country. While still King of Meath, Meloughlin had freed
+the nation from Turgesius, one of its worst tyrants, by drowning him in
+Lough Owel. His death was a signal for a general onslaught on the Danes.
+The people rose simultaneously, and either massacred their enemies, or
+drove them to their ships. In 846 Meloughlin met their forces at Skreen,
+where they were defeated; they also suffered a reverse at Kildare.
+
+The Danes themselves were now divided into two parties--the Dubh Galls,
+or Black Gentiles; and the Finn Galls, or White Gentiles. A fierce
+conflict took place between them in the year 850, in which the Dubh
+Galls conquered.[201] In the following year, however, both parties
+submitted to Amlaff, son of the Norwegian king; and thus their power was
+once more consolidated. Amlaff remained in Dublin; his brothers, Sitric
+and Ivar, stationed themselves in Waterford and Limerick. A great
+meeting was now convened by the ecclesiastics of Ireland at Rathugh, for
+the purpose of establishing peace and concord amongst the native
+princes. The northern Hy-Nials alone remained belligerent; and to defend
+themselves, pursued the usual suicidal course of entering into an
+alliance with the Danes. Upon the death of the Irish monarch, the
+northern chief, Hugh Finnlaith, succeeded to the royal power; broke his
+treaty with Amlaff, which had been only one of convenience; and turned
+his arms vigorously against the foreigners. This prince was married to a
+daughter of Kenneth M'Alpine, the first sole Monarch of Scotland. After
+the death of the Irish prince, his wife married his successor, Flann,
+who, according to the alternate plan of succession, came of the southern
+Hy-Nial family, and was a son of Meloughlin, once the formidable
+opponent of the lady's former husband. During the reign of Flann, Cormac
+Mac Cullinan, a prelate distinguished for his learning and sanctity, was
+obliged to unite the office of priest and king. This unusual
+combination, however, was not altogether without precedent. The
+archbishopric of Cashel owes its origin remotely to this great man; as
+from the circumstance of the city of Cashel having been the seat of
+royalty in the south, and the residence of the kings of Munster, it was
+exalted, in the twelfth century, to the dignity of an archiepiscopal
+see.
+
+Of Cormac, however interesting his history, we can only give a passing
+word. His reign commenced peaceably; and so wise--perhaps we should
+rather say, so holy--was his rule, that his kingdom once more enjoyed
+comparative tranquillity, and religion and learning flourished again as
+it had done in happier times.
+
+But the kingdom which he had been compelled to rule, was threatened by
+the very person who should have protected it most carefully; and Cormac,
+after every effort to procure peace, was obliged to defend his people
+against the attacks of Flann. Even then a treaty might have been made
+with the belligerent monarch; but Cormac, unfortunately for his people
+and himself, was guided by an abbot, named Flahertach, who was by no
+means so peaceably disposed as his good master. This unruly ecclesiastic
+urged war on those who were already too willing to undertake it; and
+then made such representations to the bishop-king, as to induce him to
+yield a reluctant consent. It is said that Cormac had an intimation of
+his approaching end. It is at least certain, that he made preparations
+for death, as if he believed it to be imminent.
+
+On the eve of the fatal engagement he made his confession, and added
+some articles to his will, in which he left large bounties to many of
+the religious houses throughout the kingdom. To Lismore he bequeathed a
+golden chalice and some rich vestments; to Armagh, twenty-four ounces of
+gold and silver; to his own church of Cashel, a golden and a silver
+chalice, with the famous Saltair. Then he retired to a private place for
+prayer, desiring the few persons whom he had informed of his approaching
+fate to keep their information secret, as he knew well the effect such
+intelligence would have on his army, were it generally known.
+
+[Illustration: ROCK OF CASHEL.]
+
+Though the king had no doubt that he would perish on the field, he still
+showed the utmost bravery, and made every effort to cheer and encourage
+his troops; but the men lost spirit in the very onset of the battle, and
+probably were terrified at the numerical strength of their opponents.
+Six thousand Munster men were slain, with many of their princes and
+chieftains. Cormac was killed by falling under his horse, which missed
+its footing on a bank slippery with the blood of the slain. A common
+soldier, who recognized the body, cut off his head, and brought it as a
+trophy to Flann; but the monarch bewailed the death of the good and
+great prince, and reproved the indignity with which his remains had been
+treated. This battle was fought at a place called Bealagh Mughna, now
+Ballaghmoon, in the county of Kildare, a few miles from the town of
+Carlow.[202]
+
+Flahertach survived the battle, and, after some years spent in penance,
+became once more minister, and ultimately King of Munster. As he
+advanced in years, he learned to love peace, and his once irascible
+temper became calm and equable.
+
+The Rock of Cashel, and the ruins of a small but once beautiful chapel,
+still preserve the memory of the bishop-king. His literary fame also has
+its memorials. His Rule is contained in a poem of fourteen stanzas,
+written in the most pure and ancient style of Gaedhilic, of which, as
+well as of many other languages, the illustrious Cormac was so profound
+a master. This Rule is general in several of its inculcations; but it
+appears to have been written particularly as an instruction to a priest,
+for the moral and spiritual direction of himself and his flock. He was
+also skilled in the Ogham writings, as may be gathered from a poem
+written by a contemporary, who, in paying compliments to many of the
+Irish kings and chiefs, addresses the following stanza to Cormac:--
+
+    "Cormac of Cashel, with his champions,
+    Munster is his,--may he long enjoy it!
+    Around the King of _Raith-Bicli_ are cultivated
+    The letters and the trees."
+
+The death of Cormac is thus pathetically deplored by Dallan, son of
+Môr:--
+
+    "The bishop, the soul's director, the renowned, illustrious doctor,
+    King of Caiseal, King of Farnumha: O God! alas for Cormac!"
+
+Flann's last years were disturbed by domestic dissensions. His sons,
+Donough and Conor, both rebelled against him; but Nial Glundubh (of the
+black knee), a northern Hy-Nial chief, led an army against them, and
+compelled them to give hostages to their father. Flann died the
+following year, A.D. 914, and was succeeded by the prince who had so
+ably defended him. Meanwhile, the Danes were not idle. Amlaff[203] has
+signalized his advent by drowning Conchobhar, "heir apparent of Tara;"
+by slaying all the chieftains of the Deisi at Cluain-Daimh; by killing
+the son of Clennfaeladh, King of Muscraighe Breoghain; by smothering
+Machdaighren in a cave, and by the destruction of Caitill Find (Ketill
+the White) and his whole garrison. Oisill is the next chief of
+importance; and he "succeeded in plundering the greatest part of
+Ireland." It is not recorded how long he was occupied in performing this
+exploit, but he was eventually slain, and his army cut off, by the men
+of Erinn. The deaths of several Danish chieftains occured about this
+period, and are referred to the vengeance of certain saints, whose
+shrines they had desecrated. In A.D. 864 according to the Four Masters,
+867 according to O'Flaherty, the Danes were defeated at Lough Foyle, by
+Hugh Finnliath, King of Ireland. Soon after, Leinster and Munster were
+plundered by a Scandinavian chief, named Baraid, who advanced as far as
+_Ciarraighe_ (Kerry): "And they left not a cave under ground that they
+did not explore; and they left nothing, from Limerick to Cork, that they
+did not ravish." What treasures the antiquarian of the nineteenth
+century must have lost by this marauder! How great must have been the
+wealth of the kings and princes of ancient Erinn, when so much remains
+after so much was taken! In 877 the Black Gentiles took refuge in
+Scotland, after suffering a defeat in an engagement with the White
+Gentiles. They were, however, consoled by a victory over the men of
+Alba, in which Constantine, son of Kenneth, was slain, and many others
+with him. Their success proved beneficial to Ireland, for we are told
+that a period of "rest to the men of Erinn" ensued. The Danes still held
+their own in Dublin and at Limerick, occasionally plundered the
+churches, and now and then had a skirmish with the "men of Erinn;" but
+for forty years the country was free from the foreign fleets, and,
+therefore, enjoyed a time of comparative quiet.
+
+In the year 913 new fleets arrived. They landed in the harbour of
+Waterford, where they had a settlement formerly; but though they
+obtained assistance here, they were defeated by the native Irish, both
+in Kerry and in Tipperary. Sitric came with another fleet in 915, and
+settled at Cenn-Fuait.[204] Here he was attacked by the Irish army, but
+they were repulsed with great slaughter. Two years after they received
+another disastrous defeat at Cill-Mosanhog, near Rathfarnham. A large
+cromlech, still in that neighbourhood, probably marks the graves of the
+heroes slain in that engagement. Twelve kings fell in this battle. Their
+names are given in the _Wars of the Gaedhil_, and by other authorities,
+though in some places the number is increased. Nial Glundubh was amongst
+the slain. He is celebrated in pathetic verse by the bards. Of the
+battle was said:--
+
+    "Fierce and hard was the Wednesday
+    On which hosts were strewn under the fall of shields;
+    It shall be called, till judgment's day,
+    The destructive burning of Ath-cliath."
+
+The lamentation of Nial was, moreover, said:--
+
+    "Sorrowful this day is sacred Ireland,
+    Without a valiant chief of hostage reign!
+    It is to see the heavens without a sun,
+    To view Magh-Neill[205] without a Nial."
+
+    "There is no cheerfulness in the happiness of men;
+    There is no peace or joy among the hosts;
+    No fair can be celebrated
+    Since the sorrow of sorrow died."
+
+Donough, son of Flann Sinna, succeeded, and passed his reign in
+obscurity, with the exception of a victory over the Danes at Bregia. Two
+great chieftains, however, compensated by their prowess for his
+indifference; these were Muircheartach, son of the brave Nial Glundubh,
+the next heir to the throne, and Callaghan of Cashel, King of Munster.
+The northern prince was a true patriot, willing to sacrifice every
+personal feeling for the good of his country: consequently, he proved a
+most formidable foe to the Danish invader. Callaghan of Cashel was,
+perhaps, as brave, but his name cannot be held up to the admiration of
+posterity. The personal advancement of the southern Hy-Nials was more to
+him than the political advancement of his country; and he disgraced his
+name and his nation by leaguing with the invaders. In the year 934 he
+pillaged Clonmacnois. Three years later he invaded Meath and Ossory, in
+conjunction with the Danes. Muircheartach was several times on the eve
+of engagements with the feeble monarch who nominally ruled the country,
+but he yielded for the sake of peace, or, as the chroniclers quaintly
+say, "God pacified them." After one of these pacifications, they joined
+forces, and laid "siege to the foreigners of Ath-cliath, so that they
+spoiled and plundered all that was under the dominion of the foreigners,
+from Ath-cliath to Ath-Truisten."[206]
+
+In the twenty-second year of Donough, Muircheartach determined on a
+grand expedition for the subjugation of the Danes. He had already
+conducted a fleet to the Hebrides, from whence he returned flushed with
+victory. His first care was to assemble a body of troops of special
+valour; and he soon found himself at the head of a thousand heroes, and
+in a position to commence "his circuit of Ireland." The Danish chief,
+Sitric, was first seized as a hostage. He then carried off Lorcan, King
+of Leinster. He next went to the Munster men, who were also prepared for
+battle; but they too yielded, and gave up their monarch also, "and a
+fetter was put on him by Muircheartach." He afterwards proceeded into
+Connaught, where Conchobhar, son of Tadhg, came to meet him, "but no
+gyve or lock was put upon him." He then returned to Oileach, carrying
+these kings with him as hostages. Here he feasted them for five months
+with knightly courtesy, and then sent them to the Monarch Donough.
+
+After these exploits we cannot be surprised that Muircheartach should be
+styled the Hector of the west of Europe. But he soon finds his place in
+the never-ceasing obituary. In two years after his justly famous
+exploit, he was slain by "Blacaire, son of Godfrey, lord of the
+foreigners." This event occurred on the 26th of March, A.D. 941,
+according to the chronology of the Four Masters. The true year, however,
+is 943. The chroniclers briefly observe, that "Ard-Macha was plundered
+by the same foreigners, on the day after the killing of
+Muircheartach."[207]
+
+Donough died in 942, after a reign of twenty-five years. He was
+succeeded by Congallach, who was killed by the Danes, A.D. 954. Donnell
+O'Neill, a son of the brave Muircheartach, now obtained the royal power,
+such as it was; and at his death the throne reverted to Maelseachlainn,
+or Malachy II., the last of his race who ever held the undisputed
+sovereignty of Ireland. But it must not be supposed that murders and
+massacres are the staple commodities of our annals during this eventful
+period. Every noteworthy event is briefly and succinctly recorded. We
+find, from time to time, mention of strange portents, such as double
+suns, and other celestial phenomena of a more or less remarkable
+character. Fearful storms are also chronicled, which appear to have
+occurred at certain intervals, and hard frosts, which proved almost as
+trying to the "men of Erinn" as the wars of the Gentiles, black or
+white. But the obituaries of abbots or monks, with the quaint remarks
+appended thereto, and epitomes of a lifetime in a sentence, are by no
+means the least interesting portion of those ancient tomes. In one page
+we may find record of the Lord of Aileach, who takes a pilgrim's staff;
+in another, we have mention of the Abbot Muireadhach and others, who
+were "destroyed in the refectory" of Druim-Mesclainn by Congallach; and
+we read in the lamentation of Muireadhach, that he was "the lamp of
+every choir." Then we are told simply how a nobleman "died in religion,"
+as if that were praise enough for him; though another noble, Domhnall,
+is said to have "died in religion, after a good life." Of some abbots
+and bishops there is nothing more than the death record; but in the age
+of Christ 926, when Celedabhaill, son of Scannal, went to Rome on his
+pilgrimage from the abbacy of Beannchair, we are given in full the four
+quatrains which he composed at his departure,--a composition which
+speaks highly for the poetic powers and the true piety of the author. He
+commences thus:--
+
+ "Time for me to prepare to pass from the shelter of a habitation,
+  To journey as a pilgrim over the surface of the noble lively sea;
+  Time to depart from the snares of the flesh, with all its guilt;
+  Time now to ruminate how I may find the great Son of Mary;
+  Time to seek virtue, to trample upon the will with sorrow;
+  Time to reject vices, and to renounce the demon.
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+ "Time to barter the transitory things for the country of the King of heaven;
+  Time to defy the ease of the little earthly world of a hundred pleasures;
+  Time to work at prayer in adoration of the high King of angels."
+
+The obituary notices, however, were not always complimentary. We find
+the following entry in the Annals of Clonmacnois:--"Tomhair Mac Alchi,
+King of Denmark, is reported to go [to have gone] to hell with his
+pains, as he deserved."
+
+
+[Illustration: GREY MAN'S PATH, GIANT'S CAUSEWAY.]
+
+[Illustration: RATH AT LEIGHLIN, CARLOW]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[192] _Expanded_.--I take this opportunity of requesting from laymen or
+ecclesiastics who may read this announcement, the favour of any
+information they may consider valuable.
+
+[193] _Heaven.--Ec. Hist_. lib. iv. c. 26. "From that time the hopes and
+strength of the English crown began to waver and retrograde, for the
+Picts recovered their own lands," &c. The Annals of the Four Masters
+mention a mortality among cattle throughout the whole world, and a
+severe frost, which followed this invasion: "The sea between Ireland and
+Scotland was frozen, so that there was a communication between them on
+the ice."--vol. ii. p. 291. They also mention the mission of Adamnan to
+"Saxon land."
+
+[194] _Galls_.--Gall was a generic name for foreigners. The Danes were
+Finn Galls, or White Foreigners, and Dubh Galls, or Black Foreigners.
+The former were supposed to have been the inhabitants of Norway; the
+latter, of Jutland. In Irish, _gaill_ is the nom., and _gall_, gen.
+
+[195] _Streets_.--In Armagh the buildings were formed into streets and
+wards, for the better preservation of monastic discipline. Armagh was
+divided into three parts--_trian-more_, the town proper;
+_trian-Patrick_, the cathedral close; and _trian-Sassenagh_, the home of
+the foreign students.
+
+[196] _Michaelmas_.--Annals, p. 371. Another fearful thunderstorm is
+recorded in the Annals for 799. This happened on the eve of St.
+Patrick's Day. It is said that a thousand and ten persons were killed on
+the coast of Clare. The island of Fitha (now Mutton Island) was partly
+submerged, and divided into three parts. There was also a storm in
+783--"thunder, lightning, and wind-storms"--by which the Monastery of
+Clonbroney was destroyed.
+
+[197] _Reachrainn_.-Rechru appears to be the correct form. It has not
+yet been ascertained whether this refers to Lambay, near Dublin, or the
+island 01 Rathlinn. See note, p. 32, to the "Introduction" to the _Wars
+of the Gaedhil with the Gall_.
+
+[198] _Mistake.--Ethel. Chron. Pro._ book iii.
+
+[199] _Irish_.--The history of the two hundred years during which these
+northern pirates desolated the island, has been preserved in a MS. of
+venerable age and undoubted authenticity. It is entitled _Cogadh Gaedhil
+re Gallaibh_ (the Wars of the Gaedhil with the Gall). It was quoted by
+Keating, known to Colgan, and used by the Four Masters; but for many
+years it was supposed to have been completely lost, until it was
+discovered, in 1840, by Mr. O'Curry, among the Seabright MSS. The work
+is now edited, with a translation and most valuable notes, by Dr. Todd.
+Several other copies have been discovered since, notably one by the
+Franciscan Brother, Michael O'Clery, which is at present in the
+Burgundian Library at Brussels. From internal evidence, it is presumed
+that the author was a contemporary of King Brian Boroimhé. Dr. O'Connor
+refers the authorship to Mac Liag, who was chief poet to that monarch,
+and died in 1016, two years after his master. Dr. Todd evidently
+inclines to this opinion, though he distinctly states that there is no
+authority for it.
+
+[200] _Death_.--It appears doubtful whether he really died at this time.
+It is said that he repented of his sins of sacrilege, and ended his days
+in penance and religious retirement. See Four Masters, p. 472.
+
+[201] _Conquered_.--Duald Mac Firbis gives a curious account of these
+contests in his _fragments of Annals_. The White Galls, or Norwegians,
+had long been masters of the situation. The Black Galls fought with them
+for three days and nights, and were finally victorious. They take the
+ships they have captured to Dublin, and deprive the Lochlanns (Black
+Galls) of all the spoil they had so cruelly and unjustly acquired from
+the "shrines and sanctuaries of the saints of Erinn;" which the annalist
+naturally considers a judgment on them for their sins. They make another
+struggle, and gain the victory. But the Banish general, Horm, advises
+his men to put themselves under the protection of St. Patrick, and to
+promise the saint "honorable alms for gaining victory and triumph" over
+enemies who had plundered his churches. They comply with this advice;
+and though greatly inferior in numbers, they gain the victory, "on
+account of the tutelage of St. Patrick."
+
+[202] _Carlow_.--The site of the battle is still shown there, and even
+the stone on which the soldier decapitated Cormac. Cormac's death is
+thus described in a MS. in the Burgundian Library: "The hind feet of his
+horse slipped on the slippery road in the track of that blood; the horse
+fell backwards, and broke his [Cormac's] back and his neck in twain; and
+he said, when falling, _In manus tuas commendo spiritum meum_, and he
+gives up his spirit; and the impious sons of malediction come and thrust
+spears into his body, and sever his head from his body." Keating gives a
+curious account of this battle, from an ancient tract not known at
+present.
+
+[203] _Amlaff_.--Dr. Todd identifies Amlaff with Olaf Huita (the white),
+of Scandinavian history, who was usually styled King of Dublin, and was
+the leader of the Northmen in Ireland for many years. See "Introduction"
+to the _Wars of the Gaedhil_, p. 69.
+
+[204] _Cenn-Fuait_.--Fuat Head. The site has not been accurately
+identified.
+
+[205] _Magh-Neill, i.e.,_ the Plain of Nial, a bardic name for
+Ireland.--Four Masters, vol. ii. p. 595.
+
+[206] _Ath-Truisten_.--From Dublin to a ford on the river Green, near
+Mullaghmast, co. Kildare.
+
+[207] _Muircheartach_.--This prince obtained the soubriquet of
+Muircheartach of the Leathern Cloaks. The origin of this appellation
+has not been precisely ascertained.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+The Battle of Dundalk--The Danes supposed to be Christianized--Brian
+Boroimhé and his Brother Mahoun--The Dalcassians fight the Danes--Mahoun
+is assassinated--Brian revenges his Brother's Murder--Malachy's Exploits
+against the Danes--Malachy and Brian form a Treaty and fight the
+Danes--Malachy wins "the Collar of Gold"--Brian's "Happy Family" at
+Kincora--He usurps the Supreme Power, and becomes Monarch of
+Ireland--Remote Causes of the Battle of Clontarf--Gormflaith is "grim"
+with Brian--Blockade of Dublin--The Danes prepare for a Fierce
+Conflict--Brian prepares also--The Battle of Clontarf--Disposition of
+the Forces--Brian's Death--Defeat of the Danes.
+
+[A.D. 926-1022.]
+
+
+Many of the sea-coast towns were now in possession of the Danes. They
+had founded Limerick, and, indeed, Wexford and Waterford almost owe them
+the debt of parentage. Obviously, the ports were their grand
+securities--a ready refuge if driven by native valour to embark in their
+fleets; convenient head-quarters when marauding expeditions to England
+or Scotland were in preparation. But the Danes never obtained the same
+power in Ireland as in the sister country. The domestic dissensions of
+the men of Erinn, ruinous as they were to the nation, gave it at least
+the advantage of having a brave and resolute body of men always in arms,
+and ready to face the foe at a moment's notice, when no selfish policy
+interfered. In 937 Athelstane gained his famous victory over the Danes
+at Brunanbriegh in Northumberland, and came triumphantly to reclaim the
+dagger[208] which he had left at the shrine of St. John of Beverley.
+After his death, in 941, Amlaff returned to Northumberland, and once
+more restored the Danish sway. From this time, until the accession of
+the Danish King Canute, England was more or less under the dominion of
+these ruthless tyrants.[209]
+
+"The Danes of Ireland, at this period, were ruled by Sitric, son of
+Turgesius, whose name was sufficient to inspire the Irish with terror.
+Through policy he professed willingness to enter into a treaty of peace
+with Callaghan, King of Munster; and, as proof of his sincerity, offered
+him his sister, the Princess Royal of Denmark, in marriage. The Irish
+king had fallen in love with this amiable and beautiful princess, and he
+readily consented to the fair and liberal measures proposed. He sent
+word to Sitric he would visit him; and, attended by a royal retinue, to
+be followed in a little time by his guards, as escort for his future
+queen, proceeded to meet his royal bride.
+
+"Sitric's project of inveigling the King of Munster into his district,
+in order to make him prisoner, under the expectation of being married to
+the Princess of Denmark, having been disclosed to his wife, who was of
+Irish birth, she determined to warn the intended victim of the meditated
+treachery, and accordingly she disguised herself, and placed herself in
+a pass which Callaghan should traverse, and met him. Here she informed
+him who she was, the design of Sitric against him, and warned him to
+return as fast as possible. This was not practicable. Sitric had barred
+the way with armed men; and Callaghan and his escort, little prepared
+for an encounter, found themselves hemmed in by an overwhelming Danish
+force. To submit without a struggle was never the way with the
+Momonians. They formed a rampart round the person of their king, and cut
+through the Danish ranks. Fresh foes met them on every side; and, after
+a bloody struggle, the men of Munster were conquered. Callaghan, the
+king, and Prince Duncan, son of Kennedy, were brought captives to
+Dublin. Then the royal prisoners were removed to Armagh, and their safe
+keeping entrusted to nine Danish earls, who had a strong military force
+at their orders to guard them.
+
+"The news of this insidious act rapidly fanned the ardour of the Munster
+troops to be revenged for the imprisonment of their beloved king.
+Kennedy, the Prince of Munster, father of Duncan, was appointed regent,
+with ample powers to govern the country in the king's absence. The first
+step was to collect an army to cope with the Danes. To assemble a
+sufficient body of troops on land was easy; but the great strength of
+the northern rovers lay in their swift-sailing ships. 'It must strike
+the humblest comprehension with astonishment,' says Marmion, 'that the
+Irish, although possessed of an island abounding with forests of the
+finest oak, and other suitable materials for ship-building--enjoying
+also the most splendid rivers, loughs, and harbours, so admirably
+adapted to the accommodation of extensive fleets, should,
+notwithstanding, for so many centuries, allow the piratical ravages of
+the Danes, and subsequently the more dangerous subversion of their
+independence by the Anglo-Normans, without an effort to build a navy
+that could cope with those invaders on that element from which they
+could alone expect invasion from a foreign foe.' This neglect has also
+been noticed by the distinguished Irish writer--Wilde--who, in his
+admirably executed _Catalogue of the Antiquities in the Royal Irish
+Academy_, observes:--'Little attention has been paid to the subject of
+the early naval architecture of this country. So far as we yet know, two
+kinds of boats appear to have been in use in very early times in the
+British Isles--the canoe and the corragh; the one formed of a single
+piece of wood, the other composed of wickerwork, covered with hides.'
+Larger vessels there must have been; though, from the length of time
+which has since elapsed, we have no traces of them now. Kennedy not only
+collected a formidable army by land, but 'he fitted out a fleet of
+ships, and manned it with able seamen, that he might make sure of his
+revenge, and attack the enemy by sea and land.' The command of the fleet
+was conferred on an admiral perfectly skilled in maritime affairs,
+Failbhe Fion, King of Desmond.
+
+"When the army of Munster arrived near Armagh, they learnt the prisoners
+had been removed thence by Sitric, and placed on board ship. Enraged at
+this disappointment, they gave no quarter to the Danes, and advanced
+rapidly to Dundalk, where the fleet lay, with the king and young prince
+on board. Sitric, unable to withstand the opposing army on shore,
+ordered his troops to embark, and resolved to avoid the encounter
+through means of his ships. While the baffled Irish army were chafing at
+this unexpected delay to their hoped for vengeance, they espied, from
+the shore of Dundalk, where they encamped, a sail of ships, in regular
+order, steering with a favourable gale towards the Danish fleet moored
+in Dundalk bay. Joy instantly filled their hearts; for they recognized
+the fleet of Munster, with the admiral's vessel in the van, and the rest
+ranged in line of battle. The Danes were taken by surprise; they beheld
+an enemy approach from a side where they rather expected the raven flag
+of their country floating on the ships. The Munster admiral gave them no
+time to form. He steered straight to Sitric's vessel, and, with his
+hardy crew, sprang on board. Here a sight met his gaze which filled his
+heart with rage; he saw his beloved monarch, Callaghan, and the young
+prince, tied with cords to the main-mast. Having, with his men, fought
+through the Danish troops to the side of the king and prince, he cut the
+cords and set them free. He then put a sword into the hands of the
+rescued king, and they fought side by side: Meanwhile Sitric, and his
+brothers, Tor and Magnus, did all they could to retrieve the fortunes of
+the day. At the head of a chosen band they attacked the Irish admiral,
+and he fell, covered with wounds. His head, exposed by Sitric on a pole,
+fired the Danes with hope--the Irish with tenfold rage. Fingal, next in
+rank to Failbhe Fion, took the command, and determined to avenge his
+admiral. Meeting the Danish ruler in the combat, he seized Sitric round
+the neck, and flung himself with his foe into the sea, where both
+perished. Seagdor and Connall, two captains of Irish ships, imitated
+this example--threw themselves upon Tor and Magnus, Sitric's brothers,
+and jumped with them overboard, when all were drowned. These desperate
+deeds paralysed the energy of the Danes, and the Irish gained a complete
+victory in Dundalk bay.
+
+"The Irish fleet having thus expelled the pirates from their coast, came
+into harbour, where they were received with acclamations of joy by all
+who witnessed their bravery. Such is a summary of Keating's poetic
+account of this day's achievements; and there are extant fuller accounts
+in various pieces of native poetry, especially one entitled 'The Pursuit
+after Callaghan of Cashel, by the Chief of Munster, after he had been
+entrapped by the Danes.'"
+
+The year 948 has generally been assigned as that of the conversion of
+the Danes to Christianity; but, whatever the precise period may have
+been, the conversion was rather of a doubtful character as we hear of
+their burning churches, plundering shrines, and slaughtering
+ecclesiastics with apparently as little remorse as ever. In the very
+year in which the Danes of Dublin are said to have been converted, they
+burned the belfry of Slane while filled with religious who had sought
+refuge there. Meanwhile the Irish monarchies were daily weakened by
+divisions and domestic wars. Connaught was divided between two or three
+independent princes, and Munster into two kingdoms.
+
+The ancient division of the country into five provinces no longer held
+good; and the Ard-Righ, or chief monarch, was such only in name. Even
+the great northern Hy-Nials, long the bravest and most united of the
+Irish clans, were now divided into two portions, the Cinel-Connaill and
+Cinel-Owen; the former of whom had been for some time excluded from the
+alternate accession of sovereignty, which was still maintained between
+the two great families of the race of Nial. But, though this arrangement
+was persevered in with tolerable regularity, it tended little to the
+promotion of peace, as the northern princes were ever ready to take
+advantage of the weakness of the Meath men, who were their inferiors
+both in numbers and in valour.
+
+The sovereignty of Munster had also been settled on the alternate
+principle, between the great tribe of Dalcassians, or north Munster
+race, and the Eoghanists, or southeners. This plan of succession, as may
+be supposed, failed to work peaceably; and, in 942, Kennedy, the father
+of the famous Brian Boroimhé, contested the sovereignty with the
+Eoghanist prince, Callaghan Cashel, but yielded in a chivalrous spirit,
+not very common under such circumstances, and joined his former opponent
+in his contests with the Danes. The author of the _Wars of the Gaedhil
+with the Gall_ gives a glowing account of the genealogy of Brian and his
+eldest brother, Mathgamhain. They are described as "two fierce,
+magnificent heroes, the two stout, able, valiant pillars," who then
+governed the Dalcassian tribes; Mathgamhain (Mahoun) being the actual
+chieftain, Brian the heir apparent. A guerilla war was carried on for
+some time in the woods of Thomond, in which no quarter was given on
+either side, and wherein it was "woe to either party to meet the other."
+Mahoun at last proposed a truce, but Brian refused to consent to this
+arrangement. He continued the war until he found his army reduced to
+fifteen men. Mahoun then sent for him. An interview took place, which is
+described in the form of a poetic dialogue, between the two brothers.
+Brian reproached Mahoun with cowardice; Mahoun reproached Brian with
+imprudence. Brian hints broadly that Mahoun had interested motives in
+making this truce, and declares that neither Kennedy, their father, nor
+Lorcan, their grandfather, would have been so quiescent towards the
+foreigners for the sake of wealth, nor would they have given them even
+as much time as would have sufficed to play a game of chess[210] on the
+green of Magh Adhair. Mahoun kept his temper, and contented himself with
+reproaching Brian for his recklessness, in sacrificing the lives of so
+many of his faithful followers to no purpose. Brian replied that he
+would never abandon his inheritance, without a contest, to "such
+foreigners as Black Grim Gentiles."
+
+The result was a conference of the tribe, who voted for war, and marched
+into the country of the Eoghanists (the present co. Kerry), who at once
+joined the standard of the Dalcassians. The Danes suffered severely in
+Munster. This aroused the Limerick Danes; and their chieftain, Ivar,
+attacked the territory of Dal-Cais, an exploit in which he was joined,
+to their eternal shame, by several native princes and tribes, amongst
+whom were Maolmuadh (Molloy), son of Braun, King of Desmond, and
+Donabhan (Donovan), son of Cathal, King of Ui Cairbhri. The result was a
+fierce battle at Sulcoit, near Tipperary, wherein the Danes were
+gloriously defeated. The action was commenced by the Northmen. It
+continued from sunrise till mid-day, and terminated in the rout of the
+foreigners, who fled "to the ditches, and to the valleys, and to the
+solitudes of the great sweet flower plain," where they were followed by
+the conquerors, and massacred without mercy.
+
+The Dalcassians now obtained possession of Limerick, with immense spoils
+of jewels, gold and silver, foreign saddles, "soft, youthful, bright
+girls, blooming silk-clad women, and active well-formed boys." The
+active boys were soon disposed of, for we find that they collected the
+prisoners on the hillocks of Saingel, where "every one that was fit for
+war was put to death, and every one that was fit for a slave was
+enslaved." This event is dated A.D. 968.
+
+Mahoun was now firmly established on the throne, but his success
+procured him many enemies. A conspiracy was formed against him under the
+auspices of Ivar of Limerick and his son, Dubhcenn. The Eoghanist clans
+basely withdrew their allegiance from their lawful sovereign, allied
+themselves with the Danes, and became principals in the plot of
+assassination. Their motive was as simple as their conduct was vile. The
+two Eoghanist families were represented by Donovan and Molloy. They were
+descendants of Oilioll Oluim, from whom Mahoun was also descended, but
+his family were Dalcassians. Hitherto the Eoghanists had succeeded in
+depriving the tribes of Dal-Cais of their fair share of alternate
+succession to the throne of Munster; they became alarmed at and jealous
+of the advancement of the younger tribe, and determined to do by
+treachery what they could not do by force. With the usual headlong
+eagerness of traitors, they seem to have forgotten Brian, and quite
+overlooked the retribution they might expect at his hands for their
+crime. There are two different accounts of the murder, which do not
+coincide in detail. The main facts, however, are reliable: Mahoun was
+entrapped in some way to the house of Donovan, and there he was basely
+murdered, in violation of the rights of hospitality, and in defiance of
+the safe-conduct of the bishop, which he secured before his visit.
+
+The traitors gained nothing by their treachery except the contempt of
+posterity. Brian was not slow in avenging his brother. "He was not a
+stone in place of an egg, nor a wisp of hay in place of a club; but he
+was a hero in place of a hero, and valour after valour."[211]
+
+Public opinion was not mistaken in its estimate of his character. Two
+years after the death of Mahoun, Brian invaded Donovan's territory,
+drove off his cattle, took the fortress of Cathair Cuan, and slew
+Donovan and his Danish ally, Harolt. He next proceeded to settle
+accounts with Molloy. Cogarán is sent to the whole tribe of Ui Eachach,
+to know "the reason why" they killed Mahoun, and to declare that no
+_cumhal_ or fine would be received, either in the shape of hostages,
+gold, or cattle, but that Molloy must himself be given up. Messages were
+also sent to Molloy, both general and particular--the general message
+challenged him to battle at Belach-Lechta; the particular message, which
+in truth he hardly deserved, was a challenge to meet Murrough, Brian's
+son, in single combat. The result was the battle of Belach-Lechta,[212]
+where Molloy was slain, with twelve hundred of his troops, both native
+and foreign. Brian remained master of the field and of the kingdom, A.D.
+978.
+
+Brian was now undisputed King of Munster. In 984 he was acknowledged
+Monarch of Leth Mogha, the southern half of Ireland. Meanwhile Malachy,
+who governed Leth Cuinn, or the northern half of Ireland, had not been
+idle. He fought a battle with the Danes in 979, near Tara, in which he
+defeated their forces, and slew Raguall, son of Amlaibh, King of Dublin.
+Amlaibh felt the defeat so severely, that he retired to Iona, where he
+died of a broken heart. Donough O'Neill, son of Muircheartach, died this
+year, and Malachy obtained the regal dignity. Emboldened by his success
+at Tara, he resolved to attack the foreigners in Dublin; he therefore
+laid siege to that city, and compelled it to surrender after three days,
+liberated two thousand prisoners, including the King of Leinster, and
+took abundant spoils. At the same time he issued a proclamation, freeing
+every Irishman then in bondage to the Danes, and stipulating that the
+race of Nial should henceforth be free from tribute to the foreigners.
+
+It is probable that Brian had already formed designs for obtaining the
+royal power. The country resounded with the fame of his exploits, and
+Malachy became aware at last that he should either have him for an ally
+or an enemy. He prudently chose the former alternative, and in the
+nineteenth year of his reign (997 according to the Four Masters) he made
+arrangements with Brian for a great campaign against the common enemy.
+Malachy surrendered all hostages to Brian, and Brian agreed to recognize
+Malachy as sole Monarch of northern Erinn, "without war or trespass."
+This treaty was absolutely necessary, in order to offer effective
+resistance to the Danes. The conduct of the two kings towards each other
+had not been of a conciliatory nature previously. In 981 Malachy had
+invaded the territory of the Dalcassians, and uprooted the great
+oak-tree of Magh Adair, under which its kings were crowned--an insult
+which could not fail to excite bitter feelings both in prince and
+people. In 989 the monarch occupied himself fighting the Danes in
+Dublin, to whom he laid siege for twenty nights, reducing the garrison
+to such straits that they were obliged to drink the salt water when the
+tide rose in the river. Brian then made reprisals on Malachy, by sending
+boats up the Shannon burning the royal rath of Dun Sciath. Malachy, in
+his turn, recrossed the Shannon, burned Nenagh, plundered Ormonde, and
+defeated Brian himself in battle. He then marched again to Dublin, and
+once more attacked "the proud invader." It was on this occasion that he
+obtained the "collar of gold," which Moore has immortalized in his
+world-famous "Melodies."
+
+When the kings had united their forces, they obtained another important
+victory at Glen-Mama.[213] Harolt, son of Olaf Cuaran, the then Danish
+king, was slain, and four thousand of his followers perished with him.
+The victorious army marched at once to Dublin. Here they obtained spoils
+of great value, and made many slaves and captives. According to some
+accounts, Brian remained in Dublin until the feast of St. Brigid
+(February 1st); other annalists say he only remained from Great
+Christmas to Little Christmas. Meanwhile there can be but little doubt
+that Brian had in view the acquisition of the right to be called sole
+monarch of Ireland. It is a blot on an otherwise noble character--an
+ugly spot in a picture of more than ordinary interest. Sitric, another
+son of Olaf's, fled for protection to Aedh and Eochaidh, two northern
+chieftains; but they gave him up, from motives of fear or policy to
+Brian's soldiers, and after due submission he was restored to his former
+position. Brian then gave his daughter in marriage to Sitric, and
+completed the family alliance by espousing Sitric's mother, Gormflaith,
+a lady of rather remarkable character, who had been divorced from her
+second husband, Malachy. Brian now proceeded to depose Malachy. The
+account of this important transaction is given in so varied a manner by
+different writers, that it seems almost impossible to ascertain the
+truth. The southern annalists are loud in their assertions of the
+incapacity of the reigning monarch, and would have it believed that
+Brian only yielded to the urgent entreaties of his countrymen in
+accepting the proffered crown. But the warlike exploits of Malachy have
+been too faithfully recorded to leave any doubt as to his prowess in the
+field; and we may probably class the regret of his opponent in accepting
+his position, with similar protestations made under circumstances in
+which such regret was as little likely to be real.
+
+The poet Moore, with evident partiality for the subject of his song,
+declares that the magnanimous character of Malachy was the real ground
+of peace under such provocation, and that he submitted to the
+encroachments of his rival rather from motives of disinterested desire
+for his country's welfare, than from any reluctance or inability to
+fight his own battle.
+
+But Brian had other chieftains to deal with, of less amiable or more
+warlike propensities: the proud Hy-Nials of the north were long in
+yielding to his claims; but even these he at length subdued, compelling
+the Cinel-Eoghain to give him hostages, and carrying off the Lord of
+Cinel-Connaill bodily to his fortress at Kincora. Here he had assembled
+a sort of "happy family," consisting of refractory princes and knights,
+who, refusing hostages to keep the peace with each other, were obliged
+to submit to the royal will and pleasure, and at least to appear
+outwardly in harmony.
+
+These precautionary measures, however summary, and the energetic
+determination of Brian to have peace kept either by sword or law, have
+given rise to the romantic ballad of the lady perambulating Erinn with a
+gold ring and white wand, and passing unmolested through its once
+belligerent kingdoms.
+
+Brian now turned his attention to the state of religion and literature,
+restoring the churches and monasteries which had been plundered and
+burnt by the Danes. He is said also to have founded the churches of
+Killaloe and Iniscealtra, and to have built the round tower of Tomgrany,
+in the present county Clare. A gift of twenty ounces of gold to the
+church of Armagh,--a large donation for that period,--is also recorded
+amongst his good deeds.[214]
+
+There is some question as to the precise year in which Brian obtained or
+usurped the authority and position of Ard-Righ: A.D. 1002, however, is
+the date most usually accepted. He was probably about sixty-one years of
+age, and Malachy was then about fifty-three.[215]
+
+It will be remembered that Brian had married the Lady Gormflaith. Her
+brother, Maelmordha, was King of Leinster, and he had obtained his
+throne through the assistance of the Danes. Brian was Gormflaith's third
+husband. In the words of the Annals, she had made three leaps--"jumps
+which a woman should never jump"--a hint that her matrimonial
+arrangements had not the sanction of canon law. She was remarkable for
+her beauty, but her temper was proud and vindictive. This was probably
+the reason why she was repudiated both by Malachy and Brian. There can
+be no doubt that she and her brother, Maelmordha, were the remote causes
+of the famous battle of Clontarf. The story is told thus: Maelmordha
+came to Brian with an offering of three large pine-trees to make masts
+for shipping. These were probably a tribute which he was bound to pay to
+his liege lord. The trees had been cut in the great forest of Leinster,
+called Fidh-Gaibhli.[216] Some other tribes were bringing their
+tree-tributes at the same time; and as they all journeyed over the
+mountains together, there was a dispute for precedency. Maelmordha
+decided the question by assisting to carry the tree of the Ui-Faelain.
+He had on a tunic of silk which Brian had given[217] him, with a border
+of gold round it and silver buttons. One of the buttons came off as he
+lifted the tree. On his arrival at Kincora, he asked his sister,
+Gormflaith, to replace it for him; but she at once flung the garment
+into the fire, and then bitterly reproached her brother with having
+accepted this token of vassalage. The Sagas say she was "grim" against
+Brian, which was undoubtedly true. This excited Maelmordha's temper. An
+opportunity soon offered for a quarrel. Brian's eldest son,
+Murrough,[218] was playing a game of chess with his cousin, Conoing;
+Maelmordha was looking on, and suggested a move by which Murrough lost
+the game. The young prince exclaimed: "That was like the advice you gave
+the Danes, which lost them Glen-Mama." "I will give them advice now, and
+they shall not be defeated," replied the other. "Then you had better
+remind them to prepare a yew-tree[219] for your reception," answered
+Murrough.
+
+Early the next morning Maelmordha left the place, "without permission
+and without taking leave." Brian sent a messenger after him to pacify
+him, but the angry chief, for all reply, "broke all the bones in his
+head." He now proceeded to organize a revolt against Brian, and
+succeeded. Several of the Irish princes flocked to his standard. An
+encounter took place in Meath, where they slew Malachy's grandson,
+Domhnall, who should have been heir if the usual rule of succession had
+been observed. Malachy marched to the rescue, and defeated the
+assailants with great slaughter, A.D. 1013. Fierce reprisals now took
+place on each side. Sanctuary was disregarded, and Malachy called on
+Brian to assist him. Brian at once complied. After successfully ravaging
+Ossory he marched to Dublin, where he was joined by Murrough, who had
+devastated Wicklow, burning, destroying, and carrying off captives,
+until he reached _Cill Maighnenn_ (Kilmainham). They now blockaded
+Dublin, where they remained from St. Ciaran's in harvest (Sept. 9th)
+until Christmas Day. Brian was then obliged to raise the siege and
+return home for want of provisions.
+
+The storm was now gathering in earnest, and the most active preparations
+were made on both sides for a mighty and decisive conflict. The Danes
+had already obtained possession of England, a country which had always
+been united in its resistance to their power, a country numerically
+superior to Ireland: why should they not hope to conquer, with at least
+equal facility, a people who had so many opposing interests, and who
+rarely sacrificed these interests to the common good? Still they must
+have had some fear of the result, if we may judge by the magnitude of
+their preparations. They despatched ambassadors in all directions to
+obtain reinforcements. Brodir, the earl, and Amlaibh, son of the King of
+Lochlann, "the two Earls of Cair, and of all the north of Saxon
+land,"[220] came at the head of 2,000 men; "and there was not one
+villain of that 2,000 who had not polished, strong, triple-plated armour
+of refined iron, or of cooling, uncorroding brass, encasing their sides
+and bodies from head to foot." Moreover, the said villains "had no
+reverence, veneration, or respect, or mercy for God or man, for church
+or for sanctuary; they were cruel, ferocious, plundering, hard-hearted,
+wonderful Dannarbrians, selling and hiring themselves for gold and
+silver, and other treasure as well." Gormflaith was evidently "head
+centre" on the occasion; for we find wonderful accounts of her zeal and
+efforts in collecting forces. "Other treasure" may possibly be referred
+to that lady's heart and hand, of which she appears to have been very
+liberal on this occasion. She despatched her son, Sitric, to Siguard,
+Earl of the Orkneys, who promised his assistance, but he required the
+hand of Gormflaith as payment for his services, and that he should be
+made King of Ireland. Sitric gave the required promise, and found, on
+his return to Dublin, that it met with his mother's entire approbation.
+She then despatched him to the Isle of Man, where there were two
+Vikings, who had thirty ships, and she desired him to obtain their
+co-operation "at any price." They were the brothers Ospak and Brodir.
+The latter demanded the same conditions as the Earl Siguard, which were
+promised quite as readily by Sitric, only he charged the Viking to keep
+the agreement secret, and above all not to mention it to Siguard.
+
+Brodir,[221] according to the Saga, was an apostate Christian, who had
+"thrown off his faith, and become God's dastard." He was both tall and
+strong, and had such long black hair that he tucked it under his belt;
+he had also the reputation of being a magician. The Viking Ospak refused
+to fight against "the good King Brian," and, touched by some prodigies,
+became a convert to Christianity, joined the Irish monarch at Kincora,
+on the Shannon, and received holy baptism.[222] The author of the _Wars
+of the Gaedhil_ gives a formidable list of the other auxiliaries who
+were invited by the Dublin Danes. The Annals of Loch Cé also give an
+account of the fleet he assembled, and its "chosen braves." Maelmordha
+had mustered a large army also; indeed, he was too near the restless and
+revengeful Larmflaith to have taken matters quietly, even had he been so
+inclined.
+
+Meanwhile Brian had been scarcely less successful, and probably not less
+active. He now marched towards Dublin, "with all that obeyed him of the
+men of Ireland." These were the provincial troops of Munster and
+Connaught and the men of Meath. His march is thus described in the _Wars
+of the Gaedhil_:--"Brian looked out behind him, and beheld the battle
+phalanx--compact, huge, disciplined, moving in silence, mutely, bravely,
+haughtily, unitedly, with one mind, traversing the plain towards them;
+threescore and ten banners over them--of red, and of yellow, and of
+green, and of all kinds of colours; together with the everlasting,
+variegated, lucky, fortunate banner, that had gained the victory in
+every battle, and in every conflict, and in every combat."[223] The
+portion of the narrative containing this account is believed to be an
+interpolation, but the description may not be the less accurate. Brian
+plundered and destroyed as usual on his way to Dublin. When he had
+encamped near that city, the Danes came out to give him battle on the
+plain of Magh-n-Ealta.[224] The king then held a council of war, and the
+result, apparently, was a determination to give battle in the morning.
+It is said that the Northmen pretended flight in order to delay the
+engagement. The Njal Saga says the Viking Brodir had found out by his
+sorcery, "that if the fight were on Good Friday, King Brian would fall,
+but win the day; but if they fought before, they would all fall who were
+against him." Some authorities also mention a traitor in Brian's camp,
+who had informed the Danes that his forces had been weakened by the
+absence of his son Donough, whom he had sent to devastate Leinster.
+Malachy has the credit of this piece of treachery, with other
+imputations scarcely less disreputable.
+
+The site of the battle has been accurately defined. It took place on the
+plain of Clontarf,[225] and is called the Battle of the Fishing Weir of
+Clontarf. The weir was at the mouth of the river Tolka, where the bridge
+of Ballybough now stands. The Danish line was extended along the coast,
+and protected at sea by their fleets. It was disposed in three
+divisions, and comprised about 21,000 men, the Leinster forces being
+included in the number. The first division or left wing was the nearest
+to Dublin. It was composed of the Danes of Dublin, and headed by Sitric,
+who was supported by the thousand mail-clad Norwegians, commanded by
+Carlus and Anrud. In the centre were the Lagennians, under the command
+of Maelmordha. The right wing comprised the foreign auxiliaries, under
+the command of Brodir and Siguard.[226]
+
+Brian's army was also disposed in three divisions. The first was
+composed of his brave Dalcassians, and commanded by his son Murrough,
+assisted by his four brothers, Teigue, Donough, Connor, and Flann, and
+his youthful heir, Turlough, who perished on the field. The second
+division or centre was composed of troops from Munster, and was
+commanded by Mothla, grandson of the King of the Deisi, of Waterford,
+assisted by many native princes. The third battalion was commanded by
+Maelruanaidh (Mulrooney of the Paternosters) and Teigue O'Kelly, with
+all the nobles of Connaught. Brian's army numbered about twenty thousand
+men. The accounts which relate the position of Malachy, and his conduct
+on this occasion, are hopelessly conflicting. It appears quite
+impossible to decide whether he was a victim to prejudice, or whether
+Brian was a victim to his not unnatural hostility.
+
+On the eve of the battle, one of the Danish chiefs, Plait, son of King
+Lochlainn, sent a challenge to Domhnall, son of Emhin, High Steward of
+Mar. The battle commenced at daybreak. Plait came forth and exclaimed
+three times, "_Faras Domhnall_?" (Where is Domhnall?) Domhnall replied:
+"Here, thou reptile." A terrible hand-to-hand combat ensued. They fell
+dead at the same moment, the sword of each through the heart of the
+other, and the hair of each in the clenched hand of the other. And the
+combat of those two was the first combat of the battle.
+
+Before the engagement Brian harangued his troops, with the crucifix in
+one hand and a sword in the other. He reminded them of all they had
+suffered from their enemies, of their tyranny, their sacrilege, their
+innumerable perfidies; and then, holding the crucifix aloft, he
+exclaimed: "The great God has at length looked down upon our sufferings,
+and endued you with the power and the courage this day to destroy for
+ever the tyranny of the Danes, and thus to punish them for their
+innumerable crimes and sacrileges by the avenging power of the sword.
+Was it not on this day that Christ Himself suffered death for you?"
+
+He was then compelled to retire to the rear, and await the result of the
+conflict; but Murrough performed prodigies of valour. Even the Danish
+historians admit that he fought his way to their standard, and cut down
+two successive bearers of it.
+
+The mailed armour of the Danes seems to have been a source of no little
+dread to their opponents. But the Irish battle-axe might well have set
+even more secure protection at defiance. It was wielded with such skill
+and force, that frequently a limb was lopped off with a single blow,
+despite the mail in which it was encased; while the short lances, darts,
+and slinging-stones proved a speedy means of decapitating or stunning a
+fallen enemy.
+
+The Dalcassians surpassed themselves in feats of arms. They hastened
+from time to time to refresh their thirst and cool their hands in a
+neighbouring brook; but the Danes soon filled it up, and deprived them
+of this resource. It was a conflict of heroes--a hand-to-hand fight.
+Bravery was not wanting on either side, and for a time the result seemed
+doubtful. Towards the afternoon, as many of the Danish leaders were cut
+down, their followers began to give way, and the Irish forces prepared
+for a final effort. At this moment the Norwegian prince, Anrud,
+encountered Murrough, whose arms were paralyzed from fatigue; he had
+still physical strength enough to seize his enemy, fling him on the
+ground, and plunge his sword into the body of his prostrate foe. But
+even as he inflicted the death-wound, he received a mortal blow from the
+dagger of the Dane, and the two chiefs fell together.
+
+The _mêlée_ was too general for an individual incident, however
+important in itself, to have much effect. The Northmen and their allies
+were flying hard and fast, the one towards their ships, the others
+towards the city. But as they fled across the Tolka, they forgot that it
+was now swollen with the incoming tide, and thousands perished by water
+who had escaped the sword. The body of Brian's grandson, the boy
+Turlough, was found in the river after the battle, with his hands
+entangled in the hair of two Danish warriors, whom he had held down
+until they were drowned. Sitric and his wife had watched the combat from
+the battlements of Dublin. It will be remembered that this lady was the
+daughter of King Brian, and her interests were naturally with the Irish
+troops. Some rough words passed between her and her lord, which ended in
+his giving her so rude a blow, that he knocked out one of her teeth. But
+we have yet to record the crowning tragedy of the day. Brian had retired
+to his tent to pray, at the commencement of the conflict. When the
+forces met, he began his devotions, and said to his attendant: "Watch
+thou the battle and the combats, whilst I say the psalms." After he had
+recited fifty psalms, fifty collects, and fifty paternosters, he desired
+the man to look out and inform him how the battle went, and the position
+of Murrough's standard. He replied the strife was close and vigorous,
+and the noise was as if seven battalions were cutting down Tomar's wood;
+but the standard was safe. Brian then said fifty more psalms, and made
+the same inquiry. The attendant replied that all was in confusion, but
+that Murrough's standard still stood erect, and moved westwards towards
+Dublin. "As long as that standard remains erect," replied Brian, "it
+shall go well with the men of Erinn." The aged king betook himself to
+his prayers once more, saying again fifty psalms[227] and collects;
+then, for the last time, he asked intelligence of the field. Latean
+replied: "They appear as if Tomar's wood was on fire, and its brushwood
+all burned down;" meaning that the private soldiers of both armies were
+nearly all slain, and only a few of the chiefs had escaped; adding the
+most grievous intelligence of all, that Murrough's standard had fallen.
+"Alas!" replied Brian, "Erinn has fallen with it: why should I survive
+such losses, even should I attain the sovereignty of the world?" His
+attendant then urged him to fly, but Brian replied that flight was
+useless, for he had been warned of his fate by Aibinn (the banshee of
+his family), and that he knew his death was at hand. He then gave
+directions about his will and his funeral, leaving 240 cows to the
+"successor of Patrick." Even at this moment the danger was impending. A
+party of Danes approached, headed by Brodir. The king sprang up from the
+cushion where he had been kneeling, and unsheathed his sword. At first
+Brodir did not know him, and thought he was a priest from finding him at
+prayer; but one of his followers informed him that it was the Monarch of
+Ireland. In a moment the fierce Dane had opened his head with his
+battle-axe. It is said that Brian had time to inflict a wound on the
+Viking, but the details of this event are so varied that it is
+impossible to decide which account is most reliable. The Saga states
+that Brodir knew Brian,[228] and, proud of his exploit, held up the
+monarch's reeking head, exclaiming, "Let it be told from man to man that
+Brodir felled Brian." All accounts agree in stating that the Viking was
+slain immediately, if not cruelly, by Brian's guards, who thus revenged
+their own neglect of their master. Had Brian survived this conflict, and
+had he been but a few years younger, how different might have been the
+political and social state of Ireland even at the present day! The
+Danish power was overthrown, and never again obtained an ascendency in
+the country. It needed but one strong will, one wise head, one brave
+arm, to consolidate the nation, and to establish a regular monarchy; for
+there was mettle enough in the Celt, if only united, to resist foreign
+invasion for all time to come.
+
+[Illustration: King Brian Boroimhé killed by the Viking.]
+
+On Easter Monday the survivors were employed in burying the dead and
+attending to the wounded. The remains of more than thirty chieftains
+were borne off to their respective territorial churches for interment.
+But even on that very night dissension arose in the camp. The chieftains
+of Desmond, seeing the broken condition of the Dalcassian force, renewed
+their claim to the alternate succession. When they had reached Rath
+Maisten (Mullaghmast, near Athy) they claimed the sovereignty of
+Munster, by demanding hostages. A battle ensued, in which even the
+wounded Dalcassians joined. Their leader desired them to be placed in
+the fort of Maisten, but they insisted on being fastened to stakes,
+firmly planted in the ground to support them, and stuffing their wounds
+with moss, they awaited the charge of the enemy. The men of Ossory,
+intimidated by their bravery, feared to give battle. But many of the
+wounded men perished from exhaustion--a hundred and fifty swooned away,
+and never recovered consciousness again. The majority were buried where
+they stood; a few of the more noble were carried to their ancestral
+resting-places. "And thus far the wars of the Gall with the Gaedhil, and
+the battle of Clontarf."
+
+The Annals state that both Brian and his son, Murrough, lived to receive
+the rites of the Church, and that their remains were conveyed by the
+monks to Swords, and from thence, through Duleek and Louth, to Armagh,
+by Archbishop Maelmuire, the "successor of St. Patrick." Their obsequies
+were celebrated with great splendour, for twelve days and nights, by the
+clergy; after which the body of Brian was deposited in a stone coffin,
+on the north side of the high altar, in the cathedral. Murrough was
+buried on the south side. Turlough was interred in the old churchyard of
+Kilmainham, where the shaft of an ancient cross still marks the site.
+
+Malachy once more assumed the reins of government by common consent, and
+proved himself fully equal to the task. A month before his death he
+gained an important victory over the Danes at Athboy, A.D. 1022. An
+interregnum of twenty years followed his death, during which the country
+was governed by two wise men, Cuan O'Lochlann, a poet, and Corcran
+Cleireach, an anchoret. The circumstances attending Malachy's death are
+thus related by the Four Masters:--"The age of Christ 1022.
+Maelseachlainn Môr, pillar of the dignity and nobility of the west of
+the world, died in Croinis Locha-Aininn, in the seventy-third year of
+his age, on the 4th of the nones of September, on Sunday precisely,
+after intense penance for his sins and transgressions, after receiving
+the body of Christ and His blood, after being anointed by the hands of
+Amhalgaidh, successor of Patrick, for he and the successor of
+Colum-Cille, and the successors of Ciaran, and most of the seniors of
+Ireland were present [at his death], and they sung masses, hymns,
+psalms, and canticles for the welfare of his soul."
+
+[Illustration: COVER OF ST. PATRICK'S BELL.]
+
+[Illustration: DESMOND CASTLE AND RATH, LIMERICK.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[208] _Dagger_.--The king visited the shrine on his way to battle, and
+hanging up his dagger, the then symbol of knightly valour, vowed to
+release it with a kingly ransom if God gave him the victory. He obtained
+his desire, and nobly fulfilled his vow.
+
+[209] _Tyrants_.--J. Roderick O'Flanagan, Esq., M.R.I.A., has permitted
+me to extract the account of the battle of Dundalk from his valuable and
+interesting _History of Dundalk and its Environs._ Dublin: Hodges and
+Smith, 1864. This gentleman has devoted himself specially to elucidating
+the subject, and with a kindness which I cannot easily forget, permits
+me to avail myself, not only of his literary labours, but even to
+transfer to the pages of this work several complete pages from his own.
+
+[210] _Chess_.--Flann Sionna, Monarch of Ireland, had encamped on this
+plain, and ostentatiously commenced a game of chess as a mark of
+contempt for the chieftains whose country he had invaded. His folly met
+its just punishment, for he was ignominiously defeated. See _Wars of the
+Gaedhil_, p. 113, note.
+
+[211] _Valour.--Wars of the Gaedhil_, p. 101.
+
+[212] _Belach-Lechta_.--The site has not been definitely ascertained.
+Some authorities place it near Macroom, co. Cork.
+
+[213] _Glen-Mama_.--The Glen of the Gap, near Dunlavin. This was the
+ancient stronghold of the kings of Leinster in Wicklow. There is a long
+and very interesting note on the locality, by the Rev. J.F. Shearman,
+R.C.C., in the "Introduction" to the _Wars of the Gaedhil_. He mentions
+that pits have been discovered even recently, containing the remains of
+the slain.
+
+[214] _Deeds_.--The origin of surnames is also attributed to Brian
+Boroimhé, from a fragment in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin,
+supposed to be a portion of a life of that monarch written by his poet
+Mac Liag. Surnames were generally introduced throughout Europe in the
+tenth and twelfth centuries. The Irish gave their names to their lands.
+In other countries patronymics were usually taken from the names of the
+hereditary possessions.
+
+[215] _Fifty-three_.--See Dr. O'Donovan's note to Annals, p. 747.
+
+[216] _Fidh-Gaibhli_.--Now Feegile, near Portarlington.
+
+[217] _Given_.--The Book of Rights mentions, that one of the rights to
+which the King of Leinster was entitled from the King of Ireland, was
+"fine textured clothes at Tara," as well as "sevenscore suits of clothes
+of good colour, for the use of the sons of the great chieftain."--Book
+of Rights, p. 251. From the conduct of Gormflaith, as related above, it
+is evident that the tunic was some token of vassalage.
+
+[218] _Murrough_.--He was eldest son by Brian's first wife, Môr. He had
+three sons by this lady, who were all slain at Clontarf.
+
+[219] _Yew-tree_.--This was a sharp insult. After the battle of
+Glen-Mama, Maelmordha had hidden himself in a yew-tree, where he was
+discovered and taken prisoner by Murrough.
+
+[220] _Land.--Wars of the Gaedhil_, p. 151.
+
+[221] _Brodir_.--It has been suggested that this was not his real name.
+He was Ospak's _brother_, and Brodir may have been mistaken for a proper
+name. There was a Danish Viking named Gutring, who was an apostate
+deacon, and who may have been the Brodir of Irish history.
+
+[222] _Baptism.--Burnt Njal_, ii. 332.
+
+[223] _Combat.--Wars of the Gaedhil_, p. 157.
+
+[224] _Magh-n-Ealta_.--The Plain of the Flocks, lying between Howth and
+Tallaght, so called from Eder, a chieftain who perished before the
+Christian era.
+
+[225] _Clontarf_.--There is curious evidence that the account of the
+battle of Clontarf must have been written by an eye-witness, or by one
+who had obtained his information from an eye-witness. The author states
+that "the foreigners came out to fight the battle in the morning at the
+full tide," and that the tide came in again in the evening at the same
+place. The Danes suffered severely from this, "for the tide had carried
+away their ships from them." Consequently, hundreds perished in the
+waves.--_Wars of the Gaedhil,_ p. 191. Dr. Todd mentions that he asked
+the Rev. S. Haughton, of Trinity College, Dublin, to calculate for him
+"what was the hour of high water at the shore of Clontarf, in Dublin
+Bay, on the 23rd of April, 1014." The result was a full confirmation of
+the account given by the author of the _Wars of the Gaedhil_--the Rev.
+S. Haughton having calculated that the morning tide was full in at 5.30
+a.m., the evening tide being full at 5.55 p.m.
+
+[226] _Siguard_.--Various accounts are given of the disposition of
+forces on each side, so that it is impossible to speak with accuracy on
+the subject. We know how difficult it is to obtain correct particulars
+on such occasions, even with the assistance of "own correspondents" and
+electric telegraphs.
+
+[227] _Psalms_.--To recite the Psalter in this way was a special
+devotional practice of the middle ages.
+
+[228] _Brian_.--_Burnt Njal_, ii. 337. If this account be reliable,
+Brian did not live to receive the last sacraments, as other authorities
+state.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+Distinguished Irish Scholars and Religious--Domestic Feuds--O'Brien's
+Illness caused by Fright--Pestilence and Severe Winters--Contentions
+between the Northerns and Southerns--Murtough's Circuit of Ireland--The
+Danes attempt an Invasion--An Irish King sent to the Isle of
+Man--Destruction of Kincora--St. Celsus makes Peace--The Synod of Fidh
+Aengussa--Subjects considered by the Synod: (1) The Regulation of the
+Number of Dioceses, (2) the Sacrament of Matrimony, (3) the Consecration
+of Bishops, (4) Ceremonies at Baptism--St. Malachy--The Traitor
+Dermod--Synod at Mellifont Abbey--St. Laurence O'Toole.
+
+[A.D. 1022-1167.]
+
+
+Domestic wars were, as usual, productive of the worst consequences, as
+regards the social state of the country. The schools and colleges, which
+had been founded and richly endowed by the converted Irish, were now,
+without exception, plundered of their wealth, and, in many cases,
+deprived of those who had dispensed that wealth for the common good. It
+has been already shown that men lived holy lives, and died peaceful
+deaths, during the two hundred years of Danish oppression; we shall now
+find that schools were revived, monasteries repeopled, and missionaries
+sent to convert and instruct in foreign lands. A few monks from Ireland
+settled in Glastonbury early in the tenth century, where they devoted
+themselves to the instruction of youth. St. Dunstan, who was famous for
+his skill in music, was one of their most illustrious pupils: he was a
+scholar, an artist, and a musician. But English writers, who give him
+the credit of having brought "Englishmen to care once more for learning,
+after they had quite lost the taste for it, and had sunk back into
+ignorance and barbarism," forget to mention who were his instructors.
+
+St. Maccallin, another Irishman, was teaching in France at the same
+period; and Duncan, who governed the Monastery of St. Remigius, at
+Rheims, was writing books of instruction for his students, which are
+still extant. Marianus Scotus, whose chronicles are considered the most
+perfect compositions of their times, was teaching at Cologne. St.
+Fingen, who succeeded St. Cadroe as Abbot of the Monastery of St. Felix
+at Metz, was invested with the government of the Monastery of St.
+Symphorian in that city[229]. It was then ordered by the bishop, that
+none but Irish monks should be received into his house, unless their
+supply failed. In 975 the Monastery of St. Martin, near Cologne, was
+made over to the Irish monks in perpetuity. Happily, however, Ireland
+still retained many of her pious and gifted sons. We have mentioned
+elsewhere the Annals of Tighernach, and the remarkable erudition they
+evince. The name of Cormac Mac Cullinan may also be added to the list of
+literary men of the period. The poems of Kenneth O'Hartigan are still
+extant, as well as those of Eochd O'Flynn. The authorship of the _Wars
+of the Gaedhil and the Gall_, has been attributed to Brian Boroimhé's
+secretary, Mac Liag; it is, at least, tolerably certain that it was
+written by one who witnessed the events described. The obituaries of
+several saints also occur at the close of the tenth and commencement of
+the eleventh centuries. Amongst these we find St. Duncheadh, Abbot of
+Clonmacnois, who is said to have been the last Irish saint who raised
+the dead. St. Aedh (Hugh) died in the year 1004, "after a good life, at
+Ard-Macha, with great honour and veneration." And in the year 1018, we
+have the mortuary record of St. Gormgal, of Ardvilean, "the remains of
+whose humble oratory and cloghan cell are still to be seen on that rocky
+island, amid the surges of the Atlantic, off the coast of
+Connemara."[230]
+
+Dr. Todd has well observed, in his admirably written "Introduction" to
+the _Wars of the Gaedhil and the Gall_, that from the death of Malachy
+to the days of Strongbow, the history of Ireland is little more than a
+history of the struggles for ascendency between the great clans or
+families of O'Neill, O'Connor, O'Brien, and the chieftains of Leinster.
+
+After the death of Brian Boroimhé, his son Donough obtained the
+undisputed sovereignty of Munster. He defeated the Desmonians, and
+instigated the murder of his brother Teigue. His next step was to claim
+the title of King of Ireland, but he had a formidable opponent in Dermod
+Mac Mael-na-mbo, King of Leinster. Strange to say, though he had the
+guilt of fratricide on his conscience, he assembled the clergy and
+chieftains of Munster at Killaloe, in the year 1050, to pass laws for
+the protection of life and property--a famine, which occurred at this
+time, making such precautions of the first necessity. In 1033, his
+nephew, Turlough, avenged the death of Teigue, in a battle, wherein
+Donough was defeated. After his reverse he went on a pilgrimage to Rome,
+where he died in the following year, after doing penance for his
+brother's murder. The Annals say that "he died under the victory of
+penance, in the Monastery of Stephen the Martyr."[231] Dermod Mac
+Mael-na-mbo was killed in battle by the King of Meath, A.D. 1072, and
+Turlough O'Brien, consequently, was regarded as his successor to the
+monarchy of Ireland. Turlough, as usual, commenced by taking hostages,
+but he found serious opposition from the northern Hy-Nials. His
+principal opponents were the Mac Loughlins of Aileach, and the
+O'Melaghlins of Meath. In 1079 O'Brien invaded the territory of Roderic
+O'Connor, King of Connaught, expelled him from his kingdom, and
+plundered it as far as Croagh Patrick. Next year he led an army to
+Dublin, and received the submission of the men of Meath, appointing his
+son Murtough lord of the Danes of Dublin. The Annals of the Four Masters
+give a curious account of O'Brien's death. They say that the head of
+Connor O'Melaghlin, King of Meath, was taken from the church of
+Clonmacnois, and brought to Thomond, by his order. When the king took
+the head in his hand, a mouse ran out of it, and the shock was so great
+that "he fell ill of a sore disease by the miracles (intervention) of
+St. Ciaran." This happened on the night of Good Friday. The day of the
+resurrection (Easter Sunday) the head was restored, with two rings of
+gold as a peace-offering. But Turlough never recovered from the effects
+of his fright, and lingered on in bad health until the year 1086, when
+he died. He is called the "modest Turlough" in the Annals, for what
+special reason does not appear. It is also recorded that he performed
+"intense penance for his sins"--a grace which the kings and princes of
+Ireland seem often to have needed, and, if we may believe the Annals,
+always to have obtained.
+
+A period of anarchy ensued, during which several princes contended for
+royal honours. This compliment was finally awarded to Mac Loughlin, King
+of Aileach, and a temporary peace ensued. Its continuance was brief. In
+1095 there was a pestilence all over Europe, "and some say that the
+fourth part of the men of Ireland died of the malady." A long list is
+given of its victims, lay and ecclesiastical. Several severe winters are
+recorded as having preceded this fatal event; probably they were its
+remote cause. In the year 1096, the festival of St. John Baptist fell on
+Friday. This event caused general consternation, in consequence of some
+old prophecy. A resolution "of the clergy of Ireland, with the successor
+of St. Patrick[232] at their head," enjoined a general abstinence from
+Wednesday to Sunday every month, with other penitential observances; and
+"the men of Ireland were saved for that time from the fire of
+vengeance."[233]
+
+But the most important event of the period was the contention between
+the northern and southern Hy-Nials. Murtough was planning, with great
+military ability, to obtain the supreme rule. The Archbishop of Armagh
+and the clergy strove twice to avert hostilities, but their interference
+was almost ineffectual. "A year's peace" was all they could obtain. In
+the year 1100, Murtough brought a Danish fleet against the northerns,
+but they were cut off by O'Loughlin, "by killing or drowning." He also
+assembled an army at Assaroe, near Ballyshannon, "with the choice part
+of the men of Ireland," but the Cinel-Connaill defended their country
+bravely, and compelled him to retire "without booty, without hostages,
+without pledges." In 1101, when the twelvemonths' truce obtained by the
+clergy had expired, Murtough collected a powerful army, and devastated
+the north, without opposition. He demolished the palace of the Hy-Nials,
+called the Grianan of Aileach.[234] This was an act of revenge for a
+similar raid, committed a few years before, on the stronghold of the
+O'Briens, at Kincora, by O'Loughlin. So determined was he on
+devastation, that he commanded a stone to be carried away from the
+building in each of the sacks which had contained provisions for the
+army. He then took hostages of Ulidia, and returned to the south, having
+completed the circuit of Ireland in six weeks. The expedition was called
+the "circuitous hosting." His rather original method of razing a palace,
+is commemorated in the following quatrain:--
+
+    "I never heard of the billeting of grit stones,
+    Though I heard _[sic]_ of the billeting of companies,
+    Until the stones of Aileach was billeted
+    On the horses of the king of the west."[235]
+
+Murtough appears to have been a not unusual compound of piety and
+profanity. We read in one place of his reckless exploits in burning
+churches and desecrating shrines, and in others of his liberal
+endowments of the same.
+
+The Danes had now settled quietly in the mercantile towns which they had
+mainly contributed to form, and expended all their energies on commerce
+instead of war; but the new generation of Northmen, who had not yet
+visited Ireland, could not so easily relinquish the old project of
+conquering it. About the year 1101, Magnus planned an expedition to
+effect this purpose. He arrived in Dublin the following year; a "hosting
+of the men of Ireland came to oppose him;"[236] but they made peace with
+him for one year, and Murtough gave his daughter in marriage to his son
+Sitric, "with many jewels and gifts." The year 1103 was distinguished
+for sanguinary conflicts. Murdhadh Drun was killed on a predatory
+excursion in Magh Cobha. Raghnall Ua h-Ocain,[237] lawgiver of Felach
+Og, was slain by the men of Magh Itha. There was a "great war" between
+the Cinel-Eoghain and the Ulidians; and Murtough O'Brien, with the men
+of Munster, Leinster, and Ossory, the chiefs of Connaught, and the men
+of Meath and their kings, proceeded to Magh Cobha (Donaghmore, co. Down)
+to relieve the Ulidians. When the men of Munster "were wearied,"
+Murtough proceeded to Ard-Macha, and left eight ounces of gold upon the
+altar, and promised eightscore cows. The northern Hy-Nials then attacked
+the camp of the Leinster men, and a spirited battle was fought. The
+Cinel-Eoghain and Cinel-Connaill returned victoriously and triumphantly
+to their forts, with valuable jewels and much wealth, together with the
+royal tent, the standard, and jewels.
+
+Magnus, King of Lochlann and the Isles, was slain by the Ulidians this
+year.
+
+It is noticeable that, in the Annals of the Four Masters, obituaries of
+saints or good men always occupy the first place. The Annals of this
+year are of unusual length; but they commence with the obituary of
+Murchadh O'Flanaghan, Arrchinneach of Ardbo, a paragon of wisdom and
+instruction, who died on his pilgrimage at Ard-Macha. A priest of
+Kildare is also mentioned, and the Tanist-Abbot of Clonmacnois, a
+prosperous and affluent man.
+
+It would appear that the Irish were sufficiently occupied with domestic
+wars to prevent their offering assistance elsewhere. This, however, was
+not the case. When Harold returned to England, his brother-in-law,
+Donough, lent him nine ships; and we find the Irish affording assistance
+in several other feuds of the Anglo-Saxons of this period. A deputation
+of the nobles of Man and other islands visited Dublin, and waited on
+Murtough O'Brien to solicit a king. He sent his nephew, Donnell; but he
+was soon expelled on account of his tyranny. Another Donnell O'Brien,
+his cousin, was, at the same time, lord of the Danes in Dublin. In 1114
+Murtough O'Brien was obliged to resign the crown in consequence of
+ill-health; the Annals say that he became a living skeleton. His
+brother, Dermod, took advantage of this circumstance to declare himself
+King of Munster. This obliged Murtough to resume the reins of
+government, and put himself at the head of his army. He succeeded in
+making Dermod prisoner, but eventually he was obliged to resign the
+kingdom to him, and retired into the Monastery of Lismore, where he died
+in 1119. The Annals call him the prop of the glory and magnificence of
+the western world. In the same year Nial Mac Lochlann, royal heir of
+Aileach and of Ireland, fell by the Cinel-Moain, in the twenty-eighth
+year of his age. He was the "paragon of Ireland, for personal form,
+sense, hospitality, and learning." The Chief Ollamh of Ireland,
+Cucollchoille ua Biagheallain, was killed by the men of Lug and
+Tuatha-ratha (Tooragh, co. Fermanagh), with his wife, "two very good
+sons," and five-and-thirty persons in one house, on the Saturday before
+Little Easter. The cause of this outrage is not mentioned. The Annals of
+the Four Masters and the Annals of Ulster record the same event, and
+mention that he was distinguished for charity, hospitality, and
+universal benevolence.
+
+Donnell O'Loughlin died in 1121, in the Monastery of St. Columba, at
+Derry. He is styled King of Ireland, although the power of his southern
+rival preponderated during the greater part of his reign. In 1118 Rory
+O'Connor died in the Monastery of Clonmacnois. He had been blinded some
+years previously by the O'Flaherties. This cruel custom was sometimes
+practised to prevent the succession of an obnoxious person, as freedom
+from every blemish was a _sine qua non_ in Erinn for a candidate to
+royal honours. Teigue Mac Carthy, King of Desmond, died, "after
+penance," at Cashel, A.D. 1124. From the time of Murtough O'Brien's
+illness, Turlough O'Connor, son of the prince who had been blinded,
+comes prominently forward in Irish history. His object was to exalt the
+Eoghanists or Desmonian family, who had been virtually excluded from the
+succession since the time of Brian Boroimhé. In 1116 he plundered
+Thomond as far as Limerick. In 1118 he led an army as far as Glanmire
+(co. Cork), and divided Munster, giving Desmond to Mac Carthy, and
+Thomond to the sons of Dermod O'Brien. He then marched to Dublin, and
+took hostages from the Danes, releasing Donnell, son of the King of
+Meath, whom they had in captivity. The following year he sailed down the
+Shannon with a fleet, and destroyed the royal palace of Kincora, hurling
+its stones and timber beams into the river. He then devoted himself to
+wholesale plundering, and expelled his late ally and father-in-law from
+Meath, ravaging the country from Traigh Li (Tralee) to the sanctuary
+lands of Lismore. In 1126 he bestowed the kingdom of Dublin on his son
+Cormac. In 1127 he drove Cormac Mac Carthy from his kingdom, and divided
+Munster in three parts. In fact, there was such a storm of war
+throughout the whole country, that St. Celsus was obliged to interfere.
+He spent a month and a year trying to establish peace, and promulgating
+rules and good customs in every district, among the laity and clergy.
+His efforts to teach "good rules and manners" seem to have been scarcely
+effectual, for we find an immediate entry of the decapitation of
+Ruaidhri, after he had made a "treacherous prey" in Aictheara. In the
+year 1128 the good Archbishop succeeded in making a year's truce between
+the Connaught men and the men of Munster. The following year the saint
+died at Ardpatrick, where he was making a visitation. He was only fifty
+years of age, but anxiety and care had worn him old. St. Celsus was
+buried at Lismore, and interred in the cemetery of the bishops.
+
+We must now give a brief glance at the ecclesiastical history of
+Ireland, before narrating the events which immediately preceded the
+English invasion.
+
+In the year 1111 a synod was convened at Fidh Aengussa, or Aengus Grove,
+near the Hill of Uisneach, in Westmeath. It was attended by fifty
+bishops, 300 priests, and 3,000 religious. Murtough O'Brien was also
+permitted to be present, and some of the nobles of his province. The
+object of the synod was to institute rules of life and manners for the
+clergy and people. St. Celsus, the Archbishop of Armagh, and
+Maelmuire[238] or Marianus O'Dunain, Archbishop of Cashel, were present.
+Attention had already been directed to certain abuses in ecclesiastical
+discipline. Such abuses must always arise from time to time in the
+Church, through the frailty of her members; but these abuses are always
+carefully reprehended as they arise, so that she is no longer
+responsible for them. It is remarkable that men of more than ordinary
+sanctity have usually been given to the Church at such periods. Some
+have withheld heretical emperors from deeds of evil, and some have
+braved the fury of heretical princes. In Ireland, happily, the rulers
+needed not such opposition; but when the country had been again and
+again devastated by war, whether from foreign or domestic sources, the
+intervention of saintly men was especially needed to restore peace, and
+to repair, as far as might be, the grievous injury which war always
+inflicts on the social state of those who have suffered from its
+devastations.
+
+Lanfranc, the great Archbishop of Canterbury, had already noticed the
+state of the Irish Church. He was in constant communication with the
+Danish bishops, who had received consecration from him; and their
+accounts were probably true in the main, however coloured by prejudice.
+He wrote an earnest epistle to Turlough O'Brien, whom he addresses
+respectfully as King of Ireland, and whose virtues as a Christian prince
+he highly commends. His principal object appears to have been to draw
+the king's attention to an abuse, of which the Danes had informed him,
+with regard to the sacrament of matrimony. This subject shall be noticed
+again. Pope Gregory VII. also wrote to Turlough, but principally on the
+temporal authority of the Holy See.
+
+The synod had four special subjects for consideration: (1) First, to
+regulate the number of bishops--an excessive and undue multiplication of
+episcopal dignity having arisen from the custom of creating chorepiscopi
+or rural bishops. It was now decided that there should be but
+twenty-four dioceses--twelve for the northern and twelve for the
+southern half of Ireland. Cashel was also recognized as an
+archiepiscopal see, and the successor of St. Jarlath was sometimes
+called Archbishop of Connaught. The custom of lay appropriations, which
+had obtained in some places, was also firmly denounced. This was an
+intolerable abuse. St. Celsus, the Archbishop of Armagh, though himself
+a member of the family who had usurped this office, made a special
+provision in his will that he should be succeeded by St. Malachy. This
+saint obtained a final victory over the sacrilegious innovators, but not
+without much personal suffering.[239]
+
+The (2) second abuse which was now noticed, referred to the sacrament of
+matrimony. The Irish were accused of abandoning their lawful wives and
+taking others, of marrying within the degrees of consanguinity, and it
+was said that in Dublin wives were even exchanged. Usher, in commenting
+on the passage in Lanfranc's letter which refers to these gross abuses,
+observes that the custom of discarding wives was prevalent among the
+Anglo-Saxons and in Scotland. This, however, was no excuse for the
+Irish. The custom was a remnant of pagan contempt of the female sex,--a
+contempt from which women were never fully released, until Christianity
+restored the fallen, and the obedience of the second Eve had atoned for
+the disobedience of the first. It appears, however, that these
+immoralities were almost confined to the half-Christianized Danes, who
+still retained many of their heathen customs. The canons of St. Patrick,
+which were always respected by the native Irish, forbid such practices;
+and the synod, therefore, had only to call on the people to observe the
+laws of the Church more strictly.
+
+Two other subjects, (3) one regarding the consecration of bishops, the
+other (4) referring to the ceremonies of baptism, were merely questions
+of ecclesiastical discipline, and as such were easily arranged by
+competent authority. In St. Anselm's correspondence with the prelates of
+the south of Ireland, he passes a high eulogium on their zeal and piety,
+while he deplores certain relaxations of discipline, which they were as
+anxious to reform as he could desire.
+
+We have already mentioned that St. Celsus appointed St. Malachy his
+successor in the Archiepiscopal See of Armagh. Malachy had been educated
+by the Abbot Imar O'Hagan, who presided over the great schools of that
+city; and the account given of his early training, sufficiently
+manifests the ability of his gifted instructor, and the high state of
+intellectual culture which existed in Ireland. While still young, St.
+Malachy undertook the restoration of the famous Abbey of Bangor. Here he
+erected a small oratory of wood, and joined himself to a few devoted men
+ardent for the perfection of a religious life. He was soon after elected
+Bishop of Connor. With the assistance of some of his faithful monks, he
+restored what war and rapine had destroyed; and was proceeding
+peacefully and successfully in his noble work, when he was driven from
+his diocese by a hostile prince. He now fled to Cormac Mac Carthy, King
+of Desmond;[240] but he was not permitted to remain here long. The See
+of Armagh was vacated by the death of St. Celsus, and Malachy was
+obliged to commence another arduous mission. It is said that it almost
+required threats of excommunication to induce him to undertake the
+charge. Bishop Gilbert of Limerick, the Apostolic-Delegate, and Bishop
+Malchus of Lismore, with other bishops and several chieftains, visited
+him in the monastery which he had erected at Ibrach,[241] and at last
+obtained compliance by promising him permission to retire when he had
+restored order in his new diocese.
+
+[Illustration: BANGOR CASTLE.]
+
+St. Malachy found his mission as painful as he had anticipated. The lay
+intruders were making a last attempt to keep up their evil custom; and,
+after the death of the usurper who made this false claim, another person
+attempted to continue it; but popular feeling was so strong against the
+wretched man, that he was obliged to fly. Ecclesiastical discipline was
+soon restored; and after Malachy had made a partition of the diocese, he
+was permitted to resign in favour of Gelasius, then Abbot of the great
+Columbian Monastery of Derry.
+
+But peace was not yet established in Ireland. I shall return again to
+the narrative of domestic feuds, which made it a "trembling sod," the
+O'Loughlins of Tyrone being the chief aggressors; for the present we
+must follow the course of ecclesiastical history briefly. St. Malachy
+was now appointed Bishop of Down, to which his old see of Connor was
+united. He had long a desire to visit Rome--a devotional pilgrimage of
+the men of Erinn from the earliest period. He was specially anxious to
+obtain a formal recognition of the archiepiscopal sees in Ireland, by
+the granting of palliums. On his way to the Holy City he visited St.
+Bernard at Clairvaux, and thus commenced and cemented the friendship
+which forms so interesting a feature in the lives of the French and
+Irish saints. It is probable that his account of the state of the Irish
+Church took a tinge of gloom from the heavy trials he had endured in his
+efforts to remove its temporary abuses. St. Bernard's ardent and
+impetuous character, even his very affectionateness, would lead him also
+to look darkly on the picture: hence the somewhat over-coloured accounts
+he has given of its state at that eventful period. St. Malachy returned
+to Ireland after an interview with the reigning Pontiff, Pope Innocent
+II. His Holiness had received him with open arms, and appointed him
+Apostolic Legate; but he declined to give the palliums, until they were
+formally demanded by the Irish prelates.
+
+In virtue of his legatine power, the saint assembled local synods in
+several places. He rebuilt and restored many churches; and in 1142 he
+erected the famous Cistercian Abbey of Mellifont, near Drogheda. This
+monastery was liberally endowed by O'Carroll, King of Oriel, and was
+peopled by Irish monks, whom St. Malachy had sent to Clairvaux, to be
+trained in the Benedictine rule and observances. But his great act was
+the convocation of the Synod of Inis Padraig. It was held in the year
+1148. St. Malachy presided as Legate of the Holy See; fifteen bishops,
+two hundred priests, and some religious were present at the
+deliberations, which lasted for four days. The members of the synod were
+unwilling that Malachy should leave Ireland again; but Eugene III., who
+had been a Cistercian monk, was visiting Clairvaux, and it was hoped he
+might grant the favour there. The Pope had left the abbey when the saint
+arrived, who, in a few days after, was seized with mortal sickness, and
+died on the 2nd November, 1148. His remains were interred at Clairvaux.
+His feast was changed from the 2nd of November, All Souls, to the 3rd,
+by "the seniors," that he might be the more easily revered and honoured.
+
+In 1151 Cardinal Paparo arrived in Ireland with the palliums which had
+been solicited by St. Malachy. The insignia of dignity were conferred
+the following year, at the Council of Kells. Tithes were then introduced
+for the first time in Ireland, but they were not enforced until after
+the English invasion.
+
+It will be remembered that we turned to ecclesiastical history, after
+mentioning the year's truce (A.D. 1128) which had been made, through the
+intervention of St. Celsus, between the men of Munster and Connaught. In
+1129 the great Church of Clonmacnois was robbed[242] of some of its
+greatest treasures. Amongst these was a model of Solomon's Temple,
+presented by a prince of Meath, and a silver chalice burnished with
+gold, which had been engraved by a sister of King Turlough O'Connor--an
+evidence that the ladies of Ireland were by no means behind the age in
+taste and refinement.
+
+After the death of Donnell O'Loughlin, Turlough had full scope for the
+exercise of his ambitious projects; but in 1131 he found serious
+opposition from Connor O'Brien, who had succeeded his father, Dermod, on
+the throne of Munster. Connor now carried off hostages from Leinster and
+Meath, and defeated the cavalry of Connaught. The following year he sent
+a fleet to the western coast of Ireland. Eventually Turlough O'Connor
+was glad to make a truce with his opponents. In 1184 the consecration of
+a church at Cashel was celebrated. This is still known as Cormac's
+Chapel, and was long supposed to have been erected by the more ancient
+monarch of that name. But the good king was soon after treacherously
+slain in his own house, by Turlough O'Connor and the two sons of the
+O'Connor of Kerry. Turlough was unquestionably somewhat Spartan in his
+severities, if not Draconian in his administration of justice. In 1106
+he put out the eyes of his own son, Hugh, and in the same year he
+imprisoned another son, named Roderic. The nature of their offences is
+not manifest; but Roderic was liberated through the interference of the
+clergy. Seven years after he was again imprisoned, "in violation of the
+most solemn pledges and guarantees." The clergy again interfered; from
+which we may infer that he was a favourite. They even held a public
+feast at Rathbrendan on his behalf; but he was not released until the
+following year. In the year 1136 we find the obituary of the chief
+keeper of the calendar of Ard-Macha, on the night of Good Friday. He is
+also mentioned as its chief antiquary and librarian, an evidence that
+the old custom was kept up to the very eve of the English invasion. The
+obituary of Donnell O'Duffy, Archbishop of Connaught, is also given. He
+died after Mass and celebration; according to the Annals of Clonmacnois,
+he had celebrated Mass by himself, at Clonfert, on St. Patrick's Day,
+and died immediately after. About the same time the Breinemen behaved
+"so exceedingly outrageous," that they irreverently stript O'Daly,
+arch-poet of Ireland, "of all his clothes."
+
+In the meantime domestic wars multiplied with extraordinary rapidity.
+Dermod Mac Murrough, the infamous King of Leinster, now appears for the
+first time in the history of that country which he mainly contributed to
+bring under the English yoke. He commenced his career of perfidy by
+carrying off the Abbess of Kildare from her cloister, killing 170 of the
+people of Kildare, who interfered to prevent this wanton and
+sacrilegious outrage. In 1141 he endeavoured to crush the opposers of
+his atrocious tyranny by a barbarous onslaught, in which he killed two
+nobles, put out the eyes of another, and blinded[243] seventeen
+chieftains of inferior rank. A fitting commencement of his career of
+treachery towards his unfortunate country! In 1148 a temporary peace was
+made by the Primate of Armagh between the northern princes, who had
+carried on a deadly feud; but its duration, as usual, was brief.
+Turlough O'Brien was deposed by Teigue in 1151. He was assisted by
+Turlough O'Connor and the infamous Dermod. The united armies plundered
+as far as Moin Môr,[244] where they encountered the Dalcassian forces
+returning from the plunder of Desmond. A sanguinary combat ensued, and
+the men of north Munster suffered a dreadful slaughter, leaving 7,000
+dead upon the field of battle. This terrible sacrifice of life is
+attributed to the mistaken valour of the Dal-Cais, who would neither fly
+nor ask quarter.
+
+In 1157 a synod was held in the Abbey of Mellifont, attended by the
+Bishop of Lismore, Legate of the Holy See, the Primate, and seventeen
+other bishops. Murtough O'Loughlin, the Monarch of Ireland, and several
+other kings, were also present. The principal object of this meeting was
+the consecration of the abbey church and the excommunication of Donough
+O'Melaghlin, who had become the common pest of the country. He was, as
+might be expected, the particular friend and ally of Dermod Mac
+Murrough. His last exploit was the murder of a neighbouring chief,
+despite the most solemn pledges. In an old translation of the Annals of
+Ulster, he is termed, with more force than elegance, "a cursed atheist."
+After his excommunication, his brother Dermod was made King of Meath, in
+his place.
+
+At this synod several rich gifts were made to the abbey. O'Carroll,
+Prince of Oriel, presented sixty ounces of gold. O'Loughlin made a grant
+of lands, gave one hundred and forty cows and sixty ounces of gold. The
+Lady Dervorgil gave the same donation in gold, together with a golden
+chalice for the altar of Mary, with gifts for each of the other nine
+altars of the church. Dervorgil was the wife of Tiernan O'Rourke, Lord
+of Breffni, who had been dispossessed of his territories in 1152; at the
+same time she was carried off by Dermod Mac Murrough. Her abduction
+seems to have been effected with her own consent, as she carried off the
+cattle which had formed her dowry. Her husband, it would appear, had
+treated her harshly. Eventually she retired to the Monastery of
+Mellifont, where she endeavoured to atone for her past misconduct by a
+life of penance.
+
+Another synod was held in the year 1158, at Trim. Derry was then erected
+into an episcopal see, and Flahertach O'Brolchain, Abbot of St.
+Columba's Monastery, was consecrated its first bishop. The bishops of
+Connaught were intercepted and plundered by Dermod's soldiers; they
+therefore returned and held a provincial synod in Roscommon.
+
+In 1162 St. Laurence O'Toole was chosen to succeed Greine, or Gregory,
+the Danish Archbishop of Dublin. He belonged to one of the most noble
+ancient families of Leinster. His father was chieftain of the district
+of Hy-Muirahy, a portion of the present county Kildare. St. Laurence had
+chosen the ecclesiastical state early in life; at the age of twenty-five
+he was chosen Abbot of St. Kevin's Monastery, at Glendalough. The Danish
+Bishop of Dublin had been consecrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury,
+but the saint received the episcopal office from the successor of St.
+Patrick. A synod was held at Clane the year of his consecration; it was
+attended by twenty-six prelates and many other ecclesiastics. The
+college of Armagh was then virtually raised to the rank of a university,
+as it was decreed that no one, who had not been an alumnus of Armagh,
+should be appointed lector or professor of theology in any of the
+diocesan schools in Ireland. Indeed, the clergy at this period were most
+active in promoting the interests of religion, and most successful in
+their efforts, little anticipating the storm which was then impending
+over their country.
+
+In 1166 the Irish Monarch, O'Loughlin, committed a fearful outrage on
+Dunlevy, Prince of Dalriada. A peace had been ratified between them,
+but, from some unknown cause, O'Loughlin suddenly became again the
+aggressor, and attacked the northern chief, when he was unprepared, put
+out his eyes, and killed three of his leading officers. This cruel
+treachery so provoked the princes who had guaranteed the treaty, that
+they mustered an army at once and proceeded northwards. The result was a
+sanguinary engagement, in which the Cinel-Eoghan were defeated, and the
+Monarch, O'Loughlin, was slain. Roderick O'Connor immediately assumed
+the reins of government, and was inaugurated in Dublin with more pomp
+than had ever been manifested on such an occasion. It was the last
+glittering flicker of the expiring lamp. Submission was made to him on
+every side; and had he only possessed the ability or the patriotism to
+unite the forces under his command, he might well have set all his
+enemies at defiance. An assembly of the clergy and chieftains of Ireland
+was convened in 1167, which is said to have emulated, if it did not
+rival, the triennial _Fes_ of ancient Tara. It was but the last gleam of
+sunlight, which indicates the coming of darkness and gloom. The traitor
+already had his plans prepared, and was flying from a country which
+scorned his meanness, to another country where that meanness was made
+the tool of political purposes, while the unhappy traitor was probably
+quite as heartily despised.
+
+[Illustration: ARDMORE ROUND TOWER.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[229] _City_.--Some Irish religious are also said to have lived in amity
+with Greek monks, who were established at Tours, in France; and it is
+said that the Irish joined them in the performance of the ecclesiastical
+offices in their own language.
+
+[230] _Connemara_.--Haverty's _History of Ireland_, p. 156. See also an
+interesting note on this subject in the Chronicum Scotorum.
+
+[231] _Martyr_.--Page 887. The famine in the preceding year is also
+recorded, as well as the cholic and "lumps," which prevailed in
+Leinster, and also spread throughout Ireland. Donough was married to an
+English princess, Driella, the daughter of the English Earl Godwin, and
+sister of Harold, afterwards King of England. During the rebellion of
+Godwin and his sons against Edward the Confessor, Harold was obliged to
+take refuge in Ireland, and remained there "all the winter on the king's
+security."
+
+[232] _St. Patrick_.--It is observable all through the Annals, how the
+name and spiritual authority of St. Patrick is revered. This expression
+occurs regularly from the earliest period, wherever the Primate of
+Ireland is mentioned.
+
+[233] _Vengeance_.--See O'Curry, _passim_, for curious traditions or
+so-called prophecies about St. John Baptist's Day.
+
+[234] _Aileach_.--The remains of this fortress are still visible near
+Londonderry, and are called Grianan-Elagh.
+
+[235] _West_.--Annals, vol. ii. p. 969.
+
+[236] _Him.--Ib._ p 973.
+
+[237] _Ua h-Ocain_.--Now anglicised O'Hagan. This family had the special
+privilege of crowning the O'Neills, and were their hereditary Brehons.
+The Right Honorable Judge O'Hagan is, we believe, the present head of
+the family.
+
+[238] _Maelmuire_.--"The servant of Mary." Devotion to the Mother of
+God, which is still a special characteristic of the Irish nation, was
+early manifested by the adoption of this name.
+
+[239] _Suffering_.--This abuse was not peculiar to the Irish Church. A
+canon of the Council of London, A.D. 1125, was framed to prevent similar
+lay appropriations. In the time of Cambrensis there were lay (so called)
+abbots, who took the property of the Church into their own hands, and
+made their children receive holy orders that they might enjoy the
+revenues.
+
+[240] _Desmond_.--See the commencement of this chapter, for an
+illustration of the ruins of its ancient rath and the more modern
+castle. These remains are among the most interesting in Ireland.
+
+[241] _Ibrach_.--Supposed to be Ivragh, in Kerry, which was part of
+Cormac Mac Carthy's kingdom.
+
+[242] _Robbed_.--In MacGeoghegan's translation of the Annals of
+Clonmacnois he says:--"The clergy of Clone made incessant prayer to God
+and St. Keyran, to be a means for the revelation of the party that took
+away the said jewels." The "party" was a Dane. He was discovered, and
+hung in 1130. It is said that he entered several ships to leave the
+country, but they could get no wind, while other vessels sailed off
+freely.--Annals of the Four Masters, vol. ii. p. 1035.
+
+[243] _Blinded_.--In 1165 Henry II. gratified his irritation against the
+Welsh by laying hands upon the hostages of their noblest families, and
+commanding that the eyes of the males should be rooted out, and the ears
+and noses of the females cut off; and yet Henry is said to have been
+liberal to the poor, and though passionately devoted to the chase, he
+did not inflict either death or mutilation on the intruders in the royal
+forests.
+
+[244] _Moin Môr_.--Now Moanmore, county Tipperary.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+Social life previous to the English Invasion--Domestic
+Habitations--Forts--Granard and Staigue--Crannoges and
+Log-houses--Interior of the Houses--The Hall--Food and Cooking
+Utensils--Regulations about Food--The Kind of Food used--Animal
+Food--Fish--Game--Drink and Drinking Vessels--Whisky--Heath
+Beer--Mead--Animal Produce--Butter and Cheese--Fire--Candles--Occupations
+and Amusements--Chess--Music--Dress--Silk--Linen--Ancient Woollen
+Garments--Gold Ornaments--Trade--General Description of the Fauna and
+Flora of the Country.
+
+
+Customs which illustrate the social life of our ancestors, are scarcely
+the least interesting or important elements of history. Before we enter
+upon that portion of our annals which commences with the English
+invasion, under the auspices of Henry II., we shall give a brief account
+of the habitations, manners, customs, dress, food, and amusements of the
+people of Ireland. Happily there is abundant and authentic information
+on this subject, though we may be obliged to delve beneath the tertiary
+deposits of historical strata in order to obtain all that is required.
+English society and English social life were more or less influenced by
+Ireland from the fifth to the twelfth century. The monks who had
+emigrated to "Saxon land" were men of considerable intellectual culture,
+and, as such, had a preponderating influence, creditable alike to
+themselves and to those who bowed to its sway. From the twelfth to the
+sixteenth century, English manners and customs were introduced in
+Ireland within the Pale. The object of the present chapter is to show
+the social state of the country before the English invasion--a condition
+of society which continued for some centuries later in the western and
+southern parts of the island.
+
+The pagan architecture of public erections has already been as fully
+considered as our limits would permit. Let us turn from pillar-stones,
+cromlechs, and cairns, to the domestic habitations which preceded
+Christianity, and continued in use, with gradual improvements, until the
+period when English influence introduced the comparative refinements
+which it had but lately received from Norman sources. The raths, mounds,
+and forts, whose remains still exist throughout the country, preceded
+the castellated edifices, many of which were erected in the twelfth and
+thirteenth centuries, principally by English settlers. The rath was
+probably used for the protection and enclosure of cattle; and as the
+wealth of the country consisted principally in its herds, it was an
+important object. Its form is circular, having an internal diameter
+averaging from forty to two hundred feet, encompassed by a mound and
+outer fosse or ditch. In some localities, where stone is abundant and
+the soil shallow, rude walls have been formed: the raths, however, are
+principally earthwork alone. Forts were erected for defence, and the
+surrounding fosse was filled with water. They were, in fact, the
+prototypes of the more modern castle and moat. These forts were
+sometimes of considerable size, and in such cases were surrounded by
+several fosses and outworks. They were approached by a winding inclined
+plane, which at once facilitated the entrance of friends, and exposed
+comers with hostile intentions to the concentrated attacks of the
+garrison. The fort at Granard is a good example of this kind of
+building. It is probably of considerable antiquity, though it has been
+improved and rebuilt in some portions at a more modern period. The
+interior of it evidences the existence of several different apartments.
+An approach internally has been exposed on one side, and exhibits a
+wide, flat arch of common masonry, springing from the top of two side
+walls, the whole well-constructed.
+
+Forts of dry-wall masonry, which are, undoubtedly, the more ancient, are
+very numerous in the south-west of Ireland. It is probable that similar
+erections existed throughout the country at a former period, and that
+their preservation is attributable to the remoteness of the district.
+The most perfect of these ancient habitations is that of Staigue Fort,
+near Derryquin Castle, Kenmare. This fort has an internal diameter of
+eighty-eight feet. The masonry is composed of flat-bedded stones of the
+slate rock of the country, which show every appearance of being
+quarried, or carefully broken from larger blocks. There is no appearance
+of dressed work in the construction; but the slate would not admit of
+this, as it splinters away under the slightest blow. Still the building
+is an admirable example of constructive masonry; it is almost impossible
+to dislodge any fragment from off the filling stones from the face of
+the wall. A competent authority has pronounced that these structures
+cannot be equalled by any dry masonry elsewhere met with in the country,
+nor by any masonry of the kind erected in the present day.[245] Some
+small stone buildings are also extant in this part of Ireland, but it is
+doubtful whether they were used for ecclesiastical or domestic purposes.
+The crannoge was another kind of habitation, and one evidently much
+used, and evincing no ordinary skill in its construction. From the
+remains found in these island habitations, we may form a clear idea of
+the customs and civilization of their inmates: their food is indicated
+by the animal remains, which consist of several varieties of oxen, deer,
+goats, and sheep; the implements of cookery remain, even to the knife,
+and the blocks of stone blackened from long use as fire-places; the
+arrows, which served for war or chase, are found in abundance; the
+personal ornaments evidence the taste of the wearers, and the skill of
+the artist; while the canoe, usually of solid oak, and carefully hidden
+away, tells its own tale how entrance and exit were effected. One of the
+earliest crannoges which was discovered and examined in modern times,
+was that of Lagere, near Dunshaughlin, county Meath. It is remarkable
+that Loch Gabhair is said to have been one of the nine lakes which burst
+forth in Ireland, A.M. 3581. The destruction of this crannoge is
+recorded by the Four Masters, A.D. 933, giving evidence that it was
+occupied up to that period. In 1246 there is a record of the escape of
+Turlough O'Connor from a crannoge, after he had drowned his keepers;
+from which it would appear such structures might be used for prisons,
+and, probably, would be specially convenient for the detention of
+hostages. In 1560 we read that Teigue O'Rourke was drowned as he was
+going across a lake to sleep in a crannoge; and even so late as the
+sixteenth century, crannoges were declared to be the universal system of
+defence in the north of Ireland.
+
+[Illustration: CELT.]
+
+Log-houses were also used, and were constructed of beams and planks of
+timber, something like the Swiss _chalet_. One of these ancient
+structures was discovered in Drumhalin bog, county Donegal, in 1833. The
+house consisted of a square structure, twelve feet wide and nine feet
+high: it was formed of rough planks and blocks of timber; the mortises
+were very roughly cut--a stone celt,[246] which was found lying upon the
+floor, was, probably, the instrument used to form them. The logs were
+most likely formed by a stone axe.[247] The roof was flat, and the house
+consisted of two compartments, one over the other, each four feet high.
+A paved causeway led from the house to the fire-place, on which was a
+quantity of ashes, charred wood, half-burnt turf, and hazle-nuts. So
+ancient was this habitation, that twenty-six feet of bog had grown up
+around and over it. It is supposed that this was only one portion of a
+collection of houses, which were used merely as sleeping-places. A
+slated enclosure was also traced, portions of the gates of which were
+discovered. A piece of a leathern sandal, an arrow-headed flint, and a
+wooden sword, were also found in the same locality.
+
+[Illustration: STONE AXE.]
+
+It is probable that wattles and clay formed the staple commodity for
+building material in ancient Erinn. Planks and beams, with rough blocks
+of wood or stone, were most likely reserved for the dwelling-place of
+chieftains. Such were the material used also for the royal residence in
+Thorney Island, a swampy morass in the Thames, secured by its insular
+position, where the early English kings administered justice; and such,
+probably, were the material of the original _Palais de Justice_, where
+the kings of Gaul entrenched themselves in a _pal-lis_, or impaled fort.
+
+From the description which Wright[248] gives of Anglo-Saxon domestic
+architecture, it appears to have differed but little from that which was
+in use at the same period in Ireland. The hall[249] was the most
+important part of the building, and halls of stone are alluded to in a
+religious poem at the beginning of the Exeter Book: "Yet, in the earlier
+period at least, there can be little doubt that the materials of
+building were chiefly wood." The hall, both in Erinn and Saxon land, was
+the place of general meeting for all domestic purposes. Food was cooked
+and eaten in the same apartment; the chief and his followers eat at the
+same time and in the same place. On the subject of food we have ample
+details scattered incidentally through our annals. Boiling was probably
+the principal method of preparing meat, and for this purpose the Irish
+were amply provided with vessels. A brazen cauldron is lithographed in
+the _Ulster Archæological Journal_, which is a most interesting specimen
+of its kind. It was found in a turf bog in the county Down, at a depth
+of five feet from the surface; and as this bog has been used from time
+immemorial for supplying the neighbourhood with fuel, and is remembered
+to have been forty feet above its present level by a generation now
+living, the antiquity of the vessel is unquestionable. As a specimen of
+superior workmanship, the cauldron has been greatly admired. It is made
+of sheets of gold-coloured bronze, evidently formed by hammering: the
+rim is of much thicker metal than the rest, and is rendered stiffer by
+corrugation--a process which has been patented in England within the
+last dozen years, as a new and valuable discovery.[250]
+
+Cauldrons are constantly mentioned in the Book of Rights, in a manner
+which shows that these vessels were in constant use. It was one of the
+tributes to be presented in due form by the King of Cashel to the King
+of Tara; and in the will of Cahir Môr, Monarch of Ireland in the second
+century, fifty copper cauldrons are amongst the items bequeathed to his
+family. Probably the poorer classes, who could not afford such costly
+vessels, may have contented themselves with roasting their food
+exclusively, unless, indeed, they employed the primitive method of
+casting red hot stones into water when they wished it boiled.
+
+The exact precision which characterizes every legal enactment in ancient
+Erinn, and which could not have existed in a state of barbarism, is
+manifested even in the regulations about food. Each member of the
+chieftain's family had his appointed portion, and there is certainly a
+quaintness in the parts selected for each. The _saoi_ of literature and
+the king were to share alike, as we observed when briefly alluding to
+this subject in the chapter on ancient Tara; their portion was a prime
+steak. Cooks and trumpeters were specially to be supplied with "cheering
+mead," it is to be supposed because their occupations required more than
+ordinary libations; the historian was to have a crooked bone; the
+hunter, a pig's shoulder: in fact, each person and each office had its
+special portion assigned[251] to it, and the distinction of ranks and
+trades affords matter of the greatest interest and of the highest
+importance to the antiquarian. There can be but little doubt that the
+custom of Tara was the custom of all the other kings and chieftains, and
+that it was observed throughout the country in every family rich enough
+to have dependents. This division of food was continued in the Highlands
+of Scotland until a late period. Dr. Johnson mentions it, in his _Tour
+in the Hebrides_, as then existing. He observes that he had not
+ascertained the details, except that the smith[252] had the head.
+
+The allowance for each day is also specified. Two cows, and two
+_tinnés_,[253] and two pigs was the quantity for dinner. This allowance
+was for a hundred men. The places which the household were to occupy
+were also specified; so that while all sat at a common table,[254] there
+was, nevertheless, a certain distinction of rank. At Tara there were
+different apartments, called _imdas_, a word now used in the north of
+Ireland to denote a couch or bed. The name probably originated in the
+custom of sleeping in those halls, on the benches which surrounded them,
+or on the floor near the fire-place. In the ground plan of the
+banqueting hall at Tara, the house is shown as divided into five parts,
+which are again divided into others. Each of the two divisions extending
+along the side wall, is shown as subdivided into twelve _imdas_, which
+here mean seats; the central division is represented as containing three
+fires at equal distances, a vat, and a chandelier.
+
+Benches were the seats used, even by persons of rank, until a late
+period. In the French Carlovingian romances, even princes and great
+barons sat on them. Chairs were comparatively rare, and only used on
+state occasions, as late as the twelfth century. Wright gives some
+curious woodcuts of persons conversing together, who are seated on
+settles, or on seats formed in the walls round the room; such as may
+still be seen in monastic cloisters and the chapter houses of our old
+cathedrals. Food which had been roasted was probably handed round to the
+guests on the spit on which it had been cooked.[255] Such at least was
+the Anglo-Saxon fashion; and as the Irish had spits, and as forks were
+an unknown luxury for centuries later, we may presume they were served
+in a similar manner. The food was varied and abundant, probably none the
+less wholesome for being free from the Anglo-Norman refinements of
+cookery, introduced at a later period. For animal diet there were fat
+beeves, dainty venison, pork, fresh and salted, evidently as favourite a
+dish with the ancients as with the moderns--except, alas! that in the
+good old times it was more procurable. Sheep and goats also varied the
+fare, with "smaller game," easily procured by chase, or shot down with
+arrows or sling stones. The land abounded in "milk and honey." Wheat was
+planted at an early period; and after the introduction of Christianity,
+every monastic establishment had its mill. There were "good old times"
+in Ireland unquestionably. Even an English prince mentions "the honey
+and wheat, the gold and silver," which he found in "fair Innis-fail." It
+is probable that land was cultivated then which now lies arid and
+unreclaimed, for a writer in the _Ulster Archæological Journal_ mentions
+having found traces of tillage, when laying out drains in remote
+unproductive districts, several feet beneath the peaty soil. Dr.
+O'Donovan also writes in the same journal: "I believe the Irish have had
+wheat in the more fertile valleys and plains from a most remote period.
+It is mentioned constantly in the Brehon laws and in our most ancient
+poems."[256] Nor should we omit to mention fish in the list of edibles.
+During the summer months, fishing was a favourite and lucrative
+occupation; and if we are to believe a legend quoted in the
+_Transactions of the Ossianic Society_, the Fenians enjoyed a monopoly
+in the trade, for no man dare take a salmon, "dead or alive," excepting
+a man in the Fenian ranks; and piscatory squabbles seem to have extended
+themselves into downright battles between the Northmen and the natives,
+when there was question of the possession of a weir.[257]
+
+Drinking vessels, of various shapes and materials, are constantly
+mentioned in the Book of Rights. There were drinking-horns with handsome
+handles, carved drinking-horns, variegated drinking-horns,
+drinking-horns of various colours, and drinking-horns of gold.[258] Even
+in pagan times, cups or goblets were placed beside the public wells; and
+it is related that, in the reign of Conn of the Hundred Battles, Ireland
+was so prosperous, so wealthy, and so civilized (_circa_ A.D. 123) that
+those cups were made of silver. Brian revived this custom nearly a
+thousand years later. The Danes probably carried off most of these
+valuables, as there are no remains of them at present. We are able,
+however, to give an illustration of a stone drinking-cup, which is
+considered a very beautiful specimen of its kind. This great rarity was
+found in the Shannon excavations. We give a specimen below of a celt,
+and on page 246 of a celt mould, for which we have also to acknowledge
+our grateful obligations to the Council of the Royal Irish Academy.
+
+[Illustration: STONE DRINKING-CUP.]
+
+Drink was usually served to the guests after meals. Among the seven
+prerogatives for the King of Teamhair (Tara) we find:
+
+    "The fruits of Manann, a fine present;
+    And the heath fruit of Brigh Leithe;
+    The venison of Nas; the fish of the Boinn;
+    The cresses of the kindly Brosnach."
+
+[Illustration: PALSTAVE CELT.]
+
+Dr. O'Donovan suggests that the "heath fruit" may have been bilberries
+or whortleberries, and adds that some of the old Irish suppose that
+this, and not the heath, was the shrub from which the Danes brewed their
+beer.[259] It would appear that the Celts were not in the habit of
+excessive drinking until a comparatively recent period. In the year 1405
+we read of the death of a chieftain who died of "a surfeit in drinking;"
+but previous to this entry we may safely assert that the Irish were
+comparatively a sober race. The origin of the drink called whisky in
+modern parlance, is involved in considerable obscurity. Some authorities
+consider that the word is derived from the first part of the term
+usquebaugh; others suppose it to be derived from the name of a place,
+the Basque provinces, where some such compound was concocted in the
+fourteenth century. In Morewood's _History of Inebriating Liquors_, he
+gives a list of the ingredients used in the composition of usquebaugh,
+and none of these are Irish productions.
+
+There is a nice distinction between aqua vitæ and aqua vini in the Red
+Book of Ossory, which was rescued by Dr. Graves from a heap of rubbish,
+the result of a fire in Kilkenny Castle in 1839. MacGeoghegan, in his
+annotations on the death of the chieftain above-mentioned, observes that
+the drink was not _aqua vitæ_ to him, but rather _aqua mortis_; and he
+further remarks, that this is the first notice of the use of _aqua
+vitæ_, usquebaugh, or whisky, in the Irish annals. Mead was made from
+honey, and beer from malt; and these were, probably, the principal
+liquors at the early period[260] of which we are now writing. As to the
+heath beer of Scandinavian fame, it is probable that the heather was
+merely used as a tonic or aromatic ingredient, although the author of a
+work, published in London in 1596, entitled _Sundrie Newe and Artificial
+Remedies against Famine_, does suggest the use of heath tops to make a
+"pleasing and cheape drink for Poor Men, when Malt is extream Deare;"
+much, we suppose, on the same principle that shamrocks and grass were
+used as a substitute for potatoes in the famine year, when the starving
+Irish had no money to buy Indian corn. But famine years were happily
+rare in Ireland in the times of which we write; and it will be
+remembered that on one such occasion the Irish king prayed to God that
+he might die, rather than live to witness the misery he could not
+relieve.
+
+[Illustration: MOULD FOR CASTING BRONZE CELTS.]
+
+It would appear that butter was also a plentiful product then as now.
+Specimens of bog butter are still preserved, and may be found in the
+collection of the Royal Irish Academy. The butter was thus entombed
+either for safety, or to give it that peculiar flavour which makes it
+resemble the old dry Stilton cheese, so much admired by the modern _bon
+vivant_. A writer in the _Ulster Archæological Journal_ mentions that he
+found a quantity of red cows' hair mixed with this butter, when boring a
+hole in it with a gouge. It would appear from this as if the butter had
+been made in a cow-skin, a fashion still in use among the Arabs. A
+visitor to the Museum (Mr. Wilmot Chetwode) asked to see the butter from
+Abbeyleix. He remarked that some cows' heads had been discovered in that
+neighbourhood, which belonged to the old Irish long-faced breed of
+cattle; the skin and hair remained on one head, and that was red. An
+analysis of the butter proved that it was probably made in the same way
+as the celebrated Devonshire cream, from which the butter in that part
+of England is generally prepared. The Arabs and Syrians make their
+butter now in a similar manner. There is a curious account of Irish
+butter in the _Irish Hudibras_, by William Moffat, London, 1755, from
+which it appears that bog butter was then well known:--
+
+    "But let his faith be good or bad,
+    He in his house great plenty had
+    Of burnt oat bread, and butter found,
+    With garlick mixt, in boggy ground;
+    So strong, a dog, with help of wind,
+    By scenting out, with ease might find."
+
+A lump of butter was found, twelve feet deep, in a bog at Gortgole,
+county Antrim, rolled up in a coarse cloth. It still retains visibly the
+marks of the finger and thumb of the ancient dame who pressed it into
+its present shape.
+
+Specimens of cheese of great antiquity have also been discovered. It was
+generally made in the shape of bricks,[261] probably for greater
+convenience of carriage and pressure in making. Wax has also been
+discovered, which is evidently very ancient. A specimen may be seen in
+the collection of the Royal Irish Academy. According to the Book of
+Rights, the use of wax candles was a royal prerogative:--
+
+    "A hero who possesses five prerogatives,
+    Is the King of Laighlin of the fort of Labhraidh:
+    The fruit of Almhain [to be brought to him] to his house;
+    And the deer of Gleann Searraigh;
+    To drink by [the light of] fair wax candles,
+    At Din Riogh, is very customary to the king."[262]
+
+In this matter, at least, the Irish kings and princes were considerably
+in advance of their Anglo-Saxon neighbours. Wright informs us[263] that
+their candle was a mere mass of fat, plastered round a wick, and stuck
+upon an upright stick: hence the name candlestick.
+
+It is probable that fire-light was, however, the principal means of
+assisting the visual organs after dark in both countries. Until
+comparatively recent times, fires were generally made on square, flat
+stones, and these could be placed, as appears to have been the case at
+Tara, in different parts of any large hall or apartment. There was
+sometimes a "back stone" to support the pile of wood and turf. The smoke
+got out how best it might, unless where there was a special provision
+made for its exit, in the shape of a round hole in the roof. At a later
+period a "brace" was sometimes made for conducting it. The brace was
+formed of upright stakes, interlaced with twigs, and plastered over,
+inside and outside, with prepared clay--the earliest idea of the modern
+chimney.
+
+Macaulay[264] gives us a picture of an ancient Roman fire-side, and the
+occupations of those who sat round it. We can, perhaps, form a more
+accurate and reliable idea of the dress, amusements, and occupations of
+those who surrounded the hall-fires of ancient Tara, or the humble,
+domestic hearths of the crannoges or wattled houses.
+
+The amusements of the pre-Christian Celt were, undeniably, intellectual.
+Chess has already been mentioned more than once in this work as a
+constant occupation of princes and chieftains. Indeed, they appear to
+have sat down to a game with all the zest of a modern amateur. A few
+specimens of chessmen have been discovered: a king, elaborately carved,
+is figured in the Introduction to the Book of Rights. It belonged to Dr.
+Petrie, and was found, with some others, in a bog in the county Meath.
+The chessmen of ancient times appear to have been rather formidable as
+weapons. In the _Táin bó Chuailgné_, Cuchullain is represented as having
+killed a messenger, who told him a lie, with a chessman, "which pierced
+him to the centre of his brain." English writers speak of the use of
+chess immediately after the Conquest, and say that the Saxons learned
+the game from the Danes. The Irish were certainly acquainted with it at
+a much earlier period; if we are to credit the Annals, it was well known
+long before the introduction of Christianity. Wright gives an engraving
+of a Quarrel at Chess, in which Charles, the son of the Emperor
+Charlemagne, is represented knocking out the brains of his adversary
+with a chessboard. The illustration is ludicrously graphic, and the
+unfortunate man appears to submit to his doom with a touching grace of
+helpless resignation.
+
+We may then suppose that chess was a favourite evening amusement of the
+Celt. Chessboards at least were plentiful, for they are frequently
+mentioned among the rights of our ancient kings. But music was the Irish
+amusement _par excellence_; and it is one of the few arts for which they
+are credited. The principal Irish instruments were the harp, the
+trumpet, and the bagpipe. The harp in the Museum of Trinity College,
+Dublin, usually known as Brian Boroimhé's harp, is supposed, by Dr.
+Petrie, to be the oldest instrument of the kind now remaining in Europe.
+It had but one row of strings, thirty in number; the upright pillar is
+of oak, and the sound-board of red sallow. The minute and beautiful
+carving on all parts of the instrument, attests a high state of artistic
+skill at whatever period it was executed. As the harp is only thirty-two
+inches high, it is supposed that it was used by ecclesiastics in the
+church services, Cambrensis[265] mentions this custom; and there is
+evidence of its having existed from the first introduction of
+Christianity. Harps of this description are figured on the knees of
+ecclesiastics on several of our ancient stone crosses.
+
+The subject of Irish music would require a volume, and we cannot but
+regret that it must be dismissed so briefly. The form of the harp has
+been incorrectly represented on our coins. It was first assumed in the
+national arms about the year 1540. When figured on the coins of Henry
+VIII., the artist seems to have taken the Italian harp of twenty-four
+strings for his model; but in the national arms sketched on the map of
+Ireland in the State Papers, executed in the year 1567, the form is more
+correct. That the Irish possessed this musical instrument in
+pre-Christian times, cannot be doubted. The ornamental cover of an Irish
+MS., which Mr. Ferguson considers to date prior to A.D. 1064, contains
+five examples of the harp of that period. This, and the sculptured harp
+at Nieg, in Rosshire, are believed to be the earliest delineations of
+the perfect harp. Dr. Bunting gives a sketch of a harp and harper, taken
+from one of the compartments of a sculptured cross at Ullard, county
+Kilkenny. This is a remarkable example. The cross is supposed to be
+older than that of Monasterboice, which was erected A.D. 830, and this
+is believed to be the first specimen of a harp without a fore pillar
+that has been discovered out of Egypt. If the Irish harp be really a
+variety of the cithara, derived through an Egyptian channel, it would
+form another important link in the chain of evidence, which leads us
+back to colonization from Egypt through Scythia. Captain Wilford
+observes,[266] that there may be a clue to the Celtic word bard in the
+Hindoo _bárdátri_; but the Irish appellation appears to be of
+comparatively modern use. It is, however, a noticeable fact, that the
+farther we extend our inquiries, the more forcibly we are directed to
+the East as the cradle of our music. Several recent travellers have
+mentioned the remarkable similarity between Celtic airs and those which
+they heard in different parts of Asia.[267] Sir W. Ouseley observed, at
+the close of the last century, that many Hindoo melodies possessed the
+plaintive simplicity of the Scotch and Irish.
+
+A German scholar has written a work, to prove that the pentatonic scale
+was brought over by the Celts from Asia, and that it was preserved
+longer in Scotland than elsewhere, on account of the isolated position
+of that country.[268] The Phoenicians are supposed to have invented the
+_kinnor, trigonon_, and several other of the most remarkable instruments
+of antiquity. Their skill as harpists, and their love of music, are
+indicated by the prophetic denunciation in Ezechiel, where the ceasing
+of songs and the sound of the harp are threatened as a calamity they
+were likely specially to feel.
+
+We give at least one evidence that the Irish monks practised the choral
+performance of rhythmical hymns. Colgan supplies the proof, which we
+select from one of the Latin hymns of St. Columba:--
+
+    "Protegat nos altissimus,
+    De suis sanctis sedibus,
+    Dum ibi hymnos canimus,
+    Decem statutis vicibus."
+
+Mr. O'Curry gives the names of all the ancient Irish musical instruments
+as follows:--_Cruit_, a harp; _Timpan_, a drum, or tambourine; _Corn_, a
+trumpet; _Stoc_, a clarion; _Pipai_, the pipes; _Fidil_, the fiddle. He
+adds: "All those are mentioned in an ancient poem in the Book of
+Leinster, a MS. of about the year 1150, now in the Library of Trinity
+College. The first four are found in various old tales and descriptions
+of battles."
+
+We shall find how powerful was the influence of Irish music on the Irish
+race at a later period of our history, when the subject of political
+ballads will be mentioned.
+
+The dress of the rich and the poor probably varied as much in the
+century of which we write as at the present day. We have fortunately
+remains of almost every description of texture in which the Irish Celt
+was clad; so that, as Sir W. Wilde has well observed, we are not left to
+conjecture, or forced to draw analogies from the habits of
+half-civilized man in other countries at the present day.
+
+In the year 1821 the body of a male adult was found in a bog on the
+lands of Gallagh, near Castleblakeney, county Galway, clad in its
+antique garb of deerskin. A few fragments of the dress are preserved,
+and may be seen in the collection of the Royal Irish Academy. Portions
+of the seams still remain, and are creditable specimens of early
+needlework. The material employed in sewing was fine gut of three
+strands, and the regularity and closeness of the stitching cannot fail
+to excite admiration. It is another of the many proofs that, even in the
+earliest ages, the Celt was gifted with more than ordinary skill in the
+execution of whatever works he took in hand. After all, the skin of
+animals is one of the most costly and appreciated adornments of the
+human race, even at the present day; and our ancestors differ less from
+us in the kind of clothes they wore, than in the refinements by which
+they are fashioned to modern use. It is stated in the old bardic tale of
+the _Táin bó Chuailgné_, that the charioteer of the hero was clothed in
+a tunic of deerskin. This statement, taken in connexion with the fact
+above-mentioned, is another evidence that increased knowledge is daily
+producing increased respect for the veracity of those who transmitted
+the accounts of our ancestral life, which, at one time, were supposed to
+be purely mythical. Skin or leather garments were in use certainly until
+the tenth century, in the form of cloaks. It is supposed that
+Muircheartach obtained the soubriquet "of the leathern cloaks," from the
+care which he took in providing his soldiers with them; and it is said
+that, in consequence of this precaution, there was not a single man lost
+in this campaign.
+
+[Illustration: ANCIENT BOOT.]
+
+We give a specimen of an ancient shoe and boot, from the collection of
+the Royal Irish Academy. It would appear as if the Celt was rather in
+advance of the Saxon in the art of shoemaking; for Mr. Fairholt has been
+obliged to give an illustration selected from Irish remains, in his
+history, although it is exclusively devoted to British costume. In
+illustrating the subject of gold ornaments, he has also made a selection
+from the same source. Some curious specimens of shoes joined together,
+and therefore perfectly useless for ordinary wear, have also been
+discovered. Sir W. Wilde conjectures they may have been used by
+chieftains as inauguration shoes.[269]
+
+[Illustration: ANCIENT SHOE.]
+
+Saffron was a favourite colour, though it does not appear evident how
+the dye was procured. There is no doubt the Irish possessed the art of
+dyeing from an early period. Its introduction is attributed to King
+Tighearnmas, who reigned from A.M. 3580 to 3664. It is probable the
+Phoenicians imparted this knowledge to our ancestors. Although our old
+illuminations are not as rich in figures as those from which English
+historians have obtained such ample information regarding the early
+costume of that country, we have still some valuable illustrations of
+this interesting subject. These representations also are found to
+correspond faithfully, even in the details of colour, with the remains
+which have been discovered from time to time. Our ancient crosses give
+immense scope for antiquarian research, though the costumes are
+principally ecclesiastical, and hence are not of so much general
+interest. But the Book of Rights[270] affords ample information, as far
+as mere description, of the clothing of a higher class. While the
+peasant was covered with a garment of untanned skin or fur, however
+artistically sown together, the bards, the chieftains, and the monarchs
+had their tunics [_imar_] of golden borders, their mantles [_leanna_] or
+shirts of white wool or deep purple, their fair beautiful matals, and
+their cloaks of every colour. If we add to this costume the magnificent
+ornaments which still remain to attest the truth of the bardic accounts
+of Erinn's ancient greatness, we may form a correct picture of the
+Celtic noble as he stood in Tara's ancient palace; and we must coincide
+in the opinion of the learned editor of the Catalogue of the Royal Irish
+Academy, that "the variegated and glowing colours, as well as the
+gorgeous decorations of the different articles of dress enumerated in
+the Book of Rights, added to the brilliancy of the arms, must have
+rendered the Irish costume of the eighth and ninth centuries very
+attractive."
+
+With a passing glance at our ancient _Fauna_ and _Flora_, and the
+physical state of the country at this period, we must conclude briefly.
+
+It is probable that the province of Ulster, which was styled by statute,
+in Queen Elizabeth's time, "the most perilous place in all the isle,"
+was much in the same state as to its physical characteristics in the
+century of which we write. It was densely wooded, and strong in
+fortresses, mostly placed on lakes, natural or artificial. Two great
+roads led to this part of Ireland--the "Gap of the North," by
+Carrickmacross, and the historically famous pass by Magh-Rath. From the
+former place to Belturbet the country was nearly impassable, from its
+network of bogs, lakes, and mountains. We shall find at a later period
+what trouble these natural defences gave to the English settlers.
+
+Munster so abounded in woods, that it was proposed, in 1579, to employ
+4,000 soldiers for the sole purpose of hewing them down. Indeed, its
+five great forests were the strongholds of the Earls of Desmond; and
+enough evidence still remains at Glengariff and Killarney, to manifest
+the value of their sylvan possessions. The cold and withering blasts of
+the great Atlantic, appear to have stunted or hindered the growth of
+trees in Connaught. In 1210 the Four Masters mention the wilderness of
+Cinel-Dorfa, its principal forest; but it was amply provided with other
+resources for the protection of native princes. In 1529 Chief Baron
+Finglas gave a list of dangerous passes, with the recommendation that
+the "Lord Deputy be eight days in every summer cutting passes into the
+woods next adjoining the king's subjects."
+
+[Illustration: HEAD OF OX.]
+
+In Leinster the forests had been cleared at an earlier period; and the
+country being less mountainous, was more easily cultivated. But this
+portion of Ireland contained the well-known Curragh of Kildare, which
+has its history also, and a more ancient one than its modern visitors
+are likely to suppose. The Curragh is mentioned for the first time in
+the _Liber Hymnorum_, in a hymn in praise of St. Brigid. The Scholiast
+in a contemporary gloss says: "_Currech, a cursu equorum dictus est_."
+It is also mentioned in Cormac's Glossary, where the etymology is
+referred to running or racing. But the most important notice is
+contained in the historical tale of the destruction of the mansion of Dá
+Derga.[271] In this, Connairé Môr, who was killed A.D. 60, is
+represented as having gone to the games at the Curragh with four
+chariots. From this and other sources we may conclude, that
+chariot-races preceded horse-races in ancient Erinn, and that the
+Curragh has been used as a place of public amusement for the last 2,000
+years. It would appear that every province in Ireland possessed an
+_Aenach_ or "fair-green," where the men assembled to celebrate their
+games and festivals. In an old list of Irish Triads, the three great
+_Aenachs_ of Ireland are said to have been _Aenach Crogan_, in
+Connaught; _Aenach Taillten_, in Meath; and _Aenach Colmain_, the
+Curragh. The last would appear, however, to have been frequented by
+persons from all parts of Ireland; and it is not a little strange that
+it should still be used in a similar manner as a place of public
+amusement. Ireland in the tenth century and Ireland in the nineteenth
+form a painful contrast, notwithstanding the boasted march of intellect.
+The ancient forests have been hewn down with little profit[272] to the
+spoiler, and to the injury in many ways of the native. The noble rivers
+are there still, and the mountains look as beautiful in the sunsets of
+this year of grace as they did so many hundred years before; but the
+country, which was in "God's keeping" then, has but little improved
+since it came into the keeping of man; for the poor tenant, who may be
+here to-day, and to-morrow cast out on the wayside, has but substituted
+ill-fenced and ill-cultivated fields for wide tracts of heather and
+moorland, which had at least the recommendation of attractive scenery,
+and of not suggesting painful reflections.
+
+[Illustration: HEADS OF IRISH WOLF DOGS.]
+
+The most formidable, if not the largest, of the carnivora in this
+island, was the brown bear. The wolf lingered on until the beginning of
+the last century; and the Irish greyhound has passed with it also. The
+gigantic Irish elk, _Cervus megaseros_, belongs more to the
+palaeontologist than to the historian, as it is supposed to have existed
+only in pre-historic times. A smaller variety has been found in peat
+overlaying the clay, from which it is inferred that some species may
+have been contemporary with the human race. The horse co-existed with
+the elephant. The red deer was the principal object of chase from an
+early period. The wild boar found abundant food from our noble oaks; and
+the hare, the rabbit, the goat, and the sheep supplied the wants of the
+Celt in ancient as in modern times. But the great wealth of Ireland
+consisted in her cows, which then, as now, formed a staple article of
+commerce. Indeed, most of the ancient feuds were simply cattle raids,
+and the successful party signalized his victory by bearing off the
+bovine wealth of the vanquished enemy.
+
+It is impossible exactly to estimate the population of Ireland at this
+period with any degree of reliable exactitude. The only method of
+approximating thereto should be based on a calculation of the known or
+asserted number of men in arms at any given time. When Roderic and his
+allies invested the Normans in Dublin, he is said to have had 50,000
+fighting men. Supposing this to include one-fourth of all the men of the
+military age in the country, and to bear the proportion of one-fifth to
+the total number of the inhabitants, it would give a population of about
+a million, which would probably be rather under than over the correct
+estimate.
+
+[Illustration: FERRITER'S CASTLE.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[245] _Day_.--Wilkinson's _Geology and Architecture of Ireland_, p. 59.
+
+[246] _Celt_.--Catalogue of R.I.A. p. 43. This celt is the largest
+discovered in Ireland, and is formed of coarse clay-slate. It is 22
+inches long, 1 inch thick, and 3-3/4 broad at the widest part. It was
+found in the bed of the river Blackwater, two miles below Charlemont,
+county Armagh.
+
+[247] _Axe_.--Catalogue of R.I.A. p. 80. Sir W. Wilde pronounces this to
+be one of the most beautiful specimens of the stone battle-axe which has
+been found in Ireland, both for design and execution. It is composed of
+fine-grained remblendic sylicite, and is highly polished all over. It
+was found in the river at Athlone.
+
+[248] _Wright_.--_History of Domestic Manners and Sentiments_, p. 11.
+
+[249] _Hall_.--Hence the term "hall" is still used to denote mansions of
+more than ordinary importance. The hall was the principal part of the
+ancient Saxon house, and the term used for the part was easily
+transferred to the whole.
+
+[250] _Discovery_.--_Ulster Arch. Journal_, vol. v. p. 83.
+
+[251] _Assigned_.--Petrie's _Tara_, p. 200.
+
+[252] _Smith_.--The animals were brought to the smith, who knocked them
+down with his big hammer: hence, probably, the name of Smithfield for a
+cattle market. He was an important personage in the olden time. In the
+Odyssey, as armourer, he ranks with the bard and physician.
+
+[253] _Tinnés_.--Dr. Petrie does not give the meaning of this word, but
+Dr. O'Donovan supplies the deficiency in the Book of Rights, where he
+explains it to mean a salted pig, or in plain English, bacon.
+
+[254] _Table_.--In the earliest ages of Tara's existence, the household
+may have been served as they sat on the benches round the hall. The
+table was at first simply a board: hence we retain the term a hospitable
+board; a board-room, a room where a board was placed for writing on. The
+board was carried away after dinner, and the trestles on which it stood,
+so as to leave room for the evening's amusements.
+
+[255] _Cooked_.--Wright's _Domestic Manners_, p. 87. The knights in this
+engraving are using their shields as a substitute for a table. At p. 147
+there is an illustration of the method of cooking on a spit; this is
+turned by a boy. The Irish appear to have had a mechanical arrangement
+for this purpose some centuries earlier. Bellows, which are now so
+commonly used in Ireland, and so rare in England, appear to have been a
+Saxon invention.
+
+[256] _Poems_.--_Ulster Arch. Journal_, vol. i. p. 108. It would appear
+as if corn had been eaten raw, or perhaps partly scorched, at an early
+period, as was customary in eastern countries. Teeth have been found in
+crania taken from our ancient tombs, quite worn down by some such
+process of mastication.
+
+[257] _Weir_.--Salt appears to have been used also at a very ancient
+period, though it cannot now be ascertained how it was procured. Perhaps
+it was obtained from native sources now unknown.
+
+[258] _Gold_.--Book of Rights, pp. 145, 209, &c. The King of Cashel was
+entitled to a hundred drinking horns.--p. 33.
+
+[259] _Beer_.--Book of Rights, p. 9.
+
+[260] _Period_.--Accounts will be given later of the use of _aqua vitæ_,
+or whisky, after the English invasion. The English appear to have
+appreciated this drink, for we find, in 1585, that the Mayor of
+Waterford sent Lord Burleigh a "rundell of _aqua vitæ_;" and in another
+letter, in the State Paper Office, dated October 14, 1622, the Lord
+Justice Coke sends a "runlett of milde Irish _uskebach_," from his
+daughter Peggie (heaven save the mark!) to the "good Lady Coventry,"
+because the said Peggie "was so much bound to her ladyship for her great
+goodness." However, the said Lord Justice strongly recommends the
+_uskebach_ to his lordship, assuring him that "if it please his lordship
+next his heart in the morning to drinke a little of this Irish
+_uskebach_, it will help to digest all raw humours, expell wynde, and
+keep his inward parte warm all the day after." A poor half-starved
+Irishman in the present century, could scarcely have brought forward
+more extenuating circumstances for his use of the favourite beverage;
+and he might have added that _he_ had nothing else to "keep him warm."
+
+[261] _Bricks_.--In an ancient life of St. Kevin of Glendalough, there
+is mention made of certain brick-cheeses, which the saint converted into
+real bricks, in punishment to a woman for telling a lie.
+
+[262] _King_.--Book of Rights, p. 15.
+
+[263] _Informs us_.--_Domestic Manners_, p. 43.
+
+[264] _Macaulay_.--_Lays of Ancient Rome_.--Horatius.
+
+[265] _Cambrensis_.--"Hinc accidit, ut Episcopi et Abbates, et Sancti in
+Hiberniâ viri cytharas circumferre et in eis modulando pié delectari
+consueverunt."--_Cam. Des._ p. 739.
+
+[266] _Observes_.--_Asiatic Researches_, vol. ix. p. 76.
+
+[267] _Asia_.--See Carl Eugen's valuable work on the _Music of Ancient
+Nations passim_.
+
+[268] _Country_.--_Erste Wanderung der ältesten Tonkunst_, von G.W.
+Fruh, Essen, 1831. In Conran's _National Music of Ireland_, he
+attributes this to the influence of ecclesiastical music. But an article
+by Mr. Darmey, in the _Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society_, takes a
+much more probable view. The Ambrosian chant, introduced about A.D. 600,
+could not have influenced national music which existed for centuries
+before that period.
+
+[269] _Shoes_.--The use of inauguration shoes appears to have been very
+ancient in Ireland. It will be remembered how early and how frequently
+the shoe is mentioned in Scripture in connexion with legal arrangements.
+It was obviously an important object in Eastern business transactions.
+
+[270] _Book of Rights_.--The great antiquity and perfect authenticity of
+this most valuable work, should be remembered. It is admitted that the
+original Book of Rights was compiled by St. Benignus, the disciple of
+St. Patrick. Dr. O'Donovan thinks there is every reason to believe that
+this work was in existence in the time of Cormac, the bishop-king of
+Cashel, A.D. 900. It is probable that the present Book of Rights was
+compiled about this period, from the more ancient volume of the same
+name.
+
+[271] _Dá Derga_.--See an interesting Essay on the Curragh of Kildare,
+by Mr. W.M. Hennessy, read before the R.I.A., February 26, 1866.
+
+[272] _Profit_.--The trustees of the estates forfeited in 1688 notice
+this especially. Trees to the value of £20,000 were cut down and
+destroyed on the estate of Sir Valentine Brown, near Killarney, and to
+the value of £27,000 on the territory of the Earl of Clancarty. Some of
+these trees were sold for _sixpence a piece_.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+The English Invasion--Dermod's Interview with Henry II.--Henry grants
+Letters-patent--Dermod obtains the assistance of Strongbow, Earl de
+Clare--He returns to Ireland--Arrival of English Forces under
+FitzStephen--Fatal Indifference of Roderic, the Irish Monarch--He is at
+last roused to action, but acknowledges Dermod's Authority almost
+without a Struggle--Strongbow's Genealogy--He obtains a Tacit Permission
+to invade Ireland--His Arrival in Ireland--Marriage of Strongbow and
+Eva--Death of Dermod Mac Murrough--Strongbow proclaims himself King of
+Leinster--Difficulties of his Position--Siege of Dublin--Strongbow's
+Retreat--He returns to England.
+
+[A.D. 1168-1171.]
+
+
+[Illustration: Letter 'U']
+
+Until this period (A.D. 1168) the most friendly relations appear to have
+existed between England and Ireland. Saxon nobles and princes had fled
+for shelter, or had come for instruction to the neighbouring shores. The
+assistance of Irish troops had been sought and readily obtained by them.
+Irish merchants[273] had taken their goods to barter in English markets;
+but when the Norman had won the Saxon crown, and crushed the Saxon race
+under his iron heel, the restless spirit of the old Viking race looked
+out for a new quarry, and long before Dermod had betrayed his country,
+that country's fate was sealed.
+
+William Rufus is reported to have said, as he stood on the rocks near
+St. David's, that he would make a bridge with his ships from that spot
+to Ireland--a haughty boast, not quite so easily accomplished. His
+speech was repeated to the King of Leinster, who inquired "if the king,
+in his great threatening, had added, 'if it so please God'?" The
+reporter answered in the negative. "Then," said he, "seeing this king
+putteth his trust only in man, and not in God, I fear not his coming."
+When Dermod Mac Murrough was driven in disgrace from Ireland, he fled at
+once to Bristol. There he learned that Henry was still in Aquitaine, and
+thither, with a perseverance worthy of a better cause, he followed the
+English king. Henry was only too happy to listen to his complaints, and
+forward his views; but he was too much occupied with his personal
+affairs to attempt the conquest of a kingdom. Letters-patent were
+incomparably more convenient than men-at-arms, and with letters-patent
+the renegade was fain to be content. Dermod only asked help to recover
+the kingdom from which he had been expelled for his crimes; Henry
+pretended no more than to give the assistance asked, and for all reward
+only wished that Dermod should pay a vassal's homage to the English
+king. Henry may have known that his client was a villain, or he may not.
+Henry may have intended to annex Ireland to the British dominions (if he
+could), or he may merely have hoped for some temporary advantage from
+the new connexion. Whatever he knew or whatever he hoped, he received
+Dermod "into the bosom of his grace and benevolence," and he did but
+distantly insinuate his desires by proclaiming him his "faithful and
+liege subject." The royal letter ran thus:--"Henry, King of England,
+Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and Earl of Anjou, to all his liegemen,
+English, Norman, Welsh, and Scotch, and to all the nation under his
+dominion, sends greeting. As soon as the present letter shall come to
+your hands, know that Dermod, Prince of Leinster, has been received into
+the bosom of our grace and benevolence: wherefore, whosoever, within the
+ample extent of our territories, shall be willing to lend aid towards
+this prince as our faithful and liege subject, let such person know that
+we do hereby grant to him for said purpose our licence and favour."
+
+In this document there is not even the most remote reference to the Bull
+of Adrian, conferring the island of Ireland on Henry, although this Bull
+had been obtained some time before. In whatever light we may view this
+omission, it is certainly inexplicable.
+
+For some time Dermod failed in his efforts to obtain assistance. After
+some fruitless negotiations with the needy and lawless adventurers who
+thronged the port of Bristol, he applied to the Earl of Pembroke,
+Richard de Clare. This nobleman had obtained the name of Strongbow, by
+which he is more generally known, from his skill in archery. Two other
+young men of rank joined the party; they were sons of the beautiful and
+infamous Nesta,[274] once the mistress of Henry I., but now the wife of
+Gerald, Governor of Pembroke and Lord of Carew. The knights were Maurice
+FitzGerald and Robert FitzStephen. Dermod had promised them the city of
+Wexford and two cantreds of land as their reward. Strongbow was to
+succeed him on the throne of Leinster, and to receive the hand of his
+young and beautiful daughter, Eva, in marriage.
+
+There is considerable uncertainty as to the real date and the precise
+circumstances of Dermod's arrival in Ireland. According to one account,
+he returned at the close of the year 1168, and concealed himself during
+the winter in a monastery of Augustinian Canons at Ferns, which he had
+founded. The two principal authorities are Giraldus Cambrensis and
+Maurice Regan; the latter was Dermod Mac Murrough's secretary. According
+to his account, Robert FitzStephen landed at Bannow, near Waterford, in
+May, 1169, with an army of three hundred archers, thirty knights, and
+sixty men-at-arms.[275] A second detachment arrived the next day, headed
+by Maurice de Prendergast, a Welsh gentleman, with ten knights and sixty
+archers. Dermod at once assembled his men, and joined his allies. He
+could only muster five hundred followers; but with their united forces,
+such as they were, the outlawed king and the needy adventurers laid
+siege to the city of Wexford. The brave inhabitants of this mercantile
+town at once set forth to meet them; but, fearing the result if attacked
+in open field by well-disciplined troops, they fired the suburbs, and
+entrenched themselves in the town. Next morning the assaulting party
+prepared for a renewal of hostilities, but the clergy of Wexford advised
+an effort for peace: terms of capitulation were negotiated, and Dermod
+was obliged to pardon, when he would probably have preferred to
+massacre. It is said that FitzStephen burned his little fleet, to show
+his followers that they must conquer or die. Two cantreds of land,
+comprising the present baronies of Forth and Bargy,[276] were bestowed
+on him: and thus was established the first English colony in Ireland.
+The Irish princes and chieftains appear to have regarded the whole
+affair with silent contempt. The Annals say they "set nothing by the
+Flemings;"[277] practically, they set nothing by any of the invaders.
+Could they have foreseen, even for one moment, the consequences of their
+indifference, we cannot doubt but that they would have acted in a very
+different manner. Roderic, the reigning monarch, was not the man either
+to foresee danger, or to meet it when foreseen; though we might pardon
+even a more sharp-sighted and vigilant warrior, for overlooking the
+possible consequence of the invasion of a few mercenary troops, whose
+only object appeared to be the reinstatement of a petty king. Probably,
+the troops and their captains were equally free from suspecting what
+would be the real result of their proceedings.
+
+[Illustration: BARGY CASTLE.]
+
+The fair of Telltown was celebrated about this time; and from the
+accounts given by the Annals of the concourse of people, and the number
+of horsemen who attended it, there can be little doubt that Ireland was
+seldom in a better position to resist foreign invasion. But unity of
+purpose and a competent leader were wanted then, as they have been
+wanted but too often since. Finding so little opposition to his plans,
+Mac Murrough determined to act on the offensive. He was now at the head
+of 3,000 men. With this force he marched into the adjoining territory of
+Ossory, and made war on its chief, Donough FitzPatrick; and after a
+brave but unsuccessful resistance, it submitted to his rule.[278] The
+Irish monarch was at length aroused to some degree of apprehension. He
+summoned a hosting of the men of Ireland at Tara; and with the army thus
+collected, assisted by the Lords of Meath, Oriel, Ulidia, Breffni, and
+some northern chieftains, he at once proceeded to Dublin. Dermod was
+alarmed, and retired to Ferns. Roderic pursued him thither. But
+dissension had already broken out in the Irish camp: the Ulster chiefs
+returned home; the contingent was weakened; and, either through fear, or
+from the natural indolence of his pacific disposition, he agreed to
+acknowledge Mac Murrough's authority. Mac Murrough gave his son Cormac
+as hostage for the fulfilment of the treaty. A private agreement was
+entered into between the two kings, in which Dermod pledged himself to
+dismiss his foreign allies as soon as possible, and to bring no more
+strangers into the country. It is more than probable that he had not the
+remotest idea of fulfilling his promise; it is at least certain that he
+broke it the first moment it was his interest to do so. Dermod's object
+was simply to gain time, and in this he succeeded.
+
+Maurice FitzGerald arrived at Wexford a few days after, and the recreant
+king at once proceeded to meet him; and with this addition to his army,
+marched to attack Dublin. The Dano-Celts, who inhabited this city, had
+been so cruelly treated by him, that they dreaded a repetition of his
+former tyrannies. They had elected a governor for themselves; but
+resistance was useless. After a brief struggle, they were obliged to sue
+for peace--a favour which probably would not have been granted without
+further massacres and burnings, had not Dermod wished to bring his arms
+to bear in another quarter.
+
+Donnell O'Brien, Prince of Thomond, who had married a daughter of
+Dermod, had just rebelled against Roderic, and the former was but too
+willing to assist him in his attempt. Thus encouraged where he should
+have been treated with contempt, and hunted down with ignominy, his
+ambition became boundless. He played out the favourite game of traitors;
+and no doubt hoped, when he had consolidated his own power, that he
+could easily expel his foreign allies. Strongbow had not yet arrived,
+though the winds had been long enough "at east and easterly."[279] His
+appearance was still delayed. The fact was, that the Earl was in a
+critical position. Henry and his barons were never on the most amiable
+terms; and there were some very special reasons why Strongbow should
+prove no exception to the rule.
+
+The first member of the Earl's family who had settled in England, was
+Richard, son of the Norman Earl Brien, a direct descendant of Robert
+"the Devil," Duke of Normandy, father of William the Conqueror. In
+return for services at the battle of Hastings, and general assistance in
+conquering the Saxon, this family obtained a large grant of land in
+England, and took the title of Earl of Clare from one of their
+ninety-five lordships in Suffolk.[280] The Strongbow family appears to
+have inherited a passion for making raids on neighbouring lands, from
+their Viking ancestors. Strongbow's father had obtained his title of
+Earl of Pembroke, and his property in the present county of that name,
+from his successful marauding expedition in Wales, in 1138. But as he
+revolted against Stephen, his lands were seized by that king; and after
+his death, in 1148, his son succeeded to his very numerous titles,
+without any property commensurate thereto. Richard was not in favour
+with his royal master, who probably was jealous of the Earl, despite his
+poverty; but as Strongbow did not wish to lose the little he had in
+England, or the chance of obtaining more in Ireland, he proceeded at
+once to the court, then held in Normandy, and asked permission for his
+new enterprise. Henry's reply was so carefully worded, he could declare
+afterwards that he either had or had not given the permission, whichever
+version of the interview might eventually prove most convenient to the
+royal interests. Strongbow took the interpretation which suited his own
+views, and proceeded to the scene of action with as little delay as
+possible. He arrived in Ireland, according to the most generally
+received account, on the vigil of St. Bartholomew, A.D. 1170, and landed
+at Dundonnell, near Waterford. His uncle, Hervey de Montmarisco, had
+already arrived, and established himself in a temporary fort, where he
+had been attacked by the brave citizens of Wexford. But the besieged
+maintained their position, killed five hundred men, and made prisoners
+of seventy of the principal citizens of Waterford. Large sums of money
+were offered for their ransom, but in vain. They were brutally murdered
+by the English soldiers, who first broke their limbs, and then hurled
+them from a precipice into the sea. It was the first instalment of the
+utterly futile theory, so often put in practice since that day, of
+"striking terror into the Irish;" and the experiment was quite as
+unsuccessful as all such experiments have ever been.[281]
+
+While these cruelties were enacting, Strongbow had been collecting
+forces in South Wales; but, as he was on the very eve of departure, he
+received a peremptory order from Henry, forbidding him to leave the
+kingdom. After a brief hesitation, he determined to bid defiance to the
+royal mandate, and set sail for Ireland. The day after his arrival he
+laid siege to Waterford. The citizens behaved like heroes, and twice
+repulsed their assailants; but their bravery could not save them in the
+face of overpowering numbers. A breach was made in the wall; the
+besiegers poured in; and a merciless massacre followed. Dermod arrived
+while the conflict was at its height, and for once he has the credit of
+interfering on the side of mercy. Reginald, a Danish lord, and O'Phelan,
+Prince of the Deisi, were about to be slain by their captors, but at his
+request they were spared, and the general carnage was suspended. For the
+sake of common humanity, one could wish to think that this was an act of
+mercy. But Mac Murrough had his daughter Eva with him; he wished to have
+her nuptials with Strongbow celebrated at once; and he could scarcely
+accomplish his purpose while men were slaying their fellows in a
+cold-blooded massacre. The following day the nuptials were performed.
+The English Earl, a widower, and long past the prime of manhood, was
+wedded to the fair young Celtic maiden; and the marriage procession
+passed lightly over the bleeding bodies of the dying and the dead. Thus
+commenced the union between Great Britain and Ireland: must those
+nuptials be for ever celebrated in tears and blood?
+
+Immediately after the ceremony, the army set out for Dublin. Roderic had
+collected a large force near Clondalkin, and Hosculf, the Danish
+governor of the city, encouraged by their presence, had again revolted
+against Dermod. The English army having learned that the woods and
+defiles between Wexford and Dublin were well guarded, had made forced
+marches along the mountains, and succeeded in reaching the capital long
+before they were expected. Their decision and military skill alarmed the
+inhabitants--they might also have heard reports of the massacres at
+Wexford; be this as it may, they determined to negotiate for peace, and
+commissioned their illustrious Archbishop, St. Laurence O'Toole, to make
+terms with Dermod. While the discussion was pending, two of the English
+leaders, Raymond _le Gros_ and Miles de Cogan, obtained an entrance into
+the city, and commenced a merciless butchery of the inhabitants. When
+the saint returned he heard cries of misery and groans of agony in all
+quarters, and it was not without difficulty that he succeeded in
+appeasing the fury of the soldiers, and the rage of the people, who had
+been so basely treated.
+
+[Illustration: Marriage of Eva and Strongbow.]
+
+The Four Masters accuse the people of Dublin of having attempted to
+purchase their own safety at the expense of the national interests, and
+say that "a miracle was wrought against them" as a judgment for their
+selfishness. Hosculf, the Danish governor, fled to the Orkneys, with
+some of the principal citizens, and Roderic withdrew his forces to
+Meath, to support O'Rourke, on whom he had bestowed a portion of that
+territory. Miles de Cogan was invested with the government of Dublin,
+and Dermod marched to Meath, to attack Roderic and O'Rourke, against
+whom he had an old grudge of the worst and bitterest kind. He had
+injured him by carrying off his wife, Dervorgil, and men generally hate
+most bitterly those whom they have injured most cruelly.
+
+Meanwhile MacCarthy of Desmond had attacked and defeated the English
+garrison at Waterford, but without any advantageous results. Roderic's
+weakness now led him to perpetrate an act of cruelty, although it could
+scarcely be called unjust according to the ideas of the times. It will
+be remembered that he had received hostages from Dermod for the treaty
+of Ferns. That treaty had been openly violated, and the King sent
+ambassadors to him to demand its fulfilment, by the withdrawal of the
+English troops, threatening, in case of refusal, to put the hostages to
+death. Dermod laughed at the threat. Under any circumstances, he was not
+a man who would hesitate to sacrifice his own flesh and blood to his
+ambition. Roderic was as good as his word; and the three royal hostages
+were put to death at Athlone.
+
+An important synod was held at the close of this year (A.D. 1170), at
+Armagh. We have already mentioned one of its principal enactments, which
+deplored and condemned the practice of buying English slaves from the
+Bristol merchants. Other subjects shall be more fully entertained when
+we come to the Synod of Cashel, which was held two years later.
+
+In 1171 Dermod MacMurrough, the author of so many miseries, and the
+object of so much just reprobation, died at Ferns, on the 4th of May.
+His miserable end was naturally considered a judgment for his evil life.
+His obituary is thus recorded: "Diarmaid Mac Murchadha, King of
+Leinster, by whom a trembling soil was made of all Ireland, after having
+brought over the Saxons, after having done extensive injuries to the
+Irish, after plundering and burning many churches, as Ceanannus,
+Cluain-Iraired, &c., died before the end of a year [after this
+plundering], of an insufferable and unknown disease; for he became
+putrid while living, through the miracle of God, Colum-cille, and
+Finnen, and the other saints of Ireland, whose churches he had profaned
+and burned some time before; and he died at Fearnamor, without [making]
+a will, without penance, without the body of Christ, without unction, as
+his evil deeds deserved."[282]
+
+But the death of the traitor could not undo the traitor's work. Men's
+evil deeds live after them, however they may repent them on their
+deathbeds. Strongbow had himself at once proclaimed King of
+Leinster--his marriage with Eva was the ground of his claim; but though
+such a mode of succession might hold good in Normandy, it was perfectly
+illegal in Ireland. The question, however, was not one of right but of
+might, and it was settled as all such questions invariably are. But
+Strongbow had a master at the other side of the Channel, who had his own
+views of these complications. His tenure, however, was somewhat
+precarious. His barons, always turbulent, had now a new ground for
+aggression, in the weakness to which he had exposed himself by his
+virtual sanction of the murder of St. Thomas of Canterbury, and he was
+fain to content himself with a strong injunction commanding all his
+English subjects then in Ireland to return immediately, and forbidding
+any further reinforcements to be sent to that country. Strongbow was
+alarmed, and at once despatched Raymond _le Gros_ with apologies and
+explanations, offering the King all the lands he had acquired in
+Ireland. Henry does not appear to have taken the slightest notice of
+these communications, and the Earl determined to risk his displeasure,
+and remain in Ireland.
+
+His prospects, however, were by no means promising. His Irish adherents
+forsook him on the death of Dermod; Dublin was besieged by a
+Scandinavian force, which Hosculf had collected in the Orkneys, and
+which was conveyed in sixty vessels, under the command of Johan _le
+Déve_ (the Furious). Miles de Cogan repulsed this formidable attack
+successfully, and captured the leaders. Hosculf was put to death; but he
+appears to have brought his fate on himself by a proud and incautious
+boast.
+
+At this period the thoughtful and disinterested Archbishop of Dublin saw
+a crisis in the history of his country on which much depended. He
+endeavoured to unite the national chieftains, and rally the national
+army. His words appear to have had some effect. Messengers were sent to
+ask assistance from Godfred, King of the Isle of Man, and other island
+warriors. Strongbow became aware of his danger, and threw himself into
+Dublin; but he soon found himself landlocked by an army, and enclosed at
+sea by a fleet. Roderic O'Connor commanded the national forces,
+supported by Tiernan O'Rourke and Murrough O'Carroll. St. Laurence
+O'Toole remained in the camp, and strove to animate the men by his
+exhortations and example. The Irish army contented themselves with a
+blockade, and the besieged were soon reduced to extremities from want of
+food. Strongbow offered terms of capitulation through the Archbishop,
+proposing to hold the kingdom of Leinster as Roderic's vassal; but the
+Irish monarch demanded the surrender of the towns of Dublin, Wexford,
+and Waterford, and required the English invaders to leave the country by
+a certain day.
+
+While these negotiations were pending, Donnell Cavanagh, son of the late
+King of Leinster, got into the city in disguise, and informed Strongbow
+that FitzStephen was closely besieged in Wexford. It was then at once
+determined to force a passage through the Irish army. Raymond _le Gros_
+led the van, Miles de Cogan followed; Strongbow and Maurice FitzGerald,
+who had proposed the sortie, with the remainder of their force, brought
+up the rere. The Irish army was totally unprepared for this sudden move;
+they fled in panic, and Roderic, who was bathing in the Liffey, escaped
+with difficulty.[283]
+
+Strongbow again committed the government of Dublin to Miles de Cogan,
+and set out for Wexford. On his way thither he was opposed by O'Regan,
+Prince of Idrone. An action ensued, which might have terminated fatally
+for the army, had not the Irish prince received his death-wound from an
+English archer. His troops took to flight, and Strongbow proceeded on
+his journey. But he arrived too late. Messengers met him on the way, to
+inform him that the fort of Carrig had fallen into the hands of the
+Irish, who are said to have practised an unjustifiable stratagem to
+obtain possession of the place. As usual, there are two versions of the
+story. One of these versions, which appears not improbable, is that the
+besieged had heard a false report of the affair in Dublin; and believing
+Strongbow and the English army to have been overthrown, they surrendered
+on the promise of being sent in safety to Dublin. On their surrender,
+the conditions were violated, FitzStephen was imprisoned, and some of
+his followers killed. The charge against the besiegers is that they
+invented the report as a stratagem to obtain their ends, and that the
+falsehood was confirmed in a solemn manner by the bishops of Wexford and
+Kildare.
+
+As soon as the Wexford men had heard of Strongbow's approach, they set
+fire to the town, and fled to Beg-Erin, a stockaded island, at the same
+time sending him a message, that, if he attempted to approach, they
+would kill all their prisoners. The Earl withdrew to Waterford in
+consequence of this threat, and here he learned that his presence was
+indispensable in England; he therefore set off at once to plead his own
+cause with his royal master. A third attack had been made on Dublin, in
+the meantime, by the Lord of Breffni, but it was repulsed by Miles. With
+this exception, the Irish made no attempt against the common enemy, and
+domestic wars were as frequent as usual.
+
+Henry had returned to England, and was now in Newenham, in
+Gloucestershire, making active preparations for his visit to Ireland.
+The odium into which he had fallen, after his complicity in the murder
+of St. Thomas of Canterbury, had rendered his position perilous in the
+extreme; and probably his Irish expedition would never have been
+undertaken, had he not required some such object to turn his thoughts
+and the thoughts of his subjects from the consequences of his
+crime.[284] He received Strongbow coldly, and at first refused him an
+interview. After a proper delay, he graciously accepted the Earl's offer
+of "all the lands he had won in Ireland"--a very questionable gift,
+considering that there was not an inch of ground there which he could
+securely call his own. Henry, however, was pleased to restore his
+English estates; but, with consummate hypocrisy and villany, he seized
+the castles of the Welsh lords, whom he hated for their vigorous and
+patriotic opposition, and punished them for allowing the expedition,
+which he had just sanctioned, to sail from their coasts unmolested.
+
+[Illustration: THE LOGAN STONE, KILLARNEY.]
+
+[Illustration: ANCIENT IRISH BROOCH.[285]]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[273] _Merchants_.--Wright says that "theft and unfair dealing" were
+fearfully prevalent among the Anglo-Normans, and mentions, as an
+example, how some Irish merchants were robbed who came to Ely to sell
+their wares.--_Domestic Manners_, p. 78. It would appear that there was
+considerable slave-trade carried on with the British merchants. The
+Saxons, who treated their dependents with savage cruelty (see Wright, p.
+56), sold even their children as slaves to the Irish. In 1102 this
+inhuman traffic was forbidden by the Council of London. Giraldus
+Cambrensis mentions that, at a synod held at Armagh, A.D. 1170, the
+Irish clergy, who had often forbidden this trade, pronounced the
+invasion of Ireland by Englishmen to be a just judgment on the Irish for
+their share in the sin, and commanded that all who had English slaves
+should at once set them free. Mr. Haverty remarks, that it was a curious
+and characteristic coincidence, that an Irish deliberative assembly
+should thus, by an act of humanity to Englishmen, have met the merciless
+aggressions which the latter had just then commenced against this
+country.--_Hist. of Ireland_, p. 169.
+
+[274] _Nesta_.--David Powell, in his notes to the _Itinerary of
+Cambria_, states that this lady was a daughter of Rufus, Prince of
+Demetia. She was distinguished for her beauty, and infamous for her
+gallantries. She had a daughter by Gerald of Windsor, called Augweth,
+who was mother to Giraldus Cambrensis. This relationship accounts for
+the absurd eulogiums which he has lavished on the Geraldines. Demetia is
+the district now called Pembrokeshire, where a colony of Normans
+established themselves after the Norman Conquest.--See Thierry's _Norman
+Conquest_.
+
+[275] _Men-at-arms_.--_Hibernia Expugnata_, lib. i. c. 16.
+
+[276] _Bargy_.--Our illustration gives a view of the remains of this
+ancient castle. It was formerly the residence of Bagenal Harvey, a
+Protestant gentleman, who suffered in the rebellion of 1798, for his
+adherence to the cause of Ireland.
+
+[277] _Flemings_.--Dr. O'Donovan mentions, in a note to the Four
+Masters, that he was particularly struck with the difference between the
+personal appearance of the inhabitants of the baronies where they
+settled. The Cavanaghs and Murphys are tall and slight; the Flemings and
+Codds short and stout. They still retain some peculiarities of language.
+
+[278] _Rule_.--What the rule of this ferocious monster may have been we
+can judge from what is related of him by Cambrensis. Three hundred heads
+of the slain were piled up before him; and as he leaped and danced with
+joy at the ghastly sight, he recognized a man to whom he had a more than
+ordinary hatred. He seized the head by the ears, and gratified his
+demoniacal rage by biting off the nose and lips of his dead enemy.
+
+[279] _Easterly_.--Cambrensis takes to himself the credit of having
+advised the despatch of a letter to Strongbow. He also gives us the
+letter, which probably was his own composition, as it is written in the
+same strain of bombast as his praises of his family.--_Hib. Expug_. lib.
+i. c. 12. It commences thus: "We have watched the storks and swallows;
+the summer birds are come and gone," &c. We imagine that Dermod's style,
+if he had taken to epistolary correspondence, would have been rather a
+contrast.
+
+[280] _Suffolk_.--See Gilbert's _Viceroys of Dublin, passim_. We
+recommend this work to our readers. It should be in the hands of every
+Irishman at least. It combines the attraction of romance with the
+accuracy of carefully written history.
+
+[281] _Been_.--If we are to believe Cambrensis, Raymond argued against
+this cruelty, and Henry in favour of it.
+
+[282] _Deserved_.--The Annals of Clonmacnois give a similar account;
+but in a paper MS. in Trinity College, Dublin, it is said that he died
+"after the victory of penance and unction." The old account is probably
+the more reliable, as it is the more consonant with his previous career.
+
+[283] _Difficulty_.--The army was so well supplied, that the English got
+sufficient corn, meal, and pork to victual the city of Dublin for a
+whole year.--Harris' _Hibernæ_, p. 25.
+
+[284] _Crime_.--So fearful was the unfortunate monarch of a public
+excommunication and interdict, that he sent courtiers at once to Rome to
+announce his submission. When he heard of the murder he shut himself up
+for three days, and refused all food, except "milk of almonds." See
+_Vita Quadrip_. p. 143. It would appear this was a favourite beverage,
+from the amount of almonds which were brought to Ireland for his special
+benefit. See p. 272.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+Arrival of Henry II.--Some of the Native Princes pay him Homage--His
+Character--Dublin in the time of Henry II.--His Winter Palace--Norman
+Luxuries--King Henry holds a Court--Adrian's Bull--Temporal Power of the
+Popes in the Middle Ages--Conduct of the Clergy--Irish Property given to
+English Settlers--Henry II. returns to England--The Account Cambrensis
+gives of the Injuries done to Ireland by his Countrymen--Raymond,
+Montmarisco, and Strongbow--The latter is defeated--He recalls Raymond
+from Wales--Treaty between Roderic and Henry--Death of Strongbow.
+
+[A.D. 1171-1176.]
+
+
+[Illustration: H]
+
+Henry landed in Ireland on the 18th of October, 1171, at Crook, in the
+county of Waterford. He was accompanied by Strongbow, William
+FitzAldelm, Humphrey de Bohun, Hugh de Lacy, Robert FitzBarnard, and
+many other lords. His whole force, which, according to the most
+authentic English accounts, was distributed in four hundred ships,
+consisted of 500 knights and 4,000 men-at-arms. It would appear the
+Irish had not the least idea that he intended to claim the kingdom as
+his own, and rather looked upon him as a powerful potentate who had come
+to assist the native administration of justice. Even had they suspected
+his real object, no opposition might have been made to it. The nation
+had suffered much from domestic dissension; it had yet to learn that
+foreign oppression was an incomparable greater evil.
+
+If a righteous king or a wise statesman had taken the affair in hand,
+Ireland might have been made an integral and most valuable portion of
+the British Empire without a struggle. The nation would have bowed
+gratefully to an impartial government; they have not yet ceased to
+resent a partial and frequently unjust rule. From the very commencement,
+the aggrandizement of the individual, and not the advantage of the
+people, has been the rule of action. Such government is equally
+disgraceful to the rulers, and cruel to the governed.
+
+MacCarthy of Desmond was the first Irish prince who paid homage to the
+English King. At Cashel, Donnell O'Brien, King of Thomond, swore fealty,
+and surrendered the city of Limerick. Other princes followed their
+example. The "pomp and circumstance" of the royal court, attracted the
+admiration of a people naturally deferential to authority; the
+condescension and apparent disinterestedness of the monarch, won the
+hearts of an impulsive and affectionate race. They had been accustomed
+to an Ard-Righ, a chief monarch, who, in name at least, ruled all the
+lesser potentates: why should not Henry be such to them? and why should
+they suppose that he would exercise a tyranny as yet unknown in the
+island?
+
+The northern princes still held aloof; but Roderic had received Henry's
+ambassadors personally, and paid the usual deference which one king owed
+to another who was considered more powerful. Henry determined to spend
+his Christmas in Dublin, and resolved on a special display of royal
+state. It is to be presumed that he wished to make up for deficiency in
+stateliness of person by stateliness of presence; for, like most of the
+descendants of Duke Robert "the Devil" and the daughter of the Falaise
+tanner, his appearance was not calculated to inspire respect. His grey
+bloodshot eyes and tremulous voice, were neither knightly nor kingly
+qualifications; his savage and ungovernable temper, made him appear at
+times rather like a demon than a man. He was charged with having
+violated the most solemn oaths when it suited his convenience. A
+cardinal had pronounced him an audacious liar. Count Thiebault of
+Champagne had warned an archbishop not to rely on any of his promises,
+however sacredly made. He and his sons spent their time quarrelling with
+each other, when not occupied in quarrelling with their subjects. His
+eldest son, Richard, thus graphically sketched the family
+characteristics:--"The custom in our family is that the son shall hate
+the father; our destiny is to detest each other; from the devil we came,
+to the devil we shall go." And the head of this family had now come to
+reform the Irish, and to improve their condition--social, secular, and
+ecclesiastical!
+
+A special residence was erected for the court on part of the ground now
+occupied by the southern side of Dame-street. The whole extent of Dublin
+at that time was, in length, from Corn Market to the Lower Castle Yard;
+and in breadth, from the Liffey, then covering Essex-street, to Little
+Sheep-street, now Ship-street, where a part of the town wall is yet
+standing.[286] The only edifices in existence on the southern side of
+Dame-street, even at the commencement of the seventeenth century, were
+the Church of St. Andrew and the King's Mills.[287] College-green was
+then quite in the country, and was known as the village of _Le Hogges_,
+a name that is apparently derived from the Teutonic word _Hoge_, which
+signifies a small hill or sepulchral mound. Here there was a nunnery
+called St. Mary le Hogges, which had been erected or endowed not many
+years before Henry's arrival, and a place called Hoggen's Butt, where
+the citizens exercised themselves in archery. Here, during the winter of
+1171, the Celt, the Saxon, and the Norman, may have engaged in peaceful
+contests and pleasant trials of skill.
+
+Henry's "winter palace" was extemporized with some artistic taste. It
+was formed of polished osiers. Preparations had been made on an
+extensive scale for the luxuries of the table--a matter in which the
+Normans had greatly the advantage of either Celt or Saxon. The use of
+crane's flesh was introduced into Ireland for the first time, as well as
+that of herons, peacocks,[288] swans, and wild geese. Almonds had been
+supplied already by royal order in great abundance; wine was purchased
+in Waterford, even now famous for its trade with Spain in that
+commodity. Nor had the King's physician forgotten the King's health; for
+we find a special entry amongst the royal disbursements of the sum of
+£10 7s., paid to Josephus Medicus for spices and electuaries. Yet
+Henri-curt-mantel[289] was careful of his physical well-being, and
+partook but sparingly of these luxuries. Fearing his tendency to
+corpulency, he threw the short cloak of his native Anjou round him at an
+earlier hour in the morning than suited the tastes of his courtiers, and
+took exercise either on horseback or on foot, keeping in constant motion
+all day.
+
+When the Christmas festivities had passed, Henry turned his attention to
+business, if, indeed, the same festivities had not also been a part of
+his diplomatic plans, for he was not deficient in kingcraft. In a synod
+at Cashel he attempted to settle ecclesiastical affairs. In a _Curia
+Regis_, held at Lismore, he imagined he had arranged temporal affairs.
+These are subjects which demand our best consideration. It is an
+historical fact, that the Popes claimed and exercised great temporal
+power in the middle ages; it is admitted also that they used this power
+in the main for the general good;[290] and that, as monks and friars
+were the preservers of literature, so popes and bishops were the
+protectors of the rights of nations, as far as was possible in such
+turbulent times. It does not belong to our present subject to theorize
+on the origin or the grounds[291] of this power; it is sufficient to say
+that it had been exercised repeatedly both before and after Adrian
+granted the famous Bull, by which he conferred the kingdom of Ireland on
+Henry II. The Merovingian dynasty was changed on the decision of Pope
+Zachary. Pope Adrian threatened Frederick I., that if he did not
+renounce all pretensions to ecclesiastical property in Lombardy, he
+should forfeit the crown, "received from himself and through his
+unction." When Pope Innocent III. pronounced sentence of deposition
+against Lackland in 1211, and conferred the kingdom of England on Philip
+Augustus, the latter instantly prepared to assert his claim, though he
+had no manner of title, except the Papal grant.[292] In fact, at the
+very moment when Henry was claiming the Irish crown in right of Adrian's
+Bull, given some years previously, he was in no small trepidation at the
+possible prospect of losing his English dominions, as an excommunication
+and an interdict were even then hanging over his head. Political and
+polemical writers have taken strangely perverted views of the whole
+transaction. One writer,[293] with apparently the most genuine
+impartiality, accuses the Pope, the King, and the Irish prelates of the
+most scandalous hypocrisy. A cursory examination of the question might
+have served to prove the groundlessness of this assertion. The Irish
+clergy, he asserts--and his assertion is all the proof he
+gives--betrayed their country for the sake of tithes. But tithes had
+already been enacted, and the Irish clergy were very far from conceding
+Henry's claims in the manner which some historians are pleased to
+imagine.
+
+It has been already shown that the possession of Ireland was coveted at
+an early period by the Norman rulers of Great Britain. When Henry II.
+ascended the throne in 1154, he probably intended to take the matter in
+hands at once. An Englishman, Adrian IV., filled the Papal chair. The
+English monarch would naturally find him favourable to his own country.
+John of Salisbury, then chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury, was
+commissioned to request the favour. No doubt he represented his master
+as very zealous for the interests of religion, and made it appear that
+his sole motive was the good, temporal and spiritual, of the barbarous
+Irish; at least this is plainly implied in Adrian's Bull.[294] The Pope
+could have no motive except that which he expressed in the document
+itself. He had been led to believe that the state of Ireland was
+deplorable; he naturally hoped that a wise and good government would
+restore what was amiss. There is no doubt that there was much which
+required amendment, and no one was more conscious of this, or strove
+more earnestly to effect it, than the saintly prelate who governed the
+archiepiscopal see of Dublin. The Irish clergy had already made the most
+zealous efforts to remedy whatever needed correction; but it was an age
+of lawless violence. Reform was quite as much wanted both in England and
+in the Italian States; but Ireland had the additional disadvantage of
+having undergone three centuries of ruthless plunder and desecration of
+her churches and shrines, and the result told fearfully on that land
+which had once been the home of saints.
+
+Henry's great object was to represent himself as one who had come to
+redress grievances rather than to claim allegiance; but however he may
+have deceived princes and chieftains, he certainly did not succeed in
+deceiving the clergy. The Synod of Cashel, which he caused to be
+convened, was not attended as numerously as he had expected, and the
+regulations made thereat were simply a renewal of those which had been
+made previously. The Primate of Ireland was absent, and the prelates who
+assembled there, far from having enslaved the State to Henry, avoided
+any interference in politics either by word or act. It has been well
+observed, that, whether "piping or mourning," they are not destined to
+escape. Their office was to promote peace. So long as the permanent
+peace and independence of the nation seemed likely to be forwarded by
+resistance to foreign invasion, they counselled resistance; when
+resistance was hopeless, they recommended acquiescence, not because they
+believed the usurpation less unjust, but because they considered
+submission the wisest course. But the Bull of Adrian had not yet been
+produced; and Henry's indifference about this document, or his
+reluctance to use it, shows of how little real importance it was
+considered at the time. One fearful evil followed from this Anglo-Norman
+invasion. The Irish clergy had hitherto been distinguished for the high
+tone of their moral conduct; the English clergy, unhappily, were not so
+rich in this virtue, and their evil communication had a most injurious
+effect upon the nation whom it was supposed they should be so eminently
+capable of benefiting.
+
+Henry did not succeed much better with his administration of secular
+affairs. In his _Curia Regis_, at Lismore, he modelled Irish
+administration on Norman precedents, apparently forgetting that a
+kingdom and a province should be differently governed. Strongbow was
+appointed Earl Marshal; Hugh de Lacy, Lord Constable; Bertram de Verdun,
+Seneschal; Theobald Walter, Chief Butler; and De Wellesley, Royal
+Standard-bearer. It was also arranged that, on the demise of a Chief
+Governor, the Norman nobles were to elect a successor, who should have
+full authority, until the royal pleasure could be known. Henry did not
+then attempt to style himself King or Lord of Ireland; his object seems
+to have been simply to obtain authority in the country through his
+nobles, as Wales had been subdued in a similar manner. English laws and
+customs were also introduced for the benefit of English settlers; the
+native population still adhered to their own legal observances. Henry
+again forgot that laws must be suited to the nation for whom they are
+made, and that Saxon rules were as little likely to be acceptable to the
+Celt, as his Norman tongue to an English-speaking people.
+
+Dublin was now made over to the inhabitants of Bristol. Hugh de Lacy,
+its governor, has been generally considered in point of fact the first
+Viceroy for Ireland. He was installed in the Norman fashion, and the
+sword and cap of maintenance were made the insignia of the dignity.
+Waterford and Wexford were also bestowed on royal favourites, or on such
+knights as were supposed most likely to hold them for the crown. Castles
+were erected throughout the country, which was portioned out among
+Henry's needy followers; and, for the first time in Ireland, a man was
+called a rebel if he presumed to consider his house or lands as his own
+property.
+
+The winter had been so stormy that there was little communication with
+England; but early in spring the King received the portentous
+intelligence of the arrival of Papal Legates in Normandy, and learned
+that they threatened to place his dominions under an interdict, if he
+did not appear immediately to answer for his crime. Queen Eleanor and
+his sons were also plotting against him, and there were many who boldly
+declared that the murder of the Archbishop of Canterbury would yet be
+fearfully avenged. Henry determined at once to submit to the Holy See,
+and to avert his doom by a real or pretended penitence. He therefore
+sailed for England from Wexford Harbour, on Easter Monday, the 17th of
+April, 1172, and arrived the same day at Port Finnen, in Wales. We give
+the testimony of Cambrensis, no friend to Ireland, to prove that neither
+clergy nor laity benefited by the royal visit. He thus describes the
+inauguration of that selfish system of plunder and devastation, to which
+Ireland has been subjected for centuries--a system which prefers the
+interests of the few to the rights of the many, and then scoffs bitterly
+at the misery it has created: "The clergy are reduced to beggary in the
+island; the cathedral churches mourn, having been deprived, by the
+aforesaid persons [the leading adventurers], and others along with them,
+or who came over after them, of the lands and ample estates which had
+been formerly granted to them faithfully and devoutly. And thus the
+exalting of the Church has been changed into the despoiling or
+plundering of the Church." Nor is his account of the temporal state of
+the kingdom any better. He informs us that Dermod Mac Murrough, the
+originator of all those evils, "oppressed his nobles, exalted upstarts,
+was a calamity to his countrymen, hated by the strangers, and, in a
+word, at war with the world." Of the Anglo-Norman nobles, who, it will
+be remembered, were his own relatives, and of their work, he writes
+thus: "This new and bloody conquest was defiled by an enormous effusion
+of blood, and the slaughter of a Christian people." And again: "The
+lands even of the Irish who stood faithful to our cause, from the first
+descent of FitzStephen and the Earl, you have, in violation of a treaty,
+made over to your friends."[295] His character of Henry is, that he was
+more given to "hunting than to holiness."
+
+The English monarch, however, could assume an appearance of most
+profound humility and the deepest piety, when it suited his convenience.
+He excelled himself in this department by his submission to the Holy
+See, when he found that submission alone could save his crown.
+
+The Lord of Breffni had been one of Henry's favourite guests at his
+Christmas festivities. He possessed the territory of East Meath, and
+this territory Henry had coolly bestowed on Hugh de Lacy.[296] The
+rightful owner was not quite so dazzled by the sunshine of royal favour,
+as to be willing to resign his property without a struggle. The Irish
+chieftain, whose name was Tiernan O'Rourke, was persuaded to hold a
+conference with the English usurper at the Hill of Tara, near Athboy.
+Both parties were attended by armed men. A dispute ensued. The
+interpreter was killed by a blow aimed at De Lacy, who fled
+precipitately; O'Rourke was killed by a spear-thrust as he mounted his
+horse, and vengeance was wreaked on his dead body, for the crime of
+wishing to maintain his rights, by subjecting it to decapitation. His
+head was impaled over the gate of Dublin Castle, and afterwards sent as
+a present to Henry II. His body was gibbeted, with the feet upwards, on
+the northern side of the same building.[297] The Four Masters say that
+O'Rourke was treacherously slain. From the account given by Cambrensis,
+it would appear that there was a plot to destroy the aged chieftain, but
+for want of clearer evidence we may give his enemies the benefit of the
+doubt.
+
+Strongbow was now employing himself by depredating the territories which
+had been conferred on him. He took an army of 1,000 horse and foot into
+Offaly, to lay waste O'Dempsey's territory, that prince having also
+committed the crime of wishing to keep his ancestral estates. He met
+with no opposition until he was about to return with the spoils; then,
+as he passed through a defile, the chieftain set upon him in the rear,
+and slew several of his knights, carrying off the Norman standard.
+Robert de Quincey, who had just married a daughter of Strongbow's by a
+former marriage, was amongst the slain. The Earl had bestowed a large
+territory in Wexford on him.
+
+Henry was at that time suffering from domestic troubles in Normandy; he
+therefore summoned De Clare to attend him there. It would appear that he
+performed good service for his royal master, for he received further
+grants of lands and castles, both in Normandy and in Ireland. On his
+return to the latter country, he found that the spoilers had quarrelled
+over the spoil. Raymond _le Gros_ contrived to ingratiate himself with
+the soldiers, and they demanded that the command should be transferred
+from Hervey de Montmarisco, Strongbow's uncle, to the object of their
+predilection. The Earl was obliged to comply. Their object was simply to
+plunder. The new general gratified them; and after a raid on the
+unfortunate inhabitants of Offaly and Munster, they collected their
+booty at Lismore, intending to convey it by water to Waterford.
+
+The Ostmen of Cork attacked them by sea, but failed to conquer. By land
+the Irish suffered another defeat. Raymond encountered MacCarthy of
+Desmond on his way to Cork, and plundered him, driving off a rich cattle
+spoil, in addition to his other ill-gotten goods. Raymond now demanded
+the appointment of Constable of Leinster, and the hand of Strongbow's
+sister, Basilia. But the Earl refused; and the general, notwithstanding
+his successes, retired to Wales in disgust.
+
+Hervey now resumed the command, A.D. 1174, and undertook an expedition
+against Donnell O'Brien, which proved disastrous to the English. Roderic
+once more appears in the field. The battle took place at Thurles, and
+seventeen hundred of the English were slain. In consequence of this
+disaster, the Earl proceeded in sorrow to his house in Waterford.[298]
+This great success was a signal for revolt amongst the native
+chieftains. Donald Cavanagh claimed his father's territory, and
+Gillamochalmog and other Leinster chieftains rose up against their
+allies. Roderic O'Connor at the same time invaded Meath, and drove the
+Anglo-Normans from their castles at Trim and Duleek. Strongbow was
+obliged to despatch messengers at once to invite the return of Raymond
+_le Gros_, and to promise him the office he had demanded, and his
+sister's hand in marriage.
+
+Raymond came without a moment's delay, accompanied by a considerable
+force. His arrival was most opportune for the English cause. The
+Northmen of Waterford were preparing to massacre the invaders, and
+effected their purpose when the Earl left the town to join the new
+reinforcements at Wexford. The nuptials were celebrated at Wexford with
+great pomp; but news was received, on the following morning, that
+Roderic had advanced almost to Dublin; and the mantle and tunic of the
+nuptial feast were speedily exchanged for helmet and coat-of-mail.[299]
+Unfortunately Roderic's army was already disbanded. The English soon
+repaired the injuries which had been done to their fortresses; and once
+more the Irish cause was lost, even in the moment of victory, for want
+of combination and a leader.
+
+Henry now considered it time to produce the Papal Bulls, A.D. 1175. He
+therefore despatched the Prior of Wallingford and William FitzAldelm to
+Waterford, where a synod of the clergy was assembled to hear these
+important documents. The English monarch had contrived to impress the
+Holy See with wonderful ideas of his sanctity, by his penitential
+expiations of his share in the murder of St. Thomas à Becket. It was
+therefore easy for him to procure a confirmation of Adrian's Bull from
+the then reigning Pontiff, Alexander III. The Pope also wrote to
+Christian, the Legate, to the Irish archbishops, and to the King. Our
+historians have not informed us what was the result of this meeting. Had
+the Papal donation appeared a matter of national importance, there can
+be little doubt that it would have excited more attention.
+
+Raymond now led an army to Limerick, to revenge himself on Donnell
+O'Brien, for his defeat at Thurles. He succeeded in his enterprise.
+Several engagements followed, in which the Anglo-Normans were always
+victorious. Roderic now sent ambassadors to Henry II. The persons chosen
+were Catholicus, Archbishop of Tuam; Concors, Abbot of St. Brendan's, in
+Clonfert; and St. Laurence O'Toole, styled quaintly, in the old Saxon
+manner, "Master Laurence." The King and Council received them at
+Windsor. The result of their conference was, that Roderic consented to
+pay homage to Henry, by giving him a hide from every tenth head of
+cattle; Henry, on his part, bound himself to secure the sovereignty of
+Ireland to Roderic, excepting only Dublin, Meath, Leinster, Waterford,
+and Dungarvan. In fact, the English King managed to have the best share,
+made a favour of resigning what he never possessed, and of not keeping
+what he could never have held. This council took place on the octave of
+the feast of St. Michael, A.D. 1175. By this treaty Henry was simply
+acknowledged as a superior feudal sovereign; and had Ireland been
+governed with ordinary justice, the arrangement might have been
+advantageous to both countries.
+
+Roderic was still a king, both nominally and _ipso facto_. He had power
+to judge and depose the petty kings, and they were to pay their tribute
+to him for the English monarch. Any of the Irish who fled from the
+territories of the English barons, were to return; but the King of
+Connaught might compel his own subjects to remain in his land. Thus the
+English simply possessed a colony in Ireland; and this colony, in a few
+years, became still more limited, while throughout the rest of the
+country the Irish language, laws, and usages, prevailed as they had
+hitherto done.
+
+Henry now appointed Augustin, an Irishman, to the vacant see of
+Waterford, and sent him, under the care of St. Laurence, to receive
+consecration from the Archbishop of Cashel, his metropolitan. For a
+century previous to this time, the Bishops of Waterford had been
+consecrated by the Norman Archbishops of Canterbury, with whom they
+claimed kindred.
+
+St. Gelasius died in 1173, and was succeeded in the see of Armagh by
+Connor MacConcoille. This prelate proceeded to Rome very soon after his
+consecration, and was supposed to have died there. When the Most Rev.
+Dr. Dixon, the late Archbishop of Armagh, was visiting Rome, in 1854, he
+ascertained that Connor had died at the Monastery of St. Peter of
+Lemene, near Chambery, in 1176, where he fell ill on his homeward
+journey. His memory is still honoured there by an annual festival on the
+4th of June; another of the many instances that, when the Irish Church
+was supposed to be in a state of general disorder, it had still many
+holy men to stem and subdue the torrent of evil. We shall find, at a
+later period, that several Irish bishops assisted at the Council of
+Lateran.
+
+Dermod MacCarthy's son, Cormac, had rebelled against him, and he was
+unwise enough to ask Raymond's assistance. As usual, the Norman was
+successful; he reinstated the King of Desmond, and received for his
+reward a district in Kerry, where his youngest son, Maurice, became the
+founder of the family of FitzMaurice, and where his descendants, the
+Earls of Lansdowne, still possess immense property.[300] The Irish
+princes were again engaging in disgraceful domestic feuds. Roderic now
+interfered, and, marching into Munster, expelled Donnell O'Brien from
+Thomond.
+
+[Illustration: RAM'S ISLAND, ARMAGH.]
+
+While Raymond was still in Limerick, Strongbow died in Dublin. As it was
+of the highest political importance that his death should be concealed
+until some one was present to hold the reigns of government, his sister,
+Basilia, sent an enigmatical letter[301] to her husband, which certainly
+does no small credit to her diplomatic skill. The messengers were not
+acquainted with the Earl's death; and such of the Anglo-Normans in
+Dublin as were aware of it, had too much prudence to betray the secret.
+Raymond at once set out on his journey. Immediately after his arrival,
+FitzGislebert, Earl de Clare, was interred in the Cathedral of the Holy
+Trinity, now called Christ's Church.
+
+Strongbow has not obtained a flattering character, either from his
+friends or his enemies. Even Cambrensis admits that he was obliged to be
+guided by the plans of others, having neither originality to suggest,
+nor talent to carry out any important line of action.
+
+The Irish annalists call him the greatest destroyer of the clergy and
+laity that came to Ireland since the times of Turgesius (Annals of
+Innisfallen). The Four Masters record his demise thus: "The English Earl
+[_i.e._, Richard] died in Dublin, of an ulcer which had broken out in
+his foot, through the miracles of SS. Brigid and Colum-cille, and of all
+the other saints whose churches had been destroyed by him. He saw, he
+thought, St. Brigid in the act of killing him." Pembridge says he died
+on the 1st of May, and Cambrensis about the 1st of June. His personal
+appearance is not described in very flattering terms;[302] and he has
+the credit of being more of a soldier than a statesman, and not very
+knightly in his manner or bearing.
+
+The Earl de Clare left only one child, a daughter, as heir to his vast
+estates. She was afterwards married to William Marshal, Earl of
+Pembroke. Although Strongbow was a "destroyer" of the native clergy, he
+appears to have been impregnated with the mediæval devotion for
+establishing religious houses. He founded a priory at Kilmainham for the
+Knights of the Temple, with an alms-house and hospital He was also a
+liberal benefactor to the Church of the Holy Trinity, where he was
+buried.[303]
+
+An impression on green wax of his seal still exists, pendent from a
+charter in the possession of the Earl of Ormonde. The seal bears on the
+obverse a mounted knight, in a long surcoat, with a triangular shield,
+his head covered by a conical helmet, with a nasal. He has a broad,
+straight sword in his right hand. A foot soldier, with the legend,
+"Sigillum Ricardi, Filii Comitis Gilleberti," is on the reverse. The
+last word alone is now legible.
+
+[Illustration: KEIM-AN-EIGH.]
+
+[Illustration: WICKLOW MOUNTAINS.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[285] _Irish Brooch_.--The brooch figured above is of great antiquity.
+It was found in the Ardkillen crannoge, near Strokestown, county
+Roscommon. The original is in the Royal Irish Academy, and is considered
+the finest specimen of bronze workmanship in the collection.
+
+[286] _Standing_.--Four Masters, vol. iii. p. 5, note _m_.
+
+[287] _Mills_.--Dame-street derived its name from a dam or mill-stream
+near it. There was also the gate of Blessed Mary del Dam. The original
+name was preserved until quite recently. In the reign of Charles I. the
+Master of the Rolls had a residence here, which is described as being
+"in a very wholesome air, with a good orchard and garden leading down to
+the water-side."--Gilbert's _Dublin_, vol. ii. p. 264. In fact, the
+residences here were similar to those pleasant places on the Thames,
+once the haunts of the nobility of London.
+
+[288] _Peacocks_.--To serve a peacock with its feathers was one of the
+grandest exploits of mediæval cookery. It was sown up in its skin after
+it had been roasted, when it was allowed to cool a little. The bird then
+appeared at the last course as if alive. Cream of almonds was also a
+favourite dainty. Indeed, almonds were used in the composition of many
+dishes; to use as many and as various ingredients as possible seeming to
+be the acme of gastronomy. St. Bernard had already loudly condemned the
+_bon vivants_ of the age. His indignation appears to have been
+especially excited by the various methods in which eggs were cooked. But
+even seculars condemned the excesses of Norman luxuries, and declared
+that the knights were loaded with wine instead of steel, and spits
+instead of lances.
+
+[289] _Henri-curt-mantel_.--A soubriquet derived from the short mantle
+he constantly wore.
+
+[290] _Good_.--Even the infidel Voltaire admitted that the Popes
+restrained princes, and protected the people. The Bull _In Coena Domini_
+contained an excommunication against those who should levy new taxes
+upon their estates, or should increase those already existing beyond the
+bounds of right. For further information on this subject, see Balmez,
+_European Civilization, passim._ M. Guizot says: "She [the Church] alone
+resisted the system of castes; she alone maintained the principle of
+equality of competition; she alone called all legitimate superiors to
+the possession of power."--_Hist. Gen. de la Civilization en Europe_,
+Lect. 5.
+
+[291] _Grounds_.--De Maistre and Fénélon both agree in grounding this
+power on constitutional right; but the former also admitted a divine
+right.--De Maistre, _Du Pape_, lib. ii. p. 387.
+
+[292] _Grant_.--See M. Gosselin's _Power of the Popes during the
+Middle Ages_, for further information on this subject.
+
+[293] _Writer_.--_Ireland, Historical and Statistical_.
+
+[294] _Bull_.--There can be no reasonable doubt of the authenticity of
+this document. Baronius published it from the _Codex Vaticanus_; John
+XXII. has annexed it to his brief addresed to Edward II.; and John of
+Salisbury states distinctly, in his _Metalogicus_, that he obtained this
+Bull from Adrian. He grounds the right of donation on the supposed gift
+of the island by Constantine. As the question is one of interest and
+importance, we subjoin the original: "Ad preces meas illustri Regi
+Anglorum Henrico II. concessit (Adrianus) et dedit Hiberniam jure
+hæreditario possidendam, sicut literae ipsius testantur in hodiernum
+diem. Nam omnes insulæ de jure antiquo ex donatione Constantini,
+qui eam fundavit et dotavit, dicuntur ad Romanam Ecclesiam
+pertinere."--_Metalogicus_, i. 4.
+
+[295] _Friends.--Hib. Expug_. lib. ii. c. 38.
+
+[296] _Hugh de Lacy_.--In a charter executed at Waterford, Henry had
+styled this nobleman "Bailli," a Norman term for a representative of
+royalty. The territory bestowed on him covered 800,000 acres. This was
+something like wholesale plunder.
+
+[297] _Building_.--This was the Danish fortress of Dublin, which
+occupied the greater part of the hill on which the present Castle of
+Dublin stands. See _note,_ Four Masters, vol. iii. p. 5. The Annals say
+this was a "spectacle of intense pity to the Irish." It certainly could
+not have tended to increase their devotion to English rule.
+
+[298] _Waterford_.--The English and Irish accounts of this affair differ
+widely. The Annals of Innisfallen make the number of slain to be only
+seven hundred. MacGeoghegan agrees with the Four Masters.
+
+[299] _Coat-of-mail_.--Costly mantles were then fashionable. Strutt
+informs us that Henry I. had a mantle of fine cloth, lined with black
+sable, which cost £100 of the money of the time--about £1,500 of our
+money. Fairholt gives an illustration of the armour of the time
+(_History of Costume_, p. 74). It was either tegulated or formed of
+chains in rings. The nasal appendage to the helmet was soon after
+discarded, probably from the inconvenient hold it afforded the enemy of
+the wearer in battle. Face-guards were invented soon after.
+
+[300] _Property_.--Maurice FitzGerald died at Wexford in 1179. He is the
+common ancestor of the Earls of Desmond and Kildare, the Knights of
+Glynn, of Kerry, and of all the Irish Geraldines.
+
+[301] _Letter_.--"To Raymond, her most loving lord and husband, his own
+Basilia wishes health as to herself. Know you, my dear lord, that the
+great tooth in my jaw, which was wont to ache so much, is now fallen
+out; wherefore, if you have any love or regard for me, or of yourself,
+you will delay not to hasten hither with all speed."--Gilbert's
+_Viceroys_, p. 40. It is said that this letter was read for Raymond by a
+cleric of his train, so it is presumable that reading and writing were
+not made a part of his education.
+
+[302] _Terms_.--_Hib. Expug._ lib. i. cap. 27.
+
+[303] _Buried_.--The early history of this church is involved in much
+obscurity. It probably owes its origin to the Danes. Cambrensis gives
+some interesting details about it, and mentions several miraculous
+occurrences which caused it to be held in great veneration in his days.
+He specially mentions the case of a young man in the train of Raymond
+_le Gros_, who had robbed him of his greaves, and who had taken a false
+oath before the cross of that church to clear himself. After a short
+absence in England he was compelled to return and confess his guilt, "as
+he felt the weight of the cross continually oppressing him." Strongbow's
+effigy was broken in 1562, but it was repaired in 1570, by Sir Henry
+Sidney. Until the middle of the last century, the Earl's tomb was a
+regularly appointed place for the payment of bonds, rents, and bills of
+exchange. A recumbent statue by his side is supposed to represent his
+son, whom he is said to have cut in two with his sword, for cowardice in
+flying from an engagement. A writer of the seventeenth century, however,
+corrects this error, and says that "Strongbow did no more than run his
+son through the belly, as appears by the monument and the
+chronicle."--Gilbert's _Dublin_, vol. i. p. 113.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+FitzAldelm appointed Viceroy--De Courcy in Ulster--Arrival of Cardinal
+Vivian--Henry II. confers the Title of King of Ireland on his son
+John--Irish Bishops at the Council of Lateran--Death of St. Laurence
+O'Toole--Henry's Rapacity--John Comyn appointed Archbishop of
+Dublin--John's Visit to Ireland--Insolence of his Courtiers--De Lacy's
+Death--Death of Henry II.--Accession of Richard I.--An English
+Archbishop tries to obtain Justice for Ireland--John succeeds to the
+Crown--Cathal Crovderg--Massacres in Connaught--De Courcy's Disgrace and
+Downfall--His Death.
+
+[A.D. 1176-1201.]
+
+
+News of the Earl's death soon reached Henry II., who was then holding
+his court at Valognes, in Normandy. He at once nominated his Seneschal,
+FitzAldelm de Burgo, Viceroy of Ireland, A.D. 1176. The new governor was
+accompanied by John de Courcy, Robert FitzEstevene, and Miles de Cogan.
+Raymond had assumed the reins of government after the death of
+Strongbow, but Henry appears always to have regarded him with jealousy,
+and gladly availed himself of every opportunity of lessening the power
+of one who stood so high in favour with the army. The Viceroy was
+received at Wexford by Raymond, who prudently made a merit of necessity,
+and resigned his charge. It is said that FitzAldelm was much struck by
+his retinue and numerous attendants, all of whom belonged to the same
+family; and that he then and there vowed to effect their ruin. From this
+moment is dated the distrust so frequently manifested by the English
+Government towards the powerful and popular Geraldines.
+
+The new Viceroy was not a favourite with the Anglo-Norman colonists. He
+was openly accused of partiality to the Irish, because he attempted to
+demand justice for them. It is not known whether this policy was the
+result of his own judgment, or a compliance with the wishes of his royal
+master. His conciliatory conduct, whatever may have been its motive, was
+unhappily counteracted by the violence of De Courcy. This nobleman
+asserted that he had obtained a grant of Ulster from Henry II., on what
+grounds it would be indeed difficult to ascertain. He proceeded to make
+good his claim; and, in defiance of the Viceroy's prohibition, set out
+for the north, with a small army of chosen knights and soldiers. His
+friend, Sir Almaric Tristram de Saint Lawrence, was of the number. He
+was De Courcy's brother-in-law, and they had made vows of eternal
+friendship in the famous Cathedral of Rouen. De Courcy is described as a
+man of extraordinary physical strength, of large proportions, shamefully
+penurious, rashly impetuous, and, despite a fair share in the vices of
+the age, full of reverence for the clergy, at least if they belonged to
+his own race. Cambrensis gives a glowing description of his valour, and
+says that "any one who had seen Jean de Courci wield his sword, lopping
+off heads and arms, might well have commended the might of this
+warrior."[304]
+
+De Courcy arrived in Downpatrick in four days. The inhabitants were
+taken by surprise; and the sound of his bugles at daybreak was the first
+intimation they received of their danger. Cardinal Vivian, who had come
+as Legate from Alexander III., had but just arrived at the spot. He did
+his best to promote peace. But neither party would yield; and as the
+demands of the Norman knights were perfectly unreasonable, Vivian
+advised Dunlevy, the chieftain of Ulidia, to have recourse to arms. A
+sharp conflict ensued, in which the English gained the victory,
+principally through the personal bravery of their leader. This battle
+was fought about the beginning of February; another engagement took
+place on the 24th of June, in which the northerns were again
+defeated.[305]
+
+Cardinal Vivian now proceeded to Dublin, where he held a synod. The
+principal enactment referred to the right of sanctuary. During the
+Anglo-Norman wars, the Irish had secured their provisions in the
+churches; and it is said that, in order to starve out the enemy, they
+even refused to sell at any price. It was now decreed that sanctuary
+might be violated to obtain food; but a fair price was to be paid for
+whatever was taken. It is to be feared these conditions were seldom
+complied with. The Abbey of St. Thomas the Martyr was founded in Dublin
+about this time, by FitzAldelm, at the command of Henry II., one of his
+many acts of reparation. The site was the place now called Thomas Court.
+The Viceroy endowed it with a carnucate of land, in the presence of the
+Legate and St. Laurence O'Toole. After the settlement of these affairs,
+Cardinal Vivian passed over to Chester, on his way to Scotland.
+
+One of Roderic O'Connor's sons, Murrough, having rebelled against him,
+Miles de Cogan went to his assistance,--a direct and flagrant violation
+of the treaty of Windsor. At Roscommon the English were joined by the
+unnatural rebel, who guided them through the province. The King was in
+Iar-Connaught, and the allies burned and plundered without mercy, as
+they passed along to Trim. Here they remained three nights; but as the
+people had fled with their cattle and other moveable property into the
+fastnesses, they had not been able to procure any spoil on their march.
+Roderic soon appeared to give them battle; but they were defeated
+without considerable loss. Murrough was taken prisoner by his father,
+and his eyes were put out as a punishment for his rebellion, and to
+prevent a repetition of his treachery.
+
+Another violation of the treaty of Windsor was also perpetrated this
+year, A.D. 1177. Henry II. summoned a council of his prelates and barons
+at Oxford, and solemnly conferred the title of King of Ireland on his
+youngest son, John, then a mere child. A new grant of Meath to Hugh de
+Lacy was made immediately after, in the joint names of Henry II. and
+John. Desmond was also granted to Miles de Cogan, with the exception of
+the city of Cork, which the King reserved to himself. Thomond was
+offered to two English nobles, who declined the tempting but dangerous
+favour. It was then presented to Philip de Bresosa; but though the
+knight was no coward, he fled precipitately, when he discovered, on
+coming in sight of Limerick, that the inhabitants had set it on fire, so
+determined was their resistance to foreign rule. The territory of
+Waterford was granted to Roger le Poer; but, as usual, the city was
+reserved for the royal benefit. In fact, Sir John Davies well observed,
+that "all Ireland was by Henry II. cantonized among ten of the English
+nation; and though they did not gain possession of one-third of the
+kingdom, yet in title they were owners and lords of all, as nothing was
+left to be granted to the natives." He might have said with greater
+truth, that the natives were deprived of everything, as far as it was
+possible to do so, by those who had not the slightest right or title to
+their lands.
+
+Meanwhile De Courcy was plundering the northern provinces. His wife,
+Affreca, was a daughter of Godfrey, King of Man, so that he could secure
+assistance by sea as well as by land. But the tide of fortune was not
+always in his favour. After he had plundered in Louth, he was attacked,
+in the vale of Newry[306] river, by O'Carroll of Oriel and Dunlevy of
+Ulidia. On this occasion he lost four hundred men, many of whom were
+drowned. Soon after he suffered another defeat in Antrim, from O'Flynn.
+The Four Masters say he fled to Dublin; Dr. O'Donovan thinks that we
+should read Downpatrick. The latter part of the name cannot be correctly
+ascertained, as the paper is worn away.
+
+The Irish were, as usual, engaged in domestic dissensions, and the
+English acted as allies on whichever side promised to be most
+advantageous to themselves. The Annals record a great "windstorm" during
+this year, which prostrated oaks, especially at Derry-Columcille, which
+was famous for its forest. They also record the drying up of the river
+Galliv (Galway), "for a period of a natural day. All the articles that
+had been lost in it from the remotest times, as well as its fish, were
+collected by the inhabitants of the fortress, and by the people of the
+country in general."[307]
+
+In 1179 Henry gave the office of Viceroy to De Lacy, and recalled
+FitzAldelm. The new governor employed himself actively in erecting
+castles and oppressing the unfortunate Irish. Cambrensis observes, that
+he "amply enriched himself and his followers by oppressing others with a
+strong hand." Yet he seems to have had some degree of popularity, even
+with the native Irish, for he married a daughter of Roderic O'Connor as
+his second wife. This alliance, for which he had not asked permission,
+and his popularity, excited the jealousy of the English King, who
+deprived him of his office. But he was soon reinstated, although the
+Bishop of Shrewsbury, with the name of counsellor, was set as a spy on
+his actions. These events occurred A.D. 1181. De Lacy's old companion,
+Hervey de Montmarisco, became a monk at Canterbury, after founding the
+Cistercian Monastery of Dunbrody, in the county of Wexford. He died in
+this house, in his seventy-fifth year.
+
+In 1179 several Irish bishops were summoned by Alexander III. to attend
+the third General Council of Lateran. These prelates were, St. Laurence
+of Dublin, O'Duffy of Tuam, O'Brien of Killaloe, Felix of Lismore,
+Augustine of Waterford, and Brictius of Limerick. Usher says[308]
+several other bishops were summoned; it is probable they were unable to
+leave the country, and hence their names have not been given. The real
+state of the Irish Church was then made known to the Holy See; no living
+man could have described it more accurately and truthfully than the
+sainted prelate who had sacrificed himself for so many years for its
+good. Even as the bishops passed through England, the royal jealousy
+sought to fetter them with new restrictions; and they were obliged to
+take an oath that they would not sanction any infringements on Henry's
+prerogatives. St. Malachy was now appointed Legate by the Pope, with
+jurisdiction over the five suffragans, and the possessions attached to
+his see were confirmed to him. As the Bull was directed to Ireland, it
+would appear that he returned there; but his stay was brief, and the
+interval was occupied in endeavouring to repress the vices of the
+Anglo-Norman and Welsh clergy, many of whom were doing serious injury to
+the Irish Church by their immoral and dissolute lives.[309]
+
+Henry now became jealous of the Archbishop, and perhaps was not
+overpleased at his efforts to reform these ecclesiastics. Roderic
+O'Connor had asked St. Laurence to undertake a mission on his behalf to
+the English court; but the King refused to listen to him, and forbid him
+to return to Ireland. After a few weeks' residence at the Monastery of
+Abingdon, in Berkshire, the saint set out for France. He fell ill on his
+journey, in a religious house at Eu, where his remains are still
+preserved. When on his deathbed, the monks asked him to make his will;
+but he exclaimed, "God knows that out of all my revenues I have not a
+single coin to bequeath." With the humility of true sanctity, he was
+heard frequently calling on God for mercy, and using the words of the
+Psalmist, so familiar to ecclesiastics, from their constant perusal of
+the Holy Scriptures. As he was near his end, he was heard exclaiming, in
+his own beautiful mother-tongue: "Foolish people, what will become of
+you? Who will relieve you? Who will heal you?" And well might his
+paternal heart ache for those who were soon to be left doubly orphans,
+and for the beloved nation whose sorrows he had so often striven to
+alleviate.
+
+St. Laurence went to his eternal reward on the 14th of November, 1180.
+He died on the _feria sexta_ at midnight.[310] His obsequies were
+celebrated with great pomp and solemnity, and attended by the Scotch
+Legate, Alexis, an immense concourse of clergy, and many knights and
+nobles. His remains were exposed for some days in the Church of Notre
+Dame, at Eu.
+
+Henry immediately despatched his chaplain, Geoffrey de la Haye, to
+Ireland, not with a royal message of consolation for the national
+calamity, but to sequester the revenues of the archiepiscopal see of
+Dublin. He took care to possess himself of them for a year before he
+would consent to name a successor to the deceased prelate. St. Laurence
+had happily left no funds in store for the royal rapacity; the orphan
+and the destitute had been his bankers. During a year of famine he is
+said to have relieved five hundred persons daily; he also established an
+orphanage, where a number of poor children were clothed and educated.
+The Annals of the Four Masters say he suffered martyrdom in England. The
+mistake arose in consequence of an attempt having been made on his life
+there by a fanatic, which happily did not prove fatal.[311]
+
+The Archbishop of Dublin became an important functionary from this
+period. Henry obtained the election of John Comyn to this dignity, at
+the Monastery of Evesham, in Worcester, and the King granted the
+archiepiscopal estates to him "in barony," by which tenure he and his
+successors in the see were constituted parliamentary barons, and
+entitled to sit in the councils, and hold court in their lordships and
+manors. Comyn, after his election by the clergy of Dublin, proceeded to
+Rome, where he was ordained priest, and subsequently to Veletri, where
+Pope Lucius III. consecrated him archbishop. He then came to Dublin,
+A.D. 1184, where preparations were making for the reception of Henry's
+son, John, who, it will be remembered, he had appointed King of Ireland
+when a mere child.
+
+In 1183 the unfortunate Irish monarch, Roderic, had retired to the Abbey
+of Cong, and left such empty titles as he possessed to his son, Connor.
+De Lacy and De Courcy had occupied themselves alternately in plundering
+and destroying the religious houses which had so long existed, and in
+founding new monasteries with a portion of their ill-gotten gains. It
+would appear that De Lacy built so far on his popularity with the
+Anglo-Normans, as to have aspired to the sovereignty of Ireland,--an
+aspiration which his master soon discovered, and speedily punished. He
+was supplanted by Philip of Worcester, who excelled all his predecessors
+in rapacity and cruelty. Not satisfied with the miseries inflicted on
+Ulster by De Courcy, he levied contributions there by force of arms. One
+of his companions, Hugh Tyrrell, who "remained at Armagh, with his
+Englishmen, during six days and nights, in the middle of Lent,"
+signalized himself by carrying off the property of the clergy of Armagh.
+Amongst other things, he possessed himself of a brewing-pan, which he
+was obliged to abandon on his way, he met so many calamities, which were
+naturally attributed to his sacrilegious conduct.[312]
+
+John was now preparing for his visit to Ireland, and his singularly
+unfelicitous attempt at royalty. It would appear that the Prince wished
+to decline the honour and the expedition; for, as he was on the eve of
+his departure, Eraclius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, arrived in England, to
+enjoin the fulfilment of the King's vow to undertake a crusade to
+Palestine. As Henry had got out of his difficulties, he declined to
+fulfil his solemn engagement, and refused permission to his son, John,
+who threw himself at his father's feet, and implored leave to be his
+substitute. Eraclius then poured forth his indignation upon Henry, with
+all the energetic freedom of the age. He informed him that God would
+punish his impieties--that he was worse than any Saracen; and hinted
+that he might have inherited his wickedness from his grandmother, the
+Countess of Anjou, who was reported to be a witch, and of whom it was
+said that she had flown through the window during the most solemn part
+of Mass, though four squires attempted to hold her.
+
+John sailed from Milford Haven on the evening of Easter Wednesday, 1185.
+He landed with his troops at Waterford, at noon, on the following day.
+His retinue is described as of unusual splendour, and, no doubt, was
+specially appointed to impress the "barbarous" Irish. Gerald Barry, the
+famous Cambrensis, who had arrived in Ireland some little time before,
+was appointed his tutor, in conjunction with Ranulf de Glanville. The
+bitter prejudice of the former against Ireland and the Irish is a matter
+of history, as well as the indefatigable zeal of the latter in pursuit
+of his own interests at the expense of justice.
+
+A retinue of profligate Normans completed the court, whom an English
+authority describes as "great quaffers, lourdens, proud, belly swains,
+fed with extortion and bribery." The Irish were looked upon by these
+worthies as a savage race, only created to be plundered and scoffed at.
+The Normans prided themselves on their style of dress, and, no doubt,
+the Irish costume surprised them. Common prudence, however, might have
+taught them, when the Leinster chieftains came to pay their respects to
+the young Prince, that they should not add insult to injury; for, not
+content with open ridicule, they proceeded to pull the beards of the
+chieftains, and to gibe their method of wearing their hair.
+
+De Lacy has the credit of having done his utmost to render the Prince's
+visit a failure. But his efforts were not necessary. The insolence of
+the courtiers, and the folly of the youth himself, were quite sufficient
+to ruin more promising prospects. In addition to other outrages, the
+Irish had seen their few remaining estates bestowed on the new comers;
+and even the older Anglo-Norman and Welsh settlers were expelled to make
+room for the Prince's favourites--an instalment of the fatal policy
+which made them eventually "more Irish than the Irish." When the colony
+was on the verge of ruin, the young Prince returned to England. He threw
+the blame of his failure on Hugh de Lacy; but the Norman knight did not
+live long enough after to suffer from the accusation.[313] De Lacy was
+killed while inspecting a castle which he had just built on the site of
+St. Columbkille's Monastery at Durrow, in the Queen's county. He was
+accompanied by three Englishmen; as he was in the act of stooping, a
+youth of an ancient and noble family, named O'Meyey, gave him his
+deathblow, severed his head from his body, and then fled with such
+swiftness as to elude pursuit. It is said that he was instigated to
+perform this deed by Sumagh O'Caharnay (the Fox), with whom he now took
+refuge.
+
+The Annals mention this as a "revenge of Colum-cille,"[314] they also
+say that "all Meath was full of his English castles, from the Shannon to
+the sea." Henry at once appointed his son, John, to the Irish
+Viceroyalty, but domestic troubles prevented his plans from being
+carried out. Archbishop Comyn held a synod in Dublin during this year,
+1187; and on the 9th of June the relics of SS. Patrick, Columba, and
+Brigid were discovered, and solemnly entombed anew under the direction
+of Cardinal Vivian, who came to Ireland to perform this function. During
+the year 1188 the Irish continued their usual fatal and miserable
+dissensions; still they contrived to beat the common enemy, and
+O'Muldony drove De Courcy and his troops from Ballysadare. He was again
+attacked in crossing the Curlieu Mountains, and escaped to Leinster with
+considerable loss and difficulty.
+
+In 1189 Henry II. died at Chinon, in Normandy. He expired launching
+anathemas against his sons, and especially against John, as he had just
+discovered that he had joined those who conspired against him. In his
+last moments he was stripped of his garments and jewels, and left naked
+and neglected.
+
+Richard I., who succeeded to the throne, was too much occupied about
+foreign affairs to attend to his own kingdom. He was a brave soldier,
+and as such merits our respect; but he can scarcely be credited as a
+wise king. Irish affairs were committed to the care of John, who does
+not appear to have profited by his former experience. He appointed Hugh
+de Lacy Lord Justice, to the no small disgust of John de Courcy; but it
+was little matter to whom the government of that unfortunate country was
+confided. There were nice distinctions made about titles; for John, even
+when King of England, did not attempt to write himself King of
+Ireland.[315] But there were no nice distinctions about property; for
+the rule seemed to be, that whoever could get it should have it, and
+whoever could keep it should possess it.
+
+In 1189 Roderic's son, Connor Moinmoy, fell a victim to a conspiracy of
+his own chieftains,--a just retribution for his rebellion against his
+father. He had, however, the reputation of being brave and generous. At
+his death Connaught was once more plunged in civil war, and after some
+delay and difficulty Roderic resumed the government.
+
+In 1192 the brave King of Thomond again attacked the English invaders.
+But after his death, in 1194, the Anglo-Normans had little to apprehend
+from native valour. His obituary is thus recorded: "Donnell, son of
+Turlough O'Brien, King of Munster, a burning lamp in peace and war, and
+the brilliant star of the hospitality and valour of the Momonians, and
+of all Leth-Mogha, died." Several other "lamps" went out about the same
+time; one of these was Crunce O'Flynn, who had defeated De Courcy in
+1178, and O'Carroll, Prince of Oriel, who had been hanged by the English
+the year before, after the very unnecessary cruelty of putting out his
+eyes.
+
+The affairs of the English colony were not more prosperous. New Lords
+Justices followed each other in quick succession. One of these
+governors, Hamon de Valois, attempted to replenish his coffers from
+church property,--a proceeding which provoked the English Archbishop
+Comyn. As this ecclesiastic failed to obtain redress in Ireland, he
+proceeded to England with his complaints; but he soon learned that
+justice could not be expected for Ireland. The difference between the
+conduct of ecclesiastics, who have no family but the Church, and no
+interests but the interests of religion, is very observable in all
+history. While English and Norman soldiers were recklessly destroying
+church property and domestic habitations in the country they had
+invaded, we find, with few exceptions, that the ecclesiastic, of
+whatever nation, is the friend and father of the people, wherever his
+lot may be cast. The English Archbishop resented the wrongs of the Irish
+Church as personal injuries, and devoted himself to its advancement as a
+personal interest. We are indebted to Archbishop Comyn for building St.
+Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, as well as for his steady efforts to
+promote the welfare of the nation. After an appeal in person to King
+Richard and Prince John, he was placed in confinement in Normandy, and
+was only released by the interference of the Holy See; Innocent III.,
+who had probably by this time discovered that the English monarchs were
+not exactly the persons to reform the Irish nation, having addressed a
+letter from Perugia to the Earl of Montague (Prince John), reprimanding
+him for detaining "his venerable brother, the Archbishop of Dublin," in
+exile, and requiring him to repair the injuries done by his Viceroy,
+Hamon de Valois, on the clergy of Leighlin. The said Hamon appears to
+have meddled with other property besides that belonging to the Church--a
+more unpardonable offence, it is to be feared, in the eyes of his
+master. On returning from office after two years viceroyalty, he was
+obliged to pay a thousand marks to obtain an acquittance from his
+accounts.[316]
+
+John ascended the English throne in 1199. He appointed Meiller
+FitzHenri[317] Governor of Ireland. It has been conjectured that if John
+had not obtained the sovereignty, he and his descendants might have
+claimed the "Lordship of Ireland." There can be no doubt that he and
+they might have claimed it; but whether they could have held it is quite
+another consideration. It is generally worse than useless to speculate
+on what might have been. In this case, however, we may decide with
+positive certainty, that no such condition of things could have
+continued long. The English kings would have looked with jealousy even
+on the descendants of their ancestors, if they kept possession of the
+island; and the descendants would have become, as invariably happened,
+_Hibernicis ipsis Hibernior_, and therefore would have shared the fate
+of the "common enemy."
+
+Meanwhile the O'Connors were fighting in Kerry. Cathal Carragh obtained
+the services of FitzAldelm, and expelled Cathal Crovderg. He, in his
+turn, sought the assistance of Hugh O'Neill, who had been distinguishing
+himself by his valour against De Courcy and the English. They marched
+into Connaught, but were obliged to retreat with great loss. The exiled
+Prince now sought English assistance, and easily prevailed on De Courcy
+and young De Lacy to help him. But misfortune still followed him. His
+army was again defeated; and as they fled to the peninsula of Rindown,
+on Lough Ree, they were so closely hemmed in, that no way of escape
+remained, except to cross the lake in boats. In attempting to do this a
+great number were drowned. The Annals of Kilronan and Clonmacnois enter
+these events under the year 1200; the Four Masters under the year 1199.
+The former state that "Cahall Carragh was taken deceitfully by the
+English of Meath," and imprisoned until he paid a ransom; and that De
+Courcy, "after slaying of his people," returned to Ulster.
+
+Cathal Crovderg now obtained the assistance of the Lord Justice, who
+plundered Clonmacnois. He also purchased the services of FitzAldelm, and
+thus deprived his adversary of his best support. The English, like the
+mercenary troops of Switzerland and the Netherlands, appear to have
+changed sides with equal alacrity, when it suited their convenience; and
+so as they were well paid, it mattered little to them against whom they
+turned their arms. In 1201 Cathal Crovderg marched from Limerick to
+Roscommon, with his new ally and the sons of Donnell O'Brien and
+Florence MacCarthy. They took up their quarters at Boyle, and occupied
+themselves in wantonly desecrating the abbey. Meanwhile Cathal Carragh,
+King of Connaught, had assembled his forces, and came to give them
+battle. Some skirmishes ensued, in which he was slain, and thus the
+affair was ended. FitzAldelm, or De Burgo, as he is more generally
+called now, assisted by O'Flaherty of West Connaught, turned against
+Cathal when they arrived at Cong to spend the Easter. It would appear
+that the English were billeted on the Irish throughout the country; and
+when De Burgo demanded wages for them, the Connacians rushed upon them,
+and slew six hundred men. For once his rapacity was foiled, and he
+marched off to Munster with such of his soldiers as had escaped the
+massacre. Three years after he revenged himself by plundering the whole
+of Connaught, lay and ecclesiastical.
+
+During this period Ulster was also desolated by civil war. Hugh O'Neill
+was deposed, and Connor O'Loughlin obtained rule; but the former was
+restored after a few years.
+
+John de Courcy appears always to have been regarded with jealousy by the
+English court. His downfall was at hand, A.D. 1204; and to add to its
+bitterness, his old enemies, the De Lacys, were chosen to be the
+instruments of his disgrace. It is said that he had given mortal offence
+to John, by speaking openly of him as a usurper and the murderer of his
+nephew; but even had he not been guilty of this imprudence, the state he
+kept, and the large tract of country which he held, was cause enough for
+his ruin. He had established himself at Downpatrick, and was surrounded
+in almost regal state by a staff of officers, including his constable,
+seneschal, and chamberlain; he even coined money in his own name.
+Complaints of his exactions were carried to the King. The De Lacys
+accused him of disloyalty. In 1202 the then Viceroy, Hugh de Lacy,
+attempted to seize him treacherously, at a friendly meeting. He failed
+to accomplish this base design; but his brother, Walter, succeeded
+afterwards in a similar attempt, and De Courcy was kept in durance until
+the devastations which his followers committed in revenge obliged his
+enemies to release him.
+
+In 1204 he defeated the Viceroy in a battle at Down. He was aided in
+this by the O'Neills, and by soldiers from Man and the Isles. It will be
+remembered that he could always claim assistance from the latter, in
+consequence of his connexion by marriage. But this did not avail him. He
+was summoned before the Council in Dublin, and some of his possessions
+were forfeited. Later in the same year (A.D. 1204) he received a safe
+conduct to proceed to the King. It is probable that he was confined in
+the Tower of London for some time; but it is now certain that he
+revisited Ireland in 1210, if not earlier, in the service of John, who
+granted him an annual pension.[318] It is supposed that he died about
+1219; for in that year Henry III. ordered his widow, Affreca, to be paid
+her dower out of the lands which her late husband had possessed in
+Ireland.
+
+Cambrensis states that De Courcy had no children; but the Barons of
+Kinsale claim to be descended from him; and even so late as 1821 they
+exercised the privilege of appearing covered before George IV.--a favour
+said to have been granted to De Courcy by King John, after his recall
+from Ireland, as a reward for his prowess. Dr. Smith states, in his
+_History of Cork_, that Miles de Courcy was a hostage for his father
+during the time when he was permitted to leave the Tower to fight the
+French champion. In a pedigree of the MacCarthys of Cooraun Lough,
+county Kerry, a daughter of Sir John de Courcy is mentioned. The Irish
+annalists, as may be supposed, were not slow to attribute his downfall
+to his crimes.
+
+Another English settler died about this period, and received an equal
+share of reprobation; this was FitzAldelm, more commonly known as Mac
+William Burke (De Burgo), and the ancestor of the Burke family in
+Ireland. Cambrensis describes him as a man addicted to many vices. The
+Four Masters declare that "God and the saints took vengeance on him; for
+he died of a shameful disease." It could scarcely be expected that one
+who had treated the Irish with such unvarying cruelty, could obtain a
+better character, or a more pleasing obituary. Of his miserable end,
+without "shrive or unction," there appears to be no doubt.
+
+
+[Illustration: STALACTITE CAVE, TIPPERARY.]
+
+[Illustration: KING JOHN'S CASTLE, LIMERICK.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[304] _Warrior.--Hib. Expug._ lib. ii. cap. 17.
+
+[305] _Defeated_.--Giraldus gives a detailed account of these
+affairs.--_Hib. Expug._ lib. ii. cap. 17. He says the Irish forces under
+Dunlevy amounted to ten thousand warriors; but this statement cannot at
+all be credited. De Courcy took advantage of some old Irish prophecies
+to further his cause. They were attributed to St. Columbkille, and to
+the effect that a foreigner who would ride upon a white horse, and have
+little birds painted on his shield, should conquer the country. De
+Courcy did ride upon a white horse, and the birds were a part of his
+armorial bearings.
+
+[306] _Newry_.--See an interesting note to the Annals (Four Masters),
+vol. iii. p. 40, which identifies the valley of Glenree with the vale of
+Newry. In an ancient map, the Newry river is called _Owen Glenree
+fluvius_.
+
+[307] _General_.--This is mentioned also by O'Flaherty, who quotes from
+some other annals. See his account of Iar-Connaught, printed for the
+Archæological Society.
+
+[308] _Says_.--_Sylloge_, ep. 48.
+
+[309] _Lives_.--We give authority for this statement, as it manifests
+how completely the Holy See was deceived in supposing that any reform
+was likely to be effected in Ireland by English interference: "Ita ut
+quodam tempore (quod dictu mirum est) centum et quadraginta presby.
+incontinentiæ convictos Romani miserit absolvendos."--Surius, t. vi. St.
+Laurence had faculties for absolving these persons, but for some
+reason--probably as a greater punishment--he sent them to Rome. English
+writers at this period also complain of the relaxed state of
+ecclesiastical discipline in that country. How completely all such evils
+were eradicated by the faithful sons of the Church, and the exertions of
+ecclesiastical superiors, is manifest from the fact, that no such
+charges could be brought against even a single priest at the time of the
+so-called Reformation.
+
+[310] _Midnight_.--"Itaque cum sextæ feriæ terminus advenisset, in
+confinio sabbati subsequentis Spiritum Sancti viri requies æterna
+suscepit."--_Vita S. Laurentii_, cap. xxxiii. The saint's memory is
+still honoured at Eu. The church has been lately restored, and there is
+a little oratory on the hill near it to mark the spot where he
+exclaimed, _Hoec est requies mea_, as he approached the town where he
+knew he should die. Dr. Kelly (_Cambrensis Eversus_, vol. ii. p. 648)
+mentions in a note that the names of several Irishmen were inscribed
+there.
+
+[311] _Fatal_.--Dr. O'Donovan gives a long and most interesting note on
+the genealogy of St. Laurence O'Toole, in which he shows that his father
+was a chieftain of an important territory in the county Kildare, and
+that he was not a Wicklow prince, as has been incorrectly asserted. The
+family removed there after the death of St. Laurence, when they were
+driven from their property by an English adventurer.
+
+[312] _Conduct_.--This is mentioned even by Cox, who, Dr. O'Donovan
+observes, was always anxious to hide the faults of the English, and
+vilify the Irish. He calls Hugh Tyrrell "a man of ill report," and says
+he returned to Dublin "loaden both with curses and extortions."--_Hib.
+Angl._ p. 38, ad an. 1184.
+
+[313] _Accusation_.--There can be no doubt that De Lacy had ambitious
+designs. See Cambrensis, _Hib. Expug._ lib. ii. cap. 20. Henry II. heard
+of his death with considerable satisfaction.
+
+[314] _Colum-cille_.--Dr. O'Donovan remarks that a similar disaster
+befell Lord Norbury. He was also assassinated by a hand still unknown,
+after having erected a castle on the same _site_ as that of De Lacy, and
+preventing the burial of the dead in the ancient cemetery of Durrow.
+
+[315] _King of Ireland_.--During the reign of Richard all the public
+affairs of the Anglo-Norman colony were transacted in the name of "John,
+Lord of Ireland, Earl of Montague." Palgrave observes that John never
+claimed to be King of the Irish; like Edward, who wrote himself Lord of
+Scotland, and acknowledged Baliol to be King of the Scots.
+
+[316] _Accounts_.--Gilbert's _Viceroys_, p. 58.
+
+[317] _FitzHenri_.--His father was an illegitimate son of Henry I. When
+a mere youth, FitzHenri came to Ireland with the Geraldines, and
+obtained large possessions.
+
+[318] _Pension_.--One hundred pounds per annum. Orders concerning it are
+still extant on the Close Rolls of England.--_Rol. Lit. Clau._ 1833,
+144. It is curious, and should be carefully noted, how constantly proofs
+are appearing that the Irish bards and chroniclers, from the earliest to
+the latest period, were most careful as to the truth of their facts,
+though they may have sometimes coloured them highly. Dr. O'Donovan has
+devoted some pages in a note (Four Masters, vol. iii. p. 139) to the
+tales in the Book of Howth which record the exploits of De Courcy. He
+appears satisfied that they were "invented in the fifteenth or sixteenth
+century." Mr. Gilbert has ascertained that they were placed on record as
+early as 1360, in Pembridge's Annals. As they are merely accounts of
+personal valour, we do not reproduce them here. He also gives an extract
+from Hoveden's Annals, pars port, p. 823, which further supports the
+Irish account. Rapin gives the narrative as history. Indeed, there
+appears nothing very improbable about it. The Howth family were founded
+by Sir Almaric St. Lawrence, who married De Courcy's sister.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+Quarrels of the English Barons--The Interdict--John crushes and starves
+an Archdeacon to Death--King John's Visit to Ireland--He starves the
+Wife and Son of Earl de Braose to Death--Henry de Londres--The Poet
+O'Daly--Obituaries of Good Men--Henry III.--Regulations about the
+Viceroy--The Scorch Villain--Scandalous Conduct of the Viceroys--Three
+Claimants for Connaught--Death of Hugh Crovderg--Felim
+O'Connor--Henry's Foreign Advisers--Plots against the Earl of
+Pembroke--He is wounded treacherously--His Pious Death--Misfortunes of
+the Early Settlers--De Marisco's Son is hanged for High Treason, and he
+dies miserably in Exile.
+
+[A.D. 1201-1244.]
+
+
+King John was now obliged to interfere between his English barons in
+Ireland, who appear to have been quite as much occupied with feuds among
+themselves as the native princes. In 1201 Philip of Worcester and
+William de Braose laid waste the greater part of Munster in their
+quarrels. John had sold the lands of the former and of Theobald Walter
+to the latter, for four thousand marks--Walter redeemed his property for
+five hundred marks; Philip obtained his at the point of the sword. De
+Braose had large property both in Normandy and in England. He had his
+chancellor, chancery, and seal, recognizances of all pleas, not even
+excepting those of the crown, with judgment of life and limb. His sons
+and daughters had married into powerful families. His wife, Matilda, was
+notable in domestic affairs, and a vigorous oppressor of the Welsh. A
+bloody war was waged about the same time between De Lacy, De Marisco,
+and the Lord Justice. Cathal Crovderg and O'Brien aided the latter in
+besieging Limerick, while some of the English fortified themselves in
+their castles and plundered indiscrimately.
+
+In 1205 the Earldom of Ulster was granted to Hugh de Lacy. The grant is
+inscribed on the charter roll of the seventh year of King John, and is
+the earliest record now extant of the creation of an Anglo-Norman
+dignity in Ireland. England was placed under an interdict in 1207, in
+consequence of the violence and wickedness of its sovereign. He procured
+the election of John de Grey to the see of Canterbury, a royal
+favourite, and, if only for this reason, unworthy of the office. Another
+party who had a share in the election chose Reginald, the Sub-Prior of
+the monks of Canterbury. But when the choice was submitted to Pope
+Innocent III., he rejected both candidates, and fixed on an English
+Cardinal, Stephen Langton, who was at once elected, and received
+consecration from the Pope himself. John was highly indignant, as might
+be expected. He swore his favourite oath, "by God's teeth," that he
+would cut off the noses and pluck out the eyes of any priest who
+attempted to carry the Pope's decrees against him into England. But some
+of the bishops, true to their God and the Church, promulgated the
+interdict, and then fled to France to escape the royal vengeance. It was
+well for them they did so; for Geoffrey, Archdeacon of Norwich, was
+seized, and enveloped, by the royal order, in a sacerdotal vestment of
+massive lead, and thus thrown into prison, where he was starved to death
+beneath the crushing weight. We sometimes hear of the cruelties of the
+Inquisition, of the barbarity of the Irish, of the tyranny of
+priestcraft; but such cruelties, barbarities, and tyrannies, however
+highly painted, pale before the savage vengeance which English kings
+have exercised, on the slightest provocation, towards their unfortunate
+subjects. But we have not yet heard all the refinements of cruelty which
+this same monarch exercised. Soon after, John was excommunicated
+personally. When he found that Philip of France was prepared to seize
+his kingdom, and that his crimes had so alienated him from his own
+people that he could hope for little help from them, he cringed with the
+craven fear so usually found in cruel men, and made the most abject
+submission. In the interval between the proclamation of the interdict
+and the fulmination of the sentence of excommunication (A.D. 1210), John
+visited Ireland. It may be supposed his arrival could not excite much
+pleasure in the hearts of his Irish subjects, though, no doubt, he
+thought it a mark of disloyalty that he should not be welcomed with
+acclamations. A quarter of a century had elapsed since he first set his
+foot on Irish ground. He had grown grey in profligacy, but he had not
+grown wiser or better with advancing years.
+
+The year before his arrival, Dublin had been desolated by a pestilence,
+and a number of people from Bristol had taken advantage of the decrease
+in the population to establish themselves there. On the Easter Monday
+after their arrival, when they had assembled to amuse themselves in
+Cullen's Wood, the O'Byrnes and O'Tooles rushed down upon them from the
+Wicklow Mountains, and took a terrible vengeance for the many wrongs
+they had suffered, by a massacre of some three hundred men. The citizens
+of Bristol sent over new colonists; but the anniversary of the day was
+long known as Black Monday.
+
+The English King obtained money for his travelling expenses by extortion
+from the unfortunate Jews. He landed at Crook, near Waterford, on the
+20th June, 1210. His army was commanded by the Earl of Salisbury, son to
+Henry I., by "Fair Rosamond," of tragic memory. De Braose fled to
+England when he heard of the King's movements. Here he endeavoured to
+make peace with his master, but failing to do so, he carefully avoided
+putting himself in his power, and took refuge in France. His wife was
+not so fortunate. After John's return to England, Matilda and her son
+were seized by his command, and imprisoned at Corfe Castle, in the isle
+of Pembroke. Here they were shut up in a room, with a sheaf of wheat and
+a piece of raw bacon for their only provision. When the prison door was
+opened on the eleventh day, they were both found dead.
+
+De Lacy also fled before the King's visit; John took Carrickfergus
+Castle from his people, and stationed a garrison of his own there.
+Several Irish princes paid homage to him; amongst others we find the
+names of Cathal Crovderg and Hugh O'Neill. The Norman lords were also
+obliged to swear fealty, and transcripts of their oaths were placed in
+the Irish Exchequer. Arrangements were also made for the military
+support of the colony, and certain troops were to be furnished with
+forty days' ration by all who held lands by "knight's service." The
+Irish princes who lived in the southern and western parts of Ireland,
+appear to have treated the King with silent indifference; they could
+afford to do so, as they were so far beyond the reach of his vengeance.
+
+John remained only sixty days in Ireland. He returned to Wales on the
+26th of August, 1210, after confiding the government of the colony to
+John de Grey, Bishop of Norwich, whose predilection for secular affairs
+had induced the Holy See to refuse his nomination to the Archbishopric
+of Canterbury. The most important act of his Viceroyalty was the
+erection of a bridge and castle at _Ath-Luain_ (Athlone). He was
+succeeded, in 1213, by Henry de Londres, who had been appointed to the
+see of Dublin during the preceding year. This prelate was one of those
+who were the means of obtaining _Magna Charta_. His name appears second
+on the list of counsellors who advised the grant; and he stood by the
+King's side, at Runnymede, when the barons obtained the bulwark of
+English liberty. It is sometimes forgotten that the clergy were the
+foremost to demand it, and the most persevering in their efforts to
+obtain it.
+
+The Archbishop was now sent to Rome by the King to plead his cause
+there, and to counteract, as best he might, the serious complaints made
+against him by all his subjects--A.D. 1215. In 1213 Walter de Lacy
+obtained the restoration of his father's property in Wales and England.
+Two years later he recovered his Irish lands; but the King retained his
+son, Gislebert, as hostage, and his Castle of _Droicead-Atha_
+(Drogheda).
+
+The Irish chieftains made some stand for their rights at the close of
+this reign. Cormac O'Melaghlin wrested Delvin, in Meath, from the
+English. O'Neill and O'Donnell composed their difference _pro tem._, and
+joined in attacking the invaders. In the south there was a war between
+Dermod and Connor Carthy, in which the Anglo-Normans joined, and, as
+usual, got the lion's share, obtaining such an increase of territory as
+enabled them to erect twenty new castles in Cork and Kerry.
+
+The Four Masters give a curious story under the year 1213. O'Donnell
+More sent his steward to Connaught to collect his tribute. On his way he
+visited the poet Murray O'Daly, and began to wrangle with him, "although
+his lord had given him no instructions to do so." The poet's ire was
+excited. He killed him on the spot with a sharp axe--an unpleasant
+exhibition of literary justice--and then fled into Clanrickarde for
+safety. O'Donnell determined to revenge the insult, until Mac William
+(William de Burgo) submitted to him. But the poet had been sent to seek
+refuge in Thomond. The chief pursued him there also, and laid siege to
+Limerick.[319] The inhabitants at once expelled the murderer, who
+eventually fled to Dublin. After receiving tribute from the men of
+Connaught, O'Donnell marched to Dublin, and compelled the people to
+banish Murray to Scotland. Here he remained until he had composed three
+poems in praise of O'Donnell, imploring peace and forgiveness. He was
+then pardoned, and so far received into favour as to obtain a grant of
+land and other possessions.
+
+The Irish bishops were, as usual, in constant intercourse with Rome.
+Several prelates attended the fourth General Council of Lateran, in
+1215. The Annals give the obituaries of some saintly men, whose lives
+redeemed the age from the character for barbarity, which its secular
+literature would seem to justify. Amongst these we find the obituary of
+Catholicus O'Duffy, in 1201; of Uaireirghe, "one of the noble sages of
+Clonmacnois, a man full of the love of God and of every virtue;" of Con
+O'Melly, Bishop of Annaghdown, "a transparently bright gem of the
+Church;" of Donnell O'Brollaghan, "a prior, a noble senior, a sage,
+illustrious for his intelligence;" and of many others. A great number of
+monasteries were also founded, especially by the Anglo-Normans, who
+appear to have had periodical fits of piety, after periodical
+temptations to replenish their coffers out of their neighbours'
+property. We may not quite judge their reparations as altogether
+insincere; for surely some atonement for evil deeds is better than an
+utter recklessness of future punishment.
+
+Henry III. succeeded his father, John, while only in his tenth year.
+William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, was appointed protector of the
+kingdom and the King. The young monarch was hastily crowned at Bristol,
+with one of his mother's golden bracelets. Had the wise and good Earl
+lived to administer affairs for a longer period, it would have been a
+blessing to both countries. Geoffrey de Marisco still continued Governor
+of Ireland. Affairs in England were in an extremely critical position.
+The profligate Isabella had returned to her first husband, Hugh de
+Lusignan, whom she had before forsaken for King John. Gloucester,
+London, and Kent, were in the hands of the Dauphin of France. Some few
+acts of justice to Ireland were the result; but when justice is only
+awarded from motives of fear or interest, it becomes worse than
+worthless as a mode of conciliation. Such justice, however, as was
+granted, only benefited the Anglo-Norman settlers; the "mere Irish" were
+a race devoted to plunder and extermination.
+
+In consequence of complaints from the English barons in Ireland, a
+modified form of Magna Charta was granted to them, and a general amnesty
+was proclaimed, with special promises of reparation to the nobles whom
+John had oppressed. Hugh de Lacy was also pardoned and recalled; but it
+was specially provided that the Irish should have no share in such
+favours; and the Viceroy was charged to see that no native of the
+country obtained cathedral preferment. This piece of injustice was
+annulled through the interference of Pope Honorius III.
+
+In 1217 the young King, or rather his advisers, sent the Archbishop of
+Dublin to that city to levy a "tallage," or tax, for the royal benefit.
+The Archbishop and the Justiciary were directed to represent to the
+"Kings of Ireland," and the barons holding directly from the crown, that
+their liberality would not be forgotten; but neither the politeness of
+the address[320] nor the benevolence of the promises were practically
+appreciated, probably because neither were believed to be sincere, and
+the King's coffers were not much replenished.
+
+Arrangements were now made defining the powers of the Viceroy or
+Justiciary. The earliest details on this subject are embodied in an
+agreement between Henry III. and Geoffrey de Marisco, sealed at Oxford,
+in March, 1220, in presence of the Papal Legate, the Archbishop of
+Dublin, and many of the nobility.
+
+By these regulations the Justiciary was bound to account in the
+Exchequer of Dublin for all taxes and aids received in Ireland for the
+royal purse. He was to defray all expenses for the maintenance of the
+King's castles and lands out of the revenues. In fact, the people of the
+country were taxed, either directly or indirectly, for the support of
+the invaders. The King's castles were to be kept by loyal and proper
+constables, who were obliged to give hostages. Indeed, so little faith
+had the English kings in the loyalty of their own subjects, that the
+Justiciary himself was obliged to give a hostage as security for his own
+behaviour. Neither does the same Viceroy appear to have benefited trade,
+for he is accused of exacting wine, clothing, and victuals, without
+payment, from the merchants of Dublin.
+
+In 1221 the Archbishop of Dublin, Henry de Londres, was made Governor.
+He obtained the name of "Scorch Villain," from having cast into the fire
+the leases of the tenants of his see, whom he had cited to produce these
+documents in his court. The enraged landholders attacked the attendants,
+and laid hands on the Archbishop, who was compelled to do them justice
+from fear of personal violence. When such was the mode of government
+adopted by English officials, we can scarcely wonder that the people of
+Ireland have not inherited very ardent feelings of loyalty and devotion
+to the crown and constitution of that country.
+
+Such serious complaints were made of the unjust Governor, that Henry was
+at last obliged to check his rapacity. Probably, he was all the more
+willing to do so, in consequence of some encroachments on the royal
+prerogative.
+
+After the death of the Earl of Pembroke, who had obtained the pardon of
+Hugh de Lacy, a feud arose between the latter and the son of his former
+friend. In consequence of this quarrel, all Meath was ravaged, Hugh
+O'Neill having joined De Lacy in the conflict.
+
+Some of the Irish chieftains now tried to obtain protection from the
+rapacity of the Anglo-Norman barons, by paying an annual stipend to the
+crown; but the crown, though graciously pleased to accept anything which
+might be offered, still held to its royal prerogative of disposing of
+Irish property as appeared most convenient to royal interests. Though
+Cathal Crovderg had made arrangements with Henry III., at an immense
+sacrifice, to secure his property, that monarch accepted his money, but,
+nevertheless, bestowed the whole province of Connaught shortly after on
+Richard de Burgo.
+
+Crovderg had retired into a Franciscan monastery at Knockmoy, which he
+had founded, and there he was interred nobly and honourably. After his
+death there were no less than three claimants for his dignity. De Burgo
+claimed it in right of the royal gift; Hugh Cathal claimed it as heir to
+his father, Crovderg; Turlough claimed it for the love of fighting,
+inherent in the Celtic race; and a general guerilla warfare was carried
+on by the three parties, to the utter ruin of each individual. For the
+next ten years the history of the country is the history of deadly feuds
+between the native princes, carefully fomented by the English settlers,
+whose interest it was to make them exterminate each other.
+
+The quarrel for the possession of Connaught began in the year 1225. The
+Anglo-Normans had a large army at Athlone, and Hugh Cathal went to claim
+their assistance. The Lord Justice put himself at the head of the army;
+they marched into Connaught, and soon became masters of the situation.
+Roderic's sons at once submitted, but only to bide their time. During
+these hostilities the English of Desmond, and O'Brien, a Thomond prince,
+assisted by the Sheriff of Cork, invaded the southern part of Connaught
+for the sake of plunder. In the previous year, 1224, "the corn remained
+unreaped until the festival of St. Brigid [1st Feb.], when the ploughing
+was going on." A famine also occurred, and was followed by severe
+sickness. Well might the friar historian exclaim: "Woeful was the
+misfortune which God permitted to fall upon the west province in Ireland
+at that time; for the young warriors did not spare each other, but
+preyed and plundered to the utmost of their power. Women and children,
+the feeble and the lowly poor, perished by cold and famine in this
+year."[321]
+
+O'Neill had inaugurated Turlough at Carnfree.[322] He appears to have
+been the most popular claimant. The northern chieftains then returned
+home. As soon as the English left Connaught, Turlough again revolted.
+Hugh Cathal recalled his allies; and the opposite party, finding their
+cause hopeless, joined him in such numbers that Roderic's sons fled for
+refuge to Hugh O'Neill. The Annals suggest that the English might well
+respond when called on, "for their spirit was fresh, and their struggle
+trifling." Again we find it recorded that the corn remained unreaped
+until after the festival of St. Brigid. The wonder is, not that the
+harvest was not gathered in, but that there was any harvest to gather.
+
+Soon after these events, Hugh O'Connor was captured by his English
+allies, and would have been sacrificed to their vengeance on some
+pretence, had not Earl Marshal rescued him by force of arms. He escorted
+him out of the court, and brought him safely to Connaught; but his son
+and daughter remained in the hands of the English. Hugh soon found an
+opportunity of retaliating. A conference was appointed to take place
+near Athlone,[323] between him and William de Marisco, son of the Lord
+Justice. When in sight of the English knights, the Irish prince rushed
+on William, and seized him, while his followers captured his attendants,
+one of whom, the Constable of Athlone, was killed in the fray. Hugh then
+proceeded to plunder and burn the town, and to rescue his son and
+daughter, and some Connaught chieftains.
+
+At the close of the year 1227, Turlough again took arms. The English had
+found it their convenience to change sides, and assisted him with all
+their forces. Probably they feared the brave Hugh, and were jealous of
+the very power they had helped him to obtain. Hugh Roderic attacked the
+northern districts, with Richard de Burgo. Turlough Roderic marched to
+the peninsula of Rindown, with the Viceroy. Hugh Crovderg had a narrow
+escape near the Curlieu Mountains, where his wife was captured by the
+English. The following year he appears to have been reconciled to the
+Lord Deputy, for he was killed in his house by an Englishman, in revenge
+for a liberty he had taken with a woman.[324]
+
+As usual, on the death of Hugh O'Connor, the brothers who had fought
+against him now fought against each other. The Saxon certainly does not
+deserve the credit of all our national miseries. If there had been a
+little less home dissension, there would have been a great deal less
+foreign oppression. The English, however, helped to foment the discord.
+The Lord Justice took part with Hugh, the younger brother, who was
+supported by the majority of the Connaught men, although Turlough had
+already been inaugurated by O'Neill. A third competitor now started up;
+this was Felim brother to Hugh O'Connor. Some of the chieftains declared
+that they would not serve a prince who acknowledged English rule, and
+obliged Hugh to renounce his allegiance. But this question was settled
+with great promptitude. Richard de Burgo took the field, desolated the
+country--if, indeed, there was anything left to desolate--killed Donn
+Oge Mageraghty, their bravest champion, expelled Hugh, and proclaimed
+Felim.
+
+The reign of this prince was of short duration. In 1231 he was taken
+prisoner at Meelick, despite the most solemn guarantees, by the very man
+who had so lately enthroned him. Hugh was reinstated, but before the end
+of the year Felim was released. He now assembled his forces again, and
+attacked Hugh, whom he killed, with several of his relations, and many
+English and Irish chieftains. His next exploit was to demolish the
+castles of Galway; Dunannon, on the river Suck, Roscommon; Hags' Castle,
+on Lough Mask; and Castle Rich, on Lough Corrib; all of which had been
+erected by Roderic's sons and their English allies. But the tide of
+fortune soon turned. The invincible De Burgo entered Connaught once
+more, and plundered without mercy. In a pitched battle the English
+gained the day, principally through the skill of their cavalry[325] and
+the protection of their coats-of-mail.
+
+Felim fled to the north, and sought refuge with O'Donnell of
+Tir-Connell. O'Flaherty, who had always been hostile to Felim, joined
+the English, and, by the help of his boats, they were able to lay waste
+the islands of Clew Bay. Nearly all the inhabitants were killed or
+carried off. The victorious forces now laid siege to a castle[326] on
+the Rock of Lough Key, in Roscommon, which was held for O'Connor by Mac
+Dermod. They succeeded in taking it, but soon lost their possession by
+the quick-witted cleverness of an Irish soldier, who closed the gates on
+them when they set out on a plundering expedition. The fortress was at
+once demolished, that it might not fall into English hands again.
+
+When William Pembroke died, A.D. 1231, he bequeathed his offices and
+large estates in England and Ireland to his brother, Richard, who is
+described by the chroniclers as a model of manly beauty. Henry III.
+prohibited his admission to the inheritance, and charged him with
+treason. The Earl escaped to Ireland, and took possession of the lands
+and castles of the family, waging war upon the King until his rights
+were acknowledged. In 1232 Henry had granted the Justiciary of England
+and of Ireland, with other valuable privileges, to Hubert de Burgo. Earl
+Richard supported him against the adventurers from Poitou and Bretagne,
+on whom the weak King had begun to lavish his favours. The Parliament
+and the barons remonstrated, and threatened to dethrone Henry, if he
+persevered in being governed by foreigners. And well they might; for one
+of these needy men, Pierre de Rivaulx, had obtained a grant for life of
+nearly every office and emolument in Ireland; amongst others, we find
+mention of "the vacant sees, and the Jews in Ireland." Henry did his
+best to get his own views carried out; but Earl Richard leagued with the
+Welsh princes, and expelled the intruders from the towns and castles in
+that part of the country.
+
+The King's foreign advisers determined to destroy their great enemy as
+speedily as possible. Their plain was deeply laid. They despatched
+letters to Ireland, signed by twelve privy counsellors, requiring the
+Viceroy and barons to seize his castles, bribing them with a promise of
+a share in his lands. The wily Anglo-Normans demanded a charter,
+specifying which portion of his property each individual should have.
+They obtained the document, signed with the royal seal, which had been
+purloined for the occasion from the Chancellor. The Anglo-Normans acted
+with detestable dissimulation. Geoffrey de Marisco tried to worm himself
+into the confidence of the man on whose destruction he was bent. On the
+1st of April, 1232, a conference was arranged to take place on the
+Curragh of Kildare. The Viceroy was accompanied by De Lacy, De Burgo,
+and a large number of soldiers and mercenaries. The Earl was attended by
+a few knights and the false De Marisco. He declined to comply with the
+demands of the barons, who refused to restore his castles. The
+treacherous De Marisco withdrew from him at this moment, and he suddenly
+found himself overpowered by numbers. With the thoughtfulness of true
+heroism, he ordered some of his attendants to hasten away with his young
+brother, Walter. Nearly all his retainers had been bribed to forsake him
+in the moment of danger; and now that the few who obeyed his last
+command were gone, he had to contend single-handed with the multitude.
+His personal bravery was not a little feared, and the coward barons, who
+were either afraid or ashamed to attack him individually, urged on their
+soldiers, until he was completely surrounded. The Earl laid prostrate
+six of his foes, clove one knight to the middle, and struck off the
+hands of another, before he was captured. At last the soldiers aimed at
+the feet of his spirited steed, until they were cut off, and by this
+piece of cruelty brought its rider to the ground. A treacherous stab
+from behind, with a long knife, plunged to the haft in his back,
+completed the bloody work.
+
+The Earl was borne off, apparently lifeless, to one of his own castles,
+which had been seized by the Viceroy. It is said that even his surgeon
+was bribed to prevent his recovery. Before submitting his wounds to the
+necessary treatment, he prepared for death, and received the last
+sacraments. He died calmly and immediately, clasping a crucifix, on Palm
+Sunday, the sixteenth day after his treacherous capture. And thus
+expired the "flower of chivalry," and the grandson of Strongbow, the
+very man to whom England owed so much of her Irish possessions.
+
+It could not fail to be remarked by the Irish annalists, that the first
+Anglo-Norman settlers had been singularly unfortunate. They can scarcely
+be blamed for supposing that these misfortunes were a judgment for their
+crimes. Before the middle of this century (the thirteenth) three of the
+most important families had become extinct. De Lacy, Lord of Meath, died
+in 1241, infirm and blind; his property was inherited by his
+grand-daughters, in default of a male heir. Hugh de Lacy died in 1240,
+and left only a daughter. The Earl of Pembroke died from wounds received
+at a tournament. Walter, who succeeded him, also died without issue. The
+property came eventually to Anselm, a younger brother, who also died
+childless; and it was eventually portioned out among the females of the
+family.
+
+It is said Henry III. expressed deep grief when he heard of Earl
+Richard's unfortunate end, and that he endeavoured to have restitution
+made to the family. Geoffrey de Marisco was banished. His son, William,
+conspired against the King, and even employed an assassin to kill him.
+The man would have probably accomplished his purpose, had he not been
+discovered accidentally by one of the Queen's maids, hid under the straw
+of the royal bed. The real traitor was eventually captured, drawn at
+horses' tails to London, and hanged with the usual barbarities.
+
+His miserable father, who had been thrice Viceroy of Ireland, and a peer
+of that country and of England, died in exile, "pitifully, yet
+undeserving of pity, for his own treason against the unfortunate Earl
+Richard, and his son's treason against the King." Such were the men who
+governed Ireland in the thirteenth century.
+
+Treachery seems to have been the recognized plan of capturing an enemy.
+In 1236 this method was attempted by the government in order to get
+Felim O'Connor into their power. He was invited to attend a meeting in
+Athlone, but, fortunately for himself, he discovered the designs of his
+enemies time enough to effect his escape. He was pursued to Sligo. From
+thence he fled to Tir-Connell, which appears to have been the Cave of
+Adullam in that era; though there were so many discontented persons, and
+it was so difficult to know which party any individual would espouse
+continuously, that the Adullamites were tolerably numerous. Turlough's
+son, Brian O'Connor, was now invested with the government of Connaught
+by the English, until some more promising candidate should appear. But
+even their support failed to enable him to keep the field. Felim[327]
+returned the following year, and after defeating the soldiers of the
+Lord Justice, made Brian's people take to flight so effectually, that
+none of Roderic's descendants ever again attempted even to possess their
+ancestral lands.
+
+The Four Masters have the following graphic entry under the year 1236:
+"Heavy rains, harsh weather, and much war prevailed in this year." The
+Annals of Kilronan also give a fearful account of the wars, the weather,
+and the crimes. They mention that Brian's people burned the church of
+Imlagh Brochada over the heads of O'Flynn's people, while it was full of
+women, children, and nuns, and had three priests in it. There were so
+many raids on cows, that the unfortunate animals must have had a
+miserable existence. How a single cow survived the amount of driving
+hither and thither they endured, considering their natural love of ease
+and contemplative habits, is certainly a mystery. In the year 1238, the
+Annals mention that the English erected castles in Connaught,
+principally in the territory from which the O'Flahertys had been
+expelled. This family, however, became very powerful in that part of the
+country in which they now settled.
+
+As Connaught had been fairly depopulated, and its kings and princes
+nearly annihilated, the English turned their attention to Ulster, where
+they wished to play the same game. The Lord Justice and Hugh de Lacy led
+an army thither, and deposed MacLoughlin, giving the government to
+O'Neill's son; but MacLoughlin obtained rule again, after a battle
+fought the following year at Carnteel.
+
+In 1240 the King of Connaught went to England to complain personally of
+De Burgo's oppressions and exactions; but his mission, as might be
+expected, was fruitless, although he was received courteously, and the
+King wrote to the Lord Justice "to pluck out by the root that fruitless
+sycamore, De Burgo, which the Earl of Kent, in the insolence of his
+power, hath planted in these parts." However, we find that Henry was
+thankful to avail himself of the services of the "fruitless sycamore"
+only two years after, in an expedition against the King of France. He
+died on the voyage to Bourdeaux, and was succeeded by his son, Walter.
+In 1241 More O'Donnell, Lord of Tir-Connell, died in Assaroe, in the
+monastic habit. In 1244 Felim O'Connor and some Irish chieftains
+accompanied the then Viceroy, FitzGerald, to Wales, where Henry had
+requested their assistance.
+
+The King was nearly starved out, the Irish reinforcements were long in
+coming over, and the delay was visited on the head of the unfortunate
+Justiciary, who was deprived of his office. John de Marisco was
+appointed in his place.
+
+[Illustration: ATHLONE CASTLE.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[319] _Limerick_.--We give an illustration, at the head of this chapter,
+of King John's Castle, Limerick. Stanihurst says that King John "was so
+pleased with the agreeableness of the city, that he caused a very fine
+castle and bridge to be built there." This castle has endured for more
+than six centuries. Richard I. granted this city a charter to elect a
+Mayor before London had that privilege, and a century before it was
+granted to Dublin. M'Gregor says, in his _History of Limerick_, that the
+trade went down fearfully after the English invasion.--vol. ii. p. 53.
+
+[320] _Address_.--Gilbert's _Viceroys_, p. 82, where the address may be
+seen _in extenso_.
+
+[321] _Year_.--Four Masters, vol. iii. p. 227.
+
+[322] _Carnfree_.--This place has been identified by Dr. O'Donovan. It
+is near the village of Tulsk, co. Roscommon. It was the usual place of
+inauguration for the O'Connors. See _note d_, Annals, vol. iii. p. 221.
+
+[323] _Athlone_.--This was one of the most important of the English
+towns, and ranked next to Dublin at that period. We give an illustration
+of the Castle of Athlone at the beginning of Chapter XX. The building is
+now used for a barrack, which in truth is no great deviation from its
+original purpose. It stands on the direct road from Dublin to Galway,
+and protects the passage of the Shannon. There is a curious
+representation on a monument here of an unfortunate English monk, who
+apostatized and came to Ireland. He was sent to Athlone to superintend
+the erection of the bridge by Sir Henry Sidney; but, according to the
+legend, he was constantly pursued by a demon in the shape of a rat,
+which never left him for a single moment. On one occasion he attempted
+to preach, but the eyes of the animal glared on him with such fury that
+he could not continue. He then took a pistol and attempted to shoot it,
+but in an instant it had sprung on the weapon, giving him, at the same
+time, a bite which caused his death. It is to be presumed that this
+circumstance must have been well known, and generally believed at the
+time, or it would not have been made a subject for the sculptor.
+
+[324] _Woman_.--There are several versions of this story. The Four
+Masters say he was killed "treacherously by the English." The Annals of
+Clonmacnois say that "he came to an atonement with Geoffrey March, and
+was restored to his kingdom," and that he was afterwards treacherously
+killed by an Englishman, "for which cause the Deputy the next day hanged
+the Englishman that killed him, for that foul fact." The cause of the
+Englishman's crime was "meer jealousie," because O'Connor had kissed his
+wife.
+
+[325] _Cavalry_.--Horse soldiery were introduced early into Britain,
+through the Romans, who were famous for their cavalry.
+
+[326] _Castle_.--The Annals of Boyle contain a wonderful account of the
+_pirrels_ or engines constructed by the English for taking this
+fortress.
+
+[327] _Felim_.--The Four Masters say, when writing of the act of
+treachery mentioned above: "They all yearned to act treacherously
+towards Felim, although he was the gossip of the Lord Justice."--Annals,
+vol. iii. p. 285. He was sponsor or godfather to one of his children.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+The Age was not all Evil--Good Men in the World and in the
+Cloister--Religious Houses and their Founders--The Augustinians and
+Cistercians--Franciscans and Dominicans--Their close Friendship--
+Dominican Houses--St. Saviour's, Dublin--The Black Abbey, Kilkenny--
+Franciscan Houses--Youghal--Kilkenny--Multifarnham--Timoleague--
+Donegal--Carmelite Convents and Friars--Rising of the Connaught Men--
+A Plunderer of the English--Battle of Downpatrick--The MacCarthys
+defeat the Geraldines at Kenmare--War between De Burgo and FitzGerald.
+
+[A.D. 1244-1271.]
+
+
+Zeal for founding religious houses was one of the characteristics of the
+age. Even the men who spent their lives in desolating the sanctuaries
+erected by others, and in butchering their fellow-creatures, appear to
+have had some thought of a future retribution--some idea that crime
+demanded atonement--with a lively faith in a future state, where a stern
+account would be demanded. If we contented ourselves with merely
+following the sanguinary careers of kings and chieftains, we should have
+as little idea of the real condition of the country, as we should obtain
+of the present social state of England by an exclusive study of the
+police reports in the _Times_. Perhaps, there was not much more crime
+committed then than now. Certainly there were atonements made for
+offending against God and man, which we do not hear of at the present
+day. Even a cursory glance through the driest annals, will show that it
+was not all evil--that there was something besides crime and misery. On
+almost every page we find some incident which tells us that faith was
+not extinct. In the Annals of the Four Masters, the obituaries of good
+men are invariably placed before the records of the evil deeds of
+warriors or princes. Perhaps writers may have thought that such names
+would be recorded in another Book with a similar precedence. The feats
+of arms, the raids, and destructions occupy the largest space. Such
+deeds come most prominently before the eyes of the world, and therefore
+we are inclined to suppose that they were the most important. But though
+the Annals may devote pages to the exploits of De Lacy or De Burgo, and
+only say of Ainmie O'Coffey, Abbot of the Church of Derry-Columcille,
+that he was "a noble ecclesiastic, distinguished for his piety,
+meekness, charity, wisdom, and every other virtue;" or of MacGilluire,
+Coarb of St. Patrick, and Primate of Ireland, that "he died at Rome,
+after a well-spent life,"[328]--how much is enfolded in the brief
+obituary! How many, of whom men never have heard in this world, were
+influenced, advised, and counselled by the meek and noble ecclesiastic!
+
+The influence of good men is like the circle we make when we cast a
+little stone into a great stream, and which extends wider and wider
+until it reaches the opposite bank. It is a noiseless influence, but not
+the less effective. It is a hidden influence, but not the less
+efficacious. The Coarb of St. Patrick, in his "well-spent life," may
+have influenced for good as many hundreds, as the bad example of some
+profligate adventurer influenced for evil; but we are quite sure to hear
+a great deal about the exploits of the latter, and equally certain that
+the good deeds of the former will not be so carefully chronicled.
+
+Nor should we at all suppose that piety in this age was confined to
+ecclesiastics. The Earls of Pembroke stand conspicuously amongst their
+fellows as men of probity, and were none the less brave because they
+were sincerely religious. At times, even in the midst of the fiercest
+raids, men found time to pray, and to do deeds of mercy. On one Friday,
+in the year of grace 1235, the English knights, in the very midst of
+their success at Umallia, and after fearful devastations commanded "that
+no people shall be slain on that day, in honour of the crucifixion of
+Christ."[329] It is true they "plundered and devastated both by sea and
+land the very next day;" but even one such public act of faith was
+something that we might wish to see in our own times. After the same
+raid, too, we find the "English of Ireland" and the Lord Justice sparing
+and protecting Clarus, the Archdeacon of Elphin, and the Canons of
+Trinity Island, in honour of the Blessed Trinity--another act of faith;
+and the "Lord Justice himself and the chiefs of the English went to see
+that place, and to kneel and pray there." On another occasion the
+"English chiefs were highly disgusted" when their soldiers broke into
+the sacristy of Boyle Abbey, and "took away the chalices, vestments, and
+other valuable things." Their leaders "sent back everything they could
+find, and paid for what they could not find."[330] We must, however,
+acknowledge regretfully that this species of "disgust" and reparation
+were equally rare. To plunder monasteries which they had not erected
+themselves, seems to have been as ordinary an occupation as to found new
+ones with a portion of their unjust spoils.
+
+Although this is not an ecclesiastical history, some brief account of
+the monks, and of the monasteries founded in Ireland about this period,
+will be necessary. The earliest foundations were houses of the
+Cistercian Order and the Augustinians. The Augustinian Order, as its
+name implies, was originally founded by St. Augustine, the great
+Archbishop of Hippo, in Africa. His rule has been adopted and adapted by
+the founders of several congregations of men and women. The great
+Benedictine Order owes its origin to the Patriarch of the West, so
+famous for his rejection of the nobility of earth, that he might attain
+more securely to the ranks of the noble in heaven. This Order was
+introduced into England at an early period. It became still more popular
+and distinguished when St. Bernard preached under the mantle of
+Benedict, and showed how austerity towards himself and tenderness
+towards others could be combined in its highest perfection.
+
+The twin Orders of St. Dominic and St. Francis, founded in the early
+part of the thirteenth century--the one by a Spanish nobleman, the other
+by an Italian merchant--were established in Ireland in the very lifetime
+of their founders. Nothing now remains of the glories of their ancient
+houses, on which the patrons had expended so much wealth, and the artist
+so much skill; but their memory still lives in the hearts of the people,
+and there are few places in the country without traditions which point
+out the spot where a Franciscan was martyred, or a Dominican taken in
+the act of administering to the spiritual necessities of the people.
+
+The Abbey of Mellifont was founded A.D. 1142, for Cistercian monks, by
+Donough O'Carroll, King of Oriel. It was the most ancient monastery of
+the Order in this country, and was supplied with monks by St. Bernard,
+direct from Clairvaux, then in all its first fervour. We have already
+mentioned some of the offerings which were made to this monastery. The
+date of the erection of St. Mary's Abbey in Dublin has not been
+correctly ascertained, but it is quite certain that the Cistercians were
+established here in 1139, although it was probably built originally by
+the Danes. The abbots of this monastery, and of the monastery at
+Mellifont, sat as barons in Parliament. There were also houses at
+Bectiff, county Meath; Baltinglass, county Wicklow; Moray, county
+Limerick; Ordorney, county Kerry (quaintly and suggestively called
+_Kyrie Eleison_), at Newry, Fermoy, Boyle, Monasterevan, Ashro, and
+Jerpoint. The superiors of several of these houses sat in Parliament.
+Their remains attest their beauty and the cultivated tastes of their
+founders. The ruins of the Abbey of Holy Cross, county Tipperary,
+founded in 1182, by Donald O'Brien, are of unusual extent and
+magnificence. But the remains of Dunbrody, in the county of Wexford,
+are, perhaps, the largest and the most picturesque of any in the
+kingdom. It was also richly endowed. It should be remembered that these
+establishments were erected by the founders, not merely as an act of
+piety to God during their lifetime, but with the hope that prayers
+should be offered there for the repose of their souls after death. Those
+who confiscated these houses and lands to secular purposes, have
+therefore committed a double injustice, since they have robbed both God
+and the dead.
+
+A great number of priories were also founded for the Canons Regular of
+St. Augustine. These establishments were of great use in supplying a
+number of zealous and devoted priests, who ministered to the spiritual
+wants of the people in their several districts. Tintern Abbey was
+founded in the year 1200, by the Earl of Pembroke. When in danger at
+sea, he made a vow that he would erect a monastery on whatever place he
+should first arrive in safety. He fulfilled his promise, and brought
+monks from Tintern, in Monmouthshire, who gave their new habitation the
+name of their old home. In 1224 the Cistercians resigned the Monastery
+of St. Saviour, Dublin, which had been erected for them by the same
+Earl, to the Dominicans, on condition that they should offer a lighted
+taper, on the Feast of the Nativity, at the Abbey of St. Mary, as an
+acknowledgment of the grant. The Mayor of Dublin, John Decer (A.D.
+1380), repaired the church, and adorned it with a range of massive
+pillars. The friars of this house were as distinguished for literature
+as the rest of their brethren; and in 1421 they opened a school of
+philosophy and divinity on Usher's Island.[331]
+
+The Dominican Convent of St. Mary Magdalene at Drogheda was founded, in
+1224, by John Netterville, Archbishop of Armagh. Richard II. and Henry
+IV. were great benefactors to this house. Four general chapters were
+also held here. The Black Abbey of Kilkenny was erected by the younger
+William, Earl of Pembroke. Four general chapters were also held here,
+and it was considered one of the first houses of the Order in Ireland.
+We shall give details, at a later period, of the destruction and
+restoration of this and other monasteries. The Dominicans had also
+houses at Waterford, Cork, Mullingar, Athenry, Cashel, Tralee, Sligo,
+Roscommon, and, in fact, in nearly all the principal towns in the
+country.
+
+Nor were their Franciscan brethren less popular. The Order of Friars
+Minor generally found a home near the Friars Preachers; and so close was
+the friendship between them, that it was usual, on the festivals of
+their respective founders, for the Franciscan to preach the panegyric of
+St. Dominic, and the Dominican to preach the panegyric of St. Francis.
+Youghal was the first place where a convent of this Order was erected.
+The founder, Maurice FitzGerald, was Lord Justice in the year 1229, and
+again in 1232. He was a patron of both Orders, and died in the
+Franciscan habit, on the 20th May, 1257. Indeed, some of the English and
+Irish chieftains were so devout to the two saints, that they appear to
+have had some difficulty in choosing which they would have for their
+special patron. In 1649 the famous Owen O'Neill was buried in a convent
+of the Order at Cavan. When dying he desired that he should be clothed
+in the Dominican habit, and buried in the Franciscan monastery.
+
+Some curious particulars are related of the foundation at Youghal. The
+Earl was building a mansion for his family in the town, about the year
+1231. While the workmen were engaged in laying the foundation, they
+begged some money, on the eve of a great feast, that they might drink to
+the health of their noble employer. FitzGerald willingly complied with
+their request, and desired his eldest son to be the bearer of his
+bounty. The young nobleman, however, less generous than his father, not
+only refused to give them the money, but had angry words with the
+workmen. It is not mentioned whether the affair came to a more serious
+collision; but the Earl, highly incensed with the conduct of his son,
+ordered the workmen to erect a monastery instead of a castle, and
+bestowed the house upon the Franciscan fathers. The following year he
+took their habit, and lived in the convent until his death. This house
+was completely destroyed during the persecutions in the reign of
+Elizabeth.
+
+The Convent of Kilkenny was founded immediately after. Its benefactor
+was the Earl of Pembroke, who was buried in the church. Here was a
+remarkable spring, dedicated to St. Francis, at which many miraculous
+cures are said to have been wrought. The site occupied by this building
+was very extensive; its ruins only remain to tell how spacious and
+beautiful its abbey and church must have been. It was also remarkable
+for the learned men who there pursued their literary toil, among whom we
+may mention the celebrated annalist, Clynn. He was at first Guardian of
+the Convent of Carrick-on-Suir; but, about 1338, he retired to Kilkenny,
+where he compiled the greater part of his Annals. It is probable that he
+died about 1350. His history commences with the Christian era, and is
+carried down to the year 1349. At this time the country was all but
+depopulated by a fearful pestilence. The good and learned brother seems
+to have had some forebodings of his impending fate, for his last written
+words run thus:--"And, lest the writing should perish with the writer,
+and the work should fail with the workman, I leave behind me parchment
+for continuing it; if any man should have the good fortune to survive
+this calamity, or any one of the race of Adam should escape this
+pestilence, and live to continue what I have begun." This abbey was also
+one of the great literary schools of Ireland, and had its halls of
+philosophy and divinity, which, were well attended for many years.
+
+In Dublin the Franciscans were established by the munificence of their
+great patron, Henry III. Ralph le Porter granted a site of land in that
+part of the city where the street still retains the name of the founder
+of the Seraphic Order. In 1308 John le Decer proved a great benefactor
+to the friars, and erected a very beautiful chapel, dedicated to the
+Blessed Virgin, in which he was interred.
+
+But the Convent of Multifarnham was the great glory of this century. It
+was erected, in 1236, by Lord Delemere; and from its retired situation,
+and the powerful protection of its noble patrons, escaped many of the
+calamities which befell other houses of the Order. The church and
+convent were built "in honour of God and St. Francis." The monastery
+itself was of unusual size, and had ample accommodation for a number of
+friars. Hence, in times of persecution, it was the usual refuge of the
+sick and infirm, who were driven from their less favoured homes. The
+church was remarkable for its beauty and the richness of its ornaments.
+Here were the tombs of its noble founders and patrons; and the
+south-eastern window was gorgeous with their heraldic devices. The
+convent was situated on Lake Derravaragh, and was endowed with many
+acres of rich land, through which flow the Inny and the Gaine. Such a
+position afforded opportunity for mills and agricultural labours, of
+which the friars were not slow to avail themselves.
+
+The site, as we have remarked, was secluded, at some distance even from
+any village, and far from the more frequented roads. In process of time
+the family of the Nugents became lords of the manor, but they were not
+less friendly to the religious than the former proprietors. Indeed, so
+devoted were they to the Order, that, at the time of the dissolution of
+the monasteries, Multifarnham would have shared the common fate, had
+they not again and again repurchased it from those to whom it had been
+sold by Henry. Even during the reign of Elizabeth it was protected by
+the same family. But the day of suffering was even then approaching. In
+the October of the year 1601, a detachment of English soldiers was sent
+from Dublin by Lord Mountjoy, to destroy the convent which had been so
+long spared. The friars were seized and imprisoned, the monastery
+pillaged; and the soldiers, disappointed in their hope of a rich booty,
+wreaked their vengeance by setting fire to the sacred pile.
+
+The Convent of Kilcrea was another sequestered spot. It was founded in
+the fifteenth century, by the MacCarthys, under the invocation of St.
+Brigid. The richness and magnificence of the church, its graceful
+bell-tower, carved windows, and marble ornaments, showed both the
+generosity and the taste of the Lord Muskerry. Cormac was interred here
+in 1495; and many noble families, having made it their place of
+sepulture, protected the church for the sake of their ancestral tombs.
+
+Nor was the Monastery of Timoleague less celebrated. The honour of its
+foundation is disputed, as well as the exact date; but as the tombs of
+the MacCarthys, the O'Donovans, O'Heas, and De Courcys, are in its
+choir, we may suppose that all had a share in the erection or adornment
+of this stately church. One of the De Courcy family, Edmund, Bishop of
+Ross, himself a Franciscan friar, rebuilt the bell-tower, which rises to
+a height of seventy feet, as well as the dormitory, infirmary, and
+library. At his death, in 1548, he bequeathed many valuable books,
+altar-plate, &c., to his brethren.
+
+The history of the establishment of the Order at Donegal is amusing
+enough, and very characteristic of the customs of the age. In the year
+1474 the Franciscans were holding a general chapter in their convent
+near Tuam. In the midst of their deliberations, however, they were
+unexpectedly interrupted by the arrival of the Lady Nuala O'Connor,
+daughter of the noble O'Connor Faly, and wife of the powerful chieftain,
+Hugh O'Donnell. She was attended by a brilliant escort, and came for no
+other purpose than to present her humble petition to the assembled
+fathers, for the establishment of their Order in the principality of
+Tir-Connell. After some deliberation, the Provincial informed her that
+her request could not be complied with at present, but that at a future
+period the friars would most willingly second her pious design. The Lady
+Nuala, however, had a woman's will, and a spirit of religious fervour to
+animate it. "What!" she exclaimed, "have I made this long and painful
+journey only to meet with a refusal? Beware of God's wrath! for to Him I
+will appeal, that He may charge you with all the souls whom your delay
+may cause to perish." This was unanswerable. The Lady Nuala journeyed
+home with a goodly band of Franciscans in her train; and soon the
+establishment of the Monastery of Donegal, situated at the head of the
+bay, showed that the piety of the lady was generously seconded by her
+noble husband. Lady Nuala did not live to see the completion of her
+cherished design. Her mortal remains were interred under the high altar,
+and many and fervent were the prayers of the holy friars for the eternal
+repose of their benefactress.
+
+The second wife of O'Donnell was not less devoted to the Order. This
+lady was a daughter of Connor O'Brien, King of Thomond. Her zeal in the
+good work was so great, that the monastery was soon completed, and the
+church dedicated in 1474. The ceremony was carried out with the utmost
+magnificence, and large benefactions bestowed on the religious. After
+the death of her husband, who had built a castle close to the monastery,
+and was buried within the sacred walls, the widowed princess retired to
+a small dwelling near the church, where she passed the remainder of her
+days in prayer and penance. Her son, Hugh Oge, followed the steps of his
+good father. So judicious and upright was his rule, that it was said, in
+his days, the people of Tir-Connell never closed their doors except to
+keep out the wind. In 1510 he set out on a pilgrimage to Rome. Here he
+spent two years, and was received everywhere as an independent prince,
+and treated with the greatest distinction. But neither the honours
+conferred on him, nor his knightly fame (for it is said he was never
+vanquished in the field or the lists), could satisfy the desires of his
+heart. After a brief enjoyment of his ancestral honours, he retired to
+the monastery which his father had erected, and found, with the poor
+children of St. Francis, that peace and contentment which the world
+cannot give.
+
+In the county Kerry there were at least two convents of the Order--one
+at Ardfert, founded, probably, in the year 1389; the other, famous for
+the beauty of its ruins, and proximity to the far-famed Lakes of
+Killarney, demands a longer notice.
+
+The Convent of Irrelagh, or, as it is now called, Muckross, was founded
+early in the fifteenth century, by a prince of the famous family of
+MacCarthy More, known afterwards as _Tadeige Manistireach_, or Teigue of
+the Monastery.
+
+According to the tradition of the county, and a MS. description of
+Kerry, written about the year 1750, and now preserved in the Library of
+the Royal Irish Academy, the site on which the monastery was to be built
+was pointed out to MacCarthy More in a vision, which warned him not to
+erect his monastery in any situation except at a place called
+Carrig-an-Ceoil, i.e., the rock of the music. As no such place was known
+to him, he despatched some of his faithful followers to ascertain in
+what part of his principality it was situated. For some time they
+inquired in vain; but as they returned home in despair, the most
+exquisite music was heard to issue from a rock at Irrelagh. When the
+chief was made aware of this, he at once concluded it was the spot
+destined by Providence for his pious undertaking, which he immediately
+commenced.
+
+It was finished by his son, Donnell (1440). The convent was dedicated to
+the Blessed Trinity. It is said there was a miraculous image of the
+Blessed Virgin here, which brought great crowds of pilgrims. The feast
+of the Porziuncula was kept here long after the abbey had fallen to
+ruins, and the friars dispersed, and was known as the Abbey Day. Until
+the last few years stations were held there regularly, on the 2nd of
+October.
+
+Clonmel Monastery was founded, about 1269, by the Desmonds; Drogheda, in
+1240, by the Plunkets.
+
+Some convents of Carmelite friars were also founded in the thirteenth
+century, but as yet they have not been fortunate enough to obtain the
+services of a historian, so that we can only briefly indicate the sites.
+The Convent of Dublin, for White Friars, was founded by Sir Robert
+Bagot, in 1274. The date of the establishment of the house at
+Leighlin-bridge has not been ascertained; but it was probably erected by
+the Carews, at the end of the reign of Henry III. There were also
+convents at Ardee, Drogheda, Galway, Kildare, and Thurles. The Convent
+of Kildare was the general seminary for the Order in Ireland; and one of
+its friars, David O'Brege, is styled "the burning light, the mirror and
+ornament of his country."
+
+In 1248 the young men of Connaught inaugurated the periodical
+rebellions, which a statesman of modern times has compared to the
+dancing manias of the middle ages. Unfortunately for his comparison,
+there was a cause for the one, and there was no cause for the other.
+They acted unwisely, because there was not the remotest possibility of
+success; and to rebel against an oppression which cannot be remedied,
+only forges closer chains for the oppressed. But it can scarcely be
+denied that their motive was a patriotic one. Felim's son, Hugh, was the
+leader of the youthful band. In 1249 Maurice FitzGerald arrived to crush
+the movement, or, in modern parlance, "to stamp it out"--not always a
+successful process; for sparks are generally left after the most careful
+stamping, which another method might effectually have quenched. Felim at
+once fled the country. The English made his nephew, Turlough, ruler in
+his place; but the following year Felim made a bold swoop down from the
+Curlieus, expelled the intruder, and drove off a cattle prey. After this
+proof of his determination and valour, the English made peace with him,
+and permitted him to retain his own dominions without further
+molestation. Florence MacCarthy was killed this year, and Brian O'Neill,
+Lord of Tyrone, submitted to the Lord Justice--thereby freeing the
+invaders from two troublesome combatants. The next year, however, the
+English, who were not particular about treaties, invaded the north, and
+were repulsed with such loss as to induce them to treat the enemy with
+more respect for the time.
+
+Under the year 1249 the Annals mention a defeat which the Irish suffered
+at Athenry, which they attribute to their refusal to desist from warfare
+on Lady Day, the English having asked a truce in honour of the Blessed
+Virgin. They also record the death of Donough O'Gillapatrick, and say
+that this was a retaliation due to the English; for he had killed,
+burned, and destroyed many of them. He is characterized, evidently with
+a little honest pride, as the third greatest plunderer of the English.
+The names of the other two plunderers are also carefully chronicled;
+they were Connor O'Melaghlin and Connor MacCoghlan. The "greatest
+plunderer" was in the habit of going about to reconnoitre the English
+towns in the disguise of pauper or poet, as best suited him for the
+time; and he had a quatrain commemorating his exploits:--
+
+    "He is a carpenter, he is a turner,
+     My nursling is a bookman;
+     He is selling wine and hides,
+     Where he sees a gathering."
+
+The quatrain, if of no other value, gives us an idea of the commodities
+bartered, and the tradesmen who offered their goods at Irish fairs in
+English towns during the thirteenth century.
+
+In 1257 there was a fierce conflict between the Irish, under Godfrey
+O'Donnell, and the English, commanded by Maurice FitzGerald. The
+conflict took place at Creadrankille, near Sligo. The leaders engaged in
+single combat, and were both severely wounded: eventually the invaders
+were defeated and expelled from Lower Connaught. Godfrey's wound
+prevented him from following up his success, and soon after the two
+chieftains died. The circumstances of Maurice's death have been already
+recorded. The death of O'Donnell is a curious illustration of the
+feeling of the times. During his illness, Brian O'Neill sent to demand
+hostages from the Cinel-Connaill. The messengers fled the moment they
+had fulfilled their commission. For all reply, O'Donnell commanded his
+people to assemble, to place him on his bier, and to bear him forth at
+their head. And thus they met the enemy. The battle took place on the
+banks of the river Swilly, in Donegal. O'Donnell's army conquered. The
+hero's bier was laid down in the street of a little village at Connal,
+near Letterkenny, and there he died.
+
+O'Neill again demanded hostages; but while the men deliberated what
+answer they should give, Donnell Oge returned from Scotland, and though
+he was but a youth of eighteen, he was elected chieftain. The same year
+the long-disused title of Monarch of Ireland was conferred on O'Neill by
+some of the Irish kings. After a conference at Caol Uisge, O'Neill and
+O'Connor turned their forces against the English, and a battle was
+fought near Downpatrick, where the Irish were defeated.[332] O'Neill was
+killed, with fifteen of the O'Kanes and many other chieftains, A.D.
+1260. The English were commanded by the then Viceroy, Stephen Longespé,
+who was murdered soon after by his own people.
+
+In the south the English suffered a severe reverse. The Geraldines were
+defeated by Connor O'Brien in Thomond, and again at Kilgarvan, near
+Kenmare, by Fineen MacCarthy. The Annals of Innisfallen give long
+details of this engagement, the sight of which is still pointed out by
+the country people. John FitzThomas, the founder of the Dominican
+Monastery at Tralee, was killed. The MacCarthys immediately proceeded to
+level all the castles which had been erected by the English; they were
+very numerous in that district. Soon after the hero of the fight was
+killed himself by the De Courcys.
+
+The Annals mention an instance of a man who had taken a bell from the
+Church of Ballysadare, and put it on his head when attacked by the
+enemy, hoping that he might escape with his prize and his life, from the
+respect always shown to everything consecrated to God's service; but he
+was killed notwithstanding. This incident is mentioned as characteristic
+of the age. After the defeat narrated above, Hanmer says, "the
+Geraldines dared not put a plough into the ground in Desmond." The next
+year, 1262, Mac William Burke marched with a great army as far as
+Elphin. He was joined by the Lord Justice and John de Verdun. They
+marked out a place for a castle at Roscommon, and plundered all that
+remained after Hugh O'Connor in Connaught. He, in his turn,
+counterburned and plundered so successfully, that the English were glad
+to ask for peace. The result was a conference at the ford of
+Doire-Chuire. A peace was concluded, after which "Hugh O'Connor and Mac
+William Burke slept together in the one bed, cheerfully and happily; and
+the English left the country on the next day, after bidding farewell to
+O'Connor."
+
+After this fraternal demonstration, Burke led an army into Desmond, and
+an engagement took place with MacCarthy on the side of Mangerton
+Mountain, where both English and Irish suffered great losses. Gerald
+Roche, who is said to be the third best knight of his time in Ireland,
+was slain by MacCarthy.[333] Burke was soon after created Earl of
+Ulster.[334] He and FitzGerald waged war against each other in 1264, and
+desolated the country with their raids. The Lord Justice sided with
+FitzGerald, who succeeded in taking all Burke's castles in Connaught.
+
+The quarrels of the invaders now became so general, that even the Lord
+Justice was seized at a conference by FitzMaurice FitzGerald, and was
+detained prisoner, with several other nobles, for some time. During the
+wars between De Burgo (or Burke) and FitzGerald, the good people of Ross
+threatened to defend their town from all invaders; and to effect this
+purpose the council commanded all the citizens to assist in erecting the
+necessary fortifications. Even the ladies[335] and clergy[336] took part
+in the works, which were soon and successfully completed.
+
+An Anglo-Norman poet commemorated this event in verse, and celebrates
+the fame of Rose, a lady who contributed largely to the undertaking,
+both by her presence and her liberal donations. He informs us first of
+the reason for this undertaking. It was those two troublesome knights,
+"sire Morice e sire Wauter," who would not permit the world to be at
+peace. He assures us that the citizens of New Ross were most anxious for
+peace, because they were merchants, and had an extensive trade, which
+was quite true; but he adds that they were determined to defend their
+rights if attacked, which was also true.
+
+The poet also compliments the ladies, and thinks that the man would be
+happy who could have his choice of them. He also informs us they were to
+build a "Ladies' Gate," where there should be a prison in which all who
+gave offence to the fair sex should be confined at their pleasure. Of a
+surety, New Ross must have been the paradise of ladies in those days. We
+have not ascertained whether its fair citizens retain the same potent
+sway in the present century.
+
+Felim O'Connor died in 1265. The Four Masters give his obituary thus:
+"Felim, son of Cathal Crovderg O'Connor, the defender and supporter of
+his own province, and of his friends on every side, the expeller and
+plunderer of his foes; a man full of hospitality, prowess, and renown;
+the exalter of the clerical orders and men of science; a worthy materies
+[_sic_] of a King of Ireland for his nobility, personal shape, heroism,
+wisdom, clemency, and truth; died, after the victory of unction and
+penance, in the monastery of the Dominican friars at Roscommon, which he
+had himself granted to God and that Order."
+
+He was succeeded by his son, Hugh, "who committed his regal depredation
+in Offaly." It appears to have been considered a customary thing for a
+new sovereign to signalize himself, as soon as possible, by some display
+of this description. He succeeded so well in this same depredation, that
+the Lord Justice was alarmed, and came to assist De Burgo. The latter
+proposed a conference at Carrick-on-Shannon; but Hugh O'Connor suspected
+treachery, and contrived to get the Earl's brother, William Oge, into
+his hands before the conference commenced. The Earl "passed the night in
+sadness and sorrow." At daybreak a fierce conflict ensued. Turlough
+O'Brien, who was coming to assist the Connacians, was met on his way,
+and slain in single combat by De Burgo. But his death was fearfully
+avenged; great numbers of the English were slain, and immense spoils
+were taken from them. De Burgo died the following year, in Galway
+Castle, after a short illness, A.D. 1271.
+
+[Illustration: CURTAIN CAVE, TIPPERARY.]
+
+[Illustration: BERMINGHAM TOWER, DUBLIN CASTLE]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[328] _Life_.--Annals, vol. iii. p. 189.
+
+[329] _Christ_.--Annals, vol. iii. p. 281.
+
+[330] _Find_.--_Ib._ vol. iii. p. 275.
+
+[331] _Usher's Island_.--This was once a fashionable resort. Moira House
+stood here. It was ornamented so beautifully, that John Wesley observed,
+when visiting Lady Moira, that one of the rooms was more elegant than
+any he had seen in England. Here, in 1777, Charles Fox was introduced to
+Grattan. Poor Pamela (Lady Edward FitzGerald) was at Moira House on the
+evening of her husband's arrest; and here she heard the fatal news on
+the following morning, her friends having concealed it from her until
+then. In 1826 it was converted into a mendicity institution, and all its
+ornamental portions removed.
+
+[332] _Defeated_.--O'Neill's bard, MacNamee, wrote a lament for the
+chieftains who fell in this engagement. He states that the head of
+"O'Neill, King of Tara, was sent to London;" and attributes the defeat
+of the Irish to the circumstance of their adversaries having fought in
+coats-of-mail, while they had only satin shirts:--
+
+"Unequal they entered the battle, The Galls and the Irish of Tara; Fair
+satin shirts on the race of Conn, The Galls in one mass of iron."
+
+He further deplores the removal of the chief's noble face from Down,
+lamenting that his resurrection should not be from amongst the
+limestone-covered graves of the fathers of his clan at Armagh.
+
+[333] _MacCarthy_.--Four Masters, vol. iii. p. 389.
+
+[334] _Ulster_.--The Annals of Innisfallen say he obtained this title in
+1264, after his marriage with Maud, daughter of Hugh de Lacy the
+younger.
+
+[335]
+
+_Ladies_.--"Tantz bele dames ne vi en fossée, Mult fu cil en bon sire
+née, Re purreit choisir à sa volonté."
+
+
+
+[336]
+
+_Clergy_.--"E les prestres, quant on chanté, Si vont ovrir au fossé, E
+travellent mut durement, Plus qe ne funt autre gent."
+
+This ballad has been published, with a translation by W. Crofton Croker.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+Reign of Edward I.--Social State of Ireland--English Treachery--Irish
+Chieftains set at Variance--The Irish are refused the Benefit of English
+Law--Feuds between the Cusacks and the Barretts--Death of Boy
+O'Neill--The Burkes and the Geraldines--Quarrel between FitzGerald and
+De Vesci--Possessions obtained by Force or Fraud--Why the Celt was not
+Loyal--The Governors and the Governed--Royal Cities and their
+Charters--Dublin Castle, its Officers, Law Courts--A Law Court in the
+Fourteenth Century--Irish Soldiers help the English King--A Murder for
+which Justice is refused--Exactions of the Nobles--Invasion of
+Bruce--Remonstrance to the Pope--The Scotch Armies withdrawn from
+Ireland.
+
+[A.D. 1271--1326.]
+
+
+It was now nearly a century since the Anglo-Normans invaded Ireland.
+Henry III. died in 1272, after a reign of fifty-six years. He was
+succeeded by his son, Edward I., who was in the Holy Land at the time of
+his father's death. In 1257 his father had made him a grant of Ireland,
+with the express condition that it should not be separated from England.
+It would appear as if there had been some apprehensions of such an event
+since the time of Prince John. The English monarchs apparently wished
+the benefit of English laws to be extended to the native population, but
+their desire was invariably frustrated by such of their nobles as had
+obtained grants of land in Ireland, and whose object appears to have
+been the extermination and, if this were not possible, the depression of
+the Irish race.
+
+Ireland was at this time convulsed by domestic dissensions. Sir Robert
+D'Ufford, the Justiciary, was accused of fomenting the discord; but he
+appears to have considered that he only did his duty to his royal
+master. When sent for into England, to account for his conduct, he
+"satisfied the King that all was not true that he was charged withal;
+and for further contentment yielded this reason, that in policy he
+thought it expedient to wink at one knave cutting off another, and that
+would save the King's coffers, and purchase peace to the land. Whereat
+the King smiled, and bid him return to Ireland." The saving was
+questionable; for to prevent an insurrection by timely concessions, is
+incomparably less expensive than to suppress it when it has arisen. The
+"purchase of peace" was equally visionary; for the Irish never appear to
+have been able to sit down quietly under unjust oppression, however
+hopeless resistance might be.
+
+The Viceroys were allowed a handsome income; therefore they were
+naturally anxious to keep their post. The first mention of salary is
+that granted to Geoffrey de Marisco. By letters-patent, dated at
+Westminster, July 4th, 1226, he was allowed an annual stipend of £580.
+This was a considerable sum for times when wheat was only 2s. a quarter,
+fat hogs 2s. each, and French wine 2s. a gallon.
+
+Hugh O'Connor renewed hostilities in 1272, by destroying the English
+Castle of Roscommon. He died soon after, and his successor had but brief
+enjoyment of his dignity. In 1277 a horrible act of treachery took
+place, which the unfortunate Irish specially mention in their
+remonstrance to Pope John XXII., as a striking instance of the
+double-dealing of the English and the descendants of the Anglo-Normans
+then in Ireland, Thomas de Clare obtained a grant of Thomond from Edward
+I. It had already been secured to its rightful owners, the O'Briens, who
+probably paid, as was usual, an immense fine for liberty to keep their
+own property. The English Earl knew he could only obtain possession by
+treachery; he therefore leagued with Roe O'Brien, "so that they entered
+into gossipred with each other, and took vows by bells and relics to
+retain mutual friendship;" or, as the Annals of Clonmacnois have it,
+"they swore to each other all the oaths in Munster, as bells, relics of
+saints, and bachalls, to be true to each other for ever."
+
+The unfortunate Irish prince little suspected all the false oaths his
+friend had taken, or all the villany he premeditated. There was another
+claimant for the crown as usual, Turlough O'Brien. He was defeated, but
+nevertheless the Earl turned to his side, got Brian Roe into his hands,
+and had him dragged to death between horses. The wretched perpetrator of
+this diabolical deed gained little by his crime,[337] for O'Brien's sons
+obtained a victory over him the following year. At one time he was so
+hard pressed as to be obliged to surrender at discretion, after living
+on horse-flesh for several days. In 1281 the unprincipled Earl tried the
+game of dissension, and set up Donough, the son of the man he had
+murdered, against Turlough, whom he had supported just before. But
+Donough was slain two years after, and Turlough continued master of
+Thomond until his death, in 1306. De Clare was slain by the O'Briens, in
+1286.
+
+In 1280 the Irish who lived near the Anglo-Norman settlers presented a
+petition to the English King, praying that they might be admitted to the
+privileges of the English law. Edward issued a writ to the then Lord
+Justice, D'Ufford, desiring him to assemble the lords spiritual and
+temporal of the "land of Ireland," to deliberate on the subject. But the
+writ was not attended to; and even if it had been, the lords "spiritual
+and temporal" appear to have decided long before that the Irish should
+not participate in the benefit of English laws, however much they might
+suffer from English oppression. A pagan nation pursued a more liberal
+policy, and found it eminently successful. The Roman Empire was held
+together for many centuries, quite as much by the fact of her having
+made all her dependencies to share in the benefits of her laws, as by
+the strong hand of her cohorts. She used her arms to conquer, and her
+laws to retain her conquests.
+
+In 1281 a sanguinary engagement took place at Moyne, in the county Mayo,
+between the Cusacks and the Barretts. The latter were driven off the
+field. The Annals say: "There were assisting the Cusacks in this battle
+two of the Irish, namely, Taichleach O'Boyle and Taichleach O'Dowda, who
+surpassed all that were there in bravery and valour, and in agility and
+dexterity in shooting."[338] There was a battle this year also between
+the Cinel-Connaill and the Cinel-Owen, in which the former were
+defeated, and their chieftain, Oge O'Donnell, was slain. This encounter
+took place at Desertcreaght, in Tyrone.
+
+Hugh Boy O'Neill was slain in 1283. He is styled "the head of the
+liberality and valour of the Irish; the most distinguished in the north
+for bestowing jewels and riches; the most formidable and victorious of
+his tribe; and the worthy heir to the throne of Ireland." The last
+sentence is observable, as it shows that the English monarch was not
+then considered King of Ireland. In 1285 Theobald Butler died at
+Berehaven. After his death a large army was collected by Lord Geoffrey
+Geneville, and some other English nobles. They marched into Offaly,
+where the Irish had just seized the Castle of Leix. Here they had a
+brief triumph, and seized upon a great prey of cows; but the native
+forces rallied immediately, and, with the aid of Carbry O'Melaghlin,
+routed the enemy completely. Theobald de Verdun lost both his men and
+his horses, and Gerald FitzMaurice was taken prisoner the day after the
+battle, it is said through the treachery of his own followers. The Four
+Masters do not mention this event, but it is recorded at length in the
+Annals of Clonmacnois. They add: "There was a great snow this year,
+which from Christmas to St. Brigid's day continued."
+
+The two great families of De Burgo and Geraldine demand a special
+mention. The former, who were now represented by Richard de Burgo (the
+Red Earl), had become so powerful, that they took precedence even of the
+Lord Justice in official documents. In 1286 the Earl led a great army
+into Connaught, destroying the monasteries and churches, and "obtaining
+sway in everyplace through which he passed." This nobleman was the
+direct descendant of FitzAldelm de Burgo, who had married Isabella, a
+natural daughter of Richard Coeur de Lion, and widow of Llewellyn,
+Prince of Wales. Walter de Burgo became Earl of Ulster in right of his
+wife, Maud, daughter of the younger Hugh de Lacy. The Red Earl's
+grandson, William, who was murdered, in 1333, by the English of Ulster,
+and whose death was most cruelly revenged, was the third and last of the
+De Burgo Earls of Ulster. The Burkes of Connaught are descended from
+William, the younger brother of Walter, the first Earl.
+
+John FitzThomas FitzGerald, Baron of Offaly, was the common ancestor of
+the two great branches of the Geraldines, whose history is an object of
+such peculiar interest to the Irish historian. One of his sons, John,
+was created Earl of Kildare; the other, Maurice, Earl of Desmond.
+
+In 1286 De Burgo laid claim to that portion of Meath which Theobald de
+Verdun held in right of his mother, the daughter of Walter de Lacy. He
+besieged De Verdun in his Castle of Athlone, A.D. 1288, but the result
+has not been recorded. De Toleburne, Justiciary of Ireland, died this
+year; the King seized on all his property, to pay debts which he owed to
+the crown. It appears he was possessed of a considerable number of
+horses.[339]
+
+Jean de Samford, Archbishop of Dublin, administered the affairs of the
+colony until 1290, when he was succeeded by Sir William de Vesci, a
+Yorkshire man, and a royal favourite.
+
+In 1289 Carbry O'Melaghlin possessed a considerable amount of power in
+Meath, and was therefore extremely obnoxious to the English settlers. An
+army was collected to overthrow his government, headed by Richard Tuite
+(the Great Baron), and assisted by O'Connor, King of Connaught. They
+were defeated, and "Tuite, with his kinsmen, and Siccus O'Kelly, were
+slain."
+
+Immediately after the arrival of the new Lord Justice, a quarrel sprung
+up between him and FitzGerald, Baron of Offaly. They both appeared
+before the Council; and if Hollinshed's account may be credited, they
+used language which would scarcely be tolerated in Billingsgate.
+FitzGerald proposed an appeal to arms, which was accepted by his
+adversary. Edward summoned both parties to Westminster. FitzGerald came
+duly equipped for the encounter, but De Vesci had fled the country. He
+was, however, acquitted by Parliament, on the ground of informality, and
+the affair was referred to the royal decision. According to Hollinshed's
+account, the King observed, that "although de Vesci had conveyed his
+person to France, he had left his land behind him in Ireland;" and
+bestowed the lordships of Kildare and Rathangan on his adversary.
+
+Wogan was Viceroy during the close of this century, and had ample
+occupation pacifying the Geraldines and Burkes--an occupation in which
+he was not always successful. Thomas FitzMaurice, "of the ape," father
+of the first Earl of Desmond, had preceded him in the office of
+Justiciary. This nobleman obtained his cognomen from the circumstances
+of having been carried, when a child, by a tame ape round the walls of a
+castle, and then restored to his cradle without the slightest injury.
+
+The English possessions in Ireland at the close of this century
+consisted of the "Liberties" and ten counties--Dublin, Louth, Kildare,
+Waterford, Tipperary, Cork, Limerick, Kerry, Roscommon, and part of
+Connaught. The "Liberties" were those of Connaught and Ulster, under De
+Burgo; Meath, divided between De Mortimer and De Verdun; Wexford,
+Carlow, and Kilkenny, under the jurisdiction of the respective
+representatives of the Marshal heiresses; Thomond, claimed by De Clare;
+and Desmond, partly controlled by the FitzGeralds. Sir William Davies
+says: "These absolute palatines made barons and knights; did exercise
+high justice in all points within their territories; erected courts for
+criminal and civil cases, and for their own revenues, in the same forms
+as the King's courts were established at Dublin; made their own judges,
+sheriffs, coroners, and escheators, so as the King's writ did not run in
+these counties (which took up more than two parts of the English
+colonies), but only in the church-lands lying within the same, which
+were called the 'Cross,' wherein the King made a sheriff; and so in each
+of these counties-palatine there were two sheriffs, one of the Liberty,
+and another of the Cross. These undertakers were not tied to any form of
+plantation, but all was left to their discretion and pleasure; and
+although they builded castles and made freeholds, yet there were no
+tenures or services reserved to the crown, but the lords drew all the
+respect and dependency of the common people unto themselves." Hence the
+strong objection which the said lords had to the introduction of English
+law; for had this been accomplished, it would have proved a serious
+check to their own advancement for the present time, though, had they
+wisdom to have seen it, in the end it would have proved their best
+safeguard and consolidated their power. The fact was, these settlers
+aimed at living like the native princes, oblivious or ignorant of the
+circumstance, that these princes were as much amenable to law as the
+lowest of their subjects, and that they governed by a prescriptive right
+of centuries. If they made war, it was for the benefit of the tribe, not
+for their individual aggrandizement; if they condemned to death, the
+sentence should be in accordance with the Brehon law, which the people
+knew and revered. The settlers owned no law but their own will; and the
+unhappy people whom they governed could not fail to see that their sole
+object was their own benefit, and to obtain an increase of territorial
+possessions at any cost.
+
+On the lands thus plundered many native septs existed, whom neither war
+nor famine could quite exterminate. Their feelings towards the new lord
+of the soil can easily be understood; it was a feeling of open
+hostility, of which they made no secret. They considered the usurper's
+claim unjust; and to deprive him of the possessions which he had
+obtained by force or fraud, was the dearest wish of their hearts.
+
+This subject should be very carefully considered and thoroughly
+understood, for much, if not all, of the miseries which Ireland has
+endured, have arisen from the fatal policy pursued at this period. How
+could the Celt be loyal to the Anglo-Norman, who lived only to oppress
+him, to drive him from his ancestral home, and then to brand him with
+the foul name of rebel, if he dared resist? Had he not resisted, he
+would have been branded with a worse name--a coward.
+
+Such portions of the country as lay outside the land of which the
+Anglo-Normans had possessed themselves, were called "marches." These
+were occupied by troops of natives, who continually resisted the
+aggressions of the invader, always anxious to add to his territory.
+These troops constantly made good reprisals for what had been taken, by
+successful raids on the castle or the garrison. Fleet-footed, and well
+aware of every spot which would afford concealment, these hardy Celts
+generally escaped scot-free. Thus occupied for several centuries, they
+acquired a taste for this roving life; and they can scarcely be
+reproached for not having advanced in civilization with the age, by
+those who placed such invincible obstacles to their progress.[340]
+
+The most important royal castles, after Dublin, were those of Athlone,
+Roscommon, and Randown. They were governed by a constable, and supplied
+by a garrison paid out of the revenues of the colony. The object of
+these establishments was to keep down the natives, who were accordingly
+taxed to keep the garrisons. The people quite understood this, and it
+was not an additional motive for loyalty. The battlements of the castle
+were generally adorned with a grim array of ghastly skulls, the heads of
+those who had been slain in the warfare so constantly going on. But the
+attempt to strike terror into the Irish utterly failed, and new
+candidates passed into the ranks. How, indeed, could they die more
+gloriously than in the service of their country?
+
+The royal cities held charters direct from the crown of England. These
+cities were Dublin, Waterford, Limerick, and Cork. Some idea has
+already been given of the streets and the size of Dublin. The Castle
+was the most important building, at least to the civil portion of
+the community. It contained within its walls a chapel, a jail, and a
+mill--characteristic of the age. The mill was styled the "King's Mill."
+The chaplains had each an annual salary of fifty shillings--not an
+insufficient provision, if we calculate that the penny then was nearly
+the same value as the shilling now; moreover, they had two shillings
+each for wax, and probably fees besides. The chapel was under the
+patronage of St. Thomas of Canterbury, who, when he had been martyred,
+sent to heaven, and could give no more inconvenient reproofs, stood very
+high in royal favour. The Castle was partly encompassed by a moat,
+called the "Castlegripe;" the walls were fortified with bastions, and
+had various gates, towers, and narrow entrances, which were defended by
+strong doors and portcullises. The chief communication with the city was
+by a drawbridge on the southern side of Castle-street. Rolls of the
+fourteenth century exhibit disbursements for repairs, ropes, bolts, and
+rings, from which we gather that everything was kept ready for immediate
+service.
+
+The hostages which were exacted from the Anglo-Norman lords, as well as
+from the Irish chieftains, were kept in the Castle at their own expense.
+They can hardly have found their position very pleasant, as at any
+moment they might be called on to submit to the operation of having
+their eyes put out, or to be hanged. The judges and other officials held
+their courts in the Castle. In the Court of Exchequer the primitive
+method of using counters for calculating[341] was still continued. These
+were laid in rows upon the "chequered" cloth which covered the table.
+Square hazel rods, notched[342] in a particular manner, styled tallies
+and counter-tallies, were employed as vouchers.
+
+The Red Book of the Exchequer contains a curious sketch of "the
+Exchequer of the King of England in Dublin." Six officers of the court
+are at the top; to the left, three judges; to the right, three suitors;
+a sheriff is seated at the bottom. The crier is in the act of adjourning
+the court, exclaiming "_à demain_," showing that even in Ireland
+Norman-French was still the language of law, and probably of courtesy.
+The officer to the left, supposed to be the Second Remembrancer, holds a
+parchment containing the words, "_Preceptum fuit Vice-comiti, per breve
+hujus Scaccarii_." The Chief Remembrancer occupies himself with a pen
+and an Exchequer roll, commencing "_Memorandum quod X° die Maij_," &c.;
+while the Clerk of the Pipe prepares a writ, placed on his left knee,
+his foot resting on the table. The Marshal of the Exchequer addresses
+the usher, and holds a document inscribed, "_Exiit breve Vice-comiti_."
+One of the judges exclaims, "_Soient forfez_;" another, _"Voyr dire_."
+On the chequered-covered table, before the judges, are the Red Book, a
+bag with rolls, the counters used for computation, and a document
+commencing with the words, "_Ceo vous_," &c. The sheriff sits at the
+bottom, wearing the leathern cap used by such officers when their
+accounts were under examination in the Exchequer. Three suitors stand at
+the right side of the picture. One, with uplifted hand, says, "_Oz de
+brie_;" another, extending his arm, cries, "_Chalange_;" the third, with
+sword at his side, laced boots, and ample sleeves, holds the thumb of
+his left hand between the fore and middle finger of his right, and
+exclaims, "_Soite oughte_." Thus affording us an interesting and
+truthful picture of a law court in the fourteenth century.
+
+The crown revenues and customs were frequently pawned out to
+associations of Italian money-lenders; and the "Ricardi" of Lucca, and
+"Frescobaldi" of Florence, had agents in the principal towns in Ireland.
+The royal treasure was deposited in the Castle, in a coffer with three
+locks. The keys were confided to different persons, and no payment could
+be made unless the three were present; still, as might be expected from
+men, the sole object of whose lives appears to have been to enrich
+themselves at the expense of others, the accounts were not always
+satisfactory. Even the Viceroys were accused of conniving at and sharing
+in frauds, notwithstanding the salary of £500 per annum and their other
+emoluments, with the permission to levy provisions of all kinds for "the
+king's price," which was far below the current value.
+
+The Castle garrison consisted of archers and halberdiers; the Constable,
+Warders, and Guardian of Works and Supplies, being the principal
+officers. The Constable was generally a nobleman of high rank, and
+received an annual salary[343] of £18 5s.
+
+It will be remembered that Sir John Wogan had been appointed Viceroy at
+the close of the thirteenth century. He brought about a two years' truce
+between the Geraldines and Burkes (De Burgos), and then summoned a
+Parliament at Kilkenny, A.D. 1295. The roll of this Parliament contains
+only twenty-seven names. Richard, Earl of Ulster, is the first on the
+list. The principal Acts passed were: one for revising King John's
+division of the country into counties; another for providing a more
+strict guard over the marches, so as to "keep out the Irish." The Irish
+were not permitted to have any voice in the settlement of the affairs,
+of their country, and it was a rebellious symptom if they demurred.
+Nevertheless, in 1303, King Edward was graciously pleased to accept the
+services of Irish soldiers, in his expedition against Scotland. It is
+said that, in 1299, his army was composed principally of Welsh and
+Irish, and that on this occasion they were royally feasted at Roxburgh
+Castle.
+
+The O'Connors of Offaly were for nearly two centuries the most heroic,
+and therefore the most dangerous, of the "Irish enemies." Maurice
+O'Connor Faly and his brother, Calvagh, were the heads of the sept. The
+latter had obtained the soubriquet of "the Great Rebel," from his
+earnest efforts to free his country. He had defeated the English in a
+battle, in which Meiller de Exeter and several others were slain; he had
+taken the Castle of Kildare; therefore, as he could not be taken himself
+by fair means, treachery was employed.
+
+The chiefs of Offaly were invited to dinner on Trinity Sunday, A.D.
+1315, by Sir Pierce MacFeorais (Peter Bermingham). As they rose up from
+table they were cruelly massacred, one by one, with twenty-four of their
+followers. This black deed took place at Bermingham's own Castle of
+Carbury,[344] county Kildare. Bermingham was arraigned before King
+Edward, but no justice was ever obtained for this foul murder.
+
+In the year 1308, Piers Gaveston, the unworthy favourite of Edward II.,
+was appointed Viceroy. The English barons had long been disgusted by his
+insolence, and jealous of his influence. He was banished to France--or
+rather a decree to that effect was issued--but Ireland was substituted,
+for it was considered a banishment to be sent to that country. Gaveston,
+with his usual love of display, was attended by a magnificent suite, and
+commenced his Viceroyalty in high state. He was accompanied by his wife,
+Marguerite, who was closely connected with the royal family.
+
+The Templars had been suppressed and plundered by royal command; but
+though this evil deed was accomplished without much trouble, there were
+Irish clans whose suppression was not so easily effected. The O'Tooles
+and O'Briens, styled by the Anglo-Normans "les Ototheyles et les
+Obrynnes," stood their ground so well, that they had put the late
+Viceroy to flight this very year, and promised some active employment
+for his successor.
+
+Edward appears to have had apprehensions as to the kind of reception his
+favourite was likely to receive from the powerful Earl of Ulster; he
+therefore wrote him a special letter, requesting his aid and counsel for
+the Viceroy. But De Burgo knew his own power too well; and instead of
+complying with the royal request, he marched off to Drogheda, and then
+to Trim, where he employed himself in giving sumptuous entertainments,
+and conferring the honour of knighthood on his adherents. The favourite
+was recalled to England at the end of a year. Edward had conducted him
+to Bristol, on his way to Ireland; he now went to meet him at Chester,
+on his return. Three years later he paid the forfeit of his head for all
+these condescensions.
+
+In 1309 De Wogan was again appointed Governor. The exactions of the
+nobles had risen to such a height, that some of their number began to
+fear the effects would recoil on themselves. High food rates and fearful
+poverty then existed, in consequence of the cruel exactions of the
+Anglo-Normans on their own dependents. They lived frequently in their
+houses, and quartered their soldiers and followers on them, without
+offering them the smallest remuneration. A statute was now made which
+pronounced these proceedings "open robbery," and accorded the right of
+suit in such cases to the crown. But this enactment could only be a dead
+letter. We have already seen how the crown dealt with the most serious
+complaints of the natives; and even had justice been awarded to the
+complainant, the right of eviction was in the hands of the nearest
+noble, and the unfortunate tenant would have his choice between
+starvation in the woods or marauding on the highways, having neither the
+_dernier resort_ of a workhouse or emigration in that age.
+
+The Viceroy had abundant occupation suppressing the feuds both of the
+Irish and the colonists. Civil war raged in Thomond, but the quarrels
+between the Anglo-Norman settlers in the same province, appear to have
+been more extensive and less easily appeased. In a note to the Annals of
+Clonmacnois, MacGeoghegan observes, that "there reigned more
+dissentions, strife, warrs, and debates between the Englishmen
+themselves, in the beginning of the conquest of this kingdome, than
+between the Irishmen; as by perusing the warrs between the Lacies of
+Meath, John Coursey, Earle of Ulster, William Marshal, and the English
+of Meath and Munster, Mac Gerald, the Burke, Butler, and Cogan, may
+appear."
+
+The famous invasion of Ireland by Bruce took place on the 16th of May,
+A.D. 1315. On that day Edward landed on the coast of Ulster, near
+Carrickfergus, with six thousand men. He was attended by the heroes of
+Bannockburn; and as a considerable number of native forces soon joined
+them, the contingent was formidable. Although a few of the Irish had
+assisted Edward II. in his war against Scotch independence, the
+sympathies of the nation were with the cause of freedom; and they gladly
+hailed the arrival of those who had delivered their own country, hoping
+they would also deliver Ireland. It was proposed that Edward Bruce
+should be made King of Ireland. The Irish chieftain, Donnell O'Neill,
+King of Ulster, in union with the other princes of the province, wrote a
+spirited but respectful remonstrance to the Holy See, on the part of the
+nation, explaining why they were anxious to transfer the kingdom to
+Bruce.
+
+In this document the remonstrants first state, simply and clearly, that
+the Holy Father was deceived; that they were persuaded his intentions
+were pure and upright; and that his Holiness only knew the Irish through
+the misrepresentations of their enemies. They state their wish "to save
+their country from foul and false imputations," and to give a correct
+idea of their state. They speak, truthfully and mournfully, "of the sad
+remains of a kingdom, which has groaned so long beneath the tyranny of
+English kings, of their ministers and their barons;" and they add, "that
+some of the latter, though born in the island, continued to exercise the
+same extortions, rapine, and cruelties, as their ancestors inflicted."
+They remind the Pontiff that "it is to Milesian princes, and not to the
+English, that the Church is indebted for those lands and possessions of
+which it has been stripped by the sacrilegious cupidity of the English."
+They boldly assert "it was on the strength of false statements" that
+Adrian transferred the sovereignty of the country to Henry II, "the
+probable murderer of St. Thomas à Becket." Details are then given of
+English oppression, to some of which we have already referred. They
+state the people have been obliged to take refuge, "like beasts, in the
+mountains, in the woods, marshes, and caves. Even _there_ we are not
+safe. They envy us these desolate abodes." They contrast the engagements
+made by Henry to the Church, and his fair promises, with the grievous
+failure in their fulfilment. They give clear details of the various
+enactments made by the English, one of which merits special attention,
+as an eternal refutation of the false and base charge against the Irish
+of having refused to accept English laws, because they were a lawless
+race. They state (1) "that no Irishman who is not a prelate can take the
+law against an Englishman, but every Englishman may take the law against
+an Irishman." (2) That any Englishman may kill an Irishman, "falsely and
+perfidiously, _as often happened_, of whatsoever rank, innocent or
+guilty, and yet he cannot be brought before the English tribunals; and
+further, that the English murderer can seize the property of his
+victim." When such was the state of Ireland, as described calmly in an
+important document still extant, we cannot be surprised that the people
+eagerly sought the slightest hope of redress, or the merest chance of
+deliverance from such oppression.[345] In conclusion, the Irish princes
+inform his Holiness, "that in order to obtain their object the more
+speedily and securely, they had invited the gallant Edward Bruce, to
+whom, being descended from their most noble ancestors, they had
+transferred, as they justly might, their own right of royal domain."
+
+A few years later Pope John wrote a letter to Edward III., in which he
+declares that the object of Pope Adrian's Bull had been entirely
+neglected, and that the "most unheard-of miseries and persecutions had
+been inflicted on the Irish." He recommends that monarch to adopt a very
+different policy, and to remove the causes of complaint, "lest it might
+be too late hereafter to apply a remedy, when the spirit of revolt had
+grown stronger."
+
+The accounts of Bruce's Irish campaign have not been very clearly given.
+The Four Masters mention it briefly, notwithstanding its importance; the
+fullest account is contained in the Annals of Clonmacnois, which agree
+with the Annals of Connaught. Dundalk, Ardee, and some other places in
+the north, were taken in rapid succession, and a good supply of victuals
+and wine was obtained from the former place. The Viceroy, Sir Edmund le
+Botiller, marched to attack the enemy; but the proud Earl of Ulster
+refused his assistance, and probably the Justiciary feared to offend him
+by offering to remain. Meanwhile, Felim, King of Connaught, who had
+hitherto been an ally of the Red Earl, came over to the popular side;
+and the English forces suffered a defeat at Connor, in which William de
+Burgo and several knights were taken prisoners. This battle was fought
+on the 10th of September, according to Grace's Annals, and the battle of
+Dundalk on the 29th of July.
+
+After the battle of Connor, the Earl of Ulster fled to Connaught, where
+he remained a year; the remainder of his forces shut themselves up in
+Carrickfergus. Bruce was proclaimed King of Ireland, and marched
+southward to pursue his conquests. The Earl of Moray was sent to
+Edinburgh to invite King Robert over, and the Scotch armies prepared to
+spend the winter with the De Lacys in Westmeath.
+
+When the Christmas festivities were concluded, Bruce again took the
+field, and defeated the Viceroy at Ardscull, in the co. Kildare, In the
+month of February some of the chief nobles of the English colony met in
+Dublin, and signed a manifesto, in which they denounced the traitorous
+conduct of the Scotch enemy, in trying to wrest Ireland from their Lord,
+"Monsieur Edward," taking special care to herald forth their own praises
+for loyalty, and to hint at the compensation which might be required for
+the same.
+
+But the Irish were again their own enemies; and to their miserable
+dissensions, though it can never justify the cruelties of their
+oppressors, must be attributed most justly nearly all their misfortunes.
+Had the Irish united against the invaders, there can be no doubt that,
+with the assistance of the Scotch army, they would have obtained a
+complete and glorious victory, though it may be doubtful whether any
+really beneficial results would have accrued to the country should
+disunion continue. When Felim O'Connor joined Bruce, Rory O'Connor and
+his clan commenced depredations on his territory. Felim returned to give
+him battle, and defeated him with terrible slaughter. Thus men and time
+were lost in useless and ignoble strife. Rory was slain in this
+engagement--a fate he richly merited; and Felim was once more free to
+fight for his country. He was joined by the O'Briens of Thomond, and
+they marched together to attack Athenry, which was defended by Burke and
+Bermingham. A fierce conflict ensued. The Irish fought with their usual
+valour; but English coats-of-mail were proof against their attacks, and
+English cross-bows mowed down their ranks.
+
+The brave young Felim was slain, with 11,000 of his followers; and the
+Irish cause was irretrievably injured, perhaps more by the death of the
+leader than by the loss of the men. This disaster took place on the 10th
+of August, 1316.
+
+Still the Irish were not daunted. The O'Tooles and O'Byrnes rose in
+Wicklow, the O'Mores in Leix. Robert Bruce came over to Ireland. The
+Franciscan friars, always devoted to their country, made themselves
+specially obnoxious by encouraging their countrymen to die in defence of
+their country. They were threatened and cajoled by turns, but with
+little effect.[346] Edward Bruce again appeared before Carrickfergus.
+The siege was protracted until September, when Robert Bruce arrived, and
+found the English so hard pressed, that they ate hides, and fed on the
+bodies of eight Scots whom they had made prisoners.[347] In the year
+1317, the Scottish army was computed at 20,000 men, besides their Irish
+auxiliaries. After Shrovetide, King Robert and his brother crossed the
+Boyne, and marched to Castleknock, near Dublin, where they took Hugh
+Tyrrell prisoner, and obtained possession of the fortress. There was no
+little fear in Dublin Castle thereupon, for the Anglo-Normans distrusted
+each other. And well they might. The De Lacys had solemnly pledged their
+fidelity, yet they were now found under the standard of Bruce. Even De
+Burgo was suspected; for his daughter, Elizabeth, was the wife of the
+Scottish King. When the invading army approached Dublin, he was seized
+and confined in the Castle. It will be remembered that Dublin had been
+more than once peopled by the citizens of Bristol. They were naturally
+in the English interest, and disposed to offer every resistance. They
+fortified Dublin so strongly, even at the expense of burning the suburbs
+and pulling down churches, that Bruce deemed it more prudent to avoid an
+encounter, and withdrew towards the Salmon Leap; from whence he led his
+forces southward as far as Limerick, without encountering any serious
+opposition.
+
+But a reverse was even then at hand. An Anglo-Irish army was formed,
+headed by the Earl of Kildare; famine added its dangers; and on the 1st
+of May Robert Bruce returned to Scotland, leaving his brother, Edward,
+with the Earl of Moray, to contend, as best they could, against the
+twofold enemy. In 1318 a good harvest relieved the country in some
+measure from one danger; two Cardinals were despatched from Rome to
+attempt to release it from the other. On the 14th October, in the same
+year, the question was finally decided. An engagement took place at
+Faughard, near Dundalk. On the one side was the Scotch army, headed by
+Bruce, and assisted (from what motive it is difficult to determine) by
+the De Lacys and other Anglo-Norman lords; on the other side, the
+English army, commanded by Lord John Bermingham. The numbers on each
+side have been differently estimated; but it is probable the death of
+Edward Bruce was the turning point of the conflict. He was slain by a
+knight named John Maupas, who paid for his valour with his life.
+Bermingham obtained the Earldom of Louth and the manor of Ardee as a
+reward for Bruce's head; and the unfortunate Irish were left to their
+usual state of chronic resistance to English oppression. The head of the
+Scottish chieftain was "salted in a chest," and placed unexpectedly,
+with other heads, at a banquet, before Edward II. The English King
+neither swooned nor expressed surprise; but the Scotch ambassadors, who
+were present, rushed horror-stricken from the apartment. The King,
+however, was "right blyth," and glad to be delivered so easily of a
+"felon foe." John de Lacy and Sir Robert de Coulragh, who had assisted
+the said "felon," paid dearly for their treason; and as they were
+Anglo-Normans, and subjects of the English crown, the term was justly
+applied to them, however cruel the sentence. They were starved to death
+in prison, "on three morsels of the worst bread, and three draughts of
+foul water on alternate days, until life became extinct."
+
+Since this chapter was written, Mr. O'Flanagan has kindly presented me
+with his valuable _History of Dundalk_, from which I am permitted to
+make the following extracts, which throw much additional light upon the
+subject:--[348]
+
+"'In the ninth year of King Edward's reign,' writes Hollinshed, 'Edward
+Bruce, brother to Robert Bruce, King of Scots, entered the north part of
+Ireland, with 6,000 men. There were with him divers captains of high
+renown among the Scottish nation, of whom were these:--The Earls of
+Murray and Monteith, the Lord John Stewart, the Lord John Campbell, the
+Lord Thomas Randolf, Fergus of Ardrossan, John Wood, and John Bisset.
+They landed near to Cragfergus, in Ulster, and joining with the Irish (a
+large force of whom was led out by Fellim, son of Hugh O'Conor). Thus
+assisted, he conquered the Earldom of Ulster, and gave the English there
+divers great overthrows, took the town of Dundalk, spoiled and burned
+it, with a great part of Orgiel. They burned churches and abbeys, with
+the people whom they found in the same, sparing neither man, woman, nor
+child. Then was the Lord Butler chosen Lord Justice, who made the Earl
+of Ulster and the Geraldines friends, and reconciled himself with Sir
+John Mandeville, thus seeking to preserve the residue of the realm which
+Edward Bruce meant wholly to conquer, having caused himself to be
+crowned King of Ireland.'
+
+"Dundalk was heretofore the stronghold of the English power, and the
+head-quarters of the army for the defence of the Pale. At the north, as
+Barbour preserves in his metrical history of Robert Bruce:
+
+    "'At Kilsaggart Sir Edward lay,
+    And wellsom he has heard say
+    That at Dundalk was assembly
+    Made of the lords of that country.'
+
+"It was not, however, within this town that the ceremony of Bruce's
+coronation took place, but, according to the best avouched tradition, on
+the hill of Knock-na-Melin, at half a mile's distance.
+
+"Connaught the while was torn with dissensions and family feuds, of
+which availing himself, 'the Lord Justice' (to resume the narrative of
+Hollinshed) 'assembled a great power out of Munster and Leinster, and
+other parts thereabouts; and the Earl of Ulster, with another army, came
+in unto him near unto Dundalk. There they consulted together how to deal
+in defending the country against the enemies; but, hearing the Scots
+were withdrawn back, the Earl of Ulster followed them, and, fighting
+with them at "Coiners," he lost the field. There were many slain on both
+parts; and William de Burgh, the Earl's brother, Sir John Mandeville,
+and Sir Alan FitzAlan were taken prisoners.' Bruce's adherents
+afterwards ravaged other parts of the Pale, Meath, Kildare, &c., but met
+with much, resistance. At length 'Robert le Bruce, King of Scots, came
+over himself, landed at Cragfergus, to the aid of his brother, whose
+soldiers most wickedly entered into churches, spoiling and defacing the
+same of all such tombs, monuments, plate, copes, and other ornaments
+which they found and might lay hands on.' Ultimately 'the Lord John
+Bermingham, being general of the field, and having with him divers
+captains of worthy fame, namely--Sir Richard Tuiyte, Sir Miles Verdon,
+Sir John Cusack, Sirs Edmund, and William, and Walter Bermingham, the
+Primate of Armagh, Sir Walter de la Pulle, and John Maupas (with some
+choice soldiers from Drogheda), led forth the King's power to the number
+of 1,324 able men, against Edward Bruce, who had, with his adherents
+(the Lord Philip Moubray, the Lord Walter Soulis, the Lord Allan Stuart,
+with three brothers, Sir Walter Lacy, Sir Robert and Aumar Lacy, John
+Kermerelyn, Walter White, and about 3,000 others, writes Pembridge),
+encamped, not two miles from Dundalk, with 3,000 men, there abiding the
+Englishmen to fight with them if they came forward, which they did with
+all convenient speed, being as desirous to give battle as the Scots were
+to receive it. The Primate of Armagh, personally accompanying the
+English power, and blessing the enterprise, gave them such comfortable
+exhortation as he thought served the time ere they began to encounter,
+and herewith buckling together, at length the Scots fully and wholly
+were vanquished, and 2,000 of them slain, together with the Captain,
+Edward Bruce. Maupas, that pressed into the throng to encounter with
+Bruce hand to hand, was found, in the search, dead, aloft upon the slain
+body of Bruce. The victory thus obtained, upon St. Calixtus' day, made
+an end of the Scottish kingdom in Ireland; and Lord Bermingham, sending
+the head of Bruce into England, presented it to King Edward, who, in
+recompense, gave him and his heirs male the Earldom of Louth, and the
+Baronies of Ardee and Athenry to him and his heirs general for ever,' as
+hereafter noticed.
+
+"'Edward Bruce,' say the Four Masters, 'a man who spoiled Ireland
+generally, both English and Irish, was slain by the English, by force of
+battle and bravery, at Dundalk; and MacRory, Lord of the Hebrides,
+MacDonell, Lord of the Eastern Gael (in Antrim), and many others of the
+Albanian or Scottish chiefs were also slain; and no event occurred in
+Ireland for a long period from which so much benefit was derived as
+that, for a general famine prevailed in the country during the three
+years and a half he had been in it, and the people were almost reduced
+to the necessity of eating each other.' Edward Bruce was, however,
+unquestionably a man of great spirit, ambition, and bravery, but fiery,
+rash, and impetuous, wanting that rare combination of wisdom and valour
+which so conspicuously marked the character of his illustrious brother.
+
+"During the sojourn of Edward Bruce in this kingdom, he did much to
+retard the spread of English rule. Having for allies many of the
+northern Irish, whose chieftain, O'Neill, invited him to be King over
+the Gael in Ireland, and whose neighbourhood to the Scottish coast made
+them regard his followers as their fellow-countrymen, he courted them on
+all occasions, and thus the Irish customs of gossipred and
+fostering--preferring the Brehon laws to statute law, whether enacted at
+Westminster or by the Parliaments of the Pale--destroyed all traces of
+the rule which the English wished to impose upon the province of Ulster.
+Many of the English settlers--Hugh de Lacy, John Lord Bissett, Sir Hugh
+Bissett, and others--openly took part with Bruce.
+
+"The eastern shores of Ulster, Spenser informs us, previous to Bruce's
+arrival, bounded a well-inhabited and prosperous English district,
+having therein the good towns of Knockfergus, Belfast, Armagh, and
+Carlingford; but in process of time became 'outbounds and abandoned
+places in the English Pale.' According to the metrical history of
+Barbour, Edward Bruce was by no means disposed to continue a subject,
+while his brother reigned King; and, though Robert conferred his
+hereditary Earldom of Carrick upon him, it by no means satisfied his
+ambitious projects:--
+
+    "'The Erle of Carrick, Schyr Eduward,
+    That stouter was than a libbard,
+    And had na will to be in pess,
+    Thoucht that Scotland to litill was
+    Till his brother and hym alsua,
+    Therefor to purpose he gav ta
+    That he of Irland wold be king.'
+
+"Shortly after his landing at Carrickfergus he proceeded towards the
+Pale. Dundalk, then the principal garrison within the Pale, had all the
+Englishry of the country assembled in force to defend it, when the Scots
+proceeded to the attack, 'with banners all displayit.' The English sent
+out a reconnoitering party, who brought back the cheering news, the
+Scots would be but 'half a dinner' to them. This dinner, however, was
+never eaten. The town was stormed with such vigour that the streets
+flowed with the blood of the defenders; and such as could escape fled
+with the utmost precipitancy, leaving their foes profusion of victuals
+and great abundance of wine. This assault took place 29th June, 1315. It
+was upon this success the Scots crowned Edward Bruce King of Ireland, on
+the hill of Knocknamelan, near Dundalk, in the same simple national
+manner in which his brother had been inaugurated at Scone.
+
+"The new monarch, however, was not disposed to rest inactive, and his
+troops had many skirmishes with Richard de Burgh, called the Red Earl of
+Ulster, who drove them as far as Coleraine. There they were in great
+distress; and they would have suffered much from hunger and want, had
+not a famous pirate, Thomas of Down, or Thomas Don, sailed up the Bann
+and set them free. De Burgh's army were supplied with provisions from a
+distance; and one of Bruce's famous leaders, named Randolph, Earl of
+Murray, who commanded the left wing at Bannockburn, having surprised the
+convoy on its way to De Burgh's camp, equipped his men in the clothes of
+the escort, advanced at dusk with his cavalry, and the banner of the
+English flaunting in the night wind. A large party of De Burgh's force,
+perceiving, as they thought, the approach of the expected provisions,
+advanced unguardedly to drive off the cattle, when they were vigorously
+assailed by the Scots, shouting their war-cry, and they were chased back
+with the loss of a thousand slain. De Burgh's army included all the
+chivalry of Ireland--that is, the English portion, viz.:--'The Butlers,
+earls two, of Kildare and Desmond; Byrnhame (Bermingham), Widdan
+(Verdon), and FitzWaryne, and Schyr Paschall off Florentyne, a Knight of
+Lombardy; with the Mandvillas, Bissetts, Logans, Savages, and Schyr
+Nycholl off Kilkenave.' _The Ulster Journal_ thinks this list of
+Barbour's incorrect; certainly Sir Edmond Butler was not among them, nor
+probably either of the Geraldine lords. Some lords of Munster, however,
+were present--Power, Baron of Donisle; Sir George Lord Roche, and Sir
+Roger Hollywood, of county Meath.
+
+"On the 10th September, A.D. 1315, De Burgh, being reinforced, marched
+to attack Bruce's position; but the Scots, leaving their banners flying
+to deceive the Anglo-Irish, fell upon their flank and gained the
+victory. This gave them Coleraine; and next day they bore off a great
+store of corn, flour, wax, and wine, to Carrickfergus.
+
+"This success gave to the Gael of the north an opportunity of declaring
+their exultation. Bruce, whose royal authority was previously confined
+to his Scottish troops, was proclaimed King of Ireland, and addressed as
+such.
+
+"He then sent the Earl of Murray to Edinburgh, where the King of
+Scotland kept his court, entreating him to join him in Ireland.
+
+    "'For war thai both in to that land
+    Thai suld find nane culd thaim withstand.'
+
+"Robert gladly promised compliance, but was for some time prevented by
+the exigencies of his own kingdom. Murray returned with a small
+reinforcement, but 500 men, and landed at Dundalk, where Edward Bruce
+met him. This was in the December of 1315.
+
+"In January, 1316, Edward Bruce led his forces into the county of
+Kildare, and was stoutly opposed by the Lord Justiciary, or Viceroy, Sir
+Edward Butler, who, backed by the Geraldines, under John Fitzgerald,
+first Earl of Kildare, bravely repulsed the invaders. They retreated
+with the loss of Sir Walter Murray and Sir Fergus of Ardrossan, with
+seventy men, as Clyn records. A new ally for the Palesmen arrived at
+this juncture--Mortimer, Lord of Meath, in right of his wife, Joan de
+Joinville. He assembled a large force, and endeavoured to intercept the
+Scots at Kells, but, on the eve of the onset, was deserted by the Lacys
+and others, who left him almost defenceless. The season and scarcity
+made war against the Scots, and vast numbers perished from hunger. Bruce
+was forced to retreat once more northward, where his chief adherents
+lay. The citadel of Carrickfergus resisted the attacks of Bruce's army
+for a year. It was in this town that (probably in September, 1316)
+Robert, King of Scotland, with a strong force, came to his brother's
+help. Barbour gives the number who accompanied Robert at 5,000. This was
+enough to make the Viceroy take heed for his government. He hasted,
+Barbour says:
+
+    "'To Dewellyne, in full gret by,
+    With othyr lordis that fled him by,
+    And warnysit both castyls and towness
+    That war in their possessionnys.'
+
+"The stout defence of Dublin is already mentioned; and, as on the fate
+of this metropolis the duration of English rule depended in Ireland, the
+public spirit and intrepidity of the citizens of Dublin ought, according
+to Lord Hailes, be held in perpetual remembrance. The citizens took the
+defence of the city into their own hands. The chief civic dignity was at
+that time most worthily borne by Robert Nottingham, who seems to have
+distanced the celebrated Sir Richard Whittington considerably, being
+_seventeen times_ Mayor of Dublin. Knowing the close connexion between
+the Earl of Ulster and the Bruces (he was father of the Queen of Scots),
+the Mayor headed a strong band of citizens, and resolved to make him a
+hostage for the safety of the city. This was not effected without loss
+of life. The Mayor succeeded, and announced 'he would put the earl to
+death if the city was attacked.' This prompt step had the desired
+effect. Robert Bruce feared to risk his father-in-law's life, and,
+instead of entering the city, turned aside and encamped. Time was
+gained, of which the citizens promptly availed themselves. That night
+the blazing suburbs told they were ready to anticipate the fire of
+Moscow, rather than allow their invaders to possess their capital. They
+also worked so hard to strengthen the walls, that the Scots, seeing such
+determination, broke up their camp and retired. The value set upon the
+earl as a hostage was so great, that, although the King of England
+instantly wrote for his liberation, he was detained until the Scots left
+the kingdom.
+
+"Disappointed in their efforts on Dublin, the Scots ravaged the Pale,
+burned Naas, plundered Castledermot, passed on to Gowran, and advanced
+to Callan; thence they went to Limerick. Sir Edmond Butler followed with
+an army of 30,000 well-armed men; but, at the express desire of Roger
+Mortimer, Earl of March, the Lord Deputy, who was himself desirous of
+having the command against the King of Scots, delayed the encounter.
+
+"Mortimer did not accomplish this; for, shortly after, Robert hastened
+to his own kingdom, leaving a great number of his bravest knights to
+carry on the war for his brother. Edward continued in the north for
+several months, and once more proceeded south.
+
+    "'For he had not then in that land
+      Of all men, I trow, two thousand,
+      Owtane (except) the Kings of Irischery
+      That in great route raid him by,
+      Towart Dundalk he tuk the way.'
+
+"When the Viceroy was aware of the advance of the Scots towards the
+Pale, he assembled a great army, said to amount to '20,000 trappit
+horse,' and an equal number of foot.
+
+"The approach of this immensely superior force did not dishearten the
+brother of the lion-hearted King of Scotland. He declared he would fight
+were they sixfold more numerous.
+
+"In vain his officers and allies counselled caution; in vain the Irish
+chiefs recommended him to avoid a pitched battle, and harass the enemy
+by skirmishing. Edward indignantly bade them 'draw aside, and look on,'
+which Barbour declares they did. A very interesting account on the
+battle on St. Callixtus' day is given in the _Ulster Archæological
+Journal_. The battle was on Sunday, 14th October, 1318. According to
+Barbour, Edward Bruce had a presentiment of his death, and would not use
+his usual coat-armour. The legend is, that having the idea the fall of
+King Edward Bruce would decide the battle, Sir John Bermingham, leader
+of the Anglo-Irish army, disguised himself as a friar, passed into the
+Scottish camp, and, being shown the king, who was hearing Mass, craved
+alms, so as to induce Bruce to look up from his prayer-book. This gave
+Bermingham the opportunity of marking well his face, in order to single
+him out in the fray. The king ordered relief to be given to the
+importunate friar; but the eager glance of the intrusive applicant so
+disquieted him--agitated, doubtless, from the idea of his small force
+being about to engage at such desperate odds--that he presently caused
+the attendants to look for the friar, but he was nowhere to be found.
+This caused him to array one Gib Harper in his armour, and appoint Lord
+Alan Stewart general of the field. The fight commenced with a rapid
+charge on the Scots by the Anglo-Irish under Bermingham. With him were
+divers lords and a great army. The force was chiefly composed, however,
+of yeomanry, or, as an ancient record says, 'the common people, with a
+powerful auxiliary _dextram Dei_.' Bermingham, believing Lord Stewart
+was Bruce, singled him out, and, after a terrible combat, slew him,
+whereon the Scots fled. According to the _Howth Chronicle_, few escaped,
+their loss being 1,230 men. Bruce's death is generally ascribed to John
+Mapas, one of the Drogheda contingent. The _Ulster Journal_
+states:--'There can be little doubt that the ancient Anglo-Irish family
+of "Mape," of Maperath, in the shire of Meath, was descended from this
+distinguished slayer of Edward Bruce.' The heiress of John Mapas, Esq.,
+of Rochestown, county of Dublin, was married to the late Richard Wogan
+Talbot, Esq., of Malahide. After the defeat at Dundalk, the small
+remnant of the Scottish invaders yet alive fled northward, where they
+met a body of troops sent by King Robert as a reinforcement to his
+brother. They could not make head against the victorious troops of
+Bermingham, so they made their way to the coast, burning and destroying
+the country through which they passed."
+
+
+[Illustration: BUTLER'S TOMB, FRIARY CHURCH, CLONMEL.]
+
+[Illustration: CARRICKFERGUS.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[337] _Crime_.--We really must enter a protest against the way in which
+Irish history is written by some English historians. In Wright's
+_History of Ireland_ we find the following gratuitous assertion offered
+to excuse De Clare's crime: "Such a refinement of cruelty _must_ have
+arisen from a suspicion of treachery, or from some other grievous
+offence with which we are not acquainted." If all the dark deeds of
+history are to be accounted for in this way, we may bid farewell to
+historical justice. And yet this work, which is written in the most
+prejudiced manner, has had a far larger circulation in Ireland than Mr.
+Haverty's truthful and well-written history. When Irishmen support such
+works, they must not blame their neighbours across the Channel for
+accepting them as truthful histories.
+
+[338] _Shooting_.--Four Masters, vol. iii. p. 435. These champions
+appear to have been very famous. They are mentioned in the Annals of
+Ulster and in the Annals of Clonmacnois, with special commendations for
+their skill. The following year O'Dowda was killed by Adam Cusack. It is
+hoped that he is not the same person as "the Cusack" whom he had
+assisted just before.
+
+[339] _Horses_.--As votaries of the turf maybe interested in knowing the
+appellations of equine favourites in the thirteenth century, we subjoin
+a sample of their names: Lynst, Jourdan, Feraunt de Trim, Blanchard de
+Londres, Connetable, Obin the Black, &c.
+
+[340] _Progress_.--The following passage is taken from a work published
+a few years ago. It is not a work of any importance, but it had some
+circulation in its day; and like many other works then published, was
+calculated to do immense mischief, by quoting the false statements of
+Cambrensis as authority, and by giving grotesque sketches of Irish
+character, which were equally untrue. The writer says: "They [the Irish
+chieftains] opposed the introduction of English law, because they had a
+direct interest in encouraging murder and theft." The fact was, as we
+have shown, that the Irish did their best to obtain the benefit of
+English law; but the English nobles who ruled Ireland would not permit
+it, unquestionably "because _they_ had a direct interest encouraging
+murder and theft."
+
+[341] _Calculating_.--We derived the word from _calculus_, a white
+stone, the Romans having used small white stones for arithmetical
+purposes. Probably they taught this custom to the aboriginal English,
+whose descendants retained it long after.
+
+[342] _Notched_.--Quite as primitive an arrangement as the _quipus_, and
+yet used in a condition of society called civilized.
+
+[343] _Salary_.--The value may be estimated by the current price of
+provisions: cows from 5s. to 13s. 4d. each; heifers, 3s. 4d. to 5s.;
+sheep, 8d. to 1s.; ordinary horses, 13s. 4d. to 40s.; pigs, 1s. 6d. to
+2s.; salmon, 6d. each; wheat, corn, and malt varied with the produce of
+the season. Most of the details given above have been taken from Mr.
+Gilbert's _Viceroys_.
+
+[344] _Carbury_.--Extensive ruins still mark the site.
+
+[345] _Oppression_.--The original Latin is preserved by Fordun.
+Translations may be found in the Abbé MacGeoghegan's _History of
+Ireland_, p. 323, and in Plowden's _Historical Review_. We append one
+clause, in which these writers complain of the corruption of manners
+produced by intercourse with the English settlers: "Quod sancta et
+columbina ejus simplicitas, ex eorum cohabitatione et exemplo reprobo,
+in serpentinam calliditatem mirabiliter est mutata."
+
+[346] _Effect_.--See Theiner, _Vet. Man. Hiber. et Scot._ p. 188, for
+the efforts made by the Holy See to procure peace. The Pope's letter to
+Edward III. will be found at p. 206. It is dated _Avinione, iii. Kal.
+Junii, Pontificatus nostri anno secundo._
+
+[347] _Prisoners_.--Gilbert's _Viceroys_, p. 138.
+
+[348] _Subject.--History of Dundalk_, pp. 46-58.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+The Butlers--Quarrels of the Anglo-Norman Nobles--Treachery and its
+Consequences--The Burkes proclaim themselves Irish--Opposition
+Parliaments--The Statute of Kilkenny and its Effects--Mistakes of
+English Writers--Social Life in Ireland described by a French
+Knight--"Banishment" to Ireland--Richard II. visits Ireland.
+
+[A.D. 1326-1402.]
+
+
+Richard de Burgo, the Red Earl, died in 1326. He took leave of the
+nobles after a magnificent banquet at Kilkenny. When he had resigned his
+possessions to his grandson, William, he retired into the Monastery of
+Athassel, where he expired soon after. In the same year Edward II.
+attempted to take refuge in Ireland, from the vengeance of his people
+and his false Queen, the "she-wolf of France." He failed in his attempt,
+and was murdered soon after--A.D. 1327.
+
+The Butler family now appear prominently in Irish history for the first
+time. It would appear from Carte[349] that the name was originally
+Walter, Butler being an addition distinctive of office. The family was
+established in Ireland by Theobald Walter (Gaultier), an Anglo-Norman of
+high rank, who received extensive grants of land from Henry II.,
+together with the hereditary office of "Pincerna," Boteler, or Butler,
+in Ireland, to the Kings of England. In this capacity he and his
+successors were to attend these monarchs at their coronation, and
+present them, with the first cup of wine. In return they obtained many
+privileges. On account of the quarrels between this family and the De
+Burgos, De Berminghams, Le Poers, and the southern Geraldines, royal
+letters were issued, commanding them, under pain of forfeiture, to
+desist from warring on each other. The result was a meeting of the
+factious peers in Dublin, at which they engaged to keep the "King's
+peace." On the following day they were entertained by the Earl of
+Ulster; the next day, at St. Patrick's, by Maurice FitzThomas; and the
+third day by the Viceroy and his fellow Knights Hospitallers, who had
+succeeded the Templars at Kilmainham. The Earldoms of Ormonde[350] and
+Desmond were now created. The heads of these families long occupied an
+important place in Irish affairs. Butler died on his return from a
+pilgrimage to Compostella, and was succeeded by his eldest son,
+Jacques--"a liberal, friendly, pleasant, and stately youth"--who was
+married this year to King Edward's cousin, Eleanor, daughter of the Earl
+of Essex. The Desmond peerage was created in 1329, when the County
+Palatine[351] of Kerry was given to that family.
+
+The quarrels of these nobles seemed to have originated, or rather to
+have culminated, in an insulting speech made by Poer to FitzGerald, whom
+he designated a "rhymer." The "King's peace" did not last long; and in
+1330 the Lord Justice was obliged to imprison both Desmond and Ulster,
+that being the only method in which they could be "bound over to keep
+the peace." The following year Sir Anthony de Lucy was sent to Ireland,
+as he had a reputation for summary justice. He summoned a Parliament in
+Dublin; but as the barons did not condescend to attend, he adjourned it
+to Kilkenny. This arrangement also failed to procure their presence. He
+seized Desmond, who had been placed in the care of the Sheriff of
+Limerick, and conveyed him to Dublin Castle. Several other nobles were
+arrested at the same time. Sir William Bermingham was confined with his
+son in the Keep of Dublin Castle, which still bears his name. He was
+hanged there soon after. De Lucy was recalled to England, probably in
+consequence of the indignation which was excited by this execution.[352]
+
+The years 1333 and 1334 were disgraced by fearful crimes, in which the
+English and Irish equally participated. In the former year the Earl of
+Ulster seized Walter de Burgo, and starved him to death in the Green
+Castle of Innishowen. The sister of the man thus cruelly murdered was
+married to Sir Richard Mandeville, and she urged her husband to avenge
+her brother's death. Mandeville took the opportunity of accompanying the
+Earl with some others to hear Mass at Carrickfergus,[353] and killed him
+as he was fording a stream. The young Earl's death was avenged by his
+followers, who slew 300 men. His wife, Maud, fled to England with her
+only child, a daughter, named Elizabeth,[354] who was a year old. The
+Burkes of Connaught, who were the junior branch of the family, fearing
+that she would soon marry again, and transfer the property to other
+hands, immediately seized the Connaught estates, declared themselves
+independent of English law, and renounced the English language and
+customs. They were too powerful to be resisted with impunity; and while
+the ancestor of the Clanrickardes assumed the Irish title of Mac William
+_Oughter_, or the Upper, Edmund Burke, the progenitor of the Viscounts
+of Mayo, took the appellation of Mac William _Eighter_, or the Lower.
+This was not the last time when English settlers identified themselves,
+not merely from policy, but even from inclination, with the race whom
+they had once hated and oppressed.
+
+In 1334 the English and Irish marched into Munster to attack MacNamara,
+and added the guilt of sacrilege to their other crimes, by burning a
+church, with 180 persons and two priests in it, none of whom were
+permitted to escape. Another outrage was committed by the settlers, who
+appear to have been quite as jealous of each others property as the
+Irish clans; for we find that one Edmund Burke drowned another of the
+same name in Lough Mask, and, as usual a war ensued between the
+partisans of each family. After a sanguinary struggle, Turlough O'Connor
+drove the murderer out of the province. But this prince soon after
+ruined himself by his wickedness. He married Burke's widow, and put away
+his own lawful wife; from which it may be concluded that he had avenged
+the crime either from love of this woman, or from a desire to possess
+himself of her husband's property. His immoral conduct alienated the
+other chieftains, and after three years' war he was deposed.
+
+Edward had thrown out some hints of an intended visit to Ireland,
+probably to conceal his real purpose of marching to Scotland. Desmond
+was released on bail in 1333, after eighteen months' durance, and
+repaired with some troops to assist the King at Halidon Hill. Soon after
+we find him fighting in Kerry, while the Earl of Kildare was similarly
+occupied in Leinster. In 1339 twelve hundred Kerry men were slain in one
+battle. The Anglo-Norman, FitzNicholas, was among the number of
+prisoners. He died in prison soon after. This gentleman, on one
+occasion, dashed into the assize court at Tralee, and killed Dermod, the
+heir of the MacCarthy More, as he sat with the judge on the bench. As
+MacCarthy was Irish, the crime was suffered to pass without further
+notice.
+
+In 1341 Edward took sweeping measures for a general reform of the
+Anglo-Norman lords, or, more probably, he hoped, by threats of such
+measures, to obtain subsidies for his continental wars. The colonists,
+however, were in possession, and rather too powerful to brook such
+interference. Sir John Morris was sent over to carry the royal plans
+into execution; but though he took prompt and efficient measures, the
+affair turned out a complete failure. The lords refused to attend his
+Parliament, and summoned one of their own, in which they threw the blame
+of maladministration on the English officials sent over from time to
+time to manage Irish affairs. They also protested strongly against the
+new arrangement, which proposed that all the offices then held in
+Ireland should be filled by Englishmen having no personal interest
+whatever in Ireland. The certainty that they would have a personal
+interest in it the very moment there was a chance of bettering their
+fortunes thereby, appears to have been quite overlooked. The settlers,
+therefore were allowed to continue their career as before, and felt all
+the secure for their effectual resistance of the royal interference.
+
+In 1334 Sir Ralph Ufford, who had married Maud Plantagenet, the widow of
+the Earl of Ulster, was appointed Justiciary of Ireland. He commenced
+with a high hand, and endeavoured especially to humble the Desmonds. The
+Earl refused to attend the Parliament, and assembled one of his own at
+Callan; but the new Viceroy marched into Leinster with an armed force,
+seized his lands, farmed them out for the benefit of the crown, got
+possession of the strongholds of Castleisland and Inniskisty in Kerry,
+and hanged Sir Eustace Poer, Sir William Grant, and Sir John Cottrell,
+who commanded these places, on the charge of illegal exactions of coigne
+and livery.[355] The Viceroy also contrived to get the Earl of Kildare
+into his power; and it is probable that his harsh measures would have
+involved England in an open war with her colony and its English
+settlers, had not his sudden death put an end to his summary exercise of
+justice.
+
+It is said that his wife, Maud, who could scarcely forget the murder of
+her first husband, urged him on to many of these violent acts; and it
+was remarked, that though she had maintained a queenly state on her
+first arrival in Ireland, she was obliged to steal away from that
+country, with Ufford's remains enclosed in a leaden coffin, in which her
+treasure was concealed. Her second husband was buried near her first, in
+the Convent of Poor Clares, at Camposey, near Ufford, in Suffolk.
+
+The Black Death broke out in Ireland in the year 1348. The annalists
+give fearful accounts of this visitation. It appeared in Dublin first,
+and so fatal were its effects, that four thousand souls are said
+to have perished there from August to Christmas. It was remarked
+that this pestilence attacked the English specially, while the
+"Irish-born"--particularly those who lived in the mountainous parts of
+the country--escaped its ravages. We have already mentioned the account
+of this calamity given by Friar Clynn, who fell a victim to the plague
+himself, soon after he had recorded his mournful forebodings. Several
+other pestilences, more or less severe, visited the country at intervals
+during the next few years.
+
+Lionel, the third son of Edward III., who, it will be remembered, was
+Earl of Ulster in right of his wife, Isabella, was now appointed
+Viceroy. He landed in Dublin, on the 15th September, 1360, with an army
+of one thousand men. From the first moment of his arrival he exercised
+the most bitter hostility to the Irish, and enhanced the invidious
+distinction between the English by birth and the English by descent.
+Long before his arrival, the "mere Irishman" was excluded from the
+offices of mayor, bailiff, or officer in any town within the English
+dominions, as well as from all ecclesiastical promotion. Lionel carried
+matters still further, for he forbid any "Irish by birth to come near
+his army." But he soon found that he could not do without soldiers, even
+should they have the misfortune to be Irish; and as a hundred of his
+best men were killed soon after this insulting proclamation, he was
+graciously pleased to allow all the King's subjects to assist him in his
+war against the enemy. He soon found it advisable to make friends with
+the colonists, and obtained the very substantial offering of two years'
+revenue of their lands, as a return for his condescension.
+
+In 1367 the Viceroy returned to England, but he was twice again
+intrusted with office in Ireland. During the last period of his
+administration, he held the memorable Parliament at Kilkenny, wherein
+the famous "Statute of Kilkenny" was enacted. This statute is another
+proof of the fatal policy pursued towards the Irish, and of the almost
+judicial blindness which appears to have prevented the framers of it,
+and the rulers of that unfortunate nation, from perceiving the folly or
+the wickedness of such enactments.
+
+It was a continuance of the old policy. The natives of the country were
+to be trampled down, if they could not be trampled out; the English and
+Irish were to be kept for ever separate, and for ever at variance. How,
+then, could the Irish heart ever beat loyally towards the English
+sovereign? How could the Irish people ever become an integral portion of
+the British Empire? Pardon me for directing your attention specially to
+this statute. It will explain to you that the Irish were not allowed to
+be loyal; it will excuse them if they have sometimes resented such cruel
+oppressions by equally cruel massacres and burnings--if they still
+remembered these wrongs with that statute before them, and the
+unfortunate fact that its enactments were virtually continued for
+centuries.
+
+This statute enacts (1) that any alliance with the Irish by marriage,
+nurture of infants, or gossipred [standing sponsors], should be
+punishable as high treason; (2) that any man of English race taking an
+Irish name, or using the Irish language, apparel, or customs, should
+forfeit all his lands; (3) that to adopt or submit to the Brehon law was
+treason; (4) that the English should not make war upon the natives
+without the permission of Government; (5) that the English should not
+permit the Irish to pasture or graze upon their lands, nor admit them to
+any ecclesiastical benefices or religious houses, nor entertain their
+minstrels or rhymers. (6) It was also forbidden to impose or cess any
+soldiers upon the _English_ subjects against their will, under pain of
+felony; and some regulations were made to restrain the abuse of
+sanctuary, and to prevent the great lords from laying heavy burdens upon
+gentlemen and freeholders.
+
+I shall ask you to consider these statutes carefully; to remember that
+they were compiled under the direction of a crown prince, and confirmed
+by the men who had the entire government of Ireland in their hands. The
+first was an open and gross insult to the natives, who were treated as
+too utterly beneath their English rulers to admit of their entering into
+social relations with them. The settlers who had lived some time in the
+country, were ascertaining every day that its inhabitants were not
+savages, and that they considered the ties of honour which bound them to
+those whom they "fostered," or for whom they stood sponsors, as of the
+most sacred description. Their own safety and interests, if not common
+feelings of humanity and affection, led them to form these connexions,
+which were now so ruthlessly denounced. But it led them also to treat
+the Irish with more respect, and placed them on some sort of social
+equality with themselves; and this was clearly a crime in the eyes of
+those who governed the country. The second clause had a similar object,
+and insulted the deepest feelings of the Celt, by condemning his
+language, which he loved almost as his life, and his customs, which had
+been handed down to him by an ancestry which the Anglo-Norman nobles
+might themselves have envied. The third enactment was an outrage upon
+common justice. It has been already shown that the Irish were _refused_
+the benefit of the English law; you will now see that their own law was
+forbidden. Some of these laws are at present open to public inspection,
+and show that the compilers, who wrote immediately after the
+introduction of Christianity into Ireland, and the original lawgivers,
+who existed many centuries before the Christian era, were by no means
+deficient in forensic abilities. Whatever feuds the Irish may have had
+between their clans, there is every reason to believe that justice was
+impartially administered long before the English settlement. That it was
+not so administered after that settlement, the preceding history, nay,
+even the very subject under discussion, sufficiently proves.
+
+The fourth clause might have been beneficial to the Irish, if it had
+been strictly observed. The other enactments were observed; but this,
+which required the consent of the Government to make war on the natives,
+was allowed to remain a dead letter. In any case, the Government would
+seldom have refused any permission which might help to lessen the number
+of the "Irish enemy."
+
+The last enactments, or series of enactments, were simply barbarous. The
+Irish were an agricultural nation; therefore they were not permitted to
+be agriculturists. Their wealth consisted solely in their flocks;
+therefore every obstacle should be placed to their increase. So much for
+the poor. The higher classes had formerly some hope of advancement if
+they chose to enter the English service in the army; to do so now they
+must renounce their Irish name, their language, and their customs. They
+might also have chosen the ecclesiastical state; from this now they are
+completely barred.
+
+Most fatal, most unjust policy! Had it been devised for the express
+purpose of imbittering the feelings of the Irish Celt eternally against
+the Saxon ruler, it could not have succeeded more effectually. The laws
+of Draco were figuratively said to have been written in blood: how many
+bloody deeds, at which men have stood aghast in horror and dismay, were
+virtually enacted by the Statute of Kilkenny? The country-loving,
+generous-hearted Celt, who heard it read for the first time, must have
+been more or less than human, if he did not utter "curses, not loud, but
+deep," against the framers of such inhuman decrees. If Englishmen
+studied the history of Ireland carefully, and the character of the
+Celtic race, they would be less surprised at Irish discontent and
+disloyalty. An English writer on Irish history admits, that while "there
+is no room to doubt the wisdom of the policy which sought to prevent the
+English baron from sinking into the unenviable state of the persecuted
+Irish chieftain, still less is there an apology to be offered for the
+iniquity of the attempt to shut the great mass of the Irish people out
+from the pale of law, civilization, and religion. The cruelty of
+conquest never broached a principle more criminal, unsound, or
+unsuccessful."[356] It is to be regretted that a more recent and really
+liberal writer should have attempted this apology, which his own
+countryman and namesake pronounced impossible. The author to whom we
+allude grants "it sounds shocking that the killing of an Irishman by an
+Englishman should have been no felony;" but he excuses it by stating,
+"nothing more is implied than that the Irish were not under English
+jurisdiction, but under the native or Brehon law."[357] Unfortunately
+this assertion is purely gratuitous. It was made treason by this very
+same statute even to submit to the Brehon law; and the writer himself
+states that, in the reign of Edward I., "a large body of the Irish
+petitioned for the English law, and offered 8,000 marks as a fee for
+that favour."[358] He states that an Irishman who murdered an
+Englishman, would only have been fined by his Brehon. True, no doubt;
+but if an Englishman killed an Irishman, he escaped scot-free. If,
+however, the Irishman was captured by the Englishman, he was executed
+according to the English law. If a regulation had been made that the
+Englishman should always be punished for his crimes by English law, and
+the Irishman by Irish law,[359] and if this arrangement had been carried
+out with even moderate impartiality, it would have been a fair
+adjustment, however anomalous.
+
+A little episode of domestic life, narrated by Froissart, is a
+sufficient proof that the social state of the Irish was neither so wild
+nor so barbarous as many have supposed; and that even a Frenchman might
+become so attached to the country as to leave it with regret, though, at
+the same time, it was not a little difficult to find an English Viceroy
+who would face the political complications which the Statute of Kilkenny
+had made more troublesome than ever. Froissart's account runs thus: He
+was waiting in the royal chamber at Eltham one Sunday, to present his
+treatise "On Loves" to Henry II.; and he takes care to tell us that the
+King had every reason to be pleased with the present, for it was
+"handsomely written and illuminated," bound in crimson velvet, decorated
+with ten silver-gilt studs, and roses of the same. While he was awaiting
+his audience, he gossiped with Henry Crystède, whom he describes as a
+very agreeable, prudent, and well-educated gentleman, who spoke French
+well, and had for his arms a chevron gules on a field argent, with three
+besants gules, two above the chevron, and one below.
+
+Crystède gave him a sketch of his adventures in Ireland, which we can
+but condense from the quaint and amusing original. He had been in the
+service of the Earl of Ormonde, who kept him out of affection for his
+good horsemanship. On one occasion he was attending the Earl, mounted on
+one of his best horses, at a "border foray" on the unfortunate Irish,
+with whom he kept up constant warfare. In the pursuit his horse took
+fright, and ran away into the midst of the enemy, one of whom, by a
+wonderful feat of agility, sprang up behind him, and bore him off to his
+own house. He calls the gentleman who effected the capture "Brian
+Costeree," and says he was a very handsome man, and that he lived in a
+strong house in a well barricaded city.
+
+Crystède remained here for seven years, and married one of the daughters
+of his host, by whom he had two children. At the end of this period his
+father-in-law was taken prisoner in an engagement with the Duke of
+Clarence, and Crystède's horse, which he rode, was recognized. Evidently
+the knight must have been a person of some distinction, for he states
+that the Duke of Clarence and the English officers were so well pleased
+to hear of the "honorable entertainment" he had received from "Brian
+Costeree," that they at once proposed to set him at liberty, on
+condition that he should send Crystède to the army with his wife and
+children. At first "he refused the offer, from his love to me, his
+daughter, and our children." Eventually the exchange was made. Crystède
+settled at Bristol. His two daughters were then married. One was settled
+in Ireland. He concluded the family history by stating that the Irish
+language was as familiar to him as English, for he always spoke it to
+his wife, and tried to introduce it, "as much as possible," among his
+children.
+
+On the retirement of the Duke of Clarence, in 1367, the Viceroyalty was
+accepted by Gerald, fourth Earl of Desmond, styled "the poet." He was
+one of the most learned men of the day, and thereby, as usual, obtained
+the reputation of practising magic. Yet this refined and educated
+nobleman wished to have his son fostered in an Irish family, and,
+despite the Statute of Kilkenny, obtained a special permission to that
+effect--another evidence that social life among the natives could not
+have been quite what the malice of Cambrensis, and others who wrote from
+hearsay reports, and not from personal knowledge, have represented it.
+
+Sir Richard Pembridge refused the office of Viceroy in 1369. He was
+stripped of all his lands and offices held under the crown, as a
+punishment for his contumacy, but this appears to have had no effect
+upon his determination. It was decided legally, however, that the King
+could neither fine nor imprison him for this refusal, since no man could
+be condemned to go into exile. High prices were now offered to induce
+men to bear this intolerable punishment. Sir William de Windsor asked
+something over £11,000 per annum for his services, which Sir John Davis
+states exceeded the whole revenue of Ireland. The salary of a Lord
+Justice before this period was £500 per annum, and he was obliged to
+support a small standing army. The truth was, that the government of
+Ireland had become every day more difficult, and less lucrative. The
+natives were already despoiled of nearly all their possessions, and the
+settlement of the feuds of the Anglo-Norman nobles was neither a
+pleasant nor a profitable employment. In addition to this, Edward was
+levying immense subsidies in Ireland, to support his wars in France and
+Scotland. At last the clergy were obliged to interfere. The Archbishop
+of Cashel opposed these unreasonable demands, and solemnly
+excommunicated the King's collector, and all persons employed in raising
+the obnoxious taxes.
+
+Richard II. succeeded his grandfather, A.D. 1377. As he was only in his
+eleventh year, the government was carried on by his uncles. The Earl of
+March was sent to Ireland as Justiciary, with extraordinary powers. He
+had married Philippa, daughter of Lionel, Duke of Clarence, by his first
+wife, and in her right became Earl of Ulster. One of the Irish princes
+who came to his court, was treacherously arrested and thrown into
+prison. The injustice was resented, or, perhaps, we should rather say,
+feared, by the English nobles as well as the Irish chieftains, who took
+care to keep out of the way of such adventures, by absenting themselves
+from the Viceregal hospitalities. Roger Mortimer succeeded his father,
+and was followed by Philip de Courtenay, the King's cousin. He was
+granted the office for ten years, but, in the interval, was taken into
+custody by the Council of Regency, for his peculations.
+
+There was war in Connaught between the O'Connors, in 1384, and fierce
+hostility continued for years after between the families of the O'Connor
+Don (Brown) and the O'Connor Roe (Red). Richard II. had his favourites
+as usual; and in a moment of wild folly he bestowed the sovereignty of
+Ireland on the Earl of Oxford, whom he also created Marquis of Dublin.
+His royal master accompanied him as far as Wales, and then, determining
+to keep the Earl near his person, despatched Sir John Sydney to the
+troublesome colony.
+
+A royal visit was arranged and accomplished soon after; and on the 2nd
+October, A.D. 1394, Richard II. landed on the Irish shores. The country
+was in its normal state of partial insurrection and general discontent;
+but no attempt was made to remove the chronic cause of all this
+unnecessary misery. There was some show of submission from the Irish
+chieftains, who were overawed by the immense force which attended the
+King. Art MacMurrough, the heir of the ancient Leinster kings, was the
+most formidable of the native nobles; and from his prowess and success
+in several engagements, was somewhat feared by the invaders. He refused
+to defer to any one but Richard, and was only prevailed on to make terms
+when he found himself suddenly immured in Dublin Castle, during a
+friendly visit to the court.
+
+The King's account of his reception shows that he had formed a tolerably
+just opinion of the political state of the country. He mentions in a
+letter from Dublin, that the people might be divided into three
+classes--the "wild Irish, or enemies," the Irish rebels, and the English
+subjects; and he had just discernment enough to see that the "rebels had
+been made such by wrongs, and by want of close attention to their
+grievances," though he had not the judgment or the justice to apply the
+necessary remedy. His next exploit was to persuade the principal Irish
+kings to receive knighthood in the English fashion. They submitted with
+the worst possible grace, having again and again repeated that they had
+already received the honour according to the custom of their own
+country. The dealings of the Anglo-Norman knights, with whom they
+already had intercourse, were not likely to have inspired them with very
+sublime ideas of the dignity. They might, indeed, have been chevaliers
+_sans peur_, but the latter part of the flattering appellation could not
+be applied.
+
+The customs of the Irish nobles were again made a subject of ridicule,
+as they had been during the visit of Prince John; though one should have
+supposed that an increased knowledge of the world should have led to a
+wiser policy, if not to an avoidance of that ignorant criticism, which
+at once denounces everything foreign as inferior.[360] Richard returned
+to England in 1395, after nine months of vain display. He appointed
+Roger Mortimer his Viceroy. Scarcely had the King and his fleet sailed
+from the Irish shores, when the real nature of the proffered allegiance
+of seventy-two kings and chieftains became apparent. The O'Byrnes rose
+up in Wicklow, and were defeated by the Viceroy and the Earl of Ormonde;
+the MacCarthys rose up in Munster, and balanced affairs by gaining a
+victory over the English. The Earl of Kildare was captured by Calvagh
+O'Connor, of Offaly, in 1398; and, in the same year, the O'Briens and
+O'Tooles avenged their late defeat, by a great victory, at Kenlis, in
+Ossory.
+
+In 1399 King Richard paid another visit to Ireland. His exactions and
+oppressions had made him very unpopular in England, and it is probable
+that this expedition was planned to divert the minds of his subjects. If
+this was his object, it failed signally; for the unfortunate monarch was
+deposed by Parliament the same year, and was obliged to perform the act
+of abdication with the best grace he could. His unhappy end belongs to
+English history. Richard again landed in state at Waterford, and soon
+after marched against the indomitable MacMurrough. His main object,
+indeed, appears to have been the subjugation of this "rebel," who
+contrived to keep the English settlers in continual alarm. A French
+chronicler again attended the court, and narrated its proceedings. He
+describes MacMurrough's stronghold in the woods, and says that they did
+not seem much appalled at the sight of the English army. A special
+notice is given of the chieftain's horse, which was worth 400 cows.[361]
+The chieftain's uncle and some others had made an abject submission to
+the English monarch, who naturally hoped that MacMurrough would follow
+their example. He, therefore, despatched an embassy to him, to repair
+the "wrongs" which he had inflicted on the settlers, for which he
+demanded reparation. The Leinster king, however, could neither be
+frightened nor persuaded into seeing matters in that light, and,
+probably, thought the term rebel would be more appropriately applied to
+those who resisted the native rulers of the country. He declared that
+for all the gold in the world he would not submit.
+
+[Illustration: Interview between MacMurrough and the Officers of Richard
+the Strong.]
+
+Richard's army was on the verge of starvation, so he was obliged to
+break up his camp, and march to Dublin. Upon his arrival there,
+MacMurrough made overtures for peace, which were gladly accepted, and
+the Earl of Gloucester proceeded at once to arrange terms with him. But
+no reconciliation could be effected, as both parties refused to yield.
+When Richard heard the result, "he flew into a violent passion, and
+swore by St. Edward he would not leave Ireland until he had MacMurrough
+in his hands, dead or alive." How little he imagined, when uttering the
+mighty boast, that his own fate was even then sealed! Had he but the
+grace to have conciliated instead of threatened, a brave and loyal band
+of Irish chieftains would soon have surrounded him, and the next chapter
+of English history would have been less tragic. Disastrous accounts soon
+reached him from England, which at once annihilated his schemes of Irish
+conquest or revenge. His own people were up in arms, and the
+prescriptive right to grumble, which an Englishman is supposed to enjoy
+par _excellence_, had broken out into overt acts of violence. War was
+inaugurated between York and Lancaster, and for years England was
+deluged with blood.
+
+
+[Illustration: BUTTS' CROSS, KILKENNY.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[349] _Carte_.--See his _Life of the Duke of Ormonde_, folio edition, p.
+7.
+
+[350] _Ormonde_.--The name Ormonde is intended to represent the Irish
+appellative _Ur-Mhumhain_, or Eastern Munster. This part of the country
+was the inheritance of _Cairbré Musc_.
+
+[351] _Palatine_.--The Lords-Palatine were endowed with extraordinary
+power, and were able to exercise a most oppressive tyranny over the
+people under their government.
+
+[352] _Execution_.--Bermingham was related to De Lucy, which perhaps
+induced him to deal more harshly with him. De Lucy's Viceroyalty might
+otherwise have been popular, as he had won the affections of the people
+by assisting them during a grievous famine. See page 329 for an
+illustration of the scene of this tragedy.
+
+[353] _Carrickfergus_.--See illustration at the commencement of this
+chapter.
+
+[354] _Elizabeth_.--This lady was married to Lionel, third son of Edward
+III., in 1352. This prince was created in her right Earl of Ulster. The
+title and estates remained in possession of different members of the
+royal family, until they became the special inheritance of the crown in
+the reign of Edward IV.
+
+[355] _Coigne and livery_.--This was an exaction of money, food, and
+entertainment for the soldiers, and fodder for their horses. A tax of a
+similar kind existed among the ancient Irish; but it was part of the
+ordinary tribute paid to the chief, and therefore was not considered an
+exaction.
+
+[356] _Unsuccessful_.--_Ireland, Historical and Statistical_, vol. i. p.
+200.
+
+[357] _Law_.--_Irish History and Irish Character_, p. 69.
+
+[358] _Favour_.--_Ibid_. p. 70.
+
+[359] _Irish law_.--A considerable amount of testimony might be produced
+to prove that the Irish were and are peculiarly a law-loving people;
+but, in the words of the writer above-quoted, "a people cannot be
+expected to love and reverence oppression, because it is consigned to a
+statute-book, and called law."--p. 71. The truth is, that it was and is
+obviously the interest of English writers to induce themselves to
+believe that Irish discontent and rebellion were caused by anything or
+everything but English oppression and injustice. Even in the present day
+the Irish are supposed to be naturally discontented and rebellious,
+because they cannot submit silently to be expelled from their farms
+without any compensation or any other means of support, either from
+political or religious motives, and because they object to maintain a
+religion contrary to their conscience, and which is admitted by its own
+members to be "clearly a political evil." See concluding remarks in Mr.
+Goldwin Smith's interesting little volume.
+
+[360] _Inferior_.--While these sheets were passing through the press, we
+chanced to meet the following paragraph in an English paper. The article
+was headed "International Courtesy," apropos of the affair at
+Dinan:--"Prince John pulling the beards of the Irish chiefs is the
+aggravated type of a race which alienated half a continent by treating
+its people as colonial, and which gave India every benefit but civility,
+till Bengal showed that it was strong, and Bombay that it could be
+rich," And yet it would be quite as unjust to accuse a whole nation of
+habitual insolence to foreigners and dependents, as to blame every
+Englishman, in the reigns of John or Richard, for the insults offered to
+the Irish nation.
+
+[361]
+
+_Cows_.--"Un cheval ot sans sele ne arcon, Qui lui avint consté, ce
+disoit-on,  Quatre cens vaches, tant estoil bel et bon."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+Henry IV.--A Viceroy's Difficulties--The Houses of York and
+Lancaster--The Colony almost Bankrupt--Literary Ladies in Ireland--A
+Congress of Literati--The Duke of York is made Viceroy--Affection of the
+Irish for him--Popularity of the Yorkists in Ireland--A Book given for a
+Ransom--Desolating Effects of the Wars of the Roses--Accession of Henry
+VII.--Insurrection of the Yorkists--Simnel is crowned in
+Dublin--Warbeck's Insurrection--Poyning's Parliament--Poyning's Law and
+its Effects--The Earl of Kildare accused of Treason--His Defence and
+Pardon--His Quickwitted Speeches--He is acquitted honorably--His Letter
+to the Gherardini--Ariosto.
+
+[A.D. 1402-1509.]
+
+
+A scion of royalty was again sent to administer law--we cannot say
+truthfully to administer justice--in Ireland. On the accession of Henry
+IV., his second son, Thomas, Duke of Lancaster, was made Viceroy, and
+landed at Bullock, near Dalkey, on Sunday, November 13, 1402. As the
+youth was but twelve years of age, a Council was appointed to assist
+him. Soon after his arrival, the said Council despatched a piteous
+document from "Le Naas," in which they represent themselves and their
+youthful ruler as on the very verge of starvation, in consequence of not
+having received remittances from England. In conclusion, they gently
+allude to the possibility--of course carefully deprecated--of "peril and
+disaster" befalling their lord, if further delay should be permitted.
+The King, however, was not in a position to tax his English subjects;
+and we find the prince himself writing to his royal father on the same
+matter, at the close of the year 1402. He mentions also that he had
+entertained the knights and squires with such cheer as could be procured
+under the circumstances, and adds: "I, by the advice of my Council, rode
+against the Irish, your enemies, and did my utmost to harass them."[362]
+Probably, had he shared the cheer with "the Irish his enemies," or even
+showed them some little kindness, he would not have been long placed in
+so unpleasant a position for want of supplies.
+
+John Duke, the then Mayor of Dublin, obtained the privilege of having
+the sword borne before the chief magistrate of that city, as a reward
+for his services in routing the O'Byrnes of Wicklow. About the same time
+John Dowdall, Sheriff of Louth, was murdered in Dublin, by Sir
+Bartholomew Vernon and three other English gentlemen, who were outlawed
+for this and other crimes, but soon after received the royal pardon. In
+1404 the English were defeated in Leix. In 1405 Art MacMurrough
+committed depredations at Wexford and elsewhere, and in 1406 the
+settlers suffered a severe reverse in Meath.
+
+Sir Stephen Scroope had been appointed Deputy for the royal Viceroy, and
+he led an army against MacMurrough, who was defeated after a gallant
+resistance. Teigue O'Carroll was killed in another engagement soon
+after. This prince was celebrated for learning, and is styled in the
+Annals[363] "general patron of the literati of Ireland." A few years
+before his death he made a pilgrimage to Rome, and was honorably
+received on his return by Richard II., at Westminster. In 1412 the
+O'Neills desolated Ulster with their feuds, and about the same time the
+English merchants of Dublin and Drogheda armed to defend themselves
+against the Scotch merchants, who had committed several acts of piracy.
+Henry V. succeeded his father in 1413, and appointed Sir John Stanley
+Lord Deputy. He signalized himself by his exactions and cruelties, and,
+according to the Irish account, was "rhymed to death" by the poet Niall
+O'Higgin, of Usnagh, whom he had plundered in a foray. Sir John Talbot
+was the next Governor. He inaugurated his career by such martial
+exploits against the enemy, as to win golden opinions from the
+inhabitants of "the Pale." Probably the news of his success induced his
+royal master to recall him to England, that he might have his assistance
+in his French wars.
+
+His departure was a general signal for "the enemy" to enact reprisals.
+O'Connor despoiled the Pale, and the invincible Art MacMurrough
+performed his last military exploit at Wexford (A.D. 1416), where he
+took 340 prisoners in one day. He died the following year, and Ireland
+lost one of the bravest and best of her sons. The Annals describe him as
+"a man who had defended his own province, against the English and Irish,
+from his sixteenth to his sixtieth year; a man full of hospitality,
+knowledge, and chivalry." It is said that he was poisoned by a woman at
+New Ross, but no motive is mentioned for the crime. His son, Donough,
+who has an equal reputation for valour, was made prisoner two years
+after by the Lord Deputy, and imprisoned in the Tower of London.
+O'Connor of Offaly, another chieftain who had also distinguished himself
+against the English, died about this time. He had entered the Franciscan
+Monastery of Killeigh a month before his death.
+
+The Irish of English descent were made to feel their position painfully
+at the close of this reign, and this might have led the new settlers to
+reflect, if capable of reflection, that their descendants would soon
+find themselves in a similar condition. The commons presented a petition
+complaining of the extortions and injustices practised by the Deputies,
+some of whom had left enormous debts unpaid. They also represented the
+injustice of excluding Irish law students from the Inns of Court in
+London. A few years previous (A.D. 1417), the settlers had presented a
+petition to Parliament, praying that no Irishman should be admitted to
+any office or benefice in the Church, and that no bishop should be
+permitted to bring an Irish servant with him when he came to attend
+Parliament or Council. This petition was granted; and soon after an
+attempt was made to prosecute the Archbishop of Cashel, who had presumed
+to disregard some of its enactments.
+
+Henry VI. succeeded to the English throne while still a mere infant,
+and, as usual, the "Irish question" was found to be one of the greatest
+difficulties of the new administration. The O'Neills had been carrying
+on a domestic feud in Ulster; but they had just united to attack the
+English, when Edward Mortimer, Earl of March, assumed the government of
+Ireland (A.D. 1425). He died of the plague the following year; but his
+successor in office, Lord Furnival, contrived to capture a number of the
+northern chieftains, who were negotiating peace with Mortimer at the
+very time of his death. Owen O'Neill was ransomed, but the indignation
+excited by this act served only to arouse angry feelings; and the
+northerns united against their enemies, and soon recovered any territory
+they had lost.
+
+Donough MacMurrough was released from the Tower in 1428, after nine
+years' captivity. It is said the Leinster men paid a heavy ransom for
+him. The young prince's compulsory residence in England did not lessen
+his disaffection, for he made war on the settlers as soon as he returned
+to his paternal dominions. The great family feud between the houses of
+York and Lancaster, had but little effect on the state of Ireland.
+Different members of the two great factions had held the office of Lord
+Justice in that country, but, with one exception, they did not obtain
+any personal influence there. Indeed, the Viceroy of those days, whether
+an honest man or a knave, was sure to be unpopular with some party.
+
+The Yorkists and Lancastrians were descended directly from Edward III.
+The first Duke of York was Edward's fifth son, Edmund Plantagenet; the
+first Duke of Lancaster was John of Gaunt, the fourth son of the same
+monarch. Richard II. succeeded his grandfather, Edward III., as the son
+of Edward the Black Prince, so famed in English chivalry. His arrogance
+and extravagance soon made him unpopular; and, during his absence in
+Ireland, the Duke of Lancaster, whom he had banished, and treated most
+unjustly, returned to England, and inaugurated the fatal quarrel. The
+King was obliged to return immediately, and committed the government of
+the country to his cousin, Roger de Mortimer, who was next in succession
+to the English crown, in right of his mother, Philippa, the only child
+of the Duke of Clarence, third son of Edward III. The death of this
+nobleman opened the way for the intrusion of the Lancastrians, the Duke
+of Lancaster having obtained the crown during the lifetime of Richard,
+to the exclusion of the rightful heir-apparent, Edmund, Earl of March,
+son to the late Viceroy.
+
+The feuds of the Earl of Ormonde and the Talbots in Ireland, proved
+nearly as great a calamity to that nation as the disputes about the
+English succession. A Parliament was held in Dublin in 1441, in which
+Richard Talbot, the English Archbishop of Dublin. proceeded to lay
+various requests before the King, the great object of which was the
+overthrow of the Earl, who, by the intermarrying of his kinsmen with the
+Irish, possessed great influence among the native septs contiguous to
+his own territory. The petitioners pray that the government may be
+committed to some "mighty English lord," and they moderately request
+that the said "mighty lord" may be permitted to create temporal peers.
+They hint at the Earl's age as an objection to his administration of
+justice, and assert that "the Lieutenant should be a mighty, courageous,
+and laborious man, to keep the field and make resistance against the
+enemy." But the great crime alleged against him, is that "he hath
+ordained and made Irishmen, and grooms and pages of his household,
+knights of the shire." These representations, however, had but little
+weight in the quarter to which they were addressed, for Ormonde was a
+stout Lancastrian; and if he had sinned more than his predecessors, his
+guilt was covered by the ample cloak of royal partiality. However, some
+appearance of justice was observed. Sir Giles Thornton was sent over to
+Ireland to make a report, which was so very general that it charged no
+one in particular, but simply intimated that there was no justice to be
+had for any party, and that discord and division prevailed amongst all
+the King's officers. The system of appointing deputies for different
+offices was very properly condemned; and the rather startling
+announcement made, that the annual expenses of the Viceroy and his
+officers exceeded all the revenues of Ireland for that year by £4,456.
+In fact, it could not be otherwise; for every official, lay and
+ecclesiastical, English and Anglo-Irish, appear to have combined in one
+vast system of peculation, and, when it was possible, of wholesale
+robbery. Even the loyal burghers of Limerick, Cork, and Galway had
+refused to pay their debts to the crown, and the representatives of
+royalty were not in a position to enforce payment. The Talbot party
+seems to have shared the blame quite equally with the Ormondes, and the
+churchmen in power were just as rapacious as the seculars. After having
+ruined the "mere Irish," the plunderers themselves were on the verge of
+ruin; and the Privy Council declared that unless an immediate remedy was
+applied, the law courts should be closed, and the royal castles
+abandoned. Further complaints were made in 1444; and Robert Maxwell, a
+groom of the royal chamber, was despatched to Ireland with a summons to
+Ormonde, commanding him to appear before the King and Council.
+
+The Earl at once collected his followers and adherents in Drogheda,
+where they declared, in the presence of the King's messenger, as in duty
+bound, that their lord had never been guilty of the treasons and
+extortions with which he was charged, and that they were all thankful
+for "his good and gracious government:" furthermore, they hint that he
+had expended his means in defending the King's possessions. However, the
+Earl was obliged to clear himself personally of these charges in London,
+where he was acquitted with honour by his royal master.[364]
+
+His enemy, Sir John Talbot, known better in English history as the Earl
+of Shrewsbury, succeeded him, in 1446. This nobleman had been justly
+famous for his valour in the wars with France, and it is said that even
+mothers frightened their children with his name. His success in Ireland
+was not at all commensurate with his fame in foreign warfare, for he
+only succeeded so far with the native princes as to compel O'Connor Faly
+to make peace with the English Government, to ransom his sons, and to
+supply some beeves for the King's kitchen. Talbot held a Parliament at
+Trim, in which, for the first time, an enactment was made about personal
+appearance, which widened the fatal breach still more between England
+and Ireland. This law declared that every man who did not shave[365] his
+upper lip, should be treated as an "Irish enemy;" and the said shaving
+was to be performed once, at least, in every two weeks.
+
+In the year 1447 Ireland was desolated by a fearful plague, in which
+seven hundred priests are said to have fallen victims, probably from
+their devoted attendance on the sufferers. In the same year Felim
+O'Reilly was taken prisoner treacherously by the Lord Deputy; and
+Finola, the daughter of Calvagh O'Connor Faly, and wife of Hugh Boy
+O'Neill, "the most beautiful and stately, the most renowned and
+illustrious woman of all her time in Ireland, her own mother only
+excepted, retired from this transitory world, to prepare for eternal
+life, and assumed the yoke of piety and devotion in the Monastery of
+Cill-Achaidh."
+
+This lady's mother, Margaret O'Connor, was the daughter of O'Carroll,
+King of Ely, and well deserved the commendation bestowed on her. She was
+the great patroness of the _literati_ of Ireland, whom she entertained
+at two memorable feasts. The first festival was held at Killeigh, in the
+King's county, on the Feast-day of _Da Sinchell_ (St. Seanchan, March
+26). All the chiefs, brehons, and bards of Ireland and Scotland were
+invited, and 2,700 guests are said to have answered the summons. The
+Lady Margaret received them clothed in cloth of gold, and seated in
+queenly state. She opened the "congress" by presenting two massive
+chalices of gold on the high altar of the church--an act of duty towards
+God; and then took two orphan children to rear and nurse--an act of
+charity to her neighbour. Her noble husband, who had already
+distinguished himself in the field on many occasions, remained on his
+charger outside the church, to welcome his visitors as they arrived. The
+second entertainment was given on the Feast of the Assumption, in the
+same year, and was intended to include all who had not been able to
+accept the first invitation. The chronicler concludes his account with a
+blessing on Lady Margaret, and a curse on the disease which deprived the
+world of so noble an example: "God's blessing, the blessing of all the
+saints, and every blessing, be upon her going to heaven; and blessed be
+he that will hear and read this, for blessing her soul."[366] It is
+recorded of her also, that she was indefatigable in building churches,
+erecting bridges, preparing highways, and providing mass-books. It is a
+bright picture on a dark page; and though there may not have been many
+ladies so liberal or so devoted to learning at that period in Ireland,
+still the general state of female education could not have been
+neglected, or such an example could not have been found or appreciated.
+Felim O'Connor, her son, died in the same year as his mother; he is
+described as "a man of great fame and renown." He had been ill of
+decline for a long time, and only one night intervened between the death
+of the mother and the son, A.D. 1451. Calvagh died in 1458, and was
+succeeded by his son, Con, who was not unworthy of his noble ancestry.
+
+In 1449 the Duke of York was sent to undertake the Viceregal dignity and
+cares. His appointment is attributed to the all-powerful influence of
+Queen Margaret. The immortal Shakspeare, whose consummate art makes us
+read history in drama, and drama in history,[367] has commemorated this
+event, though not with his usual ability. The object of sending him to
+Ireland was to deprive the Yorkists of his powerful support and
+influence, and place the affairs of France, which he had managed with
+considerable ability, in other hands. In fact, the appointment was
+intended as an honorable exile. The Irish, with that natural veneration
+for lawful authority which is so eminently characteristic of the Celtic
+race, were ever ready to welcome a prince of the blood, each time hoping
+against hope that something like ordinary justice should be meted out
+from the fountain-head. For once, at least, they were not disappointed;
+and "noble York" is represented, by an English writer of the sixteenth
+century, as consoling himself "for every kinde of smart," with the
+recollection of the faithful love and devotion of the Irish people.[368]
+
+The royal Duke arrived in Ireland on the 6th of July, 1447. He was
+accompanied by his wife, famous for her beauty, which had obtained her
+the appellation of the "Rose of Raby," and famous also as the mother of
+two English kings, Edward IV. and Richard III. This lady was the
+daughter of Neville, Earl of Westmoreland, whose rather numerous family,
+consisting of twenty-two children, had all married amongst the highest
+families. The Duke was Earl of Ulster in right of Duke Lionel, from whom
+he was descended; but instead of marching at once to claim his
+possessions, he adopted such conciliatory measures as secured him the
+services and affections of a large body of Irish chieftains, with whose
+assistance he soon subdued any who still remained refractory. His
+popularity increased daily. Presents were sent to him by the most
+powerful and independent of the native chieftains. Nor was his "fair
+ladye" forgotten, for Brian O'Byrne, in addition to an offering of four
+hundred beeves to the Duke, sent "two hobbies"[369] for the special use
+of the "Rose of Raby." Indeed, it was reported in England that "the
+wildest Irishman in Ireland would before twelve months be sworn
+English." Such were the fruits of a conciliatory policy, or rather of a
+fair administration of justice.
+
+The cities of Cork, Kinsale, and Youghal, now sent in petitions to the
+Viceroy, complaining bitterly of the way in which the English noblemen
+"fall at variance among themselves," so that the whole country was
+desolated. The settlers of Waterford and Wexford made similar complaints
+against an Irish chieftain, O'Driscoll, whom they describe as "an Irish
+enemy to the King and to all his liege people of Ireland." The Duke
+pacified all parties, and succeeded in attaching the majority of the
+nation more and more to his person and his interests. His English
+friends, who looked on his residence in Ireland as equivalent to
+banishment and imprisonment, were actively employed in promoting his
+return. The disgraceful loss of the English possessions in France, and
+probably still more the haughty and unconciliatory policy adopted by the
+Queen, had strengthened the Yorkist party, and emboldened them to
+action. The Duke was requested to return to England, where the
+insurgents in Kent had already risen under the leadership of the famous
+Jack Cade, whose origin is involved in hopeless obscurity, and whose
+character has been so blackened by writers on the Lancastrian side that
+it is equally incomprehensible. He called himself John Mortimer, and
+asserted that he was cousin to the Viceroy. A proclamation, offering one
+thousand marks for his person, "quick or dead," described him as born in
+Ireland. In consequence of the nonpayment of the annuity which had been
+promised to the Duke during his Viceroyalty, he had been obliged to
+demand assistance from the Irish, who naturally resisted so unjust a
+tax. After useless appeals to the King and Parliament, he returned to
+England suddenly, in September, 1450, leaving Sir James Butler, the
+eldest son of the Earl of Ormonde, as his Deputy.
+
+The history of the Wars of the Roses does not belong to our province; it
+must, therefore, suffice to say, that when his party was defeated in
+England for a time, he fled to Ireland, where he was enthusiastically
+received, and exercised the office of Viceroy at the very time that an
+act of attainder was passed against him and his family. He soon returned
+again to his own country; and there, after more than one brilliant
+victory, he was slain at the battle of Wakefield, on the 31st December,
+1460. Three thousand of his followers are said to have perished with
+him, and among the number were several Irish chieftains from Meath and
+Ulster. The Geraldines sided with the House of York, and the Butlers
+with the Lancastrians: hence members of both families fell on this fatal
+field on opposite sides.
+
+The Earl of Kildare was Lord Justice on the accession of Edward IV., who
+at once appointed his unfortunate brother, the Duke of Clarence, to that
+dignity. The Earls of Ormonde and Desmond were at war (A.D. 1462), and a
+pitched battle was fought between them at Pilltown, in the county
+Kilkenny, where the former was defeated with considerable loss. His
+kinsman, MacRichard Butler, was taken prisoner; and we may judge of the
+value of a book,[370] and the respect for literature in Ireland at that
+period, from the curious fact that a manuscript was offered and accepted
+for his ransom.
+
+The eighth Earl of Desmond, Thomas, was made Viceroy in 1462. He was a
+special favourite with the King. In 1466 he led an army of the English
+of Meath and Leinster against O'Connor Faly, but he was defeated and
+taken prisoner in the engagement. Teigue O'Connor, the Earl's
+brother-in-law, conducted the captives to Carbury Castle, in Kildare,
+where they were soon liberated by the people of Dublin. The Irish were
+very successful in their forays at this period. The men of Offaly
+devastated the country from Tara to Naas; the men of Breffni and Oriel
+performed similar exploits in Meath. Teigue O'Brien plundered Desmond,
+and obliged the Burkes of Clanwilliam to acknowledge his authority, and
+only spared the city of Limerick for a consideration of sixty marks.
+
+The Earl of Desmond appears to have exerted himself in every way for the
+national benefit. He founded a college in Youghal, with a warden, eight
+fellows, and eight choristers. He obtained an Act for the establishment
+of a university at Drogheda, which was to have similar privileges to
+that of Oxford. He is described by native annalists--almost as loud in
+their praises of learning as of valour--as well versed in literature,
+and a warm patron of antiquaries and poets. But his liberality proved
+his ruin. He was accused of making alliances and fosterage of the King's
+Irish enemies; and perhaps he had also incurred the enmity of the Queen
+(Elizabeth Woodville), for it was hinted that she had some share in his
+condemnation. It is at least certain that he was beheaded at Drogheda,
+on the 15th of February, 1467, by the command of Typtoft, Earl of
+Worcester, who was sent to Ireland to take his place as Viceroy, and to
+execute the unjust sentence. The Earl of Kildare was condemned at the
+same time; but he escaped to England, and pleaded his cause so well with
+the King and Parliament, that he obtained his own pardon, and a reversal
+of the attainder against the unfortunate Earl of Desmond.
+
+During the reigns of Edward IV., Edward V., and the usurper Richard,
+there was probably more dissension in England than there ever had been
+at any time amongst the native Irish chieftains. Princes and nobles were
+sacrificed by each party as they obtained power, and regicide might
+almost be called common. The number of English slain in the Wars of the
+Roses was estimated at 100,000. Parliament made acts of attainder one
+day, and reversed them almost on the next. Neither life nor property was
+safe. Men armed themselves first in self-defence, and then in
+lawlessness; and a thoughtful mind might trace to the evil state of
+morals, caused by a long period of desolating domestic warfare, that
+fatal indifference to religion which must have permeated the people,
+before they could have departed as a nation from the faith of their
+fathers, at the mere suggestion of a profligate monarch. The English
+power in Ireland was reduced at this time to the lowest degree of
+weakness. This power had never been other than nominal beyond the Pale;
+within its precincts it was on the whole all-powerful. But now a few
+archers and spearmen were its only defence; and had the Irish combined
+under a competent leader, there can be little doubt that the result
+would have been fatal to the colony. It would appear as if Henry VII.
+hoped to propitiate the Yorkists in Ireland, as he allowed the Earl of
+Kildare to hold the office of Lord Deputy; his brother, Thomas
+FitzGerald, that of Chancellor; and his father-in-law, FitzEustace, that
+of Lord Treasurer. After a short time, however, he restored the Earl of
+Ormonde to the family honours and estates, and thus a Lancastrian
+influence was secured. The most important events of this reign, as far
+as Ireland is concerned, are the plots of Simnel and Perkin Warbeck, and
+the enactments of Poyning's Parliament. A contemporary Irish chronicler
+says: "The son of a Welshman, by whom the battle of Bosworth field was
+fought, was made King; and there lived not of the royal blood, at that
+time, but one youth, who came the next year (1486) in exile to
+Ireland."[371]
+
+The native Irish appear not to have had the least doubt that Simnel was
+what he represented himself to be. The Anglo-Irish nobles were nearly
+all devoted to the House of York; but it is impossible now to determine
+whether they were really deceived, or if they only made the youth a
+pretext for rebellion. His appearance is admitted by all parties to have
+been in his favour; but the King asserted that the real Earl of Warwick
+was then confined in the Tower, and paraded him through London[372] as
+soon as the pseudo-noble was crowned in Ireland. Margaret, Dowager
+Duchess of Burgundy, was the great promoter of the scheme. She
+despatched Martin Swart, a famous soldier, of noble birth, to Ireland,
+with 2,000 men. The expedition was fitted out at her own expense. The
+English Yorkists joined his party, and the little army landed at Dublin,
+in May, 1487. On Whit-Sunday, the 24th of that month, Lambert Simnel was
+crowned in the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity. After the ceremony he was
+borne in state, on the shoulders of tall men to the Castle. One of his
+bearers, a gigantic Anglo-Irishman, was called Great Darcy. Coins were
+now struck, proclamations issued, and all the writs and public acts of
+the colony executed in the name of Edward VI.
+
+Soon after, Simnel's party conducted him to England, where they were
+joined by a few desperate men of the Yorkist party. The battle of Stoke,
+in Nottinghamshire, terminated the affair. The youth and his tutor were
+captured, and the principal officers were slain. According to one
+account, Simnel was made a turnspit in the royal kitchen; according to
+another authority[373] he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. It
+would appear as if Henry was afraid to visit the Earl of Kildare too
+heavily for his transgressions, as he retained him in the office of Lord
+Deputy.
+
+The use of fire-arms appears to have become general in Ireland about
+this period (1487), as the Annals mention that an O'Rourke was slain by
+an O'Donnell, "with a ball from a gun;" and the following year the Earl
+of Kildare destroyed the Castle of Balrath, in Westmeath, with ordnance.
+The early guns were termed hand-cannons and hand-guns, to distinguish
+them from the original fire-arms, which were not portable, though there
+were exceptions to this rule; for some of the early cannons were so
+small, that the cannonier held his gun in his hand, or supported it on
+his shoulder, when firing it.[374]
+
+In 1488 Sir Richard Edgecumbe was sent to Ireland to exact new oaths of
+allegiance from the Anglo-Norman lords, whose fidelity Henry appears to
+have doubted, and not without reason. The commissioner took up his
+lodgings with the Dominican friars, who appear to have been more devoted
+to the English interests than their Franciscan brethren; but they did
+not entertain the knight at their own expense, for he complains
+grievously of his "great costs and charges." A Papal Bull had been
+procured, condemning all who had rebelled against the King. This was
+published by the Bishop of Meath, with a promise of absolution and royal
+pardon for all who should repent. Edgecumbe appears to have been at his
+wit's end to conciliate the "rebels," and informs us that he spent the
+night in "devising as sure an oath as he could." The nobles at last came
+to terms, and took the proffered pledge in the most solemn manner, in
+presence of the Blessed Sacrament. This accomplished, the knight
+returned to England; and on his safe arrival, after a stormy passage,
+made a pilgrimage to Saint Saviour's, in Cornwall.
+
+It is quite impossible now to judge whether these solemn oaths were made
+to be broken, or whether the temptation to break them proved stronger
+than the resolution to keep them. It is at least certain that they were
+broken, and that in a year or two after the Earl of Kildare had received
+his pardon under the Great Seal. In May, 1492, the Warbeck plot was
+promulgated in Ireland, and an adventurer landed on the Irish shores,
+who declared himself to be Richard, Duke of York, the second son of
+Edward IV., who was supposed to have perished in the Tower. His stay in
+Ireland, however, was brief, although he was favourably received. The
+French monarch entertained him with the honours due to a crowned head;
+but this, probably, was merely for political purposes, as he was
+discarded as soon as peace had been made with England. He next visited
+Margaret, the Dowager Duchess of Burgundy, who treated him as if he were
+really her nephew.
+
+Henry now became seriously alarmed at the state of affairs in Ireland,
+and sent over Sir Edward Poyning, a privy counsellor and a Knight of the
+Garter, to the troublesome colony. He was attended by some eminent
+English lawyers, and what was of considerably greater importance, by a
+force of 1,000 men. But neither the lawyers nor the men succeeded in
+their attempt, for nothing was done to conciliate, and the old policy of
+force was the rule of action, and failed as usual. The first step was to
+hunt out the abettors of Warbeck's insurrection, who had taken refuge in
+the north: but the moment the Deputy marched against them, the Earl of
+Kildare's brother rose in open rebellion, and seized Carlow Castle. The
+Viceroy was, therefore, obliged to make peace with O'Hanlon and
+Magennis, and to return south. After recovering the fortress, he held a
+Parliament at Drogheda, in the month of November, 1494. In this
+Parliament the celebrated statute was enacted, which provided that
+henceforth no Parliament should be held in Ireland until the Chief
+Governor and Council had first certified to the King, under the Great
+Seal, as well the causes and considerations as the Acts they designed to
+pass, and till the same should be approved by the King and Council. This
+Act obtained the name of "Poyning's Law." It became a serious grievance
+when the whole of Ireland was brought under English government; but at
+the time of its enactment it could only affect the inhabitants of the
+Pale, who formed a very small portion of the population of that country;
+and the colonists regarded it rather favourably, as a means of
+protecting them against the legislative oppressions of the Viceroys.
+
+The general object of the Act was nominally to reduce the people to
+"whole and perfect obedience." The attempt to accomplish this desirable
+end had been continued for rather more than two hundred years, and had
+not yet been attained. The Parliament of Drogheda did not succeed,
+although the Viceroy returned to England afterwards under the happy
+conviction that he had perfectly accomplished his mission. Acts were
+also passed that ordnance[375] should not be kept in fortresses without
+the Viceregal licence; that the lords spiritual and temporal were to
+appear in their robes in Parliament, for the English lords of Ireland
+had, "through penuriousness, done away the said robes to their own great
+dishonour, and the rebuke of all the whole land;" that the "many
+damnable customs and uses," practised by the Anglo-Norman lords and
+gentlemen, under the names of "coigne, livery, and pay," should be
+reformed; that the inhabitants on the frontiers of the four shires
+should forthwith build and maintain a double-ditch, raised six feet
+above the ground on the side which "meared next unto the Irishmen," so
+that the said Irishmen should be kept out; that all subjects were to
+provide themselves with cuirasses and helmets, with English bows and
+sheaves of arrows; that every parish should be provided with a pair of
+butts,[376] and the constables were ordered to call the parishioners
+before them on holidays, to shoot at least two or three games.
+
+The Irish war-cries[377] which had been adopted by the English lords
+were forbidden, and they were commanded to call upon St. George or the
+King of England. The Statutes of Kilkenny were confirmed, with the
+exception of the one which forbid the use of the Irish language. As
+nearly all the English settlers had adopted it, such an enactment could
+not possibly have been carried out. Three of the principal nobles of the
+country were absent from this assembly: Maurice, Earl of Desmond, was in
+arms on behalf of Warbeck; Gerald, Earl of Kildare, was charged with
+treason; and Thomas, Earl of Ormonde, was residing in England. The Earl
+of Kildare was sent to England to answer the charges of treason which
+were brought against him. Henry had discovered that Poyning's mission
+had not been as successful as he expected, and what, probably,
+influenced him still more, that it had proved very expensive.[378] He
+has the credit of being a wise king in many respects, notwithstanding
+his avariciousness; and he at once saw that Kildare would be more useful
+as a friend, and less expensive, if he ceased to be an enemy. The result
+was the pardon of the "rebel," his marriage with the King's first
+cousin, Elizabeth St. John, and his restoration to the office of Deputy.
+His quick-witted speeches, when examined before the King, took the royal
+fancy. He was accused of having burned the Cathedral of Cashel, to
+revenge himself on the Archbishop, who had sided with his enemy, Sir
+James Ormonde. There was a great array of witnesses prepared to prove
+the fact; but the Earl excited shouts of laughter by exclaiming: "I
+would never have done it, had it not been told me the Archbishop was
+within."
+
+The Archbishop was present, and one of his most active accusers. The
+King then gave him leave to choose his counsel, and time to prepare his
+defence. Kildare exclaimed that he doubted if he should be allowed to
+choose the good fellow whom he would select. Henry gave him his hand as
+an assurance of his good faith. "Marry," said the Earl, "I can see no
+better man in England than your Highness, and will choose no other." The
+affair ended by his accusers declaring that "all Ireland could not rule
+this Earl," to which Henry replied: "Then, in good faith, shall this
+Earl rule all Ireland."[379]
+
+In August, 1489, Kildare was appointed Deputy to Prince Henry, who was
+made Viceroy. In 1498 he was authorized to convene a Parliament, which
+should not sit longer than half a year. This was the first Parliament
+held under Poyning's Act. Sundry regulations were made "for the
+increasing of English manners and conditions within the land, and for
+diminishing of Irish usage." In 1503 the Earl's son, Gerald, was
+appointed Treasurer for Ireland by the King, who expressed the highest
+approval of his father's administration. He married the daughter of Lord
+Zouch of Codnor during his visit to England, and then returned with his
+father to Ireland. Both father and son were treated with the utmost
+consideration at court, and the latter took an important part in the
+funeral ceremonies for the King's eldest son, Arthur. The Earl continued
+in office during the reign of Henry VII. An interesting letter, which he
+wrote in reply to an epistle from the Gherardini of Tuscany, is still
+extant. In this document he requests them to communicate anything they
+can of the origin of their house, their numbers, and their ancestors. He
+informs them that it will give him the greatest pleasure to send them
+hawks, falcons, horses, or hounds, or anything that he can procure which
+they may desire. He concludes:
+
+"God be with you; love us in return.
+
+"GERALD, Chief in Ireland of the family of Gherardini, Earl of Kildare,
+Viceroy of the most serene Kings of England in Ireland."
+
+Eight years after this letter was written, Ariosto writes thus of a
+brave old man, whose fame had passed long before to distant lands:
+
+    "Or guarda gl' Ibernisi: appresso il piano
+     Sono due squadre; e il Conte di Childera
+     Mena la pinna; e il Conte di Desmonda,
+     Da fieri monti ha tratta la seconda."
+
+[Illustration: ROUND TOWER, DONAGHMORE, CO. MEATH.]
+
+[Illustration: RUINS OF SELSKER ABBEY, WEXFORD.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[362] _Them_.--Gilbert's _Viceroys_, p. 292.
+
+[363] _Annals_.--Four Masters, vol. iv. p. 791.
+
+[364] _Master_.--Gilbert's _Viceroys_, p. 347.
+
+[365] _Shave_.--There are no monumental effigies of Henry VI. His
+remains were removed several times by Richard III., who was annoyed at
+the popular belief that he worked miracles; but the costume of the
+period may be studied in an engraving by Strutt, from a scene depicted
+in the Royal M.S., 15E 6, which represents Talbot in the act of
+presenting a volume of romances to the King and Queen. Henry was
+notoriously plain in his dress, but his example was not followed by his
+court. Fairholt says: "It would appear as if the English nobility and
+gentry sought relief in the invention of all that was absurd in apparel,
+as a counter-excitement to the feverish spirit engendered by civil
+war."--_History of Costume_, p. 146.
+
+[366] _Soul_.--Duald Mac Firbis.--_Annals_.
+
+[367] _History_.--The scene is laid at the Abbey of Bury. A _Poste_
+enters and exclaims--
+
+"_Poste_.--Great lords, from Ireland am I come amain, To signify that
+rebels there are up, And put the Englishmen unto the sword. Send
+succours (lords), and stop the rage betime, Before the wound do grow
+uncurable; For being green, there is great hope of help."
+
+_--King Henry VI. Part ii. Act 3._
+
+
+
+[368]
+
+_People_.--"I twise bore rule in Normandy and Fraunce, And last
+lieutenant in Ireland, where my hart Found remedy for every kinde of
+smart; For through the love my doings there did breede, I had my helpe
+at all times in my neede."
+
+--_Mirrour for Magistrates_, vol. ii. p. 189.
+
+Hall, in his _Union of the Two Noble Houses_ (1548), wrote that York
+"got him such love and favour of the country [Ireland] and the
+inhabitants, that their sincere love and friendly affection could never
+be separated from him and his lineage."
+
+[369] _Hobbies_.--Irish horses were famous from an early period of our
+history. They were considered presents worthy of kings. The name
+_hobbies_ is a corruption of _hobilarius_, a horseman. It is probable
+the term is derived from the Spanish _caballo_, a horse. There were
+three different Irish appellations for different kinds of horses,
+_groidh, each_, and _gearran_. These words are still in use, but
+_capall_ is the more common term.
+
+[370] _Book_.--This ancient MS. is still in existence, in the Bodleian
+Library in Oxford (Laud, 610). It is a copy of such portions of the
+Psalter of Cashel as could then be deciphered, which was made for
+Butler, by Shane O'Clery, A.D. 1454. There is an interesting memorandum
+in it in Irish, made by MacButler himself: "A blessing on the soul of
+the Archbishop of Cashel, i.e., Richard O'Hedigan, for it was by him the
+owner of this book was educated. This is the Sunday before Christmas;
+and let all those who shall read this give a blessing on the souls of
+both."
+
+[371] _Ireland_.--_The Annals of Ulster_, compiled by Maguire, Canon of
+Armagh, who died A.D. 1498.
+
+[372] _London_.--The Irish Yorkists declared that this youth was a
+counterfeit. The Earl of Lincoln, son of Elizabeth Plantagenet, sister
+of Richard III., saw and conversed with the boy at the court at Shene,
+and appeared to be convinced that he was not his real cousin, for he
+joined the movement in favour of Simnel immediately after the interview.
+Mr. Gilbert remarks in his _Viceroys_, p. 605, that the fact of all the
+documents referring to this period of Irish history having been
+destroyed, has been quite overlooked. A special Act of Poyning's
+Parliament commanded the destruction of all "records, processes,
+ordinances, &c., done in the 'Laddes' name."
+
+[373] _Authority_.--Gilbert's _Viceroys_, p. 605. The English Parliament
+attainted those English gentlemen and nobles who had fought against the
+King at Stoke, but they took no notice of the English in Ireland, who
+were the real promoters of the rebellion. This is a curious and valuable
+illustration of the state of affairs in that country.
+
+[374] _Firing it_.--A valuable paper on this subject, by Sir S.R.
+Meyrick, will be found in the _Archæologia_, vol. xxii. The people of
+Lucca are supposed to have been the first to use hand-cannons, at the
+beginning of the fifteenth century. Cannon-balls were first made of
+stone, but at the battle of Cressy the English "shot small balls of
+iron." For popular information on this subject, see Fairholt, _History
+of Costume_.
+
+[375] _Ordnance_.--In 1489 six hand-guns or musquets were sent from
+Germany to the Earl of Kildare, which his guard bore while on sentry at
+Thomas Court, his Dublin residence. The word "Pale" came to be applied
+to that part of Ireland occupied by the English, in consequence of one
+of the enactments of Poyning's Parliament, which required all the
+colonists to "pale" in or enclose that portion of the country possessed
+by the English.
+
+[376] _Butts_.--We give an illustration, at the head of this chapter, of
+the Butts' Cross, Kilkenny.
+
+[377] _War-cries_.--That of the Geraldines of Kildare was _Cromadh-abu_,
+from Croom Castle, in Limerick; the war-cry of the Desmond Geraldines
+was _Seanaid-abu_, from Shannid Castle.
+
+[378] _Expensive_.--English writers accuse Henry of miserable
+avariciousness. He is accused of having consented to the execution of
+Sir William Stanley, who had saved his life, for the sake of his
+enormous wealth.--Lingard's _History of England_, vol. v. p. 308. He is
+also accused, by a recent writer, of having seized the Wealth of the
+Queen Dowager, because he chose to believe that she had assisted
+Simnel.--_Victoria History of England_, p. 223.
+
+[379] _Ireland_.--On one occasion, when the Earl and Sir James Ormonde
+had a quarrel, the latter retired into the chapter-house of St.
+Patrick's Cathedral, the door of which he closed and barricaded. The
+Earl requested him to come forth, and pledged his honour for his safety.
+As the knight still feared treachery, a hole was cut in the door,
+through which Kildare passed his hand; and after this exploit, Ormonde
+came out, and they embraced each other.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+The Reign of Henry VIII.--The Three Eras in Irish History: Military
+Violence, Legal Iniquity, and Religious Oppression--The Earl of
+Kildare--Report on the State of Ireland--The Insurrection of Silken
+Thomas--His Execution with his five Uncles--First Attempt to introduce
+the Reformation in Ireland--Real Cause of the English Schism--The King
+acts as Head of the Church--The New Religion enacted by Law, and
+enforced by the Sword--How the Act was opposed by the Clergy, and how
+the Clergy were disposed of--Dr. Browne's Letter to Henry--The Era of
+Religious Persecution--Massacre of a Prelate, Priest, and
+Friars--Wholesale Plunder of Religious Property.
+
+[A.D. 1509-1540.]
+
+
+We have now approached one of the most important standpoints in Irish
+history. An English writer has divided its annals into three eras, which
+he characterizes thus: first, the era of military violence; second, the
+era of legal iniquity; third, the era of religious persecution.[380] We
+may mark out roughly certain lines which divide these periods, but
+unhappily the miseries of the two former blended eventually with the yet
+more cruel wrongs of the latter. Still, until the reign of Henry VIII.,
+the element of religious contention did not exist; and its importance as
+an increased source of discord, may be easily estimated by a careful
+consideration of its subsequent effects. Nevertheless, I believe that
+Irish history has not been fairly represented by a considerable number
+of writers, who are pleased to attribute all the sufferings and wrongs
+endured by the people of that country to religious grounds.
+
+Ireland was in a chronic state of discontent and rebellion, in the eras
+of military violence and legal iniquity, which existed some centuries
+before the era of religious persecution; but, unquestionably all the
+evils of the former period were enhanced and intensified, when the power
+which had so long oppressed and plundered, sought to add to bodily
+suffering the still keener anguish of mental torture.
+
+In the era of military violence, a man was driven from his ancestral
+home by force of arms; in the era of legal iniquity, he was treated as a
+rebel if he complained; but in the era of religious persecution, his
+free will, the noblest gift of God to man--the gift which God Himself
+will not shackle--was demanded from him; and if he dared act according
+to the dictates of his conscience, a cruel death or a cruel confiscation
+was his portion. And this was done in the name of liberty of conscience!
+While England was Catholic, it showed no mercy to Catholic Ireland; I
+doubt much, if Ireland had become Protestant to a man, when England had
+become Protestant as a nation, that she would have shown more
+consideration for the Celtic race. But the additional cruelties with
+which the Irish were visited, for refusing to discard their faith at the
+bidding of a profligate king, are simply matters of history.
+
+Henry succeeded his father in the year 1509. The Earl of Kildare was
+continued in his office as Deputy; but the King's minister, Wolsey,
+virtually ruled the nation, until the youthful monarch had attained his
+majority; and he appears to have devoted himself with considerable zeal
+to Irish affairs. He attempted to attach some of the Irish chieftains to
+the English interest, and seems in some degree to have succeeded. Hugh
+O'Donnell, Lord of Tir-Connell, was hospitably entertained at Windsor,
+as he passed through England on his pilgrimage to Rome. It is said that
+O'Donnell subsequently prevented James IV. of Scotland from undertaking
+his intended expedition to Ireland; and, in 1521, we find him described
+by the then Lord Deputy as the best disposed of all the Irish chieftains
+"to fall into English order."
+
+Gerald, the ninth and last Catholic Earl of Kildare, succeeded his
+father as Lord Deputy in 1513. But the hereditary foes of his family
+were soon actively employed in working his ruin; and even his sister,
+who had married into that family, proved not the least formidable of his
+enemies. He was summoned to London; but either the charges against him
+could not be proved, or it was deemed expedient to defer them, for we
+find him attending Henry for four years, and forming one of his retinue
+at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. Kildare was permitted to return to
+Dublin again in 1523, but he was tracked by Wolsey's implacable hatred
+to his doom.[381] In 1533 he was confined in the Tower for the third
+time. The charges against him were warmly urged by his enemies. Two of
+his sisters were married to native chieftains; and he was accused of
+playing fast and loose with the English as a baron of the Pale--with the
+Irish as a warm ally.[382] Two English nobles had been appointed to
+assist him, or rather to act the spy upon his movements, at different
+times. One of these, Sir Thomas Skeffington, became his most dangerous
+enemy.
+
+In 1515 an elaborate report on the state of Ireland was prepared by the
+royal command. It gives a tolerably clear idea of the military and
+political condition of the country. According to this account, the only
+counties really subject to English rule, were Louth, Meath, Dublin,
+Kildare, and Wexford. Even the residents near the boundaries of these
+districts, were obliged to pay "black mail" to the neighbouring Irish
+chieftains. The King's writs were not executed beyond the bounds
+described; and within thirty miles of Dublin, the Brehon law was in full
+force. This document, which is printed in the first volume of the "State
+Papers" relating to Ireland, contains a list of the petty rulers of
+sixty different states or "regions," some of which "are as big as a
+shire; some more, some less." The writer then gives various opinions as
+to the plans which might be adopted for improving the state of Ireland,
+which he appears to have taken principally from a curious old book,
+called _Salus Populi_.[383] Both writers were of opinion that war to the
+knife was the only remedy for Ireland's grievances. It was at least
+clear that if dead men could tell no tales, neither could dead men rebel
+against oppression; and the writer of the report concludes, "that if the
+King were as wise as Solomon the Sage, he shall never subdue the wild
+Irish to his obedience without dread of the sword." Even this he admits
+may fail; for he adds, "so long as they may resist and save their lives,
+they will never obey the King." He then quotes the _Salus Populi_, to
+show the advantages which England might derive if the Irish united with
+her in her wars on foreign countries, and observes, "that if this land
+were put once in order as aforesaid, it would be none other but a very
+paradise, delicious of all pleasaunce, in respect and regard of any
+other land in this world; inasmuch as there never was stranger nor alien
+person, great or small, that would leave it willingly, notwithstanding
+the said misorder, if he had the means to dwell therein honestly."
+
+It cannot now be ascertained whether Kildare had incited the Irish
+chieftains to rebellion or not. In 1520, during one of his periods of
+detention in London, the Earl of Surrey was sent over as Deputy with a
+large force. It would appear as if a general rising were contemplated at
+that time, and it was then the Earl wrote the letter[384] already
+mentioned to O'Carroll. The new Viceroy was entirely ignorant of the
+state of Ireland, and imagined he had nothing to do but conquer. Several
+successful engagements confirmed him in this pleasing delusion; but he
+soon discovered his mistake, and assured the King that it was hopeless
+to contend with an enemy, who were defeated one day, and rose up with
+renewed energy the next. As a last resource he suggested the policy of
+conciliation, which Henry appears to have adopted, as he empowered him
+to confer the honour of knighthood on any of the Irish chieftains to
+whom he considered it desirable to offer the compliment, and he sent a
+collar of gold to O'Neill. About the same time Surrey wrote to inform
+Wolsey, that Cormac Oge MacCarthy and MacCarthy Reagh were "two wise
+men, and more conformable to order than some English were;" but he was
+still careful to keep up the old policy of fomenting discord among the
+native princes, for he wrote to the King that "it would be dangerful to
+have them both agreed and joined together, as the longer they continue
+in war, the better it should be for your Grace's poor subjects here."
+
+Surrey became weary at last of the hopeless conflict, and at his own
+request he was permitted to return to England and resign his office,
+which was conferred on his friend, Pierse Butler,[385] of Carrick,
+subsequently Earl of Ormonde. The Scotch had begun to immigrate to
+Ulster in considerable numbers, and acquired large territories there;
+the Pale was almost unprotected; and the Irish Privy Council applied to
+Wolsey for six ships-of-war, to defend the northern coasts, A.D. 1522.
+The dissensions between the O'Neills and O'Donnells had broken out into
+sanguinary warfare.
+
+The Earl of Kildare left Ireland for the third and last time, in
+February, 1534. Before his departure he summoned a Council at Drogheda,
+and appointed his son, Thomas, to act as Deputy in his absence. On the
+Earl's arrival in London, he was at once seized and imprisoned in the
+Tower. A false report was carefully circulated in Ireland that he had
+been beheaded, and that the destruction of the whole family was even
+then impending. Nor was there anything very improbable in this
+statement. The English King had already inaugurated his sanguinary
+career. One of the most eminent English laymen, Sir Thomas More, and one
+of her best ecclesiastics, Bishop Fisher, had been accused and beheaded,
+to satisfy the royal caprice. When the King's tutor and his chancellor
+had been sacrificed, who could hope to escape?
+
+The unfortunate Earl had advised his son to pursue a cautious and gentle
+policy; but Lord Thomas' fiery temper could ill brook such precaution,
+and he was but too easily roused by the artful enemies who incited him
+to rebellion. The reports of his father's execution were confirmed. His
+proud blood was up, and he rushed madly on the career of
+self-destruction. On the 11th of June, 1534, he flung down the sword of
+state on the table of the council-hall at St. Mary's Abbey, and openly
+renounced his allegiance to the English monarch. Archbishop Cromer
+implored him with tears to reconsider his purpose, but all entreaties
+were vain. Even had he been touched by this disinterested counsel, it
+would probably have failed of its effect; for an Irish bard commenced
+chanting his praises and his father's wrongs, and thus his doom was
+sealed. An attempt was made to arrest him, but it failed. Archbishop
+Allen, his father's bitterest enemy, fled to the Castle, with several
+other nobles, and here they were besieged by FitzGerald and his
+followers. The Archbishop soon contrived to effect his escape. He
+embarked at night in a vessel which was then lying at Dame's Gate; but
+the ship was stranded near Clontarf, either through accident or design,
+and the unfortunate prelate was seized by Lord Thomas' people, who
+instantly put him to death. The young nobleman is said by some
+authorities to have been present at the murder, as well as his two
+uncles: there is at least no doubt of his complicity in the crime. The
+sentence of excommunication was pronounced against him, and those who
+assisted him, in its most terrible form.
+
+Ecclesiastical intervention was not necessary to complete his ruin. He
+had commenced his wild career of lawless violence with but few
+followers, and without any influential companions. The Castle of
+Maynooth, the great stronghold of the Geraldines, was besieged and
+captured by his father's old enemy, Sir William Skeffington. In the
+meanwhile the intelligence of his son's insurrection had been
+communicated to the Earl, and the news of his excommunication followed
+quickly. The unfortunate nobleman succumbed beneath the twofold blow,
+and died in a few weeks. Lord Thomas surrendered himself in August,
+1535, on the guarantee of Lord Leonard and Lord Butler, under a solemn
+promise that his life should be spared.[386] But his fate was in the
+hands of one who had no pity, even where the tenderest ties were
+concerned. Soon after the surrender of "Silken Thomas," his five uncles
+were seized treacherously at a banquet; and although three of them had
+no part in the rebellion, the nephew and the uncles were all executed
+together at Tyburn, on the 3rd of February, 1537. If the King had hoped
+by this cruel injustice to rid himself of the powerful family, he was
+mistaken. Two children of the late Earl's still existed. They were sons
+by his second wife, Lady Elizabeth Grey. The younger, still an infant,
+was conveyed to his mother in England; the elder, a youth of twelve
+years of age, was concealed by his aunts, who were married to the
+chieftains of Offaly and Donegal, and was soon conveyed to France, out
+of the reach of the enemies who eagerly sought his destruction. It is
+not a little curious to find the native princes, who had been so cruelly
+oppressed by his forefathers, protecting and helping the hapless youth,
+even at the risk of their lives. It is one of many evidences that the
+antipathy of Celt to Saxon is not so much an antipathy of race or
+person, as the natural enmity which the oppressed entertains towards the
+oppressor.
+
+Henry made his first appearance at establishing his spiritual supremacy
+in the year 1534, by appointing an Augustinian friar, who had
+already[387] become a Protestant, to the see of Dublin. He was
+consecrated by Cranmer, always the servile instrument of the royal
+pleasure. The previous events in England, which resulted in the national
+schism, are too well known to require much observation. It must be
+admitted as one of the most patent facts of history, that the English
+King never so much as thought of asserting his supremacy in spiritual
+matters, until he found that submission to Papal supremacy interfered
+with his sinful inclinations. If Pope Clement VII. had dissolved the
+marriage between Queen Catherine and Henry VIII. in 1528, Parliament
+would not have been asked to legalize the national schism in 1534. Yet
+it would appear as if Henry had hesitated for a moment before he
+committed the final act of apostacy. It was Cromwell who suggested the
+plan which he eventually followed. With many expressions of humility he
+pointed out the course which might be pursued. The approbation of the
+Holy See, he said, was the one thing still wanting. It was plain now
+that neither bribes nor threats could procure that favour. But was it so
+necessary as the King had hitherto supposed? It might be useful to avert
+the resentment of the German Emperor; but if it could not be obtained,
+why should the King's pleasure depend on the will of another? Several of
+the German princes had thrown off their allegiance to the Holy See: why,
+then, should not the English King? The law could legalize the King's
+inclination, and who dare gainsay its enactments? Let the law declare
+Henry the head of the Church, and he could, as such, give himself the
+dispensations for which he sought. The law which could frame articles of
+faith and sanction canons, could regulate morals as easily as it could
+enact a creed.
+
+Such counsel was but too acceptable to a monarch resolved to gratify his
+passions at all hazards, temporal or spiritual. Cromwell was at once
+appointed a member of the Privy Council. He received a patent for life
+of the Chancellorship of the Exchequer, and he was authorized to frame
+the necessary bills, and conduct them through the two houses.[388]
+Parliament complied without hesitation; the clergy in convocation made a
+show of opposition, which just sufficed to enhance their moral
+turpitude, since their brief resistance intimated that they acted
+contrary to their consciences in giving their final assent. The royal
+supremacy in matters ecclesiastical, was declared to be the will of God
+and the law of the land.
+
+The King's mistress was now made his wife, by the same authority which
+had made the King head of the Church; and it was evident that the
+immediate cause of the separation of the English nation from the
+Catholic Church was the desire of the monarch, that his profligacy
+should obtain some kind of sanction. But this commencement of the
+Anglican Establishment, however true, is so utterly disreputable, that
+English historians have been fain to conceal, as far as might be, the
+real cause, and to justify the schism by bringing grave charges[389]
+against the Church. This, after all, is a mere _petitio principii_. It
+has been already remarked that England was demoralized socially to an
+extraordinary degree, as a nation always has been by a continuance of
+civil war. The clergy suffered from the same causes which affected the
+laity, and the moral condition of the ecclesiastical body was not all
+that could be desired. These were remote causes, which acted powerfully
+as they rolled along the stream of time, and which broke the barriers of
+faith like an overwhelming torrent, when an additional impetus was
+given. But it should be distinctly remembered (1) that the direct act of
+schism was committed when Henry required Parliament and Convocation to
+exalt him to the spiritual supremacy; and (2) that the sins of churchmen
+and the faith of the Church are two distinct questions. There may have
+been more corruption of life and morals, both in the laity and the
+priesthood of the Catholic Church at the Reformation, than at any other
+period of the Church's history; but the Jews had been commanded to obey
+the Scribes and Pharisees, because they sat in Moses' seat, at the very
+time when the Lamb of God could find no milder term to describe their
+hypocrisy and iniquity than that of a generation of vipers.
+
+If schism is admitted to be a sin, it is difficult to see how any amount
+of crime with which other individuals can be charged, even justly,
+lessens the guilt of the schismatic. There can be little doubt that the
+members of the Church are most fervent and edifying in their lives, when
+suffering from persecution. Ambition has less food when there are no
+glittering prizes within its reach. Faith is more sincere when there are
+no motives for a false profession, and every natural motive to conceal
+religious belief. The Irish clergy were never charged with the gross
+crimes which have been mentioned in connexion with some few of their
+brethren in England. Those who ministered outside the Pale, lived in
+poverty and simplicity. The monasteries were not so richly endowed as
+the English conventual houses; and, perhaps, this freedom from the
+world's goods, served to nerve them for the coming trial; and that their
+purer and more fervent lives saved the Irish Church and people from
+national apostacy.
+
+Soon after Dr. Browne's arrival in Ireland, he received an official
+letter from Cromwell, containing directions for his conduct there. He is
+informed it is "the royal will and pleasure of his Majesty, that his
+subjects in Ireland, even as those in England, should obey his commands
+in spiritual matters as in temporal, and renounce their allegiance to
+the See of Rome." This language was sufficiently plain. They are
+required to renounce their allegiance to the See of Rome, simply because
+"the King wills it." The affair is spoken of as if it were some
+political matter, which could easily be arranged. But the source of this
+prelate's authority was simply political; for Henry writes to him thus:
+"Let it sink into your remembrance, that we be as able, for the not
+doing thereof, to remove you again, and put another man of more virtue
+and honesty into your place, as we were at the beginning to prefer you."
+Browne could certainly be in no doubt from whom he had received his
+commission to teach and preach to the people of Ireland; but that nation
+had received the faith many centuries before, from one who came to them
+with very different credentials; and years of oppression and most cruel
+persecution have failed in inducing them to obey human authority rather
+than divine.
+
+Dr. Browne soon found that it was incomparably easier for Henry to issue
+commands in England, than for him to enforce them in Ireland. He
+therefore wrote to Cromwell, from Dublin, on "the 4th of the kal. of
+December, 1535," and informed him that he "had endeavoured, almost to
+the danger and hazard of my temporal life, to procure the nobility and
+gentry of this nation to due obedience in owning of his Highness their
+supreme head, as well spiritual as temporal; and do find much oppugning
+therein, especially by my brother Armagh, who hath been the main
+oppugner, and so hath withdrawn most of his suffragans and clergy within
+his see and diocese. He made a speech to them, laying a curse on the
+people whosoever should own his Highness' supremacy, saying, that
+isle--as it is in their Irish chronicles, _insula sacra_--belongs to
+none but the Bishop of Rome, and that it was the Bishop of Rome that
+gave it to the King's ancestors."[390] Dr. Browne then proceeds to
+inform his correspondent that the Irish clergy had sent two messengers
+to Rome.[391] He states "that the common people of this isle are more
+zealous in their blindness, than the saints and martyrs were in truth;"
+and he advises that a Parliament should at once be summoned, "to pass
+the supremacy by Act; for they do not much matter his Highness'
+commission, which your lordship sent us over." Truly, the nation which
+had been so recently enlightened in so marvellous a manner, might have
+had a little patience with the people who could not so easily discern
+the new light; and, assuredly, if the term "Church by law established"
+be applicable to the Protestant religion in England, it is, if possible,
+still more applicable to the Protestant Establishment in Ireland, since
+the person delegated to found the new religion in that country, has
+himself stated it could only be established there by Act of Parliament.
+
+The Parliament was summoned in 1536; but, as a remote preparation, the
+Lord Deputy made a "martial circuit" of Ireland, hoping thereby to
+overawe the native septs, and compel their submission to the royal will
+and pleasure. "This preparation being made," _i.e.,_ the "martial
+circuit"--I am quoting from Sir John Davies;[392] I request the reader's
+special attention to the statement--"he first propounded and passed in
+Parliament these Lawes, which made the great alteration in the State
+Ecclesiastical, namely, the Act which declared King Henry VIII. to be
+Supreme Head of the Church of Ireland; the Act prohibiting Apeales to
+the Church of Rome; the Act for first fruites and twentieth part to be
+paid to the King; and lastly, the Act that did utterly abolish the
+usurped Authoritie of the Pope. Next, for the increase of the King's
+Revenew. By one Act he suppressed sundry Abbayes and Religious Houses,
+and by another Act resumed the Lands of the Absentees."
+
+The royal process of conversion to the royal opinions, had at least the
+merits of simplicity. There is an old rhyme--one of those old rhymes
+which are often more effectual in moving the hearts of the multitude
+than the most eloquent sermons, and truer exponents of popular feeling
+than Acts of Parliament--which describes the fate of Forrest, the
+Franciscan friar, confessor of the King's only lawful wife and the
+consequences of his temerity in denying the King's supremacy:--
+
+     "Forrest, the fryar,
+      That obstinate lyar,
+    That wilfully will be dead;
+      Incontinently
+      The Gospel doth deny,
+    The King to be supreme head."
+
+There is a grand and simple irony in this not easily surpassed. Some
+very evident proofs had been given in England, that to deny the King's
+spiritual supremacy was "wilfully to be dead," although neither the King
+nor the Parliament had vouchsafed to inform the victims in what part of
+the Gospel the keys of the kingdom of heaven had been given to a
+temporal prince. Still, as I have observed, the royal process was
+extremely simple--if you believed, you were saved; if you doubted, you
+died.
+
+With the example of Sir Thomas More[393] before their eyes, the
+Anglo-Norman nobles and gentlemen, assembled in Parliament by the royal
+command, were easily persuaded to do the royal bidding. But the
+ecclesiastics were by no means so pliable. Every diocese had the
+privilege of sending two proctors to Parliament; and these proctors
+proved so serious an obstacle, that Lords Grey and Brabazon wrote to
+Cromwell, that they had prorogued the Parliament in consequence of the
+"forwardness and obstinacy of the proctors, of the clergy, and of the
+bishops and abbots;" and they suggest that "some means should be
+devised, whereby they should be brought to remember their duty better,"
+or that "means may be found which shall put these proctors from a voice
+in Parliament."[394] The means were easily found--the proctors were
+forbidden to vote.[395] The Act was passed. Every one who objected to it
+having been forbidden to vote, Henry's agents on the Continent
+proclaimed triumphantly that the Irish nation had renounced the
+supremacy of Rome. A triumph obtained at the expense of truth, is but
+poor compensation for the heavy retribution which shall assuredly be
+demanded of those who have thus borne false witness against their
+neighbour. Men forget too often, in the headlong eagerness of
+controversy, that truth is eternal and immutable, and that no amount of
+self-deceit or successful deception of others can alter its purity and
+integrity in the eyes of the Eternal Verity.
+
+The Irish Parliament, or, we should say more correctly, the men
+permitted to vote in Ireland according to royal directions, had already
+imitated their English brethren by declaring the marriage of Henry and
+Catherine of Arragon null and void, and limiting the succession to the
+crown to the children of Anna Boleyn. When this lady had fallen a victim
+to her husband's caprice, they attainted her and her posterity with
+equal facility. A modern historian has attempted to excuse Henry's
+repudiation of his lawful wife, on the ground of his sincere anxiety to
+prevent disputes about the succession.[396] But the King's subsequent
+conduct ought surely to have deterred any one from attempting so rash an
+apology. To doubt the royal supremacy, or the right of the lady, who for
+the time being held a place in Henry's affections, to royal honours, was
+an evidence of insincerity in devotion to himself which he could not
+easily pardon.
+
+As it was now ascertained that the Irish people would not apostatize as
+a nation, an expedient was prepared for their utter extirpation. It
+would be impossible to believe that the human heart could be guilty of
+such cruelty, if we had not evidence of the fact in the State Papers. By
+this diabolical scheme it was arranged to till or carry away their
+cattle, and to destroy their corn while it was green. "The very living
+of the Irishry," observes the writer, "doth clearly consist in two
+things; and take away the same from them, and they are past power to
+recover, or yet to annoy any subject in Ireland. Take first from them
+their corn--burn and destroy the same; and then have their cattle and
+beasts, which shall be most hardest to come by, and yet, with guides and
+policy, they be often had and taken." Such was the arrangement; and it
+was from no want of inclination that it was not entirely carried out,
+and the "Irishry" starved to death in their own land.
+
+The title of King of Ireland had not as yet been given to English
+monarchs, but the ever-subservient Parliament of this reign granted
+Henry this addition to his privileges, such as it was. We have already
+seen the style in which the "supreme head of the Church" addressed the
+bishops whom he had appointed; we shall now give a specimen of their
+subserviency to their master, and the fashion in which they executed his
+commands, before returning to secular history.
+
+Henry's letter to Dr. Browne is dated July 7th, 1537; the Bishop's reply
+is given on the 27th September, 1537. He commences by informing his most
+excellent Highness that he had received his most gracious letter on the
+7th September, and that "it made him tremble in body for fear of
+incurring his Majesty's displeasure," which was doubtless the most
+truthful statement in his epistle. He mentions all his zeal and efforts
+against Popery, which, he adds, "is a thing not little rooted among the
+inhabitants here." He assures the King of his activity in securing the
+twentieth part and first-fruits for the royal use (what had been given
+to God was now given to Cæsar), and states what, indeed, could not be
+denied, that he was the "first spiritual man who moved" for this to be
+done. He concludes with the fearful profanity of "desiring of God, that
+the ground, should open and swallow him up the hour or minute that he
+should declare the Gospel of Christ after any sort than he had done
+heretofore, in rebuking the Papistical power, _or in any other point
+concerning the advancement of his Grace's affairs_."
+
+Such a tissue of profanity and absurdity was seldom penned; but men who
+could write and act thus were fitting instruments for a man, who made it
+a point of conscience to commit immoral crimes that he might preserve
+the succession; who kept his mistress in the same palace with his queen;
+and only went through the form of marriage when he found his real or
+pretended wishes about the same succession on the point of being
+realized in a manner that even he could not fail to see would scarcely
+be admitted as legal or legitimate by public opinion, whatever an
+obsequious Parliament might do. It is at least certain that such letters
+never were addressed by Catholic prelates to the Holy See, and that
+those who speak of its tyranny and priestcraft, and the absolute
+submission it requires from its subjects, would do well to remember the
+trite motto, _Audi alteram partem_, and to inquire whether a similar
+charge might not be made more justly against the founders of the
+Protestant Establishment.
+
+Dr. Browne and the Lord Deputy now rivalled each other in their efforts
+to obtain the royal approbation, by destroying all that the Irish people
+held most sacred, determined to have as little cause as possible for
+"the trembling in body" which the King's displeasure would effect. They
+traversed the land from end to end, destroying cathedrals, plundering
+abbeys, and burning relics--all in the name of a religion which
+proclaimed liberty of conscience to worship God according to individual
+conviction, as the great boon which it was to confer on the nation.
+However full of painful interest these details may be, as details they
+belong to the province of the ecclesiastical historian. The Four Masters
+record the work of desecration in touching and mournful strains. They
+tell of the heresy which broke out in England, and graphically
+characterize it as "the effect of pride, vain-glory, avarice, and
+sensual desire." They mention how "the King and Council enacted new laws
+and statutes after their own will." They observe that all the property
+of the religious orders was seized for the King; and they conclude thus:
+"They also made archbishops and bishops for themselves; and although
+great was the persecution of the Roman emperors against the Church, it
+is not probable that so great a persecution as this ever came upon the
+world; so that it is impossible to tell or narrate its description,
+unless it should be told by him saw it."[397]
+
+The era of religious persecution was thus inaugurated; and if Ireland
+had made no martyrs of the men who came to teach her the faith, she was
+not slow to give her best and noblest sons as victims to the fury of
+those who attempted to deprive her of that priceless deposit. Under the
+year 1540, the Four Masters record the massacre of the Guardian and
+friars of the Convent at Monaghan, for refusing to acknowledge the
+spiritual supremacy of the King. Cornelius, Bishop of Down, a Franciscan
+friar, and Father Thomas FitzGerald, a member of the noble family of the
+Geraldines, and a famous preacher, were both killed in the convent of
+that Order in Dublin. Father Dominic Lopez has given a detailed account
+of the sufferings of the religious orders in Ireland during the reign of
+Henry VIII., in a rare and valuable work, entitled, _Noticias Historicas
+de las tres florentissimas Provincias del celeste Ordem de la Ssma.
+Trinidad_.[398] I shall give two instances from this history, as a
+sample of the fashion in which the new doctrine of the royal supremacy
+was propagated. In 1539 the Prior and religious of the Convent of
+Atharee were commanded to take the oath of supremacy, and to surrender
+their property to the crown. The Superior, Father Robert, at once
+assembled his spiritual children, and informed them of the royal
+mandate. Their resolution was unanimous; after the example of the early
+Christians, when threatened with martyrdom and spoliation by heathen
+emperors, they at once distributed their provisions, clothing, and any
+money they had in hand amongst the poor, and concealed the sacred
+vessels and ornaments, so that not so much as a single emblem of our
+redemption was left to be desecrated by men professing to believe that
+they had been redeemed by the cross of Christ. Father Robert was
+summoned thrice to recognize the new authority. Thrice he declined;
+declaring that "none had ever sought to propagate their religious tenets
+by the sword, except the pagan emperors in early ages, and Mahomet in
+later times. As for himself and his community, they were resolved that
+no violence should move them from the principles of truth: they
+recognized no head of the Catholic Church save the Vicar of Jesus
+Christ; and as for the King of England, they regarded him not even as a
+member of that holy Church, but as head of the synagogue of Satan." The
+conclusion of his reply was a signal for massacre. An officer instantly
+struck off his head with one blow. As the prisons were already full of
+"recusants," the friars were placed in confinement in private houses,
+some were secretly murdered, and others were publicly hanged in the
+market-place. These events occurred on the 12th and 13th of February,
+1539.
+
+An almost similar tragedy was enacted in the Trinitarian Convent of
+Limerick, where the Prior was coadjutor to the Bishop of that city. He
+also assembled the brethren, exhorted them to perseverance, distributed
+their few poor possessions, and concealed the sacred vessels. On the
+feast of St. John Baptist, 24th June, in the year of grace 1539, he
+preached in his cathedral against the new heresy, and exhorted his flock
+to persevere in the faith. The emissaries of Government were afraid to
+attack him openly; but that evening they visited him at his private
+residence, and offered him his choice between death and apostacy. For
+all reply the venerable prelate knelt down, and exclaimed: "O Lord, on
+this morning I offered to Thee on the altar the unbloody sacrifice of
+the body of my Saviour; grant that I may now offer, to Thy greater
+honour and glory, the sacrifice of my own life." Then he turned towards
+a picture of the most holy Trinity, which was suspended in his room, and
+scarce had time to pronounce the aspiration of his Order, "_Sancta
+Trinitas, unus Deus, miserere nobis_," ere his head was severed from his
+body, and he entered upon the beatific vision of the Three in One, for
+Whom he had so gladly sacrificed his life.
+
+The Protestant Archbishop, Dr. Browne, the Lord Chancellor, and some
+other members of the Council, set out on a "visitation" of the four
+counties of Carlow, Wexford, Waterford, and Tipperary, in which the
+church militant was for the nonce represented by the church military.
+They transmitted an account of their expedition, and the novel fashion
+in which they attempted to propagate the Gospel, to England, on the 18th
+January, 1539. One brief extract must suffice as a specimen of their
+proceedings. "The day following we kept the sessions there [at Wexford].
+There was put to execution four felons, accompanied with another, a
+friar, whom we commanded to be hanged in his habit, and so to remain
+upon the gallows for a mirror to all his brethren to live truly."[399]
+
+There was One, whom from reverence I name not here, who said, when about
+to die, that, when "lifted up, He should draw all men unto Him."
+Centuries have rolled by since those most blessed words were uttered,
+but they have been verified in the disciples as well as in the Master.
+The "lifting up" of a friar upon the gallows, or of a bishop upon the
+block, has but served to draw men after them; and the reformations they
+failed to effect during their lives, by their preaching and example,
+have been accomplished after and because of their martyrdoms.
+
+The reformers now began to upbraid each other with the very crimes of
+which they had accused the clergy in England. When mention is made of
+the immense sums of money which were obtained by the confiscation of
+religious houses at this period, it has been commonly and naturally
+supposed, that the religious were possessors of immense wealth, which
+they hoarded up for their own benefit; and although each person made a
+vow of poverty, it is thought that what was possessed collectively, was
+enjoyed individually. But this false impression arises (1) from a
+mistaken idea of monastic life, and (2) from a misapprehension as to the
+kind of property possessed by the religious.
+
+A brief account of some of the property forfeited in Ireland, will
+explain this important matter. We do not find in any instance that
+religious communities had large funds of money. If they had extensive
+tracts of land, they were rather the property of the poor, who farmed
+them, than of the friars, who held them in trust. Any profit they
+produced made no addition to the fare or the clothing of the religious,
+for both fare and clothing were regulated by certain rules framed by the
+original founders, and which could not be altered. These rules
+invariably required the use of the plainest diet and of the coarsest
+habits. A considerable portion--indeed, by far the most considerable
+portion--of conventual wealth, consisted in the sacred vessels and
+ornaments. These had been bestowed on the monastic churches by
+benefactors, who considered that what was used in the service of God
+should be the best which man could offer. The monk was none the richer
+if he offered the sacrifice to the Eternal Majesty each morning in a
+chalice of gold, encrusted with the most precious jewels; but if it were
+right and fitting to present that chalice to God for the service of His
+Divine Majesty, who shall estimate the guilt of those who presumed to
+take the gift from Him to whom it had been given? We know how terrible
+was the judgment which came upon a heathen monarch who dared to use the
+vessels which had belonged to the Jewish Temple, and we may believe that
+a still more terrible judgment is prepared for those who desecrate
+Christian churches, and that it will be none the less sure, because,
+under the new dispensation of mercy, it comes less swiftly.
+
+All the gold and silver plate, jewels, ornaments, lead, bells, &c., were
+reserved by special command for the King's use.[400] The church-lands
+were sold to the highest bidder, or bestowed as a reward on those who
+had helped to enrich the royal coffers by sacrilege. Amongst the records
+of the sums thus obtained, we find £326 2s. 11d., the price of divers
+pieces of gold and silver, of precious stones, silver ornaments, &c.;
+also £20, the price of 1,000 lbs. of wax. The sum of £1,710 2s. was
+realized from the sale of sacred vessels belonging to thirty-nine
+monasteries. The profits on the spoliation of St. Mary's, Dublin,
+realized £385. The destruction of the Collegiate Church of St. Patrick
+must have procured an enormous profit, as we find that Cromwell received
+£60 for his pains in effecting the same. It should also be remembered
+that the value of a penny then was equal to the value of a shilling now,
+so that we should multiply these sums at least by ten to obtain an
+approximate idea of the extent of this wholesale robbery.
+
+The spoilers now began to quarrel over the spoils. The most active or
+the most favoured received the largest share; and Dr. Browne grumbled
+loudly at not obtaining all he asked for. But we have not space to
+pursue the disedifying history of their quarrels. The next step was to
+accuse each other. In the report of the Commissioners appointed in 1538
+to examine into the state of the country, we find complaints made of the
+exaction of undue fees, extortions for baptisms and marriages, &c. They
+also (though this was not made an accusation by the Commissioners)
+received the fruits of benefices in which they did not officiate, and
+they were accused of taking wives and dispensing with the sacrament of
+matrimony. The King, whatever personal views he might have on this
+subject, expected his clergy to live virtuously; and in 1542 he wrote to
+the Lord Deputy, requiring an Act to be passed "for the continency of
+the clergy," and some "reasonable plan to be devised for the avoiding of
+sin." However, neither the Act nor the reasonable plan appear to have
+succeeded. In 1545, Dr. Browne writes: "Here reigneth insatiable
+ambition; here reigneth continually coigne and livery, and callid
+extortion." Five years later, Sir Anthony St. Leger, after piteous
+complaints of the decay of piety and the increase of immorality,
+epitomizes the state of the country thus: "I never saw the land so far
+out of good order."[401] Pages might be filled with such details; but
+the subject shall be dismissed with a brief notice of the three props of
+the Reformation and the King's supremacy in Ireland. These were Dr.
+Browne of Dublin, Dr. Staples of Meath, and Dr. Bale of Ossory. The
+latter writing of the former in 1553, excuses the corruption of his own
+reformed clergy, by stating that "they would at no hand obey; alleging
+for their vain and idle excuse, the lewd example of the Archbishop of
+Dublin, who was always slack in things pertaining to God's glory." He
+calls him "an epicurious archbishop, a brockish swine, and a dissembling
+proselyte," and accuses him in plain terms of "drunkenness and
+gluttony." Dr. Browne accuses Dr. Staples of having preached in such a
+manner, "as I think the three-mouthed Cerberus of hell could not have
+uttered it more viperously." And Dr. Mant, the Protestant panegyrist of
+the Reformation and the Reformers, admits that Dr. Bale was guilty of
+"uncommon warmth of temperament"--a polite appellation for a most
+violent temper; and of "unbecoming coarseness"--a delicate definement of
+a profligate life. His antecedents were not very creditable. After
+flying from his convent in England, he was imprisoned for preaching
+sedition in York and London. He obtained his release by professing
+conformity to the new creed. He eventually retired to Canterbury, after
+his expulsion from Kilkenny by the Catholics, and there he died, in
+1563.
+
+[Illustration: SCULPTURES AT DEVENISH.]
+
+[Illustration: BOSS ISLAND.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[380] _Persecution_.--Smith's _Ireland Hist. and Statis_. vol. i. p.
+327.
+
+[381] _Doom_.--See _The Earls of Kildare_, vol. i. p. 106, for Wolsey's
+reasons for not removing him from the Viceroyalty, notwithstanding his
+dislike.
+
+[382] _Ally_.--He was charged with having written a letter to O'Carroll
+of Ely, in which he advised him to keep peace with the Pale until a
+Deputy should come over, and then to make war on the English. The object
+of this advice is not very clear.
+
+[383] _Salus Populi_.--There is a copy of this book in MS. in the
+British Museum. The name of the author is not known.
+
+[384] _Letter_.--The deposition accusing Kildare is printed in the
+"State Papers," part iii. p. 45. The following is an extract from the
+translation which it gives of his letter to O'Carroll. The original was
+written in Irish: "Desiring you to kepe good peas to English men tyll an
+English Deputie come there; and when any English Deputie shall come
+thydder, doo your beste to make warre upon English men there, except
+suche as bee towardes mee, whom you know well your silf."
+
+[385] _Pierse Butler_.--Called by the Irish, Red Pierse. Leland gives a
+curious story about him. He was at war with MacGillapatrick, who sent an
+ambassador to Henry VIII. to complain of the Earl's proceedings. The
+messenger met the English King as he was about to enter the royal
+chapel, and addressed him thus: "Stop, Sir King! my master,
+Gillapatrick, has sent me to thee to say, that if thou wilt not punish
+the Red Earl he will make war on thee." Pierse resigned his title in
+favour of Sir Thomas Boleyn, in 1527, and was created Earl of Ossory;
+but after the death of the former he again took up the old title, and
+resigned the new.
+
+[386] _Spared._--It is quite evident from the letter of the Council to
+Henry VIII. (State Papers, ciii.), that a promise was made. Henry admits
+it, and regrets it in his letter to Skeffington (S.P. cvi.): "The doyng
+whereof [FitzGerald's capture], albeit we accept it thankfully, yet, if
+he had been apprehended after such sorte as was convenable to his
+deservynges, the same had been muche more thankfull and better to our
+contentacion."
+
+[387] _Already_.--Mant describes him as a man "whose mind was happily
+freed from the thraldom of Popery," before his appointment.--_History of
+the Church of Ireland_, vol. i. p. 111.
+
+[388] _Houses_.--Lingard, vol. vi. p. 203.
+
+[389] _Charges_.--Mr. Froude has adopted this line with considerable
+ability, in his _History of England_. He has collected certain
+statements, which he finds in the books of the Consistory Courts, and
+gives details from these cases which certainly must "shock his readers"
+considerably, as he expects. He leaves it to be implied that, as a rule,
+ecclesiastics lived in open immorality. He gives names and facts
+concerning the punishment of priests for vicious lives (_History of
+England_, vol. i. pp. 178-180); and asserts that their offences were
+punished lightly, while another measure was dealt out to seculars. He
+might as well select the cases of scandal given by Protestant clergymen
+in modern times from the law books, and hold them up as specimens of the
+lives of all their brethren. The cases were exceptions; and though they
+do prove, what is generally admitted, that the moral condition of the
+clergy was not all that could be desired in individual cases, they also
+prove that such cases were exceptional, and that they were condemned by
+the Church, or they would not have been punished. With regard to the
+punishment, we can scarcely call it a light penance for a _priest_ to be
+compelled to go round the church barefoot, to kneel at each altar and
+recite certain prayers, and this while High Mass was singing. It was a
+moral disgrace, and keener than a corporal punishment. The writer also
+evidently misunderstands the Catholic doctrine of absolution, when he
+says that a fine of six-and-eightpence was held sufficient penalty for a
+mortal sin.
+
+[390] _Ancestors_.--See the _Phoenix_, a collection of valuable papers,
+published in London, 1707; and the _Harleian Miscellany_, &c.
+
+[391] _Rome_.--This was the invariable practice of the Irish Church. It
+will be remembered how letters and expostulations had been sent to the
+Holy See in regard to the temporal oppressions of the English settlers.
+
+[392] _Davies.--Cause why Ireland was never Subdued_.--Thorn's Reprints,
+vol. i. p. 694.
+
+[393] _More_.-Sir Thomas More's son-in-law, Roper, gives the following
+account of his condemnation: "Mr. Rich, pretending friendly talk with
+him, among other things of a set course, said this unto him: 'Admit
+there were, sir, an Act of Parliament that the realm should take me for
+king; would not you, Master More, take me for King?' 'Yes, sir,' quoth
+Sir Thomas More, 'that I would.' 'I put the case further,' quoth Mr.
+Rich, 'that there were an Act of Parliament that all the realm should
+take me for Pope; would not you then, Master More, take me for Pope?'
+'For answer, sir,' quoth Sir Thomas More, 'to your first case, the
+Parliament may well, Master Rich, meddle with the state of temporal
+princes; but to make answer to your other case, I will put you this
+case. Suppose the Parliament should make a law that God should not be
+God, would you then, Master Rich, say that God were not God?' 'No, sir,'
+quoth he, 'that I would not, sith no Parliament may make any such law.'
+'No more,' quoth Sir Thomas More, 'could the Parliament make the King
+supreme head of the Church.' Upon whose only report was Sir Thomas
+indicted for high treason on the statute to deny the King to be supreme
+head of the Church, into which indictment were put these heinous
+words--maliciously, traitorously, and diabolically."
+
+[394] _Parliament_.--State Papers, vol. ii. p. 437.
+
+[395] _Vote_.--Irish Statutes, 28th Henry VIII. c. xii.
+
+[396] _Succession_.--Froude, vol. i. p. 94. He also quotes Hall to the
+effect that "all indifferent and discreet persons judged that it was
+right and necessary." Persons who were "indifferent" enough to think
+that any reason could make a sin necessary, or "discreet" enough to mind
+losing their heads or their property, were generally of that opinion.
+But Henry's difficulties in divorcing his wife are a matter of history.
+
+[397] _Saw it_,--Four Masters, vol. v. p. 1445.
+
+[398] _Trinidad_.--Madrid, 1714.
+
+[399] _Truly_.--State Papers, vol. iii. p. 108.
+
+[400] _Use_.--28th Henry VIII. cap. xvi. In Shirley's _Original
+Letters_, p. 31, we find the following order from the Lord Protector,
+Somerset, to the Dean of St. Patrick's: "Being advertised that one
+thousand ounces of plate of crosses and such like things remaineth in
+the hands of you, we require you to deliver the same to be employed to
+his Majesty's use," &c. He adds that the Dean is to receive "£20 in
+ready money" for the safe keeping of the same.
+
+[401] _Order_.--The original letter may be seen in Shirley, pp. 41, 42.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+Creation of the Earls of Thomond and Clanrickarde--How the King procured
+Money--Prayers in English--Opposition of Dr. Dowdall--Accession of Queen
+Mary--Joy of the Irish--The Catholic Service restored
+Publicly--Accession of Queen Elizabeth--Shane O'Neill obtains his
+Dominions--Parliament assembled--Unfair Dealing--Martyrs in the Reign of
+Elizabeth--The Protestant Archbishop advises Persecution--Cruelties
+enacted by English Officers--Shane O'Neill--The Deputy tries to get him
+Poisoned or Assassinated, with the Queen's Concurrence--His Visit to
+England--He refuses to Dress in the English Fashion.
+
+[A.D. 1540-1567.]
+
+
+Every official was now required to take the oath of supremacy, and the
+consequences of refusal were too well known to be estimated lightly. It
+has been asserted by several historians, that no Irish clergyman
+suffered death during this reign; but this statement is quite incorrect.
+A careful examination of the State Papers and of the private records of
+the religious orders, prove the contrary. In the spring of the year
+1540, Lord Leonard Grey was recalled, and Sir William Brereton was
+appointed Chief Justice. Grey was soon after committed to the Tower, on
+a charge of high treason, and was executed in the following year. The
+usual feuds between the Irish chieftains and the settlers were continued
+during this period, as well as the usual feuds between the chiefs of
+each party. Sir Anthony St. Leger, who was appointed Deputy at the close
+of the year 1540, tried to reconcile the Ormondes and the Desmonds, and
+describes the latter as "undoubtedly a very wise and discreet
+gentleman"--a character which must be taken with some qualifications.
+
+On the 1st of July, 1543, Murrough O'Brien was created Earl of Thomond
+and Baron of Inchiquin; and De Burgo, known by the soubriquet of
+Ulich-na-gceann ("of the heads"), from the number of persons whom he
+decapitated in his wars, was created Earl of Clanrickarde and Baron of
+Dunkellin. These titles were conferred by the King, with great pomp, at
+Greenwich; but the Irish chieftains paid for the honour, if honour it
+could be called where honour was forfeited, by acknowledging the royal
+supremacy.
+
+The Four Masters record the following events under the year 1545:--A
+dispute between the Earl of Ormonde and the Lord Justice. Both repaired
+to the King of England to decide the quarrel, and both swore that only
+one of them should return to Ireland. "And so it fell out; for the Earl
+died in England, and the Lord Justice returned to Ireland." Sir Richard
+Cox asserts that the Earl and thirty-five of his servants were poisoned,
+at a feast at Ely House, Holborn, and that he and sixteen of them died;
+but he does not mention any cause for this tragedy. It was probably
+accidental, as the Earl was a favourer of the reformed religion, and not
+likely to meet with treachery in England. The Irish annalists do not
+even allude to the catastrophe; the Four Masters merely observe, that
+"he would have been lamented, were it not that he had greatly injured
+the Church by advice of the heretics."[402]
+
+Great dearth prevailed this year, so that sixpence of the old money was
+given for a cake of bread in Connaught, or six white pence in Meath.
+
+In 1546 they mention a rising of the Geraldines, "which did
+indescribable damages;" and two invasions of the Lord Justice in Offaly,
+who plundered and spoiled, burning churches and monasteries, crops and
+corn. They also mention the introduction of a new copper coin into
+Ireland, which the men of Ireland were obliged to use as silver.
+
+The immense sums which Henry had accumulated by the plunder of religious
+houses, appear to have melted away, like snow-wreaths sunshine, long
+before the conclusion of his reign. His French and Scotch wars
+undoubtedly exhausted large supplies; his mistresses made large demands
+for their pleasures and their needy friends; yet there should have been
+enough, and to spare, for all these claims. When the monasteries were
+destroyed, the English clergy trembled for their own existence. The King
+could easily have dispensed with their services, and deprived them of
+their revenues. They were quite aware of their precarious tenure of
+office, and willingly agreed, in 1543, to give Henry ten per cent, on
+their incomes for three years, after the deduction of the tenths already
+vested in the crown. Their incomes were thus ascertained, and a loan was
+demanded, which, when granted, was made a gift by the ever-servile
+Parliament.
+
+In 1545 a benevolence was demanded, though benevolences had been
+declared illegal by Act of Parliament. This method of raising money had
+been attempted at an early period of his reign; but the proposal met
+with such spirited opposition from the people, that even royalty was
+compelled to yield. A few years later, when the fatal result of
+opposition to the monarch's will and pleasure had become apparent, he
+had only to ask and obtain. Yet neither percentage, nor tenths, nor
+sacrilegious spoils, sufficed to meet his expenses; and, as a last
+expedient, the coin was debased, and irreparable injury inflicted on the
+country.
+
+On the 28th of January, 1547, Edward VI. was crowned King of England.
+The Council of Regency appointed by Henry was set aside, and Seymour,
+Duke of Somerset, appointed himself Protector. St. Leger was continued
+in the office of Lord Deputy in Ireland; but Sir Edward Bellingham was
+sent over as Captain-General, with a considerable force, to quell the
+ever-recurring disturbances. His energetic character bore down all
+opposition, as much by the sheer strength of a strong will as by force
+of arms. In 1549 the Earl of Desmond refused to attend a Council in
+Dublin, on the plea that he wished to keep Christmas in his own castle.
+Bellingham, who had now replaced St. Leger as Lord Deputy, set out at
+once, with a small party of horse, for the residence of the refractory
+noble, seized him as he sat by his own fireside, and carried him off in
+triumph to Dublin.
+
+In 1548 O'Connor and O'More were expelled from Offaly and Leix, and
+their territory usurped by an Englishman, named Francis Bryan. Cahir Roe
+O'Connor, one of the sept, was executed in Dublin, and a number of the
+tribe were sent to assist in the Scotch wars. The political cabals in
+England consequent on the youth of the King, who nominally governed the
+country, occasioned frequent changes in the Irish administration.
+
+In 1551 the Lord Deputy Crofts succeeded Sir Thomas Cusack, and led an
+army into Ulster against the Scotch settlers, who had long been regarded
+with a jealous eye by the English Government; but he was defeated both
+at this time and on a subsequent occasion. No Parliament was convened
+during this short reign, and the affairs of the country were
+administered by the Privy Council. Dr. Browne and Dr. Staples were
+leading members. The Chancellor, Read, and the Treasurer, Brabazon, were
+both English. The Irish members were Aylmer, Luttrell, Bath, Howth, and
+Cusack, who had all recently conformed, at least exteriorly, to the new
+religion.
+
+The most important native chieftain of the age was Shane O'Neill. His
+father, Con, surnamed Baccagh ("the lame"), had procured the title of
+Baron of Dungannon, and the entail of the earldom of Tyrone, from Henry
+VII., for his illegitimate son, Ferdoragh. He now wished to alter this
+arrangement; but the ungrateful youth made such charges against the old
+man, that he was seized and imprisoned by the Deputy. After his death
+Shane contended bravely for his rights. The French appear to have made
+some attempt about this period to obtain allies in Ireland, but the
+peace which ensued between that country and England soon terminated such
+intrigues.
+
+All efforts to establish the new religion during this reign was equally
+unsuccessful. On Easter Sunday, A.D. 1551, the liturgy was read for the
+first time in the English tongue, in Christ Church Cathedral. As a
+reward for his energy in introducing the reform in general, and the
+liturgy in particular, Edward VI. annexed the primacy of all Ireland to
+the see of Dublin by Act of Parliament. There was one insuperable
+obstacle, however, in the way of using the English tongue, which was
+simply that the people did not understand it. Even the descendants of
+the Anglo-Norman were more familiar with the Celtic dialect, and some
+attempt was made at this time to procure a Latin translation of the
+Protestant communion service.[403]
+
+Dr. Dowdall had been appointed, in 1543, to the primatial see of Armagh,
+by Henry VIII., who naturally hoped he would prove a ready instrument in
+his service; but, to the surprise of the court, he put himself at the
+head of the orthodox party, and was one of the most faithful opposers of
+the introduction of the Protestant form of prayer. In 1552 he was
+obliged to seek refuge on the Continent. On the death of Dr. Wauchop,
+petitions were sent to Rome, requesting his appointment to the see of
+Armagh. He was proposed in Consistory on the 1st of March, 1553.
+
+Mary succeeded to the crown in 1553. A Protestant writer explains the
+difference between the religious persecutions of her reign, and those
+which occurred during the reign of Henry VIII., with admirable
+discrimination and impartiality: "The religious persecutions which
+prevailed in this reign, proceeded altogether from a different cause
+from that which stands as an everlasting blot on the memory of Henry
+VIII. In Henry's instance, people were tortured and murdered in the name
+of religion, but the real cause was their opposition to the will of an
+arbitrary tyrant; whereas those who suffered under Mary, were martyred
+because the Queen conscientiously believed in those principles to which
+she clung with such pertinacity."[404] One of the principal of these
+victims was Archbishop Cranmer, who had already caused several persons
+to suffer in the flames for differing from his opinions, and thus almost
+merited his fate. It is a curious fact that several Protestants came to
+Ireland during this reign, and settled in Dublin; they were subsequently
+the founders of respectable mercantile families.
+
+Although the English people had adopted the reformed religion
+nationally, there were still a few persons whom neither favour nor
+indifference could induce to renounce the ancient faith; and this brief
+respite from persecution tended to confirm and strengthen those who
+wavered. In Ireland, always Catholic, the joy was unbounded. Archbishop
+Dowdall immediately prepared to hold a provincial synod at Drogheda,
+where enactments were made for depriving the conforming prelates and
+priests. Happily their number was so few that there was but little
+difficulty in making the necessary arrangements. The only prelates that
+were removed were Browne, of Dublin; Staples, of Meath; Lancaster, of
+Kildare; and Travers, of Leighlin. Goodacre died a few months after his
+intrusion into the see of Armagh; Bale, of Ossory, fled beyond the seas;
+Casey, of Limerick, followed his example. All were English except the
+latter, and all, except Staples, were professing Protestants at the time
+of their appointment to their respective sees. Bale, who owed the
+Kilkenny people a grudge, for the indignant and rather warm reception
+with which they treated him on his intrusion into the see, gives a
+graphic account of the joy with which the news of Edward's death was
+received. The people "flung up their caps to the battlements of the
+great temple;" set the bells ringing; brought out incense and holy
+water, and formed once more a Catholic procession, chanting the _Sancta
+Maria, ora pro nobis_, as of old. In fact, "on the accession of Mary to
+the throne, so little had been done in the interest of the Reformation,
+that there was little or nothing to undo. She issued a licence for the
+celebration of Mass in Ireland, where no other service was or had been
+celebrated worth mentioning, and where no other supreme head had been
+ever in earnest acknowledged but the Pope."[405]
+
+But the Irish obtained no temporal advantages during this reign--an
+illustration of the truth of what I have before remarked, that the
+nation has suffered almost as much from political as from religious
+causes. The work of extermination still went on. The boundaries of the
+Pale were increased thereby. Leix was designated the Queen's county, and
+the fort of Campa obtained the name of Maryborough, in compliment to the
+Queen. Offaly was named the King's county, and the fortress of Daingèan,
+Philipstown, in compliment to her Spanish consort.
+
+In the year 1553 Gerald and Edward, the sons of the late Earl of
+Kildare, returned from exile, and were restored to the family honours
+and possessions. The Four Masters say that "there was great rejoicing
+because of their arrival, for it was thought that not one of the
+descendants of the Earls of Kildare or of the O'Connors Faly would ever
+again come to Ireland." They also mention that Margaret, a daughter of
+O'Connor Faly, went to England, "relying on the number of her friends
+and relatives there, and her knowledge of the English language, to
+request Queen Mary to restore her father to her." Her petition was
+granted, but he was soon after seized again by the English officials,
+and cast into prison.
+
+Shane O'Neill made an unsuccessful attempt to recover his paternal
+dominions, in 1557. The following year his father died in
+captivity,[406] Dublin, and he procured the murder of Ferdoragh, so that
+he was able to obtain his wishes without opposition. Elizabeth had now
+ascended the English throne (A.D. 1558), and, as usual, those in power,
+who wished to retain office, made their religion suit the views of the
+new ruler. The Earl of Sussex still continued Viceroy, and merely
+reversed his previous acts. Sir Henry Sidney also made his worldly
+interests and his religious views coincide. A Parliament was held in
+Dublin, in 1560, on the 12th of January. It was composed of seventy-six
+members, the representatives of ten counties, the remainder being
+citizens and burgesses of those towns in which the royal authority was
+predominant. "It is little wonder," observes Leland, "that, in despite
+of clamour and opposition, in a session of a few weeks, the whole
+ecclesiastical system of Queen Mary was entirely reversed." Every
+subject connected with this assembly and its enactments, demands the
+most careful consideration, as it has been asserted by some
+writers--who, however, have failed to give the proofs of their
+assertion--that the Irish Church and nation conformed at this time to
+the Protestant religion. This certainly was not the opinion of the
+Government officials, who were appointed by royal authority to enforce
+the Act, and who would have been only too happy could they have reported
+success to their mistress.
+
+A recent writer, whose love of justice has led him to take a position in
+regard to Irish ecclesiastical history which has evoked unpleasant
+remarks from those who are less honest, writes thus: "There was not even
+the show of free action in the ordering of that Parliament, nor the
+least pretence that liberty of choice was to be given to it. The
+instructions given to Sussex, on the 10th of May 1559, for making
+Ireland Protestant by Act of Parliament, were peremptory, and left no
+room for the least deliberation. Sussex had also other instructions
+(says Cox) to him and the Council, to set up the worship of God as it is
+in England, and make such statutes next Parliament as were lately made
+in England, _mutatis mutandis_. [Hist. Angl. Part I. p.313.] It is plain
+that her Majesty's command is not sufficient warrant for a national
+change of faith, and that a convocation of bishops only is not the
+proper or legal representative assembly of the Church. It is also plain
+that the acts of an unwilling Parliament, and that Parliament one which
+does not deserve the name of a Parliament, cannot be justly considered
+as the acts of either the Irish Church or the Irish people."[407]
+
+The official list of the members summoned to this Parliament, has been
+recently published by the Irish Archæological Society. More than
+two-thirds of the upper house were persons of whose devotion to the
+Catholic faith there has been no question; there were but few members in
+the lower house. No county in Ulster was allowed a representative, and
+only one of its borough towns, Carrickfergus, was permitted to elect a
+member. Munster furnished twenty members. No county members were allowed
+in Connaught, and it had only two boroughs, Galway and Athenry, from
+which it could send a voice to represent its wishes. The remaining fifty
+members were chosen from a part of Leinster. In fact, the Parliament was
+constituted on the plan before-mentioned. Those who were considered
+likely to agree with the Government, were allowed to vote; those of
+whose dissent there could be no doubt, were not allowed a voice in the
+affairs of the nation.
+
+It might be supposed that, with the exception of a few members of the
+upper house, such a Parliament would at once comply with the Queen's
+wishes; but the majority made no secret of their intention to oppose the
+change of religion, and the penal code which should be enacted to
+enforce it. The Deputy was in an unpleasant Position. Elizabeth would
+not easily brook the slightest opposition to her wishes. The Deputy did
+not feel prepared to encounter her anger, and he determined to avoid the
+difficulty, by having recourse to a most unworthy stratagem. First, he
+prorogued the house from the 11th of January to the 1st of February,
+1560; and then took advantage of the first day of meeting, when but few
+members were present, to get the Act passed; secondly, he solemnly swore
+that the law should never be carried into execution, and by this false
+oath procured the compliance of those who still hesitated. I shall give
+authority for these statements.
+
+The letter of Elizabeth, with her positive instructions to have the law
+passed, was dated October 18, 1559, and may be seen _in extenso_ in the
+_Liber Munerum Hibernia_, vol. i. p.113. There are several authorities
+for the dishonest course pursued by the Lord Deputy. The author of
+_Cambrensis Eversus_ says: "The Deputy is said to have used force, and
+the Speaker treachery. I heard that it had been previously announced in
+the house that Parliament would not sit on that very day on which the
+laws against religion were enacted; but, in the meantime, a private
+summons was sent to those who were well known to be favourable to the
+old creed."[408] Father George Dillon, who died in 1650, a martyr to his
+charity in assisting the plague-stricken people of Waterford, gives the
+following account of the transaction: "James Stanihurst, Lord of
+Corduff, who was Speaker of the lower house, by sending private summons
+to some, without any intimation to the more respectable Irish who had a
+right to attend, succeeded in carrying that law by surprise. As soon as
+the matter was discovered, in the next full meeting of Parliament, there
+was a general protest against the fraud, injustice, and _deliberate
+treachery_ of the proceeding; but the Lord Justice, having solemnly
+sworn that the law would never be carried into execution, the
+remonstrants were caught in the dexterous snare, and consented that the
+enactment should remain on the statute-book."[409] Dr. Rothe
+corroborates these statements, and records the misfortunes which
+followed the Speaker's family from that date.[410] Dr. Moran[411] has
+very acutely observed, that the day appointed for the opening of
+Parliament was the festival of St. Brigid, which was always kept with
+special solemnity in Ireland; therefore, the orthodox members would
+probably have absented themselves, unless informed of some business
+which absolutely required their attendance.
+
+The Loftus MS., in Marsh's Library, and Sir James Ware, both mention the
+positive opposition of the Parliament to pass this law, and the mission
+of the Earl of Sussex to consult her Majesty as to what should be done
+with the refractory members. If he then proposed the treachery which he
+subsequently carried out, there is no reason to suppose her Majesty
+would have been squeamish about it, as we find she was quite willing to
+allow even more questionable methods to be employed on other occasions.
+
+The Loftus MS. mentions a convocation of bishops which assembled this
+year, "by the Queen's command, for establishing the Protestant
+religion." The convocation was, if possible, a greater failure than the
+Parliament. If the bishops had obeyed the royal command, there would
+have been some record of their proceedings; but until the last few
+years, when the _ipse dixit_ of certain writers was put forward as an
+argument--for proof it cannot be called--that the Irish Catholic bishops
+had conformed to the Protestant religion, so wild a theory was not even
+hazarded. It would be impossible here to go into details and proofs of
+the nonconformity of each bishop. The work has been already undertaken,
+with admirable success, by an Anglican clergyman.[412] I shall, however,
+give some of the impediments offered to the progress of the Reformation
+in the time of Queen Elizabeth, and of the cruel persecutions which were
+inflicted on those who dared to wish for liberty to worship God
+according to their conscience.
+
+Notwithstanding the solemn promise of the Lord Deputy, the penal
+statutes against Catholics were carried out. In 1563 the Earl of Essex
+issued a proclamation, by which all priests, secular and regular, were
+forbidden to officiate, or even to reside in Dublin. Fines and penalties
+were strictly enforced for absence from the Protestant service; before
+long, torture and death were inflicted. Priests and religious were, as
+might be expected, the first victims. They were hunted into mountains
+and caves; and the parish churches and few monastic chapels which had
+escaped the rapacity of Henry VIII., were sacrificed to the sacrilegious
+emissaries of Elizabeth. Curry gives some account of those who suffered
+for the faith in this reign. He says: "Among many other Roman Catholic
+bishops and priests, there were put to death for the exercise of their
+function in Ireland, Globy O'Boyle, Abbot of Boyle, and Owen O'Mulkeran,
+Abbot of the Monastery of the Holy Trinity, hanged and quartered by Lord
+Grey, in 1580. John Stephens suffered the same punishment from Lord
+Burroughs, for saying Mass, in 1597; Thady O'Boyle was slain in his own
+monastery at Donegal; six friars were slain at Moynihigan; John
+O'Calyhor and Bryan O'Freeor were killed at their monastery in Ulster,
+with Felimy O'Hara, a lay brother. Eneus Penny was massacred at the
+altar of his own parish church, Killagh. Fourteen other priests died in
+Dublin Castle, either from hard usage, or the violence of torture."
+
+Dr. Adam Loftus, the Protestant Archbishop of Armagh, was one of the
+most violent persecutors of the Catholics. In his first report to the
+Queen, dated May 17th, 1565, he describes the nobility of the Pale as
+all devoted to the ancient creed; and he recommends that they should be
+fined "in a good round sum," which should be paid to her Majesty's use,
+and "sharply dealt withal."[413] An original method of conversion,
+certainly! But it did not succeed. On the 22nd of September, 1590, after
+twenty-five years had been spent in the fruitless attempt to convert the
+Irish, he writes to Lord Burleigh, detailing the causes of the general
+decay of the Protestant religion in Ireland, and suggesting "how the
+same may be remedied." He advises that the ecclesiastical commission
+should be put in force, "for the people are poor, and fear to be fined."
+He requests that he and such commissioners as are "well affected in
+religion, may be permitted to imprison and fine all such as are
+obstinate and disobedient;" and he has no doubt, that "within a short
+time they will be reduced to good conformity." He concludes: "And _this
+course of reformation_, the sooner it is begun the better it will
+prosper; and the longer it is deferred, the more dangerous it will be."
+When remember that such words were written, and such deeds were enacted,
+by the head of the Protestant Church in Ireland, and sanctioned by the
+head of the Protestant Church in England, they may surely be content to
+allow modern controversialists the benefit of their pleasant dream that
+Catholic bishops conformed. If they had conformed to such doctrines and
+such practice, it can scarcely be seen what advantage the Anglican
+Establishment could gain from their parentage.
+
+Seven years later, when the same prelate found that the more the Church
+was persecuted the more she increased, he wrote to advise pacification:
+"The rebels are increased, and grown insolent. I see no other cure for
+this cursed country but pacification, [he could not help continuing]
+until, hereafter, when the fury is passed, her Majesty may, with more
+convenience, correct the heads of those traitors."[414] The prelate was
+ably seconded by the Lord Deputy. Even Sir John Perrot, who has the name
+of being one of the most humane of these Governors, could not refrain
+from acts of cruelty where Catholics were concerned. On one occasion he
+killed fifty persons, and brought their heads home in triumph to
+Kilmallock, where he arranged them as a trophy round the cross in the
+public square. In 1582 he advised her Majesty "that friars, monks,
+Jesuits, priests, nuns, and such like vermin, who openly uphold the
+Papacy, should be executed by martial law."[415] The English officers
+seem to have rivalled each other in acts of cruelty. One is said to have
+tied his victim to a maypole, and then punched out his eyes with his
+thumbs.[416] Others amused themselves with flinging up infants into the
+air, and catching them on the points of their swords.[417] Francis
+Crosby, the deputy of Leix, used to hang men, women, and children on an
+immense tree which grew before his door, without any crime being imputed
+to them except their faith, and then to watch with delight how the
+unhappy infants hung by the long hair of their martyred mothers.[418]
+
+Father Dominic à Rosario, the author of _The Geraldines_, scarcely
+exceeded truth when he wrote these memorable words: "This far famed
+English Queen has grown drunk on the blood of Christ's martyrs; and,
+like a tigress, she has hunted down our Irish Catholics, exceeding in
+ferocity and wanton cruelty the emperors of pagan Rome." We shall
+conclude this painful subject for the present with an extract from
+O'Sullivan Beare: "All alarm from the Irish chieftains being ceased, the
+persecution was renewed with all its horrors. A royal order was
+promulgated, that all should renounce the Catholic faith, yield up the
+priests, receive from the heretical minister the morality and tenets of
+the Gospel. Threats, penalties and force were to be employed to enforce
+compliance. Every effort of the Queen and her emissaries was directed to
+despoil the Irish Catholics of their property, and exterminate them.
+More than once did they attempt this, for they knew that not otherwise
+could the Catholic religion be suppressed in our island, _unless by the
+extermination of those in whose hearts it was implanted_; nor could
+their heretical teachings be propagated, while the natives were alive to
+detest and execrate them."[419]
+
+In 1561 Sussex returned from England with reinforcements for his army,
+and marched to Armagh, where he established himself in the Cathedral.
+From thence he sent out a large body of troops to plunder in Tyrone, but
+they were intercepted by the redoubtable Shane O'Neill, and suffered so
+serious a defeat as to alarm the inhabitants of the Pale, and even the
+English nation. Fresh supplies of men and arms were hastily despatched
+from England, and the Earls of Desmond, Ormonde, Kildare, Thomond, and
+Clanrickarde assembled round the Viceregal standard to assist in
+suppressing the formidable foe. And well might they fear the
+lion-hearted chieftain! A few years later, Sidney describes him as the
+only strong man in Ireland. The Queen was warned, that unless he were
+speedily put down, she would lose Ireland, as her sister had lost
+Calais. He had gained all Ulster by his sword, and ruled therein with a
+far stronger hand, and on a far firmer foundation, than ever any English
+monarch had obtained in any part of Ireland. Ulster was his _terra
+clausa_; and he would be a bold, or, perhaps I should rather say, a rash
+man, who dare intrude in these dominions. He could muster seven thousand
+men in the field; and though he seldom hazarded a general engagement, he
+"slew in conflicts 3,500 soldiers and 300 Scots of Sidney's army."[420]
+The English chronicler, Hooker, who lived in times when the blaze and
+smoke of houses and haggards, set on fire by Shane, could be seen even
+from Dublin Castle, declares that it was feared he intended to make a
+conquest over the whole land.
+
+Even his letters are signed, if not written, in royal style.[421] He
+dates one _Ex finibus de Tirconail_, when about to wage war with the
+neighbouring sept of O'Donnell; he dates another, _Ex silvis meis_,
+when, in pursuance of his Celtic mode of warfare, he hastened into his
+woods to avoid an engagement with the English soldiers; he signs himself
+_Misi O'Neill_--Me, the O'Neill. As this man was too clever to be
+captured, and too brave to be conquered, a plan was arranged, with the
+full concurrence of the Queen, by which he might be got rid of by poison
+or assassination. Had such an assertion been made by the Irish
+annalists, it would have been scouted as a calumny on the character of
+"good Queen Bess;" but the evidence of her complicity is preserved in
+the records of the State Paper Office. I shall show presently that
+attempts at assassination were a common arrangement for the disposal of
+refractory Irish chieftains during this reign.
+
+The proposal for this diabolical treachery, and the arrangements made
+for carrying it out, were related by Sussex to the Queen. He writes
+thus: "In fine, I brake with him to kill Shane, and bound myself by my
+oath to see him have a hundred marks of land to him and to his heirs for
+reward. He seemed desirous to serve your Highness, and to have the land,
+but fearful to do it, doubting his own escape after. I told him the ways
+he might do it, and how to escape after with safety; which he offered
+and promised to do." The Earl adds a piece of information, which, no
+doubt, he communicated to the intended murderer, and which, probably,
+decided him on making the attempt: "I assure your Highness he may do it
+without danger if he will; and if he will not do what he may in your
+service, there will be done to him what others may."[422]
+
+Her Majesty, however, had a character to support; and whatever she may
+have privately wished and commanded, she was obliged to disavow
+complicity publicly. In two despatches from court she expresses her
+"displeasure at John Smith's horrible attempt to poison Shane O'Neill in
+his wine." In the following spring John Smith was committed to prison,
+and "closely examined by Lord Chancellor Cusake." What became of John is
+not recorded, but it is recorded that "Lord Chancellor Cusake persuaded
+O'Neill to forget the poisoning." His clan, however, were not so easily
+persuaded, and strongly objected to his meeting the Viceroy in person,
+or affording him an opportunity which he might not live to forget. About
+this time O'Neill despatched a document to the Viceroy for his
+consideration, containing a list of "other evill practices devised to
+other of the Irish nation within ix or tenn yeares past." The first item
+mentions that Donill O'Breyne and Morghe O'Breyne, his son, "required
+the benefit of her Majesty's laws, by which they required to be tried,
+and thereof was denied;"[423] and that when they came to Limerick under
+the protection of the Lord Deputy, they were proclaimed traitors, and
+their lands and possessions taken from them. Several other violations of
+protection are then enumerated, and several treacherous murders are
+recorded, particularly the murder of Art Boy Cavanagh, at Captain
+Hearn's house, after he had dined with him, and of Randall Boye's two
+sons, who were murdered, one after supper, and the other in the tower,
+by Brereton, "who escaped without punishment."
+
+In October, 1562, Shane was invited to England, and was received by
+Elizabeth with marked courtesy. His appearance at court is thus
+described by Camden, A.D. 1562: "From Ireland came Shane O'Neill, who
+had promised to come the year before, with a guard of axe-bearing
+galloglasses, their heads bare, their long curling hair flowing on their
+shoulders, their linen garments dyed with saffron, with long open
+sleeves, with short tunics, and furry cloaks, whom the English wondered
+at as much as they do now at the Chinese or American aborigines."
+Shane's visit to London was considered of such importance, that we find
+a memorandum in the State Paper Office, by "Secretary Sir W. Cecil,
+March, 1562," of the means to be used with Shane O'Neill, in which the
+first item is, that "he be procured to change his garments, and go like
+an Englishman."[424] But this was precisely what O'Neill had no idea of
+doing. Sussex appears to have been O'Neill's declared and open enemy.
+There is more than one letter extant from the northern chief to the
+Deputy. In one of these he says: "I wonder very much for what purpose
+your Lordship strives to destroy me." In another, he declares that his
+delay in visiting the Queen had been caused by the "amount of
+obstruction which Sussex had thrown in his way, by sending a force of
+occupation into his territory without cause; for as long as there shall
+be one son of a Saxon in my territory against my will, from that time
+forth I will not send you either settlement or message, but will send my
+complaint through some other medium to the Queen." In writing to the
+Baron of Slane, he says that "nothing will please him [the Deputy] but
+to plant himself in my lands and my native territory, as I am told every
+day that he desires to be styled Earl of Ulster."
+
+The Lord Chancellor Cusack appears, on the contrary, to have constantly
+befriended him. On 12th January, 1568, he writes of O'Neill's
+"dutifulness and most commendable dealing with the Scots;" and soon
+after three English members of the Dublin Government complain that
+Cusack[425] had entrapped them into signing a letter to the unruly
+chieftain. There is one dark blot upon the escutcheon of this remarkable
+man. He had married the daughter of O'Donnell, Lord of one of the
+Hebrides. After a time he and his father-in-law quarrelled, and Shane
+contrived to capture O'Donnell and his second wife. He kept this lady
+for several years as his mistress; and his own wife is said to have died
+of shame and horror at his conduct, and at his cruel treatment of her
+father. English writers have naturally tried to blacken his character as
+deeply as possible, and have represented him as a drunkard and a
+profligate; but there appears no foundation for the former accusation.
+The foundation for the latter is simply what we have mentioned, which,
+however evil in itself, would scarcely appear so very startling to a
+court over which Henry VIII. had so long presided.
+
+After many attempts at assassination, _Shane-an-Diomais_ [John the
+Ambitious] fell a victim to English treachery. Sir William Piers, the
+Governor of Carrickfergus, invited some Scotch soldiers over to Ireland,
+and then persuaded them to quarrel with him, and kill him. They
+accomplished their purpose, by raising a disturbance at a feast, when
+they rushed on the northern chieftain, and despatched him with their
+swords. His head was sent to Dublin, and his old enemies took the poor
+revenge of impaling it on the Castle walls.
+
+The Earl of Sussex was recalled from Ireland in 1564, and Sir Henry
+Sidney was appointed Viceroy. The Earls of Ormonde and Desmond had again
+quarrelled, and, in 1562, both Earls were summoned to court by the
+Queen. Elizabeth was related to the Butlers through her mother's family,
+and used to boast of the loyalty of the house of Ormonde. The Geraldines
+adhered to the ancient faith, and suffered for it. A battle was fought
+at Affane, near Cappoquin, between the two parties, in which Desmond was
+wounded and made prisoner. The man who bore him from the field asked,
+tauntingly: "Where is now the proud Earl of Desmond?" He replied, with
+equal pride and wit: "Where he should be; upon the necks of the
+Butlers!"
+
+[Illustration: GOLD EAR-RING, TORQUE PATTERN, FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE
+R.I.A., FOUND AT CASTLEREA, CO. ROSCOMMON.]
+
+[Illustration: KILCOLMAN CASTLE.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[402] _Heretics_.--Annals, vol. v. p. 1493.
+
+[403] _Service_.--Shirley's _Original Letters_, p. 47. Dr. Browne gives
+an account of his signal failures in attempting to introduce the
+Protestant form of prayer in his letters to Cromwell. He says one
+prebendary of St. Patrick's "thought scorn to read them." He adds: "They
+be in a manner all the same point with me. There are twenty-eight of
+them, and yet scarce one that favoureth God's Word."--_State Papers_,
+vol. iii. p. 6.
+
+[404] _Pertinacity_.--_The Victoria History of England_, p. 256.
+
+[405] _Pope_.--_Lib. Mun. Hib_. part i. p. 37.
+
+[406] _Captivity_.--Lord Chancellor Cusack addressed a very curious
+"Book on the State of Ireland" to the Duke of Northumberland, in 1552,
+in which he mentions the fearful condition of the northern counties. He
+states that "the cause why the Earl was detained [in Dublin Castle] was
+for the wasting and destroying of his county." This Sir Thomas Cusack,
+who took a prominent part in public affairs during the reign of Queen
+Elizabeth, was a son of Thomas Cusack, of Cassington, in Meath, an
+ancient Norman-Irish family, who were hereditary seneschals and sheriffs
+of that county.--_Ulster Arch. Jour_. vol. iii p. 51.
+
+[407] _People.--The Irish Reformation_, by the Rev. W. Maziere Brady,
+D.D., fifth edition, pp. 32, 33.
+
+[408] _Creed_.--_Cambrensis Eversus_, vol. iii. p. 19.
+
+[409] _Book_.--_Orationes et Motiva_, p. 87.
+
+[410] _Date_.--_Analecta_, p. 387.
+
+[411] _Dr. Moran_.--_Archbishops of Dublin_, p. 68. Further information
+may be obtained also in Curry's _Historical Review_.
+
+[412] _Clergyman_.--The Rev. W. Maziere Brady, D.D. Mr. Froude remarks,
+in his _History of England_, vol. x. p. 480: "There is no evidence that
+any of the bishops in Ireland who were in office at Queen Mary's death,
+with the exception of Curwin, either accepted the Reformed Prayer-Book,
+or abjured the authority of the Pope." He adds, in a foot-note: "I
+cannot express my astonishment at a proposition maintained by Bishop
+Mant and others, that whole hierarchy of Ireland went over to the
+Reformation with the Government. In a survey of the country supplied to
+Cecil in 1571, after death and deprivation had enabled the Government to
+fill several sees, the Archbishops Armagh, Tuam, and Cashel, with almost
+every one of the Bishops of the respective provinces, are described as
+_Catholici et Confederati_. The Archbishop of Dublin, with the Bishops
+of Kildare, Ossory, and Ferns, are alone returned as 'Protestantes'"
+
+[413] _Withal_.--Shirley, _Original Letters_, p. 194.
+
+[414] _Traitors_.--Letter of October 18, 1597.--State Paper Office.
+
+[415] _Law_.--Letter to the Queen, in _Government of Ireland under Sir
+John Parrot_, p.4.
+
+[416] _Thumbs_.--Despatch of Castlerosse, in State Paper Office, London.
+
+[417] _Swords_.--O'Sullivan Beare, _Hist. Cath_. p. 238.
+
+[418] _Mothers_.--_Ibid_. p. 99.
+
+[419] _Them.--Hist. Cath_. p.133.
+
+[420] _Army_.--See Dr. Stuart's _History of Armagh_, p. 261.
+
+[421] _Style_.--In one of the communications from Sussex to O'Neill, he
+complains of the chieftain's letters as being "_nimis superbe
+scriptæ_."--State Papers for 1561.
+
+[422] _May_.--Moore's _History of Ireland_, vol. iv. p.33.
+
+[423] _Denied_.--This document has been printed in the _Ulster Arch.
+Jour_. vol. ii, p.221, but the editor does not mention where the
+original was procured.
+
+[424] _Englishman_.--Moore, vol. iv. p. 37, has "like a gentleman," but
+the above is the correct reading. In 1584 Sir J. Perrot tried to get the
+Irish chieftains to attend Parliament clothed in the English fashion,
+and even offered them robes and cloaks of velvet and satin. The
+chieftains objected; the Lord Deputy insisted. At last one of them, with
+exquisite humour, suggested that if he were obliged to wear English
+robes, a Protestant minister should accompany him attired in Irish
+garments, so that the mirth and amazement of the People should be fairly
+divided between them.--_Sir J. Perrot's Life_, p.198.
+
+[425] _Cusack_.--One reason, perhaps, was that the Chancellor always
+treated O'Neill with the respect due from one gentleman to another.
+Flemyng mentions, in a letter to Cecil, November 29, 1563, that O'Neill
+told him, when about to take the oaths of his people to an agreement
+with the Queen, that "Cusack did not give them their oath so, _but let
+me give them their oath_."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+Spenser's Castle--Sidney's Official Account of Ireland--Miserable State
+of the Protestant Church--The Catholic Church and its Persecuted
+Rulers--The Viceroy's Administration--A Packed Parliament and its
+Enactments--Claim of Sir P. Carew--An Attempt to plant in
+Ulster--Smith's Settlement in the Ards--His Description of the Native
+Irish--He tries to induce Englishmen to join him--Smith is killed, and
+the attempt to plant fails--Essex next tries to colonize Ulster--He dies
+in Dublin--Sidney returns to Ireland--His Interview with
+Granuaile--Massacre at Mullamast--Spenser's Account of the State of
+Ireland.
+
+[A.D. 1567-1579.]
+
+
+Kilcolman Castle, with its fair domains, were bestowed on the poet
+Spenser, who had accompanied Lord Grey to Ireland in 1579. He has left a
+fearful description of the miseries of the country; but it scarcely
+exceeds the official report of Sir Henry Sidney, which must first be
+noticed. At the close of the month of January, 1567, the Lord Deputy set
+out on a visitation of Munster and Connaught. In his official account he
+writes thus of Munster: "Like as I never was in a more pleasant country
+in all my life, so never saw I a more waste and desolate land. Such
+horrible and lamentable spectacles are there to behold--as the burning
+of villages, the ruin of churches, the wasting of such as have been good
+towns and castles; yea, the view of the bones and skulls of the dead
+subjects, who, partly by murder, partly by famine, have died in the
+fields--as, in truth, hardly any Christian with dry eyes could behold."
+He declares that, in the territory subject to the Earl of Ormonde, he
+witnessed "a want of justice and judgment." He describes the Earl of
+Desmond as "a man devoid of judgment to govern, and will be to be
+ruled." The Earl of Thomond, he says, "had neither wit of himself to
+govern, nor grace or capacity to learn of others." The Earl of
+Clanrickarde he describes as "so overruled by a putative wife, as
+ofttimes, when he best intendeth, she forceth him to do the worst;" and
+it would appear that neither he nor his lady could govern their own
+family, for their sons were so turbulent they kept the whole country in
+disturbance. In Galway he found the people trying to protect themselves,
+as best they might, from their dangerous neighbours; and at Athenry
+there were but four respectable householders, who presented him with the
+rusty keys of their town--"a pitiful and lamentable present;" and they
+requested him to keep those keys, for "they were so impoverished by the
+extortions of the lords about them, as they were no longer able to keep
+that town."
+
+Well might he designate the policy by which the country had been
+hitherto governed as "cowardly," and contemn the practice of promoting
+division between the native princes, which was still practised. He adds:
+"So far hath that policy, or rather lack of policy, in keeping
+dissensions among them, prevailed, as now, albeit all that are alive
+would become honest and live in quiet, yet there are not left alive, in
+those two provinces, the twentieth person necessary to inhabit the
+same." Sidney at once proceeded to remedy the evils under which the
+unfortunate country groaned, by enacting other evils. We shall leave him
+to give his own account of his proceedings. He writes thus, in one of
+his official despatches: "I write not the names of each particular
+varlet that hath died since I arrived, as well by the ordinary course of
+the law, as of the martial law, as flat fighting with them, when they
+would take food without the good will of the giver, for I think it no
+stuff worthy the loading of my letters with; but I do assure you the
+number of them is great, and some of the best, and the rest tremble. For
+most part they fight for their dinner, and many of them lose their heads
+before they be served with supper. Down they go in every corner, and
+down they shall go, God willing."[426]
+
+When we remember Sidney's own description of the desolation of country,
+and read of the fashion in which he remedied that desolation we cannot
+wonder at the piteous account given a few years later by the English
+poet; for who could escape the threefold danger of "ordinary law,
+martial law, and flat fighting." Nor was the state of religious affairs
+at all more promising. The Deputy describes the kingdom as "overwhelmed
+by the most deplorable immorality and irreligion;"[427] the Privy
+Council, in their deliberations, gives a similar account. "As for
+religion, there was but small appearance of it; the churches uncovered,
+and the clergy scattered."[428] An Act of Parliament was then passed to
+remedy the evils which Acts of Parliament had created. In the preamble
+(11th Elizabeth, sess. iii. cap. 6) it mentions the disorders which
+Sidney had found, and complains of "the great abuse of the clergy in
+getting into the said dignities by force, simony, friendship, and other
+corrupt means, to the great overthrow of God's holy Church;" and for
+remedy, the Act authorizes the _Lord Deputy_ to appoint, for ten years,
+to all the ecclesiastical benefices of these provinces, with the
+exception of the cathedral churches of Waterford, Limerick, Cork, and
+Cashel.
+
+But it was soon evident that Acts of Parliament could not effect
+ecclesiastical reform, though they might enforce exterior conformity to
+a new creed. In 1576, Sidney again complains of the state of the Irish
+Church, and addresses himself, with almost blasphemous flattery to the
+head of that body, "as to the only sovereign salve-giver to this your
+sore and sick realm, the lamentable state of the most noble and
+principal limb thereof--the Church I mean--as foul, deformed, and as
+cruelly crushed as any other part thereof, only by your gracious order
+to be cured, or at least amended. I would not have believed, had I not,
+for a greater part, viewed the same throughout the whole realm." He then
+gives a detailed account of the state of the diocese of Meath, which he
+declares to be the best governed and best peopled diocese in the realm;
+and from his official report of the state of religion there, he thinks
+her Majesty may easily judge of the spiritual condition of less favoured
+districts. He says there are no resident parsons or vicars, and only a
+very simple or sorry curate appointed to serve them; of them only
+eighteen could speak English, the rest being "Irish ministers, or rather
+Irish rogues, having very little Latin, and less learning or
+civility."[429] In many places he found the walls of the churches thrown
+down, the chancels uncovered, and the windows and doors ruined or
+spoiled--fruits of the iconoclastic zeal of the original reformers and
+of the rapacity of the nobles, who made religion an excuse for plunder.
+He complains that the sacrament of baptism was not used amongst them,
+and he accuses the "prelates themselves" of despoiling their sees,
+declaring that if he told all he should make "too long a libel of his
+letter. But your Majesty may believe it, that, upon the face of the
+earth where Christ is professed, there is not a Church in so miserable a
+case."
+
+A Protestant nobleman, after citing some extracts from this document,
+concludes thus: "Such was the condition of a Church which was, half a
+century ago, rich and flourishing, an object of reverence, and a source
+of consolation to the people. It was now despoiled of its revenues; the
+sacred edifices were in ruins; the clergy were either ignorant of the
+language of their flocks, or illiterate and uncivilized intruders; and
+the only ritual permitted by the laws was one of which the people
+neither comprehended the language nor believed the doctrines. And this
+was called establishing the Reformation!"[430]
+
+It should be observed, however, that Sir Henry Sidney's remarks apply
+exclusively to the Protestant clergy. Of the state of the Catholic
+Church and clergy he had no knowledge, neither had he any interest in
+obtaining information. His account of the Protestant clergy who had been
+intruded into the Catholic parishes, and of the Protestant bishops who
+had been placed in the Catholic dioceses, we may presume to be correct,
+as he had no interest or object in misrepresentation; but his
+observation concerning the neglect of the sacrament of baptism, may be
+taken with some limitation. When a religious revolution takes place in a
+Catholic country, there is always a large class who conform exteriorly
+to whatever opinions maybe enforced by the sword. They have not the
+generosity to become confessors, nor the courage to become martyrs. But
+these persons rarely renounce the faith in their hearts; and sacrifice
+their conscience to their worldly interest, though not without
+considerable uneasiness. In such cases, these apparently conforming
+Protestants would never think of bringing their children to be baptized
+by a minister of the new religion; they would make no nice distinctions
+between the validity of one sacrament and another; and would either
+believe that sacraments were a matter of indifference, as the new creed
+implied, or if they were of any value that they should be administered
+by those who respected them and that their number should remain intact.
+In recent famine years, the men who risked their spiritual life to save
+their temporal existence, which the tempter would only consent to
+preserve on his own terms, were wont to visit the church, and bid
+Almighty God a solemn farewell until better times should come. They
+could not make up their minds to die of starvation, when food might be
+had for formal apostacy; they knew that they were denying their God when
+they appeared to deny their religion. It is more than probable that a
+similar feeling actuated thousands at the period of which we are
+writing; and that the poor Celt, who conformed from fear of the sword,
+took his children by night to the priest of the old religion, that he
+might admit them, by the sacrament of baptism, into the fold of the only
+Church in which he believed.
+
+It is also a matter of fact, that though the Protestant services were
+not attended, and the lives of the Protestant ministers were not
+edifying, that the sacraments were administered constantly by the
+Catholic clergy. It is true they date their letters "from the place of
+refuge" (_e loco refugii nostri_), which might be the wood nearest to
+their old and ruined parish-church, or the barn or stable of some
+friend, who dared not shelter them in his house; yet this was no
+hindrance to their ministrations; for we find Dr. Loftus complaining to
+Sir William Cecil that the persecuted Bishop of Meath, Dr. Walsh, was
+"one of great credit amongst his countrymen, and upon whom (as touching
+cause of religion) they wholly depend."[431] Sir Henry Sidney's efforts
+to effect reformation of conduct in the clergy and laity, do not seem to
+have been so acceptable at court as he might have supposed. His strong
+measures were followed by tumults; and the way in which he obtained
+possession of the persons of some of the nobles, was not calculated to
+enhance his popularity. He was particularly severe towards the Earl of
+Desmond, whom he seized in Kilmallock, after requiring his attendance,
+on pretence of wishing him to assist in his visitation of Munster. In
+October, 1567, the Deputy proceeded to England to explain his conduct,
+taking with him the Earl of Desmond and his brother, John, whom he also
+arrested on false pretences. Sidney was, however, permitted to return,
+in September, 1568. He landed at Carrickfergus, where he received the
+submission of Turlough O'Neill, who had been elected to the chieftaincy
+on the death of Shane the Proud.
+
+The first public act of the Lord Deputy was to assemble a Parliament, in
+which all constitutional rules were simply set at defiance (January
+17th, 1569). Mayors and sheriffs returned themselves; members were sent
+up for towns not incorporated, and several Englishmen were elected as
+burgesses for places they had never seen. One of these men, Hooker, who
+was returned for Athenry, has left a chronicle of the age. He had to be
+protected by a guard in going to his residence. Popular feeling was so
+strongly manifested against this gross injustice, that the judges were
+consulted as to the legality of proceedings of whose iniquity there
+could be no doubt. The elections for non-corporate towns, and the
+election of individuals by themselves, were pronounced invalid; but a
+decision was given in favour of non-resident Englishmen, which still
+gave the court a large majority.[432] In this Parliament--if, indeed, it
+could be called such--Acts were passed for attainting Shane O'Neill, for
+suppressing the name, and for annexing Tyrone to the royal possessions.
+Charter schools were to be founded, of which the teachers should be
+English and Protestants; and the law before-mentioned, for permitting
+the Lord Deputy to appoint persons to ecclesiastical benefices for ten
+years, was passed.
+
+Sir Philip Carew came to Ireland about this time, and renewed the claim
+of his family to possessions in Ireland. This plea had been rejected in
+the reign of Edward III.; but he now produced a forged roll, which the
+corrupt administration of the day readily admitted as genuine. His claim
+was made in right of Robert FitzStephen, one of the first adventurers;
+his demand included one-half of the "kingdom of Cork," and the barony of
+Idrone, in Carlow. Several engagements ensued, in one of which Carew
+boasted of having slain 400 Irish, and lost only one man. If his
+statement be true, it is probable the engagement was simply a massacre.
+The war became so formidable, that the MacCarthys, FitzGeralds,
+Cavanaghs, and FitzMaurices united against the "common enemy," and at
+last despatched emissaries to the Pope to implore his assistance. It is
+strange to find native Irish chieftains uniting with Anglo-Norman lords
+to resist an English settler.
+
+Sidney now began to put his plan of local governments into execution;
+but this arrangement simply multiplied the number of licensed
+oppressors. Sir Edward Fitton was appointed President of Connaught, and
+Sir John Perrot, of Munster. Both of these gentlemen distinguished
+themselves by "strong measures," of which cruelty to the unfortunate
+natives was the predominant feature. Perrot boasted that he would "hunt
+the fox out of his hole," and devoted himself to the destruction of the
+Geraldines. Fitton arrested the Earl of Clanrickarde, and excited a
+general disturbance. In 1570 the Queen determined to lay claim to the
+possessions in Ulster, graciously conceded to her by the gentlemen who
+had been permitted to vote according to her royal pleasure in the
+so-called Parliament of 1569. She bestowed the district of Ards, in
+Down, upon her secretary, Sir Thomas Smith. It was described as "divers
+parts and parcels of her Highness' Earldom of Ulster that lay waste, or
+else was inhabited with a wicked, barbarous, and uncivil people." There
+were, however, two grievous misstatements in this document. Ulster did
+not belong to her Highness, unless, indeed, the Act of a packed
+Parliament could be considered legal; and the people who inhabited it
+were neither "wicked, barbarous, nor uncivil." The tract of country thus
+unceremoniously bestowed on an English adventurer, was in the possession
+of Sir Rowland Savage. His first ancestor was one of the most
+distinguished of the Anglo-Norman settlers who had accompanied De Courcy
+to Ireland. Thus, although he could not claim the prescriptive right of
+several thousand years for his possessions, he certainly had the right
+of possession for several centuries. An attempt had been made about ten
+years before to drive him out of part of his territory, and he had
+written a letter to "The Right Hon. the Earl of Sussex,
+Lieutenant-General of Ireland," asking for "justice," which justice he
+had not obtained. He was permitted to hold the Southern Ards, because he
+could not be expelled from it without considerable difficulty, and
+because it was the least valuable part of his property.
+
+Smith confided the conduct of the enterprise to his natural son who has
+already been mentioned as the person who attempted to poison Shane
+O'Neill. The first State Paper notice of this enterprise is in a letter,
+dated February, 8, 1572, from Captain Piers to the Lord Deputy, stating
+that the country is in an uproar "at Mr. Smith coming over to plant in
+the north." There is a rare black letter still extant, entitled,
+["Letter by F.B. on the Peopling of the Ardes"] which Smith wrote to
+induce English adventurers to join him in his speculation. It is
+composed with considerable ability. He condemns severely the degeneracy
+of the early English settlers, "who allied and fostered themselves with
+the Irish." He says that "England was never fuller of people than it is
+at this day," and attributes this to "the dissolution of abbeys, which
+hath doubled the number of gentlemen and marriages." He says the younger
+sons who cannot "maintain themselves in the emulation of the world," as
+the elder and richer do, should emigrate; and then he gives glowing
+accounts of the advantages of this emigration.
+
+Strange to say, one of the principal inducements he offers is that the
+"churle of Ireland is very simple and toylsomme man, desiring nothing
+but that he may not be eaten out with ceasse [rent], coyne, and
+liverie." He passes over the subject of rent without any comment, but he
+explains very fully how "the churle is eaten up" with the exactions of
+"coyne and liverie." He says these laborious Irish will gladly come "to
+live under us, and to farm our ground;" but he does not say anything
+about the kind of treatment they were to receive in return for their
+labour. His next inducement is the immense sale (and profit) they might
+expect by growing corn; and he concludes by relieving their fears as to
+any objections which the inhabitants of this country might make to being
+dispossessed from their homes and lands, or any resistance they might
+offer. He considers it immaterial, "for the country of Lecale [which had
+been taken in a similar manner from Savage] was some time kept by
+Brereton with a hundred horses, and Lieutenant Burrows kept _Castle
+Rean_ [Castlereagh], and went daily one quarter of a mile to fetch his
+water, against five hundred Irish that lay again him."
+
+Smith concludes with "an offer and order" for those who wished to join
+in the enterprise. Each footman to have a pike,[433] or halberd, or
+caliver, and a convenient livery cloak, of red colour or carnation, with
+black facings. Each horseman to have a staffe[434] and a case of
+dagges,[435] and his livery[436] to be of the colour aforesaid.
+
+Strype wrote a life of Sir Thomas Smith, Bart., Oxford, 1620. He
+mentions this attempt at colonizing Ulster, having this good design
+therein: "that those half-barbarous people might be taught some
+civility." He speaks of "the hopeful gentleman," Sir Thomas Smith's son
+and concludes with stating how the expedition terminated: "But when
+matters went on thus fairly, Mr. Smith was intercepted and slain by a
+wild Irishman."
+
+Before his assassination Smith had written an account of his proceedings
+to his father, in which he says that "envy had hindered him more than
+the enemy," and that he had been ill-handled by some of his own
+soldiers, ten of whom he had punished. He also expresses some fear of
+the native Irish, whom he had tried to drive out of their lands, as he
+says they sometimes "lay wait to intrap and murther the maister
+himself."
+
+I have given details of this attempted plantation in Ulster, because it
+illustrates the subject; and each plantation which will be recorded
+afterwards, was carried out on the same plan. The object of the
+Englishman was to obtain a home and a fortune; to do this he was obliged
+to drive, the natives out of their homes, and to deprive them of their
+wealth, whether greater or less. The object of the Irishman was to keep
+out the intruder; and, if he could not be kept out, to get rid of him by
+fair means or foul.
+
+It is probable that the attempt of Smith was intended by Government
+principally as an experiment to ascertain whether the plantation could
+be carried out on a larger scale. The next attempt was made by Walter
+Devereux, Earl of Essex, who received part of the signories of Clannaboy
+and Ferney, provided he could expel the "rebels" who dwelt there. Essex
+mortgaged his estates to the Queen to obtain funds for the enterprise.
+He was accompanied by Sir Henry Kenlis, Lord Dacres, and Lord Norris'
+three sons.
+
+Sir William FitzGerald, the then Lord Deputy, complained loudly of the
+extraordinary powers granted to Essex; and some show of deference to his
+authority was made by requiring the Earl to receive his commission from
+him. Essex landed in Ireland in 1573, and the usual career of tyranny
+and treachery was enacted. The native chieftains resisted the invasion
+of their territories, and endeavoured to drive out the men whom they
+could only consider as robbers. The invaders, when they could not
+conquer, stooped to acts of treachery. Essex soon found that the
+conquest of Ulster was not quite so easy a task as he had anticipated.
+Many of the adventurers who had assumed his livery, and joined his
+followers, deserted him; and Brian O'Neill, Hugh O'Neill, and Turlough
+O'Neill rose up against him. Essex then invited Conn O'Donnell to his
+camp; but, as soon as he secured him, he seized his Castle of Lifford,
+and sent the unfortunate chieftain a prisoner to Dublin.
+
+In 1574 the Earl and Brian O'Neill made peace. A feast was prepared by
+the latter, to which Essex and his principal followers were invited; but
+after this entertainment had lasted for three days and nights, "as they
+were agreeably drinking and making merry, Brian, his brother, and his
+wife were seized upon by the Earl, and all his people put unsparingly to
+the sword-men, women, youths, and maidens--in Brian's own presence.
+Brian was afterwards sent to Dublin, together with his wife and brother,
+where they were cut in quarters. Such was the end of their feast. This
+wicked and treacherous murder of the lord of the race of Hugh Boy
+O'Neill, the head and the senior of the race of Eoghan, son of Nial of
+the Nine Hostages, and of all the Gaels, a few only excepted, was a
+sufficient cause of hatred and dispute to the English by the
+Irish."[437]
+
+Essex visited England in 1575, and tried to induce the Queen to give him
+further assistance in his enterprise. On her refusal, he retired to
+Ireland, and died in Dublin, on the 22nd September, 1576. It was
+rumoured he had died of poison, and that the poison was administered at
+the desire of the Earl of Leicester, who soon after divorced his own
+wife, and married the widow of his late rival Essex complained bitterly,
+in his letter to Sir Henry Sidney, of the way in which he had been
+treated in his projected plantation of Clannaboy, and protested against
+the injustice which had been done through him on O'Donnell, MacMahon,
+and others, who were always peaceable and loyal, but "whom he had, on
+the pledged word of the Queen, undone with fair promises." Probably,
+only for his own "undoing," he would have had but scant pity for others.
+
+Yet Essex could be generous and knightly with his friends, kind and
+courtly, at least to his English dependents. There are some curious
+accounts of his expenses while he was "_Lord-General of Ulster_," in a
+State Paper, from which it will appear that he could be liberal, either
+from natural benevolence or from policy. The entries of expenditure
+indicate a love of music, which he could easily gratify in Ireland,
+still famous for the skill of its bards. He gave ten shillings to the
+singing men of Mellifont, then inhabited by Edward Moore, to whom it had
+been granted at the suppression of monasteries. A harper at Sir John
+Bellew's received three shillings; "Crues, my Lord of Ormonde's harper,"
+received the large sum of forty shillings, but whether in compliment to
+the bard or the bard's master is doubtful. The Earl of Ormonde's
+"musicians" also got twenty shillings. But there are other
+disbursements, indicating that presents were gratefully received and
+vails expected. "A boy that brought your lordship a pair of greyhounds"
+had a small donation; but "M'Genis, that brought your lordship two
+stags," had 13s. 4_d_., a sum equivalent to £7 of our money. Nor were
+the fair sex forgotten, for Mrs. Fagan, wife of the Lord Mayor of
+Dublin, was presented with a piece of taffeta "for good entertainment."
+
+Sir Henry Sidney returned to Ireland in 1575. He tells us himself how he
+took on him, "the third time, that thanklesse charge; and so taking
+leave of her Majesty, kissed her sacred hands, with most gracious and
+comfortable wordes, departed from her at Dudley Castell, passed the
+seas, and arrived the xiii of September, 1575, as nere the city of
+Dublin as I could saufly; for at that tyme the city was greevously
+infested with the contagion of the pestilence."[438] He proceeded thence
+to Tredagh (Drogheda), where he received the sword of the then Deputy.
+He next marched northward, and attacked Sorley Boy and the Scotch, who
+were besieging Carrickfergus; and after he had conquered them, he
+received the submission of Turlough O'Neill and other Ulster chieftains.
+Turlough's wife, the Lady Agnes O'Neill, _née_ M'Donnell, was aunt to
+the Earl of Argyle, and appears to have been very much in favour with
+the Lord Deputy.
+
+In the "depe of wynter" he went to Cork, were he remained from Christmas
+to Candlemas. He mentions his entertainment at Barry's Court with
+evident zest, and says "there never was such a Christmas kept in the
+same." In February he visited Thomond, and subdued "a wicked generation,
+some of whom he killed, and some he hanged by order of law." A nice
+distinction, which could hardly have been appreciated by the victims.
+The Earl of Clanrickarde caused his "two most bade and rebellious
+sonnes" to make submission, "whom I would to God I had then hanged."
+However, he kept them close prisoners, and "had a sermon made of them
+and their wickedness in the chief church in the town." John seems to
+have been the principal delinquent. Some time after, when they had been
+set at liberty, they rebelled again; and he records the first "memorable
+act" which one of them had done, adding, "which I am sure was
+John."[439]
+
+Sidney then marched into the west, and had an interview with the famous
+Grace O'Malley, or Granuaile, which he describes thus: "There came to me
+also a most famous femynyne sea captain, called Granuge I'Mally, and
+offered her services unto me wheresoever I would command her, with three
+galleys and two hundred fighting men. She brought with her her husband,
+for she was as well by sea as by land more than master's-mate with him.
+He was of the nether Burkes, and called by nickname Richard in Iron.
+This was a notorious woman in all the coasts of Ireland. This woman did
+Philip Sidney see and speak with; he can more at large inform you of
+her." Grana, or Grace O'Malley, was the daughter of a chieftain of the
+same patronymic. Her paternal clan were strong in galleys and ships.
+They owned a large territory on the sea-coast, besides the islands of
+Arran. Her first husband was Donnell O'Flaherty. His belligerent
+propensities could scarcely have been less than hers, for he is termed
+_Aith Chogaid_, or "of the wars." Her second husband, Sir Richard Burke,
+or Richard _an Iarainn_, is described by the Four Masters as a
+"plundering, warlike, unjust, and rebellious man." He obtained his
+soubriquet from the circumstance of constantly appearing in armour. It
+would appear from this account that Sidney's statement of the Lady Grana
+being "more than master's-mate with him," must be taken with some
+limitations, unless, indeed, he who ruled his foes abroad, failed to
+rule his wife at home, which is quite possible. The subjoined
+illustration represents the remains of one of her castles. It is
+situated near the lake of Borrishoole, in the county Mayo. The ruins are
+very striking, and evince its having once been an erection of
+considerable strength.
+
+[Illustration: CARRIG-A-HOOLY--GRACE O'MALLEY'S CASTLE.]
+
+Sir William Drury was made Lord President of Munster, 1576, in place of
+Sir John Perrot. Sir Nicholas Malby was installed in the same office in
+Connaught; but the barbarities enacted by his predecessor, Fitton, made
+the very name of president so odious, that Sidney gave the new Governor
+the title of Colonel of Connaught. The Earl of Desmond and Drury were
+soon at variance. Sidney says, in his _Memoir_, that the Earl "was still
+repyning at the government of Drury." After causing great apprehension
+to the governors, the Lord Deputy sent the whole party to Kilkenny, and
+found the "Earl hot, wilful, and stubborn; but not long after, as you
+know, he and his two brothers, Sir John and Sir James, fell into actual
+rebellion, in which the good knight, Sir William Drury, the Lord
+Justice, died, and he, as a malicious and unnatural rebel, still
+persisteth and liveth."
+
+In 1577 serious complications were threatened, in consequence of the
+pecuniary difficulties of the crown. An occasional subsidy had been
+granted hitherto for the support of the Government and the army; an
+attempt was now made to convert this subsidy into a tax. On previous
+occasions there had been some show of justice, however little reality,
+by permitting the Parliament to pass the grant; a scheme was now
+proposed to empower the Lord Deputy to levy assessments by royal
+authority, without any reference to Parliament. For the first time the
+Pale opposed the Government, and resisted the innovation. But their
+opposition was speedily and effectually silenced. The deputies whom they
+sent to London to remonstrate were committed to the Tower, and orders
+were despatched to Ireland that all who had signed the remonstrance
+should be consigned to Dublin Castle.
+
+It is said that Elizabeth was not without some misgivings as to the
+injustice with which her Irish subjects were treated, and that she was
+once so touched by the picture presented to her of their sufferings
+under such exactions, that she exclaimed: "Ah, how I fear lest it be
+objected to us, as it was to Tiberius by Bato, concerning the Dalmatian
+commotions! You it is that are in fault, who have committed your flocks,
+not to shepherds, but to wolves." Nevertheless, the "wolves" were still
+permitted to plunder; and any impression made on the royal feelings
+probably evaporated under the fascinating influence of her next
+interview with Leicester, and the indignation excited by a "rebel" who
+refused to resign his ancestral home quietly to some penniless
+adventurer. There had been serious difficulties in England in 1462, in
+consequence of the shameful state of the current coin; and the Queen has
+received considerable praise for having accomplished a reform. But the
+idea, and the execution of the idea, originated with her incomparable
+minister, Cecil, whose master-mind applied itself with equal facility to
+every state subject, however trifling or however important; and the loss
+and expenditure which the undertaking involved, was borne by the country
+to the last penny. Mr. Froude says it was proposed that the "worst money
+might be sent to Ireland, as the general dust-heap for the outcasting of
+England's vileness."[440] The standard for Ireland had always been under
+that of England, but the base proposal above-mentioned was happily not
+carried into execution. Still there were enough causes of misery in
+Ireland apart from its normal grievances. The Earl of Desmond wrote an
+elaborate and well-digested appeal to Lord Burleigh, complaining of
+military abuses, and assuring his Lordship that if he had "sene them
+[the poor who were burdened with cess], he would rather give them
+charitable alms than burden them with any kind of chardge." He mentions
+specially the cruelty of compelling a poor man to carry for five, eight,
+or ten miles, on his back, as many sheaves as the "horse-boies" choose
+to demand of him; and if he goes not a "good pace, though the poor soule
+be overburdened, he is all the waye beaten outt of all measure."
+
+Cess was also commanded to be delivered at the "Queen's price," which
+was considerably lower than the market price. Even Sidney was supposed
+to be too lenient in his exactions; but eventually a composition of
+seven years' purveyance, payable by instalments, was agreed upon, and
+the question was set at rest. The Queen and the English Council
+naturally feared to alienate the few nobles who were friendly to them,
+as well as the inhabitants of the Pale, who were as a majority in their
+interest.
+
+The Pale was kept in considerable alarm at this period, by the exploits
+of the famous outlaw, Rory Oge O'More. In 1577 he stole into Naas with
+his followers, and set the town on fire; after this exploit he retired,
+without taking any lives. He continued these depredations for eighteen
+years. In 1571 he was killed by one of MacGillapatrick's men, and the
+Pale was relieved from a most formidable source of annoyance. But the
+same year in which this brave outlaw terminated his career, is
+signalized by one of the most fearful acts of bloodshed and treachery on
+record. The heads of the Irish families of Offaly and Leix, whose
+extirpation had long been attempted unsuccessfully, were invited in the
+Queen's name, and under the Queen's protection, to attend a conference
+at the great rath on the hill of Mullach-Maistean (Mullamast). As soon
+as they had all assembled, they were surrounded by a treble line of the
+Queen's garrison soldiers, and butchered to a man in cold blood.
+
+This massacre was performed with the knowledge and approval of the
+Deputy, Sir Henry Sidney. The soldiers who accomplished the bloody work
+were commanded by Captain Francis Crosby, to whom the chief command of
+all the kerne in the Queen's pay was committed. We have already related
+some incidents in his career, which show how completely destitute he was
+of the slightest spark of humanity.[441]
+
+Sir Henry Sidney retired from office finally on the 26th of May, 1578.
+He dates his _Memoir_ from "Ludlow Castell, with more payne than harte,
+the 1st of March, 1582." In this document he complains bitterly of the
+neglect of his services by Government, and bemoans his losses in piteous
+strains. He describes himself as "fifty-four yeres of age, toothlesse
+and trembling, being five thousand pounds in debt." He says he shall
+leave his sons £20,000 worse off than his father left him. In one place
+he complains that he had not as much ground as would "feede a mutton,"
+and he evidently considers his services were worth an ampler
+remuneration; for he declares: "I would to God the country was yet as
+well as I lefte it almost fyve yeres agoe." If he did not succeed in
+obtaining a large grant for his services, it certainly was not for want
+of asking it; and if he did not succeed in pacifying the country, it was
+not for lack of summary measures. Even in his postscript he mentions how
+he hanged a captain of Scots, and he thinks "very nere twenty of his
+men."
+
+It seems almost needless to add anything to the official descriptions of
+Ireland, which have already been given in such detail; but as any remark
+from the poet Spenser has a special interest, I shall give some brief
+account of his _View of Ireland_. The work which bears this name is
+written with considerable prejudice, and abounds in misstatements. Like
+all settlers, he was utterly disgusted with the hardships he endured,
+though the poet's eye could not refuse its meed of admiration to the
+country in which they were suffered. His description of the miseries of
+the native Irish can scarcely be surpassed, and his description of the
+poverty of the country is epitomized in the well-known lines:--
+
+    "Was never so great waste in any place,
+     Nor so foul outrage done by living men;
+       For all the cities they shall sack and raze,
+     And the green grass that groweth they shall burn,
+     That even the wild beast shall die in starved den."[442]
+
+Yet this misery never touched his heart; for the remedy he proposes
+poses for Irish sufferings is to increase them, if possible, a
+thousandfold; and he would have troops employed to "tread down all
+before them, and lay on the ground all the stiff-necked people of the
+land." And this he would have done in winter, with a refinement of
+cruelty, that the bitter air may freeze up the half-naked peasant, that
+he may have no shelter from the bare trees, and that he may be deprived
+of all sustenance by the chasing and driving of his cows.
+
+It is probable that Spenser's "view" of Irish affairs was considerably
+embittered by his own sufferings there. He received his property on the
+condition of residence, and settled himself at Kilcolman Castle. Here he
+spent four years, and wrote the three first books of the _Faerie
+Queene_. He went to London with Sir Walter Raleigh to get them
+published. On his return he married a country girl, named Elizabeth--an
+act which was a disgrace to himself, if the Irish were what he described
+them to be. In 1598, during Tyrone's insurrection, his estate was
+plundered, his castle burned, and his youngest child perished in the
+flames. He then fled to London, where he died a year after in extreme
+indigence.
+
+His description of the condition of the Protestant Church coincides with
+the official account of Sidney. He describes the clergy as "generally
+bad, licentious, and most disordered;" and he adds: "Whatever
+disorders[443] you see in the Church of England, you may find in
+Ireland, and many more, namely, gross simony, greedy covetousness,
+incontinence, and careless sloth." And then he contrasts the zeal of the
+Catholic clergy with the indifference of "the ministers of the Gospel,"
+who, he says, only take the tithes and offerings, and gather what fruit
+else they may of their livings.
+
+[Illustration: THE HOUSE WHERE SIR WALTER RALEIGH LIVED.]
+
+[Illustration: SALTEE ISLANDS, WEXFORD.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[426] _Willing_.--Sidney's Despatches, British Museum, MSS. Cat. Titus
+B. x.
+
+[427] _Irreligion_.--Mant, vol. i. p.287.
+
+[428] _Scattered_.--Cox, vol. i. p.319.
+
+[429] _Civility_.--Sidney's _Letters and Memorials_, vol i. p.112.
+Sidney's memoir has been published _in extenso_ in the _Ulster Arch.
+Journal_, with most interesting notes by Mr. Hore of Wexford.
+
+[430] _Reformation_.--_Past and Present Policy of England towards
+Ireland_, p. 27. London, 1845.
+
+[431] _Depend_.--Shirley, p. 219. An admirable _History of the Diocese
+of Meath_, in two volumes, has been published lately by the Rev. A.
+Cogan, Catholic Priest of Navan. It is very much to be wished that this
+rev. author would extend his charitable labours to other dioceses
+throughout Ireland.
+
+[432] _Majority_.--Leland, vol. ii. p.241.
+
+[433] _Pike_.--This was probably the _Morris pike_ or _Moorish pike_,
+much used in the reign of Henry VIII and Elizabeth. The common pike was
+used very generally by foot soldiers until the reign of George II. The
+halberd was introduced during the reign of Henry VIII. It was peculiar
+to the royal guard, and is still carried by them. In Shirley's comedy,
+_A Bird in a Cage_ (1633), one of the characters is asked, "You are one
+of the guard?" and replies, "A Poor halberd man, sir." The caliver was
+quite recently introduced. It was a light kind of musket, fired without
+a rest. It derived its name from the _calibre_ or width of its bore.
+
+[434] _Staffe._--This was probably a cane staff. We read in _Piers
+Plowman's Vision_ of "hermits on a heap with hookyd staves."
+
+[435] _Dagges._--"Pistols."--"My _dagge_ was levelled at his heart."
+
+[436] _Livery_--It was usual for all retainers of a noble house to wear
+a uniform-coloured cloth in dress. Thus, in the old play of _Sir Thomas
+More_, we find:
+
+"That no man whatsoever Do walk without the _livery_ of his lord, Either
+in cloak or any other garment."
+
+
+
+[437] _Irish_.--Four Masters, vol. v. pp. 1678-9. Camden mentions the
+capture of O'Neill, and says Essex slew 200 of his men; but he does not
+mention the treachery with which this massacre was accomplished.
+
+[438] _Pestilence_.--Memoir or Narrative addressed to Sir Francis
+Walsingham, 1583. Ware says he wrote "Miscellanies of the Affairs of
+Ireland," but the MS. has not yet been discovered. The Four Masters
+notice the pestilence, which made fearful ravages.
+
+[439] _John_.--He was called _Shane Seamar Oge_, or John of the
+Shamrocks, from having threatened to live on shamrocks sooner than
+submit to the English. John was the younger of the two De Burgos or
+Burkes.
+
+[440] _Vileness.--Reign of Elizabeth_, vol. i, p. 458.
+
+[441] _Humanity_.--Dr. O'Donovan, with his usual conscientious accuracy,
+has given a long and most interesting note on the subject of this
+massacre, in the _Annals of the Four Masters_, vol. v.p. 1695. Dowling
+is the oldest writer who mentions the subject, and he expressly
+mentions Crosby and Walpole as the principal agents in effecting it.
+Dr. O'Donovan gives a curious traditional account of the occurrence, in
+which several Catholic families are accused of having taken part.
+
+[442] _Den.--Faerie Queene_, book iii c. 3.
+
+[443] _Disorders_.--"In many dioceses in England (A.D. 1561), a third of
+the parishes were left without a clergyman, resident or non-resident....
+The children grew up unbaptized; the dead buried their dead." Elizabeth
+had to remonstrate with Parliament upon the "open decays and ruins" of
+the churches. "They were not even kept commonly clean, and nothing was
+done to make them known to be places provided for divine service." "The
+cathedral plate adorned the prebendal sideboards and dinner-tables. The
+organ pipes were melted into dishes for their kitchens. The organ frames
+were carved into bedsteads, where the wives reposed beside their
+reverend lords. The copes and vestments were slit into gowns and
+bodices. Having children to provide for, the chapters cut down their
+woods, and worked their fines ... for the benefit of their own
+generation." "The priests' wives were known by their dress in the
+street, and their proud gait, from a hundred other women."--Froude,
+_Reign of Elizabeth_, vol. i. pp. 465-467.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+FitzMaurice obtains Help from Spain and from Rome--The Martyrs of
+Kilmallock--Death of FitzMaurice--Drury's Cruelties and Death--Arrival
+of San José--His Treachery--Massacre at the Fort del Ore--O'Neill shows
+Symptoms of Disaffection--Treacherous Capture of O'Donnell--Injustice to
+Tenants--O'Donnell attempts to Escape--O'Neill's Marriage with Mabel
+Bagnal--O'Donnell Escapes from Dublin Castle--Causes of
+Discontent--Cruel Massacre of Three Priests--Tortures and Death
+inflicted in Dublin on Bishop O'Hurley--O'Neill's Insurrection--His
+Interview with Essex--He marches to the South--His Fatal Reverse at
+Kinsale--The Siege of Dunboy--O'Neill's Submission--Foundation of
+Trinity College, Dublin, on the Site and with the Funds of a Catholic
+Abbey.
+
+[A.D. 1579-1605.]
+
+
+Exaggerated rumours were now spread throughout Munster, of the
+probability of help from foreign sources--A.D. 1579. James FitzMaurice
+had been actively employed on the Continent in collecting troops and
+assistance for the Irish Catholics. In France his requests were politely
+refused, for Henry III. wished to continue on good terms with Elizabeth.
+Philip II. of Spain referred him to the Pope. In Rome he met with more
+encouragement; and at the solicitation of the Franciscan Bishop of
+Killaloe, Cornelius O'Mullrain, Dr. Allen, and Dr. Saunders, he obtained
+a Bull, encouraging the Irish to fight for the recovery of religious
+freedom, and for the liberation of their country. An expedition was
+fitted out at the expense of the Holy See, and maintained eventually by
+Philip of Spain. At the earnest request of FitzMaurice, an English
+adventurer, named Stukeley, was appointed admiral. The military command
+was bestowed on Hercules Pisano, a soldier of some experience.
+
+Stukeley was reported to be an illegitimate son of Henry VIII. He was a
+wild and lawless adventurer, and entirely unfitted for such a command.
+At Lisbon he forsook his squadron, and joined the expedition which
+Sebastian, the romantic King of Portugal, was preparing to send to
+Morocco. FitzMaurice had travelled through France to Spain, from whence
+he proceeded to Ireland, with a few troops. He had three small vessels
+besides his own, and on his way he captured two English ships. He was
+accompanied by Dr. Saunders,[444] as Legate, the Bishop of Killaloe, and
+Dr. Allen.[445] They were entirely ignorant of Stukeley's desertion
+until their arrival in Ireland. The squadron reached Dingle on the 17th
+of July, 1579. Eventually they landed at Smerwick Harbour, and threw
+themselves into the Fort del Ore, which they fortified as best they
+could. If the Earl of Desmond had joined his brother at once, the
+expedition might have ended differently; but he stood aloof, fearing to
+involve himself in a struggle, the issue of which could scarcely be
+doubtful.
+
+A short time before the arrival of this little expedition, three persons
+had landed in disguise at Dingle, whom Desmond, anxious to show his zeal
+towards the ruling powers, consigned to the authorities in Limerick.
+They were discovered to be Dr. Patrick O'Haly, a Franciscan, and Bishop
+of Mayo, and Father Cornelius O'Rourke; the name of the third person has
+not been ascertained. On Sir William Drury's arrival at Kilmallock, they
+were brought before him, and condemned to torture and death. The torture
+was executed with unusual barbarity, for Drury was a man who knew no
+mercy. The confessors were first placed upon the rack, and then, as if
+the agony of that torment was not sufficient, their hands and feet were
+broken with large hammers, and other torments were added. When life was
+nearly extinct, they were released, and their martyrdom was finally
+accomplished by hanging. For fourteen days their bodies remained
+suspended in chains, and the soldiers used them as targets in their
+shooting exercises.
+
+The Earl of Desmond, however, soon joined his brother. John Geraldine
+allied himself with the movement from its commencement. A second
+expedition was fitted out in Spain, which reached Ireland on the 13th of
+September, 1580. It was commanded by Colonel Sebastian San José, who
+proved eventually so fearful a traitor to the cause he had volunteered
+to defend. Father Mathew de Oviedo, a member of the Franciscan Order,
+was the principal promoter of this undertaking. He was a native of
+Spain, and had been educated in the College of Salamanca, then famous
+for the learning and piety of its _alumni_. The celebrated Florence
+Conry, subsequently Archbishop of Tuam, was one of his companions; and
+when he entered the Franciscan novitiate, he had the society of eleven
+brethren who were afterwards elevated to the episcopate. Oviedo was the
+bearer of a letter from the Roman Pontiff, Gregory XIII., granting
+indulgences to those who joined the army.
+
+On the 18th of August, scarcely a month after he had landed in Ireland,
+James FitzMaurice was killed by Theobald and Ulick Burke, his own
+kinsmen. Their father, Sir William Burke, was largely rewarded for his
+loyalty in opposing the Geraldines; and, if Camden is to be believed, he
+died of joy in consequence of the favours heaped upon him. The death of
+FitzMaurice was a fatal blow to the cause. John Geraldine, however, took
+the command of the force; but the Earl hastened to Kilmallock to
+exculpate himself, as best he could, with the Lord Deputy. His apologies
+were accepted, and he was permitted to go free on leaving his only son,
+James, then a mere child, as hostage with Drury. The Geraldines were
+successful soon after in an engagement with the English; and Drury died
+in Waterford at the end of September. Ecclesiastical historians say that
+he had been cited by the martyrs of Kilmallock to meet them at Christ's
+judgment, and answer for his cruelties.
+
+Sir Nicholas Malby was left in command of the army, and Sir William
+Pelham was elected Lord Deputy in Dublin. The usual career of burning
+and plundering was enacted--"the country was left one levelled plain,
+without corn or edifices." Youghal was burned to the ground, and the
+Mayor was hanged at his own door. James Desmond was hanged and
+quartered, by St. Leger and Raleigh, in Cork. Pelham signalized himself
+by cruelties, and executed a gentleman who had been blind from his
+birth, and another who was over a hundred years of age.
+
+But the crowning tragedy was at hand. The expedition commanded by San
+José now arrived in Ireland. The Fort del Ore was once more occupied and
+strengthened; the courage of the insurgents was revived. Meanwhile Lord
+Grey was marching so southward with all possible haste. He soon reached
+the fort, and, at the same time, Admirals Winter and Bingham prepared to
+attack the place by sea. In a few days the courage of the Spanish
+commander failed, and he entered into treaty with the Lord Deputy. A
+bargain was made that he should receive a large share of the spoils. He
+had obtained a personal interview in the Viceroy's camp,[446] and the
+only persons for whom he made conditions were the Spaniards who had
+accompanied him on the expedition. The English were admitted to the
+fortress on the following day, and a feast was prepared for them. All
+arms and ammunition were consigned to the care of the English soldiers,
+and, this accomplished, the signal for massacre was given; and,
+according to Lord Grey's official[447] account, 600 men were slain in
+cold blood. So universal was the reprobation of this fearful tragedy,
+that Sir Richard Bingham tried to make it appear that it had not been
+premeditated. Grey's official despatch places the matter beyond
+question, and Dr. Saunders' letter supplies the details on authority
+which cannot be disputed.
+
+Three persons who had been treacherously given up to the Viceroy, were
+spared for special torments; those were--a priest named Lawrence, an
+Englishman named William Willick, and Oliver Plunket. They were offered
+liberty if they would renounce the faith; but on their resolute refusal,
+their legs and arms were broken in three places, and after they had been
+allowed to pass that night and the next day in torment, they were hanged
+and quartered. The State Papers confirm the account given by Saunders of
+these barbarities. The English officers now endeavoured to rival each
+other in acts of cruelty to obtain official commendation and royal
+favour. Sir Walter Raleigh was especially active in Cork, and brought a
+charge of treason against the Barrys and Roches, old English settlers;
+but Barry set fire to his castle, and took to the woods, where he joined
+Lord Desmond. Lord Roche was taken prisoner, but eventually escaped from
+his persecutors. Pretended plots were rumoured in all directions, and
+numbers of innocent persons were executed. William Burke was hanged in
+Galway, and forty-five persons were executed. The Geraldine cause was
+reduced to the lowest ebb by the treachery of José. The Earl of Desmond
+and his sons were fugitives in their own country. The latter was offered
+pardon if he would surrender Dr. Saunders, the Papal Legate, but this he
+resolutely refused. Saunders continued his spiritual ministrations until
+he was entirely worn out with fatigue, and he died, at the close of the
+year 1581, in a miserable hovel in the woods of Claenglass. He was
+attended by the Bishop of Killaloe, from whom he received the last rites
+of the Church.
+
+Immense rewards were now offered for the capture of the Geraldine
+leaders, but their faithful followers would not be bribed. John was at
+length seized, through the intervention of a stranger. He was wounded in
+the struggle, and died immediately after; but his enemies wreaked their
+vengeance on his remains, which were gibbeted at Cork. The Earl of
+Desmond was assassinated on the 11th of November, 1583, and the hopeless
+struggle terminated with his death. He had been hunted from place to
+place like a wild beast, and, according to Hooker, obliged to dress his
+meat in one place, to eat it in another, and to sleep in a third. He was
+surprised, on one occasion, while his soldiers were cooking their
+mid-day meal, and five-and-twenty of his followers were put to the
+sword; but he escaped, and fled to Kerry, where he was apprehended ended
+and slain. His head was sent to Elizabeth, and impaled on London-bridge,
+according to the barbarous practice of the time. His body was interred
+in the little chapel of Kilnamaseagh, near Castleisland. Complaints of
+the extreme severity of Lord Grey's administration had been sent to the
+English court. Even English subjects declared that he had "left her
+Majesty little to reign over but carcasses and ashes." He was therefore
+recalled. The administration was confided to Loftus, the Protestant
+Archbishop of Dublin, and Sir Henry Wallope, and an amnesty was
+proclaimed. Sir Thomas Norreys was appointed Governor of Munster, and
+Sir Richard Bingham, Governor of Connaught. In 1584 Sir John Perrot was
+made Deputy, and commenced his career by executing Beg O'Brien, who had
+taken an active part in the late insurrections, at Limerick, with a
+refinement of cruelty, as "a warning to future evil-doers."
+
+In 1585 Perrot held a Parliament in Dublin, from which, however, no very
+important enactments proceeded. Its principal object appears to have
+been the confiscation of Desmond's estates. This was opposed by many of
+the members; but the crown was determined to have them, and the crown
+obtained them. Thus lands to the extent of 574,628 acres were ready for
+new adventurers. The most tempting offers were made to induce Englishmen
+to plant; estates were given for twopence an acre; rent was only to
+commence after three years. No Irish families were to be admitted as
+tenants, though their labours might be accepted or compelled. English
+families were to be substituted in certain proportions; and on these
+conditions, Raleigh, Hatton, Norris, St. Leger, and others, obtained
+large grants. The Irish question was to be settled finally, but somehow
+it was not settled, though no one seemed exactly prepared to say why.
+
+Meanwhile Sir Richard Bingham was opposing the conciliatory policy of
+the Deputy, and hanged seventy persons at one session in Galway, in
+January, A.D. 1586. Perrot interfered; but the Burkes, who had been
+maddened by Bingham's cruelties, broke out into open rebellion; and he
+pointed to the revolt which he had himself occasioned, as a
+justification of his former conduct. The Scotch now joined the Burkes,
+but were eventually defeated by the President, the Irish annalists say,
+with the loss of 2,000 men. Another bloody assize was held in Galway,
+where young and old alike were victims.
+
+The state of Ulster was now giving considerable anxiety to the English
+Government. Hugh O'Neill was just commencing his famous career; and
+although he had fought under the English standard in Geraldine war, it
+was thought quite possible that he might set up a standard of his own.
+He had taken his seat in parliament as _Baron of Dungannon_. He had
+obtained the title of Earl of Tyrone. He had visited Elizabeth, and by a
+judicious mixture of flattery and deference, which she was never able to
+resist he obtained letters-patent under the Great Seal restoring his
+inheritance and his rank. He was even permitted, on his return, to keep
+up a standing army of six companies, "to preserve the peace of the
+north."
+
+In 1586 a thousand soldiers were withdrawn from Ireland to serve in the
+Netherlands; and as the country was always governed by force, it could
+scarcely be expected not to rebel when the restraint was withdrawn.
+O'Neill manifested alarming symptoms of independence. He had married a
+daughter of Sir Hugh O'Donnell, and Sir Hugh refused to admit an English
+sheriff into his territory. The Government had, therefore, no resource
+but war or treachery. War was impossible, when so large a contingent had
+been withdrawn; treachery was always possible; and even Sir John Perrot
+stooped to this base means of attaining his end. The object was to get
+possession of Hugh Roe O'Donnell, a noble youth, and to keep him as
+hostage. The treachery was accomplished thus: a vessel, laden with
+Spanish wine, was sent to Donegal on pretence of traffic. It anchored at
+Rathmullen, where it had been ascertained that Hugh Roe O'Donnell was
+staying with his foster-father, MacSweeny. The wine was distributed
+plentifully to the country people; and when MacSweeny sent to make
+purchases, the men declared there was none left for sale, but if the
+gentlemen came on board, they should have what was left. Hugh and his
+companions easily fell into the snare. They were hospitably entertained,
+but their arms were carefully removed, the hatches were shut down, the
+cable cut, and the ship stood off to sea. The guests who were not wanted
+were put ashore, but the unfortunate youth was taken to Dublin, and
+confined in the Castle.[448]
+
+In 1588 Sir John Perrot was succeeded by Sir William FitzWilliam, a
+nobleman of the most opposite character and disposition. Perrot was
+generally regretted by the native Irish, as he was considered one of the
+most humane of the Lord Deputies. The wreck of the Spanish Armada
+occurred during this year, and was made at once an excuse for increased
+severity towards the Catholics, and for acts of grievous injustice. Even
+loyal persons were accused of harbouring the shipwrecked men, as it was
+supposed they might have obtained some treasure in return for their
+hospitality. FitzWilliam, according to Ware, wished to "finger some of
+it himself," and invaded the territories of several Irish chieftains. A
+complete history of FitzWilliam's acts of injustice, and the consummate
+cruelty with which they were perpetrated, would be so painful to relate,
+that they can scarcely be recorded in detail. He farmed out the country
+to the highest bidders, who practised every possible extortion on the
+unfortunate natives. The favourite method of compelling them to yield up
+their lands without resistance, was to fry the soles of their feet in
+boiling brimstone and grease. When torture did not succeed, some unjust
+accusation was brought forward, and they were hanged. A tract preserved
+in Trinity College, Dublin, gives details of these atrocities, from
+which I shall only select one instance. A landlord was anxious to obtain
+the property of one of his tenants, an Irishman, who had lived
+"peaceably and quietly, as a good subject," for many years. He agreed
+with the sheriff to divide the spoil with him, if he would assist in the
+plot. The man and his servant were seized; the latter was hanged, and
+the former was sent to Dublin Castle, to be imprisoned on some pretence.
+The gentleman and the sheriff at once seized the tenant's property, and
+turned his wife and children out to beg. After a short time, "they, by
+their credit and countenance, being both English gentlemen, informed the
+Lord Deputy so hardly of him, as that, without indictment or trial, they
+executed him."[449]
+
+It was considered a grave reproach, and an evidence of barbarism, when
+Maguire sent word to the Lord Deputy, who wished to send a sheriff to
+Fermanagh: "Your sheriff will be welcome, but let me know his eric [the
+fine which would be levied on the district if he were killed], that if
+my people cut off his head, I may levy it on the country." One other
+instance from another source will sufficiently prove that the dread of
+an English sheriff was well founded. The chieftain of Oriel, Hugh
+MacMahon, had given a present of 600 cows to the Lord Deputy to
+recognize his rights. Sir Henry Bagnal the Marshal of Ireland, had his
+head-quarters at Newry, where his property had been principally acquired
+by deeds of blood, and he wished for a share of the spoil. A charge of
+treason was made against MacMahon after the cows had been accepted; a
+jury of common soldiers was empannelled to try the case. A few were
+Irish, and they were locked up without food until they agreed to give
+the required verdict of guilty, while the English jurors were permitted
+to go in and out as they pleased. The unfortunate chieftain was hanged,
+in two days after his arrest, at his own door; his property was divided
+amongst those whom we must call his murderers. The MacMahon sept were,
+however, permitted to retain a portion on payment of a "good fine,
+underhand," to the Lord Deputy.[450]
+
+In 1590, Hugh of the Fetters, an illegitimate son of the famous Shane
+O'Neill, was hanged by the Earl of Tyrone, for having made false charges
+against him to the Lord Deputy. This exercise of authority excited
+considerable fear, and the Earl was obliged to clear himself of blame
+before Elizabeth. After a brief detention in London, he was permitted to
+return to Ireland, but not until he had signed certain articles in the
+English interest, which he observed precisely as long as it suited his
+convenience. About this time his nephew, Hugh O'Donnell, made an
+ineffectual attempt to escape from Dublin Castle, but he was recaptured,
+and more closely guarded. This again attracted the attention of
+Government to the family; but a more important event was about to
+follow. O'Neill's wife was dead, and the chieftain was captivated by the
+beauty of Sir Henry Bagnal's sister. How they contrived to meet and to
+plight their vows is not known, though State Papers have sometimes
+revealed as romantic particulars. It has been discovered, however, from
+that invaluable source of information, that Sir Henry was furious, and
+cursed himself and his fate that his "bloude, which had so often been
+spilled in reppressinge this rebellious race, should nowe be mingled
+with so traitorous a stocke and kindred." He removed the from Newry to
+her sister's house, near Dublin, who was the wife of Sir Patrick
+Barnwell. The Earl followed Miss Bagnal thither. Her brother-in-law
+received him courteously; and while the O'Neill engaged the family in
+conversation, a confidential friend rode off with the lady, who was
+married to O'Neill immediately after.
+
+But a crisis was approaching; and while this event tended to embitter
+the English officials against the Earl, a recurrence of outrages against
+the northern chieftains prepared them for revolt. One of their leading
+men, O'Rourke, was executed this year (A.D. 1591) in London. He had
+taken refuge in Scotland some time before, from those who wished to take
+his life, as the easiest method of securing his property, but the Scots
+had given him up to the English Government. He was said to be one of the
+handsomest and bravest men of his times, and his execution excited
+universal pity. The apostate, Miler Magrath, attempted to tamper with
+his faith in his last moments, but the chieftain bade him rather to
+repent himself and to return to the faith of his fathers.
+
+Hugh O'Donnell made another attempt to escape from confinement at
+Christmas, A.D. 1592. He succeeded on this occasion, though his life was
+nearly lost in the attempt. Turlough Roe O'Hagan, his father's faithful
+friend, was the principal agent in effecting his release. Henry and Art
+O'Neill, sons of Shane the Proud, were companions in his flight. They
+both fell exhausted on their homeward journey. Art died soon after, from
+the effects of fatigue and exposure, and Hugh recovered but slowly. He
+continued ill during the remainder of the winter, and was obliged to
+have his toes amputated. As soon as he was sufficiently recovered, a
+general meeting of his sept was convened, when he was elected to the
+chieftaincy, and inaugurated in the usual manner. He then commenced
+incursions on the territories occupied by the English; but as the Earl
+of Tyrone was anxious to prevent a premature rebellion, he induced the
+Lord Deputy to meet him at Dundalk, where he obtained a full pardon for
+his escape from Dublin Castle, and a temporary pacification was
+arranged.
+
+In 1593 he collected another army; Turlough Luineach resigned his
+chieftaincy to the Earl of Tyrone; and Ulster became wholly the
+possession of its old chieftains--the O'Neill and O'Donnell. An open
+rebellion broke out soon after, in consequence of the exactions of two
+English officers on the territories of Oge O'Rourke and Maguire. Several
+trifling engagements took place. The Earl of Tyrone was placed in a
+difficult position. He was obliged to join the English side, while his
+heart and inclination were with his own people; but he contrived to send
+a messenger to Hugh Roe, who had joined Maguire's party, requesting him
+not to fight against him. He was placed in a still greater difficulty at
+the siege of Enniskillen, which took place the following year; but he
+compromised matters by sending his brother, Cormac O'Neill, with a
+contingent, to fight on the national side. Cormac met the English
+soldiers, who had been sent to throw provisions into the town, almost
+five miles from their destination, and routed them with great slaughter.
+The site of the engagement was called the "Ford of the Biscuits," from
+the quantity of that provision which he obtained there. An Irish
+garrison was left at Enniskillen, and the victorious party, after
+retaliating the cruelties which had been inflicted on the natives,
+marched into northern Connaught to attack Sir Richard Bingham.
+
+On the 11th of August, in this year, 1594, Sir William Russell was
+appointed Deputy in place of FitzWilliam. Tyrone appeared at the Castle
+soon after, and complained of the suspicions which were entertained of
+his loyalty, not, it is to be supposed, without a very clear personal
+conviction that they were well founded. The Viceroy would have received
+him favourably, but his old enemy, Bagnal, charged him with high
+treason. O'Neill's object was to gain time. He was unwilling to revolt
+openly, till he could do so with some prospect of success; and if his
+discretion was somewhat in advance of the average amount of that
+qualification as manifested by Irish chieftains hitherto, his valour
+redeemed him from all possible imputation of having made it an excuse
+for cowardice, or any conciliation with the "English enemy," which was
+not warranted by motives of prudence.
+
+Tyrone now offered to clear himself by the ordeal of single combat with
+his adversary, but Bagnal declined the offer. The following year (A.D.
+1595), the new Deputy took O'Byrne's Castle, at Glenmalure. One of the
+Kildare Geraldines revenged the injuries done to this chieftain, by
+making nocturnal attacks in the neighbourhood of Dublin; but he was soon
+captured, and hanged in Dublin. These and similar outrages excited
+popular feeling to an unwonted degree; but there were other wrongs
+besides the robberies of chieftains' estates, and their subsequent
+murder if they resisted oppression. The men whose lives the Irish nation
+have always held even more sacred than those of their most ancient
+chiefs, were daily slaughtered before their eyes, and the slaughter was
+perpetrated with cruelties which were so utterly uncalled-for, so
+barbarously inhuman, that they might well have excited the burning
+indignation of a heathen or a Turk.
+
+These men were the priests of the old faith which the Irish had received
+so many hundred years before, and which neither death nor torments could
+induce them to forsake. I shall mention but two of these outrages,
+premising that there were few places in Ireland where similar scenes had
+not been enacted. In the year 1588 three Franciscan fathers were
+martyred, who had devoted themselves for some years previously to the
+spiritual necessities of the people. Many Catholic families from Carlow,
+Wexford, and Wicklow had been obliged to fly into the mountainous
+districts of Leinster, to escape further persecution. The three fathers,
+John Molloy, Cornelius Dogherty, and Wilfred Ferral, were unwearied in
+their ministrations. They spoke to these poor creatures of the true
+Home, where all their sufferings should be rewarded with eternal joy--of
+how wise it was to exchange the passing things of time for the enduring
+goods of eternity; they visited the sick, they consoled the dying; above
+all, they administered those life-giving sacraments so precious to the
+Catholic Christian; and if, like the holy martyrs, persecuted by heathen
+emperors, they were obliged to offer the adorable sacrifice on a rock or
+in a poor hut, it was none the less acceptable to God, and none the less
+efficacious to the worshippers. These shepherds of the flock were
+specially obnoxious to the Government. They preached patience, but they
+were accused of preaching rebellion; they confirmed their people in
+their faith, but this was supposed to be equivalent to exciting them to
+resist their oppressors. The three fathers were at last seized by a
+party of cavalry, in a remote district of the Queen's county. They were
+tied hand and foot, and conducted with every species of ignominy to the
+garrison of Abbeyleix. Here they were first flogged, then racked, and
+finally hanged[451], drawn, and quartered. The soldiers, brutalized as
+man can be brutalized by familiarity with scenes of blood, scoffed at
+the agonies they inflicted, and hardened themselves for fresh
+barbarities. But there were men who stood by to weep and pray; and
+though they were obliged to conceal their tears, and to breathe their
+prayers softly into the eternal and ever-open ear of God, the lash which
+mangled the bodies of the men they revered lacerated their souls yet
+more deeply; and as they told to others the tale of patient suffering
+endured for Christ and His Church, the hearts of the people were bound
+yet closer to their faithful pastors, and they clung yet more ardently
+to the religion which produced such glorious examples.
+
+The other execution is, if possible, more barbarous. If the duty of an
+historian did not oblige me to give such details, I would but too gladly
+spare you the pain of reading and myself the pain of writing them. The
+name of Dermod O'Hurley has ever stood prominent in the roll of Irish
+martyrs. He was a man of more than ordinary learning, and of refined and
+cultivated tastes; but he renounced even the pure pleasures of
+intellectual enjoyments for the poor of Christ, and received for his
+reward the martyr's crown. After he had taught philosophy in Louvain and
+rhetoric at Rheims, he went to Rome, where his merit soon attracted the
+attention of Gregory XIII., who appointed him to the see of Cashel.
+O'Sullivan describes his personal appearance as noble and imposing, and
+says that "none more mild had ever held the crozier of St. Cormac." His
+position was not an enviable one to flesh and blood; but to one who had
+renounced all worldly ties, and who only desired to suffer like his
+Lord, it was full of promise. His mission was soon discovered; and
+though he complied with the apostolic precept of flying, when he was
+persecuted, from one city to another, he was at last captured, and then
+the long-desired moment had arrived when he could openly announce his
+mission and his faith.
+
+When he had informed his persecutors that he was a priest and an
+archbishop, they at once consigned him to "a dark and loathsome prison,
+and kept him there bound in chains till the Holy Thursday of the
+following year (1584)." He was then summoned before the Protestant
+Archbishop Loftus and Wallop. They tempted him with promises of pardon,
+honour, and preferment; they reasoned with him, and urged all the usual
+arguments of heretics against his faith; but when all had failed, they
+declared their determination to use "other means to change his purpose."
+They did use them-they failed. But these were the means: the Archbishop
+was again heavily ironed. He was remanded to prison. His persecutors
+hastened after him; and on the evening of Thursday, May 5, 1584, they
+commenced their cruel work. They tied him firmly to a tree, as his Lord
+had once been tied. His hands were bound, his body chained, and then his
+feet and legs were thrust into long boots, filled with oil, turpentine,
+and pitch, and stretched upon an iron grate, under which a slow fire was
+kindled. The spectacle which was exhibited when the instruments of
+torture were withdrawn has been described, but I cannot write the
+description. What sufferings he must have endured during that long
+night, no words could tell. Again he was tempted with the offer of
+earthly honours, and threatened with the vengeance of prolonged
+tortures. Through all his agony he uttered no word of complaint, and his
+countenance preserved its usual serene and tranquil expression. His
+sister was sent to him, as a last resource, to tempt him to apostatize,
+but he only bade her ask God's forgiveness for the crime she had
+committed. Meanwhile, the cruelties which had been executed on him
+became known; public feeling, as far as it was Catholic, was excited;
+and it was determined to get rid of the sufferer quietly. At early dawn
+of Friday, May 6, 1584, he was carried out to the place now called
+Stephen's-green, where what remained of human life was quickly
+extinguished, first by putting him again to torture, and then by
+hanging.
+
+O'Neill had hitherto acted merely on the defensive; but the memory of
+the events just related was still fresh in the minds of thousands, and
+it was generally felt that some effort must be made for freedom of
+conscience, if not for deliverance from political oppression. A
+conference was held at Dundalk. Wallop, the Treasurer, whose name has
+been so recently recorded in connexion with the torture of the
+Archbishop, and Gardiner, the Chief Justice, received the
+representatives of the northern chieftains, but no important results
+followed.
+
+In 1598 another conference was held, the intervening years having been
+spent in mutual hostilities, in which, on the whole, the Irish had the
+advantage. O'Neill's tone was proud and independent; he expected
+assistance from Spain, and he scorned to accept a pardon for what he did
+not consider a crime. The Government was placed in a difficult position.
+The prestige of O'Neill and O'Donnell was becoming every day greater. On
+the 7th of June, 1598, the Earl laid siege to the fort of the
+Blackwater, then commanded by Captain Williams, and strongly fortified.
+Reinforcements were sent to the besieged from England, but they were
+attacked _en route_ by the Irish, and lost 400 men at Dungannon. At last
+the Earl of Ormonde and Bagnal determined to take up arms--the former
+marching against the Leinster insurgents; the latter, probably but too
+willing, set out to encounter his old enemy and brother-in-law. He
+commanded a fine body of men, and had but little doubt on which side
+victory should declare itself.
+
+The contingent set out for Armagh on the 14th of August, and soon
+reached the Yellow Ford, about two miles from that city, where the main
+body of the Irish had encamped. They were at once attacked on either
+flank by skirmishers from the hostile camp; but the vanguard of the
+English army advanced gallantly to the charge, and were soon in
+possession of the first entrenchments of the enemy. Although Bagnal's
+personal valour is unquestionable, he was a bad tactician. His leading
+regiment was cut to pieces before a support could come up; his divisions
+were too far apart to assist each other. Bagnal raised the visor of his
+helmet for one moment, to judge more effectually of the scene of combat,
+and that moment proved his last. A musket ball pierced his forehead, and
+he fell lifeless to the ground. Almost at the same moment an ammunition
+waggon exploded in his ranks--confusion ensued. O'Neill took advantage
+of the panic; he charged boldly; and before one o'clock the rout had
+become general.
+
+The English officers and their men fled to Armagh, and shut themselves
+up in the Cathedral; but they had left twenty-three officers and 1,700
+rank and file dead or dying on the field. "It was a glorious victory for
+the rebels," says Camden, "and of special advantage; for thereby they
+got both arms and provisions, and Tyrone's name was cried up all over
+Ireland." Ormonde thought that the "devil had bewitched Bagnal," to
+leave his men unsupported; the Irish annalists thought that Providence
+had interfered wonderfully on their behalf.[452] O'Neill retired for a
+time to recruit his forces, and to rest his men; and a revolt was
+organized under his auspices in Munster, with immense success. O'Donnell
+was making rapid strides; but a new Viceroy was on his way to Ireland,
+and it was hoped by the royalist party that he would change the aspect
+of affairs.
+
+Essex arrived on the 15th of April, 1599. He had an army of 20,000 foot
+and 2,000 horse--the most powerful, if not the best equipped force ever
+sent into the country. He at once issued a proclamation, offering pardon
+to all the insurgents who should submit, and he despatched
+reinforcements to the northern garrison towns, and to Wicklow and Naas.
+He then marched southward not without encountering a sharp defeat from
+Rory O'More. Be attacked the Geraldines, without much success, in Fermoy
+and Lismore, having, on the whole, lost more than he had accomplished by
+the expedition. An engagement took place between O'Donnell and Sir
+Conyers Clifford, in the pass of Balloghboy, on the 16th of August, in
+which Conyers was killed, and his army defeated. His body was recognized
+by the Irish, towards whom he had always acted honorably, and they
+interred the remains of their brave and noble enemy with the respect
+which was justly due to him.
+
+Essex wrote to England for more troops, and his enemies were not slow to
+represent his incapacity, and to demand his recall: but he had not yet
+lost grace with his royal mistress, and his request was granted. The
+Viceroy now marched into the northern provinces. When he arrived at the
+Lagan, where it bounds Louth and Monaghan, O'Neill appeared on the
+opposite hill with his army, and sent the O'Hagan, his faithful friend
+and attendant, to demand a conference. The interview took place on the
+following day; and O'Neill, with chivalrous courtesy, dashed into the
+river on his charger, and there conversed with the English Earl, while
+he remained on the opposite bank. It was supposed that the Irish
+chieftain had made a favourable impression on Essex, and that he was
+disposed to conciliate the Catholics. He was obliged to go to England to
+clear himself of these charges; and his subsequent arrest and execution
+would excite more sympathy, had he been as amiable in his domestic
+relations as he is said to have been in his public life.
+
+Ulster enjoyed a brief period of rest under the government of its native
+princes. In 1600 O'Neill proceeded southward, laying waste the lands of
+the English settlers, but promoting the restoration of churches and
+abbeys, and assisting the clergy and the native Irish in every possible
+way. Having lost Hugh Maguire, one of his best warriors, in an
+accidental engagement with St. Leger, the President of Munster, he
+determined to return to Ulster. A new Viceroy had just arrived in
+Ireland, and he attempted to cut off his retreat ineffectually.
+
+O'Neill had now obtained a position of considerable importance, and one
+which he appears to have used invariably for the general good. The fame
+of his victories[453] had spread throughout the Continent. It was well
+known now that the Irish had not accepted Protestant Reformation, and it
+appeared as if there was at last some hope of permanent peace in
+Ireland.
+
+[Illustration: Interview between Essex and O'Neill]
+
+Sir George Carew was sent over as President of Munster. He has left an
+account of his exploits in the _Pacata Hibernia_, which are not much to
+the credit of his humanity, but which he was pleased to consider refined
+strokes of policy. The English Government not only countenanced his
+acts, but gave the example of a similar line of conduct. James, son of
+Gerald, Earl of Desmond, who had long been imprisoned in London, was now
+sent to Ireland, and a patent, restoring his title and estates, was
+forwarded to Carew, with private instructions that it should be used or
+not, as might be found expedient. The people flocked with joy to meet
+the heir of the ancient house, but their enthusiasm was soon turned into
+contempt. He arrived on a Saturday, and on Sunday went to the Protestant
+service, for he had been educated in the new religion in London. His
+people were amazed; they fell on their knees, and implored him not to
+desert the faith of his fathers; but he was ignorant of their language
+as well as of their creed. Once this was understood, they showed how
+much dearer that was to them than even the old ties of kindred, so
+revered in their island; and his return from prayers was hailed by
+groans and revilings. The hapless youth was found to be useless to his
+employers; he was therefore taken back to London, where he died soon
+after of a broken heart.
+
+Attempts were made to assassinate O'Neill in 1601. £2,000 was offered to
+any one who would capture him alive; £1,000 was offered for his head;
+but none of his own people could be found to play the traitor even for
+so high a stake. The "Sugane Earl" was treacherously captured about the
+end of August, and was sent to London in chains, with Florence
+MacCarthy. But the long-expected aid from Spain had at last arrived. The
+fleet conveyed a force of 3,000 infantry, and entered the harbour of
+Kinsale on the 23rd of September, under the command of Don Juan
+d'Aquila. It would appear as if Spanish expeditions were not destined to
+succeed on Irish soil for only part of the expedition arrived safely,
+and they had the misfortune to land in the worst situation, and to
+arrive after the war had ceased. The northern chieftains set out at once
+to meet their allies when informed of their arrival; and O'Donnell, with
+characteristic impetuosity, was the first on the road. Carew attempted
+to intercept him, but despaired of coming up with "so swift-footed a
+general," and left him to pursue his way unmolested.
+
+The Lord Deputy was besieging Kinsale, and Carew joined him there. The
+siege was continued through the month of November during which time
+fresh reinforcements came from Spain; and on the 21st of December,
+O'Neill arrived with all his force. Unfortunately, the Spanish general
+had become thoroughly disgusted with the enterprise; and, although the
+position of the English was such that the Lord Deputy had serious
+thoughts of raising the siege, he insisted on decisive measures; and
+O'Neill was obliged to surrender his opinion, which was entirely against
+this line of action. A sortie was agreed upon for a certain night; but a
+youth in the Irish camp, who had been in the President's service
+formerly, warned him of the intended attack. This was sufficient in
+itself to cause the disaster which ensued. But there were other
+misfortunes. O'Neill and O'Donnell lost their way; and when they reached
+the English camp at dawn, found the soldiers under arms, and prepared
+for an attack. Their cavalry at once charged, and the new comers in vain
+struggled to maintain their ground, and a retreat which they attempted
+was turned into a total rout.
+
+A thousand Irish were slain, and the prisoners were hanged without
+mercy. The loss on the English side was but trifling. It was a fatal
+blow to the Irish cause. Heavy were the hearts and bitter the thoughts
+of the brave chieftains on that sad night. O'Neill no longer hoped for
+the deliverance of his country; but the more sanguine O'Donnell proposed
+to proceed at once to Spain, to explain their position to King Philip.
+He left Ireland in a Spanish vessel three days after the battle--if
+battle it can be called; and O'Neill marched rapidly back to Ulster with
+Rory O'Donnell, to whom Hugh Roe had delegated the chieftaincy of
+Tir-Connell.
+
+D'Aquila, whose haughty manners had rendered him very unpopular, now
+surrendered to Mountjoy, who received his submission with respect, and
+treated his army honorably. According to one account, the Spaniard had
+touched some English gold, and had thus been induced to desert the Irish
+cause; according to other authorities, he challenged the Lord Deputy to
+single combat, and wished them to decide the question at issue. In the
+meantime, O'Sullivan Beare contrived to get possession of his own Castle
+of Dunboy, by breaking into the wall at the dead of night, while the
+Spanish garrison were asleep, and then declaring that he held the
+fortress for the King of Spain, to whom he transferred his allegiance.
+Don Juan offered to recover it for the English by force of arms; but the
+Deputy, whose only anxiety was to get him quietly out of the country,
+urged his immediate departure. He left Ireland on the 20th of February;
+and the suspicions of his treachery must have had some foundation, for
+he was placed under arrest as soon as he arrived in Spain.
+
+The siege of Dunboy is one of the most famous and interesting episodes
+in Irish history. The castle was deemed almost impregnable from its
+situation; and every argument was used with Sir George Carew to induce
+him to desist from attacking it. It was then, indeed--
+
+    "Dunboy, the proud, the strong,
+    The Saxon's hate and trouble long."[454]
+
+But the Lord Deputy had resolved that it should be captured. The Lord
+President considered the enterprise would be by no means difficult, for
+"he declared that he would plant the ordnance without the losse of a
+man; and within seven dayes after the battery was begun, bee master of
+all that place."[455] There was considerable delay in the arrival of the
+shipping which conveyed the ordnance, and operations did not commence
+until the 6th of June. The defence of the castle was intrusted by
+O'Sullivan to Richard MacGeoghegan. The chief himself was encamped with
+Tyrrell in the interior of the country. The soldiers were tempted, and
+the governor was tempted, but neither flinched for an instant from their
+duty. The garrison only consisted of 143 fighting men, with a few pieces
+of cannon. The besieging army was about 3,000 strong, and they were
+amply supplied with ammunition. On the 17th of June, when the castle was
+nearly shattered to pieces, its brave defenders offered to surrender if
+they were allowed to depart with their arms; but the only reply
+vouchsafed was to hang their messenger, and to commence an assault.
+
+The storming party were resisted for an entire day with undaunted
+bravery. Their leader was mortally wounded, and Taylor took the command.
+The garrison at last retreated into a cellar into which the only access
+was a narrow flight of stone steps, and where nine barrels of gunpowder
+were stored. Taylor declared he would blow up the place if life were not
+promised to those who surrendered. Carew refused, and retired for the
+night, after placing a strong guard over the unfortunate men. The
+following morning he sent cannon-ball in amongst them, and Taylor was
+forced by his companions to yield without conditions. As the English
+soldiers descended the steps, the wounded MacGeoghegan staggered towards
+the gunpowder with a lighted candle, and was in the act of throwing it
+in, when he was seized by Captain Power, and in another moment he was
+massacred. Fifty-eight of those who had surrendered were hanged
+immediately; a few were reserved to see if they could be induced to
+betray their old companions, or to renounce their faith; but as they
+"would not endeavour to merit life"[456] they were executed without
+mercy. One of these prisoners was a Father Dominic Collins. He was
+executed in Youghal, his native town--a most unwise proceeding; for his
+fate was sure to excite double sympathy in the place where he was known,
+and, consequently, to promote double disaffection.[457] O'Sullivan Beare
+assigns the 31st of October as the day of his martyrdom.
+
+The fall of Dunboy was a fatal blow to the national cause. The news soon
+reached Spain. Hugh O'Donnell had been warmly received there; but the
+burst of grief which his people uttered when they saw him departing from
+his native land, was his death-keen, for he did not long survive his
+voluntary expatriation. The war might now be considered over--at least,
+until the victims recovered courage to fight once more for their own;
+but the victims had to be taught how dearly they should pay for each
+attempt at national independence. Captain Harvey was sent to Carberry,
+"to purge the country of rebels"[458] by martial law. Wilmot was sent to
+Kerry, with orders to extirpate whole districts, which arrangement is
+called "settling the country," in the official document from which I
+quote. On one occasion a number of wounded Irish soldiers were found,
+who are described as "hurt and sick men;" they were at massacred, and
+this is called putting them out of pain.[459]
+
+Donnell O'Sullivan now found his position hopeless, and commenced his
+famous retreat to Leitrim. He set out with about 1,000 people, of whom
+only 400 were fighting men; the rest were servants, women, and children.
+He fought all the way, and arrived at his destination with only
+thirty-five followers.[460]
+
+O'Neill now stood merely on the defensive. The land was devastated by
+famine; Docwra, Governor of Derry, had planted garrisons at every
+available point; and Mountjoy plundered Ulster. In August he prepared to
+attack O'Neill with a large army, and, as he informs Cecil, "by the
+grace of God, as near as he could, utterly to waste the country of
+Tyrone." O'Neill had now retired to a fastness at the extremity of Lough
+Erne, attended by his brother, Cormac Art O'Neill, and MacMahon.
+Mountjoy followed him, but could not approach nearer than twelve miles;
+he therefore returned to Newry. In describing this march to Cecil, he
+says: "O'Hagan protested to us, that between Tullaghoge and Toome there
+lay unburied 1,000 dead."
+
+The news of O'Donnell's death had reached Ireland; and his brother
+submitted to the Deputy. In 1603 Sir Garret More entered into
+negotiations with O'Neill, which ended in his submitting also. The
+ceremony took place at Mellifont, on the 31st of March. Queen Elizabeth
+had expired, more miserably than many of the victims who had been
+executed in her reign, on the 24th of March; but the news was carefully
+concealed until O'Neill had made terms with the Viceroy.
+
+Trinity College, Dublin, was founded during this reign. Sir John Perrot
+had proposed to convert St. Patrick's Cathedral into an university; but
+Loftus, the Protestant Archbishop, would not allow it, because,
+according to Leland, "he was particularly interested in the livings of
+this church, by leases and estates, which he had procured for himself
+and his kinsmen." When the Deputy, whom he cordially hated, had been
+withdrawn, he proposed a plan which gave him the credit of the
+undertaking without any expenditure on his part. The site he selected
+was in what was then called Hogges-green, now College-green; and the
+place was the "scite, ambit and presinct"[461] of the Augustinian
+Monastery of All Saints, which had been founded by Dermod MacMurrough,
+King of Leinster, A.D. 1166. Dr. Loftus, after obtaining this grant, and
+such rents as still belonged to the old Catholic monastery, endeavoured
+to raise a subscription to supply the further funds still necessary to
+complete the work. In this he signally failed; for those to whom he
+applied excused themselves on the plea of poverty. Other funds were
+therefore sought for, and easily obtained; and the revenues of some
+suppressed Catholic houses in Kerry, Mayo, and Ulster, were taken to
+endow and erect the Protestant University.
+
+[Illustration: RUIN--BLACKWATER.]
+
+[Illustration: TULLY CASTLE, COUNTY FERMANAGH.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[444] _Dr. Saunders_.--He has given a full and most interesting account
+of this expedition, in a letter to the Roman court. The original has
+been printed by Monsignor Moran, in his _Archbishops_, a work which
+every reader should possess.
+
+[445] _Dr. Allen_.--He was a medical man, and was killed in an
+engagement immediately after the arrival of the expedition.
+
+[446] _Camp_.--Dr. Saunders' letter, Moran's _Archbishops_, p. 202.
+
+[447] _Official_.--Lord Grey says, in his official despatch to the
+Queen, dated "From the camp before Smerwick, November 12, 1580:" "I sent
+streighte certeyne gentlemen to see their weapons and armouries laid
+down, and to guard the munition and victual, then left, from spoil;
+_then put in certeyne bandes, who streighte fell to execution. There
+were 600 slayn_." After this exploit, "Grey's faith"--_Graia
+fides_--became proverbial even on the Continent. Grey appears to have a
+touch of the Puritan (by anticipation) in his composition, for we find
+him using very unctuous language about one John Cheeke, who "so wrought
+in him God's Spirit, plainlie declairing him a child of His elected;"
+and he calls the Pope "a detestable shaveling." Raleigh is said to have
+had the execution of this butchery; his friend, Spenser, was "not far
+off," according to his own account. He has attempted to excuse his
+patron, Lord Grey, but his excuse simply shows that the massacre was
+reprobated by all persons not destitute of common humanity.
+
+[448] _Castle._--The Four Masters give a detailed account of this
+treachery, taken from the life of Hugh Roe O'Donnell, which was written
+by one of themselves. A copy of this work, in the handwriting of Edward
+O'Reilly, is still preserved in the Library of the Royal Irish Academy.
+
+[449] _Him._--This document was written by Captain Lee, and presented to
+the Queen in 1594. It is printed in _Desiderata Curiosa Hibernica_, vol.
+ii. p. 91.
+
+[450] _Deputy._--Four Masters, vol. vi. p. 1878. The State Papers
+clearly prove the Deputy's guilt.
+
+[451] _Hanged_.--It was usual to hang the Franciscans by their own cord,
+or to tie them together with their cords and hurl them from the summit
+of a tower or from a high rock into the sea.
+
+[452] _Behalf_.--The Four Masters give copious details of this important
+engagement, which O'Donovan has supplemented with copious notes, vol.
+vi. pp.2061-2075.
+
+[453] _Victories_.--The victory of the Blackwater was hailed with salvos
+of artillery from S. Angelo. The Pope and Philip III. of Spain
+corresponded with O'Neill constantly, the one about the affairs of the
+Church, the other with generous offers of assistance. At one time the
+Emperor sent him 22,000 crowns of gold.
+
+[454] _Long--Dunboy and other Poems_, by T.D. Sullivan, Esq.
+
+[455] _Place--Hibernia Pacata_, vol. ii. p. 559.
+
+[456] _Life.--Hib. Pac_. vol. ii. p. 578.
+
+[457] _Disaffection_.--Dr. Moran quotes a letter from Dublin, written
+26th Feb., 1603, which says that he imparted great edification to the
+faithful by his constancy, and that the whole city of Cork accompanied
+him with its tears.
+
+[458] _Rebels.--_Commission from the Lord Deputy to Harvey.--See the
+document _in extenso, Hib, Pac_. vol ii. p. 447.
+
+[459] _Pain.--Hib. Pac_. p. 659.
+
+[460] _Followers_.--The father and mother of the celebrated historian,
+O'Sullivan were amongst the number of those who reached Leitrim in
+safety. Philip, the author, had been sent to Spain while a boy in 1602,
+for his education: the whole family joined him there soon after. Dr.
+O'Donovan is not correct in his genealogy. It is well known that the
+real representative of the family is Murtough O'Sullivan, Esq., of
+Clohina, co. Cork.
+
+[461] _Presinct.--History of the University of Dublin_, by W.B.S.
+Taylor. London, 1845.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+Accession of King James--Joy of the Irish Catholics--Their
+Disappointment--Bishops, Priests, and Laity imprisoned for the
+Faith--Paul V. encourages the Catholics to Constancy--Plot to entrap
+O'Neill and O'Donnell--Flight of the Earls--Ulster is left to the Mercy
+of the English Nation--The Plantation commences--Chichester's
+Parliament, and how he obtained Members--Death of James I., and
+Accession of Charles--The Hopes of the Catholics are raised again--They
+offer a large sum of Money to obtain "Graces"--It is accepted, and the
+"Graces" are treacherously refused--The Plantation of Connaught--How
+Obedience was enforced and Resistance punished--Conspiracy to seize
+Dublin--Sir Phelim O'Neill-Massacre of Island Magee.
+
+[A.D. 1605-1642.]
+
+Great was the joy of the Irish nation when James the First of England
+and the Sixth of Scotland ascended the throne. The people supposed him
+to be a Catholic in heart, and a prince in feeling. They should have
+judged less favourably of one who could see his mother sacrificed
+without making one real effort to avert her doom. His weakness,
+obstinacy, and duplicity, helped to prepare the way for the terrible
+convulsion of English society, whose origin was the great religious
+schism, which, by lessening national respect for the altar, undermined
+national respect for the throne.
+
+The Irish Catholics, only too ready to rejoice in the faintest gleam of
+hope, took possession of their own churches, and hoped they might
+practise their religion openly. The Cathedral of Limerick was
+re-dedicated by Richard Arthur, the Cathedral of Cork and Cloyne by
+Robert Urigh, the Metropolitan Church of Cashel by Thomas Rachtar, the
+churches of Wexford by John Coppinger. Dr. White restored himself the
+churches of Clonmel, Kilkenny, and Ross, and other clergymen acted in
+like manner in other places. But the most open and remarkable
+manifestation of devotion to the old faith was in Cork, always famous
+for its Catholicity, for the generosity of its people, and their special
+devotion to literature and religion. All the Protestant Bibles and
+Prayer-books were publicly and solemnly burned, the churches were
+hallowed, and Smith says: "They had a person named a Legate from the
+Pope [Dr. Moran, who quotes this passage, supposes him to have been a
+Vicar-Apostolic], who went about in procession with a cross, and forced
+people to reverence it. They buried the dead with the Catholic
+ceremonies; and numbers took the sacrament to defend that religion with
+their lives and fortunes."[462]
+
+But the Catholics were soon undeceived. King James drank "to the eternal
+damnation of the Papists"[463] solemnly at a public dinner, no doubt to
+convince the sceptical of his Protestantism; and he divided his time
+very equally between persecuting the Puritans and the Catholics, when
+not occupied with his pleasures or quarrelling with his Parliament. The
+Puritans, however, had the advantage; popular opinion in England was on
+their side; they were sufficiently wealthy to emigrate if they pleased:
+while the Catholics were not only unpopular, but hated, and utterly
+impoverished by repeated fines and exactions.
+
+James' conduct on his accession was sufficiently plain. He was
+proclaimed in Dublin on the 28th September, 1605. A part of his
+proclamation ran thus: "We hereby make known to our subjects in Ireland,
+that no toleration shall ever be granted by us. This we do for the
+purpose of cutting off all hope that any other religion shall be
+allowed, save that which is consonant to the laws and statutes of this
+realm." The penal statutes were renewed, and enforced with increased
+severity. Several members of the Corporation and some of the principal
+citizens of Dublin were sent to prison; similar outrages on religious
+liberty were perpetrated at Waterford, Ross, and Limerick. In some cases
+these gentlemen were only asked to attend the Protestant church once,
+but they nobly refused to act against their conscience even once, though
+it should procure them freedom from imprisonment, or even from death.
+The Vicar-Apostolic of Waterford and Lismore wrote a detailed account of
+the sufferings of the Irish nation for the faith at this period to
+Cardinal Baronius. His letter is dated "Waterford, 1st of May, 1606." He
+says: "There is scarcely a spot where Catholics can find a safe retreat.
+The impious soldiery, by day and night, pursue the defenceless priests,
+and mercilessly persecute them. Up to the present they have only
+succeeded in seizing three: one is detained in Dublin prison, another in
+Cork, and the third, in my opinion, is the happiest of all triumphing in
+heaven with Christ our Lord; for in the excess of the fury of the
+soldiery, without any further trial or accusation, having expressed
+himself to be a priest, he was hanged upon the spot."
+
+He then narrates the sufferings of the Catholic laity, many of whom he
+says are reduced to "extreme poverty and misery;" "if they have any
+property, they are doubly persecuted by the avaricious courtiers." But
+so many have given a glorious testimony of their faith, he thinks their
+enemies and persecutors have gained but little. Thus, while one party
+was rejoicing in their temporal gain, the other was rejoicing in
+temporal loss; and while the former were preaching liberty of conscience
+as their creed, the latter were martyrs to it.
+
+Another letter to Rome says: "2,000 florins are offered for the
+discovery of a Jesuit, and 1,000 for the discovery of any other priest,
+or even of the house where he lives. Whenever the servants of any of the
+clergy are arrested, they are cruelly scourged with whips, until they
+disclose all that they know about them. Bodies of soldiers are dispersed
+throughout the country in pursuit of bandits and priests; and all that
+they seize on, they have the power, by martial law, of hanging without
+further trial. They enter private house, and execute whom they please,
+vieing with each other in cruelty. It is difficult to define the precise
+number of those who are thus put to death. All who are greedy and
+spend-thrifts, seek to make a prey of the property of Catholics. No
+doors, walls, no enclosures can stop them in their course. Whatever is
+for profane use they profess to regard as sacred, and bear it off; and
+whatever is sacred they seize on to desecrate. Silver cups are called
+chalices, and gems are designated as _Agnus Deis_: and all are,
+therefore, carried away. There are already in prison one bishop, one
+vicar-general, some religious, very many priests, and an immense number
+of the laity of every class and condition. In one city alone five of the
+aldermen were thrown into prison successively, for refusing to take the
+nefarious oath of allegiance, on their being nominated to the mayoralty;
+in another city, no less than thirty were likewise thrust into prison at
+Easter last, for having approached the holy communion in the Catholic
+Church."
+
+The Catholics protested against this treatment in vain. A petition was
+considered an offence, and the petitioners were sent to gaol for their
+pains.
+
+In 1611 the Bishop of Down and Connor was executed in Dublin. He had
+been seized, in 1587, by Perrot, and thrown into prison. He was released
+in 1593, and, according to Dr. Loftus, he took the oath of supremacy.
+This statement, however, is utterly incredible, for he devoted himself
+to his flock immediately after his release, and continued to administer
+the sacraments to them at the risk of his life, until June, 1611, when
+he was again arrested in the act of administering the sacrament of
+confirmation to a Catholic family. Father O'Luorchain was imprisoned
+with him, and they were both sentenced and executed together. At the
+trial the Bishop declared that the oath of spiritual supremacy was
+impious, and said that his enemies could not thirst more eagerly for his
+blood than he himself was desirous to shed it for Christ his Redeemer.
+This venerable prelate had attained his eightieth year, but he was full
+of the vigour of saintly heroism. When on the scaffold he asked the
+executioner to allow him to be the last victim, as he wished to spare
+Father O'Luorchain the terrible spectacle of his sufferings. But the
+good priest was not behind the Franciscan bishop in his zeal, and he
+exclaimed, with a touching grace of courtesy, which the occasion made
+sublime, that "it was not fitting for a bishop to be without a priest to
+attend him, and he would follow him without fear." And he did follow
+him, for the Bishop went first to his crown.
+
+There was great difficulty in procuring any one who would carry out the
+sentence. The executioner fled, and could not be found when he learned
+on whom he was to do his office. At last an English culprit, under
+sentence of death, undertook the bloody work, on a promise that his own
+life should be granted as his reward.
+
+Communications with Rome were still as frequent and as intimate as they
+had ever been since Ireland received the faith at the hands of the great
+Apostle. To be children of Patrick and children of Rome were convertible
+terms; and the Holy See watched still more tenderly over this portion of
+the Church while it was suffering and persecuted. Paul V. wrote a
+special letter to the Irish Catholics, dated from "St. Mark's, 22nd of
+September, 1606," in which he mourns over their afflictions, commends
+their marvellous constancy, which he says can only be compared to that
+of the early Christians, and exhorts them specially to avoid the sin of
+attending Protestant places of worship--a compliance to which they were
+strongly tempted, when even one such act might procure exemption, for a
+time at least, from severe persecution or death.
+
+On another occasion the same Pontiff writes thus: "You glory in that
+faith by which your fathers procured for their country the distinguished
+appellation of the Island of Saints. Nor have the sufferings which you
+have endured been allowed to remain unpublished; your fidelity and
+Christian fortitude have become the subject of universal admiration; and
+the praise of your name has long since been loudly celebrated in every
+portion of the Christian world."[464]
+
+O'Neill and O'Donnell may be justly considered the last of the
+independent native chieftains. When the latter died in exile, and the
+former accepted the coronet of an English earl, the glories of the olden
+days of princes, who held almost regal power, had passed away for ever.
+The proud title of "the O'Neill" became extinct; his country was made
+shire ground; he accepted patents, and held his broad acres "in fee;"
+sheriffs were admitted; judges made circuits; king's commissioners took
+careful note of place, person, and property; and such a system of
+espionage was established, that Davies boasts, "it was not only known
+how people lived and what they do, but it is foreseen what they purpose
+and intend to do;" which latter species of clairvoyance seems to have
+been largely practised by those who were waiting until all suspicions
+were lulled to rest, that they might seize on the property, and imprison
+the persons of those whose estates they coveted.
+
+In May, 1603, O'Neill had visited London, in company with Mountjoy and
+Rory O'Donnell. The northern chieftains were graciously received; and it
+was on this occasion that O'Neill renounced his ancient name for his new
+titles. O'Donnell was made Earl of Tyrconnel at the same time. The first
+sheriffs appointed for Ulster were Sir Edward Pelham and Sir John
+Davies. The latter has left it on record, as his deliberate opinion,
+after many years' experience, "that there is no nation of people under
+the sun that doth love equal and indifferent justice better than the
+Irish, or will rest better satisfied with the execution thereof,
+_although it be against themselves, so that they may have the protection
+and benefits of the law, when, upon just cause, they do desire it."_
+
+A plot was now got up to entrap O'Neill and O'Donnell. Their complicity
+in it has long been questioned, though Dr. O'Donovan appears to think
+that Moore has almost decided the question against them. Moore's
+evidence, however, is hardly complete, while there is unquestionable
+authority which favours the opinion that "artful Cecil" was intriguing
+to accomplish their destruction. Curry says, in his _Historical Review_:
+"The great possessions of these two devoted Irish princes, proved the
+cause of their ruin. After the successful issue of the plot-contriving
+Cecil's gunpowder adventure in England, he turned his inventive thoughts
+towards this country. A plot to implicate the great northern chieftains
+was soon set on foot, and finally proved successful. The conspiracy is
+thus related by a learned English divine, Dr. Anderson, in his _Royal
+Genealogies_, printed in London, 1736: 'Artful Cecil employed one St.
+Lawrence to entrap the Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel, the Lord Delvin,
+and other Irish chiefs, into a sham plot, which had no evidence but
+his.'"
+
+The next movement was to drop an anonymous letter at the door of the
+council-chamber, mentioning a design, as then in contemplation, for
+seizing the Castle of Dublin, and murdering the Lord Deputy. No names
+were mentioned, but it was publicly stated that Government had
+information in their possession which fixed the guilt of the conspiracy
+on the Earl of Tyrone. His flight, which took place immediately after,
+was naturally considered as an acknowledgment of his guilt. It is more
+probable that the expatriation was prompted by his despair.
+
+The Four Masters give a touching account of their departure, and
+exclaim: "Woe to the heart that meditated, woe to the mind that
+conceived, woe to the council that decided on the project of their
+setting out on the voyage!" The exiles left Rathmullen on the 14th of
+September, 1607. O'Neill had been with the Lord Deputy shortly before;
+and one cannot but suppose that he had then obtained some surmise of
+premeditated treachery, for he arranged his flight secretly and swiftly,
+pretending that he was about to visit London. O'Neill was accompanied by
+his Countess, his three sons, O'Donnell, and other relatives. They first
+sailed to Normandy, where an attempt was made by the English Government
+to arrest them, but Henry IV. would not give them up. In Rome they were
+received as confessors exiled for the faith, and were liberally
+supported by the Pope and the King of Spain. They all died in a few
+years after their arrival, and their ashes rest in the Franciscan Church
+of St. Peter-in-Montorio. Rome was indeed dear to them, but Ireland was
+still dearer; and the exiled Celt, whether expatriated through force or
+stern necessity, lives only to long for the old home, or dies weeping
+for it.
+
+The Red Hand of the O'Neills had hitherto been a powerful protection to
+Ulster. The attempts "to plant" there had turned out failures; but now
+that the chiefs were removed, the people became an easy prey.
+O'Dogherty, Chief of Innishowen, was insulted by Sir George Paulett, in
+a manner which no gentleman could be expected to bear without calling
+his insulter to account; and the young chieftain took fearful vengeance
+for the rude blow which he had received from the English sheriff. He got
+into Culmore Fort at night by stratagem, and then marched to Derry,
+killed Paulett, massacred the garrison, and burned the town. Some other
+chieftains joined him, and kept up the war until July; when O'Dogherty
+was killed, and his companions-in-arms imprisoned. Sir Arthur Chichester
+received his property in return for his suggestions for the plantation
+of Ulster, of which we must now make brief mention.
+
+There can be little doubt, from Sir Henry Docwra's own account, that
+O'Dogherty was purposely insulted, and goaded into rebellion. He was the
+last obstacle to the grand scheme, and he was disposed of. Ulster was
+now at the mercy of those who chose to accept grants of land; and the
+grants were made to the highest bidders, or to those who had paid for
+the favour by previous services. Sir Arthur Chichester evidently
+considered that he belonged to the latter class, for we find him
+writing[465] at considerable length to the Earl of Northampton, then a
+ruling member of King James' cabinet, to request that he may be
+appointed President of Ulster. He commences his epistle by stating how
+deeply he is indebted to his Lordship for his comfortable and kind
+letters, and the praise he has given him in public and private. He then
+bestows an abundant meed of commendation on his justice in return. He
+next explains his hopes and desires. He declares that he wishes for the
+Presidency of Ulster, "more for the service he might there do his
+Majesty, than for the profit he expects,"--a statement which the Earl no
+doubt read exactly as it was intended; and he says that he only mentions
+his case because "charitie beginnes with myeselfe," which, indeed,
+appears to have been the view of that virtue generally taken by all
+planters and adventurers. He concludes with delicately informing his
+correspondent, that if he can advance any friend of his in any way he
+will be most happy to do so. This letter is dated from the "Castle of
+Dublin, 7th of February, 1607." The date should read, according to the
+change of style, 1608. The Lord Deputy knew well what he was asking for.
+During the summer of the preceding year, he had made a careful journey
+through Ulster, with John Davies; and Carte has well observed, that
+"nobody knew the territories better to be planted;" and he might have
+added, that few persons had a clearer eye to their own advantage in the
+arrangements he made.
+
+[Illustration: CASTLE MONEA, CO. FERMANAGH.]
+
+The plan of the plantation was agreed upon in 1609. It was the old plan
+which had been attempted before, though with less show of legal
+arrangement, but with quite the same proportion of legal iniquity. The
+simple object was to expel the natives, and to extirpate the Catholic
+religion. The six counties to be planted were Tyrone, Derry, Donegal,
+Armagh, Fermanagh, and Cavan. These were parcelled out into portions
+varying from 2,000 to 4,000 acres, and the planters were obliged to
+build bawns and castles, such as that of Castle Monea, county Fermanagh,
+of which we subjoin an illustration. Tully Castle[466] was built by Sir
+John Hume, on his plantation. Both these castles afford good examples of
+the structures erected at this period. The great desiderata were
+proximity to water and rising ground--the beauty of the surrounding
+scenery, which was superadded at least at Tully Castle, was probably but
+little valued.
+
+Chichester now proposed to call a Parliament. The plantation of Ulster
+had removed some difficulties in the way of its accomplishment. The
+Protestant University of Dublin had obtained 3,000 acres there, and
+400,000 acres of tillage land had been partitioned out between English
+and Scotch proprietors. It was expressly stipulated that their tenants
+should be English or Scotch, and Protestants; the Catholic owners of the
+land were, in some cases, as a special favour, permitted to remain, if
+they took the oath of supremacy, if they worked well for their masters,
+and if they paid double the rent fixed for the others. Sixty thousand
+acres in Dublin and Waterford, and 385,000 acres in Westmeath, Longford,
+King's county, Queen's county, and Leitrim, had been portioned out in a
+similar manner. A Presbyterian minister, whose father was one of the
+planters, thus describes the men who came to establish English rule, and
+root out Popery: "From Scotland came many, and from England not a few;
+yet all of them generally the scum of both nations, who, from debt, or
+making and fleeing from justice, or seeking shelter, came hither, hoping
+to be without fear of man s justice, in a land where there was nothing
+or but little as yet of the fear of God.... Most of the people were all
+void of godliness.... On all hands atheism increased, and disregard of
+God; iniquity abounds, with contention, fighting, murder and
+adultery."[467]
+
+It was with such persons as these the lower house was filled. The upper
+house was composed of the Protestant bishops and English aristocracy,
+who were of course unanimous in their views. Chichester obtained ample
+powers to arrange the lower house. Forty new boroughs were formed, many
+of them consisting merely of a few scattered houses; some of them were
+not incorporated until after the writs were issued. The Catholics were
+taken by surprise as no notice had been given, either of the Parliament
+or the laws intended to be enacted. Six Catholic lords of the Pale
+remonstrated with the King, but he treated them with the utmost
+contempt. The house assembled; there was a struggle for the Speaker's
+chair. The Catholic party proposed Sir John Everard, who had just
+resigned his position as Justice of the King's Bench sooner than take
+the oath of supremacy; the court party insisted on having Sir John
+Davies. The Catholics protested, and sent a deputation to James, who
+first lectured[468] them to show his learning, and them imprisoned them
+to show his power. Some kind of compromise was eventually effected. A
+severe penal law was withdrawn; a large subsidy was voted. In truth, the
+Irish party acted boldly, considering their peculiar circumstances, for
+one and all refused to enter the old cathedral, which their forefathers
+had erected, when Protestant service was read therein on the day of the
+opening of Parliament; and even Lord Barry retired when he laid the
+sword of state before the Lord Deputy. We may excuse them for submitting
+to the attainder of O'Neill and O'Donnell, for there were few national
+members who had not withdrawn before the vote was passed.
+
+Chichester retired from the government of Ireland in 1616. In 1617 a
+proclamation was issued for the expulsion of the Catholic clergy, and
+the city of Waterford was deprived of its charter in consequence of the
+spirited opposition which its corporation offered to the oath of
+spiritual supremacy. In 1622 Viscount Falkland came over as Lord Deputy,
+and Usher, who was at heart a Puritan,[469] preached a violent sermon on
+the occasion, in which he suggested a very literal application of his
+text, "He beareth not the sword in vain." If a similar application of
+the text had been made by a Catholic divine, it would have been called
+intolerance, persecution, and a hint that the Inquisition was at hand;
+as used by him, it was supposed to mean putting down Popery by the
+sword.
+
+James I. died on the 27th March, 1625, and left his successor no very
+pleasant prospects in any part of his kingdom. He was pronounced by
+Sully to be "the wisest fool in Europe;" Henry IV. styled him "Captain
+of Arts and Clerk of Arms;" and a favourite epigram of the age is thus
+translated:--
+
+    "When Elizabeth was England's King,
+    That dreadful name thro' Spain did ring
+    How altered is the case, ah sa' me!
+    The juggling days of good Queen Jamie."
+
+On the accession of Charles I., in 1625, it was so generally supposed he
+would favour the Catholic cause, that the earliest act of the new
+Parliament in London was to vote a petition, begging the King to enforce
+the laws against recusants and Popish priests. The Viceroy, Lord
+Falkland, advised the Irish Catholics to propitiate him with a voluntary
+subsidy. They offered the enormous sum of £120,000, to be paid in three
+annual instalments, and in return he promised them certain "graces." The
+contract was ratified by royal proclamation, in which the concessions
+were accompanied by a promise that a Parliament should be held to
+confirm them. The first instalment of the money was paid, and the Irish
+agents returned home to find themselves cruelly deceived and basely
+cheated. Falkland was recalled by the Puritan party, on suspicion of
+favouring the Catholics; Viscount Ely and the Earl of Cork were
+appointed Lords Justices; and a reign of terror was at once commenced.
+
+The Protestant Archbishop of Dublin, Dr. Bulkely, was foremost in
+commencing the persecution. He marched, with the Mayor and a file of
+soldiers, to the Franciscan[470] church in Cook-street, on St. Stephen's
+Day, 1629, dispersed the congregation, seized the friars profaned the
+church, and broke the statue of St. Francis. The friars were rescued by
+the people, and the Archbishop had "to take to his heels and cry out for
+help," to save himself. Eventually the Franciscans established their
+novitiates on the Continent, but still continued their devoted
+ministrations to the people, at the risk of life and liberty. Their
+house in Cook-street was pulled down by royal order, and three other
+chapels and a Catholic seminary were seized and converted to the King's
+use. Wentworth assembled a Parliament in July, 1634, the year after his
+arrival in Ireland. Its subserviency was provided for by having a number
+of persons elected who were in the pay of the crown as military
+officers. The "graces" were asked for, and the Lord Deputy declared they
+should be granted, if the supply was readily voted. "Surely," he said,
+"so great a meanness cannot enter your hearts as once to suspect his
+Majesty's gracious regards of you, and performance with you, when you
+affix yourself upon his grace." This speech so took the hearts of the
+people, that all were ready to grant all that might be demanded; and six
+subsidies of £50,000 each were voted, though Wentworth only expected
+£30,000. In the meanwhile neither Wentworth nor the King had the
+slightest idea of granting the "graces" and the atrocious duplicity and
+incomparable "meanness" of the King is placed eternally on record, in
+his own letter to his favourite, in which he thanks him "for keeping off
+the envy [odium] of a necessary negative from me, of those unreasonable
+graces that people expected from me."[471] Wentworth describes himself
+how two judges and Sir John Radcliffe assisted him in the plan, and how
+a positive refusal was made to recommend the passing of the "graces"
+into law at the next session.
+
+"Charles' faith" might now safely rank with Grey's; and the poor
+impoverished Irishman, who would willingly have given his last penny, as
+well as the last drop of his blood, to save his faith, was again cruelly
+betrayed where he most certainly might have expected that he could have
+confided and trusted. One of the "graces" was to make sixty years of
+undisputed possession of property a bar to the claims of the crown; and
+certainly if there ever a country where such a demand was necessary and
+reasonable, it was surely Ireland. There had been so many plantations,
+it was hard for anything to grow; and so many settlements, it was hard
+for anything to be settled. Each new monarch, since the first invasion
+of the country by Henry II., had his favourites to provide for and his
+friends to oblige. The island across the sea was considered "no man's
+land," as the original inhabitants were never taken into account, and
+were simply ignored, unless, indeed, when they made their presence very
+evident by open resistance to this wholesale robbery. It was no wonder,
+then, that this "grace" should be specially solicited. It was one in
+which the last English settler in Ulster had quite as great an interest
+as the oldest Celt in Connemara. The Burkes and the Geraldines had
+suffered almost as much from the rapacity of their own countrymen as the
+natives, on whom their ancestors had inflicted such cruel wrongs. No
+man's property was safe in Ireland, for the tenure was depending on the
+royal will; and the caprices of the Tudors were supplemented by the
+necessities of the Stuarts.
+
+But the "grace" was refused, although, probably, there was many a recent
+colonist who would have willingly given one-half of his plantation to
+have secured the other to his descendants. The reason of the refusal was
+soon apparent. As soon as Parliament was dissolved, a Commission of
+"Defective Titles" was issued for Connaught. Ulster had been settled,
+Leinster had been settled, Munster had been settled; there remained only
+Connaught, hitherto so inaccessible, now, with advancing knowledge of
+the art of war, and new means of carrying out that art, doomed to the
+scourge of desolation.
+
+The process was extremely simple. The lawyers were set to work to hunt
+out old claims for the crown; and as Wentworth had determined to
+invalidate the title to every estate in Connaught, they had abundant
+occupation. Roscommon was selected for a commencement. The sheriffs were
+directed to select jurors who would find for the crown. The jurors were
+made clearly to understand what was expected from them, and what the
+consequences would be if they were "contumacious." The object of the
+crown was, of course, the general good of the country. The people of
+Connaught were to be civilized and enriched; but, in order to carry out
+this very desirable arrangement, the present proprietors were to be
+replaced by new landlords, and the country was to be placed entirely at
+the disposal of the Sovereign.[472]
+
+It was now discovered that the lands and lordships of De Burgo, adjacent
+to the Castle of Athlone, and, in fact, the whole remaining province,
+belonged to the crown. It would be useless here to give details of the
+special pleading on which this statement was founded; it is an
+illustration of what I have observed before, that the tenure of the
+English settler was quite as uncertain as the tenure of the Celt. The
+jury found for the King; and as a reward, the foreman, Sir Lucas Dillon,
+was graciously permitted to retain a portion of his own lands. Lowther,
+Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, got four shillings in the pound of
+the first year's rent raised under the Commission of "Defective Titles."
+The juries of Mayo and Sligo were equally complacent; but there was
+stern resistance made in Galway, and stern reprisals were made for the
+resistance. The jurors were fined £4,000 each and were imprisoned, and
+their estates seized until that sum was paid. The sheriff was fined
+£1,000, and, being unable to pay that sum, he died in prison. And all
+this was done with the full knowledge and the entire sanction of the
+"royal martyr."
+
+The country was discontented, and the Lord Deputy demanded more troops,
+"until the intended plantation should be settled." He could not see why
+the people should object to what was so very much for their own good,
+and never allowed himself to think that the disturbance had anything to
+do with the land question. The new proprietors were of the same opinion.
+Those who were or who feared to be dispossessed, and those who felt that
+their homes, whether humble or noble, could not be called their own,
+felt differently; but their opinion was as little regarded as their
+sufferings.
+
+The Earl of Ormonde's property was next attacked, but he made a prudent
+compromise, and his party was too powerful to permit of its refusal. A
+Court of Wards was also established about this time, for the purpose of
+having all heirs to estates brought up in the Protestant religion; and a
+High Commission Court was instituted, which rivalled the exactions of
+the Star Chamber in England.
+
+In 1640 another appeal was made by the King for assistance, and
+Wentworth headed the contribution with £20,000. He had devoted himself
+with considerable ability to increasing the Irish revenue and the trade
+of the country had improved, although the Irish woollen manufacture had
+been completely crushed, as it threatened to interfere with English
+commerce. The Lord Deputy now saw the advantage of procuring a standing
+army in Ireland, and he proceeded to embody a force of 10,000 foot and
+1,000 horse. These men were principally Irish and Catholics, as he knew
+they would be most likely to stand by the King in an hour of trial,
+notwithstanding the cruel persecutions to which they had been subjected.
+But the Deputy's own career was nearer its termination than he had
+anticipated. When he forsook the popular side in England, Pym had
+remarked significantly: "Though you have left us, I will not leave you
+while your head is on your shoulders." The Puritan faction never lost
+sight of a quarry when once they had it in sight, and it scarcely needed
+Stafford's haughtiness and devotion to the King to seal his doom. The
+unhappy King was compelled to sign his death-warrant; and the victim was
+executed on the 12th of May, 1641, redeeming in some manner, by the
+nobleness of his death, the cruelties, injustices, and duplicity of
+which he had been guilty during his life.
+
+The kingdom of England was never in a more critical state than at this
+period. The King was such only in name, and the ruling powers were the
+Puritan party, who already looked to Cromwell as their head. The
+resistance, which had begun in opposition to tyrannical enactments, and
+to the arbitrary exercise of authority by the King and his High Church
+prelates, was fast merging into, what it soon became, an open revolt
+against the crown, and all religion which did not square with the very
+peculiar and ill-defined tenets of the rebellious party. In 1641 the
+Queen's confessor was sent to the Tower, and a resolution was passed by
+both houses never to consent to the toleration of the Catholic worship
+in Ireland, or in any other part of his Majesty's dominions. The country
+party had determined to possess themselves of the command of the army;
+and whatever struggles the King might make, to secure the only support
+of his throne, it was clear that the question was to be decided in their
+favour. The conduct of Holles, Pym, Hampden, and Stroud was well known
+even in Ireland; and in Ireland fearful apprehensions were entertained
+that still more cruel sufferings were preparing for that unfortunate
+country.
+
+An insurrection was organized, and its main supports were some of the
+best and bravest of the old race, who had been driven by political and
+religious persecution to other lands, where their bravery had made them
+respected, and their honorable dealings had made them esteemed. Spain
+had received a considerable number of these exiles. In June, 1635, an
+Irish regiment in the Spanish service, commanded by Colonel Preston, had
+immortalized themselves by their heroic defence of Louvain. Wherever
+they went they were faithful to the sovereign under whom they served;
+and French and Spanish generals marvelled how the English nation could
+be so infatuated as to drive their noblest and bravest officers and men
+into foreign service. An important official document still exists in the
+State Paper Office, which was prepared by a Government spy, and which
+details the names, rank, and qualifications of many of these gentlemen.
+They were serving in Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Poland, and the Low
+Countries. Don Richard Burke--strange that the first on the list of
+Irish exiles should be of Anglo-Norman descent--was Governor of Leghorn,
+and had seen great service in Italy and in the West Indies; "Phellemy
+O'Neill, nephew to old Tyrone," lived with great respect in Milan. There
+were one hundred able to command companies, and twenty fit to be made
+colonels under the Archduchess alone. The list of the names would fill
+several pages, and those, it should be remembered, were leading men.
+There were, besides, to be considered, an immense number of Irish of the
+lower classes, who had accompanied their chiefs abroad, and served in
+their regiments. The report says: "They have long been providing of arms
+for any attempt against Ireland, and had in readiness five or six
+thousand arms laid up in Antwerp for that purpose, _bought out of the
+deduction of their monthly pay, as will be proved; and it is thought now
+they have doubled that proportion by those means_."[473]
+
+The reason of the increased sacrifice they made for their country, was
+probably the report that the moment was at hand when it might be
+available. The movement in Ireland was commenced by Roger O'More, a
+member of the ancient family of that name, who had been so unjustly
+expelled from their ancestral home in Leix; by Lord Maguire, who had
+been deprived of nearly all his ancient patrimony at Fermanagh, and his
+brother Roger; by Sir Phelim O'Neill of Kinnare, the elder branch of
+whose family had been expatriated; by Turlough O'Neill, his brother, and
+by several other gentlemen similarly situated. O'More was the chief
+promoter of the projected insurrection. He was eminently suited to
+become a popular leader for he was a man of great courage, fascinating
+address, and imbued with all the high honour of the old Celtic race. In
+May, 1641, Nial O'Neill arrived in Ireland with a promise of assistance
+from Cardinal Richelieu; and the confederates arranged that the rising
+should take place a few days before or after All Hallows, according to
+circumstances. In the meanwhile the exiled Earl of Tyrone was killed;
+but his successor, Colonel Owen Roe O'Neill, then serving in Flanders,
+entered warmly into all their plans.
+
+The King was now obliged to disband his Irish forces, and their
+commanders were sent orders for that purpose. They had instructions,
+however, to keep the men at home and together, so that they might easily
+be collected again if they could be made available, as, strange to say,
+the so-called "Irish rebels" were the only real hope which Charles had
+to rely on in his conflict with his disloyal English subjects. An
+understanding was soon entered into between these officers and the Irish
+party. They agreed to act in concert; and one of the former, Colonel
+Plunket, suggested the seizure of Dublin Castle. The 23rd of October was
+fixed on for the enterprise; but, though attempted, the attempt was
+frustrated by a betrayal of the plot, in consequence of an indiscretion
+of one of the leaders.
+
+The rage of the Protestant party knew no limits. The Castle was put in a
+state of defence, troops were ordered in all directions, and
+proclamations were issued. In the meantime the conspirators at a
+distance had succeeded better, but unfortunately they were not aware of
+the failure in Dublin until it was too late. Sir Phelim O'Neill was at
+the head of 30,000 men. He issued a proclamation, stating that he
+intended "no hurt to the King, or hurt of any of his subjects, English
+or Scotch;" but that his only object was the defence of Irish liberty.
+He added that whatever hurt was done any one, should be personally
+repaired. This proclamation was from "Dungannon, the 23rd of October,
+1641," and signed "PHELIM O'NEILL."
+
+A few days after he produced a commission, which he pretended he had
+received from the King, authorizing his proceedings; but he amply atoned
+for this _ruse de guerre_ afterwards, by declaring openly and honorably
+that the document was forged. The Irish were treated with barbarous
+severity, especially by Sir Charles Coote; while they were most careful
+to avoid any bloodshed, except what was justifiable and unavoidable in
+war. Dr. Bedell, the good and gentle Protestant Bishop of Kilmore, and
+all his people, were protected; and he drew up a remonstrance, from the
+tenor of which he appears to have given some sanction to the proceedings
+of the northern chieftains. The massacre of Island Magee took place
+about this period; and though the exact date is disputed, and the exact
+number of victims has been questioned, it cannot be disproved that the
+English and Scotch settlers at Carrickfergus sallied forth at night, and
+murdered a number of defenceless men, women, and children. That there
+was no regular or indiscriminate massacre of Protestants by the
+Catholics at this period, appears to be proved beyond question by the
+fact, that no mention of such an outrage was made in any of the letters
+of the Lords Justices to the Privy Council. It is probable, however,
+that the Catholics did rise up in different places, to attack those by
+whom they had been so severely and cruelly oppressed; and although there
+was no concerted plan of massacre, many victims, who may have been
+personally innocent, paid the penalty of the guilty. In such evidence as
+is still on record, ghost stories predominate; and even the Puritans
+seem to have believed the wildest tales of the apparition of
+Protestants, who demanded the immolation of the Catholics who had
+murdered them.
+
+[Illustration: ANCIENT DRINKING VESSEL OR METHER, FROM THE COLLECTION OF
+THE R.I.A.]
+
+[Illustration: TABLE AND CHAIR USED AT THE CONFEDERATION OF KILKENNY.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[462] _Fortunes._--Smith's _History of Kerry_, vol. ii. p. 97.
+
+[463] _Papists._--Oliver's _Collections_, quoted by Dr. Moran, p. 250.
+
+[464] _World._--Dr. Rothe, quoted by Monsignor Moran, p. 251.
+
+[465] _Writing_.--The original is in the Cot. Col. British Museum.
+
+[466] _Tully Castle_.--See heading of this chapter.
+
+[467] _Adultery_.--MS. History, by Rev. A. Stuart, quoted in Reid's
+_History of the Presbyterian Church_, vol. i. p. 96.
+
+[468] _Lectured_. The address of the Irish party to James is given in
+O'Sullivan Beare's _History_, p. 316, and also the King's reply, p. 323.
+A collection made throughout Ireland to defray the expenses of the
+delegates.
+
+[469] _Puritan_--Plowden's _History of Ireland_, vol. i. p. 338. "By his
+management and contrivance, he provided the whole doctrine of Calvin to
+be received as the public belief of the Protestant Church of Ireland,
+and ratified by Chichester in the King's name." Chichester himself was a
+thorough Puritan, and a disciple of Cartwright, who used to pray, "O
+Lord, give us grace and power as one man to set ourselves against them"
+(the bishops).
+
+[470] _Franciscan_.--An account of the sufferings of the Franciscans
+will be found in _St. Francis and the Franciscans_. The Poor Clares, who
+are the Second Order of St. Francis, were refounded and established in
+Ireland, by Sir John Dillon's sister, about this time, and suffered
+severe persecutions. Miss Dillon, the Abbess, was brought before the
+Lord Deputy; but her quiet dignity made such impression on the court,
+that she was dismissed without molestation for the time.
+
+[471] _From me_.--Stafford's State Letters, vol. i. p. 331.
+
+[472] _Sovereign_.--Strafford's Letters, vol. ii. p. 241.
+
+[473] _Means._--This curious document was first published in the
+_Nation_ of February 5th, 1859.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+English Adventurers speculate on Irish Disaffection--Coote's
+Cruelties--Meeting of Irish Noblemen and Gentlemen--Discontent of the
+People--The Catholic Priests try to save Protestants from their fury--A
+National Synod to deliberate on the State of Irish Affairs--The General
+Assembly is convened at Kilkenny--A Mint is established--A
+Printing-Press set up--Relations are entered into with Foreign States,
+and a Method of Government is organized--Differences of Opinion between
+the Old Irish and Anglo-Irish--A Year's Treaty is made--Arrival of
+Rinuccini--He lands at Kenmare--His Account of the Irish People--His
+Reception at Kilkenny--His Opinion of the State of Affairs--Divisions of
+the Confederates--Ormonde's Intrigues--The Battle of Benburb--Divisions
+and Discord in Camp and Senate--A Treaty signed and published by the
+Representatives of the English King--Rinuccini returns to Italy.
+
+[A.D. 1642-1649.]
+
+
+O'Neill now took the title of "Lord-General of the Catholic army in
+Ulster." A proclamation was issued by the Irish Government, declaring he
+had received no authority from the King; and the ruling powers were
+often heard to say, "that the more were in rebellion, the more lands
+should be forfeited to them."[474] A company of adventurers were already
+formed in London on speculation, and a rich harvest was anticipated.
+Several engagements took place, in which the insurgents were on the
+whole successful. It was now confidently stated that a general massacre
+of the Catholics was intended; and, indeed, the conduct of those engaged
+in putting down the rising, was very suggestive of such a purpose. In
+Wicklow, Sir Charles Coote put many innocent persons to the sword,
+without distinction of age or sex. On one occasion, when he met a
+soldier carrying an infant on the point of his pike, he was charged with
+saying that "he liked such frolics."[475] Carte admits that his temper
+was rather "sour;" but he relates incidents in his career which should
+make one think "barbarous" would be the more appropriate term. The Lords
+Justices approved of his proceedings; and Lord Castlehaven gives a
+fearful account of the conduct of troops sent out by these gentlemen,
+who "killed men, women, and children promiscuously; which procedure," he
+says, "not only exasperated the rebels, and _induced them to commit the
+like cruelties upon the English_, but frightened the nobility and gentry
+about; who, seeing the harmless country people, without respect of age
+or sex, thus barbarously murdered, and themselves then openly threatened
+as favourers of the rebellion, for paying the contributions they could
+not possibly refuse, resolved to stand upon their guard."[476]
+
+Before taking an open step, even in self-defence, the Irish noblemen and
+gentlemen sent another address to the King; but their unfortunate
+messenger, Sir John Read, was captured, and cruelly racked by the party
+in power--their main object being to obtain something from his
+confessions which should implicate the King and Queen. Patrick Barnwell,
+an aged man, was also racked for a similar purpose. The Lords Justices
+now endeavoured to get several gentlemen into their possession, on
+pretence of holding a conference. Their design was suspected, and the
+intended victims escaped; but they wrote a courteous letter, stating the
+ground of their refusal. A meeting of the principal Irish noblemen and
+gentlemen was now held on the Hill of Crofty, in Meath. Amongst those
+present were the Earl of Fingall, Lords Gormanstown, Slane, Louth,
+Dunsany, Trimbleston, and Netterville, Sir Patrick Barnwell and Sir
+Christopher Bellew; and of the leading country gentlemen, Barnwell,
+Darcy, Bath, Aylmer, Cusack, Malone, Segrave, &c. After they had been a
+few hours on the ground, the leaders of the insurgent party came up, and
+were accosted by Lord Gormanstown, who inquired why they came armed into
+the Pale. O'More replied that they had "taken up arms for the freedom
+and liberty of their consciences, the maintenance of his Majesty's
+prerogative, in which they understood he was abridged, and the making
+the subjects of this kingdom as free as those of England." Lord
+Gormanstown answered: "Seeing these be your true ends, we will likewise
+join with you therein."
+
+On the 1st of January, 1642, Charles issued a proclamation against the
+Irish rebels, and wished to take the command against them in person; but
+his Parliament was his master, and the members were glad enough of the
+excuse afforded by the troubles in Ireland to increase the army, and to
+obtain a more direct personal control over its movements. They voted
+away Irish estates, and uttered loud threats of exterminating Popery;
+but they had a more important and interesting game in hand at home,
+which occupied their attention, and made them comparatively indifferent
+to Irish affairs.
+
+Sir Phelim O'Neill was not succeeding in the north. He had been obliged
+to raise the siege of Drogheda, and the English had obtained possession
+of Dundalk. £1,000 was offered for his head, and £600 for the heads of
+some of his associates. Ormonde and Tichburne were in command of the
+Government forces, but Ormonde was considered to be too lenient; and two
+priests, Father Higgins and Father White, were executed by Coote, the
+one without trial, and the other without even the forms of justice,
+although they were under the Earl's protection. Carte says that Father
+Higgins' case excited special interest, for he had saved many
+Protestants from the fury of the Irish, and afforded them relief and
+protection afterwards. Indeed, at this period, the Catholic clergy were
+unwearied in their efforts to protect the Protestants. They must have
+been actuated by the purest motives of religion, which were none the
+less sacred to them because they could neither be understood nor
+appreciated by those whose whole conduct had been so different. Father
+Saul, a Jesuit, sheltered Dr. Pullen, the Protestant Dean of Clonfert,
+and his family; Father Everard and Father English, Franciscan friars,
+concealed many Protestants in their chapels, and even under their
+altars. Many similar instances are on record in the depositions
+concerning the murders and massacres of the times, at present in Trinity
+College, Dublin; though those depositions were taken with the avowed
+object of making out a case against the Catholics of having intended a
+general massacre. In Galway the Jesuits were especially active in
+charity to their enemies, and went through the town exhorting the
+people, for Christ's sake, our Lady's and St. Patrick's, to shed no
+blood. But although the Catholic hierarchy were most anxious to prevent
+outrages against humanity, they were by no means insensible to the
+outrages against justice, from which the Irish nation had so long
+suffered. They were far from preaching passive submission to tyranny, or
+passive acceptance of heresy. The Church had long since not only
+sanctioned, but even warmly encouraged, a crusade against the infidels,
+and the deliverance, by force of arms, of the holy places from
+desecration; it had also granted[477] similar encouragements and similar
+indulgences to all who should fight for "liberties and rights" in
+Ireland, and had "exhorted, urged, and solicited" the people to do so
+with "all possible affection." The Irish clergy could have no doubt that
+the Holy See would sanction a national effort for national liberty. The
+Archbishop of Armagh, therefore, convened a provincial synod, which was
+held at Kells, on the 22nd of March, 1641, which pronounced the war
+undertaken by the Catholics of Ireland lawful and pious, but denounced
+murders and usurpations, and took steps for assembling a national synod
+at Kilkenny during the following year.
+
+The Catholic cause, meanwhile, was not advancing through the country.
+The Irish were defeated in nearly every engagement with the English
+troops. The want of a competent leader and of unanimity of purpose was
+felt again, as it had so often been felt before; but the Church
+attempted to supply the deficiency, and, if it did not altogether
+succeed, it was at least a national credit to have done something in the
+cause of freedom.
+
+The synod met at Kilkenny, on the 10th of May, 1642. It was attended by
+the Archbishops of Armagh, Cashel, and Tuam, and the Bishops of Ossory,
+Elphin, Waterford and Lismore, Kildare Clonfert, and Down and Connor.
+Proctors attended for the Archbishop of Dublin, and for the Bishops of
+Limerick, Emly, and Killaloe. There were present, also, sixteen other
+dignitaries and heads of religious orders. They issued a manifesto
+explaining their conduct and, forming a Provisional Government,
+concluded their labours, after three days spent in careful deliberation.
+
+Owen Roe O'Neill and Colonel Preston arrived in Ireland in July, 1642,
+accompanied by a hundred officers, and well supplied with arms and
+ammunition. Sir Phelim O'Neill went at once to meet O'Neill, and
+resigned the command of the army; and all promised fairly for the
+national cause. The Scots, who had kept up a war of their own for some
+time, against both the King and the Catholics, were wasting Down and
+Antrim; and O'Neill was likely to need all his military skill and all
+his political wisdom in the position in which he was placed.
+
+Preston had landed in Wexford, and brought a still larger force; while
+all the brave expatriated Irishmen in foreign service, hastened home the
+moment there appeared a hope that they could strike a blow with some
+effect for the freedom of their native land.
+
+The General Assembly projected by the national synod in Kilkenny, held
+its first meeting on October 14, 1642,--eleven spiritual and fourteen
+temporal peers, with 226 commoners, representing the Catholic population
+of Ireland. It was, in truth, a proud and glorious day for the nation.
+For once, at least, she could speak through channels chosen by her own
+free will; and for once there dawned a hope of legislative freedom of
+action for the long-enslaved people. The old house is still shown where
+that Assembly deliberated--a Parliament all but in name. The table then
+used, and the chair occupied by the Speaker, are still preserved, as sad
+mementos of freedom's blighted cause.[478] The house used was in the
+market-place, The peers and commoners sat together; but a private room
+was allotted for the lords to consult in. Dr. Patrick Darcy, an eminent
+lawyer, represented the Chancellor and the judges. Mr. Nicholas Plunket
+was chosen as Speaker; the Rev. Thomas O'Quirk, a learned Dominican
+friar, was appointed Chaplain to both houses.
+
+The Assembly at once declared that they met as a provisional government,
+and not as a parliament. The preliminary arrangements occupied them
+until the 1st of November. From the 1st until the 4th, the committee was
+engaged in drawing up a form for the Confederate Government; on the 4th
+it was sanctioned by the two houses. Magna Charta, and the common and
+statute law of England, in all points not contrary to the Catholic
+religion, or inconsistent with the liberty of Ireland, were made the
+basis of the new Government. The administrative authority was vested in
+a Supreme Council, which was then chosen, and of which Lord Mountgarret
+was elected President.
+
+[Illustration: PARLIAMENT HOUSE, KILKENNY.]
+
+There were six members elected for each province. For Leinster, the
+Archbishop of Dublin, Lords Gormanstown and Mountgarret, Nicholas
+Plunket, Richard Belling, and James Cusack. For Ulster, the Archbishop
+of Armagh, the Bishop of Down, Philip O'Reilly, Colonel MacMahon, Heber
+Magennis, and Turlough O'Neill. For Munster, Viscount Roche, Sir Daniel
+O'Brien, Edmund FitzMaurice, Dr. Fennell, Robert Lambert, and George
+Comyn. For Connaught, the Archbishop of Tuam, Viscount Mayo, the Bishop
+of Clonfert, Sir Lucas Dillon, Geoffrey Browne, and Patrick Darcy. The
+Earl of Castlehaven, who had just escaped from his imprisonment in
+Dublin, was added as a twenty-fifth member. Generals were appointed to
+take the command of the forces--Owen Roe O'Neill, for Ulster; Preston,
+for Leinster; Barry, for Munster; and Burke, for Connaught. A seal was
+made, a printing-press set up, and a mint established. Money was coined
+and levied for the necessary expenses; and a levy of 31,700 men was
+prepared to be drilled by the new officers. Envoys were sent to solicit
+assistance from the Catholic courts of Europe; and the famous and
+learned Franciscan, Father Luke Wadding, applied himself to the cause
+with unremitting earnestness. Father John Talbot was employed in a
+similar manner in Spain.
+
+The Assembly broke up on the 9th of January, 1643, after sending a
+remonstrance to the King, declaring their loyalty, and explaining their
+grievances. The complicated state of English politics proved the ruin of
+this noble undertaking, so auspiciously commenced. Charles was anxious
+to make terms with men whom he knew would probably be the only subjects
+on whose loyalty he could thoroughly depend. His enemies--and the most
+cursory glance at English history during this period proves how many and
+how powerful they were--desired to keep open the rupture, and, if
+possible, to bring it down, from the high stand of dignified
+remonstrance, to the more perilous and lower position of a general and
+ill-organized insurrection. The Lords Justices Borlase and Parsons were
+on the look-out for plunder; but Charles had as yet sufficient power to
+form a commission of his own, and he sent the Marquis of Ormonde and
+some other noblemen to treat with the Confederates. Ormonde was a cold,
+calculating, and, if we must judge him by his acts, a cruel man; for, to
+give only one specimen of his dealings, immediately after his
+appointment, he butchered the brave garrison of Timolin, who had
+surrendered on promise of quarter.
+
+The Confederates were even then divided into two parties. The section of
+their body principally belonging to the old English settlers, were
+willing to have peace on almost any terms; the ancient Irish had their
+memories burdened with so many centuries of wrong, that they demanded
+something like certainty of redress before they would yield. Ormonde was
+well aware of the men with whom, and the opinions with which, he had to
+deal, and he acted accordingly. In the various engagements which
+occurred, the Irish were on the whole successful They had gained an
+important victory near Fermoy, principally through the headlong valour
+of a troop of mere boys who dashed down with wild impetuosity on the
+English, and showed what mettle there was still left in the country.
+Envoys were arriving from foreign courts, and Urban VIII. had sent
+Father Scarampi with indulgences and a purse of 30,000 dollars,
+collected by Father Wadding. It was, therefore, most important that the
+movement should be checked in some way; and, as it could not be
+suppressed by force, it was suppressed by diplomacy.
+
+On the 15th of September, 1643, a cessation of arms for one year was
+agreed upon; and the tide, which had set in so gloriously for Irish
+independence, rolled back its sobbing waves slowly and sadly towards the
+English coast, and never returned again with the same hopeful freedom
+and overpowering strength.
+
+The Irish, even those whose wisdom or whose ardour made them most
+dissatisfied with the treaty, observed it honorably. The Puritan party
+professed to regard the cessation as a crime, and therefore did not
+consider themselves bound to observe it. As they were in fact the ruling
+powers, the unfortunate Irish were, as usual, the victims. The troops,
+who had been trained and collected for the defence of their native land,
+were now sent to Scotland, to shed their blood in the royal cause. As
+honorable men, having undertaken the duty, they fulfilled it gloriously,
+and won the admiration even of their enemies by their undaunted valour.
+
+The unhappy English monarch was now besieged by petitions and
+counter-petitions. The Confederates asked for liberty of conscience; the
+Puritans demanded a stern enforcement of the penal laws. Complaints were
+made on both sides of the infringement of the cessation; but Munroe was
+the chief offender; and Owen O'Neill was summoned to consult with the
+Supreme Council in Kilkenny. Lord Castlehaven, who was utterly
+incompetent for such an appointment, was given the command of the army;
+and O'Neill, though he felt hurt at the unjust preference, submitted
+generously.
+
+In August, 1644, the cessation was again renewed by the General Assembly
+until December, and subsequently for a longer period. Thus precious
+time, and what was still more precious, the fresh energies and interests
+of the Confederates, were hopelessly lost. The King's generals, or
+rather it should be said the Parliamentary officers, observed or held
+these engagements at their convenience, and made treaties of their
+own--Inchiquin and Purcell making a truce between themselves in the
+south. As the King's affairs became daily more complicated, and his
+position more perilous, he saw the necessity for peace with his Irish
+subjects, and for allying himself with them, if possible. Had he treated
+them with more consideration, or rather with common justice and
+humanity, at the commencement of his reign, England might have been
+saved the guilt of regicide and Cromwell's iron rule. Ormonde had
+received ample powers from Charles to grant the Catholics every justice
+now; but Ormonde could not resist the inclination to practise a little
+subtle diplomacy, even at the risk of his master's kingdom and his
+master's head. The Confederate commissioners rejected his temporizing
+measures with contempt, though a few of their members, anxious for
+peace, were inclined to yield.
+
+When Inchiquin set out to destroy the growing crops early in summer,
+Castlehaven was sent against him, and obliged him to retire into Cork.
+At the same time Coote was overrunning Connaught and took possession of
+Sligo. The Irish forces again recovered the town; but, in the attempt,
+the Archbishop and two friars fell into the hands of the enemy, and were
+cruelly murdered. Charles now made another attempt to obtain the
+assistance of the Catholic party, and sent over Lord Herbert to Ireland
+on a secret mission for that purpose. This nobleman and his
+father-in-law, the Earl of Thomond, were almost romantically attached to
+the King, and had already advanced £200,000 for the support of the royal
+cause. He proceeded to Kilkenny, after a brief interview with Ormonde.
+England's difficulty proved Ireland's opportunity. Everything that could
+be desired was granted; and all that was asked was the liberty to
+worship God according to each man's conscience, and the liberty of
+action and employment, which is the right of every member of civil
+society who has not violated the rules of moral conduct which governors
+are bound to enforce. In return for the promise that they should enjoy
+the rights of subjects, the Irish Confederates promised to do the duty
+of subjects. They had already assisted more than one English King to
+rule his Scotch dominions; they were now to assist Charles to rule his
+English subjects; and they promised to send him 10,000 armed men, under
+the command of Lord Herbert. It was a great risk to trust a Stuart; and
+he made it a condition that the agreement should remain secret until the
+troops had landed in England.
+
+In the meantime Belling, the Secretary of the Supreme Council, was sent
+to Rome and presented to Innocent X., by Father Wadding, as the envoy of
+the Confederate Catholics, in February, 1645. On hearing his report, the
+Pope sent John Baptist Rinuccini[479], Archbishop of Fermo, to Ireland,
+as Nuncio-Extraordinary. This prelate set out immediately; and, after
+some detention at St. Germains, for the purpose of conferring with the
+English Queen, who had taken refuge there, he purchased the frigate _San
+Pietro_ at Rochelle, stored it with arms and ammunition; and, after some
+escapes from the Parliamentary cruisers, landed safely in Kenmare Bay,
+on the 21st of October, 1645. He was soon surrounded and welcomed by the
+peasantry; and after celebrating Mass in a poor hut,[480] he at once
+proceeded to Limerick. Here he celebrated the obsequies of the
+Archbishop of Tuam, and then passed on to Kilkenny. He entered the old
+city in state, attended by the clergy. At the entrance to the Cathedral
+he was met by the Bishop of Ossory, who was unable to walk in the
+procession. When the _Te Deum_ had been sung, he was received in the
+Castle by the General Assembly, and addressed them in Latin. After this
+he returned to the residence prepared for him.
+
+In a Catholic country, and with a Catholic people, the influence of a
+Papal Nuncio was necessarily preponderant, and he appears to have seen
+at a glance the difficulties and advantages of the position of Irish
+affairs and the Confederate movement. "He had set his mind," says the
+author of the _Confederation of Kilkenny_, "on one grand object--the
+freedom of the Church, in possession of all her rights and dignities,
+and the emancipation of the Catholic people from the degradation to
+which English imperialism had condemned them. The churches which the
+piety of Catholic lords and chieftains had erected, he determined to
+secure to the rightful inheritors. His mind and feelings recoiled from
+the idea of worshipping in crypts and catacombs; he abhorred the notion
+of a priest or bishop performing a sacred rite as though it were a
+felony; and despite the wily artifices of Ormonde and his faction, he
+resolved to teach the people of Ireland that they were not to remain
+mere dependents on English bounty, when a stern resolve might win for
+them the privileges of freemen."[481]
+
+The following extract from Rinuccini's own report, will show how
+thoroughly he was master of the situation in a diplomatic point of view:
+"From time immemorial two adverse parties have always existed among the
+Catholics of Ireland. The first are called the 'old Irish.' They are
+most numerous in Ulster, where they seem to have their head-quarters;
+for even the Earl of Tyrone placed himself at their head, and maintained
+a protracted war against Elizabeth. The second may be called the 'old
+English,'--a race introduced into Ireland in the reign of Henry II., the
+fifth king in succession from William the Conqueror; so called to
+distinguish them from the 'new English,' who have come into the kingdom
+along with the modern heresy. These parties are opposed to each other
+principally on the following grounds: the old Irish, entertaining a
+great aversion for heresy, are also averse to the dominion of England,
+and have Biased, generally speaking, to accept the investiture of Church
+property offered to them since the apostacy of the Kings of England from
+the Church. The others, on the contrary, enriched with the spoils of the
+monasteries, and thus bound to the King by obligation, no less than by
+interest, neither seek nor desire anything but the exaltation of the
+crown, esteem no laws but those of the realm, are thoroughly English in
+their feelings, and, from their constant familiarity with heretics, are
+less jealous of differences of religion."
+
+The Nuncio then goes on to state how even the military command was
+divided between these two parties,--O'Neill belonging to the old Irish
+interest, and Preston to the new. He also mentions the manner in which
+this difference of feeling extended to the lower classes, and
+particularly to those who served in the army.[482]
+
+I have given this lengthened extract from Rinuccini's report, because,
+with all the advantages of looking back upon the times and events, it
+would be impossible to explain more clearly the position of the
+different parties. It remains only to show how these unfortunate
+differences led to the ruin of the common cause.
+
+The Confederates now began to be distinguished into two parties, as
+Nuncionists and Ormondists. Two sets of negotiations were carried on,
+openly with Ormonde, and secretly with Glamorgan. The Nuncio, from the
+first, apprehended the treachery of Charles, and events proved the
+correctness of his forebodings. Glamorgan produced his credentials,
+dated April 30th, 1645, in which the King promised to ratify whatever
+terms he might make; and he further promised, that the Irish soldiers,
+whose assistance he demanded, should be brought back to their own
+shores, if these arrangements were not complied with by his master.
+Meanwhile a copy of this secret treaty was discovered on the Archbishop
+of Tuam, who had been killed at Sligo. It was used as an accusation
+against the King. Glamorgan was arrested in Dublin, and the whole scheme
+was defeated.
+
+The General Assembly met in Kilkenny, in January, 1646, and demanded the
+release of Glamorgan. He was bailed out; but the King disowned the
+commission, as Rinuccini had expected, and proved himself thereby
+equally a traitor to his Catholic and Protestant subjects. Ormonde took
+care to foment the division between the Confederate party, and succeeded
+so well that a middle party was formed, who signed a treaty consisting
+of thirty articles. This document only provided for the religious part
+of the question, that Roman Catholics should not be bound to take the
+oath of supremacy. An Act of oblivion was passed, and the Catholics were
+to continue to hold their possessions until a settlement could be made
+by Act of Parliament. Even in a political point of view, this treaty was
+a failure; and one should have thought that Irish chieftains and
+Anglo-Irish nobles had known enough of Acts of Parliament to have
+prevented them from confiding their hopes to such an uncertain future.
+
+The division of the command in the Confederate army had been productive
+of most disastrous consequences. The rivalry between O'Neill, Preston,
+and Owen Roe, increased the complication; but the Nuncio managed to
+reconcile the two O'Neills, and active preparations were made by Owen
+Roe for his famous northern campaign. The Irish troops intended for
+Charles had remained in their own country; the unfortunate monarch had
+committed his last fatal error by confiding himself to his Scotch
+subjects, who sold him to his own people for £400,000. Ormonde now
+refused to publish the treaty which had been just concluded, or even to
+enforce its observance by Monroe, although the Confederates had given
+him £3,000 to get up an expedition for that purpose.
+
+In the beginning of June, A.D. 1646, Owen Roe O'Neill marched against
+Monroe, with 5,000 foot and 500 horse. Monroe received notice of his
+approach; and although his force was far superior to O'Neill's, he sent
+for reinforcements of cavalry from his brother, Colonel George Monroe,
+who was stationed at Coleraine. But the Irish forces advanced more
+quickly than he expected; and on the 4th of June they had crossed the
+Blackwater, and encamped at Benburb. O'Neill selected his position
+admirably. He encamped between two small hills, with a wood in his rear.
+The river Blackwater protected him on the right, and an impassable bog
+on the left. Some brushwood in the front enabled him to conceal a party
+of musketeers; he was also well-informed of Monroe's movements, and took
+precautions to prevent the advance of his brother's forces. Monroe
+crossed the river at Kinard, at a considerable distance in the rear of
+his opponent, and then advanced, by a circuitous march, from the east
+and north. The approach was anticipated; and, on in the 5th of June,
+1646, the most magnificent victory ever recorded in the annals of Irish
+history was won. The Irish army prepared for the great day with solemn
+religious observances. The whole army approached the sacraments of
+penance and holy communion, and thus were prepared alike for death or
+victory. The chaplain deputed by the Nuncio addressed them briefly, and
+appealed to their religious feelings; their General, Owen Roe, appealed
+to their nationality. How deeply outraged they had been, both in their
+religion and in their national feelings, has been already mentioned; how
+they fought for their altars and their domestic hearths will now be
+recorded. O'Neill's skill as a military tactician, is beyond all praise.
+For four long hours he engaged the attention of the enemy, until the
+glare of the burning summer sun had passed away, and until he had
+intercepted the reinforcements which Monroe expected. At last the
+decisive moment had arrived. Monroe thought he saw his brother's
+contingent in the distance; O'Neill knew that they were some of his own
+men who had beaten that very contingent. When the Scotch general was
+undeceived, he resolved to retire. O'Neill saw his advantage, and gave
+the command to charge. With one loud cry of vengeance for desecrated
+altars and desolated homes, the Irish soldiers dashed to the charge, and
+Monroe's ranks were broken, and his men driven to flight. Even the
+General himself fled so precipitately, that he left his hat, sword, and
+cloak after him, and never halted until he reached Lisburn. Lord
+Montgomery was taken prisoner, and 3,000 of the Scotch were left on the
+field. Of the Irish only seventy men were killed, and 200 wounded. It
+was a great victory; and it was something more--it was a glorious
+victory; although Ireland remained, both as to political and religious
+freedom, much as it had been before. The standards captured on that
+bloody field were sent to the Nuncio at Limerick, and carried in
+procession to the Cathedral, where a solemn _Te Deum_ was chanted--and
+that was all the result that came of it. Confusion thrice confounded
+followed in the rear. The King issued orders, under the compulsion of
+the Scotch, which Lord Digby declared to be just the contrary of what he
+really wished; and Ormonde proclaimed and ratified the treaty he had
+formerly declined to fulfil, while the "old Irish" everywhere
+indignantly rejected it. In Waterford, Clonmel, and Limerick, the people
+would not permit it even to be proclaimed. The Nuncio summoned a
+national synod in Waterford, at which it was condemned; and a decree was
+issued, on the 12th of August, declaring that all who adhered to such
+terms should be declared perjurers. Even Preston declared for the
+Nuncio; and the clergy and the nobles who led the unpopular cause, were
+obliged to ask Ormonde's assistance to help them out of their
+difficulty. The Earl arrived at Kilkenny with an armed force; but fled
+precipitately when he heard that O'Neill and Preston were advancing
+towards him.
+
+Rinuccini now took a high hand. He entered Kilkenny in state, on the
+18th of September, and committed the members of the Supreme Council as
+prisoners to the Castle, except Darcy and Plunket. A new Council was
+appointed, or self-appointed, on the 20th, of which the Nuncio was
+chosen President. The imprisonment of the old Council was undoubtedly a
+harsh and unwise proceeding, which can scarcely be justified; but the
+times were such that prompt action was demanded, and the result alone,
+which could not be foreseen, could justify or condemn it.
+
+The Generals were again at variance; and although the new Council had
+decided on attacking Dublin, their plans could not be carried out.
+Preston was unquestionably playing fast and loose; and when the
+Confederate troops did march towards Dublin, his duplicity ruined the
+cause which might even then have been gained. A disgraceful retreat was
+the result. An Assembly was again convened at Kilkenny; the old Council
+was released; the Generals promised to forget their animosities: but
+three weeks had been lost in angry discussion; and although the
+Confederates bound themselves by oath not to lay down their arms until
+their demands were granted, their position was weakened to a degree
+which the selfishness of the contending parties made them quite
+incapable of estimating.
+
+The fact was, the Puritan faction in England was every day gaining an
+increase of power; while every hour that the Confederate Catholics
+wasted in discussion or division, was weakening their moral strength.
+Even Ormonde found himself a victim to the party who had long made him
+their tool, and was ordered out of Dublin unceremoniously, and obliged
+eventually to take refuge in France. Colonel Jones took possession of
+Dublin Castle for the rebel forces and defeated Preston in a serious
+engagement at Dungan Hill soon after his arrival in Ireland. O'Neill now
+came to the rescue; and even the Ormondists, having lost their leader,
+admitted that he was their only resource. His admirable knowledge of
+military tactics enabled him to drive Jones into Dublin Castle, and keep
+him there for a time almost in a state of siege.
+
+In the mean time Inchiquin was distinguishing himself by his cruel
+victories in the south of Ireland. The massacre of Cashel followed. When
+the walls were battered down, the hapless garrison surrendered without
+resistance, and were butchered without mercy. The people fled to the
+Cathedral, hoping there, at least, to escape; but the savage General
+poured volleys of musket-balls through the doors and windows, and his
+soldiers rushing in afterwards, piked those who were not yet dead.
+Twenty priests were dragged out as objects of special vengeance; and the
+total number of those were thus massacred amounted to 3,000.
+
+An engagement took place in November between Inchiquin and Lord Taaffe,
+in which the Confederates were again beaten and cruelly massacred. Thus
+two of their generals had lost both their men and their _prestige_, and
+O'Neill alone remained as the prop of a falling cause. The Irish now
+looked for help from foreign sources, and despatched Plunket and French
+to Rome, and Muskerry and Browne to France; but Ormonde had already
+commenced negotiations on his own account, and he alone was accredited
+at the court of St. Germains. Even at this moment Inchiquin had been
+treating with the Supreme Council for a truce; but Rinuccini, who
+detested his duplicity, could never be induced to listen to his
+proposals. A man who had so mercilessly massacred his own countrymen,
+could scarcely be trusted by them on so sudden a conversion to their
+cause; but, unhappily, there were individuals who, in the uncertain
+state of public affairs, were anxious to steer their barks free of the
+thousand breakers ahead, and in their eagerness forgot that, when the
+whole coast-line was deluged with storms, their best chance of escape
+was the bold resolution of true moral courage. The cautious politicians,
+therefore, made a treaty with Inchiquin, which was signed at Dungarvan,
+on the 20th of May. On the 27th of that month the Nuncio promulgated a
+sentence of excommunication against all cities and villages where it
+should be received, and, at the same time, he withdrew to the camp of
+Owen Roe O'Neill, against whom Inchiquin and Preston were prepared to
+march. It was a last and desperate resource, and, as might be expected,
+it failed signally of its intended effects. Various attempts to obtain a
+settlement of the question at issue by force of arms, were made by the
+contending parties; but O'Neill baffled his enemies, and the Nuncio
+withdrew to Galway.
+
+Ormonde arrived in Ireland soon after, and was received at Cork, on the
+27th of September, 1648, by Inchiquin. He then proceeded to Kilkenny,
+where he was received in great state by the Confederates. On the 17th of
+January, 1649, he signed a treaty of peace, which concluded the seven
+years' war. This treaty afforded the most ample indulgences to the
+Catholics, and guaranteed fairly that civil and religious liberty for
+which alone they had contended; but the ink upon the deed was scarcely
+dry, ere the execution of Charles I., on the 30th of January, washed out
+its enactments in royal blood; and civil war, with more than ordinary
+complications, was added to the many miseries of our unfortunate
+country.
+
+Rinuccini embarked in the _San Pietro_ once more, and returned to Italy,
+February 23, 1649. Had his counsels been followed, the result might have
+justified him, even in his severest measures; as it is we read only
+failure in his career; but it should be remembered, that there are
+circumstances under which failure is more noble than success.
+
+[Illustration: THOMAS FLEMYNG'S TOMB, COLLEGIATE CHURCH, YOUGHAL.]
+
+[Illustration: ST. LAWRENCE GATE, DROGHEDA.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[474] _Them_.--Castlehaven's _Memoirs_, p, 28.
+
+[475] _Frolics_.--Carte's _Ormonde_, vol. i. p. 245, folio edition.
+
+[476] _Guard_.--Castlehaven's _Memoirs_, p. 30. Coote's cruelties are
+admitted on all sides to have been most fearful. Leland speaks of "his
+ruthless and indiscriminate carnage."--_History of Ireland_, vol. iii.
+p. 146. Warner says "he was a stranger to mercy."--_History of the Irish
+Rebellion_, p. 135. "And yet this was the man," says Lord Castlehaven,
+"whom the Lords Justices picked out to entrust with a commission of
+martial-law, which he performed with delight, and with a wanton kind of
+cruelty."
+
+[477] _Granted_.--This most important and interesting document may be
+seen in O'Sullivan's _Hist. Cath_. p. 121. It is headed: "Gregory XIII.,
+to the Archbishops, Bishops, and other prelates, as also to the Catholic
+Princes, Earls, Barons, Clergy, Nobles, and People of Ireland, health
+and apostolic benediction." It is dated: "Given at Rome, the 13th day of
+May, 1580, the eighth of our pontificate."
+
+[478] _Cause_.--See illustration at head of this chapter.
+
+[479] _Rinuccini,_--A work was published in Florence, 1844, entitled
+_Nunziatura in Irlanda_, di M. Gio. Battista Rinuccini, &c. This work,
+which only forms a portion of the Rinuccini MS., throws much valuable
+light upon the history of the period. It is supposed to have been
+written by the Dean of Fermo, who attended the Nuncio during his
+official visit to Ireland. This volume also contains, in the original
+Italian, the report presented by Rinuccini to the Pope on his return
+from Ireland. Burke has given some extracts from the MS. in his
+_Hibernia Dominicana_, and Carte mentions it also; but otherwise these
+very important documents appear to have been quite overlooked.
+
+Since the publication of the first edition of this work, I have obtained
+a copy of a translation of the Nuncio's narrative, which appeared in the
+_Catholic Miscellany_ for 1829. This translation was made by a
+Protestant clergyman, from a Latin translation of the original, in the
+possession of Mr. Coke, of Holham, Norfolk. The Nuncio's account is one
+of great importance, but it would demand considerable space if treated
+of in detail. There was a very able article on the subject in the
+_Dublin Review_ for March, 1845.
+
+[480] _Hut_.--Some extracts from a curious and interesting letter,
+describing the voyage from France and the landing in Ireland of
+Rinuccini and his party, were published in the _Dublin Review_ for
+March, 1845. It is addressed to Count Thomas Rinuccini, but the writer
+is supposed to have been the Dean of Fermo. He gives a graphic
+description of their arrival at Kenmare--"al porto di Kilmar" and of the
+warm reception they met from the poor, and their courtesy--"La cortesia
+di quei poveri popoli dove Monsignor capito, fu incomparabile." He also
+says: "Gran cosa, nelle montagne e luoghi rozzi, e gente povera per le
+devastazioni fatte dei nemici eretici, trovai pero la nobilta della S.
+fede Catolica, giaché auro vi fu uomo, o donna, o ragazzo, ancor che
+piccolo, che non me sapesse recitar il Pater, Ave, Credo, e i
+commandamenti della Santa Chiesa." "It is most wonderful that in this
+wild and mountainous place, and a people so impoverished by the
+heretical enemy, I found, nevertheless, the noble influence of the holy
+Catholic faith; for there was not a man or woman, or a child however
+young, who could not repeat the Our Father, Hail Mary, Creed, and the
+commands of Holy Church." We believe the same might be said at the
+present day of this part of Ireland. It is still as poor, and the people
+are still as well instructed in and as devoted to their faith now as in
+that century.
+
+[481] _Freemen_.--_Confederation of Kilkenny_, p. 117.
+
+[482] _Army,--Nunziatura in Irlanda_, p. 391.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+Cromwell arrives in Ireland--He marches to Drogheda--Cruel Massacre of
+the Inhabitants after promise of Quarter--Account of an
+Eyewitness--Brutality of the Cromwellian Soldiers--Ladies are not
+spared--Cromwell's Letters--He boasts of his Cruelties--Massacre and
+Treachery at Drogheda--Brave Resistance at Clonmel--Charles II. arrives
+in Scotland--The Duplicity of his Conduct towards the Irish--Siege of
+Limerick--Ireton's Cruelties and Miserable Death--The Banishment to
+Connaught--The Irish are sold as Slaves to Barbadoes--General Desolation
+and Misery of the People.
+
+[A.D. 1649-1655.]
+
+
+Cromwell was now master of England, and ruled with all that authority
+which is so freely granted to a revolutionary leader, and so often
+denied to a lawful monarch. The great body of the English stood aghast
+with horror when they discovered that regicide, and the substitution of
+an illegal tyranny for one which at least was legal, was the end of all
+their hopes. The new ruler was aware of the precariousness of his
+position. The safety of his head, as well as the continuance of his
+power, depended on the caprice of the multitude; and he saw that the
+sword alone could maintain him in the elevated position to which he had
+risen, and the still more elevated position to which he aspired. We
+scarcely imagine him to have been more religious or less humane than
+many of his contemporaries, though it is evident that he required a
+great show of the kind of religion then fashionable to support his
+character as a reformer, and that he considered himself obliged to
+exercise wholesale cruelties to consolidate his power.
+
+The rightful heir to the English throne was then at the Hague, uncertain
+how to act and whither he should turn his steps. He wished to visit
+Ireland, where he would have been received with enthusiastic loyalty by
+the Catholics; but Ormonde persuaded him, from sinister motives, to
+defer his intention. Ormonde and Inchiquin now took the field together.
+The former advanced to Dublin, and the latter to Drogheda. This town was
+held by a Parliamentary garrison, who capitulated on honorable terms.
+Monck and Owen O'Neill, in the meantime, were acting in concert, and
+Inchiquin captured supplies which the English General was sending to the
+Irish chief. Newry, Dundalk, and the often-disputed and famous Castle of
+Trim[483] surrendered to him, and he marched back to Ormonde in triumph.
+As there appeared no hope of reducing Dublin except by famine, it was
+regularly blockaded; and the Earl wrote to Charles to inform him that
+his men were so loyal, he could "persuade half his army to starve
+outright for his Majesty."
+
+Ormonde now moved his camp from Finglas to Rathmines, and at the same
+time reinforcements arrived for the garrison, under the command of
+Colonels Reynolds and Venables. The besiegers made an attempt to guard
+the river, and for this purpose, Major-General Purcell was sent to take
+possession of the ruined Castle of Bagotrath, about a mile from the
+camp. Ormonde professed to have expected an attack during the night, and
+kept his men under arms; but just as he had retired to rest, an alarm
+was given. Colonel Jones had made a sortie from the city; the sortie
+became for a brief moment an engagement, and ended in a total rout. The
+Earl was suspected; and whether he had been guilty of treachery or of
+carelessness, he lost his credit, and soon after left the kingdom.
+
+Cromwell had been made Lieutenant-General of the English army in
+Ireland, but as yet he had been unable to take the command in person.
+His position was precarious; and he wished to secure his influence still
+more firmly in his own country, before he attempted the conquest of
+another. He had succeeded so far in the accomplishment of his plans that
+his departure and his journey to Bristol were undertaken in royal style.
+He left the metropolis early in June, in a coach drawn by six gallant
+Flanders' mares, and concluded his progress at Milford Haven, where he
+embarked, reaching Ireland on the 14th of August, 1649. He was attended
+by some of the most famous of the Parliamentary Generals--his son,
+Henry, the future Lord Deputy; Monk, Blake, Ireton, Waller, Ludlow and
+others. He brought with him, for the propagation of the Gospel and the
+Commonwealth, £200,000 in money, eight regiments of foot, six of horse,
+several troops of dragoons, a large supply of Bibles,[484] and a
+corresponding provision of ammunition and scythes. The Bibles were to be
+distributed amongst his soldiers, and to be given to the poor
+unfortunate natives, who could not understand a word of their contents.
+The scythes and sickles were to deprive them of all means of living, and
+to preach a ghastly commentary on the conduct of the men who wished to
+convert them to the new Gospel, which certainly was not one of peace.
+Cromwell now issued two proclamations: one against intemperance, for he
+knew well the work that was before him, and he could not afford to have
+a single drunken soldier in his camp. The other proclamation prohibited
+plundering the country people: it was scarcely less prudent. His
+soldiers might any day become his masters, if they were not kept under
+strict control; and there are few things which so effectually lessen
+military discipline as permission to plunder: he also wished to
+encourage the country people to bring in provisions. His arrangements
+all succeeded.
+
+Ormonde had garrisoned Drogheda with 3,000 of his choicest troops. They
+were partly English, and were commanded by a brave loyalist, Sir Arthur
+Aston. This was really the most important town in Ireland; and Cromwell,
+whose skill as a military general cannot be disputed, at once determined
+to lay siege to it. He encamped before the devoted city on the 2nd of
+September, and in a few days had his siege guns posted on the hill shown
+in the accompanying illustration, and still known as Cromwell's Fort.
+Two breaches were made on the 10th, and he sent in his storming parties
+about five o'clock in the evening. Earthworks had been thrown up inside
+and the garrison resisted with undiminished bravery. The besieged at
+last wavered; quarter[485] was promised to them, and they yielded; but
+the promise came from men who knew neither how to keep faith or to show
+mercy. The brave Governor, Sir Arthur Aston, retired with his staff to
+an old mill on an eminence, but they were disarmed and slain in cold
+blood. The officers and soldiers were first exterminated, and then men,
+women, and children were put to the sword. The butchery occupied five
+entire days; Cromwell has himself described the scene, and glories in
+his cruelty. Another eyewitness, an officer in his army, has described
+it also, but with some faint touch of remorse.
+
+[Illustration: Massacre at Drogheda]
+
+[Illustration: CROMWELL'S FORT, DROGHEDA].
+
+A number of the townspeople fled for safety to St. Peter's Church, on
+the north side of the city, but every one of them was murdered, all
+defenceless and unarmed as they were; others took refuge in the church
+steeple, but it was of wood, and Cromwell himself gave orders that it
+should be set on fire, and those who attempted to escape the flames were
+piked. The principal ladies of the city had sheltered themselves in the
+crypts. It might have been supposed that this precaution should be
+unnecessary, or, at least, that English officers would respect their
+sex; but, alas for common humanity! it was not so. When the slaughter
+had been accomplished above, it was continued below. Neither youth nor
+beauty was spared. Thomas Wood, who was one of these officers, and
+brother to Anthony Wood, the Oxford historian, says he found in these
+vaults "the flower and choicest of the women and ladies belonging to the
+town; amongst whom, a most handsome virgin, arrayed in costly and
+gorgeous apparel, kneeled down to him with tears and prayer to save her
+life." Touched by her beauty and her entreaties he attempted to save
+her, and took her out of the church; but even his protection could not
+save her. A soldier thrust his sword into her body; and the officer,
+recovering from his momentary fit of compassion, "flung her down over
+the rocks," according to his own account, but first took care to possess
+himself of her money and jewels. This officer also mentions that the
+soldiers were in the habit of taking up a child, and using it as a
+buckler, when they wished to ascend the lofts and galleries of the
+church, to save themselves from being shot or brained. It is an evidence
+that they knew their victims to be less cruel than themselves, or the
+expedient would not have been found to answer.
+
+Cromwell wrote an account of this massacre to the "Council of State."
+His letters, as his admiring editor observes, "tell their own
+tale;"[486] and unquestionably that tale plainly intimates that whether
+the Republican General were hypocrite or fanatic--and it is probable he
+was a compound of both--he certainly, on his own showing, was little
+less than a demon of cruelty. Cromwell writes thus: "It hath pleased God
+to bless our endeavours at Drogheda. After battery we stormed it. The
+enemy were about 3,000 strong in the town. They made a stout resistance.
+I believe we put to the sword the whole number of defendants. I do not
+think thirty of the whole number escaped with their lives. Those that
+did are in safe custody for the Barbadoes. This hath been a marvellous
+great mercy." In another letter he says that this "great thing" was done
+"by the Spirit of God."
+
+These savage butcheries had the intended effect. The inhabitants of all
+the smaller towns fled at his approach, and the garrisons capitulated.
+Trim, Dundalk, Carlingford, and Newry, had yielded; but Wexford still
+held out. The garrison amounted to about 3,000 men, under the command of
+Colonel Sinnot, a brave loyalist. After some correspondence on both
+sides, a conference took place between four of the royalists and
+Cromwell, at which he contrived to bribe Captain Stafford, the Governor
+of the Castle. The conditions asked, preparatory to surrender, were
+liberty of conscience, and permission to withdraw in safety and with
+military honours. Cromwell's idea of liberty of conscience was as
+peculiar as his idea of honour. He wrote to the Governor of Ross to say
+that he would not "meddle with any man's conscience;" but adds: "If by
+liberty of conscience you mean a liberty to exercise the Mass, I judge
+it best to use plain dealing, and to tell you now, where the Parliament
+of England have power, that will not be allowed of;"[487] which, in
+plain English, meant that he professed liberty of conscience, but
+allowed it only to such as agreed with himself. Of his estimation of
+honour, his dealings at Wexford afford a fair sample. As soon as he had
+found that Stafford could be bribed, he denounced the proposals of the
+garrison as abominable and impudent. The traitor opened the
+castle-gates, and the Parliamentary troops marched in. The besieged were
+amazed and panic-struck; yet, to their eternal credit, they made what
+even Cromwell admits to have been a "stiff resistance." The massacre of
+Drogheda was renewed with all its horrors, and the treacherous General
+held in his hand all the time the formal offer of surrender which had
+been made by the townspeople and his own reply. He informs the
+Parliament that he did not intend to destroy the town, but his own
+letter reveals his treachery; and he congratulates his correspondents on
+the "unexpected providence" which had befallen them. He excuses the
+massacre on the plea of some outrages which had been offered to the
+"poor Protestants," forgetting what incomparably greater cruelties had
+been inflicted by the Protestants on the Catholics, both for their
+loyalty and for their religion.
+
+MacGeoghegan mentions the massacre of two hundred women, who clung round
+the market-cross for protection.[488] His statement is not corroborated
+by contemporary authority; but there appears no reason to doubt that it
+may have taken place, from what has already been recorded at Drogheda on
+unquestionable authority. Owen Roe and Ormonde now leagued together for
+the royal cause, but their union was of short duration, for the Irish
+chieftain died almost immediately, and it was said, not without
+suspicion of having been poisoned by wearing a "pair of russet boots,"
+sent to him by one Plunket, of Louth, who afterwards boasted of his
+exploit. His death was an irreparable loss to the Irish cause; for his
+noble and upright conduct had won him universal esteem, while his
+military prowess had secured him the respect even of his enemies. New
+Ross surrendered to Cromwell on the 18th of October and Luke Taaffe, the
+Commander, joined Ormonde at Kilkenny. The garrisons of Cork, Youghal,
+Kinsale, and Bandon, revolted to Cromwell, through the intervention of
+Lord Broghill, son of the Earl of Cork, who became one of the leading
+Parliamentary officers. On the 24th of November, Cromwell attempted to
+take Waterford; but finding the place too strong for him, he marched on
+to Dungarvan. Here the garrison surrendered at discretion, and his
+troops proceeded to Cork through Youghal.
+
+The Irish had now begun to distrust Ormonde thoroughly; even the
+citizens of Waterford refused to admit his soldiers into their town.
+Indeed, the distrust was so general, that he had considerable difficulty
+in providing winter quarters for his troops, and he wrote to ask
+permission from the exiled King to leave the country. The month of
+January, 1650, was spent by Cromwell in continuing his victorious march.
+He set out from Youghal on the 29th, and approached as near Limerick as
+he dared, taking such castles as lay in his way, and accepting the keys
+of Cashel and other towns, where the authorities surrendered
+immediately. On the 22nd of March he arrived before Kilkenny, to meet a
+resistance as hopeless as it was heroic. A fearful pestilence had
+reduced the garrison from 1,200 men to about 400, yet they absolutely
+refused to obey the summons to surrender, but, after a brave resistance,
+they were obliged to yield; and Cromwell hastened on to Clonmel, where
+he had to encounter the most formidable resistance he experienced in his
+Irish campaigns. The garrison was commanded by Hugh Dubh O'Neill. The
+Bishop of Ross attempted to raise the siege, but was taken and hanged by
+Broghill, because he would not desire the defenders of Carrigadrohid to
+surrender. The first attack on Clonmel took place on the 9th of May, and
+O'Neill determined to resist with the energy of despair, and the full
+knowledge of the demon vengeance with which the Puritans repaid such
+deeds of valour. When the place was no longer tenable, he withdrew his
+troops under cover of darkness; and the English General found next
+morning that he had been outwitted, and that nothing remained for his
+vengeance but the unfortunate townspeople.
+
+Pressing demands were now made by the Parliament for his return to
+England, where the royalists had also to be crushed and subdued; and
+after committing the command of his army to Ireton, he sailed from
+Youghal, on the 20th of May, leaving, as a legacy to Ireland, a name
+which was only repeated to be cursed, and an increase of miseries which
+already had seemed incapable of multiplication. In the meantime the
+Irish clergy held frequent conferences, and made every effort in their
+power to obtain peace for their unfortunate country. Ormonde became
+daily more and more distrusted; the people of Limerick and of Galway had
+both refused to receive him; and on the 6th of August the clergy met in
+synod at Jamestown, in the county Leitrim, and sent him a formal
+message, requesting his withdrawal from the kingdom, and asking for the
+appointment of some one in whom the people might have confidence. His
+pride was wounded, and he refused to retire until he should be compelled
+to do so; but the bishops published a declaration, denouncing his
+government, and threatening to impeach him before the King. They were
+yet to learn that the King, whom they served so faithfully, and in whom,
+despite all past disappointments, they confided so loyally, could be
+guilty of the greatest duplicity and the basest subterfuge.
+
+Charles II. landed in Scotland on the 28th of June, 1650, and soon after
+signed the Covenant, and a declaration in which he stated the peace with
+Ireland to be null and void, adding, with equal untruthfulness and
+meanness, that "he was convinced in his conscience of the sinfulness and
+unlawfulness of it, and of allowing them [the Catholics] the liberty of
+the Popish religion; for which he did from his heart desire to be deeply
+humbled before the Lord." Ormonde declared, what was probably true, that
+the King had been obliged to make these statements, and that they meant
+nothing; but neither his protestations nor his diplomacy could save him
+from general contempt; and having appointed the Marquis of Clanrickarde
+to administer the Government of Ireland for the King, he left the
+country, accompanied by some of the leading royalists, and, after a
+stormy passage, arrived at St. Malo, in Brittany, early in the year
+1651. The Irish again sacrificed their interests to their loyalty, and
+refused favourable terms offered to them by the Parliamentary party;
+they even attempted to mortgage the town of Galway, to obtain money for
+the royal cause, and an agreement was entered into with the Duke of
+Lorraine for this purpose; but the disasters of the battle of Worcester,
+and the triumphs of the republican faction, soon deprived them of every
+hope.
+
+It will be remembered that Cromwell had passed by Limerick at a
+respectful distance; but the possession of that city was none the less
+coveted. Ireton now prepared to lay siege to it. To effect this, Coote
+made a feint of attacking Sligo; and when he had drawn off
+Clanrickarde's forces to oppose him, marched back hastily, and took
+Athlone. By securing this fortress he opened a road into Connaught; and
+Ireton, at the same time, forced the passage of the river at
+O'Briensbridge, and thus was enabled to invest Limerick. Lord Muskerry
+marched to its relief; but he was intercepted by Lord Broghill, and his
+men were routed with great slaughter. The castle at the salmon weir was
+first attacked; and the men who defended it were butchered in cold
+blood, although they had surrendered on a promise of quarter. At length
+treachery accomplished what valour might have prevented. The plague was
+raging in the city, and many tried to escape; but were either beaten
+back into the town, or killed on the spot by Ireton's troopers. The
+corporation and magistrates were in favour of a capitulation; but the
+gallant Governor, Hugh O'Neill, opposed it earnestly. Colonel Fennell,
+who had already betrayed the pass at Killaloe, completed his perfidy by
+seizing St. John's Gate and Tower, and admitting Ireton's men by night.
+On the following day the invader was able to dictate his own terms.
+2,500 soldiers laid down their arms in St. Mary's Church, and marched
+out of the city, many dropping dead on road of the fearful pestilence.
+Twenty-four persons were exempted from quarter. Amongst the number were
+a Dominican prelate, Dr. Terence O'Brien, Bishop of Emly, and a
+Franciscan, Father Wolfe. Ireton had special vengeance for the former,
+who had long encouraged the people to fight for their country and their
+faith, and had refused a large bribe[489] which the Cromwellian General
+had offered him if he would leave the city. The ecclesiastics were soon
+condemned; but, ere the Bishop was dragged to the gibbet, he turned to
+the dark and cruel man who had sacrificed so many lives, and poured such
+torrents of blood over the land, summoning him, in stern and prophetic
+tones, to answer at God's judgment-seat for the evils he had done. The
+Bishop and his companion were martyred on the Eve of All Saints, October
+31st, 1651. On the 26th of November Ireton was a corpse. He caught the
+plague eight days after he had been summoned to the tribunal of eternal
+justice; and he died raving wildly of the men whom he had murdered, and
+accusing everyone but himself of the crime he had committed.
+
+[Illustration: Ireton condemning the Bishop of Limerick.]
+
+Several of the leading gentry of Limerick were also executed; and the
+traitor Fennell met the reward of his treachery, and was also hanged.
+Hugh O'Neill was saved through the remonstrances of some of the
+Parliamentary officers, who had the spirit to appreciate his valour and
+his honorable dealing.
+
+Ludlow now took the command, and marched to assist Coote, who was
+besieging Galway. This town surrendered on the 12th of May, 1652. The
+few Irish officers who still held out against the Parliament, made the
+best terms they could for themselves individually; and there was a brief
+peace, the precursor of yet more terrible storms.
+
+I have already given such fearful accounts of the miseries to which the
+Irish were reduced by confiscations, fines, and war, that it seems
+useless to add fresh details; yet, fearful as are the records given by
+Spenser of 1580, when neither the lowing of a cow nor the voice of a
+herdsman could be heard from Dunquin, in Kerry, to Cashel, in Munster,
+there seems to have been a deeper depth of misery after Cromwell's
+massacres. In 1653 the English themselves were nearly starving, even in
+Dublin; and cattle had to be imported from Wales. There was no tillage,
+and a licence was required to kill lamb.[490] The Irish had fled into
+the mountains, the only refuge left to them now; and the Parliamentary
+officers were obliged to issue proclamations inviting their return, and
+promising them safety and protection. But the grand object of the
+revolutionary party was still to carry out the wild scheme of unpeopling
+Ireland of the Irish, and planting it anew with English--a scheme which
+had been so often attempted, and had so signally failed, that one
+marvels how it could again have been brought forward. Still there were
+always adventurers ready to fight for other men's lands, and subjects
+who might be troublesome at home, whom it was found desirable to occupy
+in some way abroad. But a grand effort was made now to get rid of as
+many Irishmen as possible in a peaceable manner. The valour of the Irish
+soldier was well known abroad;[491] and agents from the King of Spain,
+the King of Poland, and the Prince de Condé, were contending for those
+brave fellows, who were treated like slaves in their native land; and
+then, if they dared resist, branded with the foul name of rebels. If a
+keen had rung out loud and long when O'Donnell left his native land
+never to return, well might it ring out now yet more wildly. In May,
+1652, Don Ricardo White shipped 7,000 men for the King of Spain; in
+September, Colonel Mayo collected 3,000 more; Lord Muskerry took 5,000
+to Poland; and, in 1654, Colonel Dwyer went to serve the Prince de Condé
+with 3,500 men. Other officers looked up the men who had served under
+them, and expatriated themselves in smaller parties; so that, between
+1651 and 1654, 34,000 Irishmen had left their native land; and few,
+indeed, ever returned to its desolate shores.
+
+But their lot was merciful compared with the fate of those who still
+remained. In 1653 Ireland was considered sufficiently depopulated by war
+and emigration to admit of a commencement of the grand planting. The
+country was again portioned out; again the ruling powers selected the
+best portion of the land for themselves and their favourites; again the
+religion of the country was reformed, and Protestant prelates were
+condemned as loudly, though they were not hunted as unmercifully, as
+Popish priests; again the wild and lawless adventurer was sent to eject
+the old proprietor, who might starve or beg while the intruder held his
+lands, and sheltered himself in his mansion, while a new cruelty was
+enacted, a new terror devised, a new iniquity framed, and this by rulers
+who talked so loudly of political and religious liberty. It was not
+convenient, more probably, it was not possible, to massacre all the
+native population who still survived; so they were to be
+banished--banished to a corner of their own land, imprisoned there
+safely by their ruthless conquerors, and there, without hope or help, it
+was supposed they must soon die out quietly.
+
+This is the official proclamation which was issued on the subject: "The
+Parliament of the Commonwealth of England, having, by an Act lately
+passed (entitled an Act for the Settling of Ireland), declared that it
+is not their intention to extirpate this whole nation ... it is ordered
+that the Governor and Commissioners of Revenue ... do cause the said Act
+of Parliament, with this present declaration, to be published and
+proclaimed in their respective precincts, by beat of drum and sound of
+trumpet, on some market-day within ten days after the same shall come
+unto them within their respective precincts."
+
+We may imagine the dismay and anguish which this announcement caused.
+The old Irish chieftain and the Anglo-Irish lord still had some kind of
+home and shelter on their own estate--it might be but an outhouse or a
+barn; it was certainly on the worst and least cultivated portion of
+their land, for the old castle had long since been taken from them, and
+their broad acres transferred to others. Yet, though they tilled the
+soil of which they so lately had been the lords, this little spot was
+home: there the wife and mother loved her little ones as tenderly as in
+the stately halls which her husband or his fathers had so lately
+possessed. It was home, and if not the dear old home, it was, perhaps,
+loved all the more for its sorrowful proximity to the ancestral
+castle--for the faint hope that the rightful owner might still be
+restored. But the trumpet had sounded the nation's doom. Confiscation
+and banishment, wholesale plunder and untold iniquity, reigned supreme.
+The name of the God of justice was invoked to sanction[492] the grossest
+outrages upon justice; and men who professed to have freed their own
+nation from the tyranny of kingcraft and of Popery, perpetrated a
+tyranny on another nation, which has made the name of their leader a
+byword and a curse.
+
+The majority of the Catholic nobility and gentry were banished; the
+remainder of the nation, thus more than decimated, were sent to
+Connaught. On the 26th of September, 1653, all the property of the Irish
+people was declared to belong to the English army and adventurers, "and
+it was announced that the Parliament had assigned Connaught [America was
+not then accessible] for the habitation of the Irish nation, whither
+they must transplant, with their wives, and daughters, and children,
+before 1st May following, under the penalty of death, if found on this
+side of the Shannon after that day."[493] It must not be supposed that
+this death penalty was a mere threat; I shall give instances to prove
+the contrary. Any man, woman, or child who had disobeyed this order, no
+matter from what cause, could be instantly executed in any way, by any
+of these soldiers or adventurers, without judge, jury, or trial. It was
+in fact constituting a special commission for the new comers to
+murder[494] all the old inhabitants.
+
+Connaught was selected for two reasons: first, because it was the most
+wasted province of Ireland; and secondly, because it could be, and in
+fact was, most easily converted into a national prison, by erecting a
+_cordon militaire_ across the country, from sea to sea. To make the
+imprisonment more complete, a belt four miles wide, commencing one mile
+to the west of Sligo, and thence running along the coast and the
+Shannon, was to be given to the soldiery to plant. Thus, any Irishman
+who attempted to escape, would be sure of instant capture and execution.
+
+The Government, as it has been already remarked, reserved the best part
+of the land for themselves. They secured the towns, church-lands, and
+tithes, and abolished the Protestant Church, with all its officers,
+which had been so recently declared the religion of the country. A
+"Church of Christ" was now the established religion, and a Mr. Thomas
+Hicks was approved by the "Church of Christ" meeting at Chichester
+House, as one fully qualified to preach and dispense the Gospel as often
+as the Lord should enable him, and in such places as the Lord should
+make his ministry most effectual. The Parliament also reserved for
+themselves the counties of Dublin, Kildare, Carlow, and Cork; and from
+these lands and the church property they were to enrich themselves, and,
+with what they could spare, to reward the leading regicides and rebels.
+The adventurers were next provided for. They claimed £960,000. This was
+divided into three lots, to be paid in lands in Munster, Leinster, and
+Ulster. All these were to be drawn by lot; and a lottery was held at
+Grocers' Hall, London, which commenced at eight o'clock in the morning,
+on the 20th of July, 1653, at which time and place men who professed the
+advancement of the Christian religion to be the business of their lives,
+openly and flagrantly violated the most solemn and explicit commands of
+that very belief which they declared themselves so zealous in upholding.
+The soldiers and officers were to obtain whatever was left after the
+adventurers had been satisfied.
+
+A book was written by a Franciscan father, called _Threnodia
+Hiberno-Catholica, sive Planctus Universalis totius Cleri et Populi
+Regni Hiberniæ_,[495] in which the writer states he had heard a great
+Protestant statesman give three reasons why this transplantation was
+confined to the gentry, and why the poor, who had not been either
+transported or hanged, were allowed to remain: (1) because the English
+wanted them to till the ground; (2) they hoped they would become
+Protestants when deprived of their priests; (3) because the settlers
+required servants, or else they should have worked for themselves.
+
+But the fatal day at length arrived, and those who had dared to linger,
+or to hope that so cruel a sentence would not be finally executed, were
+at once undeceived. The commissioners had been in trouble all the
+winter: the people who were to be driven out of their farms refused to
+sow for those who were to succeed them; and the very plotters of the
+iniquity began to tremble for the consequences which might accrue to
+themselves. They fasted, they prayed, and they wrote pages of their
+peculiar cant, which would be ludicrous were it not profane. They talked
+loudly of their unworthiness for so great a service, but expressed no
+contrition for wholesale robbery. Meanwhile, however, despite cant,
+fasts, and fears, the work went on. The heads of each family were
+required to proceed to Loughrea before the 31st of January, 1654, to
+receive such allotments as the commissioners pleased to give them, and
+that they might erect some kind of huts on these allotments, to shelter
+their wives and daughters when they arrived. The allotment of land was
+proportioned to the stock which each family should bring; but they were
+informed that, at a future day, other commissioners were to sit at
+Athlone, and regulate even these regulations, according to their real or
+supposed affection or disaffection to the Parliament. All this was
+skilfully put forward, that the unfortunate people might transplant the
+more quietly, in the hope of procuring thereby the good-will of their
+tyrants; but the tyrants were quite aware that the stock would probably
+die from the fatigue of transportation and the want of food; then the
+land could be taken from the victim, and, as a last favour, he might be
+allowed to remain in the poor hut he had erected, until misery and
+disease had terminated his life also.
+
+Remonstrances and complaints were sent to the faction who governed
+England, but all was in vain. The principal petitioners were the
+descendants of the English nobles; they were now, by a just retribution,
+suffering themselves the very miseries which they had so ruthlessly
+inflicted on the native Irish. The petitioners, says Mr.
+Prendergast,[496] were the noble and the wealthy, men of ancient English
+blood, descendants of the invaders--the FitzGeralds, the Butlers, the
+Plunkets, the Barnwalls, Dillons, Cheevers, Cusacks, names found
+appended to various schemes for extirpating or transplanting the Irish,
+after the subduing of Lord Thomas FitzGerald's rebellion in 1535--who
+were now to transplant as Irish. The native Irish were too poor to pay
+scriveners and messengers to the Council, and their sorrows were
+unheard; though under their rough coats beat hearts that felt as great
+pangs at being driven from their native homes as the highest in the
+land.
+
+One of these English families demands special mention. Edmund Spenser's
+grandson was now commanded to transplant, as though he to had been "mere
+Irish" and the very estate near Fermoy, which had been confiscated from
+the FitzGeralds seventy years before, and which the poet had obtained
+thus fraudulently, was now confiscated anew, and granted to Cromwell's
+soldiers. William Spenser protested; he pleaded his grandfather's name,
+he pleaded his grandfather's services, especially the odium he had
+incurred amongst the Irish by the way in which he had written of them;
+and lastly, William Spenser declares of himself that he had utterly
+renounced Popery since he came to years of discretion. But even
+Cromwell's interference could not save him; the soldiers were determined
+to have his lands, and they had them.
+
+The commissioners appointed to conduct the transplanting had a busy
+time. They were overwhelmed with petitions: the heads of families
+demanding permission to return and save their crops; the women
+requesting to remain a few months longer for a similar purpose, when the
+men were not permitted to return. Hundreds of petitions were sent from
+aged and bedridden persons, to obtain leave to die in peace where they
+were. Then there were complaints from the officers who had charge of
+driving the people into the plantation; and above all, there was a
+charge, a grave charge, against the Irish people--they were as
+stiff-necked, wicked, and rebellious[497] as ever, and could not be
+brought to see that they were created for no other end than to be
+sacrificed for the benefit of English adventurers; and, moreover, they
+were declared to be a most treacherous race, for, years after, they
+might revenge all this kindness, by murdering the men who had taken
+possession of their lands and farms; and some had absolutely refused to
+transplant, and preferred death.
+
+The manner in which these difficulties were met is thus recorded in a
+letter which was written for publication in London:--
+
+     "_Athy, March_ 4, 1664-5.
+
+     "I have only to acquaint you that the time prescribed for the
+     transplantation of the Irish proprietors, and those that have been
+     in arms and abettors of the rebellion, being near at hand, the
+     officers are resolved to fill the gaols and to seize them; by which
+     this bloody people will know that they [the officers] are not
+     degenerated from English principles; though I presume we shall be
+     very tender of hanging any except leading men; yet we shall make no
+     scruple of sending them to the West Indies, where they will serve
+     for planters, and help to plant the plantation that General
+     Venables, it is hoped, hath reduced."
+
+So examples were made. Mr. Edward Hetherington was hanged in Dublin, on
+the 3rd of April, 1655, with placards on his breast and back, on which
+were written, "For not transplanting;" and at the summer assizes of
+1658, hundreds were condemned to death for the same cause, but were
+eventually sent as slaves to Barbadoes. The miseries of those who did
+transplant was scarcely less than those of the persons who were
+condemned to slavery. Some committed suicide, some went mad, all were
+reduced to the direst distress. The nobles of the land were as cruelly
+treated and as much distrusted as the poorest peasant. The very men who
+had laid down their arms and signed articles of peace at Kilkenny, were
+not spared; and the excuse offered was, that the Act of Parliament
+overrode the articles. One of the gentlemen thus betrayed was Lord
+Trimbleston, and his tomb may still be seen in the ruined Abbey of
+Kilconnell, with the epitaph:--
+
+"HERE LIES MATHEW, LORD BARON OF TRIMBLESTON,
+ONE OF THE TRANSPLANTED."
+
+
+[Illustration: SCULPTURES AT DEVENISH.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[483] _Trim_ For an illustration of this castle, see p. 560.
+
+[484] _Bibles_.--See _The Cromwellian Settlement of Ireland_, by John P.
+Prendergast, Esq.--a most important work, and one which merits the
+careful consideration of all who wish to understand this period of Irish
+history, and one of the many causes of Irish disaffection. The scythes
+and sickles were to the corn, that the Irish might be starved if they
+could not be conquered.
+
+[485] _Quarter_.--Cromwell says, in his letters, that quarter was not
+promised; Leland and Carte say that it was.
+
+[486] _Tale_.--_Cromwell's Letters and Speeches_, vol. i. p. 456. The
+simplicity with which Carlyle attempts to avert the just indignation of
+the Irish, by saying that the garrison "consisted mostly of Englishmen,"
+coupled with his complacent impression that eccentric phrases can excuse
+crime, would be almost amusing were it not that he admits himself to be
+as cruel as his hero.--vol. i. p. 453. A man who can write thus is past
+criticism. If the garrison did consist mainly of Englishmen, what
+becomes of the plea, that this barbarity was a just vengeance upon the
+Irish for the "massacre."
+
+[487] _Allowed of_.--_Letters and Speeches_, vol. i. p. 477.
+
+[488] _Protection_.--Dr. French, the Catholic Bishop of Ferns, has given
+an account of the storming of Wexford, in a letter to the Papal Nuncio,
+in which he states that the soldiers were not content with simply
+murdering their victims, but used "divers sorts of torture." As he was
+then in the immediate neighbourhood, he had every opportunity of being
+correctly informed. Cromwell must have sanctioned this, if he did not
+encourage it.
+
+[489] _Bribe_.--40,000 golden crowns, and free leave to emigrate where
+he chose.--_Hib. Dom._ p. 448.
+
+[490] _Lamb._.--_Cromwellian Settlement_, p. 16. See also Petty's
+_Political Anatomy of Ireland._
+
+[491] _Abroad_.--The Prince of Orange declared they were born soldiers.
+Sir John Norris said that he "never beheld so few of any country as of
+Irish that were idiots or cowards," Henry IV. of France said that Hugh
+O'Neill was the third soldier of the age; and declared that no nation
+had such resolute martial men.--_Cromwellian Settlement_, p. 22.
+
+[492] _Sanction_.--See _Cromwellian Settlement_, p. 61, for a specimen
+of the "Bible stuff with which they crammed their heads and hardened
+their hearts."
+
+[493] _Day_.--_Cromwellian Settlement_, p. 163.
+
+[494] _Murder_.--"Whenever any unwary person chanced to pass these
+limits he was knocked on the head by the first officer or soldier who
+met him. Colonel Astell killed _six women_ in this way."--_Ibid_. p.
+164.
+
+[495] _Hiberniæ_.--_The Wail of the Irish Catholics; or, Groans of the
+Whole Clergy and People, &c._ By Father Maurice Morison, of the Minors
+of Strict Observance, an eyewitness of these cruelties. Insbruck, A.D.
+1659. This religious had remained in Ireland, like many of his brethren,
+in such complete disguise, that their existence was not even suspected.
+In order to minister the more safely to their afflicted people, they
+often hired as menials in Protestant families and thus, in a double
+sense, became the servants of all men. Father Maurice was in the
+household of Colonel Ingolsby, the Parliamentary Governor of Limerick.
+
+[496] _Prendergast.--Cromwellian Settlement_, p. 34. We can only
+recommend this volume to the consideration of our readers. It would be
+impossible, in anything less than a volume, to give the different
+details which Mr. Prendergast has brought together with so much
+judgment, and at the expense of years of research. We might have
+selected some cases from his work, but, on the whole, we think it will
+be more satisfactory to the reader to peruse it in its entirety. It may
+be obtained from our publishers, Messrs. Longmans and Co.,
+Paternoster-row, London.
+
+[497] _Rebellious_.--If the subject were not so serious, the way in
+which the officials wrote about the feelings of the Irish would almost
+provoke a smile. They say: "It is the nature of this people to be
+rebellious; and they have been so much the more disposed to it, having
+been highly exasperated by the transplanting work." Surely they could
+not be expected to be anything else but rebellious and exasperated!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+The Irish transported as Slaves to Barbadoes--The Three Beasts who were
+to be hunted: the Wolf, the Priest, and the Tory--Origin and Causes of
+Agrarian Outrages--Cases of Individual Wrongs--Lord Roche--Mr. Luttrel
+Accession of Charles II.--His Base Conduct towards the Irish
+Loyalists--Gross Injustice towards the Irish Catholic Landowners--The
+Remonstrance opposed by the Clergy--A Quarrel in the House of Lords The
+Popish Plot--Ormonde's Difficulties--Seizure and Imprisonment of the
+Archbishop of Dublin--Imprisonment and Execution of the Most Rev. Dr.
+Plunkett, Archbishop of Armagh.
+
+[A.D.-1655-1681.]
+
+
+Many of the Irish soldiers who had entered into the service of foreign
+princes, were obliged to leave their wives and families behind. When we
+recall the number of those who were thus expatriated, it will not seem
+surprising that thousands of young children were left utterly destitute.
+These boys and girls, however, were easily disposed of by the
+Government; and Sir William Petty states, that 6,000 were sent out as
+slaves to the West Indies. The Bristol sugar merchants traded in these
+human lives, as if they had been so much merchandize; and merchandize,
+in truth, they were, for they could be had for a trifle, and they
+fetched a high price in the slave-market. Even girls of noble birth were
+subjected to this cruel fate. Morison mentions an instance of this kind
+which came to his own knowledge. He was present when Daniel Connery, a
+gentleman of Clare, was sentenced to banishment, by Colonel Ingoldsby,
+for harbouring a priest. Mrs. Connery died of destitution, and three of
+his daughters, young and beautiful girls, were transported as slaves to
+Barbadoes.[498]
+
+A court was established for the punishment of "rebels and malignants;"
+the former consisting of persons who refused to surrender their houses
+and lands, and the latter being those who would not act contrary to
+their conscientious convictions in religious matters. These courts were
+called "Cromwell's Slaughter-houses." Donnellan, who had acted as
+solicitor to the regicides, at the trial of Charles I., held the first
+court at Kilkenny, October 4, 1652. Lord Louther held a court in Dublin,
+in February, 1653, for the special purpose of trying "all massacres and
+murders committed since the 1st day of October, 1641." The inquiries,
+however, were solely confined to the accused Catholics; and the result
+proved the falsehood of all the idle tales which had been circulated of
+their having intended a great massacre of Protestants, for convictions
+could only be obtained against 200 persons, and even these were
+supported by forged and corrupt evidence.[499] Sir Phelim O'Neill was
+the only person convicted in Ulster, and he was offered his life again
+and again, and even on the very steps of the scaffold, if he would
+consent to criminate Charles I.
+
+As the majority of the nation had now been disposed of, either by
+banishment, transportation, or hanging, the Government had time to turn
+their attention to other affairs. The desolation of the country was
+such, that the smoke of a fire, or the sign of a habitation, was
+considered a rare phenomenon. In consequence of this depopulation, wild
+beasts had multiplied on the lands, and three "beasts" were especially
+noted for destruction. In the Parliament held at Westminster in 1657,
+Major Morgan, member for the county Wicklow, enumerated these beasts
+thus: "We have three beasts to destroy that lay burdens upon us. The
+first is the wolf, on whom we lay £5 a head if a dog, and £10 if a
+bitch. The second beast is a priest, on whose head we lay £10; if he be
+eminent, more. The third beast is a Tory, on whose head, if he be a
+public Tory, we lay £20; and forty shillings on a private Tory."[500]
+
+Wolves had increased so rapidly, that the officers who left Ireland for
+Spain, in 1652, were forbidden to take their dogs with them, and were
+thus deprived of the pleasure and the pride (for Irish dogs were famous)
+of this consolation in their exile. Public hunts were ordered, and every
+effort made to keep down beasts of prey. But the whole blame was thrown
+on the second beast. It was declared solemnly that if there had been no
+priests there would have been no wolves.[501] The syllogism ran somewhat
+in this fashion:--
+
+The Popish priests are the cause of every misery in Ireland;
+
+The wolves are a misery:
+
+Therefore the priests are to blame for the existence of the wolves.
+
+"By a similar process of reasoning," observes Mr. Prendergast, "it is
+proved that the Irish have caused the ruin, the plundering, and the
+desolation of the country, from the first invasion, for so many ages."
+And this is undoubtedly true; for if there had been no Irish, no Irish
+could have been plundered; and if there had been no plunder, there could
+not have been the misery of the plundered. The number of wolves to be
+destroyed may be estimated from the fact, that some lands valued at a
+high rate were let for a stipulated number of wolves' heads in lieu of
+rent. But the wolves were more easily got rid of than the priests. The
+priests were accustomed to be persecuted, and accustomed to be hunted.
+They came to Ireland, as a general rule, with the full knowledge that
+this would be their fate, and that if they ended their lives, after a
+few years' ministration, by hanging, without any extra torture, it was
+the best they could hope for, as far as this world was concerned. Some,
+however, would have preferred the torture, expecting an additional
+recompense for it in the next. But there were parts of the country where
+it was incomparably more difficult to hunt out a priest than a wolf; so
+the Government gave notice, on the 6th of January, 1653, that all
+priests and friars who were willing to transport themselves, should have
+liberty to do so for twenty days. But the priests and friars had no idea
+of leaving the country. They had gone abroad, at the risk of their
+lives, to fit themselves in some of the splendid continental colleges
+for their duties, and to obtain authority to administer the sacraments;
+they returned, at the risk of their lives, to fulfil their mission; and
+they remained, at the risk of their lives, to devote them to their own
+people, for whose sakes they had renounced, not only earthly pleasures
+and joys, but even that quiet and peaceful life, which, as Christian
+priests, they might have had in foreign lands. The people for whom they
+suffered were not ungrateful. Poor as they were, none could be found to
+take the proffered bribe. Long lists may be found of priests who were
+captured and executed, and of the men who received the rewards for their
+capture; but you will not see a real Irish name amongst them; you will
+perceive that the priest-catchers were principally English soldiers; and
+you will remark that the man in whose house the priest was discovered
+generally shared his fate. But it was useless. They were hung, they were
+tortured, they were transported to Barbadoes, and, finally, such numbers
+were captured, that it was feared they would contaminate the very
+slaves, and they were confined on the island of Innisboffin, off the
+coast of Connemara. Yet more priests came to take the place of those who
+were thus removed, and the "hunt" was still continued.
+
+The number of secular priests who were victims to this persecution
+cannot be correctly estimated. The religious orders, who were in the
+habit of keeping an accurate chronicle of the entrance and decease of
+each member, furnish fuller details. An official record, drawn up in
+1656, gives the names of thirty Franciscans who had suffered for the
+faith; and this was before the more severe search had commenced. The
+martyrdom of a similar number of Dominicans is recorded almost under the
+same date; and Dr. Burgat[502] states that more than three hundred of
+the clergy were put to death by the sword or on the scaffold, while more
+than 1,000 were sent into exile.
+
+The third "beast" was the Tory. The Tory was the originator of agrarian
+outrages in Ireland, or we should rather say, the English planters were
+the originators, and the Tories the first perpetrators of the crime. The
+Irish could scarcely be expected to have very exalted ideas of the
+sanctity and inviolable rights of property, from the way in which they
+saw it treated. The English made their will law, and force their
+title-deed. The Anglo-Normans dispossessed the native Irish, the
+followers of the Tudors dispossessed the Anglo-Normans, and the men of
+the Commonwealth dispossessed them all. Still the Celt, peculiarly
+tenacious of his traditions, had a very clear memory of his ancient
+rights, and could tell you the family who even then represented the
+original proprietor, though that proprietor had been dispossessed five
+or six hundred years. The ejectments from family holdings had been
+carried out on so large a scale, that it can scarcely be a matter of
+surprise if some of the ejected resented this treatment. There were
+young men who preferred starving in the woods to starving in Connaught;
+and after a time they formed into bands in those vast tracts of land
+which had been wholly depopulated. The men were desperate. It is
+difficult to see how they could have been anything else, when driven to
+desperation. They were called robbers; but there was a general confusion
+about _meum_ and _tuum_ which they could not understand. Strangers had
+taken possession of their cattle, and they did not comprehend why they
+should not try to obtain it again in any possible way. Young men, whose
+fathers had landed estates of £2,000 a-year, which were quietly divided
+amongst Cromwell's Life-Guards, while the proprietor was sent out to
+beg, and his daughters compelled to take in washing or do needlework,
+could scarcely be expected to take such a change in their circumstances
+very calmly. A man who had been transplanted from an estate worth £2,500
+a year near Dublin, which his family had owned for four hundred years,
+and whose daughters were given the munificent gratuity of £10 a-piece by
+the Council Board, and forbidden for the future to ask for any further
+assistance, might certainly plead extenuating circumstances[503] if he
+took to highway robbery. Such circumstances as these were common at this
+period; and it should be borne in mind that the man whose holding was
+worth but £40 a-year felt the injustice, and resented the inhumanity of
+his expulsion, quite as much as the nobleman with £4,000. So the Tories
+plundered their own property; and, if they could be captured, paid the
+penalty with their lives; but, when they were not caught, the whole
+district suffered, and some one was made a scapegoat for their crime,
+though it did not seem much to matter whether the victim could be
+charged with complicity or not. After some years, when even the sons of
+the proprietors had become old inhabitants, and the dispossessed
+generation had passed away, their children were still called Tories.
+They wandered from village to village, or rather from hovel to hovel,
+and received hospitality and respect from the descendants of those who
+had been tenants on the estates of their forefathers, and who still
+called them gentlemen and treated them as such, though they possessed
+nothing but the native dignity, which could not be thrown off, and the
+old title-deeds, which were utterly worthless, yet not the less
+carefully treasured. Yet, these men were condemned by their oppressors
+because they did not work for their living, and because they still
+remembered their ancient dignity, and resented their ancient wrongs. To
+have worked and to have forgotten might have been wiser; but those who
+are accustomed to ease are slow to learn labour, even with the best
+intentions; and those who had inflicted the wrongs were scarcely the
+persons who should have taunted the sufferers with the miseries they had
+caused.
+
+Charles II. commenced his reign _de facto_ in 1660, under the most
+favourable auspices. People were weary of a Commonwealth which had
+promised so much and performed so little; of the name of liberty without
+the reality; of the exercise of kingly power without the appurtenances
+or right of majesty. But the new monarch had been educated in a bad
+school. Surrounded with all the prestige of royalty without its
+responsibilities, and courted most ardently by followers whose only
+object was their own future advancement, which they hoped to secure by
+present flattery, it is scarcely a matter of surprise that Charles
+should have disappointed the hopes of the nation. In England public
+affairs were easily settled. Those who had been expelled from their
+estates by the Cromwellian faction, drove out[504] by the new
+proprietors; but in Ireland the case was very different. Even the
+faithful loyalists, who had sacrificed everything for the King, and had
+so freely assisted his necessities out of their poverty, were now
+treated with contempt, and their claims silenced by proclamation; while
+the men who had been most opposed to the royal interest, and most cruel
+in their oppression of the natives, were rewarded and admitted into
+favour. Coote and Broghill were of this class. Each tried to lessen the
+other in opinion of their royal master as they ran the race for favour,
+and each boasted of services never accomplished, and of loyalty which
+never existed. The two enemies of each other and of the nation were now
+appointed Lord Justices of Ireland; and a Parliament was assembled on
+the 8th of May, 1661, the first meeting of the kind which had been held
+for twenty years.
+
+The Catholic, or national interest, was certainly not represented; for
+there were present seventy-two Protestant peers, and only twenty-one
+Catholics; while the House of Commons comprised two hundred and sixty
+members, all of whom were burgesses except sixty-four, and the towns had
+been so entirely peopled by Cromwell's Puritan followers, that there
+could be no doubt what course they would pursue. An attempt was now made
+to expel the few Catholics who were present, by requiring them to take
+the oath of supremacy. The obsequious Parliament voted £30,000 to the
+Duke of Ormonde, whose career of duplicity was crowned with success. It
+is almost amusing to read his biographer's account[505] of the favours
+bestowed on him, and the laudations he bestows on his master for his
+condescension in accepting them. Carte would have us believe that
+Ormonde was a victim to his king and his country, and that the immense
+sums of money he received did not nearly compensate him for his outlays.
+Posterity will scarcely confirm the partiality of the biographer.
+
+The Bill of Settlement was opposed by the Irish Catholics through their
+counsel, but their claims were rejected and treated with contempt.
+Charles had told his Parliament, on his restoration, that he expected
+they would have a care of his honour and of the promise he had made.
+This promise had been explicitly renewed by Ormonde for the King, before
+he left for Breda; but the most solemn engagements were so regularly
+violated when Irish affairs were concerned, that nothing else could have
+been expected. A Court of Claims was at length established, to try the
+cases of ejectment which had occurred during the Commonwealth; but this
+excited so much indignation and alarm amongst the Protestants, that all
+hope of justice was quickly at an end, and the time-serving Ormonde
+closed the court. The grand occupation of each new reign, for the last
+few centuries, appears to have been to undo what had been done in the
+preceding reigns. An Act of Explanation was now passed, and a Protestant
+militia raised, to satisfy that party. It was provided by the new Act
+that the Protestants were, in the first place, and especially, to be
+settled; that any doubt which arose should be decided in their favour;
+and that no Papist, who, by the qualifications of the former Act, had
+not been adjudged innocent should at any future time be reputed
+innocent, or entitled to claim any lands or settlements. It will be
+remembered that Ormonde had cut short the sittings of the court to
+satisfy Protestant clamour; in consequence of this, more than 8,000
+Catholic claimants were condemned to forfeit their estates, without even
+the shadow of an inquiry, but with the pretence of having justice done
+to them, or, as Leland has expressed it, "without the justice granted to
+the vilest criminal--that of a fair and equal trial."[506]
+
+Although it would seem to the ordinary observer that the Catholics had
+been dealt with severely, the dominant faction were still dissatisfied;
+and Ormonde was obliged to threaten a dissolution, and to expel some
+members for complicity in a plot to overthrow the English Government,
+which had just been discovered, and of which the ringleader was a man
+named Blood. It was now ascertained that the Cromwellian distribution of
+lands had been carried out with the most shameful injustice towards the
+very Government which had sanctioned it; and that the soldiers, who went
+with texts of Scripture on their lips, and swords in their hands, to
+destroy Popery, had cheated[507] their officers and self-elected rulers
+with shameless audacity.
+
+The famous Remonstrance was drawn up about this time. It was prepared by
+Peter Walsh, a Franciscan friar, who was a protégé of Ormonde's, and who
+devoted more attention to politics than to his religious duties. The
+Remonstrance contained expressions which were by no means consonant with
+that pure Catholic feeling for which the Irish had been always
+remarkable; but it suited the Duke's purpose all the better, and he
+induced a considerable number of the nobility, and some of the clergy,
+to affix their signatures to it. They were little aware, in giving
+expression to the loyalty they so sincerely felt, that they were
+supposed to countenance disrespect to the Church which they so deeply
+revered. A synod of the Irish bishops and clergy was therefore held in
+Dublin, to consider the document, June 11th, 1666. Although
+ecclesiastics were then under the penal laws, and liable to suffer at
+any moment, Ormonde connived at the meeting, hoping that his ends would
+be thereby attained. He has himself left his object on record. It was to
+"sow divisions among the clergy;" and Lord Orrery had written to him,
+being well aware of his plans, suggesting that this was a fitting time
+for their accomplishment. But the clergy were not so easily deceived;
+and even the miserable friar has left it on record, that out of 1,850
+ecclesiastics, regular and secular, only sixty-nine signed the
+Remonstrance. The synod now prepared another document; and if the
+expression of loyalty was all that Ormonde required, he should have been
+fully satisfied; but, unfortunately, this was not the case, and he bided
+his time to avenge himself bitterly on the men who refused to sacrifice
+their conscience to his will.
+
+During the same year (1660), the Irish sent over a contribution of
+15,000 bullocks, to relieve the distress which occurred in London after
+the Great Fire. In return for their charity, they were assured that this
+was a mere pretence to keep up the cattle trade with England; and
+accordingly an Act was passed in which the importation of Irish cattle
+was forbidden, and termed a "nuisance," and language was used which, in
+the present day, would be considered something like a breach of
+privilege. The Duke of Buckingham, whose farming interests were in
+England, declared "that none could oppose the Bill, except such as had
+Irish estates or Irish understandings." Lord Ossory protested that "such
+virulence became none but one of Cromwell's counsellors;" and he being
+the eldest of the Duke of Ormonde, and having Irish interests, opposed
+it. Several noble lords attempted to draw their swords. Ossory
+challenged Buckingham; Buckingham declined the challenge. Ossory was
+sent to the Tower; the word "nuisance" remained; some members of the
+"Cabal" said it should have been "felony;" and the Irish trade was
+crushed. Even the Puritan settlers in Ireland began to rebel at this,
+for they, too, had begun to have "Irish interests," and could not quite
+see matters relative to that country in the same light as they had done
+when at the other side of the Channel. At last they became openly
+rebellious. Some soldiers mutinied for arrears of pay, and seized
+Carrickfergus Castle--ten of them were executed, and peace was restored;
+but the old Cromwellians, both in England and Ireland, gave considerable
+anxiety to the Government; and, indeed, it seems marvellous that they
+should not have revolted more openly and in greater force.
+
+So many complaints were made of Ormonde's administration, that he was
+now removed for a time. He was succeeded by Lord Berkeley, in May, 1670,
+a nobleman whose honest and impartial government earned him the respect
+of all who were not interested in upholding a contrary line of conduct.
+The Catholics offered him an address, which was signed by two prelates,
+who held a prominent position, not only in their Church, but also in the
+history of the period; these were Dr. Plunkett, Archbishop of Armagh,
+and Dr. Talbot, Archbishop of Dublin. Colonel Richard Talbot, who was
+afterwards created Earl of Tyrconnel by James II., had been, for some
+time, the accredited agent of the Irish Catholics at the English court;
+he now (A.D. 1671) attempted to obtain some examination into the claims
+of those who had been ejected from their estates during the
+Commonwealth. After some delay and much opposition, a commission was
+appointed; but although the "Popish Plot" had not yet made its
+appearance, a wild "no Popery" cry was raised, and the King was obliged
+to recall Lord Berkeley, and substitute the Earl of Essex. Even this did
+not quiet the storm. On the 9th of March, 1673, an address was presented
+to the King by the Commons in England, demanding the persecution of
+Papists in Ireland; and the weak monarch, all the more afraid of
+appearing to show partiality, because of his apprehension that Popery
+might be the true religion, and his still more serious apprehensions
+that his people might find out his opinion, at once complied, and even
+recalled the Commission of Enquiry.
+
+In 1677 Ormonde was again appointed Viceroy, and he held the office
+during the ensuing seven years, at an advanced age, and a period of
+extraordinary political excitement. The "Popish treason" was the first
+and the most fearful of these panics. Ormonde was at Kilkenny when he
+received the first intimation of the conspiracy, October 3, 1678; but he
+had too much knowledge of the world to credit it for a moment. Like
+other politicians of that, and indeed of other ages, he was obliged to
+keep up his reputation by appearing to believe it in public, while in
+private[508] he treated the whole affair with the contempt it merited.
+It was soon reported that the plot had extended to Ireland, and
+Archbishop Talbot was selected as the first victim. The prelate then
+resided with his brother, Colonel Talbot, at Carton, near Maynooth. He
+was in a dying state; but although his enemies might well have waited
+for his end, he was taken out of his bed, carried to Dublin, and
+confined a prisoner in the Castle. He died two years later. "He was the
+last distinguished captive destined to end his days in that celebrated
+state prison, which has since been generally dedicated to the peaceful
+purposes of a reflected royalty."[509] His brother was arrested, but
+allowed to go beyond the seas; and a Colonel Peppard was denounced in
+England as one of the leading Irish traitors. But the Colonel was quite
+as imaginary as the plot. No such person existed, and a _non est
+inventis_ was all the return that could be made to the most active
+inquiries. There was one illustrious victim, however, who was found, who
+was executed, and who was not guilty, even in thought, of the crime of
+which he was accused.
+
+Oliver Plunkett had been Archbishop of Armagh since the death of Dr.
+O'Reilly, in 1669. He belonged to the noble family of Fingall; but he
+was more respected for his virtues and his office than even for his
+rank. He was now accused of being in correspondence with the French; it
+was a favourite charge against Catholics at that time, and one which
+could be easily brought forward by men who did not mind swearing to a
+lie, and not easily disproved by men who could only assert their
+innocence. Lord Shaftesbury was the great patron of Titus Oates, the
+concocter of the plot, and the perjured murderer of scores of innocent
+men. It was a serious disappointment to find that no evidence of a
+conspiracy could be found in Ireland. Carte, who certainly cannot be
+suspected of the faintest shadow of preference for an Irishman or a
+Catholic, says that every effort was made to drive the people into
+rebellion. He gives the reason for this, which, from former experience,
+one fears must be true. "There were," he says, "too many Protestants in
+Ireland who wanted another rebellion, that they might increase their
+estates by new forfeitures." "It was proposed to introduce the Test Act
+and all the English penal laws into Ireland; and that a proclamation
+should be forthwith issued for encouraging all persons that could make
+any further discoveries of the horrid Popish plot, to come in and
+declare the same."
+
+Unfortunately for the credit of our common humanity, persons can always
+be found who are ready to denounce their fellow-creatures, even when
+guiltless, from mere malice. When, to the pleasure of gratifying a
+passion, there is added the prospect of a reward, the temptation becomes
+irresistible; and if the desire of revenge for an injury, real or
+imaginary, be superadded, the temptation becomes overwhelming. In order
+to satisfy the clamours of the "no Popery" faction, an order had been
+issued, on the 16th of October, 1677, for the expulsion of all
+ecclesiastics from Ireland; and a further proclamation was made,
+forbidding Papists to enter into the Castle of Dublin, or any fort or
+citadel; and so far, indeed, did this childish panic exceed others of
+its kind, that orders were sent to the great market-towns, commanding
+the markets to be held outside the walls, to prevent the obnoxious
+Catholics from entering into the interior. Rewards were offered of £10
+for an officer, £5 for a trooper, and £4 for a soldier, if it could be
+proved that he attended Mass; and how many were sworn away by this
+bribery it would be difficult to estimate. On the 2nd of December, a
+strict search was ordered for the Catholic ecclesiastics who had not yet
+transported themselves. Dr. Plunkett had not left the country. At the
+first notice of the storm he withdrew, according to the apostolic
+example, to a retired situation, where he remained concealed, more in
+hope of martyrdom than in fear of apprehension.
+
+The prelate had never relaxed in his duties towards his flock, and he
+continued to fulfil those duties now with equal vigilance. One of the
+most important functions of a chief shepherd is to oversee the conduct
+of those who govern the flock of Christ under him. There was a Judas in
+the college of the Apostles, and many Judases have been found since
+then. The Archbishop had been obliged to excommunicate two of his
+priests and two friars, who had been denounced by their superiors for
+their unworthy lives. The unhappy men resented the degradation, without
+repenting of the crimes which had brought it upon them. They were ready
+for perjury, for they had renounced truth; and the gratification of
+their malice was probably a far stronger motive than the bribe for the
+capture of a bishop. The holy prelate was seized on the 6th December,
+1679. Even Ormonde wished to have spared him, so inoffensive and
+peaceful had been his life. He was arraigned at the Dundalk assizes; but
+although every man on the grand jury was a Protestant, from whom, at
+least, less partiality might be expected towards him than from members
+of his own Church, the perjured witnesses refused to come forward.
+Indeed, the prelate himself had such confidence in his innocence, and in
+the honorable dealing of his Protestant fellow-countrymen, when their
+better judgment was not bewildered by fanaticism, that he declared in
+London he would put himself on trial in Ireland before any Protestant
+jury who knew him, and who knew the men who swore against him, without
+the slightest doubt of the result.
+
+Jones, the Protestant Bishop of Meath, was, unfortunately for himself,
+influenced by fanaticism. He had served in Cromwell's army,[510] and had
+all that rancorous hatred of the Catholic Church so characteristic of
+the low class from whom the Puritan soldiery were drawn. He was
+determined that the Archbishop should be condemned; and as men could not
+be found to condemn him in Ireland, he induced Lord Shaftesbury to have
+him taken to London. The Archbishop was removed to Newgate, about the
+close of October, 1680, and so closely confined, that none of his
+friends could have access to him. He spent his time in prayer, and his
+gaolers were amazed at his cheerfulness and resignation. His trial took
+place on the 8th of June, 1681; but he was not allowed time to procure
+the necessary witnesses, and the court would not allow certain records
+to be put in, which would have proved the character of his accusers. Six
+of the most eminent English lawyers were arrayed against him. The legal
+arrangements of the times deprived him of the assistance of counsel, but
+they did not require the judges to help out the men who swore against
+him: this, however, they did do.
+
+The prelate was condemned to die. The speech of the judge who pronounced
+sentence was not distinguished by any very special forensic acumen. Dr.
+Plunkett had been charged by the witnesses with political crimes; the
+judge sentenced[511] him for his religious convictions; and, by a
+process of reasoning not altogether peculiar to himself, insisted that
+his supposed treason was a necessary result of the faith he professed.
+The Archbishop suffered at Tyburn, on Friday, July 11, 1681. He went to
+his death rejoicing, as men go to a bridal. His dying declaration
+convinced his hearers of his innocence; and, perhaps, the deep regret
+for his martyrdom, which was felt by all but the wretches who had
+procured his doom, tended to still the wild storm of religious
+persecution, or, at least, to make men see that where conscience was
+dearer than life, conscientious convictions should be respected. It is
+at least certain, that his name was the last on the long roll of
+sufferers who had been executed at Tyburn for the faith. Blood was no
+longer exacted there as the price which men should pay for liberty of
+belief. It were well had that liberty been allowed by men to their
+fellow-men in after years, without fines or confiscations--without those
+social penalties, which, to a refined and sensitive mind, have in them
+the bitterness of death, without the consolations of martyrdom.
+
+[Illustration: ANCIENT PITCHER, FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE R.I.A., FOUND
+IN A CRANNOGE, AT LOUGH TAUGHAN, LECALE, CO. DOWN.]
+
+[Illustration: OLDERFLEET CASTLE, LARNE.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[498] _Barbadoes_.--_Threnodia Hib._ p. 287.
+
+[499] _Evidence_.--In a work written expressly to excite feeling in
+England against the Irish, it is stated that they [the Irish] failed in
+the massacre.--See _Cromwellian Settlement_, p. 5, for further evidence.
+
+[500] _Tory.--Cromwellian Settlement_, p. 150.
+
+[501] _No wolves_--Declaration printed at Cork, 1650.
+
+[502] _Dr. Burgat.--Brevis Relatio_. Presented to the Sacred
+Congregation in 1667. Dr. Moran's little work, _Persecution of the Irish
+Catholics_, gives ample details on this subject; and every statement is
+carefully verified, and the authority given for it.
+
+[503] _Circumstances_.--Lord Roche and his daughters were compelled to
+go on foot to Connaught, and his property was divided amongst the
+English soldiers. His wife, the Viscountess Roche, was hanged without a
+shadow of evidence that she had committed the crime of which she was
+accused. Alderman Roche's daughters had nothing to live on but their own
+earnings by washing and needlework; and Mr. Luttrell, the last case
+mentioned above, was allowed as a favour to occupy his _own stables_
+while preparing to transplant.
+
+[504] _Drove out_.--Carte's _Ormonde_, vol ii. p. 398.
+
+[505] _Accounts_--Carte's _Ormonde_, vol. ii. pp. 398, 399. He considers
+all "bounties" to him as mere acts of justice.
+
+[506] _Trial_.--Chief Justice Nugent, afterwards Lord Riverston, in a
+letter, dated Dublin, June 23rd, 1686, and preserved in the State Paper
+Office, London, says: "There are 5,000 in this kingdom who were never
+outlawed."
+
+[507] _Cheated_.--Books were found in the office of the surveyor for the
+county Tipperary alone, in which only 50,000 acres were returned as
+unprofitable, and the adventurers had returned 245,207.--Carte's
+_Ormonde_, vol. ii. p. 307. "These soldiers," says Carte, "were for the
+most part Anabaptists, Independents, and Levellers." Equal roguery was
+discovered in other places.
+
+[508] _Private_.--For full information on this subject, see Carte's
+_Ormonde_, vol. ii. pp. 476-482. I will give one extract to verify the
+statement above. "The Duke of Ormonde had, in truth, difficulties enough
+to struggle with in the government of Ireland, to preserve that kingdom
+in peace, and yet to give those who wished to imbroil it no handle of
+exception to the measures he took for that end."--vol. ii. p. 477.
+
+[509] _Royalty_.--D'Arcy M'Gee's _History of Ireland_, vol ii p. 560.
+
+[510] _Army_.--Carte says "he was Scout-Master-General."--_Ormonde_,
+vol. ii. p. 473.
+
+[511] _Sentenced_.--See Dr. Moran's _Memoir of the Most Rev. Dr.
+Plunkett_. This interesting work affords full details of the character
+of the witnesses, the nature of the trial, and the Bishop's saintly end.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+Glimpses of Social Life in the Seventeenth Century--Literature and
+Literary Men--Keating--the Four Masters--Colgan--Ward--Usher--Ware--
+Lynch--Trade--Commerce depressed by the English--Fairs--Waterford
+Rugs--Exportation of Cattle forbidden--State of Trade in the Principal
+Towns--Population--Numbers employed in different Trades--Learned
+Professions--Physicians--Establishment of their College in
+Dublin--Shopkeepers--Booksellers--Coffee-houses--Clubs--Newspapers--
+Fashionable Churches--Post-houses and Post-offices established--
+Custom-house--Exchange--Amusements--Plays at the Castle--The First
+Theatre set up in Werburgh-street--Domestics Manners and Dress--
+Food-A Country Dinner Party in Ulster.
+
+[A.D. 1600-1700.]
+
+
+Notwithstanding the persecutions to which the Irish had been subjected
+for so many centuries, they preserved their love of literature, and the
+cultivated tastes for which the Celt has been distinguished in all ages.
+Indeed, if this taste had not existed, the people would have sunk into
+the most degraded barbarism; for education was absolutely forbidden, and
+the object of the governing powers seems to have been to reduce the
+nation, both intellectually and morally, as thoroughly as possible. In
+such times, and under such circumstances, it is not a little remarkable
+to find men devoting themselves to literature with all the zest of a
+freshman anticipating collegiate distinctions, while surrounded by
+difficulties which would certainly have dismayed, if they did not
+altogether crush, the intellects of the present age. I have already of
+the mass of untranslated national literature existing country and in
+continental libraries. These treasures of mental labour are by no means
+confined to one period of our history; but it could scarcely be expected
+that metaphysical studies or the fine arts could flourish at a period
+when men's minds were more occupied with the philosophy of war than with
+the science of Descartes, and were more inclined to patronize a new
+invention in the art of gunnery, than the _chef d'oeuvre_ of a limner or
+sculptor. The Irish language was the general medium of conversation in
+this century. No amount of Acts of Parliament had been able to repress
+its use, and even the higher classes of English settlers appear to have
+adopted it by preference. Military proclamations were issued in this
+language;[512] or if the Saxon tongue were used, it was translated for
+the general benefit into the vernacular. During the Commonwealth,
+however, the English tongue made some way; and it is remarkable that the
+English-speaking Irish of the lower classes, in the present day, have
+preserved the idioms and the accentuation used about this period. Many
+of the expressions which provoke the mirth of the modern Englishman, and
+which he considers an evidence of the vulgarity of the uneducated Irish,
+may be found in the works of his countrymen, of which he is most justly
+proud.
+
+The language of Cromwell's officers and men, from whom the Celt had such
+abundant opportunities of learning English, was (less the cant of
+Puritanism) the language of Shakspeare, of Raleigh, and of Spenser. The
+conservative tendencies of the Hibernian preserved the dialect intact,
+while causes, too numerous for present detail, so modified it across the
+Channel, that each succeeding century condemned as vulgarism what had
+been the highest fashion with their predecessors. Even as Homeric
+expressions lingered for centuries after the blind bard's obit had been
+on record, so the expressions of Chaucer, Spenser, and Shakspeare, may
+still be discovered in provincial dialects in many parts of the British
+Isles. I do not intend to quote _Tate and Brady_ as models of
+versification and of syntax; but if the best poets of the age did not
+receive the commission to translate the Psalms into verse, it was a poor
+compliment to religion. We find the pronunciation of their rhymes
+corresponding with the very pronunciation which is now condemned as
+peculiarly Irish. Newton also rhymes _way_ and _sea_, while one can
+scarcely read a page of Pope[513] without finding examples of
+pronunciation now supposed to be pure Hibernicism. In the Authorized
+Protestant version of the Bible, _learn_ is used in the sense of _to
+teach_, precisely as it is used in Ireland at the present day: "If thy
+children shall keep my covenant and my testimonies that I shall _learn_
+them" and their use of the term _forninst_ is undoubtedly derived from
+an English source, for we find it in Fairfax's _Tasso_.[514]
+
+History and theology were the two great studies of the middle ages, and
+to these subjects we find the _literati_ of Ireland directing special
+attention. The importance and value of Latin as a medium of literary
+intercommunication, had been perceived from an early period: hence that
+language was most frequently employed by Irish writers after it had
+become known in the country. It is unquestionably a national credit,
+that no amount of suffering, whether inflicted for religious or
+political opinions, deprived the Irish of historians.[515] Some of their
+works were certainly compiled under the most disadvantageous
+circumstances.
+
+None of the writers whom we shall presently enumerate, worked for hope
+of gain, or from any other motive save that of the purest patriotism.
+Keating, whose merits are becoming more and more recognized since modern
+research has removed Celtic traditions from the region of fable to the
+tableland of possibility, wrote his _History_ principally in the Galtee
+Mountains, where he had taken refuge from the vengeance of Carew,[516]
+Lord President of Munster. Although he had received a high education in
+the famous College of Salamanca, for the sake of his people he preferred
+suffering persecution, and, if God willed it, death, to the peaceful
+life of literary quiet which he might have enjoyed there. He wrote in
+his mother-tongue, although master of many languages; and in consequence
+of this choice his work remained in MS. for many years. When it came to
+light, those who were ignorant of the MS. materials of ancient Irish
+history, were pleased to suppose that he had invented a considerable
+portion, and supplied the remainder from the _viva voce_ traditions of
+the country people. Unfortunately, he was not sufficiently master of the
+science of criticism to give the authorities which he had used so
+carefully, and to prove their value and authenticity. But truth has at
+length triumphed. Several of the works from which he has quoted have
+been discovered; and it has been shown that, wild as some of his legends
+may read in the garb in which he has given them, there is proof that
+important facts underlie the structure, though it has been somewhat
+overembellished by a redundant fancy.
+
+[Illustration: TUBRID CHURCHYARD--BURIAL-PLACE OF THE HISTORIAN
+KEATING.]
+
+Keating was also a poet. Many of his pieces are still well known and
+highly popular in Munster, and copies of nearly all of them are
+preserved by the Royal Irish Academy. One of his ballads has been
+"coaxed" into verse by D'Arcy M'Gee, in his _Gallery of Irish Writers_.
+It is entitled "Thoughts on Innisfail." I shall give one verse as a
+specimen, and as an illustration of the popular feelings of the time:
+
+    "And the mighty of Naas are mighty no more,
+    Like the thunders that boomed 'mid the banners of yore;
+    And the wrath-ripened fields, 'twas they who could reap them;
+    Till they trusted the forsworn, no foe could defeat them."
+
+[Illustration: INSCRIPTION IN HONOUR OF KEATING.]
+
+The poet-priest must have died at an advanced age, though the precise
+date of his demise has not been ascertained. He has also left some
+religious works; and his "Shaft of Death" is well known and much admired
+both by divines and Celtic scholars.[517]
+
+O'Sullivan Beare's history is too well known to require more than a
+passing mention. It was said that he wrote as fiercely as he fought.
+Archbishop Usher, with whom he had many a literary feud, appears to have
+been of this opinion; for, after having described O'Sullivan as an
+"egregious liar," he was so sensitive to any counter abuse he might
+receive in return, that he carefully cut out every disparaging epithet
+which the historian used from the copy of his reply, which at present
+lies, with Usher's other works, in the Library of Trinity College,
+Dublin.
+
+The Four Masters are included amongst the Irish writers of this century,
+but I have already given ample details of their labours. The _Acta
+Sanctorum_ of Colgan, and Ward's literary efforts in a foreign land for
+his country, are beyond all praise. Usher and Ware were also amongst the
+giants of these days; and, considering the state of political and
+religious excitement amongst which they lived and wrote, it is
+incomparably marvellous that they should not have dipped their pens
+still deeper into the gall of controversy and prejudice. Usher was one
+of the _Hibernis ipsis Hiberniores_, for his family came to Ireland with
+King John; but he admired and wrote Celtic history with the enthusiasm
+of a Celt, and he gathered materials for other men's work with patient
+industry, however he may have allowed party spirit to influence and warp
+his own judgment in their use. Usher was Ware's most ardent patron.
+Habits of indefatigable research did for him, in some degree, what
+natural genius has done for others. Nor was he slow to recognize or
+avail himself of native talent; and there can be no doubt, if he had
+lived a few years longer after his acquaintance with MacFirbis, that
+Irish literature would have benefited considerably by the united efforts
+of the man of power, who was devoted to learning, and the man of gifts,
+who had the abilities which neither position nor wealth can purchase.
+John Lynch, the Bishop of Killala, and the indefatigable and successful
+impugner of Cambrensis, was another literary luminary of the age. His
+career is a fair sample of the extraordinary difficulties experienced by
+the Irish in their attempts to cultivate intellectual pursuits, and of
+their undaunted courage in attaining their end. Usher has himself
+recorded his visit to Galway, where found Lynch, then a mere youth,
+teaching a school of humanity (A.D. 1622). "We had proofe," he says,
+"during our continuance in that citie, how his schollars profitted under
+him, by the verses and orations which they brought us."[518] Usher then
+relates how he seriously advised the young schoolmaster to conform to
+the popular religion; but, as Lynch declined to comply with his wishes,
+he was bound over, under sureties of £400 sterling, to "forbear
+teaching." The tree of knowledge was, in truth, forbidden fruit, and
+guarded sedulously by the fiery sword of the law. I cannot do more than
+name a few of the other distinguished men of this century. There was
+Florence Conry, Archbishop of Tuam, and founder of the Irish College of
+Louvain. He was one of the first to suggest and to carry out the idea of
+supplying Irish youth with the means of education on the Continent,
+which they were denied at home. It is a fact, unexampled in the history
+of nations, that a whole race should have been thus denied the means of
+acquiring even the elements of learning, and equally unexampled is the
+zeal with which the nation sought to procure abroad the advantages from
+which they were so cruelly debarred at home. At Louvain some of the most
+distinguished Irish scholars were educated. An Irish press was
+established within its halls, which was kept constantly employed, and
+whence proceeded some of the most valuable works of the age, as well as
+a scarcely less important literature for the people, in the form of
+short treatises on religion or history. Colleges were also established
+at Douay, Lisle, Antwerp, Tournay, and St. Omers, principally through
+the exertions of Christopher Cusack, a learned priest of the diocese of
+Meath. Cardinal Ximenes founded an Irish College at Lisbon, and Cardinal
+Henriquez founded a similar establishment at Evora. It is a remarkable
+evidence of the value which has always been set on learning by the
+Catholic Church, that even in times of persecution, when literary
+culture demanded such sacrifices, she would not admit uneducated persons
+to the priesthood. The position which the proscribed Catholic priesthood
+held in Ireland at this period, compared with that which the favoured
+clergy of the Established Church held in England, is curious and
+significant. Macaulay says of the latter: "A young levite--such was the
+phrase then in use--might be had for his board, a small garret, and ten
+pounds a year; and might not only perform his own professional
+functions, but might also save the expenses of a gardener or a groom.
+Sometimes the reverend man nailed up the apricots, and sometimes he
+curried the coach-horses. He cast up the farrier's bills. He walked ten
+miles with a message or a parcel. He was permitted to dine with the
+family, but he was expected to content himself with the plainest
+fare--till he was summoned to return thanks for the repast, from a great
+part of which he had been excluded."[519]
+
+In Ireland there were few learned men in the Established Church, and
+even Usher seems to have been painfully indifferent to the necessity of
+superior education, as well as regular ordination, for his clergy. In
+1623 Dr. Blair was invited to Ireland by Lord Clannaboy, to take the
+living of Bangor, vacated by the death of the Rev. John Gibson, "sence
+Reformacione from Popary the first Deane of Down." Dr. Blair objected
+both to episcopal government and to use the English Liturgy; yet he
+"procured a free and safe entry to the holy ministry," which, according
+to his own account, was accomplished thus. His patron, Lord Clannaboy,
+informed "the Bishop Echlin how opposite I was to episcopacy and their
+liturgy, and had the influence to procure my admission on easy and
+honorable terms." At his interview with the Bishop, it was arranged that
+Dr. Blair was to receive ordination from Mr. Cunningham and the
+neighbouring clergy, and the Bishop was "to come in among them in no
+other relation than a presbyter." These are the Bishop's own words; and
+his reason for ordaining at all was: "I must ordain you, else neither I
+nor you can answer the law nor brook the land." In 1627 Blair had an
+interview with Archbishop Usher, and he says "they were not so far from
+agreeing as he feared." "He admitted that all those things [episcopacy
+and a form of prayer] ought to have been removed, but the constitution
+and laws of the place and time would not permit that to be done." A few
+years later Mr. John Livingstone thus relates his experience on similar
+subjects. He had been appointed also by Lord Clannaboy to the parish of
+Killinchy; and, "because it was needful that he should be ordained to
+the ministry, and the Bishop of Down, in whose diocese Killinchy was,
+being a corrupt and timorous man, and would require some engagement,
+therefore my Lord Clannaboy sent some with me, and wrote to Mr. Andrew
+Knox, Bishop of Raphoe, who told me he knew my errand, and that I came
+to him because I had scruples against episcopacy and ceremonies,
+according as Mr. Josiah Welsh and some others had done before; and that
+he thought his old age was prolonged for little other purpose than to
+perform such ceremonies." It was then arranged that he should be
+ordained as Dr. Blair and others had been. The Bishop gave him the book
+of ordination, and said, "though he durst not answer it to the State,"
+that he might draw a line over anything he did not approve of, and that
+it should not be read. "But," concludes Mr. Livingstone, "I found that
+it had been so marked by some others before, that I needed not mark
+anything; so the Lord was pleased to carry that business far beyond
+anything that I have thought, or almost ever desired."[520]
+
+Such facts as these were well known to the people; and we can scarcely
+be surprised that they increased their reverence for the old clergy, who
+made such sacrifices for the attainment of the learning necessary for
+their ministry, and who could not minister, even if they would, without
+having received the office and authority of a priest by the sacrament of
+orders.
+
+But literary efforts in Ireland were not confined to the clergy;
+O'Flaherty and MacFirbis devoted themselves with equal zeal to the
+dissemination and preservation of knowledge; and we envy not the man who
+can read without emotion the gentle complaint of the former, in his
+_Ogygia_: "I live a banished man within the bounds of my native soil--a
+spectator of others enriched by my birthright." And again: "The Lord
+hath wonderfully recalled the royal heir to his kingdom, with the
+applause of all good men; but He hath not found me worthy to be restored
+to the kingdom of my cottage. Against Thee, O Lord, have I sinned: may
+the Lord be blessed for ever!"
+
+The customs and dress of the upper classes in Ireland were probably much
+the same as those of a similar rank in England.[521] Commerce was so
+constantly restricted by English jealousy, that it had few opportunities
+of development. In a curious old poem, called the _Libel of English
+Policie_, the object of which was to impress on the English the
+necessity of keeping all trade and commerce in their own hands, we find
+Irish exports thus enumerated:--
+
+    "Hides and fish, salmon, hake, herring,
+    Irish wool and linen cloth, falding
+    And masternes good be her marchandie;
+    Hertes, birds, and others of venerie,
+    Skins of otter, squirrel and Irish hare,
+    Of sheep, lambe, and fore is her chaffere,
+    Felles of kids, and conies great plentie."
+
+It will be observed that this list contains only the natural produce of
+the country; and had any attempt been made to introduce or encourage
+manufactures, some mention would have been made of them. The silver and
+gold mines of the country are alluded to further on, and the writer very
+sensibly observes, that if "we [the English] had the peace and good-will
+of the wild Irish, the metal might be worked to our advantage." In the
+sixteenth century the Irish sent raw and tanned hides, furs, and
+woollens to Antwerp,[522] taking in exchange sugar, spices, and mercery.
+The trade with France and Spain for wines was very considerable; fish
+was the commodity exchanged for this luxury; and even in 1553, Philip
+II. of Spain paid[523] £1,000 yearly--a large sum for that period--to
+obtain liberty for his subjects to fish upon the north coast of Ireland.
+Stafford, in speaking of the capture of Dunboy Castle, says that
+O'Sullivan made £500 a-year by the duties which were paid to him by
+foreign fishermen, "although the duties they paid were very
+little."[524]
+
+Stanihurst has described a fair in Dublin, and another in Waterford,
+where he says the wares were "dog-cheap." These fairs continued for six
+days, and merchants came to them from Flanders and France, as well as
+from England. He gives the Waterford people the palm for commerce,
+declares they are "addicted to thieving," that they distil the best
+_aqua vitæ_, and spin the choicest rugs in Ireland. A friend of his, who
+took a fancy to one of these "choice rugs," being "demurrant in London,
+and the weather, by reason of a hard hoar frost, being somewhat nipping,
+repaired to Paris Garden, clad in one of the Waterford rugs. The
+mastiffs had no sooner espied him, but deeming he had been a bear, would
+fain have baited him; and were it not that the dogs were partly muzzled
+and partly chained, he doubted not he should have been well tugged in
+this Irish rug."
+
+After the plantation of Ulster, Irish commerce was allowed to flourish
+for a while; the revenue of the crown doubled; and statesmen should have
+been convinced that an unselfish policy was the best for both countries.
+But there will always be persons whose private interests clash with the
+public good, and who have influence enough to secure their own advantage
+at the expense of the multitude. Curiously enough, the temporary
+prosperity of Ireland was made a reason for forbidding the exports which
+had produced it. A declaration was issued by the English Government in
+1637, which expressly states this, and places every possible bar to its
+continuance. The Cromwellian settlement, however, acted more effectually
+than any amount of prohibitions or Acts of Parliament, and trade was
+entirely ruined by it for a time. When it again revived, and live cattle
+began to be exported in quantities to England, the exportation was
+strictly forbidden. The Duke of Ormonde, who possessed immense tracts of
+land in Ireland, presented a petition, with his own hands, against the
+obnoxious measure, and cleverly concluded it with the very words used by
+Charles himself, in the declaration for the settlement of Ireland at the
+Restoration, trusting that his Majesty "would not suffer his good
+subjects to weep in one kingdom when they rejoiced in another." Charles,
+however, wanted money; so Ireland had to wait for justice. A vote,
+granting him £120,000, settled the matter; and though for a time cattle
+were smuggled into England, the Bill introduced after the great fire of
+London, which we have mentioned in the last chapter, settled the matter
+definitively. The Irish question eventually merged into an unseemly
+squabble about prerogative, but Charles was determined "never to kiss
+the block on which his father lost his head."[525] He overlooked the
+affront, and accepted the Bill, "nuisance" and all. One favour, however,
+was granted to the Irish; they were graciously permitted to send
+contributions of cattle to the distressed Londoners in the form of
+salted beef. The importation of mutton, lamb, butter, and cheese, were
+forbidden by subsequent Acts, and salted beef, mutton, and pork were not
+allowed to be exported from Ireland to England until the general dearth
+of 1757.
+
+The commercial status of the principal Irish towns at this period (A.D.
+1669), is thus given by Mr. Bonnell, the head collector of Irish customs
+in Dublin: "Comparing together the proceeds of the duties for the six
+years ending December, 1669, received from the several ports of Ireland,
+they may be thus ranked according to their worth respectively, expressed
+in whole numbers, without fractions, for more clearness of
+apprehension:----
+
+"Rate.     Ports.    Proportion      Rate.   Ports      Proportion
+                      per cent.                          per cent.
+  1       Dublin         40                 { Drogheda       3
+  2       Cork           10            5    { Londonderry    3
+        { Waterford      7                  { Carrickfergus  3
+  3     { Galway         7                  { Ross           1
+        { Limerick       5                  { Wexford        1
+  4     { Kinsale        5             6    { Dundalk        1
+        { Youghal        5                  { Baltimore      1
+                                            { Sligo          1"
+
+"Killybeg, Dungarvan, Donaghadee, Strangford, Coleraine, and Dingle, are
+mentioned as "under rate."
+
+The linen trade had been encouraged, and, indeed, mainly established in
+Ireland, by the Duke of Ormonde. An English writer[526] says that
+200,000 pounds of yarn were sent annually to Manchester, a supply which
+seemed immense in that age; and yet, in the present day, would hardly
+keep the hands employed for forty-eight hours. A political economist of
+the age gives the "unsettledness of the country" as the first of a
+series of reasons why trade did not flourish in Ireland, and, amongst
+other remedies, suggests sumptuary laws and a tax upon celibacy, the
+latter to weigh quite equally on each sex.[527] Sir William Petty does
+not mention the trade but he does mention the enormous amount of
+tobacco[528] consumed by the natives. It is still a disputed question
+whether the so-called "Danes' pipes," of which I give an illustration,
+were made before the introduction of tobacco by Sir Walter Raleigh, or
+whether any other narcotizing indigenous plant may have been used. Until
+one, at least, of these pipes shall have been found in a position which
+will indicate that they must have been left there at an earlier period
+than the Elizabethan age, the presumption remains in favour of their
+modern use.
+
+[Illustration: "DANES' PIPES," FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE R.I.A.]
+
+I shall now give some brief account of the domestic life of our
+ancestors 200 years ago, and of the general state of society, both in
+the upper and lower classes. Petty estimates the population of Ireland
+at 1,100,000, or 200,000 families. Of the latter he states that 160,000
+have no fixed hearths; these, of course, were the very poorest class,
+who lived then, as now, in those mud hovels, which are the astonishment
+and reprobation of foreign tourists. There were 24,000 families who had
+"one chimney," and 16,000 who had more than one. The average number
+appears to be four. Dublin Castle had 125, and the Earl of Heath's
+house, twenty-seven. There were, however, 164 houses in Dublin which had
+more than ten.
+
+Rearing and tending cattle was the principal employment of the people,
+as, indeed, it always has been. There were, he estimates, 150,000
+employed in this way, and 100,000 in agriculture. "Tailors and their
+wives" are the next highest figure--45,000. Smiths and apprentices,
+shoemakers and apprentices, are given at the same figure--22,500.
+Millers and their wives only numbered 1,000, and the fishery trade the
+same. The woolworkers and their wives, 30,000; but the number of
+alehouse-keepers is almost incredible. In Dublin, where there were only
+4,000 families, there was, at one time, 1,180 alehouses and ninety-one
+public brewhouses. The proportion was equally great throughout the
+country; and if we may judge from the Table of Exports from Belfast
+before-mentioned, the manufacture was principally for home consumption,
+as the returns only mention three barrels of beer to Scotland, 124 ditto
+to the Colonies, 147 to France and Flanders, nineteen to Holland, and
+forty-five to Spain and the Mediterranean. There are considerable
+imports of brandy and wines, but no imports of beer. We find, however,
+that "Chester ale" was appreciated by the faculty as a medicament, for
+Sir Patrick Dun, who was physician to the army during the wars of 1688,
+sent two dozen bottles of Chester ale, as part of his prescription, to
+General Ginkles, Secretary-at-War, in the camp at Connaught, in 1691. He
+added two dozen of the best claret, and at the same time sent a "lesser
+box," in which there was a dozen and a-half potted chickens in an
+earthen pot, and in another pot "foure green geese." "This," writes the
+doctor, "is the physic I advise you to take; I hope it will not be
+nauseous or disagreeable to your stomach-a little of it upon a
+march."[529] It is to be supposed such prescriptions did not diminish
+the doctor's fame, and that they were appreciated as they deserved.
+
+A century previous (A.D. 1566), Thomas Smyth seems to have been the
+principal, if not the only English practitioner in Dublin; and although
+he sold his drugs with his advice, his business did not pay. However,
+Thomas was "consoled" and "comforted," and "induced to remain in the
+country," by the united persuasions of the Lord Deputy, the Counsellors
+of State, and the whole army. The consolation was administered in the
+form of a concordat, dated April 25th, 1566, by which an annual stipend
+was settled on him, the whole army agreeing to give him one day's pay,
+and every Counsellor of State twenty shillings, "by reason of his long
+contynuance here, and his often and chardgeable provision of druggs and
+other apothecarie wares, which have, from tyme to tyme, layen and
+remained in manner for the most part unuttered; for the greater part of
+this contray folke ar wonted to use the mynisterie of their leeches and
+such lyke, and neglecting the apothecarie's science, the said Thomas
+thereby hath been greatly hyndered, and in manner enforced to abandon
+that his faculty."[530] It was only natural that the English settler
+should distrust the _leeche_ who gathered his medicines on the hillside
+by moonlight, "who invoked the fairies and consulted witches;" and it
+was equally natural that the native should distrust the Saxon, who could
+kill or cure with those magical little powders and pills, so
+suspiciously small, so entirely unlike the traditionary medicants of the
+country. In a list still preserved of the medicines supplied for the use
+of Cromwell's army, we may judge of the "medicants" used in the
+seventeenth century. They must have been very agreeable, for the
+allowance of sugar, powder and loaf, of "candie," white and brown, of
+sweet almonds and almond cakes, preponderates wonderfully over the
+"rubarcke, sarsaparill, and aloes."[531] Mr. Richard Chatham was
+Apothecary-General, and had his drugs duty free by an order, dated at
+"ye new Customs' House, Dublin, ye 24th of June, 1659."
+
+Dr. William Bedell was the first who suggested the foundation of a
+College of Physicians. On the 15th of April, 1628, he wrote to Usher
+thus: "I suppose it hath been an error all this while to neglect the
+faculties of law and physic, and attend only to the ordering of one poor
+college of divines." In 1637 a Regius Professor of Physic was nominated.
+In 1654 Dr. John Stearne was appointed President of Trinity Hall, which
+was at this time set apart "for the sole and proper use of physicians;"
+and, in 1667, the physicians received their first charter from Charles
+II. The new corporation obtained the title of "The President and College
+of Physicians." It consisted of fourteen Fellows, including the
+President, Dr. Stearne. Stearne was a grand-nephew of Archbishop Usher,
+and was born in his house at Ardbraccan, county Meath. He was a man of
+profound learning; and although he appears to have been more devoted to
+scholastic studies than to physic, the medical profession in Ireland may
+well claim him as an ornament and a benefactor to their faculty. The
+College of Physicians was without a President from 1657 until 1690, when
+Sir Patrick Dun was elected. The cause of this was the unfortunate
+illiberality of the Provost and Fellows of Trinity College, who refused
+to confirm the election of Dr. Crosby, simply because he was a Roman
+Catholic. In 1692 the College received a new charter and more extended
+privileges; and these, with certain Acts of Parliament, form its present
+constitution.
+
+In medieval cities the castle was the centre round which the town
+extended itself. Dublin was no exception to this rule, and in this
+century we find High-street and Castle-street the fashionable resorts.
+The nobility came thither for society, the tradesmen for protection.
+Castle-street appears to have been the favourite haunt of the
+bookselling fraternity, and Eliphud Dobson (his name speaks for his
+religious views) was the most wealthy bookseller and publisher of his
+day. His house was called the Stationers' Arms, which flourished in the
+reign of James II. The Commonwealth was arbitrary in its requirements,
+and commanded that the printer (there was then only one) should submit
+any works he printed to the Clerk of the Council, to receive his
+_imprimatur_ before publishing the same. The Williamites were equally
+tyrannical, for Malone was dismissed by them from the office of State
+Printer, and tried in the Queen's Bench, with John Dowling, in 1707, for
+publishing "A Manuall of Devout Prayers," for the use of Roman
+Catholics.[532]
+
+There were also a great number of taverns and coffee-houses in this
+street; the most noted was the Rose Tavern, which stood nearly opposite
+to the present Castle steps. Swift alludes to this in the verses which
+he wrote on his own death, in 1731:--
+
+    "Suppose me dead; and then suppose
+    A club assembled at the _Rose."_
+
+Political clubs, lawyers' clubs, and benevolent clubs, all assembled
+here; and the Friendly Brothers of St. Patrick had their annual dinner
+at the _Rose_, at the primitive hour of four o'clock, annually, on the
+17th of March, having first transacted business and heard a sermon at
+St. Patrick's.
+
+The first Dublin newspaper was published in this century, by Robert
+Thornton, bookseller, at the sign of the Leather Bottle, in
+Skinner's-row, A.D. 1685. It consisted of a single leaf of small folio
+size, printed on both sides, and written in the form of a letter, each
+number being dated, and commencing with the word "sir." The fashionable
+church was St. Michael's in High-street. It is described, in 1630, as
+"in good reparacion; and although most of the parishioners were
+recusants, it was commonly full of Protestants, who resorted thither
+every Sunday to hear divine service and sermon." This church had been
+erected originally for Catholic worship. Meanwhile the priests were
+obliged to say Mass wherever they could best conceal themselves; and in
+the reign of James I. their services were solemnized in certain back
+rooms in the houses of Nicholas Quietrot, Carye, and the Widow O'Hagan,
+in High-street.[533] Amongst the fashionables who lived in this locality
+we find the Countess of Roscommon, Sir P. Wemys, Sir Thady Duff, and
+Mark Quin, the Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1667. Here, too, was established
+the first Dublin post-house, for which the nation appears to have been
+indebted indirectly to Shane O'Neill, of whose proceedings her Majesty
+Queen Elizabeth was anxious to be cognizant with as little delay as
+possible. In 1656, it having been found that the horses of the military,
+to whom postal communications had been confided previously, were "much
+wearied, and his Highness' affayres much prejudiced for want of a
+post-office to carry publique letters," Evan Vaughan was employed to
+arrange postal communications, and was made Deputy Postmaster. Major
+Swift was the Postmaster at Holyhead, and he was allowed £100 a-year for
+the maintenance of four boatmen, added to the packet boats, at the rate
+of _8d_. per diem and 18s. per month for wages. Post-houses were
+established in the principal towns in Ireland about the year 1670, by
+means of which, for 8_d_. or 12_d_., letters could be conveyed, twice a
+week, to the "remotest parts of Ireland," and which afforded "the
+conveniency of keeping good correspondence."
+
+The Dublin Philosophical Society held their first meetings on Cork-hill,
+at the close of this century, and it is evident that there were many men
+in that age who had more than ordinary zeal for scientific research. Dr.
+Mullen has left a detailed account of the difficulties under which he
+dissected an elephant, which had been burned to death in the booth where
+it was kept for exhibition on the 17th June, 1682. According to Haller,
+oculists are indebted to him for some important discoveries connected
+with the organs of vision.[534]
+
+The old Custom-house stood on the site of houses now comprised in that
+part of Dublin known as Wellington-quay. Here a locality was selected,
+in the reign of James I., for the purpose of "erecting cranes and making
+wharves." This street, now so busy and populous, was then in the
+suburbs, and is described in the lease, A.D. 1620, as "a certain parcel
+of ground, lying in or near Dame-street, street, in the suburbs of the
+city of Dublin." A new Custom-house was erected about the period of the
+Restoration, with the addition of a council-chamber, where the Privy
+Council and Committees of the House of Commons were accustomed to
+assemble. By an order of the Privy Council, 19th September, 1662, the
+Custom-house-quay was appointed the sole place for landing and lading
+the exports and imports of the city of Dublin. In 1683 the public
+Exchange of Dublin was transferred from Cork House to the Tholsel, a
+building erected early in the reign of Edward II., and described by
+Camden as built of hewn stone. Here the Mayor was elected on Michaelmas
+Day, and the citizens held their public meetings. A clock was set up in
+1560, no doubt very much to the admiration of the citizens. A new
+Tholsel or City Hall was erected in 1683, on the same site, and there
+was a "'Change," where merchants met every day, as in the Royal Exchange
+in London. Public dinners were given here also with great magnificence;
+but from the marshy nature of the ground on which the building had been
+set up, it fell to decay in 1797, and a new Sessions-house was erected
+in Greenstreet.
+
+Nor did the good people of Dublin neglect to provide for their
+amusements. Private theatricals were performed in the Castle at the
+latter end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, if not earlier. The sum of
+one-and-twenty shillings and two groats was expended on wax tapers for
+the play of "Gorbodne," "done at the Castle," in September, 1601.
+Miracle and mystery plays were enacted as early as 1528, when the Lord
+Deputy was "invited to a new play every day in Christmas;" where the
+Tailors acted the part of Adam and Eve, it is to be supposed because
+they initiated the trade by introducing the necessity for garments; the
+Shoemakers, the story of Crispin and Crispianus; the Vintners, Bacchus
+and his story; the Carpenters, Mary and Joseph; the Smiths represented
+Vulcan; and the Bakers played the comedy of Ceres, the goddess of corn.
+The stage was erected on Hogges-green, now College-green; and probably
+the entertainment was carried out _al fresco_. The first playhouse
+established in Dublin was in Werburgh-street, in 1633. Shirley's plays
+were performed here soon after, and also those of "rare Ben Jonson."
+Ogilvy, Shirley's friend, and the promoter of this enterprise, was
+appointed Master of the Revels in Ireland in 1661; and as his first
+theatre was ruined during the civil war, he erected a "noble theatre,"
+at a cost of £2,000, immediately after his new appointment, on a portion
+of the Blind-quay. Dunton describes the theatres, in 1698, as more
+frequented than the churches, and the actors as "no way inferior to
+those in London." The Viceroys appear to have been very regular in their
+patronage of this amusement; and on one occasion, when the news reached
+Dublin of the marriage of William of Orange and Mary, the Duke of
+Ormonde, after "meeting the nobility and gentry in great splendour at
+the play, passed a general invitation to all the company to spend that
+evening at the Castle."[535]
+
+The inventory of the household effects of Lord Grey, taken in 1540,
+affords us ample information on the subject of dress and household
+effects. The list commences with "eight tun and a pype of Gaskoyne
+wine," and the "long board in the hall." A great advance had been made
+since we described the social life of the eleventh century; and the
+refinements practised at meals was not the least of many improvements. A
+_bord-clothe_ was spread on the table, though forks were not used until
+the reign of James I. They came from Italy, to which country we owe many
+of the new fashions introduced in the seventeenth century. In _The Boke
+of Curtosye_ there are directions given not to "foule the _bord-clothe_
+wyth the knyfe;" and Ben Jonson, in his comedy of "The Devil is an Ass,"
+alludes to the introduction of forks, and the consequent disuse of
+napkins:
+
+         "The laudable use of forks,
+    Brought into custom here as they are in Italy,
+    To th' sparing o' napkins."
+
+The English edition of the _Janua Linguarum_ of Comenius, represents the
+fashion of dining in England during the Commonwealth. The table was
+simply a board placed on a frame or trestles, which was removed after
+the meal to leave room for the dancers. Old Capulet's hall was prepared
+thus:
+
+    "A hall! a hall! give room, and foot it, girls!
+     More light, ye knaves, and turn the table up."
+
+The head of the table, where the principal person sat, was called the
+"board-end;" and as one long table was now used instead of several
+smaller ones, the guests of higher and lower degree were divided by the
+massive saltcellar, placed in the centre of the table. Thus, in Ben
+Jonson, it is said of a man who treats his inferiors with scorn, "He
+never drinks below the salt." The waiters, after settling the cloth,
+placed the spoons, knives, forks, bread, and napkins beside the
+trenchers. The butler served out the drink from the cupboard, the origin
+of our modern sideboard. The "cobbord," erroneously supposed to have
+been like our modern cupboard, is specially mentioned amongst Lord
+Grey's effects. Lord Fairfax, in his directions to his servants, written
+about the middle of the seventeenth century, says: "No man must fill
+beer or wine the cupboard keeper," and he should know which of his "cups
+for beer and which for wine, for it were a foul thing to mix them
+together." There was another reason, however, for this arrangement--much
+"idle tippling" was cut off thereby; for as the draught of beer or wine
+had to be asked for when it was needed, demand was not likely to be so
+quick as if it were always at hand. There were also cups of "assaye,"
+from which the cupbearer was obliged to drink before his master, to
+prove that there was no poison in the liquor which he used. The cupboard
+was covered with a carpet, of which Lord Grey had two. These carpets, or
+tablecovers, were more or less costly, according to the rank and state
+of the owner. His Lordship had also "two chares, two fformes, and two
+stooles." Chairs were decidedly a luxury at that day. Although the name
+is of Anglo-Norman origin, they did not come into general use until a
+late period; and it was considered a mark of disrespect to superiors,
+for young persons to sit in their presence on anything but hard benches
+or stools. The Anglo-Saxons called their seats _sett_ and _stol_, a name
+which we still preserve in the modern stool. The hall was ornamented
+with rich hangings, and there was generally a _traves_, which could be
+used as a curtain or screen to form a temporary partition. The floor was
+strewn with rushes, which were not removed quite so frequently as would
+have been desirable, considering that they were made the repository of
+the refuse of the table. Perfumes were consequently much used, and we
+are not surprised to find "a casting bottel, dooble gilte, for
+rose-water," in the effects of a Viceroy of the sixteenth century. Such
+things were more matters of necessity than of luxury at even a later
+period. Meat and pudding were the staple diet of the upper classes in
+1698. Wright[536] gives a long and amusing extract from a work published
+by a foreigner who had been much in England at this period, and who
+appears to have marvelled equally at the amount of solid meat consumed,
+the love of pudding, and the neglect of fruit at dessert.
+
+We are able, fortunately, to give a description of the fare used during
+the same period in Ireland, at least by the upper classes, who could
+afford to procure it. Captain Bodley, a younger brother of the founder
+of the famous Bodleian Library in Oxford, has left an account of a
+journey into Lecale, in Ulster, in 1603, and of the proceedings of his
+companions-in-arms, and the entertainment they met with. His "tour" is
+full of that gossiping, chatty, general information, which gives an
+admirable idea of the state of society. This is his description of a
+dinner: "There was a large and beautiful collar of brawn, with its
+accompaniments, to wit, mustard and Muscatel wine; there were
+well-stuffed geese (such as the Lord Bishop is wont to eat at
+Ardbraccan), the legs of which Captain Caulfield always laid hold of for
+himself; there were pies of venison and various kinds of game; pasties
+also, some of marrow, with innumerable plums; others of it with
+coagulated milk, such as the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London almost
+always have at their feasts; others, which they call tarts, of divers
+shapes, materials, and colours, made of beef, mutton, and veal." Then he
+relates the amusements. After dinner they rode, and in the evening they
+played cards, and had, "amongst other things, that Indian tobacco of
+which I shall never be able to make sufficient mention." Later in the
+evening "maskers" came to entertain them; and on one occasion, their
+host gave them up his own "good and soft bed, and threw himself upon a
+pallet in the same chamber."[537]
+
+The large stand-bed, or four-post, was then coming into use, and was,
+probably, the "good and soft bed" which the host resigned to the use of
+the officers, and which, if we may judge by the illustration of this
+piece of furniture, would conveniently hold a considerable number of
+persons. The pallet was placed on the truckle-bed, which rolled under
+the large bed, and was generally used by a servant, who slept in his
+master's room. The reader will remember the speech of Mine Host of the
+Garter, in the "Merry Wives of Windsor," who says of Falstaff's room:
+"There's his chamber, his house, his castle, his standing-bed and
+truckle-bed."
+
+However interesting the subject may be, there is not space to go into
+further details. The inventory of Lord Grey's personal effects can
+scarcely be given as a picture of costume in this century, for even a
+few years produced as considerable changes in fashion then as now.
+Dekker, in his _Seven Deadly Sinnes of London_, describes an
+Englishman's suit as being like a traitor's body that had been hanged,
+drawn, and quartered, and set up in several places; and says: "We that
+mock every nation for keeping one fashion, yet steal patches from every
+one of them to piece out our pride, and are now laughing-stocks to them.
+The block for his head alters faster than the feltmaker can fit him, and
+hereupon we are called in scorn block-heads." The courtiers of Charles
+II. compensated themselves for the stern restraints of Puritanism, by
+giving way to the wildest excesses in dress and manners. Enormous
+periwigs were introduced, and it became the fashion for a man of _ton_
+to be seen combing them on the Mall or at the theatre. The hat was worn
+with a broad brim, ornamented with feathers; a falling band of the
+richest lace adorned the neck; the short cloak was edged deeply with
+gold lace; the doublet was ornamented in a similar manner--it was long,
+and swelled out from the waist; but the "petticoat breeches" were the
+glory of the outer man, and sums of money were spent on ribbon and lace
+to add to their attractions.
+
+The ladies' costume was more simple, at least at this period; they
+compensated themselves, however, for any plainness in dress, by
+additional extravagances in their head-dresses, and wore
+"heart-breakers," or artificial curls, which were set out on wires at
+the sides of the face. Patching and painting soon became common, and
+many a nonconformist divine lifted up his voice in vain against these
+vanities. Pepys has left ample details of the dress in this century;
+and, if we may judge from the entry under the 30th of October, 1663,
+either he was very liberal in his own expenditure, and very parsimonious
+towards his wife, or ladies' attire was much less costly than
+gentlemen's, for he murmurs over his outlay of about £12 for Mrs. Pepys
+and £55 for himself. The country people, however, were attired more
+plainly and less expensively, while many, probably--
+
+    "Shook their heads at folks in London,"
+
+and wondered at the follies of their superiors.
+
+The arms and military accoutrements of the period have already been
+mentioned incidentally, and are illustrated by the different costumes in
+our engravings, which Mr. Doyle has rendered with the minutest accuracy
+of detail. This subject, if treated at all, would require space which we
+cannot afford to give it. The Life Guards were embodied by Charles II,
+in 1681, in imitation of the French "Gardes des Corps." The Coldstream
+were embodied by General Monk, in 1660, at the town from whence they
+obtained their name.
+
+From an account in the Hamilton MSS., published in the _Ulster_
+_Archæological Journal_, it would appear that it was usual, or, at least
+not uncommon, for young men of rank to go abroad for some time, attended
+by a tutor, to perfect themselves in continental languages. It need
+scarcely be said that travelling was equally tedious and expensive. A
+journey from Dublin to Cork occupied several days; postchaises are a
+comparatively modern invention; and Sir William Petty astonished the
+good people of Dublin, in the seventeenth century, by inventing some
+kind of carriage which could be drawn by horses. With his description of
+the condition of the lower classes in Ireland at this period, I shall
+conclude this chapter. The accompanying figure represents the costume of
+the Irish peasant about the fifteenth century. The dress was found on
+the body of a male skeleton, in the year 1824, which was preserved so
+perfectly, that a coroner was called to hold an inquest on it. The
+remains were taken from a bog in the parish of Killery, co. Sligo. The
+cloak was composed of soft brown cloth; the coat of the same material,
+but of finer texture. The buttons are ingeniously formed of the cloth.
+The trowsers consists of two distinct parts, of different colours and
+textures; the upper part is thick, coarse, yellowish-brown cloth; the
+lower, a brown and yellow plaid.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"The diet of these people is milk, sweet and sour, thick and thin; but
+tobacco, taken in short pipes seldom burned, seems the pleasure of their
+lives. Their food is bread in cakes, whereof a penny serves a week for
+each; potatoes from August till May; muscles, cockles, and oysters, near
+the sea; eggs and butter, made very rancid by keeping in bogs. As for
+flesh they seldom eat it. Their fuel is turf in most places." The
+potatoe, which has brought so many national calamities on the country,
+had been then some years in the country, but its use was not yet as
+general as it has become since, as we find from the mention of "bread in
+cakes" being an edible during a considerable part of the year.
+
+[Illustration: CASTLE CAULFIELD, COUNTY TYRONE.]
+
+[Illustration: SCENE OF THE BATTLE OF THE BOYNE.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[512] _Language_--A proclamation in Irish, issued by Tyrone in 1601, is
+still extant, with a contemporary English translation.--_See Ulster
+Arch. Jour_. vol. vi. p. 57.
+
+[513] _Pope_.--He rhymes spirit and merit; fit and yet; civil and devil;
+obey and tea.
+
+[514] _Tasso_.--
+
+"The land fornenst the Greekish shore he held."
+
+Chaucer, too, uses _faute_ for _fault_ in the _Canterbury Tales_.
+
+[515] _Historians_.--Max Müller--_Lectures on the Science of Language_,
+p. 271--states, that labourers in country parishes in England do not use
+more than 300 words. A friend of mine, who is an excellent Irish
+scholar, assures me the most illiterate Irish-speaking peasant would use
+at least 500.
+
+[516] _Carew_.--The tradition of the country says that this vengeance
+was excited by the complaints of a lady, with whom the Lord President
+had some gallantries, and whose conduct Keating had reproved publicly.
+
+[517] _Scholars_.--We have been favoured with an accurate photograph of
+this inscription, by William Williams, Esq., of Dungarvan, from which
+the engraving given above has been made. The view of Tubrid Churchyard
+is also engraved from a sketch with which he has favoured us. It is
+hoped that many Irishmen in distant lands will look with no little
+interest on these beautifully executed engravings, and breathe a
+blessing on the memory of the good and gifted priest. A Keating Society
+was established a few years ago, principally through the exertions of
+Mr. Williams and the Rev. P. Meany, C.C. A Catechism in Irish has
+already appeared, and other works will follow in due time.
+
+[518] _Brought us_.--Regal Visitation Book. A.D. 1622, MS., Marsh's
+Library, Dublin.
+
+[519] _Excluded_.--_History of England_, People's Edition, part ii. p.
+156.
+
+[520] _Desired_.--See the Hamilton Manuscripts, _Ulster Arch. Jour_.
+vol. iii. pp. 155-147. Blair complains also that his patron "would
+receive the sacrament kneeling."
+
+[521] _England_.--"The diet, housing, and clothing of the 16,000
+families above-mentioned [those were the middle class] is much the same
+as in England; nor is the French elegance unknown in many of them, nor
+the French and Latin tongues. The latter whereof is very frequent among
+the poorest Irish, and chiefly in Kerry, most remote from
+Dublin."--_Political Anatomy of Ireland_, Petty, p. 58.
+
+[522] _Antwerp_.--_Descrittione dei Paesi Bassi:_ Anvers, 1567.
+
+[523] _Paid_.--_The Sovereignly of the British Seas:_ London, 1651.
+
+[524] _Little_.--_Hib. Pac_.
+
+[525] _Head_.--The tract entitled _Killing no Murder_, which had
+disturbed Cromwell's "peace and rest," and obliged him to live almost as
+a fugitive in the country over which he had hoped to reign as a
+sovereign, still left its impression on English society. The miserable
+example of a royal execution was a precedent which no amount of
+provocation should have permitted.
+
+[526] _Writer_.--_Merchant's Map of Commerce:_ London, 1677.
+
+[527] _Sex_.--_The Interest of Ireland in its Trade and Wealth_, by
+Colonel Lawrence: Dublin, 1682.
+
+[528] _Tobacco_.--A Table of the Belfast Exports and Imports for the
+year 1683, has been published in the _Ulster Arch. Jour._ vol. iii. p.
+194, which fully bears out this statement, and is of immense value in
+determining the general state of Irish commerce at this period. There
+are, however, some mistakes in the quotations of statistics, probably
+misprints.
+
+[529] _March_.--Gilbert's _Dublin_, vol. i. p. 178.
+
+[530] _Faculty._--Document in the State Paper Office, Dublin, entitled
+_Smyth's Information for Ireland._
+
+[531] _Aloes._--_Ulster Arch. Jour._ vol. iii. p. 163.
+
+[532] _Roman Catholics_.--The noisy and violent opposition which was
+made to a Catholic if he attempted to enter either a trade or a
+profession, would scarcely be credited at the present day; yet it should
+be known and remembered by those who wish to estimate the social state
+of this country accurately and fairly. After the Revolution, the
+Protestant portion of the Guild of Tailors petitioned William III. to
+make their corporation exclusively Protestant, and their request was
+granted.
+
+[533] _High-street_.--Gilbert's _Dublin_, vol. i. p. 220.
+
+[534] _Vision_.--Gilbert's _Dublin_, vol. ii. p. 149.
+
+[535] _Castle_.--Gilbert's _Dublin_, vol. ii. p. 69. There is a curious
+account in the _Quarterly Journal of the Kilkenny Archæological
+Society_, July, 1862, p. 165, of a comic playbill, issued for a Kilkenny
+theatre, in May, 1793. The value of the tickets was to be taken, if
+required, in candles, bacon, soap, butter, and cheese, and no one was to
+be admitted into the boxes without shoes and stockings; which leads one
+to conclude that the form of admission and style of attire were not
+uncommon, or there would have been no joke in the announcement.
+
+[536] _Wright.--Domestic Manners_, pp. 465, 466: "Oh! what an excellent
+thing is an English pudding! Make a pudding for an Englishman, and you
+will regale him, be he where he will."
+
+[537] _Chamber_.--This most interesting and amusing journal is published
+in the _Ulster Arch. Jour_. vol. iii. p. 73, with a translation and
+notes. The original is in Latin.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+Accession of James II.--Position of Public Affairs--Birth of an
+Heir--Landing of William of Orange--Arrival of King James in
+Ireland--The Siege of Derry--Cruelties of the Enniskilleners--Disease in
+Schomberg's Camp--The Battle of the Boyne--James' Defeat and Disgraceful
+Plight--The Siege of Athlone--The Siege of Limerick--Marlborough appears
+before Cork--William raises the Siege of Limerick and returns to
+England--The Siege of Athlone, Heroic Valour of its Defenders--The
+Battle of Aughrim--Surrender of Limerick.
+
+[A.D. 1688-1691.]
+
+
+King James' accession again raised the hopes of the Catholics, and again
+they were doomed to disappointment; while the Protestants, who had their
+fears also, soon learned that policy would bend itself to popularity.
+Colonel Richard Talbot was now raised to the peerage as Earl of
+Tyrconnel, and appointed Commander-in-Chief of the forces, with an
+authority independent of the Lord Lieutenant. His character, as well as
+that of his royal master, has been judged rather by his political
+opinions than by facts, and both have suffered considerably at the hands
+of a modern historian, who has offered more than one holocaust to the
+manes of his hero, William of Orange.
+
+The moderate and cautious Clarendon was appointed Viceroy, and did his
+best to appease the fears of the Protestants; but he was soon succeeded
+by Tyrconnel, whose zeal for Irish interests was not always tempered by
+sufficient moderation to conciliate English politicians. He had fought
+against O'Neill; he had opposed Rinuccini; he had served in the Duke of
+Ormonde's army; he had helped to defend Drogheda against the
+Republicans, and had lain there apparently dead, and thus escaped any
+further suffering; he was of the Anglo-Irish party, who were so
+faithfully loyal to the crown, and whose loyalty was repaid with such
+cold indifference; yet his virtues have been ignored, and Macaulay
+accuses him of having "adhered to the old religion, like the Celts,"
+which was true, and of "having taken part with them in the rebellion of
+1641," which was not true.
+
+James commenced his reign by proclaiming his desire for religious
+liberty. Individually he may not have been much beyond the age in
+opinion on this subject, but liberty of conscience was necessary for
+himself. He was a Catholic, and he made no secret of his religion; he
+was, therefore, obliged from this motive, if from no other, to accord
+the same boon to his subjects. The Quakers were set free in England, and
+the Catholics were set free in Ireland. But the Puritan faction, who had
+commenced by fighting for liberty of conscience for themselves, and who
+ended by fighting to deny liberty of conscience to others, were quite
+determined that neither Quakers nor Catholics should worship God as they
+believed themselves bound to do. Such intolerance, unhappily, was not
+altogether confined to the illiterate. Coke, in a previous generation,
+had declared that it was felony even to counsel the King to tolerate
+Catholics; and Usher, that it was a deadly sin. The King had neither the
+good sense nor the delicacy of feeling to guide him through these
+perils. His difficulties, and the complications which ensued, belong to
+the province of the English historian, but they were not the less felt
+in Ireland.
+
+The Protestants professed to be afraid of being massacred by the
+Catholics; the Catholics apprehended a massacre from the Protestants.
+Catholics were now admitted to the army, to the bar, and to the senate.
+Protestants declared this an infringement of their rights, and forgot
+how recently they had expelled their Catholic fellow-subjects, not
+merely from honours and emoluments, but even from their altars and their
+homes.
+
+An event now occurred which brought affairs to a crisis. The King's
+second wife, Mary of Modena, gave him an heir, and the heir appeared
+likely to live (A.D. 1688). William of Orange, who had long flattered
+himself that he should one day wear the crown of England, saw that no
+time should be lost if he intended to secure the prize, and commenced
+his preparations with all the ability and with all the duplicity for
+which his career has been admired by one party, and denounced by the
+other, according as political and religious opinions viewed the deceit
+under the strong light of the ability, or the ability under the glare of
+the deceit. The Protestant party could not but see all that was to be
+apprehended if a Catholic heir should succeed to the throne, and they
+sacrificed their loyalty to their interests, if not to their principles.
+
+William arrived in England on the 5th of November, 1688. He professed to
+have come for the purpose of investigating the rumours which had been so
+industriously circulated respecting the birth of the heir who had barred
+his pretensions, and to induce the King to join the league which had
+been just formed against France; but he took care to come provided with
+an armament, which gave the lie to his diplomatic pretensions; and as
+soon as he had been joined by English troops, of whose disaffection he
+was well aware, his real motive was no longer concealed. James fled to
+France, whither he had already sent his Queen and heir. Still there was
+a large party in England who had not yet declared openly for the
+usurper; and had not James entirely alienated the affection of his
+subjects by his tyrannical treatment of the Protestant bishops, his
+conduct towards the University of Oxford, and the permission, if not the
+sanction, which he gave to Jeffreys in his bloody career, there can be
+little doubt that William should have fought for the crown on English
+ground as he did on Irish.
+
+Ulster was principally peopled by Protestant Presbyterians, from the
+north of Scotland. They were not likely to be very loyal even to a
+Stuart, for the Irish had been called over to Scotland before now to
+defend royal rights; they had not very defined religious opinions,
+except on the subject of hatred of Popery and Prelacy. It cannot be a
+matter of surprise, therefore, that these men hailed the prospect of a
+new sovereign, whose opinions, both religious and political, coincided
+with their own. If he, too, had very general views as to the rights of
+kings, and no very particular view as to rights of conscience being
+granted to any who did not agree with him, he was none the less
+acceptable.
+
+Tyrconnel had neither men, money, nor arms, to meet the emergency. He
+had to withdraw the garrison from Derry to make up the contingent of
+3,000 men, which he sent to assist the King in England; but they were
+immediately disarmed, and the young men of Derry closed their gates, and
+thus were the first to revolt openly against their lawful King. The
+native Irish had been loyal when loyalty cost them their lives, without
+obtaining for them any increased liberty to exercise their religion;
+they were, therefore, not less likely to be loyal now, when both civil
+and religious liberty might depend upon their fealty to the crown. The
+Enniskilleners revolted; and the whole of Ulster, except Charlemont and
+Carrickfergus, declared for William of Orange.
+
+James determined to make an effort to regain his throne; and by this act
+rendered the attempt of his son-in-law simply a rebellion. Had the King
+declined the contest, had he violated the rules of government so grossly
+as no longer to merit the confidence of his people, or had there been no
+lawful heir to the throne, William's attempt might have been legitimate;
+under the circumstances, it was simply a successful rebellion. The King
+landed at Kinsale, on the 12th of March, 1689, attended by some Irish
+troops and French officers. He met Tyrconnel in Cork, created him a
+duke, and then proceeded to Bandon, where he received the submission of
+the people who had joined the rebellion. On his arrival in Dublin, he
+summoned a Parliament and issued proclamations, after which he proceeded
+to Derry, according to the advice of Tyrconnel. Useless negotiations
+followed; and James returned to Dublin, after having confided the
+conduct of the siege to General Hamilton. If that officer had not been
+incomparably more humane than the men with whom he had to deal, it is
+probable that the 'Prentice Boys of Derry would not have been able to
+join in their yearly commemoration of victory. The town was strongly
+fortified, and well supplied with artillery and ammunition; the
+besiegers were badly clad, badly provisioned, and destitute of almost
+every thing necessary to storm a town. Their only resource was to starve
+out the garrison; but of this resource they were partly deprived by the
+humanity of General Hamilton, who allowed a considerable number of men,
+women, and children to leave Derry, and thus enabled its defenders to
+hold out longer. Lundy, who urged them to capitulate to King James, was
+obliged to escape in disguise; and Major Baker, assisted by the Rev.
+George Walker, a Protestant clergyman, then took the command. According
+to the statements of the latter, the garrison amounted to 7,500 men, and
+they had twenty-two cannon, which alone gave them an immense advantage
+over the royal army. So much has been already said and written, and sung
+of the bravery of the Derry men, that nothing more remains to say. That
+they were brave, and that they bravely defended the cause which they had
+adopted, there is no doubt; but if polemics had not mingled with
+politics in the encounter, it is quite possible that we should have
+heard no more of their exploits than of those other men, equally gallant
+and equally brave. The Enniskilleners, who have obtained an unenviable
+notoriety for their merciless cruelty in war, occupied the King's troops
+so as to prevent them from assisting the besiegers. Several encounters
+took place between the Derry men and the royalists, but with no other
+result than loss of lives on each side. On the 13th of June, a fleet of
+thirty ships arrived from England with men and provisions; but the Irish
+had obtained the command of the river Foyle, and possession of Culmore
+Fort at the entrance, so that they were unable to enter. De Rosen was
+now sent by James to assist Hamilton. He proposed and carried out the
+barbarous expedition of driving all the Protestants whom he could find
+before the walls, and threatening to let them starve there to death
+unless the garrison surrendered. His plan was strongly disapproved by
+the King, it disgusted the Irish, and exasperated the besieged. The next
+day they erected a gallows on the ramparts, and threatened to hang their
+prisoners then and there if the unfortunate people were not removed. It
+is to the credit of the Derry men that they shared their provisions to
+the last with their prisoners, even while they were dying themselves of
+starvation. Perhaps the example of humanity set to them by General
+Hamilton was not without its effect, for kindness and cruelty seem
+equally contagious in time of war. Kirke's squadrons at last passed the
+forts, broke the boom, and relieved the garrison, who could not have
+held out forty-eight hours longer. It was suspected that English gold
+had procured their admittance, and that the officers who commanded the
+forts were bribed to let them pass unscathed. The siege was at once
+raised; the royal army withdrew on the 5th of August; and thus
+terminated the world-famed siege of Derry.
+
+James now held his Parliament in Dublin, repealed the Act of Settlement,
+passed the Act of Attainder, and issued an immense quantity of base
+coin. He has been loudly condemned by some historians for these
+proceedings; but it should be remembered (1) that the Act of Settlement
+was a gross injustice, and, as such, it was but justice that it should
+be repealed. Had the measure been carried out, however severely it might
+have been felt by the Protestant party, they could not have suffered
+from the repeal as severely as the Catholics had suffered from the
+enactment. (2) The Act of Attainder simply proclaimed that the
+revolutionists were rebels against their lawful King, and that they
+should be treated as such. (3) The utterance of base coin had already
+been performed by several Governments, and James only availed himself of
+the prerogatives exercised by his predecessors.
+
+The day on which the siege of Derry was raised, the royalists met with a
+severe reverse at Newtownbutler. They were under the command of Lord
+Mountcashel, when attacked by the Enniskilleners. The dragoons had
+already been dispirited by a reverse at Lisnaskea; and a word of
+command[538] which was given incorrectly, threw the old corps into
+confusion, from which their brave leader in vain endeavoured to rally
+them. Colonel Wolseley, an English officer, commanded the
+Enniskilleners; and the cruelties with which they hunted down the
+unfortunate fugitives, has made the name almost a byword of reproach.
+Five hundred men plunged into Lough Erne to escape their fury, but of
+these only one was saved. Lord Mountcashel was taken prisoner, but he
+escaped eventually, and fled to France. Sarsfield, who commanded at
+Sligo, was obliged to retire to Athlone; and the victorious Williamites
+remained masters of that part of the country.
+
+Schomberg arrived[539] at Bangor, in Down, on the 13th of August, 1689,
+with a large army, composed of Dutch, French Huguenots, and new levies
+from England. On the 17th he marched to Belfast, where he met with no
+resistance; and on the 27th Carrickfergus surrendered to him on
+honorable terms, after a siege of eight days, but not until its
+Governor, Colonel Charles MacCarthy More, was reduced to his last barrel
+of powder. Schomberg pitched on Dundalk for his winter quarters, and
+entrenched himself there strongly; but disease soon broke out in his
+camp, and it has been estimated that 10,000 men, fully one-half of the
+force, perished of want and dysentery. James challenged him to battle
+several times, but Schomberg was too prudent to risk an encounter in the
+state of his troops; and the King had not the moral courage to make the
+first attack. Complaints soon reached England of the condition to which
+the revolutionary army was reduced. If there were not "own
+correspondents" then in camp, it is quite clear there were very sharp
+eyes and very nimble pens. Dr. Walker, whose military experience at
+Derry appears to have given him a taste for campaigning, was one of the
+complainants. William sent over a commission to inquire into the matter,
+who, as usual in such cases, arrived too late to do any good. The men
+wanted food, the horses wanted provender, the surgeons and apothecaries
+wanted medicines for the sick.[540] In fact, if we take a report of
+Crimean mismanagement, we shall have all the details, minus the
+statement that several of the officers drank themselves to death, and
+that some who were in power were charged with going shares in the
+embezzlement of the contractor, Mr. John Shales, who, whether guilty or
+not, was made the scapegoat on the occasion, and was accused, moreover,
+of having caused all this evil from partiality to King James, in whose
+service he had been previously. Mr. John Shales was therefore taken
+prisoner, and sent under a strong guard to Belfast, and from thence to
+London. As nothing more is heard of him, it is probable the matter was
+hushed up, or that he had powerful accomplices in his frauds.
+
+[Illustration: THE CASTLE OF TRIM.]
+
+Abundant supplies arrived from England, which, if they could not restore
+the dead, served at least to renovate the living; and Schomberg was
+ready to take the field early in the year 1690, notwithstanding the loss
+of about 10,000 men. James, with the constitutional fatuity of the
+Stuarts, had lost his opportunity. If he had attacked the motley army of
+the revolutionary party while the men were suffering from want and
+disease, and while his own troops were fresh and courageous, he might
+have conquered; the most sanguine now could scarcely see any other
+prospect for him than defeat. He was in want of everything; and he had
+no Englishmen who hoped for plunder, no French refugees who looked for a
+new home, no brave Dutchmen who loved fighting for its own sake, to fall
+back upon in the hour of calamity. His French counsellors only agreed to
+disagree with him. There was the ordinary amount of jealousy amongst the
+Irish officers--the inevitable result of the want of a competent leader
+in whom all could confide. The King was urged by one party (the French)
+to retire to Connaught, and entrench himself there until he should
+receive succours from France; he was urged by another party (the Irish)
+to attack Schomberg without delay. Louvais, the French Minister of War,
+divided his hatred with tolerable impartiality between James and
+William: therefore, though quite prepared to oppose the latter, he was
+by no means so willing to assist the former; and when he did send men to
+Ireland, under the command of the Count de Lauzan, he took care that
+their clothing and arms should be of the worst description. He received
+in exchange a reinforcement of the best-equipped and best-trained
+soldiers of the Irish army. Avaux and De Rosen were both sent back to
+France by James; and thus, with but few officers, badly-equipped troops,
+and his own miserable and vacillating counsel, he commenced the war
+which ended so gloriously or so disastrously, according to the different
+opinions of the actors in the fatal drama. In July, 1690, some of James'
+party were defeated by the Williamites at Cavan, and several of his best
+officers were killed or made prisoners. Another engagement took place at
+Charlemont; the Governor, Teigue O'Regan, only yielded to starvation. He
+surrendered on honorable terms; and Schomberg, with equal humanity and
+courtesy, desired that each of his starving men should receive a loaf of
+bread at Armagh.
+
+William had intended for some time to conduct the Irish campaign in
+person. He embarked near Chester on the 11th of June, and landed at
+Carrickfergus on the 14th, attended by Prince George of Denmark, the
+Duke of Wurtemburg, the Prince of Hesse Darmstadt, the Duke of Ormonde,
+and the Earls of Oxford, Portland, Scarborough, and Manchester, with
+other persons of distinction. Schomberg met him half-way between
+Carrickfergus and Belfast. William, who had ridden so far, now entered
+the General's carriage, and drove to Belfast, where he was received with
+acclamations, and loud shouts of "God bless the Protestant King!" There
+were bonfires and discharges of cannon at the various camps of the
+Williamites. The officers of several regiments paid their respects to
+him in state. On the 22nd the whole army encamped at Loughbrickland,
+near Newry. In the afternoon William came up and reviewed the troops,
+pitching his tent on a neighbouring eminence.[541] The army comprised a
+strange medley of nationalities. More than half were foreigners; and on
+these William placed his principal reliance, for at any moment a
+reaction might take place in favour of the lawful King. The Williamite
+army was well supplied, well trained, admirably commanded, accustomed to
+war, and amounted to between forty and fifty thousand. The Jacobite
+force only consisted of twenty thousand,[542] and of these a large
+proportion were raw recruits. The officers, however, were brave and
+skilful; but they had only twelve field-pieces, which had been recently
+received from France. On the 22nd, news came that James had encamped
+near Dundalk; on the 23rd he marched towards Drogheda. On the same day
+William went to Newry; he was thoroughly aware of the movements of his
+hapless father-in-law, for deserters came into his camp from time to
+time. James obtained his information from an English officer, Captain
+Farlow, and some soldiers whom he made prisoners at a trifling
+engagement which took place between Newry and Dundalk.
+
+James now determined on a retreat to the Boyne through Ardee. His design
+was to protract the campaign as much as possible,--an arrangement which
+suited his irresolute habits; but where a kingdom was to be lost or won,
+it only served to discourage the troops and to defer the decisive
+moment.
+
+The hostile forces confronted each other for the first time on the banks
+of the Boyne, June 30, 1689. The Jacobite army was posted on the
+declivity of the Hill of Dunore--its right wing towards Drogheda, its
+left extending up the river. The centre was at the small hamlet of
+Oldbridge. Entrenchments were hastily thrown up to defend the fords, and
+James took up his position at a ruined church on the top of the Hill of
+Dunore. The Williamite army approached from the north, their brave
+leader directing every movement, and inspiring his men with courage and
+confidence. He obtained a favourable position, and was completely
+screened from view until he appeared on the brow of the hill, where his
+forces debouched slowly and steadily into the ravines below. After
+planting his batteries on the heights, he kept up an incessant fire on
+the Irish lines during the afternoon of the 30th. But James' officers
+were on the alert, even if their King were indifferent. William was
+recognized as he approached near their lines to reconnoitre. Guns were
+brought up to bear on him quietly and stealthily; "six shots were fired
+at him, one whereof fell and struck off the top of the Duke Wurtemberg's
+pistol and the whiskers of his horse, and another tore the King's coat
+on his shoulder."[543]
+
+William, like a wise general as he was, took care that the news of his
+accident should not dispirit his men. He showed himself everywhere, rode
+through the camp, was as agreeable as it was in his nature to be; and
+thus made capital of what might have been a cause of disaster. In the
+meantime James did all that was possible to secure a defeat. At one
+moment he decided to retreat, at the next he would risk a battle; then
+he sent off his baggage and six of his field-pieces to Dublin, for his
+own special protection; and while thus so remarkably careful of himself,
+he could not be persuaded to allow the most necessary precaution to be
+taken for the safety of his army. Hence the real marvel to posterity is,
+not that the battle of the Boyne should have been lost by the Irish, but
+that they should ever have attempted to fight at all. Perhaps nothing
+but the inherent loyalty of the Irish, which neither treachery nor
+pusillanimity could destroy, and the vivid remembrance of the cruel
+wrongs always inflicted by Protestants when in power, prevented them
+from rushing over _en masse_ to William's side of the Boyne. Perhaps, in
+the history of nations, there never was so brave a resistance made for
+love of royal right and religious freedom, as that of the Irish officers
+and men who then fought on the Jacobite side.
+
+The first attack of William's men was made at Slane. This was precisely
+what the Jacobite officers had anticipated, and what James had
+obstinately refused to see. When it was too late, he allowed Lauzan to
+defend the ford, but even Sir Nial O'Neill's gallantry was unavailing.
+The enemy had the advance, and Portland's artillery and infantry crossed
+at Slane. William now felt certain of victory, if, indeed, he had ever
+doubted it. It was low water at ten o'clock; the fords at Oldbridge were
+passable; a tremendous battery was opened on the Irish lines; they had
+not a single gun to reply, and yet they waited steadily for the attack.
+The Dutch Blue Guards dashed into the stream ten abreast, commanded by
+the Count de Solmes; the Londonderry and Enniskillen Dragoons followed,
+supported by the French Huguenots. The English infantry came next, under
+the command of Sir John Hanmer and the Count Nassau. William crossed at
+the fifth ford, where the water was deepest, with the cavalry of his
+left wing. It was a grand and terrible sight. The men in the water
+fought for William and Protestantism; the men on land fought for their
+King and their Faith. The men were equally gallant. Of the leaders I
+shall say nothing, lest I should be tempted to say too much. James had
+followed Lauzan's forces towards Slane. Tyrconnel's valour could not
+save the day for Ireland against fearful odds. Sarsfield's horse had
+accompanied the King. The Huguenots were so warmly received by the Irish
+at the fords that they recoiled, and their commander, Caillemont, was
+mortally wounded. Schomberg forgot his age, and the affront he had
+received from William in the morning; and the man of eighty-two dashed
+into the river with the impetuosity of eighteen. He was killed
+immediately, and so was Dr. Walker, who headed the Ulster Protestants.
+William may have regretted the brave old General, but he certainly did
+not regret the Protestant divine. He had no fancy for churchmen meddling
+in secular affairs, and a rough "What brought him there?" was all the
+reply vouchsafed to the news of his demise. The tide now began to flow,
+and the battle raged with increased fury. The valour displayed by the
+Irish was a marvel even to their enemies. Hamilton was wounded and taken
+prisoner. William headed the Enniskilleners, who were put to flight soon
+after by the Irish horse, at Platten, and were now rallied again by
+himself. When the enemy had crossed the ford at Oldbridge, James ordered
+Lauzan to march in a parallel direction with Douglas and young Schomberg
+to Duleek. Tyrconnel followed. The French infantry covered the retreat
+in admirable order, with the Irish cavalry. When the defile of Duleek
+had been passed, the royalist forces again presented a front to the
+enemy. William's horse halted. The retreat was again resumed; and at the
+deep defile of Naul the last stand was made. The shades of a summer
+evening closed over the belligerent camps. The Williamites returned to
+Duleek; and eternal shadows clouded over the destinies of the
+unfortunate Stuarts--a race admired more from sympathy with their
+miseries, than from admiration of their virtues.
+
+Thus ended the famous battle of the Boyne. England obtained thereby a
+new governor and a national debt; Ireland, fresh oppression, and an
+intensification of religious and political animosity, unparalleled in
+the history of nations.
+
+James contrived to be first in the retreat which he had anticipated, and
+for which he had so carefully prepared. He arrived in Dublin in the
+evening, and insulted Lady Tyrconnel by a rude remark about the
+fleetness of her husband's countrymen in running away from the battle;
+to which she retorted, with equal wit and truth, that his Majesty had
+set them the example. He left Dublin the next morning, having first
+insulted the civil and military authorities, by throwing the blame of
+the defeat on the brave men who had risked everything in his cause.
+Having carefully provided for his own safety by leaving two troops of
+horse at Bray to defend the bridge, should the enemy come up, he
+hastened towards Duncannon, where he arrived at sunrise. Here he
+embarked in a small French vessel for Kinsale, and from thence he sailed
+to France, and was himself the bearer of the news of his defeat. The
+command in Ireland was intrusted to Tyrconnel, who gave orders that the
+Irish soldiery should march at once to Limerick, each under the command
+of his own officer. William entered Dublin on Sunday, July 7th. He was
+received with acclamations by the Protestants, who were now relieved
+from all fear lest the Catholics should inflict on them the sufferings
+they had so remorselessly inflicted on the Catholics. Drogheda,
+Kilkenny, Duncannon, and Waterford, capitulated to the victorious army,
+the garrisons marching to Limerick, towards which place William now
+directed his course. Douglas was sent to besiege Athlone; but the
+Governor, Colonel Grace, made such brave resistance there, he was
+obliged to withdraw, and join William near Limerick.
+
+The French officers, who had long since seen the hopelessness of the
+conflict, determined to leave the country. Lauzan, after having surveyed
+Limerick, and declared that it might be taken with "roasted apples,"
+ordered all the French troops to Galway, where they could await an
+opportunity to embark for France. But the brave defenders of the devoted
+city were not deterred. The Governor consulted with Sarsfield,
+Tyrconnel, and the other officers; and the result was a message to
+William, in reply to his demand for a surrender, to the effect, that
+they hoped to merit his good opinion better by a vigorous defence of the
+fortress, which had been committed to them by their master, than by a
+shameful capitulation. By a skilfully executed and rapid march,
+Sarsfield contrived to intercept William's artillery on the Keeper
+Mountains, and after killing the escort, bursting the guns, and blowing
+up the ammunition, he returned in triumph to Limerick. His success
+animated the besieged, and infuriated the besiegers. But the walls of
+Limerick were not as stout as the brave hearts of its defenders. William
+sent for more artillery to Waterford; and it was found that two of the
+guns which Sarsfield had attempted to destroy, were still available.
+
+The trenches were opened on the 17th of August. On the 20th the garrison
+made a vigorous sortie, and retarded the enemy's progress; but on the
+24th the batteries were completed, and a murderous fire of red-hot shot
+and shells was poured into the devoted city. The trenches were carried
+within a few feet of the palisades, on the 27th; and a breach having
+been made in the wall near St. John's Gate, William ordered the assault
+to commence. The storming party were supported by ten thousand men. For
+three hours a deadly struggle was maintained. The result seemed
+doubtful, so determined was the bravery evinced on each side.
+Boisseleau, the Governor, had not been unprepared, although he was taken
+by surprise, and had opened a murderous cross-fire on the assailants
+when first they attempted the storm. The conflict lasted for nearly
+three hours. The Brandenburg regiment had gained the Black Battery, when
+the Irish sprung a mine, and men, faggots, and stones were blown up in a
+moment. A council of war was held; William, whose temper was not the
+most amiable at any time, was unusually morose. He had lost 2,000 men
+between the killed and the wounded, and he had not taken the city, which
+a French General had pronounced attainable with "roasted Apples." On
+Sunday, the 31st of August, the siege was raised. William returned to
+England, where his presence was imperatively demanded. The military
+command was confided to the Count de Solmes, who was afterwards
+succeeded by De Ginkell; the civil government was intrusted to Lord
+Sidney, Sir Charles Porter, and Mr. Coningsby.
+
+Lauzan returned to France with Tyrconnel, and the Irish forces were
+confided to the care of the Duke of Berwick, a youth of twenty, with a
+council of regency and a council of war to advise him. Under these
+circumstances it was little wonder that there should We been
+considerable division of opinion, and no little jealousy, in the royal
+camp; and even then the seeds were sowing of what eventually proved the
+cause of such serious misfortune to the country.
+
+The famous Marlborough appeared before Cork with an army of 1,500 men,
+on the 22nd of September, and the garrison were made prisoners of war
+after a brief and brave resistance; but the conditions on which they
+surrendered were shamefully violated. Kinsale was next attacked; but
+with these exceptions, and some occasional skirmishes with the
+"Rapparees," the winter passed over without any important military
+operations.
+
+Tyrconnel returned to Ireland in January, with a small supply of money
+and some provisions, notwithstanding the plots made against him by
+Luttrell and Purcell. He brought a patent from James, creating Sarsfield
+Earl of Lucan. A French fleet arrived in May, with provisions, clothing,
+and ammunition. It had neither men nor money; but it brought what was
+supposed to be a fair equivalent, in the person of St. Ruth, a
+distinguished French officer, who was sent to take the command of the
+Irish army. In the meantime Ginkell was organizing the most effective
+force ever seen in Ireland: neither men nor money was spared by the
+English Parliament. And this was the army which the impoverished and
+ill-provisioned troops of the royalists were doomed to encounter.
+
+Hostilities commenced on 7th June, with the siege of Ballymore Castle,
+in Westmeath. The Governor surrendered, and Athlone was next attacked.
+This town is situated on the river Shannon. Its position must be
+thoroughly understood, to comprehend the heroic bravery with which it
+was defended. It will be remembered that Athlone was one of the towns
+which the English of the Pale had fortified at the very commencement of
+their invasion of Ireland. That portion of the city which lay on the
+Leinster or Pale side of the river, had never been strongly fortified,
+and a breach was made at once in the wall. Ginkell assaulted it with
+4,000 men, and the defenders at once withdrew to the other side; but
+they held the bridge with heroic bravery, until they had broken down two
+of the arches, and placed the broad and rapid Shannon between themselves
+and their enemies. St. Ruth had arrived in the meantime, and posted his
+army, amounting to about 15,000 horse and foot, at the Irish side of the
+river. The English had now raised the works so high on their side, that
+they were able to keep up an incessant fire upon the town. According to
+their own historian, Story, they threw in 12,000 cannon balls and 600
+bombs, and the siege cost them "nigh fifty tons of powder." The walls
+opposite to the batteries were soon broken down, and the town itself
+reduced to ruins. The besiegers next attempted to cross in a bridge of
+boats, but the defenders turned their few field-pieces on them. They
+then tried to mend the broken bridge; huge beams were flung across, and
+they had every hope of success. _But_ they knew not yet what Irish
+valour could dare. Eight or ten devoted men dashed into the water, and
+tore down the planks, under a galling fire; and, as they fell dead or
+dying into the river, others rushed to take the places of their fallen
+comrades, and to complete the work.
+
+St. Ruth now ordered preparations to be made for an assault, and desired
+the ramparts on the Connaught side of the town to be levelled, that a
+whole battalion might enter abreast to relieve the garrison when it was
+assailed. But the Governor, D'Usson, opposed the plan, and neglected the
+order. All was now confusion in the camp. There never had been any real
+head to the royalist party in Ireland; and to insure victory in battle,
+or success in any important enterprise where multitudes are concerned,
+it is absolutely essential that all should act with union of purpose.
+Such union, where there are many men, and, consequently, many minds, can
+only be attained by the most absolute submission to one leader; and this
+leader, to obtain submission, should be either a lawfully constituted
+authority, or, in cases of emergency, one of those master-spirits to
+whom men bow with unquestioning submission, because of the majesty of
+intellect within them. There were brave men and true men in that camp at
+Athlone, but there was not one who possessed these essential requisites.
+
+According to the Williamite historian, Ginkell was informed by traitors
+of what was passing, and that the defences on the river side were
+guarded by two of the "most indifferent Irish regiments." He immediately
+chose 2,000 men for the assault, distributed a gratuity of guineas
+amongst them, and at a signal from the church bell, at six in the
+evening, on the 30th of June, the assault was made, and carried with
+such rapidity, that St. Ruth, who was with the cavalry at a distance,
+was not aware of what had happened until all was over. St. Ruth at once
+removed his army to Ballinasloe, twelve miles from his former post, and
+subsequently to Aughrim. Tyrconnel was obliged to leave the camp, the
+outcry against him became so general.
+
+St. Ruth's ground was well chosen. He had placed his men upon an
+eminence, and each wing was protected by a morass or bog. The
+Williamites came up on Sunday, July 11th, while the Irish were hearing
+Mass. In this instance, as in so many others, it is impossible to
+ascertain correctly the numerical force of each army. The historians on
+either side were naturally anxious to magnify the numbers of their
+opponents, and to lessen their own. It is at least certain, that on
+this, as on other occasions, the Irish were miserably deficient in all
+the appliances of the art of war, while the English were admirably
+supplied. The most probable estimate of the Irish force appears to be
+15,000 horse and foot; and of the English 20,000. Ginkell opened fire on
+the enemy as soon as his guns were planted. Some trifling skirmishes
+followed. A council of war was held, and the deliberation lasted until
+half-past four in the evening, at which time a general engagement was
+decided on. A cannonade had been kept up on both sides, in which the
+English had immensely the advantage, St. Ruth's excellently chosen
+position being almost useless for want of sufficient artillery. At
+half-past six Ginkell ordered an advance on the Irish right centre,
+having previously ascertained that the bog was passable. The defenders,
+after discharging their fire, gradually drew the Williamites after them
+by an almost imperceptible retreat, until they had them face to face
+with their main line. Then the Irish cavalry charged with irresistible
+valour, and the English were thrown into total disorder. St. Ruth, proud
+of the success of his strategies and the valour of his men, exclaimed,
+"Le jour est a nous, mes enfans." But St. Ruth's weak point was his left
+wing, and this was at once perceived and taken advantage of by the Dutch
+General. Some of his infantry made good their passage across the morass,
+which St. Ruth had supposed impassable; and the men, who commanded this
+position from a ruined castle, found that the balls with which they had
+been served did not suit their fire-arms, so that they were unable to
+defend the passage. St. Ruth at once perceived his error. He hastened to
+support them with a brigade of horse; but even as he exclaimed, "They
+are beaten; let us beat them to the purpose," a cannon-ball carried off
+his head, and all was lost. Another death, which occurred almost
+immediately after, completed the misfortunes of the Irish. The infantry
+had been attended and encouraged by Dr. Aloysius Stafford, chaplain to
+the forces; but when "death interrupted his glorious career,"[544] they
+were panic-struck; and three hours after the death of the general and
+the priest, there was not a man of the Irish army left upon the field.
+But the real cause of the failure was the fatal misunderstanding which
+existed between the leaders. Sarsfield, who was thoroughly able to have
+taken St Ruth's position, and to have retrieved the fortunes of the day,
+had been placed in the rear by the jealousy of the latter, and kept in
+entire ignorance of the plan of battle. He was now obliged to withdraw
+without striking a single blow. The cavalry retreated along the highroad
+to Loughrea; the infantry fled to a bog, where numbers were massacred,
+unarmed and in cold blood.
+
+The loss on both sides was immense, and can never be exactly estimated.
+Harris says that "had not St. Ruth been taken off, it would have been
+hard to say what the consequences of this day would have been."[545]
+Many of the dead remained unburied, and their bones were left to bleach
+in the storms of winter and the sun of summer. There was one exception
+to the general neglect. An Irish officer, who had been slain, was
+followed by his faithful dog. The poor animal lay beside his master's
+body day and night; and though he fed upon other corpses with the rest
+of the dogs, he would not permit them to touch the treasured remains. He
+continued his watch until January, when he flew at a soldier, who he
+feared was about to remove the bones, which were all that remained to
+him of the being by whom he had been caressed and fed. The soldier in
+his fright unslung his piece and fired, and the faithful wolf-dog laid
+down and died by his charge.[546]
+
+Ginkell laid siege to Galway a week after the battle of Aughrim. The
+inhabitants relied principally upon the arrival of Balldearg O'Donnell
+for their defence; but, as he did not appear in time, they capitulated
+on favourable terms, and the Dutch General marched to Limerick.
+
+Tyrconnel died at Limerick, of apoplexy, while he was preparing to put
+the city into a state of defence. He was a faithful and zealous
+supporter of the royal cause, and devoted to the Irish nation. His
+loyalty has induced one party to blacken his character; his haughty and
+unconciliatory manner prevented his good qualities from being fully
+appreciated by the other.
+
+The real command now devolved on M. D'Usson, the Governor of Limerick.
+Active preparations for the siege were made on both sides. Ginkell
+contrived to communicate with Henry Luttrell, but his perfidy was
+discovered, and he was tried by court-martial and imprisoned. Sixty
+cannon and nineteen mortars were planted against the devoted city, and
+on the 30th the bombardment commenced. The Irish horse had been
+quartered on the Clare side of the Shannon; but, through the treachery
+or indifference of Brigadier Clifford, who had been posted, with a
+strong body of dragoons, to prevent such an attempt, Ginkell threw
+across a pontoon-bridge, and sent over a large detachment of horse and
+foot, on the morning of the 16th, which effectually cut off
+communication between the citizens and their camp. On the 22nd he made a
+feint of raising the siege, but his real object was to lull suspicion,
+while he attacked the works at the Clare end of Thomond-bridge. The
+position was bravely defended by Colonel Lacy, but he was obliged to
+yield to overpowering numbers; and the Town-Major, fearing that the
+enemy would enter in the _mêlee_ with the Irish, drew up the bridge. The
+English gave no quarter, and, according to their own account, 600 men
+were slaughtered on the spot. This was the last engagement. Sarsfield
+recommended a surrender. Resistance was equally hopeless and useless; it
+could only end in a fearful sacrifice of life on both sides. A parley
+took place on the 23rd, and on the 24th a three days' truce was
+arranged. Hostages were exchanged, and a friendly intercourse was
+established. On the 3rd of October, 1691, the Treaty was signed. The
+large stone is still shown which was used as a table on the occasion.
+What that Treaty contained, and how it was violated, are matters which
+demand a careful and impartial consideration.
+
+[Illustration: THE TREATY STONE, LIMERICK.
+
+This stone was placed on a handsome pedestal a few years since, by the
+then Mayor of Limerick.]
+
+[Illustration: SITE OF THE BATTLE OF AUGHRIM.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[538] _Command_.--Mountcashel gave the word "right face;" it was
+repeated "right about face." Colonel Hamilton and Captain Lavallin were
+tried in Dublin by court-martial for the mistake, and the latter was
+shot.
+
+[539] _Arrived_.--The journals of two officers of the Williamite army
+have been published in the _Ulster Arch. Jour_., and furnish some
+interesting details of the subsequent campaign. One of the writers is
+called Bonnivert, and was probably a French refugee; the other was Dr.
+Davis, a Protestant clergyman, who obtained a captaincy in William's
+army, and seemed to enjoy preaching and fighting with equal zest.
+
+[540] _Sick_.--Harris' _Life of King William_, p. 254, 1719. Macaulay's
+account of the social state of the camp, where there were so many
+divines preaching, is a proof that their ministrations were not very
+successful, and that the lower order of Irish were not at all below the
+English of the same class in education or refinement. "The moans of the
+sick were drowned by the blasphemy and ribaldry of their companions.
+Sometimes, seated on the body of a wretch who had died in the morning,
+might be seen a wretch destined to die before night, cursing, singing
+loose songs, and swallowing usquebaugh to the health of the devil. When
+the corpses were taken away to be buried, the survivors grumbled. A dead
+man, they said, was a good screen and a good stool. Why, when there was
+so abundant a supply of such useful articles of furniture, were people
+to be exposed to the cold air, and forced to crouch on the moist
+ground?"--Macaulay's _History of England_, People's Ed. part viii. p.
+88.
+
+[541] _Eminence_.--Journal of Captain Davis, published in the _Ulster
+Archæological Journal_, vol. iv.
+
+[542] _Twenty thousand_.--Captain Davis' Journal.
+
+[543] _Shoulder_.--Davis' Journal The coat was exhibited at the meeting
+of the British Association in Belfast, in 1852. It had descended as an
+heirloom through Colonel Wetherall, William's aide-de-camp, who took it
+off him after the accident.
+
+[544] _Career_.--_History of the King's Inns_, p. 239.
+
+[545] _Been.--Life of William III_. p. 327.
+
+[546] _Charge_.--See the _Green Book_, p. 231, for some curious stories
+about this engagement, and for a detailed account of St. Ruth's death.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+Formation of the Irish Brigade--Violation of the Treaty of
+Limerick--Enactment of the Penal Laws--Restrictions on Trade--The
+Embargo Laws--The Sacramental Test introduced--The Palatines--The Irish
+forbidden to enlist in the Army--Dean Swift and the Drapier's
+Letters--Attempts to form a Catholic Association--Irish Emigrants defeat
+the English in France, Spain, and America--The Whiteboys--An Account of
+the Cause of these Outrages, by an English Tourist--Mr. Young's Remedy
+for Irish Disaffection--The Peculiar Position and Difficulties of Irish
+Priests--The Judicial Murder of Father Nicholas Sheehy--Grattan's Demand
+for Irish Independence--The Volunteers--A Glimpse of Freedom.
+
+[A.D. 1691-1783.]
+
+
+St. John's Gate and the Irish outworks were surrendered to the English;
+the English town was left for the Irish troops to occupy until their
+departure for France. The men were to have their choice whether they
+would serve under William III. or under the French. A few days after
+they were mustered on the Clare side of the Shannon, to declare which
+alternative they preferred. An Ulster battalion, and a few men in each
+regiment, in all about 1,000, entered the service of Government; 2,000
+received passes to return home; 11,000, with all the cavalry,
+volunteered for France, and embarked for that country in different
+detachments, under their respective officers. They were warmly received
+in the land of their adoption; and all Irish Catholics to France were
+granted the privileges of French citizens, without the formality of
+naturalization. And thus was formed the famous "Irish Brigade," which
+has become a household word for bravery and the glory of the Irish
+nation.
+
+The Treaty, as I have said, was signed on the 3rd of October, 1691. The
+preamble states that the contracting parties were Sir Charles Porter and
+Thomas Coningsby, Lords Justices, with the Baron de Ginkell as
+Commander-in-Chief, on the part of William and Mary; Sarsfield, Earl of
+Lucan, Viscount Galmoy, Colonel Purcell, Colonel Cusack, Sir J. Butler,
+Colonel Dillon, and Colonel Brown, on the part of the Irish nation. The
+articles were fifty-two in number. They guaranteed to the Catholics (1)
+the free exercise of their religion; (2) the privilege of sitting in
+Parliament; (3) freedom of trade; (4) the safety of the estates of those
+who had taken up arms for King James; (5) a general amnesty; (6) all the
+honours of war to the troops, and a free choice for their future
+destination. The articles run to considerable length, and cannot,
+therefore, be inserted here; but they may be seen _in extenso_ in
+MacGeoghegan's _History of Ireland_, and several other works. So little
+doubt had the Irish that this Treaty would be solemnly observed, that
+when the accidental omission of two lines was discovered in the clean
+copy, they refused to carry out the arrangements until those lines had
+been inserted. The Treaty was confirmed by William and Mary, who pledged
+"the honour of England" that it should be kept inviolably, saying: "We
+do, for us, our heirs and successors, as far as in us lies, ratify and
+confirm the same, and every clause, matter, and thing therein
+contained." Two days after the signing of the Treaty, a French fleet
+arrived in the Shannon, with 3,000 soldiers, 200 officers, and 10,000
+stand of arms. Sarsfield was strongly urged to break faith with the
+English; but he nobly rejected the temptation. How little did he foresee
+how cruelly that nation would break faith with him!
+
+Two months had scarcely elapsed after the departure of the Irish troops,
+when an English historian was obliged to write thus of the open
+violation of the articles: "The justices of the peace, sheriffs, and
+other magistrates, presuming on their power in the country, dispossessed
+several of their Majesties' Catholic subjects, not only of their goods
+and chattels, but also of their lands and tenements, to the great
+reproach of their Majesties' Government."[547] These complaints were so
+general, that the Lords Justices were at last obliged to issue a
+proclamation on the subject (November 19, 1691), in which they state
+that they had "received complaints from all parts of Ireland of the
+ill-treatment of the Irish who had submitted; and that they [the Irish]
+were so extremely terrified with apprehensions of the continuance of
+that usage, that some of those who had quitted the Irish army and went
+home, with the resolution not to go to France, were then come back
+again, and pressed earnestly to go thither, rather than stay in Ireland,
+where, contrary to the public faith, as well as law and justice, they
+were robbed in their persons and abused in their substance." Let it be
+remembered that this was an official document, and that it emanated from
+the last persons who were likely to listen to such complaints, or
+relieve them if they could possibly have been denied.
+
+The men who had hoped for confiscations that they might share the
+plunder, now began to clamour loudly. It was necessary to get up a
+popular cry against Papists, as the surest means of attaining their end.
+Individuals who had as little personal hatred to the Pope as they had to
+the Grand Turk, and as little real knowledge of the Catholic Faith as of
+Mahometanism, uttered wild cries of "No Popery!" and "No Surrender!"
+William, whose morals, if not his professions, proclaimed that he was
+not troubled with any strong religious convictions, was obliged to yield
+to the faction who had set him on the throne. Probably, he yielded
+willingly; and was thus able, in some measure, to make a pretence of
+doing under pressure what he really wished to do of his own will.
+
+On the 28th of October, 1692, the Parliament in Dublin rejected a Bill
+which had been sent from England, containing restrictions on certain
+duties, solely to proclaim their independence. A few days after they
+were taught a lesson of obedience. Lord Sidney came down to the House
+unexpectedly, and prorogued Parliament, with a severe rebuke, ordering
+the Clerk to enter his protest against the proceedings of the Commons on
+the journals of the House of Lords. The hopes of the English were
+raised, and the Parliament brought forward the subject of the Limerick
+articles, with torrents of complaints against the Irish in general, and
+the Irish Catholics in particular. William received their remonstrance
+coolly, and the matter was allowed to rest for a time. In 1695 Lord
+Capel was appointed Viceroy. He at once summoned a Parliament, which sat
+for several sessions, and in which some of the penal laws against
+Catholics were enacted. As I believe the generality even of educated
+persons, both in England and Ireland, are entirely ignorant of what
+these laws really were, I shall give a brief account of their
+enactments, premising first, that seven lay peers and seven Protestant
+bishops had the honorable humanity to sign a protest against them.
+
+(1) The Catholic peers were deprived of their right to sit in
+Parliament. (2) Catholic gentlemen were forbidden to be elected as
+members of Parliament. (3) It denied all Catholics the liberty of
+voting, and it excluded them from all offices of trust, and indeed from
+_all remunerative_ employment, however insignificant.[548] (4) They were
+fined £60 a-month for absence from the Protestant form of worship. (5)
+They were forbidden to travel five miles from their houses, to keep
+arms, to maintain suits at law, or to be guardians or executors. (6) Any
+four justices of the peace could, without further trial, banish any man
+for life if he refused to attend the Protestant service. (7) Any two
+justices of the peace could call any man over sixteen before them, and
+if he refused to abjure the Catholic religion, they could bestow his
+property on the next of kin. (8) No Catholic could employ a Catholic
+schoolmaster to educate his children; and if he sent his child abroad
+for education, he was subject to a fine of £100, and the child could not
+inherit any property either in England or Ireland. (9) Any Catholic
+priest who came to the country should be hanged. (10) Any Protestant
+suspecting any other Protestant of holding property[549] in trust for
+any Catholic, might file a bill against the suspected trustee, and take
+the estate or property from him. (11) Any Protestant seeing a Catholic
+tenant-at-will on a farm, which, in his opinion, yielded one-third more
+than the yearly rent, might enter on that farm, and, by simply swearing
+to the fact, take possession. (12) Any Protestant might take away the
+horse of a Catholic, no matter how valuable, by simply paying him £5.
+(13) Horses and wagons belonging to Catholics, were in all cases to be
+seized for the use of the militia. (14) Any Catholic gentleman's child
+who became a Protestant, could at once take possession of his father's
+property.
+
+I have only enumerated some of the enactments of this code, and I
+believe there are few persons who will not be shocked at their atrocity.
+Even if the rights of Catholics had not been secured to them by the
+Treaty of Limerick, they had the rights of men; and whatever excuse, on
+the ground of hatred of Popery as a religion, may be offered for
+depriving men of liberty of conscience, and of a share in the government
+of their country, there can be no excuse for the gross injustice of
+defrauding them of their property, and placing life and estate at the
+mercy of every ruffian who had an interest in depriving them of either
+or of both. Although the seventeenth century has not yet been included
+in the dark ages, it is possible that posterity, reading these
+enactments, may reverse present opinion on this subject.
+
+But though the Parliament which sat in Dublin, and was misnamed Irish,
+was quite willing to put down Popery and to take the property of
+Catholics, it was not so willing to submit to English rule in other
+matters. In 1698 Mr. Molyneux, one of the members for the University of
+Dublin, published a work, entitled _The Case of Irelands being bound by
+Acts of Parliament in England, stated_. But Mr. Molyneux's book was
+condemned by the English Parliament; and after a faint show of
+resistance, the Irish members succumbed. The next attention which the
+English Houses paid to this country, was to suppress the woollen trade.
+In 1698 they passed a law for the prevention of the exportation of wool
+and of manufactures from Ireland, "under the forfeiture of goods and
+ship, and a penalty of £500 for every such offence." The penal laws had
+made it "an offence" for a man to practise his religion, or to educate
+his children either in Ireland or abroad; the trade laws made it "an
+offence" for a man to earn[550] his bread in an honest calling. The
+lower class of Protestants were the principal sufferers by the
+destruction of the woollen trade; it had been carried on by them almost
+exclusively; and it is said that 40,000 persons were reduced to utter
+destitution by this one enactment. In addition to this, navigation laws
+were passed, which prohibited Irish merchants from trading beyond seas
+in any ships except those which were built in England. The embargo laws
+followed, of which twenty-two were passed at different periods during
+forty years. They forbade Irish merchants, whether Protestant or
+Catholic, to trade with any foreign nation, or with any British colony,
+direct-to export or import _any article_, except to or from British
+merchants resident in England. Ireland, however, was allowed one
+consolation, and this was the permission to import rum duty free. I am
+certain that none of the honorable members who voted such laws had the
+deliberate intention of making the Irish a nation of beggars and
+drunkards; but if the Irish did not become such, it certainly was not
+the fault of those who legislated for their own benefit, and, as far as
+they had the power to do so, for her ruin, politically and socially.
+
+William had exercised his royal prerogative by disposing, according to
+his own inclination, of the estates forfeited by those who had fought
+for the royal cause. His favourite, Mrs. Villiers, obtained property
+worth £25,000 per annum. In 1799 the English Parliament began to inquire
+into this matter, and the Commons voted that "the advising and passing
+of the said grants was highly reflecting upon the King's honour."
+William had already began to see on what shifting sands the poor fabric
+of his popularity was erected. He probably thought of another case in
+which his honour had been really pledged, and in which he had been
+obliged to sacrifice it to the clamours of these very men. He had failed
+in the attempt to keep his Dutch Guards; his last days were embittered;
+and had not his death occurred soon after, it is just possible that even
+posterity might have read his life in a different fashion.
+
+Anne succeeded to the throne in 1702; and the following year the Duke of
+Ormonde was sent to Ireland as Lord Lieutenant. The House of Commons
+waited on him with a Bill "to prevent the further growth of Popery." A
+few members, who had protested against this Act, resigned their seats,
+but others were easily found to take their places, whose opinions
+coincided with those of the majority. The Queen's Tory advisers objected
+to these strong measures, and attempted to nullify them, by introducing
+the clause known as the "Sacramental Test," which excludes from public
+offices all who refused to receive the sacrament according to the forms
+of the Established Church. As dissenters from that Church had great
+influence in the Irish Parliament, and as it was well known that their
+abhorrence of the Church which had been established by law was little
+short of their hatred of the Church which had been suppressed by law, it
+was hoped that they would reject the bill; but they were assured that
+they would not be required to take the test, and with this assurance
+they passed the Act. It seems to those who look back on such
+proceedings, almost a marvel, how men, whose conscience forbade them to
+receive the sacrament according to certain rites, and who, in many
+cases, certainly would have resigned property, if not life, sooner than
+act contrary to their religious convictions, should have been so blindly
+infatuated as to compel other men, as far as they had power to do so, to
+violate their conscientious convictions. The whole history of the
+persecutions which Catholics have endured at the hands of Protestants of
+all and every denomination, is certainly one of the most curious phases
+of human perversity which the philosopher can find to study.
+
+Two of the gentlemen, Sir Toby Butler and Colonel Cusack, who had signed
+the Treaty of Limerick, petitioned to be heard by counsel against the
+Bill. But appeals to honour and to justice were alike in vain, when
+addressed to men who were destitute of both. The petitioners were
+dismissed with the insulting remark, that if they suffered from the Act
+it was their own fault, since, if they complied with its requirements,
+honours and wealth were at their command. But these were men who would
+not violate the dictates of conscience for all that the world could
+bestow on them, and of this one should think they had already given
+sufficient proof. The Bill was passed without a dissentient voice; and
+men who would themselves have rebelled openly and violently if the
+Sacramental Test had been imposed on them, and who would have talked
+loudly of liberty of conscience, and the blasphemy of interfering with
+any one's religious convictions, now, without a shadow of hesitation,
+imposed this burden upon their fellow-men, and were guilty of the very
+crime of persecution, with which they so frequently charged their
+Catholic fellow-subjects.
+
+One Act followed another, each adding some new restriction to the last,
+or some fresh incentive for persecution. In 1709 an attempt was made to
+plant some Protestant families from Germany in various parts of the
+country. These settlements obtained the name of Palatines. But it was
+labour lost. Sir John Chichester once observed, that it was useless to
+endeavour to root Popery out of Ireland, for it was impregnated in the
+very air. A few of the Palatines, like other settlers, still kept to
+their own religion; but the majority, as well as the majority of other
+settlers, learned to understand and then to believe the Catholic
+faith--learned to admire, and then to love, and eventually to amalgamate
+with the long-suffering and noble race amongst whom they had been
+established.
+
+It would appear that Queen Anne wished her brother to succeed her on the
+throne; but he had been educated a Catholic, and he resolutely rejected
+all temptations to renounce his faith. Her short and troubled reign
+ended on the 1st of August, 1714. Before her death the Parliament had
+chosen her successor. Her brother was proscribed, and a reward of
+£50,000 offered for his apprehension. The rebellion in favour of James
+III., as he was called on the Continent, or the Pretender, as he was
+called by those who had no resource but to deny his legitimacy, was
+confined entirely to Scotland; but the Irish obtained no additional
+grace by their loyalty to the reigning monarch. A new proclamation was
+issued, which not only forbid them to enlist in the army, but offered
+rewards for the discovery of any Papist who had presumed to enlist, in
+order that "he might be turned out, and punished with the utmost
+severity of the law." In the next reign we shall see how the suicidal
+effect of this policy was visited on the heads of its promoters.
+
+The Irish Parliament now came into collision with the English on a case
+of appellate jurisdiction, but they were soon taught their true
+position, and with becoming submission deferred to their fate. The Irish
+Parliament had long been such merely in name; and the only power they
+were allowed to exercise freely, was that of making oppressive and
+unjust enactments against their Catholic fellow-subjects. It is a poor
+consolation, but one which is not unfrequently indulged, when those who
+are oppressed by others become themselves in turn the oppressors of
+those who are unfortunate enough to be in their power.
+
+A new phase in Irish history was inaugurated by the versatile talents,
+and strong will in their exercise, which characterized the famous Dr.
+Jonathan Swift. The quarrels between Whigs and Tories were at their
+height. Swift is said to have been a Whig in politics and a Tory in
+religion. He now began to write as a patriot; and in his famous
+"Drapier's Letters" told the Government of the day some truths which
+were more plain than palatable.[551] An Englishman named Wood had
+obtained a patent under the Broad Seal, in 1723, for the coinage of
+copper halfpence. Even the servile Parliament was indignant, and
+protested against a scheme[552] which promised to flood Ireland with bad
+coin, and thus to add still more to its already impoverished condition.
+There was reason for anxiety. The South Sea Bubble had lately ruined
+thousands in England, and France was still suffering from the
+Mississippi Scheme. Speculations of all kinds were afloat, and a
+temporary mania seemed to have deprived the soberest people of their
+ordinary judgment. Dr. Hugh Boulter, an Englishman, was made Archbishop
+of Armagh, and sent over mainly to attend to the English interests in
+Ireland. But he was unable to control popular feeling; and Swift's
+letters accomplished what the Irish Parliament was powerless to effect.
+Although it was well known that he was the author of these letters, and
+though a reward of £300 was offered for the discovery of the secret, he
+escaped unpunished. In 1725 the patent was withdrawn, and Wood received
+£3,000 a year for twelve years as an indemnification--an evidence that
+he must have given a very large bribe for the original permission, and
+that he expected to make more by it than could have been made honestly.
+One of the subjects on which Swift wrote most pointedly and effectively,
+was that of absentees. He employed both facts and ridicule; but each
+were equally in vain. He describes the wretched state of the country;
+but his eloquence was unheeded. He gave ludicrous illustrations of the
+extreme ignorance of those who governed in regard to those whom they
+governed. Unfortunately the state of things which he described and
+denounced has continued, with few modifications, to the present day; but
+on this subject I have said sufficient elsewhere.
+
+George I. died at Osnaburg, in Germany, on the 10th of June, 1727. On
+the accession of his successor, the Catholics offered an address
+expressing their loyalty, but the Lords Justices took care that it
+should never reach England. The next events of importance were the
+efforts made by Dr. Boulter, the Protestant Primate, to establish
+Charter Schools, where Catholic children might be educated; and his
+equally zealous efforts to prevent Catholics, who had conformed
+exteriorly to the State religion, from being admitted to practise at the
+Bar. It may be observed in passing, that these men could scarcely have
+been as degraded in habits and intellect as some historians have been
+pleased to represent them, when they could at once become fit for
+forensic honours, and evinced such ability as to excite the fears of the
+Protestant party. It should be remarked that their "conversion" was
+manifestly insincere, otherwise there would have been no cause for
+apprehension.
+
+The country was suffering at this period from the most fearful distress.
+There were many causes for this state of destitution, which were quite
+obvious to all but those who were interested in maintaining it. The
+poorer classes, being almost exclusively Catholics, had been deprived of
+every means of support. Trade was crushed, so that they could not become
+traders; agriculture was not permitted, so that they could not become
+agriculturists. There was, in fact, no resource for the majority but to
+emigrate, to steal, or to starve. To a people whose religion always had
+a preponderating influence on their moral conduct, the last alternative
+only was available, as there was not the same facilities for emigration
+then as now. The cultivation of the potato had already become general;
+it was, indeed, the only way of obtaining food left to these
+unfortunates. They were easily planted, easily reared; and to men liable
+at any moment to be driven from their miserable holdings, if they
+attempted to effect "improvements," or to plant such crops as might
+attract the rapacity of their landlords, they were an invaluable
+resource. The man might live who eat nothing but potatoes all the year
+round, but he could scarcely be envied or ejected for his wealth. In
+1739 a severe frost destroyed the entire crop, and a frightful famine
+ensued, in which it was estimated that 400,000 persons perished of
+starvation.
+
+In 1747 George Stone succeeded Dr. Hoadley as Primate of Ireland. His
+appointment was made evidently more in view of temporals than
+spirituals, and he acted accordingly. Another undignified squabble took
+place in 1751 and 1753, between the English and Irish Parliaments, on
+the question of privilege. For a time the "patriot" or Irish party
+prevailed; but eventually they yielded to the temptation of bribery and
+place. Henry Boyle, the Speaker, was silenced by being made Earl of
+Shannon; Anthony Malone was made Chancellor of the Exchequer; and the
+opposition party was quietly broken up.
+
+An attempt was now made to form a Catholic Association, and to obtain by
+combination and quiet pressure what had been so long denied to
+resistance and military force. Dr. Curry, a physician practising in
+Dublin, and the author of the well-known _Historical and Critical Review
+of the Civil Wars of Ireland;_ Charles O'Connor, of Belanagar, the Irish
+antiquary, and Mr. Wyse, of Waterford, were the projectors and promoters
+of this scheme. The clergy stood aloof from it, fearing to lose any
+liberty they still possessed if they demanded more; the aristocracy held
+back, fearing to forfeit what little property yet remained to them, if
+they gave the least excuse for fresh "settlements" or plunderings. A few
+Catholic merchants, however, joined the three friends; and in
+conjunction they prepared an address to the Duke of Bedford, who was
+appointed Lord Lieutenant in 1757. The address was favourably received,
+and an answer returned after some time. The Government already had
+apprehensions of the French invasion, and it was deemed politic to give
+the Catholics some encouragement, however faint. It is at least certain
+that the reply declared, "the zeal and attachment which they [the
+Catholics] professed, would never be more seasonably manifested than at
+the present juncture."
+
+Charles Lucas now began his career of patriotism; for at last Irish
+Protestants were beginning to see, that if Irish Catholics suffered,
+Irish interests would suffer also; and if Irish interests suffered, they
+should have their share in the trial. A union between England and
+Ireland, such as has since been carried out, was now proposed, and
+violent excitement followed. A mob, principally composed of Protestants,
+broke into the House of Lords; but the affair soon passed over, and the
+matter was dropped.
+
+George II. died suddenly at Kensington, and was succeeded by his
+grandson, George III. But I shall request the attention of the reader to
+some remarks of considerable importance with regard to foreign events,
+before continuing the regular course of history. The predilections of
+the late King for his German connexions, had led him into war both with
+France and Spain; the imprudence of ministers, if not the unwise and
+unjust policy of colonial government, involved the country soon after in
+a conflict with the American dependencies. In each of these cases
+expatriated Irishmen turned the scale against the country from which
+they had been so rashly and cruelly ejected. In France, the battle of
+Fontenoy was won mainly by the Irish Brigade, who were commanded by
+Colonel Dillon; and the defeat of England by the Irish drew from George
+II. the well-known exclamation: "Cursed be the laws that deprive me of
+such subjects!" In Spain, where the Irish officers and soldiers had
+emigrated by thousands, there was scarcely an engagement in which they
+did not take a prominent and decisive part. In Canada, the agitation
+against British exactions was commenced by Charles Thompson, an Irish
+emigrant, and subsequently the Secretary of Congress; Montgomery,
+another Irishman, captured Montreal and Quebec; O'Brien and Barry, whose
+names sufficiently indicate their nationality, were the first to command
+in the naval engagements; and startled England began to recover slowly
+and sadly from her long infatuation, to discover what had, indeed, been
+discovered by the sharp-sighted Schomberg[553] and his master long
+before, that Irishmen, from their habits of endurance and undaunted
+courage, were the best soldiers she could find, and that, Celts and
+Papists as they were, her very existence as a nation might depend upon
+their co-operation.
+
+The agrarian outrages, the perpetrators of which were known at first by
+the name of Levellers, and eventually by the appellation of Whiteboys,
+commenced immediately after the accession of George III. An English
+traveller, who carefully studied the subject and who certainly could
+have been in no way interested in misrepresentation, has thus described
+the cause and the motive of the atrocities they practised. The first
+cause was the rapacity of the landlords, who, having let their lands far
+above their value, on condition of allowing the tenants the use of
+certain commons, now enclosed the commons, but did not lessen the rent.
+The bricks were to be made, but the straw was not provided; and the
+people were told that they were idle. The second cause was the exactions
+of the tithemongers, who were described by this English writer as
+"harpies who squeezed out the very vitals of the people, and by process,
+citation, and sequestration, dragged from them the little which the
+landlord had left them." It was hard for those who had been once owners
+of the soil, to be obliged to support the intruders into their property
+in affluence; while they, with even the most strenuous efforts, could
+barely obtain what would keep them from starvation. It was still harder
+that men, who had sacrificed their position in society, and their
+worldly prospects, for the sake of their religion, should be obliged to
+support clergymen and their families, some of whom never resided in the
+parishes from which they obtained tithes, and many of whom could not
+count above half-a-dozen persons as regular members of their
+congregation.
+
+Mr. Young thus suggests a remedy for these crimes, which, he says, were
+punished with a "severity which seemed calculated for the meridian of
+Barbary, while others remain yet the law of the land, which would, if
+executed, tend more to raise than to quell an insurrection. From all
+which it is manifest, that the gentlemen of Ireland never thought of a
+radical cure, from overlooking the real cause of disease, which, in
+fact, lay in themselves, and not in the wretches they doomed to the
+gallows. Let them change their own conduct entirely, and the poor will
+not long riot. Treat them like men, who ought to be as free as
+yourselves; put an end to that system of religious persecution, which,
+for seventy years, has divided the kingdom against itself--in these two
+circumstances lies the cure of insurrection; perform them completely,
+and you will have an affectionate poor, instead of oppressed and
+discontented vassals."[554]
+
+How purely these outrages were the deeds of desperate men, who had been
+made desperate by cruel oppression, and insensible to cruelty by cruel
+wrongs, is evident from the dying declaration of five Whiteboys, who
+were executed, in 1762, at Waterford and who publicly declared, and took
+God to witness, "that in all these tumults it never did enter into their
+thoughts to do anything against the King or Government."[555]
+
+It could not be expected that the Irish priest would see the people
+exposed to all this misery--and what to them was far more painful to all
+this temptation to commit deadly sin--without making some effort in
+their behalf. There may have been some few priests, who, in their zeal
+for their country, have sacrificed the sacredness of their office to
+their indignation at the injury done to their people--who have mixed
+themselves up with feats of arms, or interfered with more ardour than
+discretion in the arena of politics; but such instances have been rare,
+and circumstances have generally made them in some degree excusable. The
+position of the Irish priest in regard to his flock is so anomalous,
+that some explanation of it seems necessary in order to understand the
+accusations made against Father Nicholas Sheehy, and the animosity with
+which he was hunted to death by his persecutors. While the priest was
+driven from cave to mountain and from mountain to cave, he was the
+consoler of his equally persecuted people. The deep reverence which
+Catholics feel for the office of the priesthood, can scarcely be
+understood by those who have abolished that office, as far as the law of
+the land could do so; but a man of ordinary intellectual attainments
+ought to be able to form some idea of the feelings of others, though he
+may not have experienced them personally; and a man of ordinary humanity
+should be able to respect those feelings, however unwise they may seem
+to him. When education was forbidden to the Irish, the priest obtained
+education in continental colleges; and there is sufficient evidence to
+show that many Irish priests of that and of preceding centuries were men
+of more than ordinary abilities. The Irish, always fond of learning, are
+ever ready to pay that deference to its possessors which is the best
+indication of a superior mind, however uncultivated. Thus, the
+priesthood were respected both for their office and for their erudition.
+The landlord, the Protestant clergyman, the nearest magistrate, and,
+perhaps, the tithe-proctor, were the only educated persons in the
+neighbourhood; but they were leagued against the poor peasant; they
+demanded rent and tithes, which he had no means of paying; they refused
+justice, which he had no means of obtaining. The priest, then, was the
+only friend the peasant had. His friendship was disinterested--he gained
+nothing by his ministration but poor fare and poor lodging; his
+friendship was self-sacrificing, for he risked his liberty and his life
+for his flock. He it was--
+
+    "Who, in the winter's night,
+    When the cold blast did bite,
+    Came to my cabin door,
+    And, on the earthen floor,
+    Knelt by me, sick and poor;"
+
+and he, too, when the poor man was made still poorer by his sickness,
+
+    "Gave, while his eyes did brim,
+    What I should give to him."[556]
+
+But a time came when the priest was able to do more. Men had seen, in
+some measure, the absurdity, if not the wickedness, of persecuting the
+religion of a nation; and at this time priests were tolerated in
+Ireland. Still, though they risked their lives by it, they could not see
+their people treated unjustly without a protest. The priest was
+independent of the landlord; for, if he suffered from his vengeance, he
+suffered alone, and his own sufferings weighed lightly in the balance
+compared with the general good. The priest was a gentleman by education,
+and often by birth; and this gave him a social status which his
+uneducated people could not possess.[557] Such, was the position of
+Father Nicholas Sheehy, the parish priest of Clogheen. He had interfered
+in the vain hope of protecting his unfortunate parishioners from
+injustice; and, in return, he was himself made the victim of injustice.
+He was accused of encouraging a French invasion--a fear which was always
+present to the minds of the rulers, as they could not but know that the
+Irish had every reason to seek for foreign aid to free them from
+domestic wrongs. He was accused of encouraging the Whiteboys, because,
+while he denounced their crimes, he accused those who had driven them to
+these crimes as the real culprits. He was accused of treason, and a
+reward of £300 was offered for his apprehension. Conscious of his
+innocence, he gave himself up at once to justice, though he might easily
+have fled the country. He was tried in Dublin and acquitted. But his
+persecutors were not satisfied. A charge of murder was got up against
+him; and although the body of the man could never be found, although it
+was sworn that he had left the country, although an _alibi_ was proved
+for the priest, he was condemned and executed. A gentleman of property
+and position came forward at the trial to prove that Father Sheehy had
+slept in his house the very night on which he was accused of having
+committed the murder; but the moment he appeared in court, a clergyman
+who sat on the bench had him taken into custody, on pretence of having
+killed a corporal and a sergeant in a riot. The pretence answered the
+purpose. After Father Sheehy's execution Mr. Keating was tried; and, as
+there was not even a shadow of proof, he was acquitted. But it was too
+late to save the victim.
+
+At the place of execution, Father Sheehy most solemnly declared, on the
+word of a dying man, that he was not guilty either of murder or of
+treason; that he never had any intercourse, either directly or
+indirectly, with the French; and that he had never known of any such
+intercourse being practised by others. Notwithstanding this solemn
+declaration of a dying man, a recent writer of Irish history says,
+"there can be no doubt" that he was deeply implicated in treasonable
+practices, and "he seems to have been" a principal in the plot to murder
+Lord Carrick. The "no doubt" and "seems to have been" of an individual
+are not proofs, but they tend to perpetuate false impressions, and do
+grievous injustice to the memory of the dead. The writer has also
+omitted all the facts which tended to prove Father Sheehy's innocence.
+
+In 1771 a grace was granted to the Catholics, by which they were allowed
+to take a lease of fifty acres of bog, and half an acre of arable land
+for a house; but this holding should not be within a mile of any town.
+In 1773 an attempt was made to tax absentees; but as they were the
+principal landowners, they easily defeated the measure. A pamphlet was
+published in 1769, containing a list of the absentees, which is in
+itself sufficient to account for any amount of misery and disaffection
+in Ireland. There can be no doubt of the correctness of the statement,
+because the names of the individuals and the amount of their property
+are given in full. Property to the amount of £73,375 belonged to persons
+who _never_ visited Ireland. Pensions to the amount of £371,900 were
+paid to persons who lived out of Ireland. Property to the amount of
+£117,800 was possessed by persons who visited Ireland occasionally, but
+lived abroad. Incomes to the amount of £72,200 were possessed by
+officials and bishops, who generally lived out of Ireland. The state of
+trade is also treated in the same work, in which the injustice the
+country has suffered is fully and clearly explained.
+
+The American war commenced in 1775, and the English Parliament at once
+resolved to relieve Ireland of some of her commercial disabilities. Some
+trifling concessions were granted, just enough to show the Irish that
+they need not expect justice except under the compulsion of fear, and
+not enough to benefit the country. Irish soldiers were now asked for and
+granted; but exportation of Irish commodities to America was forbidden,
+and in consequence the country was reduced to a state of fearful
+distress. The Irish debt rose to £994,890, but the pension list was
+still continued and paid to absentees. When the independence of the
+American States was acknowledged by France, a Bill for the partial
+relief of the Catholics passed unanimously through the English
+Parliament. Catholics were now allowed a few of the rights of citizens.
+They were permitted to take and dispose of leases, and priests and
+schoolmasters were no longer liable to prosecution.
+
+Grattan had entered Parliament in the year 1775. In 1779 he addressed
+the House on the subject of a free trade[558] for Ireland; and on the
+19th of April, 1780, he made his famous demand for Irish independence.
+His address, his subject, and his eloquence were irresistible. "I wish
+for nothing," he exclaimed, "but to breathe in this our land, in common
+with my fellow-subjects, the air of liberty. I have no ambition, unless
+it be the ambition to break your chain and to contemplate your glory. I
+never will be satisfied as long as the meanest cottager in Ireland has a
+link of the British chain clinging to his rags; he may be naked, but he
+shall not be in irons. And I do see the time is at hand, the spirit is
+gone forth, the declaration is planted; and though great men should
+apostatize, yet the cause will live; and though the public speaker
+should die, yet the immortal fire shall outlast the organ which conveyed
+it; and the breath of liberty, like the word of the holy man, will not
+die with the prophet, but survive him."
+
+The country was agitated to the very core. A few links of the chain had
+been broken. A mighty reaction set in after long bondage. The
+newly-freed members of the body politic were enjoying all the delicious
+sensations of a return from a state of disease to a state o partial
+health. The Celt was not one to be stupefied or numbed by long
+confinement; and if the restraint were loosened a little more, he was
+ready to bound into the race of life, joyous and free, too happy to
+mistrust, and too generous not to forgive his captors. But, alas! the
+freedom was not yet granted, and the joy was more in prospect of what
+might be, than in thankfulness of what was.
+
+[Illustration: Grattan demanding Irish Independence.]
+
+The Volunteer Corps, which had been formed in Belfast in 1779, when the
+coast was threatened by privateers, had now risen to be a body of
+national importance. They were reviewed in public, and complimented by
+Parliament. But they were patriots. On the 28th of December, 1781, a few
+of the leading members of the Ulster regiments met at Charlemont, and
+convened a meeting of delegates from all the Volunteer Associations, at
+Dungannon, on the 15th of February, 1782. The delegates assembled on the
+appointed day, and Government dared not prevent or interrupt their
+proceedings. Colonel William Irvine presided, and twenty-one resolutions
+were adopted, demanding civil rights, and the removal of commercial
+restraints. One resolution expresses their pleasure, as Irishmen, as
+Christians, and as Protestants, at the relaxation of the penal laws.
+This resolution was suggested by Grattan to Mr. Dobbs, as he was leaving
+Dublin to join the assembly. It was passed with only two dissentient
+votes.
+
+The effect of this combined, powerful, yet determined agitation, was
+decisive. On the 27th of May, 1782, when the Irish Houses met, after an
+adjournment of three weeks, the Duke of Portland announced the
+unconditional concessions which had been made to Ireland by the English
+Parliament. Mr. Grattan interpreted the concession in the fullest sense,
+and moved an address, "breathing the generous sentiments of his noble
+and confiding nature." Mr. Flood and a few other members took a
+different and more cautious view of the case. They wished for something
+more than a simple repeal of the Act of 6 George I., and they demanded
+an express declaration that England would not interfere with Irish
+affairs. But his address was carried by a division of 211 to 2; and the
+House, to show its gratitude, voted that 20,000 Irish seamen should be
+raised for the British navy, at a cost of £100,000, and that £50,000
+should be given to purchase an estate and build a house for Mr. Grattan,
+whose eloquence had contributed so powerfully to obtain what they hoped
+would prove justice to Ireland.
+
+[Illustration: GOLDSMITH'S WELL.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[547] _Government_.--Harris' _Life of William III_. p. 357.
+
+[548] _Insignificant_.--A petition was sent in to Parliament by the
+Protestant porters of Dublin, complaining of Darby Ryan for employing
+Catholic porters. The petition was respectfully received, and referred
+to a "Committee of Grievances."--_Com. Jour_. vol. ii. f. 699. Such an
+instance, and it is only one of many, is the best indication of the
+motive for enacting the penal laws, and the cruelty of them.
+
+[549] _Property_.--It will be remembered that at this time Catholics
+were in a majority of at least five to one over Protestants. Hence
+intermarriages took place, and circumstances occurred, in which
+Protestants found it their interest to hold property for Catholics, to
+prevent it from being seized by others. A gentleman of considerable
+property in the county Kerry, has informed me that his property was held
+in this way for several generations.
+
+[550] _Earn_.--One of the articles of the "violated Treaty" expressly
+provided that the poor Catholics should be allowed to exercise their
+trade. An Act to prevent the further growth of Popery was passed
+afterwards, which made it forfeiture of goods and imprisonment for any
+Catholic to exercise a trade in Limerick or Galway, except seamen,
+fishermen, and day labourers, and they were to be licensed by the
+Governor, and not to exceed twenty.--_Com. Jour_. vol. iii. f. 133.
+
+[551] _Palatable_.--In his fourth letter he says: "Our ancestors reduced
+this kingdom to the obedience of England, in return for which we have
+been rewarded with a worse climate, the privilege of being governed by
+laws to which we do not consent, a ruined trade, a house of peers
+without jurisdiction, almost an incapacity for all employments, and the
+dread of Wood's halfpence."
+
+[552] _Scheme_.--The very bills of some of the companies were so
+absurd, that it is marvellous how any rational person could have been
+deceived by them. One was "for an undertaking which shall be in due time
+revealed." The undertaker was as good as his word. He got £2,000 paid in
+on shares one morning, and in the afternoon the "undertaking" was
+revealed, for he had decamped with the money. Some wag advertised a
+company "for the invention of melting down sawdust and chips, and
+casting them into clean deal boards, without cracks or knots."
+
+[553] _Schomberg_.--He wrote to William of Orange, from before Dundalk,
+that the English nation made the worst soldiers he had ever seen,
+because they could not bear hardships; "yet," he adds, "the Parliament
+and people have a prejudice, that an English new-raised soldier can beat
+above six of his enemies."--Dalrymple's _Memoirs_, vol. ii. p. 178.
+According to the records of the War Office in France, 450,000 Irishmen
+died in the service of that country from 1691 to 1745, and, in round
+numbers, as many more from 1745 to the Revolution.
+
+[554] _Vassals_.--Young's _Tour_, vol. ii. pp. 41, 42. It should be
+remembered that Mr. Young was an Englishman and a Protestant, and that
+he had no property in Ireland to blind him to the truth.
+
+[555] _Government_,--Curry's _Historical Review_, vol. ii. p. 274,
+edition of 1786. This work affords a very valuable and accurate account
+of the times, written from personal knowledge.
+
+[556] _Him_.--The ballad of _Soggarth Aroon_ (priest, dear) was written
+by John Banim, in 1831. It is a most true and vivid expression of the
+feelings of the Irish towards their priests.
+
+[557] _Possess_.--While these pages were passing through the press, a
+circumstance has occurred which so clearly illustrates the position of
+the Irish priest, that I cannot avoid mentioning it. A gentleman has
+purchased some property, and his first act is to give his three tenants
+notice to quit. The unfortunate men have no resource but to obey the
+cruel mandate, and to turn out upon the world homeless and penniless.
+They cannot go to law, for the law would be against them. They are not
+in a position to appeal to public opinion, for they are only farmers.
+The parish priest is their only resource and their only friend. He
+appeals to the feelings of their new landlord in a most courteous
+letter, in which he represents the cruel sufferings these three families
+must endure. The landlord replies that he has bought the land as a
+"commercial speculation," and of course he has a right to do whatever he
+considers most for his advantage; but offers to allow the tenants to
+remain if they consent to pay double their former rent--a rent which
+would be double the real value of the land. Such cases are constantly
+occurring, and are constantly exposed by priests; and we have known more
+than one instance in which fear of such exposure has obtained justice. A
+few of them are mentioned from time to time in the Irish local papers.
+The majority of cases are entirely unknown, except to the persons
+concerned; but they are remembered by the poor sufferers and their
+friends. I believe, if the people of England were aware of one-half of
+these ejectments, and the sufferings they cause, they would rise up as a
+body and demand justice for Ireland and the Irish; they would marvel at
+the patience with which what to them would be so intolerable has been
+borne so long.
+
+[558] _Free trade_,--A very important work was published in 1779, called
+_The Commercial Restraints of Ireland Considered_. It is a calm and
+temperate statement of facts and figures. The writer shows that the
+agrarian outrages of the Whiteboys were caused by distress, and quotes a
+speech Lord Northumberland to the same effect.--_Com. Res._, p. 59.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+Celebrated Irishmen of the Eighteenth Century--BURKE--- His School and
+College Life--Early Hatred of Oppression--Johnson's Estimate of
+Burke--_Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful_--Commencement of his
+Political Career--Opinions on the American Question-English Infatuation
+and Injustice--Irishmen Prominent Actors in the American Revolution--Its
+Causes and Effects--Burke on Religious Toleration--Catholic
+Emancipation--His Indian Policy--MOORE--His Poetry and
+Patriotism--CURRAN--SWIFT--LUCAS--FLOOD--GRATTAN--EARL OF
+CHARLEMONT--Irish Artists, Authors, and Actors--SHERIDAN--Scene in the
+House of Lords during the Impeachment of Warren Hastings--GOLDSMITH.
+
+[A.D. 1700-1800.]
+
+
+Each century of Irish history would require a volume of its own, if the
+lives of its eminent men were recorded as they should be; but the
+eighteenth century may boast of a host of noble Irishmen, whose fame is
+known even to those who are most indifferent to the history of that
+country. It was in this century that Burke, coming forth from the Quaker
+school of Ballitore, his mind strengthened by its calm discipline, his
+intellect cultivated by its gifted master, preached political wisdom to
+the Saxons, who were politically wise as far as they followed his
+teaching, and politically unfortunate when they failed to do so. His
+public career demands the most careful consideration from every
+statesman who may have any higher object in view than the mere fact of
+having a seat in the cabinet; nor should it be of less interest or value
+to those whose intellectual capacities are such as to enable them to
+grasp any higher subject than the plot of a sensational novel. It was in
+this century also that Moore began to write his world-famed songs, to
+amaze the learned by his descriptions of a country which he had never
+seen, and to fling out those poetical hand grenades, those pasquinades
+and squibs, whose rich humour and keenly-pointed satire had so much
+influence on the politics of the day. It was in this century that
+Sheridan, who was the first to introduce Moore to London society,
+distinguished himself at once as dramatist, orator, and statesman, and
+left in his life and death a terrible lesson to his nation of the
+miseries and degradations consequent on indulgence in their besetting
+sin. It was in this century that Steele, the bosom friend of Addison,
+and his literary equal, contributed largely to the success and
+popularity of the _Spectator_, the _Guardian_, and the _Tatler,_ though,
+as usual, English literature takes the credit to itself of what has been
+accomplished for it by Irish writers.[559]
+
+Burke is, however, unquestionably both the prominent man of his age and
+of his nation in that age; and happily we have abundant material for
+forming a correct estimate of his character and his works. Burke was
+born in Dublin, on the 1st of January, 1730. His father was an attorney
+in good business, and of course a Protestant, as at that period none,
+except those who professed the religion of a small minority, were
+permitted to govern the vast majority, or to avail themselves of any
+kind of temporal advancement. The mother of the future statesman was a
+Miss Nagle, of Mallow, a descendant of whose family became afterwards
+very famous as the foundress of a religious order.[560] The family
+estate was at Castletown-Roche, in the vicinity of Doneraile; this
+property descended to Garrett, Edmund's elder brother. A famous school
+had been founded by a member of the Society of Friends at Ballitore, and
+thither young Burke and his brother were sent for their education The
+boys arrived there on the 26th May, 1741. A warm friendship soon sprang
+up between Edmund and Richard Shackleton, the son of his master, a
+friendship which only terminated with death. We have happily the most
+ample details of Burke's school-days in the _Annals of Ballitore_, a
+work of more than ordinary interest written by Mrs. Leadbeater, the
+daughter of Burke's special friend. His native talent was soon developed
+under the care of his excellent master, and there can be little doubt
+that the tolerant ideas of his after life were learned, or at least
+cultivated, at the Quaker school.
+
+One instance of the early development of his talent for humour, and
+another of his keen sense of injustice, must find record here. The
+entrance of the judges to the county town of Athy was a spectacle which
+had naturally special attraction for the boys. All were permitted to go,
+but on condition that each of the senior pupils should write a
+description of what he had seen in Latin verse. Burke's task was soon
+accomplished--not so that of another hapless youth, whose ideas and
+Latinity were probably on a par. When he had implored the help of his
+more gifted companion, Edmund determined at least that he should
+contribute an idea for his theme, but for all reply as to what he had
+noticed in particular on the festal occasion, he only answered, "A fat
+piper in a brown coat." However Burke's ideas of "the sublime" may have
+predominated, his idea of the ludicrous was at this time uppermost; and
+in a few moments a poem was composed, the first line of which only has
+been preserved--
+
+    "Piper erat fattus, qui brownum tegmen habebat."
+
+"He loved humour," writes Mrs. Leadbeater,[561] "and my father was very
+witty. The two friends sharpened their intellect and sported their wit
+till peals of laughter in the schoolroom often caused the reverend and
+grave master to implore them, with suppressed smiles, to desist, or he
+should have to turn them out, as their example might be followed, where
+folly and uproar would take the place of humour and wisdom."
+
+His hatred of oppression and injustice was also manifested about this
+time. A poor man was compelled to pull down his cabin, because the
+surveyor of roads considered that it stood too near the highway. The boy
+watched him performing his melancholy task, and declared that, if he
+were in authority, such scenes should never be enacted. How well he kept
+his word, and how true he was in manhood to the good and holy impulses
+of his youth, his future career amply manifests.
+
+Burke entered Trinity College, Dublin, in 1744; Goldsmith entered
+college the following year, and Flood was a fellow-commoner; but these
+distinguished men knew little of each other in early life, and none of
+them were in any way remarkable during their academic career. In 1753
+Burke arrived in London, and occupied himself in legal studies and the
+pursuit of literature. His colloquial gifts and his attractive manner
+won all hearts, while his mental superiority commanded the respect of
+the learned. Even Johnson, who was too proud to praise others, much as
+he loved flattery himself, was fain to give his most earnest word of
+commendation to the young Irishman, and even admitted that he envied
+Burke for being "continually the same," though he could not refrain from
+having a fling at him for not being a "good listener"--a deadly sin in
+the estimation of one who seldom wished to hear any other voice but his
+own. Burke, sir, he exclaimed to the obsequious Boswell--Burke is such a
+man, that if you met him for the first time in the street, and conversed
+with him for not five minutes, he'd talk to you in such a manner, that,
+when you parted, you would say that is an extraordinary man.[562]
+
+Some essays in imitation of Dr. Charles Lucas, and a translation of part
+of the second Georgic of Virgil, which, in finish of style, is, at
+least, not inferior to Dryden, were among the earliest efforts of his
+gifted pen; and, no doubt, these and other literary occupations gave him
+a faculty of expressing thought in cultivated language, which was still
+further developed by constant intercourse with Johnson, ever ready for
+argument, and his club, who were all equally desirous to listen when
+either spoke. His _Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful_, unfortunately
+better known in the present day by its title than by its contents, at
+once attracted immense attention, and brought considerable pecuniary
+help to the author. But the constant pressure of intellectual labour
+soon began to tell upon a constitution always delicate. His health gave
+way entirely, and he appeared likely to sink into a state of physical
+debility, entirely incompatible with any mental exertion. He applied for
+advice to Dr. Nugent; the skilful physician saw at once that something
+more was required than medicine or advice. It was one of those cases of
+suffering to which the most refined and cultivated minds are especially
+subjected--one of those instances which prove, perhaps, more than any
+others, that poor humanity has fallen low indeed. The master-mind was
+there, the brilliant gems of thought, the acute power of reasoning, that
+exquisitely delicate sense of feeling, which has never yet been
+accurately defined, and which probably never can be--which waits for
+some unseen mystic sympathy to touch it, and decide whether the chord
+shall be in minor or major key--which produces a tone of thought, now
+sublime, and now brimming over with coruscations of wit from almost the
+same incidents; and yet all those faculties of the soul, though not
+destroyed, are held in abeyance, because the body casts the dull shadow
+of its own inability and degradation over the spirit--because the spirit
+is still allied to the flesh, and must suffer with it.
+
+There was something more than perfect rest required in such a case. Rest
+would, indeed, recruit the body, worn out by the mind's overaction, but
+the mind also needed some healing process. Some gentle hand should
+soothe the overstrained chords of thought, and touch them just
+sufficiently to stimulate their action with gentlest suasion, while it
+carefully avoided all that might irritate or weary. And such help and
+healing was found for Burke, or, haply, from bodily debility, mental
+weakness might have developed itself into mental malady; and the
+irritability of weakness, to which cultivated minds are often most
+subjected, might have ended, even for a time, if not wisely treated, in
+the violence of lunacy. It was natural that the doctor's daughter should
+assist in the doctor's work; and, perhaps, not less natural that the
+patient should be fascinated by her. In a short time the cure was
+perfected, and Burke obtained the greatest earthly blessing for which
+any man can crave--a devoted wife, a loving companion, a wise adviser,
+and, above all, a sympathizing friend, to whom all which interested her
+husband, either in public or private, was her interest as much as, and,
+if possible, even more than his. Burke's public career certainly opened
+with happy auspices. He was introduced by the Earl of Charlemont to Mr.
+Hamilton in 1759, and in 1761 he returned to Ireland in the capacity of
+private secretary to that gentleman. Mr. Hamilton has acquired, as is
+well known, the appellation of "single speech," and it is thought he
+employed Burke to compose his oration; it is probable that he required
+his assistance in more important ways. But the connexion was soon
+dissolved, not without some angry words on both sides. Hamilton taunted
+Burke with having taken him out of a garret, which was not true, for
+Burke's social position was scarcely inferior to his own; Burke replied
+with ready wit that he regretted having _descended_ to know him.
+
+In the year 1765, when Lord Grenville was driven from office by the
+"American Question," the Marquis of Rockingham succeeded him, appointed
+Burke his private secretary, and had him returned for the English
+borough of Wendover. His political career commenced at this period.
+Then, as now, Reform, Ireland, and America were the subjects of the day;
+and when one considers and compares the politics of the eighteenth and
+the nineteenth centuries, the progress of parliamentary intellectual
+development is not very encouraging. The speeches of honorable members,
+with some few very honorable exceptions, seem to run in the same groove,
+with the same utter incapacity of realizing a new idea, or a broad and
+cosmopolitan policy. There were men then, as there are men now, who
+talked of toleration in one breath, and proclaimed their wooden
+determination to enforce class ascendency of creed and of station in the
+next. There were men who would tax fresh air, and give unfortunate
+wretches poisonous drinks on the cheapest terms. There were men whose
+foreign policy consisted in wringing all that could be wrung out of
+dependencies, and then, when the danger was pointed out, when it was
+shown that those dependencies were not only likely to resist, but were
+in a position to resist--to a position in which neither shooting nor
+flogging could silence, if it did not convince--they hid their heads,
+with ostrich-like fatuity, in the blinding sands of their own ignorance,
+and declared there could be no danger, for _they_ could not discern it.
+
+I have said that there were three great political questions which
+occupied the attention of statesmen at that day. I shall briefly glance
+at each, as they form a most important standpoint in our national
+history, and are subjects of the first interest to Irishmen and to Irish
+history; and as Burke's maiden speech in the House of Commons was made
+in favour of conciliating America, I shall treat that question first.
+The facts are brief and significant but by no means as thoroughly known
+or as well considered as they should be, when we remember their
+all-important results--results which as yet are by no means fully
+developed.[563] The actual contest between the English nation and her
+American colonies commenced soon after the accession of George III.;
+but, as early as the middle of the eighteenth century, Thomas Pownal,
+Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Massachusetts, South Carolina, and
+New Jersey came to England, and published a work on the administration
+of the colonies. He seems even then to have had a clear view of the
+whole case. There is an old proverb about the last grain of rice
+breaking the back of the camel, but we must remember that the load was
+made up of many preceding grains. The Stamp Act and Tea Duty were
+unquestionably the last links of an attempted chain of slavery with
+which England ventured to fetter the noblest of her colonies, but there
+were many preceding links. Pownal's work affords evidence of the
+existence of many. The crown, he said, _in theory_ considered the lands
+and plantations of the colonists its own, and attempted a far greater
+control over the personal liberty of the subject than it dared to claim
+in England. The people, on the other hand, felt that they had by no
+means forfeited the rights of Englishmen because they had left England;
+and that, if they submitted to its laws, they should at least have some
+share in making them. A series of petty collisions, which kept up a
+state of constant irritation, prepared the way for the final
+declaration, which, flung aside the bonds of allegiance, and freed the
+people from the galling chains by which that allegiance was sought to be
+maintained. A wise policy at home might have averted the fatal
+disruption for a time, but it is doubtful that it could have been
+averted for many years, even if the utter incapacity of an obstinate
+sovereign, and the childish vindictiveness of a minister, had not
+precipitated the conclusion.
+
+The master intellect of Burke at once grasped the whole question, and
+his innate sense of justice suggested the remedy. Unfortunately for
+England, but happily for America, Burke was beyond his age in breadth of
+policy and in height of honour. Englishmen of the nineteenth century
+have very freely abused Englishmen of the eighteenth century for their
+conduct on this occasion; and more than one writer has set down the
+whole question as one in which "right" was on the side of England, but
+he argues that there are circumstances under which right should be
+sacrificed to policy. I cannot agree with this very able writer.[564]
+The question was not one of right, but of justice; and the English
+nation, in the reign of George III., failed to see that to do justice
+was both morally and politically the wisest course. The question of
+right too often develops itself into the question of might. A man easily
+persuades himself that he has a right to do what he has the power and
+the inclination to do; and when his inclination and his opportunities
+are on the same side, his moral consciousness becomes too frequently
+blinded, and the question of justice is altogether overlooked.
+
+It was in vain that Burke thundered forth denunciations of the childish
+policy of the Treasury benches, and asked men to look to first
+principles, who could hardly be made comprehend what first principles
+were. He altogether abandoned the question of right, in which men had so
+puzzled themselves as almost to lose sight of the question of policy.
+The King would tax the colony, because his nature was obstinate, and
+what he had determined to do he would do. To such natures reasoning is
+much like hammering on iron--it only hardens the metal. The minister
+would tax the colony because the King wished it; and he had neither the
+strength of mind nor the conscientiousness to resist his sovereign. The
+Lords stood on their dignity, and would impose the tax if only to show
+their power. The people considered the whole affair one of pounds
+shillings, and pence, and could not at all see why they should not wring
+out the last farthing from a distant colony--could not be taught to
+discern that the sacrifice of a few pounds at the present moment, might
+result in the acquisition of a few millions at a future day.
+
+Burke addressed himself directly to the point on all these questions. He
+laid aside the much-abused question of right; he did not even attempt to
+show that right and justice should not be separated, and that men who
+had no share in the government of a country, could not be expected in
+common justice to assist in the support of that country. He had to
+address those who could only understand reasons which appealed to their
+self-interest, and he lowered himself to his audience. The question he
+said was, "not whether you have a right to render your people miserable,
+but whether it is not your interest to make them happy. It is not what a
+lawyer tells me I _may_ do, but what humanity, reason, and justice, tell
+me I _ought_ to do."
+
+The common idea about the separation of the States from England, is
+simply that they resisted a stamp duty and a tax on tea; the fact is, as
+I have before hinted, that this was simply the last drop in the cup.
+Previous to this period, the American colonies were simply considered as
+objects of English aggrandizement. They were treated as states who only
+existed for the purpose of benefiting England. The case was in fact
+parallel to the case of Ireland, and the results would probably have
+been similar, had Ireland been a little nearer to America, or a little
+further from England. For many years the trade of America had been kept
+under the most vexatious restrictions. The iron found there must be sent
+to England to be manufactured; the ships fitted out there must be at
+least partly built in England; no saw-mills could be erected, no colony
+could trade directly with another colony, nor with any nation except
+England. This selfish, miserable policy met with a well-deserved fate.
+Even Pitt exclaimed indignantly, in the House of Commons: "We are told
+that America is obstinate--that America is almost in open rebellion. I
+rejoice that she has resisted. Three millions of people, so dead to all
+sentiments of liberty as voluntarily to become slaves, would have been
+fit instruments to enslave their fellow-subjects."
+
+In 1765 an agitation was commenced in Philadelphia, by Mr. Charles
+Thompson, an Irishman, who, after ten years devoted to the cause of his
+adopted country, was appointed the Secretary of Congress. It has been
+well remarked, that the Irish, and especially the Irish Catholics, were,
+of the three nationalities, the most devoted to forwarding the
+Revolution; and we cannot wonder that it was so, since the Government
+which had driven them from their native land, ceased not to persecute
+them in the land of their exile.[565] The first naval engagement was
+fought under the command of Jeremiah O'Brien, an Irishman.[566] John
+Barry, also an Irishman, took the command of one of the first
+American-built ships of war. The first Continental Regiment was composed
+almost exclusively of Irish-born officers and men, and was the first
+Rifle Regiment ever organized in the world. Thompson, its first, and
+Hand, its second colonel, were natives of Ireland. At the siege of
+Boston the regiment was particularly dreaded by the British.
+
+In 1764 Franklin came to England[567] for the second time, and was
+examined before the House of Commons on the subject of the Stamp Act. He
+was treated with a contemptuous indifference, which he never forgot; but
+he kept his court suit, not without an object; and in 1783, when he
+signed the treaty of peace, which compelled England to grant humbly what
+she had refused haughtily, he wore the self-same attire. Well might the
+immortal Washington say to Governor Trumbull: "There was a day, sir,
+when this step from our then acknowledged parent state, would have been
+accepted with gratitude; but that day is irrevocably past."
+
+In 1774, Burke was called upon by the citizens of Bristol to represent
+them in Parliament, and he presented a petition from them to the House
+in favour of American independence; but, with the singular inconsistency
+of their nation, they refused to re-elect him in 1780, because he
+advocated Catholic Emancipation.
+
+The same principle of justice which made Burke take the side of America
+against England, or rather made him see that it would be the real
+advantage of England to conciliate America, made him also take the side
+of liberty on the Catholic question. The short-sighted and narrow-minded
+politicians who resisted the reasonable demands of a colony until it was
+too late to yield, were enabled, unfortunately, to resist more
+effectually the just demands of several millions of their own people.
+
+It is unquestionably one of the strangest of mental phenomena, that
+persons who make liberty of conscience their boast and their watchword,
+should be the first to violate their own principles, and should be
+utterly unable to see the conclusion of their own favourite premises. If
+liberty of conscience mean anything, it must surely mean perfect freedom
+of religious belief for all; and such freedom is certainly incompatible
+with the slightest restraint, with the most trifling penalty for
+difference of opinion on such subjects. Again, Burke had recourse to the
+_argumentum ad hominum_, the only argument which those with whom he had
+to deal seemed capable of comprehending.
+
+"After the suppression of the great rebellion of Tyrconnel by William of
+Orange," writes Mr. Morley,[568] "ascendency began in all its vileness
+and completeness. The Revolution brought about in Ireland just the
+reverse of what it effected in England. Here it delivered the body of
+the nation from the attempted supremacy of a small sect; there it made a
+small sect supreme over the body of the nation." This is in fact an
+epitome of Irish history since the so-called Reformation in England, and
+this was the state of affairs which Burke was called to combat. On all
+grounds the more powerful party was entirely against him. The merchants
+of Manchester and Bristol, for whose supposed benefit Irish trade had
+been ruined, wished to keep up the ascendency, conceiving it to be the
+surest way of replenishing their coffers. The majority of Irish
+landlords, who looked always to their own immediate interest, and had
+none of the far-sighted policy which would enable them to see that the
+prosperity of the tenant would, in the end, most effectively secure the
+prosperity of the landlord, were also in favour of ascendency, which
+promised to satisfy their land hunger, and their miserable greed of
+gain. The Protestant Church was in favour of ascendency: why should it
+not be, since its ministers could only derive support from a people who
+hated them alike for their creed and their oppressions, at the point of
+the sword and by the "brotherly agency of the tithe-procter," who, if he
+did not assist in spreading the Gospel, at least took care that its
+so-called ministers should lack no luxury which could be wrung from a
+starving and indignant people?[569]
+
+There were but two acts of common justice required on the part of
+England to make Ireland prosperous and free. It is glorious to say, that
+Burke was the first to see this, and inaugurate the reign of concession;
+it is pitiful, it is utterly contemptible, to be obliged to add, that
+what was then inaugurated is not yet fully accomplished. Burke demanded
+for Ireland political and religious freedom. Slowly some small
+concessions of both have been made when England has feared to refuse
+them. Had the grant been made once for all with manly generosity, some
+painful chapters of Irish history might have been omitted from this
+volume--some moments, let us hope, of honest shame might have been
+spared to those true-hearted Englishmen who deplore the fatuity and the
+folly of their countrymen. In 1782 the Irish Volunteers obtained from
+the fears of England what had been vainly asked from her justice.
+Burke's one idea of good government may be summed up in the words, "Be
+just, and fear not." In his famous _Letter to Sir Hercules Langrishe_,
+written in 1792, upon the question of admitting the Catholics to the
+elective franchise, he asks: "Is your government likely to be more
+secure by continuing causes of grounded discontent to two-thirds of its
+subjects? Will the constitution be made more solid by depriving this
+large part of the people of all concern or share in the representation?"
+
+His Indian policy was equally just. "Our dealings with India," says an
+English writer, "originally and until Burke's time, so far from being
+marked with virtue and wisdom, were stained with every vice which can
+lower and deprave human character. How long will it take only to
+extirpate these traditions from the recollections of the natives? The
+more effectually their understandings are awakened by English efforts,
+the more vividly will they recognize, and the more bitterly resent, the
+iniquities of our first connexion with them." The Indian policy of
+England and her Irish policy might be written with advantage in parallel
+columns. It would, at least, have the advantage of showing Irishmen that
+they had been by no means worse governed than other dependencies of that
+professedly law and justice loving nation.
+
+I have treated, briefly indeed, and by no means as I should wish, of two
+of the questions of the day, and of Burke's policy thereon; of the third
+question a few words only can be said. Burke's idea of Reform consisted
+in amending the administration of the constitution, rather than in
+amending the constitution itself. Unquestionably a bad constitution well
+administered, may be incomparably more beneficial to the subject than a
+good constitution administered corruptly. Burke's great leading
+principle was: Be just--and can a man have a nobler end? To suppress an
+insurrection cruelly, to tax a people unjustly, or to extort money from
+a nation on false pretences, was to him deeply abhorrent. His first
+object was to secure the incorruptibility of ministers and of members of
+parliament. When the post of royal scullion could be confided to a
+member of parliament, and a favourable vote secured by appointing a
+representative of the people to the lucrative post of turnspit in the
+king's kitchen, administration was hopelessly corrupt. There were
+useless treasurers for useless offices. Burke gave the example of what
+he taught; and having fixed the Paymaster's salary at four thousand
+pounds a year, was himself the first person to accept the diminished
+income.
+
+He has been accused of forsaking his liberal principles in his latter
+days, simply and solely from his denunciations of the terrible excesses
+of the French Revolution. Such reprobation was rather a proof that he
+understood the difference between liberty and licentiousness, and that
+his accusers had neither the intellect nor the true nobility to
+discriminate between the frantic deeds of men, whose bad passions, long
+indulged, had led them on to commit the crimes of demons, and those
+noble but long-suffering patriots, who endured until endurance became a
+fault, and only resisted for the benefit of mankind as well as for their
+own.
+
+So much space has been given to Burke, that it only remains to add a few
+brief words of the other brilliant stars, who fled across the Channel in
+the vain pursuit of English patronage--in the vain hope of finding in a
+free country the liberty to ascend higher than the rulers of that free
+country permitted in their own.
+
+Moore was born in the year 1780, in the city of Dublin. His father was
+in trade, a fact which he had the manliness to acknowledge whenever such
+acknowledgment was necessary. He was educated for the bar, which was
+just then opened for the first time to the majority of the nation, so
+long governed, or misgoverned, by laws which they were neither permitted
+to make or to administer. His poetical talents were early manifested,
+and his first attempts were in the service of those who are termed
+patriots or rebels, as the speaker's opinion varies. That he loved
+liberty and admired liberators can scarcely be doubted, since even later
+in life he used to boast of his introduction to Thomas Jefferson, while
+in America, exclaiming: "I had the honour of shaking hands with the man
+who drew up the Declaration of American Independence." His countryman,
+Sheridan introduced him to the Prince of Wales. His Royal Highness
+inquired courteously if he was the son of a certain baronet of the same
+name. "No, your Royal Highness," replied Moore; "I am the son of a
+Dublin grocer." He commenced writing his immortal _Melodies_ in 1807,
+soon after his marriage. But he by no means confined himself to such
+subjects. With that keen sense of humour almost inseparable from, and
+generally proportionate to, the most exquisite sensibility of feeling,
+he caught the salient points of controversy in his day, and no doubt
+contributed not a little to the obtaining of Catholic Emancipation by
+the telling satires which he poured forth on its opposers. His
+reflections, addresed to the _Quarterly Review_, who recommended an
+increase of the Church Establishment as the grand panacea of Irish ills,
+might not be an inappropriate subject of consideration at the present
+moment. It commences thus:
+
+    "I'm quite of your mind: though these Pats cry aloud,
+      That they've got too much Church, tis all nonsense and stuff;
+    For Church is like love, of which Figaro vowed,
+      That even _too much_ of it's not quite enough."
+
+Nor was his letter to the Duke of Newcastle, who was an obstinate
+opposer of Catholic Emancipation, less witty, or less in point at the
+present time, for the Lords would not emancipate, whatever the Commons
+might do:
+
+    "While intellect, 'mongst high and low,
+      Is hastening on, they say,
+    Give me the dukes and lords, who go,
+      Like crabs, the other way."
+
+Curran had been called to the bar a few years earlier. He was the son of
+a poor farmer in the county of Cork, and won his way to fame solely by
+the exercise of his extraordinary talent. Curran was a Protestant; but
+he did not think it necessary, because he belonged to a religion which
+professed liberty of conscience, to deny its exercise to every one but
+those of his own sect. He first distinguished himself at a contested
+election. Of his magnificent powers of oratory I shall say nothing,
+partly because their fame is European, and partly because it would be
+impossible to do justice to the subject in our limited space. His
+terrible denunciations of the horrible crimes and cruelties of the
+soldiers, who were sent to govern Ireland by force, for those who were
+not wise enough or humane enough to govern it by justice--his scathing
+denunciations of crown witnesses and informers, should be read at length
+to be appreciated fully.[570]
+
+Swift's career is also scarcely less known. He, too, was born in Dublin
+of poor parents, in 1667. Although he became a minister of the
+Protestant Church, and held considerable emoluments therein, he had the
+honesty to see, and the courage to acknowledge, its many corruptions.
+The great lesson which he preached to Irishmen was the lesson of
+nationality; and, perhaps, they have yet to learn it in the sense in
+which he intended to teach it. No doubt, Swift, in some way, prepared
+the path of Burke; for, different as were their respective careers and
+their respective talents, they had each the same end in view. The
+"Drapier" was long the idol of his countrymen, and there can be little
+doubt that the spirit of his writings did much to animate the patriots
+who followed him--Lucas, Flood, and Grattan. Lucas was undoubtedly one
+of the purest patriots of his time. His parents were poor farmers in the
+county Clare, who settled in Dublin, where Lucas was born, in 1713; and
+in truth patriotism seldom develops itself out of purple and fine linen.
+Flood, however, may be taken in exception to this inference; his father
+was a Chief Justice of the Irish King's Bench. When elected a member of
+the Irish House, his first public effort was for the freedom of his
+country from the atrocious imposition of Poyning's Law. Unfortunately,
+he and Grattan quarrelled, and their country was deprived of the immense
+benefits which might have accrued to it from the cordial political union
+of two such men.
+
+But a list of the great men of the eighteenth century, however brief,
+would be certainly most imperfect if I omitted the name of the Earl of
+Charlemont, who, had his courage been equal to his honesty of purpose,
+might have been enrolled not merely as an ardent, but even as a
+successful patriot. He was one of the _Hibernis ipsis Hiberniores_,--one
+of those who came to plunder, and who learned to respect their victims,
+and to repent their oppressions. It is probable that the nine years
+which the young Earl spent in travelling on the Continent, contributed
+not a little to his mental enlargement. On his return from countries
+where freedom exists with boasting, to a country where boasting exists
+without a corresponding amount of freedom, he was amazed and shocked at
+the first exhibition of its detestable tyranny of class. A grand
+procession of peers and peeresses was appointed to receive the
+unfortunate Princess Caroline; but, before the Princess landed, the
+Duchess of Bedford was commanded to inform the Irish peeresses that they
+were not to walk, or to take any part in the ceremonial. The young Earl
+could not restrain his indignation at this utterly uncalled-for insult.
+He obtained a royal audience, and exerted himself with so much energy,
+that the obnoxious order was rescinded. The Earl's rank, as well as his
+patriotism, naturally placed him at the head of his party; and he
+resolutely opposed those laws which Burke had designated as a "disgrace
+to the statute-books of any nation, and so odious in their principles,
+that one might think they were passed in hell, and that demons were the
+legislators." In 1766, his Lordship brought a bill into the House of
+Lords to enable a poor Catholic peasant to take a lease of a cabin and a
+potato-garden; but, at the third reading, the Lords rushed in
+tumultuously, voted Lord Charlemont out of the chair, and taunted him
+with being little better than a Papist. The failure and the taunt
+bewildered an intellect never very clear; and, perhaps, hopelessness
+quenched the spirit of patriotism, which had once, at least, burned
+brightly. In fear of being taunted as a Papist, like many a wiser man,
+he rushed into the extreme of Protestant loyalty, and joined in the
+contemptible outcry for Protestant ascendency.
+
+The eighteenth century was also rife in Irishmen whose intellects were
+devoted to literature. It claims its painters in Barrett, who was
+actually the founder of the Royal Academy in England, and in Barry, the
+most eminent historical painter of his age; its poets in Parnell,
+Goldsmith, Wade, O'Keeffe, Moore, and many others; its musician in
+Kelly, a full list of whose operatic music would fill several pages; its
+authors in Steele, Swift, Young, O'Leary, Malone, Congreve, Sheridan,
+and Goldsmith; and its actors in Macklin, Milliken, Barry, Willis, and
+Woffington.
+
+Sheridan was born in Dublin, in the year 1757. He commenced his career
+as author by writing for the stage; but his acquaintance with Fox, who
+soon discerned his amazing abilities, led him in another direction. In
+1786 he was employed with Burke in the impeachment of Warren Hastings.
+The galleries of the House of Lords were filled to overflowing; peers
+and peeresses secured seats early in the day; actresses came to learn
+declamation, authors to learn style. Mrs. Siddons, accustomed as she was
+to the simulation of passion in herself and others, shrieked and swooned
+while he denounced the atrocities of which Hastings had been guilty.
+Fox, Pitt, and Byron, were unanimous in their praise. And on the very
+same night, and at the very same time, when the gifted Celt was
+thundering justice to India into the ears of Englishmen, his _School for
+Scandal_, one of the best comedies on the British stage, was being acted
+in one theatre, and his _Duenna_, one of its best operas, was being
+performed in another.
+
+Sheridan died in 1816, a victim to intemperance, for which he had not
+even the excuse of misfortune. Had not his besetting sin degraded and
+incapacitated him, it is probable he would have been prime-minister on
+the death of Fox. At the early age of forty he was a confirmed drunkard.
+The master mind which had led a senate, was clouded over by the fumes of
+an accursed spirit; the brilliant eyes that had captivated a million
+hearts, were dimmed and bloodshot; the once noble brain, which had used
+its hundred gifts with equal success and ability, was deprived of all
+power of acting; the tongue, whose potent spell had entranced thousands,
+was scarcely able to articulate. Alas, and a thousand times alas! that
+man can thus mar his Maker's work, and stamp ruin and wretchedness where
+a wealth of mental power had been given to reign supreme.
+
+Goldsmith's father was a Protestant clergyman. The poet was born at
+Pallas, in the county Longford. After a series of adventures, not always
+to his credit, and sundry wanderings on the Continent in the most
+extreme poverty, he settled in London. Here he met with considerable
+success as an author, and enjoyed the society of the first literary men
+of the day. After the first and inevitable struggles of a poor author,
+had he possessed even half as much talent for business as capacity for
+intellectual effort, he might soon have obtained a competency by his
+pen; but, unfortunately, though he was not seriously addicted to
+intemperance, his convivial habits, and his attraction for the gaming
+table, soon scattered his hard-won earnings. His "knack of hoping,"
+however, helped him through life. He died on the 4th April, 1774. His
+last words were sad indeed, in whatever sense they may be taken. He was
+suffering from fever, but his devoted medical attendant, Doctor Norton,
+perceiving his pulse to be unusually high even under such circumstances,
+asked, "Is your mind at ease?" "No, it is not," was Goldsmith's sad
+reply; and these were the last words he uttered.
+
+[Illustration: GOLDSMITH'S MILL AT AUBURN]
+
+[Illustration: BANTRY BAY--SCENE OF THE LANDING OF THE FRENCH.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[559] _Writers_.--As a general rule, when Irishmen succeed either in
+literature, politics, or war, the credit of their performances is
+usually debited to the English; when they fail, we hear terrible
+clamours of Irish incapacity. Thackeray commences his "_English_
+Humourists of the Eighteenth Century" with Swift, and ends them with
+Goldsmith! I do not suppose he had any intention of defrauding the
+Celtic race; he simply followed the usual course. Irishmen are, perhaps,
+themselves most to blame, for much of this is caused by their suicidal
+deference to a dominant race.
+
+[560] _Order_.--The Presentation Order was founded by Miss Nano Nagle,
+of Cork.
+
+[561] _Leadbeater.--Annals of Ballitore_, vol. i. p. 50, second edition,
+1862. I shall refer to this interesting work again.
+
+[562] _Man_.--The exact words are: "If a man were to go by chance at the
+same time with Burke, under a shed to shun a shower, he would say: 'This
+is an extraordinary man.'"--_Boswell's Johnson_, vol. iv. p. 245.
+Foster's version is as above.
+
+[563] _Developed_.--Since this sentence was penned, I find, with great
+satisfaction, that a similar view has been taken by a recent writer. See
+_Secularia; or, Surveys on the Main Stream of History_, by S. Lucas, p.
+250. He opens a chapter on the revolt of the American States thus: "The
+relations of Great Britain to its colonies, past and present, are an
+important part of the history of the world; and the form which these
+relations _may hereafter take, will be no small element in the political
+future._ Even our Professors of History ... abstain from noticing their
+system of government, or _the predisposing motives to their subsequent
+revolt._." The italics are our own. Neglect of the study of Irish
+history is, I believe, also, one of the causes why Irish grievances are
+not remedied by the English Government. But grievances may get settled
+in a way not always satisfactory to the neglecters of them, while they
+are waiting their leisure to investigate their cause.
+
+[564] _Writer_.--Morley. _Edmund Burke, an Historical Study:_ Macmillan
+and Co., 1867. A masterly work, and one which every statesman, and every
+thinker would do well to peruse carefully. He says: "The question to be
+asked by every statesman, and by every citizen, with reference to a
+measure that is recommended to him as the enforcement of a public right,
+is whether the right is one which it is to the public advantage to
+enforce."--p. 146.
+
+[565] _Exile_.--Maguire's _Irish in America_, p. 355: "It would seem as
+if they instinctively arrayed themselves in hostility to the British
+power; a fact to be explained alike by their love of liberty, and _their
+vivid remembrance of recent or past misgovernment_." The italics are our
+own. The penal laws were enacted with the utmost rigour against
+Catholics in the colonies, and the only place of refuge was Maryland,
+founded by the Catholic Lord Baltimore. Here there was liberty of
+conscience for all, but here only. The sects who had fled to America to
+obtain "freedom to worship God," soon manifested their determination
+that no one should have liberty of conscience except themselves, and
+gave the lie to their own principles, by persecuting each other for the
+most trifling differences of opinion on religious questions, in the
+cruelest manner. Cutting off ears, whipping, and maiming were in
+constant practice. See Maguire's _Irish in America_, p. 349; Lucas'
+_Secularia_, pp. 220-246.
+
+[566] _Irishman_.--See Cooper's _Naval History_.
+
+[567] _England_.--He wrote to Thompson, from London, saying that he
+could effect nothing: "The sun of liberty is set; we must now light up
+the candles of industry." The Secretary replied, with Celtic vehemence:
+"Be assured we shall light up torches of a very different kind." When
+the Catholics of the United States sent up their celebrated Address to
+Washington, in 1790, he alludes in one part of his reply to the immense
+assistance obtained from them in effecting the Revolution: "I presume
+that your fellow-citizens will not forget the patriotic part which you
+took in the accomplishment of their revolution and the establishment of
+their government, or the important assistance they received from a
+nation in which the Roman Catholic religion is professed."
+
+[568] _Morley_.--_Edmund Burke, an Historical Study_, p. 181.
+
+[569] _People_.--Chesterfield said, in 1764, that the poor people in
+Ireland were used "worse than negroes." "Aristocracy," said Adam Smith,
+"was not founded in the natural and respectable distinctions of birth
+and fortune, but in the most odious of all distinctions, those of
+religious and political prejudices--distinctions which, more than any
+other, animate both the insolence of the oppressors, and the hatred and
+indignation of the oppressed."--Morley's _Edmund Burke_, p. 183.
+
+[570] _Fully_.--See _Curran's Letters and Speeches:_ Dublin, 1865.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+The Volunteers deserted by their Leaders--Agrarian Outrages and their
+Cause--Foundation of the United Irishmen--Cruelties of the
+Orangemen--Government Spies and Informers--Lord Moira exposes the
+Cruelty of the Yeomanry in Parliament--Mr. Orr's Trial and
+Death--Details of the Atrocities enacted by the Military from a
+Protestant History--Tom the Devil--Cruelties practised by Men of
+Rank--Licentiousness of the Army--Death of Lord Edward FitzGerald--The
+Rising--Martial Law in Dublin--The Insurrection in Wexford--Massacres at
+Scullabogue House and Wexford-bridge by the Insurgents--How the Priests
+were rewarded for saving Lives and Property--The Insurrection in
+Ulster--The State Prisoners--The Union.
+
+[A.D. 1783-1800.]
+
+
+Parliament was dissolved on the 15th of July, 1783, and summoned to meet
+in October. The Volunteers now began to agitate on the important
+question of parliamentary reform, which, indeed, was necessary, for
+there were few members who really represented the nation. The close
+boroughs were bought and sold openly and shamelessly, and many members
+who were returned for counties were not proof against place or bribes.
+But the Volunteers had committed the fatal mistake of not obtaining the
+exercise of the elective franchise for their Catholic fellow-subjects:
+hence the Irish Parliament obtained only a nominal freedom, as its acts
+were entirely in the hands of the Government through the venality of the
+members. On the 10th of November, one hundred and sixty delegates
+assembled at the Royal Exchange, Dublin. They were headed by Lord
+Charlemont, and marched in procession to the Rotundo. The Earl of
+Bristol, an eccentric, but kind and warm-hearted character, who was also
+the Protestant Bishop of Derry, took a leading part in the
+deliberations. Sir Boyle Roche, an equally eccentric gentleman, brought
+a message from Lord Kenmare to the meeting, assuring them that the
+Catholics were satisfied with what had been granted to them. He had
+acted under a misapprehension; and the Bishop of Derry, who was in fact
+the only really liberal member of the corps, informed the delegates that
+the Catholics had held a meeting, with Sir Patrick Bellew in the chair,
+in which they repudiated this assertion. Several plans of reform were
+now proposed; and a Bill was introduced into the House by Mr. Flood, on
+the 29th of November, and warmly opposed by Mr. Yelverton, who was now
+Attorney-General, and had formerly been a Volunteer. A stormy scene
+ensued, but bribery and corruption prevailed. The fate of the Volunteers
+was sealed. Through motives of prudence or of policy, Lord Charlemont
+adjourned the convention _sine die_; and the flame, which had shot up
+with sudden brilliancy, died out even more rapidly than it had been
+kindled. The Volunteers were now deserted by their leaders, and assumed
+the infinitely dangerous form of a democratic movement. Such a movement
+can rarely succeed, and seldom ends without inflicting worse injuries on
+the nation than those which it has sought to avert.
+
+The delegates were again convened in Dublin, by Flood and Napper Tandy.
+They met in October, 1784, and their discussions were carried on in
+secret. Everywhere the men began to arm themselves, and to train others
+to military exercises. But the Government had gained a victory over them
+in the withdrawal of their leaders, and the Attorney-General attempted
+to intimidate them still further by a prosecution. In 1785 a Bill was
+introduced for removing some of the commercial restraints of the Irish
+nation; it passed the Irish House, but, to satisfy popular clamours in
+England, it was returned with such additions as effectually marred its
+usefulness. Grattan now saw how grievously he had been mistaken in his
+estimate of the results of all that was promised in 1782, and he
+denounced the measure with more than ordinary eloquence. It was rejected
+by a small majority, after a debate which lasted till eight o'clock in
+the morning; and the nationality of the small majority purchased the
+undying hatred of the English minister, William Pitt. The people were
+still suffering from the cruel exactions of landlords and
+tithe-proctors. Their poverty and misery were treated with contempt and
+indifference, and they were driven to open acts of violence, which could
+not be repressed either by the fear of the consequences, or the earnest
+exhortations of the Catholic bishops and clergy.[571]
+
+In the north some disturbances had originated as early as 1775, amongst
+the Protestant weavers, who suffered severely from the general
+depression of trade, and the avariciousness of commercial speculators.
+Their association was called "Hearts of Steel." The author of the
+_United Irishman_ mentions one instance as a sample of many others, in
+which the ruling elder of a Presbyterian congregation had raised the
+rents on a number of small farms, and excited in consequence severe acts
+of retaliation from them.[572] In 1784 two parties commenced agrarian
+outrages in Ulster, called respectively Peep-o'-Day Boys and Defenders.
+As the Catholics sided with one party, and the Protestants with another,
+it merged eventually into a religious feud. The former faction assumed
+the appellation of Protestant Boys, and at last became the Orange
+Society, whose atrocities, and the rancorous party-spirit which they so
+carefully fomented, was one of the principal causes of the rebellion of
+1798. The Catholics had assumed the name of Defenders, from being
+obliged to band in self-defence; but when once a number of uneducated
+persons are leagued together, personal feeling and strong passions will
+lead to acts of violence, which the original associates would have
+shrunk from committing.
+
+Pitt was again thwarted by the Irish Parliament on the Regency question,
+when the insanity of George III. required the appointment of his heir as
+governor of England. The Marquis of Buckingham, who was then Lord
+Lieutenant, refused to forward their address; but the members sent a
+deputation of their own. This nobleman was open and shameless in his
+acts of bribery, and added £13,000 a-year to the pension list, already
+so fatally oppressive to the country. In 1790 he was succeeded by the
+Earl of Westmoreland, and various clubs were formed; but the Catholics
+were still excluded from them all. Still the Catholics were an immense
+majority nationally; the French Revolution had manifested what the
+people could do; and the rulers of the land, with such terrible examples
+before their eyes, could not for their own sakes afford to ignore
+Catholic interests altogether. But the very cause which gave hope was
+itself the means of taking hope away. The action of the Irish Catholics
+was paralyzed through fear of the demonlike cruelties which even a
+successful revolution might induce; and the general fear which the
+aristocratic party had of giving freedom to the uneducated classes,
+influenced them to a fatal silence. Again the middle classes were left
+without leaders, who might have tempered a praiseworthy nationality with
+a not less praiseworthy prudence, and which might have saved both the
+nation and some of its best and bravest sons from fearful suffering. A
+Catholic meeting was held in Dublin, on the 11th of February, 1791, and
+a resolution was passed to apply to Parliament for relief from their
+disabilities. This was in truth the origin of the United Irishmen. For
+the first time Catholics and Protestants agreed cordially and worked
+together harmoniously. The leading men on the Catholic committee were
+Keogh, M'Cormic, Sweetman, Byrne, and Branghall; the Protestant leaders
+were Theobald Wolfe Tone and the Hon. Simon Butler. Tone visited Belfast
+in October, 1791, and formed the first club of the Society of United
+Irishmen. He was joined there by Neilson, Simms, Russell, and many
+others. A club was then formed in Dublin, of which Napper Tandy became a
+leading member. The fundamental resolutions of the Society were
+admirable. They stated: "1. That the weight of English influence in the
+government of this country is so great, as to require a cordial union
+among all the people of Ireland, to maintain that balance which is
+essential to the preservation of our liberties and the extension of our
+commerce. 2. That the sole constitutional mode by which this influence
+can be opposed, is by a complete and radical reform of the
+representation of the people in Parliament. 3. That no reform is just
+which does not include every Irishman of every religious persuasion."
+
+Tone had already obtained considerable influence by his political
+pamphlets, which had an immense circulation. There can be no doubt that
+he was tinctured with republican sentiments; but it was impossible for
+an Irish Protestant, who had any real sympathy with his country, to feel
+otherwise: it had endured nothing but misery from the monarchical form
+of government. The Catholics, probably, were only prevented from
+adopting similar opinions by their inherent belief in the divine right
+of kings. In 1791 the fears of those who thought the movement had a
+democratic tendency, were confirmed by the celebration of the
+anniversary of the French Revolution in Belfast, July, 1791; and in
+consequence of this, sixty-four Catholics of the upper classes presented
+a loyal address to the throne. The Catholic delegates met in Dublin in
+December, 1792, and prepared a petition to the King representing their
+grievances. It was signed by Dr. Troy, the Catholic Archbishop of
+Dublin, and Dr. Moylan, on behalf of the clergy. Amongst the laity
+present were Lords Kenmare, Fingall, Trimbleston, Gormanstown, and
+French. Five delegates were appointed to present the petition, and they
+were provided with a very large sum of money, which induced those in
+power to obtain them an audience. They were introduced to George III. by
+Edmund Burke. His Majesty sent a message to the Irish Parliament,
+requesting them to remove some of the disabilities; but the Parliament
+treated the message with contempt, and Lord Chancellor FitzGibbon
+brought in a Bill to prevent any bodies from meeting by delegation for
+the future.
+
+In 1793 a Relief Bill was passed, in consequence of the war with France;
+a Militia Bill, and the Gunpowder and Convention Bills, were also
+passed, the latter being an attempt to suppress the Volunteers and the
+United Irishmen. A meeting of the latter was held in February, 1793, and
+the chairman and secretary were brought before the House of Lords, and
+sentenced to six months' imprisonment and a fine of £500 each. The
+following year, January, 1794, Mr. Rowan was prosecuted for an address
+to the Volunteers, made two years before. Even Curran's eloquence, and
+the fact that the principal witness was perjured, failed to obtain his
+acquittal. He was sentenced to two years' imprisonment and a fine of
+£500. His conviction only served to increase the popular excitement, as
+he was considered a martyr to his patriotism. An address was presented
+to him in Newgate by the United Irishmen, but he escaped on the 1st of
+May, and got safely to America, though £1,000 was offered for his
+apprehension.
+
+The English minister now appears to have tried the old game of driving
+the people into a rebellion, which could be crushed at once by the
+sword, and would spare the necessity of making concessions; or of
+entangling the leaders in some act of overt treason, and quashing the
+movement by depriving it of its heads. An opportunity for the latter
+manoeuvre now presented itself. A Protestant clergyman, who had resided
+many years in France, came to the country for the purpose of opening
+communications between the French Government and the United Irishmen.
+This gentleman, the Rev. William Jackson, confided his secret to his
+solicitor, a man named Cockayne. The solicitor informed Mr. Pitt, and by
+his desire continued to watch his victim, and trade on his open-hearted
+candour, until he had led him to his doom. The end of the unfortunate
+clergyman was very miserable. He took poison when brought up for
+judgment, and died in the dock. His object in committing this crime was
+to save his property for his wife and children, as it would have been
+confiscated had his sentence been pronounced.
+
+The Viceroyalty of Earl FitzWilliam once more gave the Irish nation some
+hope that England would grant them justice. But he was soon recalled;
+Lord Camden was sent in his stead; and the country was given up to the
+Beresford faction, who were quite willing to co-operate in Mr. Pitt's
+plan of setting Protestants and Catholics against each other, of
+exciting open rebellion, and of profiting by the miseries of the nation
+to forge new chains for it, by its parliamentary union with England.
+Everything was done now that could be done to excite the Catholics to
+rebellion. The Orangemen, if their own statement on oath[573] is to be
+trusted, were actually bribed to persecute the Catholics; sermons[574]
+were preached by Protestant ministers to excite their feelings; and when
+the Catholics resisted, or offered reprisals, they were punished with
+the utmost severity, while their persecutors always escaped. Lord
+Carhampton, grandson of the worthless Henry Luttrell, who had betrayed
+the Irish at the siege of Limerick, commanded the army, and his cruelty
+is beyond description. An Insurrection Act was passed in 1796;
+magistrates were allowed to proclaim counties; suspected persons were to
+be banished the country or pressed into the fleet, without the shadow of
+trial; and Acts of Indemnity[575] were passed, to shield the magistrates
+and the military from the consequences of any unlawful cruelties which
+fanaticism or barbarity might induce them to commit.
+
+Grattan appealed boldly and loudly against these atrocities. "These
+insurgents," he said, "call themselves Protestant Boys--that is, a
+banditti of murderers, committing massacre in the name of God, and
+exercising despotic power in the name of liberty." The published
+declaration of Lord Gosford and of thirty magistrates, who attempted to
+obtain some justice for the unfortunate subjects of these wrongs, is
+scarcely less emphatic. It is dated December 28, 1795: "It is no secret
+that a persecution, accompanied with all the circumstances of ferocious
+cruelty which have in all ages distinguished this calamity, is now
+raging in this country; neither age, nor sex, nor even acknowledged
+innocence, is sufficient to excite mercy or afford protection. The only
+crime which the unfortunate objects of this persecution are charged
+with, is a crime of easy proof indeed; it is simply a profession of the
+Roman Catholic faith. A lawless banditti have constituted themselves
+judges of this species of delinquency, and the sentence they pronounce
+is equally concise and terrible; it is nothing less than a confiscation
+of all property and immediate banishment--a prescription that has been
+carried into effect, and exceeds, in the number of those it consigns to
+ruin and misery, every example that ancient or modern history can
+supply. These horrors are now acting with impunity. The spirit of
+justice has disappeared from the country; and the supineness of the
+magistracy of Armagh has become a common topic of conversation in every
+corner of the kingdom."
+
+One should have supposed that an official declaration from such an
+authority, signed by the Governor of Armagh and thirty magistrates,
+would have produced some effect on the Government of the day; but the
+sequel proved that such honorable exposure was as ineffective as the
+rejected petition of millions of Catholics. The formation of the
+yeomanry corps filled up the cup of bitterness. The United Irishmen,
+seeing no hope of constitutional redress, formed themselves into a
+military organization. But, though the utmost precautions were used to
+conceal the names of members and the plans of the association, their
+movements were well known to Government from an early period. Tone, in
+the meantime, came to France from America, and induced Carnot to send an
+expedition to Ireland, under the command of General Hoche. It ended
+disastrously. A few vessels cruised for a week in the harbour of Bantry
+Bay; but, as the remainder of the fleet, which was separated by a fog,
+did not arrive, Grouchy, the second in command, returned to France.
+
+Meanwhile, the Society of United Irishmen spread rapidly, and especially
+in those places where the Orangemen exercised their cruelties. Lord
+Edward FitzGerald now joined the movement; and even those who cannot
+commend the cause, are obliged to admire the perfection of his devoted
+self-sacrifice to what he believed to be the interests of his country.
+His leadership seemed all that was needed to secure success. His gay and
+frank manner made him popular; his military bearing demanded respect;
+his superior attainments gave him power to command; his generous
+disinterestedness was patent to all. But already a paid system of
+espionage had been established by Government. A set of miscreants were
+found who could lure their victims to their doom--who could eat and
+drink, and talk and live with them as their bosom friends, and then sign
+their death-warrant with the kiss of Judas. There was a regular gang of
+informers of a low class, like the infamous Jemmy O'Brien, who were
+under the control of the Town-Majors, Sirr and Swan. But there were
+gentlemen informers also, who, in many cases, were never so much as
+suspected by their dupes. MacNally, the advocate of the United Irishmen,
+and Mr. Graham, their solicitor, were both of that class. Thomas
+Reynolds, of Killeen Castle, entered their body on purpose to betray
+them. Captain Armstrong did the same. John Hughes, a Belfast bookseller,
+had himself arrested several times, to allay their suspicions. John
+Edward Nevill was equally base and treacherous. However necessary it may
+be for the ends of government to employ spies and informers, there is no
+necessity for men to commit crimes of the basest treachery. Such men and
+such crimes will ever be handed down to posterity with the reprobation
+they deserve.
+
+Attempts were now made to get assistance from France. Mr. O'Connor and
+Lord Edward FitzGerald proceeded thither for that purpose; but their
+mission was not productive of any great result. The people were goaded
+to madness by the cruelties which were committed on them every day; and
+it was in vain that persons above all suspicion of countenancing either
+rebels or Papists, protested against these enormities in the name of
+common humanity. In 1797 a part of Ulster was proclaimed by General
+Lalor, and Lord Moira described thus, in the English House of Lords, the
+sufferings of the unhappy people: "When a man was taken up on suspicion,
+he was put to the torture; nay, if he were merely accused of concealing
+the guilt of another, the punishment of picketing, which had for some
+years been abolished as too inhuman even in the dragoon service, was
+practised. I have known a man, in order to extort confession of a
+supposed crime, or of that of some of his neighbours, picketed until he
+actually fainted; picketed a second time, until he fainted again;
+picketed a third time, until he once more fainted; and all upon mere
+suspicion. Nor was this the only species of torture; many had been taken
+and hung up until they were half dead, and then threatened with a
+repetition of this cruel treatment unless they made confession of the
+imputed guilt. These," continued his Lordship, "were not particular acts
+of cruelty, exercised by men abusing the power committed to them, _but
+they formed part of a system_. They were notorious; and no person could
+say who would be the next victim of this oppression and cruelty." As
+redress was hopeless, and Parliament equally indifferent to cruelties
+and to remonstrances, Mr. Grattan and his colleagues left the Irish
+House to its inhumanity and its fate.
+
+In the autumn of this year, 1797, Mr. Orr, of Antrim, was tried and
+executed, on a charge of administering the oath of the United Irishmen
+to a soldier. This gentleman was a person of high character and
+respectability. He solemnly protested his innocence; the soldier, stung
+with remorse, swore before a magistrate that the testimony he gave at
+the trial was false. Petitions were at once sent in, praying for the
+release of the prisoner, but in vain; he was executed on the 14th of
+October, though no one doubted his innocence; and "Orr's fate" became a
+watchword of and an incitement to rebellion. Several of the jury made a
+solemn oath after the trial that, when locked up for the night to
+"consider" their verdict, they were supplied abundantly with
+intoxicating drinks, and informed one and all, that, if they did not
+give the required verdict of guilty, they should themselves be
+prosecuted as United Irishmen. Mr. Orr was offered his life and liberty
+again and again if he would admit his guilt; his wife and four young
+children added their tears and entreaties to the persuasions of his
+friends; but he preferred truth and honour to life and freedom. His end
+was worthy of his resolution. On the scaffold he turned to his faithful
+attendant, and asked him to remove his watch, as he should need it no
+more. Mr. Orr was a sincere Protestant; his servant was a Catholic. His
+last words are happily still on record. He showed the world how a
+Protestant patriot could die; and that the more sincere and deep his
+piety, the less likely he would be to indulge in fanatical hatred of
+those who differed from him. "You, my friend," he said to his weeping
+and devoted servant--"you, my friend, and I must now part. Our stations
+here on earth have been a little different, and our mode of worshipping
+the Almighty Being that we both adore. Before His presence we shall
+stand equal. Farewell! Remember Orr!"[576]
+
+Alas! there was more to remember than the fate of this noble victim to
+legal injustice. I have before alluded to that strange phenomenon of
+human nature, by which men, who, at least, appear to be educated and
+refined, can, under certain circumstances, become bloodthirsty and
+cruel. The demon enters into the man, and make him tenfold more
+demoniacal than himself. But fearful as the deeds of officers and men
+have been in India, where the unhappy natives were shattered to atoms
+from the cannons' mouths: or, in more recent times, when men, and even
+women, have all but expired under the lash; no deeds of savage vengeance
+have ever exceeded those which were perpetrated daily and hourly in
+Ireland, before the rebellion of 1798. For the sake of our common
+humanity I would that they could be passed over unrecorded; for the sake
+of our common humanity I shall record them in detail, for it may be that
+the terror of what men can become when they give way to unrestrained
+passions, may deter some of my fellow-creatures from allowing themselves
+to participate in or to enact such deeds of blood. Historical justice,
+too, demands that they should be related. Englishmen have heard much of
+the cruelties of Irish rebels at Wexford, which I shall neither palliate
+nor excuse. Englishmen have heard but little of the inhuman atrocities
+which excited that insurrection, and prompted these reprisals. And let
+it be remembered, that there are men still living who saw these
+cruelties enacted in their childhood, and men whose fathers and nearest
+relations were themselves subjected to these tortures. To the Celt, so
+warm of heart and so tenacious of memory, what food this is for the
+tempter, who bids him recall, and bids him revenge, even now, these
+wrongs! What wonder if passion should take the place of reason, and if
+religion, which commands him to suffer patiently the memory of injuries
+inflicted on others, often harder to bear than one's own pain, should
+sometimes fail to assert its sway![577]
+
+I shall give the account of these atrocities in the words of a
+Protestant historian first. The Rev. Mr. Gordon writes thus, in his
+narrative of these fearful times: "The fears of the people became so
+great at length, that they forsook their houses in the night, and slept
+(if, under such circumstances, they could sleep) in the ditches and the
+women were even delivered in that exposed condition, _These facts were
+notorious at the time_.... Some abandoned their house from fear of being
+whipped; and this infliction many persons appeared to fear _more than
+death itself_. Many unfortunate men were strung up as it were to be
+hanged, but were let down now and then, to try if strangulation would
+oblige them to become informers." He then goes on to relate at length
+how the magistrates tortured smiths and carpenters at once, because it
+was supposed from their trade they must have made pikes; and how they,
+at last, professed to know a United Irishman by his face, and "never
+suffered any person whom they deigned to honour with this distinction,
+to pass off without convincing proof of their attention." He also
+mentions the case of a hermit named Driscoll, whose name and the same
+details of his sufferings are given in Clancy's account of the
+insurrection. This man was strangled three times, and flogged four
+times, because a Catholic prayer-book was found in his possession, on
+which it was _supposed_ that he used to administer oaths of disloyalty.
+
+I shall now give the account of another historian. Plowden writes thus;
+"These military savages [the yeomanry corps--it will be remembered what
+Lord Moira said of them in Parliament] were permitted, both by
+magistrates and officers, in open day, to seize every man they wished or
+chose to suspect as a _Croppy_, and drag him to the guardhouse, where
+they constantly kept a supply of coarse linen caps, besmeared inside
+with pitch; and when the pitch was well heated, they forced the cap on
+his head; and sometimes the melted pitch, running into the eyes of the
+unfortunate victim, superadded blindness to his other tortures. They
+generally detained him till the pitch had so cooled, that the cap could
+not be detached from the head without carrying with it the hair and
+blistered skin; they then turned him adrift, disfigured, often blind,
+and writhing with pain. They enjoyed with loud bursts of laughter the
+fiendlike sport--the agonies of their victim. At other times, they
+rubbed moistened gunpowder into the hair, in the form of a cross, and
+set fire to it; and not unfrequently sheared off the ears and nose of
+the unfortunate Croppy." Plowden then details the atrocities of a
+sergeant of the Cork Militia, who was called _Tom the Devil_. He
+concludes: "It would be uncandid to detail only instances of the
+brutality of the lower orders, whilst evidence is forthcoming of persons
+of fortune and education being still more brutalized by its deleterious
+spirit." He then mentions an instance, on the authority of both an
+eyewitness and the victim, in which Lord Kingsborough, Mr. Beresford,
+and an officer whose name he did not know, tortured two respectable
+Dublin tradesmen, one named John Fleming, a ferryman, the other Francis
+Gough, a coachmaker. The nobleman superintended the flagellation of
+Gough, and at every stroke insulted him with taunts and inquiries how he
+liked it. The unfortunate man was confined to his bed in consequence,
+for six months after the infliction. On Whit-Sunday, 1798, these men
+were again tortured with pitchcaps by the gentlemen. Other instances
+might be added, but these will suffice to show the feeling which
+actuated the rulers who permitted, and the men who perpetrated, these
+deeds of blood. "With difficulty," says Mr. Plowden, "does the mind
+yield reluctant consent to such debasement of the human species. The
+spirit which degrades it to that abandonment is of no ordinary
+depravity. The same spirit of Orangeism moved the colonel in Dublin, and
+his sergeant at Wexford. The effect of that spirit can only be faintly
+illustrated by facts. Those have been verified to the author by the
+spectator and the sufferer."[578]
+
+From a letter of Lady Napier's, never intended for publication, and
+above all suspicion of any sympathy with the lower order of Irish, it
+will be seen how the tenantry of the Duke of Leinster were driven to
+revolt. It is dated Castletown, 27th June, 1798, and addressed to the
+Duke of Richmond. "The cruel hardships put on his tenants preferably to
+all others, has driven them to despair, and they join the insurgents,
+saying: 'It is better to die with a pike in my hand, than be shot like a
+dog at my work, or to see my children faint for want of food before my
+eyes.'"
+
+Sir Ralph Abercrombie was appointed to command the army in Ireland, in
+1797; but he threw up his charge, disgusted with atrocities which he
+could not control, and which he was too humane even to appear to
+sanction.[579] He declared the army to be in a state of licentiousness,
+which made it formidable to every one but the enemy. General Lake, a
+fitting instrument for any cruelty, was appointed to take his place; and
+Lord Castlereagh informs us that "measures were taken by Government to
+cause a premature explosion." It would have been more Christian in the
+first place, and more politic in the second place, if Government had
+taken measures to prevent any explosion at all.[580]
+
+On the 12th of March, 1798, the Leinster delegates, who had been long
+since betrayed, were seized by Major Swan, in Dublin. Fifteen persons
+were present, the greater number of whom were Protestants. Emmet,
+MacNevin, Jackson, and Sweetman, were seized the same day. Arthur
+O'Connor had already been arrested on his way to France, with Father
+Coigley. The latter was convicted on May 22, at Maidstone, and hanged on
+evidence so inconclusive, that Lord Chancellor Thurlow said: "If ever a
+poor man was murdered, it was Coigley!" The arrest of Lord Edward
+FitzGerald occurred soon after. The room in which he was arrested and
+the bed on which he lay is still shown, for the brave young noble had
+won for himself the heart's love of every true Irishman. The story of
+his life would occupy more space than can be given to it. To abridge it
+would be to destroy more than half of its real interest. A severe wound
+which he received in the struggle with his captors, combined with the
+effects of excitement and a cruel imprisonment, caused his death. He was
+a chevalier _sans peur et sans reproche_. Even his enemies, and the
+enemies of his country, could find no word to say against him. With him
+died the best hopes of the United Irishmen, and with his expiring breath
+they lost their best prospect of success.[581]
+
+Lord Edward died on the 4th of June. The 23rd of May had been fixed for
+the rising; but informations were in the hands of the Government.
+Captain Armstrong had betrayed the Sheares, two brothers who had devoted
+themselves to the cause of their country with more affection than
+prudence. The base traitor had wound himself into their confidence, had
+dined with them, and was on the most intimate social relations with
+their family. On the 12th of July he swore their lives away; and two
+days after they were executed, holding each other's hands as they passed
+into eternity.
+
+The rising did take place, but it was only partial. The leaders were
+gone, dead, or imprisoned; and nothing but the wild desperation, which
+suggested that it was better to die fighting than to die inch by inch,
+under inhuman torture, could have induced the people to rise at all. The
+ferocity with which the insurrection was put down, may be estimated by
+the cruelties enacted before it commenced. Lord Cornwallis, in his
+Government report to the Duke of Portland, declared that "murder was the
+favourite pastime" of the militia. He declared that the principal
+persons in the country and the members of Parliament were averse to all
+conciliation, and "too much heated to see the effects which their
+violence must produce." To General Ross he writes: "The violence of our
+friends, and their folly in endeavouring to make it a religious war,
+added to the ferocity of our troops, who delight in murder, must
+powerfully counteract all plans of conciliation; and the conversation,
+even at my table, where you will suppose I do all I can to prevent it,
+always turns on hanging, shooting, burning, &c.; and if a priest has
+been put to death, the greatest joy is expressed by the whole company."
+
+On the 23rd of May, Dublin was placed under martial law; the citizens
+were armed, the guard was trebled, the barristers pleaded with
+regimentals and swords, and several of the lamplighters were hung from
+their own lamp-posts for neglecting to light the lamps. The country
+people were prepared to march on the city, but Lord Roden and his
+Foxhunters soon put down their attempt. The next morning the dead were
+exhibited in the Castle-yard, and the prisoners were hanged at
+Carlisle-bridge. Sir Watkins Wynn and his Ancient Britons distinguished
+themselves by their cruelties. The Homsperg Dragoons and the Orange
+Yeomanry equalled them in deeds of blood. The fighting commenced in
+Kildare, on the 24th, by an attack on Naas, which was repelled by Lord
+Gosport. Two of his officers and thirty men were killed, and the people
+were shot down and hanged indiscriminately. "Such was the brutal
+ferocity of some of the King's troops," says Plowden, "that they half
+roasted and eat the flesh of one man, named Walsh, who had not been in
+arms." At Prosperous the insurgents attacked and burned the barracks,
+and piked any of the soldiers who attempted to escape from the flames.
+This regiment, the North Cork Militia, had been specially cruel in their
+treatment of the people, who were only too willing to retaliate. A troop
+of dragoons, commanded by Captain Erskine, was almost annihilated at Old
+Kilcullen. But reverses soon followed. At Carlow the insurgents met with
+a severe defeat; and the defenceless and innocent inhabitants, who fled
+into their houses for shelter from the fire, were cruelly and ruthlessly
+burned to death in their own habitations by the military.
+
+A body of 2,000 men, under a leader named Perkins, encamped on the Hill
+of Allan, and agreed with General Douglas to lay down their arms. The
+General was honorable and humane, but his subordinates were not so.
+Major-General Duff, to whom the arms were to have been delivered up,
+ordered his troops to fire on the people, when they had assembled for
+that purpose. Lord Roden's cavalry cut them down, and an immense number
+were slaughtered in cold blood. Another attack took place at Tara, where
+the Irish were again defeated. The insurrection now broke out in
+Wexford. The people in this part of the country had not joined the
+movement in any way, until the arrival of the North Cork Militia,
+commanded by Lord Kingsborough. The men paraded in orange ribbons, fired
+at the peaceful country people, and employed pitchcaps and torture,
+until their victims were driven to desperation. The county was
+proclaimed on the 27th of April, by the magistrates; and before any riot
+had taken place, Mr. Hunter Gowan paraded through Gorey at the head of
+his yeomanry, with a human finger on the point of his sword, which was
+subsequently used to stir their punch in the evening.
+
+On Whit-Sunday, the 27th of May, the yeomen burned the Catholic Chapel
+of Boulavogue. Father John Murphy, the parish priest, who had hitherto
+tried to suppress the insurrection, placed himself at the head of the
+insurgents. The men now rose in numbers, and marched to Enniscorthy,
+which they took after some fighting. Vinegar Hill, a lofty eminence
+overlooking the town, was chosen for their camp. Some of the leading
+Protestant gentlemen of the county had either favoured or joined the
+movement; and several of them had been arrested on suspicion, and were
+imprisoned at Wexford. The garrison of this place, however, fled in a
+panic, caused by some successes of the Irish troops, and probably from a
+very clear idea of the kind of retaliation they might expect for their
+cruelties. Mr. Harvey, one of the prisoners mentioned above, was now
+released, and headed the insurgents; but a powerful body of troops,
+under General Loftus, was sent into the district, and eventually
+obtained possession of New Ross, which the Irish had taken with great
+bravery, but which they had not been able to hold for want of proper
+military discipline and command. They owed their defeat to
+insubordination and drunkenness. A number of prisoners had been left at
+Scullabogue House, near Carrickburne Hill. Some fugitives from the Irish
+camp came up in the afternoon, and pretended that Mr. Harvey had given
+orders for their execution, alleging, as a reason, what, indeed, was
+true, that the royalists massacred indiscriminately. The guard resisted,
+but were overpowered by the mob, who were impatient to revenge without
+justice the cruelties which had been inflicted on them without justice.
+A hundred were burned in a barn, and thirty-seven were shot or piked.
+This massacre has been held up as a horrible example of Irish treachery
+and cruelty. It was horrible, no doubt, and cannot be defended or
+palliated; but, amid these contending horrors of cruel war, the question
+still recurs: Upon whom is the original guilt of causing them to be
+charged?
+
+Father Murphy[582] was killed in an attack on Carlow, and his death
+threw the balance strongly in favour of the Government troops, who
+eventually proved victorious. After the battle of Ross, the Wexford men
+chose the Rev. Philip Roche as their leader, in place of Mr. Bagenal
+Harvey, who had resigned the command. The insurgents were now guilty of
+following the example of their persecutors, if not with equal cruelty,
+at least with a barbarity which their leaders in vain reprobated. The
+prisoners whom they had taken were confined in the jail, and every
+effort was made to save them from the infuriated people. But one savage,
+named Dixon, would not be content without their blood; and while the
+army and their leaders were encamped on Vinegar Hill, he and some other
+villains as wicked as himself found their way into the jail, and marched
+the prisoners to the bridge, held a mock trial, and then piked
+thirty-five of their victims, and flung them into the water. At this
+moment a priest, who had heard of the bloody deed, hastened to the spot;
+and after in vain commanding them to desist, succeeded at last in making
+them kneel down, when he dictated a prayer that God might show them the
+same mercy which they would show to the surviving prisoners. This had
+its effect; and the men who waited in terror to receive the doom they
+had so often and so mercilessly inflicted on others, were marched back
+to prison.
+
+The camp on Vinegar Hill was now beset on all sides by the royal troops.
+An attack was planned by General Lake, with 20,000 men and a large train
+of artillery. General Needham did not arrive in time to occupy the
+position appointed for him; and after an hour and a-half of hard
+fighting, the Irish gave way, principally from want of gunpowder. The
+soldiers now indulged in the most wanton deeds of cruelty. The hospital
+at Enniscorthy was set on fire, and the wounded men shot in their beds.
+At Wexford, General Moore prevented his troops from committing such
+outrages; but when the rest of the army arrived, they acted as they had
+done at Enniscorthy. Courts-martial were held, in which the officers
+were not even sworn, and victims were consigned to execution with
+reckless atrocity. The bridge of Wexford, where a Catholic priest had
+saved so many Protestant lives, was now chosen for the scene of
+slaughter; and all this in spite of a promise of amnesty. Father Roche
+and Mr. Keogh were the first victims of the higher classes; Messrs.
+Grogan, Harvey, and Colclough were hanged the following day. A mixed
+commission was now formed of the magistrates, who were principally
+Orangemen, and the military, whose virulence was equally great. The Rev.
+Mr. Gordon, the Protestant clergyman whose account I have principally
+followed, as above all suspicion, declares that "whoever could be proved
+to have saved an Orangeman or royalist from assassination, his house
+from burning, or his property from plunder, was considered as having
+influence amongst the revolters, and consequently as a rebel commander."
+The reward for their charity now was instant execution. The Rev. John
+Redmond, the Catholic priest of Newtownbarry, had saved Lord Mountmorris
+and other gentlemen from the fury of the exasperated people, and had
+preserved his house and property from plunder. He was now sent for by
+this nobleman; and, conscious of his innocence, and the benefits he had
+rendered him, he at once obeyed the summons. On his arrival, he was
+seized, brought before the court, and executed on the pretence of having
+been a commander in the rebel army. He had, indeed, commanded, but the
+only commands he ever uttered were commands of mercy. Well might Mr.
+Gordon sorrowfully declare, that he had "heard of hundreds of United
+Irishmen, during the insurrection, who have, at the risk of their lives,
+saved Orangemen; but I have not heard of a single Orangeman who
+encountered any danger to save the life of a United Irishman." With
+equal sorrow he remarks the difference in the treatment of females by
+each party. The Irish were never once accused of having offered the
+slightest insult to a woman; the military, besides shooting them
+indiscriminately with the men, treated them in a way which cannot be
+described, and under circumstances which added a more than savage
+inhumanity to their crime.
+
+The next act of the fatal drama was the execution of the State
+prisoners. The rising in Ulster had been rendered ineffective, happily
+for the people, by the withdrawal of some of the leaders at the last
+moment. The command in Antrim was taken by Henry McCracken, who was at
+last captured by the royalists, and executed at Belfast, on the 17th of
+June. At Saintfield, in Down, they were commanded by Henry Monroe, who
+had been a Volunteer, and had some knowledge of military tactics. In an
+engagement at Ballinahinch, he showed considerable ability in the
+disposal of his forces, but they were eventually defeated, and he also
+paid the forfeit of his life. A remnant of the Wexford insurrection was
+all that remained to be crushed. On the 21st of June, Lord Cornwallis
+was sent to Ireland, with the command both of the military forces and
+the civil power. On the 17th of July an amnesty was proclaimed; and the
+majority of the State prisoners were permitted eventually to leave the
+country, having purchased their pardon by an account of the plans of the
+United Irishmen, which were so entirely broken up that their honour was
+in no way compromised by the disclosure.
+
+Several men, however, were executed, in whose fate the country had, for
+many reasons, more than ordinary interest. To have pardoned them would
+have been more humane and better policy. These were the two Sheares,
+M'Cann, and Mr. William Byrne. Their history will be found in the _Lives
+of the United Irishmen_, by Dr. Madden, a work of many volumes, whose
+contents could not possibly be compressed into the brief space which the
+limits of this work demands.
+
+Some painfully interesting details of this fearful period may be found
+in the _Annals of Ballitore_, a work already referred to in this volume.
+The writer being a member of the Society of Friends, must be beyond all
+suspicion of partiality for rebels or Papists; yet, happily, like many
+members of that Society, was distinguished for humanity and toleration
+for the opinions of others. Her account of '98, being the annals of a
+family and a village, is, perhaps, almost better calculated to give an
+exact idea of the state of the times than a work comprising a more
+extended range of observation; and yet what was suffered in Ballitore
+was comparatively trifling when compared with the sufferings of other
+villages and towns. The first trial was the quartering of the yeomen,
+"from whose bosom," writes this gentle lady, "pity seemed banished." The
+Suffolk Fencibles and the Ancient Britons were next quartered on the
+unfortunate inhabitants. Then commenced the cruel torturing, for which
+the yeomen and militia obtained an eternal reprobation; the public
+floggings, of which she writes thus--"the torture was excessive, and the
+victims were long in recovering, and in almost every case it was applied
+fruitlessly;" yet these demons in human form never relaxed their
+cruelty. "The village, once so peaceful, exhibited a scene of tumult and
+dismay; and the air rang with the shrieks of the sufferers, and the
+lamentations of those who beheld them suffer."[583] Then follow fearful
+details, which cannot be given here, but which prove how completely the
+people were driven into rebellion, and how cruelly they were punished.
+Reprisals, of course, were made by the unfortunate victims; and on one
+occasion, Mrs. Leadbeater relates how Priest Cullen begged the life of a
+young man on his knees, and, as a reward of his humanity, was
+apprehended soon after, and condemned to death. The most cruel scene of
+all was the murder of the village doctor, a man who had devoted himself
+unweariedly to healing the wounds of both parties; but because he
+attended the "rebels," and showed them any acts of common humanity, he
+was taken before a court-martial, and "hacked to death" by the yeomen
+with their swords. "He was alone and unarmed when seized," writes Mrs.
+Leadbeater, "and I believe had never raised his hand to injure any one."
+
+The French allies of Irish insurgents appear to have a fatality for
+arriving precisely when their services are worse than useless. On the
+22nd of August, 1798, Humbert landed at Killala with a small French
+force, who, after a number of engagements, were eventually obliged to
+surrender at discretion.
+
+Ireland having been reduced to the lowest state of misery and servitude,
+the scheme for which much of this suffering had been enacted was now
+proposed and carried out. The first parliamentary intimation was given
+in a speech from the throne, on the 22nd of January, 1799; a pamphlet
+was published on the subject by Mr. Cooke, the Under-Secretary; but it
+required more cogent arguments than either speeches from the throne or
+pamphlets to effect the object of Government. Mr. Pitt had set his heart
+upon the Union, and Mr. Pitt had determined that the Union should be
+carried out at any expense of honour. The majority of the Irish lawyers
+protested against it. The Irish people, as far as they dared do so,
+opposed it. At a meeting of the Irish bar, on the 9th of December, there
+were 166 votes against the Union and only thirty-two in favour of it.
+The published correspondence of Lord Cornwallis and Lord Castlereagh has
+revealed an amount of nefarious corruption and treachery at which
+posterity stands aghast. "These noblemen," writes Sir Jonah Barrington,
+"seemed to have been created for such a crisis, and for each other. An
+unremitting perseverance, an absence of all political compunctions, an
+unqualified contempt of public opinion, and a disregard of every
+constitutional principle, were common to both." But Lord Cornwallis had
+some compunctions; for he wrote to General Ross, describing his office
+as "the most cursed of all situations," and expressing, in language more
+forcible than gentlemanly, his ardent desire to "kick those whom his
+public duty obliged him to court."
+
+The immediate arrangements made for carrying out the Union were
+extremely simple. A scale of "compensation" was arranged--a word which
+could, by a slight perversion of the ordinary meaning of the English
+language, be used as a new form of expressing what was formerly called
+bribery. Every one was promised everything that he wished for, if he
+would only consent to the measure. The Catholics were to have
+emancipation, the Protestants ascendency, the bar promotion, the people
+higher wages, the boroughmongers magnificent compensation. FitzGibbon,
+who had been made Lord Clare, and was then Chancellor, bribed,
+threatened, and cajoled the Upper House; Mr. Secretary Cooke employed
+himself with equal ability in the Lower House. Grattan had left Ireland;
+Flood was in retirement; the members of the bar who had voted against
+the Union were dismissed from office, and the Prime Serjeant, Mr.
+FitzGerald, was the first victim. The thirty-two who formed the minority
+were at once removed. I have not space for the details of the various
+attempts which were made to pass the unpopular measure. Barrington has
+given a list of the members for the Union, and the rewards they
+received. His description of the last night of the Irish Parliament is
+too graphic to be omitted:--
+
+     "The Commons' House of Parliament, on the last evening, afforded
+     the most melancholy example of a fine, independent people,
+     betrayed, divided, sold, and, as a State, annihilated. British
+     clerks and officers were smuggled into her Parliament, to vote away
+     the constitution of a country to which they were strangers, and in
+     which they had neither interest nor connexion. They were employed
+     to cancel the royal charter of the Irish nation, guaranteed by the
+     British Government, sanctioned by the British Legislature, and
+     unequivocally confirmed by the words, the signature, and the Great
+     Seal of their monarch.
+
+     "The situation of the Speaker on that night was of the most
+     distressing nature. A sincere and ardent enemy of the measure, he
+     headed its opponents; he resisted with all the power of his mind,
+     the resources of his experience, his influence, and his eloquence.
+     It was, however, through his voice that it was to be proclaimed and
+     consummated. His only alternative (resignation) would have been
+     unavailing, and could have added nothing to his character. His
+     expressive countenance bespoke the inquietude of his feeling;
+     solicitude was perceptible in every glance, and his embarrassment
+     was obvious in every word he uttered.
+
+     "The galleries were full, but the change was lamentable; they were
+     no longer crowded with those who had been accustomed to witness the
+     eloquence and to animate the debates of that devoted assembly. A
+     monotonous and melancholy murmur ran through benches, scarcely a
+     word was exchanged amongst the members, nobody seemed at ease, no
+     cheerfulness was apparent, and the ordinary business, for a short
+     time, proceeded in the usual manner.
+
+     "At length the expected moment arrived. The order of the day for
+     the third reading of the Bill for a 'Legislative Union between
+     Great Britain and Ireland,' was moved by Lord Castlereagh.
+     Unvaried, tame, coldblooded, the words seemed frozen as they issued
+     from his lips; and, as a simple citizen of the world, he seemed to
+     have no sensation on the subject.
+
+     "At that moment he had no country, no God but his ambition: he made
+     his motion, and resumed his seat with the utmost composure and
+     indifference.
+
+     "Confused murmurs again ran through the House; it was visibly
+     affected. Every character in a moment seemed involuntary rushing to
+     its index--some pale, some flushed, some agitated; there were few
+     countenances to which the heart did not despatch some messenger.
+     Several members withdrew before the question could be repeated, and
+     an awful momentary silence succeeded their departure. The Speaker
+     rose slowly from that chair which had been the proud source of his
+     honours and of his high character; for a moment he resumed his
+     seat, but the strength of his mind sustained him in his duty,
+     though his struggle was apparent. With that dignity which never
+     failed to signalize his official actions, he held up the Bill for a
+     moment in silence; he looked steadily around him on the last agony
+     of the expiring Parliament. He at length repeated, in an emphatic
+     tone, 'As many as are of opinion that _this Bill_ do pass, say
+     aye.' The affirmative was languid but indisputable; another
+     momentary pause ensued; again his lips seemed to decline their
+     office; at length, with an eye averted from the object which he
+     hated, he proclaimed, with a subdued voice, 'The Ayes have it.' The
+     fatal sentence was now pronounced; for an instant he stood
+     statue-like; then indignantly, and with disgust, flung the Bill
+     upon the table, and sunk into his chair with an exhausted spirit.
+
+     "An independent country was thus degraded into a province--Ireland,
+     as a nation, was extinguished."
+
+[Illustration: LYNCH'S HOUSE, GALWAY.]
+
+[Illustration: SWORDS' CASTLE, COUNTY DUBLIN.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[571] _Clergy_.--Barrington says, in his _Rise and Fall of the Irish
+Nation_, p. 67, the Catholic clergy had every inclination to restrain
+their flocks within proper limits, and found no difficulty in effecting
+that object. The first statement is unquestionably true; the second
+statement is unfortunately disproved by many painful facts.
+
+[572] _Them_.--Vol. ii. p. 93.
+
+[573] _Oath_.--I give authority for these details. In the spring of
+1796, three Orangemen swore before a magistrate of Down and Armagh, that
+the Orangemen frequently met in committees, amongst whom were some
+members of Parliament, who gave them money, and promised that they
+should not suffer for any act they might commit, and pledged themselves
+that they should be provided for by Government. The magistrate informed
+the Secretary of State, and asked how he should act; but he never
+received any answer, for further details on this head, see Plowden's
+_History of the Insurrection_.
+
+[574] _Sermons_.--On the 1st of July, 1795, the Rev. Mr. Monsell, a
+Protestant clergyman of Portadown, invited his flock to celebrate the
+anniversary of the battle of the Boyne by attending church, and preached
+such a sermon against the Papists that his congregation fell on every
+Catholic they met going home, beat them cruelly, and finished the day by
+murdering two farmer's sons, who were quietly at work in a
+bog.--Mooney's _History of Ireland_, p. 876.
+
+[575] _Indemnity_.--Lord Carhampton sent 1,300 men on board the fleet,
+on mere suspicion. They demanded a trial in vain. An Act of Indemnity
+was at once passed, to free his Lordship from any unpleasant
+consequences.
+
+[576] _Remember Orr_.--_Lives and Times of the United Irishmen_, second
+series, vol. ii. p. 380.
+
+[577] _Sway_.--An important instance of how the memory or tradition of
+past wrongs excites men to seize the first opportunity of revenge, if
+not of redress, has occurred in our own times. It is a circumstance
+which should be very carefully pondered by statesmen who have the real
+interest of the whole nation at heart. It is a circumstance, as a sample
+of many other similar cases, which should be known to every Englishman
+who wishes to understand the cause of "Irish disturbances." One of the
+men who was shot by the police during the late Fenian outbreak in
+Ireland, was a respectable farmer named Peter Crowley. His history tells
+the motive for which he risked and lost his life. His grandfather had
+been outlawed in the rebellion of '98. His uncle, Father Peter O'Neill,
+had been imprisoned and _flogged most barbarously, with circumstances of
+peculiar cruelty_, in Cork, in the year 1798. The memory of the insult
+and injury done to a priest, who was entirely guiltless of the crimes
+with which he was charged, left a legacy of bitterness and hatred of
+Saxon rule in the whole family, which, unhappily, religion failed to
+eradicate. Peter Crowley was a sober, industrious, steady man, and his
+parish priest, who attended his deathbed, pronounced his end "most happy
+and edifying." Three clergymen and a procession of young men, women, and
+children, scattering flowers before the coffin, and bearing green
+boughs, attended his remains to the grave. He was mourned as a patriot,
+who had loved his country, not wisely, but too well; and it was believed
+that his motive for joining the Fenian ranks was less from a desire of
+revenge, which would have been sinful, than from a mistaken idea of
+freeing his country from a repetition of the cruelties of '98, and from
+her present grievances.
+
+[578] _Sufferer_.--Plowden, _Hist_. p. 102.
+
+[579] _Sanction_.--His son says: "His estimate of the people led him to
+appreciate justly the liveliness of their parts. But while he knew their
+vices, and the origin of them, he knew that there was in their character
+much of the generosity and warmth of feeling which made them acutely
+sensitive when they were treated considerately and kindly. His judgment
+of the upper classes of society, and of the purity and wisdom of the
+government, was less favorable. He saw that the gentry were imperfectly
+educated; that they were devoted to the pursuits of pleasure and
+political intrigue; and that they were ignorant or neglectful of the
+duties imposed on them as landlords, and as the friends and protectors
+of those who depended on them for their existence."--_Memoir of Sir
+Ralph Abercrombie_, p. 72.
+
+[580] _All_.--Lord Holland says, in his _Memoirs of the Whig Party_:
+"The fact is incontestable that the people of Ireland were driven to
+resistance, which, _possibly_, they meditated before, by the free
+quarters and excesses of the soldiery, which are not permitted in
+civilized warfare, even in an enemy's country." The state prisoners
+declared the immediate cause of the rising was "the free quarters, the
+house-burnings, the tortures, and the military executions."
+
+[581] _Success_.--The real betrayer of this brave but unfortunate
+nobleman has only been discovered of late years. Dr. Madden was the
+first to throw light upon the subject. He discovered the item of £1,000
+entered in the _Secret Service Money-book_, as paid to F.H. for the
+discovery of L.E.F. The F.H. was undoubtedly Francis Higgins, better
+known as the Sham Squire, whose infamous career has been fully exposed
+by Mr. Fitzpatrick. In the fourth volume of the _United Irishmen_, p.
+579, Dr. Madden still expresses his doubt as to who was the person
+employed by Higgins as "setter." It evidently was some one in the
+secrets of Lord Edward's party. The infamous betrayer has been at last
+discovered, in the person of Counsellor Magan, who received at various
+times large sums of money from Government for his perfidy. See the _Sham
+Squire_, p. 114. Higgins was buried at Kilbarrack, near Clontarf. In
+consequence of the revelations of his vileness, which have been lately
+brought before the public, the tomb was smashed to pieces, and the
+inscription destroyed. See Mr. Fitzpatrick's _Ireland before the Union_,
+p. 152.
+
+[582] _Murphy_.--Rev. Mr. Gordon says: "Some of the soldiers of the
+Ancient British regiment cut open the dead body of Father Michael
+Murphy, after the battle of Arklow, took out his heart, roasted his
+body, and oiled their boots with the grease which dropped from
+it."--_History of the Rebellion_, p. 212.
+
+[583] _Suffer.--Annals of Ballitore_, vol. i. p. 227.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+The State of Ireland before and after the Union--Advancement of Trade
+before the Union--Depression after it--Lord Clare and Lord Castlereagh
+in the English Parliament--The Catholic Question becomes a Ministerial
+Difficulty--The Veto--The O'Connell Sept--Early Life of Daniel
+O'Connell--The Doneraile Conspiracy--O'Connell as Leader of the Catholic
+Party--The Clare Election--O'Connell in the English House of
+Parliament--Sir Robert Peel--George IV. visits Ireland--Disturbances in
+Ireland from the Union to the year 1834, and their Causes--Parliamentary
+Evidence--The "Second Reformation"--Catholic Emancipation--Emigration,
+its Causes and Effects--Colonial Policy of England--Statistics of
+American Trade and Population--Importance of the Irish and Catholic
+Element in America--Conclusion.
+
+[A.D. 1800-1868.]
+
+
+It is both a mistake and an injustice to suppose that the page of Irish
+history closed with the dawn of that summer morning, in the year of
+grace 1800, when the parliamentary union of Great Britain and Ireland
+was enacted. I have quoted Sir Jonah Barrington's description of the
+closing night of the Irish Parliament, because he writes as an
+eyewitness, and because few could describe its "last agony" with more
+touching eloquence and more vivid truthfulness; but I beg leave, in the
+name of my country, to protest against his conclusion, that "Ireland, as
+a nation, was extinguished." There never was, and we must almost fear
+there never will be, a moment in the history of our nation, in which her
+independence was proclaimed more triumphantly or gloriously, than when
+O'Connell, the noblest and the best of her sons, obtained Catholic
+Emancipation.
+
+The immediate effects of the dissolution of the Irish Parliament were
+certainly appalling. The measure was carried on the 7th of June, 1800.
+On the 16th of April, 1782, another measure had been carried, to which I
+must briefly call your attention. That measure was the independence of
+the Irish Parliament. When it passed, Grattan rose once more in the
+House, and exclaimed: "Ireland is now a nation! In that new character I
+hail her, and bowing to her august presence, I say, _Esto perpetua!"_
+period of unexampled prosperity followed. The very effects of a reaction
+from conditions under which commerce was purposely restricted and trade
+paralyzed by law, to one of comparative freedom, could not fail to
+produce such a result. If the Parliament had been reformed when it was
+freed, it is probable that Ireland at this moment would be the most
+prosperous of nations. But the Parliament was not reformed. The
+prosperity which followed was rather the effect of reaction, than of any
+real settlement of the Irish question. The land laws, which
+unquestionably are _the_ grievance of Ireland, were left untouched, an
+alien Church was allowed to continue its unjust exactions; and though
+Ireland was delivered, her chains were not all broken; and those which
+were, still hung loosely round her, ready for the hand of traitor or of
+foe. Though nominally freed from English control, the Irish Parliament
+was not less enslaved by English influence. Perhaps there had never been
+a period in the history of that nation when bribery was more freely
+used, when corruption was more predominant. A considerable number of the
+peers in the Irish House were English by interest and by education; a
+majority of the members of the Lower House were their creatures. A man
+who ambitioned a place in Parliament, should conform to the opinions of
+his patron; the patron was willing to receive a "compensation" for
+making his opinions, if he had any, coincide with those of the
+Government. Many of the members were anxious for preferment for
+themselves or their friends; the price of preferment was a vote for
+ministers. The solemn fact of individual responsibility for each
+individual act, had yet to be understood. Perhaps the lesson has yet to
+be learned.
+
+One of the first acts of the Irish independent Parliament, was to order
+the appointment of a committee to inquire into the state of the
+manufactures of the kingdom, and to ascertain what might be necessary
+for their improvement. The hearts of the poor, always praying for
+employment, which had been so long and so cruelly withheld from them,
+bounded with joy. Petitions poured in on every side. David Bosquet had
+erected mills in Dublin for the manufacture of metals; he prayed for
+help. John and Henry Allen had woollen manufactories in the county
+Dublin; they prayed for help. Thomas Reilly, iron merchant, of the town
+of Wicklow, wished to introduce improvements in iron works. James Smith,
+an Englishman, had cotton manufactories at Balbriggan; he wished to
+extend them. Anthony Dawson, of Dundrum, near Dublin, had water mills
+for making tools for all kinds of artisans; this, above all, should be
+encouraged, now that there was some chance of men having some use for
+tools. Then there were requests for aid to establish carpet
+manufactories, linen manufactories, glass manufactories, &c.; and Robert
+Burke, Esq., of the county Kildare, prayed for the loan of £40,000 for
+seven years, that he might establish manufactories at Prosperous. These
+few samples of petitions, taken at random from many others, will enable
+the reader to form some faint idea of the state of depression in which
+Ireland was kept by the English nation--of the eagerness of the Irish to
+work if they were only permitted to do so.
+
+The Irish revenue for the year 1783 was, in round numbers, £900,000,
+which amounted to a tax of about six shillings per annum on each person.
+It was distributed thus:
+
+For the interest of the National Debt,       £120,000
+Army and Ordnance, Civil Government, and
+other funds,                                  450,000
+Pensions, grants, bounties, and aids to
+manufacturers,                                250,000
+Surplus unappropriated,                        80,000
+                                             --------
+Total,                                       £900,000
+
+More than £200,000 was spent during that year in erecting forts,
+batteries, and other public buildings, which gave employment to the
+people in certain districts. Large sums were granted to the poor of Cork
+and Dublin for coals; and large grants were made to encourage
+manufactures. I have observed, however, in carefully examining these
+grants, which are by far too numerous for insertion, that they were
+principally, and, indeed, I might say exclusively, made to persons in
+Dublin and its neighbourhood, in the north of Ireland, and in the
+_cities_ of Cork and Limerick. Hence, the prosperity of Ireland was only
+partial, and was confined exclusively, though, probably, not
+intentionally, to certain districts. This will explain why the misery
+and starvation of the poor, in the less favoured parts of the country,
+were a principal cause of the fearful insurrection which occurred within
+a few short years.
+
+Lord Clare proclaimed, in the House of Parliament, that "no nation on
+the habitable globe had advanced in cultivation, commerce, and
+manufactures, with the same rapidity as Ireland, from 1782 to 1800."
+_The population increased from three millions to five._ There were 5,000
+carpenters fully employed in Dublin; there were 15,000 silk-weavers. Nor
+should we be surprised at this; for Dublin possesses at the present day
+substantial remains of her former prosperity, which are even now the
+admiration of Europe. All her great public buildings were erected at
+this period. The Custom-house was commenced, and completed in ten years,
+at a cost of a quarter of a million sterling. The Rotundo was commenced
+in 1784. The Law Courts, the most elegant and extensive in the British
+Empire, were begun in 1786. In 1788 there were 14,327 dwelling-houses in
+Dublin, and 110,000 inhabitants. Two hundred and twenty peers and three
+hundred commoners had separate residences. Dublin was fashionable, and
+Dublin prospered.[584]
+
+I have already said that corruption soon did its fatal work. It
+sanctioned, nay, it compelled, the persecution of the majority of the
+nation for their religious creed; and with this persecution the last
+flame of national prosperity expired, and the persecutors and the
+persecuted shared alike in the common ruin. In 1792 Lord Edward
+FitzGerald denounced the conduct of the House in these ever-memorable
+words: "I do think, sir, that the Lord Lieutenant and the majority of
+this House are the worst subjects the King has;" and when a storm arose,
+the more violent from consciousness that his words were but too true,
+for all retraction he would only say:
+
+"I am accused of having said that I think the Lord Lieutenant and the
+majority of this House are the worst subjects the King has. I said so;
+'tis true; and I am sorry for it."
+
+On the 1st of January, 1801, a new imperial standard was exhibited on
+London Tower, and on the Castles of Dublin and Edinburgh. It was formed
+of the three crosses of St. George, St. Patrick, and St. Andrew, and is
+popularly known as the Union Jack. The _fleur de lis_ and the word
+France were omitted from royal prerogatives and titles; and a
+proclamation was issued appointing the words _Dei Gratia, Britaniarum
+Rex, Fidei Defensor_. The _Dublin Gazette_ of July, 1800, contained the
+significant announcement of the creation of sixteen new peerages. The
+same publication for the last week of the year contained a fresh list of
+twenty-six others. Forty-two creations in six months were rather an
+extensive stretch of prerogative; and we cannot be surprised if the
+majority of the nation had more respect for the great untitled, whose
+ancestry were known, and were quite above accepting the miserable bribe
+of a modern peerage.
+
+Strangely enough, from the very day on which the Union was proclaimed,
+the Catholic question became a ministerial difficulty. Pitt's
+administration failed on this very point, although it had seemed
+invincible a few weeks before. The obstinacy of the King, which, indeed,
+almost amounted to a monomania, was the principal cause. He made it a
+personal matter, declared it the "most jacobinical thing he had ever
+heard of;" and he informed the world at large that he would consider any
+man who proposed it his personal enemy. Pitt resigned. Opinions varied
+as to his motives. He returned to office in 1804, having promised that
+he would not again press the subject; and he adhered to his
+determination until his death. The Irish nobles, who had worked hardest
+to carry the Union, were somewhat disappointed as to the result. Lord
+Clare was told by the Duke of Bedford, that the Union had not
+transferred his dictatorial powers to the Imperial Parliament. He
+retired to Ireland deeply chagrined, and was soon borne to his grave,
+amid the revilings of the people whom he had betrayed. Lord Castlereagh,
+who had been less accustomed to command, and had less difficulty in
+stooping to conquer, succeeded better with his English friends, and in a
+few years he ruled the cabinets of Europe; while the Iron Duke, another
+Irishman, dictated to their armies.
+
+In 1803 the flame of insurrection again broke out, and again French aid
+was expected, and the expedition ended in disappointment. Napoleon
+himself regretted that he had turned his armies towards Egypt, instead
+of towards Ireland. Emmet's career was brief, and would probably have
+been almost forgotten, but for his famous speech at the moment of
+receiving sentence, and for the history of his love and her devoted
+attachment to his memory.
+
+In 1805 Grattan entered the Imperial Parliament, at the request of Fox.
+An English constituency was found for him. At the same time, Plunket was
+brought into the house by Pitt; and thus these two famous men, the one
+so full of the brilliant, and the other so full of the powerful, gifts
+of mental science, again pleaded their country's cause together, and in
+perfect harmony, though differing on some political points. When Grattan
+first rose to address the British Senate, there was a hushed attention
+to his every word; as his eloquence kindled with his subject, there were
+suppressed murmurs of approbation; when he had concluded, there were
+thunders of applause. His subject was a petition from the Irish
+Catholics, which was presented to both Houses in 1805. The division gave
+339 to 124 against going into committee; still it was something gained,
+when Englishmen even listened to Irish grievances, or made some effort
+to understand them.
+
+The _Veto_ was now suggested. The object of this was to allow the crown
+a passive voice, if not an active one, in the nomination of Catholic
+bishops. Happily for the Catholic Church in Ireland, the proposal was
+steadily rejected, though with a determination which brought even
+members of the same Church into collision. Connexion with the State
+might have procured temporal advantages, but they would have been in
+truth a poor compensation for the loss of that perfect freedom of action
+so essential to the spiritual advancement of the Church.
+
+The Duke of Richmond came to Ireland in 1807, with Sir Arthur Wellesley
+as Chief Secretary. The young man, whose fame was yet unattained, showed
+himself as clearheaded in the cabinet as in the camp. He made every
+attempt to suppress the party demonstrations which have been the curse
+of Ireland, and induced the Wexford people to discontinue their annual
+celebration of the battle of Vinegar Hill. If he could have suppressed a
+few other anniversaries in the north, it would have been a blessing to
+the United Kingdom. In 1806 Mr. Grattan was returned for Dublin, and
+generously refused the sum of £4,000, which his constituents had
+collected to pay his expenses. The Catholic question was now constantly
+coming up, and more than one cabinet was formed and dissolved according
+to the views of the different members on that matter. A new element of
+vitality had been introduced by the relaxation of the penal laws. Men
+were no longer afraid to ask for a grace which they wanted, lest they
+should lose a grace which they had. The people found that they might
+speak their real opinions without apprehensions of attempts at
+conversion in the shape of pitchcaps and half-hangings; and when the
+people were ready for a leader, the leader was ready for the people; and
+Daniel O'Connell took the place in the guidance of the Irish nation,
+which he will never lose in their memory and in their affections.
+
+The history of Ireland and the life of O'Connell are convertible terms
+for five-and-forty years. O'Connell represented Ireland, and Ireland was
+represented by O'Connell. We have had our great men and our good men,
+our brave men and our true men; but, to my poor thinking, the greatest
+of our men was O'Connell--for who ever approached him in his mighty
+power of ruling a nation by moral suasion only? the best of our men was
+O'Connell, for who dare assert that he was ever unfaithful to his
+country or to his country's faith? the bravest of our men was O'Connell,
+equally fearless in every danger, moral or physical; and the truest of
+our men was O'Connell, dying of a broken heart in a faraway land,
+because he saw his country's cause all but ruined--because he knew that
+with his failing breath one of his country's surest helpers would pass
+from her for ever. A _thoughtfully_ written "History of the life and
+Times of O'Connell," by some one really competent to do justice to the
+subject, is much wanted. I believe that posterity will do justice to his
+memory as one of the best and noblest patriots which the world has ever
+seen--a justice which as yet has been scarcely accorded to him as fully
+as he has merited. Had O'Connell accomplished no other work for Ireland
+than this--the giving of a tone of nationality and manliness to the
+people--he had accomplished a most glorious work. He taught Irishmen
+that chains do not make the slave, but rather the spirit in which the
+chains are worn. He awoke, in the hearts of his countrymen, that love of
+freedom, which is the first step towards making a successful effort to
+obtain it. He showed them how they might intimidate their oppressors
+without injuring themselves--a lesson eminently necessary where the
+oppressors are incomparably more powerful than the oppressed.
+
+The sept of O'Connell, from which this noble man was descended held a
+prominent position among the early Milesian clans. Pure Celtic blood ran
+in his veins; the fire of Celtic wit sparkled in his utterances; the
+lighthearted happiness of a Celtic spirit guided his actions; and the
+undaunted bravery of a Celtic warrior's courage looked out of his clear
+beaming eye. A nobleman, in truth, was Daniel O'Connell--a nobleman of
+whom any nation might justly be proud--a nobleman to whom we must hope
+that Ireland will yet raise some monument of enduring fame. The
+O'Connell sept were driven from their ancestral homes, in 1172, by
+Raymond, Strongbow's son-in-law. Their territory lay along the Shannon.
+They were now compelled to take refuge in a wild and desolate part of
+Kerry, too wild and too desolate to attract English cupidity. A MS. is
+still preserved in the British Museum, written by one of the O'Connell
+family; it is in the Irish language, and bears date 1245. In this
+document mention is made of a Daniel O'Connell, who proceeded to the
+north of Ireland, at the head of a large body of men, to resist an
+invading force. The Celts were successful; and when they had won the
+day, the chieftain and his vanquished foes feasted together. In 1586
+Richard O'Connell was High Sheriff of Kerry; but, from the accession of
+William III., until the illustrious Liberator obtained some degree of
+freedom for his country, all the O'Connells were prescribed from
+positions of emolument, for having held with unswerving fidelity to the
+old faith.
+
+O'Connell was born on the 6th of August, 1775, "the very year," as he
+himself says, in a letter to the _Dublin Evening Post_, "in which the
+stupid obstinacy of British oppression _forced_ the reluctant people of
+America to seek for security in arms, and to commence that bloody
+struggle for national independence, which has been in its results
+beneficial to England, whilst it has shed glory, and conferred liberty,
+pure and sublime, on America." He was educated at St. Omers, and it is
+said manifested some inclination for the priesthood; but there can be no
+doubt that his vocation lay in another direction, as he was incomparably
+too deeply religious and too thoroughly honest not to have obeyed the
+call of God at any cost, had such a favour been vouchsafed to him. It is
+said, whatever his dislike of physical force may have been in
+after-life, that he unquestionably knew how to use the _argumentum
+baculinum_ in his early days; and that more than one student was made to
+feel the effects thereof, when attempting ill-natured jokes on the
+herculean Celt. During his residence abroad he had some opportunities of
+witnessing the fearful effects of the French Revolution; and it is
+probable that a remembrance of these scenes, added to his own admirably
+keen common sense, saved him from leading his countrymen on to deeds of
+open violence. He was called to the Irish bar in the memorable year of
+1798. For some time he failed to obtain practice; for who would confide
+their case to a young Catholic lawyer, when the fact of his creed alone
+would be sufficient to condemn his client in the eyes of Protestant
+juries, judges, and attorneys? His maiden speech was made in opposition
+to the Union, even as his life was spent in the most strenuous efforts
+to obtain the reversal of that most fatal measure. A meeting was held in
+the Royal Exchange, Dublin, at the close of the year 1799, to petition
+against it; but even as O'Connell was denouncing, in his most eloquent
+language, the new attempt at national degradation, Major Sirr and his
+file of military rushed into the apartment, and separated the assembly.
+O'Connell now retired into private life, and, with the marvellous
+foresight of true genius, devoted himself to storing up that forensic
+knowledge which he felt sure he should one day use for the benefit of
+his countrymen.
+
+One of the most important instances in which O'Connell's legal acumen
+saved the lives of his countrymen, is known as the "Doneraile
+Conspiracy;" and as all the facts are eminently illustrative of the
+history of Ireland at that period, and of the character and abilities of
+one of her most distinguished sons, I shall relate the circumstances.
+Several Protestant gentlemen in the neighbourhood of Doneraile, had been
+making those abortive efforts to "convert" their tenants from Popery,
+which usually end in no small amount of ill-feeling on both sides;
+another of these gentlemen, with equal zeal and equal want of common
+sense and common humanity, had devoted himself to hunting out real or
+supposed rebels. This gentleman had at last brought on himself an armed
+attack, for which he deserved little pity. He contrived, however, to
+capture one of his assailants, who, of course, was hung. The gentlemen
+having thus excited the unfortunate peasantry, pointed to the results of
+their own folly as though these results had been the cause of it; and an
+informer came forward, who, with the usual recklessness of his atrocious
+class, accused some of the most respectable farmers of the district of
+having entered into a conspiracy to murder the Protestant gentlemen,--a
+cruel return certainly had it been true, for their earnest efforts to
+convert the natives from "the errors of Popery to those of the
+Protestant Church." A special commission was sent down; the wildest
+excitement prevailed on all sides; and, as was usual in such cases, the
+bitterest prejudice against the unfortunate accused. The
+Solicitor-General led for the crown: the defence was a simple denial. In
+such cases the examination of the approvers is the great point for the
+accused, and should be confided to the ablest counsel. One of the
+unfortunate prisoners was a respectable farmer, aged seventy, of whom
+the highest character was given. But it was all in vain; after five
+minutes' deliberation, the jury gave in the verdict of guilty. As the
+men were to be made an "example of," they were sentenced to be hanged in
+six days. This was on Saturday. The next lot of prisoners was to be
+tried at nine o'clock on Monday morning. There was one universal cry for
+"O'Connell," from the great multitude who knew these poor victims were
+perfectly innocent. On Saturday night a farmer mounted the best horse
+that could be found in Cork, and, after a night of incessant riding, he
+reached Derrynane Abbey on Sunday morning at nine o'clock. His name was
+William Burke: let it be transmitted with all honour to posterity! He
+told his errand to one who never listened unmoved to the tale of his
+country's sorrows and wrongs; and he assured O'Connell that, unless he
+were in Cork by nine next morning, the unfortunate prisoners, "though
+innocent as the child unborn," would all be hanged. The great man at
+once prepared for his journey; and so wild was the joy of Burke, so sure
+was he that there would now be a hope, if not a certainty, of justice,
+that only the earnest entreaties of O'Connell could induce him to remain
+a few hours to rest his weary horse. On the same good horse he set out
+again, and reached Cork at eight o'clock on Monday morning, having
+travelled 180 miles in thirty-eight hours. Scouts had been posted all
+along the road to watch the man's return: even as he passed through each
+little village, there was an anxious crowd waiting the word of life or
+death. "O'Connell's coming, boys!" was enough; and a wild cheer, which
+rent the very mountains, told how keenly an act of justice could be
+appreciated by the most justice-loving people upon earth. And O'Connell
+did come. He has himself described the sensations of that midnight
+journey, through all the autumn beauties of the most beautiful scenery
+in the United Kingdom. And then he exclaims: "After that glorious feast
+of soul, I found myself settled down amid all the rascalities of an
+Irish court of justice."
+
+The Solicitor-General was actually addressing the jury, when the shouts
+of the excited crowd announced the arrival of one who, by this act of
+his life alone, deserves, _par excellence_, the proud and glorious title
+of the LIBERATOR. He entered the courthouse, apologized for his
+unprofessional attire; and as he had no refreshment, and there was no
+time to lose, he requested permission of the judges to have a bowl of
+milk and some sandwiches sent to him. The Solicitor-General resumed his
+address, but had not proceeded far before the stentorian voice of
+O'Connell was heard exclaiming: "That's not law." The bench decided in
+his favour. He was rapidly swallowing as much food as was necessary to
+sustain nature, and once more, with his mouth full, he exclaims: "That's
+no longer law; the Act is repealed." Again the mortified counsel
+proceeded with his case, and once more O'Connell's knowledge of law
+served him in good stead. "The learned Solicitor," he exclaimed, "has
+_no right_ to make such a statement; the crown cannot give such matters
+in evidence." For the third time the ruling was in favour of the
+Liberator. Then came the all-important cross-examination of the
+approvers; and the men who had lied so well and so boldly on Saturday,
+prevaricated, cursed, and howled under the searching questions of their
+new examiner; Nowlan, the vilest of the lot, exclaiming at last: "It's
+little I thought I'd have to meet you, Counsellor O'Connell." Alas!
+thrice-wretched man, who thought still less of another Court and another
+Judgment. O'Connell won the day. He threatened the very
+Solicitor-General with impeachment before the House of Commons, for the
+way he conducted the case. He taunted him, bewildered him, scolded him,
+laughed at him, as he only could do; and when at last the unfortunate
+man came out with some observation about "false _facts_," O'Connell
+threw the whole court into a roar of laughter by directing attention to
+the bull, and by his inimitable imitation of his English accent. The
+jury could not agree, and the men were acquitted. Another trial came on
+next day, and it was then discovered that one of the approvers differed
+in most important matters from his statements on oath before the
+magistrates of Doneraile, and in what he now stated. This was enough;
+and the jury brought in a verdict of not guilty, though, on the very
+same evidence, a verdict of guilty had been given on Saturday. As an
+act, however, of great clemency, the men who had been sentenced to be
+hanged in six days, were now _only_ transported.
+
+During the time of O'Connell's retirement and study, he had but too many
+opportunities of knowing how little justice was likely to be meted out
+to Irishmen accused, justly or unjustly, of political crimes; and,
+doubtless, he directed his studies to those special points most likely
+to be helpful hereafter. Robert Emmet's execution took place in October,
+1803; and from that hour, until the accession of the Whigs to office, in
+1806, Ireland was ruled by martial law. The Habeas Corpus Act and trial
+by jury were suspended, and the jails and transport ships were crowded
+with the victims of military ferocity and magisterial vengeance. In the
+debate of 1805, when the Catholic petition was brought into the House of
+Commons by Mr. Fox, and treacherously opposed by Pitt, Mr. Ponsonby
+exclaimed, speaking of the Irish Catholics: "I know them well; and I
+know, at the same time, that whatever is good in them, they owe to
+themselves; whatever is bad in them, they owe to you, and to your bad
+government." Mr. Grattan accused the English Tories of "running about
+like old women in search of old prejudices; _preferring to buy foreign
+allies by subsidies, rather than to subsidize fellow-subjects by
+privileges."_ He might have said by justice, for the Irish have never
+asked for privileges; they ask simply for the same justice as is shown
+to English subjects. Mr. Foster, the last Speaker of the Irish House of
+Commons, declared that, "under the Union Act, by compact, the Protestant
+boroughs were suppressed, and a compensation of £1,400,000 paid to
+Protestant owners, and not one shilling to the Catholics."
+
+O'Connell came prominently forward as a leader of the Catholic party in
+1810. A meeting was held in the Royal Exchange, Dublin, to petition for
+Repeal of the Union, at which the High Sheriff of that city presided,
+and many distinguished men were present--a proof that, however corrupted
+Irish Parliaments may have been by English gold, there was still some
+advantage to be gained to the country by possessing even a partial
+independence. O'Connell's speech was published, and circulated widely.
+To give the full details of his career as a leader of the people, would
+require a volume the size of the present work; to give even a
+sufficiently comprehensive outline, would require several chapters: I
+can but hope that some able hand will take up the subject, and with
+equal earnestness do I hope that it may be some one really capable of
+doing justice to it. One who would write the "Life and Times of
+O'Connell" as such a work should be written, would require to bring more
+than ordinary abilities to the task, and would deserve, at the hands of
+his countrymen, the highest expression of gratitude which they could
+give. Such a work would be incomparably the noblest monument which could
+be dedicated to his memory.
+
+[Illustration: O'Connell refusing to take the Oath.]
+
+The Clare election is undoubtedly the culminating point in O'Connell's
+career. Men stood aghast in amazement at the boldness of the man who
+presumed to make such an attempt. Even his friends could scarcely
+believe that he was in earnest, or that he was wise. His success was a
+splendid example of what the energy and determination of one single man
+could accomplish. Well might the Lord Chancellor declare that "this
+business must bring the Roman Catholic question to a crisis and a
+conclusion." The words were prophetic; the prophecy was realized. On the
+5th of March, 1829, Mr. Peel moved a committee of the whole House, "to
+go into the consideration of the civil disabilities of his Majesty's
+Roman Catholic subjects." The motion was carried by a majority of 188.
+On the 15th of May, 1829, O'Connell appeared in the House to take his
+seat. He was introduced by Lords Ebrington and Dungannon. The House was
+thronged. The very peeresses came to gaze upon the arch-agitator,
+expecting to see a demagogue, and to hear an Irish brogue. There were
+whispers of surprise when they saw a gentleman, and a man who could
+speak, with the versatility of true talent, to suit his audience. The
+card containing the oath was handed to O'Connell; he read a portion of
+it over in an audible voice--the portion which required him to say that
+"the sacrifice of the Mass, and the invocation of the Blessed Virgin
+Mary and other saints, as now practised in the Church of Rome, are
+impious and idolatrous;" and to deny the dispensing power of the Pope,
+which never existed, except in the imagination of its framers. With a
+courteous bow he said, in a voice to be heard throughout the House: "I
+decline, Mr. Clerk, to take this oath: part of it I know to be false;
+another part I believe not to be true."
+
+Again he sought the votes of the electors of Clare, and again he was
+returned by them. On the 13th of April, 1829, the royal signature was
+affixed to the Act of Emancipation, and Irishmen were no longer refused
+the rights of citizens because they respected the rights of conscience.
+
+In the year 1812, the late Sir Robert Peel came to Ireland as Chief
+Secretary, unfortunately destitute of the enlargement of mind and the
+native genius of his predecessor, Sir Arthur Wellesley. His abilities,
+however great, were not such as to enable him to understand a
+nationality distinct from his own; and hence he could not deal with the
+Irish, either to his credit, or for their advantage. From the year 1815
+to 1817 the conduct of the English Parliament towards Ireland was
+regulated with the nicest attention to the movements of the General who
+ruled the Continent. In 1817 an Act was passed, which, with admirable
+policy, excused Catholic officers, naval and military, from forswearing
+transubstantiation. In 1821 George IV. visited Ireland. It was the first
+time that an English King had come to Ireland as the acknowledged
+sovereign of the people. Their hopes were high; and the deference for
+royalty, so eminently characteristic of the Celt, had at last found an
+opportunity of expressing itself. All that loyalty could do was done;
+all that the warmest heart could say was said. The King appeared
+impressed by demonstrations so entirely new to him; he wore a large
+bunch of shamrocks constantly during his brief stay; but before the
+shamrocks were faded, Irish wants and Irish loyalty were alike
+forgotten.
+
+In the year 1824 the subject of Irish disturbances was carefully
+inquired into by Select Committees of both Houses of Parliament. Some
+extracts from their reports will give the best and most correct idea of
+the state of the country from the Union to the year 1834, when another
+investigation was made. In 1807 the county Limerick was alarmingly
+disturbed. In 1812 the counties of Tipperary, Waterford, Kilkenny,
+Limerick, Westmeath, Roscommon, and the King's county, were the theatre
+of the same sanguinary tumults. Limerick and Tipperary remained under
+the Insurrection Act until 1818. In 1820 there were serious disturbances
+in Galway, and in 1821, in Limerick.
+
+These disturbances are thus accounted for Maxwell Blacker, Esq.,
+Barrister, who was appointed to administer the Insurrection Act, in
+1822, in the counties of Cork and Tipperary: "The immediate cause of the
+disturbance I consider to be the great increase of population, and the
+fall in the price of produce after the war; the consequence of which
+was, that it was impossible to pay the rent or the tithes that had been
+paid when the country was prosperous." Sir Matthew Barrington, Crown
+Solicitor of the Munster Circuit for seventeen years, was asked: "Do you
+attribute the inflammable state of the population to the state of misery
+in which they generally are?" "I do, to a great extent; I seldom knew
+any instance when there was sufficient employment for the people that
+they were inclined to be disturbed; if they had plenty of work and
+employment, they are generally peaceable." John Leslie Foster, Esq.,
+M.P., in his examination, states: "I think the proximate cause [of the
+disturbances] is the extreme physical misery of the peasantry, coupled
+with their liability to be called upon for the payment of different
+charges, which it is often perfectly impossible for them to meet."
+Matthew Singleton, Esq., Chief Magistrate of Police in the Queen's
+county, said, on his examination: "I have seen, and I know land to be
+set one-third above its value."
+
+It would be useless to give more of this evidence, for the details are
+always the same. The people were almost starving. They could scarcely
+get a sufficiency of the poorest food, yet they were compelled to pay
+rent and tithes far above the value of their land. If they were unable,
+they were thrown out upon the wayside to die like dogs.
+
+There can be no doubt that the outrages thus perpetrated were very
+fearful. Every man's hand was against them, and their hand was against
+every man. They shot their landlords, and they "carded" the
+tithe-proctors. Gentlemen's houses were barricaded, even in the daytime.
+Many families of the higher classes lived in a state of siege. The
+windows were made bullet-proof; the doors were never opened after
+nightfall. It was a fearful state of society for a Christian country,
+and the guilt and disgrace of it was surely on those who had caused it.
+Yet we do not find that the knowledge of these facts produced any effect
+upon the men who heard them, and who alone had it in their power to
+apply the remedy. Still something was done; and although it is one of
+the stern facts of history, one can scarcely choose but smile at the
+simplicity of those who planned and carried out such a scheme for the
+improvement of Ireland.
+
+The "second reformation" was commenced in 1827. The Catholic priests
+were challenged to controversy; even laymen interfered. Theology and
+theological differences became the town and table-talk of Ireland.
+Bibles and tracts were distributed in all directions amongst the
+starving poor, food and clothing were occasionally added; yet,
+notwithstanding these powerful inducements, the people starved and
+remained Catholics. Writs of ejectment were then tried; and the Irish
+poor had their choice between the Bible and beggary--but they chose
+beggary.
+
+So far did the Bible craze go, that it almost amounted to a monomania.
+One noble lord, to show his reverence for that book, and to convince his
+tenantry of the estimation in which he held it, flung every volume of
+his library into the lake of his demesne, and with the Bible in his
+hand, which commanded him to feed the hungry, refused to feed them
+unless they complied with his commands. Moore's satires were,
+unquestionably, the best weapons against such fanaticism. Sheil wrote in
+the _Gazette de France_, and hundreds of pens wrote in the American
+papers. A loud cry of "Shame!" arose in every quarter of the world; the
+echo reached the ears of the promoters of the movement; and the force of
+public opinion succeeded in suppressing the futile attempt.
+
+The influence of Irish emigrants in America was already beginning to be
+felt. Large sums of money poured in from that country to swell the
+Catholic rent, and a considerable portion of the funds were employed by
+O'Connell in providing for men who had been ejected by their landlords,
+for refusing either to believe a creed, or to give a vote contrary to
+their conscience. He even threatened to buy up the incumbrances on some
+of these gentlemen's estates, to foreclose their mortgages, and to sell
+them out. His threat, added to his well-known determination, was not
+without its effect.
+
+The whole subject of Irish emigration may be safely predicted to be the
+key which will unlock the future fate of Great Britain. It is true that,
+at this moment, every effort is being made by the English nation to
+conciliate America; it remains to be seen how Americans will be disposed
+to accept present flattery as a compensation for past injustice, and
+scarcely past contempt. A better knowledge of Irish history might
+prevent some fatal mistakes on both sides of the Atlantic. I have,
+therefore, felt it a duty to devote the concluding pages of this
+_History_ to this important subject.
+
+The great tide of western emigration was undoubtedly caused, in part, by
+the sufferings of the famine year; but these sufferings were in
+themselves an effect, rather than a cause; and we must look to more
+remote history for the origin of the momentous exodus. It has, indeed,
+been well observed, that "when a man leaves his country for one subject
+to foreign rule, it must, in general, be that he does not care for it,
+or that it does not care for him; it must either be that he is so little
+attached to the institutions of his own country, that he is willing to
+submit to those of another; or that he despises the latter sufficiently
+to look forward to replacing them by those of his own."[585] No
+unprejudiced person can for a moment doubt which of these causes has
+been most active in producing Irish emigration. The Irishman's love of
+home and of his native land, is a fact beyond all dispute: his
+emigration, then, can have no other cause than this, that his country,
+or the country which governs his native land, does not care for him; and
+when we find noble lords and honorable members suggesting "the more
+emigration the better," we cannot doubt that he is the victim to
+indifference, if not to absolute dislike. Undoubtedly, if the Irishman
+did not care for his country, and if the Englishman, when planted in
+Ireland, did not become equally discontented and rather more indignant
+than his predecessors under English rule in Ireland, the arrangement
+might be a very admirable one; but Irishmen, to the third and fourth
+generation, do not forget their country, neither do they forget why they
+have been compelled to leave it. A work has been published lately on the
+subject of the Irish in America. It is much to be regretted, that the
+very able writer did not give statistics and facts, as well as
+inferences and anecdotes. A history of the Irish in America, should
+include statistics which could not be disputed, and facts which could
+not be denied. The facts in the work alluded to are abundant, and most
+important; but they should have been prefaced by an account of the
+causes which have led to emigration, and as accurate statistics as
+possible of its results.
+
+Some few English writers have had the honesty to admit that their
+colonial policy has not been the most admirable; "nor should we forget,"
+says the author of the _History of the United States_, "that the spirit
+in which these colonies were ruled from England was one, in the main, of
+intense selfishness. The answer of Seymour, an English Attorney-General
+under William and Mary, or towards the close of the seventeenth century,
+to the request of Virginia, for a college, when her delegate begged him
+to consider that the people of Virginia had souls to be saved as well as
+the people of England: Souls! damn your souls! plant tobacco!" is
+scarcely an unfair exponent of that spirit.[586] Another writer says:
+"Historians, in treating of the American rebellion, have confined their
+arguments too exclusively to the question of internal taxation, and the
+right or policy of exercising this prerogative. The true source of the
+rebellion lay deeper--in our traditional colonial policy."[587] One more
+quotation must suffice: "The legal rights of those colonies have been
+perpetually violated. Those which were strong enough were driven to
+separation; those which adhered to us in that great contest, or which we
+have subsequently acquired or founded, are either denied constitutions,
+or, if the local authorities oppose the will of the Imperial Parliament,
+find their constitutions changed, suspended, or annulled."[588] It will
+be remembered that the original colonists of America were principally
+Englishmen, who were driven from their own country by religious
+intolerance; yet no sooner had they established themselves in their new
+home, than they commenced to practise even more fearful persecutions on
+others than those from which they had fled. There was one honorable
+exception; the Roman Catholics who fled from persecution in England,
+never, even in the plenitude of their power, attempted the slightest
+persecution, religious, social, or legal.
+
+It will be seen, then, that the first emigrants to America from the
+British dominions, could not have had any special attachment to the
+country they had left; that, on the contrary, their feelings were
+embittered against the mother country before their departure from her
+shores; and after that departure she did nothing to allay the
+irritation, but much to increase it. For several centuries after the
+arrival of the "May Flower," the number of emigrants from England and
+Ireland were, probably, tolerably equal, and by no means numerous. It
+was not an age of statistics, and no accurate statistics can be given.
+
+The disruption between the States and England, or rather the causes
+which led to it, re-opened whatever feelings there may have been against
+the mother country, and at the same time increased its bitterness a
+hundredfold. The tide of Irish emigration had set in even then--slowly,
+indeed, but surely; and it will be remembered that the Irish in America,
+few though they were, became the foremost to fan the flame of rebellion,
+and were amongst the first to raise the standard of revolt. The States
+obtained a glorious freedom--a freedom which, on the whole, they have
+used wisely and well; and even their bitterest enemies cannot deny that
+they have formed a powerful nation--a nation which may yet rule the
+destinies of the world. Let us endeavour now to estimate in some degree
+the influence of Irish emigration on American society. If the history of
+Ireland were written in detail up to the present day, fully one-fourth
+the detail should comprise a history of the Irish in America. Never in
+the world's history has an emigration been so continuous or so
+excessive; never in the world's history have emigrants continued so
+inseparably united, politically and socially, to the country which they
+have left. The cry of "Ireland for the Irish," is uttered as loudly on
+the shores of the Mississippi as on the shores of the Shannon. It is
+almost impossible to arrive at accurate statistics of the number of
+Irish in America, but a fair approximation may be obtained. The
+population of America, according to a recent writer, was, in 1840,
+17,063,353; in 1850, it had risen to 23,191,876; it is now [1868],
+35,000,000. In 1842, the imports were in value, $100,162,087; the
+exports, $104,691,534; and the tonnage was 2,092,391. In 1859, the
+imports were $383,768,130; the exports were $356,789,462; and the
+tonnage was 5,146,037. This increase is beyond all historical
+precedence, and a future historian, who found such amazing statistics of
+increase, and knew nothing of emigration, would be strangely puzzled to
+account for it. But if he searched the files of an old English or Irish
+newspaper office, whatever might have been the creed or politics of its
+proprietors, he would soon arrive at a satisfactory solution. In the
+_Irish Times_, the leading Irish paper of the day, he would find the
+following reference to the present history of Ireland: "The Emigration
+Commissioners notice with some surprise the fact, that, during the past
+year [1867], the emigrants from Ireland were better clothed, and carried
+with them better furnished kits, than either the English or foreign
+emigrants. During the past year, 51,000 Irish emigrants left Liverpool
+alone--a regiment nearly one thousand strong every week. The loss of
+100,000 persons annually, chiefly of the labouring classes, and
+generally strong, active, well-built men, affords matter for serious
+consideration. If the Government be contented that 100,000 yearly of the
+Irish population _should, increase the power of America_ [the italics
+are our own], they have but to refuse those generous and considerate
+measures which alone can keep our people at home, by giving them a
+chance of progressing as they do in America."
+
+This is the honestly avowed opinion of a Protestant paper, whose editors
+are beyond all suspicion of writing to encourage "Popery," or preach
+Fenianism. An admirable parliamentary comment has just occurred in the
+rejection of the Protestant Church Suspension Bill by the House of
+Lords, though there is no doubt that the good sense and the native
+justice of the English nation will at length compel its acceptance.
+
+The fact is, that at this moment nearly one-half the population of
+America are Irish and Catholics. The writer lately quoted, cannot
+refrain from a sneer at the "low Irish" in America, to whom he
+attributes the "insult and injury" which he is pleased to consider that
+Americans manifest to foreign nations, and especially to England; he
+forgets the old sources of injury, which no American can forget; and he
+forgets, also, how easily the same "low Irish" might have been prevented
+from exhibiting the feeling which he attributes to them.
+
+Let those who wish to understand the present history of Ireland, read
+Mr. Maguire's _Irish in America_, carefully and thoughtfully. If they do
+so, and if they are not blinded by wilful prejudices, they must admit
+that the oft-repeated charges against Irishmen of being improvident and
+idle are utterly groundless, unless, indeed, they can imagine that the
+magic influence of a voyage across the Atlantic can change a man's
+nature completely. Let them learn what the Irishman can do, and does do,
+when freed from the chains of slavery, and when he is permitted to reap
+some reward for his labour. Let him learn that Irishmen do not forget
+wrongs; and if they do not always avenge them, that is rather from
+motives of prudence, than from lack of will. Let him learn that the
+Catholic priesthood are the true fathers of their people, and the true
+protectors of their best interests, social and spiritual. Let him read
+how the good pastor gives his life for his sheep, and counts no journey
+too long or too dangerous, when even a single soul may be concerned. Let
+him judge for himself of the prudence of the same priests, even as
+regards the temporal affairs of their flocks, and see how, where they
+are free to do so, they are the foremost to help them, even in the
+attainment of worldly prosperity. Let him send for Sadlier's _Catholic
+Directory for the United States and Canada_, and count over the Catholic
+population of each diocese; read the names of priests and nuns, and see
+how strong the Irish element is there. Nay, let him send for one of the
+most popular and best written of the Protestant American serials, and he
+will find an account of Catholics and the Catholic religion, which is to
+be feared few English Protestants would have the honesty to write, and
+few English Protestant serials the courage to publish, however strong
+their convictions. The magazine to which I refer, is the _Atlantic
+Monthly;_ the articles were published in the numbers for April and May,
+1868, and are entitled "Our Roman Catholic Brethren." Perhaps a careful
+perusal of them would, to a thoughtful mind, be the best solution of the
+Irish question. The writer, though avowing himself a Protestant, and
+declaring that under no circumstances whatever would he be induced to
+believe in miracles, has shown, with equal candour and attractiveness,
+what the Catholic Church is, and what it can do, when free and
+unfettered. He shows it to be the truest and best friend of humanity; he
+shows it to care most tenderly for the poor and the afflicted; and he
+shows, above all, how the despised, exiled Irish are its best and truest
+supports; how the "kitchen often puts the parlour to the blush;" and the
+self-denial of the poor Irish girl assists not a little in erecting the
+stately temples to the Almighty, which are springing up in that vast
+continent from shore to shore, and are only lessened by the demands made
+on the same willing workers for the poor father and mother, the young
+brother or sister, who are supported in their poverty by the alms sent
+them freely, generously, and constantly by the Irish servant-girl.
+
+[Illustration: Ireland and America]
+
+Nor have the Catholics of America overlooked the importance of literary
+culture. A host of cheap books and serials are in circulation, and are
+distributed largely and freely in convent schools, collegiate
+establishments, and country parishes; and with a keen appreciation of
+the religious necessities of the great mass of non-Catholics, of which,
+unfortunately, English Catholics are oblivious, tracts are published in
+thousands for general reading, and given to travellers in the railcars,
+and steamboats. Nor has a higher class of literature been overlooked.
+The gifted superior of the Congregation of St. Paul has been mainly
+instrumental in getting up and superintending the labours of the
+_Catholic Publication Society_, which, in addition to the multitude of
+valuable works it has published, sends forth its monthly magazine, well
+entitled _The Catholic World_, which is unquestionably the best serial
+of its kind, and may vie with those conducted by the most gifted
+Protestant writers of the day, while it is far superior to anything
+which has as yet been published by the Catholics of this country.
+
+Such is a brief outline, and scarcely even an outline, of the _present_
+history of Ireland, in which the hearts of so many of our people are in
+one country, while their bodies are in another. There is another phase
+of this present history on which I could have wished to have dwelt much
+longer; I mean the political union between America and Ireland. So long
+as Irish emigration continues--I should rather say, so long as real
+Irish grievances are permitted to continue--so long will this state of
+things be dangerous to England. Justice to Ireland may be refused with
+impunity just so long as there is peace between England and America; but
+who shall dare predict how long that peace will continue, when, as must
+assuredly happen in a few short years, the Irish in America, or their
+direct descendants, shall form the preponderating class, and therefore
+guide the political affairs of that mighty people?
+
+The maps which are appended to this edition of the _Illustrated History
+of Ireland_, will, it is hoped, be found not only interesting, but
+important. Irishmen in America will see, by a glance at the map of
+family names, the territories in Ireland formerly held by their
+ancestors. Statistics showing the fearful depopulation of the country,
+which, notwithstanding all the boasts of those who advocated it, has not
+benefited those who remain, will be found in another map. The third map
+is not less important; by that will be seen the immense preponderance of
+Catholics to Protestants; and it will suggest, no doubt, to thoughtful
+minds, the injustice of sacrificing the multitude to the individual few.
+
+A few words must also be said about the two full-page illustrations
+which have been added to this Edition. One of the most important events
+in the life of O'Connell has been chosen for the one; and, alas! one of
+the most frequent occurrences in Irish history, from the first English
+invasion to the present day, has been chosen for the other. In the
+engraving of O'Connell, it was impossible to preserve the likeness, as
+the expression demanded by the incident could not be produced from any
+of the portraits extant; with regard to the eviction scene, it is
+unfortunately true to the life. Those who have read Mr. Maguire's _Irish
+in America_, will recognize the special subject represented. Those who
+read the Irish local papers of the day, may continually peruse accounts
+of evictions; but only an eyewitness can describe the misery, and
+despair of the unfortunate victims. When shall the picture be reversed?
+When will Irishmen return from America, finding it possible to be as
+free and as prosperous here? Finding that a man who is willing to toil
+may obtain a fair remuneration for his labour, and that a man may have
+the rights of men;--then, and not till then, may we hope that Irish
+history will, for the future, be a record of past injustice, amply
+compensated for by present equity.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[584] _Prospered_.--This gives an average of about eight persons to each
+house. There were 22,276 inhabited houses in Dublin in 1861, and the
+population was 254,480. This would leave an average of eleven persons to
+each house. There are only seventy-five carpenters in _Thom's
+Directory_, and sixty-four cabinet makers: if we give them an average of
+ten men each in their employment, it would not give more than 680 at the
+trade in all.
+
+[585] _Own_.--_History of the United States_, p. 3. Ludlow and Hughes;
+Macmillan, London, 1862. The title of this work is singularly
+infelicitous, for it is merely a sketchy and not very clear account of
+the late war in America.
+
+[586] _Spirit_.--_History of the United States_, p. 7.
+
+[587] _Policy_.--Morley's _Burke_, p. 153.
+
+[588] _Annulled_.--_Historical and Philosophical Essays_, Senior, vol.
+i. p. 197.
+
+
+
+APPENDIX.
+
+
+The letter given below, which is from the pen of a distinguished
+Protestant clergyman, appears to me of such importance, that I place it
+here to be a permanent record for the future historian of Ireland, as an
+important opinion on the present history of this country, but too well
+supported by facts.
+
+     TO ISAAC BUTT, ESQ., LL.D.
+
+     My DEAR BUTT,--If every other man in the world entertained doubts
+     of my sincerity, you, at least, would give me credit for honesty
+     and just intentions. I write to you accordingly, because my mind
+     has been stirred to its inmost depths by the perusal of your
+     address in my native city of Limerick. I do not regard the subject
+     of your address as a political one. It ought to be regarded solely
+     as a question of humanity, justice, common sense, and common
+     honesty. I wish my lot had never been cast in rural places. As a
+     clergyman, I hear what neither landlords nor agents ever heard. I
+     see the depression of the people; their sighs and groans are before
+     me. They are brought so low as often to praise and glorify those
+     whom, in their secret hearts, are the objects of abhorrence. All
+     this came out gradually before me. Nor did I feel as I ought to
+     have felt in their behalf, until, in my own person and purse, I
+     became the victim of a system of tyranny which cries from earth to
+     heaven for relief. Were I to narrate my own story, it would startle
+     many of the Protestants of Ireland. There are good landlords--never
+     a better than the late Lord Downshire, or the living and beloved
+     Lord Roden. But there are too many of another state of feeling and
+     action. There are estates in the north where the screw is never
+     withdrawn from its circuitous and oppressive work. Tenant-right is
+     an unfortunate and delusive affair, simply because it is invariably
+     used to the landlord's advantage. Here we have an election in
+     prospect, and in many counties no farmer will be permitted to think
+     or act for himself. What right any one man has to demand the
+     surrender of another's vote I never could see. It is an act of
+     sheer felony--a perfect "stand-and-deliver" affair. To hear a man
+     slavishly and timorously, say, "I must give my vote as the landlord
+     wishes," is an admission that the Legislature, which bestowed the
+     right of voting on the tenant, should not see him robbed of his
+     right, or subsequently scourged or banished from house and land,
+     because he disregarded a landlord's nod, or the menace of a
+     land-agent. At no little hazard of losing the friendship of some
+     who are high, and good, and kind, I write as I now do.
+
+     Yours, my dear Butt, very sincerely,
+
+     THOMAS DREW.
+
+     Dundrum, Cough, co. Down, Sept. 7, 1868.
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+
+A.
+
+Abbey, the Black, Kilkenny, 318.
+  of Mellifont, 231.
+  of St. Mary, 317.
+  of Holy Cross, 317.
+  of Dunbrody, 289.
+  of Tintern, 317.
+  of St. Saviour's, Dublin, 318.
+  of St. Thomas the Martyr, 287.
+  of Boyle, 316.
+Abercrombie, Sir Ralph, 623.
+Act of Emancipation passed, 647.
+Adamnan, St., 172.
+Adrian's Bull, 274.
+Aedh, St., 221.
+Aengus, St., 179
+  his Festology, 180
+  his Chronicle, 41.
+Aengus Grove, Synod at, 227.
+Aengus, King, baptism of, 123
+  his death, 130
+  ancestor of the O'Keeffes, O'Sullivans, O'Callahans, and MacCarthys, 130.
+Africa, Phoenician circumnavigation of, 69.
+Agrarian outrages and their causes, 613.
+Agricola, 95.
+Aideadh Chonchobair, legend of, 127.
+Ailbhé, Princess, 105.
+Ainmire, Hugh, 167.
+All Hallows Eve, 88n.
+Altan, St., 177.
+Amalgaidh, King, and his seven sons, 123.
+Amato, prelate who consecrated St. Patrick, 115.
+Amlaff the Dane, 195
+  in Dublin, 191.
+Ancient pitcher, 240.
+  fireplaces, 240.
+  shoes, 252.
+  brooch, 270.
+  boot, 251.
+Andrew, St., Church of, in Henry II.'s time, 272.
+Anglo-Irish and old Irish, their differences at Kilkenny, 487.
+Annals of Ulster, 39
+  compiled by Four Masters, 51
+  accounts in, confirmed _ab extra_, 68
+  poetry from, 198
+  kept with great care, 233
+  dedication of, 53
+  quotations from, 58, 59, 75, 88, 90, 94, 132, 144, 198, 199, 218,
+    232n, 265, 283, 388, 307, 312n. 313.
+  of Tighernach, 48.
+  of Innis MacNerinn, 39.
+  of Innisfallen, 39.
+  of Boyle, 39.
+  of Clonmacnois, 60n.
+  of Loch Cé, 115.
+  of Ballitore, 630.
+  preserved by Celtic Race, 67.
+Anselm, St., commends the Irish prelates, 229.
+Antiquities of pre-Christian Erinn, 148.
+Antwerp, Irish soldiers in, 478.
+Aqua vini and aqua vitæ, 245.
+Architecture of Tara, 167.
+Ardmore round tower, 237.
+Armagh, See of, 114
+  founded, 120
+  streets of, 187n.
+Arnold on pedigree, 85n.
+  on history taught by verse, 86n.
+Athlone, siege of, 568
+  castle of, 314
+  bridge built, 308n.
+Attacotti, revolt of the, 96.
+Augustinians, Order of, 316.
+
+
+B.
+
+Bachall Isu, St. Patrick's, 114
+  its wanton destruction, 115.
+Ballitore, sufferings in, 630.
+Balor of the Evil Eye, 64.
+Banbha, the Lady, 43.
+Banqueting hall at Tara, 160.
+Baptism, ceremonies at, 229.
+Baraid, a Scandinavian chief, 195.
+Barbadoes, the Irish seat as slaves to, 515.
+Bards of Erinn, or filés, 40.
+Barretts, feud between Cusacks and, 332.
+Barrington, Sir Jonah, on the last night of Irish Parliament, 639.
+Barry, an Irishman, 601.
+Barrys and Roches, 445.
+Battle of Magh Tuireadh, 61.
+  of Sliabh Mis, 75.
+  at Taillten, 75.
+  between the Firbolgs and Tuatha Dé Dananns, 62.
+  Connor, 343.
+  of Géisill, 78n.
+  of Bealagh Mughna (Ballaghmoon), Kildare, 193.
+  of Dundalk, 201.
+  of Sulcoit, near Tipperary, 205.
+  of Belach-Lechta, near Macroom, co. Cork, 207.
+  of Glen-Mama (Glen of the Gap), near Dunlavin, 208.
+  of Clontarf, 214.
+  of Downpatrick, 325.
+  of Benburb, 493.
+  of the Boyne, 563.
+  of Aughrim, 570.
+  of the Ford of Comar, Westmeath, 160.
+  of Magh-Rath, 171.
+  of Almhain (near Kildare), 186.
+  of Desertcreaght, 332.
+  of St. Callixtus' day, 352.
+  of Ford of the Biscuits, 451.
+Beare, O'Sullivan, his History, 534.
+Beasts, the three, to be hunted, 517.
+Bede's account of Ireland, 79
+  on Irish saints, 173.
+Belgium, MSS. preserved in, 46.
+Beltinne, or fire of Baal, 119
+  origin of, 164.
+Benignus, St., St. Patrick's successor in the See of Armagh. 116.
+Berchau, St., 162.
+Beresford faction, 616.
+Bill, curious, of a play, 547n.
+Bishops, Protestant, indifferent about regular ordination, 536.
+Black Death. 86.
+Blefed or pestilence, 162.
+Bog butter and cheese, 246.
+Bohun, Humphrey de, 270.
+Bonnell, his statistics, 540.
+Book, a, given for a ransom, 377.
+Books preserved, list of, 39, 44
+  list of lost, 39, 40.
+Book of Chronicum Scotorum, 39.
+  of Laws, 40.
+  of Ballymote, 37.
+  of Leinster, 40.
+  of Lecain, 37
+    when written, 50n.
+  Annals of Ulster, 39.
+    of Innisfallen, 39.
+    of Boyle, 39.
+    of Four Masters, 51.
+    of Tighernach, 39.
+    of Inis MacNerinn, 39.
+    of Clonmacnois, 60n.
+  Speckled, 37.
+  Cuilmenn, 40.
+  Saltair of Tara, 39
+    when written 40.
+  of Uachongbhail, 39.
+  Cin Droma Snechta, 39
+    when compiled, 43.
+  Saltair of Cashel, 39
+    when compiled, 44.
+  Saltair of Cormac, 41.
+  of St. Mochta, 44.
+  of Cuana, 44.
+  of Dubhdaleithe, 44.
+  Saltair of Temair, 43.
+  Saltair-na-Rann, 41.
+  of Leabhar buidhe Sláine, 44.
+  of Leabhar na h-Uidhre, 44.
+  of Eochaidh O'Flannagain, 44.
+  of Inis an Duin, 44.
+  Short, of St. Buithe's Monastery, 44.
+  of Flann of St. Buithe's Monastery, 44.
+  of Flann of Dungeimhin (Dungiven, co. Derry), 44.
+  of Dun da Leth Ghlas (Downpatrick), 44.
+  of Doiré (Derry), 44.
+  of Sabhall Phatraic (co. Down), 44.
+  of Uachongbhail (Navan), 44.
+  Leabhar dubh Molaga, 44.
+  Leabhar buidhe Moling, 44.
+  Leabhar buidhe Mhic Murchadha, 44.
+  Leabhar Arda Macha. 44.
+  Leabhar ruadh Mhic Aedhagain, 44.
+  Leabhar breac Mhic Aedhagain, 44.
+  of O'Scoba of Cluain Mhic Nois (or Clonmacnois), 44.
+  of Leabhar fada Leithghlinne, 44.
+Book of Invasions, 54.
+  of Duil Droma Ceata, 44
+  of Clonsost, (Queen's county), 44.
+  of Trias Thaumaturgas, 52.
+  of Hispania Illustrata, 70,
+  of Acaill, 104.
+  of Armagh, 109.
+  of Rights, 253n.
+Boromean Tribute, the origin of, 98
+  remitted, 185.
+Boulter, Dr., 581.
+Bran Dubh, bravery and stratagem of, 168.
+Bravery of the Dalcassians, 218.
+Breas, the warrior, 62.
+Brehon laws, 147
+  by whom compiled, 144.
+Brendan, St. and his voyages, 169.
+Brian Boroimhé, 205
+  avenges the death of Mahoun, 207
+  deposes Malachy, 209
+  his wife, 211
+  his death, 217
+  romantic ballad of the lady, 209
+  originator of surnames, 210n.
+Brigid, St., her birthplace, 131.
+Briton, origin of name, 60.
+Brodir, the apostate Dane, 212
+  kills Brian Boroimhé, 217.
+Browne, Dr., 395.
+Bruce, invasion of, 350.
+Bruce's, Edward, campaign, 342
+  his death, 345.
+Brunehalt, Queen, 173.
+Burke, MacWilliam, 299
+  head of the Burke family in Ireland, 299.
+Burke, MacWilliam, 326
+  wars of, with the FitzGeralds, 326
+  defeat of, by O'Connor, 328.
+Burke, celebrated statesman of 18th century, 593
+  his school days, 594
+  his hatred of oppression, 595
+  his marriage, 596
+  becomes secretary, 597
+  his maiden speech, 598
+  on Indian policy, 604.
+Burkes and Geraldines, 333.
+Burgat, Dr., his Brevis Relatio, 518n.
+Burgo, Richard de, 309.
+Burnt Njal, quotations from, 217.
+Butlers, the, their history, 354.
+
+
+C.
+
+Cæsar, his accounts of the Druids, 138.
+Cairbré, Satire of, 63.
+Cairbré, Cinn-Cait, 97.
+Cairbrés, the three, 102.
+Caligraphy, Irish skilled in, 185.
+Callaghan of Cashel, 196.
+Cambridge, treatise on origin of, 71.
+Camden on Ogygia, 72.
+Cannibalism, charge of, refuted, 74.
+Cannon-balls first used, 381n.
+Canons, St. Patrick's, 117.
+Carew's, Sir P., claim, 428.
+Carhampton, Lord, cruelties of, 617n.
+Carmelite monasteries, 323.
+Cashel, the Saltair of, 44.
+  the Synod of, 275.
+  massacre at, 496.
+Castlehaven Memoirs, 482n.
+Casts for celts, 246.
+Cataldus, St., 178.
+Catalogue of lost books, 44.
+Cathair Crofinn, a circular fort, 165.
+Cathal Carragh, 296.
+Cathal Crovderg, 296.
+Catholic Emancipation, 647.
+  worship publicly restored, 411,
+  Association, 583.
+  priests, their peculiar position and difficulties, 586.
+  question, a ministerial difficulty, 639.
+  delegates met in Dublin, 615.
+Catholics, Orangemen bribed to persecute, 616n
+  penal laws against, 576.
+Cauldrons as tribute, 241.
+Cavalry, 309n.
+Ceann Cruach, great ancient idol of the Irish, 121.
+Ceasair, taking of Erinn by, 54
+  landing in Ireland of, 57.
+Celedabhaill, his quatrains, 198.
+Celestine, Pope, sends St. Patrick to Ireland, 115.
+Celsus, St., 227
+  when buried, 227.
+Celtic language, antiquity of, 147
+  remains of, 46.
+Celtic literature, 37.
+Celtic and Roman history, 81.
+Celts, description of, 160.
+Chariots used in Ireland, 167.
+Charlemont, Earl of, his life, 607.
+Charles I., reign of, 473
+  his "faith," 475.
+Charles II., reign of, 520
+  his treatment of the loyalists, 521.
+Chesterfield and Adam Smith on Ireland, 603.
+Chichester, Sir John, 580.
+Chichester's Parliament, 471.
+Chieftains, Irish, 303.
+Child, interment of a, 157n.
+Christ, the age of, 94.
+Christian missions, 108.
+Christianity, introduction of, 112.
+Chronicle of Cormac MacCullinan, 41.
+  of Aengus Ceilé Dé, 41.
+  of Richard of Cirencester, 139.
+Chronicum Scotorum, 58
+  compiled by, 50
+  account in, 57
+  on Partholan's landing in Ireland, 58.
+Chronology, difficulties of, 44
+  Irish, 80.
+Cin Droma Snechta, 39
+  quotations from, 43
+  on Irish immigration, 58.
+Circular forts, 165.
+Cistercians, Order of, 316.
+Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria, 155.
+Clanrickarde, Earl of, 356.
+Clare, Lord, on Irish cultivation, 638.
+Clare election, the, 649.
+Clarence, Duke of, 371.
+Clergy, state of the Catholic, in the reign of Elizabeth, 426.
+Clonmacnois, the Annals of, 60n.
+Clubs in the seventeenth century, 545
+Clynn, the annalist, 319.
+Cobhthach Cael, 90.
+Codex, containing Venerable Bede's works, 47.
+Coigley, Father, arrested and hanged, 624.
+Colgan, his labours, 52
+  mention of, 534.
+College of Physicians, establishment of, in Dublin, 543.
+Colleges, continental, established for Irish students, 535.
+Colonists--Scythians, Greeks, 68.
+Colonization, proofs of our early, 55
+  the last, 75.
+Columba, St., and the Bards, 168.
+Columbanus, St., his rule, 173
+  on papal supremacy, 176.
+Commercial status of Irish towns, 540.
+Comyn, John, Archbishop of Dublin, 291
+  his imprisonment, 295.
+Conchessa, 112.
+Confessions, St. Patrick's, 113.
+Conairé II., 103
+  collects laws, 104.
+Conn of the Hundred Battles, 101.
+Conn's half of Ireland, 102.
+Connaught, ancient, 64
+  massacre in, 297
+  three claimants for, 307
+  rising of the men, 323
+  plantation of, 475.
+Conor Mac Nessa, legend of, 127
+  death of, 128.
+Controversy, theological, of the "Three Chapters," 175.
+Cooke, Mr., publishes a pamphlet, 631.
+Coote's cruelties, 482.
+Cork Militia, cruelties of the, 626.
+Cormac, author of Saltair of Tara, 104.
+Council at Tara, 172.
+Courcy, John de, in Ulster, 286
+  his valour, 286
+  his defeat in Antrim, 288
+  his death. 298.
+Craftiné, the poet, 91.
+Crannoges, 159.
+Cranmer, Archbishop, 410.
+Cremation not usual in Erinn, 155.
+Crom Chonaill, the, 162.
+Cromlechs, 155
+  in the Phoenix Park, 161.
+Cromwell arrives in Ireland, 500
+  marches to Drogheda, 500
+  massacre at Drogheda. 501
+  letters, 502
+  his cruelties, 503
+  brutality of his soldiers, 503
+  his massacre at Wexford, 503.
+Cromwellian settlement in Ireland, 512n.
+Crovderg, Hugh, 307
+  his death, 308.
+Cruelties of English officers, 417.
+Crystède, his account of Ireland, 363.
+Cuilmenn, the, 40.
+Culdees, the, 182
+  question on the 179n.
+Curia Regis, held at Lismore, 273.
+Curragh of Kildare, 255.
+Curran, his life, 606.
+Cusack, Sir Thomas. 409
+  favours O'Neill, 421.
+Custom-house built, 638.
+
+
+D.
+
+Dá Derga, destruction of the court of, 91.
+Dagges, 413n.
+Dalriada, the Irish, 131.
+Danes, Malachy's exploits against the, 207
+  in Ireland, 204
+  cruelties of the, 190
+  divided into Black and White Gentiles, 191
+  found sea-port towns, 200
+  supposed conversion of, 204
+  pipes, 241
+  the Dalcassians fight the, 205.
+Danish fortress in Dublin, 278n
+  the first invasion, 188
+  attempted second invasion, 224
+  pirates, first raid of the, 188
+  valour, battle of Clontarf, 215.
+Dante, 385.
+D'Alton on the Round Towers, 163
+  on History, Religion, &c., of Ancient Ireland, 68n.
+Dathi, 107.
+Defective Titles, Commission of, 475.
+Derry, siege of, 558.
+Dervorgil, the Lady, 234.
+Desmond, Earls of, their ancestors and descendants, 282n.
+  Castle, 221.
+  Earl of, his witty reply, 384.
+Destruction of the idols, 121.
+Details of the atrocities of the military, 621.
+Diarmaid, Princess, pursuit of, 106.
+Diarmaid's reign, misfortunes of, 167.
+Dicho, St. Patrick's first convert, 116.
+Dinnseanchus, a topographical work, 164.
+Dog, story of a faithful, 571.
+Domhnach, Gaedhilic term for Sunday, 121.
+Domhnach Airgid, 134n.
+Dominican Order in Ireland, 318.
+Donatus, St., 178.
+Doneraile Conspiracy, 643.
+Dowdall, Dr., opposition of, 410.
+Downpatrick, battle of, 325.
+Drapier's Letters, the, 581.
+Dress of the poorer classes in Ireland in seventeenth century, 552.
+Drink of the ancient Irish, 243.
+Drinking vessels of different kinds, 243.
+Druids and their teaching, 137.
+Drumceat, first convention held at, 167.
+Drury, his cruelties, 443
+  his death, 443
+Dubhdaleithe, Book of, 44.
+Dublin in the seventeenth century, 544.
+Dublin, fashionable and prosperous, 638.
+Dubtach salutes St. Patrick at Tara, 121.
+Duke of Clarence, Viceroy, 371.
+Duke of York, viceroyalty of, 375.
+Dunboy, siege of, 460.
+Duncheadh, St., 221.
+Dundalk, battle of, 201.
+
+
+E.
+
+Early missionaries. 108.
+Eber, 84.
+Ecclesiastics, cruelties practised on, 452.
+Ecclesiastical property, confiscation of, 403.
+Edward I., reign of, 329.
+Elizabeth, Queen, accession of, 412
+  martyrs in the reign of, 416.
+Emania, Palace of, 89.
+Embargo laws, 578.
+Emmet's career, 640.
+Enda, St., 169.
+English, invasion of the, 257.
+  come to Ireland for instruction, 178.
+  quarrels of, barons, 300.
+  law refused to Ireland, 362.
+  writers, mistakes of, 361.
+  schism, real cause of, 394.
+  Irish emigrants defeat the, 584.
+Enniskilleners, cruelties of the, 559.
+Eras, three, in Irish history, 387.
+Eremon, reign of, 77
+  his death, 78
+  families descended from, 84.
+Eric, or compensation for murder, 146.
+Erinn, St. Patrick's mission to, 112.
+  ancient chronicles of, 48n.
+  pre-Noahacian colonization of, 55.
+  takings of, 57.
+  early geographical accounts of, 72.
+  social accounts of, 73.
+  ancient laws of, 144.
+  religion of, 137.
+  customs of, 139.
+  language of, 147.
+  antiquities of, 153.
+  five great roads of ancient, 101.
+Essex, Earl of, tries to colonize Ulster, 432
+  his interview with O'Neill, 456
+  his death, 433.
+Ethnea, Princess, 123.
+Eva, her marriage with Strongbow, 264.
+Exchequer of the King of England in Dublin, fourteenth century, 339.
+Exiled Irishmen, 478.
+
+
+F.
+
+Fairs, Irish, seventeenth century, 538.
+Falkland, Lord, suspected of favouring the Catholics, 473.
+Fauna, description of, 253.
+Fené-men, the, 42n.
+Fenian poems and tales, 87
+  ascribed to, 105.
+Fes, or triennial assembly, 163.
+Fethlimia, Princess, 122.
+Fiacc's Hymn, Scholiast on, 111.
+Fidh Aengussa, the Synod of, 227.
+Fifth taking of Ireland, 62,
+Fiacre, St., 177.
+Finnachta Fleadhach, the Hospitable, 171.
+Finnen, St., 162,
+Fintan, son of Bochra, the Irish historian, 40.
+Firbolg chiefs, division of Ireland by, 60
+  battles of, 62.
+Fish in Ireland, 80n
+  anecdote on, 72n.
+FitzAldelm, his viceroyalty, 285
+  his death, 299.
+FitzGerald, war between De Burgo and, 326.
+FitzGerald, war between De Vesci and, 333.
+FitzGerald, Lord Edward, joins the United Irishmen, 618
+  arrest of, 624
+  his death, 624.
+Fithil, the poet, 40.
+FitzMaurice obtains foreign aid, 441
+  his death, 443.
+FitzStephen, 260.
+FitzWilliam, Earl, viceroyalty, of 616.
+Flahertach, Abbot, and King of Munster, 194
+Flann, his Synchronisms, 49
+  synchronizes the chiefs and monarchs with the kings of Erinn, 50.
+Flann, King, his reign, 192.
+Flint used to make weapons of defence, 160.
+Flood, his life, 607.
+Flora, description of, 253.
+Foillan, St., 177.
+Fomorians, the, 60-64.
+Food of the ancient Irish, 241
+  of poorer classes in seventeenth century, 553.
+Ford of the Biscuits, battle of, 451.
+Fothadh of the Canons, 180.
+Franciscan Order in Ireland, 319
+  their patriotism, 344
+  their convents, 312
+  remarkable spring, 319
+  persecution of, 474.
+Friars Preachers, Order of, 318.
+Fridolin, St., 178.
+Froude's History of England,
+  quotations from his account of the English clergy, 440.
+Fursey, St., 177.
+
+
+G.
+
+Gall, St., 177.
+Galls, description of, 187n.
+
+Gallic Church, labours of the Irish in 177.
+Gaul, the Celts of, 73.
+  Irish saints venerated in, 183.
+Géisill, battle of, 78n.
+Genealogies, differences between, and pedigrees, 80-82.
+  Milesian, 79.
+  peculiar historical value of, 80.
+  and pedigrees, 51.
+General Assembly at Kilkenny, 485.
+Geographical accounts of Ireland, 72
+George I., 582.
+Geraldines, rising of, 1534, 390
+  ancestor of the, 333
+  their wars, 334
+  defeated at Kenmare, 325.
+Germanus, St., his Canons, 117.
+Gertrude, St., daughter of King Pepin, 177.
+Gherardini, letter from the, 384.
+Gilla Caemhain, an Irish writer, 49
+  gives annals of all times, 49.
+Ginkell, General, 568.
+Glundubh, Nial, lamentation for, 196.
+Gold ornaments, 157.
+Goldsmith, his life, 609.
+Gordon's, Mr., account of the atrocities of the military, 628, 629.
+Gormgal, St., 221.
+Gormflaith, Brian Boroimhé's wife, 210.
+Gospels, the, used by St. Patrick, 134.
+Graces, the, 474.
+Grammatica Celtica, 46.
+Granard and Staigue, 237.
+Grattan's demand for Irish independence, 590
+  his life, 607
+  entrance into the Imperial Parliament, 640.
+Grainné, pursuit of, and Diarmaid, 106.
+Greeks said to have visited Ireland, 139.
+Grey, Lord, desecrates churches, 133.
+Grey, John de, 301.
+Guaire, his hostility to St. Columba, 167.
+
+
+H.
+
+Harp, when first used as an emblem, 249.
+Haverty's History of Ireland, 221n.
+Henry II. lands in Ireland, 270
+  produces the Bull, 274
+  makes his son Lord of Ireland, 287
+  holds a synod at Cashel, 273
+  his palace, 272
+Henry IV., his reign, 368
+  his death, 294.
+Henry V., 369.
+Henry VI., Wars of the Roses, 371.
+Henry VII., 379.
+Henry VIII., 387
+  persecutions during the reign of, 401
+  Dr. Browne's letter to, 399.
+Herodotus, quotations from, 69.
+Hibernia, the first buried in, 57.
+Himantiliginos, game of, 141.
+Himerus and Iberus, 70.
+Hispania Illustrata, 70.
+Historians of Erinn, 40.
+Historians of the seventeenth century, 531.
+Historic Tales, 86.
+Historical value of genealogies, 80, 87.
+History, Ecclesiastical, 227.
+History of the Exile, 91.
+Hoggen's Butt, and Le Hogges, 272.
+Holy wells not superstitious, 143.
+Honorius III., 305.
+Howth family founded, 298n.
+Hua Alta, race of, 125.
+Hy-Figeinte (Munster), 125.
+Hy-Kinsallagh (co. Carlow), 125.
+Hymn of St. Fiacc, 117.
+  of St. Patrick, 120.
+Hy-Nials, contention between the, 223
+  palace of, 224
+  the northern, 192
+  divided into two clans, 204.
+
+
+I
+
+Idols, worship of, 88.
+Immoralities of the reformed clergy, 404.
+Imperial standard, 639.
+Inchiquin, 488
+  massacre at Cashel by, 496.
+Innocent I., 100.
+Innocent X., 490.
+Insult to the Irish peeresses, 608.
+Insurrection in Wexford, 626.
+  in Ulster, 629.
+Ireland, climate of, 80,
+  colonization of, 57.
+  article on, in Rees' Cyclopædia, 67.
+  last colonization of, 75.
+  ancient laws of, 144.
+  antiquarian remains in, 153.
+  first mill in, 165.
+  fauna and flora of, 253.
+  literary ladies in, 374.
+  persecutions in, 388.
+Ireland, ecclesiastical property forfeited in, 403.
+  plantations attempted in, 429, 432.
+  social life in, seventeenth century, 529.
+  before the Union, and after, 637.
+  early geographical account of, 72.
+  early social account of, 73.
+  Bede's account of, 79.
+  the Romans feared to invade, 95.
+  Saxon invasion of, 185.
+  first Danish invasion of, 188
+    second invasion, 224.
+  the circuit of, 197.
+  Murtough's circuit of, 224.
+  Spenser's account of, 439.
+  division of, by the Firbolg chiefs, 60.
+  receives the faith generously, 111.
+  given the name of Hibernia, 70.
+  the first writer who names, 71.
+  called Iernis, 71.
+Ireton's cruelties and miserable death, 507.
+Irish genealogies, their rise, 85.
+  keen, 141.
+  painters, 608.
+  musicians, 608.
+  MSS., 45.
+  authors, 608.
+  actors, 608.
+  missionaries, 173.
+  missionary saints, 178.
+  poetry, 180.
+  poets, 605.
+  bishops at the Council of Lateran, 289.
+  war-cries forbidden, 383.
+  pedigrees, their importance, 81.
+  people transplanted as slaves to Barbadoes, 514.
+  chronology compared with Roman, 81.
+  schools and scholars, 183.
+  alphabet, 152.
+  butter and cheese, 246.
+  fireplace, 247.
+  clothing, 250.
+  priests, their devotion to the people, 587.
+  communications with Rome, 490.
+  old, the, and the new English, 491.
+  priests, their peculiar position, 586.
+  history, materials for, 39.
+  martyr, the first, 125.
+  saints, 167.
+  religious, 221.
+Irish king sent to the Isle of Man, 225.
+  Rinuccini's account of the, 491.
+  Catholic landowners, injustice towards, 509.
+  Brigade, formation of, 574.
+Irishmen, celebrated, of the eighteenth century, 592,
+Iron Duke, 639.
+Island Magee, massacre of, 481.
+Ita, St. 169.
+
+
+J.
+
+Jackson, Rev. William, his miserable death, 616.
+James I., his reign, 463.
+James II., his reign, 555
+  arrival in Ireland, 557.
+Japhet, Milesians descended from, 84.
+Jerome's, St., statement on Ireland, 74.
+John of the Shamrocks, 434.
+John, Prince, receives title of King of Ireland, 287
+  his visit to Ireland, 292
+  second visit to Ireland, 302
+  succeeds to the English crown, 296
+  starves a bishop to death, 301
+  letter of Innocent III. to, 295
+  death, 304.
+Josephus, 68.
+Judgment of a king, 103.
+
+
+K.
+
+Kadlubeck, historian of Poland, 48.
+Keating, the historian, 531.
+  on Erinn, 43n.
+  quotations from, on the division of Ireland, 60.
+  on descent from the Scythians, 68.
+  on the battle of Bealagh Mughna, 193.
+  books referred to by, 45.
+  on colour, as a distinction of rank, 89n.
+  on battle of Dundalk, 203.
+  burial-place, 532.
+  inscription in honour of, 533.
+Kennedy, Prince of Munster, 202.
+Kildare, Earl of, and Henry VII., 384.
+  accused of treason, 384.
+  last Catholic Earl of, 387.
+  letter of, 388.
+Kildare, Monastery of, 132.
+Kilian, St., 177.
+Kincora, Brian's "Happy Family" at, 209
+  destruction of, 226.
+Knights of the Royal Branch, 125.
+Kunrann the poet, 187.
+
+
+L.
+
+Lacy, De, made Viceroy of Ireland, 289
+  endeavours to become King of Ireland, 291
+  cruel death, 293
+  family become extinct, 311.
+Lady physicians, 66.
+Laeghairé, King, holds a pagan festival, 119
+  receives St. Patrick at Tara, 120
+  his oath, 129
+  his death, 129
+  his burial, 129n.
+Lammas-day, 164.
+Landing of the Picts, 79.
+  of Partholan, 58.
+  of Ceasair, 57.
+Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, 228.
+Langton, Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury, 301.
+Language of ancient Erinn, 147
+  writing in pre-Christian Erinn, 148
+  Ogham writing, 150.
+Laws, the Brehon code of, 144
+  its peculiarities, 145.
+  of the Innocents, 172.
+  of succession, 146.
+  of ancient Erinn, 144.
+Leix, St. Patrick's visit to, 124
+  cruelties of the deputy of, 417.
+Lewis, Sir G.C., 85n.
+Lhind, quotations from, 95n.
+Lia Fail, 76
+  or Stone of Destiny, 165
+  mention of, 165.
+Life, social, previous to the English invasion, 237.
+Limerick, siege of, by Ireton. 506
+  by William of Orange, 566
+  by Ginkell, 571.
+Linen trade, 251, 540.
+Literary ladies in Ireland, 374
+Literary men of the seventeenth century, 531.
+Livin, St., 178.
+Londres, Henry de, made Governor of Ireland, 306
+  surnamed Scorch Villain, 306.
+Louvain collection, 46
+  friars, 52.
+Loyola, St. Ignatius, 120n.
+Lucas, his life, 607.
+
+
+M.
+
+Macaille, St., 131.
+MacArt's, Cormac, Saltair. 40
+  his reign, 103
+  his death, 105.
+Macaulay, Lays of Ancient Rome, 247n.
+Maccallin, St., 221.
+MacCarthy, King of Desmond, 229.
+MacCarthy More murdered at Tralee, 357.
+MacCullinan, Cormac, priest and king, 192
+  his reign, 193
+  his death, 193n.
+MacCumhaill, Finn, 105
+  his courtship with the Princess Ailbhé, 105.
+MacFirbis, quotations from, 54, 58
+  his book on pedigrees, 85
+  his pedigrees of the ancient Irish and Anglo-Norman families, 50
+  murdered, 51.
+MacGilluire, Coarb of St. Patrick, 315.
+MacLiag, the poet, 210n.
+MacMurrough, Dermod, King of Leinster, 233
+  attends synod at Mellifont, 234
+  his interview with Henry II., 258
+  Henry grants him letters-patent, 259
+  his death, 266.
+MacMurrough, Art, 367
+  his death, 370.
+MacNally, advocate of the United Irishmen, 618.
+Macutenius on St. Patrick's Canons, 118.
+Maelmuire, "servant of Mary," 227n.
+Maelruain, St., of Tallaght, 179.
+Magna Charta, 305.
+Magog and his colony, 68
+  his descendants, 84.
+Magrath, Miler, the apostate, 78.
+Mahoun, brother to Brian, 204
+  is murdered, 206.
+Mailduf, St., 178.
+Malachy, St., 229
+  visits Rome, 231
+  death of, 231.
+Malachy II., 198
+  exploits against the Danes, 208
+  wins his "collar of gold," 208
+  Brian deposes, 209
+  his death, 218.
+Manners and Customs of Ancient Greece, 141.
+Marco Polo, 46.
+Marisco, De, his treachery, 311
+  his death, 312.
+Mary, Queen, 410.
+Massacre of a prelate, priest, and friars, 402
+  of a bishop, 466
+  at Wexford-bridge, 628
+  at Cashel, 496
+  at Wexford, 503
+  of three priests, 445
+  of three Franciscans, 453
+  at Drogheda, 501
+  at Mullamast, 438
+  at Fort del Ore, 444
+  at Scullabogue House, 627.
+Mellifont, Abbey of, 231
+  Synod at, 231
+  founded, 317.
+Meloughlin, King of Meath, 191.
+Metalogicus, the, of John of Salisbury, 275n.
+Milcho, St. Patrick's master in captivity, 116.
+Milesian genealogies, 84, 88.
+Milesians, landing of the, 75
+  they conquer, 77.
+Milford Haven, 292.
+Milidh, fleet of the sons of, entrance into Ireland, 75.
+Mississippi Scheme, 584.
+Mochta, St., 151.
+Moira, Lord, exposes the cruelty of the yeomanry, 619.
+Moling, St., 109.
+Monastery of Kildare, St. Brigid's, 132.
+  Kilcrea, 321.
+  of Bobbio, 176.
+  of Timoleague, 321,
+  of Tallaght, 179.
+  of St. Columbkille, 293.
+  of Cluain Eidhneach, 179.
+  of Donegal, 321
+    desolation and plunder of, 189.
+  of Clonbroney, 188n.
+  of St. Columba, 230, 234.
+  of Ibrach (Ivragh), Kerry, 230.
+  of Lismore, 226.
+  of St. Kevin, 235.
+  of Dunbrody, 289.
+  of St. Peter's of Lemene, near Chambery, 381.
+  of Clonfert, 170.
+  of Mellifont, 234.
+  of Clonmacnois, 221.
+  Irrelagh (Muckross), 322.
+  Clonmel, 322.
+  Drogheda, 322.
+  Cill-Achaidh, 374.
+Montgomery, 584.
+Montmarisco, 237
+  becomes a monk, 289
+Monroe, 493.
+Monroe, Henry, 629.
+Moore, his History, 37
+  his partiality for Malachy, 209
+  on religion, 111
+  his life, 605.
+Morann the good, and his collar of gold, 97.
+MSS. preserved in Trinity College, 44.
+  of ancient Irish history, 39n.
+  Celtic, preserved in Belgium, 45.
+  Continental, 45n.
+  in British Museum, 46.
+  Stowe collection of, 45n.
+MSS., Latin, 46.
+  Loftus, 415.
+  Burgundian, 46.
+  legendary and historical, of Irish history, 39.
+Muckross Abbey, 322.
+Muircheartach, first Christian king of Ireland, 131.
+Muircheartach, his circuit of Ireland, 197
+  killed by Blacaire, 197.
+Murphy, Father, killed, 628.
+Murrough's game of chess, 211.
+Murtough of the Leathern Cloaks, 196.
+
+
+N.
+
+Neamhnach, the well, 164.
+Napier's, Lady, letter respecting the tenantry of Duke of Leinster, 623.
+Nathi, King, 116.
+National joy at the restoration of Catholic worship, 464.
+Nemedh, arrival of, 59.
+Nemenians, emigration of, 60, 62.
+Nemthur, St. Patrick's birthplace, 110.
+Nennius, 69.
+Nesta, her beauty and infamy, 259.
+Nestor, 48.
+Netterville, John, Archbishop of Armagh, 318.
+Newspapers in seventeenth century, 545.
+Newtownbutler, engagement at, 595.
+Nial of the Nine Hostages, 106.
+Nial Black Knee, 194.
+Nicholas, St., College of, 51.
+Niebuhr, his theory of history, 82.
+  on the story of Tarpeia, 82n.
+  on learning by verse, 86.
+Noah, genealogies from, 58.
+Normans, their arrival in Ireland, 257.
+  their luxurious habits, 272.
+  Cambrensis' account of them, 277.
+  the, ridicule the Irish nobles, 293.
+  feuds of the, in Ireland, 300.
+  their treachery, 311.
+  Viceroys, 285.
+Nuada of the Silver Hand, 61
+  his privy council, 64.
+Numa Pompilius, 89.
+
+
+O.
+
+O'Brien, Turlough, Monarch of Ireland, 222
+  his death, 223.
+O'Brien, Donnell, King of Thomond, 271.
+O'Briens, from whom descended, 84.
+O'Clery, Michael, one of the Four Masters, 52
+  his literary labours and piety, 54
+  his first work, Trias Thaumaturgas, 52
+  rewrote the Book of Invasions, 54
+  patronized by Fearghal O'Gara, 53.
+O'Connell, Daniel, in the House of Parliament, 647
+  obtains Catholic Emancipation, 647
+  represented Ireland, 641
+  his life, 642
+  his maiden speech, 643
+  Doneraile Conspiracy, 643.
+O'Curry, when Moore visited, 37
+  his opinion of early Irish civilization, 104
+  his labours, 38
+  on Erinn, 48n
+  on Keating's statement of Irish descent, 68
+  on Cormac's writings, 104n
+  on the Bachall Isu, 115
+  on Brehon Laws, 145
+  on Irish saints, 178
+  on musical instruments, 250
+  on Irish martyrs, 416.
+O'Connor, Hugh, 308.
+  Felim, 309, 313.
+  of Offaly, 339.
+  Roderic, 235.
+  expelled from Offaly, 408
+    returns to Ireland, 411.
+  Margaret, a literary lady, 374.
+  Nuala, 321
+    establishes the monastery of Franciscans at Donegal, 321
+    her death, 322.
+  Arthur, 624.
+O'Connor Faly, Margaret, visits England, 411.
+O'Daly, the poet, 303.
+O'Donnell, Hugh, entertainment of, at Windsor, 387.
+O'Donnell, Hugh Roe, his treacherous capture, 447
+  leaves Ireland, 459.
+O'Donnell More, died at Assaroe, 313.
+O'Donovan, Dr., quotations from, on Brehon laws, 144.
+Odran, St., 147.
+O'Duffy, Catholicus, 304.
+O'Duffy, Donnell, 233.
+O'Flaherty, his Chronology, 81.
+Ogham writing, 149.
+Oghma, Danann prince, invented the writing called Ogham Craove, 76.
+Ogygia of the Greeks, 72.
+Ogygia, account in, of ancient writings, 148n.
+O'Hagan, the Abbot Imar, 229.
+O'Hartigan, Kenneth, 221.
+O'Hurly, Dr., 453.
+Ollamh Fodhla, 89.
+Ollamh, office and qualifications of a, 83, 86.
+O'Loughlin, Donnell, 226.
+O'Loughlins of Tyrone, 231.
+O'More, Rory Oge, 437
+  Roger, 480.
+O'Neill, Donough, 207
+O'Neill, Shane, 409
+  feared by the English, 418
+  attempts to poison him, 419
+  Lord Chancellor Cusack persuades him to forget the poisoning, 420
+  he is killed treacherously, 422.
+O'Neill, Hugh, marriage of, 450
+  his insurrection, 454
+  defeats Bagnal, 455
+  his interview with Essex, 456
+  attempts to assassinate him, 458
+  his power decreases, 461
+  plot to entrap him, 468
+  his flight and death in Rome, 469.
+O'Neill, Sir Phelim, 480
+  marches against Monroe, 493.
+O'Neill, Owen Roe, 480.
+O'Neill, Hugh Boy, slain in 1283, 332.
+O'Neill, Donnell, 198,
+Ormonde, the Duke of. 483
+  his intrigues, 492.
+Orpheus, first writer who mention Ireland, 71.
+Orr, Mr., his trial and death, 620.
+O'Toole, St. Laurence, Archbishop of Dublin, 234
+  his genealogy, 235
+  Abbot of St. Kevin's monastery, at Glendalough, 235
+  his patriotism, 267
+  his journey to France, 290
+  sent as ambassador to Henry II., 281
+  his death, 290.
+Oirdnidhe, Hugh, the legislator, 179.
+
+
+P.
+
+Palatines, the, 580.
+Palladius, St., mission of, 109.
+Palliums, 231.
+Partholan, landing of, 58.
+Partholyan, English traditions of, 71.
+Patrick, St., his birthplace, 112
+  visits Tara, 120
+  his successful preaching, 123
+  relic of his hand, 134
+  his copy of the Gospels, 134
+  his burial-place, 133
+  devotion of his servant, 125
+  his death, 126
+  his vision, 113
+  his prayer for Ireland, 135
+  destruction of the idols, 121
+  his Hymn, 120
+  his captivity, 113.
+Peep-o'-Day Boys and Defenders, 613.
+Pelasgian remains, 158.
+Pembroke, Earl of, plots against, 311.
+Penal Laws, enactment of, 576.
+Perrot, Sir John, 417.
+Petrie, Dr., quotations from, on Brehon laws, 115.
+Petty, Sir William, 541.
+Philosophical Society, the Dublin, 546.
+Phoenician colonization of Spain, 70
+  circumnavigation of Africa, 69.
+Physicians, establishment of their college in Dublin, 543
+Picts, landing of the, 79.
+Pitt, William, 613.
+Plantation of Connaught, 510
+  of Ulster, 469.
+Plowden's account of the atrocities of the military, 602.
+Plunkett, Dr., his trial and execution, 528.
+Plunkett, Lord, in parliament, 640.
+Poyning's Parliament, 379
+  law, and its effects, 382.
+Presentation Order, 593n.
+Priests, cruel massacre of, 496
+  their efforts to save Protestants, 483.
+Protestant Church, state of, 425.
+
+
+Q.
+
+Quipus used as a register by the Indians, 150.
+
+
+R.
+
+Raith Beóthaigh (Rath Beagh), an ancient burial-place, 78.
+Raleigh, Sir Walter, 439.
+Rath at Leighlin, 200
+  of the Synods, 165.
+Reformation, attempts to introduce the, 415.
+Reformed clergy, preaching of, 405.
+Religious houses and their founders, 316.
+Remonstrance to the Holy See, 341.
+Reports on the state of Ireland, 648
+Richard I., accession of, 294.
+Richard II., visits Ireland, 365.
+Rinuccini, 489n
+  lands at Kenmare, 490
+  reception in Kilkenny, 491
+  returns to Italy, 497.
+Rock of Cashel, 193.
+Rodanus, St., 162.
+Romantic Tales, 91.
+Rose Tavern, 544.
+Rotundo built, 638.
+Round Tower controversy, 153.
+Rowan, A. Hamilton, 615
+Rufus, William, boast of, 257.
+
+
+S.
+
+Sacramental test, 579.
+Saltair of Temair, 41.
+  na-Rann, 41.
+  of Cashel, 44.
+  of Cormac, 41.
+San José, arrival of, 443.
+Saviour's, St., Dublin, 318.
+Schomberg's camp, disease in, 560.
+Scots, 69.
+Scraball, 164.
+Scythian colonists, 68
+  Irish claim descent from, 65.
+Seanchaidhé, poet, 83n.
+Seanchus Mor, language of, 145
+  translator of, 145.
+Sedulus, St., 178.
+Segetius, priest, 115.
+Senchan Torpéist, 40.
+Severe winters and pestilences in Ireland, 223.
+Sheehy, Father Nicholas, judicial murder of, 589.
+Sheridan, his life, 608.
+Shrines of the three saints, 133.
+Sidney's official account of Ireland, 423
+  his interview with Granuaile, 434.
+Silken Thomas, his rebellion, 391
+  his execution, 392.
+Silver shields, 89.
+Simnel crowned in Dublin, 380.
+Simon, Rabbi, 68.
+Sitric arrival of, 195
+  treachery of, 201.
+Smith, Adam, on Ireland, 603.
+Smithfield, origin of the name, 241n.
+South Sea Bubble, 581.
+Spenser's Castle, 423
+  grandson, 513
+  description of Irish misery, 439.
+Sreng, warrior, 62.
+Statements in our annals confirmed by a Jewish writer, 68.
+Statute of Kilkenny and its effects, 359.
+Stierman, 48.
+Sterne, Dr., 544.
+Strafford, Earl of, 77.
+Strongbow, Earl of Clare, arrives in Ireland, 263
+  genealogy, 263
+  marriage of, and Eva, 264
+  proclaims himself king of Leinster, 266
+  returns to England. 268
+  death of, 282
+  his seal, 284.
+Succession, law of, 146.
+Superstitions, Irish, 142.
+Swan, Major, 624.
+Swift, Dean, 581
+  his writings, 581
+  his life, 607.
+Swords and chariots of ancient Ireland, 167.
+
+
+T.
+
+Tacitus, 95.
+Táin bó Chuailgné, the expedition of, 92
+  the story of, 93.
+Talbot, Archbishop, 525.
+Tanaiste, 147.
+Tandy, Napper, 612.
+Tara, account of ancient, 163
+  site of, 41
+  cursing of, 162.
+Taverns and coffee-houses, 544.
+Theatre, the first, in Dublin, 547.
+Thomas, St., of Canterbury, 266.
+Thompson, Charles, Secretary of Congress, 601.
+Threnodia Hiberno-Catholica, 511.
+Tighernach's Annals, 49
+  uses the dominical letter, 49
+  mentions the lunar cycle, 49
+  quotes historical writers, 49
+  his home, 48.
+Tighearnmas, 88.
+Timoleague, Monastery of, 321.
+Tithes introduced into Ireland, 232.
+Tom the Devil, 622.
+Tone, Theobald Wolfe, 614.
+Tradition, its use in history, 40.
+Trias Thaumaturgas, 52.
+Trinity College, foundation of, 462.
+Tuatha Dé Dananns, fifth taking of Ireland by, 61
+  their skill as artificers, 61
+  battles of, 62, 75
+  dynasty passed away, 76.
+Tuathal, reign of, 98.
+Tuite, Richard (the great baron), 333.
+Turgesius the Dane, 189.
+Tussach, St, 126.
+
+
+U.
+
+Ugainé Mor, reign of, 90.
+Ultan, St., 171.
+Union, the, 632.
+United Irishmen, the, 618.
+Usher, Archbishop, 534
+  his indifference about orders, 536
+  on St. Patrick's Canons, 117
+  as an historian, 534.
+Usher's Island, 318n.
+
+
+V.
+
+Veto, the, 643.
+Victorious, 113n.
+Vinegar Hill, the battle of, 627.
+Volunteers, the, 591.
+Virgilius, St., 178.
+Vivian, Cardinal, 286
+  entombs the relics of the three saints anew, 294.
+
+
+W.
+
+Warbeck's plot, 381.
+Ware, 415.
+Ward, Father, 52.
+Waterford rugs, 539.
+Wellesley, Chief Secretary, 640.
+Wesley, John, his remark about Moira House, 318n.
+Wheat planted early, 243.
+White and Black Gentiles, 191.
+Whiteboys, the, 584.
+Wilde, Sir W., 79n.
+Wives purchased in Erinn, 43
+  exchanged, 229.
+Words and Places, 58n.
+Wood's halfpence, 581.
+Wren, veneration for the, 140.
+
+
+Y.
+
+Yeomanry, fearful cruelties of the, 630.
+York, house of, 371
+  Duke of, made Viceroy, 375.
+Yorkists, popularity in Ireland, 376.
+  insurrection of the, 378.
+Youghal, foundation of Convent of, 318
+  College of, 378
+  burned down, 443.
+Young's remedy for Irish disaffection, 585.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF IRELAND
+FROM AD 400 TO 1800***
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+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" />
+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of An Illustrated History of Ireland from AD 400 to 1800, by Mary Frances Cusack</title>
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+<body>
+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, An Illustrated History of Ireland from AD 400
+to 1800, by Mary Frances Cusack, Illustrated by Henry Doyle</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: An Illustrated History of Ireland from AD 400 to 1800</p>
+<p>Author: Mary Frances Cusack</p>
+<p>Release Date: January 22, 2005  [eBook #14754]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF IRELAND FROM AD 400 TO 1800***</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3>E-text prepared by Project Rastko, Zoran Stefanovic,<br />
+    Nenad Petrovic, Susan Skinner,<br />
+    and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h2>AN ILLUSTRATED</h2>
+<h1>HISTORY OF IRELAND</h1>
+
+<h2>From AD 400 to 1800</h2>
+<br />
+
+<h3>Mary Frances Cusack</h3>
+
+<h4>'The Nun of Kenmare'</h4>
+
+<br />
+<h4>Illustrations by</h4>
+
+<h4>Henry Doyle</h4>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<h5>First published in 1868.</h5>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h4>TO THE</h4>
+
+<h3>RIGHT HONORABLE JUDGE O'HAGAN,</h3>
+
+<h4>AND TO</h4>
+
+<h3>HIS SISTER MARY,</h3>
+
+<h5>FOUNDRESS AND ABBESS OF SAINT CLARE'S CONVENT, KENMARE,</h5>
+
+<h4>THIS VOLUME</h4>
+
+<h4>IS AFFECTIONATELY AND RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED</h4>
+
+<h3>By</h3>
+
+<h3>The Author.</h3>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>List of Full-Page Illustrations</h2>
+
+<h3>ETC.</h3>
+
+<ul style="text-align: center"><li><a href="#The_Emigrants_Farewell">THE EMIGRANTS' FAREWELL</a></li>
+<li><a href="#Specimens_from_manuscripts">SPECIMENS OF ANCIENT IRISH MANUSCRIPTS</a></li>
+<li><a href="#St_Patrick_going_to_Tara">ST. PATRICK GOING TO TARA</a></li>
+<li><a href="#King_Brian_Boroimheacute_killed_by_the_Viking">KING BRIAN BOROIMHE KILLED BY THE VIKING</a></li>
+<li><a href="#Marriage_of_Eva_and_Strongbow">MARRIAGE OF EVA AND STRONGBOW</a></li>
+<li><a href="#Interview_between_MacMurrough_and_the_Officers_of_Richard_the_Strong">INTERVIEW BETWEEN MACMURROUGH AND THE OFFICERS OF RICHARD II.</a></li>
+<li><a href="#Interview_between_Essex_and_ONeill">INTERVIEW BETWEEN ESSEX AND O'NEILL</a></li>
+<li><a href="#Massacre_at_Drogheda">MASSACRE AT DROGHEDA</a></li>
+<li><a href="#Ireton_condemning_the_Bishop_of_Limerick">IRETON CONDEMNING THE BISHOP OF LIMERICK</a></li>
+<li><a href="#Grattan_demanding_Irish_Independence">GRATTAN'S DEMAND FOR IRISH INDEPENDENCE</a></li>
+<li><a href="#OConnell_refusing_to_take_the_Oath">O'CONNELL REFUSING TO TAKE THE OATH</a></li>
+<li><a href="#Ireland_and_America">IRELAND AND AMERICA</a></li></ul>
+
+<br />
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<br />
+<h2>Table of Contents</h2>
+
+<table summary="table of contents" align="center">
+<tr><td align="left"> <a href="#CHAPTER_I"><b>CHAPTER I.</b></a></td><td align="left"> <a href="#CHAPTER_XX"><b>CHAPTER XX.</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"> <a href="#CHAPTER_II"><b>CHAPTER II.</b></a></td><td align="left"> <a href="#CHAPTER_XXI"><b>CHAPTER XXI.</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"> <a href="#CHAPTER_III"><b>CHAPTER III.</b></a></td><td align="left"> <a href="#CHAPTER_XXII"><b>CHAPTER XXII.</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"> <a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><b>CHAPTER IV.</b></a></td><td align="left"> <a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII"><b>CHAPTER XXIII.</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"> <a href="#CHAPTER_V"><b>CHAPTER V.</b></a></td><td align="left"> <a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV"><b>CHAPTER XXIV.</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"> <a href="#CHAPTER_VI"><b>CHAPTER VI.</b></a></td><td align="left"> <a href="#CHAPTER_XXV"><b>CHAPTER XXV.</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"> <a href="#CHAPTER_VII"><b>CHAPTER VII.</b></a></td><td align="left"> <a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI"><b>CHAPTER XXVI.</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"> <a href="#CHAPTER_VIII"><b>CHAPTER VIII.</b></a></td><td align="left"> <a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII"><b>CHAPTER XXVII.</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"> <a href="#CHAPTER_IX"><b>CHAPTER IX.</b></a></td><td align="left"> <a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII"><b>CHAPTER XXVIII.</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"> <a href="#CHAPTER_X"><b>CHAPTER X.</b></a></td><td align="left"> <a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX"><b>CHAPTER XXIX.</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"> <a href="#CHAPTER_XI"><b>CHAPTER XI.</b></a></td><td align="left"> <a href="#CHAPTER_XXX"><b>CHAPTER XXX.</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"> <a href="#CHAPTER_XII"><b>CHAPTER XII.</b></a></td><td align="left"> <a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI"><b>CHAPTER XXXI.</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"> <a href="#CHAPTER_XIII"><b>CHAPTER XIII.</b></a></td><td align="left"> <a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII"><b>CHAPTER XXXII.</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"> <a href="#CHAPTER_XIV"><b>CHAPTER XIV.</b></a></td><td align="left"> <a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIII"><b>CHAPTER XXXIII.</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"> <a href="#CHAPTER_XV"><b>CHAPTER XV.</b></a></td><td align="left"> <a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIV"><b>CHAPTER XXXIV.</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"> <a href="#CHAPTER_XVI"><b>CHAPTER XVI.</b></a></td><td align="left"> <a href="#CHAPTER_XXXV"><b>CHAPTER XXXV.</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"> <a href="#CHAPTER_XVII"><b>CHAPTER XVII.</b></a></td><td align="left"> <a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVI"><b>CHAPTER XXXVI.</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"> <a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII"><b>CHAPTER XVIII.</b></a></td><td align="left"> <a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVII"><b>CHAPTER XXXVII.</b></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"> <a href="#CHAPTER_XIX"><b>CHAPTER XIX.</b></a></td><td align="left"><a href="#INDEX"><b>INDEX.</b></a></td></tr>
+</table>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><a name="Page_3"></a>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/a.jpg" width="400" height="99" alt="Preface" title="" />
+</center>
+
+<a name="PREFACE"></a><h2>PREFACE</h2>
+
+<h3>TO THE SECOND EDITION.</h3>
+
+<img src="images/b.jpg" width="150" height="167" align="left" alt="A" title="" />
+<p> demand for a Second Edition of the &quot;Illustrated History of Ireland,&quot;
+within three months from the date of the publication of the First,
+consisting of 2,000 copies, is a matter of no little gratification to
+the writer, both personally and relatively. It is a triumphant proof
+that Irishmen are not indifferent to Irish history&mdash;a fault of which
+they have been too frequently accused; and as many of the clergy have
+been most earnest and generous in their efforts to promote the
+circulation of the work, it is gratifying to be able to adduce this fact
+also in reply to the imputations, even lately cast upon the
+ecclesiastics of Ireland, of deficiency in cultivated tastes, and of
+utter neglect of literature.</p>
+
+<p>Nor, as a Catholic and a religious, can I fail to express my respectful
+gratitude and thankfulness for the warm approbation which the work has
+received from so many distinguished prelates. A few of these
+approbations will be found at the commencement of the volume&mdash;it was
+impossible to find space for all. It may be, however, well to observe,
+that several of the English Catholic bishops have not been less kind and
+earnest in their commendations, though I have not asked their permission
+to publish their communications. Some extracts are given from the
+reviews, which also are necessarily condensed and limited; and, as the
+Most Rev. Dr. Derry has observed, the press has been most favorable in
+its criticisms. Even those who differed from the present writer<a name="Page_4"></a> <i>toto
+coelo</i>, both in religion and politics, have not been less commendatory,
+and, in some instances, have shown the writer more than ordinary
+courtesy.</p>
+
+<p>Nor should I omit to acknowledge the encouragement which so many
+gentlemen, both English and Irish, have given to the work, and the
+assistance they have afforded in promoting its circulation. In a
+circular, quite recently published in London, and addressed to the
+members of a society for the republication of English medi&aelig;val
+literature, gentlemen are called on by the secretary, even at the risk,
+as he himself admits, of &quot;boring them, by asking them to canvass for
+orders, like a bookseller's traveller,&quot; to assist in obtaining
+additional subscribers to the series, and he requests every subscriber
+&quot;to get another at once.&quot; I am happy to say that, without such
+solicitation on our part, many Irish gentlemen have done us this
+kindness, and have obtained not one, but many orders from their friends.
+I confidently hope that many more will exert themselves in a similar
+manner, for the still wider dissemination of the Second Edition. It is a
+time, beyond all others, when Irish history should be thoroughly known
+and carefully studied. It is a disgrace to Irishmen not to know their
+history perfectly, and this with no mere outline view, but completely
+and in detail. It is very much to be regretted that Irish history is not
+made a distinct study in schools and colleges, both in England and
+Ireland. What should be thought of a school where English history was
+not taught? and is Irish history of less importance? I have had very
+serious letters complaining of this deficiency from the heads of several
+colleges, where our history has been introduced as a class-book.<a name="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1"><sup>[A]</sup></a></p>
+<a name="Page_5"></a>
+<p>There are some few Irish Catholics who appear to think that Irishmen
+should not study their history&mdash;some because they imagine that our
+history is a painful subject; others, because they imagine that its
+record of wrongs cannot fail to excite violent feelings, which may lead
+to violent deeds. I cannot for one moment admit that our history is
+either so very sorrowful, or that we have cause to do anything but
+rejoice in it. If we consider temporal prosperity to be the <i>summum
+bonum</i> of our existence, no doubt we may say with truth, like the
+Apostle, that of all peoples we are &quot;most miserable;&quot; but we have again
+and again renounced temporal advantages, and discarded temporal
+prosperity, to secure eternal gain; and we have the promise of the
+Eternal Truth that we shall attain all that we have desired. Our
+history, then, far from being a history of failures, has been a history
+of the most triumphant success&mdash;of the most brilliant victories. I
+believe the Irish are the only nation on earth of whom it can be truly
+said that they have never apostatized nationally. Even the most Catholic
+countries of the Continent have had their periods of religious
+revolution, however temporary. Ireland has been deluged with blood again
+and again; she has been defeated in a temporal point of view again and
+again; but spiritually&mdash;NEVER! Is this a history to be ashamed of? Is
+this a history to regret? Is this a history to lament? Is it not rather
+a history over which the angels in heaven rejoice, and of which the
+best, the holiest, and the noblest of the human race may justly be
+proud?</p>
+
+<p>On the second count, I shall briefly say that if Irish history were
+taught in our Irish colleges and schools to children while still young,
+and while the teacher could impress on his charge the duty of
+forgiveness of enemies, of patient endurance, of<a name="Page_6"></a> the mighty power of
+moral force, which has effected even for Ireland at times what more
+violent measures have failed to accomplish, then there could be no
+danger in the study. Perhaps the greatest human preservative of the
+faith, for those whose lot may be cast hereafter in other lands, would
+be to inculcate a great reverence for our history, and a <i>true</i>
+appreciation of its value. The taunt of belonging to a despised nation,
+has led many a youth of brilliant promise to feel ashamed of his
+country, and almost inevitably to feel ashamed of his faith. A properly
+directed study of Irish history would tend much to remove this danger.
+During the debate on the Irish Church question, Mr. Maguire, M.P. for
+Cork, significantly remarked on the effect produced by the &quot;deliberate
+exclusion&quot; of any instruction in Irish history from National schools. It
+does seem curious that national history should be a forbidden subject in
+National schools, and this fact makes the appellation of &quot;National&quot; seem
+rather a misnomer. The result of this deliberate exclusion was
+graphically described by the honorable member. The youth comes forth
+educated, and at a most impressible age he reads for the first time the
+history of his country, and burns with indignant desire to avenge her
+many wrongs. The consequences are patent to all. It is, then, for the
+advantage of England, as well as of Ireland, that Irish history should
+be made the earliest study of Irish youth; nor is it of less importance
+that Irish history should be thoroughly known by Englishmen. It is the
+duty of every Englishman who has a vote to give, to make himself
+acquainted with the subjects on which his representative will give, in
+his name, that final decision which makes his political opinion the law
+of the land. I suppose no one will deny that the Irish Question is the
+question of the day. The prosperity of England, as well as the
+prosperity of Ireland, is involved in it. No educated man, however
+humble his station, has a right to assist in returning a member to
+Parliament without clearly comprehending the principles of his
+representative. But unless he has some comprehension of the principles
+themselves, it is of little use for him to record his vote. I do not say
+that every English voter is bound to study Irish history in detail, but
+I do say that, at the present day, he is bound to know what the<a name="Page_7"></a> Irish
+themselves demand from England; and if he considers their demands
+reasonable, he should record his vote only for those who will do their
+utmost to obtain the concessions demanded. A man is unworthy of the
+privilege of voting, if he is deficient either in the intellect or the
+inclination to understand the subject on which he votes.</p>
+
+<p>But it is of still more importance that members of Parliament should
+read&mdash;and not only read, but carefully study&mdash;the history of Ireland.
+Irishmen have a right to <i>demand</i> that they shall do so. If they
+undertake to legislate for us, they are bound in conscience and in
+honour to know what we require, to know our past and our present state.
+Englishmen pride themselves on their honour; but it is neither honorable
+to undertake to govern without a thorough knowledge of the governed, or
+to misrepresent their circumstances to others whose influence may decide
+their future.</p>
+
+<p>It was manifest from the speech of her Majesty's minister, on the night
+of the all-important division on the Irish Church question, that he
+either had not studied Irish history, or that he had forgotten its
+details. If his statements are correctly reported by the press, they are
+inconceivably wild. It may be said that the circumstances in which he
+found himself obliged him to speak as he did, but is this an excuse
+worthy of such an honorable position? The Normans, he is reported to
+have said, conquered the land in Ireland, but in England they conquered
+completely. The most cursory acquaintance with Irish history would have
+informed the right honorable gentleman, that the Normans did <i>not</i>
+conquer the land in Ireland&mdash;no man has as yet been rash enough to
+assert that they conquered the people. The Normans obtained possession
+of a small portion, a very small portion of Irish land; and if the
+reader will glance at the map of the Pale, which will be appended to
+this edition, at the proper place, he will see precisely what extent of
+country the English held for a few hundred years. Even that portion they
+could scarcely have been said to have conquered, for they barely held it
+from day to day at the point of the sword. Morally Ireland was never
+conquered, for he would be a bold man who dared to say that the Irish
+people ever submitted nationally to the English Church<a name="Page_8"></a> established by
+law. In fact, so rash does the attempt seem even to those who most
+desire to make it, that they are fain to find refuge and consolation in
+the supposed introduction of Protestantism into Ireland by St. Patrick,
+a thousand years and more before that modern phase of religious thought
+appeared to divide the Christian world.</p>
+
+<p>But I deny that Ireland has ever been really conquered; and even should
+the most sanguinary suggestions proposed in a nineteenth-century serial
+be carried out, I am certain she could not be. Ireland has never been
+permanently subdued by Dane or Norman, Dutchman or Saxon; nor has she
+ever been <i>really</i> united to England. A man is surely not united to a
+jailer because he is bound to him by an iron chain which his jailer has
+forged for his safe keeping. This is not union; and the term &quot;United
+Kingdom&quot; is in fact a most miserable misnomer. Unity requires something
+more than a mere material approximation. I believe it to be <i>possible</i>
+that England and Ireland may become united; and if ever this should be
+accomplished, let no man forget that the first link in the golden chain
+issued from the hands of the right honorable member for South
+Lancashire, when he proposed equality of government on religious
+questions&mdash;the first step towards that equality of government which
+alone can effect a moral union of the two countries. It might be
+treasonable to hint that some noble-hearted men, who loved their country
+not wisely but too well, and who are paying in lifelong anguish the
+penalty of their patriotism, had anything to do with the formation of
+this golden chain&mdash;so I shall not hint it.</p>
+
+<p>I believe the Fenian movement, at one time scouted as a mere ebullition,
+at another time treated as a dangerous and terrible rebellion, has done
+at least this one good to England&mdash;it has compelled honest and honorable
+men to inquire each for himself what are the grievances of Ireland, and
+why she continues disaffected to English rule. For men who are honest
+and honorable to make such inquiries, is the first step, and a certain
+step, towards their remedy; and as I glanced down the list of the <i>ayes</i>
+in the division, I could see the names of men who, in England, have been
+distinguished during years for their private and public virtues, and who
+have been lavish in their charities whenever their own countrymen
+required their assistance.</p>
+<a name="Page_9"></a>
+<p>There can be little doubt that a new era has dawned upon old Erinn's
+shores. It remains to be proved if her sons shall be as faithful in
+prosperity as they have been in adversity. It remains to be proved, if
+opportunities are afforded us of obtaining higher intellectual culture
+without the danger of the moral deterioration which might have attended
+that culture under other circumstances, whether we shall avail ourselves
+of them to the full. May we not hope that Ireland will become once more
+famous both for learning and sanctity. The future of our nation is in
+the hands of the Irish hierarchy. No government dare refuse anything
+which they may demand perseveringly and unitedly. The people who have
+been guided by them, and saved by them for so many centuries, will
+follow as they lead. If their tone of intellectual culture is elevated,
+the people will become elevated also; and we shall hear no more of those
+reproaches, which are a disgrace to those who utter them, rather than to
+those of whom they are uttered. Let our people be taught to appreciate
+something higher than a mere ephemeral literature; let them be taught to
+take an interest in the antiquities and the glorious past of their
+nation; and then let them learn the history of other peoples and of
+other races. A high ecclesiastical authority has declared recently that
+&quot;ecclesiastics do not cease to be citizens,&quot; and that they do not
+consider anything which affects the common weal of their country is
+remote from their duty. The clergy of the diocese of Limerick, headed by
+their Dean, and, it must be presumed, with the sanction of their Bishop,
+have given a tangible proof that they coincide in opinion with his Grace
+the Archbishop of Westminster. The letter addressed to Earl Grey by that
+prelate, should be in the hands of every Irishman; and it is with no
+ordinary gratification that we acknowledge the kindness and
+condescension of his Grace in favouring us with an early copy of it.</p>
+
+<p>This letter treats of the two great questions of the day with admirable
+discretion. As I hope that every one who reads these pages possesses a
+copy of the pamphlet, I shall merely draw attention to two paragraphs in
+it: one in which Fenianism is treated of in that rational spirit which
+appears to have been completely lost sight of in the storm of angry
+discussion which<a name="Page_10"></a> it has excited. On this subject his Grace writes: &quot;It
+would be blindness not to see, and madness to deny, that we have entered
+into another crisis in the relation of England and Ireland, of which
+'98, '28, and '48 were precursors;&quot; and he argues with clearness and
+authority, that when Englishmen once have granted justice to Ireland,
+Ireland will cease to accuse England of injustice.</p>
+
+<p>To one other paragraph in this remarkable letter, I shall briefly
+allude: &quot;I do not think Englishmen are enough aware of the harm some
+among us do by a contemptuous, satirical, disrespectful, defiant,
+language in speaking of Ireland and the Irish people.&quot; From peculiar
+circumstances, the present writer has had more than ordinary
+opportunities of verifying the truth of this statement. The wound caused
+by a sarcastic expression may often fester far longer than the wound
+caused by a hasty blow. The evil caused by such language is by no means
+confined entirely to Protestants. There are, indeed, but few English
+Catholics who speak contemptuously of Ireland, of its people, or of its
+history; but, if I am to credit statements which have been made to me on
+unquestionable authority, there are some who are not free from this
+injustice. A half-commiserating tone of patronage is quite as offensive
+as open contempt; and yet there have been instances where English
+Catholic writers, while obliged to show some deference to Ireland and
+the Irish, in order to secure the patronage and support of that country
+for their publications, have at the same time, when they dared, thrown
+out insinuations against peculiarities of Irish character, and made
+efforts to discredit Irish historical documents.</p>
+
+<p>I had intended, in preparing the Second Edition of the &quot;Illustrated
+History of Ireland,&quot; to omit the original Preface, in order to leave
+more space for the historical portion of the work. When this intention
+was mentioned, several laymen and ecclesiastics expostulated so
+earnestly against it, that I have been obliged to yield to their
+request. I am aware that some few persons objected to my remarks on the
+state of land laws in Ireland, or rather on the want of proper land
+laws; but the opinion of those interested in maintaining an evil, will
+always be averse to its exposure; and I<a name="Page_11"></a> cannot conceive how any one who
+desires an injustice to be removed, can object to a fair and impartial
+discussion of the subject. An English writer, also, has made some
+childish remarks about the materials for Irish history not being yet
+complete, and inferred that in consequence an Irish history could not
+yet be written. His observations are too puerile to need refutation. I
+have been informed also that some objection has been made to a
+&quot;political preface;&quot; and that one gentleman, whose name I have not had
+the honour of hearing, has designated the work as a &quot;political
+pamphlet.&quot; Even were not Irish history exceptional, I confess myself
+perplexed to understand how history and politics can be severed. An
+author may certainly write a perfectly colourless history, but he must
+state the opinions of different parties, and the acts consequent on
+those opinions, even should he do so without any observation of his own.
+I never for a moment entertained the intention of writing such a
+history, though I freely confess I have exercised considerable
+self-restraint as to the expression of my own opinion when writing some
+portions of the present work. You might as well attempt to write an
+ecclesiastical history without the slightest reference to different
+religious opinions, as attempt to write the history of any nation, and,
+above all, of Ireland, without special and distinct reference to the
+present and past political opinions of the different sections of which
+the nation is composed. Such suggestions are only worthy of those who,
+when facts are painful, try to avert the wound they cause by turning on
+the framer of the weapon which has driven these facts a little deeper
+than usual into their intellectual conception; or of those uneducated,
+or low-minded, even if educated persons, who consider that a woman
+cannot write a history, and would confine her literary efforts to
+sensation novels and childish tales. I am thankful, and I hope I am not
+unduly proud, that men of the highest intellectual culture, both in
+England and Ireland, on the Continent of Europe, and in America, have
+pronounced a very different judgment on the present work, and on the
+desire of the writer to raise her countrywomen to higher mental efforts
+than are required by the almost exclusive perusal of works of fiction.
+If women<a name="Page_12"></a> may excel as painters and sculptors, why may not a woman
+attempt to excel as an historian? Men of cultivated intellect, far from
+wishing to depreciate such efforts, will be the first to encourage them
+with more than ordinary warmth; the opinions of other persons, whatever
+may be their position, are of little value.</p>
+
+<p>On the Irish Church question I feel it unnecessary to say more than a
+word of congratulation to my countrymen, and of hearty thanks for the
+noble conduct of so many Englishmen at this important crisis. Irish
+Protestants have been quite as national as Irish Catholics; and now that
+the fatal bane of religious dissension has been removed, we may hope
+that Irishmen, of all classes and creeds, will work together
+harmoniously for the good of their common country: and thus one great
+means of Irish prosperity will be opened. The Irish are eminently a
+justice-loving people. Let justice once be granted to them, and there is
+that in their national character which will make them accept as a boon
+what others might accept as a right.</p>
+
+<p>In concluding the Preface to this Edition, I cannot omit to express my
+grateful thanks to Sir William Wilde, and other members of the Royal
+Irish Academy, through whose kindness I obtained the special favour of
+being permitted to copy some of the most valuable illustrations of Irish
+antiquities contained in their Catalogue, and which has enabled the
+reader, for the first time, to have an Irish history illustrated with
+Irish antiquities&mdash;a favour which it is hoped an increase of cultivated
+taste amongst our people will enable them to appreciate more and more.
+To John O'Hagan, Esq., Q.C., I owe a debt of gratitude which cannot
+easily be repaid, for the time he bestowed on the correction of the
+proofs of the First Edition, and for many kind suggestions, and much
+valuable advice. I am indebted, also, to M.J. Rhodes, Esq., of
+Hoddersfield, for a liberal use of his library, perhaps one of the most
+valuable private libraries in Ireland, and for permitting me to retain,
+for a year and more, some of its most costly treasures. The same
+kindness was also granted by the Rev. D. M'Carthy, Professor of Sacred
+Scripture and Hebrew at Maynooth, who is himself doing so much for its
+<a name="Page_13"></a>ecclesiastical students by his valuable literary labours, and who was
+one of the first to urge me to undertake this work. In preparing the
+Second Edition, I am not a little indebted to the Rev. James Gaffney,
+C.C., M.R.I.A., of Clontarf, who, even during the heavy pressure of
+Lenten parochial duties, has found time to give me the benefit of many
+important suggestions, and to show his love of Ireland by deeming no
+effort too great to further a knowledge of her glorious history. I am
+also indebted to the Rev. John Shearman, C.C., M.R.I.A., of Howth, for
+the valuable paper read before the R.I.A., on the &quot;Inscribed Stones at
+Killeen Cormac;&quot; and to many other authors who have presented me with
+their works; amongst the number, none were more acceptable than the
+poems of Dr. Ferguson, and the beautiful and gracefully written <i>Irish
+before the Conquest</i>, of Mrs. Ferguson, whose gifts are all the more
+treasured for the peculiar kindness with which they were presented.</p>
+
+<p>To my old friend, Denis Florence MacCarthy, Esq., M.R.I.A., who should
+be the laureate of Ireland&mdash;and why should not Ireland, that land of
+song, have her laureate?&mdash;I can only offer my affectionate thanks, for
+his kindnesses are too numerous to record, and are so frequent that they
+would scarcely bear enumeration. At this moment, Roderick O'Flanagan,
+Esq., M.R.I.A., has found, or rather made, leisure, amongst his many
+professional and literary occupations, to prepare the valuable and
+important map of Irish families, which will be given <i>gratis</i> to all
+subscribers, and in which W.H. Hennessy, Esq., M.R.I.A., at present
+employed by Government on the important work of publishing ancient Irish
+MS., will also give his assistance.</p>
+
+<p>To many of the gentlemen in Cork, and principally to Nicholas Murphy,
+Esq., of Norwood, and Eugene M'Sweeny, Esq., I cannot fail to offer my
+best thanks, for the generous help they have given in promoting the sale
+of the First Edition, and for over-payments of subscriptions, made
+unasked, and with the most considerate kindness, when they found the
+heavy cost of the First Edition was likely to prove a loss to the
+convent, in consequence of expenses which could scarcely be foreseen in
+the increased size of the work, and<a name="Page_14"></a> the high class of engravings used,
+which demanded an immense outlay in their production. The subscribers to
+the Second Edition are indebted to not a few of the subscribers to the
+First, many of them priests with limited incomes, for the generosity
+which has enabled them to obtain this new issue on such favourable
+terms. It is with feelings of no ordinary pleasure that I add also the
+names of the Superioresses of nearly all the convents of the order of
+Our Lady of Mercy and of the order of the Presentation, to the list of
+our benefactors. With the exception of, perhaps, two or three convents
+of each order, they have been unanimous in their generous efforts to
+assist the circulation of the Irish History, and of all our
+publications; and this kindness has been felt by us all the more deeply,
+because from our own poverty, and the poverty of the district in which
+we live, we have been unable to make them any return, or to assist them
+even by the sale of tickets for their bazaars. Such disinterested
+charity is, indeed, rare; and the efforts made by these religious&mdash;the
+true centres of civilization in Ireland&mdash;to promote the education and to
+improve the moral and intellectual tone of the lower and middle classes,
+are beyond all praise, combined, as these efforts are, with
+never-ceasing labour for the spiritual and temporal good of the poor in
+their respective districts. Nor should I omit a word for the friends
+across the wide Atlantic, to whom the very name of Ireland is so
+precious, and to whom Irish history is so dear. The Most Rev. Dr.
+Purcell, Archbishop of Cincinnati, has pronounced the work to be the
+only Irish history worthy of the name. John Mitchel has proclaimed, in
+the <i>Irish Citizen</i>, that a woman has accomplished what men have failed
+to do; and Alderman Ternan, at a banquet in New Fork, has uttered the
+same verdict, and declares that there, at least, no other history can
+compete with ours, although Moore and D'Arcy Magee have preceded us in
+their efforts to promote the knowledge of what Ireland has been, and the
+hope of what Ireland may yet become.</p>
+
+<p>M.F.C.</p>
+<p>ST. CLARE'S CONTENT, KENMARK, CO. KERRY,</p>
+<p><i>May 8th</i>, 1868.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><a name="Page_15"></a>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/c.jpg" width="400" height="106" alt="Preface" title="" />
+</center>
+<h2>PREFACE</h2>
+
+<h3>TO THE FIRST EDITION.</h3>
+
+<img src="images/d.jpg" width="150" height="164" align="left" alt="T" title="" />
+<p>he history of the different races who form an integral portion of the
+British Empire, should be one of the most carefully cultivated studies
+of every member of that nation. To be ignorant of our own history, is a
+disgrace; to be ignorant of the history of those whom we govern, is an
+injustice. We can neither govern ourselves nor others without a thorough
+knowledge of peculiarities of disposition which may require restraint,
+and of peculiarities of temperament which may require development. We
+must know that water can extinguish fire, before it occurs to us to put
+out a fire by the use of water. We must know that fire, when properly
+used, is a beneficent element of nature, and one which can be used to
+our advantage when properly controlled, before we shall attempt to avail
+ourselves of it for a general or a particular benefit. I believe a time
+has come when the Irish are more than ever anxious to study their
+national history. I believe a time has come when the English nation, or
+at least a majority of the English nation, are willing to read that
+history without prejudice, and to consider it with impartiality.</p>
+
+<p>When first I proposed to write a History of Ireland, at the earnest
+request of persons to whose opinion. I felt bound to defer, I was
+assured by many that it was useless; that Irishmen did not support Irish
+literature; above all, that the Irish<a name="Page_16"></a> clergy were indifferent to it, and
+to literature in general. I have since ascertained, by personal
+experience, that this charge is utterly unfounded, though I am free to
+admit it was made on what appeared to be good authority. It is certainly
+to be wished that there was a more general love of reading cultivated
+amongst the Catholics of Ireland, but the deficiency is on a fair way to
+amendment. As a body, the Irish priesthood may not be devoted to
+literature; but as a body, unquestionably they are devoted&mdash;nobly
+devoted&mdash;to the spread of education amongst their people.</p>
+
+<p>With regard to Englishmen, I cannot do better than quote the speech of
+an English member of Parliament, Alderman Salomons, who has just
+addressed his constituents at Greenwich in these words:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>&quot;The state of Ireland will, doubtless, be a prominent subject of
+     discussion next session. Any one who sympathizes with distressed
+     nationalities in their struggles, must, when he hears of the
+     existence of a conspiracy in Ireland, similar to those combinations
+     which used to be instituted in Poland in opposition to Russian
+     oppression, be deeply humiliated. Let the grievances of the Irish
+     people be probed, and let them be remedied when their true nature
+     is discovered. Fenianism is rife, not only in Ireland, but also in
+     England, and an armed police required, which is an insult to our
+     liberty. I did not know much of the Irish land question, but I know
+     that measures have been over and over again brought into the House
+     of Commons with a view to its settlement, and over and over again
+     they have been cushioned or silently withdrawn. If the question can
+     be satisfactorily settled, why let it be so, and let us conciliate
+     the people of Ireland by wise and honorable means. The subject of
+     the Irish Church must also be considered. I hold in my hand an
+     extract from the report of the commissioner of the Dublin
+     <i>Freeman's Journal</i>, who is now examining the question. It stated
+     what will be to you almost incredible&mdash;namely, that the population
+     of the united dioceses of Cashel, Emly, Waterford, and Lismore is
+     370,978, and that of those only 13,000 are members of the
+     Established Church, while 340,000 are Roman Catholics. If you<a name="Page_17"></a> had
+     read of this state of things existing in any other country, you
+     would call out loudly against it. Such a condition of things, in
+     which large revenues are devoted, not for the good of the many, but
+     the few, if it does not justify Fenianism, certainly does justify a
+     large measure of discontent. I am aware of the difficulties in the
+     way of settling the question, owing to the fear of a collision
+     between Protestants and Catholics; but I think Parliament ought to
+     have the power to make the Irish people contented.&quot;</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>This speech, I believe, affords a fair idea of the opinion of educated
+and unprejudiced Englishmen on the Irish question. They do not know much
+about Irish history; they have heard a great deal about Irish
+grievances, and they have a vague idea that there is something wrong
+about the landlords, and something wrong about the ecclesiastical
+arrangements of the country. I believe a careful study of Irish history
+is essential to the comprehension of the Irish question; and it is
+obviously the moral duty of every man who has a voice in the government
+of the nation, to make himself master of the subject. I believe there
+are honest and honorable men in England, who would stand aghast with
+horror if they thoroughly understood the injustices to which Ireland has
+been and <i>still is</i> subject. The English, as a nation, profess the most
+ardent veneration for liberty. To be a patriot, to desire to free one's
+country, unless, indeed, that country happen to have some very close
+connexion with their own, is the surest way to obtain ovations and
+applause. It is said that circumstances alter cases; they certainly
+alter opinions, but they do not alter facts. An Englishman applauds and
+assists insurrection in countries where they profess to have for their
+object the freedom of the individual or of the nation; he imprisons and
+stifles it at home, where the motive is precisely similar, and the
+cause, in the eyes of the insurgents at least, incomparably more valid.
+But I do not wish to raise a vexed question, or to enter on political
+discussions; my object in this Preface is simply to bring before the
+minds of Englishmen that they have a duty to perform towards Ireland&mdash;a
+duty which they cannot cast aside on others&mdash;a duty which it may be for
+their interest,<a name="Page_18"></a> as well as for their honour, to fulfil. I wish to draw
+the attention of Englishmen to those Irish grievances which are
+generally admitted to exist, and which can only be fully understood by a
+careful and unprejudiced perusal of Irish history, past and present.
+Until grievances are thoroughly understood, they are not likely to be
+thoroughly remedied. While they continue to exist, there can be no real
+peace in Ireland, and English prosperity must suffer in a degree from
+Irish disaffection.</p>
+
+<p>It is generally admitted by all, except those who are specially
+interested in the denial, that the Land question and the Church question
+are the two great subjects which lie at the bottom of the Irish
+difficulty. The difficulties of the Land question commenced in the reign
+of Henry II.; the difficulties of the Church question commenced in the
+reign of Henry VIII. I shall request your attention briefly to the
+standpoints in Irish history from which we may take a clear view of
+these subjects. I shall commence with the Land question, because I
+believe it to be the more important of the two, and because I hope to
+show that the Church question is intimately connected with it.</p>
+
+<p>In the reign of Henry II., certain Anglo-Norman nobles came to Ireland,
+and, partly by force and partly by intermarriages, obtained estates in
+that country. Their tenure was the tenure of the sword. By the sword
+they expelled persons whose families had possessed those lands for
+centuries; and by the sword they compelled these persons, through
+poverty, consequent on loss of property, to take the position of
+inferiors where they had been masters. You will observe that this first
+English settlement in Ireland was simply a colonization on a very small
+scale. Under such circumstances, if the native population are averse to
+the colonization, and if the new and the old races do not amalgamate, a
+settled feeling of aversion, more or less strong, is established on both
+sides. The natives hate the colonist, because he has done them a
+grievous injury by taking possession of their lands; the colonist hates
+the natives, because they are in his way; and, if he be possessed of
+&quot;land hunger,&quot; they are an impediment to the gratification of his
+desires. It should be observed that there is a wide difference between
+colonization and conquest. The Saxons conquered what we<a name="Page_19"></a> may presume to
+have been the aboriginal inhabitants of England; the Normans conquered
+the Saxon: the conquest in both cases was sufficiently complete to
+amalgamate the races&mdash;the interest of the different nationalities became
+one. The Norman lord scorned the Saxon churl quite as contemptuously as
+he scorned the Irish Celt; but there was this very important
+difference&mdash;the interests of the noble and the churl soon became one;
+they worked for the prosperity of their common country. In Ireland, on
+the contrary, the interests were opposite. The Norman noble hated the
+Celt as a people whom he could not subdue, but desired most ardently to
+dispossess; the Celt hated the invader as a man most naturally will hate
+the individual who is just strong enough to keep a wound open by his
+struggles, and not strong enough to end the suffering by killing the
+victim.</p>
+
+<p>The land question commenced when Strongbow set his foot on Irish soil;
+the land question will remain a disgrace to England, and a source of
+misery to Ireland, until the whole system inaugurated by Strongbow has
+been reversed. &quot;At the commencement of the connexion between England and
+Ireland,&quot; says Mr. Goldwin Smith, &quot;the foundation was inevitably laid
+for the fatal system of ascendency&mdash;a system under which the dominant
+party were paid for their services in keeping down rebels by a monopoly
+of power and emolument, and thereby strongly tempted to take care that
+there should always be rebels to keep down.&quot; There is a fallacy or two
+in this statement; but let it pass. The Irish were not rebels then,
+certainly, for they were not under English dominion; but it is something
+to find English writers expatiating on Irish wrongs; and if they would
+only act as generously and as boldly as they speak, the Irish question
+would receive an early and a most happy settlement.</p>
+
+<p>For centuries Ireland was left to the mercy and the selfishness of
+colonists. Thus, with each succeeding generation, the feeling of hatred
+towards the English was intensified with each new act of injustice, and
+such acts were part of the normal rule of the invaders. A lord deputy
+was sent after a time to rule the country. Perhaps a more unfortunate
+form of government could not have been selected for Ireland. The lord
+deputy knew<a name="Page_20"></a> that he was subject to recall at any moment; he had neither
+a personal nor a hereditary interest in the country. He came to make his
+fortune there, or to increase it. He came to rule for his own benefit,
+or for the benefit of his nation. The worst of kings has, at least, an
+hereditary interest in the country which he governs; the best of lord
+deputies might say that, if he did not oppress and plunder for himself,
+other men would do it for themselves: why, then, should he be the loser,
+when the people would not be gainers by his loss?</p>
+
+<p>When parliaments began to be held, and when laws were enacted, every
+possible arrangement was made to keep the two nations at variance, and
+to intensify the hostility which already existed. The clergy were set at
+variance. Irish priests were forbidden to enter certain monasteries,
+which were reserved for the use of their English brethren; Irish
+ecclesiastics were refused admission to certain Church properties in
+Ireland, that English ecclesiastics might have the benefit of them.
+Lionel, Duke of Clarence, when Viceroy of Ireland, issued a
+proclamation, forbidding the &quot;Irish by birth&quot; even to come near his
+army, until he found that he could not do without soldiers, even should
+they have the misfortune to be Irish. The Irish and English were
+forbidden to intermarry several centuries before the same bar was placed
+against the union of Catholics and Protestants. The last and not the
+least of the fearful series of injustices enacted, in the name of
+justice, at the Parliament of Kilkenny, was the statute which denied,
+which positively refused, the benefit of English law to Irishmen, and
+equally forbid them to use the Brehon law, which is even now the
+admiration of jurists, and which had been the law of the land for many
+centuries.</p>
+
+<p>If law could be said to enact that there should be no law, this was
+precisely what was done at the memorable Parliament of Kilkenny. If
+Irishmen had done this, it would have been laughed at as a Hibernicism,
+or scorned as the basest villany; but it was the work of Englishmen, and
+the Irish nation were treated as rebels if they attempted to resist. The
+confiscation of Church property in the reign of Henry VIII., added a new
+sting to the land grievance, and introduced a new feature in its
+injustice. Church property had been used for the benefit of<a name="Page_21"></a> the poor far
+more than for the benefit of its possessors. It is generally admitted
+that the monks of the middle ages were the best and most considerate
+landlords. Thousands of families were now cast upon the mercy of the new
+proprietors, whose will was their only law; and a considerable number of
+persons were deprived of the alms which these religious so freely
+distributed to the sick and the aged. Poverty multiplied fearfully, and
+discontent in proportion. You will see, by a careful perusal of this
+history, that the descendants of the very men who had driven out the
+original proprietors of Irish estates, were in turn driven out
+themselves by the next set of colonists. It was a just retribution, but
+it was none the less terrible. Banishments and confiscations were the
+rule by which Irish property was administered. Can you be surprised that
+the Irish looked on English adventurers as little better than robbers,
+and treated them as such? If the English Government had made just and
+equitable land laws for Ireland at or immediately after the Union, all
+the miseries which have occurred since then might have been prevented.
+Unfortunately, the men who had to legislate for Ireland are interested
+in the maintenance of the unjust system; and there is an old proverb, as
+true as it is old, about the blindness of those who do not wish to see.
+Irish landlords, or at least a considerable number of Irish landlords,
+are quite willing to admit that the existence of the Established Church
+is a grievance. Irish Protestant clergymen, who are not possessed by an
+anti-Popery crochet&mdash;and, thank God, there are few afflicted with that
+unfortunate disease now&mdash;are quite free to admit that it is a grievance
+for a tenant to be subject to ejection by his landlord, <i>even if he pays
+his rent punctually</i>.</p>
+<br />
+
+<p>I believe the majority of Englishmen have not the faintest idea of the
+way in which the Irish tenant is oppressed, <i>not by individuals</i>, for
+there are many landlords in Ireland devoted to their tenantry, but by a
+system. There are, however, it cannot be denied, cases of individual
+oppression, which, if they occurred in any part of Great Britain, and
+were publicly known, would raise a storm, from the Land's End to John o'
+Groat's House, that would take something more than revolvers to settle.
+As one of the great objects of studying the history of our own<a name="Page_22"></a> country,
+is to enable us to understand and to enact such regulations as shall be
+best suited to the genius of each race and their peculiar circumstances,
+I believe it to be my duty as an historian, on however humble a scale,
+not only to show how our present history is affected by the past, but
+also to give you such a knowledge of our present history as may enable
+you to judge how much the country is still suffering from <i>present
+grievances</i>, occasioned by past maladministration. Englishmen are quite
+aware that thousands of Irishmen leave their homes every year for a
+foreign country; but they have little idea of the cause of this
+emigration. Englishmen are quite aware that from time to time
+insurrections break out in Ireland, which seem to them very absurd, if
+not very wicked; but they do not know how much grave cause there is for
+discontent in Ireland. The very able and valuable pamphlets which have
+been written on these subjects by Mr. Butt and Mr. Levey, and on the
+Church question by Mr. De Vere, do not reach the English middle classes,
+or probably even the upper classes, unless their attention is directed
+to them individually. The details of the sufferings and ejectments of
+the Irish peasantry, which are given from time to time in the Irish
+papers, and principally in the Irish <i>local</i> papers, are never even
+known across the Channel. How, then, can the condition of Ireland, or of
+the Irish people, be estimated as it should? I believe there is a love
+of fair play and manly justice in the English nation, which only needs
+to be excited in order to be brought to act.</p>
+
+<p>But ignorance on this subject is not wholly confined to the English. I
+fear there are many persons, even in Ireland, who are but imperfectly
+acquainted with the working of their own land laws, if, indeed, what
+sanctions injustice deserves the name of law. To avoid prolixity, I
+shall state very briefly the position of an Irish tenant at the present
+day, and I shall show (1) how this position leads to misery, (2) how
+misery leads to emigration, and (3) how this injustice recoils upon the
+heads of the perpetrators by leading to rebellion. First, the position
+of an Irish tenant is simply this: he is rather worse off than a slave.
+I speak advisedly. In Russia, the proprietors of large estates worked by
+slaves, are obliged to feed and clothe their slaves; in Ireland, it
+quite depends on the will of the proprietor<a name="Page_23"></a> whether he will let his
+lands to his tenants on terms which will enable them to feed their
+families on the coarsest food, and to clothe them in the coarsest
+raiment If a famine occurs&mdash;and in some parts of Ireland famines are of
+annual occurrence&mdash;the landlord is not obliged to do anything for his
+tenant, but the tenant <i>must</i> pay his rent. I admit there are humane
+landlords in Ireland; but these are questions of fact, not of feeling.
+It is a most flagrant injustice that Irish landlords should have the
+power of dispossessing their tenants if they pay their rents. But this
+is not all; although the penal laws have been repealed, the power of the
+landlord over the conscience of his tenant is unlimited. It is true he
+cannot apply bodily torture, except, indeed, the torture of starvation,
+but he can apply mental torture. It is in the power of an Irish landlord
+to eject his tenant if he does not vote according to his wishes. A man
+who has no conscience, has no moral right to vote; a man who tyrannizes
+over the conscience of another, should have no legal right. But there is
+yet a deeper depth. I believe you will be lost in amazement at what is
+yet to come, and will say, as Mr. Young said of penal laws in the last
+century, that they were more &quot;fitted for the meridian of Barbary.&quot; You
+have heard, no doubt, of wholesale evictions; they are of frequent
+occurrence in Ireland&mdash;sometimes from political motives, because the
+poor man will not vote with his landlord; sometimes from religious
+motives, because the poor man will not worship God according to his
+landlord's conscience; sometimes from selfish motives, because his
+landlord wishes to enlarge his domain, or to graze more cattle. The
+motive does not matter much to the poor victim. He is flung out upon the
+roadside; if he is very poor, he may die there, or he may go to the
+workhouse, but he must not be taken in, even for a time, by any other
+family on the estate. The Irish Celt, with his warm heart and generous
+impulses, would, at all risks to himself, take in the poor outcasts, and
+share his poverty with them; but the landlord could not allow this. The
+commission of one evil deed necessitates the commission of another. An
+Irish gentleman, who has no personal interest in land, and is therefore
+able to look calmly on the question, has been at the pains to collect
+instances of this tyranny, in his<a name="Page_24"></a> <i>Plea for the Celtic Race.</i> I shall
+only mention one as a sample. In the year 1851, on an estate which was
+at the time supposed to be one of the most fairly treated in Ireland,
+&quot;the agent of the property had given public notice to the tenantry that
+expulsion from their farms would be the penalty inflicted on them, if
+they harboured <i>any one</i> not resident on the estate. The penalty was
+enforced against a widow, for giving food and shelter <i>to a destitute
+grandson of twelve years old</i>. The child's mother at one time held a
+little dwelling, from which she was expelled; his father was dead. He
+found a refuge with his grandmother, who was ejected from her farm for
+harbouring the poor boy.&quot; When such things can occur, we should not hear
+anything more about the Irish having only &quot;sentimental grievances.&quot; The
+poor child was eventually driven from house to house. He stole a
+shilling and a hen&mdash;poor fellow!&mdash;what else could he be expected to do?
+He wandered about, looking in vain for shelter from those who dared not
+give it. He was expelled with circumstances of peculiar cruelty from one
+cabin. He was found next morning, cold, stiff, and dead, on the ground
+outside. The poor people who had refused him shelter, were tried for
+their lives. They were found guilty of manslaughter <i>only</i>, in
+consideration of the agent's order. The agent was not found guilty of
+anything, nor even tried. The landlord was supposed to be a model
+landlord, and his estates were held up at the very time as models; yet
+evictions had been fearfully and constantly carried out on them. Mr.
+Butt has well observed: &quot;The rules of the estate are often the most
+arbitrary and the most sternly enforced upon great estates, the property
+of men of the highest station, upon which rents are moderate, and no
+harshness practised to the tenantry, who implicitly submit.&quot; Such
+landlords generally consider emigration the great remedy for the evils
+of Ireland. They point to their own well-regulated and well-weeded
+estates; but they do not tell you all the human suffering it cost to
+exile those who were turned out to make room for large dairy farms, or
+all the quiet tyranny exercised over those who still remain. Neither
+does it occur to them that their successors may raise these moderate
+rents at a moment's notice; and if their demands are not complied with,
+he may eject these &quot;comfortable farmers&quot; without<a name="Page_25"></a> one farthing of
+compensation for all their improvements and their years of labour.</p>
+
+<p>I have shown how the serfdom of the Irish tenant leads to misery. But
+the subject is one which would require a volume. No one can understand
+the depth of Irish misery who has not lived in Ireland, and taken pains
+to become acquainted with the habits and manner of life of the lower
+orders. The tenant who is kept at starvation point to pay his landlord's
+rent, has no means of providing for his family. He cannot encourage
+trade; his sons cannot get work to do, if they are taught trades.
+Emigration or the workhouse is the only resource. I think the efforts
+which are made by the poor in Ireland to get work are absolutely
+unexampled, and it is a cruel thing that a man who is willing to work
+should not be able to get it. I know an instance in which a girl
+belonging to a comparatively respectable family was taken into service,
+and it was discovered that for years her only food, and the only food of
+her family, was dry bread, and, as an occasional luxury, weak tea. So
+accustomed had she become to this wretched fare, that she actually could
+not even eat an egg. She and her family have gone to America; and I have
+no doubt, after a few years, that the weakened organs will recover their
+proper tone, with the gradual use of proper food.</p>
+
+<p>There is another ingredient in Irish misery which has not met with the
+consideration it deserves. If the landlord happens to be humane, he may
+interest himself in the welfare of the <i>families</i> of his tenantry. He
+may also send a few pounds to them for coals at Christmas, or for
+clothing; but such instances are unhappily rare, and the alms given is
+<i>comparatively</i> nothing. In England the case is precisely the reverse.
+On this subject I speak from personal knowledge. There is scarcely a
+little village in England, however poor, where there is not a committee
+of ladies, assisted by the neighbouring gentry, who distribute coals,
+blankets, and clothing in winter; and at all times, where there is
+distress, give bread, tea, and meat. Well may the poor Irish come home
+discontented after they have been to work in England, and see how
+differently the poor are treated there. I admit, and I repeat it again,
+that there are instances in which the landlord takes an interest<a name="Page_26"></a> in his
+tenantry, but those instances are exceptions. Many of these gentlemen,
+who possess the largest tracts of land in Ireland, have also large
+estates in England, and they seldom, sometimes <i>never</i>, visit their
+Irish estates. They leave it to their agent. Every application for
+relief is referred to the agent. The agent, however humane, cannot be
+expected to have the same interest in the people as a landlord <i>ought</i>
+to have. The agent is the instrument used to draw out the last farthing
+from the poor; he is constantly in collision with them. They naturally
+dislike him; and he, not unnaturally, dislikes them.</p>
+
+<p>The burden, therefore, of giving that relief to the poor, which they
+always require in times of sickness, and when they cannot get work,
+falls almost exclusively upon the priests and the convents. Were it not
+for the exertions made by the priests and nuns throughout Ireland for
+the support of the poor, and to obtain work for them, and the immense
+sums of money sent to Ireland by emigrants, for the support of aged
+fathers and mothers, I believe the destitution would be something
+appalling, and that landlords would find it even more difficult than at
+present to get the high rents which they demand. Yet, some of these same
+landlords, getting perhaps &pound;20,000 or &pound;40,000 a-year from their Irish
+estates, will not give the slightest help to establish industrial
+schools in connexion with convents, or to assist them when they are
+established, though they are the means of helping their own tenants to
+pay their rent. There are in Ireland about two hundred conventual
+establishments. Nearly all of these convents have poor schools, where
+the poor are taught, either at a most trifling expense, or altogether
+without charge. The majority of these convents feed and clothe a
+considerable number of poor children, and many of them have established
+industrial schools, where a few girls at least can earn what will almost
+support a whole family in comfort. I give the statistics of one convent
+as a sample of others. I believe there are a few, but perhaps only a
+very few other places, where the statistics would rise higher; but there
+are many convents where the children are fed and clothed, and where work
+is done on a smaller scale. If such institutions were encouraged by the
+landlords, much more could be done. The<a name="Page_27"></a> convent to which I allude was
+founded at the close of the year 1861. There was a national school in
+the little town (in England it would be called a village), with an
+attendance of about forty children. The numbers rose rapidly year by
+year, after the arrival of the nuns, and at present the average daily
+attendance is just 400. It would be very much higher, were it not for
+the steady decrease in the population, caused by emigration. The
+emigration would have been very much greater, had not the parish priest
+given employment to a considerable number of men, by building a new
+church, convent, and convent schools. The poorest of the children, and,
+in Ireland, none but the very poorest will accept such alms, get a
+breakfast of Indian meal and milk all the year round. The comfort of
+this hot meal to them, when they come in half-clad and starving of a
+winter morning, can only be estimated by those who have seen the
+children partake of it, and heard the cries of delight of the babies of
+a year old, and the quiet expression of thankfulness of the elder
+children. Before they go home they get a piece of dry bread, and this is
+their dinner&mdash;a dinner the poorest English child would almost refuse.
+The number of meals given at present is 350 per diem. The totals of
+meals given per annum since 1862 are as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align='left'>During</td><td align='left'>the year</td><td align='right'>1862</td><td>......</td><td align='left'>36,400</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&quot;</td><td align='left'>&quot;</td><td align='right'>1863</td><td>......</td><td align='left'>45,800</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&quot;</td><td align='left'>&quot;</td><td align='right'>1864</td><td>......</td><td align='left'>46,700</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&quot;</td><td align='left'>&quot;</td><td align='right'>1865</td><td>......</td><td align='left'>49,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&quot;</td><td align='left'>&quot;</td><td align='right'>1866</td><td>......</td><td align='left'>70,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&quot;</td><td align='left'>&quot;</td><td align='right'>1867</td><td>......</td><td align='left'>73,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan='3' align='right'>Making a total of</td> <td>......</td> <td align='right'>320,900</td></tr></table>
+
+<p>There were also 1,035 <i>suits</i> of clothing given.</p>
+
+<p>The Industrial School was established in 1863. It has been principally
+supported by English ladies and Protestants. The little town where the
+convent is situated, is visited by tourists during the summer months;
+and many who have visited the convent have been so much struck by the
+good they saw done there, that they have actually devoted themselves to
+selling<a name="Page_28"></a> work amongst their English friends for the poor children.</p>
+
+<p>The returns of work sold in the Industrial School are as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td colspan='4'>&nbsp;</td><td align='right'><i>&pound;</i></td><td align='right'><i>s.</i></td><td> <i>d.</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Work</td><td align='left'>sold in</td><td align='left'>1863</td><td align='left'>.....</td><td align='right'>70</td><td align='right'>3</td><td align='left'>6&frac12;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&quot;</td><td align='left'>&quot;</td><td align='left'>1864</td><td align='left'>.....</td><td align='right'>109</td><td align='right'>18</td><td align='left'>5</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&quot;</td><td align='left'>&quot;</td><td align='left'>1805</td><td align='left'>.....</td><td align='right'>276</td><td align='right'>1</td><td align='left'>3&frac12;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&quot;</td><td align='left'>&quot;</td><td align='left'>1866</td><td align='left'>.....</td><td align='right'>421</td><td align='right'>16</td><td align='left'>3</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>&quot;</td><td align='left'>&quot;</td><td align='left'>1867</td><td align='left'>.....</td><td align='right'>350</td><td align='right'>2</td><td align='left'>4&frac12;</td></tr>
+<tr><td colspan='4' align='right'>Making a total of</td> <td>&pound;1,228</td>  <td align='right'>1</td> <td>10&frac12;</td></tr></table>
+
+<p>The falling off in 1867 has been accounted for partly from the Fenian
+panic, which prevented tourists visiting Ireland as numerously as in
+other years, and partly from the attraction of the French Exhibition
+having drawn tourists in that direction. I have been exact in giving
+these details, because they form an important subject for consideration
+in regard to the present history of Ireland. They show at once the
+poverty of the people, their love of industry, and their eagerness to do
+work when they can get it. In this, and in other convent schools
+throughout Ireland, the youngest children are trained to habits of
+industry. They are paid even for their first imperfect attempts, to
+encourage them to go on; and they treasure up the few weekly pence they
+earn as a lady would her jewels. One child had in this way nearly saved
+up enough to buy herself a pair of shoes&mdash;a luxury she had not as yet
+possessed; but before the whole amount was procured she went to her
+eternal home, where there is no want, and her last words were a message
+of love and gratitude to the nuns who had taught her.</p>
+
+<p>The causes of emigration, as one should think, are patent to all.
+Landlords do not deny that they are anxious to see the people leave the
+country. They give them every assistance to do so. Their object is to
+get more land into their own hands, but the policy will eventually prove
+suicidal. A revolutionary spirit is spreading fast through Europe.
+Already the standing subject of public addresses to the people in
+England, is the<a name="Page_29"></a> injustice of certain individuals being allowed to hold
+such immense tracts of country in their possession. We all know what
+came of the selfish policy of the landowners in France before the
+Revolution, which consigned them by hundreds to the guillotine. A little
+self-sacrifice, which, in the end, would have been for their own
+benefit, might have saved all this. The attempt to depopulate Ireland
+has been tried over and over again, and has failed signally. It is not
+more likely to succeed in the nineteenth century than at any preceding
+period. Even were it possible that wholesale emigration could benefit
+any country, it is quite clear that Irish emigration cannot benefit
+England. It is a plan to get rid of a temporary difficulty at a terrific
+future cost. Emigration has ceased to be confined to paupers.
+Respectable farmers are emigrating, and taking with them to America
+bitter memories of the cruel injustice which has compelled them to leave
+their native land.</p>
+
+<p>Second, <i>How misery leads to emigration</i>. The poor are leaving the
+country, because they have no employment. The more respectable classes
+are leaving the country, because they prefer living in a free land,
+where they can feel sure that their hard earnings will be their own, and
+not their landlord's, and where they are not subject to the miserable
+political and religious tyranny which reigns supreme in Ireland. In the
+evidence given before the Land Tenure Committee of 1864, we find the
+following statements made by Dr. Keane, the Roman Catholic Bishop of
+Cloyne. His Lordship is a man of more than ordinary intelligence, and of
+more than ordinary patriotism. He has made the subject of emigration his
+special study, partly from a deep devotion to all that concerns the
+welfare of his country, and partly from the circumstance of his
+residence being at Queenstown, the port from which Irishmen leave their
+native shores, and the place where wails of the emigrants continually
+resound. I subjoin a few of his replies to the questions proposed:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>&quot;I attribute emigration principally to the want of employment.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;A man who has only ten or twelve acres, and who is a
+     tenant-at-will, finding that the land requires improvement, is<a name="Page_30"></a>
+     afraid to waste it [his money], and he goes away. I see many of
+     these poor people in Queenstown every day.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;I have made inquiries over and over again in Queenstown and
+     elsewhere, and I never yet heard that a single farmer emigrated and
+     left the country who had a lease.&quot;</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Well might Mr. Heron say, in a paper read before the Irish Statistical
+Society, in May, 1864: &quot;Under the present laws, no Irish peasant able to
+read and write ought to remain in Ireland. If Ireland were an
+independent country, in the present state of things there would be a
+bloody insurrection in every county, and the peasantry would ultimately
+obtain the property in land, as <i>they have obtained it in Switzerland
+and in France</i>.&quot; That the Irish people will eventually become the
+masters of the Irish property, from which every effort has been made to
+dispossess them, by fair means and by foul, since the Norman invasion of
+Ireland, I have not the slightest doubt. The only doubt is whether the
+matter will be settled by the law or by the sword. But I have hope that
+the settlement will be peaceful, when I find English members of
+Parliament treating thus of the subject, and ministers declaring, at
+least when they are out of office, that something should be done for
+Ireland.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Stuart Mill writes: &quot;The land of Ireland, the land of every country,
+belongs to the people of that country. The individuals called landowners
+have no right, in morality or justice, to anything but the rent, or
+compensation for its saleable value. When the inhabitants of a country
+quit the country <i>en masse</i>, because the Government will not make it a
+place fit for them to live in, the Government is judged and condemned,
+It is the duty of Parliament to reform the landed tenure of Ireland.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>More than twenty years ago Mr. Disraeli said: &quot;He wished to see a public
+man come forward and say what the Irish question was. Let them consider
+Ireland as they would any other country similarly circumstanced. They
+had a starving population, an absentee aristocracy, an alien Church,
+and, in addition, the weakest executive in the world. This was the Irish
+question. What would gentlemen say on hearing of a country in such a
+position? They would say at once, in such case, the<a name="Page_31"></a> remedy is
+revolution&mdash;not the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act. But the
+connexion with England prevented it: therefore England was logically in
+the active position of being the cause of all the misery of Ireland.
+What, then, was the duty of an English minister? To effect by policy all
+the changes which a revolution would do by force.&quot; If these words had
+been acted upon in 1848, we should not have had a Fenian insurrection in
+1867. If a peaceful revolution is to be accomplished a few persons must
+suffer, though, in truth, it is difficult to see what Irish landlords
+could lose by a fair land law, except the power to exercise a tyrannical
+control over their tenants. I believe, if many English absentee
+landlords had even the slightest idea of the evil deeds done in their
+names by their agents, that they would not tolerate it for a day. If a
+complaint is made to the landlord, he refers it to his agent. It is
+pretty much as if you required the man who inflicted the injury to be
+the judge of his own conduct. The agent easily excuses himself to the
+landlord; but the unfortunate man who had presumed to lift up his voice,
+is henceforth a marked object of vengeance; and he is made an example to
+his fellows, that they may not dare to imitate him. The truth is, that
+the real state of Ireland, and the real feelings of the Irish people,
+can only be known by personal intercourse with the lower orders.
+Gentlemen making a hurried tour through the country, may see a good deal
+of misery, if they have not come for the purpose of not seeing it; but
+they can never know the real wretchedness of the Irish poor unless they
+remain stationary in some district long enough to win the confidence of
+the people, and to let them feel that they can tell their sorrows and
+their wrongs without fear that they shall be increased by the
+disclosure.</p>
+
+<p>Third, one brief word of how this injustice recoils upon the heads of
+the perpetrators, and I shall have ended. It recoils upon them
+indirectly, by causing a feeling of hostility between the governors and
+the governed. A man cannot be expected to revere and love his landlord,
+when he finds that his only object is to get all he can from him&mdash;when
+he finds him utterly reckless of his misery, and still more indifferent
+to his feelings. A gentleman considers himself a model of humanity if he
+pays the emigration expenses of the family whom he wishes to<a name="Page_32"></a> eject from
+the holding which their ancestors have possessed for centuries. He is
+amazed at the fearful ingratitude of the poor man, who cannot feel
+overwhelmed with joy at his benevolent offer. But the gentleman
+considers he has done his duty, and consoles himself with the reflection
+that the Irish are an ungrateful race. Of all the peoples on the face of
+the globe, the Irish Celts are the most attached to their families and
+to their lands. God only knows the broken hearts that go over the ocean
+strangers to a strange land. The young girls who leave their aged
+mothers, the noble, brave young fellows who leave their old fathers, act
+not from a selfish wish to better themselves, but from the hope, soon to
+be realized, that they may be able to earn in another land what they
+cannot earn in their own. I saw a lad once parting from his aged father.
+I wish I had not seen it. I heard the agonized cries of the old man: &quot;My
+God! he's gone! he's gone!&quot; I wish I had not heard it. I heard the wild
+wailing cry with which the Celt mourns for his dead, and glanced
+impulsively to the window. It was not death, but departure that prompts
+that agony of grief. A car was driving off rapidly on the mountain road
+which led to the nearest port. The car was soon out of sight. The father
+and the son had looked their last look into each other's eyes&mdash;had
+clasped the last clasp of each other's hands. An hour had passed, and
+still the old man lay upon the ground, where he had flung himself in his
+heart's bitter anguish; and still the wail rung out from time to time:
+&quot;My God! he's gone! he's gone!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Those who have seen the departure of emigrants at the Irish seaports,
+are not surprised at Irish disaffection&mdash;are not surprised that the
+expatriated youth joins the first wild scheme, which promises to release
+his country from such cruel scenes, and shares his money equally between
+his starving relatives at home, and the men who, sometimes as deceivers,
+and sometimes with a patriotism like his own, live only for one
+object&mdash;to obtain for Ireland by the sword, the justice which is denied
+to her by the law.</p>
+
+<p>I conclude with statistics which are undeniable proofs of Irish misery.
+The emigration <i>at present</i> amounts to 100,000 per annum.</p>
+
+<center>
+<a name="The_Emigrants_Farewell"></a>
+<img src="images/001.jpg" width="463" height="626" alt="The Emigrants&#39; Farewell." title="" />
+</center><a name="Page_33"></a>
+<h4>The Emigrants&#39; Farewell.</h4>
+
+<p>From the 1st of May, 1851, to the 31st of December, 1865, 1,630,722
+persons emigrated. As the emigrants generally leave their young children
+after them for a time, and as aged and imbecile persons do not emigrate,
+the consequence is, that, from 1851 to 1861, the number of deaf and dumb
+increased from 5,180 to 5,653; the number of blind, from 5,787 to 6,879;
+and the number of lunatics and idiots, from 9,980 to 14,098. In 1841,
+the estimated value of crops in Ireland was &pound;50,000,000; in 1851, it was
+reduced to &pound;43,000,000; and in 1861, to &pound;35,000,000. The number of
+gentlemen engaged in the learned professions is steadily decreasing; the
+traffic on Irish railways and the returns are steadily decreasing; the
+live stock in cattle, which was to have supplied and compensated for the
+live stock in men, is fearfully decreasing; the imports and exports are
+steadily decreasing. The decrease in cultivated lands, from 1862 to
+1863, amounted to 138,841 acres.</p>
+
+<p>While the Preface to the Second Edition was passing through the press,
+my attention was called to an article, in the <i>Pall Mall Gazette</i>, on
+the Right Rev. Dr. Manning's Letter to Earl Grey. The writer of this
+article strongly recommends his Grace to publish a new edition of his
+Letter, omitting the last sixteen pages. We have been advised, also, to
+issue a new edition of our HISTORY, to omit the Preface, and any remarks
+or facts that might tend to show that the Irish tenant was not the
+happiest and most contented being in God's creation.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Pall Mall Gazette</i> argues&mdash;if, indeed, mere assertion can be called
+argument&mdash;first, &quot;that Dr. Manning has obviously never examined the
+subject for himself, but takes his ideas and beliefs from the universal
+statements of angry and ignorant sufferers whom he has met in England,
+or from intemperate and utterly untrustworthy party speeches and
+pamphlets, whose assertions he receives as gospel;&quot; yet Dr. Manning has
+given statements of facts, and the writer has not attempted to disprove
+them. Second, he says: &quot;Dr. Manning echoes the thoughtless complaints of
+those who cry out against emigration as a great evil and a grievous
+wrong, when he might have known, if he had thought or inquired at all
+about the matter, not only that this emigration has been the greatest
+conceivable blessing to the emigrants, but was an absolutely
+indispensable<a name="Page_34"></a> step towards improving the condition of those who remained
+at home;&quot; and then the old calumnies are resuscitated about the Irish
+being &quot;obstinately idle and wilfully improvident,&quot; as if it had not been
+proved again and again that the only ground on which such appellations
+can be applied to them in Ireland is, that their obstinacy consists in
+objecting to work without fair remuneration for their labour, and their
+improvidence in declining to labour for the benefit of their masters. It
+is the old story, &quot;you are idle, you are idle,&quot;&mdash;it is the old demand,
+&quot;make bricks without straw,&quot;&mdash;and then, by way of climax, we are assured
+that these &quot;poor creatures&quot; are assisted to emigrate with the tenderest
+consideration, and that, in fact, emigration is a boon for which they
+are grateful.</p>
+
+<p>It is quite true that many landlords pay their tenants to emigrate, and
+send persons to see them safe out of the country; but it is absolutely
+false that the people emigrate willingly. No one who has witnessed the
+departure of emigrants dare make such an assertion. They are offered
+their choice between starvation and emigration, and they emigrate. If a
+man were offered his choice between penal servitude and hanging, it is
+probable he would prefer penal servitude, but that would not make him
+appreciate the joys of prison life. The Irish parish priest alone can
+tell what the Irish suffer at home, and how unwillingly they go abroad.
+A pamphlet has just been published on this very subject, by the Very
+Rev. P. Malone, P.P., V.F., of Belmullet, co. Mayo, and in this he says:
+&quot;I have <i>seen</i> the son, standing upon the deck of the emigrant ship,
+divest himself of his only coat, and place it upon his father's
+shoulders, saying, 'Father, take you this; I will soon earn the price of
+a coat in the land I am going to.'&quot; Such instances, which might be
+recorded by the hundred, and the amount of money sent to Ireland by
+emigrants for the support of aged parents, and to pay the passage out of
+younger members of the family, are the best refutation of the old
+falsehood that Irishmen are either idle or improvident.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<br /><br />
+<h3>AN</h3>
+
+<h2>ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF IRELAND.</h2>
+<br /><br />
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><a name="Page_35"></a>
+
+<a name="Page_37"></a>
+<a name="CHAPTER_I"></a>
+<center>
+<img src="images/e.jpg" width="363" height="314" alt="Irish History" title="" />
+</center>
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER I</h2>
+
+<h4>Celtic Literature&mdash;Antiquity of our Annals&mdash;Moore&mdash;How we should
+estimate Tradition&mdash;The Materials for Irish History&mdash;List of the Lost
+Books&mdash;The Cuilmenn&mdash;The Saltair of Tara, &amp;c.&mdash;The Saltair of
+Cashel&mdash;Important MSS. preserved in Trinity College&mdash;By the Royal Irish
+Academy&mdash;In Belgium.</h4>
+
+<img src="images/f.jpg" width="86" height="264" align="left" alt="T" title="" />
+<p>he study of Celtic literature, which is daily becoming of increased
+importance to the philologist, has proved a matter of no inconsiderable
+value to the Irish historian. When Moore visited O'Curry, and found him
+surrounded with such works as the <i>Books of Ballymote and Lecain</i>, the
+<i>Speckled Book</i>, the <i>Annals of the Four Masters</i>, and other treasures
+of Gaedhilic lore, he turned to Dr. Petrie, and exclaimed: &quot;These large
+tomes could not have been written by fools or for any foolish purpose. I
+never knew anything about them before, and I had no right to have
+undertaken the <i>History of Ireland</i>.&quot; His publishers, who had less
+scruples, or more utilitarian views, insisted on the completion of his
+task. Whatever their motives may have been, we may thank them for the
+result. Though Moore's history cannot now be quoted as an authority, it
+accomplished its<a name="Page_38"></a> work for the time, and promoted an interest in the
+history of one of the most ancient nations of the human race.</p>
+
+<p>There are two sources from whence the early history of a nation may be
+safely derived: the first internal&mdash;the self-consciousness of the
+individual; the second external&mdash;the knowledge of its existence by
+others&mdash;the <i>ego sum</i> and the <i>tu es</i>; and our acceptance of the
+statements of each on <i>matters of fact</i>, should depend on their mutual
+agreement.</p>
+
+<p>The first question, then, for the historian should be, What accounts
+does this nation give of its early history? the second, What account of
+this nation's early history can be obtained <i>ab extra</i>? By stating and
+comparing these accounts with such critical acumen as the writer may be
+able to command, we may obtain something approaching to authentic
+history. The history of ancient peoples must have its basis on
+tradition. The name tradition unfortunately gives an <i>a priori</i>
+impression of untruthfulness, and hence the difficulty of accepting
+tradition as an element of truth in historic research. But tradition is
+not necessarily either a pure myth or a falsified account of facts. The
+traditions of a nation are like an aged man's recollection of his
+childhood, and should be treated as such. If we would know his early
+history, we let him tell the tale in his own fashion. It may be he will
+dwell long upon occurrences interesting to himself, and apart from the
+object of our inquiries; it may be he will equivocate unintentionally if
+cross-examined in detail; but truth will underlie his garrulous story,
+and by patient analysis we may sift it out, and obtain the information
+we desire.</p>
+
+<p>A nation does not begin to write its history at the first moment of its
+existence. Hence, when the chronicle is compiled which first embodies
+its story, tradition forms the basis. None but an inspired historian can
+commence <i>In principio</i>. The nation has passed through several
+generations, the people already begin to talk of &quot;old times;&quot; but as
+they are nearer these &quot;old times&quot; by some thousands of years than we
+are, they are only burdened with the traditions of a few centuries at
+the most; and unless there is evidence of a wilful object or intent to
+falsify their chronicles, we may in the main depend on their accuracy.
+Let us see how this applies to Gaedhilic history. The labours of the
+late lamented Eugene O'Curry have made this an easy task. He took to his
+work a critical acumen not often attained by the self-educated, and a
+noble patriotism not<a name="Page_39"></a> often maintained by the gifted scions of a country
+whose people and whose literature have been alike trodden down and
+despised for centuries. The result of his researches is embodied in a
+work<a name="FNanchor_1_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_2"><sup>[1]</sup></a> which should be in the hands of every student of Irish history,
+and of every Irishman who can afford to procure it. This volume proves
+that the <i>early</i> history of Ireland has yet to be written; that it
+should be a work of magnitude, and undertaken by one gifted with special
+qualifications, which the present writer certainly does not possess; and
+that it will probably require many years of patient labour from the
+&quot;host of Erinn's sons,&quot; before the necessary materials for such a
+history can be prepared.</p>
+
+<p>The manuscript materials for ancient Irish history may be divided into
+two classes: the historical, which purports to be a narrative of facts,
+in which we include books of laws, genealogies, and pedigrees; and the
+legendary, comprising tales, poems, and legends. The latter, though not
+necessarily true, are generally founded on fact, and contain a mass of
+most important information, regarding the ancient customs and manner of
+life among our ancestors. For the present we must devote our attention
+to the historical documents. These, again, may be divided into two
+classes&mdash;the lost books and those which still remain. Of the former
+class the principal are the CUILMENN, <i>i.e.</i>, the great book written on
+skins; the SALTAIR OF TARA; the BOOK OF THE UACHONGBHAIL (pron. &quot;ooa
+cong-wall&quot;); the CIN DROMA SNECHTA; and the SALTAIR OF CASHEL. Besides
+these, a host of works are lost, of lesser importance as far as we can
+now judge, which, if preserved, might have thrown a flood of light not
+only upon our annals, but also on the social, historical, and
+ethnographic condition of other countries. The principal works which
+have been preserved are: the ANNALS OF TIGHERNACH (pron. &quot;Teernagh&quot;);
+the ANNALS OF ULSTER; the ANNALS OF INIS MAC NERINN; the ANNALS OF
+INNISFALLEN; the ANNALS OF BOYLE; the CHRONICUM SCOTORUM,<a name="Page_40"></a> so ably edited
+by Mr. Hennessy; the world-famous ANNALS OF THE FOUR MASTERS; the BOOK
+OF LEINSTER; the BOOK OF LAWS (the Brehon Laws), now edited by Dr. Todd,
+and many books of genealogies and pedigrees.</p>
+
+<p>For the present it must suffice to say, that these documents have been
+examined by the ordinary rules of literary criticism, perhaps with more
+than ordinary care, and that the result has been to place their
+authenticity and their antiquity beyond cavil.</p>
+
+<p>Let us see, then, what statements we can find which may throw light on
+our early history, first in the fragments that remain of the lost books,
+and then in those which are still preserved.</p>
+
+<p>The CUILMENN is the first of the lost books which we mentioned. It is
+thus referred to in the Book of Leinster:<a name="FNanchor_2_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_3"><sup>[2]</sup></a> &quot;The <i>fil&eacute;s</i> [bards] of
+Erinn were now called together by <i>Senchan Torp&eacute;ist</i> [about A.D. 580],
+to know if they remembered the <i>T&aacute;in b&oacute; Chuailgn&eacute;</i> in full; and they
+said that they knew of it but fragments only. Senchan then spoke to his
+pupils to know which of them would go into the countries of <i>Letha</i> to
+learn the <i>T&aacute;in</i> which the <i>Sai</i> had taken 'eastwards' after the
+<i>Cuilmenn</i>. Emin&eacute;, the grandson of Ninin&eacute;, and Muirgen, Senchan's own
+son, set out to go to the East.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Here we have simply an indication of the existence of this ancient work,
+and of the fact that in the earliest, if not in pre-Christian times,
+Irish manuscripts travelled to the Continent with Irish scholars&mdash;Letha
+being the name by which Italy, and especially what are now called the
+Papal States, was then designated by Irish writers.</p>
+
+<p>The SALTAIR OF TARA next claims our attention; and we may safely affirm,
+merely judging from the fragments which remain, that a nation which
+could produce such a work had attained no ordinary pitch of civilization
+and literary culture. The Book of Ballymote,<a name="FNanchor_3_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_4"><sup>[3]</sup></a> and the Yellow Book of
+Lecan,<a name="FNanchor_4_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_5"><sup>[4]</sup></a> attribute this work to Cormac Mac Art: &quot;A noble work was
+performed by Cormac at that time, namely, the compilation of Cormac's
+Saltair, which was composed by him and the Seanchaidhe [Historians] of
+Erinn, including Fintan, son of Bochra, and Fithil, the poet and judge.
+And their synchronisms and genealogies, the succession of their kings
+<a name="Page_41"></a>and monarchs, their battles, their contests, and their antiquities, from
+the world's beginning down to that time, were written; and this is the
+Saltair of Temair [pron. &quot;Tara,&quot; almost as it is called now], which is
+the origin and fountain of the Historians of Erinn from that period down
+to this time. This is taken from the Book of the Uachongbhail.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_5_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_6"><sup>[5]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>As we shall speak of Cormac's reign and noble qualities in detail at a
+later period, it is only necessary to record here that his panegyric, as
+king, warrior, judge, and philosopher, has been pronounced by almost
+contemporary writers, as well as by those of later date. The name
+<i>Saltair</i> has been objected to as more likely to denote a composition of
+Christian times. This objection, however, is easily removed: first, the
+name was probably applied after the appellation had been introduced in
+Christian times; second, we have no reason to suppose that King Cormac
+designated his noble work by this name; and third, even could this be
+proven, the much maligned Keating removes any difficulty by the simple
+and obvious remark, that &quot;it is because of its having been written in
+poetic metre, the chief book which was in the custody of the <i>Ollamh</i> of
+the King of Erinn, was called the <i>Saltair of Temair;</i> and the Chronicle
+of holy Cormac Mac Cullinan, <i>Saltair of Cashel;</i> and the Chronicle of
+Aengus <i>Ceil&eacute; D&eacute;</i> [the Culdee], <i>Saltair-na-Rann</i> [that is, Saltair of
+the Poems or Verses], because a Salm and a Poem are the same, and
+therefore a <i>Salterium</i> and a <i>Duanair&eacute;</i> [book of poems] are the
+same.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_6_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_7"><sup>[6]</sup></a></p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/002.jpg" width="448" height="156" alt="SITE OF TARA." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>SITE OF TARA.</h4>
+
+<p>The oldest reference to this famous compilation is found in a poem on
+the site of ancient Tara, by Cuan O'Lochain, a distinguished<a name="Page_42"></a> scholar,
+and native of Westmeath, who died in the year 1024. The quotation given
+below is taken from the Book of Ballymote, a magnificent volume,
+compiled in the year 1391, now in possession of the Royal Irish
+Academy:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>Temair, choicest of hills,<br /></span>
+<span>For [possession of] which Erinn is now devastated,<a name="FNanchor_7_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_8"><sup>[7]</sup></a><br /></span>
+<span>The noble city of Cormac, son of Art,<br /></span>
+<span>Who was the son of great Conn of the hundred battles:<br /></span>
+<span>Cormac, the prudent and good,<br /></span>
+<span>Was a sage, a fil&eacute; [poet], a prince:<br /></span>
+<span>Was a righteous judge of the Fen&eacute;-men,<a name="FNanchor_8_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_9"><sup>[8]</sup></a><br /></span>
+<span>Was a good friend and companion.<br /></span>
+<span>Cormac gained fifty battles:<br /></span>
+<span>He compiled the Saltair of Temur.<br /></span>
+<span>In that Saltair is contained<br /></span>
+<span>The best summary of history;<br /></span>
+<span>It is that Saltair which assigns<br /></span>
+<span>Seven chief kings to Erinn of harbours;<br /></span>
+<span>They consisted of the five kings of the provinces,&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span>The Monarch of Erinn and his Deputy.<br /></span>
+<span>In it are (written) on either side,<br /></span>
+<span>What each provincial king is entitled to,<br /></span>
+<span>From the king of each great musical province.<br /></span>
+<span>The synchronisms and chronology of all,<br /></span>
+<span>The kings, with each other [one with another] all;<br /></span>
+<span>The boundaries of each brave province,<br /></span>
+<span>From a cantred up to a great chieftaincy.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>From this valuable extract we obtain a clear idea of the importance and
+the subject of the famous Saltair, and a not less clear knowledge of the
+admirable legal and social institutions by which Erinn was then
+governed.</p>
+
+<p>The CIN OF DROM SNECHTA is quoted in the Book of Ballymote, in support
+of the ancient legend of the antediluvian occupation of<a name="Page_43"></a> Erinn by the
+Lady <i>Banbha</i>, called in other books Cesair (pron. &quot;kesar&quot;). The Book of
+Lecan quotes it for the same purpose, and also for the genealogies of
+the chieftains of the ancient Rudrician race of Ulster. Keating gives
+the descent of the Milesian colonists from Magog, the son of Japhet, on
+the authority of the Cin of Drom Snechta, which, he states, was compiled
+before St. Patrick's mission to Erinn.<a name="FNanchor_9_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_10"><sup>[9]</sup></a> We must conclude this part of
+our subject with a curious extract from the same work, taken from the
+Book of Leinster: &quot;From the Cin of Drom Snechta, this below. Historians
+say that there were exiles of Hebrew women in Erinn at the coming of the
+sons of Milesius, who had been driven by a sea tempest into the ocean by
+the Tirr&eacute;n Sea. They were in Erinn before the sons of Milesius. They
+said, however, to the sons of Milesius [who, it would appear, pressed
+marriage on them], that they preferred their own country, and that they
+would not abandon it without receiving dowry for alliance with them. It
+is from this circumstance that it is the men that purchase wives in
+Erinn for ever, whilst it is the husbands that are purchased by the
+wives throughout the world besides.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_10_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_11"><sup>[10]</sup></a><a name="Page_44"></a> The SALTAIR OF CASHEL was
+compiled by Cormac Mac Cullinan King of Munster, and Archbishop of
+Cashel. He was killed in the year 903. This loss of the work is most
+painful to the student of the early history of Erinn. It is believed
+that the ancient compilation known as Cormac's Glossary, was compiled
+from the interlined gloss to the Saltair; and the references therein to
+our ancient history, laws, mythology, and social customs, are such as to
+indicate the richness of the mine of ancient lore. A copy was in
+existence in 1454, as there is in the Bodleian Library in Oxford (Laud,
+610) a copy of such portions as could be deciphered at the time. This
+copy was made by Shane O'Clery for Mac Richard Butler.</p>
+
+<p>The subjoined list of the lost books is taken from O'Curry's <i>MS.
+Materials</i>, page 20. It may be useful to the philologist and interesting
+to our own people, as a proof of the devotion to learning so early
+manifested in Erinn:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>&quot;In the first place must be enumerated again the <i>Cuilmenn</i>; the
+     Saltair of Tara; the <i>Cin Droma Snechta;</i> the Book of St. Mochta;
+     the Book of <i>Cuana</i>; the Book of <i>Dubhdaleithe</i>; and the Saltair of
+     Cashel. Besides these we find mention of the <i>Leabhar buidhe
+     Sl&aacute;ine</i> or Yellow Book of Slane; the original <i>Leabhar na
+     h-Uidhre;</i> the Books of <i>Eochaidh O'Flannagain</i>; a certain book
+     known as the Book eaten by the poor people in the desert; the Book
+     of <i>Inis an Duin</i>; the Short Book of St. Buithe's Monastery (or
+     Monasterboice); the Books of Flann of the same Monastery; the Book
+     of Flann of <i>Dungeimhin</i> (Dungiven, co. Derry); the Book of <i>Dun da
+     Leth Ghlas</i> (or Downpatrick); the Book of <i>Doir&eacute;</i> (Derry); the Book
+     of <i>Sabhall Phatraic</i> (or Saull, co. Down); the Book of the
+     <i>Uachongbhail</i> (Navan, probably); the <i>Leabhar dubh Molaga</i>, or
+     Black Book of St. Molaga; the <i>Leabhar buidhe Moling</i>, or Yellow
+     Book of St. Moling; the <i>Leabhar buidhe Mhic Murchadha</i>, or Yellow
+     Book of Mac Murrach; the <i>Leabhar Arda Macha</i>, or Book of Armagh
+     (quoted by Keating); the <i>Leabhar ruadh Mhic Aedhagain</i>, or Red
+     Book of Mac Aegan; the <i>Leabhar breac Mhic Aedhagain</i>, or Speckled
+     Book of Mac Aegan; the <i>Leabhar fada Leithghlinne</i>, or Long Book of
+     Leithghlinn, or Leithlin; the Books of O'Scoba of <i>Cluain Mic Nois</i>
+     (or Clonmacnois); the <i>Duil Droma Ceata</i>, or Book of Drom Ceat; and
+     the Book of Clonsost (in Leix, in the Queen's County).&quot;</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Happily, however, a valuable collection of ancient MSS. are still
+preserved, despite the &quot;drowning&quot; of the Danes, and the &quot;burning&quot;<a name="Page_45"></a> of the
+Saxon. The researches of continental scholars are adding daily to our
+store; and the hundreds of Celtic MSS., so long entombed in the
+libraries of Belgium and Italy, will, when published, throw additional
+light upon the brightness of the past, and, it may be, enhance the
+glories of the future, which we must believe are still in reserve for
+the island of saints and sages.<a name="FNanchor_11_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_12"><sup>[11]</sup></a></p>
+<br />
+
+<a name="Specimens_from_manuscripts"></a>
+<center>
+<img src="images/003a.jpg" width="469" height="423" alt="(A) MS. in the &quot;Domhnach Airgid,&quot;" title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>(A) MS. in the &quot;Domhnach Airgid,&quot; [R.I.A. (temp. St.
+Patrick, circa A.D. 430.)]</h4>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/003b.jpg" width="425" height="182" alt="(B) MS. in the &quot;Cathach,&quot;" title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>(B) MS. in the &quot;Cathach,&quot; (6th century MS attributed to
+St. Colum Cill&eacute;)</h4>
+
+<p>The list of works given above are supposed by O'Curry to have existed
+anterior to the year 1100. Of the books which Keating refers to in his
+History, written about 1630, only one is known to be extant&mdash;the
+<i>Saltair-na-Rann</i>, written by Aengus C&eacute;ile D&eacute;.</p>
+
+<p>The principal Celtic MSS. which are still preserved to us, may be
+consulted in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, and in the Library
+of the Royal Irish Academy. The latter, though founded at a much later
+period, is by far the more extensive, if not the more important,
+collection. Perhaps, few countries have been so happy as to possess a
+body of men so devoted to its arch&aelig;ology, so ardent in their
+preservation of all that can be found to illustrate it, and so capable
+of elucidating its history by their erudition, which, severally and
+collectively, they have brought to bear on every department of its
+ethnology. The collection in Trinity College consists of more than 140
+volumes, several of them are vellum,<a name="FNanchor_12_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_13"><sup>[12]</sup></a> dating from the early part of
+the twelfth to the middle of the last century. The collection of the
+Royal Irish Academy also contains several works written on vellum, with
+treatises of history, science, laws, and commerce; there are also many
+theological and ecclesiastical compositions, which have been pronounced
+by competent authorities to be written in the purest style that the
+ancient Gaedhilic language ever attained. There are also a considerable
+number of translations from Greek, Latin, and other languages. These are
+of considerable importance, as they enable the critical student of our
+language to determine the meaning of many obscure or obsolete words or
+phrases, by reference to<a name="Page_46"></a> the originals; nor are they of less value as
+indicating the high state of literary culture which prevailed in Ireland
+during the early Christian and the Middle Ages. Poetry, mythology,
+history, and the classic literature of Greece and Rome, may be found
+amongst these translations; so that, as O'Curry well remarks, &quot;any one
+well read in the comparatively few existing fragments of our Gaedhilic
+literature, and whose education had been confined solely to this source,
+would find that there are but very few, indeed, of the great events in
+the history of the world with which he was not acquainted.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_13_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_14"><sup>[13]</sup></a> He then
+mentions, by way of illustration of classical subjects, Celtic versions
+of the Argonautic Expedition, the Siege of Troy, the Life of Alexander
+the Great; and of such subjects as cannot be classed under this head,
+the Destruction of Jerusalem; the Wars of Charlemagne, including the
+History of Roland the Brave; the History of the Lombards, and the almost
+contemporary translation of the Travels of Marco Polo.</p>
+
+<p>There is also a large collection of MSS. in the British Museum, a few
+volumes in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, besides the well-known,
+though inaccessible, Stowe collection.<a name="FNanchor_14_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_15"><sup>[14]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>The treasures of Celtic literature still preserved on the Continent, can
+only be briefly mentioned here. It is probable that the active
+researches of philologists will exhume many more of these long-hidden
+volumes, and obtain for our race the place it has always deserved in the
+history of nations.</p>
+
+<p>The Louvain collection, formed chiefly by Fathers Hugh Ward, John
+Colgan, and Michael O'Clery, between the years 1620 and 1640, was widely
+scattered at the French Revolution. The most valuable portion is in the
+College of St. Isidore in Rome. The Burgundian Library at Brussels also
+possesses many of these treasures. A valuable resum&eacute; of the MSS. which
+are preserved there was given by Mr. Bindon, and printed in the
+Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy in the year 1847. There are also
+many Latin MSS. with Irish glosses, which have been largely used by
+Zeuss in his world-famed <i>Grammatica Celtica</i>. The date of one of
+these&mdash;a codex<a name="Page_47"></a> containing some of Venerable Bede's works&mdash;is fixed by an
+entry of the death of Aed, King of Ireland, in the year 817. This most
+important work belonged to the Irish monastery of Reichenau, and is now
+preserved at Carlsruhe. A codex is also preserved at Cambray, which
+contains a fragment of an Irish sermon, and the canons of an Irish
+council held A.D. 684.</p>
+
+<a name="Page_48"></a>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/004.jpg" width="408" height="530" alt="DOORWAY OF CLONMACNOIS." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>DOORWAY OF CLONMACNOIS.</h4>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<br /><br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_II"></a>
+<center>
+<img src="images/005.jpg" width="450" height="265" alt="CLONMACNOIS." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>CLONMACNOIS.</h4>
+
+
+
+<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2>
+
+<h4>Tighernach and his Annals&mdash;Erudition and Research of our Early
+Writers&mdash;The Chronicum Scotorum&mdash;Duald Mac Firbis&mdash;Murdered, and <i>his</i>
+Murderer is protected by the Penal Laws&mdash;The Annals of the Four
+Masters&mdash;Michael O'Clery&mdash;His Devotion to his
+Country&mdash;Ward&mdash;<i>Colgan</i>&mdash;Dedication of the Annals&mdash;The Book of
+Invasions&mdash;Proofs of our Early Colonization.</h4>
+
+<img src="images/g.jpg" width="75" height="229" align="left" alt="O" title="" />
+<p>ur illustration can give but a faint idea of the magnificence and
+extent of the ancient abbey of Clonmacnois, the home of our famous
+annalist, Tighernach. It has been well observed, that no more ancient
+chronicler can be produced by the northern nations. Nestor, the father
+of Russian history, died in 1113; Snorro, the father of Icelandic
+history, did not appear until a century later; Kadlubeck, the first
+historian of Poland, died in 1223; and Stierman could not discover a
+scrap of writing in all Sweden older than 1159. Indeed, he may be
+compared favourably even with the British historians, who can by no
+means boast of such ancient pedigrees as the genealogists of Erinn.<a name="FNanchor_15_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_16"><sup>[15]</sup></a>
+Tighernach was of the Murray-race of Connacht;<a name="Page_49"></a> of his personal history
+little is known. His death is noted in the <i>Chronicum Scotorum</i>, where
+he is styled successor (<i>comharba</i>) of St. Ciaran and St. Coman. The
+Annals of Innisfallen state that he was interred at Clonmacnois. Perhaps
+his body was borne to its burial through the very doorway which still
+remains, of which we gave an illustration at the end of the last
+chapter.</p>
+
+<p>The writers of history and genealogy in early ages, usually commenced
+with the sons of Noah, if not with the first man of the human race. The
+Celtic historians are no exceptions to the general rule; and long before
+Tighernach wrote, the custom had obtained in Erinn. His chronicle was
+necessarily compiled from more ancient sources, but its fame rests upon
+the extraordinary erudition which he brought to bear upon every subject.
+Flann, who was contemporary with Tighernach, and a professor of St.
+Buithe's monastery (Monasterboice), is also famous for his Synchronisms,
+which form an admirable abridgment of universal history. He appears to
+have devoted himself specially to genealogies and pedigrees, while
+Tighernach took a wider range of literary research. His learning was
+undoubtedly most extensive. He quotes Eusebius, Orosius, Africanus,
+Bede, Josephus, Saint Jerome, and many other historical writers, and
+sometimes compares their statements on points in which they exhibit
+discrepancies, and afterwards endeavours to reconcile their conflicting
+testimony, and to correct the chronological errors of the writers by
+comparison with the dates given by others. He also collates the Hebrew
+text with the Septuagint version of the Scriptures. He uses the common
+era, though we have no reason to believe that this was done by the
+writers who immediately preceded him. He also mentions the lunar cycle,
+and uses the dominical letter with the kalends of several years.<a name="FNanchor_16_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_17"><sup>[16]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>Another writer, <i>Gilla Caemhain</i>, was also contemporary with Flann and
+Tighernach. He gives the &quot;annals of all time,&quot; from the beginning of the
+world to his own period; and computes the second period from the
+Creation to the Deluge; from the Deluge to Abraham; from Abraham to
+David; from David to the Babylonian Captivity, &amp;c. He also synchronizes
+the eastern monarchs with each other, and afterwards with the Firbolgs
+and<a name="Page_50"></a> Tuatha D&eacute; Danann of Erinn,<a name="FNanchor_17_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_18"><sup>[17]</sup></a> and subsequently with the Milesians.
+Flann synchronizes the chiefs of various lines of the children of Adam
+in the East, and points out what monarchs of the Assyrians, Medes,
+Persians, and Greeks, and what Roman emperors were contemporary with the
+kings of Erinn, and the leaders of its various early colonies. He begins
+with Ninus, son of Belus, and comes down to Julius C&aelig;sar, who was
+contemporary with <i>Eochaidh Feidhlech</i>, an Irish king, who died more
+than half a century before the Christian era. The synchronism is then
+continued from Julius C&aelig;sar and <i>Eochaidh</i> to the Roman emperors
+Theodosius the Third and Leo the Third; they were contemporaries with
+the Irish monarch Ferghal, who was killed A.D. 718.</p>
+
+<p>The ANNALS and MSS. which serve to illustrate our history, are so
+numerous, that it would be impossible, with one or two exceptions, to do
+more than indicate their existence, and to draw attention to the weight
+which such an accumulation of authority must give to the authenticity of
+our early history. But there are two of these works which we cannot pass
+unnoticed: the CHRONICUM SCOTORUM and the ANNALS OF THE FOUR MASTERS.</p>
+
+<p>The Chronicum Scotorum was compiled by Duald Mac Firbis. He was of royal
+race, and descended from <i>Dathi</i>, the last pagan monarch of Erinn. His
+family were professional and hereditary historians, genealogists, and
+poets,<a name="FNanchor_18_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_19"><sup>[18]</sup></a> and held an ancestral property at Lecain Mac Firbis, in the
+county Sligo, until Cromwell and his troopers desolated Celtic homes,
+and murdered the Celtic dwellers, often in cold blood. The young Mac
+Firbis was educated for his profession in a school of law and history
+taught by the Mac Egans of Lecain, in Ormonde. He also studied (about
+A.D. 1595) at Burren, in the county Clare, in the literary and legal
+school of the O'Davorens. His pedigrees of the ancient Irish and the
+Anglo-Norman families,<a name="Page_51"></a> was compiled at the College of St. Nicholas, in
+Galway, in the year 1650. It may interest some of our readers to peruse
+the title of this work, although its length would certainly horrify a
+modern publisher:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The Branches of Relationship and the Genealogical Ramifications of
+every Colony that took possession of Erinn, traced from this time up to
+Adam (excepting only those of the Fomorians, Lochlanns, and Saxon-Gaels,
+of whom we, however, treat, as they have settled in our country);
+together with a Sanctilogium, and a Catalogue of the Monarchs of Erinn;
+and, finally, an Index, which comprises, in alphabetical order, the
+surnames and the remarkable places mentioned in this work, which was
+compiled by <i>Dubhaltach Mac Firbhisigh</i> of Lecain, 1650.&quot; He also gives,
+as was then usual, the &quot;place, time, author, and cause of writing the
+work.&quot; The &quot;cause&quot; was &quot;to increase the glory of God, and for the
+information of the people in general;&quot; a beautiful and most true epitome
+of the motives which inspired the penmen of Erinn from the first
+introduction of Christianity, and produced the &quot;countless host&quot; of her
+noble historiographers.</p>
+
+<p>Mac Firbis was murdered<a name="FNanchor_19_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_20"><sup>[19]</sup></a> in the year 1670, at an advanced age; and
+thus departed the last and not the least distinguished of our long line
+of poet-historians. Mac Firbis was a voluminous writer. Unfortunately
+some of his treatises have been lost;<a name="FNanchor_20_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_21"><sup>[20]</sup></a> but the CHRONICUM SCOTORUM is
+more than sufficient to establish his literary reputation.</p>
+
+<p>The ANNALS OF THE FOUR MASTERS demand a larger notice, as unquestionably
+one of the most remarkable works on record. It forms the last link
+between the ancient and modern history of Ireland; a link worthy of the
+past, and, we dare add, it shall be<a name="Page_52"></a> also worthy of the future. It is a
+proof of what great and noble deeds may be accomplished under the most
+adverse circumstances, and one of the many, if not one of the most,
+triumphant denials of the often-repeated charges of indolence made
+against the mendicant orders, and of aversion to learning made against
+religious orders in general. Nor is it a less brilliant proof that
+intellectual gifts may be cultivated and are fostered in the cloister;
+and that a patriot's heart may burn as ardently, and love of country
+prove as powerful a motive, beneath the cowl or the veil, as beneath the
+helmet or the coif.</p>
+
+<p>Michael O'Clery, the chief of the Four Masters, was a friar of the order
+of St. Francis. He was born at Kilbarron, near Ballyshannon, county
+Donegal, in the year 1580, and was educated principally in the south of
+Ireland, which was then more celebrated for its academies than the
+north. The date of his entrance into the Franciscan order is not known,
+neither is it known why he,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;Once the heir of bardic honours,&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>became a simple lay-brother. In the year 1627 he travelled through
+Ireland collecting materials for Father Hugh Ward, also a Franciscan
+friar, and Guardian of the convent of St. Antony at Louvain, who was
+preparing a series of Lives of Irish Saints. When Father Ward died, the
+project was taken up and partially carried out by Father John Colgan.
+His first work, the <i>Trias Thaumaturgus</i>, contains the lives of St.
+Patrick, St. Brigid, and St. Columba. The second volume contains the
+lives of Irish saints whose festivals occur from the 1st of January to
+the 31st of March; and here, unfortunately, alike for the hagiographer
+and the antiquarian, the work ceased. It is probable that the idea of
+saving&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4">&quot;The old memorials<br /></span>
+<span>Of the noble and the holy,<br /></span>
+<span>Of the chiefs of ancient lineage,<br /></span>
+<span>Of the saints of wondrous virtues;<br /></span>
+<span>Of the Ollamhs and the Brehons,<br /></span>
+<span>Of the bards and of the betaghs,&quot;<a name="FNanchor_21_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_22"><sup>[21]</sup></a><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>occurred to him while he was collecting materials for Father Ward. His
+own account is grand in its simplicity, and beautiful as<a name="Page_53"></a> indicating that
+the deep passion for country and for literature had but enhanced the yet
+deeper passion which found its culminating point in the dedication of
+his life to God in the poor order of St. Francis. In the troubled and
+disturbed state of Ireland, he had some difficulty in securing a patron.
+At last one was found who could appreciate intellect, love of country,
+and true religion. Although it is almost apart from our immediate
+subject, we cannot refrain giving an extract from the dedication to this
+prince, whose name should be immortalized with that of the friar patriot
+and historian:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I, Michael <i>O'Clerigh</i>, a poor friar of the Order of St. Francis (after
+having been for ten years transcribing every old material that I found
+concerning the saints of Ireland, observing obedience to each provincial
+that was in Ireland successively), have come before you, O noble
+<i>Fearghal</i> O'Gara. I have calculated on your honour that it seemed to
+you a cause of pity and regret, grief and sorrow (for the glory of God
+and the honour of Ireland), how much the race of Gaedhil, the son of
+Niul, have passed under a cloud and darkness, without a knowledge or
+record of the obit of saint or virgin, archbishop, bishop, abbot, or
+other noble dignitary of the Church, or king or of prince, of lord or of
+chieftain, [or] of the synchronism of connexion of the one with the
+other.&quot; He then explains how he collected the materials for his work,
+adding, alas! most truly, that should it not be accomplished then, &quot;they
+would not again be found to be put on record to the end of the world.&quot;
+He thanks the prince for giving &quot;the reward of their labour to the
+chroniclers,&quot; and simply observes, that &quot;it was the friars of the
+convent of Donegal who supplied them with food and attendance.&quot; With
+characteristic humility he gives his patron the credit of all the &quot;good
+which will result from this book, in giving light to all in general;&quot;
+and concludes thus:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;On the twenty-second day of the month of January, A.D. 1632, this book
+was commenced in the convent of Dun-na-ngall, and, it was finished in
+the same convent on the tenth day of August, 1636, the eleventh year of
+the reign of our king Charles over England, France, Alba, and over
+<i>Eir&eacute;</i>.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>There were &quot;giants in those days;&quot; and one scarcely knows whether to
+admire most the liberality of the prince, the devotion of the friars of
+Donegal, who &quot;gave food and attendance&quot; to their literary brother, and
+thus had their share in perpetuating their country's fame, or the gentle
+humility of the great Brother Michael.</p><a name="Page_54"></a>
+
+<p>It is unnecessary to make any observation on the value and importance of
+the Annals of the Four Masters. The work has been edited with
+extraordinary care and erudition by Dr. O'Donovan, and published by an
+Irish house. We must now return to the object for which this brief
+mention of the MS. materials of Irish history has been made, by showing
+on what points other historians coincide in their accounts of our first
+colonists, of their language, customs, and laws; and secondly, how far
+the accounts which may be obtained <i>ab extra</i> agree with the statements
+of our own annalists. The <i>Book of Invasions</i>, which was rewritten and
+&quot;purified&quot; by brother Michael O'Clery, gives us in a few brief lines an
+epitome of our history as recorded by the ancient chroniclers of
+Erinn:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The sum of the matters to be found in the following book, is the taking
+of Erinn by [the Lady] <i>Ceasair;</i> the taking by <i>Partholan;</i> the taking
+by <i>Nemedh;</i> the taking by the Firbolgs; the taking by the <i>Tuatha D&eacute;
+Danann;</i> the taking by the sons of <i>Miledh</i> [or Miletius]; and their
+succession down to the monarch <i>Melsheachlainn</i>, or Malachy the Great
+[who died in 1022].&quot; Here we have six distinct &quot;takings,&quot; invasions, or
+colonizations of Ireland in pre-Christian times.</p>
+
+<p>It may startle some of our readers to find any mention of Irish history
+&quot;before the Flood,&quot; but we think the burden of proof, to use a logical
+term, lies rather with those who doubt the possibility, than with those
+who accept as tradition, and as <i>possibly</i> true, the statements which
+have been transmitted for centuries by careful hands. There can be no
+doubt that a high degree of cultivation, and considerable advancement in
+science, had been attained by the more immediate descendants of our
+first parents. Navigation and commerce existed, and Ireland may have
+been colonized. The sons of Noah must have remembered and preserved the
+traditions of their ancestors, and transmitted them to their
+descendants. Hence, it depended on the relative anxiety of these
+descendants to preserve the history of the world before the Flood, how
+much posterity should know of it. MacFirbis thus answers the objections
+of those who, even in his day, questioned the possibility of preserving
+such records:&mdash;&quot;If there be any one who shall ask who preserved the
+history [<i>Seanchus</i>], let him know that they were very ancient and
+long-lived old men, recording elders of great age, whom God permitted to
+preserve and hand down the history of Erinn, in books, in succession,
+one after another, from the Deluge to the time of St. Patrick.&quot;</p>
+<a name="Page_55"></a>
+<p>The artificial state of society in our own age, has probably acted
+disadvantageously on our literary researches, if not on our moral
+character. Civilization is a relative arbitrary term; and the ancestors
+whom we are pleased to term uncivilized, may have possessed as high a
+degree of mental culture as ourselves, though it unquestionably differed
+in kind. Job wrote his epic poem in a state of society which we should
+probably term uncultivated; and when Lamech gave utterance to the most
+ancient and the saddest of human lyrics, the world was in its infancy,
+and it would appear as if the first artificer in &quot;brass and iron&quot; had
+only helped to make homicide more easy. We can scarce deny that murder,
+cruel injustice, and the worst forms of inhumanity, are but too common
+in countries which boast of no ordinary refinement; and we should
+hesitate ere we condemn any state of society as uncivilized, simply
+because we find such crimes in the pages of their history.</p>
+
+<p>The question of the early, if not pre-Noahacian colonization of Ireland,
+though distinctly asserted in our annals, has been met with the ready
+scepticism which men so freely use to cover ignorance or indifference.
+It has been taken for granted that the dispersion, after the confusion
+of tongues at Babel, was the first dispersion of the human race; but it
+has been overlooked that, on the lowest computation, a number of
+centuries equal, if not exceeding, those of the Christian era, elapsed
+between the Creation of man and the Flood; that men had &quot;multiplied
+exceedingly upon the earth;&quot; and that the age of stone had already given
+place to that of brass and iron, which, no doubt, facilitated commerce
+and colonization, even at this early period of the world's history. The
+discovery of works of art, of however primitive a character, in the
+drifts of France and England, indicates an early colonization. The
+rudely-fashioned harpoon of deer's horn found beside the gigantic whale,
+in the alluvium of the carse near the base of Dummyat, twenty feet above
+the highest tide of the nearest estuary, and the tusk of the mastodon
+lying alongside fragments of pottery in a deposit of the peat and sands
+of the post-pliocene beds in South Carolina, are by no means solitary
+examples. Like the night torch of the gentle Guanahan&eacute; savage, which
+Columbus saw as he gazed wearily from his vessel, looking, even after
+sunset, for the long hoped-for shore, and which told him that his desire
+was at last consummated, those indications of man, associated with the
+gigantic animals of a geological age, of whose antiquity there can be no
+question, speak to our hearts strange tales<a name="Page_56"></a> of the long past, and of the
+early dispersion and progressive distribution of a race created to
+&quot;increase and multiply.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The question of transit has also been raised as a difficulty by those
+who doubt our early colonization. But this would seem easily removed. It
+is more than probable that, at the period of which we write, Britain, if
+not Ireland, formed part of the European continent; but were it not so,
+we have proof, even in the present day, that screw propellers and iron
+cast vessels are not necessary for safety in distant voyages, since the
+present aboriginal vessels of the Pacific will weather a storm in which
+a <i>Great Eastern</i> or a <i>London</i> might founder hopelessly.</p>
+
+<p>Let us conclude an apology for our antiquity, if not a proof of it, in
+the words of our last poet historian:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>&quot;We believe that henceforth no wise person will be found who will
+     not acknowledge that it is possible to bring the genealogies of the
+     Gaedhils to their origin, to Noah and to Adam; and if he does not
+     believe that, may he not believe that he himself is the son of his
+     own father. For there is no error in the genealogical history, but
+     as it was left from father to son in succession, one after another.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;Surely every one believes the Divine Scriptures, which give a
+     similar genealogy to the men of the world, from Adam down to
+     Noah;<a name="FNanchor_22_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_23"><sup>[22]</sup></a> and the genealogy of Christ and of the holy fathers, as
+     may be seen in the Church [writings]. Let him believe this, or let
+     him deny God. And if he does believe this, why should he not
+     believe another history, of which there has been truthful
+     preservation, like the history of Erinn? I say truthful
+     preservation, for it is not only that they [the preservers of it]
+     were very numerous, as we said, preserving the same, but there was
+     an order and a law with them and upon them, out of which they could
+     not, without great injury, tell lies or falsehoods, as may be seen
+     in the Books of <i>Fenechas</i> [Law], of <i>Fodhla</i> [Erinn], and in the
+     degrees of the poets themselves, their order, and their laws.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_23_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_24"><sup>[23]</sup></a></p></blockquote>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<br /><br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_III"></a>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/006.jpg" width="457" height="291" alt="BEREHAVEN" title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>BEREHAVEN</h4>
+
+<a name="Page_57"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+
+<h4>First Colonists&mdash;The Landing of Ceasair, before the Flood&mdash;Landing of
+Partholan, after the Flood, at Inver Scene&mdash;Arrival of Nemedh&mdash;The
+Fomorians&mdash;Emigration of the Nemenians&mdash;The Firbolgs&mdash;Division of
+Ireland by the Firbolg Chiefs&mdash;The Tuatha D&eacute; Dananns&mdash;Their Skill as
+Artificers&mdash;Nuada of the Silver Hand&mdash;The Warriors Sreng and Breas&mdash;The
+Satire of Cairbr&eacute;&mdash;Termination of the Fomorian Dynasty.</h4>
+
+<h5>[A.M. 1599.]</h5>
+
+<img src="images/h.jpg" width="52" height="175" align="left" alt="W" title="" />
+<p>e shall, then, commence our history with such accounts as we can find
+in our annals of the pre-Christian colonization of Erinn. The legends of
+the discovery and inhabitation of Ireland before the Flood, are too
+purely mythical to demand serious notice. But as the most ancient MSS.
+agree in their account of this immigration, we may not pass it over
+without brief mention.</p>
+
+<p>The account in the <i>Chronicum Scotorum</i> runs thus:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Kal. v.f.l. 10. Anno mundi 1599.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;In this year the daughter of one of the Greeks came to Hibernia, whose
+name was h-Erui, or Berba, or Cesar, and fifty maidens and three men
+with her. Ladhra was their conductor, who was the first that was buried
+in Hibernia.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_24_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_25"><sup>[24]</sup></a> The Cin of Drom Snechta<a name="Page_58"></a> is quoted in the Book of
+Ballymote as authority for the same tradition.<a name="FNanchor_25_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_26"><sup>[25]</sup></a> The Book of Invasions
+also mentions this account as derived from ancient sources. MacFirbis,
+in the Book of Genealogies, says: &quot;I shall devote the first book to
+Partholan, who first took possession of Erinn after the Deluge, devoting
+the beginning of it to the coming of the Lady Ceasair,&quot; &amp;c. And the
+Annals of the Four Masters: &quot;Forty days before the Deluge, Ceasair came
+to Ireland with fifty girls and three men&mdash;Bith, Ladhra, and Fintain
+their names.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_26_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_27"><sup>[26]</sup></a> All authorities agree that Partholan was the first who
+colonized Ireland after the Flood. His arrival is stated in the
+Chronicum Scotorum to have taken place &quot;in the sixtieth year of the age
+of Abraham.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_27_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_28"><sup>[27]</sup></a> The Four Masters say: &quot;The age of the world, when
+Partholan came into Ireland, 2520 years.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_28_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_29"><sup>[28]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>Partholan landed at Inver<a name="FNanchor_29_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_30"><sup>[29]</sup></a> Scene, now the Kenmare river, accompanied
+by his sons, their wives, and a thousand followers. His antecedents are
+by no means the most creditable; and we may, perhaps, feel some
+satisfaction, that a colony thus founded should have been totally swept
+away by pestilence a few hundred years after its establishment.</p>
+
+<p>The Chronicum Scotorum gives the date of his landing thus: &quot;On a Monday,
+the 14th of May, he arrived, his companions being eight in number, viz.,
+four men and four women.&quot; If the kingdom of Desmond were as rich then as
+now in natural beauty, a scene of no ordinary splendour must have
+greeted the eyes and gladdened the hearts of its first inhabitants. They
+had voyaged past the fair and sunny isles of that &quot;tideless sea,&quot; the
+home of the Phoenician race from the earliest ages. They had escaped the
+dangers of the rough Spanish coast, and gazed upon the spot where the
+Pillars of Hercules were the beacons of the early mariners. For many
+days they had lost sight of land, and, we may believe,<a name="Page_59"></a> had well-nigh
+despaired of finding a home in that far isle, to which some strange
+impulse had attracted them, or some old tradition&mdash;for the world even
+then was old enough for legends of the past&mdash;had won their thoughts. But
+there was a cry of land. The billows dashed in wildly, then as now, from
+the coasts of an undiscovered world, and left the same line of white
+foam upon Eire's western coast. The magnificent <i>Inver</i> rolled its tide
+of beauty between gentle hills and sunny slopes, till it reached what
+now is appropriately called Kenmare. The distant Reeks showed their
+clear summits in sharp outline, pointing to the summer sky. The
+long-backed Mangerton and quaintly-crested Carn Tual were there also;
+and, perchance, the Roughty and the Finih&eacute; sent their little streams to
+swell the noble river bay. But it was no time for dreams, though the
+Celt in all ages has proved the sweetest of dreamers, the truest of
+bards. These men have rough work to do, and, it may be, gave but scant
+thought to the beauties of the western isle, and scant thanks to their
+gods for escape from peril. Plains were to be cleared, forests cut down,
+and the red deer and giant elk driven to deeper recesses in the
+well-wooded country.</p>
+
+<p>Several lakes are said to have sprung forth at that period; but it is
+more probable that they already existed, and were then for the first
+time seen by human eye. The plains which Partholan's people cleared are
+also mentioned, and then we find the ever-returning obituary:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The age of the world 2550, Partholan died on Sean Mhagh-Ealta-Edair in
+this year.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_30_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_31"><sup>[30]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>The name of Tallaght still remains, like the peak of a submerged world,
+to indicate this colonization, and its fatal termination. Some very
+ancient tumuli may still be seen there. The name signifies a place where
+a number of persons who died of the plague were interred together; and
+here the Annals of the Four Masters tells us that nine thousand of
+Partholan's people died in one week, after they had been three hundred
+years in Ireland.<a name="FNanchor_31_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_32"><sup>[31]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>The third &quot;taking&quot; of Ireland was that of Nemedh. He came, according to
+the Annals,<a name="FNanchor_32_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_33"><sup>[32]</sup></a> A.M. 2859, and erected forts and cleared plains, as his
+predecessors had done. His people were also afflicted by plague, and
+appeared to have had occupation enough to bury their dead, and to fight
+with the &quot;Fomorians in general,&quot; an<a name="Page_60"></a> unpleasantly pugilistic race, who,
+according to the Annals of Clonmacnois, &quot;were a sept descended from
+Cham, the sonne of Noeh, and lived by pyracie and spoile of other
+nations, and were in those days very troublesome to the whole
+world.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_33_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_34"><sup>[33]</sup></a> The few Nemedians who escaped alive after their great battle
+with the Fomorians, fled into the interior of the island. Three bands
+were said to have emigrated with their respective captains. One party
+wandered into the north of Europe, and are believed to have been the
+progenitors of the Tuatha D&eacute; Dananns; others made their way to Greece,
+where they were enslaved, and obtained the name of Firbolgs, or bagmen,
+from the leathern bags which they were compelled to carry; and the third
+section sought refuge in the north of England, which is said to have
+obtained its name of Briton from their leader, Briotan Maol.<a name="FNanchor_34_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_35"><sup>[34]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>The fourth immigration is that of the Firbolgs; and it is remarkable how
+early the love of country is manifested in the Irish race, since we find
+those who once inhabited its green plains still anxious to return,
+whether their emigration proved prosperous, as to the Tuatha D&eacute; Dananns,
+or painful, as to the Firbolgs.</p>
+
+<p>According to the <i>Annals of Clonmacnois, Keating</i>, and the
+<i>Leabhar-Gabhala</i>, the Firbolgs divided the island into five provinces,
+governed by five brothers, the sons of Dela Mac Loich:&mdash;&quot;Slane, the
+eldest brother, had the province of Leynster for his part, which
+containeth from Inver Colpe, that is to say, where the river Boyne
+entereth into the sea, now called in Irish Drogheda, to the meeting of
+the three waters, by Waterford, where the three rivers, Suyre, Ffeoir,
+and Barrow, do meet and run together into the sea. Gann, the second
+brother's part, was South Munster, which is a province extending from
+that place to Bealagh-Conglaissey. Seangann, the third brother's part,
+was from Bealagh-Conglaissey to Rossedahaileagh, now called Limbriche,
+which is in the province of North Munster. Geanaun, the fourth brother,
+had the province of Connacht, containing from Limerick to Easroe. Rorye,
+the fifth<a name="Page_61"></a> brother, and youngest, had from Easroe aforesaid to Inver
+Colpe, which is in the province of Ulster.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_35_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_36"><sup>[35]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>The Firbolg chiefs had landed in different parts of the island, but they
+soon met at the once famous Tara, where they united their forces. To
+this place they gave the name of <i>Druim Cain</i>, or the Beautiful
+Eminence.</p>
+
+<p>The fifth, or Tuatha D&eacute; Danann &quot;taking&quot; of Ireland, occurred in the
+reign of Eochaidh, son of Erc, A.M. 3303. The Firbolgian dynasty was
+terminated at the battle of <i>Magh Tuireadh</i>. Eochaidh fled from the
+battle, and was killed on the strand of Traigh Eothail&eacute;, near
+Ballysadare, co. Sligo. The cave where he was interred still exists, and
+there is a curious tradition that the tide can never cover it.</p>
+
+<p>The Tuatha D&eacute; Danann king, Nuada, lost his hand in this battle, and
+obtained the name of Nuada of the Silver Hand,<a name="FNanchor_36_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_37"><sup>[36]</sup></a> his artificer, Credne
+Cert, having made a silver hand for him with joints. It is probable the
+latter acquisition was the work of Mioch, the son of Diancecht, Nuada's
+physician, as there is a tradition that he &quot;took off the hand and
+infused feeling and motion into every joint and finger of it, as if it
+were a natural hand.&quot; We may doubt the &quot;feeling,&quot; but it was probably
+suggested by the &quot;motion,&quot; and the fact that, in those ages, every act
+of more than ordinary skill was attributed to supernatural causes,
+though effected through human agents. Perhaps even, in the enlightened
+nineteenth century, we might not be much the worse for the pious belief,
+less the pagan cause to which it was attributed. It should be observed
+here, that the Brehon Laws were probably then in force; for the
+&quot;blemish&quot; of the monarch appears to have deprived him of his dignity, at
+least until the silver hand could satisfy for the defective limb. The
+Four Masters tell us briefly that the Tuatha D&eacute; Dananns gave the
+sovereignty to Breas, son of Ealathan, &quot;while the hand of Nuada was
+under cure,&quot; and mentions that Breas resigned the kingdom to him in the
+seventh year after the cure of his hand.</p>
+
+<p>A more detailed account of this affair may be found in one of our
+ancient historic tales, of the class called <i>Catha</i> or <i>Battles</i>, which<a name="Page_62"></a>
+Professor O'Curry pronounces to be &quot;almost the earliest event upon the
+record of which we may place sure reliance.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_37_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_38"><sup>[37]</sup></a> It would appear that
+there were two battles between the Firbolgs and Tuatha D&eacute; Dananns, and
+that, in the last of these, Nuada was slain. According to this ancient
+tract, when the Firbolg king heard of the arrival of the invaders, he
+sent a warrior named Sreng to reconnoitre their camp. The Tuatha D&eacute;
+Dananns were as skilled in war as in magic; they had sentinels carefully
+posted, and their <i>videttes</i> were as much on the alert as a Wellington
+or a Napier could desire. The champion Breas was sent forward to meet
+the stranger. As they approached, each raised his shield, and cautiously
+surveyed his opponent from above the protecting aegis. Breas was the
+first to speak. The mother-tongue was as dear then as now, and Sreng was
+charmed to hear himself addressed in his own language, which, equally
+dear to the exiled Nemedian chiefs, had been preserved by them in their
+long wanderings through northern Europe. An examination of each others
+armour next took place. Sreng was armed with &quot;two heavy, thick,
+pointless, but sharply rounded spears;&quot; while Breas carried &quot;two
+beautifully shaped, thin, slender, long, sharp-pointed spears.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_38_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_39"><sup>[38]</sup></a>
+Perhaps the one bore a spear of the same class of heavy flint weapons of
+which we give an illustration, and the other the lighter and more
+graceful sword, of which many specimens may be seen in the collection of
+the Royal Irish Academy. Breas then proposed that they should divide the
+island between the two parties; and after exchanging spears and promises
+of mutual friendship, each returned to his own camp.</p>
+
+<center><img src="images/007.jpg" width="150" height="460" alt="FLINT SPEAR-HEAD, FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE R.I.A." title="" /></center>
+<h4>FLINT SPEAR-HEAD, FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE R.I.A.</h4>
+<a name="Page_63"></a>
+<p>The Firbolg king, however, objected to this arrangement; and it was decided,
+in a council of war, to give battle to the invaders. The Tuatha D&eacute;
+Dananns were prepared for this from the account which Breas gave of the
+Firbolg warriors: they, therefore, abandoned their camp, and took up a
+strong position on Mount Belgadan, at the west end of <i>Magh Nia</i>, a site
+near the present village of Cong, co. Mayo.</p>
+
+<p>The Firbolgs marched from Tara to meet them; but Nuada, anxious for
+pacific arrangements, opened new negociations with King Eochaidh through
+the medium of his bards. The battle which has been mentioned before then
+followed. The warrior Breas, who ruled during the disability of Nuada,
+was by no means popular. He was not hospitable, a <i>sine qua non</i> for
+king or chief from the earliest ages of Celtic being; he did not love
+the bards, for the same race ever cherished and honoured learning; and
+he attempted to enslave the nobles. Discontent came to a climax when the
+bard Cairbr&eacute;, son of the poetess Etan, visited the royal court, and was
+sent to a dark chamber, without fire or bed, and, for all royal fare,
+served with three small cakes of bread. If we wish to know the true
+history of a people, to understand the causes of its sorrows and its
+joys, to estimate its worth, and to know how to rule it wisely and well,
+let us read such old-world tales carefully, and ponder them well. Even
+if prejudice or ignorance should induce us to undervalue their worth as
+authentic records of its ancient history, let us remember the undeniable
+fact, that they <i>are</i> authentic records of its deepest national
+feelings, and let them, at least, have their weight as such in our
+schemes of social economy, for the present and the future.</p>
+
+<p>The poet left the court next morning, but not until he pronounced a
+bitter and withering satire on the king&mdash;the first satire that had ever
+been pronounced in Erinn. It was enough. Strange effects are attributed
+to the satire of a poet in those olden times; but probably they could,
+in all cases, bear the simple and obvious interpretation, that he on
+whom the satire was pronounced was thereby disgraced eternally before
+his people. For how slight a punishment would bodily suffering or
+deformity be, in comparison to the mental suffering of which a
+quick-souled people are eminently capable!</p>
+
+<p>Breas was called on to resign. He did so with the worst possible grace,
+as might be expected from such a character. His father, Elatha, was a
+Fomorian sea-king or pirate, and he repaired to<a name="Page_64"></a> his court. His reception
+was not such as he had expected; he therefore went to Balor of the Evil
+Eye,<a name="FNanchor_39_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_40"><sup>[39]</sup></a> a Fomorian chief. The two warriors collected a vast army and
+navy, and formed a bridge of ships and boats from the Hebrides to the
+north-west coast of Erinn. Having landed their forces, they marched to a
+plain in the barony of Tirerrill (co. Sligo), where they waited an
+attack or surrender of the Tuatha D&eacute; Danann army. But the magical skill,
+or, more correctly, the superior abilities of this people, proved them
+more than equal to the occasion. The chronicler gives a quaint and most
+interesting account of the Tuatha D&eacute; Danann arrangements. Probably the
+Crimean campaign, despite our nineteenth century advancements in the art
+of war, was not prepared for more carefully, or carried out more
+efficiently.</p>
+
+<p>Nuada called a &quot;privy council,&quot; if we may use the modern term for the
+ancient act, and obtained the advice of the great Daghda; of Lug, the
+son of Cian, son of Diancecht, the famous physician; and of Ogma
+Grian-Aineach (of the sun-like face). But Daghda and Lug were evidently
+secretaries of state for the home and war departments, and arranged
+these intricate affairs with perhaps more honour to their master, and
+more credit to the nation, than many a modern and &quot;civilized&quot; statesman.
+They summoned to their presence the heads of each department necessary
+for carrying on the war. Each department was therefore carefully
+pre-organized, in such a manner as to make success almost certain, and
+to obtain every possible succour and help from those engaged in the
+combat, or those who had suffered from it. The &quot;smiths&quot; were prepared to
+make and to mend the swords, the surgeons to heal or staunch the wounds,
+the bards and druids to praise or blame; and each knew his work, and
+what was expected from the department which he headed before the battle,
+for the questions put to each, and their replies, are on record.</p>
+
+<p>Pardon me. You will say I have written a romance, a legend, for the
+benefit of my country<a name="FNanchor_40_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_41"><sup>[40]</sup></a>&mdash;a history of what might have been,<a name="Page_65"></a> of what
+should be, at least in modern warfare, and, alas! often is not. Pardon
+me. The copy of the tracts from which I have compiled this meagre
+narrative, is in existence, and in the British Museum. It was written on
+vellum, about the year 1460, by Gilla-Riabhach O'Clery; but there is
+unquestionable authority for its having existed at a much earlier
+period. It is quoted by Cormac Mac Cullinan in his Glossary, in
+illustration of the word <i>Nes</i>, and Cormac was King of Munster in the
+year of grace 885, while his Glossary was compiled to explain words
+which had then become obsolete. This narrative must, therefore, be of
+great antiquity. If we cannot accept it as a picture of the period, in
+the main authentic, let us give up all ancient history as a myth; if we
+do accept it, let us acknowledge that a people who possessed such
+officials had attained a high state of intellectual culture, and that
+their memory demands at least the homage of our respect.</p>
+
+<p>The plain on which this battle was fought, retains the name of the Plain
+of the Towers (or Pillars) of the Fomorians, and some very curious
+sepulchral monuments may still be seen on the ancient field.</p>
+<a name="Page_66"></a>
+<p>In those days, as in the so-called middle ages, ladies exercised their
+skill in the healing art; and we find honorable mention made of the Lady
+Ochtriuil, who assisted the chief physician (her father) and his sons in
+healing the wounds of the Tuatha D&eacute; Danann heroes. These warriors have
+also left many evidences of their existence in raths and monumental
+pillars.<a name="FNanchor_41_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_42"><sup>[41]</sup></a> It is probable, also, that much that has been attributed to
+the Danes, of right belongs to the Dananns, and that a confusion of
+names has promoted a confusion of appropriation. Before we turn to the
+Milesian immigration, the last colonization of the old country, let us
+inquire what was known and said of it, and of its people, by foreign
+writers.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/008.jpg" width="454" height="595" alt="CAVITY, CONTAINING OVAL BASIN. NEW GRANGE." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>CAVITY, CONTAINING OVAL BASIN. NEW GRANGE.</h4>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<br /><br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_IV"></a>
+<center>
+<img src="images/009.jpg" width="466" height="325" alt="THE SEVEN CASTLES OF CLONMINES" title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>THE SEVEN CASTLES OF CLONMINES</h4>
+
+<a name="Page_67"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+
+
+<h4>The Scythians Colonists&mdash;Testimony of Josephus&mdash;Magog and his
+Colony&mdash;Statements of our Annals confirmed by a Jewish Writer&mdash;By
+Herodotus&mdash;Nennius relates what is told by the &quot;Most Learned of the
+Scoti&quot;&mdash;Phoenician Circumnavigation of Africa&mdash;Phoenician Colonization
+of Spain&mdash;Iberus and Himerus&mdash;Traditions of Partholan&mdash;Early
+Geographical Accounts of Ireland&mdash;Early Social Accounts of Ireland.</h4>
+
+<img src="images/i.jpg" width="53" height="191" align="left" alt="T" title="" />
+<p>he writer of the article on Ireland, in Rees' Cyclop&aelig;dia, says: &quot;It
+does not appear improbable, much less absurd, to suppose that the
+Phoenicians might have colonized Ireland at an early period, and
+introduced their laws, customs, and knowledge, with a comparatively high
+state of civilization; and that these might have been gradually lost
+amidst the disturbances of the country, and, at last, completely
+destroyed by the irruptions of the Ostmen.&quot; Of this assertion, which is
+now scarcely doubted, there is abundant proof; and it is remarkable that
+Josephus<a name="FNanchor_42_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_43"><sup>[42]</sup></a> attributes to the Phoenicians a special care in preserving
+their annals above that of other civilized nations, and that this
+feeling has existed, and still exists, more vividly in the Celtic race
+than in any other European people.</p>
+<a name="Page_68"></a>
+<p>The Irish annalists claim a descent from the Scythians, who, they say,
+are descended from Magog, the son of Japhet, the son of Noah. Keating
+says: &quot;We will set down here the branching off of the race of Magog,
+according to the Book of Invasions (of Ireland), which was called the
+Cin of Drom Snechta.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_43_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_44"><sup>[43]</sup></a> It will be remembered how curiously O'Curry
+verified Keating's statement as to the authorship of this work,<a name="FNanchor_44_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_45"><sup>[44]</sup></a> so
+that his testimony may be received with respect. In the Scripture
+genealogy, the sons of Magog are not enumerated; but an historian, who
+cannot be suspected of any design of assisting the Celts to build up a
+pedigree, has happily supplied the deficiency. Josephus writes:<a name="FNanchor_45_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_46"><sup>[45]</sup></a>
+&quot;Magog led out a colony, which from him were named Magoges, but by the
+Greeks called Scythians.&quot; But Keating specifies the precise title of
+Scythians, from which the Irish Celts are descended. He says they had
+established themselves in remote ages on the borders of the Red Sea, at
+the town of Chiroth; that they were expelled by the grandson of that
+Pharaoh who had been drowned in the Red Sea; and that he persecuted them
+because they had supplied the Israelites with provisions.</p>
+
+<p>This statement is singularly and most conclusively confirmed by Rabbi
+Simon, who wrote two hundred years before the birth of Christ. He says
+that certain Canaanites near the Red Sea gave provisions to the
+Israelites; &quot;and because these Canaan ships gave Israel of their
+provisions, God would not destroy their ships, but with an east wind
+carried them down the Red Sea.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_46_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_47"><sup>[46]</sup></a> This colony settled in what was
+subsequently called Phoenicia; and here again our traditions are
+confirmed <i>ab extra</i>, for Herodotus says: &quot;The Phoenicians anciently
+dwelt, as they allege, on the borders of the Red Sea.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_47_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_48"><sup>[47]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>It is not known at what time this ancient nation obtained the<a name="Page_69"></a> specific
+appellation of Phoenician. The word is not found in Hebrew brew copies
+of the Scriptures, but is used in the Machabees, the original of which
+is in Greek, and in the New Testament. According to Grecian historians,
+it was derived from Phoenix, one of their kings and brother of Cadmus,
+the inventor of letters. It is remarkable that our annals mention a king
+named Phenius, who devoted himself especially to the study of languages,
+and composed an alphabet and the elements of grammar. Our historians
+describe the wanderings of the Phoenicians, whom they still designate
+Scythians, much as they are described by other writers. The account of
+their route may differ in detail, but the main incidents coincide.
+Nennius, an English chronicler, who wrote in the seventh century, from
+the oral testimony of trustworthy Irish Celts, gives corroborative
+testimony. He writes thus: &quot;If any one would be anxious to learn how
+long Ireland was uninhabited and deserted, he shall hear it, as the most
+learned of the Scots have related it to me.<a name="FNanchor_48_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_49"><sup>[48]</sup></a> When the children of
+Israel came to the Red Sea, the Egyptians pursued them and were drowned,
+as the Scripture records. In the time of Moses there was a Scythian
+noble who had been banished from his kingdom, and dwelt in Egypt with a
+large family. He was there when the Egyptians were drowned, but he did
+not join in the persecution of the Lord's people. Those who survived
+laid plans to banish him, lest he should assume the government, because
+their brethren were drowned in the Red Sea; so he was expelled. He
+wandered through Africa for forty-two years, and passed by the lake of
+Salin&aelig; to the altars of the Philistines, and between Rusicada and the
+mountains Azure, and he came by the river Mulon, and by sea to the
+Pillars of Hercules, and through the Tuscan Sea, and he made for Spain,
+and dwelt there many years, and he increased and multiplied, and his
+people were multiplied.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Herodotus gives an account of the circumnavigation of Africa by the
+Phoenicians, which may have some coincidence with this narrative. His
+only reason for rejecting the tradition, which he relates at length, is
+that he could not conceive how these<a name="Page_70"></a> navigators could have seen the sun
+in a position contrary to that in which it is seen in Europe. The
+expression of his doubt is a strong confirmation of the truth of his
+narrative, which, however, is generally believed by modern writers.<a name="FNanchor_49_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_50"><sup>[49]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>This navigation was performed about seven centuries before the Christian
+era, and is, at least, a proof that the maritime power of the
+Phoenicians was established at an early period, and that it was not
+impossible for them to have extended their enterprises to Ireland. The
+traditions of our people may also be confirmed from other sources.
+Solinus writes thus: &quot;In the gulf of Boatica there is an island, distant
+some hundred paces from the mainland, which the Tyrians, who came from
+the Red Sea, called Erythroea, and the Carthaginians, in their language,
+denominate Gadir, i.e., the enclosure.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Spanish historians add their testimony, and claim the Phoenicians as
+their principal colonizers. The <i>Hispania Illustrata</i>, a rare and
+valuable work, on which no less than sixty writers were engaged, fixes
+the date of the colonization of Spain by the Phoenicians at 764 A.C. De
+Bellegarde says: &quot;The first of whom mention is made in history is
+Hercules, the Phoenician, by some called Melchant.&quot; It is alleged that
+he lived in the time of Moses, and that he retired into Spain when the
+Israelites entered the land of promise. This will be consistent with old
+accounts, if faith can be placed in the inscription of two columns,
+which were found in the province of Tingitane, at the time of the
+historian Procopius.<a name="FNanchor_50_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_51"><sup>[50]</sup></a> A Portuguese historian, Emanuel de Faria y
+Sousa, mentions the sailing of Gatelus from Egypt, with his whole
+family, and names his two sons, Iberus and Himerus, the first of whom,
+he says, &quot;some will have to have sailed into Ireland, and given the name
+Hibernia to it.&quot;</p>
+<a name="Page_71"></a>
+<p>Indeed, so strong has been the concurrent testimony of a Phoenician
+colonization of Ireland from Spain, and this by independent authorities,
+who could not have had access to our bardic histories, and who had no
+motive, even had they known of their existence, to write in confirmation
+of them, that those who have maintained the theory of a Gaulish
+colonization of Ireland, have been obliged to make Spain the point of
+embarkation.</p>
+
+<p>There is a curious treatise on the antiquities and origin of Cambridge,
+in which it is stated, that, in the year of the world 4321, a British
+prince, the son of Gulguntius, or Gurmund, having crossed over to
+Denmark, to enforce tribute from a Danish king, was returning victorious
+off the Orcades, when he encountered thirty ships, full of men and
+women. On his inquiring into the object of their voyage, their leader,
+<i>Partholyan</i>, made an appeal to his good-nature, and entreated from the
+prince some small portion of land in Britain, as his crew were weary of
+sailing over the ocean. Being informed that he came from Spain, the
+British prince received him under his protection, and assigned faithful
+guides to attend him into Ireland, which was then wholly uninhabited;
+and he granted it to them, subject to an annual tribute, and confirmed
+the appointment of Partholyan as their chief.<a name="FNanchor_51_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_52"><sup>[51]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>This account was so firmly believed in England, that it is specially set
+forth in an Irish act (11th of Queen Elizabeth) among the &quot;auncient and
+sundry strong authentique tytles for the kings of England to this land
+of Ireland.&quot; The tradition may have been obtained from Irish sources,
+and was probably &quot;improved&quot; and accommodated to fortify the Saxon claim,
+by the addition of the pretended grant; but it is certainly evidence of
+the early belief in the Milesian colonization of Ireland, and the name
+of their leader.</p>
+
+<p>The earliest references to Ireland by foreign writers are, as might be
+expected, of a contradictory character. Plutarch affirms that Calypso
+was &quot;an island five days' sail to the west of Britain,&quot; which, at least,
+indicates his knowledge of the existence of Erinn. Orpheus is the first
+writer who definitely names Ireland. In the imaginary route which he
+prescribes for Jason and the Argonauts, he names Ireland (Iernis), and
+describes its woody surface and its<a name="Page_72"></a> misty atmosphere. All authorities
+are agreed that this poem<a name="FNanchor_52_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_53"><sup>[52]</sup></a> was written five hundred years before
+Christ; and all doubt as to whether Iernis meant the present island of
+Ireland must be removed, at least to an unprejudiced inquirer, by a
+careful examination of the route which is described, and the position of
+the island in that route.</p>
+
+<p>The early history of a country which has been so long and so cruelly
+oppressed, both civilly and morally, has naturally fallen into
+disrepute. We do not like to display the qualifications of one whom we
+have deeply injured. It is, at least, less disgraceful to have forbidden
+a literature to a people who had none, than to have banned and barred
+the use of a most ancient language,&mdash;to have destroyed the annals of a
+most ancient people. In self-defence, the conqueror who knows not how to
+triumph nobly will triumph basely, and the victims may, in time, almost
+forget what it has been the policy of centuries to conceal from them.
+But ours is, in many respects, an age of historical justice, and truth
+will triumph in the end. It is no longer necessary to England's present
+greatness to deny the facts of history; and it is one of its most patent
+facts that Albion was unknown, or, at least, that her existence was
+unrecorded, at a time when Ireland is mentioned with respect as the
+Sacred Isle, and the Ogygia<a name="FNanchor_53_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_54"><sup>[53]</sup></a> of the Greeks.</p>
+
+<p>As might be expected, descriptions of the social state of ancient Erinn
+are of the most contradictory character; but there is a remarkable
+coincidence in all accounts of the physical geography of the island. The
+moist climate, the fertile soil, the richly-wooded plains, the navigable
+rivers, and the abundance of its fish,<a name="FNanchor_54_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_55"><sup>[54]</sup></a> are each and all mentioned by
+the early geographers. The<a name="Page_73"></a> description given by Diodorus Siculus of a
+&quot;certain large island a considerable distance out at sea, and in the
+direction of the west, many days' sail from Lybia,&quot; if it applies to
+Ireland, would make us suppose that the Erinn of pagan times was
+incomparably more prosperous than Erinn under Christian rule. He also
+specially mentions the fish, and adds: &quot;The Phoenicians, from the very
+remotest times, made repeated voyages thither for purposes of
+commerce.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_55_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_56"><sup>[55]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>The descriptions of our social state are by no means so flattering; but
+it is remarkable, and, perhaps, explanatory, that the most unfavourable
+accounts are the more modern ones. All without the pale of Roman
+civilization were considered &quot;barbarians,&quot; and the epithet was freely
+applied. Indeed, it is well known that, when Cicero had a special object
+in view, he could describe the Celtae of Gaul as the vilest monsters,
+and the hereditary enemies of the gods, for whose wickedness
+extermination was the only remedy. As to the &quot;gods&quot; there is no doubt
+that the Druidic worship was opposed to the more sensual paganism of
+Greece and Rome, and,<a name="Page_74"></a> therefore, would be considered eminently
+irreligious by the votaries of the latter.</p>
+
+<p>The most serious social charge against the Irish Celts, is that of being
+anthropophagi; and the statement of St. Jerome, that he had seen two
+Scoti in Gaul feeding on a human carcass, has been claimed as strong
+corroboration of the assertions of pagan writers. As the good father was
+often vehement in his statements and impulsive in his opinions, he may
+possibly have been mistaken, or, perhaps, purposely misled by those who
+wished to give him an unfavourable impression of the Irish. It is
+scarcely possible that they could have been cannibal as a nation, since
+St. Patrick never even alludes to such a custom in his <i>Confessio</i>,<a name="FNanchor_56_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_57"><sup>[56]</sup></a>
+where it would, undoubtedly, have been mentioned and reproved, had it
+existence.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/010.jpg" width="394" height="531" alt="CROSS AT GLENDALOUGH, CO. WICKLOW." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>CROSS AT GLENDALOUGH, CO. WICKLOW.</h4>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<br /><br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_V"></a>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/011.jpg" width="447" height="269" alt="CROMLECH AT DUNMORE, WATERFORD." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>CROMLECH AT DUNMORE, WATERFORD.</h4>
+<a name="Page_75"></a>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+
+<h4>Landing of the Milesians&mdash;Traditions of the Tuatha D&eacute; Dananns in St.
+Patrick's time&mdash;The Lia Fail, or Stone of Destiny&mdash;The Milesians go back
+to sea &quot;nine waves&quot;&mdash;They conquer ultimately&mdash;Reign of Eremon&mdash;Landing
+of the Picts&mdash;Bede's Account of Ireland&mdash;Fame of its Fish and
+Goats&mdash;Difficulties of Irish Chronology&mdash;Importance and Authenticity of
+Irish Pedigrees&mdash;Qualifications of an Ollamh&mdash;Milesian
+Genealogies&mdash;Historical Value of Pedigrees&mdash;National Feelings should be
+respected&mdash;Historic Tales&mdash;Poems.</h4>
+
+<h5>[A.M. 3500.]</h5>
+
+<img src="images/i.jpg" width="53" height="191" align="left" alt="T" title="" />
+<p>he last colonization of Ireland is thus related in the Annals of the
+Four Masters: &quot;The age of the world 3500. The fleet of the sons of
+Milidh came to Ireland at the end of this year, to take it from the
+Tuatha D&eacute; Dananns, and they fought the battle of Sliabh Mis with them on
+the third day after landing. In this battle fell Scota, the daughter of
+Pharaoh, wife of Milidh; and the grave of Scota<a name="FNanchor_57_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_58"><sup>[57]</sup></a> is [to be seen]
+between Sliabh Mis and the sea. Therein also fell Fas, the wife of Un,
+son of Uige, from whom is [named] Gleann Faisi. After this the sons of
+Milidh fought a battle at Taillten<a name="FNanchor_58_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_59"><sup>[58]</sup></a> against the three kings of the
+Tuatha D&eacute; Dananns, MacCuill, MacCeacht, and MacGri&eacute;n&eacute;. The battle lasted
+for a long time, until MacCeacht fell by Eiremhon, MacCuill by Eimheur,
+and Mac <a name="Page_76"></a>Gri&eacute;n&eacute; by Amhergen.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_59_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_60"><sup>[59]</sup></a> Thus the Tuatha D&eacute; Danann dynasty
+passed away, but not without leaving many a quaint legend of magic and
+mystery, and many an impress of its more than ordinary skill in such
+arts as were then indications of national superiority. The real names of
+the last chiefs of this line, are said to have been respectively Ethur,
+Cethur, and Fethur. The first was called MacCuill, because he worshipped
+the hazel-tree, and, more probably, because he was devoted to some
+branch of literature which it symbolized; the second MacCeacht, because
+he worshipped the plough, i.e., was devoted to agriculture; and the
+third obtained his appellation of MacGri&eacute;n&eacute; because he worshipped the
+sun.</p>
+
+<p>It appears from a very curious and ancient tract, written in the shape
+of a dialogue between St. Patrick and Caoilte MacRonain, that there were
+many places in Ireland where the Tuatha D&eacute; Dananns were then supposed to
+live as sprites and fairies, with corporeal and material forms, but
+endued with immortality. The inference naturally to be drawn from these
+stories is, that the Tuatha D&eacute; Dananns lingered in the country for many
+centuries after their subjugation by the Gaedhils, and that they lived
+in retired situations, where they practised abstruse arts, from which
+they obtained the reputation of being magicians.</p>
+
+<p>The Tuatha D&eacute; Dananns are also said to have brought the famous. Lia
+Fail, or Stone of Destiny, to Ireland. It is said by some authorities
+that this stone was carried to Scotland when an Irish colony invaded
+North Britain, and that it was eventually brought to England by Edward
+I., in the year 1300, and deposited in Westminster Abbey. It is supposed
+to be identical with the large block of stone which may be seen there
+under the coronation chair. Dr. Petrie, however, controverts this
+statement, and believes it to be the present pillar stone over the
+Croppies' Grave in one of the raths of Tara.</p>
+
+<p>A Danann prince, called Oghma, is said to have invented the occult form
+of writing called the Ogham Craove, which, like the round towers has
+proved so fertile a source of doubt and discussion to our antiquaries.</p>
+
+<p>The Milesians, however, did not obtain a colonization in Ireland without
+some difficulty. According to the ancient accounts, they<a name="Page_77"></a> landed at the
+mouth of the river Sl&aacute;ing&eacute;, or Slaney, in the present county of Wexford,
+unperceived by the Tuatha D&eacute; Dananns. From thence they marched to Tara,
+the seat of government, and summoned the three kings to surrender. A
+curious legend is told of this summons and its results, which is
+probably true in the more important details. The Tuatha D&eacute; Danann
+princes complained that they had been taken by surprise, and proposed to
+the invaders to re-embark, and to go out upon the sea &quot;the distance of
+nine waves&quot; stating that the country should be surrendered to them if
+they could then effect a landing by force. The Milesian chiefs assented;
+but when the original inhabitants found them fairly launched at sea,
+they raised a tempest by magical incantations, which entirely dispersed
+the fleet. One part of it was driven along the east coast of Erinn, to
+the north, under the command of Eremon, the youngest of the Milesian
+brothers; the remainder, under the command of Donn, the elder brother,
+was driven to the south-west of the island.</p>
+
+<p>But the Milesians had druids also.<a name="FNanchor_60_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_61"><sup>[60]</sup></a> As soon as they suspected the
+agency which had caused the storm, they sent a man to the topmast of the
+ship to know &quot;if the wind was blowing at that height over the surface of
+the sea.&quot; The man reported that it was not. The druids then commence
+practising counter arts of magic, in which they soon succeeded, but not
+until five of the eight brothers were lost. Four, including Donn, were
+drowned in the wild Atlantic, off the coast of Kerry. Colpa met his fate
+at the mouth of the river Boyne, called from him Inbhear Colpa. Eber
+Finn and Amergin, the survivors of the southern party, landed in Kerry,
+and here the battle of Sliabh Mis was fought, which has been already
+mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>The battle of Taillten followed; and the Milesians having become masters
+of the country, the brothers Eber Finn and Eremon divided it between
+them; the former taking all the southern part, from the Boyne and the
+Shannon to Cape Clear, the latter taking all the part lying to the north
+of these rivers.</p>
+
+<p>This arrangement, however, was not of long continuance. Each was
+desirous of unlimited sovereignty; and they met to decide their<a name="Page_78"></a> claims
+by an appeal to arms at G&eacute;isill,<a name="FNanchor_61_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_62"><sup>[61]</sup></a> a place near the present Tullamore,
+in the King's county. Eber and his chief leaders fell in this
+engagement, and Eremon assumed the sole government of the island.<a name="FNanchor_62_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_63"><sup>[62]</sup></a></p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/012.jpg" width="425" height="326" alt="ANCIENT FLINT AXE." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>ANCIENT FLINT AXE.</h4>
+
+<p>He took up his residence in Leinster, and after a reign of fifteen years
+died, and was buried at <i>R&aacute;ith Be&oacute;thaigh</i>, in <i>Argat Ross</i>. This<a name="Page_79"></a> ancient
+rath still exists, and is now called Rath Beagh. It is situated on the
+right bank of the river Nore, near the present village of Ballyragget,
+county Kilkenny. This is not narrated by the Four Masters, neither do
+they mention the coming of the Cruithneans or Picts into Ireland. These
+occurrences, however, are recorded in all the ancient copies of the Book
+of Invasions, and in the Dinnseanchus. The Cruithneans or Picts are said
+to have fled from the oppression of their king in Thrace, and to have
+passed into Gaul. There they founded the city of Poictiers. From thence
+they were again driven by an act of tyranny, and they proceeded first to
+Britain, and then to Ireland. Crimhthann Sciath-b&eacute;l, one of King
+Bremen's leaders, was at Wexford when the new colony landed. He was
+occupied in extirpating a tribe of Britons who had settled in
+Fotharta,<a name="FNanchor_63_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_64"><sup>[63]</sup></a> and were unpleasantly distinguished for fighting with
+poisoned weapons. The Irish chieftain asked the assistance of the new
+comers. A battle was fought, and the Britons were defeated principally
+by the skill of the Pictish druid, who found an antidote for the poison
+of their weapons. According to the quaint account of Bede,<a name="FNanchor_64_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_65"><sup>[64]</sup></a> the
+Celtic chiefs gave good advice to their foreign allies in return for
+their good deeds, and recommended them to settle in North Britain,
+adding that they would come to their assistance should they find any
+difficulty or opposition from the inhabitants. The Picts took the
+advice, but soon found themselves in want of helpmates. They applied
+again to their neighbours, and were obligingly supplied with wives on
+the condition &quot;that, when any difficulty should arise, they should
+choose a king from the female royal race rather than from the male.&quot; The
+Picts accepted the terms and the ladies; &quot;and the custom,&quot; says Bede,
+&quot;as is well known, is observed among the Picts to this day.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Bede then continues to give a description of Ireland. His account,
+although of some length, and not in all points reliable, is too
+interesting to be omitted, being the opinion of an Englishman, and an
+author of reputation, as to the state of Ireland, socially and<a name="Page_80"></a>
+physically, in the seventh century: &quot;Ireland, in breadth and for
+wholesomeness and serenity of climate, far surpasses Britain; for the
+snow scarcely ever lies there above three days; no man makes hay in
+summer for winter's provision, or builds stables for his beasts of
+burden. No reptiles are found there; for, though often carried thither
+out of Britain, as soon as the ship comes near the shore, and the scent
+of the air reaches them, they die. On the contrary, almost all things in
+the island are good against poison. In short, we have known that when
+some persons have been bitten by serpents, the scrapings of leaves of
+books that were brought out of Ireland, being put into water and given
+them to drink, have immediately expelled the spreading poison, and
+assuaged the swelling. The island abounds in milk and honey;<a name="FNanchor_65_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_66"><sup>[65]</sup></a> nor is
+there any want of vines, fish,<a name="FNanchor_66_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_67"><sup>[66]</sup></a> and fowl; and it is remarkable for
+deer and goats.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The chronology of Irish pagan history is unquestionably one of its
+greatest difficulties. But the chronology of all ancient peoples is
+equally unmanageable. When Bunsen has settled Egyptian chronology to the
+satisfaction of other literati as well as to his own, and when Hindoo
+and Chinese accounts of their postdiluvian or antediluvian ancestors
+have been reconciled and synchronized, we may<a name="Page_81"></a> hear some objections to
+&quot;Irish pedigrees,&quot; and listen to a new &quot;Irish question.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Pre-Christian Irish chronology has been arranged, like most ancient
+national chronologies, on the basis of the length of reign of certain
+kings. As we do not trace our descent from the &quot;sun and moon&quot; we are not
+necessitated to give our kings &quot;a gross of centuries apiece,&quot; or to
+divide the assumed period of a reign between half-a-dozen monarchs;<a name="FNanchor_67_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_68"><sup>[67]</sup></a>
+and the difficulties are merely such as might be expected before
+chronology had become a science. The Four Masters have adopted the
+chronology of the Septuagint; but O'Flaherty took the system of
+Scaliger, and thus reduced the dates by many hundred years. The
+objection of hostile critics has been to the history rather than to the
+chronology of the history; but these objections are a mere <i>petitio
+principii</i>. They cannot understand how Ireland could have had a
+succession of kings and comparative civilization,&mdash;in fact, a national
+existence,&mdash;from 260 years before the building of Rome, when the
+Milesian colony arrived, according to the author of the <i>Ogygia</i>, at
+least a thousand years before the arrival of C&aelig;sar in Britain, and his
+discovery that its inhabitants were half-naked savages. The real
+question is not what C&aelig;sar said of the Britons, nor whether they had an
+ancient history before their subjugation by the victorious cohorts of
+Rome; but whether the annals which contained the pre-Christian history
+of Ireland may be accepted as, in the main, authentic.</p>
+
+<p>We have already given some account of the principal works from which our
+annals may be compiled. Before we proceed to that portion of our history
+the authenticity of which cannot be questioned, it may, perhaps, be
+useful to give an idea of the authorities for the minor details of
+social life, the individual incidents of a nation's being, which, in
+fact, make up the harmonious whole. We shall find a remarkable
+coincidence between the materials for early Roman history, and those for
+the early history of that portion of the Celtic race which colonized
+Ireland.</p>
+
+<p>We have no trace of any historical account of Roman history by a
+contemporary writer, native or foreign, before the war with Pyrrhus; yet
+we have a history of Rome for more than four hundred years previous
+offered to us by classical writers<a name="FNanchor_68_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_69"><sup>[68]</sup></a>, as a<a name="Page_82"></a> trustworthy narrative of
+events. From whence did they derive their reliable information?
+Unquestionably from works such as the <i>Origines</i> of Cato the Censor, and
+other writers, which were then extant, but which have since perished.
+And these writers, whence did they obtain their historical narratives?
+If we may credit the theory of Niebuhr,<a name="FNanchor_69_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_70"><sup>[69]</sup></a> they were transmitted simply
+by bardic legends, composed in verse. Even Sir G.C. Lewis admits that
+&quot;commemorative festivals and other periodical observances, may, in
+certain cases, have served to perpetuate a true tradition of some
+national event.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_70_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_71"><sup>[70]</sup></a> And how much more surely would the memory of such
+events be perpetuated by a people, to whom they had brought important
+political revolutions, who are eminently tenacious of their traditions,
+and who have preserved the memory of them intact for centuries in local
+names and monumental sites! The sources from whence the first annalists,
+or writers of Irish history, may have compiled their narratives, would,
+therefore, be&mdash;1. The Books of Genealogies and Pedigrees. 2. The
+Historic Tales. 3. The Books of Laws. 4. The Imaginative Tales and
+Poems. 5. National Monuments, such as cromlechs and pillar stones, &amp;c.,
+which supplied the place of the brazen tablets of Roman history, the
+<i>libri lintei</i>,<a name="FNanchor_71_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_72"><sup>[71]</sup></a> or the chronological nail.<a name="FNanchor_72_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_73"><sup>[72]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>The Books of Genealogies and Pedigrees form a most important element in
+Irish pagan history. For social and political reasons, the Irish Celt
+preserved his genealogical tree with scrupulous precision. The rights of
+property and the governing power were transmitted with patriarchal
+exactitude on strict claims of primogeniture, which claims could only be
+refused under certain conditions defined by law. Thus, pedigrees and
+genealogies<a name="Page_83"></a> became a family necessity; but since private claims might be
+doubted, and the question of authenticity involved such important
+results, a responsible public officer was appointed to keep the records
+by which all claims were decided. Each king had his own recorder, who
+was obliged to keep a true account of his pedigree, and also of the
+pedigrees of the provincial kings and of their principal chieftains. The
+provincial kings had also their recorders (Ollamhs or Seanchaidh&eacute;<a name="FNanchor_73_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_74"><sup>[73]</sup></a>);
+and in obedience to an ancient law established long before the
+introduction of Christianity, all the provincial records, as well as
+those of the various chieftains, were required to be furnished every
+third year to the convocation at Tara, where they were compared and
+corrected.</p>
+
+<p>The compilers of these genealogies were persons who had been educated as
+Ollamhs&mdash;none others were admissible; and their &quot;diplomas&quot; were obtained
+after a collegiate course, which might well deter many a modern aspirant
+to professorial chairs. The education of the Ollamh lasted for twelve
+years; and in the course of these twelve years of &quot;hard work,&quot; as the
+early books say, certain regular courses were completed, each of which
+gave the student an additional degree, with corresponding title, rank,
+and privileges.<a name="FNanchor_74_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_75"><sup>[74]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>&quot;In the Book of <i>Lecain</i> (fol. 168) there is an ancient tract,
+describing the laws upon this subject, and referring, with quotations,
+to the body of the <i>Brethibh Nimhedh</i>, or 'Brehon Laws.' According to
+this authority, the perfect Poet or <i>Ollamh</i> should know and practise
+the <i>Teinim Laegha</i>, the <i>Imas Forosnadh</i>, and the <i>Dichedal do
+chennaibh</i>. The first appears to have been a peculiar druidical verse,
+or incantation, believed to confer upon the druid or poet the power of
+understanding everything that it was proper for him to say or speak. The
+second is explained or translated, 'the illumination of much knowledge,
+as from the teacher to the pupil,' that is, that he should be able to
+explain and teach the four divisions of poetry or philosophy, 'and each
+division of them,' continues the authority quoted, 'is the chief
+teaching of three years of hard<a name="Page_84"></a> work.' The third qualification, or
+<i>Dichedal</i>, is explained, 'that he begins at once the head of his poem,'
+in short, to improvise extempore in correct verse. 'To the <i>Ollamh</i>,'
+says the ancient authority quoted in this passage in the Book of
+<i>Lecain</i>,' belong synchronisms, together with the <i>laegha laidhibh</i>, or
+illuminating poems [incantations], and to him belong the pedigrees and
+etymologies of names, that is, he has the pedigrees of the men of Erinn
+with certainty, and the branching off of their various relationships.'
+Lastly, 'here are the four divisions of the knowledge of poetry (or
+philosophy),' says the tract I have referred to; 'genealogies,
+synchronisms, and the reciting of (historic) tales form the first
+division; knowledge of the seven kinds of verse, and how to measure them
+by letters and syllables, form another of them; judgment of the seven
+kinds of poetry, another of them; lastly, <i>Dichedal</i> [or improvisation],
+that is, to contemplate and recite the verses without ever thinking of
+them before.'&quot;<a name="FNanchor_75_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_76"><sup>[75]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>The pedigrees were collected and written into a single book, called the
+<i>Cin</i> or Book of Drom Snechta, by the son of Duach Galach, King of
+Connacht, an Ollamh in history and genealogies, &amp;c., shortly before<a name="FNanchor_76_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_77"><sup>[76]</sup></a>
+the arrival of St. Patrick in Ireland, which happened about A.D. 432. It
+is obvious, therefore, that these genealogies must have existed for
+centuries prior to this period. Even if they were then committed to
+writing for the first time, they could have been handed down for many
+centuries orally by the Ollamhs; for no amount of literary effort could
+be supposed too great for a class of men so exclusively and laboriously
+devoted to learning.</p>
+
+<p>As the Milesians were the last of the ancient colonists, and had subdued
+the races previously existing in Ireland, only their genealogies, with a
+few exceptions, have been preserved. The genealogical tree begins,
+therefore, with the brothers Eber and Eremon, the two surviving leaders
+of the expedition, whose ancestors are traced back to Magog, the son of
+Japhet. The great southern chieftains, such as the MacCarthys and
+O'Briens, claim descent from Eber; the northern families of O'Connor,
+O'Donnell, and O'Neill, claim Eremon as their head. There are also other
+families<a name="Page_85"></a> claiming descent from Emer, the son of Ir, brother to Eber and
+Eremon; as also from their cousin Lugaidh, the son of Ith. From four
+sources the principal Celtic families of Ireland have sprung; and though
+they do not quite trace up the line to</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;The grand old gardener and his wife,&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>they have a pedigree which cannot be gainsaid, and which might be
+claimed with pride by many a monarch. MacFirbis' Book of
+Genealogies,<a name="FNanchor_77_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_78"><sup>[77]</sup></a> compiled in the year 1650, from lost records, is the
+most perfect work of this kind extant. But there are tracts in the Book
+of Leinster (compiled A.D. 1130), and in the Book of Ballymote (compiled
+A.D. 1391), which are of the highest authority. O'Curry is of opinion,
+that those in the Book of Leinster were copied from the Saltair of
+Cashel and other contemporaneous works.</p>
+
+<p>The historical use of these genealogies is very great, not only because
+they give an authentic pedigree and approximate data for chronological
+calculation, but from the immense amount of correlative information
+which they contain. Every free-born man of the tribe was entitled by
+<i>blood</i>, should it come to his turn, to succeed to the chieftaincy:
+hence the exactitude with which each pedigree was kept; hence their
+importance in the estimation of each individual; hence the incidental
+matter they contain, by the mention of such historical events<a name="FNanchor_78_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_79"><sup>[78]</sup></a> as may
+have acted on different tribes and families, by which they lost their
+inheritance or independence, and consequently their claim, however
+remote, to the chieftaincy.</p>
+
+<p>The ancient history of a people should always be studied with<a name="Page_86"></a> care and
+candour by those who, as a matter of interest or duty, wish to
+understand their social state, and the government best suited to that
+state. Many of the poorest families in Ireland are descendants of its
+ancient chiefs. The old habit&mdash;the habit which deepened and intensified
+itself during centuries&mdash;cannot be eradicated, though it may be
+ridiculed, and the peasant will still boast of his &quot;blood;&quot; it is all
+that he has left to him of the proud inheritance of his ancestors.</p>
+
+<p>The second source of historical information may be found in the HISTORIC
+TALES. The reciting of historic tales was one of the principal duties of
+the Ollamh, and he was bound to preserve the truth of history &quot;pure and
+unbroken to succeeding generations.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;According to several of the most ancient authorities, the <i>Ollamh</i>, or
+perfect Doctor, was bound to have (for recital at the public feasts and
+assemblies) at least Seven Fifties of these Historic narratives; and
+there appear to have been various degrees in the ranks of the poets, as
+they progressed in education towards the final degree, each of which was
+bound to be supplied with at least a certain number. Thus the <i>Anroth</i>,
+next in rank to an <i>Ollamh</i> should have half the number of an <i>Ollamh</i>;
+the <i>Cli</i>, one-third the number, according to some authorities, and
+eighty according to others; and so on down to the <i>Fochlog</i>, who should
+have thirty; and the <i>Driseg</i> (the lowest of all), who should have
+twenty of these tales.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_79_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_80"><sup>[79]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>The Ollamhs, like the druids or learned men of other nations, were in
+the habit of teaching the facts of history to their pupils in verse,<a name="FNanchor_80_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_81"><sup>[80]</sup></a>
+probably that they might be more easily remembered.<a name="Page_87"></a> A few of these tales
+have been published lately, such as the Battle of <i>Magh Rath</i>, the
+Battle of <i>Muigh&eacute; Leana</i>, and the <i>Tochmarc Mom&eacute;ra</i>. Besides the tales
+of Battles (Catha), there are the tales of Longasa, or Voyages; the
+tales of T&oacute;ghla, or Destructions; of Slaughters, of Sieges, of
+Tragedies, of Voyages, and, not least memorable, of the T&aacute;na, or Cattle
+Spoils, and the Tochmarca, or Courtships. It should be remembered that
+numbers of these tales are in existence, offering historical materials
+of the highest value. The Books of Laws demand a special and more
+detailed notice, as well as the Historical Monuments. With a brief
+mention of the Imaginative Tales and Poems, we must conclude this
+portion of our subject.</p>
+
+<p>Ancient writings, even of pure fiction, must always form an important
+historical element to the nation by which they have been produced.
+Unless they are founded on fact, so far as customs, localities, and mode
+of life are concerned, they would possess no interest; and their
+principal object is to interest. Without some degree of poetic
+improbabilities as to events, they could scarcely amuse; and their
+object is also to amuse. Hence, the element of truth is easily separated
+from the element of fiction, and each is available in its measure for
+historic research. The most ancient of this class of writings are the
+Fenian Poems and Tales, ascribed to Finn Mac Cumhaill, to his sons,
+Ois&iacute;n and Fergus Finnbheoill (the Eloquent), and to his kinsman,
+Caeilit&eacute;. There are also many tales and poems of more recent date. Mr.
+O'Curry estimates, that if all MSS. known to be in existence, and
+composed before the year 1000, were published, they would form at least
+8,000 printed pages of the same size as O'Donovan's Annals of the Four
+Masters.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/012a.jpg" width="455" height="94" alt="FROM SCULPTURES AT DEVENISH." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>FROM SCULPTURES AT DEVENISH.</h4>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<br /><br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_VI"></a>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/013.jpg" width="431" height="314" alt="ROUND TOWER OF DYSART, NEAR CROOM, LIMERICK." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>ROUND TOWER OF DYSART, NEAR CROOM, LIMERICK.</h4>
+<a name="Page_88"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
+
+<h4>Tighearnmas&mdash;His Death&mdash;Introduces Colours as a Distinction of
+Rank&mdash;Silver Shields and Chariots first used&mdash;Reign of Ugain&eacute; M&ocirc;r&mdash;The
+Treachery of Cobhthach&mdash;Romantic Tales&mdash;Queen Mab&mdash;Dispute which led to
+the celebrated Cattle Spoil&mdash;The Story of the T&aacute;in b&oacute; Chuailgn&eacute;&mdash;The
+Romans feared to invade Ireland&mdash;Tacitus&mdash;Revolt of the Attacotti&mdash;Reign
+of Tuathal&mdash;Origin of the Boromean Tribute.</h4>
+
+<h5>[B.C. 1700.]</h5>
+
+<img src="images/g.jpg" width="75" height="229" align="left" alt="O" title="" />
+<p>ur annals afford but brief details from the time of Eremon to that of
+<i>Ugain&eacute; M&ocirc;r</i>. One hundred and eighteen sovereigns are enumerated from
+the Milesian conquest of Ireland (according to the Four Masters, B.C.
+1700) to the time of St. Patrick, A.D. 432. The principal events
+recorded are international deeds of arms, the clearing of woods, the
+enactment of laws, and the erection of palaces.</p>
+
+<p>Tighearnmas, one of these monarchs, is said to have introduced the
+worship of idols into Ireland. From this it would appear, that the more
+refined Magian, or Sun-worship, had prevailed previously. He died, with
+&quot;three-fourths&quot; of the men of Ireland about him, on the night of
+Samhain,<a name="FNanchor_81_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_82"><sup>[81]</sup></a> while worshipping the idol called Crom Cruach, at<a name="Page_89"></a> Magh
+Slacht, in Breifn&eacute;.<a name="FNanchor_82_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_83"><sup>[82]</sup></a> Tighearnmas reigned seventy-five years. He is
+said to have been the first who attempted the smelting of gold in
+Ireland; and the use of different colours,<a name="FNanchor_83_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_84"><sup>[83]</sup></a> as an indication of rank,
+is also attributed to him.</p>
+
+<p>Silver shields were now made (B.C. 1383) at Airget-Ros, by Enna
+Airgtheach, and four-horse chariots were first used in the time of
+Roitheachtaigh, who was killed by lightning near the Giant's Causeway.
+Ollamh Fodhla (the wise or learned man) distinguished himself still more
+by instituting triennial assemblies at Tara. Even should the date given
+by the Four Masters (1317 B.C.) be called in question, there is no doubt
+of the fact, which must have occurred some centuries before the
+Christian era; and this would appear to be the earliest instance of a
+national convocation or parliament in any country. Ollamh Fodhla also
+appointed chieftains over every cantred or hundred, he constructed a
+rath at Tara, and died there in the fortieth year of his reign.</p>
+
+<p>At the reign of Cimbaoth (B.C. 716) we come to that period which
+Tighernach considers the commencement of indisputably authentic history.
+It is strange that he should have selected a provincial chief, and a
+period in no way remarkable except for the building of the palace of
+Emania.<a name="FNanchor_84_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_85"><sup>[84]</sup></a> But the student of Irish pre-Christian annals may be content
+to commence with solid foundation as early as seven centuries before
+Christ. The era was an important one in universal history. The Greeks
+had then counted sixteen Olympiads, and crowned Pythagoras the victor.
+Hippomenes was archon at Athens. Romulus had been succeeded by Numa
+Pompilius, and the foundations of imperial Rome were laid in blood by
+barbarian hordes. The Chaldeans had just taken the palm in astronomical
+observations, and recorded for the first time a lunar eclipse; while the
+baffled Assyrian hosts<a name="Page_90"></a> relinquished the siege of Tyre, unhappily
+reserved for the cruel destruction accomplished by Alexander, a few
+centuries later. The prophecies of Isaiah were still resounding in the
+ears of an ungrateful people. He had spoken of the coming Christ and His
+all-peaceful mission in mystic imagery, and had given miraculous
+evidences of his predictions. But suffering should be the precursor of
+that marvellous advent. The Assyrian dashed in resistless torrent upon
+the fold. Israel was led captive. Hosea was in chains. Samaria and the
+kingdom of Israel were added to the conquests of Sennacherib; and the
+kingdom of Judah, harassed but not destroyed, waited the accomplishment
+of prophecy, and the measure of her crimes, ere the most ancient of
+peoples should for ever cease to be a nation.</p>
+
+<p>Ugain&eacute; M&ocirc;r is the next monarch who demands notice. His obituary record
+is thus given by the Four Masters:&mdash;&quot;At the end of this year, A.M. 4606,
+Ugain&eacute; M&ocirc;r, after he had been full forty years King of Ireland, and of
+the whole of the west of Europe, as far as Muir-Toirrian, was slain by
+Badhbhchad at Tealach-an-Choisgair, in Bregia. This Ugain&eacute; was he who
+exacted oaths by all the elements, visible and invisible, from the men
+of Ireland in general, that they would never contend for the sovereignty
+of Ireland with his children or his race.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Ugain&eacute; was succeeded by his son, Laeghair&eacute; Lorc, who was cruelly and
+treacherously killed by his brother, Cobhthach Cael. Indeed, few
+monarchs lived out their time in peace during this and the succeeding
+centuries. The day is darkest before the dawn, in the social and
+political as well as in the physical world. The Eternal Light was
+already at hand; the powers of darkness were aroused for the coming
+conflict; and deeds of evil were being accomplished, which make men
+shudder as they read. The assassination of Laeghair&eacute; was another
+manifestation of the old-world story of envy. The treacherous Cobhthach
+feigned sickness, which he knew would obtain a visit from his brother.
+When the monarch stooped to embrace him, he plunged a dagger into his
+heart. His next act was to kill his nephew, Ailill Ain&eacute;; and his
+ill-treatment of Ain&eacute;'s son, Maen, was the consummation of his cruelty.
+The fratricide was at last slain by this very youth, who had now
+obtained the appellation of Labhraidh-Loingseach, or Lowry of the Ships.
+We have special evidence here of the importance of our Historic Tales,
+and also that the blending of fiction and fact by no means deteriorates
+from their value.</p>
+<a name="Page_91"></a>
+<p>Love affairs form a staple ground for fiction, with a very substantial
+under-strata of facts, even in the nineteenth century; and the annals of
+pre-Christian Erinn are by no means deficient in the same fertile source
+of human interest. The History of the Exile is still preserved in the
+Leabhar Buidh&eacute; Lecain, now in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin. It
+is a highly romantic story, but evidently founded on fact, and full of
+interest as descriptive of public and private life in the fifth century
+before Christ. It tells how Maen, though supposed to be deaf and dumb,
+was, nevertheless, given in charge of two officers of the court to be
+educated; that he recovered or rather obtained speech suddenly, in a
+quarrel with another youth; and that he was as symmetrical of form and
+noble of bearing as all heroes of romance are bound to be. His uncle
+expelled him from the kingdom, and he took refuge at the court of King
+Scoriath. King Scoriath had a daughter, who was beautiful; and Maen, of
+course, acted as a knight was bound to do under such circumstances, and
+fell desperately in love with the princess. The Lady Moriath's beauty
+had bewildered more heads than that of the knight-errant; but the Lady
+Moriath's father and mother were determined their daughter should not
+marry.</p>
+
+<p>The harper Craftin&eacute; came to the rescue, and at last, by his
+all-entrancing skill, so ravished the whole party of knights and nobles,
+that the lovers were able to enjoy a t&ecirc;te-a-t&ecirc;te, and pledged mutual
+vows. As usual, the parents yielded when they found it was useless to
+resist; and, no doubt, the poet Craftin&eacute;, who, poet and all as he was,
+nearly lost his head in the adventure, was the most welcome of all
+welcome guests at the nuptial feast. Indeed, he appears to have been
+retained as comptroller of the house and confidential adviser long
+after; for when Labhraidh Maen was obliged to fly the country, he
+confided his wife to the care of Craftin&eacute;. On his return from
+France,<a name="FNanchor_85_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_86"><sup>[85]</sup></a> he obtained possession of the kingdom, to which he was the
+rightful heir, and reigned over the men of Erinn for eighteen years.</p>
+
+<p>Another Historic Tale gives an account of the destruction of the court
+of D&aacute; Derga, but we have not space for details. The Four Masters merely
+relate the fact in the following entry:&mdash;</p>
+<a name="Page_92"></a>
+<p>&quot;Conair&eacute;, the son of Edersc&eacute;l, after having been seventy years in the
+sovereignty of Erinn, was slain at Bruighean D&aacute; Dhearga by insurgents.&quot;
+Another prince, Eochaidh Feidhlech, was famous for sighing. He rescinded
+the division of Ireland into twenty-five parts, which had been made by
+Ugain&eacute; M&ocirc;r, and divided the island into five provinces, over each of
+which he appointed a provincial king, under his obedience. The famous
+Meadhbh, or Mab, was his daughter; and though unquestionably a lady of
+rather strong physical and mental capabilities, the lapse of ages has
+thrown an obscuring halo of romance round her belligerent
+qualifications, and metamorphosed her into the gentle &quot;Faery Queen&quot; of
+the poet Spenser. One of M&eacute;av's exploits is recorded in the famous T&aacute;in
+b&oacute; Chuailgn&eacute;, which is to Celtic history what the Argonautic Expedition,
+or the Seven against Thebes, is to Grecian. M&eacute;av was married first to
+Conor, the celebrated provincial king of Ulster; but the marriage was
+not a happy one, and was dissolved, in modern parlance, on the ground of
+incompatibility. In the meanwhile, M&eacute;av's three brothers had rebelled
+against their father; and though his arms were victorious, the victory
+did not secure peace. The men of Connacht revolted against him, and to
+retain their allegiance he made his daughter Queen of Connacht, and gave
+her in marriage to Ailill, a powerful chief of that province. This
+prince, however, died soon after; and M&eacute;av, determined for once, at
+least, to choose a husband for herself, made a royal progress to
+Leinster, where Ross Ruadb held his court at Naas. She selected the
+younger son of this monarch, who bore the same name as her former
+husband, and they lived together happily as queen and king consort for
+many years. On one occasion, however, a dispute arose about their
+respective treasures, and this dispute led to a comparison of their
+property. The account of this, and the subsequent comparison, is given
+at length in the <i>T&aacute;in</i>, and is a valuable repertory of arch&aelig;ological
+information. They counted their vessels, metal and wooden; they counted
+their finger rings, their clasps, their thumb rings, their diadems, and
+their gorgets of gold. They examined their many-coloured garments of
+crimson and blue, of black and green, yellow and mottled, white and
+streaked. All were equal. They then inspected their flocks and herds,
+swine from the forests, sheep from the pasture lands, and cows&mdash;here the
+first difference arose. It was one to excite M&eacute;av's haughty temper.
+There<a name="Page_93"></a> was a young bull found among Ailill's bovine wealth: it had been
+calved by one of M&eacute;av's cows; but &quot;not deeming it honorable to be under
+a woman's control,&quot; it had attached itself to Ailill's herds. M&eacute;av was
+not a lady who could remain quiet under such provocation. She summoned
+her chief courier, and asked him could he a match for Finnbheannach (the
+white-horned). The courier declared that he could find even a superior
+animal; and at once set forth on his mission, suitably attended. M&eacute;av
+had offered the most liberal rewards for the prize she so much coveted;
+and the courier soon arranged with Dar&eacute;, a noble of large estates, who
+possessed one of the valuable breed. A drunken quarrel, however,
+disarranged his plans. One of the men boasted that if Dar&eacute; had not given
+the bull for payment, he should have been compelled to give it by force.
+Dar&eacute;'s steward heard the ill-timed and uncourteous boast. He flung down
+the meat and drink which he had brought for their entertainment, and
+went to tell his master the contemptuous speech. The result may be
+anticipated. Dar&eacute; refused the much-coveted animal, and M&eacute;av proceeded to
+make good her claim by force of arms. But this is only the prologue of
+the drama; the details would fill a volume. It must suffice to say, that
+the bulls had a battle of their own. Finnbheannach and Donn Chuailgn&eacute;
+(the Leinster bull) engaged in deadly combat, which is described with
+the wildest flights of poetic diction.<a name="FNanchor_86_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_87"><sup>[86]</sup></a> The<a name="Page_94"></a> poor &quot;white horn&quot; was
+killed, and Donn Chuailgn&eacute;, who had lashed himself to madness, dashed
+out his brains.<a name="FNanchor_87_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_88"><sup>[87]</sup></a></p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/014.jpg" width="257" height="514" alt="FLINT SPEAR-HEAD, FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE R.I.A." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>FLINT SPEAR-HEAD, FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE R.I.A.</h4>
+<p>M&eacute;av lived to the venerable age of a hundred. According to Tighernach,
+she died A.D. 70, but the chronology of the Four Masters places her
+demise a hundred years earlier. This difference of calculation also
+makes it questionable what monarch reigned in Ireland at the birth of
+Christ. The following passage is from the Book of Ballymote, and is
+supposed to be taken from the synchronisms of Flann of Monasterboice:
+&quot;In the fourteenth year of the reign of Conair&eacute; and of Conchobar, Mary
+was born; and in the fourth year after the birth of Mary, the expedition
+of the T&aacute;in b&oacute; Chuailgn&eacute; took place. Eight years after the expedition of
+the T&aacute;in, Christ was born.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The Four Masters have the following entry after the age of the world
+5194:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>THE AGE OF CHRIST.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The first year of the age of Christ, and the eighth year of the reign
+of Crimhthann Niadhnair.&quot; Under the heading of the age<a name="Page_95"></a> of Christ 9,
+there is an account of a wonderful expedition of this monarch, and of
+all the treasures he acquired thereby. His &quot;adventures&quot; is among the
+list of Historic Tales in the Book of Leinster, but unfortunately there
+is no copy of this tract in existence. It was probably about this time
+that a recreant Irish chieftain tried to induce Agricola to invade
+Ireland. But the Irish Celts had extended the fame of their military
+prowess even to distant lands,<a name="FNanchor_88_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_89"><sup>[88]</sup></a> and the Roman general thought it
+better policy to keep what he had than to risk its loss, and, perhaps,
+obtain no compensation. Previous to C&aelig;sar's conquest of Britain, the
+Irish had fitted out several expeditions for the plunder of that
+country, and they do not appear to have suffered from retaliation until
+the reign of Egbert. It is evident, however, that the Britons did not
+consider them their worst enemies, for we find mention of several
+colonies flying to the Irish shores to escape Roman tyranny, and these
+colonies were hospitably received.<a name="FNanchor_89_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_90"><sup>[89]</sup></a> The passage in Tacitus which
+refers to the proposed invasion of Ireland by the Roman forces, is too
+full of interest to be omitted:&mdash;&quot;In the fifth year of these
+expeditions, Agricola, passing over in the first ship, subdued in
+frequent victories nations hitherto unknown. He stationed troops along
+that part of Britain which looks to Ireland, more on account of hope
+than fear,<a name="FNanchor_90_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_91"><sup>[90]</sup></a> since Ireland, from its situation between Britain and
+Spain, and opening to the Gallic Sea, might well connect the most
+powerful parts of the empire with reciprocal advantage. Its extent,
+compared with Britain, is narrower, but exceeds that of any islands of
+our sea. The genius and habits of the people, and the soil and climate,
+do not differ much from those of Britain. Its channels and ports are
+better known to commerce and to merchants.<a name="FNanchor_91_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_92"><sup>[91]</sup></a> Agricola gave his
+protection to one of its petty kings, who had been expelled by faction;
+and with a show of friendship, he retained him for his own purposes. I
+often heard<a name="Page_96"></a> him say, that Ireland could he conquered and taken with one
+legion and a small reserve; and such a measure would have its advantages
+even as regards Britain, if Roman power were extended on every side, and
+liberty taken away as it were from the view of the latter island.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_92_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_93"><sup>[92]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>We request special attention to the observation, that the Irish ports
+were better known to commerce and merchants. Such a statement by such an
+authority must go far to remove any doubt as to the accounts given on
+this subject by our own annalists. The proper name of the recreant
+&quot;regulus&quot; has not been discovered, so that his infamy is transmitted
+anonymously to posterity. Sir John Davies has well observed, with regard
+to the boast of subduing Ireland so easily, &quot;that if Agricola had
+attempted the conquest thereof with a far greater army, he would have
+found himself deceived in his conjecture.&quot; William of Neuburg has also
+remarked, that though the Romans harassed the Britons for three
+centuries after this event, Ireland never was invaded by them, even when
+they held dominion of the Orkney Islands, and that it yielded to no
+foreign power until the year<a name="FNanchor_93_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_94"><sup>[93]</sup></a> 1171. Indeed, the Scots and Picts gave
+their legions quite sufficient occupation defending the ramparts of
+Adrian and Antoninus, to deter them from attempting to obtain more, when
+they could so hardly hold what they already possessed.</p>
+
+<p>The insurrection of the Aitheach Tuatha,<a name="FNanchor_94_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_95"><sup>[94]</sup></a> or Attacotti, is the next
+event of importance in Irish history. Their plans were deeply and wisely
+laid, and promised the success they obtained. It is one of the lessons
+of history which rulers in all ages would do well to study. There is a
+degree of oppression which even the most degraded will refuse to endure;
+there is a time when the injured will seek revenge, even should they
+know that this revenge may bring on themselves yet deeper wrongs. The
+leaders of the revolt were surely men of some<a name="Page_97"></a> judgment; and both they
+and those who acted under them possessed the two great qualities needed
+for such an enterprise. They were silent, for their plans were not even
+suspected until they were accomplished; they were patient, for these
+plans were three years in preparation. During three years the helots
+saved their scanty earnings to prepare a sumptuous death-feast for their
+unsuspecting victims. This feast was held at a place since called <i>Magh
+Cru</i>, in Connaught. The monarch, Fiacha Finnolaidh, the provincial kings
+and chiefs, were all invited, and accepted the invitation. But while the
+enjoyment was at its height, when men had drank deeply, and were soothed
+by the sweet strains of the harp, the insurgents did their bloody work.
+Three ladies alone escaped. They fled to Britain, and there each gave
+birth to a son&mdash;heirs to their respective husbands who had been slain.</p>
+
+<p>After the massacre, the Attacotti elected their leader, Cairbr&eacute;
+Cinn-Cait (or the Cat-head), to the royal dignity, for they still
+desired to live under a &quot;limited monarchy.&quot; But revolutions, even when
+successful, and we had almost said necessary, are eminently productive
+of evil. The social state of a people when once disorganized, does not
+admit of a speedy or safe return to its former condition. The mass of
+mankind, who think more of present evils, however trifling, than of past
+grievances, however oppressive, begin to connect present evils with
+present rule, and having lost, in some degree, the memory of their
+ancient wrongs, desire to recall a dynasty which, thus viewed, bears a
+not unfavourable comparison with their present state.<a name="FNanchor_95_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_95_96"><sup>[95]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>Cairbr&eacute; died after five years of most unprosperous royalty, and his son,
+the wise and prudent Morann,<a name="FNanchor_96_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_97"><sup>[96]</sup></a> showed his wisdom and prudence by
+refusing to succeed him. He advised that the rightful heirs should be
+recalled. His advice was accepted.<a name="Page_98"></a> Fearadhach Finnfeachteach was invited
+to assume the reins of government. &quot;Good was Ireland during this his
+time. The seasons were right tranquil; the earth brought forth its
+fruit; fishful its river-mouths; milkful the kine; heavy-headed the
+woods.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_97_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_98"><sup>[97]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>Another revolt of the Attacotti took place in the reign of Fiacha of the
+White Cattle. He was killed by the provincial kings, at the slaughter of
+Magh Bolg.<a name="FNanchor_98_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_99"><sup>[98]</sup></a> Elim, one of the perpetrators of this outrage, obtained
+the crown, but his reign was singularly unprosperous; and Ireland was
+without corn, without milk, without fruit, without fish, and without any
+other great advantage, since the Aitheach Tuatha had killed Fiacha
+Finnolaidh in the slaughter of Magh Bolg, till the time of Tuathal
+Teachtmar.<a name="FNanchor_99_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_99_100"><sup>[99]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>Tuathal was the son of a former legitimate monarch, and had been invited
+to Ireland by a powerful party. He was perpetually at war with the
+Attacotti, but at last established himself firmly on the throne, by
+exacting an oath from the people, &quot;by the sun, moon, and elements,&quot; that
+his posterity should not be deprived of the sovereignty. This oath was
+taken at Tara, where he had convened a general assembly, as had been
+customary with his predecessors at the commencement of each reign; but
+it was held by him with more than usual state. His next act was to take
+a small portion of land from each of the four provinces, forming what is
+now the present county of Meath, and retaining it as the mensal portion
+of the Ard-Righ, or supreme monarch. On each of these portions he
+erected a palace for the king of every province, details of which will
+be given when we come to that period of our history which refers to the
+destruction of Tara. Tuathal had at this time two beautiful and
+marriageable daughters, named Fithir and Dairin&eacute;. Eochaidh Aincheann,
+King of Leinster, sought and obtained the hand of the younger daughter,
+Dairin&eacute;, and after her nuptials carried her to his palace at Naas, in
+Leinster. Some time after, his people pursuaded him that he had made a
+bad selection, and that the elder was the better of the two sisters;
+upon which Eochaidh determined by<a name="Page_99"></a> stratagem to obtain the other daughter
+also. For this purpose he shut the young queen up in a secret apartment
+of his palace, and gave out a report that she was dead. He then
+repaired, apparently in great grief to Tara, informed the monarch that
+his daughter was dead, and demanded her sister in marriage. Tuathal gave
+his consent, and the false king returned home with his new bride. Soon
+after her arrival at Naas, her sister escaped from her confinement, and
+suddenly and unexpectedly encountered the prince and Fithir. In a moment
+she divined the truth, and had the additional anguish of seeing her
+sister, who was struck with horror and shame, fall dead before her face.
+The death of the unhappy princess, and the treachery of her husband, was
+too much for the young queen; she returned to her solitary chamber, and
+in a very short time died of a broken heart.</p>
+
+<p>The insult offered to his daughters, and their untimely death, roused
+the indignation of the pagan monarch, and was soon bitterly avenged. At
+the head of a powerful force, he burned and ravaged Leinster to its
+utmost boundary, and then compelled its humbled and terror-stricken
+people to bind themselves and their descendants for ever to the payment
+of a triennial tribute to the monarch of Erinn, which, from the great
+number of cows exacted by it, obtained the name of the &quot;Boromean
+Tribute&quot;&mdash;<i>bo</i> being the Gaedhilic for a cow.</p>
+
+<p>The tribute is thus described in the old annals:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;The men of Leinster were obliged to pay<br /></span>
+<span>To Tuathal, and all the monarchs after him,<br /></span>
+<span>Three-score hundred of the fairest cows,<br /></span>
+<span>And three-score hundred ounces of pure silver,<br /></span>
+<span>And three-score hundred mantles richly woven,<br /></span>
+<span>And three-score hundred of the fattest hogs,<br /></span>
+<span>And three-score hundred of the largest sheep,<br /></span>
+<span>And three-score hundred cauldrons strong and polished<a name="FNanchor_100_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_100_101"><sup>[100]</sup></a>.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>It is elsewhere described as consisting of five thousand ounces of
+silver, five thousand mantles, five thousand fat cows, five thousand fat
+hogs, five thousand wethers, and five thousand vessels of brass or
+bronze for the king's laving, with men and maidens for his service.</p>
+
+<p>The levying of the tribute was the cause of periodical and<a name="Page_100"></a> sanguinary
+wars, from the time of Tuathal until the reign of Finnachta the Festive.
+About the year 680 it was abolished by him, at the entreaty of St.
+Moling, of Tigh Moling (now St. Mullen's, in the county Carlow). It is
+said by Keating, that he a ailed himself of a pious ruse for this
+purpose,&mdash;asking the king to pledge himself not to exact the tribute
+until after Monday, and then, when his request was complied with,
+declaring that the Monday he intended was the Monday after Doomsday. The
+tribute was again revived and levied by Brian, the son of Cinneidigh, at
+the beginning of the eleventh century, as a punishment on the Leinster
+men for their adherence to the Danish cause. It was from this
+circumstance that Brian obtained the surname of <i>Boroimh&eacute;</i>.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/015.jpg" width="464" height="350" alt="LOUGH HYNE." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>LOUGH HYNE.</h4>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><br /><br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_VII"></a>
+<center>
+<img src="images/016.jpg" width="369" height="222" alt="ORATORY AT GALLARUS, CO. KERRY." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>ORATORY AT GALLARUS, CO. KERRY.</h4>
+
+<a name="Page_101"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+
+<h4>Tuathal-Conn &quot;of the Hundred Battles&quot;&mdash;The Five Great Roads of Ancient
+Erinn&mdash;Conn's Half&mdash;Conair&eacute; II.&mdash;The Three Cairbr&eacute;s&mdash;Cormac Mac
+Airt&mdash;His Wise Decision&mdash;Collects Laws&mdash;His Personal Appearance-The
+Saltair of Tara written in Cormac's Reign&mdash;Finn Mac Cumhaill&mdash;His
+Courtship with the Princess Ailbh&eacute;&mdash;The Pursuit of Diarmaid and
+Grainn&eacute;&mdash;Nial &quot;of the Nine Hostages&quot;&mdash;Dathi.</h4>
+
+<img src="images/i.jpg" width="53" height="191" align="left" alt="T" title="" />
+<p>uathal reigned for thirty years, and is said to have fought no less
+than 133 battles with the Attacotti. He was at last slain himself by his
+successor, Nial, who, in his turn, was killed by Tuathal's son. Conn &quot;of
+the Hundred Battles&quot; is the next Irish monarch who claims more than a
+passing notice. His exploits are a famous theme with the bards, and a
+poem on his &quot;Birth&quot; forms part of the <i>Liber Flavus Fergusorum</i>, a MS.
+volume of the fifteenth century. His reign is also remarkable for the
+mention of five great roads<a name="FNanchor_101_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_101_102"><sup>[101]</sup></a> which were then discovered or
+completed. One of these highways, the Eiscir Riada, extended from the
+declivity on which Dublin Castle now stands, to the peninsula of Marey,
+at the head of Galway Bay.<a name="Page_102"></a> It divided Conn's half of Ireland from the
+half possessed by E&oacute;ghan M&ocirc;r, with whom he lived in the usual state of
+internecine feud which characterized the reigns of this early period.
+One of the principal quarrels between these monarchs, was caused by a
+complaint which E&oacute;ghan made of the shipping arrangements in Dublin.
+Conn's half (the northern side) was preferred, and E&oacute;ghan demanded a
+fair division. They had to decide their claims at the battle of Magh
+Lena.<a name="FNanchor_102_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_102_103"><sup>[102]</sup></a> E&oacute;ghan was assisted by a Spanish chief, whose sister he had
+married. But the Iberian and his Celtic brother-in-law were both slain,
+and the mounds are still shown which cover their remains.</p>
+
+<p>Conn was succeeded by Conair&eacute; II., the father of the three Cairbr&eacute;s, who
+were progenitors of important tribes. Cairbr&eacute; Muse gave his name to six
+districts in Munster; the territory of Corcabaiscinn, in Clare, was
+named after Cairbr&eacute; Bascain; and the Dalriada of Antrim were descended
+from Cairbr&eacute; Riada. He is also mentioned by Bede under the name of
+Reuda,<a name="FNanchor_103_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_103_104"><sup>[103]</sup></a> as the leader of the Scots who came from Hibernia to Alba.
+Three centuries later, a fresh colony of Dalriadans laid the foundation
+of the Scottish monarchy under Fergus, the son of Erc. Mac Con was the
+next Ard-Righ or chief monarch of Ireland. He obtained the royal power
+after a battle at Magh Mucruimh&eacute;, near Athenry, where Art the
+Melancholy, son of Con of the Hundred Battles, and the seven sons of
+Oilioll Oluim, were slain.</p>
+
+<p>The reign of Cormac Mac Airt is unquestionably the most celebrated of
+all our pagan monarchs. During his early years he had been compelled to
+conceal himself among his mother's friends in Connaught; but the severe
+rule of the usurper Mac Con excited a desire for his removal, and the
+friends of the young prince were not slow to avail themselves of the
+popular feeling. He, therefore, appeared unexpectedly at Tara, and
+happened to arrive when the monarch was giving judgment in an important
+case, which is thus related: Some sheep, the property of a widow,
+residing at Tara, had strayed into the queen's private lawn, and eaten
+the grass. They were captured, and the case was brought before the king.
+He decided that the trespassers should be forfeited; but Cormac<a name="Page_103"></a>
+exclaimed that his sentence was unjust, and declared that as the sheep
+had only eaten the fleece of the land, they should only forfeit their
+own fleece. The <i>vox populi</i> applauded the decision. Mac Con started
+from his seat, and exclaimed: &quot;That is the judgment of a king.&quot; At the
+same moment he recognized the prince, and commanded that he should be
+seized; but he had already escaped. The people now recognized their
+rightful king, and revolted against the usurper, who was driven into
+Munster. Cormac assumed the reins of government at Tara, and thus
+entered upon his brilliant and important career, A.D. 227.</p>
+
+<p>Cormac commenced his government with acts of severity, which were,
+perhaps, necessary to consolidate his power. This being once firmly
+established, he devoted himself ardently to literary pursuits, and to
+regulate and civilize his dominions. He collected the national laws, and
+formed a code which remained in force until the English invasion, and
+was observed for many centuries after outside the Pale. The bards dwell
+with manifest unction on the &quot;fruit and fatness&quot; of the land in his
+time, and describe him as the noblest and most bountiful of all princes.
+Indeed, we can scarcely omit their account, since it cannot be denied
+that it pictures the costume of royalty in Ireland at that period,
+however poetically the details may be given. This, then, is the bardic
+photograph:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;His hair was slightly curled, and of golden colour: a scarlet shield
+with engraved devices, and golden hooks, and clasps of silver: a
+wide-folding purple cloak on him, with a gem-set gold brooch over his
+breast; a gold torque around his neck; a white-collared shirt,
+embroidered with gold, upon him; a girdle with golden buckles, and
+studded with precious stones, around him; two golden net-work sandals
+with golden buckles upon him; two spears with golden sockets, and many
+red bronze rivets in his hand; while he stood in the full glow of
+beauty, without defect or blemish. You would think it was a shower of
+pearls that were set in his mouth; his lips were rubies; his symmetrical
+body was as white as snow; his cheek was like the mountain ash-berry;
+his eyes were like the sloe; his brows and eye-lashes were like the
+sheen of a blue-black lance.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_104_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_104_105"><sup>[104]</sup></a></p>
+<a name="Page_104"></a>
+<p>The compilation of the Saltair of Tara, as we mentioned previously, is
+attributed to this monarch. Even in Christian times his praises are
+loudly proclaimed. The poet Maelmura, who lived in the eighth century,
+styles him Ceolach, or the Musical, and Kenneth O'Hartigan, who died
+A.D. 973, gives a glowing account of his magnificence and of his royal
+palace at Tara. O'Flaherty quotes a poem, which he says contains an
+account of three schools, instituted by Cormac at Tara; one for military
+discipline, one for history, and the third for jurisprudence. The Four
+Masters say: &quot;It was this Cormac, son of Art, also, that collected the
+chronicles of Ireland to Teamhair [Tara], and ordered them to write<a name="FNanchor_105_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_105_106"><sup>[105]</sup></a>
+the chronicles of Ireland in one book, which was named the Saltair of
+Teamhair. In that book were [entered] the coeval exploits and
+synchronisms of the kings of Ireland with the kings and emperors of the
+world, and of the kings of the provinces with the monarchs of Ireland.
+In it was also written what the monarchs of Ireland were entitled to
+[receive] from the provincial kings, and the rents and dues of the
+provincial kings from their subjects, from the noble to the subaltern.
+In it, also, were [described] the boundaries and mears of Ireland from
+shore to shore, from the provinces to the cantred, from the cantred to
+the townland, from the townland to the traighedh of land.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_106_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_106_107"><sup>[106]</sup></a> Although
+the Saltair of Tara has disappeared from our national records, a law
+tract, called the Book of Acaill, is still in existence, which is
+attributed to this king. It is always found annexed to a Law Treatise by
+Cennfaelad the Learned, who died A.D. 677. In an ancient MS. in Trinity
+College, Dublin (Class H.L. 15, p. 149), it is stated that it was the
+custom, at the inauguration<a name="Page_105"></a> of Irish chiefs, to read the Instructions of
+the Kings (a work ascribed to Cormac) and his Laws.</p>
+
+<p>There is a tradition that Cormac became a Christian before his death. In
+the thirty-ninth year of his reign, one of his eyes was thrust out by a
+spear, and he retired in consequence to one of those peaceful abodes of
+learning which were so carefully fostered in ancient Erinn. The
+high-minded nobility of this people is manifest notably in the law which
+required that the king should have no personal blemish; and in obedience
+to this law, Cormac vacated the throne. He died A.D. 266, at Cleiteach,
+near Stackallen Bridge, on the south bank of the Boyne. It is said that
+he was choked by a salmon bone, and that this happened through the
+contrivances of the druids, who wished to avenge themselves on him for
+his rejection of their superstitions.</p>
+
+<p>This reign was made more remarkable by the exploits of his son-in-law,
+the famous Finn Mac Cumhaill (pronounced &quot;coole&quot;). Finn was famous both
+as a poet and warrior. Indeed, poetical qualifications were considered
+essential to obtain a place in the select militia of which he was the
+last commander. The courtship of the poet-warrior with the Princess
+Ailbh&eacute;, Cormac's daughter, is related in one of the ancient historic
+tales called <i>Tochmarca</i>, or Courtships. The lady is said to have been
+the wisest woman of her time, and the wooing is described in the form of
+conversations, which savour more of a trial of skill in ability and
+knowledge, than of the soft utterances which distinguish such narratives
+in modern days. It is supposed that the Fenian corps which he commanded
+was modelled after the fashion of the Roman legions; but its loyalty is
+more questionable, for it was eventually disbanded for insubordination,
+although the exploits of its heroes are a favourite topic with the
+bards. The Fenian poems, on which Macpherson founded his celebrated
+forgery, are ascribed to Finn's sons, O&iacute;sin and Fergus the Eloquent, and
+to his kinsman Caeilt&eacute;, as well as to himself. Five poems only are
+ascribed to him, but these are found in MSS. of considerable antiquity.
+The poems of O&iacute;sin were selected by the Scotch writer for his grand
+experiment. He gave a highly poetical translation of what purported to
+be some ancient and genuine composition, but, unfortunately for his
+veracity, he could not produce the original. Some of the real
+compositions of the Fenian hero are, however, still extant in the Book
+of Leinster, as well as other valuable Fenian poems. There are also some
+Fenian tales in prose, of<a name="Page_106"></a> which the most remarkable is that of the
+Pursuit of Diarmaid and Grainn&eacute;&mdash;a legend which has left its impress in
+every portion of the island to the present day. Finn, in his old age,
+asked the hand of Grainn&eacute;, the daughter of Cormac Mac Airt; but the lady
+being young, preferred a younger lover. To effect her purpose, she
+drugged the guest-cup so effectually, that Finn, and all the guests
+invited with him, were plunged into a profound slumber after they had
+partaken of it. O&iacute;sin and Diarmaid alone escaped, and to them the Lady
+Grainn&eacute; confided her grief. As true knights they were bound to rescue
+her from the dilemma. O&iacute;sin could scarcely dare to brave his father's
+vengeance, but Diarmaid at once fled with the lady. A pursuit followed,
+which extended all over Ireland, during which the young couple always
+escaped. So deeply is the tradition engraven in the popular mind, that
+the cromlechs are still called the &quot;Beds of Diarmaid and Grainn&eacute;,&quot; and
+shown as the resting-places of the fugitive lovers.</p>
+
+<p>There are many other tales of a purely imaginative character, which, for
+interest, might well rival the world-famous Arabian Nights'
+Entertainments; and, for importance of details, illustrative of manners,
+customs, dress, weapons, and localities, are, perhaps, unequalled.</p>
+
+<p>Nial of the Nine Hostages and Dathi are the last pagan monarchs who
+demand special notice. In the year 322, Fiacha Sraibhtine was slain by
+the three Collas,<a name="FNanchor_107_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_107_108"><sup>[107]</sup></a> and a few short-lived monarchs succeeded. In 378,
+Crimhthann was poisoned by his sister, who hoped that her eldest son,
+Brian, might obtain the royal power. Her attempt failed, although she
+sacrificed herself for its accomplishment, by taking the poisoned cup to
+remove her brother's suspicions; and Nial of the Nine Hostages, the son
+of her husband by a former wife, succeeded to the coveted dignity. This
+monarch distinguished himself by predatory warfare against Albion and
+Gaul. The &quot;groans&quot;<a name="FNanchor_108_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_108_109"><sup>[108]</sup></a> of the Britons testify to his success in that
+quarter, which eventually obliged them to become an Anglo-Saxon nation;
+and the Latin poet, Claudian, gives evidence that troops were sent by
+Stilicho, the general of Theodosius the Great, to repel his successful
+<a name="Page_107"></a>forays. His successor, Dathi, was killed by lightning at the foot of the
+Alps, and the possibility of this occurrence is also strangely verified
+from extrinsic sources.<a name="FNanchor_109_110"></a><a href="#Footnote_109_110"><sup>[109]</sup></a></p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/017.jpg" width="442" height="387" alt="GAP OF DUNLOE, KILLARNEY." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>GAP OF DUNLOE, KILLARNEY.</h4>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><br /><br />
+
+<a name="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>
+<center>
+<img src="images/018.jpg" width="466" height="259" alt="ARMAGH." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>ARMAGH.</h4>
+<a name="Page_108"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
+
+<h4>St. Patrick&mdash;How Ireland was first Christianized&mdash;Pagan Rome used
+providentially to promote the Faith&mdash;The Mission of St.
+Palladius&mdash;Innocent I. claims authority to found Churches and condemn
+Heresy&mdash;Disputes concerning St. Patrick's Birthplace&mdash;Ireland receives
+the Faith generously&mdash;Victoricus&mdash;St. Patrick's Vision&mdash;His Roman
+Mission clearly proved&mdash;Subterfuges of those who deny it&mdash;Ancient Lives
+of the Saint&mdash;St. Patrick's Canons&mdash;His Devotion and Submission to the
+Holy See.</h4>
+
+<h5>[A.D. 378-432.]</h5>
+
+<img src="images/j.jpg" width="54" height="193" align="left" alt="I" title="" />
+<p>t has been conjectured that the great Apostle of Ireland, St. Patrick,
+was carried captive to the land of his adoption, in one of the
+plundering expeditions of the monarch Nial&mdash;an eminent instance of the
+overruling power of Providence, and of the mighty effects produced by
+causes the most insignificant and unconscious. As we are not writing an
+ecclesiastical history of Ireland, and as we have a work of that nature
+in contemplation, we shall only make brief mention of the events
+connected with the life and mission of the saint at present; but the
+Christianizing of any country must always form an important epoch,
+politically and socially, and, as such, demands the careful
+consideration of the historian. How and when the seed of faith was sown
+in ancient Erinn before the time of the great Apostle, cannot now be
+ascertained. We know the silent rapidity with which that faith spread,
+from its first promulgation by the shores of the Galilean lake,<a name="Page_109"></a> until it
+became the recognized religion of earth's mightiest empire. We know,
+also, that, by a noticeable providence, Rome was chosen from the
+beginning as the source from whence the light should emanate. We know
+how pagan Rome, which had subdued and crushed material empires, and
+scattered nations and national customs as chaff before the wind, failed
+utterly to subdue or crush this religion, though promulgated by the
+feeblest of its plebeians. We know how the material prosperity of that
+mighty people was overruled for the furtherance of eternal designs; and
+as the invincible legions continually added to the geographical extent
+of the empire they also added to the number of those to whom the gospel
+of peace should be proclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>The first Christian mission to Ireland, for which we have definite and
+reliable data, was that of St. Palladius. St. Prosper, who held a high
+position in the Roman Church, published a chronicle in the year 433, in
+which we find the following register: &quot;Palladius was consecrated by Pope
+Celestine, and sent as the first Bishop to the Irish believing in
+Christ.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_110_111"></a><a href="#Footnote_110_111"><sup>[110]</sup></a> This mission was unsuccessful. Palladius was repulsed by
+the inhabitants of Wicklow,<a name="FNanchor_111_112"></a><a href="#Footnote_111_112"><sup>[111]</sup></a> where he landed. He then sailed
+northward, and was at last driven by stress of weather towards the
+Orkneys, finding harbour, eventually, on the shores of Kincardineshire.
+Several ancient tracts give the details of his mission, its failure, and
+his subsequent career. The first of those authorities is the Life of St.
+Patrick in the Book of Armagh; and in this it is stated that he died in
+the &quot;land of the Britons.&quot; The second Life of St. Patrick, in Colgan's
+collection, has changed Britons into &quot;Picts.&quot; In the &quot;Annotations of
+Tierchan,&quot; also preserved in the Book of Armagh,<a name="FNanchor_112_113"></a><a href="#Footnote_112_113"><sup>[112]</sup></a> it is said that
+Palladius was also called Patricius,<a name="FNanchor_113_114"></a><a href="#Footnote_113_114"><sup>[113]</sup></a> and that he suffered martyrdom
+among the Scots, &quot;as ancient saints relate.&quot;</p><a name="Page_110"></a>
+
+<p>Prosper also informs us, that Palladius was a deacon<a name="FNanchor_114_115"></a><a href="#Footnote_114_115"><sup>[114]</sup></a> of the Roman
+Church, and that he received a commission from the Holy See to send
+Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre, to root out heresy,<a name="FNanchor_115_116"></a><a href="#Footnote_115_116"><sup>[115]</sup></a> and convert the
+Britons to the Catholic faith. Thus we find the Church, even in the
+earliest ages, occupied in her twofold mission of converting the
+heathen, and preserving the faithful from error. St. Innocent I.,
+writing to Decentius, in the year 402, refers thus to this important
+fact: &quot;Is it not known to all that the things which have been delivered
+to the Roman Church by Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, and preserved
+ever since, should be observed by all; and that nothing is to be
+introduced devoid of authority, or borrowed elsewhere? Especially, as it
+is manifest that no one has founded churches for all Italy, the Gauls,
+Spain, Africa, and the interjacent islands, except such as were
+appointed priests by the venerable Peter and his successors.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Palladius was accompanied by four companions: Sylvester and Solinus, who
+remained after him in Ireland; and Augustinus and Benedictus, who
+followed him<a name="FNanchor_116_117"></a><a href="#Footnote_116_117"><sup>[116]</sup></a> to Britain, but returned to their own country after
+his death. The <i>Vita Secunda</i> mentions that he brought relics of the
+blessed Peter and Paul, and other saints, to Ireland, as well as copies
+of the Old and New Testament, all of which were given to him by Pope
+Celestine.</p>
+
+<p>The birthplace of the great Apostle of Ireland has long been, and still
+continues, a subject of controversy. St. Fiacc states that he was born
+at Nemthur,<a name="FNanchor_117_118"></a><a href="#Footnote_117_118"><sup>[117]</sup></a> and the Scholiast on St. Fiacc's Hymn identifies this
+with Alcuith, now Dumbarton, on the Firth of Clyde. The most reliable
+authority unquestionably is St. Patrick's own statements, in his
+<i>Confessio</i>. He there says (1) that his father had a farm or villa at
+Bonavem Taberni&aelig;, from whence he was taken<a name="Page_111"></a> captive. It does not follow
+necessarily from this, that St. Patrick was born there; but it would
+appear probable that this was a paternal estate. (2)The saint speaks of
+Britanni&aelig; as his country. The difficulty lies in the identification of
+these places. In the <i>Vita Secunda</i>, Nemthur and Campus Taberni&aelig; are
+identified. Probus writes, that he had ascertained as a matter of
+certainty, that the <i>Vicus Bannave Taburni&aelig; regionis</i> was situated in
+Neustria. The Life supposed to be by St. Eleran, states that the parents
+of the saint were of Strats-Cludi (Strath-Clyde), but that he was born
+in Nemthur&mdash;&quot;Quod oppidum in Campo Taburni&aelig; est;&quot; thus indicating an
+early belief that France was the land of his nativity. St. Patrick's
+mention of Britanni&aelig;, however, appears to be conclusive. There was a
+tribe called Brittani in northern France, mentioned by Pliny, and the
+Welsh Triads distinctly declare that the Britons of Great Britain came
+from thence.</p>
+
+<p>There can be no doubt, however, that St. Patrick was intimately
+connected with Gaul. His mother, Conchessa, was either a sister or niece
+of the great St. Martin of Tours; and it was undoubtedly from Gaul that
+the saint was carried captive to Ireland.</p>
+
+<p>Patrick was not the baptismal name of the saint; it was given him by St.
+Celestine<a name="FNanchor_118_119"></a><a href="#Footnote_118_119"><sup>[118]</sup></a> as indicative of rank, or it may be with some prophetic
+intimation of his future greatness. He was baptized by the no less
+significant appellation of Succat&mdash;&quot;brave in battle.&quot; But his warfare
+was not with a material foe. Erinn received the faith at his hands, with
+noble and unexampled generosity; and one martyr, and only one, was
+sacrificed in preference of ancient pagan rites; while we know that
+thousands have shed their blood, and it maybe hundreds even in our own
+times have sacrificed their lives, to preserve the treasure so gladly
+accepted, so faithfully preserved.<a name="FNanchor_119_120"></a><a href="#Footnote_119_120"><sup>[119]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>Moore, in his <i>History of Ireland</i>, exclaims, with the force of truth,
+and the eloquence of poetry: &quot;While in all other countries the
+introduction of Christianity has been the slow work of time, has been
+resisted by either government or people, and seldom<a name="Page_112"></a> effected without
+lavish effusion of blood, in Ireland, on the contrary, by the influence
+of one zealous missionary, and with but little previous preparation of
+the soil by other hands, Christianity burst forth at the first ray of
+apostolic light, and, with the sudden ripeness of a northern summer, at
+once covered the whole land. Kings and princes, when not themselves
+amongst the ranks of the converted, saw their sons and daughters joining
+in the train without a murmur. Chiefs, at variance in all else, agreed
+in meeting beneath the Christian banner; and the proud druid and bard
+laid their superstitions meekly at the foot of the cross; nor, by a
+singular blessing of Providence&mdash;unexampled, indeed, in the whole
+history of the Church&mdash;was there a single drop of blood shed on account
+of religion through the entire course of this mild Christian revolution,
+by which, in the space of a few years, all Ireland was brought
+tranquilly under the dominion of the Gospel.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>It is probable that St. Patrick was born in 387, and that in 403 he was
+made captive and carried into Ireland. Those who believe Alcuith or
+Dumbarton to have been his birthplace, are obliged to account for his
+capture in Gaul&mdash;which has never been questioned&mdash;by supposing that he
+and his family had gone thither to visit the friends of his mother,
+Conchessa. He was sold as a slave, in that part of Dalriada comprised in
+the county of Antrim, to four men, one of whom, Milcho, bought up their
+right from the other three, and employed him in feeding sheep or swine.
+Exposed to the severity of the weather day and night, a lonely slave in
+a strange land, and probably as ignorant of the language as of the
+customs of his master, his captivity, would, indeed, have been a bitter
+one, had he not brought with him, from a holy home, the elements of most
+fervent piety. A hundred times in the day, and a hundred times in the
+night, he lifted up the voice of prayer and supplication to the Lord of
+the bondman and the free, and faithfully served the harsh, and at times
+cruel, master to whom Providence had assigned him. Perhaps he may have
+offered his sufferings for those who were serving a master even more
+harsh and cruel.</p>
+<a name="Page_113"></a>
+<p>After six years he was miraculously delivered. A voice, that was not of
+earth, addressed him in the stillness of the night, and commanded him to
+hasten to a certain port, where he would find a ship ready to take him
+to his own country. &quot;And I came,&quot; says the saint, &quot;in the power of the
+Lord, who directed my course towards a good end; and I was under no
+apprehension until I arrived where the ship was. It was then clearing
+out, and I called for a passage. But the master of the vessel got angry,
+and said to me, 'Do not attempt to come with us.' On hearing this I
+retired, for the purpose of going to the cabin where I had been received
+as a guest. And, on my way thither, I began to pray; but before I had
+finished my prayer, I heard one of the men crying out with a loud voice
+after me, 'Come, quickly; for they are calling you,' and immediately I
+returned. And they said to me, 'Come, we receive thee on trust. Be our
+friend, just as it may be agreeable to you.' We then set sail, and after
+three days reached land.&quot; The two Breviaries of Rheims and Fiacc's Hymn
+agree in stating that the men with whom Patrick embarked were merchants
+from Gaul, and that they landed in a place called Treguir, in Brittany,
+some distance from his native place. Their charity, however, was amply
+repaid. Travelling through a desert country, they had surely perished
+with hunger, had not the prayers of the saint obtained them a miraculous
+supply of food.</p>
+
+<p>It is said that St. Patrick suffered a second captivity, which, however,
+only lasted sixty days; but of this little is known. Neither is the
+precise time certain, with respect to these captivities, at which the
+events occurred which we are about to relate. After a short residence at
+the famous monastery of St. Martin, near Tours, founded by his saintly
+relative, he placed himself (probably in his thirtieth year) under the
+direction of St. Germain of Auxerre.</p>
+
+<p>It was about this period that he was favoured with the remarkable vision
+or dream relating to his Irish apostolate. He thus describes it in his
+<i>Confessio</i>:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;I saw, in a nocturnal vision, a man named Victoricus<a name="FNanchor_120_121"></a><a href="#Footnote_120_121"><sup>[120]</sup></a> coming as<a name="Page_114"></a> if
+from Ireland, with a large parcel of letters, one of which he handed to
+me. On reading the beginning of it, I found it contained these words:
+'The voice of the Irish;' and while reading it I thought I heard, at the
+same moment, the voice of a multitude of persons near the Wood of
+Foclut, which is near the western sea; and they cried out, as if with
+one voice, '<i>We entreat thee, holy youth, to come and henceforth walk
+amongst us.'</i> And I was greatly affected in my heart, and could read no
+longer; and then I awoke.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>St. Patrick retired to Italy after this vision, and there spent many
+years. During this period he visited Lerins,<a name="FNanchor_121_122"></a><a href="#Footnote_121_122"><sup>[121]</sup></a> and other islands in
+the Mediterranean. Lerins was distinguished for its religious and
+learned establishments; and probably St. Germain,<a name="FNanchor_122_123"></a><a href="#Footnote_122_123"><sup>[122]</sup></a> under whose
+direction the saint still continued, had recommended him to study there.
+It was at this time that he received the celebrated staff, called the
+<i>Bachall Isu</i>, or Staff of Jesus.</p>
+
+<p>St. Bernard mentions this <i>Bachall Isu</i>, in his life of St. Malachy, as
+one of those insignia of the see of Armagh, which were popularly
+believed to confer upon the possessor a title to be regarded and obeyed
+as the successor of St. Patrick. Indeed, the great antiquity of this
+long-treasured relic has never been questioned; nor is there any reason
+to suppose that it was not in some way a miraculous gift.</p>
+
+<p>Frequent notices of this pastoral staff are found in ancient Irish
+history. St. Fiacc speaks of it as having been richly adorned by an
+ecclesiastic contemporary with the saint.</p>
+
+<p>A curious MS. is still preserved in the Chapter House of Westminster
+Abbey, containing an examination of &quot;Sir Gerald<a name="Page_115"></a> Machshayne, knight,
+sworn 19th March, 1529, upon the Holie Mase-booke and the <i>great relicke
+of Erlonde, called Baculum Christi</i>, the presence of the Kynge's
+Deputie, Chancellour, Tresoror, and Justice.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps it may be well to conclude the account of this interesting relic
+by a notice of its wanton destruction, as translated from the Annals of
+Loch C&egrave; by Professor O'Curry:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The most miraculous image of Mary, which was at <i>Bail&eacute; Atha Truim</i>
+(Trim), and which the Irish people had all honoured for a long time
+before that, which used to heal the blind, the deaf, the lame, and every
+disease in like manner, was burned by the Saxons. And the Staff of
+Jesus, which was in Dublin, and which wrought many wonders and miracles
+in Erinn since the time of Patrick down to that time, and which was in
+the hand of Christ Himself, was burned by the Saxons in like manner. And
+not only that, but there was not a holy cross, nor an image of Mary, nor
+other celebrated image in Erinn over which their power reached, that
+they did not burn. Nor was there one of the seven Orders which came
+under their power that they did not ruin. And the Pope and the Church in
+the East and at home were excommunicating the Saxons on that account,
+and they did not pay any attention or heed unto that, &amp;c. And I am not
+certain whether it was not in the year preceding the above [A.D. 1537]
+that these relics were burned.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>St. Patrick visited Rome about the year 431, accompanied by a priest
+named Segetius, who was sent with him by St. Germanus to vouch for the
+sanctity of his character, and his fitness for the Irish mission.
+Celestine received him favourably, and dismissed him with his
+benediction and approbation. St. Patrick then returned once more to his
+master, who was residing at Auxerre. From thence he went into the north
+of Gaul, and there receiving intelligence of the death of St. Palladius,
+and the failure of his mission, he was immediately consecrated bishop by
+the venerable Amato, a prelate of great sanctity, then residing in the
+neighbourhood of Ebovia. Auxilius, Isserninus, and other disciples of
+the saint, received holy orders at the same time. They were subsequently
+promoted to the episcopacy in the land of their adoption.</p>
+
+<p>In the year 432 St. Patrick landed in Ireland. It was the first year of
+the pontificate of St. Sixtus III., the successor of Celestine; the
+fourth year of the reign of Laeghair&eacute;, son of Nial of the Nine Hostages,
+King of Ireland. It is generally supposed that the saint<a name="Page_116"></a> landed first at
+a place called Inbher De, believed to be the mouth of the Bray river, in
+Wicklow. Here he was repulsed by the in habitants,&mdash;a circumstance which
+can be easily accounted for from its proximity to the territory of King
+Nathi, who had so lately driven away his predecessor, Palladius.</p>
+
+<p>St. Patrick returned to his ship, and sailing towards the north landed
+at the little island of Holm Patrick, near Skerries, off the north coast
+of Dublin. After a brief stay he proceeded still farther northward, and
+finally entering Strangford Lough, landed with his companions in the
+district of Magh-Inis, in the present barony of Lecale. Having
+penetrated some distance into the interior, they were encountered by
+Dicho, the lord of the soil, who, hearing of their embarkation, and
+supposing them to be pirates, had assembled a formidable body of
+retainers to expel them from his shores. But it is said that the moment
+he perceived, Patrick, his apprehensions vanished. After some brief
+converse, Dicho invited the saint and his companions to his house, and
+soon after received himself the grace of holy baptism. Dicho was St.
+Patrick's first convert, and the first who erected a Christian church
+under his direction. The memory of this event is still preserved in the
+name Saull, the modern contraction of <i>Sabhall Padruic</i>, or Patrick's
+Barn. The saint was especially attached to the scene of his first
+missionary success, and frequently retired to the monastery which was
+established there later.</p>
+
+<p>After a brief residence with the new converts, Patrick set out for the
+habitation of his old master, Milcho, who lived near Slieve Mis, in the
+present county of Antrim, then part of the territory called Dalriada. It
+is said that when Milcho heard of the approach of his former slave, he
+became so indignant, that, in a violent fit of passion, he set fire to
+his house, and perished himself in the flames. The saint returned to
+Saull, and from thence journeyed by water to the mouth of the Boyne,
+where he landed at a small port called Colp. Tara was his destination;
+but on his way thither he stayed a night at the house of a man of
+property named Seschnan. This man and his whole family were baptized,
+and one of his sons received the name of Benignus from St. Patrick, on
+account of the gentleness of his manner. The holy youth attached himself
+from this moment to his master, and was his successor in the primatial
+see of Armagh.</p>
+
+<p>Those who are anxious, for obvious reasons, to deny the fact of<a name="Page_117"></a> St.
+Patrick's mission from Rome, do so on two grounds: first, the absence of
+a distinct statement of this mission in one or two of the earliest lives
+of the saints; and his not having mentioned it himself in his genuine
+writings. Second, by underrating the value of those documents which do
+mention this Roman mission. With regard to the first objection, it is
+obvious that a hymn which was written merely as a panegyric (the Hymn of
+St. Fiacc) was not the place for such details. But St. Fiacc <i>does</i>
+mention that Germanus was the saint's instructor, and that &quot;he read his
+canons,&quot; <i>i.e.</i>, studied theology under him.</p>
+
+<p>St. Patrick's Canons,<a name="FNanchor_123_124"></a><a href="#Footnote_123_124"><sup>[123]</sup></a> which even Usher admits to be genuine,
+contain the following passage. We give Usher's own translation, as
+beyond all controversy for correctness:&mdash;&quot;Whenever any cause that is
+very difficult, and unknown unto all the judges of the Scottish nation,
+shall arise, it is rightly to be referred to the See of the Archbishop
+of the Irish (that is, of Patrick), and to the examination of the
+prelate thereof. But if there, by him and his wise men, a cause of this
+nature cannot easily be made up, we have decreed it shall be sent to the
+See Apostolic, that is to say, to the chair of the Apostle Peter, which
+hath the authority of the city of Rome.&quot; Usher's translation of St.
+Patrick's Canon is sufficiently plain, and evidently he found it
+inconveniently explicit, for he gives a &quot;gloss&quot; thereon, in which he
+apologizes for St. Patrick's Roman predilections, by suggesting that the
+saint was influenced by a &quot;special regard for the Church of Rome.&quot; No
+doubt this was true; it is the feeling of all good Catholics; but it
+requires something more than a &quot;special regard&quot; to inculcate such
+absolute submission; and we can scarcely think even Usher himself could
+have gravely supposed, that a canon written to bind the whole Irish
+Church, should have inculcated a practice of such importance, merely
+because St. Patrick had a regard for the Holy See. This Canon was acted
+upon in the Synod of Magh-Lene, in 630, and St. Cummian attests the fact
+thus:&mdash;&quot;In accordance with the canonical, decree, that if questions of
+grave moment arise, they shall be referred to the head of<a name="Page_118"></a> cities, we
+sent such as we knew were wise and humble men to Rome.&quot; But there is yet
+another authority for St. Patrick's Roman mission. There is an important
+tract by Macutenius, in the Book of Armagh. The authenticity of the
+tract has not, and indeed could not, be questioned; but a leaf is
+missing: happily, however, the titles of the chapters are preserved, so
+there can be no doubt as to what they contained. In these headings we
+find the following:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;5. De &aelig;tate ejus quando iens videre Sedem Apostolicam voluit discere
+sapientiam.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;6. De inventione Sancti Germani in Galiis et ideo non exivit ultra.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Todd, by joining these two separate titles, with more ingenuity than
+fairness, has made it appear that &quot;St. Patrick desired to visit the
+Apostolic See, and there to learn wisdom, but that meeting with St.
+Germanus in Gaul he went no further.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_124_125"></a><a href="#Footnote_124_125"><sup>[124]</sup></a> Even could the headings of
+two separate chapters be thus joined together, the real meaning of <i>et
+ideo non exivit ultra</i> would be, that St. Patrick never again left
+Germanus,&mdash;a meaning too obviously inadmissible to require further
+comment. But it is well known that the life of St. Patrick which bears
+the name of Probus, is founded almost verbally on the text of
+Macutenius, and this work supplies the missing chapters. They clearly
+relate not only the Roman mission of the saint, but also the saint's
+love of Rome, and his desire to obtain from thence &quot;due authority&quot; that
+he might &quot;preach with confidence.&quot;</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/020.jpg" width="402" height="110" alt="ANCIENT SWORD, FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE R.I.A., FOUND
+AT HILLSWOOD, CO. GALWAY." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>ANCIENT SWORD, FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE R.I.A., FOUND
+AT HILLSWOOD, CO. GALWAY.</h4>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><br /><br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_IX"></a>
+<center>
+<img src="images/021.jpg" width="458" height="232" alt="SCULPTURES AT DEVENISH." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>SCULPTURES AT DEVENISH.</h4>
+<a name="Page_119"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2>
+
+<h4>St. Patrick visits Tara&mdash;Easter Sunday&mdash;St. Patrick's Hymn&mdash;Dubtach
+salute him&mdash;He overthrows the Idols at Magh Slecht&mdash;The Princesses
+Ethnea and Fethlimia&mdash;Their Conversion&mdash;Baptism of Aengus&mdash;St. Patrick
+travels through Ireland&mdash;His Success in Munster&mdash;He blesses the whole
+country from Cnoc Patrick&mdash;The First Irish Martyr&mdash;St. Patrick's
+Death&mdash;Pagan Prophecies&mdash;Conor Mac Nessa&mdash;Death of King Laeghair&eacute;&mdash;The
+Church did not and does not countenance Pagan Superstition&mdash;Oilioll
+Molt&mdash;Death of King Aengus&mdash;Foundation of the Kingdom of Scotland&mdash;St.
+Brigid&mdash;Shrines of the Three Saints&mdash;St Patrick's Prayer for Ireland,
+and its Fulfilment.</h4>
+
+<h5>[A.D. 432&mdash;543.]</h5>
+
+<img src="images/g.jpg" width="75" height="229" align="left" alt="O" title="" />
+<p>n Holy Saturday St. Patrick arrived at Slane,
+where he caused a tent to be erected, and lighted the paschal fire at
+nightfall, preparatory to the celebration of the Easter festival. The
+princes and chieftains of Meath were, at the same time, assembled at
+Tara, where King Laeghair&eacute; was holding a great pagan festival. The
+object of this meeting has been disputed, some authorities saying that
+it was convoked to celebrate the Beltinne, or fire of Bal or Baal;
+others, that the king was commemorating his own birthday. On the
+festival of Beltinne it was forbidden to light any fire until a flame
+was visible from the top of Tara Hill. Laeghair&eacute; was indignant that this
+regulation should have been infringed; and probably the representation
+of his druids regarding the mission of the great apostle, did not tend
+to allay his wrath. Determined to examine himself<a name="Page_120"></a> into the intention of
+these bold strangers, he set forth, accompanied, by his bards and
+attendants, to the place where the sacred fire had been kindled, and
+ordered the apostle to be brought before him strictly commanding, at the
+same time, that no respect should be shown to him.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding the king's command, Erc, the son of Dego, rose up to
+salute him, obtained the grace of conversion, and was subsequently
+promoted to the episcopate. The result of this interview was the
+appointment of a public discussion, to take place the next day at Tara,
+between St. Patrick and the pagan bards.</p>
+<a name="St_Patrick_going_to_Tara"></a>
+<center>
+<img src="images/022.jpg" width="489" height="653" alt="St. Patrick going to Tara." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>St. Patrick going to Tara.</h4>
+<p>It was Easter Sunday&mdash;a day ever memorable for this event in the annals
+of Erinn. Laeghair&eacute; and his court sat in state to receive the ambassador
+of the Eternal King. Treacherous preparations had been made, and it was
+anticipated that Patrick and his companions would scarcely reach Tara
+alive. The saint was aware of the machinations of his enemies; but life
+was of no value to him, save as a means of performing the great work
+assigned him, and the success of that work was in the safe keeping of
+Another. The old writers love to dwell on the meek dignity of the
+apostle during this day of trial and triumph. He set forth with his
+companions, from where he had encamped, in solemn procession, singing a
+hymn of invocation which he had composed, in the Irish tongue, for the
+occasion, and which is still preserved, and well authenticated.<a name="FNanchor_125_126"></a><a href="#Footnote_125_126"><sup>[125]</sup></a> He
+<a name="Page_121"></a>was clothed as usual, in white robes; but he wore his mitre, and carried
+in his hand the Staff of Jesus. Eight priests attended him, robed also
+in white, and his youthful convert, Benignus, the son of Seschnan.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, great in the arms of meekness and prayer, did the Christian hosts
+calmly face the array of pagan pomp and pride. Again the monarch had
+commanded that no honour should be paid to the saint, and again he was
+disobeyed. His own chief poet and druid, Dubtach, rose up instantly on
+the entrance of the strangers, and saluted the venerable apostle with
+affection and respect. The Christian doctrine was then explained by St.
+Patrick to his wondering audience, and such impression made, that
+although Laeghair&eacute; lived and died an obstinate pagan, he nevertheless
+permitted the saint to preach where and when he would, and to receive
+all who might come to him for instruction or holy baptism.</p>
+
+<p>On the following day St. Patrick repaired to Taillten, where the public
+games were commencing; and there he remained for a week, preaching to an
+immense concourse of people. Here his life was threatened by Cairbr&eacute;, a
+brother of King Laeghair&eacute;; but the saint was defended by another of the
+royal brothers, named Conall Creevan, who was shortly after converted.
+The church of Donough Patrick, in Meath, was founded by his desire. It
+is said that all the Irish churches which begin with the name Donough
+were founded by the saint, the foundation being always marked out by him
+on a Sunday, for which Domhnach is the Gaedhilic term.</p>
+
+<p>Having preached for some time in the western part of the territory of
+Meath, the saint proceeded as far as Magh Slecht, where the great idol
+of the nation, Ceann [or Crom] Cruach was solemnly worshipped. The
+legend of its destruction, as given in the oldest annals, is singularly
+interesting. We give a brief extract from Professor O'Curry's
+translation: &quot;When Patrick saw the idol from the water, which is named
+<i>Guthard</i> [loud voice] (i.e., he elevated his voice); and when he
+approached near the idol, he raised his arm to lay the Staff of Jesus on
+him, and it did not reach him; he bent<a name="Page_122"></a> back from the attempt upon his
+right side, for it was to the south his face was; and the mark of the
+staff lies in his left side still although the staff did not leave
+Patrick's hand; and the earth swallowed the other twelve idols to their
+heads; and they are in that condition in commemoration of the miracle.
+And he called upon all the people <i>cum rege Laeghuire;</i> they it was that
+adored the idol. And all the people saw him (i.e., the demon), and they
+dreaded their dying if Patrick had not sent him to hell.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_126_127"></a><a href="#Footnote_126_127"><sup>[126]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>After this glorious termination of Easter week, the saint made two other
+important converts. He set out for Connaught; and when near Rath
+Cruaghan, met the daughters of King Laeghair&eacute;, the princesses Ethnea and
+Fethlimia, who were coming, in patriarchal fashion, to bathe in a
+neighbouring well. These ladies were under the tuition of certain
+druids, or magi; but they willingly listened to the instruction of the
+saint, and were converted and baptized.</p>
+
+<p>The interview took place at daybreak. The royal sisters heard the
+distant chant of the priests, who were reciting matins as they walked
+along; and when they approached and beheld them in their white garments,
+singing, with books in their hands, it was naturally supposed that they
+were not beings of earth.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Who are ye?&quot; they inquired of the saint and his companions. &quot;Are ye of
+the sea, the heavens, or the earth?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>St. Patrick explained to them such of the Christian mysteries as were
+most necessary at the moment, and spoke of the one only true God.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But where,&quot; they asked, &quot;does your God dwell? Is it in the sun or on
+earth, in mountains or in valleys, in the sea or in rivers?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Then the apostle told them of his God,&mdash;the Eternal, the Invisible,&mdash;and
+how He had indeed dwelt on earth as man, but only to suffer and die for
+their salvation. And as the maidens listened to his words, their hearts
+were kindled with heavenly love, and they inquired further what they
+could do to show their gratitude to this great King. In that same hour
+they were baptized; and in a short time they consecrated themselves to
+Him, the story of whose surpassing charity had so moved their young
+hearts.</p>
+<a name="Page_123"></a>
+<p>Their brother also obtained the grace of conversion; and an old Irish
+custom of killing a sheep on St. Michael's Day, and distributing it
+amongst the poor, is said to date from a miracle performed by St.
+Patrick for this royal convert.</p>
+
+<p>Nor is the story of Aengus, another royal convert, less interesting.
+About the year 445, the saint, after passing through Ossory, and
+converting a great number of people, entered the kingdom of Munster. His
+destination was Cashel, from whence King Aengus, the son of Natfraech,
+came forth to meet him with the utmost reverence.</p>
+
+<p>This prince had already obtained some knowledge of Christianity, and
+demanded the grace of holy baptism.</p>
+
+<p>The saint willingly complied with his request. His courtiers assembled
+with royal state to assist at the ceremony. St. Patrick carried in his
+hand, as usual, the Bachall Isu; at the end of this crozier there was a
+sharp iron spike, by which he could plant it firmly in the ground beside
+him while preaching, or exercising his episcopal functions. On this
+occasion, however, he stuck it down into the king's foot, and did not
+perceive his mistake until&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;The royal foot transfixed, the gushing blood<br /></span>
+<span>Enrich'd the pavement with a noble flood.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The ceremony had concluded, and the prince had neither moved nor
+complained of the severe suffering he had endured. When the saint
+expressed his deep regret for such an occurrence, Aengus merely replied
+that he believed it to be a part of the ceremony, and did not appear to
+consider any suffering of consequence at such a moment.<a name="FNanchor_127_128"></a><a href="#Footnote_127_128"><sup>[127]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>When such was the spirit of the old kings of Erinn who received the
+faith of Christ from Patrick, we can scarcely marvel that their
+descendants have adhered to it with such unexampled fidelity.</p>
+
+<p>After the conversion of the princesses Ethnea and Fethlimia, the
+daughters of King Laeghair&eacute;, St. Patrick traversed almost every part of
+Connaught, and, as our divine Lord promised to those whom He
+commissioned to teach all nations, proved his mission by the exercise of
+miraculous powers. Some of his early biographers have been charged with
+an excess of credulity on this point. But were this the place or time
+for such a discussion, it might easily be shown<a name="Page_124"></a> that miracles were to be
+expected when a nation was first evangelized, and that their absence
+should be rather a matter of surprise than their frequency or
+marvellousness. He who alone could give the commission to preach, had
+promised that &quot;greater things&quot; than He Himself did should be done by
+those thus commissioned. And after all, what greater miracle could there
+be than that one who had been enslaved, and harshly, if not cruelly
+treated, should become the deliverer of his enslavers from spiritual
+bondage, and should sacrifice all earthly pleasures for their eternal
+gain? Nor is the conversion of the vast multitude who listened to the
+preaching of the saint, less marvellous than those events which we
+usually term the most supernatural.</p>
+
+<p>The saint's greatest success was in the land<a name="FNanchor_128_129"></a><a href="#Footnote_128_129"><sup>[128]</sup></a> of Tirawley, near the
+town of Foclut, from whence he had heard the voice of the Irish even in
+his native land. As he approached this district, he learned that the
+seven sons of King Amalgaidh were celebrating a great festival. Their
+father had but lately died, and it was said these youths exceeded all
+the princes of the land in martial courage and skill in combat. St.
+Patrick advanced in solemn procession even into the very midst of the
+assembly, and for his reward obtained the conversion of the seven
+princes and twelve thousand of their followers. It is said that his life
+was at this period in some danger, but that Endeus, one of the converted
+princes, and his son Conall, protected him.<a name="FNanchor_129_130"></a><a href="#Footnote_129_130"><sup>[129]</sup></a> After seven years spent
+in Connaught, he passed into Ulster; there many received the grace of
+holy baptism, especially in that district now comprised in the county
+Monaghan.</p>
+
+<p>It was probably about this time that the saint returned to Meath, and
+appointed his nephew, St. Secundinus or Sechnal, who was bishop of the
+place already mentioned as Domhnach Sechnail, to preside over the
+northern churches during his own absence in the southern part of
+Ireland.</p>
+
+<p>The saint then visited those parts of Leinster which had been already
+evangelized by Palladius, and laid the foundation of many new churches.
+He placed one of his companions, Bishop Auxilius, at Killossy, near
+Naas, and another, Isserninus, at Kilcullen, both in the present county
+of Kildare. At Leix, in the Queen's county, he obtained a great many
+disciples, and from thence he proceeded<a name="Page_125"></a> to visit his friend, the poet
+Dubtach, who, it will be remembered, paid him special honour at Tara,
+despite the royal prohibition to the contrary. Dubtach lived in that
+part of the country called Hy-Kinsallagh, now the county Carlow. It was
+here the poet Fiacc was first introduced to the saint, whom he
+afterwards so faithfully followed. Fiacc had been a disciple of Dubtach,
+and was by profession a bard, and a member of an illustrious house. He
+was the first Leinster man raised to episcopal dignity. It was probably
+at this period that St. Patrick visited Munster, and the touching
+incident already related occurred at the baptism of Aengus. This prince
+was singularly devoted to religion, as indeed his conduct during the
+administration of the sacrament of regeneration could not fail to
+indicate.</p>
+
+<p>The saint's mission in Munster was eminently successful. Lonan, the
+chief of the district of Ormonde, entertained him with great
+hospitality, and thousands embraced the faith. Many of the inhabitants
+of Corca Baiscin crossed the Shannon in their hidecovered boats
+(curaghs) when the saint was on the southern side, in Hy-Figeinte, and
+were baptized by him in the waters of their magnificent river. At their
+earnest entreaty, St. Patrick ascended a hill which commanded a view of
+the country of the Dalcassians, and gave his benediction to the whole
+territory. This hill is called Findine in the ancient lives of the
+saint; but this name is now obsolete. Local tradition and antiquarian
+investigation make it probable that the favoured spot is that now called
+Cnoc Patrick, near Foynes Island.</p>
+
+<p>The saint's next journey was in the direction of Kerry, where he
+prophesied that &quot;St. Brendan, of the race of Hua Alta, the great
+patriarch of monks and star of the western world, would be born, and
+that his birth would take place some years after his own death.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_130_131"></a><a href="#Footnote_130_131"><sup>[130]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>We have now to record the obituary of the only Irish martyr who suffered
+for the faith while Ireland was being evangelized. While the saint was
+visiting Ui-Failghe, a territory now comprised in the King's county, a
+pagan chieftain, named Berraidhe, formed a plan for murdering the
+apostle. His wicked design came in some way to the knowledge of Odran,
+the saint's charioteer, who so<a name="Page_126"></a> arranged matters as to take his master's
+place, and thus received the fatal blow intended for him.</p>
+
+<p>The See of Armagh was founded about the year 455, towards the close of
+the great apostle's life. The royal palace of Emania, in the immediate
+neighbourhood, was then the residence of the kings of Ulster. A wealthy
+chief, by name Daire,<a name="FNanchor_131_132"></a><a href="#Footnote_131_132"><sup>[131]</sup></a> gave the saint a portion of land for the
+erection of his cathedral, on an eminence called <i>Druim-Sailech</i>, the
+Hill of Sallows. This high ground is now occupied by the city of Armagh
+(Ard-Macha). Religious houses for both sexes were established near the
+church, and soon were filled with ardent and devoted subjects.</p>
+
+<p>The saint's labours were now drawing to a close, and the time of eternal
+rest was at hand. He retired to his favourite retreat at Saull, and
+there probably wrote his <i>Confessio</i>.<a name="FNanchor_132_133"></a><a href="#Footnote_132_133"><sup>[132]</sup></a> It is said that he wished to
+die in the ecclesiastical metropolis of Ireland, and for this purpose,
+when he felt his end approaching, desired to be conveyed thither; but
+even as he was on his journey an angel appeared to him, and desired him
+to return to Saull. Here he breathed his last, on Wednesday, the 17th of
+March, in the year of our Lord 492. The holy viaticum and last anointing
+were administered to him by St. Tussach.<a name="FNanchor_133_134"></a><a href="#Footnote_133_134"><sup>[133]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>The saint's age at the time of his death, as also the length of his
+mission in Ireland, has been put at a much longer period by some
+authors, but modern research and correction of chronology have all but
+verified the statement given above.</p>
+
+<p>The intelligence of the death of St. Patrick spread rapidly through the
+country; prelates and priests flocked from all parts to honour the
+mortal remains of their glorious father. As each arrived at Saull, he
+proceeded to offer the adorable sacrifice according to his rank. At
+night the plain resounded with the chanting of psalms; and the darkness
+was banished by the light of such innumerable torches, that it seemed
+even as if day had hastened to dawn brightly on the beloved remains. St.
+Fiacc, in his often-quoted Hymn,<a name="Page_127"></a> compares it to the long day caused by
+the standing of the sun at the command of Joshua, when he fought against
+the Gabaonites.</p>
+
+<p>It is said that the pagan Irish were not without some intimation of the
+coming of their great apostle. Whether these prophecies were true or
+false is a question we cannot pretend to determine; but their existence
+and undoubted antiquity demand that they should have at least a passing
+notice. Might not the Gaedhilic druid, as well as the Pythian priestess,
+have received even from the powers of darkness, though despite their
+will, an oracle<a name="FNanchor_134_135"></a><a href="#Footnote_134_135"><sup>[134]</sup></a> which prophesied truth?</p>
+
+<p>There is a strange, wild old legend preserved in the Book of Leinster,
+which indicates that even in ancient Erinn the awful throes of nature
+were felt which were manifested in so many places, and in such various
+ways, during those dark hours when the Son of God hung upon the accursed
+tree for the redemption of His guilty creatures.</p>
+
+<p>This tale or legend is called the <i>Aideadh Chonchobair</i>. It is one of
+that class of narratives known under the generic title of Historical
+Tragedies, or Deaths. The hero, Conor Mac Nessa, was King of Ulster at
+the period of the Incarnation of our Lord. His succession to the throne
+was rather a fortuity than the result of hereditary claim. Fergus Mac
+Nessa was rightfully king at the time; but Conor's father having died
+while he was yet an infant, Fergus, then the reigning monarch, proposed
+marriage to his mother when the youth was about fifteen, and only
+obtained the consent of the celebrated beauty on the strange condition
+that he should hand over the sovereignty of Ulster to her son for a
+year. The<a name="Page_128"></a> monarch complied, glad to secure the object of his affections
+on any terms. Conor, young as he was, governed with such wisdom and
+discretion as to win all hearts; and when the assigned period had
+arrived, the Ulster men positively refused to permit Fergus to resume
+his rightful dignity. After much contention the matter was settled
+definitely in favour of the young monarch, and Fergus satisfied himself
+with still retaining the wife for whose sake he had willingly made such
+sacrifices. Conor continued to give ample proofs of the wisdom of his
+people's decision. Under his government the noble Knights of the Royal
+Branch sprang up in Ulster, and made themselves famous both in field and
+court.</p>
+
+<p>It was usual in those barbarous times, whenever a distinguished enemy
+was killed in battle, to cleave open his head, and to make a ball of the
+brains by mixing them with lime, which was then dried, and preserved as
+a trophy of the warrior's valour. Some of these balls were preserved in
+the royal palace at Emania. One, that was specially prized, passed
+accidentally into the hands of a famous Connaught champion, who found a
+treacherous opportunity of throwing it at Conor, while he was displaying
+himself, according to the custom of the times, to the ladies of an
+opposing army, who had followed their lords to the scene of action. The
+ball lodged in the king's skull, and his physicians declared that an
+attempt to extract it would prove fatal. Conor was carried home; he soon
+recovered, but he was strictly forbidden to use any violent exercise,
+and required to avoid all excitement or anger. The king enjoyed his
+usual health by observing those directions, until the very day of the
+Crucifixion. But the fearful phenomena which then occurred diverted his
+attention, and he inquired if <i>Bacrach</i>, his druid, could divine the
+cause.</p>
+
+<p>The druid consulted his oracles, and informed the king that Jesus
+Christ, the Son of the living God, was, even at that moment, suffering
+death at the hands of the Jews. &quot;What crime has He committed?&quot; said
+Conor. &quot;None,&quot; replied the druid. &quot;Then are they slaying Him
+innocently?&quot; said Conor. &quot;They are,&quot; replied the druid.</p>
+
+<p>It was too great a sorrow for the noble prince; he could not bear that
+his God should die unmourned; and rushing wildly from where he sat to a
+neighbouring forest, he began to hew the young trees down, exclaiming:
+&quot;Thus would I destroy those who were around my King at putting Him to
+death.&quot; The excitement<a name="Page_129"></a> proved fatal; and the brave and good King Conor
+Mac Nessa died<a name="FNanchor_135_136"></a><a href="#Footnote_135_136"><sup>[135]</sup></a> avenging, in his own wild pagan fashion, the death
+of his Creator.</p>
+
+<p>The secular history of Ireland, during the mission of St. Patrick,
+affords but few events of interest or importance. King Laeghair&eacute; died,
+according to the Four Masters, A.D. 458. The popular opinion attributed
+his demise to the violation of his oath to the Leinster men. It is
+doubtful whether he died a Christian, but the account of his burial<a name="FNanchor_136_137"></a><a href="#Footnote_136_137"><sup>[136]</sup></a>
+has been taken to prove the contrary. It is much to be regretted that
+persons entirely ignorant of the Catholic faith, whether that ignorance
+be wilful or invincible, should attempt to write lives of Catholic
+saints, or histories of Catholic countries. Such persons, no doubt
+unintentionally, make the most serious mistakes, which a well-educated
+Catholic child could easily rectify. We find a remarkable instance of
+this in the following passage, taken from a work already mentioned:
+&quot;Perhaps this [King Laeghair&eacute;'s oath] may not be considered an absolute
+proof of the king's paganism. To swear by the sun and moon was
+apparently, no doubt, paganism. But is it not also paganism to represent
+the rain and wind as taking vengeance? ... for this is the language
+copied by all the monastic annalists, and even by the Four Masters,
+Franciscan friars, writing in the seventeenth century.&quot; The passage is
+improved by a &quot;note,&quot; in which the author mentions this as a proof that
+such superstitions would not have been necessarily regarded two
+centuries ago as inconsistent with orthodoxy. Now, in the first place,
+the Catholic Church has always<a name="FNanchor_137_138"></a><a href="#Footnote_137_138"><sup>[137]</sup></a> condemned superstition of every
+kind. It is true that as there are good as well as bad Christians in her
+fold, there are also superstitious as well as believing Christians; but
+the Church is not answerable for the sins of her children. She is
+answerable for the doctrine which she teaches;<a name="Page_130"></a> and no one can point to
+any place or time in which the Church taught such superstitions.
+Secondly, the writers of history are obliged to relate facts as they
+are. The Franciscan fathers do this, and had they not done it carefully,
+and with an amount of labour which few indeed have equalled, their
+admirable Annals would have been utterly useless. They do mention the
+pagan opinion that it was &quot;the sun and wind that killed him [Laeghair&eacute;],
+because he had violated them;&quot; but they do not say that they believed
+this pagan superstition, and no one could infer it who read the passage
+with ordinary candour.</p>
+
+<p>It is probable that Oilioll Molt, who succeeded King Laeghair&eacute;, A.D.
+459, lived and died a pagan. He was slain, after a reign of twenty
+years, by Laeghair&eacute;'s son, Lughaidh, who reigned next. The good king
+Aengus<a name="FNanchor_138_139"></a><a href="#Footnote_138_139"><sup>[138]</sup></a> died about this time. He was the first Christian King of
+Munster, and is the common ancestor of the MacCarthys, O'Sullivans,
+O'Keeffes, and O'Callahans. The foundation of the kingdom of Scotland by
+an Irish colony, is generally referred to the year 503.<a name="FNanchor_139_140"></a><a href="#Footnote_139_140"><sup>[139]</sup></a> It has
+already been mentioned that Cairbr&eacute; Riada was the leader of an
+expedition thither in the reign of Conair&eacute; II. The Irish held their
+ground without assistance from the mother country until this period,
+when the Picts obtained a decisive victory, and drove them from the
+country. A new colony of the Dalriada<a name="Page_131"></a> now went out under the leadership
+of Loarn, Aengus, and Fergus, the sons of Erc. They were encouraged and
+assisted in their undertaking by their relative Mortagh, the then King
+of Ireland. It is said they took the celebrated <i>Lia Fail</i> to Scotland,
+that Fergus might be crowned thereon. The present royal family of
+England have their claim to the crown through the Stuarts, who were
+descendants of the Irish Dalriada. Scotland now obtained the name of
+Scotia, from the colony of Scots. Hence, for some time, Ireland was
+designated Scotia Magna, to distinguish it from the country which so
+obtained, and has since preserved, the name of the old race.</p>
+
+<p>Muircheartach, A.D. 504, was the first Christian King of Ireland; but he
+was constantly engaged in war with the Leinster men about the most
+unjust Boromean tribute. He belonged to the northern race of Hy-Nial,
+being descended from Nial of the Nine Hostages. On his death, the crown
+reverted to the southern Hy-Nials in the person of their representative,
+Tuathal Maelgarbh.</p>
+
+<p>It would appear from a stanza in the Four Masters, that St. Brigid had
+some prophetic intimation or knowledge of one of the battles fought by
+Muircheartach. Her name is scarcely less famous for miracles than that
+of the great apostle. Broccan's Hymn<a name="FNanchor_140_141"></a><a href="#Footnote_140_141"><sup>[140]</sup></a> contains allusions to a very
+great number of these supernatural favours. Many of these marvels are of
+a similar nature to those which the saints have been permitted to
+perform in all ages of the Church's history.</p>
+
+<p>Brigid belonged to an illustrious family, who were lineally descended
+from Eochad, a brother of Conn of the Hundred Battles. She was born at
+Fochard, near Dundalk, about the year 453, where her parents happened to
+be staying at the time; but Kildare was their usual place of residence,
+and there the holy virgin began her saintly career. In her sixteenth
+year she received the white cloak and religious veil, which was then the
+distinctive garment of those who were specially dedicated to Christ,
+from the hands of St. Macaille, the Bishop of Usneach, in Westmeath.
+Eight young maidens of noble birth took the veil with her. Their first
+residence was at a place in the King's county, still called Brigidstown.
+The fame of her sanctity now extended far and wide, and she was
+earnestly solicited from various parts of the country to found similar<a name="Page_132"></a>
+establishments. Her first mission was to Munster, at the request of Erc,
+the holy Bishop of Slane, who had a singular respect for her virtue.
+Soon after, she founded a house of her order in the plain of Cliach,
+near Limerick; but the people of Leinster at last became fearful of
+losing their treasure, and sent a deputation requesting her return, and
+offering land for the foundation of a large nunnery. Thus was
+established, in 483, the famous Monastery of Kildare, or the Church of
+the Oak.</p>
+
+<p>At the request of the saint, a bishop was appointed to take charge of
+this important work; and under the guidance of Conlaeth, who heretofore
+had been a humble anchorite, it soon became distinguished for its
+sanctity and usefulness. The concourse of strangers and pilgrims was
+immense; and in the once solitary plain one of the largest cities of the
+time soon made its appearance. It is singular and interesting to remark,
+how the call to a life of virginity was felt and corresponded with in
+the newly Christianized country, even as it had been in the Roman
+Empire, when it also received the faith. Nor is it less noticeable how
+the same safeguards and episcopal rule preserved the foundations of each
+land in purity and peace, and have transmitted even to our own days, in
+the same Church, and in it only, that privileged life.</p>
+
+<p>The Four Masters give her obituary under the year 525. According to
+Cogitosus, one of her biographers, her remains were interred in her own
+church. Some authorities assert that her relics were removed to Down,
+when Kildare was ravaged by the Danes, about the year 824.</p>
+
+<p>It has been doubted whether Downpatrick could lay claim to the honour of
+being the burial-place of Ireland's three great saints,<a name="FNanchor_141_142"></a><a href="#Footnote_141_142"><sup>[141]</sup></a> but there
+are good arguments in its favour. An old prophecy of St. Columba
+regarding his interment runs thus:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;My prosperity in guiltless Hy,<br /></span>
+<span>And my soul in Derry,<br /></span>
+<span>And my body under the flag<br /></span>
+<span>Beneath which are Patrick and Brigid.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The relics of the three saints escaped the fury of the Danes, who burned
+the town and pillaged the cathedral six or seven times, between the
+years 940 and 1111. In 1177, John de Courcy<a name="Page_133"></a> took possession of the town,
+and founded a church attached to a house of Secular Canons, under the
+invocation of the Blessed Trinity. In 1183 they were replaced by a
+community of Benedictine monks, from St. Wirburgh's Abbey, at Chester.
+Malachy, who was then bishop, granted the church to the English monks
+and prior, and changed the name to that of the Church of St. Patrick.
+This prelate was extremely anxious to discover the relics of the saints,
+which a constant tradition averred were there concealed. It is said,
+that one day, as he prayed in the church, his attention was directed
+miraculously to an obscure part of it; or, according to another and more
+probable account, to a particular spot in the abbey-yard, where, when
+the earth was removed, their remains were found in a triple
+cave,&mdash;Patrick in the middle, Columba and Brigid on either side.</p>
+
+<p>At the request of De Courcy, delegates were despatched to Rome by the
+bishop to acquaint Urban III. of the discovery of the bodies. His
+Holiness immediately sent Cardinal Vivian to preside at the translation
+of the relics. The ceremony took place on the 9th of June, 1186, that
+day being the feast of St. Columba. The relics of the three saints were
+deposited in the same monument at the right side of the high altar. The
+right hand of St. Patrick was enshrined and placed on the high altar. In
+1315, Edward Bruce invaded Ulster, marched to Downpatrick, destroyed the
+abbey, and carried off the enshrined hand. In 1538, Lord Grey, who
+marched into Lecale to establish the supremacy of his master, Henry
+VIII., by fire and sword, &quot;effaced the statues of the three patron
+saints, and burned the cathedral, for which act, along with many others
+equally laudable, he was beheaded three years afterwards.&quot; The
+restoration of the old abbey-church was undertaken of late years, and
+preceded by an act of desecration, which is still remembered with
+horror. The church had been surrounded by a burying-ground, where many
+had wished to repose, that they might, even in death, be near the relics
+of the three great patron saints of Erinn. But the graves were exhumed
+without mercy, and many were obliged to carry away the bones of their
+relatives, and deposit them where they could. The &quot;great tomb,&quot; in which
+it was believed that &quot;Patrick, Brigid, and Columkille&quot; had slept for
+more than six centuries, was not spared; the remains were flung out into
+the churchyard, and only saved from further desecration by the piety of
+a faithful people.</p>
+<a name="Page_134"></a>
+<p>The shrine of St. Patrick's hand was in possession of the late Catholic
+Bishop of Belfast. The relic itself has long disappeared; but the
+shrine, after it was carried off by Bruce, passed from one trustworthy
+guardian to another, until it came into his hands. One of these was a
+Protestant, who, with noble generosity, handed it over to a Catholic as
+a more fitting custodian. One Catholic family, into whose care it passed
+at a later period, refused the most tempting offers for it, though
+pressed by poverty, lest it should fall into the hands of those who
+might value it rather as a curiosity than as an object of devotion.</p>
+
+<p>This beautiful reliquary consists of a silver case in the shape of the
+hand and arm, cut off a little below the elbow. It is considerably
+thicker than the hand and arm of an ordinary man, as if it were intended
+to enclose these members without pressing upon them too closely. The
+fingers are bent, so as to represent the hand in the attitude of
+benediction.</p>
+
+<p>But there is another relic of St. Patrick and his times of scarcely less
+interest. The <i>Domhnach Airgid</i><a name="FNanchor_142_143"></a><a href="#Footnote_142_143"><sup>[142]</sup></a> contains a copy of the Four
+Gospels, which, there is every reason to believe, were used by the great
+apostle of Ireland. The relic consists of two parts&mdash;the shrine or case
+and the manuscript. The shrine is an oblong box, nine inches by seven,
+and five inches in height. It is composed of three distinct covers, in
+the ages of which there is obviously a great difference. The inner or
+first cover is of wood, apparently yew, and may be coeval with the
+manuscript it is intended to preserve. The second, which is of copper
+plated with silver, is assigned to a period between the sixth and
+twelfth centuries, from the style of its scroll or interlaced ornaments.
+The figures in relief, and letters on the third cover, which is of
+silver plated with gold, leave no doubt of its being the work of the
+fourteenth century.</p>
+
+<p>The last or external cover is of great interest as a specimen of the
+skill and taste in art of its time in Ireland, and also for the highly
+finished representations of ancient costume which it preserves. The
+ornaments on the top consist principally of a large figure of the<a name="Page_135"></a>
+Saviour in <i>alto-relievo</i> in the centre, and eleven figures of saints in
+<i>basso-relievo</i> on each side in four oblong compartments. There is a
+small square reliquary over the head of our divine Lord, covered with a
+crystal, which probably contained a piece of the holy cross. The smaller
+figures in relief are, Columba, Brigid, and Patrick; those in the second
+compartment, the Apostles James, Peter, and Paul; in the third, the
+Archangel Michael, and the Virgin and Child; in the fourth compartment a
+bishop presents a <i>cumdach</i>, or cover, to an ecclesiastic. This,
+probably, has a historical relation to the reliquary itself.</p>
+
+<p>One prayer uttered by St. Patrick has been singularly fulfilled. &quot;May my
+Lord grant,&quot; he exclaims, &quot;that I may never lose His people, which He
+has acquired in the ends of the earth!&quot; From hill and dale, from camp
+and cottage, from plebeian and noble, there rang out a grand &quot;Amen.&quot; The
+strain was caught by Secundinus and Benignus, by Columba and Columbanus,
+by Brigid and Brendan. It floated away from Lindisfarne and Iona, to
+Iceland and Tarentum. It was heard on the sunny banks of the Rhine, at
+Antwerp and Cologne, in Oxford, in Pavia, and in Paris. And still the
+old echo is breathing its holy prayer. By the priest, who toils in cold
+and storm to the &quot;station&quot; on the mountain side, far from his humble
+home. By the confessor, who spends hour after hour, in the heat of
+summer and the cold of winter, absolving the penitent children of
+Patrick. By the monk in his cloister. By noble and true-hearted men,
+faithful through centuries of persecution. And loudly and nobly, though
+it be but faint to human ears, is that echo uttered also by the aged
+woman who lies down by the wayside to die in the famine years,<a name="FNanchor_143_144"></a><a href="#Footnote_143_144"><sup>[143]</sup></a>
+because she prefers the bread of heaven to the bread of earth, and the
+faith taught by Patrick to the tempter's gold. By the emigrant, who,
+with<a name="Page_136"></a> broken heart bids a long farewell to the dear island home, to the
+old father, to the grey-haired mother, because his adherence to his
+faith tends not to further his temporal interest, and he must starve or
+go beyond the sea for bread. Thus ever and ever that echo is gushing up
+into the ear of God, and never will it cease until it shall have merged
+into the eternal alleluia which the often-martyred and ever-faithful
+children of the saint shall shout with him in rapturous voice before the
+Eternal Throne.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/023.jpg" width="411" height="664" alt="ST. PATRICK&#39;S BELL." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>ST. PATRICK&#39;S BELL.</h4>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><br /><br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_X"></a>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/024.jpg" width="428" height="316" alt="CROMLECH, AT CASTLE MARY, CLOYNE." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>CROMLECH, AT CASTLE MARY, CLOYNE.</h4>
+<a name="Page_137"></a>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2>
+
+<h4>The Religion of Ancient Erinn&mdash;The Druids and their
+Teaching&mdash;The Irish were probably Fire-worshippers&mdash;The Customs
+of Ancient Erinn&mdash;Similarity between Eastern and Irish Customs&mdash;Beal
+Fires&mdash;Hunting the Wren&mdash;&quot;Jacks,&quot; a Grecian game&mdash;&quot;Keen,&quot; an Eastern
+Custom&mdash;Superstitions&mdash;The Meaning of the Word&mdash;What Customs are
+Superstitious and what are not&mdash;Holy Wells&mdash;The Laws of Ancient
+Erinn&mdash;Different kinds of Laws&mdash;The Lex non Scripta and the Lex
+Scripta&mdash;Christianity necessitated the Revision of Ancient Codes&mdash;The
+Compilation of the Brehon Laws&mdash;Proofs that St. Patrick assisted
+thereat&mdash;Law of Distress&mdash;Law of Succession&mdash;The Language of
+Ancient Erinn&mdash;Writing in pre-Christian Erinn&mdash;Ogham Writing&mdash;
+Antiquities of pre-Christian Erinn&mdash;Round
+Towers&mdash;Cromlechs&mdash;Raths&mdash;Crannoges.</h4>
+
+<img src="images/k.jpg" width="58" height="193" align="left" alt="E" title="" />
+<p>astern customs and eastern superstitions, which undoubtedly are a
+strong confirmatory proof of our eastern origin, abounded in ancient
+Erinn. Druidism was the religion of the Celts, and druidism was probably
+one of the least corrupt forms of paganism. The purity of the
+divinely-taught patriarchal worship, became more and more corrupted as
+it passed through defiled channels. Yet, in all pagan mythologies, we
+find traces of the eternal verity in an obvious prominence of cultus
+offered to one god above the rest; and obvious, though grossly
+misapplied, glimpses of divine attributes, in the many deified objects
+which seemed to symbolize his power and his omnipotence.</p>
+
+<p>The Celtic druids probably taught the same doctrine as the Greek
+philosophers. The metempsychosis, a<a name="Page_138"></a> prominent article of this creed, may
+have been derived from the Pythagoreans, but more probably it was one of
+the many relics of patriarchal belief which were engrafted on all pagan
+religions. They also taught that the universe would never be entirely
+destroyed, supposing that it would be purified by fire and water from
+time to time. This opinion may have been derived from the same source.
+The druids had a <i>pontifex maximus</i>, to whom they yielded entire
+obedience,&mdash;an obvious imitation of the Jewish custom. The nation was
+entirely governed by its priests, though after a time, when the kingly
+power developed itself, the priestly power gave place to the regal. Gaul
+was the head-quarters of druidism; and thither we find the Britons, and
+even the Romans, sending their children for instruction. Eventually,
+Mona became a chief centre for Britain. The Gaedhilic druids, though
+probably quite as learned as their continental brethren, were more
+isolated; and hence we cannot learn so much of their customs from
+external sources. There is no doubt that the druids of Gaul and Britain
+offered human sacrifices; it appears almost certain the Irish druids did
+not.</p>
+
+<p>Our principal and most reliable information about this religion, is
+derived from C&aelig;sar. His account of the learning of its druids, of their
+knowledge of astronomy, physical science, mechanics, arithmetic, and
+medicine, however highly coloured, is amply corroborated by the casual
+statements of other authors.<a name="FNanchor_144_145"></a><a href="#Footnote_144_145"><sup>[144]</sup></a> He expressly states that they used the
+Greek character in their writings, and mentions tables found in the camp
+of the Helvetii written in these characters, containing an account of
+all the men capable of bearing arms.</p>
+
+<p>It is probable that Irish druidical rites manifested themselves
+principally in Sun-worship. The name of Bel, still retained in the
+Celtic Beltinne, indicates its Phoenician origin; Baal being the name
+under which they adored that luminary. It is also remarkable that Grian,
+which signifies the sun in Irish, resembles an epithet of Apollo given
+by Virgil,<a name="FNanchor_145_146"></a><a href="#Footnote_145_146"><sup>[145]</sup></a> who sometimes styles him Gryn&aelig;us. St. Patrick also
+confirms this conjecture, by condemning Sun-worship in his Confession,
+when he says: &quot;All those who adore it shall descend into misery and
+punishment.&quot; If the well-known passage of Diodorus Siculus may be
+referred to Ireland, it affords another<a name="Page_139"></a> confirmation. Indeed, it appears
+difficult to conceive how any other place but Ireland could be intended
+by the &quot;island in the ocean over against Gaul, to the north, and not
+inferior in size to Sicily, the <i>soil of which is so fruitful</i> that they
+mow there twice in the year.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_146_147"></a><a href="#Footnote_146_147"><sup>[146]</sup></a> In this most remarkable passage, he
+mentions the skill of their harpers, their sacred groves and <i>singular
+temple of round form</i>, their attachment to the Greeks by a singular
+affection from <i>old times</i>, and their tradition of having been visited
+by the Greeks, who left offerings which were noted in <i>Greek letters</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Toland and Carte assume that this passage refers to the Hebrides,
+Rowlands applies it to the island of Anglesea; but these conjectures are
+not worth regarding. We can scarcely imagine an unprejudiced person
+deciding against Ireland; but where prejudice exists, no amount of proof
+will satisfy. It has been suggested that the Irish pagan priests were
+not druids properly so called, but magi;<a name="FNanchor_147_148"></a><a href="#Footnote_147_148"><sup>[147]</sup></a> and that the Irish word
+which is taken to mean druid, is only used to denote persons specially
+gifted with wisdom. Druidism probably sprung from magism, which was a
+purer kind of worship, though it would be difficult now to define the
+<i>precise</i> limits which separated these forms of paganism. If the
+original pagan religion of ancient Erinn was magism, introduced by its
+Phoenician colonizers, it is probable that it had gradually degenerated
+to the comparatively grosser rites of the druid before the advent of St.
+Patrick. His destruction of the idols at Magh Slecht is unquestionable
+evidence that idol worship<a name="FNanchor_148_149"></a><a href="#Footnote_148_149"><sup>[148]</sup></a> was then practised, though probably in a
+very limited degree.</p>
+
+<p>The folklore of a people is perhaps, next to their language, the best
+guide to their origin. The editor of Bohn's edition of the Chronicle of
+Richard of Cirencester remarks, that &quot;many points of coincidence have
+been remarked in comparing the religion of the Hindoos with that of the
+ancient Britons; and in the language of these two people some striking
+similarities occur in those proverbs<a name="Page_140"></a> and modes of expression which are
+derived from national and religious ceremonies.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_149_150"></a><a href="#Footnote_149_150"><sup>[149]</sup></a> We are not aware
+of any British customs or proverbs which bear upon this subject, nor
+does the writer mention any in proof of his assertion: if, however, for
+Britons we read Irish, his observations may be amply verified.</p>
+
+<p>The kindly &quot;God save you!&quot; and &quot;God bless all here!&quot; of the Irish
+peasant, finds its counterpart in the eastern &quot;God be gracious to thee,
+my son!&quot; The partiality, if not reverence, for the number seven, is
+indicated in our churches. The warm-hearted hospitality of the very
+poorest peasant, is a practical and never-failing illustration of the
+Hindoo proverb, &quot;The tree does not withdraw its shade even from the
+woodcutter.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The celebration of St. John's Eve by watchfires, is undoubtedly a
+remnant of paganism, still practised in many parts of Ireland, as we can
+aver from personal knowledge; but the custom of passing cattle through
+the fire has been long discontinued, and those who kindle the fires have
+little idea of its origin, and merely continue it as an amusement. Kelly
+mentions, in his <i>Folklore</i>, that a calf was sacrificed in
+Northamptonshire during the present century, in one of these fires, to
+&quot;stop the murrain.&quot; The superstitious use of fire still continues in
+England and Scotland, though we believe the Beltinne on St. John's Eve
+is peculiar to Ireland. The hunting of the wren<a name="FNanchor_150_151"></a><a href="#Footnote_150_151"><sup>[150]</sup></a> on St. Stephen's
+Day, in this country, is said, by Vallancey, to have been originated by
+the first Christian missionaries, to counteract the superstitious
+reverence with which this bird was regarded by the druids. Classic
+readers will remember the origin of the respect paid to this bird in
+pagan times. The peasantry in Ireland, who have never read either Pliny
+or Aristotle, are equally conversant with the legend.</p>
+
+<p>The common and undignified game of &quot;jacks&quot; also lays claim to<a name="Page_141"></a> a noble
+ancestry. In Mr. St. John's work on <i>The Manners and Customs of Ancient
+Greece</i>, he informs us that the game was a classical one, and called
+<i>pentalitha.</i> It was played with five <i>astragals</i>&mdash;knuckle-bones,
+pebbles, or little balls&mdash;which were thrown up into the air, and then
+attempted to be caught when falling on the back of the hand. Another
+Irish game, &quot;pricking the loop,&quot; in Greece is called <i>himantiliginos</i>,
+pricking the garter. Hemestertius supposes the Gordian Knot to have been
+nothing but a variety of the himantiliginos. The game consists in
+winding a thong in such an intricate manner, that when a peg is inserted
+in the right ring, it is caught, and the game is won; if the mark is
+missed, the thong unwinds without entangling the peg.</p>
+
+<p>The Irish keen [<i>caoine</i>] may still be heard in Algeria and Upper Egypt,
+even as Herodotus heard it chanted by Lybian women. This wailing for the
+deceased is a most ancient custom; and if antiquity imparts dignity, it
+can hardly be termed barbarous. The Romans employed keeners at their
+funerals, an idea which they probably borrowed from the Etruscans,<a name="FNanchor_151_152"></a><a href="#Footnote_151_152"><sup>[151]</sup></a>
+with many others incomparably more valuable, but carefully
+self-appropriated. Our <i>wakes</i> also may have had an identity of origin
+with the funeral feasts of the Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans, whose
+customs were all probably derived from a common source.</p>
+
+<p>The fasting of the creditor on the debtor is still practised in India,
+and will be noticed in connexion with the Brehon Laws. There is,
+however, a class of customs which have obtained the generic term of
+superstitions, which may not quite be omitted, and which are, for many
+reasons, difficult to estimate rightly. In treating of this subject, we
+encounter, <i>prim&acirc; facie</i>, the difficulty of giving a definition of
+superstition. The Irish are supposed to be pre-eminently a superstitious
+people. Those who make this an accusation, understand by superstition
+the belief in anything supernatural; and they consider as equally
+superstitious, veneration of a relic, belief in a miracle, a story of a
+banshee, or a legend of Finn Mac Cumhaill. Probably, if the Celts did
+not venerate relics, and believe in the possibility of miracles, we
+should hear far less of their superstitions. Superstition of the
+grossest kind is prevalent<a name="Page_142"></a> among the lower orders in every part of
+England, and yet the nation prides itself on its rejection of this
+weakness. But according to another acceptation of the term, only such
+heathen customs as refer to the worship of false gods, are
+superstitions. These customs remain, unfortunately, in many countries,
+but in some they have been Christianized. Those who use the term
+superstition generically, still call the custom superstitious, from a
+latent and, perhaps, in some cases, unconscious impression that there is
+no supernatural. Such persons commence with denying all miraculous
+interventions except those which are recorded in holy Scripture; and
+unhappily, in some cases, end by denying the miracles of Scripture.</p>
+
+<p>To salute a person who sneezed with some form of benediction, was a
+pagan custom. It is said to have originated through an opinion of the
+danger attending it; and the exclamation used was: &quot;Jupiter help me!&quot; In
+Ireland, the pagan custom still remains, but it has been Christianized,
+and &quot;God bless you!&quot; is substituted for the pagan form. Yet we have
+known persons who considered the use of this aspiration superstitious,
+and are pleased to assert that the Irish use the exclamation as a
+protection against evil spirits, meaning thereby fairies. When a motive
+is persistently attributed which does not exist, argument is useless.</p>
+
+<p>Devotion to certain places, pilgrimages, even fasting and other bodily
+macerations, were pagan customs. These, also, have been Christianized.
+Buildings once consecrated to the worship of pagan gods, are now used as
+Christian temples: what should we think of the person who should assert
+that because pagan gods were once adored in these churches, therefore
+the worship now offered in them was offered to pagan deities? The
+temples, lite the customs, are Christianized.</p>
+
+<p>The author of a very interesting article in the <i>Ulster Arch&aelig;ological
+Journal</i> (vol. ix. p. 256), brings forward a number of Irish customs for
+which he finds counterparts in India. But he forgets that in Ireland the
+customs are Christianized, while in India, they remain pagan; and like
+most persons who consider the Irish pre-eminently superstitious, he
+appears ignorant of the teaching of that Church which Christianized the
+world. The special &quot;superstition&quot; of this article is the devotion to
+holy wells. The custom still exists in Hindostan; people flock to them
+for cure of their diseases, and leave &quot;rags&quot; on the bushes as
+&quot;scapegoats,&quot; <i>ex votos</i>, so to say, of cures, or prayers for cures. In
+India,<a name="Page_143"></a> the prayer is made to a heathen deity; in Ireland, the people
+happen to believe that God hears the prayers of saints more readily than
+their own; and acting on the principle which induced persons, in
+apostolic times, to use &quot;handkerchiefs and aprons&quot; which had touched the
+person of St. Paul as mediums of cure, because of his virgin sanctity,
+in preference to &quot;handkerchiefs and aprons&quot; of their own, they apply to
+the saints and obtain cures. But they do not believe the saints can give
+what God refuses, or that the saints are more merciful than God. They
+know that the saints are His special friends, and we give to a friend
+what we might refuse to one less dear. <i>Lege totum, si vis scire totum</i>,
+is a motto which writers on national customs should not forget.</p>
+
+<p>Customs were probably the origin of laws. Law, in its most comprehensive
+sense, signifies a rule of action laid down<a name="FNanchor_152_153"></a><a href="#Footnote_152_153"><sup>[152]</sup></a> by a superior. Divine
+law is manifested (1) by the law of nature, and (2) by revelation. The
+law of nations is an arbitrary arrangement, founded on the law of nature
+and the law of revelation: its perfection depends obviously on its
+correspondence with the divine law. Hence, by common consent, the
+greatest praise is given to those laws of ancient nations which
+approximate most closely to the law of nature, though when such laws
+came to be revised by those who had received the law of revelation, they
+were necessarily amended or altered in conformity therewith. No
+government can exist without law; but as hereditary succession preceded
+the law of hereditary succession, which was at first established by
+custom, so the <i>lex non scripta</i>, or national custom, preceded the <i>lex
+scripta</i>, or statute law. The intellectual condition of a nation may be
+well and safely estimated by its laws. A code of laws that were observed
+for centuries before the Christian era, and for centuries after the
+Christian era, and which can bear the most critical tests of forensic
+acumen in the nineteenth century, evidence that the framers of the code
+were possessed of no slight degree of mental culture. Such are the
+Brehon laws, by which pagan and Christian Erinn was governed for
+centuries.</p>
+
+<p>The sixth century was a marked period of legal reform. The Emperor
+Justinian, by closing the schools of Athens, gave a deathblow<a name="Page_144"></a> to Grecian
+philosophy and jurisprudence. But Grecian influence had already acted on
+the formation of Roman law, and probably much of the Athenian code was
+embodied therein. The origin of Roman law is involved in the same
+obscurity as the origin of the Brehon code. In both cases, the mist of
+ages lies like a light, but impenetrable veil, over all that could give
+certainty to conjecture. Before the era of the Twelve Tables, mention is
+made of laws enacted by Romulus respecting what we should now call civil
+liabilities. Laws concerning religion are ascribed to Numa, and laws of
+contract to Servius Tullius, who is supposed to have collected the
+regulations made by his predecessors. The Twelve Tables were notably
+formed on the legal enactments of Greece. The cruel severity of the law
+for insolvent debtors, forms a marked contrast to the milder and more
+equitable arrangements of the Brehon code. By the Roman enactments, the
+person of the debtor was at the mercy of his creditor, who might sell
+him for a slave beyond the Tiber. The Celt allowed only the seizure of
+goods, and even this was under regulations most favourable to the
+debtor. The legal establishment of Christianity by Constantine, or we
+should rather say the existence of Christianity, necessitated a complete
+revision of all ancient laws: hence we find the compilation of the
+Theodosian code almost synchronizing with the revision of the Brehon
+laws. The spread of Christianity, and the new modes of thought and
+action which obtained thereby, necessitated the reconstruction of
+ancient jurisprudence in lands as widely distant geographically, and as
+entirely separated politically, as Italy and Ireland.</p>
+
+<p>Those who have studied the subject most carefully, and who are therefore
+most competent to give an opinion, accept the popular account of the
+revision of our laws.</p>
+
+<p>The Four Masters thus record this important event:&mdash;&quot;The age of Christ
+438. The tenth year of Laeghair&eacute;. The Feinchus of Ireland were purified
+and written, the writings and old works of Ireland having been collected
+[and brought] to one place at the request of St. Patrick. Those were the
+nine supporting props by whom this was done: Laeghair&eacute;, i.e., King of
+Ireland, Corc, and Daire, the three kings; Patrick, Benen, and
+Cairneach, the three saints; Ross, Dubhthach, and Fearghus, the three
+antiquaries.&quot; Dr. O'Donovan, in his note, shelters himself under an
+extract from Petrie's <i>Tara;</i> but it is to be supposed that he coincides<a name="Page_145"></a>
+in the opinion of that gentleman. Dr. Petrie thinks that &quot;little doubt
+can be entertained that such a work was compiled within a short period
+after the introduction of Christianity in the country, and that St.
+Patrick may have laid the foundations of it;&quot;<a name="FNanchor_153_154"></a><a href="#Footnote_153_154"><sup>[153]</sup></a> though he gives no
+satisfactory reason why that saint should not have assisted at the
+compilation, and why the statements of our annalists should be refused
+on this subject, when they are accepted on others. A list of the
+&quot;family&quot; [household] of Patrick is given immediately after, which Dr.
+O'Donovan has taken great pains to verify, and with which he appears
+satisfied. If the one statement is true, why should the other be false?
+Mr. O'Curry, whose opinion on such subjects is admittedly worthy of the
+highest consideration, expresses himself strongly in favour of receiving
+the statements of our annalists, and thinks that both Dr. Petrie and Dr.
+Lanigan are mistaken in supposing that the compilation was not effected
+by those to whom it has been attributed. As to the antiquity of these
+laws, he observes that Cormac Mac Cullinan quotes passages from them in
+his Glossary, which was written not later than the ninth century, and
+then the language of the Seanchus<a name="FNanchor_154_155"></a><a href="#Footnote_154_155"><sup>[154]</sup></a> Mor was so ancient that it had
+become obsolete. To these laws, he well observes, the language of Moore,
+on the MSS. in the Royal Irish Academy, may be applied: &quot;They were not
+written by a foolish people, nor for any foolish purpose;&quot; and these
+were the &quot;laws and institutions which regulated the political and social
+system of a people the most remarkable in Europe, from a period almost
+lost in the dark mazes of antiquity, down to about within two hundred
+years of our own time, and whose spirit and traditions influence the
+feelings and actions of the native Irish even to this day.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_155_156"></a><a href="#Footnote_155_156"><sup>[155]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>But we can adduce further testimony. The able editor and translator of
+the <i>Seanchus Mor</i>, which forms so important a portion of our ancient
+code, has, in his admirable Preface, fully removed all doubt on this
+question. He shows the groundlessness of the<a name="Page_146"></a> objections (principally
+chronological) which had been made regarding those who are asserted to
+have been its compilers. He also makes it evident that it was a work in
+which St. Patrick should have been expected to engage: (1) because,
+being a Roman citizen, and one who had travelled much, he was probably
+well aware of the Christian modifications which had already been
+introduced into the Roman code. (2) That he was eminently a judicious
+missionary, and such a revision of national laws would obviously be no
+slight support to the advancement of national Christianity. It is also
+remarked, that St. Patrick may not necessarily have assisted personally
+in writing the MS.; his confirmation of what was compiled by others
+would be sufficient. St. Benignus, who is known to be the author of
+other works,<a name="FNanchor_156_157"></a><a href="#Footnote_156_157"><sup>[156]</sup></a> probably acted as his amanuensis.</p>
+
+<p>The subject-matter of the portions of the Seanchus Mor which have been
+translated, is the law of distress. Two points are noticeable in this:
+First, the careful and accurate administration of justice which is
+indicated by the details of these legal enactments; second, the custom
+therein sanctioned of the creditor fasting upon the debtor, a custom
+which still exists in Hindostan. Hence, in some cases, the creditor
+fasts on the debtor until he is compelled to pay his debt, lest his
+creditor should die at the door; in other cases, the creditor not only
+fasts himself, but also compels his debtor to fast, by stopping his
+supplies. Elphinstone describes this as used even against princes, and
+especially by troops to procure payment of arrears.<a name="FNanchor_157_158"></a><a href="#Footnote_157_158"><sup>[157]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>One of the most noticeable peculiarities of the Brehon law is the
+compensation for murder, called <i>eric</i>. This, however, was common to
+other nations. Its origin is ascribed to the Germans, but the
+institution was probably far more ancient. We find it forbidden<a name="FNanchor_158_159"></a><a href="#Footnote_158_159"><sup>[158]</sup></a> in
+the oldest code of laws in existence; and hence the <i>eric</i> must have
+been in being at an early period of the world's civil history.</p>
+
+<p>The law of succession, called <i>tanaisteacht</i>, or tanistry, is one of the
+most peculiar of the Brehon laws. The eldest son succeeded the father to
+the exclusion of all collateral claimants, unless he was<a name="Page_147"></a> disqualified by
+deformity, imbecility, or crime. In after ages, by a compact between
+parents or mutual agreement, the succession was sometimes made alternate
+in two or more families. The eldest son, being recognized as presumptive
+heir, was denominated <i>tanaiste</i>, that is, minor or second; while the
+other sons, or persons eligible in case of failure, were termed
+<i>righdhamhua</i>, which literally means king-material, or king-makings. The
+<i>tanaiste</i> had a separate establishment and distinct privileges. The
+primitive intention was, that the &quot;best man&quot; should reign; but
+practically it ended in might being taken for right, and often for less
+important qualifications.</p>
+
+<p>The possession and inheritance of landed property was regulated by the
+law called gavelkind (gavail-kinne), an ancient Celtic institution, but
+common to Britons, Anglo-Saxons, and others. By this law, inherited or
+other property was divided equally between the sons, to the exclusion of
+the daughters (unless, indeed, in default of heirs male, when females
+were permitted a life interest). The <i>tanaiste</i>, however, was allotted
+the dwelling-house and other privileges.</p>
+
+<p>The tenure of land was a tribe or family right; and, indeed, the whole
+system of government and legislation was far more patriarchal than
+Teutonic&mdash;another indication of an eastern origin. All the members of a
+tribe or family had an equal right to their proportionate share of the
+land occupied by the whole. This system created a mutual independence
+and self-consciousness of personal right and importance, strongly at
+variance with the subjugation of the Germanic and Anglo-Norman vassal.</p>
+
+<p>The compilation of the Brehon laws originated in a question that arose
+as to how the murderer of Odran, Patrick's charioteer, should be
+punished. The saint was allowed to select whatever Brehon he pleased to
+give judgment. He chose Dubhthach; and the result of his decision was
+the compilation of these laws, as it was at once seen that a purely
+pagan code would not suit Christian teaching.</p>
+
+<p>The Celtic language is now admittedly one of the most ancient in
+existence. Its affinity with Sanscrit, the eldest daughter of the
+undiscoverable mother-tongue, has been amply proved,<a name="FNanchor_159_160"></a><a href="#Footnote_159_160"><sup>[159]</sup></a> and the study
+of the once utterly despised Irish promises to be one which<a name="Page_148"></a> will
+abundantly repay the philologist. It is to be regretted that we are
+indebted to German students for the verification of these statements;
+but the Germans are manifestly born philologists, and they have
+opportunities of leisure, and encouragement for the prosecution of such
+studies, denied to the poorer Celt. It is probable that Celtic will yet
+be found to have been one of the most important of the Indo-European
+tongues. Its influence on the formation of the Romance languages has yet
+to be studied in the light of our continually increasing knowledge of
+its more ancient forms; and perhaps the conjectures of Betham will, by
+the close of this century, receive as much respect as the once equally
+ridiculed history of Keating.</p>
+
+<p>It is almost impossible to doubt that the Irish nation had letters and
+some form of writing before the arrival of St. Patrick. There are so
+many references to the existence of writings in the most ancient MSS.,
+that it appears more rash to deny their statements than to accept them.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/025.jpg" width="463" height="752" alt="RUNES FROM THE RUNIC CROSS AT RUTHWELL." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>RUNES FROM THE RUNIC CROSS AT RUTHWELL.</h4>
+<p>The three principal arguments against a pre-Christian alphabet appears
+to be: (1) The absence of any MS. of such writing. (2) The use of the
+Roman character in all MSS. extant. (3) The universal opinion, scarcely
+yet exploded, that the Irish Celts were barbarians. In reply to the
+first objection, we may observe that St. Patrick is said to have
+destroyed all the remnants of pagan writing.<a name="FNanchor_160_161"></a><a href="#Footnote_160_161"><sup>[160]</sup></a> C&aelig;sar mentions that
+the druids of Gaul used Greek characters. It appears impossible that the
+Irish druids, who were at least their equals in culture, should have
+been destitute of any kind of written character. The ancient form of
+Welsh letters were somewhat similar to the runes of which we give a
+specimen, and this alphabet was called the &quot;alphabet of the bards,&quot; in
+contradistinction to which is placed<a name="Page_149"></a> the &quot;alphabet of the monks,&quot; or
+Roman alphabet. The alphabet of the Irish bard may have been the
+Beith-luis-nion, represented by the Ogham character, of which more
+hereafter.</p>
+
+<p>The difficulty arising from the fact of St. Patrick's having given
+<i>abgitorium</i>, or alphabets, to his converts, appears to us purely
+chimerical. Latin was from the first the language of the Church, and
+being such, whether the Irish converts had or had not a form of writing,
+one of the earliest duties of a Christian missionary was to teach those
+preparing for the priesthood the language in which they were to
+administer the sacraments. The alphabet given by the saint was simply
+the common Roman letter then in use. The Celtic characteristic
+veneration for antiquity and religion, has still preserved it; and
+strange to say, the Irish of the nineteenth century alone use the
+letters which were common to the entire Roman Empire in the fifth. The
+early influence of ecclesiastical authority, and the circumstance that
+the priests of the Catholic Church were at once the instructors in and
+the preservers of letters, will account for the immediate disuse of
+whatever alphabet the druids may have had. The third objection is a mere
+<i>argumentum ad ignorantiam</i>.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/026.jpg" width="330" height="163" alt="CUNEIFORM CHARACTERS." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>CUNEIFORM CHARACTERS.</h4>
+
+<p>It is to be regretted that the subject of Ogham writing has not been
+taken up by a careful and competent hand.<a name="FNanchor_161_162"></a><a href="#Footnote_161_162"><sup>[161]</sup></a> There are few people who
+have not found out some method of recording their history, and there are
+few subjects of deeper interest than the study of the efforts of the
+human mind to perpetuate itself in written characters. The Easterns had
+their cuneiform or arrow-headed symbols, and the Western world has even
+yet its quipus, and tells its history by the number of its knots.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/028.jpg" width="500" height="888" alt="The Quipus" title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>The Quipus</h4>
+<a name="Page_150"></a>
+<p>The peasant girl still knots her handkerchief as her <i>memoria technica</i>,
+and the lady changes her ring from its accustomed finger. Each practice
+is quite as primitive an effort of nature as the Ogham of the Celtic
+bard. He used a stone pillar or a wooden stick for his notches,&mdash;a more
+permanent record than the knot or the Indian quipus.<a name="FNanchor_162_163"></a><a href="#Footnote_162_163"><sup>[162]</sup></a> The use of a
+stick as a vehicle for recording ideas by conventional marks, appears
+very ancient; and this in itself forms a good argument for the antiquity
+of Ogham writing. Mr. O'Curry has given it expressly as his opinion,
+&quot;that the pre-Christian Gaedhils possessed and practised a system of
+writing and keeping records quite different from and independent of the
+Greek and Roman form and characters, which gained currency in the
+country after the introduction of Christianity.&quot; He then gives in
+evidence passages from our ancient writings which are preserved, in
+which the use of the Ogham character is distinctly mentioned. One
+instance is the<a name="Page_151"></a> relation in the <i>T&aacute;in b&oacute; Chuailgn&eacute;</i> of directions having
+been left on wands or hoops written in Ogham by Cuchulainn for M&eacute;av.
+When these were found, they were read for her by Fergus, who understood
+the character. We have not space for further details, but Professor
+O'Curry devotes some pages to the subject, where fuller information may
+be found. In conclusion, he expresses an opinion that the original
+copies of the ancient books, such as the Cuilmenn and the Saltair of
+Tara, were not written in Ogham. He supposes that the druids or poets,
+who, it is well known, constantly travelled for educational purposes,
+brought home an alphabet, probably the Roman then in use. &quot;It is, at all
+events, quite certain that the Irish druids had written books before the
+coming of St. Patrick, in 432; since we find the statement in the
+Tripartite Life of the saint, as well as in the Annotations of Tirechan,
+preserved in the Book of Armagh, which were taken by him from the lips
+and books of his tutor, St. Mochta, who was the pupil and disciple of
+St. Patrick himself.&quot;</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/029.jpg" width="500" height="119" alt="Ogham stone" title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>Ogham stone</h4>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/029a.jpg" width="128" height="861" alt="SAGRANI FILI CUNOTAMI" title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>SAGRANI FILI CUNOTAMI</h4>
+<p>We give two illustrations of Ogham writing. The pillar-stone is from the
+collection of the Royal Irish Academy. It is about four and a-half feet
+high, and averages eleven inches across. It was found, with three others
+similarly inscribed, built into the walls of a dwelling-house in the
+county Kerry, to which it is believed they had been removed from the
+interior of a neighbouring rath. The bilingual Ogham was found at St.
+Dogmael's, near Cardiganshire. The Ogham alphabet is called
+<i>beithluisnion</i>, from the name of its two first letters, <i>beith</i>, which
+signifies<a name="Page_152"></a> a birch-tree, and <i>luis</i>, the mountain-ash. If this kind of
+writing had been introduced in Christian times, it is quite unlikely
+that such names would have been chosen. They are manifestly referable to
+a time when a tree had some significance beyond the useful or the
+ornamental. It has been supposed that the names of the letters were
+given to the trees, and not the names of the trees to the letters. It is
+at least certain that the names of the trees and the letters coincide,
+and that the trees are all indigenous to Ireland. The names of the
+letters in the Hebrew alphabet are also significant, but appear to be
+chosen indiscriminately, while there is a manifest and evidently
+arbitrary selection in the Celtic appellations. The number of letters
+also indicate antiquity. The ancient Irish alphabet had but sixteen
+characters, thus numerically corresponding with the alphabet brought
+into Greece by Cadmus. This number was gradually increased with the
+introduction of the Roman form, and the arrangement was also altered to
+harmonize with it. The Ogham alphabet consists of lines, which represent
+letters. They are arranged in an arbitrary manner to the right or left
+of a stemline, or on the edge of the material on which they are traced.
+Even the names of those letters, <i>fleasg</i> (a tree), seem an indication
+of their origin. A cross has been found, sculptured more or less rudely,
+upon many of these ancient monuments; and this has been supposed by some
+antiquarians to indicate their Christian origin. Doubtless the practice
+of erecting pillar-stones, and writing Oghams thereon, was continued
+after the introduction of Christianity; but this by no means indicates
+their origin. Like many other pagan monuments, they may have been
+consecrated by having the sign of the cross engraven on them hundreds of
+years after their erection.</p>
+
+<p>During the few months which have elapsed between the appearance of the
+first edition and the preparation of the second edition, my attention
+has been called to this portion of the history by four or five eminent
+members of the Royal Irish Academy, who express their regret that I
+should appear to have adopted, or at least favoured, Mr. D'Alton's view
+of the Christian origin of the round towers. I cannot but feel gratified
+at the interest which they manifested, and not less so at their kind
+anxiety that my own views should accord with those of the majority. I am
+quite aware that my opinion on such a subject could have little weight.
+To form a decided opinion on this subject, would require many years'
+study; but when one of these gentlemen, the Earl of Dunraven,<a name="Page_153"></a>
+distinguished for his devotion to arch&aelig;ology, writes to me that both
+Irish, English, and Continental scholars are all but unanimous in
+ascribing a Christian origin to these remarkable buildings, I cannot but
+feel that I am bound to accept this opinion, thus supported by an
+overwhelming weight of authority. It may, however, be interesting to
+some persons to retain an account of the opposing theories, and for this
+reason I still insert page 115 of the original edition, only making such
+modifications as my change of opinion make necessary.</p>
+
+<p>The theories which have been advanced on this subject may be classified
+under seven heads&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>(1) That the Phoenicians erected them for fire temples.</p>
+
+<p>(2) That the Christians built them for bell towers.</p>
+
+<p>(3) That the Magians used them for astronomical purposes.</p>
+
+<p>(4) That they were for Christian anchorites to shut themselves up in.</p>
+
+<p>(5) That they were penitentiaries.</p>
+
+<p>(6) That the Druids used them to proclaim their festivals.</p>
+
+<p>(7) That the Christians used them to keep their church plate and
+treasures.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/030.jpg" width="424" height="568" alt="URN AND ITS CONTENTS FOUND IN A CROMLECH IN THE PHOENIX
+PARK, DUBLIN." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>URN AND ITS CONTENTS FOUND IN A CROMLECH IN THE PHOENIX
+PARK, DUBLIN.</h4>
+
+<p>Contradictory as these statements appear, they may easily be ranged into
+two separate theories of pagan or Christian origin. Dr. Petrie has been
+the great supporter of the latter opinion, now almost generally
+received. He founds his opinion: (1) On the assumption that the Irish
+did not know the use of lime mortar before the time of St. Patrick. For
+this assumption, however, he gives no evidence. (2) On the presence of
+certain Christian emblems on some of these towers, notably at Donaghmore
+and Antrim. But the presence of Christian emblems, like the cross on the
+Ogham stones, may merely indicate that Christians wished to consecrate
+them to Christian use. (3) On the assumption that they were used as
+keeps or monastic castles, in which church plate was concealed, or
+wherein the clergy could shelter themselves from the fury of Danes, or
+other invaders. But it is obvious that towers would have been built in a
+different fashion had such been the object of those who erected them.
+The late Mr. D'Alton has been the most moderate and judicious advocate
+of their pagan origin. He rests his theory (1) on certain statements in
+our annals, which, if true, must at once decide the dispute. The Annals
+of Ulster mention the destruction of fifty-seven of them in consequence<a name="Page_155"></a>
+of a severe earthquake, A.D. 448. He adduces the testimony of Giraldus
+Cambrensis, who confirms the account of the origin of Lough Neagh by an
+inundation, A.D. 65, and adds: &quot;It is no improbable testimony to this
+event, that the fishermen beheld the religious towers (<i>turres
+ecclesiasticas</i>), which, according to the custom of the country, are
+narrow, lofty, and round, immersed under the waters; and they frequently
+show them to strangers passing over them, and wondering at their
+purposes&quot; (<i>reique causas admirantibus</i>). This is all the better
+evidence of their then acknowledged antiquity, because the subject of
+the writer was the formation of the lough, and not the origin of the
+towers. Mr. D'Alton's (2) second argument is, that it was improbable the
+Christians would have erected churches of wood and bell towers of stone,
+or have bestowed incomparably more care and skill on the erection of
+these towers, no matter for what use they may have been intended, than
+on the churches, which should surely be their first care.<a name="FNanchor_163_164"></a><a href="#Footnote_163_164"><sup>[163]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>The cromlechs next claim our notice. There has been no question of their
+pagan origin; and, indeed, this method of honouring or interring the
+dead, seems an almost universal custom of ancient peoples.<a name="FNanchor_164_165"></a><a href="#Footnote_164_165"><sup>[164]</sup></a>
+Cremation does not appear to have been the rule as to the mode of
+interment in ancient Erinn, as many remains of skeletons have been
+found; and even those antiquarians who are pleased entirely to deny the
+truth of the <i>historical</i> accounts of our early annalists, accept their
+statements as to customs of the most ancient date. When the dead were
+interred without cremation, the body was placed either in a horizontal,
+sitting, or recumbent posture. When the remains were burned, a fictile
+vessel was used to contain the ashes. These urns are of various forms
+and sizes. The style of decoration also differs widely, some being but
+rudely ornamented, while<a name="Page_156"></a> others bear indications of artistic skill which
+could not have been exercised by a rude or uncultivated people.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/031.jpg" width="380" height="254" alt="BOWL" title="" />
+</center>
+
+<p>We give a full-page illustration of an urn and its contents, at present
+in the collection of the Royal Irish Academy. This urn was found in a
+tumulus, which was opened in the Phoenix Park, near Dublin, in the year
+1838. The tumulus was about 120 feet in diameter at the base, and
+fifteen feet high. Four sepulchral vases, containing burnt ashes, were
+found within the tomb. It also enclosed two perfect male skeletons, the
+tops of the femora of another, and a bone of some animal. A number of
+shells<a name="FNanchor_165_166"></a><a href="#Footnote_165_166"><sup>[165]</sup></a> were found under the head of each skeleton, of the kind
+known to conchologists as the <i>Nerita littoralis</i>. The urn which we have
+figured is the largest and most perfect, and manifestly the earliest of
+the set. It is six inches high, rudely carved, yet not without some
+attempt at ornament. The bone pin was probably used for the hair, and
+the shells are obviously strung for a necklace. We give above a specimen
+of the highest class of cinerary urns. It stands unrivalled, both in
+design and execution, among all the specimens found in the British
+isles. This valuable remain was discovered in the cutting of a railway,
+in a small stone chamber, at Knockneconra, near Bagnalstown, county
+Carlow. Burned bones of an infant, or very young child, were found in
+it, and it was inclosed in a much larger and ruder urn, containing the
+bones of an adult.<a name="Page_157"></a> Possibly, suggests Sir W. Wilde, they may have been
+the remains of mother and child.<a name="FNanchor_166_167"></a><a href="#Footnote_166_167"><sup>[166]</sup></a></p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/032.jpg" width="451" height="491" alt="GOLD HEAD-DRESS, R.I.A." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>GOLD HEAD-DRESS, R.I.A.</h4>
+<p>The collection of antiquities in the Royal Irish Academy, furnishes
+abundant evidence that the pagan Irish were well skilled in the higher
+arts of working in metals. If the arbitrary division of the ages of
+stone, bronze, and iron, can be made to hold good, we must either
+suppose that the Irish Celt was possessed of extraordinary mental
+powers, by which he developed the mechanical arts gradually, or that,
+with successive immigrations, he obtained an increase of knowledge from
+exterior sources. The bardic annals indicate the latter theory. We have
+already given several illustrations<a name="Page_158"></a> of the ruder weapons. The
+illustration appended here may give some idea of the skill obtained by
+our pagan ancestors in working gold. This ornament, which is quite
+complete, though fractured in two places, stands 11-1/2 inches high. It
+weighs 16 oz. 10 dwts. 13 grs. The gold of which it is formed is very
+red. It was procured with the Sirr Collection, and is said to have been
+found in the county Clare.<a name="FNanchor_167_168"></a><a href="#Footnote_167_168"><sup>[167]</sup></a> Our readers are indebted to the kindness
+of the Council of the Royal Irish Academy, for the permission to depict
+these and the other rare articles from the collection which are inserted
+in our pages.</p>
+
+<p>The amount of gold ornaments which have been found in Ireland at various
+times, has occasioned much conjecture as to whether the material was
+found in Ireland or imported. It is probable that auriferous veins
+existed, which were worked out, or that some may even now exist which
+are at present unknown. The discovery of gold ornaments is one of the
+many remarkable confirmations of the glowing accounts given by our
+bardic annalists of Erinn's ancient glories. O'Hartigan thus describes
+the wealth and splendour of the plate possessed by the ancient monarchs
+who held court at Tara:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;Three hundred cupbearers distributed<br /></span>
+<span>Three times fifty choice goblets<br /></span>
+<span>Before each party of great numbers,<br /></span>
+<span>Which were of pure strong carbuncle,<a name="FNanchor_168_169"></a><a href="#Footnote_168_169"><sup>[168]</sup></a><br /></span>
+<span>Or gold or of silver all.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Dr. Petrie observes that this statement is amply verified by the
+magnificent gold ornaments, found within a few yards of this very spot,
+now in the possession of the Royal Irish Academy. We shall see, at a
+later period, when the cursing of Tara will demand a special notice of
+its ancient glories, how amply the same writer has vindicated the
+veracity of Celtic annalists on this ground also.</p>
+
+<p>A remarkable resemblance has been noticed between the pagan military
+architecture of Ireland, and the early Pelasgian monuments in Greece.
+They consist of enclosures, generally circular, of massive clay walls,
+built of small loose stones, from six to sixteen feet thick. These forts
+or fortresses are usually entered by<a name="Page_159"></a> a narrow doorway, wider at the
+bottom than at the top, and are of Cyclopean architecture. Indeed, some
+of the remains in Ireland can only be compared to the pyramids of Egypt,
+so massive are the blocks of stone used in their construction. As this
+stone is frequently of a kind not to be found in the immediate
+neighbourhood, the means used for their transportation are as much a
+matter of surprise and conjecture, as those by which they were placed in
+the position in which they are found. The most remarkable of these forts
+may still be seen in the Isles of Arran, on the west coast of Galway;
+there are others in Donegal, Mayo, and in Kerry. Some of these erections
+have chambers in their massive walls, and in others stairs are found
+round the interior of the wall; these lead to narrow platforms, varying
+from eight to forty-three feet in length, on which the warriors or
+defenders stood. The fort of Dunmohr, in the middle island of Arran, is
+supposed to be at least 2,000 years old. Besides these forts, there was
+the private house, a stone habitation, called a <i>clochann</i>, in which an
+individual or family resided; the large circular dome-roofed buildings,
+in which probably a community lived; and the rath, intrenched and
+stockaded.</p>
+
+<p>But stone was not the only material used for places of defence or
+domestic dwellings; the most curious and interesting of ancient Irish
+habitations is the <i>crannoge</i>, a name whose precise etymology is
+uncertain, though there is little doubt that it refers in some way to
+the peculiar nature of the structure.</p>
+
+<p>The crannoges were formed on small islets or shallows of clay or marl in
+the centre of a lake, which were probably dry in summer, but submerged
+in winter. These little islands, or mounds, were used as a foundation
+for this singular habitation. Piles of wood, or heaps of stone and bones
+driven into or heaped on the soil, formed the support of the crannoge.
+They were used as places of retreat or concealment, and are usually
+found near the ruins of such old forts or castles as are in the vicinity
+of lakes or marshes. Sometimes they are connected with the mainland by a
+causeway, but usually there is no appearance of any; and a small canoe
+has been, with but very few exceptions, discovered in or near each
+crannoge.</p>
+
+<p>Since the investigation of these erections in Ireland, others have been
+discovered in the Swiss lakes of a similar kind, and containing, or
+rather formed on, the same extraordinary amount of bones heaped up
+between the wooden piles.</p>
+<a name="Page_160"></a>
+<p>The peculiar objects called celts, and the weapons and domestic utensils
+of this or an earlier period, are a subject of scarcely less interest.
+The use of the celt has fairly perplexed all antiquarian research. Its
+name is derived not, as might be supposed, from the nation to whom this
+distinctive appellation was given, but from the Latin word <i>celtis</i>, a
+chisel. It is not known whether these celts, or the round, flat,
+sharp-edged chisels, were called <i>Lia Miledh</i>, &quot;warriors' stones.&quot; In
+the record of the battle of the Ford of Comar, Westmeath, the use of
+this instrument is thus described:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;There came not a man of Lohar's people without a broad green spear, nor
+without a dazzling shield, nor without a <i>Liagh-lamha-laich</i> (a
+champion's hand stone), stowed away in the hollow cavity of his
+shield.... And Lohar carried his stone like each of his men; and seeing
+the monarch his father standing in the ford with Ceat, son of Magach, at
+one side, and Connall Cearnach at the other, to guard him, he grasped
+his battle-stone quickly and dexterously, and threw it with all his
+strength, and with unerring aim, at the king his father; and the massive
+stone passed with a swift rotatory motion towards the king, and despite
+the efforts of his two brave guardians, it struck him on the breast, and
+laid him prostrate in the ford. The king, however, recovered from the
+shock, arose, and placing his foot upon the formidable stone, pressed it
+into the earth, where it remains to this day, with a third part of it
+over ground, and the print of the king's foot visible upon it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Flint proper, or chalk flint, is found but in few places in Ireland;
+these are principally in the counties of Antrim, Down, and Derry. In the
+absence of a knowledge of the harder metals, flint and such-like
+substances were invaluable as the only material that could be fashioned
+into weapons of defence, and used to shape such rude clothing as was
+then employed. The scarcity of flint must have rendered these weapons of
+great value in other districts. Splitting, chipping, and polishing, and
+this with tools as rude as the material worked on, were the only means
+of manufacturing such articles; and yet such was the perfection, and, if
+the expression be applicable, the amount of artistic skill attained,
+that it seems probable flint-chipping was a special trade, and doubtless
+a profitable one to those engaged in it.</p>
+
+<p>When flints were used as arrows, either in battle or in the chase, a bow
+was easily manufactured from the oak and birch trees with<a name="Page_161"></a> which the
+island was thickly wooded. It was bent by a leathern thong, or the
+twisted intestine of some animal. The handles of the lance or
+javelin&mdash;formidable weapons, if we may judge from the specimens in the
+Museum of the Royal Irish Academy&mdash;were also formed of wood; but these
+have perished in the lapse of ages, and left only the strangely and
+skilfully formed implement of destruction.</p>
+
+<p>Among primitive nations, the tool and the weapon differed but little.
+The hatchet which served to fell the tree, was as readily used to cleave
+open the head of an enemy. The knife, whether of stone or hard wood,
+carved the hunter's prey, or gave a deathstroke to his enemy. Such
+weapons or implements have, however, frequently been found with metal
+articles, under circumstances which leave little doubt that the use of
+the former was continued long after the discovery of the superior value
+of the latter. Probably, even while the Tuatha De Danann artificers were
+framing their more refined weapons for the use of nobles and knights,
+the rude fashioner of flint-arrows and spear-heads still continued to
+exercise the craft he had learned from his forefathers, for the benefit
+of poorer or less fastidious warriors.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/033.jpg" width="500" height="263" alt="CROMLECH IN THE PHOENIX PARK." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>CROMLECH IN THE PHOENIX PARK.
+The urn and necklace, figured at page 154, were found in this tomb.</h4>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><br /><br />
+
+<a name="CHAPTER_XI"></a>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/034.jpg" width="500" height="254" alt="CLONDALKIN ROUND TOWER." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>CLONDALKIN ROUND TOWER.</h4>
+<a name="Page_162"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2>
+
+<h4>Pestilence of the <i>Blefed</i>&mdash;The Cursing of Tara by St. Rodanus&mdash;Extent
+and Importance of Ancient Tara&mdash;The First Mill in Ireland&mdash;The <i>Lia
+Fail</i>&mdash;Cormac's House&mdash;The Rath of the Synods&mdash;The Banqueting
+Hall&mdash;Chariots and Swords&mdash;St. Columba&mdash;St. Brendan and his
+Voyages&mdash;Pre-Columbian Discovery of America&mdash;The Plague again&mdash;St.
+Columba and St. Columbanus&mdash;Irish Saints and Irish Schools&mdash;Aengus the
+Culdee.</h4>
+
+<h5>[A.D. 543-693.]</h5>
+
+<img src="images/l.jpg" width="55" height="203" align="left" alt="F" title="" />
+<p>rom time to time, in the world's history, terrible and mysterious
+pestilences appear, which defy all calculation as to their cause or
+probable reappearance. Such was the <i>Blefed</i>,<a name="FNanchor_169_170"></a><a href="#Footnote_169_170"><sup>[169]</sup></a> or <i>Crom Chonaill</i>,
+which desolated Ireland in the year 543.</p>
+
+<p>The plague, whatever its nature may have been, appears to have been
+general throughout Europe. It originated in the East; and in Ireland was
+preceded by famine, and followed by leprosy. St. Berchan of Glasnevin
+and St. Finnen of Clonard were amongst its first victims.</p>
+
+<p>Diarmaid, son of Fergus Keval, of the southern Hy-Nial race, was
+Ard-Righ during this period. In his reign Tara was cursed by St. Rodanus
+of Lothra, in Tipperary, in punishment for violation of sanctuary;<a name="FNanchor_170_171"></a><a href="#Footnote_170_171"><sup>[170]</sup></a>
+and so complete was its subsequent<a name="Page_163"></a> desertion, that in 975 it was
+described as a desert overgrown with grass and weeds.</p>
+
+<p>But enough still remains to give ample evidence of its former
+magnificence. An inspection of the site must convince the beholder of
+the vast extent of its ancient palaces; nor can we, for a moment,
+coincide with those who are pleased to consider that these palaces
+consisted merely of a few planks of wood, rudely plastered over, or of
+hollow mounds of earth. It is true that, from an association of ideas,
+the cause of so many fallacies, we naturally connect &quot;halls&quot; with marble
+pavements, magnificently carved pillars, and tesselated floors; but the
+harp that once resounded through Tara's halls, may have had as
+appreciating, if not as critical, an audience as any which now exists,
+and the &quot;halls&quot; may have been none the less stately, because their floor
+was strewn with sand, or the trophies which adorned them fastened to
+walls of oak.<a name="FNanchor_171_172"></a><a href="#Footnote_171_172"><sup>[171]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>According to Celtic tradition, as embodied in our annals, Tara became
+the chief residence of the Irish kings on the first establishment of a
+monarchical government under Slainge:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Slaine of the Firbolgs was he by whom Temair was first raised.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>One hundred and fifty monarchs reigned there from this period until its
+destruction, in 563. The <i>Fes</i>, or triennial assembly, was instituted by
+Ollamh Fodhla. The nature of these meetings is explained in a poem,
+which Keating ascribes to O'Flynn, who died A.D. 984. It is clear that
+what was then considered crime was punished in a very peremptory manner;
+for&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;Gold was not received as retribution from him,<br /></span>
+<span>But his soul in one hour.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_172_173"></a><a href="#Footnote_172_173"><sup>[172]</sup></a><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>In the reign of Tuathal a portion of land was separated from each of the
+four provinces, which met together at a certain place: this portion was
+considered a distinct part of the country from the provinces. It was
+situated in the present county of Meath.</p>
+
+<p>In the tract separated from Munster, Tuathal<a name="FNanchor_173_174"></a><a href="#Footnote_173_174"><sup>[173]</sup></a> built the royal seat
+of Tlachtga, where the fire of Tlachtga was ordained to be<a name="Page_164"></a> kindled. On
+the night of All Saints, the druids assembled here to offer sacrifices,
+and it was established, under heavy penalties that no fire should be
+kindled on that night throughout the kingdom, so that the fire which was
+used afterwards might be procured from it. To obtain this privilege, the
+people were obliged to pay a scraball, or about three-pence, yearly, to
+the King of Munster.</p>
+
+<p>On the 1st of May a convocation was held in the royal palace of the King
+of Connaught. He obtained subsidies in horses and arms from those who
+came to this assembly. On this occasion two fires were lit, between
+which cattle were driven as a preventative or charm against the murrain
+and other pestilential distempers. From this custom the feast of St.
+Philip and St. James was anciently called Beltinne, or the Day of Bel's
+Fire.</p>
+
+<p>The third palace, erected by Tuathal, was on the portion of land taken
+from the province of Ulster. Here the celebrated fair of Tailtean was
+held, and contracts of marriage were frequently made. The royal tribute
+was raised by exacting an ounce of silver from every couple who were
+contracted and married at that time. The fair of Tailtean had been
+instituted some years before, in honour of Tailte, who was buried here.
+This fair, says Keating, was then kept upon the day known in the Irish
+language as La Lughnasa, or the day ordained by Lughaidh, and is called
+in English Lammas-day.</p>
+
+<p>The fourth and the most important of the royal seats was the palace of
+Temair, or Tara: here, with the greatest state and ceremony, the affairs
+of the nation were discussed and decided. On these occasions, in order
+to preserve the deliberations from the public, the most strict secrecy
+was observed, and women were entirely excluded.</p>
+
+<p>The Dinnseanchus, a topographical work, compiled in the twelfth century
+from ancient MSS., is the principal source of information on this
+subject. Dr. Petrie, in his famous <i>Essay</i>, has given both the original
+and translation of this tract, and of other documents on the same
+subject; and he remarks how exactly the accounts given by the poet
+historians coincide with the remains which even now exist. In fact, each
+site has been ascertained with precise accuracy&mdash;an accuracy which
+should very much enhance our appreciation of the value of our ancient
+histories.</p>
+
+<p>The well <i>Neamhnach</i> was first identified. Tradition asserts that<a name="Page_165"></a> the first
+mill<a name="FNanchor_174_175"></a><a href="#Footnote_174_175"><sup>[174]</sup></a> erected in Ireland was turned by the stream which flowed from
+it, and even at the present day a mill is still worked there. The
+situation of the <i>Rath-na-Riogh</i> was then easily ascertained. This is
+the most important of these ancient sites, but it is now, unfortunately,
+nearly levelled to the ground. This rath is oval and measures about 853
+feet from north to south; it contains the ruins of the <i>Forradh</i> and of
+<i>Teach Cormac</i> (the House of Cormac). A pillar-stone was removed in 1798
+to the centre of the mound of the Forradh. It formerly stood by the side
+of a small mound lying within the enclosure of Rath-Riogh. This stone
+Dr. Petrie considers identical<a name="FNanchor_175_176"></a><a href="#Footnote_175_176"><sup>[175]</sup></a> with the famous <i>Lia Fail</i>, or Stone
+of Destiny, which other authorities suppose to have been removed to
+Scotland, and subsequently to Westminster. The <i>Rath-na-Riogh</i> is
+identical with Teamur, and is, in fact, <i>the</i> ancient Tara, or royal
+residence, around which other scarcely less important buildings were
+gradually erected. It was also called <i>Cathair Crofinn</i>. The name of
+<i>Cathair</i> was exclusively applied to circular stone fortifications built
+without cement; and stones still remain which probably formed a portion
+of the original building. In ancient Irish poems this fortification is
+sometimes called the Strong Tower of Teamur, an appellation never
+applied to a rath, but constantly to a <i>Cathair</i>, or circular stone
+fort.</p>
+
+<p>The Rath of the Synods obtained its name at a comparatively<a name="Page_166"></a> recent
+period. The situation is distinctly pointed out both in the prose and
+verse accounts. Here was held the Synod of Patrick, the Synod of Ruadhan
+and Brendan, and lastly, the Synod of Adamnan. The next existing
+monument which has been identified with certainty, is the
+<i>Teach-Miodhchuarta</i>, or Banqueting Hall, so famous in Irish history and
+bardic tradition. This was also the great house of the thousand
+soldiers, and the place where the <i>Fes</i> or triennial assemblies were
+held. It had fourteen doors&mdash;seven to the east and seven to the west.
+Its length, taken from the road, is 759 feet, and its breadth was
+probably about 90 feet. Kenneth O'Hartigan is the great, and indeed
+almost the only authority for the magnificence and state with which the
+royal banquets were held herein. As his descriptions are written in a
+strain of eloquent and imaginative verse, his account has been too
+readily supposed to be purely fictitious. But we have already shown that
+his description of the gold vessels which were used, is amply
+corroborated by the discovery of similar articles. His account of the
+extent, if not of the exterior magnificence, of the building, has also
+been fully verified; and there remains no reason to doubt that a
+&quot;thousand soldiers&quot; may have attended their lord at his feasts, or that
+&quot;three times fifty stout cooks&quot; may have supplied the viands. There was
+also the &quot;House of the Women,&quot; a term savouring strangely of eastern
+customs and ideas; and the &quot;House of the Fians,&quot; or commons soldiers.</p>
+
+<p>Two poems are still preserved which contain ground-plans of the
+different compartments of the house, showing the position allotted to
+different ranks and occupations, and the special portion which was to be
+assigned to each. The numerous distinctions of rank, and the special
+honours paid to the learned, are subjects worthy of particular notice.
+The &quot;<i>saoi</i> of literature&quot; and the &quot;royal chief&quot; are classed in the same
+category, and were entitled to a <i>primchrochait</i>, or steak; nor was the
+Irish method of cooking barbarous, for we find express mention of a spit
+for roasting meat, and of the skill of an artificer who contrived a
+machine by which thirty spits could be turned at once.<a name="FNanchor_176_177"></a><a href="#Footnote_176_177"><sup>[176]</sup></a> The five
+great Celtic roads<a name="FNanchor_177_178"></a><a href="#Footnote_177_178"><sup>[177]</sup></a> have already been mentioned. Indistinct traces
+of them are still found at Tara. <a name="Page_167"></a>The <i>Slighe M&ocirc;r</i> struck off from the
+Slope of the Chariots,<a name="FNanchor_178_179"></a><a href="#Footnote_178_179"><sup>[178]</sup></a> at the northern head of the hill, and joined
+the Eiscir Riada, or great Connaught road, from Dublin <i>via</i> Trim. Dr.
+Petrie concludes his Essay on Tara thus: &quot;But though the houses were
+unquestionably of these materials [wood and clay, with the exception of
+the Tuatha D&eacute; Danann Cathair], it must not be inferred that they were
+altogether of a barbarous structure. It is not probable that they were
+unlike or inferior to those of the ancient Germans, of which Tacitus
+speaks in terms of praise, and which he describes as being overlaid with
+an earth so pure and splendid, that they resembled painting.&quot; And the
+historian Moore, writing on the same subject, observes: &quot;That these
+structures were in wood is by no means conclusive either against the
+elegance of their structure, or the civilization, to a certain extent,
+of those who erected them. It was in wood that the graceful forms of
+Grecian architecture first unfolded their beauties; and there is reason
+to believe that, at the time when Xerxes invaded Greece, most of her
+temples were still of this perishable material.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>But the cursing of Tara was by no means the only misfortune of
+Diarmaid's reign. His unaccountable hostility to St. Columba involved
+him in many troubles; and, in addition to these, despite famine and
+pestilence, the country was afflicted with domestic wars. It is said
+that his war with Guaire, King of Connaught, was undertaken as a
+chastisement for an injustice committed by that monarch, who, according
+to an old chronicle, had deprived a woman, who had vowed herself to a
+religious life, of a cow, which was her only means of support. It is
+more probable, however, that the motive was not quite so chivalric, and
+that extortion of a tribute to which he had no right was the real cause.
+The high character for probity unanimously attributed to Guaire, makes
+it extremely unlikely that he should have committed any deliberate act
+of injustice.</p>
+
+<p>The first great convention of the Irish states, after the abandonment of
+Tara, was held in Drumceat, in 573, in the reign of Hugh, son of
+Ainmire. St. Columba and the leading members of the Irish<a name="Page_168"></a> clergy
+attended. Precedence was given to the saint by the prelates of North
+Britain, to honour his capacity of apostle or founder of the Church in
+that country.</p>
+
+<p>Two important subjects were discussed on this occasion, and on each the
+opinion of St. Columba was accepted as definitive. The first referred to
+the long-vexed question whether the Scottish colony of Alba should still
+be considered dependent on the mother country. The saint, foreseeing the
+annoyances to which a continuance of this dependence must give rise,
+advised that it should be henceforth respected as an independent state.
+The second question was one of less importance in the abstract, but far
+more difficult to settle satisfactorily. The bards, or more probably
+persons who wished to enjoy their immunities and privileges without
+submitting to the ancient laws which obliged them to undergo a long and
+severe course of study before becoming licentiates, if we may use the
+expression, of that honorable calling, had become so numerous and
+troublesome, that loud demands were made for their entire suppression.
+The king, who probably suffered from their insolence as much as any of
+his subjects, was inclined to comply with the popular wish, but yielded
+so far to the representations of St. Columba, as merely to diminish
+their numbers, and place them under stricter rules.</p>
+
+<p>Hugh Ainmire was killed while endeavouring to exact the Boromean
+Tribute. The place of his death was called Dunbolg, or the Fort of the
+Bags. The Leinster king, Bran Dubh, had recourse to a stratagem, from
+whence the name was derived. Finding himself unable to cope with the
+powerful army of his opponent, he entered his camp disguised as a leper,
+and spread a report that the Leinster men were preparing to submit.</p>
+
+<p>In the evening a number of bullocks, laden with leathern bags, were seen
+approaching the royal camp. The drivers, when challenged by the
+sentinels, said that they were bringing provisions; and this so tallied
+with the leper's tale, that they were permitted to deposit their burdens
+without further inquiry. In the night, however, an armed man sprang from
+each bag, and headed by their king, whose disguise was no longer needed,
+slaughtered the royal army without mercy, Hugh himself falling a victim
+to the personal bravery of Bran Dubh.</p>
+
+<p>The deaths of several Irish saints, whose lives are of more than
+ordinary interest, are recorded about this period. Amongst them,<a name="Page_169"></a> St.
+Brendan of Clonfert demands more than a passing notice. His early youth
+was passed under the care of St. Ita, a lady of the princely family of
+the Desii. By divine command she established the Convent of <i>Cluain
+Credhuil</i>, in the present county of Limerick, and there, it would
+appear, she devoted herself specially to the care of youth. When Brendan
+had attained his fifth year, he was placed under the protection of
+Bishop Ercus, from whom he received such instruction as befitted his
+advancing years. But Brendan's tenderest affection clung to the gentle
+nurse of his infancy; and to her, in after years, he frequently
+returned, to give or receive counsel and sympathy.</p>
+
+<p>The legend of his western voyage, if not the most important, is at least
+the most interesting part of his history. Kerry was the native home of
+the enterprising saint; and as he stood on its bold and beautiful
+shores, his naturally contemplative mind was led to inquire what
+boundaries chained that vast ocean, whose grand waters rolled in mighty
+waves beneath his feet. His thoughtful piety suggested that where there
+might be a country there might be life&mdash;human life and human souls dying
+day by day, and hour by hour, and knowing of no other existence than
+that which at best is full of sadness and decay.</p>
+
+<p>Traditions of a far-away land had long existed on the western coast of
+ancient Erinn. The brave Tuatha D&eacute; Dananns were singularly expert in
+naval affairs, and their descendants were by no means unwilling to
+impart information to the saint.</p>
+
+<p>The venerable St. Enda, the first Abbot of Arran, was then living, and
+thither St. Brendan journeyed for counsel. Probably he was encouraged in
+his design by the holy abbot; for, he proceeded along the coast of Mayo,
+inquiring as he went for traditions of the western continent. On his
+return to Kerry, he decided to set out on the important expedition. St.
+Brendan's Hill still bears his name; and from the bay at the foot of
+this lofty eminence he sailed for the &quot;far west.&quot; Directing his course
+towards the south-west, with a few faithful companions, in a
+well-provisioned bark, he came, after some rough and dangerous
+navigation, to calm seas, where, without aid of oar or sail, he was
+borne along for many weeks. It is probable that he had entered the great
+Gulf Stream, which brought his vessel ashore somewhere on the Virginian
+coasts. He landed with his companions, and penetrated into the interior,
+until he came to a large river flowing from east to<a name="Page_170"></a> west, supposed to be
+that now known as the Ohio. Here, according to the legend, he was
+accosted by a man of venerable bearing, who told him that he had gone
+far enough; that further discoveries were reserved for other men, who
+would in due time come and christianize that pleasant land.</p>
+
+<p>After an absence of seven years, the saint returned once more to
+Ireland, and lived not only to tell of the marvels he had seen, but even
+to found a college of three thousand monks at Clonfert. This voyage took
+place in the year 545, according to Colgan; but as St. Brendan must have
+been at that time at least sixty years old, an earlier date has been
+suggested as more probable.<a name="FNanchor_179_180"></a><a href="#Footnote_179_180"><sup>[179]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>The northern and southern Hy-Nials had long held rule in Ireland; but
+while the northern tribe were ever distinguished, not only for their
+valour, but for their chivalry in field or court, the southern race fell
+daily lower in the estimation of their countrymen. Their disgrace was
+completed when two kings, who ruled Erinn jointly, were treacherously
+slain by Conall Guthvin. For this crime the family were excluded from
+regal honours for several generations.</p>
+
+<p>Home dissensions led to fatal appeals for foreign aid, and this
+frequently from the oppressing party. Thus, Congal Caech, who killed the
+reigning sovereign in 623, fled to Britain, and after<a name="Page_171"></a> remaining there
+nine years, returned with foreign troops, by whose assistance he hoped
+to attain the honours unlawfully coveted. The famous battle of
+Magh-Rath,<a name="FNanchor_180_181"></a><a href="#Footnote_180_181"><sup>[180]</sup></a> in which the auxiliaries were utterly routed and the
+false Congal slain, unfortunately did not deter his countrymen from
+again and again attempting the same suicidal course.</p>
+
+<p>In 656 the country was once more visited by the fatal <i>Crom Chonaill</i>,
+and again holy prelates and sainted religious were foremost amongst its
+victims. Many orphans were of necessity thrown on the mercy of those to
+whom charity was their only claim. Nor was the call unheeded. The
+venerable Bishop of Ardbraccan, St. Ultan, whom we may perhaps term the
+St. Vincent of Ireland, gathered these hapless little ones into a safe
+asylum, and there, with a thoughtfulness which in such an age could
+scarcely have been expected, sought to supply by artificial means for
+the natural nourishment of which they had been deprived.</p>
+
+<p>Venerable Bede mentions this pestilence, and gives honorable testimony
+to the charity of the Irish, not only to their own people, but even to
+strangers. He says: &quot;This pestilence did no less harm, in the island of
+Ireland. Many of the nobility and of the lower ranks of the English
+nation were there at that time, who, in the days of Bishop Finan and
+Colman, forsaking their native land, retired thither, either for the
+sake of divine studies, or for a more continent life. The Scots
+willingly received them all, and took care to supply them with food, as
+also to furnish them with books to read and their teaching gratis.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_181_182"></a><a href="#Footnote_181_182"><sup>[181]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>In 673 Finnachta Fleadhach, or the Hospitable, began his reign. He
+yielded to the entreaties of St. Moling, and remitted the Boromean
+Tribute, after he had forced it from the Leinster men in a bloody
+battle. In 687 he abdicated, and showed his respect for religion still
+further by embracing the monastic state himself. In 684 the Irish coasts
+were devastated, and even the churches pillaged, by the soldiers of
+Egfrid, the Saxon King of Northumbria. Venerable Bede attributes his
+subsequent defeat and death, when fighting against the Picts, to the
+judgment of God, justly merited<a name="Page_172"></a> by these unprovoked outrages on a nation
+which had always been most friendly to the English (<i>nationi Anglorum
+semper amicissimam</i>).</p>
+
+<p>It has been supposed that revenge may have influenced Egfrid's conduct:
+this, however, does not make it more justifiable in a Christian king.
+Ireland was not merely the refuge of men of learning in that age; it
+afforded shelter to more than one prince driven unjustly from his
+paternal home. Alfred, the brother of the Northumbrian monarch, had fled
+thither from his treachery, and found a generous welcome on its
+ever-hospitable shores. He succeeded his brother in the royal dignity;
+and when St. Adamnan visited his court to obtain the release of the
+Irish captives whom Egfrid's troops had torn from their native land, he
+received him with the utmost kindness, and at once acceded to his
+request.</p>
+
+<p>St. Adamnan, whose fame as the biographer of St. Columba has added even
+more to the lustre of his name than his long and saintly rule over the
+Monastery of Iona, was of the race of the northern Hy-Nials. He was born
+in the territory of Tir-Connell, about the year 627. Little is known of
+his early history; it is generally supposed that he was educated at
+Iona, and that, having embraced the monastic rule, he returned to his
+own country to extend its observance there. He presided over the great
+Abbey of Raphoe, of which he was the founder, until the year 679, when
+he was raised to the government of his order, and from that period he
+usually resided at Iona. The fact of his having been chosen to such an
+important office, is a sufficient testimony to his virtues, and of the
+veneration and respect in which he was held by his contemporaries.</p>
+
+<p>St. Adamnan paid more than one visit to his friend the Northumbrian
+monarch (<i>regem Alfridem amicum</i>). On the second occasion he went with
+the Abbot Ceolfrid, and after some conversation with him and other
+learned ecclesiastics, he adopted the Roman paschal computation. Yet,
+with all his influence and eloquence, he was unable to induce his monks
+to accept it; and it was not until the year 716 that they yielded to the
+persuasions of Egbert, a Northumbrian monk. Adamnan was more successful
+in his own country. In 697 he visited Ireland, and took an important
+part in a legislative council held at Tara. On this occasion he procured
+the enactment of a law, which was called the Canon of Adamnan, or the
+Law of the Innocents, and sometimes &quot;the law not to kill women.&quot; We have
+already referred to the martial tendencies of the ladies of ancient
+Erinn&mdash;a tendency, however, which<a name="Page_173"></a> was by no means peculiar at that
+period of the world's history. The propensity for military engagements
+was not confined to queens and princesses&mdash;women of all ranks usually
+followed their lords to the field of battle; but as the former are
+generally represented as having fallen victims to each other's prowess
+in the fight, it appears probable that they had their own separate line
+of battle, or perhaps fought out the field in a common <i>m&ecirc;l&eacute;e</i> of
+feminine forces.</p>
+
+<p>Had we not the abundant testimony of foreign writers to prove the
+influence and importance of the missions undertaken by Irish saints at
+this period of her history, it might be supposed that the statements of
+her annalists were tinged with that poetic fancy in which she has ever
+been so singularly prolific, and that they rather wrote of what might
+have been than of what was. But the testimony of Venerable Bede (to go
+no further) is most ample on this subject.</p>
+
+<p>Irish missionary zeal was inaugurated in the person of St. Columba,
+although its extension to continental Europe was commenced by another,
+who, from similarity of name, has been frequently confounded with the
+national apostle.</p>
+
+<p>St. Columbanus was born about the year 539. The care of his education
+was confided to the venerable Senile, who was eminent for his sanctity
+and knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. It was probably through his
+influence that the young man resolved to devote himself to the monastic
+life. For this purpose he placed himself under the direction of St.
+Comgall, who then governed the great Monastery of Bangor (Banchorr).</p>
+
+<p>It was not until he entered his fiftieth year that he decided on
+quitting his native land, so that there can be no reason to doubt that
+his high intellectual attainments were acquired and perfected in
+Ireland.</p>
+
+<p>With the blessing of his superior, and the companionship of twelve
+faithful monks, he set forth on his arduous mission; and arduous truly
+it proved to be. The half-barbarous Franks, then ruled by Thierry or
+Theodoric, lived more a pagan than a Christian life, and could ill brook
+the stern lessons of morality which they heard from, and saw practised
+by, their new teacher. The saint did not spare the demoralized court,
+and the Queen-Dowager Brunehalt became his bitterest foe. He had already
+established two monasteries: one at Luxovium, or Luxeuil, in a forest at
+the foot of the Vosges; the other, on account of its numerous springs,<a name="Page_174"></a>
+was called Ad-fontanas (Fontaines). Here the strict discipline of the
+Irish monks was rigidly observed, and the coarsest fare the only
+refection permitted to the religious.</p>
+
+<p>For a time they were allowed to continue their daily routine of prayer
+and penance without molestation; but the relentless Brunehalt, who, from
+the basest motives, had encouraged the young king in every vice, could
+no longer brave either the silent preaching of the cloister or the bold
+denunciations of the saint. As Columbanus found that his distant
+remonstrances had no effect on the misguided monarch, for whose eternal
+welfare he felt the deep interest of true sanctity, he determined to try
+a personal interview. For a brief space his admonitions were heard with
+respect, and even the haughty queen seemed less bent on her career of
+impiety and deceit; but the apparent conversion passed away as a summer
+breeze, and once more the saint denounced and threatened in vain.</p>
+
+<p>Strict enclosure had been established in the monasteries professing the
+Columbanian rule<a name="FNanchor_182_183"></a><a href="#Footnote_182_183"><sup>[182]</sup></a> and this afforded a pretext for the royal
+vengeance. Theodoric attempted to violate the sanctuary in person; but
+though he was surrounded by soldiers, he had to encounter one whose
+powers were of another and more invincible character. The saint remained
+in the sanctuary, and when the king approached addressed him sternly:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;If thou, sire,&quot; he exclaimed, &quot;art come hither to violate the
+discipline already established, or to destroy the dwellings of the
+servants of God, know that in heaven there is a just and avenging power;
+thy kingdom shall be taken from thee, and both thou and thy royal race
+shall be cut off and destroyed on the earth.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The undaunted bearing of Columbanus, and, perhaps, some lingering light
+of conscience, not yet altogether extinguished, had its effect upon the
+angry monarch. He withdrew; but he left to others the task he dared not
+attempt in person. The saint was compelled by armed men to leave his
+monastery, and only his Irish and British subjects were permitted to
+bear him company. They<a name="Page_175"></a> departed in deep grief, not for the cruel
+treatment they suffered, but for their brethren from whom they were thus
+rudely torn. As the monks who were left behind clung weeping to their
+father, he consoled them with these memorable words: &quot;God will be to you
+a Father, and reward you with mansions where the workers of sacrilege
+can never enter.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Nantes was the destination of the exiled religious. Here they were put
+on board a vessel bound for Ireland; but scarcely had they reached the
+open sea, when a violent storm arose, by which the vessel was driven
+back and stranded on the shore, where it lay all night. The captain
+attributed the misfortune to his travelling companions, and refused to
+carry them any farther. Columbanus, perceiving in this accident an
+indication of the will of heaven in their regard, determined to seek a
+settlement in some other part of the Continent. In the third year after
+his expulsion from Luxeuil, he arrived at Milan, where he was hospitably
+received by the Lombard king, A.D. 612. On his journey thither he had
+evangelised Austrasia, then governed by Theodebert. This prince, though
+a brother of the monarch by whom he had been expelled, entertained him
+with the utmost courtesy. At Mentz, the bishop vainly endeavoured to
+detain him. Zeal for the conversion of souls led the saint to desire a
+less cultivated field of labour. As he passed along the Lake of Zurich,
+and in the Canton of Zug, he reaped a rich harvest; from, thence he
+directed his course to Bregentz, then inhabited by an idolatrous people.</p>
+
+<p>Here he was repulsed by those who most needed his apostolic labours;
+but, undaunted, he retired to the neighbouring county, where he secured
+a band of zealous converts. Surrounded by these, and attended by his
+faithful monks, he once more entered the idolatrous city, and proceeded
+boldly to the temple where their false gods were enshrined. Here he
+invoked the Holy Name, and by its power the idols were miraculously
+overthrown, and a multitude of the people were converted, including in
+their number some of the principal inhabitants of Bregentz.</p>
+
+<p>The theological controversy, known as that of the &quot;Three Chapters,&quot; was
+now prevalent in northern Italy. A letter is still extant which St.
+Columbanus addressed to Pope Boniface on this subject, in which, while
+he uses the privilege of free discussion on questions not defined by the
+Church, he is remarkably, and perhaps for some inconveniently, explicit
+as to his belief in papal supremacy. A brief<a name="Page_176"></a> extract from this important
+document will show that the faith for which Ireland has suffered, and
+still suffers so much, was the same in the &quot;early ages&quot; as it is now. He
+writes thus to the Holy Father:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;For we Irish [Scoti] are disciples of St. Peter and St. Paul, and of
+all the divinely inspired canonical writers, adhering constantly to the
+evangelical and apostolical doctrine. Amongst us neither Jew, heretic,
+nor schismatic can be found; but the Catholic faith, entire and
+unshaken, precisely as we have received it from you, who are the
+successors of the holy Apostles. For, as I have already said, we are
+attached to the chair of St. Peter; and although Rome is great and
+renowned, yet with us it is great and distinguished only on account of
+that apostolic chair. Through the two Apostles of Christ you are almost
+celestial, and Rome is the head of the churches of the world.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_183_184"></a><a href="#Footnote_183_184"><sup>[183]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>In the year 613 St. Columbanus founded the world-famed Monastery of
+Bovium, or Bobbio,<a name="FNanchor_184_185"></a><a href="#Footnote_184_185"><sup>[184]</sup></a> in a magnificently romantic site on the
+Apennines. Near his church was an oratory dedicated to the Mother of
+God, who, as we shall presently see, was as devoutly worshipped in
+ancient as in modern Erinn.</p>
+
+<p>Agilulph, the Lombardian monarch, was ever a warm patron of the monks.
+Clothaire had now ascended the French throne. He earnestly pressed the
+saint to return to Luxeuil, but Columbanus excused himself on the plea
+of age and infirmities. He did not fail,<a name="Page_177"></a> however, to send advice for the
+government of the monasteries which he had founded, where his rule had
+continued to be observed with the utmost fervour.</p>
+
+<p>St. Columbanus died at Bobbio, on the 21st of November, 615, at the age
+of seventy-two years. His name is still preserved in the town of St.
+Columbano. His memory has been ever venerated in France and Italy.</p>
+
+<p>While the saint was evangelizing in Switzerland, one of his disciples
+became seriously ill, and was unable to travel farther. It was a
+providential sickness for the Helvetians. The monk was an eloquent
+preacher, and well acquainted with their language, which was a dialect
+of that of the Franks. He evangelized the country, and the town of St.
+Gall still bears the name of the holy Irishman, while his abbey contains
+many precious relics of the literature and piety of his native land. St.
+Gall died on the 16th October, 645, at a very advanced age. The
+monastery was not erected until after his decease, and it was not till
+the year 1798 that the abbey lands were aggregated to the Swiss
+Confederation as one of the cantons.</p>
+
+<p>Another Irish saint, who evangelized in France, was St. Fiacre. He
+erected a monastery to the Blessed Virgin in a forest near Meaux. The
+fame of his sanctity became so great, and the pilgrimage to his tomb so
+popular, that the French hackney coaches <i>(fiacre)</i> obtained their name
+from their constant employment in journeys to his shrine.</p>
+
+<p>About the same period, St. Fursey founded a monastery near Burgh Castle,
+in Suffolk, where he was kindly received by Sigbert, King of the East
+Angles. From thence he proceeded to Lagny, in France, where his
+missionary zeal was long remembered. His brothers, St. Foillan and St.
+Altan, were his constant companions. St. Fursey died on the 16th
+January, 650, at Macerius. His remains were subsequently translated to
+Peronne, in Picardy. The evangelic labours of many of his Irish
+disciples, are matter of history in the Gallic Church. It is said that
+the fame of the Irish for their skill in music, was so well known on the
+Continent at this period, that St. Gertrude, daughter of King Pepin, and
+Abbess of Nivelle, in Brabant, invited the brothers of St. Fursey to
+instruct her community in sacred music. They complied with her request,
+and soon after erected a monastery at Fosse, near Nivelle. Nor were the
+Scoti without their missionary martyrs, amongst whom the great St.
+Kilian holds a distinguished place. The spirit of devotion to<a name="Page_178"></a> the Holy
+See seems almost to be an heirloom in the little island of the western
+sea. True to the instincts of his native land, the martyr-saint would
+not undertake his mission in Franconia, great as was its necessity,
+until he knelt at the feet of the Vicar of Christ to obtain his
+permission and blessing. Thus fortified, he commenced his glorious race,
+so happily crowned with the martyr's palm. His bold rebuke of the open
+scandal given by the conduct of the ruling prince, was the immediate
+cause of his obtaining this favour. St. Kilian was assassinated at
+midnight, while singing the Divine Office, with two of his faithful
+companions. Their remains were interred in the church of Wurtzberg,
+where St. Kilian is still revered as its patron and apostle.</p>
+
+<p>We can but name St. Mailduf, from whom Malmsbury has been named; St.
+Livin, who converted the inhabitants of Flanders and Brabant; St.
+Cataldus and his brother, St. Donatus, the former patron of the
+metropolitan see of Tarentum, and whose name is still preserved in the
+little town of <i>San Cataldo</i>, the latter Bishop of Lecce, in the kingdom
+of Naples, and both famous for miracles and sanctity of life; St.
+Virgilius, called in the ancient annals &quot;Ferghil the Geometer,&quot; and by
+Latin writers Solivagus,<a name="FNanchor_185_186"></a><a href="#Footnote_185_186"><sup>[185]</sup></a> or the &quot;solitary wanderer,&quot; who died
+Bishop of Saltzburg, distinguished for literary fame; St. Fridolin, &quot;the
+traveller,&quot; son of an Irish king, who evangelized Thuringia, and was
+appointed by the Pope Bishop of Buraburgh, near Fritzlar, in the year
+741; St. Sedulius the younger, who wrote commentaries on Holy Scripture,
+and assisted at a council held in Rome, in the year 721, under Gregory
+II. It is noticeable that this saint was consecrated Bishop of Oreto, in
+Spain, while in Rome. When he entered on the mission thus confided to
+him, he wrote a treatise to prove that, being Irish, he was of Spanish
+descent; thus showing that at this period the idea of a Milesian origin
+was common to men of learning in Ireland.<a name="FNanchor_186_187"></a><a href="#Footnote_186_187"><sup>[186]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>But if Ireland gave saints and martyrs to foreign lands, her charity was
+in some measure repaid in kind. True, she needed not the evangelic
+labours of other missionaries, for the gospel-seed had taken deep root,
+and borne a rich harvest on her happy shores;<a name="Page_179"></a> still, as the prayers of
+saints are the very life and joy of the Church, she could not choose but
+rejoice in the hundreds of pure and saintly souls who gathered round her
+altars at home, who crowded her monasteries, or listened devoutly to the
+teachers of her distinguished schools. In the Litany of Aengus the
+Culdee<a name="FNanchor_187_188"></a><a href="#Footnote_187_188"><sup>[187]</sup></a> we find hundreds of foreign saints invoked, each grouped
+according to their nation. &quot;The oldest tract, or collection of the
+pedigrees of the saints of Erinn,&quot; says Professor O'Curry, &quot;of which we
+have now any recognizable copy remaining, is that which is ascribed to
+Aengus Ceil&eacute; D&eacute;, commonly called Aengus the Culdee. The genuineness of
+this composition is admitted by all writers of modern times, Protestant
+and Catholic, by Usher and Ware as well as by Colgan.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Aengus wrote about the year 798. He was descended from the illustrious
+chieftains of Dalriada, and completed his education in the Monastery of
+Cluain Eidhneach, in the present Queen's county. The remains of a church
+he founded at Disert Aengusa, near Ballingarry, in the county of
+Limerick, may still be seen.</p>
+
+<p>The Monastery of Tamhlacht (Tallaght), near Dublin, was founded in the
+year 769, by St. Maelruain, on a site offered &quot;to God, to Michael the
+Archangel, and to Maelruain,&quot; by Donnach, the pious and illustrious King
+of Leinster. St. Aengus presented himself at this monastery as a poor
+man seeking for service, and was employed for some time in charge of the
+mill or kiln, the ruins of which have but lately yielded to &quot;the
+improving hand of modern progress.&quot; Here he remained hidden for many
+years, until, by some happy accident, his humility and his learning were
+at once discovered.</p>
+
+<p>Aengus composed his &quot;Festology&quot; in the reign of Hugh Oirdnidhe (the
+Legislator), who was Monarch of Ireland from the year 793 to the year
+817. Hugh commenced his reign by attaching the province of Leinster, and
+then marched to the confines of Meath.<a name="Page_180"></a> The Archbishop of Armagh and all
+his clergy were commanded to attend this expedition, for such had
+hitherto been the custom. The ecclesiastics, however, protested against
+the summons, and complained to the king of the injustice and
+inconsistency of demanding their presence on such occasions. Hugh
+referred the matter to Fothadh, his poet and adviser. The learning and
+piety of the bard were well known; and a decision favourable to the
+clergy was the result. This decision was given in a short poem of four
+quatrains which is preserved in the preface to the &quot;Martyrology&quot; of
+Aengus. The following is a literal translation:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;The Church of the living God,<br /></span>
+<span>Touch her not, nor waste;<br /></span>
+<span>Let her rights be reserved,<br /></span>
+<span>As best ever they were.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;Every true monk who is<br /></span>
+<span>Possessed of a pious conscience,<br /></span>
+<span>To the church to which it is due<br /></span>
+<span>Let him act as any servant.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;Every faithful servant from that out,<br /></span>
+<span>Who is not bound by vows of obedience,<br /></span>
+<span>Has liberty to join in the battles<br /></span>
+<span>Of Aedh (Hugh) the Great, son of Nial.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;This is the proper rule,<br /></span>
+<span>Certain it is not more, not less:<br /></span>
+<span>Let every one serve his lot,<br /></span>
+<span>Without defect, and without refusal.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>This decision obtained the name of a canon, and henceforth its author
+was distinguished as <i>Fothadh na Canoin&eacute;</i>, or Fothadh of the Canons.</p>
+
+<p>At the time of the promulgation of this canon, Aengus was residing at
+his church of Disert Bethech, near the present town of Monasterevan, not
+far from where the Irish monarch had pitched his camp.</p>
+
+<p>The poet visited Aengus, and showed him the canon before presenting it
+to the king. An intimacy was thus commenced, which must have proved one
+of singular pleasure to both parties. Aengus had just finished his
+&quot;Festology,&quot; and showed it for the first time to his brother poet, who
+expressed the warmest approbation of the work.</p><a name="Page_181"></a>
+
+<p>This composition consists of three parts. The first part is a poem of
+five quatrains, invoking the grace and sanctification of Christ for the
+poet and his undertaking:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;Sanctify, O Christ! my words:<br /></span>
+<span>O Lord of the seven heavens!<br /></span>
+<span>Grant me the gift of wisdom,<br /></span>
+<span>O Sovereign of the bright sun!<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;O bright Sun, who dost illuminate<br /></span>
+<span>The heavens with all Thy holiness!<br /></span>
+<span>O King, who governest the angels!<br /></span>
+<span>O Lord of all the people!<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;O Lord of the people!<br /></span>
+<span>O King, all righteous and good!<br /></span>
+<span>May I receive the full benefit<br /></span>
+<span>Of praising Thy royal hosts.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;Thy royal hosts I praise,<br /></span>
+<span>Because Thou art my sovereign;<br /></span>
+<span>I have disposed my mind<br /></span>
+<span>To be constantly beseeching Thee.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;I beseech a favour from Thee,<br /></span>
+<span>That I be purified from my sins,<br /></span>
+<span>Through the peaceful bright-shining flock,<br /></span>
+<span>The royal host whom I celebrate.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Then follows a metrical preface, consisting of eighty stanzas. These
+verses are in the same measure<a name="FNanchor_188_189"></a><a href="#Footnote_188_189"><sup>[188]</sup></a> as the invocation, Englished by
+modern Gaedhilic scholars as &quot;chain-verse;&quot; that is, an arrangement of
+metre by which the first words of every succeeding quatrain are
+identical with the last words of the preceding one.</p><a name="Page_182"></a>
+
+<p>After the invocation follows a preface, the second part of this
+remarkable poem. In this there is a glowing account of the tortures and
+sufferings of the early Christian martyrs; it tells &quot;how the names of
+the persecutors are forgotten, while the names of their victims are
+remembered with honour, veneration, and affection; how Pilate's wife is
+forgotten, while the Blessed Virgin Mary is remembered and honoured from
+the uttermost bounds of the earth to its centre.&quot; The martyrology
+proper, or festology, comes next, and consists of 365 quatrains, or a
+stanza for each day in the year.</p>
+
+<p>It commences with the feast of the Circumcision:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;At the head of the congregated saints<br /></span>
+<span>Let the King take the front place;<br /></span>
+<span>Unto the noble dispensation did submit<br /></span>
+<span>Christ&mdash;on the kalends of January.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>St. Patrick is commemorated thus, on the 17th of March:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;The blaze of a splendid sun,<br /></span>
+<span>The apostle of stainless Erinn,<br /></span>
+<span>Patrick, with his countless thousands,<br /></span>
+<span>May he shelter our wretchedness.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>On the 13th of April, Bishop Tussach, one of the favourite companions of
+the great saint, is also mentioned as&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;The kingly bishop Tussach,<br /></span>
+<span>Who administered, on his arrival,<br /></span>
+<span>The Body of Christ, the truly powerful King,<br /></span>
+<span>And the Communion to Patrick.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>It will be remembered it was from this saint that the great apostle
+received the holy viaticum. In the third division of his great work,
+Aengus explains its use, and directs the people how to read it.</p>
+
+<p>It will be manifest from these poems that the religious principles of
+the Culdees and of the Irish ecclesiastics generally, were those of the
+Universal Church at this period. We find the rights of the Church
+respected and advocated; the monarchs submitting to the decision of the
+clergy; invocation of the saints; the practice of administering the holy
+viaticum; and the commemoration of the saints on the days devoted to
+their honour.</p>
+
+<p>Usher observes, that the saints of this period might be grouped<a name="Page_183"></a> into a
+fourth order.<a name="FNanchor_189_190"></a><a href="#Footnote_189_190"><sup>[189]</sup></a> Bede says: &quot;That many of the Scots [Irish] came daily
+into Britain, and with great devotion preached the word and administered
+baptism.... The English, great and small, were by their Scottish [Irish]
+masters instructed in the rules and observances of regular
+discipline.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_190_191"></a><a href="#Footnote_190_191"><sup>[190]</sup></a> Eric of Auxerre writes thus to Charles the Bald: &quot;What
+shall I say of Ireland, which, despising the dangers of the deep, is
+migrating with her whole train of philosophers to our coast?&quot; Rency,
+after describing the poetry and literature of ancient Erinn as perhaps
+the most cultivated of all Western Europe, adds, that Ireland &quot;counted a
+host of saints and learned men, venerated in England<a name="FNanchor_191_192"></a><a href="#Footnote_191_192"><sup>[191]</sup></a> and Gaul; for
+no country had furnished more Christian missionaries.&quot; It is said that
+three thousand students, collected from all parts of Europe, attended
+the schools of Armagh; and, indeed, the regulations which were made for
+preserving scholastic discipline, are almost sufficient evidence on this
+subject.</p>
+
+<p>The discussions of the Irish and English ecclesiastics on the time of
+keeping of Easter, with their subsequent decision, and all details
+concerning domestic regulations as to succession to office and church
+lands, are more properly matters for elucidation in a Church History,
+for which we reserve their consideration.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/035.jpg" width="300" height="213" alt="ANCIENT ADZE, FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE ROYAL IRISH
+ACADEMY." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>ANCIENT ADZE, FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE ROYAL IRISH
+ACADEMY.</h4>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><br /><br />
+
+<a name="CHAPTER_XII"></a>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/036.jpg" width="478" height="401" alt="CROSS AT FINGLAS." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>CROSS AT FINGLAS.</h4>
+<a name="Page_184"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2>
+
+<h4>Christianity improves the Social State of Ireland&mdash;A Saxon Invasion of
+Ireland&mdash;Domestic Wars&mdash;The English come to Ireland for Instruction&mdash;A
+Famine and Tempests&mdash;The First Danish Invasion&mdash;Cruelty of the
+Danes&mdash;The Black and White Gentiles&mdash;King Cormac Mac
+Cullinan&mdash;Cashel&mdash;Amlaff the Dane&mdash;Plunder of the Towns&mdash;Arrival of
+Sitric&mdash;Death of Nial Glundubh&mdash;The Circuit of Ireland&mdash;Malachy the
+Second&mdash;Entries in the Annals.</h4>
+
+<h5>[A.D. 693-926.]</h5>
+
+<img src="images/m.jpg" width="67" height="229" align="left" alt="V" title="" />
+<p>ery few events of any special interest occur between the commencement
+of the seventh century and the Danish invasion. The obituaries of
+ecclesiastics and details of foreign missions, which we have already
+recorded, are its salient points. The wars of the Saxon Heptarchy and
+the Celtic Pentarchy almost synchronize, though we find several Irish
+kings influenced by the examples of sanctity with which they were
+surrounded, and distinguished for piety, while Charlemagne pronounces
+their neighbours a perfidious and perverse race, worse than pagans.
+There can be no doubt that Charlemagne's high opinion of the Irish was
+caused by the fact, that so many of the heads of his schools were of
+that nation, which was then in the vanguard of civilization and
+progress. The cloister, always the nursery of art, the religious, always
+the promoters of<a name="Page_185"></a> learning, were pre-eminent in this age for their
+devotion to literary pursuits. In the present work it is impossible to
+give details of their MSS. still preserved, of their wonderful skill in
+caligraphy, still the admiration of the most gifted, and of the
+perfection to which they brought the science of music; but I turn from
+this attractive subject with less regret, from the hope of being soon
+able to produce an Ecclesiastical History of Ireland, in which such
+details will find their proper place, and will be amply expanded.<a name="FNanchor_192_193"></a><a href="#Footnote_192_193"><sup>[192]</sup></a>
+The revolution of social feeling which was effected in Ireland by the
+introduction of Christianity, is strongly marked. Before the advent of
+St. Patrick, few Irish monarchs died a natural death&mdash;ambition or
+treachery proved a sufficient motive for murder and assassination; while
+of six kings who reigned during the eighth and ninth centuries, only one
+died a violent death, and that death was an exception, which evidently
+proved the rule, for Nial was drowned in a generous effort to save the
+life of one of his own servants.</p>
+
+<p>The fatal pestilence, already recorded, did not appear again after its
+severe visitation, which terminated in 667. In 693 Finnachta Fleadhach
+(the Hospitable) commenced his reign. He remitted the Boromean Tribute
+at the request of St. Moling, and eventually abdicated, and embraced a
+religious life. In the year 684, Egfrid, the Saxon King of
+Northumberland, sent an army to Ireland, which spared neither churches
+nor monasteries, and carried off a great number of the inhabitants as
+slaves. Bede denounces and laments this barbarous invasion, attributing
+the defeat and death of King Egfrid, which took place in the following
+year, to the vengeance of heaven.<a name="FNanchor_193_194"></a><a href="#Footnote_193_194"><sup>[193]</sup></a> St. Adamnan was sent to
+Northumbria, after the death of this prince, to obtain the release of
+the captives. His mission was successful, and he was honoured there as
+the worker of many miracles.</p><a name="Page_186"></a>
+
+<p>The generosity of Finnachta failed in settling the vexed question of
+tribute. Comgal, who died in 708, ravaged Leinster as fiercely as his
+predecessors, and Fearghal, his successor, invaded it &quot;five times in one
+year.&quot; Three wonderful showers are said to have fallen in the eighth
+year of his reign (A.D. 716 according to the Four Masters)&mdash;a shower of
+silver, a shower of honey, and a shower of blood. These were, of course,
+considered portents of the awful Danish invasions. Fearghal was killed
+at the battle of Almhain (Allen, near Kildare), in 718. In this
+engagement, the Leinster men only numbered nine thousand, while their
+opponents numbered twenty-one thousand. The Leinster men, however, made
+up for numbers by their valour; and it is said that the intervention of
+a hermit, who reproached Fearghal with breaking the pacific promise of
+his predecessor, contributed to the defeat of the northern forces.
+Another battle took place in 733, when Hugh Allan, King of Ireland, and
+Hugh, son of Colgan, King of Leinster, engaged in single combat. The
+latter was slain, and the Leinster men &quot;were killed, slaughtered, cut
+off, and dreadfully exterminated.&quot; In fact, the Leinster men endured so
+many &quot;dreadful exterminations,&quot; that one almost marvels how any of their
+brave fellows were left for future feats of arms. The &quot;northerns were
+joyous after this victory, for they had wreaked their vengeance and
+their animosity upon the Leinster men,&quot; nine thousand of whom were
+slain. St. Samhthann, a holy nun, who died in the following year, is
+said to have predicted the fate of Aedh, Comgal's son, if the two Aedhs
+(Hughs) met. Aedh Allan commemorated her virtues in verse, and concludes
+thus:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;In the bosom of the Lord, with a pure death, Samhthann passed from her sufferings.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Indeed, the Irish kings of this period manifested their admiration of
+peaceful living, and their desire for holy deaths, in a more practical
+way than by poetic encomiums on others. In 704 Beg Boirche &quot;took a
+pilgrim's staff, and died on his pilgrimage.&quot; In 729 Flahertach
+renounced his regal honours, and retired to Armagh, where he died. In
+758 Donal died on a pilgrimage at Iona, after a reign of twenty years;
+and in 765 his successor, Nial Frassagh, abdicated the throne, and
+became a monk at Iona. Here he died in 778, and was buried in the tomb
+of the Irish kings in that island.</p><a name="Page_187"></a>
+
+<p>An Irish poet, who died in 742, is said to have played a clever trick on
+the &quot;foreigners&quot; of Dublin. He composed a poem for them, and then
+requested payment for his literary labours. The <i>Galls,</i><a name="FNanchor_194_195"></a><a href="#Footnote_194_195"><sup>[194]</sup></a> who were
+probably Saxons, refused to meet his demand, but Rumrann said he would
+be content with two <i>pinguins</i> (pennies) from every good man, and one
+from each bad one. The result may be anticipated. Rumrann is described
+as &quot;an adept in wisdom, chronology, and poetry;&quot; we might perhaps add,
+and in knowledge of human nature. In the Book of Ballymote he is called
+the Virgil of Ireland. A considerable number of Saxons were now in the
+country; and it is said that a British king, named Constantine, who had
+become a monk, was at that time Abbot of Rahen, in the King's county,
+and that at Cell-Belaigh there were seven streets<a name="FNanchor_195_196"></a><a href="#Footnote_195_196"><sup>[195]</sup></a> of those
+foreigners. Gallen, in the King's county, was called Galin of the
+Britons, and Mayo was called Mayo of the Saxons, from the number of
+monasteries therein, founded by members of these nations.</p>
+
+<p>The entries during the long reign of Domhnall contain little save
+obituaries of abbots and saints. The first year of the reign of Nial
+Frassagh is distinguished by a shower of silver, a shower of wheat, and
+a shower of honey. The Annals of Clonmacnois say that there was a most
+severe famine throughout the whole kingdom during the early part of his
+reign, so much that the king himself had very little to live upon. Then
+the king prayed very fervently to God, being in company with seven holy
+bishops; and he asked that he might die rather than see so many of his
+faithful subjects perishing, while he was helpless to relieve them. At
+the conclusion of his prayer, the &quot;three showers&quot; fell from heaven; and
+then the king and the seven bishops gave great thanks to the Lord.</p>
+
+<p>But a more terrible calamity than famine was even then impending, and,
+if we may believe the old chroniclers, not without marvellous
+prognostications of its approach. In the year 767 there occurred a most
+fearful storm of thunder and lightning, with &quot;terrific<a name="Page_188"></a> and horrible
+signs.&quot; It would appear that the storm took place while a fair was going
+on, which obtained the name of the &quot;Fair of the clapping of hands.&quot; Fear
+and horror seized the men of Ireland, so that their religious seniors
+ordered them to make two fasts, together with fervent prayer, and one
+meal between them, to protect and save them from a pestilence, precisely
+at Michaelmas.<a name="FNanchor_196_197"></a><a href="#Footnote_196_197"><sup>[196]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>The first raid of the Danish pirates is recorded thus: &quot;The age of
+Christ 790 [<i>recte</i> 795]. The twenty-fifth year of Donnchadh. The
+burning of Reachrainn<a name="FNanchor_197_198"></a><a href="#Footnote_197_198"><sup>[197]</sup></a> by plunderers; and its shrines were broken
+and plundered.&quot; They had already attacked the English coasts, &quot;whilst
+the pious King Bertric was reigning over its western division.&quot; Their
+arrival was sudden and so unexpected, that the king's officer took them
+for merchants, paying with his life for the mistake.<a name="FNanchor_198_199"></a><a href="#Footnote_198_199"><sup>[198]</sup></a> A Welsh
+chronicle, known by the name of <i>Brut y Tywysogion</i>, or the Chronicle of
+the Chieftains, has a corresponding record under the year 790: &quot;Ten
+years with fourscore and seven hundred was the age of Christ when the
+pagans went to Ireland.&quot; Three MSS. add, &quot;and destroyed Rechren.&quot;
+Another chronicle mentions, that the black pagans, who were the first of
+their nation to land in Ireland, had previously been defeated in
+Glamorganshire, and after their defeat they had invaded Ireland, and
+devastated Rechru.</p>
+
+<p>If by bravery we understand utter recklessness of life, and utter
+recklessness in inflicting cruelties on others, then the Vikings may be
+termed brave. The heroism of patient endurance was a bravery but little
+understood at that period. If the heathen Viking was brave when he
+plundered and burned monastic shrines&mdash;when he massacred the defenceless
+with wanton cruelty&mdash;when he flung<a name="Page_189"></a> little children on the points of
+spears, and gloated over their dying agonies; perhaps we may also admit
+those who endured such torments, either in their own persons, or in the
+persons of those who were dear to them, and yet returned again and again
+to restore the shrine so rudely destroyed, have also their claim to be
+termed brave, and may demand some commendation for that virtue from
+posterity.</p>
+
+<p>As plunder was the sole object of these barbarians, they naturally
+sought it first where it could be obtained most easily and surely. The
+islands on the Irish coast were studded with monasteries. Their position
+was chosen as one which seemed peculiarly suitable for a life of retreat
+from worldly turmoil, and contemplation of heavenly things. They were
+richly endowed, for ancient piety deemed it could never give enough to
+God. The shrines were adorned with jewels, purchased with the wealth
+which the monks had renounced for their own use; the sacred vessels were
+costly, the gifts of generous hearts. The Danes commenced their work of
+plunder and devastation in the year 795. Three years after, A.D. 798,
+they ravaged Inis-patrick of Man and the Hebrides. In 802 they burned
+&quot;Hi-Coluim-Cille.&quot; In 806 they attacked the island again, and killed
+sixty-eight of the laity and clergy. In 807 they became emboldened by
+success, and for the first time marched inland; and after burning
+Inishmurray, they attacked Roscommon. During the years 812 and 813 they
+made raids in Connaught and Munster, but not without encountering stout
+resistance from the native forces. After this predatory and internecine
+warfare had continued for about thirty years, Turgesius, a Norwegian
+prince, established himself as sovereign of the Vikings, and made Armagh
+his head-quarters, A.D. 830. If the Irish chieftains had united their
+forces, and acted in concert, the result would have been the expulsion
+of the intruders; but, unhappily, this unity of purpose in matters
+political has never existed. The Danes made and broke alliances with the
+provincial kings at their own convenience, while these princes gladly
+availed themselves of even temporary assistance from their cruel foes,
+while engaged in domestic wars, which should never have been undertaken.
+Still the Northmen were more than once driven from the country by the
+bravery of the native commanders, and they often paid dearly for the
+cruel wrongs they inflicted on their hapless victims. Sometimes the
+Danish chiefs mustered all their forces, and left the island for a brief
+period, to<a name="Page_190"></a> ravage the shores of England or Scotland; but they soon
+returned to inflict new barbarities on the unfortunate Irish.<a name="FNanchor_199_200"></a><a href="#Footnote_199_200"><sup>[199]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>Burning churches or destroying monasteries was a favourite pastime of
+these pirates, wherever they could obtain a landing on Christian shores;
+and the number of religious houses in Ireland afforded them abundant
+means of gratifying their barbarous inclinations. But when they became
+so far masters as to have obtained some permanent settlement, this mode
+of proceeding was considered either more troublesome or less profitable
+than that of appropriating to themselves the abbeys and churches.
+Turgesius, it is said, placed an abbot of his own in every monastery;
+and as he had already conferred ecclesiastical offices on himself and on
+his lady, we may presume he was not very particular in his selections.
+The villages, too, were placed under the rule of a Danish captain; and
+each family was obliged to maintain a soldier of that nation, who made
+himself master of the house, using and wasting the food for lack of
+which the starving children of the lawful owner were often dying of
+hunger.</p>
+
+<p>All education was strictly forbidden; books and manuscripts were burned
+and <i>drowned;</i> and the poets, historians, and musicians imprisoned and
+driven to the woods and mountains. Martial sports were interdicted, from
+the lowest to the highest rank. Even nobles and princes were forbidden
+to wear their usual habiliments, the cast-off clothes of the Danes being
+considered sufficiently good for slaves.</p>
+
+<p>The clergy, who had been driven from their monasteries, concealed
+themselves as best they could, continuing still their prayers and fasts,
+and the fervent recital of the Divine Office. The Irish,<a name="Page_191"></a> true to their
+faith in every trial, were not slow to attribute their deliverance to
+the prayers of these holy men.</p>
+
+<p>In 831 Nial Caille led an army against them, and defeated them at Derry;
+but in the meanwhile, Felim, King of Cashel, with contemptible
+selfishness, marched into Leinster to claim tribute, and plundered every
+one, except the Danes, who should have been alone considered as enemies
+at such a time. Even the churches were not spared by him, for he laid
+waste the termon-lands of Clonmacnois, &quot;up to the church door.&quot; After
+his death,<a name="FNanchor_200_201"></a><a href="#Footnote_200_201"><sup>[200]</sup></a> A.D. 843, a brave and good king came to the rescue of
+his unfortunate country. While still King of Meath, Meloughlin had freed
+the nation from Turgesius, one of its worst tyrants, by drowning him in
+Lough Owel. His death was a signal for a general onslaught on the Danes.
+The people rose simultaneously, and either massacred their enemies, or
+drove them to their ships. In 846 Meloughlin met their forces at Skreen,
+where they were defeated; they also suffered a reverse at Kildare.</p>
+
+<p>The Danes themselves were now divided into two parties&mdash;the Dubh Galls,
+or Black Gentiles; and the Finn Galls, or White Gentiles. A fierce
+conflict took place between them in the year 850, in which the Dubh
+Galls conquered.<a name="FNanchor_201_202"></a><a href="#Footnote_201_202"><sup>[201]</sup></a> In the following year, however, both parties
+submitted to Amlaff, son of the Norwegian king; and thus their power was
+once more consolidated. Amlaff remained in Dublin; his brothers, Sitric
+and Ivar, stationed themselves in Waterford and Limerick. A great
+meeting was now convened by the ecclesiastics of Ireland at Rathugh, for
+the purpose<a name="Page_192"></a> of establishing peace and concord amongst the native
+princes. The northern Hy-Nials alone remained belligerent; and to defend
+themselves, pursued the usual suicidal course of entering into an
+alliance with the Danes. Upon the death of the Irish monarch, the
+northern chief, Hugh Finnlaith, succeeded to the royal power; broke his
+treaty with Amlaff, which had been only one of convenience; and turned
+his arms vigorously against the foreigners. This prince was married to a
+daughter of Kenneth M'Alpine, the first sole Monarch of Scotland. After
+the death of the Irish prince, his wife married his successor, Flann,
+who, according to the alternate plan of succession, came of the southern
+Hy-Nial family, and was a son of Meloughlin, once the formidable
+opponent of the lady's former husband. During the reign of Flann, Cormac
+Mac Cullinan, a prelate distinguished for his learning and sanctity, was
+obliged to unite the office of priest and king. This unusual
+combination, however, was not altogether without precedent. The
+archbishopric of Cashel owes its origin remotely to this great man; as
+from the circumstance of the city of Cashel having been the seat of
+royalty in the south, and the residence of the kings of Munster, it was
+exalted, in the twelfth century, to the dignity of an archiepiscopal
+see.</p>
+
+<p>Of Cormac, however interesting his history, we can only give a passing
+word. His reign commenced peaceably; and so wise&mdash;perhaps we should
+rather say, so holy&mdash;was his rule, that his kingdom once more enjoyed
+comparative tranquillity, and religion and learning flourished again as
+it had done in happier times.</p>
+
+<p>But the kingdom which he had been compelled to rule, was threatened by
+the very person who should have protected it most carefully; and Cormac,
+after every effort to procure peace, was obliged to defend his people
+against the attacks of Flann. Even then a treaty might have been made
+with the belligerent monarch; but Cormac, unfortunately for his people
+and himself, was guided by an abbot, named Flahertach, who was by no
+means so peaceably disposed as his good master. This unruly ecclesiastic
+urged war on those who were already too willing to undertake it; and
+then made such representations to the bishop-king, as to induce him to
+yield a reluctant consent. It is said that Cormac had an intimation of
+his approaching end. It is at least certain, that he made preparations
+for death, as if he believed it to be imminent.</p>
+
+<p>On the eve of the fatal engagement he made his confession, and added
+some articles to his will, in which he left large bounties to<a name="Page_193"></a> many of
+the religious houses throughout the kingdom. To Lismore he bequeathed a
+golden chalice and some rich vestments; to Armagh, twenty-four ounces of
+gold and silver; to his own church of Cashel, a golden and a silver
+chalice, with the famous Saltair. Then he retired to a private place for
+prayer, desiring the few persons whom he had informed of his approaching
+fate to keep their information secret, as he knew well the effect such
+intelligence would have on his army, were it generally known.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/037.jpg" width="450" height="252" alt="ROCK OF CASHEL." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>ROCK OF CASHEL.</h4>
+<p>Though the king had no doubt that he would perish on the field, he still
+showed the utmost bravery, and made every effort to cheer and encourage
+his troops; but the men lost spirit in the very onset of the battle, and
+probably were terrified at the numerical strength of their opponents.
+Six thousand Munster men were slain, with many of their princes and
+chieftains. Cormac was killed by falling under his horse, which missed
+its footing on a bank slippery with the blood of the slain. A common
+soldier, who recognized the body, cut off his head, and brought it as a
+trophy to Flann; but the monarch bewailed the death of the good and
+great prince, and reproved the indignity with which his remains had been
+treated. This battle was fought at a place called Bealagh Mughna, now
+Ballaghmoon, in the county of Kildare, a few miles from the town of
+Carlow.<a name="FNanchor_202_203"></a><a href="#Footnote_202_203"><sup>[202]</sup></a></p>
+<a name="Page_194"></a>
+<p>Flahertach survived the battle, and, after some years spent in penance,
+became once more minister, and ultimately King of Munster. As he
+advanced in years, he learned to love peace, and his once irascible
+temper became calm and equable.</p>
+
+<p>The Rock of Cashel, and the ruins of a small but once beautiful chapel,
+still preserve the memory of the bishop-king. His literary fame also has
+its memorials. His Rule is contained in a poem of fourteen stanzas,
+written in the most pure and ancient style of Gaedhilic, of which, as
+well as of many other languages, the illustrious Cormac was so profound
+a master. This Rule is general in several of its inculcations; but it
+appears to have been written particularly as an instruction to a priest,
+for the moral and spiritual direction of himself and his flock. He was
+also skilled in the Ogham writings, as may be gathered from a poem
+written by a contemporary, who, in paying compliments to many of the
+Irish kings and chiefs, addresses the following stanza to Cormac:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;Cormac of Cashel, with his champions,<br /></span>
+<span>Munster is his,&mdash;may he long enjoy it!<br /></span>
+<span>Around the King of <i>Raith-Bicli</i> are cultivated<br /></span>
+<span>The letters and the trees.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The death of Cormac is thus pathetically deplored by Dallan, son of
+M&ocirc;r:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;The bishop, the soul's director, the renowned, illustrious doctor,<br /></span>
+<span>King of Caiseal, King of Farnumha: O God! alas for Cormac!&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Flann's last years were disturbed by domestic dissensions. His sons,
+Donough and Conor, both rebelled against him; but Nial Glundubh (of the
+black knee), a northern Hy-Nial chief, led an army against them, and
+compelled them to give hostages to their father. Flann died the
+following year, A.D. 914, and was succeeded by the prince who had so
+ably defended him. Meanwhile, the Danes<a name="Page_195"></a> were not idle. Amlaff<a name="FNanchor_203_204"></a><a href="#Footnote_203_204"><sup>[203]</sup></a> has
+signalized his advent by drowning Conchobhar, &quot;heir apparent of Tara;&quot;
+by slaying all the chieftains of the Deisi at Cluain-Daimh; by killing
+the son of Clennfaeladh, King of Muscraighe Breoghain; by smothering
+Machdaighren in a cave, and by the destruction of Caitill Find (Ketill
+the White) and his whole garrison. Oisill is the next chief of
+importance; and he &quot;succeeded in plundering the greatest part of
+Ireland.&quot; It is not recorded how long he was occupied in performing this
+exploit, but he was eventually slain, and his army cut off, by the men
+of Erinn. The deaths of several Danish chieftains occured about this
+period, and are referred to the vengeance of certain saints, whose
+shrines they had desecrated. In A.D. 864 according to the Four Masters,
+867 according to O'Flaherty, the Danes were defeated at Lough Foyle, by
+Hugh Finnliath, King of Ireland. Soon after, Leinster and Munster were
+plundered by a Scandinavian chief, named Baraid, who advanced as far as
+<i>Ciarraighe</i> (Kerry): &quot;And they left not a cave under ground that they
+did not explore; and they left nothing, from Limerick to Cork, that they
+did not ravish.&quot; What treasures the antiquarian of the nineteenth
+century must have lost by this marauder! How great must have been the
+wealth of the kings and princes of ancient Erinn, when so much remains
+after so much was taken! In 877 the Black Gentiles took refuge in
+Scotland, after suffering a defeat in an engagement with the White
+Gentiles. They were, however, consoled by a victory over the men of
+Alba, in which Constantine, son of Kenneth, was slain, and many others
+with him. Their success proved beneficial to Ireland, for we are told
+that a period of &quot;rest to the men of Erinn&quot; ensued. The Danes still held
+their own in Dublin and at Limerick, occasionally plundered the
+churches, and now and then had a skirmish with the &quot;men of Erinn;&quot; but
+for forty years the country was free from the foreign fleets, and,
+therefore, enjoyed a time of comparative quiet.</p>
+
+<p>In the year 913 new fleets arrived. They landed in the harbour of
+Waterford, where they had a settlement formerly; but though they
+obtained assistance here, they were defeated by the native Irish, both
+in Kerry and in Tipperary. Sitric came with another<a name="Page_196"></a> fleet in 915, and
+settled at Cenn-Fuait.<a name="FNanchor_204_205"></a><a href="#Footnote_204_205"><sup>[204]</sup></a> Here he was attacked by the Irish army, but
+they were repulsed with great slaughter. Two years after they received
+another disastrous defeat at Cill-Mosanhog, near Rathfarnham. A large
+cromlech, still in that neighbourhood, probably marks the graves of the
+heroes slain in that engagement. Twelve kings fell in this battle. Their
+names are given in the <i>Wars of the Gaedhil</i>, and by other authorities,
+though in some places the number is increased. Nial Glundubh was amongst
+the slain. He is celebrated in pathetic verse by the bards. Of the
+battle was said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;Fierce and hard was the Wednesday<br /></span>
+<span>On which hosts were strewn under the fall of shields;<br /></span>
+<span>It shall be called, till judgment's day,<br /></span>
+<span>The destructive burning of Ath-cliath.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The lamentation of Nial was, moreover, said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;Sorrowful this day is sacred Ireland,<br /></span>
+<span>Without a valiant chief of hostage reign!<br /></span>
+<span>It is to see the heavens without a sun,<br /></span>
+<span>To view Magh-Neill<a name="FNanchor_205_206"></a><a href="#Footnote_205_206"><sup>[205]</sup></a> without a Nial.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;There is no cheerfulness in the happiness of men;<br /></span>
+<span>There is no peace or joy among the hosts;<br /></span>
+<span>No fair can be celebrated<br /></span>
+<span>Since the sorrow of sorrow died.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Donough, son of Flann Sinna, succeeded, and passed his reign in
+obscurity, with the exception of a victory over the Danes at Bregia. Two
+great chieftains, however, compensated by their prowess for his
+indifference; these were Muircheartach, son of the brave Nial Glundubh,
+the next heir to the throne, and Callaghan of Cashel, King of Munster.
+The northern prince was a true patriot, willing to sacrifice every
+personal feeling for the good of his country: consequently, he proved a
+most formidable foe to the Danish invader. Callaghan of Cashel was,
+perhaps, as brave, but his name cannot be held up to the admiration of
+posterity. The personal advancement of the southern Hy-Nials was more to
+him than the political advancement of his country; and he disgraced his
+name and his<a name="Page_197"></a> nation by leaguing with the invaders. In the year 934 he
+pillaged Clonmacnois. Three years later he invaded Meath and Ossory, in
+conjunction with the Danes. Muircheartach was several times on the eve
+of engagements with the feeble monarch who nominally ruled the country,
+but he yielded for the sake of peace, or, as the chroniclers quaintly
+say, &quot;God pacified them.&quot; After one of these pacifications, they joined
+forces, and laid &quot;siege to the foreigners of Ath-cliath, so that they
+spoiled and plundered all that was under the dominion of the foreigners,
+from Ath-cliath to Ath-Truisten.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_206_207"></a><a href="#Footnote_206_207"><sup>[206]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>In the twenty-second year of Donough, Muircheartach determined on a
+grand expedition for the subjugation of the Danes. He had already
+conducted a fleet to the Hebrides, from whence he returned flushed with
+victory. His first care was to assemble a body of troops of special
+valour; and he soon found himself at the head of a thousand heroes, and
+in a position to commence &quot;his circuit of Ireland.&quot; The Danish chief,
+Sitric, was first seized as a hostage. He then carried off Lorcan, King
+of Leinster. He next went to the Munster men, who were also prepared for
+battle; but they too yielded, and gave up their monarch also, &quot;and a
+fetter was put on him by Muircheartach.&quot; He afterwards proceeded into
+Connaught, where Conchobhar, son of Tadhg, came to meet him, &quot;but no
+gyve or lock was put upon him.&quot; He then returned to Oileach, carrying
+these kings with him as hostages. Here he feasted them for five months
+with knightly courtesy, and then sent them to the Monarch Donough.</p>
+
+<p>After these exploits we cannot be surprised that Muircheartach should be
+styled the Hector of the west of Europe. But he soon finds his place in
+the never-ceasing obituary. In two years after his justly famous
+exploit, he was slain by &quot;Blacaire, son of Godfrey, lord of the
+foreigners.&quot; This event occurred on the 26th of March, A.D. 941,
+according to the chronology of the Four Masters. The true year, however,
+is 943. The chroniclers briefly observe, that &quot;Ard-Macha was plundered
+by the same foreigners, on the day after the killing of
+Muircheartach.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_207_208"></a><a href="#Footnote_207_208"><sup>[207]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>Donough died in 942, after a reign of twenty-five years. He was<a name="Page_198"></a>
+succeeded by Congallach, who was killed by the Danes, A.D. 954. Donnell
+O'Neill, a son of the brave Muircheartach, now obtained the royal power,
+such as it was; and at his death the throne reverted to Maelseachlainn,
+or Malachy II., the last of his race who ever held the undisputed
+sovereignty of Ireland. But it must not be supposed that murders and
+massacres are the staple commodities of our annals during this eventful
+period. Every noteworthy event is briefly and succinctly recorded. We
+find, from time to time, mention of strange portents, such as double
+suns, and other celestial phenomena of a more or less remarkable
+character. Fearful storms are also chronicled, which appear to have
+occurred at certain intervals, and hard frosts, which proved almost as
+trying to the &quot;men of Erinn&quot; as the wars of the Gentiles, black or
+white. But the obituaries of abbots or monks, with the quaint remarks
+appended thereto, and epitomes of a lifetime in a sentence, are by no
+means the least interesting portion of those ancient tomes. In one page
+we may find record of the Lord of Aileach, who takes a pilgrim's staff;
+in another, we have mention of the Abbot Muireadhach and others, who
+were &quot;destroyed in the refectory&quot; of Druim-Mesclainn by Congallach; and
+we read in the lamentation of Muireadhach, that he was &quot;the lamp of
+every choir.&quot; Then we are told simply how a nobleman &quot;died in religion,&quot;
+as if that were praise enough for him; though another noble, Domhnall,
+is said to have &quot;died in religion, after a good life.&quot; Of some abbots
+and bishops there is nothing more than the death record; but in the age
+of Christ 926, when Celedabhaill, son of Scannal, went to Rome on his
+pilgrimage from the abbacy of Beannchair, we are given in full the four
+quatrains which he composed at his departure,&mdash;a composition which
+speaks highly for the poetic powers and the true piety of the author. He
+commences thus:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;Time for me to prepare to pass from the shelter of a habitation,<br /></span>
+<span>To journey as a pilgrim over the surface of the noble lively sea;<br /></span>
+<span>Time to depart from the snares of the flesh, with all its guilt;<br /></span>
+<span>Time now to ruminate how I may find the great Son of Mary;<br /></span>
+<span>Time to seek virtue, to trample upon the will with sorrow;<br /></span>
+<span>Time to reject vices, and to renounce the demon.<br /></span>
+</div>
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;Time to barter the transitory things for the country of the King of heaven;<br /></span>
+<span>Time to defy the ease of the little earthly world of a hundred pleasures;<br /></span>
+<span>Time to work at prayer in adoration of the high King of angels.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+<br /><a name="Page_199"></a>
+
+<p>The obituary notices, however, were not always complimentary. We find
+the following entry in the Annals of Clonmacnois:&mdash;&quot;Tomhair Mac Alchi,
+King of Denmark, is reported to go [to have gone] to hell with his
+pains, as he deserved.&quot;</p>
+<br />
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/038.jpg" width="452" height="705" alt="GREY MAN&#39;S PATH, GIANT&#39;S CAUSEWAY." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>GREY MAN&#39;S PATH, GIANT&#39;S CAUSEWAY.</h4>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><br /><br />
+
+<a name="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>
+<center>
+<img src="images/039.jpg" width="500" height="293" alt="RATH AT LEIGHLIN, CARLOW" title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>RATH AT LEIGHLIN, CARLOW</h4>
+<a name="Page_200"></a>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XIII.</h2>
+
+<h4>The Battle of Dundalk&mdash;The Danes supposed to be Christianized&mdash;Brian
+Boroimh&eacute; and his Brother Mahoun&mdash;The Dalcassians fight the Danes&mdash;Mahoun
+is assassinated&mdash;Brian revenges his Brother's Murder&mdash;Malachy's Exploits
+against the Danes&mdash;Malachy and Brian form a Treaty and fight the
+Danes&mdash;Malachy wins &quot;the Collar of Gold&quot;&mdash;Brian's &quot;Happy Family&quot; at
+Kincora&mdash;He usurps the Supreme Power, and becomes Monarch of
+Ireland&mdash;Remote Causes of the Battle of Clontarf&mdash;Gormflaith is &quot;grim&quot;
+with Brian&mdash;Blockade of Dublin&mdash;The Danes prepare for a Fierce
+Conflict&mdash;Brian prepares also&mdash;The Battle of Clontarf&mdash;Disposition of
+the Forces&mdash;Brian's Death&mdash;Defeat of the Danes.</h4>
+
+<h5>[A.D. 926-1022.]</h5>
+
+<img src="images/n.jpg" width="63" height="232" align="left" alt="M" title="" />
+<p>any of the sea-coast towns were now in possession of the Danes. They
+had founded Limerick, and, indeed, Wexford and Waterford almost owe them
+the debt of parentage. Obviously, the ports were their grand
+securities&mdash;a ready refuge if driven by native valour to embark in their
+fleets; convenient head-quarters when marauding expeditions to England
+or Scotland were in preparation. But the Danes never obtained the same
+power in Ireland as in the sister country. The domestic dissensions of
+the men of Erinn, ruinous as they were to the nation, gave it at least
+the advantage of having a brave and resolute body of men always in arms,
+and ready to face the foe at a moment's notice, when no selfish policy
+interfered. In 937 Athelstane gained his famous victory over the<a name="Page_201"></a> Danes
+at Brunanbriegh in Northumberland, and came triumphantly to reclaim the
+dagger<a name="FNanchor_208_209"></a><a href="#Footnote_208_209"><sup>[208]</sup></a> which he had left at the shrine of St. John of Beverley.
+After his death, in 941, Amlaff returned to Northumberland, and once
+more restored the Danish sway. From this time, until the accession of
+the Danish King Canute, England was more or less under the dominion of
+these ruthless tyrants.<a name="FNanchor_209_210"></a><a href="#Footnote_209_210"><sup>[209]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>&quot;The Danes of Ireland, at this period, were ruled by Sitric, son of
+Turgesius, whose name was sufficient to inspire the Irish with terror.
+Through policy he professed willingness to enter into a treaty of peace
+with Callaghan, King of Munster; and, as proof of his sincerity, offered
+him his sister, the Princess Royal of Denmark, in marriage. The Irish
+king had fallen in love with this amiable and beautiful princess, and he
+readily consented to the fair and liberal measures proposed. He sent
+word to Sitric he would visit him; and, attended by a royal retinue, to
+be followed in a little time by his guards, as escort for his future
+queen, proceeded to meet his royal bride.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Sitric's project of inveigling the King of Munster into his district,
+in order to make him prisoner, under the expectation of being married to
+the Princess of Denmark, having been disclosed to his wife, who was of
+Irish birth, she determined to warn the intended victim of the meditated
+treachery, and accordingly she disguised herself, and placed herself in
+a pass which Callaghan should traverse, and met him. Here she informed
+him who she was, the design of Sitric against him, and warned him to
+return as fast as possible. This was not practicable. Sitric had barred
+the way with armed men; and Callaghan and his escort, little prepared
+for an encounter, found themselves hemmed in by an overwhelming Danish
+force. To submit without a struggle was never the way with the
+Momonians. They formed a rampart round the person of their king, and cut<a name="Page_202"></a>
+through the Danish ranks. Fresh foes met them on every side; and, after
+a bloody struggle, the men of Munster were conquered. Callaghan, the
+king, and Prince Duncan, son of Kennedy, were brought captives to
+Dublin. Then the royal prisoners were removed to Armagh, and their safe
+keeping entrusted to nine Danish earls, who had a strong military force
+at their orders to guard them.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The news of this insidious act rapidly fanned the ardour of the Munster
+troops to be revenged for the imprisonment of their beloved king.
+Kennedy, the Prince of Munster, father of Duncan, was appointed regent,
+with ample powers to govern the country in the king's absence. The first
+step was to collect an army to cope with the Danes. To assemble a
+sufficient body of troops on land was easy; but the great strength of
+the northern rovers lay in their swift-sailing ships. 'It must strike
+the humblest comprehension with astonishment,' says Marmion, 'that the
+Irish, although possessed of an island abounding with forests of the
+finest oak, and other suitable materials for ship-building&mdash;enjoying
+also the most splendid rivers, loughs, and harbours, so admirably
+adapted to the accommodation of extensive fleets, should,
+notwithstanding, for so many centuries, allow the piratical ravages of
+the Danes, and subsequently the more dangerous subversion of their
+independence by the Anglo-Normans, without an effort to build a navy
+that could cope with those invaders on that element from which they
+could alone expect invasion from a foreign foe.' This neglect has also
+been noticed by the distinguished Irish writer&mdash;Wilde&mdash;who, in his
+admirably executed <i>Catalogue of the Antiquities in the Royal Irish
+Academy</i>, observes:&mdash;'Little attention has been paid to the subject of
+the early naval architecture of this country. So far as we yet know, two
+kinds of boats appear to have been in use in very early times in the
+British Isles&mdash;the canoe and the corragh; the one formed of a single
+piece of wood, the other composed of wickerwork, covered with hides.'
+Larger vessels there must have been; though, from the length of time
+which has since elapsed, we have no traces of them now. Kennedy not only
+collected a formidable army by land, but 'he fitted out a fleet of
+ships, and manned it with able seamen, that he might make sure of his
+revenge, and attack the enemy by sea and land.' The command of the fleet
+was conferred on an admiral perfectly skilled in maritime affairs,
+Failbhe Fion, King of Desmond.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;When the army of Munster arrived near Armagh, they learnt the<a name="Page_203"></a> prisoners
+had been removed thence by Sitric, and placed on board ship. Enraged at
+this disappointment, they gave no quarter to the Danes, and advanced
+rapidly to Dundalk, where the fleet lay, with the king and young prince
+on board. Sitric, unable to withstand the opposing army on shore,
+ordered his troops to embark, and resolved to avoid the encounter
+through means of his ships. While the baffled Irish army were chafing at
+this unexpected delay to their hoped for vengeance, they espied, from
+the shore of Dundalk, where they encamped, a sail of ships, in regular
+order, steering with a favourable gale towards the Danish fleet moored
+in Dundalk bay. Joy instantly filled their hearts; for they recognized
+the fleet of Munster, with the admiral's vessel in the van, and the rest
+ranged in line of battle. The Danes were taken by surprise; they beheld
+an enemy approach from a side where they rather expected the raven flag
+of their country floating on the ships. The Munster admiral gave them no
+time to form. He steered straight to Sitric's vessel, and, with his
+hardy crew, sprang on board. Here a sight met his gaze which filled his
+heart with rage; he saw his beloved monarch, Callaghan, and the young
+prince, tied with cords to the main-mast. Having, with his men, fought
+through the Danish troops to the side of the king and prince, he cut the
+cords and set them free. He then put a sword into the hands of the
+rescued king, and they fought side by side: Meanwhile Sitric, and his
+brothers, Tor and Magnus, did all they could to retrieve the fortunes of
+the day. At the head of a chosen band they attacked the Irish admiral,
+and he fell, covered with wounds. His head, exposed by Sitric on a pole,
+fired the Danes with hope&mdash;the Irish with tenfold rage. Fingal, next in
+rank to Failbhe Fion, took the command, and determined to avenge his
+admiral. Meeting the Danish ruler in the combat, he seized Sitric round
+the neck, and flung himself with his foe into the sea, where both
+perished. Seagdor and Connall, two captains of Irish ships, imitated
+this example&mdash;threw themselves upon Tor and Magnus, Sitric's brothers,
+and jumped with them overboard, when all were drowned. These desperate
+deeds paralysed the energy of the Danes, and the Irish gained a complete
+victory in Dundalk bay.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The Irish fleet having thus expelled the pirates from their coast, came
+into harbour, where they were received with acclamations of joy by all
+who witnessed their bravery. Such is a summary of Keating's poetic
+account of this day's achievements; and there are<a name="Page_204"></a> extant fuller accounts
+in various pieces of native poetry, especially one entitled 'The Pursuit
+after Callaghan of Cashel, by the Chief of Munster, after he had been
+entrapped by the Danes.'&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The year 948 has generally been assigned as that of the conversion of
+the Danes to Christianity; but, whatever the precise period may have
+been, the conversion was rather of a doubtful character as we hear of
+their burning churches, plundering shrines, and slaughtering
+ecclesiastics with apparently as little remorse as ever. In the very
+year in which the Danes of Dublin are said to have been converted, they
+burned the belfry of Slane while filled with religious who had sought
+refuge there. Meanwhile the Irish monarchies were daily weakened by
+divisions and domestic wars. Connaught was divided between two or three
+independent princes, and Munster into two kingdoms.</p>
+
+<p>The ancient division of the country into five provinces no longer held
+good; and the Ard-Righ, or chief monarch, was such only in name. Even
+the great northern Hy-Nials, long the bravest and most united of the
+Irish clans, were now divided into two portions, the Cinel-Connaill and
+Cinel-Owen; the former of whom had been for some time excluded from the
+alternate accession of sovereignty, which was still maintained between
+the two great families of the race of Nial. But, though this arrangement
+was persevered in with tolerable regularity, it tended little to the
+promotion of peace, as the northern princes were ever ready to take
+advantage of the weakness of the Meath men, who were their inferiors
+both in numbers and in valour.</p>
+
+<p>The sovereignty of Munster had also been settled on the alternate
+principle, between the great tribe of Dalcassians, or north Munster
+race, and the Eoghanists, or southeners. This plan of succession, as may
+be supposed, failed to work peaceably; and, in 942, Kennedy, the father
+of the famous Brian Boroimh&eacute;, contested the sovereignty with the
+Eoghanist prince, Callaghan Cashel, but yielded in a chivalrous spirit,
+not very common under such circumstances, and joined his former opponent
+in his contests with the Danes. The author of the <i>Wars of the Gaedhil
+with the Gall</i> gives a glowing account of the genealogy of Brian and his
+eldest brother, Mathgamhain. They are described as &quot;two fierce,
+magnificent heroes, the two stout, able, valiant pillars,&quot; who then
+governed the Dalcassian tribes; Mathgamhain (Mahoun) being the actual
+chieftain, Brian the heir apparent. A<a name="Page_205"></a> guerilla war was carried on for
+some time in the woods of Thomond, in which no quarter was given on
+either side, and wherein it was &quot;woe to either party to meet the other.&quot;
+Mahoun at last proposed a truce, but Brian refused to consent to this
+arrangement. He continued the war until he found his army reduced to
+fifteen men. Mahoun then sent for him. An interview took place, which is
+described in the form of a poetic dialogue, between the two brothers.
+Brian reproached Mahoun with cowardice; Mahoun reproached Brian with
+imprudence. Brian hints broadly that Mahoun had interested motives in
+making this truce, and declares that neither Kennedy, their father, nor
+Lorcan, their grandfather, would have been so quiescent towards the
+foreigners for the sake of wealth, nor would they have given them even
+as much time as would have sufficed to play a game of chess<a name="FNanchor_210_211"></a><a href="#Footnote_210_211"><sup>[210]</sup></a> on the
+green of Magh Adhair. Mahoun kept his temper, and contented himself with
+reproaching Brian for his recklessness, in sacrificing the lives of so
+many of his faithful followers to no purpose. Brian replied that he
+would never abandon his inheritance, without a contest, to &quot;such
+foreigners as Black Grim Gentiles.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The result was a conference of the tribe, who voted for war, and marched
+into the country of the Eoghanists (the present co. Kerry), who at once
+joined the standard of the Dalcassians. The Danes suffered severely in
+Munster. This aroused the Limerick Danes; and their chieftain, Ivar,
+attacked the territory of Dal-Cais, an exploit in which he was joined,
+to their eternal shame, by several native princes and tribes, amongst
+whom were Maolmuadh (Molloy), son of Braun, King of Desmond, and
+Donabhan (Donovan), son of Cathal, King of Ui Cairbhri. The result was a
+fierce battle at Sulcoit, near Tipperary, wherein the Danes were
+gloriously defeated. The action was commenced by the Northmen. It
+continued from sunrise till mid-day, and terminated in the rout of the
+foreigners, who fled &quot;to the ditches, and to the valleys, and to the
+solitudes of the great sweet flower plain,&quot; where they were followed by
+the conquerors, and massacred without mercy.</p>
+
+<p>The Dalcassians now obtained possession of Limerick, with immense spoils
+of jewels, gold and silver, foreign saddles, &quot;soft,<a name="Page_206"></a> youthful, bright
+girls, blooming silk-clad women, and active well-formed boys.&quot; The
+active boys were soon disposed of, for we find that they collected the
+prisoners on the hillocks of Saingel, where &quot;every one that was fit for
+war was put to death, and every one that was fit for a slave was
+enslaved.&quot; This event is dated A.D. 968.</p>
+
+<p>Mahoun was now firmly established on the throne, but his success
+procured him many enemies. A conspiracy was formed against him under the
+auspices of Ivar of Limerick and his son, Dubhcenn. The Eoghanist clans
+basely withdrew their allegiance from their lawful sovereign, allied
+themselves with the Danes, and became principals in the plot of
+assassination. Their motive was as simple as their conduct was vile. The
+two Eoghanist families were represented by Donovan and Molloy. They were
+descendants of Oilioll Oluim, from whom Mahoun was also descended, but
+his family were Dalcassians. Hitherto the Eoghanists had succeeded in
+depriving the tribes of Dal-Cais of their fair share of alternate
+succession to the throne of Munster; they became alarmed at and jealous
+of the advancement of the younger tribe, and determined to do by
+treachery what they could not do by force. With the usual headlong
+eagerness of traitors, they seem to have forgotten Brian, and quite
+overlooked the retribution they might expect at his hands for their
+crime. There are two different accounts of the murder, which do not
+coincide in detail. The main facts, however, are reliable: Mahoun was
+entrapped in some way to the house of Donovan, and there he was basely
+murdered, in violation of the rights of hospitality, and in defiance of
+the safe-conduct of the bishop, which he secured before his visit.</p>
+
+<p>The traitors gained nothing by their treachery except the contempt of
+posterity. Brian was not slow in avenging his brother. &quot;He was not a
+stone in place of an egg, nor a wisp of hay in place of a club; but he
+was a hero in place of a hero, and valour after valour.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_211_212"></a><a href="#Footnote_211_212"><sup>[211]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>Public opinion was not mistaken in its estimate of his character. Two
+years after the death of Mahoun, Brian invaded Donovan's territory,
+drove off his cattle, took the fortress of Cathair Cuan, and slew
+Donovan and his Danish ally, Harolt. He next proceeded to settle
+accounts with Molloy. Cogar&aacute;n is sent to the<a name="Page_207"></a> whole tribe of Ui Eachach,
+to know &quot;the reason why&quot; they killed Mahoun, and to declare that no
+<i>cumhal</i> or fine would be received, either in the shape of hostages,
+gold, or cattle, but that Molloy must himself be given up. Messages were
+also sent to Molloy, both general and particular&mdash;the general message
+challenged him to battle at Belach-Lechta; the particular message, which
+in truth he hardly deserved, was a challenge to meet Murrough, Brian's
+son, in single combat. The result was the battle of Belach-Lechta,<a name="FNanchor_212_213"></a><a href="#Footnote_212_213"><sup>[212]</sup></a>
+where Molloy was slain, with twelve hundred of his troops, both native
+and foreign. Brian remained master of the field and of the kingdom, A.D.
+978.</p>
+
+<p>Brian was now undisputed King of Munster. In 984 he was acknowledged
+Monarch of Leth Mogha, the southern half of Ireland. Meanwhile Malachy,
+who governed Leth Cuinn, or the northern half of Ireland, had not been
+idle. He fought a battle with the Danes in 979, near Tara, in which he
+defeated their forces, and slew Raguall, son of Amlaibh, King of Dublin.
+Amlaibh felt the defeat so severely, that he retired to Iona, where he
+died of a broken heart. Donough O'Neill, son of Muircheartach, died this
+year, and Malachy obtained the regal dignity. Emboldened by his success
+at Tara, he resolved to attack the foreigners in Dublin; he therefore
+laid siege to that city, and compelled it to surrender after three days,
+liberated two thousand prisoners, including the King of Leinster, and
+took abundant spoils. At the same time he issued a proclamation, freeing
+every Irishman then in bondage to the Danes, and stipulating that the
+race of Nial should henceforth be free from tribute to the foreigners.</p>
+
+<p>It is probable that Brian had already formed designs for obtaining the
+royal power. The country resounded with the fame of his exploits, and
+Malachy became aware at last that he should either have him for an ally
+or an enemy. He prudently chose the former alternative, and in the
+nineteenth year of his reign (997 according to the Four Masters) he made
+arrangements with Brian for a great campaign against the common enemy.
+Malachy surrendered all hostages to Brian, and Brian agreed to recognize
+Malachy as sole Monarch of northern Erinn, &quot;without war or trespass.&quot;
+This treaty was absolutely necessary, in order to offer effective
+resistance<a name="Page_208"></a> to the Danes. The conduct of the two kings towards each other
+had not been of a conciliatory nature previously. In 981 Malachy had
+invaded the territory of the Dalcassians, and uprooted the great
+oak-tree of Magh Adair, under which its kings were crowned&mdash;an insult
+which could not fail to excite bitter feelings both in prince and
+people. In 989 the monarch occupied himself fighting the Danes in
+Dublin, to whom he laid siege for twenty nights, reducing the garrison
+to such straits that they were obliged to drink the salt water when the
+tide rose in the river. Brian then made reprisals on Malachy, by sending
+boats up the Shannon burning the royal rath of Dun Sciath. Malachy, in
+his turn, recrossed the Shannon, burned Nenagh, plundered Ormonde, and
+defeated Brian himself in battle. He then marched again to Dublin, and
+once more attacked &quot;the proud invader.&quot; It was on this occasion that he
+obtained the &quot;collar of gold,&quot; which Moore has immortalized in his
+world-famous &quot;Melodies.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>When the kings had united their forces, they obtained another important
+victory at Glen-Mama.<a name="FNanchor_213_214"></a><a href="#Footnote_213_214"><sup>[213]</sup></a> Harolt, son of Olaf Cuaran, the then Danish
+king, was slain, and four thousand of his followers perished with him.
+The victorious army marched at once to Dublin. Here they obtained spoils
+of great value, and made many slaves and captives. According to some
+accounts, Brian remained in Dublin until the feast of St. Brigid
+(February 1st); other annalists say he only remained from Great
+Christmas to Little Christmas. Meanwhile there can be but little doubt
+that Brian had in view the acquisition of the right to be called sole
+monarch of Ireland. It is a blot on an otherwise noble character&mdash;an
+ugly spot in a picture of more than ordinary interest. Sitric, another
+son of Olaf's, fled for protection to Aedh and Eochaidh, two northern
+chieftains; but they gave him up, from motives of fear or policy to
+Brian's soldiers, and after due submission he was restored to his former
+position. Brian then gave his daughter in marriage to Sitric, and
+completed the family alliance by espousing Sitric's mother, Gormflaith,
+a lady of rather remarkable character, who had<a name="Page_209"></a> been divorced from her
+second husband, Malachy. Brian now proceeded to depose Malachy. The
+account of this important transaction is given in so varied a manner by
+different writers, that it seems almost impossible to ascertain the
+truth. The southern annalists are loud in their assertions of the
+incapacity of the reigning monarch, and would have it believed that
+Brian only yielded to the urgent entreaties of his countrymen in
+accepting the proffered crown. But the warlike exploits of Malachy have
+been too faithfully recorded to leave any doubt as to his prowess in the
+field; and we may probably class the regret of his opponent in accepting
+his position, with similar protestations made under circumstances in
+which such regret was as little likely to be real.</p>
+
+<p>The poet Moore, with evident partiality for the subject of his song,
+declares that the magnanimous character of Malachy was the real ground
+of peace under such provocation, and that he submitted to the
+encroachments of his rival rather from motives of disinterested desire
+for his country's welfare, than from any reluctance or inability to
+fight his own battle.</p>
+
+<p>But Brian had other chieftains to deal with, of less amiable or more
+warlike propensities: the proud Hy-Nials of the north were long in
+yielding to his claims; but even these he at length subdued, compelling
+the Cinel-Eoghain to give him hostages, and carrying off the Lord of
+Cinel-Connaill bodily to his fortress at Kincora. Here he had assembled
+a sort of &quot;happy family,&quot; consisting of refractory princes and knights,
+who, refusing hostages to keep the peace with each other, were obliged
+to submit to the royal will and pleasure, and at least to appear
+outwardly in harmony.</p>
+
+<p>These precautionary measures, however summary, and the energetic
+determination of Brian to have peace kept either by sword or law, have
+given rise to the romantic ballad of the lady perambulating Erinn with a
+gold ring and white wand, and passing unmolested through its once
+belligerent kingdoms.</p>
+
+<p>Brian now turned his attention to the state of religion and literature,
+restoring the churches and monasteries which had been plundered and
+burnt by the Danes. He is said also to have founded the churches of
+Killaloe and Iniscealtra, and to have built the round tower of Tomgrany,
+in the present county Clare. A gift of twenty ounces of gold to the
+church of Armagh,&mdash;a large<a name="Page_210"></a> donation for that period,&mdash;is also recorded
+amongst his good deeds.<a name="FNanchor_214_215"></a><a href="#Footnote_214_215"><sup>[214]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>There is some question as to the precise year in which Brian obtained or
+usurped the authority and position of Ard-Righ: A.D. 1002, however, is
+the date most usually accepted. He was probably about sixty-one years of
+age, and Malachy was then about fifty-three.<a name="FNanchor_215_216"></a><a href="#Footnote_215_216"><sup>[215]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>It will be remembered that Brian had married the Lady Gormflaith. Her
+brother, Maelmordha, was King of Leinster, and he had obtained his
+throne through the assistance of the Danes. Brian was Gormflaith's third
+husband. In the words of the Annals, she had made three leaps&mdash;&quot;jumps
+which a woman should never jump&quot;&mdash;a hint that her matrimonial
+arrangements had not the sanction of canon law. She was remarkable for
+her beauty, but her temper was proud and vindictive. This was probably
+the reason why she was repudiated both by Malachy and Brian. There can
+be no doubt that she and her brother, Maelmordha, were the remote causes
+of the famous battle of Clontarf. The story is told thus: Maelmordha
+came to Brian with an offering of three large pine-trees to make masts
+for shipping. These were probably a tribute which he was bound to pay to
+his liege lord. The trees had been cut in the great forest of Leinster,
+called Fidh-Gaibhli.<a name="FNanchor_216_217"></a><a href="#Footnote_216_217"><sup>[216]</sup></a> Some other tribes were bringing their
+tree-tributes at the same time; and as they all journeyed over the
+mountains together, there was a dispute for precedency. Maelmordha
+decided the question by assisting to carry the tree of the Ui-Faelain.
+He had on a tunic of silk which Brian had given<a name="FNanchor_217_218"></a><a href="#Footnote_217_218"><sup>[217]</sup></a> him, with a border<a name="Page_211"></a>
+of gold round it and silver buttons. One of the buttons came off as he
+lifted the tree. On his arrival at Kincora, he asked his sister,
+Gormflaith, to replace it for him; but she at once flung the garment
+into the fire, and then bitterly reproached her brother with having
+accepted this token of vassalage. The Sagas say she was &quot;grim&quot; against
+Brian, which was undoubtedly true. This excited Maelmordha's temper. An
+opportunity soon offered for a quarrel. Brian's eldest son,
+Murrough,<a name="FNanchor_218_219"></a><a href="#Footnote_218_219"><sup>[218]</sup></a> was playing a game of chess with his cousin, Conoing;
+Maelmordha was looking on, and suggested a move by which Murrough lost
+the game. The young prince exclaimed: &quot;That was like the advice you gave
+the Danes, which lost them Glen-Mama.&quot; &quot;I will give them advice now, and
+they shall not be defeated,&quot; replied the other. &quot;Then you had better
+remind them to prepare a yew-tree<a name="FNanchor_219_220"></a><a href="#Footnote_219_220"><sup>[219]</sup></a> for your reception,&quot; answered
+Murrough.</p>
+
+<p>Early the next morning Maelmordha left the place, &quot;without permission
+and without taking leave.&quot; Brian sent a messenger after him to pacify
+him, but the angry chief, for all reply, &quot;broke all the bones in his
+head.&quot; He now proceeded to organize a revolt against Brian, and
+succeeded. Several of the Irish princes flocked to his standard. An
+encounter took place in Meath, where they slew Malachy's grandson,
+Domhnall, who should have been heir if the usual rule of succession had
+been observed. Malachy marched to the rescue, and defeated the
+assailants with great slaughter, A.D. 1013. Fierce reprisals now took
+place on each side. Sanctuary was disregarded, and Malachy called on
+Brian to assist him. Brian at once complied. After successfully ravaging
+Ossory he marched to Dublin, where he was joined by Murrough, who had
+devastated Wicklow, burning, destroying, and carrying off captives,
+until he reached <i>Cill Maighnenn</i> (Kilmainham). They now blockaded
+Dublin, where they remained from St. Ciaran's in harvest (Sept. 9th)
+until Christmas Day. Brian was then obliged to raise the siege and
+return home for want of provisions.</p>
+
+<p>The storm was now gathering in earnest, and the most active preparations
+were made on both sides for a mighty and decisive conflict.<a name="Page_212"></a> The Danes
+had already obtained possession of England, a country which had always
+been united in its resistance to their power, a country numerically
+superior to Ireland: why should they not hope to conquer, with at least
+equal facility, a people who had so many opposing interests, and who
+rarely sacrificed these interests to the common good? Still they must
+have had some fear of the result, if we may judge by the magnitude of
+their preparations. They despatched ambassadors in all directions to
+obtain reinforcements. Brodir, the earl, and Amlaibh, son of the King of
+Lochlann, &quot;the two Earls of Cair, and of all the north of Saxon
+land,&quot;<a name="FNanchor_220_221"></a><a href="#Footnote_220_221"><sup>[220]</sup></a> came at the head of 2,000 men; &quot;and there was not one
+villain of that 2,000 who had not polished, strong, triple-plated armour
+of refined iron, or of cooling, uncorroding brass, encasing their sides
+and bodies from head to foot.&quot; Moreover, the said villains &quot;had no
+reverence, veneration, or respect, or mercy for God or man, for church
+or for sanctuary; they were cruel, ferocious, plundering, hard-hearted,
+wonderful Dannarbrians, selling and hiring themselves for gold and
+silver, and other treasure as well.&quot; Gormflaith was evidently &quot;head
+centre&quot; on the occasion; for we find wonderful accounts of her zeal and
+efforts in collecting forces. &quot;Other treasure&quot; may possibly be referred
+to that lady's heart and hand, of which she appears to have been very
+liberal on this occasion. She despatched her son, Sitric, to Siguard,
+Earl of the Orkneys, who promised his assistance, but he required the
+hand of Gormflaith as payment for his services, and that he should be
+made King of Ireland. Sitric gave the required promise, and found, on
+his return to Dublin, that it met with his mother's entire approbation.
+She then despatched him to the Isle of Man, where there were two
+Vikings, who had thirty ships, and she desired him to obtain their
+co-operation &quot;at any price.&quot; They were the brothers Ospak and Brodir.
+The latter demanded the same conditions as the Earl Siguard, which were
+promised quite as readily by Sitric, only he charged the Viking to keep
+the agreement secret, and above all not to mention it to Siguard.</p>
+
+<p>Brodir,<a name="FNanchor_221_222"></a><a href="#Footnote_221_222"><sup>[221]</sup></a> according to the Saga, was an apostate Christian, who<a name="Page_213"></a> had
+&quot;thrown off his faith, and become God's dastard.&quot; He was both tall and
+strong, and had such long black hair that he tucked it under his belt;
+he had also the reputation of being a magician. The Viking Ospak refused
+to fight against &quot;the good King Brian,&quot; and, touched by some prodigies,
+became a convert to Christianity, joined the Irish monarch at Kincora,
+on the Shannon, and received holy baptism.<a name="FNanchor_222_223"></a><a href="#Footnote_222_223"><sup>[222]</sup></a> The author of the <i>Wars
+of the Gaedhil</i> gives a formidable list of the other auxiliaries who
+were invited by the Dublin Danes. The Annals of Loch C&eacute; also give an
+account of the fleet he assembled, and its &quot;chosen braves.&quot; Maelmordha
+had mustered a large army also; indeed, he was too near the restless and
+revengeful Larmflaith to have taken matters quietly, even had he been so
+inclined.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Brian had been scarcely less successful, and probably not less
+active. He now marched towards Dublin, &quot;with all that obeyed him of the
+men of Ireland.&quot; These were the provincial troops of Munster and
+Connaught and the men of Meath. His march is thus described in the <i>Wars
+of the Gaedhil</i>:&mdash;&quot;Brian looked out behind him, and beheld the battle
+phalanx&mdash;compact, huge, disciplined, moving in silence, mutely, bravely,
+haughtily, unitedly, with one mind, traversing the plain towards them;
+threescore and ten banners over them&mdash;of red, and of yellow, and of
+green, and of all kinds of colours; together with the everlasting,
+variegated, lucky, fortunate banner, that had gained the victory in
+every battle, and in every conflict, and in every combat.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_223_224"></a><a href="#Footnote_223_224"><sup>[223]</sup></a> The
+portion of the narrative containing this account is believed to be an
+interpolation, but the description may not be the less accurate. Brian
+plundered and destroyed as usual on his way to Dublin. When he had
+encamped near that city, the Danes came out to give him battle on the
+plain of Magh-n-Ealta.<a name="FNanchor_224_225"></a><a href="#Footnote_224_225"><sup>[224]</sup></a> The king then held a council of war, and the
+result, apparently, was a determination to give battle in the morning.
+It is said that the Northmen pretended flight in order to delay the
+engagement. The Njal Saga says the Viking Brodir had found out by his
+sorcery, &quot;that if the fight were on Good Friday, King Brian would fall,
+but win the day; but if they fought before, they would all fall who were
+against him.&quot; Some authorities also<a name="Page_214"></a> mention a traitor in Brian's camp,
+who had informed the Danes that his forces had been weakened by the
+absence of his son Donough, whom he had sent to devastate Leinster.
+Malachy has the credit of this piece of treachery, with other
+imputations scarcely less disreputable.</p>
+
+<p>The site of the battle has been accurately defined. It took place on the
+plain of Clontarf,<a name="FNanchor_225_226"></a><a href="#Footnote_225_226"><sup>[225]</sup></a> and is called the Battle of the Fishing Weir of
+Clontarf. The weir was at the mouth of the river Tolka, where the bridge
+of Ballybough now stands. The Danish line was extended along the coast,
+and protected at sea by their fleets. It was disposed in three
+divisions, and comprised about 21,000 men, the Leinster forces being
+included in the number. The first division or left wing was the nearest
+to Dublin. It was composed of the Danes of Dublin, and headed by Sitric,
+who was supported by the thousand mail-clad Norwegians, commanded by
+Carlus and Anrud. In the centre were the Lagennians, under the command
+of Maelmordha. The right wing comprised the foreign auxiliaries, under
+the command of Brodir and Siguard.<a name="FNanchor_226_227"></a><a href="#Footnote_226_227"><sup>[226]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>Brian's army was also disposed in three divisions. The first was
+composed of his brave Dalcassians, and commanded by his son Murrough,
+assisted by his four brothers, Teigue, Donough, Connor, and Flann, and
+his youthful heir, Turlough, who perished on the field. The second
+division or centre was composed of troops from Munster, and was
+commanded by Mothla, grandson of the King of the Deisi, of Waterford,
+assisted by many native princes. The<a name="Page_215"></a> third battalion was commanded by
+Maelruanaidh (Mulrooney of the Paternosters) and Teigue O'Kelly, with
+all the nobles of Connaught. Brian's army numbered about twenty thousand
+men. The accounts which relate the position of Malachy, and his conduct
+on this occasion, are hopelessly conflicting. It appears quite
+impossible to decide whether he was a victim to prejudice, or whether
+Brian was a victim to his not unnatural hostility.</p>
+
+<p>On the eve of the battle, one of the Danish chiefs, Plait, son of King
+Lochlainn, sent a challenge to Domhnall, son of Emhin, High Steward of
+Mar. The battle commenced at daybreak. Plait came forth and exclaimed
+three times, &quot;<i>Faras Domhnall</i>?&quot; (Where is Domhnall?) Domhnall replied:
+&quot;Here, thou reptile.&quot; A terrible hand-to-hand combat ensued. They fell
+dead at the same moment, the sword of each through the heart of the
+other, and the hair of each in the clenched hand of the other. And the
+combat of those two was the first combat of the battle.</p>
+
+<p>Before the engagement Brian harangued his troops, with the crucifix in
+one hand and a sword in the other. He reminded them of all they had
+suffered from their enemies, of their tyranny, their sacrilege, their
+innumerable perfidies; and then, holding the crucifix aloft, he
+exclaimed: &quot;The great God has at length looked down upon our sufferings,
+and endued you with the power and the courage this day to destroy for
+ever the tyranny of the Danes, and thus to punish them for their
+innumerable crimes and sacrileges by the avenging power of the sword.
+Was it not on this day that Christ Himself suffered death for you?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He was then compelled to retire to the rear, and await the result of the
+conflict; but Murrough performed prodigies of valour. Even the Danish
+historians admit that he fought his way to their standard, and cut down
+two successive bearers of it.</p>
+
+<p>The mailed armour of the Danes seems to have been a source of no little
+dread to their opponents. But the Irish battle-axe might well have set
+even more secure protection at defiance. It was wielded with such skill
+and force, that frequently a limb was lopped off with a single blow,
+despite the mail in which it was encased; while the short lances, darts,
+and slinging-stones proved a speedy means of decapitating or stunning a
+fallen enemy.</p>
+
+<p>The Dalcassians surpassed themselves in feats of arms. They hastened
+from time to time to refresh their thirst and cool their hands in a
+neighbouring brook; but the Danes soon filled it up, and<a name="Page_216"></a> deprived them
+of this resource. It was a conflict of heroes&mdash;a hand-to-hand fight.
+Bravery was not wanting on either side, and for a time the result seemed
+doubtful. Towards the afternoon, as many of the Danish leaders were cut
+down, their followers began to give way, and the Irish forces prepared
+for a final effort. At this moment the Norwegian prince, Anrud,
+encountered Murrough, whose arms were paralyzed from fatigue; he had
+still physical strength enough to seize his enemy, fling him on the
+ground, and plunge his sword into the body of his prostrate foe. But
+even as he inflicted the death-wound, he received a mortal blow from the
+dagger of the Dane, and the two chiefs fell together.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>m&ecirc;l&eacute;e</i> was too general for an individual incident, however
+important in itself, to have much effect. The Northmen and their allies
+were flying hard and fast, the one towards their ships, the others
+towards the city. But as they fled across the Tolka, they forgot that it
+was now swollen with the incoming tide, and thousands perished by water
+who had escaped the sword. The body of Brian's grandson, the boy
+Turlough, was found in the river after the battle, with his hands
+entangled in the hair of two Danish warriors, whom he had held down
+until they were drowned. Sitric and his wife had watched the combat from
+the battlements of Dublin. It will be remembered that this lady was the
+daughter of King Brian, and her interests were naturally with the Irish
+troops. Some rough words passed between her and her lord, which ended in
+his giving her so rude a blow, that he knocked out one of her teeth. But
+we have yet to record the crowning tragedy of the day. Brian had retired
+to his tent to pray, at the commencement of the conflict. When the
+forces met, he began his devotions, and said to his attendant: &quot;Watch
+thou the battle and the combats, whilst I say the psalms.&quot; After he had
+recited fifty psalms, fifty collects, and fifty paternosters, he desired
+the man to look out and inform him how the battle went, and the position
+of Murrough's standard. He replied the strife was close and vigorous,
+and the noise was as if seven battalions were cutting down Tomar's wood;
+but the standard was safe. Brian then said fifty more psalms, and made
+the same inquiry. The attendant replied that all was in confusion, but
+that Murrough's standard still stood erect, and moved westwards towards
+Dublin. &quot;As long as that standard remains erect,&quot; replied Brian, &quot;it
+shall go well with the men of Erinn.&quot; The aged king betook himself to
+his prayers once more, saying again<a name="Page_217"></a> fifty psalms<a name="FNanchor_227_228"></a><a href="#Footnote_227_228"><sup>[227]</sup></a> and collects;
+then, for the last time, he asked intelligence of the field. Latean
+replied: &quot;They appear as if Tomar's wood was on fire, and its brushwood
+all burned down;&quot; meaning that the private soldiers of both armies were
+nearly all slain, and only a few of the chiefs had escaped; adding the
+most grievous intelligence of all, that Murrough's standard had fallen.
+&quot;Alas!&quot; replied Brian, &quot;Erinn has fallen with it: why should I survive
+such losses, even should I attain the sovereignty of the world?&quot; His
+attendant then urged him to fly, but Brian replied that flight was
+useless, for he had been warned of his fate by Aibinn (the banshee of
+his family), and that he knew his death was at hand. He then gave
+directions about his will and his funeral, leaving 240 cows to the
+&quot;successor of Patrick.&quot; Even at this moment the danger was impending. A
+party of Danes approached, headed by Brodir. The king sprang up from the
+cushion where he had been kneeling, and unsheathed his sword. At first
+Brodir did not know him, and thought he was a priest from finding him at
+prayer; but one of his followers informed him that it was the Monarch of
+Ireland. In a moment the fierce Dane had opened his head with his
+battle-axe. It is said that Brian had time to inflict a wound on the
+Viking, but the details of this event are so varied that it is
+impossible to decide which account is most reliable. The Saga states
+that Brodir knew Brian,<a name="FNanchor_228_229"></a><a href="#Footnote_228_229"><sup>[228]</sup></a> and, proud of his exploit, held up the
+monarch's reeking head, exclaiming, &quot;Let it be told from man to man that
+Brodir felled Brian.&quot; All accounts agree in stating that the Viking was
+slain immediately, if not cruelly, by Brian's guards, who thus revenged
+their own neglect of their master. Had Brian survived this conflict, and
+had he been but a few years younger, how different might have been the
+political and social state of Ireland even at the present day! The
+Danish power was overthrown, and never again obtained an ascendency in
+the country. It needed but one strong will, one wise head, one brave
+arm, to consolidate the nation, and to establish a regular monarchy; for
+there was mettle enough in the Celt, if only united, to resist foreign
+invasion for all time to come.</p>
+<a name="King_Brian_Boroimheacute_killed_by_the_Viking"></a>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/040.jpg" width="487" height="659" alt="King Brian Boroimh&eacute; killed by the Viking." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>King Brian Boroimh&eacute; killed by the Viking.</h4>
+
+<p>On Easter Monday the survivors were employed in burying the<a name="Page_218"></a> dead and
+attending to the wounded. The remains of more than thirty chieftains
+were borne off to their respective territorial churches for interment.
+But even on that very night dissension arose in the camp. The chieftains
+of Desmond, seeing the broken condition of the Dalcassian force, renewed
+their claim to the alternate succession. When they had reached Rath
+Maisten (Mullaghmast, near Athy) they claimed the sovereignty of
+Munster, by demanding hostages. A battle ensued, in which even the
+wounded Dalcassians joined. Their leader desired them to be placed in
+the fort of Maisten, but they insisted on being fastened to stakes,
+firmly planted in the ground to support them, and stuffing their wounds
+with moss, they awaited the charge of the enemy. The men of Ossory,
+intimidated by their bravery, feared to give battle. But many of the
+wounded men perished from exhaustion&mdash;a hundred and fifty swooned away,
+and never recovered consciousness again. The majority were buried where
+they stood; a few of the more noble were carried to their ancestral
+resting-places. &quot;And thus far the wars of the Gall with the Gaedhil, and
+the battle of Clontarf.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The Annals state that both Brian and his son, Murrough, lived to receive
+the rites of the Church, and that their remains were conveyed by the
+monks to Swords, and from thence, through Duleek and Louth, to Armagh,
+by Archbishop Maelmuire, the &quot;successor of St. Patrick.&quot; Their obsequies
+were celebrated with great splendour, for twelve days and nights, by the
+clergy; after which the body of Brian was deposited in a stone coffin,
+on the north side of the high altar, in the cathedral. Murrough was
+buried on the south side. Turlough was interred in the old churchyard of
+Kilmainham, where the shaft of an ancient cross still marks the site.</p>
+
+<p>Malachy once more assumed the reins of government by common consent, and
+proved himself fully equal to the task. A month before his death he
+gained an important victory over the Danes at Athboy, A.D. 1022. An
+interregnum of twenty years followed his death, during which the country
+was governed by two wise men, Cuan O'Lochlann, a poet, and Corcran
+Cleireach, an anchoret. The circumstances attending Malachy's death are
+thus related by the Four Masters:&mdash;&quot;The age of Christ 1022.
+Maelseachlainn M&ocirc;r, pillar of the dignity and nobility of the west of
+the world, died in Croinis Locha-Aininn, in the seventy-third year of
+his age,<a name="Page_219"></a> on the 4th of the nones of September, on Sunday precisely,
+after intense penance for his sins and transgressions, after receiving
+the body of Christ and His blood, after being anointed by the hands of
+Amhalgaidh, successor of Patrick, for he and the successor of
+Colum-Cille, and the successors of Ciaran, and most of the seniors of
+Ireland were present [at his death], and they sung masses, hymns,
+psalms, and canticles for the welfare of his soul.&quot;</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/041.jpg" width="275" height="410" alt="COVER OF ST. PATRICK&#39;S BELL." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>COVER OF ST. PATRICK&#39;S BELL.</h4>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><br /><br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/042.jpg" width="500" height="376" alt="DESMOND CASTLE AND RATH, LIMERICK." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>DESMOND CASTLE AND RATH, LIMERICK.</h4>
+
+<a name="Page_220"></a>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XIV.</h2>
+
+<h4>Distinguished Irish Scholars and Religious&mdash;Domestic Feuds&mdash;O'Brien's
+Illness caused by Fright&mdash;Pestilence and Severe Winters&mdash;Contentions
+between the Northerns and Southerns&mdash;Murtough's Circuit of Ireland&mdash;The
+Danes attempt an Invasion&mdash;An Irish King sent to the Isle of
+Man&mdash;Destruction of Kincora&mdash;St. Celsus makes Peace&mdash;The Synod of Fidh
+Aengussa&mdash;Subjects considered by the Synod: (1) The Regulation of the
+Number of Dioceses, (2) the Sacrament of Matrimony, (3) the Consecration
+of Bishops, (4) Ceremonies at Baptism&mdash;St. Malachy&mdash;The Traitor
+Dermod&mdash;Synod at Mellifont Abbey&mdash;St. Laurence O'Toole.</h4>
+
+<h5>[A.D. 1022-1167.]</h5>
+
+<img src="images/o.jpg" width="65" height="236" align="left" alt="D" title="" />
+<p>omestic wars were, as usual, productive of the worst consequences, as
+regards the social state of the country. The schools and colleges, which
+had been founded and richly endowed by the converted Irish, were now,
+without exception, plundered of their wealth, and, in many cases,
+deprived of those who had dispensed that wealth for the common good. It
+has been already shown that men lived holy lives, and died peaceful
+deaths, during the two hundred years of Danish oppression; we shall now
+find that schools were revived, monasteries repeopled, and missionaries
+sent to convert and instruct in foreign lands. A few monks from Ireland
+settled in Glastonbury early in the tenth century, where they devoted
+themselves to the instruction of youth. St. Dunstan, who was famous for
+his skill in music, was one of their<a name="Page_221"></a> most illustrious pupils: he was a
+scholar, an artist, and a musician. But English writers, who give him
+the credit of having brought &quot;Englishmen to care once more for learning,
+after they had quite lost the taste for it, and had sunk back into
+ignorance and barbarism,&quot; forget to mention who were his instructors.</p>
+
+<p>St. Maccallin, another Irishman, was teaching in France at the same
+period; and Duncan, who governed the Monastery of St. Remigius, at
+Rheims, was writing books of instruction for his students, which are
+still extant. Marianus Scotus, whose chronicles are considered the most
+perfect compositions of their times, was teaching at Cologne. St.
+Fingen, who succeeded St. Cadroe as Abbot of the Monastery of St. Felix
+at Metz, was invested with the government of the Monastery of St.
+Symphorian in that city<a name="FNanchor_229_230"></a><a href="#Footnote_229_230"><sup>[229]</sup></a>. It was then ordered by the bishop, that
+none but Irish monks should be received into his house, unless their
+supply failed. In 975 the Monastery of St. Martin, near Cologne, was
+made over to the Irish monks in perpetuity. Happily, however, Ireland
+still retained many of her pious and gifted sons. We have mentioned
+elsewhere the Annals of Tighernach, and the remarkable erudition they
+evince. The name of Cormac Mac Cullinan may also be added to the list of
+literary men of the period. The poems of Kenneth O'Hartigan are still
+extant, as well as those of Eochd O'Flynn. The authorship of the <i>Wars
+of the Gaedhil and the Gall</i>, has been attributed to Brian Boroimh&eacute;'s
+secretary, Mac Liag; it is, at least, tolerably certain that it was
+written by one who witnessed the events described. The obituaries of
+several saints also occur at the close of the tenth and commencement of
+the eleventh centuries. Amongst these we find St. Duncheadh, Abbot of
+Clonmacnois, who is said to have been the last Irish saint who raised
+the dead. St. Aedh (Hugh) died in the year 1004, &quot;after a good life, at
+Ard-Macha, with great honour and veneration.&quot; And in the year 1018, we
+have the mortuary record of St. Gormgal, of Ardvilean, &quot;the remains of
+whose humble oratory and cloghan cell are still to be seen on that rocky
+island, amid the surges of the Atlantic, off the coast of
+Connemara.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_230_231"></a><a href="#Footnote_230_231"><sup>[230]</sup></a></p><a name="Page_222"></a>
+
+<p>Dr. Todd has well observed, in his admirably written &quot;Introduction&quot; to
+the <i>Wars of the Gaedhil and the Gall</i>, that from the death of Malachy
+to the days of Strongbow, the history of Ireland is little more than a
+history of the struggles for ascendency between the great clans or
+families of O'Neill, O'Connor, O'Brien, and the chieftains of Leinster.</p>
+
+<p>After the death of Brian Boroimh&eacute;, his son Donough obtained the
+undisputed sovereignty of Munster. He defeated the Desmonians, and
+instigated the murder of his brother Teigue. His next step was to claim
+the title of King of Ireland, but he had a formidable opponent in Dermod
+Mac Mael-na-mbo, King of Leinster. Strange to say, though he had the
+guilt of fratricide on his conscience, he assembled the clergy and
+chieftains of Munster at Killaloe, in the year 1050, to pass laws for
+the protection of life and property&mdash;a famine, which occurred at this
+time, making such precautions of the first necessity. In 1033, his
+nephew, Turlough, avenged the death of Teigue, in a battle, wherein
+Donough was defeated. After his reverse he went on a pilgrimage to Rome,
+where he died in the following year, after doing penance for his
+brother's murder. The Annals say that &quot;he died under the victory of
+penance, in the Monastery of Stephen the Martyr.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_231_232"></a><a href="#Footnote_231_232"><sup>[231]</sup></a> Dermod Mac
+Mael-na-mbo was killed in battle by the King of Meath, A.D. 1072, and
+Turlough O'Brien, consequently, was regarded as his successor to the
+monarchy of Ireland. Turlough, as usual, commenced by taking hostages,
+but he found serious opposition from the northern Hy-Nials. His
+principal opponents were the Mac Loughlins of Aileach, and the
+O'Melaghlins of Meath. In 1079 O'Brien invaded the territory of Roderic
+O'Connor, King of Connaught, expelled him from his kingdom, and
+plundered it as far as Croagh Patrick. Next year he led an army to
+Dublin, and received the submission of the men of Meath, appointing his
+son Murtough lord of the Danes of Dublin. The Annals of the Four Masters
+give a curious account of O'Brien's death. They say that the head of<a name="Page_223"></a>
+Connor O'Melaghlin, King of Meath, was taken from the church of
+Clonmacnois, and brought to Thomond, by his order. When the king took
+the head in his hand, a mouse ran out of it, and the shock was so great
+that &quot;he fell ill of a sore disease by the miracles (intervention) of
+St. Ciaran.&quot; This happened on the night of Good Friday. The day of the
+resurrection (Easter Sunday) the head was restored, with two rings of
+gold as a peace-offering. But Turlough never recovered from the effects
+of his fright, and lingered on in bad health until the year 1086, when
+he died. He is called the &quot;modest Turlough&quot; in the Annals, for what
+special reason does not appear. It is also recorded that he performed
+&quot;intense penance for his sins&quot;&mdash;a grace which the kings and princes of
+Ireland seem often to have needed, and, if we may believe the Annals,
+always to have obtained.</p>
+
+<p>A period of anarchy ensued, during which several princes contended for
+royal honours. This compliment was finally awarded to Mac Loughlin, King
+of Aileach, and a temporary peace ensued. Its continuance was brief. In
+1095 there was a pestilence all over Europe, &quot;and some say that the
+fourth part of the men of Ireland died of the malady.&quot; A long list is
+given of its victims, lay and ecclesiastical. Several severe winters are
+recorded as having preceded this fatal event; probably they were its
+remote cause. In the year 1096, the festival of St. John Baptist fell on
+Friday. This event caused general consternation, in consequence of some
+old prophecy. A resolution &quot;of the clergy of Ireland, with the successor
+of St. Patrick<a name="FNanchor_232_233"></a><a href="#Footnote_232_233"><sup>[232]</sup></a> at their head,&quot; enjoined a general abstinence from
+Wednesday to Sunday every month, with other penitential observances; and
+&quot;the men of Ireland were saved for that time from the fire of
+vengeance.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_233_234"></a><a href="#Footnote_233_234"><sup>[233]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>But the most important event of the period was the contention between
+the northern and southern Hy-Nials. Murtough was planning, with great
+military ability, to obtain the supreme rule. The Archbishop of Armagh
+and the clergy strove twice to avert hostilities, but their interference
+was almost ineffectual. &quot;A year's peace&quot; was all they could obtain. In
+the year 1100, Murtough<a name="Page_224"></a> brought a Danish fleet against the northerns,
+but they were cut off by O'Loughlin, &quot;by killing or drowning.&quot; He also
+assembled an army at Assaroe, near Ballyshannon, &quot;with the choice part
+of the men of Ireland,&quot; but the Cinel-Connaill defended their country
+bravely, and compelled him to retire &quot;without booty, without hostages,
+without pledges.&quot; In 1101, when the twelvemonths' truce obtained by the
+clergy had expired, Murtough collected a powerful army, and devastated
+the north, without opposition. He demolished the palace of the Hy-Nials,
+called the Grianan of Aileach.<a name="FNanchor_234_235"></a><a href="#Footnote_234_235"><sup>[234]</sup></a> This was an act of revenge for a
+similar raid, committed a few years before, on the stronghold of the
+O'Briens, at Kincora, by O'Loughlin. So determined was he on
+devastation, that he commanded a stone to be carried away from the
+building in each of the sacks which had contained provisions for the
+army. He then took hostages of Ulidia, and returned to the south, having
+completed the circuit of Ireland in six weeks. The expedition was called
+the &quot;circuitous hosting.&quot; His rather original method of razing a palace,
+is commemorated in the following quatrain:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;I never heard of the billeting of grit stones,<br /></span>
+<span>Though I heard <i>[sic]</i> of the billeting of companies,<br /></span>
+<span>Until the stones of Aileach was billeted<br /></span>
+<span>On the horses of the king of the west.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_235_236"></a><a href="#Footnote_235_236"><sup>[235]</sup></a><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Murtough appears to have been a not unusual compound of piety and
+profanity. We read in one place of his reckless exploits in burning
+churches and desecrating shrines, and in others of his liberal
+endowments of the same.</p>
+
+<p>The Danes had now settled quietly in the mercantile towns which they had
+mainly contributed to form, and expended all their energies on commerce
+instead of war; but the new generation of Northmen, who had not yet
+visited Ireland, could not so easily relinquish the old project of
+conquering it. About the year 1101, Magnus planned an expedition to
+effect this purpose. He arrived in Dublin the following year; a &quot;hosting
+of the men of Ireland came to oppose him;&quot;<a name="FNanchor_236_237"></a><a href="#Footnote_236_237"><sup>[236]</sup></a> but they made peace with
+him for one year, and Murtough gave his daughter in marriage to his son
+Sitric, &quot;with many jewels and gifts.&quot; The year 1103 was distinguished
+for<a name="Page_225"></a> sanguinary conflicts. Murdhadh Drun was killed on a predatory
+excursion in Magh Cobha. Raghnall Ua h-Ocain,<a name="FNanchor_237_238"></a><a href="#Footnote_237_238"><sup>[237]</sup></a> lawgiver of Felach
+Og, was slain by the men of Magh Itha. There was a &quot;great war&quot; between
+the Cinel-Eoghain and the Ulidians; and Murtough O'Brien, with the men
+of Munster, Leinster, and Ossory, the chiefs of Connaught, and the men
+of Meath and their kings, proceeded to Magh Cobha (Donaghmore, co. Down)
+to relieve the Ulidians. When the men of Munster &quot;were wearied,&quot;
+Murtough proceeded to Ard-Macha, and left eight ounces of gold upon the
+altar, and promised eightscore cows. The northern Hy-Nials then attacked
+the camp of the Leinster men, and a spirited battle was fought. The
+Cinel-Eoghain and Cinel-Connaill returned victoriously and triumphantly
+to their forts, with valuable jewels and much wealth, together with the
+royal tent, the standard, and jewels.</p>
+
+<p>Magnus, King of Lochlann and the Isles, was slain by the Ulidians this
+year.</p>
+
+<p>It is noticeable that, in the Annals of the Four Masters, obituaries of
+saints or good men always occupy the first place. The Annals of this
+year are of unusual length; but they commence with the obituary of
+Murchadh O'Flanaghan, Arrchinneach of Ardbo, a paragon of wisdom and
+instruction, who died on his pilgrimage at Ard-Macha. A priest of
+Kildare is also mentioned, and the Tanist-Abbot of Clonmacnois, a
+prosperous and affluent man.</p>
+
+<p>It would appear that the Irish were sufficiently occupied with domestic
+wars to prevent their offering assistance elsewhere. This, however, was
+not the case. When Harold returned to England, his brother-in-law,
+Donough, lent him nine ships; and we find the Irish affording assistance
+in several other feuds of the Anglo-Saxons of this period. A deputation
+of the nobles of Man and other islands visited Dublin, and waited on
+Murtough O'Brien to solicit a king. He sent his nephew, Donnell; but he
+was soon expelled on account of his tyranny. Another Donnell O'Brien,
+his cousin, was, at the same time, lord of the Danes in Dublin. In 1114
+Murtough O'Brien was obliged to resign the crown in consequence of
+ill-health; the Annals say that he became a living skeleton. His
+brother, Dermod, took advantage of this circumstance to declare<a name="Page_226"></a> himself
+King of Munster. This obliged Murtough to resume the reins of
+government, and put himself at the head of his army. He succeeded in
+making Dermod prisoner, but eventually he was obliged to resign the
+kingdom to him, and retired into the Monastery of Lismore, where he died
+in 1119. The Annals call him the prop of the glory and magnificence of
+the western world. In the same year Nial Mac Lochlann, royal heir of
+Aileach and of Ireland, fell by the Cinel-Moain, in the twenty-eighth
+year of his age. He was the &quot;paragon of Ireland, for personal form,
+sense, hospitality, and learning.&quot; The Chief Ollamh of Ireland,
+Cucollchoille ua Biagheallain, was killed by the men of Lug and
+Tuatha-ratha (Tooragh, co. Fermanagh), with his wife, &quot;two very good
+sons,&quot; and five-and-thirty persons in one house, on the Saturday before
+Little Easter. The cause of this outrage is not mentioned. The Annals of
+the Four Masters and the Annals of Ulster record the same event, and
+mention that he was distinguished for charity, hospitality, and
+universal benevolence.</p>
+
+<p>Donnell O'Loughlin died in 1121, in the Monastery of St. Columba, at
+Derry. He is styled King of Ireland, although the power of his southern
+rival preponderated during the greater part of his reign. In 1118 Rory
+O'Connor died in the Monastery of Clonmacnois. He had been blinded some
+years previously by the O'Flaherties. This cruel custom was sometimes
+practised to prevent the succession of an obnoxious person, as freedom
+from every blemish was a <i>sine qua non</i> in Erinn for a candidate to
+royal honours. Teigue Mac Carthy, King of Desmond, died, &quot;after
+penance,&quot; at Cashel, A.D. 1124. From the time of Murtough O'Brien's
+illness, Turlough O'Connor, son of the prince who had been blinded,
+comes prominently forward in Irish history. His object was to exalt the
+Eoghanists or Desmonian family, who had been virtually excluded from the
+succession since the time of Brian Boroimh&eacute;. In 1116 he plundered
+Thomond as far as Limerick. In 1118 he led an army as far as Glanmire
+(co. Cork), and divided Munster, giving Desmond to Mac Carthy, and
+Thomond to the sons of Dermod O'Brien. He then marched to Dublin, and
+took hostages from the Danes, releasing Donnell, son of the King of
+Meath, whom they had in captivity. The following year he sailed down the
+Shannon with a fleet, and destroyed the royal palace of Kincora, hurling
+its stones and timber beams into the river. He then devoted himself to
+wholesale plundering, and expelled his late ally and father-in-law<a name="Page_227"></a> from
+Meath, ravaging the country from Traigh Li (Tralee) to the sanctuary
+lands of Lismore. In 1126 he bestowed the kingdom of Dublin on his son
+Cormac. In 1127 he drove Cormac Mac Carthy from his kingdom, and divided
+Munster in three parts. In fact, there was such a storm of war
+throughout the whole country, that St. Celsus was obliged to interfere.
+He spent a month and a year trying to establish peace, and promulgating
+rules and good customs in every district, among the laity and clergy.
+His efforts to teach &quot;good rules and manners&quot; seem to have been scarcely
+effectual, for we find an immediate entry of the decapitation of
+Ruaidhri, after he had made a &quot;treacherous prey&quot; in Aictheara. In the
+year 1128 the good Archbishop succeeded in making a year's truce between
+the Connaught men and the men of Munster. The following year the saint
+died at Ardpatrick, where he was making a visitation. He was only fifty
+years of age, but anxiety and care had worn him old. St. Celsus was
+buried at Lismore, and interred in the cemetery of the bishops.</p>
+
+<p>We must now give a brief glance at the ecclesiastical history of
+Ireland, before narrating the events which immediately preceded the
+English invasion.</p>
+
+<p>In the year 1111 a synod was convened at Fidh Aengussa, or Aengus Grove,
+near the Hill of Uisneach, in Westmeath. It was attended by fifty
+bishops, 300 priests, and 3,000 religious. Murtough O'Brien was also
+permitted to be present, and some of the nobles of his province. The
+object of the synod was to institute rules of life and manners for the
+clergy and people. St. Celsus, the Archbishop of Armagh, and
+Maelmuire<a name="FNanchor_238_239"></a><a href="#Footnote_238_239"><sup>[238]</sup></a> or Marianus O'Dunain, Archbishop of Cashel, were present.
+Attention had already been directed to certain abuses in ecclesiastical
+discipline. Such abuses must always arise from time to time in the
+Church, through the frailty of her members; but these abuses are always
+carefully reprehended as they arise, so that she is no longer
+responsible for them. It is remarkable that men of more than ordinary
+sanctity have usually been given to the Church at such periods. Some
+have withheld heretical emperors from deeds of evil, and some have
+braved the fury of heretical princes. In Ireland, happily, the rulers
+needed not such opposition; but when the country<a name="Page_228"></a> had been again and
+again devastated by war, whether from foreign or domestic sources, the
+intervention of saintly men was especially needed to restore peace, and
+to repair, as far as might be, the grievous injury which war always
+inflicts on the social state of those who have suffered from its
+devastations.</p>
+
+<p>Lanfranc, the great Archbishop of Canterbury, had already noticed the
+state of the Irish Church. He was in constant communication with the
+Danish bishops, who had received consecration from him; and their
+accounts were probably true in the main, however coloured by prejudice.
+He wrote an earnest epistle to Turlough O'Brien, whom he addresses
+respectfully as King of Ireland, and whose virtues as a Christian prince
+he highly commends. His principal object appears to have been to draw
+the king's attention to an abuse, of which the Danes had informed him,
+with regard to the sacrament of matrimony. This subject shall be noticed
+again. Pope Gregory VII. also wrote to Turlough, but principally on the
+temporal authority of the Holy See.</p>
+
+<p>The synod had four special subjects for consideration: (1) First, to
+regulate the number of bishops&mdash;an excessive and undue multiplication of
+episcopal dignity having arisen from the custom of creating chorepiscopi
+or rural bishops. It was now decided that there should be but
+twenty-four dioceses&mdash;twelve for the northern and twelve for the
+southern half of Ireland. Cashel was also recognized as an
+archiepiscopal see, and the successor of St. Jarlath was sometimes
+called Archbishop of Connaught. The custom of lay appropriations, which
+had obtained in some places, was also firmly denounced. This was an
+intolerable abuse. St. Celsus, the Archbishop of Armagh, though himself
+a member of the family who had usurped this office, made a special
+provision in his will that he should be succeeded by St. Malachy. This
+saint obtained a final victory over the sacrilegious innovators, but not
+without much personal suffering.<a name="FNanchor_239_240"></a><a href="#Footnote_239_240"><sup>[239]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>The (2) second abuse which was now noticed, referred to the sacrament of
+matrimony. The Irish were accused of abandoning their lawful wives and
+taking others, of marrying within the degrees<a name="Page_229"></a> of consanguinity, and it
+was said that in Dublin wives were even exchanged. Usher, in commenting
+on the passage in Lanfranc's letter which refers to these gross abuses,
+observes that the custom of discarding wives was prevalent among the
+Anglo-Saxons and in Scotland. This, however, was no excuse for the
+Irish. The custom was a remnant of pagan contempt of the female sex,&mdash;a
+contempt from which women were never fully released, until Christianity
+restored the fallen, and the obedience of the second Eve had atoned for
+the disobedience of the first. It appears, however, that these
+immoralities were almost confined to the half-Christianized Danes, who
+still retained many of their heathen customs. The canons of St. Patrick,
+which were always respected by the native Irish, forbid such practices;
+and the synod, therefore, had only to call on the people to observe the
+laws of the Church more strictly.</p>
+
+<p>Two other subjects, (3) one regarding the consecration of bishops, the
+other (4) referring to the ceremonies of baptism, were merely questions
+of ecclesiastical discipline, and as such were easily arranged by
+competent authority. In St. Anselm's correspondence with the prelates of
+the south of Ireland, he passes a high eulogium on their zeal and piety,
+while he deplores certain relaxations of discipline, which they were as
+anxious to reform as he could desire.</p>
+
+<p>We have already mentioned that St. Celsus appointed St. Malachy his
+successor in the Archiepiscopal See of Armagh. Malachy had been educated
+by the Abbot Imar O'Hagan, who presided over the great schools of that
+city; and the account given of his early training, sufficiently
+manifests the ability of his gifted instructor, and the high state of
+intellectual culture which existed in Ireland. While still young, St.
+Malachy undertook the restoration of the famous Abbey of Bangor. Here he
+erected a small oratory of wood, and joined himself to a few devoted men
+ardent for the perfection of a religious life. He was soon after elected
+Bishop of Connor. With the assistance of some of his faithful monks, he
+restored what war and rapine had destroyed; and was proceeding
+peacefully and successfully in his noble work, when he was driven from
+his diocese by a hostile prince. He now fled to Cormac Mac Carthy, King
+of Desmond;<a name="FNanchor_240_241"></a><a href="#Footnote_240_241"><sup>[240]</sup></a> but he was not<a name="Page_230"></a> permitted to remain here long. The See
+of Armagh was vacated by the death of St. Celsus, and Malachy was
+obliged to commence another arduous mission. It is said that it almost
+required threats of excommunication to induce him to undertake the
+charge. Bishop Gilbert of Limerick, the Apostolic-Delegate, and Bishop
+Malchus of Lismore, with other bishops and several chieftains, visited
+him in the monastery which he had erected at Ibrach,<a name="FNanchor_241_242"></a><a href="#Footnote_241_242"><sup>[241]</sup></a> and at last
+obtained compliance by promising him permission to retire when he had
+restored order in his new diocese.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/043.jpg" width="453" height="304" alt="BANGOR CASTLE." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>BANGOR CASTLE.</h4>
+
+<p>St. Malachy found his mission as painful as he had anticipated. The lay
+intruders were making a last attempt to keep up their evil custom; and,
+after the death of the usurper who made this false claim, another person
+attempted to continue it; but popular feeling was so strong against the
+wretched man, that he was obliged to fly. Ecclesiastical discipline was
+soon restored; and after Malachy had made a partition of the diocese, he
+was permitted to resign in favour of Gelasius, then Abbot of the great
+Columbian Monastery of Derry.</p><a name="Page_231"></a>
+
+<p>But peace was not yet established in Ireland. I shall return again to
+the narrative of domestic feuds, which made it a &quot;trembling sod,&quot; the
+O'Loughlins of Tyrone being the chief aggressors; for the present we
+must follow the course of ecclesiastical history briefly. St. Malachy
+was now appointed Bishop of Down, to which his old see of Connor was
+united. He had long a desire to visit Rome&mdash;a devotional pilgrimage of
+the men of Erinn from the earliest period. He was specially anxious to
+obtain a formal recognition of the archiepiscopal sees in Ireland, by
+the granting of palliums. On his way to the Holy City he visited St.
+Bernard at Clairvaux, and thus commenced and cemented the friendship
+which forms so interesting a feature in the lives of the French and
+Irish saints. It is probable that his account of the state of the Irish
+Church took a tinge of gloom from the heavy trials he had endured in his
+efforts to remove its temporary abuses. St. Bernard's ardent and
+impetuous character, even his very affectionateness, would lead him also
+to look darkly on the picture: hence the somewhat over-coloured accounts
+he has given of its state at that eventful period. St. Malachy returned
+to Ireland after an interview with the reigning Pontiff, Pope Innocent
+II. His Holiness had received him with open arms, and appointed him
+Apostolic Legate; but he declined to give the palliums, until they were
+formally demanded by the Irish prelates.</p>
+
+<p>In virtue of his legatine power, the saint assembled local synods in
+several places. He rebuilt and restored many churches; and in 1142 he
+erected the famous Cistercian Abbey of Mellifont, near Drogheda. This
+monastery was liberally endowed by O'Carroll, King of Oriel, and was
+peopled by Irish monks, whom St. Malachy had sent to Clairvaux, to be
+trained in the Benedictine rule and observances. But his great act was
+the convocation of the Synod of Inis Padraig. It was held in the year
+1148. St. Malachy presided as Legate of the Holy See; fifteen bishops,
+two hundred priests, and some religious were present at the
+deliberations, which lasted for four days. The members of the synod were
+unwilling that Malachy should leave Ireland again; but Eugene III., who
+had been a Cistercian monk, was visiting Clairvaux, and it was hoped he
+might grant the favour there. The Pope had left the abbey when the saint
+arrived, who, in a few days after, was seized with mortal sickness, and
+died on the 2nd November, 1148. His remains were interred at Clairvaux.
+His feast was changed from the 2nd of<a name="Page_232"></a> November, All Souls, to the 3rd,
+by &quot;the seniors,&quot; that he might be the more easily revered and honoured.</p>
+
+<p>In 1151 Cardinal Paparo arrived in Ireland with the palliums which had
+been solicited by St. Malachy. The insignia of dignity were conferred
+the following year, at the Council of Kells. Tithes were then introduced
+for the first time in Ireland, but they were not enforced until after
+the English invasion.</p>
+
+<p>It will be remembered that we turned to ecclesiastical history, after
+mentioning the year's truce (A.D. 1128) which had been made, through the
+intervention of St. Celsus, between the men of Munster and Connaught. In
+1129 the great Church of Clonmacnois was robbed<a name="FNanchor_242_243"></a><a href="#Footnote_242_243"><sup>[242]</sup></a> of some of its
+greatest treasures. Amongst these was a model of Solomon's Temple,
+presented by a prince of Meath, and a silver chalice burnished with
+gold, which had been engraved by a sister of King Turlough O'Connor&mdash;an
+evidence that the ladies of Ireland were by no means behind the age in
+taste and refinement.</p>
+
+<p>After the death of Donnell O'Loughlin, Turlough had full scope for the
+exercise of his ambitious projects; but in 1131 he found serious
+opposition from Connor O'Brien, who had succeeded his father, Dermod, on
+the throne of Munster. Connor now carried off hostages from Leinster and
+Meath, and defeated the cavalry of Connaught. The following year he sent
+a fleet to the western coast of Ireland. Eventually Turlough O'Connor
+was glad to make a truce with his opponents. In 1184 the consecration of
+a church at Cashel was celebrated. This is still known as Cormac's
+Chapel, and was long supposed to have been erected by the more ancient
+monarch of that name. But the good king was soon after treacherously
+slain in his own house, by Turlough O'Connor and the two sons of the
+O'Connor of Kerry. Turlough was unquestionably somewhat Spartan in his
+severities, if not Draconian in his administration of justice. In 1106
+he put out the eyes of his own son, Hugh, and in the same year he
+imprisoned another son, named Roderic. The nature of their offences is
+not manifest; but Roderic<a name="Page_233"></a> was liberated through the interference of the
+clergy. Seven years after he was again imprisoned, &quot;in violation of the
+most solemn pledges and guarantees.&quot; The clergy again interfered; from
+which we may infer that he was a favourite. They even held a public
+feast at Rathbrendan on his behalf; but he was not released until the
+following year. In the year 1136 we find the obituary of the chief
+keeper of the calendar of Ard-Macha, on the night of Good Friday. He is
+also mentioned as its chief antiquary and librarian, an evidence that
+the old custom was kept up to the very eve of the English invasion. The
+obituary of Donnell O'Duffy, Archbishop of Connaught, is also given. He
+died after Mass and celebration; according to the Annals of Clonmacnois,
+he had celebrated Mass by himself, at Clonfert, on St. Patrick's Day,
+and died immediately after. About the same time the Breinemen behaved
+&quot;so exceedingly outrageous,&quot; that they irreverently stript O'Daly,
+arch-poet of Ireland, &quot;of all his clothes.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime domestic wars multiplied with extraordinary rapidity.
+Dermod Mac Murrough, the infamous King of Leinster, now appears for the
+first time in the history of that country which he mainly contributed to
+bring under the English yoke. He commenced his career of perfidy by
+carrying off the Abbess of Kildare from her cloister, killing 170 of the
+people of Kildare, who interfered to prevent this wanton and
+sacrilegious outrage. In 1141 he endeavoured to crush the opposers of
+his atrocious tyranny by a barbarous onslaught, in which he killed two
+nobles, put out the eyes of another, and blinded<a name="FNanchor_243_244"></a><a href="#Footnote_243_244"><sup>[243]</sup></a> seventeen
+chieftains of inferior rank. A fitting commencement of his career of
+treachery towards his unfortunate country! In 1148 a temporary peace was
+made by the Primate of Armagh between the northern princes, who had
+carried on a deadly feud; but its duration, as usual, was brief.
+Turlough O'Brien was deposed by Teigue in 1151. He was assisted by
+Turlough O'Connor and the infamous Dermod. The united armies plundered
+as far as Moin M&ocirc;r,<a name="FNanchor_244_245"></a><a href="#Footnote_244_245"><sup>[244]</sup></a> where they encountered<a name="Page_234"></a> the Dalcassian forces
+returning from the plunder of Desmond. A sanguinary combat ensued, and
+the men of north Munster suffered a dreadful slaughter, leaving 7,000
+dead upon the field of battle. This terrible sacrifice of life is
+attributed to the mistaken valour of the Dal-Cais, who would neither fly
+nor ask quarter.</p>
+
+<p>In 1157 a synod was held in the Abbey of Mellifont, attended by the
+Bishop of Lismore, Legate of the Holy See, the Primate, and seventeen
+other bishops. Murtough O'Loughlin, the Monarch of Ireland, and several
+other kings, were also present. The principal object of this meeting was
+the consecration of the abbey church and the excommunication of Donough
+O'Melaghlin, who had become the common pest of the country. He was, as
+might be expected, the particular friend and ally of Dermod Mac
+Murrough. His last exploit was the murder of a neighbouring chief,
+despite the most solemn pledges. In an old translation of the Annals of
+Ulster, he is termed, with more force than elegance, &quot;a cursed atheist.&quot;
+After his excommunication, his brother Dermod was made King of Meath, in
+his place.</p>
+
+<p>At this synod several rich gifts were made to the abbey. O'Carroll,
+Prince of Oriel, presented sixty ounces of gold. O'Loughlin made a grant
+of lands, gave one hundred and forty cows and sixty ounces of gold. The
+Lady Dervorgil gave the same donation in gold, together with a golden
+chalice for the altar of Mary, with gifts for each of the other nine
+altars of the church. Dervorgil was the wife of Tiernan O'Rourke, Lord
+of Breffni, who had been dispossessed of his territories in 1152; at the
+same time she was carried off by Dermod Mac Murrough. Her abduction
+seems to have been effected with her own consent, as she carried off the
+cattle which had formed her dowry. Her husband, it would appear, had
+treated her harshly. Eventually she retired to the Monastery of
+Mellifont, where she endeavoured to atone for her past misconduct by a
+life of penance.</p>
+
+<p>Another synod was held in the year 1158, at Trim. Derry was then erected
+into an episcopal see, and Flahertach O'Brolchain, Abbot of St.
+Columba's Monastery, was consecrated its first bishop. The bishops of
+Connaught were intercepted and plundered by Dermod's soldiers; they
+therefore returned and held a provincial synod in Roscommon.</p>
+
+<p>In 1162 St. Laurence O'Toole was chosen to succeed Greine, or Gregory,
+the Danish Archbishop of Dublin. He belonged to one<a name="Page_235"></a> of the most noble
+ancient families of Leinster. His father was chieftain of the district
+of Hy-Muirahy, a portion of the present county Kildare. St. Laurence had
+chosen the ecclesiastical state early in life; at the age of twenty-five
+he was chosen Abbot of St. Kevin's Monastery, at Glendalough. The Danish
+Bishop of Dublin had been consecrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury,
+but the saint received the episcopal office from the successor of St.
+Patrick. A synod was held at Clane the year of his consecration; it was
+attended by twenty-six prelates and many other ecclesiastics. The
+college of Armagh was then virtually raised to the rank of a university,
+as it was decreed that no one, who had not been an alumnus of Armagh,
+should be appointed lector or professor of theology in any of the
+diocesan schools in Ireland. Indeed, the clergy at this period were most
+active in promoting the interests of religion, and most successful in
+their efforts, little anticipating the storm which was then impending
+over their country.</p>
+
+<p>In 1166 the Irish Monarch, O'Loughlin, committed a fearful outrage on
+Dunlevy, Prince of Dalriada. A peace had been ratified between them,
+but, from some unknown cause, O'Loughlin suddenly became again the
+aggressor, and attacked the northern chief, when he was unprepared, put
+out his eyes, and killed three of his leading officers. This cruel
+treachery so provoked the princes who had guaranteed the treaty, that
+they mustered an army at once and proceeded northwards. The result was a
+sanguinary engagement, in which the Cinel-Eoghan were defeated, and the
+Monarch, O'Loughlin, was slain. Roderick O'Connor immediately assumed
+the reins of government, and was inaugurated in Dublin with more pomp
+than had ever been manifested on such an occasion. It was the last
+glittering flicker of the expiring lamp. Submission was made to him on
+every side; and had he only possessed the ability or the patriotism to
+unite the forces under his command, he might well have set all his
+enemies at defiance. An assembly of the clergy and chieftains of Ireland
+was convened in 1167, which is said to have emulated, if it did not
+rival, the triennial <i>Fes</i> of ancient Tara. It was but the last gleam of
+sunlight, which indicates the coming of darkness and gloom. The traitor
+already had his plans prepared, and was flying from a country which
+scorned his meanness, to another country where that meanness was made
+the tool of political purposes, while the unhappy traitor was probably
+quite as heartily despised.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><br /><br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XV"></a>
+<center>
+<img src="images/046.jpg" width="467" height="277" alt="ARDMORE ROUND TOWER." title="" />
+</center>
+
+<h4>ARDMORE ROUND TOWER.</h4>
+<a name="Page_236"></a>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XV.</h2>
+
+<h4>Social life previous to the English Invasion&mdash;Domestic
+Habitations&mdash;Forts&mdash;Granard and Staigue&mdash;Crannoges and
+Log-houses&mdash;Interior of the Houses&mdash;The Hall&mdash;Food and Cooking
+Utensils&mdash;Regulations about Food&mdash;The Kind of Food used&mdash;Animal
+Food&mdash;Fish&mdash;Game&mdash;Drink and Drinking Vessels&mdash;Whisky&mdash;Heath
+Beer&mdash;Mead&mdash;Animal Produce&mdash;Butter and
+Cheese&mdash;Fire&mdash;Candles&mdash;Occupations and
+Amusements&mdash;Chess&mdash;Music&mdash;Dress&mdash;Silk&mdash;Linen&mdash;Ancient Woollen
+Garments&mdash;Gold Ornaments&mdash;Trade&mdash;General Description of the Fauna and
+Flora of the Country.</h4>
+
+<img src="images/p.jpg" width="56" height="192" align="left" alt="C" title="" />
+<p>ustoms which illustrate the social life of our
+ancestors, are scarcely the least interesting or important elements of
+history. Before we enter upon that portion of our annals which commences
+with the English invasion, under the auspices of Henry II., we shall
+give a brief account of the habitations, manners, customs, dress, food,
+and amusements of the people of Ireland. Happily there is abundant and
+authentic information on this subject, though we may be obliged to delve
+beneath the tertiary deposits of historical strata in order to obtain
+all that is required. English society and English social life were more
+or less influenced by Ireland from the fifth to the twelfth century. The
+monks who had emigrated to &quot;Saxon land&quot; were men of considerable
+intellectual culture, and, as such, had a preponderating influence,
+creditable alike to themselves<a name="Page_237"></a> and to those who bowed to its sway. From
+the twelfth to the sixteenth century, English manners and customs were
+introduced in Ireland within the Pale. The object of the present chapter
+is to show the social state of the country before the English
+invasion&mdash;a condition of society which continued for some centuries
+later in the western and southern parts of the island.</p>
+
+<p>The pagan architecture of public erections has already been as fully
+considered as our limits would permit. Let us turn from pillar-stones,
+cromlechs, and cairns, to the domestic habitations which preceded
+Christianity, and continued in use, with gradual improvements, until the
+period when English influence introduced the comparative refinements
+which it had but lately received from Norman sources. The raths, mounds,
+and forts, whose remains still exist throughout the country, preceded
+the castellated edifices, many of which were erected in the twelfth and
+thirteenth centuries, principally by English settlers. The rath was
+probably used for the protection and enclosure of cattle; and as the
+wealth of the country consisted principally in its herds, it was an
+important object. Its form is circular, having an internal diameter
+averaging from forty to two hundred feet, encompassed by a mound and
+outer fosse or ditch. In some localities, where stone is abundant and
+the soil shallow, rude walls have been formed: the raths, however, are
+principally earthwork alone. Forts were erected for defence, and the
+surrounding fosse was filled with water. They were, in fact, the
+prototypes of the more modern castle and moat. These forts were
+sometimes of considerable size, and in such cases were surrounded by
+several fosses and outworks. They were approached by a winding inclined
+plane, which at once facilitated the entrance of friends, and exposed
+comers with hostile intentions to the concentrated attacks of the
+garrison. The fort at Granard is a good example of this kind of
+building. It is probably of considerable antiquity, though it has been
+improved and rebuilt in some portions at a more modern period. The
+interior of it evidences the existence of several different apartments.
+An approach internally has been exposed on one side, and exhibits a
+wide, flat arch of common masonry, springing from the top of two side
+walls, the whole well-constructed.</p>
+
+<p>Forts of dry-wall masonry, which are, undoubtedly, the more ancient, are
+very numerous in the south-west of Ireland. It is probable that similar
+erections existed throughout the country at a<a name="Page_238"></a> former period, and that
+their preservation is attributable to the remoteness of the district.
+The most perfect of these ancient habitations is that of Staigue Fort,
+near Derryquin Castle, Kenmare. This fort has an internal diameter of
+eighty-eight feet. The masonry is composed of flat-bedded stones of the
+slate rock of the country, which show every appearance of being
+quarried, or carefully broken from larger blocks. There is no appearance
+of dressed work in the construction; but the slate would not admit of
+this, as it splinters away under the slightest blow. Still the building
+is an admirable example of constructive masonry; it is almost impossible
+to dislodge any fragment from off the filling stones from the face of
+the wall. A competent authority has pronounced that these structures
+cannot be equalled by any dry masonry elsewhere met with in the country,
+nor by any masonry of the kind erected in the present day.<a name="FNanchor_245_246"></a><a href="#Footnote_245_246"><sup>[245]</sup></a> Some
+small stone buildings are also extant in this part of Ireland, but it is
+doubtful whether they were used for ecclesiastical or domestic purposes.
+The crannoge was another kind of habitation, and one evidently much
+used, and evincing no ordinary skill in its construction. From the
+remains found in these island habitations, we may form a clear idea of
+the customs and civilization of their inmates: their food is indicated
+by the animal remains, which consist of several varieties of oxen, deer,
+goats, and sheep; the implements of cookery remain, even to the knife,
+and the blocks of stone blackened from long use as fire-places; the
+arrows, which served for war or chase, are found in abundance; the
+personal ornaments evidence the taste of the wearers, and the skill of
+the artist; while the canoe, usually of solid oak, and carefully hidden
+away, tells its own tale how entrance and exit were effected. One of the
+earliest crannoges which was discovered and examined in modern times,
+was that of Lagere, near Dunshaughlin, county Meath. It is remarkable
+that Loch Gabhair is said to have been one of the nine lakes which burst
+forth in Ireland, A.M. 3581. The destruction of this crannoge is
+recorded by the Four Masters, A.D. 933, giving evidence that it was
+occupied up to that period. In 1246 there is a record of the escape of
+Turlough O'Connor from a crannoge, after he had drowned his keepers;
+from which it would appear such structures might be used for prisons,
+and, probably, would be specially convenient for the<a name="Page_239"></a> detention of
+hostages. In 1560 we read that Teigue O'Rourke was drowned as he was
+going across a lake to sleep in a crannoge; and even so late as the
+sixteenth century, crannoges were declared to be the universal system of
+defence in the north of Ireland.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/044.jpg" width="111" height="443" alt="CELT." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>CELT.</h4>
+<p>Log-houses were also used, and were constructed of beams and planks of
+timber, something like the Swiss <i>chalet</i>. One of these ancient
+structures was discovered in Drumhalin bog, county Donegal, in 1833. The
+house consisted of a square structure, twelve feet wide and nine feet
+high: it was formed of rough planks and blocks of timber; the mortises
+were very roughly cut&mdash;a stone celt,<a name="FNanchor_246_247"></a><a href="#Footnote_246_247"><sup>[246]</sup></a> which was found lying upon the
+floor, was, probably, the instrument used to form them. The logs were
+most likely formed by a stone axe.<a name="FNanchor_247_248"></a><a href="#Footnote_247_248"><sup>[247]</sup></a> The roof was flat, and the house
+consisted of two compartments, one over the other, each four feet high.
+A paved causeway led from the house to the fire-place, on which was a
+quantity of ashes, charred wood, half-burnt turf, and hazle-nuts. So
+ancient was this habitation, that twenty-six feet of bog had grown up
+around and over it. It is supposed that this was only one portion of a
+collection of houses, which were used merely as sleeping-places. A
+slated enclosure was also traced, portions of the gates of which were
+discovered. A piece of a leathern sandal, an arrow-headed flint, and a
+wooden sword, were also found in the same locality.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/045.jpg" width="250" height="158" alt="STONE AXE." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>STONE AXE.</h4>
+<p>It is probable that wattles and clay formed the staple commodity for
+building material in ancient Erinn. Planks and beams, with rough blocks
+of wood or stone, were most likely reserved for the dwelling-place of
+chieftains. Such were the material used also for the royal residence in
+Thorney Island, a swampy morass in the<a name="Page_240"></a> Thames, secured by its insular
+position, where the early English kings administered justice; and such,
+probably, were the material of the original <i>Palais de Justice</i>, where
+the kings of Gaul entrenched themselves in a <i>pal-lis</i>, or impaled fort.</p>
+
+<p>From the description which Wright<a name="FNanchor_248_249"></a><a href="#Footnote_248_249"><sup>[248]</sup></a> gives of Anglo-Saxon domestic
+architecture, it appears to have differed but little from that which was
+in use at the same period in Ireland. The hall<a name="FNanchor_249_250"></a><a href="#Footnote_249_250"><sup>[249]</sup></a> was the most
+important part of the building, and halls of stone are alluded to in a
+religious poem at the beginning of the Exeter Book: &quot;Yet, in the earlier
+period at least, there can be little doubt that the materials of
+building were chiefly wood.&quot; The hall, both in Erinn and Saxon land, was
+the place of general meeting for all domestic purposes. Food was cooked
+and eaten in the same apartment; the chief and his followers eat at the
+same time and in the same place. On the subject of food we have ample
+details scattered incidentally through our annals. Boiling was probably
+the principal method of preparing meat, and for this purpose the Irish
+were amply provided with vessels. A brazen cauldron is lithographed in
+the <i>Ulster Arch&aelig;ological Journal</i>, which is a most interesting specimen
+of its kind. It was found in a turf bog in the county Down, at a depth
+of five feet from the surface; and as this bog has been used from time
+immemorial for supplying the neighbourhood with fuel, and is remembered
+to have been forty feet above its present level by a generation now
+living, the antiquity of the vessel is unquestionable. As a specimen of
+superior workmanship, the cauldron has been greatly admired. It is made
+of sheets of gold-coloured bronze, evidently formed by hammering: the
+rim is of much thicker metal than the rest, and is rendered stiffer by
+corrugation&mdash;a process which has been patented in England within the
+last dozen years, as a new and valuable discovery.<a name="FNanchor_250_251"></a><a href="#Footnote_250_251"><sup>[250]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>Cauldrons are constantly mentioned in the Book of Rights, in a<a name="Page_241"></a> manner
+which shows that these vessels were in constant use. It was one of the
+tributes to be presented in due form by the King of Cashel to the King
+of Tara; and in the will of Cahir M&ocirc;r, Monarch of Ireland in the second
+century, fifty copper cauldrons are amongst the items bequeathed to his
+family. Probably the poorer classes, who could not afford such costly
+vessels, may have contented themselves with roasting their food
+exclusively, unless, indeed, they employed the primitive method of
+casting red hot stones into water when they wished it boiled.</p>
+
+<p>The exact precision which characterizes every legal enactment in ancient
+Erinn, and which could not have existed in a state of barbarism, is
+manifested even in the regulations about food. Each member of the
+chieftain's family had his appointed portion, and there is certainly a
+quaintness in the parts selected for each. The <i>saoi</i> of literature and
+the king were to share alike, as we observed when briefly alluding to
+this subject in the chapter on ancient Tara; their portion was a prime
+steak. Cooks and trumpeters were specially to be supplied with &quot;cheering
+mead,&quot; it is to be supposed because their occupations required more than
+ordinary libations; the historian was to have a crooked bone; the
+hunter, a pig's shoulder: in fact, each person and each office had its
+special portion assigned<a name="FNanchor_251_252"></a><a href="#Footnote_251_252"><sup>[251]</sup></a> to it, and the distinction of ranks and
+trades affords matter of the greatest interest and of the highest
+importance to the antiquarian. There can be but little doubt that the
+custom of Tara was the custom of all the other kings and chieftains, and
+that it was observed throughout the country in every family rich enough
+to have dependents. This division of food was continued in the Highlands
+of Scotland until a late period. Dr. Johnson mentions it, in his <i>Tour
+in the Hebrides</i>, as then existing. He observes that he had not
+ascertained the details, except that the smith<a name="FNanchor_252_253"></a><a href="#Footnote_252_253"><sup>[252]</sup></a> had the head.</p>
+
+<p>The allowance for each day is also specified. Two cows, and two
+<i>tinn&eacute;s</i>,<a name="FNanchor_253_254"></a><a href="#Footnote_253_254"><sup>[253]</sup></a> and two pigs was the quantity for dinner. This allowance<a name="Page_242"></a>
+was for a hundred men. The places which the household were to occupy
+were also specified; so that while all sat at a common table,<a name="FNanchor_254_255"></a><a href="#Footnote_254_255"><sup>[254]</sup></a> there
+was, nevertheless, a certain distinction of rank. At Tara there were
+different apartments, called <i>imdas</i>, a word now used in the north of
+Ireland to denote a couch or bed. The name probably originated in the
+custom of sleeping in those halls, on the benches which surrounded them,
+or on the floor near the fire-place. In the ground plan of the
+banqueting hall at Tara, the house is shown as divided into five parts,
+which are again divided into others. Each of the two divisions extending
+along the side wall, is shown as subdivided into twelve <i>imdas</i>, which
+here mean seats; the central division is represented as containing three
+fires at equal distances, a vat, and a chandelier.</p>
+
+<p>Benches were the seats used, even by persons of rank, until a late
+period. In the French Carlovingian romances, even princes and great
+barons sat on them. Chairs were comparatively rare, and only used on
+state occasions, as late as the twelfth century. Wright gives some
+curious woodcuts of persons conversing together, who are seated on
+settles, or on seats formed in the walls round the room; such as may
+still be seen in monastic cloisters and the chapter houses of our old
+cathedrals. Food which had been roasted was probably handed round to the
+guests on the spit on which it had been cooked.<a name="FNanchor_255_256"></a><a href="#Footnote_255_256"><sup>[255]</sup></a> Such at least was
+the Anglo-Saxon fashion; and as the Irish had spits, and as forks were
+an unknown luxury for centuries later, we may presume they were served
+in a similar manner. The food was varied and abundant, probably none the
+less wholesome for being free from the Anglo-Norman refinements of
+cookery, introduced at a later period. For animal diet there were fat
+beeves, dainty venison, pork, fresh and salted, evidently as favourite a
+dish<a name="Page_243"></a> with the ancients as with the moderns&mdash;except, alas! that in the
+good old times it was more procurable. Sheep and goats also varied the
+fare, with &quot;smaller game,&quot; easily procured by chase, or shot down with
+arrows or sling stones. The land abounded in &quot;milk and honey.&quot; Wheat was
+planted at an early period; and after the introduction of Christianity,
+every monastic establishment had its mill. There were &quot;good old times&quot;
+in Ireland unquestionably. Even an English prince mentions &quot;the honey
+and wheat, the gold and silver,&quot; which he found in &quot;fair Innis-fail.&quot; It
+is probable that land was cultivated then which now lies arid and
+unreclaimed, for a writer in the <i>Ulster Arch&aelig;ological Journal</i> mentions
+having found traces of tillage, when laying out drains in remote
+unproductive districts, several feet beneath the peaty soil. Dr.
+O'Donovan also writes in the same journal: &quot;I believe the Irish have had
+wheat in the more fertile valleys and plains from a most remote period.
+It is mentioned constantly in the Brehon laws and in our most ancient
+poems.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_256_257"></a><a href="#Footnote_256_257"><sup>[256]</sup></a> Nor should we omit to mention fish in the list of edibles.
+During the summer months, fishing was a favourite and lucrative
+occupation; and if we are to believe a legend quoted in the
+<i>Transactions of the Ossianic Society</i>, the Fenians enjoyed a monopoly
+in the trade, for no man dare take a salmon, &quot;dead or alive,&quot; excepting
+a man in the Fenian ranks; and piscatory squabbles seem to have extended
+themselves into downright battles between the Northmen and the natives,
+when there was question of the possession of a weir.<a name="FNanchor_257_258"></a><a href="#Footnote_257_258"><sup>[257]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>Drinking vessels, of various shapes and materials, are constantly
+mentioned in the Book of Rights. There were drinking-horns with handsome
+handles, carved drinking-horns, variegated drinking-horns,
+drinking-horns of various colours, and drinking-horns of gold.<a name="FNanchor_258_259"></a><a href="#Footnote_258_259"><sup>[258]</sup></a> Even
+in pagan times, cups or goblets were placed beside<a name="Page_244"></a> the public wells; and
+it is related that, in the reign of Conn of the Hundred Battles, Ireland
+was so prosperous, so wealthy, and so civilized (<i>circa</i> A.D. 123) that
+those cups were made of silver. Brian revived this custom nearly a
+thousand years later. The Danes probably carried off most of these
+valuables, as there are no remains of them at present. We are able,
+however, to give an illustration of a stone drinking-cup, which is
+considered a very beautiful specimen of its kind. This great rarity was
+found in the Shannon excavations. We give a specimen below of a celt,
+and on page 246 of a celt mould, for which we have also to acknowledge
+our grateful obligations to the Council of the Royal Irish Academy.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/048.jpg" width="200" height="139" alt="STONE DRINKING-CUP." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>STONE DRINKING-CUP.</h4>
+<p>Drink was usually served to the guests after meals. Among the seven
+prerogatives for the King of Teamhair (Tara) we find:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;The fruits of Manann, a fine present;<br /></span>
+<span>And the heath fruit of Brigh Leithe;<br /></span>
+<span>The venison of Nas; the fish of the Boinn;<br /></span>
+<span>The cresses of the kindly Brosnach.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/050.jpg" width="358" height="126" alt="PALSTAVE CELT." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>PALSTAVE CELT.</h4>
+
+<p>Dr. O'Donovan suggests that the &quot;heath fruit&quot; may have been bilberries
+or whortleberries, and adds that some of the old Irish suppose that
+this, and not the heath, was the shrub from which the Danes brewed their
+beer.<a name="FNanchor_259_260"></a><a href="#Footnote_259_260"><sup>[259]</sup></a> It would appear that the Celts were not in the habit of
+excessive drinking until a comparatively recent period. In the year 1405
+we read of the death of a chieftain who died of &quot;a surfeit in drinking;&quot;
+but previous to this entry we may safely assert that the Irish were
+comparatively a sober race. The origin of the drink called whisky in
+modern parlance, is involved in considerable obscurity. Some authorities
+consider that the word is derived from the first part of the term
+usquebaugh; others suppose it to be derived from the name of a place,
+the Basque provinces, where some such<a name="Page_245"></a> compound was concocted in the
+fourteenth century. In Morewood's <i>History of Inebriating Liquors</i>, he
+gives a list of the ingredients used in the composition of usquebaugh,
+and none of these are Irish productions.</p>
+
+<p>There is a nice distinction between aqua vit&aelig; and aqua vini in the Red
+Book of Ossory, which was rescued by Dr. Graves from a heap of rubbish,
+the result of a fire in Kilkenny Castle in 1839. MacGeoghegan, in his
+annotations on the death of the chieftain above-mentioned, observes that
+the drink was not <i>aqua vit&aelig;</i> to him, but rather <i>aqua mortis</i>; and he
+further remarks, that this is the first notice of the use of <i>aqua
+vit&aelig;</i>, usquebaugh, or whisky, in the Irish annals. Mead was made from
+honey, and beer from malt; and these were, probably, the principal
+liquors at the early period<a name="FNanchor_260_261"></a><a href="#Footnote_260_261"><sup>[260]</sup></a> of which we are now writing. As to the
+heath beer of Scandinavian fame, it is probable that the heather was
+merely used as a tonic or aromatic ingredient, although the author of a
+work, published in London in 1596, entitled <i>Sundrie Newe and Artificial
+Remedies against Famine</i>, does suggest the use of heath tops to make a
+&quot;pleasing and cheape drink for Poor Men, when Malt is extream Deare;&quot;
+much, we suppose, on the same principle that shamrocks and grass were
+used as a substitute for potatoes in the famine year, when the starving
+Irish had no money to buy Indian corn. But famine years were happily
+rare in Ireland in the times of which we write; and it will be
+remembered that on one such occasion the Irish king prayed to God that
+he might die, rather than live to witness the misery he could not
+relieve.</p>
+<a name="Page_246"></a>
+<center>
+<img src="images/051.jpg" width="376" height="527" alt="MOULD FOR CASTING BRONZE CELTS." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>MOULD FOR CASTING BRONZE CELTS.</h4>
+<p>It would appear that butter was also a plentiful product then as now.
+Specimens of bog butter are still preserved, and may be found in the
+collection of the Royal Irish Academy. The butter was thus entombed
+either for safety, or to give it that peculiar flavour which makes it
+resemble the old dry Stilton cheese, so much admired by the modern <i>bon
+vivant</i>. A writer in the <i>Ulster Arch&aelig;ological Journal</i> mentions that he
+found a quantity of red cows' hair mixed with this butter, when boring a
+hole in it with a gouge. It would appear from this as if the butter had
+been made in a cow-skin, a fashion still in use among the Arabs. A
+visitor to the Museum (Mr. Wilmot Chetwode) asked to see the butter from
+Abbeyleix. He remarked that some cows' heads had been discovered in that
+neighbourhood, which belonged to the old Irish long-faced breed of
+cattle; the skin and hair remained on one head, and that was red. An
+analysis of the butter proved that it was probably made in the same way
+as the celebrated Devonshire cream, from which the butter in that part
+of England is generally prepared. The Arabs and Syrians make their
+butter now in a similar manner. There is a curious account of Irish
+butter in the <i>Irish Hudibras</i>, by William Moffat, London, 1755, from
+which it appears that bog butter was then well known:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;But let his faith be good or bad,<br /></span>
+<span>He in his house great plenty had<br /></span>
+<span>Of burnt oat bread, and butter found,<br /></span>
+<span>With garlick mixt, in boggy ground;<br /></span>
+<span>So strong, a dog, with help of wind,<br /></span>
+<span>By scenting out, with ease might find.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>A lump of butter was found, twelve feet deep, in a bog at Gortgole,
+county Antrim, rolled up in a coarse cloth. It still retains visibly the
+marks of the finger and thumb of the ancient dame who pressed it into
+its present shape.</p>
+
+<p>Specimens of cheese of great antiquity have also been discovered.<a name="Page_247"></a> It was
+generally made in the shape of bricks,<a name="FNanchor_261_262"></a><a href="#Footnote_261_262"><sup>[261]</sup></a> probably for greater
+convenience of carriage and pressure in making. Wax has also been
+discovered, which is evidently very ancient. A specimen may be seen in
+the collection of the Royal Irish Academy. According to the Book of
+Rights, the use of wax candles was a royal prerogative:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;A hero who possesses five prerogatives,<br /></span>
+<span>Is the King of Laighlin of the fort of Labhraidh:<br /></span>
+<span>The fruit of Almhain [to be brought to him] to his house;<br /></span>
+<span>And the deer of Gleann Searraigh;<br /></span>
+<span>To drink by [the light of] fair wax candles,<br /></span>
+<span>At Din Riogh, is very customary to the king.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_262_263"></a><a href="#Footnote_262_263"><sup>[262]</sup></a><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>In this matter, at least, the Irish kings and princes were considerably
+in advance of their Anglo-Saxon neighbours. Wright informs us<a name="FNanchor_263_264"></a><a href="#Footnote_263_264"><sup>[263]</sup></a> that
+their candle was a mere mass of fat, plastered round a wick, and stuck
+upon an upright stick: hence the name candlestick.</p>
+
+<p>It is probable that fire-light was, however, the principal means of
+assisting the visual organs after dark in both countries. Until
+comparatively recent times, fires were generally made on square, flat
+stones, and these could be placed, as appears to have been the case at
+Tara, in different parts of any large hall or apartment. There was
+sometimes a &quot;back stone&quot; to support the pile of wood and turf. The smoke
+got out how best it might, unless where there was a special provision
+made for its exit, in the shape of a round hole in the roof. At a later
+period a &quot;brace&quot; was sometimes made for conducting it. The brace was
+formed of upright stakes, interlaced with twigs, and plastered over,
+inside and outside, with prepared clay&mdash;the earliest idea of the modern
+chimney.</p>
+
+<p>Macaulay<a name="FNanchor_264_265"></a><a href="#Footnote_264_265"><sup>[264]</sup></a> gives us a picture of an ancient Roman fire-side, and the
+occupations of those who sat round it. We can, perhaps, form a more
+accurate and reliable idea of the dress, amusements, and occupations of
+those who surrounded the hall-fires of ancient Tara, or the humble,
+domestic hearths of the crannoges or wattled houses.</p>
+<a name="Page_248"></a>
+<p>The amusements of the pre-Christian Celt were, undeniably, intellectual.
+Chess has already been mentioned more than once in this work as a
+constant occupation of princes and chieftains. Indeed, they appear to
+have sat down to a game with all the zest of a modern amateur. A few
+specimens of chessmen have been discovered: a king, elaborately carved,
+is figured in the Introduction to the Book of Rights. It belonged to Dr.
+Petrie, and was found, with some others, in a bog in the county Meath.
+The chessmen of ancient times appear to have been rather formidable as
+weapons. In the <i>T&aacute;in b&oacute; Chuailgn&eacute;</i>, Cuchullain is represented as having
+killed a messenger, who told him a lie, with a chessman, &quot;which pierced
+him to the centre of his brain.&quot; English writers speak of the use of
+chess immediately after the Conquest, and say that the Saxons learned
+the game from the Danes. The Irish were certainly acquainted with it at
+a much earlier period; if we are to credit the Annals, it was well known
+long before the introduction of Christianity. Wright gives an engraving
+of a Quarrel at Chess, in which Charles, the son of the Emperor
+Charlemagne, is represented knocking out the brains of his adversary
+with a chessboard. The illustration is ludicrously graphic, and the
+unfortunate man appears to submit to his doom with a touching grace of
+helpless resignation.</p>
+
+<p>We may then suppose that chess was a favourite evening amusement of the
+Celt. Chessboards at least were plentiful, for they are frequently
+mentioned among the rights of our ancient kings. But music was the Irish
+amusement <i>par excellence</i>; and it is one of the few arts for which they
+are credited. The principal Irish instruments were the harp, the
+trumpet, and the bagpipe. The harp in the Museum of Trinity College,
+Dublin, usually known as Brian Boroimh&eacute;'s harp, is supposed, by Dr.
+Petrie, to be the oldest instrument of the kind now remaining in Europe.
+It had but one row of strings, thirty in number; the upright pillar is
+of oak, and the sound-board of red sallow. The minute and beautiful
+carving on all parts of the instrument, attests a high state of artistic
+skill at whatever period it was executed. As the harp is only thirty-two
+inches high, it is supposed that it was used by ecclesiastics in the
+church services, Cambrensis<a name="FNanchor_265_266"></a><a href="#Footnote_265_266"><sup>[265]</sup></a> mentions this custom; and there is<a name="Page_249"></a>
+evidence of its having existed from the first introduction of
+Christianity. Harps of this description are figured on the knees of
+ecclesiastics on several of our ancient stone crosses.</p>
+
+<p>The subject of Irish music would require a volume, and we cannot but
+regret that it must be dismissed so briefly. The form of the harp has
+been incorrectly represented on our coins. It was first assumed in the
+national arms about the year 1540. When figured on the coins of Henry
+VIII., the artist seems to have taken the Italian harp of twenty-four
+strings for his model; but in the national arms sketched on the map of
+Ireland in the State Papers, executed in the year 1567, the form is more
+correct. That the Irish possessed this musical instrument in
+pre-Christian times, cannot be doubted. The ornamental cover of an Irish
+MS., which Mr. Ferguson considers to date prior to A.D. 1064, contains
+five examples of the harp of that period. This, and the sculptured harp
+at Nieg, in Rosshire, are believed to be the earliest delineations of
+the perfect harp. Dr. Bunting gives a sketch of a harp and harper, taken
+from one of the compartments of a sculptured cross at Ullard, county
+Kilkenny. This is a remarkable example. The cross is supposed to be
+older than that of Monasterboice, which was erected A.D. 830, and this
+is believed to be the first specimen of a harp without a fore pillar
+that has been discovered out of Egypt. If the Irish harp be really a
+variety of the cithara, derived through an Egyptian channel, it would
+form another important link in the chain of evidence, which leads us
+back to colonization from Egypt through Scythia. Captain Wilford
+observes,<a name="FNanchor_266_267"></a><a href="#Footnote_266_267"><sup>[266]</sup></a> that there may be a clue to the Celtic word bard in the
+Hindoo <i>b&aacute;rd&aacute;tri</i>; but the Irish appellation appears to be of
+comparatively modern use. It is, however, a noticeable fact, that the
+farther we extend our inquiries, the more forcibly we are directed to
+the East as the cradle of our music. Several recent travellers have
+mentioned the remarkable similarity between Celtic airs and those which
+they heard in different parts of Asia.<a name="FNanchor_267_268"></a><a href="#Footnote_267_268"><sup>[267]</sup></a> Sir W. Ouseley observed, at
+the close of the last century, that many Hindoo melodies possessed the
+plaintive simplicity of the Scotch and Irish.</p>
+
+<p>A German scholar has written a work, to prove that the pentatonic scale
+was brought over by the Celts from Asia, and that it<a name="Page_250"></a> was preserved
+longer in Scotland than elsewhere, on account of the isolated position
+of that country.<a name="FNanchor_268_269"></a><a href="#Footnote_268_269"><sup>[268]</sup></a> The Phoenicians are supposed to have invented the
+<i>kinnor, trigonon</i>, and several other of the most remarkable instruments
+of antiquity. Their skill as harpists, and their love of music, are
+indicated by the prophetic denunciation in Ezechiel, where the ceasing
+of songs and the sound of the harp are threatened as a calamity they
+were likely specially to feel.</p>
+
+<p>We give at least one evidence that the Irish monks practised the choral
+performance of rhythmical hymns. Colgan supplies the proof, which we
+select from one of the Latin hymns of St. Columba:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;Protegat nos altissimus,<br /></span>
+<span>De suis sanctis sedibus,<br /></span>
+<span>Dum ibi hymnos canimus,<br /></span>
+<span>Decem statutis vicibus.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Mr. O'Curry gives the names of all the ancient Irish musical instruments
+as follows:&mdash;<i>Cruit</i>, a harp; <i>Timpan</i>, a drum, or tambourine; <i>Corn</i>, a
+trumpet; <i>Stoc</i>, a clarion; <i>Pipai</i>, the pipes; <i>Fidil</i>, the fiddle. He
+adds: &quot;All those are mentioned in an ancient poem in the Book of
+Leinster, a MS. of about the year 1150, now in the Library of Trinity
+College. The first four are found in various old tales and descriptions
+of battles.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>We shall find how powerful was the influence of Irish music on the Irish
+race at a later period of our history, when the subject of political
+ballads will be mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>The dress of the rich and the poor probably varied as much in the
+century of which we write as at the present day. We have fortunately
+remains of almost every description of texture in which the Irish Celt
+was clad; so that, as Sir W. Wilde has well observed, we are not left to
+conjecture, or forced to draw analogies from the habits of
+half-civilized man in other countries at the present day.</p>
+
+<p>In the year 1821 the body of a male adult was found in a bog on the
+lands of Gallagh, near Castleblakeney, county Galway, clad in its<a name="Page_251"></a>
+antique garb of deerskin. A few fragments of the dress are preserved,
+and may be seen in the collection of the Royal Irish Academy. Portions
+of the seams still remain, and are creditable specimens of early
+needlework. The material employed in sewing was fine gut of three
+strands, and the regularity and closeness of the stitching cannot fail
+to excite admiration. It is another of the many proofs that, even in the
+earliest ages, the Celt was gifted with more than ordinary skill in the
+execution of whatever works he took in hand. After all, the skin of
+animals is one of the most costly and appreciated adornments of the
+human race, even at the present day; and our ancestors differ less from
+us in the kind of clothes they wore, than in the refinements by which
+they are fashioned to modern use. It is stated in the old bardic tale of
+the <i>T&aacute;in b&oacute; Chuailgn&eacute;</i>, that the charioteer of the hero was clothed in
+a tunic of deerskin. This statement, taken in connexion with the fact
+above-mentioned, is another evidence that increased knowledge is daily
+producing increased respect for the veracity of those who transmitted
+the accounts of our ancestral life, which, at one time, were supposed to
+be purely mythical. Skin or leather garments were in use certainly until
+the tenth century, in the form of cloaks. It is supposed that
+Muircheartach obtained the soubriquet &quot;of the leathern cloaks,&quot; from the
+care which he took in providing his soldiers with them; and it is said
+that, in consequence of this precaution, there was not a single man lost
+in this campaign.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/052.jpg" width="392" height="232" alt="ANCIENT BOOT." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>ANCIENT BOOT.</h4>
+<p>We give a specimen of an ancient shoe and boot, from the collection of
+the Royal Irish Academy. It would appear as if the Celt was rather in
+advance of the Saxon in the art of shoemaking; for<a name="Page_252"></a> Mr. Fairholt has been
+obliged to give an illustration selected from Irish remains, in his
+history, although it is exclusively devoted to British costume. In
+illustrating the subject of gold ornaments, he has also made a selection
+from the same source. Some curious specimens of shoes joined together,
+and therefore perfectly useless for ordinary wear, have also been
+discovered. Sir W. Wilde conjectures they may have been used by
+chieftains as inauguration shoes.<a name="FNanchor_269_270"></a><a href="#Footnote_269_270"><sup>[269]</sup></a></p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/053.jpg" width="441" height="200" alt="ANCIENT SHOE." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>ANCIENT SHOE.</h4>
+<p>Saffron was a favourite colour, though it does not appear evident how
+the dye was procured. There is no doubt the Irish possessed the art of
+dyeing from an early period. Its introduction is attributed to King
+Tighearnmas, who reigned from A.M. 3580 to 3664. It is probable the
+Phoenicians imparted this knowledge to our ancestors. Although our old
+illuminations are not as rich in figures as those from which English
+historians have obtained such ample information regarding the early
+costume of that country, we have still some valuable illustrations of
+this interesting subject. These representations also are found to
+correspond faithfully, even in the details of colour, with the remains
+which have been discovered from time to time. Our ancient crosses give
+immense scope for antiquarian research, though the costumes are
+principally ecclesiastical, and hence are not of so much general
+interest. But the Book of Rights<a name="FNanchor_270_271"></a><a href="#Footnote_270_271"><sup>[270]</sup></a> affords ample information, as far
+as mere description, of the clothing of a higher class. While the
+peasant was covered with a garment of untanned skin or fur, however
+artistically sown together, the bards, the chieftains, and the monarchs
+had their tunics [<i>imar</i>] of golden borders, their mantles [<i>leanna</i>] or
+shirts of white wool or deep purple, their fair beautiful matals, and
+their cloaks of every colour. If we add to this costume the magnificent
+ornaments which still remain to attest the truth of the bardic accounts
+of Erinn's ancient greatness, we may form a correct picture of the
+Celtic noble as he stood in Tara's ancient palace; and we must coincide
+in the opinion of the learned editor of the Catalogue of the Royal Irish
+Academy, that &quot;the variegated and glowing colours, as well as the
+gorgeous decorations of the different articles of dress enumerated in
+the Book of Rights, added to the brilliancy of the arms, must have
+rendered the Irish costume of the eighth and ninth centuries very
+attractive.&quot;</p>
+<a name="Page_253"></a>
+<p>With a passing glance at our ancient <i>Fauna</i> and <i>Flora</i>, and the
+physical state of the country at this period, we must conclude briefly.</p>
+
+<p>It is probable that the province of Ulster, which was styled by statute,
+in Queen Elizabeth's time, &quot;the most perilous place in all the isle,&quot;
+was much in the same state as to its physical characteristics in the
+century of which we write. It was densely wooded, and strong in
+fortresses, mostly placed on lakes, natural or artificial. Two great
+roads led to this part of Ireland&mdash;the &quot;Gap of the North,&quot; by
+Carrickmacross, and the historically famous pass by Magh-Rath. From the
+former place to Belturbet the country was nearly impassable, from its
+network of bogs, lakes, and mountains. We shall find at a later period
+what trouble these natural defences gave to the English settlers.</p>
+
+<p>Munster so abounded in woods, that it was proposed, in 1579, to employ
+4,000 soldiers for the sole purpose of hewing them down. Indeed, its
+five great forests were the strongholds of the Earls of<a name="Page_254"></a> Desmond; and
+enough evidence still remains at Glengariff and Killarney, to manifest
+the value of their sylvan possessions. The cold and withering blasts of
+the great Atlantic, appear to have stunted or hindered the growth of
+trees in Connaught. In 1210 the Four Masters mention the wilderness of
+Cinel-Dorfa, its principal forest; but it was amply provided with other
+resources for the protection of native princes. In 1529 Chief Baron
+Finglas gave a list of dangerous passes, with the recommendation that
+the &quot;Lord Deputy be eight days in every summer cutting passes into the
+woods next adjoining the king's subjects.&quot;</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/054.jpg" width="500" height="479" alt="HEAD OF OX." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>HEAD OF OX.</h4>
+<p>In Leinster the forests had been cleared at an earlier period; and the
+country being less mountainous, was more easily cultivated. But this
+portion of Ireland contained the well-known Curragh of Kildare, which
+has its history also, and a more ancient one than its modern visitors
+are likely to suppose. The Curragh is mentioned for the first time in
+the <i>Liber Hymnorum</i>, in a hymn in praise of St. Brigid. The Scholiast
+in a contemporary gloss says: &quot;<i>Currech,<a name="Page_255"></a> a cursu equorum dictus est</i>.&quot;
+It is also mentioned in Cormac's Glossary, where the etymology is
+referred to running or racing. But the most important notice is
+contained in the historical tale of the destruction of the mansion of D&aacute;
+Derga.<a name="FNanchor_271_272"></a><a href="#Footnote_271_272"><sup>[271]</sup></a> In this, Connair&eacute; M&ocirc;r, who was killed A.D. 60, is
+represented as having gone to the games at the Curragh with four
+chariots. From this and other sources we may conclude, that
+chariot-races preceded horse-races in ancient Erinn, and that the
+Curragh has been used as a place of public amusement for the last 2,000
+years. It would appear that every province in Ireland possessed an
+<i>Aenach</i> or &quot;fair-green,&quot; where the men assembled to celebrate their
+games and festivals. In an old list of Irish Triads, the three great
+<i>Aenachs</i> of Ireland are said to have been <i>Aenach Crogan</i>, in
+Connaught; <i>Aenach Taillten</i>, in Meath; and <i>Aenach Colmain</i>, the
+Curragh. The last would appear, however, to have been frequented by
+persons from all parts of Ireland; and it is not a little strange that
+it should still be used in a similar manner as a place of public
+amusement. Ireland in the tenth century and Ireland in the nineteenth
+form a painful contrast, notwithstanding the boasted march of intellect.
+The ancient forests have been hewn down with little profit<a name="FNanchor_272_273"></a><a href="#Footnote_272_273"><sup>[272]</sup></a> to the
+spoiler, and to the injury in many ways of the native. The noble rivers
+are there still, and the mountains look as beautiful in the sunsets of
+this year of grace as they did so many hundred years before; but the
+country, which was in &quot;God's keeping&quot; then, has but little improved
+since<a name="Page_256"></a> it came into the keeping of man; for the poor tenant, who may be
+here to-day, and to-morrow cast out on the wayside, has but substituted
+ill-fenced and ill-cultivated fields for wide tracts of heather and
+moorland, which had at least the recommendation of attractive scenery,
+and of not suggesting painful reflections.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/056.jpg" width="400" height="579" alt="HEADS OF IRISH WOLF DOGS." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>HEADS OF IRISH WOLF DOGS.</h4>
+
+<p>The most formidable, if not the largest, of the carnivora in this
+island, was the brown bear. The wolf lingered on until the beginning of
+the last century; and the Irish greyhound has passed with it also. The
+gigantic Irish elk, <i>Cervus megaseros</i>, belongs more to the
+palaeontologist than to the historian, as it is supposed to have existed
+only in pre-historic times. A smaller variety has been found in peat
+overlaying the clay, from which it is inferred that some species may
+have been contemporary with the human race. The horse co-existed with
+the elephant. The red deer was the principal object of chase from an
+early period. The wild boar found abundant food from our noble oaks; and
+the hare, the rabbit, the goat, and the sheep supplied the wants of the
+Celt in ancient as in modern times. But the great wealth of Ireland
+consisted in her cows, which then, as now, formed a staple article of
+commerce. Indeed, most of the ancient feuds were simply cattle raids,
+and the successful party signalized his victory by bearing off the
+bovine wealth of the vanquished enemy.</p>
+
+<p>It is impossible exactly to estimate the population of Ireland at this
+period with any degree of reliable exactitude. The only method of
+approximating thereto should be based on a calculation of the known or
+asserted number of men in arms at any given time. When Roderic and his
+allies invested the Normans in Dublin, he is said to have had 50,000
+fighting men. Supposing this to include one-fourth of all the men of the
+military age in the country, and to bear the proportion of one-fifth to
+the total number of the inhabitants, it would give a population of about
+a million, which would probably be rather under than over the correct
+estimate.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><br /><br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/057.jpg" width="428" height="250" alt="FERRITER&#39;S CASTLE." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>FERRITER&#39;S CASTLE.</h4>
+<a name="Page_257"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XVI.</h2>
+
+<h4>The English Invasion&mdash;Dermod's Interview with Henry II.&mdash;Henry grants
+Letters-patent&mdash;Dermod obtains the assistance of Strongbow, Earl de
+Clare&mdash;He returns to Ireland&mdash;Arrival of English Forces under
+FitzStephen&mdash;Fatal Indifference of Roderic, the Irish Monarch&mdash;He is at
+last roused to action, but acknowledges Dermod's Authority almost
+without a Struggle&mdash;Strongbow's Genealogy&mdash;He obtains a Tacit Permission
+to invade Ireland&mdash;His Arrival in Ireland&mdash;Marriage of Strongbow and
+Eva&mdash;Death of Dermod Mac Murrough&mdash;Strongbow proclaims himself King of
+Leinster&mdash;Difficulties of his Position&mdash;Siege of Dublin&mdash;Strongbow's
+Retreat&mdash;He returns to England.</h4>
+
+<h5>[A.D. 1168-1171.]</h5>
+
+<img src="images/z.jpg" align="left" width="61" height="208" alt="U" title="" />
+<p>ntil this period (A.D. 1168) the most friendly relations appear to have
+existed between England and Ireland. Saxon nobles and princes had fled
+for shelter, or had come for instruction to the neighbouring shores. The
+assistance of Irish troops had been sought and readily obtained by them.
+Irish merchants<a name="FNanchor_273_274"></a><a href="#Footnote_273_274"><sup>[273]</sup></a> had taken their goods to barter in English markets;
+but when the Norman had won the Saxon crown, and crushed the Saxon race
+under his iron heel, the restless spirit of the old Viking race looked
+out for a new quarry, and long before Dermod had betrayed his country,
+that country's fate was sealed.</p>
+
+<p>William Rufus is reported to have said, as he stood on the rocks near
+St. David's, that he would make a bridge with his ships from that spot
+to Ireland&mdash;a haughty boast, not quite so easily accomplished. His
+speech<a name="Page_258"></a> was repeated to the King of Leinster, who inquired &quot;if the king,
+in his great threatening, had added, 'if it so please God'?&quot; The
+reporter answered in the negative. &quot;Then,&quot; said he, &quot;seeing this king
+putteth his trust only in man, and not in God, I fear not his coming.&quot;
+When Dermod Mac Murrough was driven in disgrace from Ireland, he fled at
+once to Bristol. There he learned that Henry was still in Aquitaine, and
+thither, with a perseverance worthy of a better cause, he followed the
+English king. Henry was only too happy to listen to his complaints, and
+forward his views; but he was too much occupied with his personal
+affairs to attempt the conquest of a kingdom. Letters-patent were
+incomparably more convenient than men-at-arms, and with letters-patent
+the renegade was fain to be content. Dermod only asked help to recover
+the kingdom from which he had been expelled for his crimes; Henry
+pretended no more than to give the assistance asked, and for all reward
+only wished that Dermod should pay a vassal's homage to the English
+king. Henry may have known that his client was a villain, or he may not.
+Henry may have intended to annex Ireland to the British dominions (if he
+could), or he may merely have hoped for some temporary advantage from
+the new connexion. Whatever he knew or whatever he hoped, he received
+Dermod &quot;into the bosom of his grace and benevolence,&quot; and he did but
+distantly insinuate his desires by proclaiming him his &quot;faithful and
+liege subject.&quot; The royal letter ran thus:&mdash;&quot;Henry, King of England,
+Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and Earl of Anjou, to all his liegemen,
+English, Norman, Welsh, and Scotch, and to all the nation under his
+dominion, sends greeting. As soon as the present letter shall<a name="Page_259"></a> come to
+your hands, know that Dermod, Prince of Leinster, has been received into
+the bosom of our grace and benevolence: wherefore, whosoever, within the
+ample extent of our territories, shall be willing to lend aid towards
+this prince as our faithful and liege subject, let such person know that
+we do hereby grant to him for said purpose our licence and favour.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>In this document there is not even the most remote reference to the Bull
+of Adrian, conferring the island of Ireland on Henry, although this Bull
+had been obtained some time before. In whatever light we may view this
+omission, it is certainly inexplicable.</p>
+
+<p>For some time Dermod failed in his efforts to obtain assistance. After
+some fruitless negotiations with the needy and lawless adventurers who
+thronged the port of Bristol, he applied to the Earl of Pembroke,
+Richard de Clare. This nobleman had obtained the name of Strongbow, by
+which he is more generally known, from his skill in archery. Two other
+young men of rank joined the party; they were sons of the beautiful and
+infamous Nesta,<a name="FNanchor_274_275"></a><a href="#Footnote_274_275"><sup>[274]</sup></a> once the mistress of Henry I., but now the wife of
+Gerald, Governor of Pembroke and Lord of Carew. The knights were Maurice
+FitzGerald and Robert FitzStephen. Dermod had promised them the city of
+Wexford and two cantreds of land as their reward. Strongbow was to
+succeed him on the throne of Leinster, and to receive the hand of his
+young and beautiful daughter, Eva, in marriage.</p>
+
+<p>There is considerable uncertainty as to the real date and the precise
+circumstances of Dermod's arrival in Ireland. According to one account,
+he returned at the close of the year 1168, and concealed himself during
+the winter in a monastery of Augustinian Canons at Ferns, which he had
+founded. The two principal authorities are Giraldus Cambrensis and
+Maurice Regan; the latter was Dermod Mac Murrough's secretary. According
+to his account, Robert FitzStephen landed at Bannow, near Waterford, in
+May, 1169, with an army of three hundred archers, thirty knights, and
+sixty men-at-arms.<a name="FNanchor_275_276"></a><a href="#Footnote_275_276"><sup>[275]</sup></a><a name="Page_260"></a> A second detachment arrived the next day, headed
+by Maurice de Prendergast, a Welsh gentleman, with ten knights and sixty
+archers. Dermod at once assembled his men, and joined his allies. He
+could only muster five hundred followers; but with their united forces,
+such as they were, the outlawed king and the needy adventurers laid
+siege to the city of Wexford. The brave inhabitants of this mercantile
+town at once set forth to meet them; but, fearing the result if attacked
+in open field by well-disciplined troops, they fired the suburbs, and
+entrenched themselves in the town. Next morning the assaulting party
+prepared for a renewal of hostilities, but the clergy of Wexford advised
+an effort for peace: terms of capitulation were negotiated, and Dermod
+was obliged to pardon, when he would probably have preferred to
+massacre. It is said that FitzStephen burned his little fleet, to show
+his followers that they must conquer or die. Two cantreds of land,
+comprising the present baronies of Forth and Bargy,<a name="FNanchor_276_277"></a><a href="#Footnote_276_277"><sup>[276]</sup></a> were bestowed<a name="Page_261"></a>
+on him: and thus was established the first English colony in Ireland.
+The Irish princes and chieftains appear to have regarded the whole
+affair with silent contempt. The Annals say they &quot;set nothing by the
+Flemings;&quot;<a name="FNanchor_277_278"></a><a href="#Footnote_277_278"><sup>[277]</sup></a> practically, they set nothing by any of the invaders.
+Could they have foreseen, even for one moment, the consequences of their
+indifference, we cannot doubt but that they would have acted in a very
+different manner. Roderic, the reigning monarch, was not the man either
+to foresee danger, or to meet it when foreseen; though we might pardon
+even a more sharp-sighted and vigilant warrior, for overlooking the
+possible consequence of the invasion of a few mercenary troops, whose
+only object appeared to be the reinstatement of a petty king. Probably,
+the troops and their captains were equally free from suspecting what
+would be the real result of their proceedings.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/055.jpg" width="423" height="407" alt="BARGY CASTLE." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>BARGY CASTLE.</h4>
+<p>The fair of Telltown was celebrated about this time; and from the
+accounts given by the Annals of the concourse of people, and the number
+of horsemen who attended it, there can be little doubt that Ireland was
+seldom in a better position to resist foreign invasion. But unity of
+purpose and a competent leader were wanted then, as they have been
+wanted but too often since. Finding so little opposition to his plans,
+Mac Murrough determined to act on the offensive. He was now at the head
+of 3,000 men. With this force he marched into the adjoining territory of
+Ossory, and made war on its chief, Donough FitzPatrick; and after a
+brave but unsuccessful resistance, it submitted to his rule.<a name="FNanchor_278_279"></a><a href="#Footnote_278_279"><sup>[278]</sup></a> The
+Irish monarch was at length aroused to some degree of apprehension. He
+summoned a hosting of the men of Ireland at Tara; and with the army thus
+collected, assisted by the Lords of Meath, Oriel, Ulidia, Breffni, and
+some northern chieftains, he at once proceeded to Dublin. Dermod was
+alarmed, and retired to Ferns. Roderic pursued him thither. But
+dissension<a name="Page_262"></a> had already broken out in the Irish camp: the Ulster chiefs
+returned home; the contingent was weakened; and, either through fear, or
+from the natural indolence of his pacific disposition, he agreed to
+acknowledge Mac Murrough's authority. Mac Murrough gave his son Cormac
+as hostage for the fulfilment of the treaty. A private agreement was
+entered into between the two kings, in which Dermod pledged himself to
+dismiss his foreign allies as soon as possible, and to bring no more
+strangers into the country. It is more than probable that he had not the
+remotest idea of fulfilling his promise; it is at least certain that he
+broke it the first moment it was his interest to do so. Dermod's object
+was simply to gain time, and in this he succeeded.</p>
+
+<p>Maurice FitzGerald arrived at Wexford a few days after, and the recreant
+king at once proceeded to meet him; and with this addition to his army,
+marched to attack Dublin. The Dano-Celts, who inhabited this city, had
+been so cruelly treated by him, that they dreaded a repetition of his
+former tyrannies. They had elected a governor for themselves; but
+resistance was useless. After a brief struggle, they were obliged to sue
+for peace&mdash;a favour which probably would not have been granted without
+further massacres and burnings, had not Dermod wished to bring his arms
+to bear in another quarter.</p>
+
+<p>Donnell O'Brien, Prince of Thomond, who had married a daughter of
+Dermod, had just rebelled against Roderic, and the former was but too
+willing to assist him in his attempt. Thus encouraged where he should
+have been treated with contempt, and hunted down with ignominy, his
+ambition became boundless. He played out the favourite game of traitors;
+and no doubt hoped, when he had consolidated his own power, that he
+could easily expel his foreign allies. Strongbow had not yet arrived,
+though the winds had been long enough &quot;at east and easterly.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_279_280"></a><a href="#Footnote_279_280"><sup>[279]</sup></a> His
+appearance was still delayed. The fact was, that the Earl was in a
+critical position. Henry and his barons were never on the most<a name="Page_263"></a> amiable
+terms; and there were some very special reasons why Strongbow should
+prove no exception to the rule.</p>
+
+<p>The first member of the Earl's family who had settled in England, was
+Richard, son of the Norman Earl Brien, a direct descendant of Robert
+&quot;the Devil,&quot; Duke of Normandy, father of William the Conqueror. In
+return for services at the battle of Hastings, and general assistance in
+conquering the Saxon, this family obtained a large grant of land in
+England, and took the title of Earl of Clare from one of their
+ninety-five lordships in Suffolk.<a name="FNanchor_280_281"></a><a href="#Footnote_280_281"><sup>[280]</sup></a> The Strongbow family appears to
+have inherited a passion for making raids on neighbouring lands, from
+their Viking ancestors. Strongbow's father had obtained his title of
+Earl of Pembroke, and his property in the present county of that name,
+from his successful marauding expedition in Wales, in 1138. But as he
+revolted against Stephen, his lands were seized by that king; and after
+his death, in 1148, his son succeeded to his very numerous titles,
+without any property commensurate thereto. Richard was not in favour
+with his royal master, who probably was jealous of the Earl, despite his
+poverty; but as Strongbow did not wish to lose the little he had in
+England, or the chance of obtaining more in Ireland, he proceeded at
+once to the court, then held in Normandy, and asked permission for his
+new enterprise. Henry's reply was so carefully worded, he could declare
+afterwards that he either had or had not given the permission, whichever
+version of the interview might eventually prove most convenient to the
+royal interests. Strongbow took the interpretation which suited his own
+views, and proceeded to the scene of action with as little delay as
+possible. He arrived in Ireland, according to the most generally
+received account, on the vigil of St. Bartholomew, A.D. 1170, and landed
+at Dundonnell, near Waterford. His uncle, Hervey de Montmarisco, had
+already arrived, and established himself in a temporary fort, where he
+had been attacked by the brave citizens of Wexford. But the besieged
+maintained their position, killed five hundred men, and made prisoners
+of seventy of the principal citizens of Waterford. Large sums of money
+were offered for their ransom, but in vain. They were brutally murdered
+by the English soldiers, who first broke<a name="Page_264"></a> their limbs, and then hurled
+them from a precipice into the sea. It was the first instalment of the
+utterly futile theory, so often put in practice since that day, of
+&quot;striking terror into the Irish;&quot; and the experiment was quite as
+unsuccessful as all such experiments have ever been.<a name="FNanchor_281_282"></a><a href="#Footnote_281_282"><sup>[281]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>While these cruelties were enacting, Strongbow had been collecting
+forces in South Wales; but, as he was on the very eve of departure, he
+received a peremptory order from Henry, forbidding him to leave the
+kingdom. After a brief hesitation, he determined to bid defiance to the
+royal mandate, and set sail for Ireland. The day after his arrival he
+laid siege to Waterford. The citizens behaved like heroes, and twice
+repulsed their assailants; but their bravery could not save them in the
+face of overpowering numbers. A breach was made in the wall; the
+besiegers poured in; and a merciless massacre followed. Dermod arrived
+while the conflict was at its height, and for once he has the credit of
+interfering on the side of mercy. Reginald, a Danish lord, and O'Phelan,
+Prince of the Deisi, were about to be slain by their captors, but at his
+request they were spared, and the general carnage was suspended. For the
+sake of common humanity, one could wish to think that this was an act of
+mercy. But Mac Murrough had his daughter Eva with him; he wished to have
+her nuptials with Strongbow celebrated at once; and he could scarcely
+accomplish his purpose while men were slaying their fellows in a
+cold-blooded massacre. The following day the nuptials were performed.
+The English Earl, a widower, and long past the prime of manhood, was
+wedded to the fair young Celtic maiden; and the marriage procession
+passed lightly over the bleeding bodies of the dying and the dead. Thus
+commenced the union between Great Britain and Ireland: must those
+nuptials be for ever celebrated in tears and blood?</p>
+
+<p>Immediately after the ceremony, the army set out for Dublin. Roderic had
+collected a large force near Clondalkin, and Hosculf, the Danish
+governor of the city, encouraged by their presence, had again revolted
+against Dermod. The English army having learned that the woods and
+defiles between Wexford and Dublin were well guarded, had made forced
+marches along the mountains, and succeeded in reaching the capital long
+before they were expected.<a name="Page_265"></a> Their decision and military skill alarmed the
+inhabitants&mdash;they might also have heard reports of the massacres at
+Wexford; be this as it may, they determined to negotiate for peace, and
+commissioned their illustrious Archbishop, St. Laurence O'Toole, to make
+terms with Dermod. While the discussion was pending, two of the English
+leaders, Raymond <i>le Gros</i> and Miles de Cogan, obtained an entrance into
+the city, and commenced a merciless butchery of the inhabitants. When
+the saint returned he heard cries of misery and groans of agony in all
+quarters, and it was not without difficulty that he succeeded in
+appeasing the fury of the soldiers, and the rage of the people, who had
+been so basely treated.</p>
+<a name="Marriage_of_Eva_and_Strongbow"></a>
+<center>
+<img src="images/058.jpg" width="472" height="611" alt="Marriage of Eva and Strongbow." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>Marriage of Eva and Strongbow.</h4>
+<p>The Four Masters accuse the people of Dublin of having attempted to
+purchase their own safety at the expense of the national interests, and
+say that &quot;a miracle was wrought against them&quot; as a judgment for their
+selfishness. Hosculf, the Danish governor, fled to the Orkneys, with
+some of the principal citizens, and Roderic withdrew his forces to
+Meath, to support O'Rourke, on whom he had bestowed a portion of that
+territory. Miles de Cogan was invested with the government of Dublin,
+and Dermod marched to Meath, to attack Roderic and O'Rourke, against
+whom he had an old grudge of the worst and bitterest kind. He had
+injured him by carrying off his wife, Dervorgil, and men generally hate
+most bitterly those whom they have injured most cruelly.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile MacCarthy of Desmond had attacked and defeated the English
+garrison at Waterford, but without any advantageous results. Roderic's
+weakness now led him to perpetrate an act of cruelty, although it could
+scarcely be called unjust according to the ideas of the times. It will
+be remembered that he had received hostages from Dermod for the treaty
+of Ferns. That treaty had been openly violated, and the King sent
+ambassadors to him to demand its fulfilment, by the withdrawal of the
+English troops, threatening, in case of refusal, to put the hostages to
+death. Dermod laughed at the threat. Under any circumstances, he was not
+a man who would hesitate to sacrifice his own flesh and blood to his
+ambition. Roderic was as good as his word; and the three royal hostages
+were put to death at Athlone.</p>
+
+<p>An important synod was held at the close of this year (A.D. 1170), at
+Armagh. We have already mentioned one of its principal enactments, which
+deplored and condemned the practice of buying English slaves from the
+Bristol merchants. Other subjects shall be<a name="Page_266"></a> more fully entertained when
+we come to the Synod of Cashel, which was held two years later.</p>
+
+<p>In 1171 Dermod MacMurrough, the author of so many miseries, and the
+object of so much just reprobation, died at Ferns, on the 4th of May.
+His miserable end was naturally considered a judgment for his evil life.
+His obituary is thus recorded: &quot;Diarmaid Mac Murchadha, King of
+Leinster, by whom a trembling soil was made of all Ireland, after having
+brought over the Saxons, after having done extensive injuries to the
+Irish, after plundering and burning many churches, as Ceanannus,
+Cluain-Iraired, &amp;c., died before the end of a year [after this
+plundering], of an insufferable and unknown disease; for he became
+putrid while living, through the miracle of God, Colum-cille, and
+Finnen, and the other saints of Ireland, whose churches he had profaned
+and burned some time before; and he died at Fearnamor, without [making]
+a will, without penance, without the body of Christ, without unction, as
+his evil deeds deserved.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_282_283"></a><a href="#Footnote_282_283"><sup>[282]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>But the death of the traitor could not undo the traitor's work. Men's
+evil deeds live after them, however they may repent them on their
+deathbeds. Strongbow had himself at once proclaimed King of
+Leinster&mdash;his marriage with Eva was the ground of his claim; but though
+such a mode of succession might hold good in Normandy, it was perfectly
+illegal in Ireland. The question, however, was not one of right but of
+might, and it was settled as all such questions invariably are. But
+Strongbow had a master at the other side of the Channel, who had his own
+views of these complications. His tenure, however, was somewhat
+precarious. His barons, always turbulent, had now a new ground for
+aggression, in the weakness to which he had exposed himself by his
+virtual sanction of the murder of St. Thomas of Canterbury, and he was
+fain to content himself with a strong injunction commanding all his
+English subjects then in Ireland to return immediately, and forbidding
+any further reinforcements to be sent to that country. Strongbow was
+alarmed, and at once despatched Raymond <i>le Gros</i> with apologies and
+explanations, offering the King all the lands he had acquired in
+Ireland. Henry does not appear to have taken the slightest notice of
+these<a name="Page_267"></a> communications, and the Earl determined to risk his displeasure,
+and remain in Ireland.</p>
+
+<p>His prospects, however, were by no means promising. His Irish adherents
+forsook him on the death of Dermod; Dublin was besieged by a
+Scandinavian force, which Hosculf had collected in the Orkneys, and
+which was conveyed in sixty vessels, under the command of Johan <i>le
+D&eacute;ve</i> (the Furious). Miles de Cogan repulsed this formidable attack
+successfully, and captured the leaders. Hosculf was put to death; but he
+appears to have brought his fate on himself by a proud and incautious
+boast.</p>
+
+<p>At this period the thoughtful and disinterested Archbishop of Dublin saw
+a crisis in the history of his country on which much depended. He
+endeavoured to unite the national chieftains, and rally the national
+army. His words appear to have had some effect. Messengers were sent to
+ask assistance from Godfred, King of the Isle of Man, and other island
+warriors. Strongbow became aware of his danger, and threw himself into
+Dublin; but he soon found himself landlocked by an army, and enclosed at
+sea by a fleet. Roderic O'Connor commanded the national forces,
+supported by Tiernan O'Rourke and Murrough O'Carroll. St. Laurence
+O'Toole remained in the camp, and strove to animate the men by his
+exhortations and example. The Irish army contented themselves with a
+blockade, and the besieged were soon reduced to extremities from want of
+food. Strongbow offered terms of capitulation through the Archbishop,
+proposing to hold the kingdom of Leinster as Roderic's vassal; but the
+Irish monarch demanded the surrender of the towns of Dublin, Wexford,
+and Waterford, and required the English invaders to leave the country by
+a certain day.</p>
+
+<p>While these negotiations were pending, Donnell Cavanagh, son of the late
+King of Leinster, got into the city in disguise, and informed Strongbow
+that FitzStephen was closely besieged in Wexford. It was then at once
+determined to force a passage through the Irish army. Raymond <i>le Gros</i>
+led the van, Miles de Cogan followed; Strongbow and Maurice FitzGerald,
+who had proposed the sortie, with the remainder of their force, brought
+up the rere. The Irish army was totally unprepared for this sudden move;
+they fled in panic, and Roderic, who was bathing in the Liffey, escaped
+with difficulty.<a name="FNanchor_283_284"></a><a href="#Footnote_283_284"><sup>[283]</sup></a></p><a name="Page_268"></a>
+
+<p>Strongbow again committed the government of Dublin to Miles de Cogan,
+and set out for Wexford. On his way thither he was opposed by O'Regan,
+Prince of Idrone. An action ensued, which might have terminated fatally
+for the army, had not the Irish prince received his death-wound from an
+English archer. His troops took to flight, and Strongbow proceeded on
+his journey. But he arrived too late. Messengers met him on the way, to
+inform him that the fort of Carrig had fallen into the hands of the
+Irish, who are said to have practised an unjustifiable stratagem to
+obtain possession of the place. As usual, there are two versions of the
+story. One of these versions, which appears not improbable, is that the
+besieged had heard a false report of the affair in Dublin; and believing
+Strongbow and the English army to have been overthrown, they surrendered
+on the promise of being sent in safety to Dublin. On their surrender,
+the conditions were violated, FitzStephen was imprisoned, and some of
+his followers killed. The charge against the besiegers is that they
+invented the report as a stratagem to obtain their ends, and that the
+falsehood was confirmed in a solemn manner by the bishops of Wexford and
+Kildare.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the Wexford men had heard of Strongbow's approach, they set
+fire to the town, and fled to Beg-Erin, a stockaded island, at the same
+time sending him a message, that, if he attempted to approach, they
+would kill all their prisoners. The Earl withdrew to Waterford in
+consequence of this threat, and here he learned that his presence was
+indispensable in England; he therefore set off at once to plead his own
+cause with his royal master. A third attack had been made on Dublin, in
+the meantime, by the Lord of Breffni, but it was repulsed by Miles. With
+this exception, the Irish made no attempt against the common enemy, and
+domestic wars were as frequent as usual.</p>
+
+<p>Henry had returned to England, and was now in Newenham, in
+Gloucestershire, making active preparations for his visit to Ireland.
+The odium into which he had fallen, after his complicity in the murder
+of St. Thomas of Canterbury, had rendered his position perilous in the
+extreme; and probably his Irish expedition would never have been
+undertaken, had he not required some such object to turn his thoughts
+and the thoughts of his subjects from the consequences of his
+crime.<a name="FNanchor_284_285"></a><a href="#Footnote_284_285"><sup>[284]</sup></a> He received Strongbow coldly, and at first refused<a name="Page_269"></a> him an
+interview. After a proper delay, he graciously accepted the Earl's offer
+of &quot;all the lands he had won in Ireland&quot;&mdash;a very questionable gift,
+considering that there was not an inch of ground there which he could
+securely call his own. Henry, however, was pleased to restore his
+English estates; but, with consummate hypocrisy and villany, he seized
+the castles of the Welsh lords, whom he hated for their vigorous and
+patriotic opposition, and punished them for allowing the expedition,
+which he had just sanctioned, to sail from their coasts unmolested.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/059.jpg" width="421" height="333" alt="THE LOGAN STONE, KILLARNEY." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>THE LOGAN STONE, KILLARNEY.</h4>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><br /><br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/060.jpg" width="444" height="177" alt="ANCIENT IRISH BROOCH." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>ANCIENT IRISH BROOCH.<sup><a name="FNanchor_285_286"></a><a href="#Footnote_285_286">[285]</a></sup></h4>
+
+<a name="Page_270"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XVII.</h2>
+
+<h4>Arrival of Henry II.&mdash;Some of the Native Princes pay him Homage&mdash;His
+Character&mdash;Dublin in the time of Henry II.&mdash;His Winter Palace&mdash;Norman
+Luxuries&mdash;King Henry holds a Court&mdash;Adrian's Bull&mdash;Temporal Power of the
+Popes in the Middle Ages&mdash;Conduct of the Clergy&mdash;Irish Property given to
+English Settlers&mdash;Henry II. returns to England&mdash;The Account Cambrensis
+gives of the Injuries done to Ireland by his Countrymen&mdash;Raymond,
+Montmarisco, and Strongbow&mdash;The latter is defeated&mdash;He recalls Raymond
+from Wales&mdash;Treaty between Roderic and Henry&mdash;Death of Strongbow.</h4>
+
+<h5>[A.D. 1171-1176.]</h5>
+
+<img src="images/q.jpg" width="64" height="253" align="left" alt="H" title="" />
+<p>enry landed in Ireland on the 18th of October, 1171, at Crook, in the
+county of Waterford. He was accompanied by Strongbow, William
+FitzAldelm, Humphrey de Bohun, Hugh de Lacy, Robert FitzBarnard, and
+many other lords. His whole force, which, according to the most
+authentic English accounts, was distributed in four hundred ships,
+consisted of 500 knights and 4,000 men-at-arms. It would appear the
+Irish had not the least idea that he intended to claim the kingdom as
+his own, and rather looked upon him as a powerful potentate who had come
+to assist the native administration of justice. Even had they suspected
+his real object, no opposition might have been made to it. The nation
+had suffered much from domestic dissension; it had yet to learn that
+foreign oppression was an incomparable greater evil.</p>
+
+<p>If a righteous king or a wise statesman had taken the affair in<a name="Page_271"></a> hand,
+Ireland might have been made an integral and most valuable portion of
+the British Empire without a struggle. The nation would have bowed
+gratefully to an impartial government; they have not yet ceased to
+resent a partial and frequently unjust rule. From the very commencement,
+the aggrandizement of the individual, and not the advantage of the
+people, has been the rule of action. Such government is equally
+disgraceful to the rulers, and cruel to the governed.</p>
+
+<p>MacCarthy of Desmond was the first Irish prince who paid homage to the
+English King. At Cashel, Donnell O'Brien, King of Thomond, swore fealty,
+and surrendered the city of Limerick. Other princes followed their
+example. The &quot;pomp and circumstance&quot; of the royal court, attracted the
+admiration of a people naturally deferential to authority; the
+condescension and apparent disinterestedness of the monarch, won the
+hearts of an impulsive and affectionate race. They had been accustomed
+to an Ard-Righ, a chief monarch, who, in name at least, ruled all the
+lesser potentates: why should not Henry be such to them? and why should
+they suppose that he would exercise a tyranny as yet unknown in the
+island?</p>
+
+<p>The northern princes still held aloof; but Roderic had received Henry's
+ambassadors personally, and paid the usual deference which one king owed
+to another who was considered more powerful. Henry determined to spend
+his Christmas in Dublin, and resolved on a special display of royal
+state. It is to be presumed that he wished to make up for deficiency in
+stateliness of person by stateliness of presence; for, like most of the
+descendants of Duke Robert &quot;the Devil&quot; and the daughter of the Falaise
+tanner, his appearance was not calculated to inspire respect. His grey
+bloodshot eyes and tremulous voice, were neither knightly nor kingly
+qualifications; his savage and ungovernable temper, made him appear at
+times rather like a demon than a man. He was charged with having
+violated the most solemn oaths when it suited his convenience. A
+cardinal had pronounced him an audacious liar. Count Thiebault of
+Champagne had warned an archbishop not to rely on any of his promises,
+however sacredly made. He and his sons spent their time quarrelling with
+each other, when not occupied in quarrelling with their subjects. His
+eldest son, Richard, thus graphically sketched the family
+characteristics:&mdash;&quot;The custom in our family is that the son shall hate
+the father; our destiny is to detest each other; from<a name="Page_272"></a> the devil we came,
+to the devil we shall go.&quot; And the head of this family had now come to
+reform the Irish, and to improve their condition&mdash;social, secular, and
+ecclesiastical!</p>
+
+<p>A special residence was erected for the court on part of the ground now
+occupied by the southern side of Dame-street. The whole extent of Dublin
+at that time was, in length, from Corn Market to the Lower Castle Yard;
+and in breadth, from the Liffey, then covering Essex-street, to Little
+Sheep-street, now Ship-street, where a part of the town wall is yet
+standing.<a name="FNanchor_286_287"></a><a href="#Footnote_286_287"><sup>[286]</sup></a> The only edifices in existence on the southern side of
+Dame-street, even at the commencement of the seventeenth century, were
+the Church of St. Andrew and the King's Mills.<a name="FNanchor_287_288"></a><a href="#Footnote_287_288"><sup>[287]</sup></a> College-green was
+then quite in the country, and was known as the village of <i>Le Hogges</i>,
+a name that is apparently derived from the Teutonic word <i>Hoge</i>, which
+signifies a small hill or sepulchral mound. Here there was a nunnery
+called St. Mary le Hogges, which had been erected or endowed not many
+years before Henry's arrival, and a place called Hoggen's Butt, where
+the citizens exercised themselves in archery. Here, during the winter of
+1171, the Celt, the Saxon, and the Norman, may have engaged in peaceful
+contests and pleasant trials of skill.</p>
+
+<p>Henry's &quot;winter palace&quot; was extemporized with some artistic taste. It
+was formed of polished osiers. Preparations had been made on an
+extensive scale for the luxuries of the table&mdash;a matter in which the
+Normans had greatly the advantage of either Celt or Saxon. The use of
+crane's flesh was introduced into Ireland for the first time, as well as
+that of herons, peacocks,<a name="FNanchor_288_289"></a><a href="#Footnote_288_289"><sup>[288]</sup></a> swans, and wild<a name="Page_273"></a> geese. Almonds had been
+supplied already by royal order in great abundance; wine was purchased
+in Waterford, even now famous for its trade with Spain in that
+commodity. Nor had the King's physician forgotten the King's health; for
+we find a special entry amongst the royal disbursements of the sum of
+&pound;10 7s., paid to Josephus Medicus for spices and electuaries. Yet
+Henri-curt-mantel<a name="FNanchor_289_290"></a><a href="#Footnote_289_290"><sup>[289]</sup></a> was careful of his physical well-being, and
+partook but sparingly of these luxuries. Fearing his tendency to
+corpulency, he threw the short cloak of his native Anjou round him at an
+earlier hour in the morning than suited the tastes of his courtiers, and
+took exercise either on horseback or on foot, keeping in constant motion
+all day.</p>
+
+<p>When the Christmas festivities had passed, Henry turned his attention to
+business, if, indeed, the same festivities had not also been a part of
+his diplomatic plans, for he was not deficient in kingcraft. In a synod
+at Cashel he attempted to settle ecclesiastical affairs. In a <i>Curia
+Regis</i>, held at Lismore, he imagined he had arranged temporal affairs.
+These are subjects which demand our best consideration. It is an
+historical fact, that the Popes claimed and exercised great temporal
+power in the middle ages; it is admitted also that they used this power
+in the main for the general good;<a name="FNanchor_290_291"></a><a href="#Footnote_290_291"><sup>[290]</sup></a> and that, as monks and friars
+were the preservers of literature, so popes and bishops were the
+protectors of the rights of nations, as far as was possible in such
+turbulent times. It does not belong to our present subject to theorize
+on the origin or the grounds<a name="FNanchor_291_292"></a><a href="#Footnote_291_292"><sup>[291]</sup></a> of this<a name="Page_274"></a> power; it is sufficient to say
+that it had been exercised repeatedly both before and after Adrian
+granted the famous Bull, by which he conferred the kingdom of Ireland on
+Henry II. The Merovingian dynasty was changed on the decision of Pope
+Zachary. Pope Adrian threatened Frederick I., that if he did not
+renounce all pretensions to ecclesiastical property in Lombardy, he
+should forfeit the crown, &quot;received from himself and through his
+unction.&quot; When Pope Innocent III. pronounced sentence of deposition
+against Lackland in 1211, and conferred the kingdom of England on Philip
+Augustus, the latter instantly prepared to assert his claim, though he
+had no manner of title, except the Papal grant.<a name="FNanchor_292_293"></a><a href="#Footnote_292_293"><sup>[292]</sup></a> In fact, at the
+very moment when Henry was claiming the Irish crown in right of Adrian's
+Bull, given some years previously, he was in no small trepidation at the
+possible prospect of losing his English dominions, as an excommunication
+and an interdict were even then hanging over his head. Political and
+polemical writers have taken strangely perverted views of the whole
+transaction. One writer,<a name="FNanchor_293_294"></a><a href="#Footnote_293_294"><sup>[293]</sup></a> with apparently the most genuine
+impartiality, accuses the Pope, the King, and the Irish prelates of the
+most scandalous hypocrisy. A cursory examination of the question might
+have served to prove the groundlessness of this assertion. The Irish
+clergy, he asserts&mdash;and his assertion is all the proof he
+gives&mdash;betrayed their country for the sake of tithes. But tithes had
+already been enacted, and the Irish clergy were very far from conceding
+Henry's claims in the manner which some historians are pleased to
+imagine.</p>
+
+<p>It has been already shown that the possession of Ireland was coveted at
+an early period by the Norman rulers of Great Britain. When Henry II.
+ascended the throne in 1154, he probably intended to take the matter in
+hands at once. An Englishman, Adrian IV., filled the Papal chair. The
+English monarch would naturally find him favourable to his own country.
+John of Salisbury, then chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury, was
+commissioned to request the favour. No doubt he represented his master
+as very zealous for the interests of religion, and made it appear that
+his sole motive was the good, temporal and spiritual, of the barbarous
+Irish; at least this is plainly<a name="Page_275"></a> implied in Adrian's Bull.<a name="FNanchor_294_295"></a><a href="#Footnote_294_295"><sup>[294]</sup></a> The Pope
+could have no motive except that which he expressed in the document
+itself. He had been led to believe that the state of Ireland was
+deplorable; he naturally hoped that a wise and good government would
+restore what was amiss. There is no doubt that there was much which
+required amendment, and no one was more conscious of this, or strove
+more earnestly to effect it, than the saintly prelate who governed the
+archiepiscopal see of Dublin. The Irish clergy had already made the most
+zealous efforts to remedy whatever needed correction; but it was an age
+of lawless violence. Reform was quite as much wanted both in England and
+in the Italian States; but Ireland had the additional disadvantage of
+having undergone three centuries of ruthless plunder and desecration of
+her churches and shrines, and the result told fearfully on that land
+which had once been the home of saints.</p>
+
+<p>Henry's great object was to represent himself as one who had come to
+redress grievances rather than to claim allegiance; but however he may
+have deceived princes and chieftains, he certainly did not succeed in
+deceiving the clergy. The Synod of Cashel, which he caused to be
+convened, was not attended as numerously as he had expected, and the
+regulations made thereat were simply a renewal of those which had been
+made previously. The Primate of Ireland was absent, and the prelates who
+assembled there, far from having enslaved the State to Henry, avoided
+any interference in politics either by word or act. It has been well
+observed, that, whether &quot;piping or mourning,&quot; they are not destined to
+escape. Their office was to promote peace. So long as the permanent
+peace and independence of the nation seemed likely to be forwarded by
+resistance to foreign invasion, they counselled resistance; when
+resistance was hopeless, they recommended acquiescence, not because<a name="Page_276"></a> they
+believed the usurpation less unjust, but because they considered
+submission the wisest course. But the Bull of Adrian had not yet been
+produced; and Henry's indifference about this document, or his
+reluctance to use it, shows of how little real importance it was
+considered at the time. One fearful evil followed from this Anglo-Norman
+invasion. The Irish clergy had hitherto been distinguished for the high
+tone of their moral conduct; the English clergy, unhappily, were not so
+rich in this virtue, and their evil communication had a most injurious
+effect upon the nation whom it was supposed they should be so eminently
+capable of benefiting.</p>
+
+<p>Henry did not succeed much better with his administration of secular
+affairs. In his <i>Curia Regis</i>, at Lismore, he modelled Irish
+administration on Norman precedents, apparently forgetting that a
+kingdom and a province should be differently governed. Strongbow was
+appointed Earl Marshal; Hugh de Lacy, Lord Constable; Bertram de Verdun,
+Seneschal; Theobald Walter, Chief Butler; and De Wellesley, Royal
+Standard-bearer. It was also arranged that, on the demise of a Chief
+Governor, the Norman nobles were to elect a successor, who should have
+full authority, until the royal pleasure could be known. Henry did not
+then attempt to style himself King or Lord of Ireland; his object seems
+to have been simply to obtain authority in the country through his
+nobles, as Wales had been subdued in a similar manner. English laws and
+customs were also introduced for the benefit of English settlers; the
+native population still adhered to their own legal observances. Henry
+again forgot that laws must be suited to the nation for whom they are
+made, and that Saxon rules were as little likely to be acceptable to the
+Celt, as his Norman tongue to an English-speaking people.</p>
+
+<p>Dublin was now made over to the inhabitants of Bristol. Hugh de Lacy,
+its governor, has been generally considered in point of fact the first
+Viceroy for Ireland. He was installed in the Norman fashion, and the
+sword and cap of maintenance were made the insignia of the dignity.
+Waterford and Wexford were also bestowed on royal favourites, or on such
+knights as were supposed most likely to hold them for the crown. Castles
+were erected throughout the country, which was portioned out among
+Henry's needy followers; and, for the first time in Ireland, a man was
+called a rebel if he presumed to consider his house or lands as his own
+property.</p>
+
+<p>The winter had been so stormy that there was little communication<a name="Page_277"></a> with
+England; but early in spring the King received the portentous
+intelligence of the arrival of Papal Legates in Normandy, and learned
+that they threatened to place his dominions under an interdict, if he
+did not appear immediately to answer for his crime. Queen Eleanor and
+his sons were also plotting against him, and there were many who boldly
+declared that the murder of the Archbishop of Canterbury would yet be
+fearfully avenged. Henry determined at once to submit to the Holy See,
+and to avert his doom by a real or pretended penitence. He therefore
+sailed for England from Wexford Harbour, on Easter Monday, the 17th of
+April, 1172, and arrived the same day at Port Finnen, in Wales. We give
+the testimony of Cambrensis, no friend to Ireland, to prove that neither
+clergy nor laity benefited by the royal visit. He thus describes the
+inauguration of that selfish system of plunder and devastation, to which
+Ireland has been subjected for centuries&mdash;a system which prefers the
+interests of the few to the rights of the many, and then scoffs bitterly
+at the misery it has created: &quot;The clergy are reduced to beggary in the
+island; the cathedral churches mourn, having been deprived, by the
+aforesaid persons [the leading adventurers], and others along with them,
+or who came over after them, of the lands and ample estates which had
+been formerly granted to them faithfully and devoutly. And thus the
+exalting of the Church has been changed into the despoiling or
+plundering of the Church.&quot; Nor is his account of the temporal state of
+the kingdom any better. He informs us that Dermod Mac Murrough, the
+originator of all those evils, &quot;oppressed his nobles, exalted upstarts,
+was a calamity to his countrymen, hated by the strangers, and, in a
+word, at war with the world.&quot; Of the Anglo-Norman nobles, who, it will
+be remembered, were his own relatives, and of their work, he writes
+thus: &quot;This new and bloody conquest was defiled by an enormous effusion
+of blood, and the slaughter of a Christian people.&quot; And again: &quot;The
+lands even of the Irish who stood faithful to our cause, from the first
+descent of FitzStephen and the Earl, you have, in violation of a treaty,
+made over to your friends.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_295_296"></a><a href="#Footnote_295_296"><sup>[295]</sup></a> His character of Henry is, that he was
+more given to &quot;hunting than to holiness.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The English monarch, however, could assume an appearance of most
+profound humility and the deepest piety, when it suited his convenience.
+He excelled himself in this department by his<a name="Page_278"></a> submission to the Holy
+See, when he found that submission alone could save his crown.</p>
+
+<p>The Lord of Breffni had been one of Henry's favourite guests at his
+Christmas festivities. He possessed the territory of East Meath, and
+this territory Henry had coolly bestowed on Hugh de Lacy.<a name="FNanchor_296_297"></a><a href="#Footnote_296_297"><sup>[296]</sup></a> The
+rightful owner was not quite so dazzled by the sunshine of royal favour,
+as to be willing to resign his property without a struggle. The Irish
+chieftain, whose name was Tiernan O'Rourke, was persuaded to hold a
+conference with the English usurper at the Hill of Tara, near Athboy.
+Both parties were attended by armed men. A dispute ensued. The
+interpreter was killed by a blow aimed at De Lacy, who fled
+precipitately; O'Rourke was killed by a spear-thrust as he mounted his
+horse, and vengeance was wreaked on his dead body, for the crime of
+wishing to maintain his rights, by subjecting it to decapitation. His
+head was impaled over the gate of Dublin Castle, and afterwards sent as
+a present to Henry II. His body was gibbeted, with the feet upwards, on
+the northern side of the same building.<a name="FNanchor_297_298"></a><a href="#Footnote_297_298"><sup>[297]</sup></a> The Four Masters say that
+O'Rourke was treacherously slain. From the account given by Cambrensis,
+it would appear that there was a plot to destroy the aged chieftain, but
+for want of clearer evidence we may give his enemies the benefit of the
+doubt.</p>
+
+<p>Strongbow was now employing himself by depredating the territories which
+had been conferred on him. He took an army of 1,000 horse and foot into
+Offaly, to lay waste O'Dempsey's territory, that prince having also
+committed the crime of wishing to keep his ancestral estates. He met
+with no opposition until he was about to return with the spoils; then,
+as he passed through a defile, the chieftain set upon him in the rear,
+and slew several of his knights, carrying off the Norman standard.
+Robert de Quincey, who had just married a daughter of Strongbow's by a
+former marriage, was<a name="Page_279"></a> amongst the slain. The Earl had bestowed a large
+territory in Wexford on him.</p>
+
+<p>Henry was at that time suffering from domestic troubles in Normandy; he
+therefore summoned De Clare to attend him there. It would appear that he
+performed good service for his royal master, for he received further
+grants of lands and castles, both in Normandy and in Ireland. On his
+return to the latter country, he found that the spoilers had quarrelled
+over the spoil. Raymond <i>le Gros</i> contrived to ingratiate himself with
+the soldiers, and they demanded that the command should be transferred
+from Hervey de Montmarisco, Strongbow's uncle, to the object of their
+predilection. The Earl was obliged to comply. Their object was simply to
+plunder. The new general gratified them; and after a raid on the
+unfortunate inhabitants of Offaly and Munster, they collected their
+booty at Lismore, intending to convey it by water to Waterford.</p>
+
+<p>The Ostmen of Cork attacked them by sea, but failed to conquer. By land
+the Irish suffered another defeat. Raymond encountered MacCarthy of
+Desmond on his way to Cork, and plundered him, driving off a rich cattle
+spoil, in addition to his other ill-gotten goods. Raymond now demanded
+the appointment of Constable of Leinster, and the hand of Strongbow's
+sister, Basilia. But the Earl refused; and the general, notwithstanding
+his successes, retired to Wales in disgust.</p>
+
+<p>Hervey now resumed the command, A.D. 1174, and undertook an expedition
+against Donnell O'Brien, which proved disastrous to the English. Roderic
+once more appears in the field. The battle took place at Thurles, and
+seventeen hundred of the English were slain. In consequence of this
+disaster, the Earl proceeded in sorrow to his house in Waterford.<a name="FNanchor_298_299"></a><a href="#Footnote_298_299"><sup>[298]</sup></a>
+This great success was a signal for revolt amongst the native
+chieftains. Donald Cavanagh claimed his father's territory, and
+Gillamochalmog and other Leinster chieftains rose up against their
+allies. Roderic O'Connor at the same time invaded Meath, and drove the
+Anglo-Normans from their castles at Trim and Duleek. Strongbow was
+obliged to despatch messengers at once to invite the return of Raymond
+<i>le Gros</i>, and to promise him the office he had demanded, and his
+sister's hand in marriage.</p><a name="Page_280"></a>
+
+<p>Raymond came without a moment's delay, accompanied by a considerable
+force. His arrival was most opportune for the English cause. The
+Northmen of Waterford were preparing to massacre the invaders, and
+effected their purpose when the Earl left the town to join the new
+reinforcements at Wexford. The nuptials were celebrated at Wexford with
+great pomp; but news was received, on the following morning, that
+Roderic had advanced almost to Dublin; and the mantle and tunic of the
+nuptial feast were speedily exchanged for helmet and coat-of-mail.<a name="FNanchor_299_300"></a><a href="#Footnote_299_300"><sup>[299]</sup></a>
+Unfortunately Roderic's army was already disbanded. The English soon
+repaired the injuries which had been done to their fortresses; and once
+more the Irish cause was lost, even in the moment of victory, for want
+of combination and a leader.</p>
+
+<p>Henry now considered it time to produce the Papal Bulls, A.D. 1175. He
+therefore despatched the Prior of Wallingford and William FitzAldelm to
+Waterford, where a synod of the clergy was assembled to hear these
+important documents. The English monarch had contrived to impress the
+Holy See with wonderful ideas of his sanctity, by his penitential
+expiations of his share in the murder of St. Thomas &agrave; Becket. It was
+therefore easy for him to procure a confirmation of Adrian's Bull from
+the then reigning Pontiff, Alexander III. The Pope also wrote to
+Christian, the Legate, to the Irish archbishops, and to the King. Our
+historians have not informed us what was the result of this meeting. Had
+the Papal donation appeared a matter of national importance, there can
+be little doubt that it would have excited more attention.</p>
+
+<p>Raymond now led an army to Limerick, to revenge himself on Donnell
+O'Brien, for his defeat at Thurles. He succeeded in his enterprise.
+Several engagements followed, in which the Anglo-Normans were always
+victorious. Roderic now sent ambassadors to Henry II. The persons chosen
+were Catholicus, Archbishop of Tuam; Concors, Abbot of St. Brendan's, in
+Clonfert; and St. Laurence<a name="Page_281"></a> O'Toole, styled quaintly, in the old Saxon
+manner, &quot;Master Laurence.&quot; The King and Council received them at
+Windsor. The result of their conference was, that Roderic consented to
+pay homage to Henry, by giving him a hide from every tenth head of
+cattle; Henry, on his part, bound himself to secure the sovereignty of
+Ireland to Roderic, excepting only Dublin, Meath, Leinster, Waterford,
+and Dungarvan. In fact, the English King managed to have the best share,
+made a favour of resigning what he never possessed, and of not keeping
+what he could never have held. This council took place on the octave of
+the feast of St. Michael, A.D. 1175. By this treaty Henry was simply
+acknowledged as a superior feudal sovereign; and had Ireland been
+governed with ordinary justice, the arrangement might have been
+advantageous to both countries.</p>
+
+<p>Roderic was still a king, both nominally and <i>ipso facto</i>. He had power
+to judge and depose the petty kings, and they were to pay their tribute
+to him for the English monarch. Any of the Irish who fled from the
+territories of the English barons, were to return; but the King of
+Connaught might compel his own subjects to remain in his land. Thus the
+English simply possessed a colony in Ireland; and this colony, in a few
+years, became still more limited, while throughout the rest of the
+country the Irish language, laws, and usages, prevailed as they had
+hitherto done.</p>
+
+<p>Henry now appointed Augustin, an Irishman, to the vacant see of
+Waterford, and sent him, under the care of St. Laurence, to receive
+consecration from the Archbishop of Cashel, his metropolitan. For a
+century previous to this time, the Bishops of Waterford had been
+consecrated by the Norman Archbishops of Canterbury, with whom they
+claimed kindred.</p>
+
+<p>St. Gelasius died in 1173, and was succeeded in the see of Armagh by
+Connor MacConcoille. This prelate proceeded to Rome very soon after his
+consecration, and was supposed to have died there. When the Most Rev.
+Dr. Dixon, the late Archbishop of Armagh, was visiting Rome, in 1854, he
+ascertained that Connor had died at the Monastery of St. Peter of
+Lemene, near Chambery, in 1176, where he fell ill on his homeward
+journey. His memory is still honoured there by an annual festival on the
+4th of June; another of the many instances that, when the Irish Church
+was supposed to be in a state of general disorder, it had still many
+holy men to stem and subdue the torrent of evil. We shall find,<a name="Page_282"></a> at a
+later period, that several Irish bishops assisted at the Council of
+Lateran.</p>
+
+<p>Dermod MacCarthy's son, Cormac, had rebelled against him, and he was
+unwise enough to ask Raymond's assistance. As usual, the Norman was
+successful; he reinstated the King of Desmond, and received for his
+reward a district in Kerry, where his youngest son, Maurice, became the
+founder of the family of FitzMaurice, and where his descendants, the
+Earls of Lansdowne, still possess immense property.<a name="FNanchor_300_301"></a><a href="#Footnote_300_301"><sup>[300]</sup></a> The Irish
+princes were again engaging in disgraceful domestic feuds. Roderic now
+interfered, and, marching into Munster, expelled Donnell O'Brien from
+Thomond.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/061.jpg" width="457" height="443" alt="RAM&#39;S ISLAND, ARMAGH." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>RAM&#39;S ISLAND, ARMAGH.</h4>
+
+<p>While Raymond was still in Limerick, Strongbow died in Dublin. As it was
+of the highest political importance that his death should be concealed
+until some one was present to hold the reigns of government,<a name="Page_283"></a> his sister,
+Basilia, sent an enigmatical letter<a name="FNanchor_301_302"></a><a href="#Footnote_301_302"><sup>[301]</sup></a> to her husband, which certainly
+does no small credit to her diplomatic skill. The messengers were not
+acquainted with the Earl's death; and such of the Anglo-Normans in
+Dublin as were aware of it, had too much prudence to betray the secret.
+Raymond at once set out on his journey. Immediately after his arrival,
+FitzGislebert, Earl de Clare, was interred in the Cathedral of the Holy
+Trinity, now called Christ's Church.</p>
+
+<p>Strongbow has not obtained a flattering character, either from his
+friends or his enemies. Even Cambrensis admits that he was obliged to be
+guided by the plans of others, having neither originality to suggest,
+nor talent to carry out any important line of action.</p>
+
+<p>The Irish annalists call him the greatest destroyer of the clergy and
+laity that came to Ireland since the times of Turgesius (Annals of
+Innisfallen). The Four Masters record his demise thus: &quot;The English Earl
+[<i>i.e.</i>, Richard] died in Dublin, of an ulcer which had broken out in
+his foot, through the miracles of SS. Brigid and Colum-cille, and of all
+the other saints whose churches had been destroyed by him. He saw, he
+thought, St. Brigid in the act of killing him.&quot; Pembridge says he died
+on the 1st of May, and Cambrensis about the 1st of June. His personal
+appearance is not described in very flattering terms;<a name="FNanchor_302_303"></a><a href="#Footnote_302_303"><sup>[302]</sup></a> and he has
+the credit of being more of a soldier than a statesman, and not very
+knightly in his manner or bearing.</p>
+
+<p>The Earl de Clare left only one child, a daughter, as heir to his vast
+estates. She was afterwards married to William Marshal, Earl of
+Pembroke. Although Strongbow was a &quot;destroyer&quot; of the native clergy, he
+appears to have been impregnated with the medi&aelig;val devotion for
+establishing religious houses. He founded a priory at Kilmainham for the
+Knights of the Temple, with an alms-house and hospital He was also a
+liberal benefactor to the Church of the Holy Trinity, where he was
+buried.<a name="FNanchor_303_304"></a><a href="#Footnote_303_304"><sup>[303]</sup></a></p><a name="Page_284"></a>
+
+<p>An impression on green wax of his seal still exists, pendent from a
+charter in the possession of the Earl of Ormonde. The seal bears on the
+obverse a mounted knight, in a long surcoat, with a triangular shield,
+his head covered by a conical helmet, with a nasal. He has a broad,
+straight sword in his right hand. A foot soldier, with the legend,
+&quot;Sigillum Ricardi, Filii Comitis Gilleberti,&quot; is on the reverse. The
+last word alone is now legible.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/062.jpg" width="324" height="393" alt="KEIM-AN-EIGH." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>KEIM-AN-EIGH.</h4>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><br /><br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>
+<center>
+<img src="images/063.jpg" width="484" height="273" alt="WICKLOW MOUNTAINS." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>WICKLOW MOUNTAINS.</h4>
+<a name="Page_285"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2>
+
+<h4>FitzAldelm appointed Viceroy&mdash;De Courcy in Ulster&mdash;Arrival of Cardinal
+Vivian&mdash;Henry II. confers the Title of King of Ireland on his son
+John&mdash;Irish Bishops at the Council of Lateran&mdash;Death of St. Laurence
+O'Toole&mdash;Henry's Rapacity&mdash;John Comyn appointed Archbishop of
+Dublin&mdash;John's Visit to Ireland&mdash;Insolence of his Courtiers&mdash;De Lacy's
+Death&mdash;Death of Henry II.&mdash;Accession of Richard I.&mdash;An English
+Archbishop tries to obtain Justice for Ireland&mdash;John succeeds to the
+Crown&mdash;Cathal Crovderg&mdash;Massacres in Connaught&mdash;De Courcy's Disgrace and
+Downfall&mdash;His Death.</h4>
+
+<h5>[A.D. 1176-1201.]</h5>
+
+<img src="images/r.jpg" width="58" height="220" align="left" alt="N" title="" />
+<p>ews of the Earl's death soon reached Henry II., who was then holding
+his court at Valognes, in Normandy. He at once nominated his Seneschal,
+FitzAldelm de Burgo, Viceroy of Ireland, A.D. 1176. The new governor was
+accompanied by John de Courcy, Robert FitzEstevene, and Miles de Cogan.
+Raymond had assumed the reins of government after the death of
+Strongbow, but Henry appears always to have regarded him with jealousy,
+and gladly availed himself of every opportunity of lessening the power
+of one who stood so high in favour with the army. The Viceroy was
+received at Wexford by Raymond, who prudently made a merit of necessity,
+and resigned his charge. It is said that FitzAldelm was much struck by
+his retinue and numerous attendants, all of whom belonged to the<a name="Page_286"></a> same
+family; and that he then and there vowed to effect their ruin. From this
+moment is dated the distrust so frequently manifested by the English
+Government towards the powerful and popular Geraldines.</p>
+
+<p>The new Viceroy was not a favourite with the Anglo-Norman colonists. He
+was openly accused of partiality to the Irish, because he attempted to
+demand justice for them. It is not known whether this policy was the
+result of his own judgment, or a compliance with the wishes of his royal
+master. His conciliatory conduct, whatever may have been its motive, was
+unhappily counteracted by the violence of De Courcy. This nobleman
+asserted that he had obtained a grant of Ulster from Henry II., on what
+grounds it would be indeed difficult to ascertain. He proceeded to make
+good his claim; and, in defiance of the Viceroy's prohibition, set out
+for the north, with a small army of chosen knights and soldiers. His
+friend, Sir Almaric Tristram de Saint Lawrence, was of the number. He
+was De Courcy's brother-in-law, and they had made vows of eternal
+friendship in the famous Cathedral of Rouen. De Courcy is described as a
+man of extraordinary physical strength, of large proportions, shamefully
+penurious, rashly impetuous, and, despite a fair share in the vices of
+the age, full of reverence for the clergy, at least if they belonged to
+his own race. Cambrensis gives a glowing description of his valour, and
+says that &quot;any one who had seen Jean de Courci wield his sword, lopping
+off heads and arms, might well have commended the might of this
+warrior.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_304_305"></a><a href="#Footnote_304_305"><sup>[304]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>De Courcy arrived in Downpatrick in four days. The inhabitants were
+taken by surprise; and the sound of his bugles at daybreak was the first
+intimation they received of their danger. Cardinal Vivian, who had come
+as Legate from Alexander III., had but just arrived at the spot. He did
+his best to promote peace. But neither party would yield; and as the
+demands of the Norman knights were perfectly unreasonable, Vivian
+advised Dunlevy, the chieftain of Ulidia, to have recourse to arms. A
+sharp conflict ensued, in which the English gained the victory,
+principally through the personal bravery of their leader. This battle
+was fought about the beginning of February; another engagement took
+place on the 24th of June, in which the northerns were again
+defeated.<a name="FNanchor_305_306"></a><a href="#Footnote_305_306"><sup>[305]</sup></a></p><a name="Page_287"></a>
+
+<p>Cardinal Vivian now proceeded to Dublin, where he held a synod. The
+principal enactment referred to the right of sanctuary. During the
+Anglo-Norman wars, the Irish had secured their provisions in the
+churches; and it is said that, in order to starve out the enemy, they
+even refused to sell at any price. It was now decreed that sanctuary
+might be violated to obtain food; but a fair price was to be paid for
+whatever was taken. It is to be feared these conditions were seldom
+complied with. The Abbey of St. Thomas the Martyr was founded in Dublin
+about this time, by FitzAldelm, at the command of Henry II., one of his
+many acts of reparation. The site was the place now called Thomas Court.
+The Viceroy endowed it with a carnucate of land, in the presence of the
+Legate and St. Laurence O'Toole. After the settlement of these affairs,
+Cardinal Vivian passed over to Chester, on his way to Scotland.</p>
+
+<p>One of Roderic O'Connor's sons, Murrough, having rebelled against him,
+Miles de Cogan went to his assistance,&mdash;a direct and flagrant violation
+of the treaty of Windsor. At Roscommon the English were joined by the
+unnatural rebel, who guided them through the province. The King was in
+Iar-Connaught, and the allies burned and plundered without mercy, as
+they passed along to Trim. Here they remained three nights; but as the
+people had fled with their cattle and other moveable property into the
+fastnesses, they had not been able to procure any spoil on their march.
+Roderic soon appeared to give them battle; but they were defeated
+without considerable loss. Murrough was taken prisoner by his father,
+and his eyes were put out as a punishment for his rebellion, and to
+prevent a repetition of his treachery.</p>
+
+<p>Another violation of the treaty of Windsor was also perpetrated this
+year, A.D. 1177. Henry II. summoned a council of his prelates and barons
+at Oxford, and solemnly conferred the title of King of Ireland on his
+youngest son, John, then a mere child. A new grant of Meath to Hugh de
+Lacy was made immediately after, in the joint names of Henry II. and
+John. Desmond was also granted to Miles de Cogan, with the exception of
+the city of Cork, which the King reserved to himself. Thomond was
+offered to two<a name="Page_288"></a> English nobles, who declined the tempting but dangerous
+favour. It was then presented to Philip de Bresosa; but though the
+knight was no coward, he fled precipitately, when he discovered, on
+coming in sight of Limerick, that the inhabitants had set it on fire, so
+determined was their resistance to foreign rule. The territory of
+Waterford was granted to Roger le Poer; but, as usual, the city was
+reserved for the royal benefit. In fact, Sir John Davies well observed,
+that &quot;all Ireland was by Henry II. cantonized among ten of the English
+nation; and though they did not gain possession of one-third of the
+kingdom, yet in title they were owners and lords of all, as nothing was
+left to be granted to the natives.&quot; He might have said with greater
+truth, that the natives were deprived of everything, as far as it was
+possible to do so, by those who had not the slightest right or title to
+their lands.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile De Courcy was plundering the northern provinces. His wife,
+Affreca, was a daughter of Godfrey, King of Man, so that he could secure
+assistance by sea as well as by land. But the tide of fortune was not
+always in his favour. After he had plundered in Louth, he was attacked,
+in the vale of Newry<a name="FNanchor_306_307"></a><a href="#Footnote_306_307"><sup>[306]</sup></a> river, by O'Carroll of Oriel and Dunlevy of
+Ulidia. On this occasion he lost four hundred men, many of whom were
+drowned. Soon after he suffered another defeat in Antrim, from O'Flynn.
+The Four Masters say he fled to Dublin; Dr. O'Donovan thinks that we
+should read Downpatrick. The latter part of the name cannot be correctly
+ascertained, as the paper is worn away.</p>
+
+<p>The Irish were, as usual, engaged in domestic dissensions, and the
+English acted as allies on whichever side promised to be most
+advantageous to themselves. The Annals record a great &quot;windstorm&quot; during
+this year, which prostrated oaks, especially at Derry-Columcille, which
+was famous for its forest. They also record the drying up of the river
+Galliv (Galway), &quot;for a period of a natural day. All the articles that
+had been lost in it from the remotest times, as well as its fish, were
+collected by the inhabitants of the fortress, and by the people of the
+country in general.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_307_308"></a><a href="#Footnote_307_308"><sup>[307]</sup></a></p><a name="Page_289"></a>
+
+<p>In 1179 Henry gave the office of Viceroy to De Lacy, and recalled
+FitzAldelm. The new governor employed himself actively in erecting
+castles and oppressing the unfortunate Irish. Cambrensis observes, that
+he &quot;amply enriched himself and his followers by oppressing others with a
+strong hand.&quot; Yet he seems to have had some degree of popularity, even
+with the native Irish, for he married a daughter of Roderic O'Connor as
+his second wife. This alliance, for which he had not asked permission,
+and his popularity, excited the jealousy of the English King, who
+deprived him of his office. But he was soon reinstated, although the
+Bishop of Shrewsbury, with the name of counsellor, was set as a spy on
+his actions. These events occurred A.D. 1181. De Lacy's old companion,
+Hervey de Montmarisco, became a monk at Canterbury, after founding the
+Cistercian Monastery of Dunbrody, in the county of Wexford. He died in
+this house, in his seventy-fifth year.</p>
+
+<p>In 1179 several Irish bishops were summoned by Alexander III. to attend
+the third General Council of Lateran. These prelates were, St. Laurence
+of Dublin, O'Duffy of Tuam, O'Brien of Killaloe, Felix of Lismore,
+Augustine of Waterford, and Brictius of Limerick. Usher says<a name="FNanchor_308_309"></a><a href="#Footnote_308_309"><sup>[308]</sup></a>
+several other bishops were summoned; it is probable they were unable to
+leave the country, and hence their names have not been given. The real
+state of the Irish Church was then made known to the Holy See; no living
+man could have described it more accurately and truthfully than the
+sainted prelate who had sacrificed himself for so many years for its
+good. Even as the bishops passed through England, the royal jealousy
+sought to fetter them with new restrictions; and they were obliged to
+take an oath that they would not sanction any infringements on Henry's
+prerogatives. St. Malachy was now appointed Legate by the Pope, with
+jurisdiction over the five suffragans, and the possessions attached to
+his see were confirmed to him. As the Bull was directed to Ireland, it
+would appear that he returned there; but his stay was brief, and the
+interval was occupied in endeavouring to repress the vices of the
+Anglo-Norman and Welsh clergy, many of whom were doing serious injury to
+the Irish Church by their immoral and dissolute lives.<a name="FNanchor_309_310"></a><a href="#Footnote_309_310"><sup>[309]</sup></a></p><a name="Page_290"></a>
+
+<p>Henry now became jealous of the Archbishop, and perhaps was not
+overpleased at his efforts to reform these ecclesiastics. Roderic
+O'Connor had asked St. Laurence to undertake a mission on his behalf to
+the English court; but the King refused to listen to him, and forbid him
+to return to Ireland. After a few weeks' residence at the Monastery of
+Abingdon, in Berkshire, the saint set out for France. He fell ill on his
+journey, in a religious house at Eu, where his remains are still
+preserved. When on his deathbed, the monks asked him to make his will;
+but he exclaimed, &quot;God knows that out of all my revenues I have not a
+single coin to bequeath.&quot; With the humility of true sanctity, he was
+heard frequently calling on God for mercy, and using the words of the
+Psalmist, so familiar to ecclesiastics, from their constant perusal of
+the Holy Scriptures. As he was near his end, he was heard exclaiming, in
+his own beautiful mother-tongue: &quot;Foolish people, what will become of
+you? Who will relieve you? Who will heal you?&quot; And well might his
+paternal heart ache for those who were soon to be left doubly orphans,
+and for the beloved nation whose sorrows he had so often striven to
+alleviate.</p>
+
+<p>St. Laurence went to his eternal reward on the 14th of November, 1180.
+He died on the <i>feria sexta</i> at midnight.<a name="FNanchor_310_311"></a><a href="#Footnote_310_311"><sup>[310]</sup></a> His obsequies were
+celebrated with great pomp and solemnity, and attended by the Scotch
+Legate, Alexis, an immense concourse of clergy, and many knights and
+nobles. His remains were exposed for some days in the Church of Notre
+Dame, at Eu.</p>
+
+<p>Henry immediately despatched his chaplain, Geoffrey de la Haye,<a name="Page_291"></a> to
+Ireland, not with a royal message of consolation for the national
+calamity, but to sequester the revenues of the archiepiscopal see of
+Dublin. He took care to possess himself of them for a year before he
+would consent to name a successor to the deceased prelate. St. Laurence
+had happily left no funds in store for the royal rapacity; the orphan
+and the destitute had been his bankers. During a year of famine he is
+said to have relieved five hundred persons daily; he also established an
+orphanage, where a number of poor children were clothed and educated.
+The Annals of the Four Masters say he suffered martyrdom in England. The
+mistake arose in consequence of an attempt having been made on his life
+there by a fanatic, which happily did not prove fatal.<a name="FNanchor_311_312"></a><a href="#Footnote_311_312"><sup>[311]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>The Archbishop of Dublin became an important functionary from this
+period. Henry obtained the election of John Comyn to this dignity, at
+the Monastery of Evesham, in Worcester, and the King granted the
+archiepiscopal estates to him &quot;in barony,&quot; by which tenure he and his
+successors in the see were constituted parliamentary barons, and
+entitled to sit in the councils, and hold court in their lordships and
+manors. Comyn, after his election by the clergy of Dublin, proceeded to
+Rome, where he was ordained priest, and subsequently to Veletri, where
+Pope Lucius III. consecrated him archbishop. He then came to Dublin,
+A.D. 1184, where preparations were making for the reception of Henry's
+son, John, who, it will be remembered, he had appointed King of Ireland
+when a mere child.</p>
+
+<p>In 1183 the unfortunate Irish monarch, Roderic, had retired to the Abbey
+of Cong, and left such empty titles as he possessed to his son, Connor.
+De Lacy and De Courcy had occupied themselves alternately in plundering
+and destroying the religious houses which had so long existed, and in
+founding new monasteries with a portion of their ill-gotten gains. It
+would appear that De Lacy built so far on his popularity with the
+Anglo-Normans, as to have aspired to the sovereignty of Ireland,&mdash;an
+aspiration which his master soon discovered, and speedily punished. He
+was supplanted by Philip of<a name="Page_292"></a> Worcester, who excelled all his predecessors
+in rapacity and cruelty. Not satisfied with the miseries inflicted on
+Ulster by De Courcy, he levied contributions there by force of arms. One
+of his companions, Hugh Tyrrell, who &quot;remained at Armagh, with his
+Englishmen, during six days and nights, in the middle of Lent,&quot;
+signalized himself by carrying off the property of the clergy of Armagh.
+Amongst other things, he possessed himself of a brewing-pan, which he
+was obliged to abandon on his way, he met so many calamities, which were
+naturally attributed to his sacrilegious conduct.<a name="FNanchor_312_313"></a><a href="#Footnote_312_313"><sup>[312]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>John was now preparing for his visit to Ireland, and his singularly
+unfelicitous attempt at royalty. It would appear that the Prince wished
+to decline the honour and the expedition; for, as he was on the eve of
+his departure, Eraclius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, arrived in England, to
+enjoin the fulfilment of the King's vow to undertake a crusade to
+Palestine. As Henry had got out of his difficulties, he declined to
+fulfil his solemn engagement, and refused permission to his son, John,
+who threw himself at his father's feet, and implored leave to be his
+substitute. Eraclius then poured forth his indignation upon Henry, with
+all the energetic freedom of the age. He informed him that God would
+punish his impieties&mdash;that he was worse than any Saracen; and hinted
+that he might have inherited his wickedness from his grandmother, the
+Countess of Anjou, who was reported to be a witch, and of whom it was
+said that she had flown through the window during the most solemn part
+of Mass, though four squires attempted to hold her.</p>
+
+<p>John sailed from Milford Haven on the evening of Easter Wednesday, 1185.
+He landed with his troops at Waterford, at noon, on the following day.
+His retinue is described as of unusual splendour, and, no doubt, was
+specially appointed to impress the &quot;barbarous&quot; Irish. Gerald Barry, the
+famous Cambrensis, who had arrived in Ireland some little time before,
+was appointed his tutor, in conjunction with Ranulf de Glanville. The
+bitter prejudice of the former against Ireland and the Irish is a matter
+of history, as well as the indefatigable zeal of the latter in pursuit
+of his own interests at the expense of justice.</p><a name="Page_293"></a>
+
+<p>A retinue of profligate Normans completed the court, whom an English
+authority describes as &quot;great quaffers, lourdens, proud, belly swains,
+fed with extortion and bribery.&quot; The Irish were looked upon by these
+worthies as a savage race, only created to be plundered and scoffed at.
+The Normans prided themselves on their style of dress, and, no doubt,
+the Irish costume surprised them. Common prudence, however, might have
+taught them, when the Leinster chieftains came to pay their respects to
+the young Prince, that they should not add insult to injury; for, not
+content with open ridicule, they proceeded to pull the beards of the
+chieftains, and to gibe their method of wearing their hair.</p>
+
+<p>De Lacy has the credit of having done his utmost to render the Prince's
+visit a failure. But his efforts were not necessary. The insolence of
+the courtiers, and the folly of the youth himself, were quite sufficient
+to ruin more promising prospects. In addition to other outrages, the
+Irish had seen their few remaining estates bestowed on the new comers;
+and even the older Anglo-Norman and Welsh settlers were expelled to make
+room for the Prince's favourites&mdash;an instalment of the fatal policy
+which made them eventually &quot;more Irish than the Irish.&quot; When the colony
+was on the verge of ruin, the young Prince returned to England. He threw
+the blame of his failure on Hugh de Lacy; but the Norman knight did not
+live long enough after to suffer from the accusation.<a name="FNanchor_313_314"></a><a href="#Footnote_313_314"><sup>[313]</sup></a> De Lacy was
+killed while inspecting a castle which he had just built on the site of
+St. Columbkille's Monastery at Durrow, in the Queen's county. He was
+accompanied by three Englishmen; as he was in the act of stooping, a
+youth of an ancient and noble family, named O'Meyey, gave him his
+deathblow, severed his head from his body, and then fled with such
+swiftness as to elude pursuit. It is said that he was instigated to
+perform this deed by Sumagh O'Caharnay (the Fox), with whom he now took
+refuge.</p>
+
+<p>The Annals mention this as a &quot;revenge of Colum-cille,&quot;<a name="FNanchor_314_315"></a><a href="#Footnote_314_315"><sup>[314]</sup></a> they also<a name="Page_294"></a>
+say that &quot;all Meath was full of his English castles, from the Shannon to
+the sea.&quot; Henry at once appointed his son, John, to the Irish
+Viceroyalty, but domestic troubles prevented his plans from being
+carried out. Archbishop Comyn held a synod in Dublin during this year,
+1187; and on the 9th of June the relics of SS. Patrick, Columba, and
+Brigid were discovered, and solemnly entombed anew under the direction
+of Cardinal Vivian, who came to Ireland to perform this function. During
+the year 1188 the Irish continued their usual fatal and miserable
+dissensions; still they contrived to beat the common enemy, and
+O'Muldony drove De Courcy and his troops from Ballysadare. He was again
+attacked in crossing the Curlieu Mountains, and escaped to Leinster with
+considerable loss and difficulty.</p>
+
+<p>In 1189 Henry II. died at Chinon, in Normandy. He expired launching
+anathemas against his sons, and especially against John, as he had just
+discovered that he had joined those who conspired against him. In his
+last moments he was stripped of his garments and jewels, and left naked
+and neglected.</p>
+
+<p>Richard I., who succeeded to the throne, was too much occupied about
+foreign affairs to attend to his own kingdom. He was a brave soldier,
+and as such merits our respect; but he can scarcely be credited as a
+wise king. Irish affairs were committed to the care of John, who does
+not appear to have profited by his former experience. He appointed Hugh
+de Lacy Lord Justice, to the no small disgust of John de Courcy; but it
+was little matter to whom the government of that unfortunate country was
+confided. There were nice distinctions made about titles; for John, even
+when King of England, did not attempt to write himself King of
+Ireland.<a name="FNanchor_315_316"></a><a href="#Footnote_315_316"><sup>[315]</sup></a> But there were no nice distinctions about property; for
+the rule seemed to be, that whoever could get it should have it, and
+whoever could keep it should possess it.</p>
+
+<p>In 1189 Roderic's son, Connor Moinmoy, fell a victim to a conspiracy of
+his own chieftains,&mdash;a just retribution for his rebellion against his
+father. He had, however, the reputation of being brave and generous. At
+his death Connaught was once more plunged in<a name="Page_295"></a> civil war, and after some
+delay and difficulty Roderic resumed the government.</p>
+
+<p>In 1192 the brave King of Thomond again attacked the English invaders.
+But after his death, in 1194, the Anglo-Normans had little to apprehend
+from native valour. His obituary is thus recorded: &quot;Donnell, son of
+Turlough O'Brien, King of Munster, a burning lamp in peace and war, and
+the brilliant star of the hospitality and valour of the Momonians, and
+of all Leth-Mogha, died.&quot; Several other &quot;lamps&quot; went out about the same
+time; one of these was Crunce O'Flynn, who had defeated De Courcy in
+1178, and O'Carroll, Prince of Oriel, who had been hanged by the English
+the year before, after the very unnecessary cruelty of putting out his
+eyes.</p>
+
+<p>The affairs of the English colony were not more prosperous. New Lords
+Justices followed each other in quick succession. One of these
+governors, Hamon de Valois, attempted to replenish his coffers from
+church property,&mdash;a proceeding which provoked the English Archbishop
+Comyn. As this ecclesiastic failed to obtain redress in Ireland, he
+proceeded to England with his complaints; but he soon learned that
+justice could not be expected for Ireland. The difference between the
+conduct of ecclesiastics, who have no family but the Church, and no
+interests but the interests of religion, is very observable in all
+history. While English and Norman soldiers were recklessly destroying
+church property and domestic habitations in the country they had
+invaded, we find, with few exceptions, that the ecclesiastic, of
+whatever nation, is the friend and father of the people, wherever his
+lot may be cast. The English Archbishop resented the wrongs of the Irish
+Church as personal injuries, and devoted himself to its advancement as a
+personal interest. We are indebted to Archbishop Comyn for building St.
+Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, as well as for his steady efforts to
+promote the welfare of the nation. After an appeal in person to King
+Richard and Prince John, he was placed in confinement in Normandy, and
+was only released by the interference of the Holy See; Innocent III.,
+who had probably by this time discovered that the English monarchs were
+not exactly the persons to reform the Irish nation, having addressed a
+letter from Perugia to the Earl of Montague (Prince John), reprimanding
+him for detaining &quot;his venerable brother, the Archbishop of Dublin,&quot; in
+exile, and requiring him to repair the injuries done by his Viceroy,
+Hamon de<a name="Page_296"></a> Valois, on the clergy of Leighlin. The said Hamon appears to
+have meddled with other property besides that belonging to the Church&mdash;a
+more unpardonable offence, it is to be feared, in the eyes of his
+master. On returning from office after two years viceroyalty, he was
+obliged to pay a thousand marks to obtain an acquittance from his
+accounts.<a name="FNanchor_316_317"></a><a href="#Footnote_316_317"><sup>[316]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>John ascended the English throne in 1199. He appointed Meiller
+FitzHenri<a name="FNanchor_317_318"></a><a href="#Footnote_317_318"><sup>[317]</sup></a> Governor of Ireland. It has been conjectured that if John
+had not obtained the sovereignty, he and his descendants might have
+claimed the &quot;Lordship of Ireland.&quot; There can be no doubt that he and
+they might have claimed it; but whether they could have held it is quite
+another consideration. It is generally worse than useless to speculate
+on what might have been. In this case, however, we may decide with
+positive certainty, that no such condition of things could have
+continued long. The English kings would have looked with jealousy even
+on the descendants of their ancestors, if they kept possession of the
+island; and the descendants would have become, as invariably happened,
+<i>Hibernicis ipsis Hibernior</i>, and therefore would have shared the fate
+of the &quot;common enemy.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the O'Connors were fighting in Kerry. Cathal Carragh obtained
+the services of FitzAldelm, and expelled Cathal Crovderg. He, in his
+turn, sought the assistance of Hugh O'Neill, who had been distinguishing
+himself by his valour against De Courcy and the English. They marched
+into Connaught, but were obliged to retreat with great loss. The exiled
+Prince now sought English assistance, and easily prevailed on De Courcy
+and young De Lacy to help him. But misfortune still followed him. His
+army was again defeated; and as they fled to the peninsula of Rindown,
+on Lough Ree, they were so closely hemmed in, that no way of escape
+remained, except to cross the lake in boats. In attempting to do this a
+great number were drowned. The Annals of Kilronan and Clonmacnois enter
+these events under the year 1200; the Four Masters under the year 1199.
+The former state that &quot;Cahall Carragh was taken deceitfully by the
+English of Meath,&quot; and imprisoned until he paid a ransom; and that De
+Courcy, &quot;after slaying of his people,&quot; returned to Ulster.</p><a name="Page_297"></a>
+
+<p>Cathal Crovderg now obtained the assistance of the Lord Justice, who
+plundered Clonmacnois. He also purchased the services of FitzAldelm, and
+thus deprived his adversary of his best support. The English, like the
+mercenary troops of Switzerland and the Netherlands, appear to have
+changed sides with equal alacrity, when it suited their convenience; and
+so as they were well paid, it mattered little to them against whom they
+turned their arms. In 1201 Cathal Crovderg marched from Limerick to
+Roscommon, with his new ally and the sons of Donnell O'Brien and
+Florence MacCarthy. They took up their quarters at Boyle, and occupied
+themselves in wantonly desecrating the abbey. Meanwhile Cathal Carragh,
+King of Connaught, had assembled his forces, and came to give them
+battle. Some skirmishes ensued, in which he was slain, and thus the
+affair was ended. FitzAldelm, or De Burgo, as he is more generally
+called now, assisted by O'Flaherty of West Connaught, turned against
+Cathal when they arrived at Cong to spend the Easter. It would appear
+that the English were billeted on the Irish throughout the country; and
+when De Burgo demanded wages for them, the Connacians rushed upon them,
+and slew six hundred men. For once his rapacity was foiled, and he
+marched off to Munster with such of his soldiers as had escaped the
+massacre. Three years after he revenged himself by plundering the whole
+of Connaught, lay and ecclesiastical.</p>
+
+<p>During this period Ulster was also desolated by civil war. Hugh O'Neill
+was deposed, and Connor O'Loughlin obtained rule; but the former was
+restored after a few years.</p>
+
+<p>John de Courcy appears always to have been regarded with jealousy by the
+English court. His downfall was at hand, A.D. 1204; and to add to its
+bitterness, his old enemies, the De Lacys, were chosen to be the
+instruments of his disgrace. It is said that he had given mortal offence
+to John, by speaking openly of him as a usurper and the murderer of his
+nephew; but even had he not been guilty of this imprudence, the state he
+kept, and the large tract of country which he held, was cause enough for
+his ruin. He had established himself at Downpatrick, and was surrounded
+in almost regal state by a staff of officers, including his constable,
+seneschal, and chamberlain; he even coined money in his own name.
+Complaints of his exactions were carried to the King. The De Lacys
+accused him of disloyalty. In 1202 the then Viceroy, Hugh de Lacy,
+attempted to seize him treacherously, at a friendly meeting.<a name="Page_298"></a> He failed
+to accomplish this base design; but his brother, Walter, succeeded
+afterwards in a similar attempt, and De Courcy was kept in durance until
+the devastations which his followers committed in revenge obliged his
+enemies to release him.</p>
+
+<p>In 1204 he defeated the Viceroy in a battle at Down. He was aided in
+this by the O'Neills, and by soldiers from Man and the Isles. It will be
+remembered that he could always claim assistance from the latter, in
+consequence of his connexion by marriage. But this did not avail him. He
+was summoned before the Council in Dublin, and some of his possessions
+were forfeited. Later in the same year (A.D. 1204) he received a safe
+conduct to proceed to the King. It is probable that he was confined in
+the Tower of London for some time; but it is now certain that he
+revisited Ireland in 1210, if not earlier, in the service of John, who
+granted him an annual pension.<a name="FNanchor_318_319"></a><a href="#Footnote_318_319"><sup>[318]</sup></a> It is supposed that he died about
+1219; for in that year Henry III. ordered his widow, Affreca, to be paid
+her dower out of the lands which her late husband had possessed in
+Ireland.</p>
+
+<p>Cambrensis states that De Courcy had no children; but the Barons of
+Kinsale claim to be descended from him; and even so late as 1821 they
+exercised the privilege of appearing covered before George IV.&mdash;a favour
+said to have been granted to De Courcy by King John, after his recall
+from Ireland, as a reward for his prowess. Dr. Smith states, in his
+<i>History of Cork</i>, that Miles de Courcy was a hostage for his father
+during the time when he was permitted to leave the Tower to fight the
+French champion. In a pedigree of the MacCarthys of Cooraun Lough,
+county Kerry, a daughter of Sir<a name="Page_299"></a> John de Courcy is mentioned. The Irish
+annalists, as may be supposed, were not slow to attribute his downfall
+to his crimes.</p>
+
+<p>Another English settler died about this period, and received an equal
+share of reprobation; this was FitzAldelm, more commonly known as Mac
+William Burke (De Burgo), and the ancestor of the Burke family in
+Ireland. Cambrensis describes him as a man addicted to many vices. The
+Four Masters declare that &quot;God and the saints took vengeance on him; for
+he died of a shameful disease.&quot; It could scarcely be expected that one
+who had treated the Irish with such unvarying cruelty, could obtain a
+better character, or a more pleasing obituary. Of his miserable end,
+without &quot;shrive or unction,&quot; there appears to be no doubt.</p>
+<br />
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/064.jpg" width="434" height="327" alt="STALACTITE CAVE, TIPPERARY." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>STALACTITE CAVE, TIPPERARY.</h4>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><br /><br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/065.jpg" width="421" height="361" alt="KING JOHN&#39;S CASTLE, LIMERICK." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>KING JOHN&#39;S CASTLE, LIMERICK.</h4>
+
+<a name="Page_300"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XIX.</h2>
+
+<h4>Quarrels of the English Barons&mdash;The Interdict&mdash;John crushes and starves
+an Archdeacon to Death&mdash;King John's Visit to Ireland&mdash;He starves the
+Wife and Son of Earl de Braose to Death&mdash;Henry de Londres&mdash;The Poet
+O'Daly&mdash;Obituaries of Good Men&mdash;Henry III.&mdash;Regulations about the
+Viceroy&mdash;The Scorch Villain&mdash;Scandalous Conduct of the Viceroys&mdash;Three
+Claimants for Connaught&mdash;Death of Hugh Crovderg&mdash;Felim
+O'Connor&mdash;Henry's Foreign Advisers&mdash;Plots against the Earl of
+Pembroke&mdash;He is wounded treacherously&mdash;His Pious Death&mdash;Misfortunes of
+the Early Settlers&mdash;De Marisco's Son is hanged for High Treason, and he
+dies miserably in Exile.</h4>
+
+<h4>[A.D. 1201-1244.]</h4>
+
+<img src="images/s.jpg" width="60" height="187" align="left" alt="K" title="" />
+<p>ing John was now obliged to interfere between his English barons in
+Ireland, who appear to have been quite as much occupied with feuds among
+themselves as the native princes. In 1201 Philip of Worcester and
+William de Braose laid waste the greater part of Munster in their
+quarrels. John had sold the lands of the former and of Theobald Walter
+to the latter, for four thousand marks&mdash;Walter redeemed his property for
+five hundred marks; Philip obtained his at the point of the sword. De
+Braose had large property both in Normandy and in England. He had his
+chancellor, chancery, and seal, recognizances of all pleas, not even
+excepting those of the crown, with judgment of life and limb. His sons
+and daughters had married into powerful families. His wife, Matilda,<a name="Page_301"></a> was
+notable in domestic affairs, and a vigorous oppressor of the Welsh. A
+bloody war was waged about the same time between De Lacy, De Marisco,
+and the Lord Justice. Cathal Crovderg and O'Brien aided the latter in
+besieging Limerick, while some of the English fortified themselves in
+their castles and plundered indiscrimately.</p>
+
+<p>In 1205 the Earldom of Ulster was granted to Hugh de Lacy. The grant is
+inscribed on the charter roll of the seventh year of King John, and is
+the earliest record now extant of the creation of an Anglo-Norman
+dignity in Ireland. England was placed under an interdict in 1207, in
+consequence of the violence and wickedness of its sovereign. He procured
+the election of John de Grey to the see of Canterbury, a royal
+favourite, and, if only for this reason, unworthy of the office. Another
+party who had a share in the election chose Reginald, the Sub-Prior of
+the monks of Canterbury. But when the choice was submitted to Pope
+Innocent III., he rejected both candidates, and fixed on an English
+Cardinal, Stephen Langton, who was at once elected, and received
+consecration from the Pope himself. John was highly indignant, as might
+be expected. He swore his favourite oath, &quot;by God's teeth,&quot; that he
+would cut off the noses and pluck out the eyes of any priest who
+attempted to carry the Pope's decrees against him into England. But some
+of the bishops, true to their God and the Church, promulgated the
+interdict, and then fled to France to escape the royal vengeance. It was
+well for them they did so; for Geoffrey, Archdeacon of Norwich, was
+seized, and enveloped, by the royal order, in a sacerdotal vestment of
+massive lead, and thus thrown into prison, where he was starved to death
+beneath the crushing weight. We sometimes hear of the cruelties of the
+Inquisition, of the barbarity of the Irish, of the tyranny of
+priestcraft; but such cruelties, barbarities, and tyrannies, however
+highly painted, pale before the savage vengeance which English kings
+have exercised, on the slightest provocation, towards their unfortunate
+subjects. But we have not yet heard all the refinements of cruelty which
+this same monarch exercised. Soon after, John was excommunicated
+personally. When he found that Philip of France was prepared to seize
+his kingdom, and that his crimes had so alienated him from his own
+people that he could hope for little help from them, he cringed with the
+craven fear so usually found in cruel men, and made the most abject
+submission. In the interval between the proclamation<a name="Page_302"></a> of the interdict
+and the fulmination of the sentence of excommunication (A.D. 1210), John
+visited Ireland. It may be supposed his arrival could not excite much
+pleasure in the hearts of his Irish subjects, though, no doubt, he
+thought it a mark of disloyalty that he should not be welcomed with
+acclamations. A quarter of a century had elapsed since he first set his
+foot on Irish ground. He had grown grey in profligacy, but he had not
+grown wiser or better with advancing years.</p>
+
+<p>The year before his arrival, Dublin had been desolated by a pestilence,
+and a number of people from Bristol had taken advantage of the decrease
+in the population to establish themselves there. On the Easter Monday
+after their arrival, when they had assembled to amuse themselves in
+Cullen's Wood, the O'Byrnes and O'Tooles rushed down upon them from the
+Wicklow Mountains, and took a terrible vengeance for the many wrongs
+they had suffered, by a massacre of some three hundred men. The citizens
+of Bristol sent over new colonists; but the anniversary of the day was
+long known as Black Monday.</p>
+
+<p>The English King obtained money for his travelling expenses by extortion
+from the unfortunate Jews. He landed at Crook, near Waterford, on the
+20th June, 1210. His army was commanded by the Earl of Salisbury, son to
+Henry I., by &quot;Fair Rosamond,&quot; of tragic memory. De Braose fled to
+England when he heard of the King's movements. Here he endeavoured to
+make peace with his master, but failing to do so, he carefully avoided
+putting himself in his power, and took refuge in France. His wife was
+not so fortunate. After John's return to England, Matilda and her son
+were seized by his command, and imprisoned at Corfe Castle, in the isle
+of Pembroke. Here they were shut up in a room, with a sheaf of wheat and
+a piece of raw bacon for their only provision. When the prison door was
+opened on the eleventh day, they were both found dead.</p>
+
+<p>De Lacy also fled before the King's visit; John took Carrickfergus
+Castle from his people, and stationed a garrison of his own there.
+Several Irish princes paid homage to him; amongst others we find the
+names of Cathal Crovderg and Hugh O'Neill. The Norman lords were also
+obliged to swear fealty, and transcripts of their oaths were placed in
+the Irish Exchequer. Arrangements were also made for the military
+support of the colony, and certain troops were to be furnished with
+forty days' ration by all who held<a name="Page_303"></a> lands by &quot;knight's service.&quot; The
+Irish princes who lived in the southern and western parts of Ireland,
+appear to have treated the King with silent indifference; they could
+afford to do so, as they were so far beyond the reach of his vengeance.</p>
+
+<p>John remained only sixty days in Ireland. He returned to Wales on the
+26th of August, 1210, after confiding the government of the colony to
+John de Grey, Bishop of Norwich, whose predilection for secular affairs
+had induced the Holy See to refuse his nomination to the Archbishopric
+of Canterbury. The most important act of his Viceroyalty was the
+erection of a bridge and castle at <i>Ath-Luain</i> (Athlone). He was
+succeeded, in 1213, by Henry de Londres, who had been appointed to the
+see of Dublin during the preceding year. This prelate was one of those
+who were the means of obtaining <i>Magna Charta</i>. His name appears second
+on the list of counsellors who advised the grant; and he stood by the
+King's side, at Runnymede, when the barons obtained the bulwark of
+English liberty. It is sometimes forgotten that the clergy were the
+foremost to demand it, and the most persevering in their efforts to
+obtain it.</p>
+
+<p>The Archbishop was now sent to Rome by the King to plead his cause
+there, and to counteract, as best he might, the serious complaints made
+against him by all his subjects&mdash;A.D. 1215. In 1213 Walter de Lacy
+obtained the restoration of his father's property in Wales and England.
+Two years later he recovered his Irish lands; but the King retained his
+son, Gislebert, as hostage, and his Castle of <i>Droicead-Atha</i>
+(Drogheda).</p>
+
+<p>The Irish chieftains made some stand for their rights at the close of
+this reign. Cormac O'Melaghlin wrested Delvin, in Meath, from the
+English. O'Neill and O'Donnell composed their difference <i>pro tem.</i>, and
+joined in attacking the invaders. In the south there was a war between
+Dermod and Connor Carthy, in which the Anglo-Normans joined, and, as
+usual, got the lion's share, obtaining such an increase of territory as
+enabled them to erect twenty new castles in Cork and Kerry.</p>
+
+<p>The Four Masters give a curious story under the year 1213. O'Donnell
+More sent his steward to Connaught to collect his tribute. On his way he
+visited the poet Murray O'Daly, and began to wrangle with him, &quot;although
+his lord had given him no instructions to do so.&quot; The poet's ire was
+excited. He killed him on the spot with a sharp axe&mdash;an unpleasant
+exhibition of literary justice&mdash;and then fled into Clanrickarde for
+safety. O'Donnell determined to revenge<a name="Page_304"></a> the insult, until Mac William
+(William de Burgo) submitted to him. But the poet had been sent to seek
+refuge in Thomond. The chief pursued him there also, and laid siege to
+Limerick.<a name="FNanchor_319_320"></a><a href="#Footnote_319_320"><sup>[319]</sup></a> The inhabitants at once expelled the murderer, who
+eventually fled to Dublin. After receiving tribute from the men of
+Connaught, O'Donnell marched to Dublin, and compelled the people to
+banish Murray to Scotland. Here he remained until he had composed three
+poems in praise of O'Donnell, imploring peace and forgiveness. He was
+then pardoned, and so far received into favour as to obtain a grant of
+land and other possessions.</p>
+
+<p>The Irish bishops were, as usual, in constant intercourse with Rome.
+Several prelates attended the fourth General Council of Lateran, in
+1215. The Annals give the obituaries of some saintly men, whose lives
+redeemed the age from the character for barbarity, which its secular
+literature would seem to justify. Amongst these we find the obituary of
+Catholicus O'Duffy, in 1201; of Uaireirghe, &quot;one of the noble sages of
+Clonmacnois, a man full of the love of God and of every virtue;&quot; of Con
+O'Melly, Bishop of Annaghdown, &quot;a transparently bright gem of the
+Church;&quot; of Donnell O'Brollaghan, &quot;a prior, a noble senior, a sage,
+illustrious for his intelligence;&quot; and of many others. A great number of
+monasteries were also founded, especially by the Anglo-Normans, who
+appear to have had periodical fits of piety, after periodical
+temptations to replenish their coffers out of their neighbours'
+property. We may not quite judge their reparations as altogether
+insincere; for surely some atonement for evil deeds is better than an
+utter recklessness of future punishment.</p>
+
+<p>Henry III. succeeded his father, John, while only in his tenth year.
+William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, was appointed protector of the
+kingdom and the King. The young monarch was hastily crowned at Bristol,
+with one of his mother's golden bracelets. Had the wise and good Earl
+lived to administer affairs for a longer period, it<a name="Page_305"></a> would have been a
+blessing to both countries. Geoffrey de Marisco still continued Governor
+of Ireland. Affairs in England were in an extremely critical position.
+The profligate Isabella had returned to her first husband, Hugh de
+Lusignan, whom she had before forsaken for King John. Gloucester,
+London, and Kent, were in the hands of the Dauphin of France. Some few
+acts of justice to Ireland were the result; but when justice is only
+awarded from motives of fear or interest, it becomes worse than
+worthless as a mode of conciliation. Such justice, however, as was
+granted, only benefited the Anglo-Norman settlers; the &quot;mere Irish&quot; were
+a race devoted to plunder and extermination.</p>
+
+<p>In consequence of complaints from the English barons in Ireland, a
+modified form of Magna Charta was granted to them, and a general amnesty
+was proclaimed, with special promises of reparation to the nobles whom
+John had oppressed. Hugh de Lacy was also pardoned and recalled; but it
+was specially provided that the Irish should have no share in such
+favours; and the Viceroy was charged to see that no native of the
+country obtained cathedral preferment. This piece of injustice was
+annulled through the interference of Pope Honorius III.</p>
+
+<p>In 1217 the young King, or rather his advisers, sent the Archbishop of
+Dublin to that city to levy a &quot;tallage,&quot; or tax, for the royal benefit.
+The Archbishop and the Justiciary were directed to represent to the
+&quot;Kings of Ireland,&quot; and the barons holding directly from the crown, that
+their liberality would not be forgotten; but neither the politeness of
+the address<a name="FNanchor_320_321"></a><a href="#Footnote_320_321"><sup>[320]</sup></a> nor the benevolence of the promises were practically
+appreciated, probably because neither were believed to be sincere, and
+the King's coffers were not much replenished.</p>
+
+<p>Arrangements were now made defining the powers of the Viceroy or
+Justiciary. The earliest details on this subject are embodied in an
+agreement between Henry III. and Geoffrey de Marisco, sealed at Oxford,
+in March, 1220, in presence of the Papal Legate, the Archbishop of
+Dublin, and many of the nobility.</p>
+
+<p>By these regulations the Justiciary was bound to account in the
+Exchequer of Dublin for all taxes and aids received in Ireland for the
+royal purse. He was to defray all expenses for the maintenance of the
+King's castles and lands out of the revenues. In fact, the<a name="Page_306"></a> people of the
+country were taxed, either directly or indirectly, for the support of
+the invaders. The King's castles were to be kept by loyal and proper
+constables, who were obliged to give hostages. Indeed, so little faith
+had the English kings in the loyalty of their own subjects, that the
+Justiciary himself was obliged to give a hostage as security for his own
+behaviour. Neither does the same Viceroy appear to have benefited trade,
+for he is accused of exacting wine, clothing, and victuals, without
+payment, from the merchants of Dublin.</p>
+
+<p>In 1221 the Archbishop of Dublin, Henry de Londres, was made Governor.
+He obtained the name of &quot;Scorch Villain,&quot; from having cast into the fire
+the leases of the tenants of his see, whom he had cited to produce these
+documents in his court. The enraged landholders attacked the attendants,
+and laid hands on the Archbishop, who was compelled to do them justice
+from fear of personal violence. When such was the mode of government
+adopted by English officials, we can scarcely wonder that the people of
+Ireland have not inherited very ardent feelings of loyalty and devotion
+to the crown and constitution of that country.</p>
+
+<p>Such serious complaints were made of the unjust Governor, that Henry was
+at last obliged to check his rapacity. Probably, he was all the more
+willing to do so, in consequence of some encroachments on the royal
+prerogative.</p>
+
+<p>After the death of the Earl of Pembroke, who had obtained the pardon of
+Hugh de Lacy, a feud arose between the latter and the son of his former
+friend. In consequence of this quarrel, all Meath was ravaged, Hugh
+O'Neill having joined De Lacy in the conflict.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the Irish chieftains now tried to obtain protection from the
+rapacity of the Anglo-Norman barons, by paying an annual stipend to the
+crown; but the crown, though graciously pleased to accept anything which
+might be offered, still held to its royal prerogative of disposing of
+Irish property as appeared most convenient to royal interests. Though
+Cathal Crovderg had made arrangements with Henry III., at an immense
+sacrifice, to secure his property, that monarch accepted his money, but,
+nevertheless, bestowed the whole province of Connaught shortly after on
+Richard de Burgo.</p>
+
+<p>Crovderg had retired into a Franciscan monastery at Knockmoy, which he
+had founded, and there he was interred nobly and honourably. After his
+death there were no less than three claimants<a name="Page_307"></a> for his dignity. De Burgo
+claimed it in right of the royal gift; Hugh Cathal claimed it as heir to
+his father, Crovderg; Turlough claimed it for the love of fighting,
+inherent in the Celtic race; and a general guerilla warfare was carried
+on by the three parties, to the utter ruin of each individual. For the
+next ten years the history of the country is the history of deadly feuds
+between the native princes, carefully fomented by the English settlers,
+whose interest it was to make them exterminate each other.</p>
+
+<p>The quarrel for the possession of Connaught began in the year 1225. The
+Anglo-Normans had a large army at Athlone, and Hugh Cathal went to claim
+their assistance. The Lord Justice put himself at the head of the army;
+they marched into Connaught, and soon became masters of the situation.
+Roderic's sons at once submitted, but only to bide their time. During
+these hostilities the English of Desmond, and O'Brien, a Thomond prince,
+assisted by the Sheriff of Cork, invaded the southern part of Connaught
+for the sake of plunder. In the previous year, 1224, &quot;the corn remained
+unreaped until the festival of St. Brigid [1st Feb.], when the ploughing
+was going on.&quot; A famine also occurred, and was followed by severe
+sickness. Well might the friar historian exclaim: &quot;Woeful was the
+misfortune which God permitted to fall upon the west province in Ireland
+at that time; for the young warriors did not spare each other, but
+preyed and plundered to the utmost of their power. Women and children,
+the feeble and the lowly poor, perished by cold and famine in this
+year.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_321_322"></a><a href="#Footnote_321_322"><sup>[321]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>O'Neill had inaugurated Turlough at Carnfree.<a name="FNanchor_322_323"></a><a href="#Footnote_322_323"><sup>[322]</sup></a> He appears to have
+been the most popular claimant. The northern chieftains then returned
+home. As soon as the English left Connaught, Turlough again revolted.
+Hugh Cathal recalled his allies; and the opposite party, finding their
+cause hopeless, joined him in such numbers that Roderic's sons fled for
+refuge to Hugh O'Neill. The Annals suggest that the English might well
+respond when called on, &quot;for their spirit was fresh, and their struggle
+trifling.&quot; Again we find it recorded that the corn remained unreaped
+until after the festival of St. Brigid. The wonder is, not that the
+harvest was not gathered in, but that there was any harvest to gather.</p><a name="Page_308"></a>
+
+<p>Soon after these events, Hugh O'Connor was captured by his English
+allies, and would have been sacrificed to their vengeance on some
+pretence, had not Earl Marshal rescued him by force of arms. He escorted
+him out of the court, and brought him safely to Connaught; but his son
+and daughter remained in the hands of the English. Hugh soon found an
+opportunity of retaliating. A conference was appointed to take place
+near Athlone,<a name="FNanchor_323_324"></a><a href="#Footnote_323_324"><sup>[323]</sup></a> between him and William de Marisco, son of the Lord
+Justice. When in sight of the English knights, the Irish prince rushed
+on William, and seized him, while his followers captured his attendants,
+one of whom, the Constable of Athlone, was killed in the fray. Hugh then
+proceeded to plunder and burn the town, and to rescue his son and
+daughter, and some Connaught chieftains.</p>
+
+<p>At the close of the year 1227, Turlough again took arms. The English had
+found it their convenience to change sides, and assisted him with all
+their forces. Probably they feared the brave Hugh, and were jealous of
+the very power they had helped him to obtain. Hugh Roderic attacked the
+northern districts, with Richard de Burgo. Turlough Roderic marched to
+the peninsula of Rindown, with the Viceroy. Hugh Crovderg had a narrow
+escape near the Curlieu Mountains, where his wife was captured by the
+English. The following year he appears to have been reconciled to the
+Lord Deputy, for he was killed in his house by an Englishman, in revenge
+for a liberty he had taken with a woman.<a name="FNanchor_324_325"></a><a href="#Footnote_324_325"><sup>[324]</sup></a></p><a name="Page_309"></a>
+
+<p>As usual, on the death of Hugh O'Connor, the brothers who had fought
+against him now fought against each other. The Saxon certainly does not
+deserve the credit of all our national miseries. If there had been a
+little less home dissension, there would have been a great deal less
+foreign oppression. The English, however, helped to foment the discord.
+The Lord Justice took part with Hugh, the younger brother, who was
+supported by the majority of the Connaught men, although Turlough had
+already been inaugurated by O'Neill. A third competitor now started up;
+this was Felim brother to Hugh O'Connor. Some of the chieftains declared
+that they would not serve a prince who acknowledged English rule, and
+obliged Hugh to renounce his allegiance. But this question was settled
+with great promptitude. Richard de Burgo took the field, desolated the
+country&mdash;if, indeed, there was anything left to desolate&mdash;killed Donn
+Oge Mageraghty, their bravest champion, expelled Hugh, and proclaimed
+Felim.</p>
+
+<p>The reign of this prince was of short duration. In 1231 he was taken
+prisoner at Meelick, despite the most solemn guarantees, by the very man
+who had so lately enthroned him. Hugh was reinstated, but before the end
+of the year Felim was released. He now assembled his forces again, and
+attacked Hugh, whom he killed, with several of his relations, and many
+English and Irish chieftains. His next exploit was to demolish the
+castles of Galway; Dunannon, on the river Suck, Roscommon; Hags' Castle,
+on Lough Mask; and Castle Rich, on Lough Corrib; all of which had been
+erected by Roderic's sons and their English allies. But the tide of
+fortune soon turned. The invincible De Burgo entered Connaught once
+more, and plundered without mercy. In a pitched battle the English
+gained the day, principally through the skill of their cavalry<a name="FNanchor_325_326"></a><a href="#Footnote_325_326"><sup>[325]</sup></a> and
+the protection of their coats-of-mail.</p>
+
+<p>Felim fled to the north, and sought refuge with O'Donnell of
+Tir-Connell. O'Flaherty, who had always been hostile to Felim, joined
+the English, and, by the help of his boats, they were able to<a name="Page_310"></a> lay waste
+the islands of Clew Bay. Nearly all the inhabitants were killed or
+carried off. The victorious forces now laid siege to a castle<a name="FNanchor_326_327"></a><a href="#Footnote_326_327"><sup>[326]</sup></a> on
+the Rock of Lough Key, in Roscommon, which was held for O'Connor by Mac
+Dermod. They succeeded in taking it, but soon lost their possession by
+the quick-witted cleverness of an Irish soldier, who closed the gates on
+them when they set out on a plundering expedition. The fortress was at
+once demolished, that it might not fall into English hands again.</p>
+
+<p>When William Pembroke died, A.D. 1231, he bequeathed his offices and
+large estates in England and Ireland to his brother, Richard, who is
+described by the chroniclers as a model of manly beauty. Henry III.
+prohibited his admission to the inheritance, and charged him with
+treason. The Earl escaped to Ireland, and took possession of the lands
+and castles of the family, waging war upon the King until his rights
+were acknowledged. In 1232 Henry had granted the Justiciary of England
+and of Ireland, with other valuable privileges, to Hubert de Burgo. Earl
+Richard supported him against the adventurers from Poitou and Bretagne,
+on whom the weak King had begun to lavish his favours. The Parliament
+and the barons remonstrated, and threatened to dethrone Henry, if he
+persevered in being governed by foreigners. And well they might; for one
+of these needy men, Pierre de Rivaulx, had obtained a grant for life of
+nearly every office and emolument in Ireland; amongst others, we find
+mention of &quot;the vacant sees, and the Jews in Ireland.&quot; Henry did his
+best to get his own views carried out; but Earl Richard leagued with the
+Welsh princes, and expelled the intruders from the towns and castles in
+that part of the country.</p>
+
+<p>The King's foreign advisers determined to destroy their great enemy as
+speedily as possible. Their plain was deeply laid. They despatched
+letters to Ireland, signed by twelve privy counsellors, requiring the
+Viceroy and barons to seize his castles, bribing them with a promise of
+a share in his lands. The wily Anglo-Normans demanded a charter,
+specifying which portion of his property each individual should have.
+They obtained the document, signed with the royal seal, which had been
+purloined for the occasion from the Chancellor. The Anglo-Normans acted
+with detestable dissimulation.<a name="Page_311"></a> Geoffrey de Marisco tried to worm himself
+into the confidence of the man on whose destruction he was bent. On the
+1st of April, 1232, a conference was arranged to take place on the
+Curragh of Kildare. The Viceroy was accompanied by De Lacy, De Burgo,
+and a large number of soldiers and mercenaries. The Earl was attended by
+a few knights and the false De Marisco. He declined to comply with the
+demands of the barons, who refused to restore his castles. The
+treacherous De Marisco withdrew from him at this moment, and he suddenly
+found himself overpowered by numbers. With the thoughtfulness of true
+heroism, he ordered some of his attendants to hasten away with his young
+brother, Walter. Nearly all his retainers had been bribed to forsake him
+in the moment of danger; and now that the few who obeyed his last
+command were gone, he had to contend single-handed with the multitude.
+His personal bravery was not a little feared, and the coward barons, who
+were either afraid or ashamed to attack him individually, urged on their
+soldiers, until he was completely surrounded. The Earl laid prostrate
+six of his foes, clove one knight to the middle, and struck off the
+hands of another, before he was captured. At last the soldiers aimed at
+the feet of his spirited steed, until they were cut off, and by this
+piece of cruelty brought its rider to the ground. A treacherous stab
+from behind, with a long knife, plunged to the haft in his back,
+completed the bloody work.</p>
+
+<p>The Earl was borne off, apparently lifeless, to one of his own castles,
+which had been seized by the Viceroy. It is said that even his surgeon
+was bribed to prevent his recovery. Before submitting his wounds to the
+necessary treatment, he prepared for death, and received the last
+sacraments. He died calmly and immediately, clasping a crucifix, on Palm
+Sunday, the sixteenth day after his treacherous capture. And thus
+expired the &quot;flower of chivalry,&quot; and the grandson of Strongbow, the
+very man to whom England owed so much of her Irish possessions.</p>
+
+<p>It could not fail to be remarked by the Irish annalists, that the first
+Anglo-Norman settlers had been singularly unfortunate. They can scarcely
+be blamed for supposing that these misfortunes were a judgment for their
+crimes. Before the middle of this century (the thirteenth) three of the
+most important families had become extinct. De Lacy, Lord of Meath, died
+in 1241, infirm and blind; his property was inherited by his
+grand-daughters, in default of a male heir. Hugh de Lacy died in 1240,
+and left only a daughter. The Earl<a name="Page_312"></a> of Pembroke died from wounds received
+at a tournament. Walter, who succeeded him, also died without issue. The
+property came eventually to Anselm, a younger brother, who also died
+childless; and it was eventually portioned out among the females of the
+family.</p>
+
+<p>It is said Henry III. expressed deep grief when he heard of Earl
+Richard's unfortunate end, and that he endeavoured to have restitution
+made to the family. Geoffrey de Marisco was banished. His son, William,
+conspired against the King, and even employed an assassin to kill him.
+The man would have probably accomplished his purpose, had he not been
+discovered accidentally by one of the Queen's maids, hid under the straw
+of the royal bed. The real traitor was eventually captured, drawn at
+horses' tails to London, and hanged with the usual barbarities.</p>
+
+<p>His miserable father, who had been thrice Viceroy of Ireland, and a peer
+of that country and of England, died in exile, &quot;pitifully, yet
+undeserving of pity, for his own treason against the unfortunate Earl
+Richard, and his son's treason against the King.&quot; Such were the men who
+governed Ireland in the thirteenth century.</p>
+
+<p>Treachery seems to have been the recognized plan of capturing an enemy.
+In 1236 this method was attempted by the government in order to get
+Felim O'Connor into their power. He was invited to attend a meeting in
+Athlone, but, fortunately for himself, he discovered the designs of his
+enemies time enough to effect his escape. He was pursued to Sligo. From
+thence he fled to Tir-Connell, which appears to have been the Cave of
+Adullam in that era; though there were so many discontented persons, and
+it was so difficult to know which party any individual would espouse
+continuously, that the Adullamites were tolerably numerous. Turlough's
+son, Brian O'Connor, was now invested with the government of Connaught
+by the English, until some more promising candidate should appear. But
+even their support failed to enable him to keep the field. Felim<a name="FNanchor_327_328"></a><a href="#Footnote_327_328"><sup>[327]</sup></a>
+returned the following year, and after defeating the soldiers of the
+Lord Justice, made Brian's people take to flight so effectually, that
+none of Roderic's descendants ever again attempted even to possess their
+ancestral lands.</p>
+
+<p>The Four Masters have the following graphic entry under the<a name="Page_313"></a> year 1236:
+&quot;Heavy rains, harsh weather, and much war prevailed in this year.&quot; The
+Annals of Kilronan also give a fearful account of the wars, the weather,
+and the crimes. They mention that Brian's people burned the church of
+Imlagh Brochada over the heads of O'Flynn's people, while it was full of
+women, children, and nuns, and had three priests in it. There were so
+many raids on cows, that the unfortunate animals must have had a
+miserable existence. How a single cow survived the amount of driving
+hither and thither they endured, considering their natural love of ease
+and contemplative habits, is certainly a mystery. In the year 1238, the
+Annals mention that the English erected castles in Connaught,
+principally in the territory from which the O'Flahertys had been
+expelled. This family, however, became very powerful in that part of the
+country in which they now settled.</p>
+
+<p>As Connaught had been fairly depopulated, and its kings and princes
+nearly annihilated, the English turned their attention to Ulster, where
+they wished to play the same game. The Lord Justice and Hugh de Lacy led
+an army thither, and deposed MacLoughlin, giving the government to
+O'Neill's son; but MacLoughlin obtained rule again, after a battle
+fought the following year at Carnteel.</p>
+
+<p>In 1240 the King of Connaught went to England to complain personally of
+De Burgo's oppressions and exactions; but his mission, as might be
+expected, was fruitless, although he was received courteously, and the
+King wrote to the Lord Justice &quot;to pluck out by the root that fruitless
+sycamore, De Burgo, which the Earl of Kent, in the insolence of his
+power, hath planted in these parts.&quot; However, we find that Henry was
+thankful to avail himself of the services of the &quot;fruitless sycamore&quot;
+only two years after, in an expedition against the King of France. He
+died on the voyage to Bourdeaux, and was succeeded by his son, Walter.
+In 1241 More O'Donnell, Lord of Tir-Connell, died in Assaroe, in the
+monastic habit. In 1244 Felim O'Connor and some Irish chieftains
+accompanied the then Viceroy, FitzGerald, to Wales, where Henry had
+requested their assistance.</p>
+
+<p>The King was nearly starved out, the Irish reinforcements were long in
+coming over, and the delay was visited on the head of the unfortunate
+Justiciary, who was deprived of his office. John de Marisco was
+appointed in his place.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><br /><br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XX"></a>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/066.jpg" width="432" height="337" alt="ATHLONE CASTLE." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>ATHLONE CASTLE.</h4>
+
+<a name="Page_314"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XX.</h2>
+
+<h4>The Age was not all Evil&mdash;Good Men in the World and in the
+Cloister&mdash;Religious Houses and their Founders&mdash;The Augustinians and
+Cistercians&mdash;Franciscans and Dominicans&mdash;Their close
+Friendship&mdash;Dominican Houses&mdash;St. Saviour's, Dublin&mdash;The Black Abbey,
+Kilkenny&mdash;Franciscan
+Houses&mdash;Youghal&mdash;Kilkenny&mdash;Multifarnham&mdash;Timoleague&mdash;Donegal&mdash;Carmelite
+Convents and Friars&mdash;Rising of the Connaught Men&mdash;A Plunderer of the
+English&mdash;Battle of Downpatrick&mdash;The MacCarthys defeat the Geraldines at
+Kenmare&mdash;War between De Burgo and FitzGerald.</h4>
+
+<h5>[A.D. 1244-1271.]</h5>
+
+
+<img src="images/t.jpg" width="56" height="211" align="left" alt="Z" title="" />
+<p>eal for founding religious houses was one of the characteristics of the
+age. Even the men who spent their lives in desolating the sanctuaries
+erected by others, and in butchering their fellow-creatures, appear to
+have had some thought of a future retribution&mdash;some idea that crime
+demanded atonement&mdash;with a lively faith in a future state, where a stern
+account would be demanded. If we contented ourselves with merely
+following the sanguinary careers of kings and chieftains, we should have
+as little idea of the real condition of the country, as we should obtain
+of the present social state of England by an exclusive study of the
+police reports in the <i>Times</i>. Perhaps, there was not much more crime
+committed then than now. Certainly there were atonements made for
+offending against God and man, which we do not hear of at the present
+day.<a name="Page_315"></a> Even a cursory glance through the driest annals, will show that it
+was not all evil&mdash;that there was something besides crime and misery. On
+almost every page we find some incident which tells us that faith was
+not extinct. In the Annals of the Four Masters, the obituaries of good
+men are invariably placed before the records of the evil deeds of
+warriors or princes. Perhaps writers may have thought that such names
+would be recorded in another Book with a similar precedence. The feats
+of arms, the raids, and destructions occupy the largest space. Such
+deeds come most prominently before the eyes of the world, and therefore
+we are inclined to suppose that they were the most important. But though
+the Annals may devote pages to the exploits of De Lacy or De Burgo, and
+only say of Ainmie O'Coffey, Abbot of the Church of Derry-Columcille,
+that he was &quot;a noble ecclesiastic, distinguished for his piety,
+meekness, charity, wisdom, and every other virtue;&quot; or of MacGilluire,
+Coarb of St. Patrick, and Primate of Ireland, that &quot;he died at Rome,
+after a well-spent life,&quot;<a name="FNanchor_328_329"></a><a href="#Footnote_328_329"><sup>[328]</sup></a>&mdash;how much is enfolded in the brief
+obituary! How many, of whom men never have heard in this world, were
+influenced, advised, and counselled by the meek and noble ecclesiastic!</p>
+
+<p>The influence of good men is like the circle we make when we cast a
+little stone into a great stream, and which extends wider and wider
+until it reaches the opposite bank. It is a noiseless influence, but not
+the less effective. It is a hidden influence, but not the less
+efficacious. The Coarb of St. Patrick, in his &quot;well-spent life,&quot; may
+have influenced for good as many hundreds, as the bad example of some
+profligate adventurer influenced for evil; but we are quite sure to hear
+a great deal about the exploits of the latter, and equally certain that
+the good deeds of the former will not be so carefully chronicled.</p>
+
+<p>Nor should we at all suppose that piety in this age was confined to
+ecclesiastics. The Earls of Pembroke stand conspicuously amongst their
+fellows as men of probity, and were none the less brave because they
+were sincerely religious. At times, even in the midst of the fiercest
+raids, men found time to pray, and to do deeds of mercy. On one Friday,
+in the year of grace 1235, the English knights, in the very midst of
+their success at Umallia, and after fearful devastations commanded &quot;that
+no people shall be slain on that day, in<a name="Page_316"></a> honour of the crucifixion of
+Christ.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_329_330"></a><a href="#Footnote_329_330"><sup>[329]</sup></a> It is true they &quot;plundered and devastated both by sea and
+land the very next day;&quot; but even one such public act of faith was
+something that we might wish to see in our own times. After the same
+raid, too, we find the &quot;English of Ireland&quot; and the Lord Justice sparing
+and protecting Clarus, the Archdeacon of Elphin, and the Canons of
+Trinity Island, in honour of the Blessed Trinity&mdash;another act of faith;
+and the &quot;Lord Justice himself and the chiefs of the English went to see
+that place, and to kneel and pray there.&quot; On another occasion the
+&quot;English chiefs were highly disgusted&quot; when their soldiers broke into
+the sacristy of Boyle Abbey, and &quot;took away the chalices, vestments, and
+other valuable things.&quot; Their leaders &quot;sent back everything they could
+find, and paid for what they could not find.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_330_331"></a><a href="#Footnote_330_331"><sup>[330]</sup></a> We must, however,
+acknowledge regretfully that this species of &quot;disgust&quot; and reparation
+were equally rare. To plunder monasteries which they had not erected
+themselves, seems to have been as ordinary an occupation as to found new
+ones with a portion of their unjust spoils.</p>
+
+<p>Although this is not an ecclesiastical history, some brief account of
+the monks, and of the monasteries founded in Ireland about this period,
+will be necessary. The earliest foundations were houses of the
+Cistercian Order and the Augustinians. The Augustinian Order, as its
+name implies, was originally founded by St. Augustine, the great
+Archbishop of Hippo, in Africa. His rule has been adopted and adapted by
+the founders of several congregations of men and women. The great
+Benedictine Order owes its origin to the Patriarch of the West, so
+famous for his rejection of the nobility of earth, that he might attain
+more securely to the ranks of the noble in heaven. This Order was
+introduced into England at an early period. It became still more popular
+and distinguished when St. Bernard preached under the mantle of
+Benedict, and showed how austerity towards himself and tenderness
+towards others could be combined in its highest perfection.</p>
+
+<p>The twin Orders of St. Dominic and St. Francis, founded in the early
+part of the thirteenth century&mdash;the one by a Spanish nobleman, the other
+by an Italian merchant&mdash;were established in Ireland in the very lifetime
+of their founders. Nothing now remains of the glories of their ancient
+houses, on which the patrons had expended<a name="Page_317"></a> so much wealth, and the artist
+so much skill; but their memory still lives in the hearts of the people,
+and there are few places in the country without traditions which point
+out the spot where a Franciscan was martyred, or a Dominican taken in
+the act of administering to the spiritual necessities of the people.</p>
+
+<p>The Abbey of Mellifont was founded A.D. 1142, for Cistercian monks, by
+Donough O'Carroll, King of Oriel. It was the most ancient monastery of
+the Order in this country, and was supplied with monks by St. Bernard,
+direct from Clairvaux, then in all its first fervour. We have already
+mentioned some of the offerings which were made to this monastery. The
+date of the erection of St. Mary's Abbey in Dublin has not been
+correctly ascertained, but it is quite certain that the Cistercians were
+established here in 1139, although it was probably built originally by
+the Danes. The abbots of this monastery, and of the monastery at
+Mellifont, sat as barons in Parliament. There were also houses at
+Bectiff, county Meath; Baltinglass, county Wicklow; Moray, county
+Limerick; Ordorney, county Kerry (quaintly and suggestively called
+<i>Kyrie Eleison</i>), at Newry, Fermoy, Boyle, Monasterevan, Ashro, and
+Jerpoint. The superiors of several of these houses sat in Parliament.
+Their remains attest their beauty and the cultivated tastes of their
+founders. The ruins of the Abbey of Holy Cross, county Tipperary,
+founded in 1182, by Donald O'Brien, are of unusual extent and
+magnificence. But the remains of Dunbrody, in the county of Wexford,
+are, perhaps, the largest and the most picturesque of any in the
+kingdom. It was also richly endowed. It should be remembered that these
+establishments were erected by the founders, not merely as an act of
+piety to God during their lifetime, but with the hope that prayers
+should be offered there for the repose of their souls after death. Those
+who confiscated these houses and lands to secular purposes, have
+therefore committed a double injustice, since they have robbed both God
+and the dead.</p>
+
+<p>A great number of priories were also founded for the Canons Regular of
+St. Augustine. These establishments were of great use in supplying a
+number of zealous and devoted priests, who ministered to the spiritual
+wants of the people in their several districts. Tintern Abbey was
+founded in the year 1200, by the Earl of Pembroke. When in danger at
+sea, he made a vow that he would erect a monastery on whatever place he
+should first arrive in safety. He fulfilled his promise, and brought
+monks from Tintern, in <a name="Page_318"></a>Monmouthshire, who gave their new habitation the
+name of their old home. In 1224 the Cistercians resigned the Monastery
+of St. Saviour, Dublin, which had been erected for them by the same
+Earl, to the Dominicans, on condition that they should offer a lighted
+taper, on the Feast of the Nativity, at the Abbey of St. Mary, as an
+acknowledgment of the grant. The Mayor of Dublin, John Decer (A.D.
+1380), repaired the church, and adorned it with a range of massive
+pillars. The friars of this house were as distinguished for literature
+as the rest of their brethren; and in 1421 they opened a school of
+philosophy and divinity on Usher's Island.<a name="FNanchor_331_332"></a><a href="#Footnote_331_332"><sup>[331]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>The Dominican Convent of St. Mary Magdalene at Drogheda was founded, in
+1224, by John Netterville, Archbishop of Armagh. Richard II. and Henry
+IV. were great benefactors to this house. Four general chapters were
+also held here. The Black Abbey of Kilkenny was erected by the younger
+William, Earl of Pembroke. Four general chapters were also held here,
+and it was considered one of the first houses of the Order in Ireland.
+We shall give details, at a later period, of the destruction and
+restoration of this and other monasteries. The Dominicans had also
+houses at Waterford, Cork, Mullingar, Athenry, Cashel, Tralee, Sligo,
+Roscommon, and, in fact, in nearly all the principal towns in the
+country.</p>
+
+<p>Nor were their Franciscan brethren less popular. The Order of Friars
+Minor generally found a home near the Friars Preachers; and so close was
+the friendship between them, that it was usual, on the festivals of
+their respective founders, for the Franciscan to preach the panegyric of
+St. Dominic, and the Dominican to preach the panegyric of St. Francis.
+Youghal was the first place where a convent of this Order was erected.
+The founder, Maurice FitzGerald, was Lord Justice in the year 1229, and
+again in 1232. He was a patron of both Orders, and died in the
+Franciscan habit, on the 20th May, 1257. Indeed, some of the English and
+Irish chieftains were so<a name="Page_319"></a> devout to the two saints, that they appear to
+have had some difficulty in choosing which they would have for their
+special patron. In 1649 the famous Owen O'Neill was buried in a convent
+of the Order at Cavan. When dying he desired that he should be clothed
+in the Dominican habit, and buried in the Franciscan monastery.</p>
+
+<p>Some curious particulars are related of the foundation at Youghal. The
+Earl was building a mansion for his family in the town, about the year
+1231. While the workmen were engaged in laying the foundation, they
+begged some money, on the eve of a great feast, that they might drink to
+the health of their noble employer. FitzGerald willingly complied with
+their request, and desired his eldest son to be the bearer of his
+bounty. The young nobleman, however, less generous than his father, not
+only refused to give them the money, but had angry words with the
+workmen. It is not mentioned whether the affair came to a more serious
+collision; but the Earl, highly incensed with the conduct of his son,
+ordered the workmen to erect a monastery instead of a castle, and
+bestowed the house upon the Franciscan fathers. The following year he
+took their habit, and lived in the convent until his death. This house
+was completely destroyed during the persecutions in the reign of
+Elizabeth.</p>
+
+<p>The Convent of Kilkenny was founded immediately after. Its benefactor
+was the Earl of Pembroke, who was buried in the church. Here was a
+remarkable spring, dedicated to St. Francis, at which many miraculous
+cures are said to have been wrought. The site occupied by this building
+was very extensive; its ruins only remain to tell how spacious and
+beautiful its abbey and church must have been. It was also remarkable
+for the learned men who there pursued their literary toil, among whom we
+may mention the celebrated annalist, Clynn. He was at first Guardian of
+the Convent of Carrick-on-Suir; but, about 1338, he retired to Kilkenny,
+where he compiled the greater part of his Annals. It is probable that he
+died about 1350. His history commences with the Christian era, and is
+carried down to the year 1349. At this time the country was all but
+depopulated by a fearful pestilence. The good and learned brother seems
+to have had some forebodings of his impending fate, for his last written
+words run thus:&mdash;&quot;And, lest the writing should perish with the writer,
+and the work should fail with the workman, I leave behind me parchment
+for continuing it; if any man should have the good fortune to survive
+this calamity, or any one of the race of Adam should escape this
+pestilence, and live to continue<a name="Page_320"></a> what I have begun.&quot; This abbey was also
+one of the great literary schools of Ireland, and had its halls of
+philosophy and divinity, which, were well attended for many years.</p>
+
+<p>In Dublin the Franciscans were established by the munificence of their
+great patron, Henry III. Ralph le Porter granted a site of land in that
+part of the city where the street still retains the name of the founder
+of the Seraphic Order. In 1308 John le Decer proved a great benefactor
+to the friars, and erected a very beautiful chapel, dedicated to the
+Blessed Virgin, in which he was interred.</p>
+
+<p>But the Convent of Multifarnham was the great glory of this century. It
+was erected, in 1236, by Lord Delemere; and from its retired situation,
+and the powerful protection of its noble patrons, escaped many of the
+calamities which befell other houses of the Order. The church and
+convent were built &quot;in honour of God and St. Francis.&quot; The monastery
+itself was of unusual size, and had ample accommodation for a number of
+friars. Hence, in times of persecution, it was the usual refuge of the
+sick and infirm, who were driven from their less favoured homes. The
+church was remarkable for its beauty and the richness of its ornaments.
+Here were the tombs of its noble founders and patrons; and the
+south-eastern window was gorgeous with their heraldic devices. The
+convent was situated on Lake Derravaragh, and was endowed with many
+acres of rich land, through which flow the Inny and the Gaine. Such a
+position afforded opportunity for mills and agricultural labours, of
+which the friars were not slow to avail themselves.</p>
+
+<p>The site, as we have remarked, was secluded, at some distance even from
+any village, and far from the more frequented roads. In process of time
+the family of the Nugents became lords of the manor, but they were not
+less friendly to the religious than the former proprietors. Indeed, so
+devoted were they to the Order, that, at the time of the dissolution of
+the monasteries, Multifarnham would have shared the common fate, had
+they not again and again repurchased it from those to whom it had been
+sold by Henry. Even during the reign of Elizabeth it was protected by
+the same family. But the day of suffering was even then approaching. In
+the October of the year 1601, a detachment of English soldiers was sent
+from Dublin by Lord Mountjoy, to destroy the convent which had been so
+long spared. The friars were seized and imprisoned, the monastery
+pillaged; and the soldiers, disappointed in<a name="Page_321"></a> their hope of a rich booty,
+wreaked their vengeance by setting fire to the sacred pile.</p>
+
+<p>The Convent of Kilcrea was another sequestered spot. It was founded in
+the fifteenth century, by the MacCarthys, under the invocation of St.
+Brigid. The richness and magnificence of the church, its graceful
+bell-tower, carved windows, and marble ornaments, showed both the
+generosity and the taste of the Lord Muskerry. Cormac was interred here
+in 1495; and many noble families, having made it their place of
+sepulture, protected the church for the sake of their ancestral tombs.</p>
+
+<p>Nor was the Monastery of Timoleague less celebrated. The honour of its
+foundation is disputed, as well as the exact date; but as the tombs of
+the MacCarthys, the O'Donovans, O'Heas, and De Courcys, are in its
+choir, we may suppose that all had a share in the erection or adornment
+of this stately church. One of the De Courcy family, Edmund, Bishop of
+Ross, himself a Franciscan friar, rebuilt the bell-tower, which rises to
+a height of seventy feet, as well as the dormitory, infirmary, and
+library. At his death, in 1548, he bequeathed many valuable books,
+altar-plate, &amp;c., to his brethren.</p>
+
+<p>The history of the establishment of the Order at Donegal is amusing
+enough, and very characteristic of the customs of the age. In the year
+1474 the Franciscans were holding a general chapter in their convent
+near Tuam. In the midst of their deliberations, however, they were
+unexpectedly interrupted by the arrival of the Lady Nuala O'Connor,
+daughter of the noble O'Connor Faly, and wife of the powerful chieftain,
+Hugh O'Donnell. She was attended by a brilliant escort, and came for no
+other purpose than to present her humble petition to the assembled
+fathers, for the establishment of their Order in the principality of
+Tir-Connell. After some deliberation, the Provincial informed her that
+her request could not be complied with at present, but that at a future
+period the friars would most willingly second her pious design. The Lady
+Nuala, however, had a woman's will, and a spirit of religious fervour to
+animate it. &quot;What!&quot; she exclaimed, &quot;have I made this long and painful
+journey only to meet with a refusal? Beware of God's wrath! for to Him I
+will appeal, that He may charge you with all the souls whom your delay
+may cause to perish.&quot; This was unanswerable. The Lady Nuala journeyed
+home with a goodly band of Franciscans in her train; and soon the
+establishment of the Monastery of Donegal, situated at the head of the
+bay, showed that the piety<a name="Page_322"></a> of the lady was generously seconded by her
+noble husband. Lady Nuala did not live to see the completion of her
+cherished design. Her mortal remains were interred under the high altar,
+and many and fervent were the prayers of the holy friars for the eternal
+repose of their benefactress.</p>
+
+<p>The second wife of O'Donnell was not less devoted to the Order. This
+lady was a daughter of Connor O'Brien, King of Thomond. Her zeal in the
+good work was so great, that the monastery was soon completed, and the
+church dedicated in 1474. The ceremony was carried out with the utmost
+magnificence, and large benefactions bestowed on the religious. After
+the death of her husband, who had built a castle close to the monastery,
+and was buried within the sacred walls, the widowed princess retired to
+a small dwelling near the church, where she passed the remainder of her
+days in prayer and penance. Her son, Hugh Oge, followed the steps of his
+good father. So judicious and upright was his rule, that it was said, in
+his days, the people of Tir-Connell never closed their doors except to
+keep out the wind. In 1510 he set out on a pilgrimage to Rome. Here he
+spent two years, and was received everywhere as an independent prince,
+and treated with the greatest distinction. But neither the honours
+conferred on him, nor his knightly fame (for it is said he was never
+vanquished in the field or the lists), could satisfy the desires of his
+heart. After a brief enjoyment of his ancestral honours, he retired to
+the monastery which his father had erected, and found, with the poor
+children of St. Francis, that peace and contentment which the world
+cannot give.</p>
+
+<p>In the county Kerry there were at least two convents of the Order&mdash;one
+at Ardfert, founded, probably, in the year 1389; the other, famous for
+the beauty of its ruins, and proximity to the far-famed Lakes of
+Killarney, demands a longer notice.</p>
+
+<p>The Convent of Irrelagh, or, as it is now called, Muckross, was founded
+early in the fifteenth century, by a prince of the famous family of
+MacCarthy More, known afterwards as <i>Tadeige Manistireach</i>, or Teigue of
+the Monastery.</p>
+
+<p>According to the tradition of the county, and a MS. description of
+Kerry, written about the year 1750, and now preserved in the Library of
+the Royal Irish Academy, the site on which the monastery was to be built
+was pointed out to MacCarthy More in a vision, which warned him not to
+erect his monastery in any situation except at a place called
+Carrig-an-Ceoil, i.e., the rock of the music.<a name="Page_323"></a> As no such place was known
+to him, he despatched some of his faithful followers to ascertain in
+what part of his principality it was situated. For some time they
+inquired in vain; but as they returned home in despair, the most
+exquisite music was heard to issue from a rock at Irrelagh. When the
+chief was made aware of this, he at once concluded it was the spot
+destined by Providence for his pious undertaking, which he immediately
+commenced.</p>
+
+<p>It was finished by his son, Donnell (1440). The convent was dedicated to
+the Blessed Trinity. It is said there was a miraculous image of the
+Blessed Virgin here, which brought great crowds of pilgrims. The feast
+of the Porziuncula was kept here long after the abbey had fallen to
+ruins, and the friars dispersed, and was known as the Abbey Day. Until
+the last few years stations were held there regularly, on the 2nd of
+October.</p>
+
+<p>Clonmel Monastery was founded, about 1269, by the Desmonds; Drogheda, in
+1240, by the Plunkets.</p>
+
+<p>Some convents of Carmelite friars were also founded in the thirteenth
+century, but as yet they have not been fortunate enough to obtain the
+services of a historian, so that we can only briefly indicate the sites.
+The Convent of Dublin, for White Friars, was founded by Sir Robert
+Bagot, in 1274. The date of the establishment of the house at
+Leighlin-bridge has not been ascertained; but it was probably erected by
+the Carews, at the end of the reign of Henry III. There were also
+convents at Ardee, Drogheda, Galway, Kildare, and Thurles. The Convent
+of Kildare was the general seminary for the Order in Ireland; and one of
+its friars, David O'Brege, is styled &quot;the burning light, the mirror and
+ornament of his country.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>In 1248 the young men of Connaught inaugurated the periodical
+rebellions, which a statesman of modern times has compared to the
+dancing manias of the middle ages. Unfortunately for his comparison,
+there was a cause for the one, and there was no cause for the other.
+They acted unwisely, because there was not the remotest possibility of
+success; and to rebel against an oppression which cannot be remedied,
+only forges closer chains for the oppressed. But it can scarcely be
+denied that their motive was a patriotic one. Felim's son, Hugh, was the
+leader of the youthful band. In 1249 Maurice FitzGerald arrived to crush
+the movement, or, in modern parlance, &quot;to stamp it out&quot;&mdash;not always a
+successful process; for sparks are generally left after the most careful
+stamping, which<a name="Page_324"></a> another method might effectually have quenched. Felim at
+once fled the country. The English made his nephew, Turlough, ruler in
+his place; but the following year Felim made a bold swoop down from the
+Curlieus, expelled the intruder, and drove off a cattle prey. After this
+proof of his determination and valour, the English made peace with him,
+and permitted him to retain his own dominions without further
+molestation. Florence MacCarthy was killed this year, and Brian O'Neill,
+Lord of Tyrone, submitted to the Lord Justice&mdash;thereby freeing the
+invaders from two troublesome combatants. The next year, however, the
+English, who were not particular about treaties, invaded the north, and
+were repulsed with such loss as to induce them to treat the enemy with
+more respect for the time.</p>
+
+<p>Under the year 1249 the Annals mention a defeat which the Irish suffered
+at Athenry, which they attribute to their refusal to desist from warfare
+on Lady Day, the English having asked a truce in honour of the Blessed
+Virgin. They also record the death of Donough O'Gillapatrick, and say
+that this was a retaliation due to the English; for he had killed,
+burned, and destroyed many of them. He is characterized, evidently with
+a little honest pride, as the third greatest plunderer of the English.
+The names of the other two plunderers are also carefully chronicled;
+they were Connor O'Melaghlin and Connor MacCoghlan. The &quot;greatest
+plunderer&quot; was in the habit of going about to reconnoitre the English
+towns in the disguise of pauper or poet, as best suited him for the
+time; and he had a quatrain commemorating his exploits:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;He is a carpenter, he is a turner,<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">My nursling is a bookman;<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">He is selling wine and hides,<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Where he sees a gathering.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The quatrain, if of no other value, gives us an idea of the commodities
+bartered, and the tradesmen who offered their goods at Irish fairs in
+English towns during the thirteenth century.</p>
+
+<p>In 1257 there was a fierce conflict between the Irish, under Godfrey
+O'Donnell, and the English, commanded by Maurice FitzGerald. The
+conflict took place at Creadrankille, near Sligo. The leaders engaged in
+single combat, and were both severely wounded: eventually the invaders
+were defeated and expelled from Lower Connaught. Godfrey's wound
+prevented him from following<a name="Page_325"></a> up his success, and soon after the two
+chieftains died. The circumstances of Maurice's death have been already
+recorded. The death of O'Donnell is a curious illustration of the
+feeling of the times. During his illness, Brian O'Neill sent to demand
+hostages from the Cinel-Connaill. The messengers fled the moment they
+had fulfilled their commission. For all reply, O'Donnell commanded his
+people to assemble, to place him on his bier, and to bear him forth at
+their head. And thus they met the enemy. The battle took place on the
+banks of the river Swilly, in Donegal. O'Donnell's army conquered. The
+hero's bier was laid down in the street of a little village at Connal,
+near Letterkenny, and there he died.</p>
+
+<p>O'Neill again demanded hostages; but while the men deliberated what
+answer they should give, Donnell Oge returned from Scotland, and though
+he was but a youth of eighteen, he was elected chieftain. The same year
+the long-disused title of Monarch of Ireland was conferred on O'Neill by
+some of the Irish kings. After a conference at Caol Uisge, O'Neill and
+O'Connor turned their forces against the English, and a battle was
+fought near Downpatrick, where the Irish were defeated.<a name="FNanchor_332_333"></a><a href="#Footnote_332_333"><sup>[332]</sup></a> O'Neill was
+killed, with fifteen of the O'Kanes and many other chieftains, A.D.
+1260. The English were commanded by the then Viceroy, Stephen Longesp&eacute;,
+who was murdered soon after by his own people.</p>
+
+<p>In the south the English suffered a severe reverse. The Geraldines were
+defeated by Connor O'Brien in Thomond, and again at Kilgarvan, near
+Kenmare, by Fineen MacCarthy. The Annals of Innisfallen give long
+details of this engagement, the sight of which is still pointed out by
+the country people. John FitzThomas, the founder of the Dominican
+Monastery at Tralee, was killed. The MacCarthys immediately proceeded to
+level all the castles which<a name="Page_326"></a> had been erected by the English; they were
+very numerous in that district. Soon after the hero of the fight was
+killed himself by the De Courcys.</p>
+
+<p>The Annals mention an instance of a man who had taken a bell from the
+Church of Ballysadare, and put it on his head when attacked by the
+enemy, hoping that he might escape with his prize and his life, from the
+respect always shown to everything consecrated to God's service; but he
+was killed notwithstanding. This incident is mentioned as characteristic
+of the age. After the defeat narrated above, Hanmer says, &quot;the
+Geraldines dared not put a plough into the ground in Desmond.&quot; The next
+year, 1262, Mac William Burke marched with a great army as far as
+Elphin. He was joined by the Lord Justice and John de Verdun. They
+marked out a place for a castle at Roscommon, and plundered all that
+remained after Hugh O'Connor in Connaught. He, in his turn,
+counterburned and plundered so successfully, that the English were glad
+to ask for peace. The result was a conference at the ford of
+Doire-Chuire. A peace was concluded, after which &quot;Hugh O'Connor and Mac
+William Burke slept together in the one bed, cheerfully and happily; and
+the English left the country on the next day, after bidding farewell to
+O'Connor.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>After this fraternal demonstration, Burke led an army into Desmond, and
+an engagement took place with MacCarthy on the side of Mangerton
+Mountain, where both English and Irish suffered great losses. Gerald
+Roche, who is said to be the third best knight of his time in Ireland,
+was slain by MacCarthy.<a name="FNanchor_333_334"></a><a href="#Footnote_333_334"><sup>[333]</sup></a> Burke was soon after created Earl of
+Ulster.<a name="FNanchor_334_335"></a><a href="#Footnote_334_335"><sup>[334]</sup></a> He and FitzGerald waged war against each other in 1264, and
+desolated the country with their raids. The Lord Justice sided with
+FitzGerald, who succeeded in taking all Burke's castles in Connaught.</p>
+
+<p>The quarrels of the invaders now became so general, that even the Lord
+Justice was seized at a conference by FitzMaurice FitzGerald, and was
+detained prisoner, with several other nobles, for some time. During the
+wars between De Burgo (or Burke) and FitzGerald, the good people of Ross
+threatened to defend their town from all invaders; and to effect this
+purpose the council commanded<a name="Page_327"></a> all the citizens to assist in erecting the
+necessary fortifications. Even the ladies<a name="FNanchor_335_336"></a><a href="#Footnote_335_336"><sup>[335]</sup></a> and clergy<a name="FNanchor_336_337"></a><a href="#Footnote_336_337"><sup>[336]</sup></a> took part
+in the works, which were soon and successfully completed.</p>
+
+<p>An Anglo-Norman poet commemorated this event in verse, and celebrates
+the fame of Rose, a lady who contributed largely to the undertaking,
+both by her presence and her liberal donations. He informs us first of
+the reason for this undertaking. It was those two troublesome knights,
+&quot;sire Morice e sire Wauter,&quot; who would not permit the world to be at
+peace. He assures us that the citizens of New Ross were most anxious for
+peace, because they were merchants, and had an extensive trade, which
+was quite true; but he adds that they were determined to defend their
+rights if attacked, which was also true.</p>
+
+<p>The poet also compliments the ladies, and thinks that the man would be
+happy who could have his choice of them. He also informs us they were to
+build a &quot;Ladies' Gate,&quot; where there should be a prison in which all who
+gave offence to the fair sex should be confined at their pleasure. Of a
+surety, New Ross must have been the paradise of ladies in those days. We
+have not ascertained whether its fair citizens retain the same potent
+sway in the present century.</p>
+
+<p>Felim O'Connor died in 1265. The Four Masters give his obituary thus:
+&quot;Felim, son of Cathal Crovderg O'Connor, the defender and supporter of
+his own province, and of his friends on every side, the expeller and
+plunderer of his foes; a man full of hospitality, prowess, and renown;
+the exalter of the clerical orders and men of science; a worthy materies
+[<i>sic</i>] of a King of Ireland for his nobility, personal shape, heroism,
+wisdom, clemency, and truth; died, after the victory of unction and
+penance, in the monastery of the Dominican friars at Roscommon, which he
+had himself granted to God and that Order.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He was succeeded by his son, Hugh, &quot;who committed his regal<a name="Page_328"></a> depredation
+in Offaly.&quot; It appears to have been considered a customary thing for a
+new sovereign to signalize himself, as soon as possible, by some display
+of this description. He succeeded so well in this same depredation, that
+the Lord Justice was alarmed, and came to assist De Burgo. The latter
+proposed a conference at Carrick-on-Shannon; but Hugh O'Connor suspected
+treachery, and contrived to get the Earl's brother, William Oge, into
+his hands before the conference commenced. The Earl &quot;passed the night in
+sadness and sorrow.&quot; At daybreak a fierce conflict ensued. Turlough
+O'Brien, who was coming to assist the Connacians, was met on his way,
+and slain in single combat by De Burgo. But his death was fearfully
+avenged; great numbers of the English were slain, and immense spoils
+were taken from them. De Burgo died the following year, in Galway
+Castle, after a short illness, A.D. 1271.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/067.jpg" width="386" height="496" alt="CURTAIN CAVE, TIPPERARY." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>CURTAIN CAVE, TIPPERARY.</h4>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><br /><br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/068.jpg" width="439" height="347" alt="BERMINGHAM TOWER, DUBLIN CASTLE" title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>BERMINGHAM TOWER, DUBLIN CASTLE</h4>
+
+<a name="Page_329"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXI.</h2>
+
+<h4>Reign of Edward I.&mdash;Social State of Ireland&mdash;English Treachery&mdash;Irish
+Chieftains set at Variance&mdash;The Irish are refused the Benefit of English
+Law&mdash;Feuds between the Cusacks and the Barretts&mdash;Death of Boy
+O'Neill&mdash;The Burkes and the Geraldines&mdash;Quarrel between FitzGerald and
+De Vesci&mdash;Possessions obtained by Force or Fraud&mdash;Why the Celt was not
+Loyal&mdash;The Governors and the Governed&mdash;Royal Cities and their
+Charters&mdash;Dublin Castle, its Officers, Law Courts&mdash;A Law Court in the
+Fourteenth Century&mdash;Irish Soldiers help the English King&mdash;A Murder for
+which Justice is refused&mdash;Exactions of the Nobles&mdash;Invasion of
+Bruce&mdash;Remonstrance to the Pope&mdash;The Scotch Armies withdrawn from
+Ireland.</h4>
+
+<h5>[A.D. 1271&mdash;1326.]</h5>
+
+<img src="images/j.jpg" width="54" height="193" align="left" alt="I" title="" />
+<p>t was now nearly a century since the Anglo-Normans invaded Ireland.
+Henry III. died in 1272, after a reign of fifty-six years. He was
+succeeded by his son, Edward I., who was in the Holy Land at the time of
+his father's death. In 1257 his father had made him a grant of Ireland,
+with the express condition that it should not be separated from England.
+It would appear as if there had been some apprehensions of such an event
+since the time of Prince John. The English monarchs apparently wished
+the benefit of English laws to be extended to the native population, but
+their desire was invariably frustrated by such of their nobles as had
+obtained grants of land in Ireland, and whose object appears to have
+been the<a name="Page_330"></a> extermination and, if this were not possible, the depression of
+the Irish race.</p>
+
+<p>Ireland was at this time convulsed by domestic dissensions. Sir Robert
+D'Ufford, the Justiciary, was accused of fomenting the discord; but he
+appears to have considered that he only did his duty to his royal
+master. When sent for into England, to account for his conduct, he
+&quot;satisfied the King that all was not true that he was charged withal;
+and for further contentment yielded this reason, that in policy he
+thought it expedient to wink at one knave cutting off another, and that
+would save the King's coffers, and purchase peace to the land. Whereat
+the King smiled, and bid him return to Ireland.&quot; The saving was
+questionable; for to prevent an insurrection by timely concessions, is
+incomparably less expensive than to suppress it when it has arisen. The
+&quot;purchase of peace&quot; was equally visionary; for the Irish never appear to
+have been able to sit down quietly under unjust oppression, however
+hopeless resistance might be.</p>
+
+<p>The Viceroys were allowed a handsome income; therefore they were
+naturally anxious to keep their post. The first mention of salary is
+that granted to Geoffrey de Marisco. By letters-patent, dated at
+Westminster, July 4th, 1226, he was allowed an annual stipend of &pound;580.
+This was a considerable sum for times when wheat was only 2s. a quarter,
+fat hogs 2s. each, and French wine 2s. a gallon.</p>
+
+<p>Hugh O'Connor renewed hostilities in 1272, by destroying the English
+Castle of Roscommon. He died soon after, and his successor had but brief
+enjoyment of his dignity. In 1277 a horrible act of treachery took
+place, which the unfortunate Irish specially mention in their
+remonstrance to Pope John XXII., as a striking instance of the
+double-dealing of the English and the descendants of the Anglo-Normans
+then in Ireland, Thomas de Clare obtained a grant of Thomond from Edward
+I. It had already been secured to its rightful owners, the O'Briens, who
+probably paid, as was usual, an immense fine for liberty to keep their
+own property. The English Earl knew he could only obtain possession by
+treachery; he therefore leagued with Roe O'Brien, &quot;so that they entered
+into gossipred with each other, and took vows by bells and relics to
+retain mutual friendship;&quot; or, as the Annals of Clonmacnois have it,
+&quot;they swore to each other all the oaths in Munster, as bells, relics of
+saints, and bachalls, to be true to each other for ever.&quot;</p><a name="Page_331"></a>
+
+<p>The unfortunate Irish prince little suspected all the false oaths his
+friend had taken, or all the villany he premeditated. There was another
+claimant for the crown as usual, Turlough O'Brien. He was defeated, but
+nevertheless the Earl turned to his side, got Brian Roe into his hands,
+and had him dragged to death between horses. The wretched perpetrator of
+this diabolical deed gained little by his crime,<a name="FNanchor_337_338"></a><a href="#Footnote_337_338"><sup>[337]</sup></a> for O'Brien's sons
+obtained a victory over him the following year. At one time he was so
+hard pressed as to be obliged to surrender at discretion, after living
+on horse-flesh for several days. In 1281 the unprincipled Earl tried the
+game of dissension, and set up Donough, the son of the man he had
+murdered, against Turlough, whom he had supported just before. But
+Donough was slain two years after, and Turlough continued master of
+Thomond until his death, in 1306. De Clare was slain by the O'Briens, in
+1286.</p>
+
+<p>In 1280 the Irish who lived near the Anglo-Norman settlers presented a
+petition to the English King, praying that they might be admitted to the
+privileges of the English law. Edward issued a writ to the then Lord
+Justice, D'Ufford, desiring him to assemble the lords spiritual and
+temporal of the &quot;land of Ireland,&quot; to deliberate on the subject. But the
+writ was not attended to; and even if it had been, the lords &quot;spiritual
+and temporal&quot; appear to have decided long before that the Irish should
+not participate in the benefit of English laws, however much they might
+suffer from English oppression. A pagan nation pursued a more liberal
+policy, and found it eminently successful. The Roman Empire was held
+together for many centuries, quite as much by the fact of her having
+made all her dependencies to share in the benefits of her laws, as by
+the strong hand of her cohorts. She used her arms to conquer, and her
+laws to retain her conquests.</p><a name="Page_332"></a>
+
+<p>In 1281 a sanguinary engagement took place at Moyne, in the county Mayo,
+between the Cusacks and the Barretts. The latter were driven off the
+field. The Annals say: &quot;There were assisting the Cusacks in this battle
+two of the Irish, namely, Taichleach O'Boyle and Taichleach O'Dowda, who
+surpassed all that were there in bravery and valour, and in agility and
+dexterity in shooting.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_338_339"></a><a href="#Footnote_338_339"><sup>[338]</sup></a> There was a battle this year also between
+the Cinel-Connaill and the Cinel-Owen, in which the former were
+defeated, and their chieftain, Oge O'Donnell, was slain. This encounter
+took place at Desertcreaght, in Tyrone.</p>
+
+<p>Hugh Boy O'Neill was slain in 1283. He is styled &quot;the head of the
+liberality and valour of the Irish; the most distinguished in the north
+for bestowing jewels and riches; the most formidable and victorious of
+his tribe; and the worthy heir to the throne of Ireland.&quot; The last
+sentence is observable, as it shows that the English monarch was not
+then considered King of Ireland. In 1285 Theobald Butler died at
+Berehaven. After his death a large army was collected by Lord Geoffrey
+Geneville, and some other English nobles. They marched into Offaly,
+where the Irish had just seized the Castle of Leix. Here they had a
+brief triumph, and seized upon a great prey of cows; but the native
+forces rallied immediately, and, with the aid of Carbry O'Melaghlin,
+routed the enemy completely. Theobald de Verdun lost both his men and
+his horses, and Gerald FitzMaurice was taken prisoner the day after the
+battle, it is said through the treachery of his own followers. The Four
+Masters do not mention this event, but it is recorded at length in the
+Annals of Clonmacnois. They add: &quot;There was a great snow this year,
+which from Christmas to St. Brigid's day continued.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The two great families of De Burgo and Geraldine demand a special
+mention. The former, who were now represented by Richard de Burgo (the
+Red Earl), had become so powerful, that they took precedence even of the
+Lord Justice in official documents. In 1286 the Earl led a great army
+into Connaught, destroying the monasteries and churches, and &quot;obtaining
+sway in everyplace through<a name="Page_333"></a> which he passed.&quot; This nobleman was the
+direct descendant of FitzAldelm de Burgo, who had married Isabella, a
+natural daughter of Richard Coeur de Lion, and widow of Llewellyn,
+Prince of Wales. Walter de Burgo became Earl of Ulster in right of his
+wife, Maud, daughter of the younger Hugh de Lacy. The Red Earl's
+grandson, William, who was murdered, in 1333, by the English of Ulster,
+and whose death was most cruelly revenged, was the third and last of the
+De Burgo Earls of Ulster. The Burkes of Connaught are descended from
+William, the younger brother of Walter, the first Earl.</p>
+
+<p>John FitzThomas FitzGerald, Baron of Offaly, was the common ancestor of
+the two great branches of the Geraldines, whose history is an object of
+such peculiar interest to the Irish historian. One of his sons, John,
+was created Earl of Kildare; the other, Maurice, Earl of Desmond.</p>
+
+<p>In 1286 De Burgo laid claim to that portion of Meath which Theobald de
+Verdun held in right of his mother, the daughter of Walter de Lacy. He
+besieged De Verdun in his Castle of Athlone, A.D. 1288, but the result
+has not been recorded. De Toleburne, Justiciary of Ireland, died this
+year; the King seized on all his property, to pay debts which he owed to
+the crown. It appears he was possessed of a considerable number of
+horses.<a name="FNanchor_339_340"></a><a href="#Footnote_339_340"><sup>[339]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>Jean de Samford, Archbishop of Dublin, administered the affairs of the
+colony until 1290, when he was succeeded by Sir William de Vesci, a
+Yorkshire man, and a royal favourite.</p>
+
+<p>In 1289 Carbry O'Melaghlin possessed a considerable amount of power in
+Meath, and was therefore extremely obnoxious to the English settlers. An
+army was collected to overthrow his government, headed by Richard Tuite
+(the Great Baron), and assisted by O'Connor, King of Connaught. They
+were defeated, and &quot;Tuite, with his kinsmen, and Siccus O'Kelly, were
+slain.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Immediately after the arrival of the new Lord Justice, a quarrel sprung
+up between him and FitzGerald, Baron of Offaly. They both appeared
+before the Council; and if Hollinshed's account may be credited, they
+used language which would scarcely be<a name="Page_334"></a> tolerated in Billingsgate.
+FitzGerald proposed an appeal to arms, which was accepted by his
+adversary. Edward summoned both parties to Westminster. FitzGerald came
+duly equipped for the encounter, but De Vesci had fled the country. He
+was, however, acquitted by Parliament, on the ground of informality, and
+the affair was referred to the royal decision. According to Hollinshed's
+account, the King observed, that &quot;although de Vesci had conveyed his
+person to France, he had left his land behind him in Ireland;&quot; and
+bestowed the lordships of Kildare and Rathangan on his adversary.</p>
+
+<p>Wogan was Viceroy during the close of this century, and had ample
+occupation pacifying the Geraldines and Burkes&mdash;an occupation in which
+he was not always successful. Thomas FitzMaurice, &quot;of the ape,&quot; father
+of the first Earl of Desmond, had preceded him in the office of
+Justiciary. This nobleman obtained his cognomen from the circumstances
+of having been carried, when a child, by a tame ape round the walls of a
+castle, and then restored to his cradle without the slightest injury.</p>
+
+<p>The English possessions in Ireland at the close of this century
+consisted of the &quot;Liberties&quot; and ten counties&mdash;Dublin, Louth, Kildare,
+Waterford, Tipperary, Cork, Limerick, Kerry, Roscommon, and part of
+Connaught. The &quot;Liberties&quot; were those of Connaught and Ulster, under De
+Burgo; Meath, divided between De Mortimer and De Verdun; Wexford,
+Carlow, and Kilkenny, under the jurisdiction of the respective
+representatives of the Marshal heiresses; Thomond, claimed by De Clare;
+and Desmond, partly controlled by the FitzGeralds. Sir William Davies
+says: &quot;These absolute palatines made barons and knights; did exercise
+high justice in all points within their territories; erected courts for
+criminal and civil cases, and for their own revenues, in the same forms
+as the King's courts were established at Dublin; made their own judges,
+sheriffs, coroners, and escheators, so as the King's writ did not run in
+these counties (which took up more than two parts of the English
+colonies), but only in the church-lands lying within the same, which
+were called the 'Cross,' wherein the King made a sheriff; and so in each
+of these counties-palatine there were two sheriffs, one of the Liberty,
+and another of the Cross. These undertakers were not tied to any form of
+plantation, but all was left to their discretion and pleasure; and
+although they builded castles and made freeholds, yet there were no
+tenures or services reserved to the<a name="Page_335"></a> crown, but the lords drew all the
+respect and dependency of the common people unto themselves.&quot; Hence the
+strong objection which the said lords had to the introduction of English
+law; for had this been accomplished, it would have proved a serious
+check to their own advancement for the present time, though, had they
+wisdom to have seen it, in the end it would have proved their best
+safeguard and consolidated their power. The fact was, these settlers
+aimed at living like the native princes, oblivious or ignorant of the
+circumstance, that these princes were as much amenable to law as the
+lowest of their subjects, and that they governed by a prescriptive right
+of centuries. If they made war, it was for the benefit of the tribe, not
+for their individual aggrandizement; if they condemned to death, the
+sentence should be in accordance with the Brehon law, which the people
+knew and revered. The settlers owned no law but their own will; and the
+unhappy people whom they governed could not fail to see that their sole
+object was their own benefit, and to obtain an increase of territorial
+possessions at any cost.</p>
+
+<p>On the lands thus plundered many native septs existed, whom neither war
+nor famine could quite exterminate. Their feelings towards the new lord
+of the soil can easily be understood; it was a feeling of open
+hostility, of which they made no secret. They considered the usurper's
+claim unjust; and to deprive him of the possessions which he had
+obtained by force or fraud, was the dearest wish of their hearts.</p>
+
+<p>This subject should be very carefully considered and thoroughly
+understood, for much, if not all, of the miseries which Ireland has
+endured, have arisen from the fatal policy pursued at this period. How
+could the Celt be loyal to the Anglo-Norman, who lived only to oppress
+him, to drive him from his ancestral home, and then to brand him with
+the foul name of rebel, if he dared resist? Had he not resisted, he
+would have been branded with a worse name&mdash;a coward.</p>
+
+<p>Such portions of the country as lay outside the land of which the
+Anglo-Normans had possessed themselves, were called &quot;marches.&quot; These
+were occupied by troops of natives, who continually resisted the
+aggressions of the invader, always anxious to add to his territory.
+These troops constantly made good reprisals for what had been taken, by
+successful raids on the castle or the garrison. Fleet-footed, and well
+aware of every spot which would afford <a name="Page_336"></a>concealment, these hardy Celts
+generally escaped scot-free. Thus occupied for several centuries, they
+acquired a taste for this roving life; and they can scarcely be
+reproached for not having advanced in civilization with the age, by
+those who placed such invincible obstacles to their progress.<a name="FNanchor_340_341"></a><a href="#Footnote_340_341"><sup>[340]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>The most important royal castles, after Dublin, were those of Athlone,
+Roscommon, and Randown. They were governed by a constable, and supplied
+by a garrison paid out of the revenues of the colony. The object of
+these establishments was to keep down the natives, who were accordingly
+taxed to keep the garrisons. The people quite understood this, and it
+was not an additional motive for loyalty. The battlements of the castle
+were generally adorned with a grim array of ghastly skulls, the heads of
+those who had been slain in the warfare so constantly going on. But the
+attempt to strike terror into the Irish utterly failed, and new
+candidates passed into the ranks. How, indeed, could they die more
+gloriously than in the service of their country?</p>
+
+<p>The royal cities held charters direct from the crown of England. These
+cities were Dublin, Waterford, Limerick, and Cork. Some idea has already
+been given of the streets and the size of Dublin. The Castle was the
+most important building, at least to the civil portion of the community.
+It contained within its walls a chapel, a jail, and a
+mill&mdash;characteristic of the age. The mill was styled the &quot;King's Mill.&quot;
+The chaplains had each an annual salary of fifty shillings&mdash;not an
+insufficient provision, if we calculate that the penny then was nearly
+the same value as the shilling now; moreover, they had two shillings
+each for wax, and probably fees besides. The chapel was under the
+patronage of St. Thomas of Canterbury, who, when he had been martyred,
+sent to heaven, and could give no more inconvenient reproofs, stood very
+high in<a name="Page_337"></a> royal favour. The Castle was partly encompassed by a moat,
+called the &quot;Castlegripe;&quot; the walls were fortified with bastions, and
+had various gates, towers, and narrow entrances, which were defended by
+strong doors and portcullises. The chief communication with the city was
+by a drawbridge on the southern side of Castle-street. Rolls of the
+fourteenth century exhibit disbursements for repairs, ropes, bolts, and
+rings, from which we gather that everything was kept ready for immediate
+service.</p>
+
+<p>The hostages which were exacted from the Anglo-Norman lords, as well as
+from the Irish chieftains, were kept in the Castle at their own expense.
+They can hardly have found their position very pleasant, as at any
+moment they might be called on to submit to the operation of having
+their eyes put out, or to be hanged. The judges and other officials held
+their courts in the Castle. In the Court of Exchequer the primitive
+method of using counters for calculating<a name="FNanchor_341_342"></a><a href="#Footnote_341_342"><sup>[341]</sup></a> was still continued. These
+were laid in rows upon the &quot;chequered&quot; cloth which covered the table.
+Square hazel rods, notched<a name="FNanchor_342_343"></a><a href="#Footnote_342_343"><sup>[342]</sup></a> in a particular manner, styled tallies
+and counter-tallies, were employed as vouchers.</p>
+
+<p>The Red Book of the Exchequer contains a curious sketch of &quot;the
+Exchequer of the King of England in Dublin.&quot; Six officers of the court
+are at the top; to the left, three judges; to the right, three suitors;
+a sheriff is seated at the bottom. The crier is in the act of adjourning
+the court, exclaiming &quot;<i>&agrave; demain</i>,&quot; showing that even in Ireland
+Norman-French was still the language of law, and probably of courtesy.
+The officer to the left, supposed to be the Second Remembrancer, holds a
+parchment containing the words, &quot;<i>Preceptum fuit Vice-comiti, per breve
+hujus Scaccarii</i>.&quot; The Chief Remembrancer occupies himself with a pen
+and an Exchequer roll, commencing &quot;<i>Memorandum quod X&deg; die Maij</i>,&quot; &amp;c.;
+while the Clerk of the Pipe prepares a writ, placed on his left knee,
+his foot resting on the table. The Marshal of the Exchequer addresses
+the usher, and holds a document inscribed, &quot;<i>Exiit breve Vice-comiti</i>.&quot;
+One of the judges exclaims, &quot;<i>Soient forfez</i>;&quot; another, <i>&quot;Voyr dire</i>.&quot;
+On the<a name="Page_338"></a> chequered-covered table, before the judges, are the Red Book, a
+bag with rolls, the counters used for computation, and a document
+commencing with the words, &quot;<i>Ceo vous</i>,&quot; &amp;c. The sheriff sits at the
+bottom, wearing the leathern cap used by such officers when their
+accounts were under examination in the Exchequer. Three suitors stand at
+the right side of the picture. One, with uplifted hand, says, &quot;<i>Oz de
+brie</i>;&quot; another, extending his arm, cries, &quot;<i>Chalange</i>;&quot; the third, with
+sword at his side, laced boots, and ample sleeves, holds the thumb of
+his left hand between the fore and middle finger of his right, and
+exclaims, &quot;<i>Soite oughte</i>.&quot; Thus affording us an interesting and
+truthful picture of a law court in the fourteenth century.</p>
+
+<p>The crown revenues and customs were frequently pawned out to
+associations of Italian money-lenders; and the &quot;Ricardi&quot; of Lucca, and
+&quot;Frescobaldi&quot; of Florence, had agents in the principal towns in Ireland.
+The royal treasure was deposited in the Castle, in a coffer with three
+locks. The keys were confided to different persons, and no payment could
+be made unless the three were present; still, as might be expected from
+men, the sole object of whose lives appears to have been to enrich
+themselves at the expense of others, the accounts were not always
+satisfactory. Even the Viceroys were accused of conniving at and sharing
+in frauds, notwithstanding the salary of &pound;500 per annum and their other
+emoluments, with the permission to levy provisions of all kinds for &quot;the
+king's price,&quot; which was far below the current value.</p>
+
+<p>The Castle garrison consisted of archers and halberdiers; the Constable,
+Warders, and Guardian of Works and Supplies, being the principal
+officers. The Constable was generally a nobleman of high rank, and
+received an annual salary<a name="FNanchor_343_344"></a><a href="#Footnote_343_344"><sup>[343]</sup></a> of &pound;18 5s.</p>
+
+<p>It will be remembered that Sir John Wogan had been appointed Viceroy at
+the close of the thirteenth century. He brought about a two years' truce
+between the Geraldines and Burkes (De Burgos), and then summoned a
+Parliament at Kilkenny, A.D. 1295. The roll of this Parliament contains
+only twenty-seven names. Richard, Earl of Ulster, is the first on the
+list. The principal Acts passed<a name="Page_339"></a> were: one for revising King John's
+division of the country into counties; another for providing a more
+strict guard over the marches, so as to &quot;keep out the Irish.&quot; The Irish
+were not permitted to have any voice in the settlement of the affairs,
+of their country, and it was a rebellious symptom if they demurred.
+Nevertheless, in 1303, King Edward was graciously pleased to accept the
+services of Irish soldiers, in his expedition against Scotland. It is
+said that, in 1299, his army was composed principally of Welsh and
+Irish, and that on this occasion they were royally feasted at Roxburgh
+Castle.</p>
+
+<p>The O'Connors of Offaly were for nearly two centuries the most heroic,
+and therefore the most dangerous, of the &quot;Irish enemies.&quot; Maurice
+O'Connor Faly and his brother, Calvagh, were the heads of the sept. The
+latter had obtained the soubriquet of &quot;the Great Rebel,&quot; from his
+earnest efforts to free his country. He had defeated the English in a
+battle, in which Meiller de Exeter and several others were slain; he had
+taken the Castle of Kildare; therefore, as he could not be taken himself
+by fair means, treachery was employed.</p>
+
+<p>The chiefs of Offaly were invited to dinner on Trinity Sunday, A.D.
+1315, by Sir Pierce MacFeorais (Peter Bermingham). As they rose up from
+table they were cruelly massacred, one by one, with twenty-four of their
+followers. This black deed took place at Bermingham's own Castle of
+Carbury,<a name="FNanchor_344_345"></a><a href="#Footnote_344_345"><sup>[344]</sup></a> county Kildare. Bermingham was arraigned before King
+Edward, but no justice was ever obtained for this foul murder.</p>
+
+<p>In the year 1308, Piers Gaveston, the unworthy favourite of Edward II.,
+was appointed Viceroy. The English barons had long been disgusted by his
+insolence, and jealous of his influence. He was banished to France&mdash;or
+rather a decree to that effect was issued&mdash;but Ireland was substituted,
+for it was considered a banishment to be sent to that country. Gaveston,
+with his usual love of display, was attended by a magnificent suite, and
+commenced his Viceroyalty in high state. He was accompanied by his wife,
+Marguerite, who was closely connected with the royal family.</p>
+
+<p>The Templars had been suppressed and plundered by royal command; but
+though this evil deed was accomplished without much trouble, there were
+Irish clans whose suppression was not so<a name="Page_340"></a> easily effected. The O'Tooles
+and O'Briens, styled by the Anglo-Normans &quot;les Ototheyles et les
+Obrynnes,&quot; stood their ground so well, that they had put the late
+Viceroy to flight this very year, and promised some active employment
+for his successor.</p>
+
+<p>Edward appears to have had apprehensions as to the kind of reception his
+favourite was likely to receive from the powerful Earl of Ulster; he
+therefore wrote him a special letter, requesting his aid and counsel for
+the Viceroy. But De Burgo knew his own power too well; and instead of
+complying with the royal request, he marched off to Drogheda, and then
+to Trim, where he employed himself in giving sumptuous entertainments,
+and conferring the honour of knighthood on his adherents. The favourite
+was recalled to England at the end of a year. Edward had conducted him
+to Bristol, on his way to Ireland; he now went to meet him at Chester,
+on his return. Three years later he paid the forfeit of his head for all
+these condescensions.</p>
+
+<p>In 1309 De Wogan was again appointed Governor. The exactions of the
+nobles had risen to such a height, that some of their number began to
+fear the effects would recoil on themselves. High food rates and fearful
+poverty then existed, in consequence of the cruel exactions of the
+Anglo-Normans on their own dependents. They lived frequently in their
+houses, and quartered their soldiers and followers on them, without
+offering them the smallest remuneration. A statute was now made which
+pronounced these proceedings &quot;open robbery,&quot; and accorded the right of
+suit in such cases to the crown. But this enactment could only be a dead
+letter. We have already seen how the crown dealt with the most serious
+complaints of the natives; and even had justice been awarded to the
+complainant, the right of eviction was in the hands of the nearest
+noble, and the unfortunate tenant would have his choice between
+starvation in the woods or marauding on the highways, having neither the
+<i>dernier resort</i> of a workhouse or emigration in that age.</p>
+
+<p>The Viceroy had abundant occupation suppressing the feuds both of the
+Irish and the colonists. Civil war raged in Thomond, but the quarrels
+between the Anglo-Norman settlers in the same province, appear to have
+been more extensive and less easily appeased. In a note to the Annals of
+Clonmacnois, MacGeoghegan observes, that &quot;there reigned more
+dissentions, strife, warrs, and debates between the Englishmen
+themselves, in the beginning of the conquest<a name="Page_341"></a> of this kingdome, than
+between the Irishmen; as by perusing the warrs between the Lacies of
+Meath, John Coursey, Earle of Ulster, William Marshal, and the English
+of Meath and Munster, Mac Gerald, the Burke, Butler, and Cogan, may
+appear.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The famous invasion of Ireland by Bruce took place on the 16th of May,
+A.D. 1315. On that day Edward landed on the coast of Ulster, near
+Carrickfergus, with six thousand men. He was attended by the heroes of
+Bannockburn; and as a considerable number of native forces soon joined
+them, the contingent was formidable. Although a few of the Irish had
+assisted Edward II. in his war against Scotch independence, the
+sympathies of the nation were with the cause of freedom; and they gladly
+hailed the arrival of those who had delivered their own country, hoping
+they would also deliver Ireland. It was proposed that Edward Bruce
+should be made King of Ireland. The Irish chieftain, Donnell O'Neill,
+King of Ulster, in union with the other princes of the province, wrote a
+spirited but respectful remonstrance to the Holy See, on the part of the
+nation, explaining why they were anxious to transfer the kingdom to
+Bruce.</p>
+
+<p>In this document the remonstrants first state, simply and clearly, that
+the Holy Father was deceived; that they were persuaded his intentions
+were pure and upright; and that his Holiness only knew the Irish through
+the misrepresentations of their enemies. They state their wish &quot;to save
+their country from foul and false imputations,&quot; and to give a correct
+idea of their state. They speak, truthfully and mournfully, &quot;of the sad
+remains of a kingdom, which has groaned so long beneath the tyranny of
+English kings, of their ministers and their barons;&quot; and they add, &quot;that
+some of the latter, though born in the island, continued to exercise the
+same extortions, rapine, and cruelties, as their ancestors inflicted.&quot;
+They remind the Pontiff that &quot;it is to Milesian princes, and not to the
+English, that the Church is indebted for those lands and possessions of
+which it has been stripped by the sacrilegious cupidity of the English.&quot;
+They boldly assert &quot;it was on the strength of false statements&quot; that
+Adrian transferred the sovereignty of the country to Henry II, &quot;the
+probable murderer of St. Thomas &agrave; Becket.&quot; Details are then given of
+English oppression, to some of which we have already referred. They
+state the people have been obliged to take refuge, &quot;like beasts, in the
+mountains, in the woods, marshes, and caves. Even <i>there</i> we are not
+safe. They envy us these desolate<a name="Page_342"></a> abodes.&quot; They contrast the engagements
+made by Henry to the Church, and his fair promises, with the grievous
+failure in their fulfilment. They give clear details of the various
+enactments made by the English, one of which merits special attention,
+as an eternal refutation of the false and base charge against the Irish
+of having refused to accept English laws, because they were a lawless
+race. They state (1) &quot;that no Irishman who is not a prelate can take the
+law against an Englishman, but every Englishman may take the law against
+an Irishman.&quot; (2) That any Englishman may kill an Irishman, &quot;falsely and
+perfidiously, <i>as often happened</i>, of whatsoever rank, innocent or
+guilty, and yet he cannot be brought before the English tribunals; and
+further, that the English murderer can seize the property of his
+victim.&quot; When such was the state of Ireland, as described calmly in an
+important document still extant, we cannot be surprised that the people
+eagerly sought the slightest hope of redress, or the merest chance of
+deliverance from such oppression.<a name="FNanchor_345_346"></a><a href="#Footnote_345_346"><sup>[345]</sup></a> In conclusion, the Irish princes
+inform his Holiness, &quot;that in order to obtain their object the more
+speedily and securely, they had invited the gallant Edward Bruce, to
+whom, being descended from their most noble ancestors, they had
+transferred, as they justly might, their own right of royal domain.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>A few years later Pope John wrote a letter to Edward III., in which he
+declares that the object of Pope Adrian's Bull had been entirely
+neglected, and that the &quot;most unheard-of miseries and persecutions had
+been inflicted on the Irish.&quot; He recommends that monarch to adopt a very
+different policy, and to remove the causes of complaint, &quot;lest it might
+be too late hereafter to apply a remedy, when the spirit of revolt had
+grown stronger.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The accounts of Bruce's Irish campaign have not been very clearly given.
+The Four Masters mention it briefly, notwithstanding its importance; the
+fullest account is contained in the Annals of Clonmacnois, which agree
+with the Annals of Connaught. Dundalk, Ardee, and some other places in
+the north, were taken in rapid succession, and a good supply of victuals
+and wine was obtained from<a name="Page_343"></a> the former place. The Viceroy, Sir Edmund le
+Botiller, marched to attack the enemy; but the proud Earl of Ulster
+refused his assistance, and probably the Justiciary feared to offend him
+by offering to remain. Meanwhile, Felim, King of Connaught, who had
+hitherto been an ally of the Red Earl, came over to the popular side;
+and the English forces suffered a defeat at Connor, in which William de
+Burgo and several knights were taken prisoners. This battle was fought
+on the 10th of September, according to Grace's Annals, and the battle of
+Dundalk on the 29th of July.</p>
+
+<p>After the battle of Connor, the Earl of Ulster fled to Connaught, where
+he remained a year; the remainder of his forces shut themselves up in
+Carrickfergus. Bruce was proclaimed King of Ireland, and marched
+southward to pursue his conquests. The Earl of Moray was sent to
+Edinburgh to invite King Robert over, and the Scotch armies prepared to
+spend the winter with the De Lacys in Westmeath.</p>
+
+<p>When the Christmas festivities were concluded, Bruce again took the
+field, and defeated the Viceroy at Ardscull, in the co. Kildare, In the
+month of February some of the chief nobles of the English colony met in
+Dublin, and signed a manifesto, in which they denounced the traitorous
+conduct of the Scotch enemy, in trying to wrest Ireland from their Lord,
+&quot;Monsieur Edward,&quot; taking special care to herald forth their own praises
+for loyalty, and to hint at the compensation which might be required for
+the same.</p>
+
+<p>But the Irish were again their own enemies; and to their miserable
+dissensions, though it can never justify the cruelties of their
+oppressors, must be attributed most justly nearly all their misfortunes.
+Had the Irish united against the invaders, there can be no doubt that,
+with the assistance of the Scotch army, they would have obtained a
+complete and glorious victory, though it may be doubtful whether any
+really beneficial results would have accrued to the country should
+disunion continue. When Felim O'Connor joined Bruce, Rory O'Connor and
+his clan commenced depredations on his territory. Felim returned to give
+him battle, and defeated him with terrible slaughter. Thus men and time
+were lost in useless and ignoble strife. Rory was slain in this
+engagement&mdash;a fate he richly merited; and Felim was once more free to
+fight for his country. He was joined by the O'Briens of Thomond, and
+they marched together to attack Athenry, which was defended by Burke and
+Bermingham. A fierce conflict ensued. The Irish<a name="Page_344"></a> fought with their usual
+valour; but English coats-of-mail were proof against their attacks, and
+English cross-bows mowed down their ranks.</p>
+
+<p>The brave young Felim was slain, with 11,000 of his followers; and the
+Irish cause was irretrievably injured, perhaps more by the death of the
+leader than by the loss of the men. This disaster took place on the 10th
+of August, 1316.</p>
+
+<p>Still the Irish were not daunted. The O'Tooles and O'Byrnes rose in
+Wicklow, the O'Mores in Leix. Robert Bruce came over to Ireland. The
+Franciscan friars, always devoted to their country, made themselves
+specially obnoxious by encouraging their countrymen to die in defence of
+their country. They were threatened and cajoled by turns, but with
+little effect.<a name="FNanchor_346_347"></a><a href="#Footnote_346_347"><sup>[346]</sup></a> Edward Bruce again appeared before Carrickfergus.
+The siege was protracted until September, when Robert Bruce arrived, and
+found the English so hard pressed, that they ate hides, and fed on the
+bodies of eight Scots whom they had made prisoners.<a name="FNanchor_347_348"></a><a href="#Footnote_347_348"><sup>[347]</sup></a> In the year
+1317, the Scottish army was computed at 20,000 men, besides their Irish
+auxiliaries. After Shrovetide, King Robert and his brother crossed the
+Boyne, and marched to Castleknock, near Dublin, where they took Hugh
+Tyrrell prisoner, and obtained possession of the fortress. There was no
+little fear in Dublin Castle thereupon, for the Anglo-Normans distrusted
+each other. And well they might. The De Lacys had solemnly pledged their
+fidelity, yet they were now found under the standard of Bruce. Even De
+Burgo was suspected; for his daughter, Elizabeth, was the wife of the
+Scottish King. When the invading army approached Dublin, he was seized
+and confined in the Castle. It will be remembered that Dublin had been
+more than once peopled by the citizens of Bristol. They were naturally
+in the English interest, and disposed to offer every resistance. They
+fortified Dublin so strongly, even at the expense of burning the suburbs
+and pulling down churches, that Bruce deemed it more prudent to avoid an
+encounter, and withdrew towards the Salmon Leap; from whence he led his
+forces southward as far as Limerick, without encountering any serious
+opposition.</p><a name="Page_345"></a>
+
+<p>But a reverse was even then at hand. An Anglo-Irish army was formed,
+headed by the Earl of Kildare; famine added its dangers; and on the 1st
+of May Robert Bruce returned to Scotland, leaving his brother, Edward,
+with the Earl of Moray, to contend, as best they could, against the
+twofold enemy. In 1318 a good harvest relieved the country in some
+measure from one danger; two Cardinals were despatched from Rome to
+attempt to release it from the other. On the 14th October, in the same
+year, the question was finally decided. An engagement took place at
+Faughard, near Dundalk. On the one side was the Scotch army, headed by
+Bruce, and assisted (from what motive it is difficult to determine) by
+the De Lacys and other Anglo-Norman lords; on the other side, the
+English army, commanded by Lord John Bermingham. The numbers on each
+side have been differently estimated; but it is probable the death of
+Edward Bruce was the turning point of the conflict. He was slain by a
+knight named John Maupas, who paid for his valour with his life.
+Bermingham obtained the Earldom of Louth and the manor of Ardee as a
+reward for Bruce's head; and the unfortunate Irish were left to their
+usual state of chronic resistance to English oppression. The head of the
+Scottish chieftain was &quot;salted in a chest,&quot; and placed unexpectedly,
+with other heads, at a banquet, before Edward II. The English King
+neither swooned nor expressed surprise; but the Scotch ambassadors, who
+were present, rushed horror-stricken from the apartment. The King,
+however, was &quot;right blyth,&quot; and glad to be delivered so easily of a
+&quot;felon foe.&quot; John de Lacy and Sir Robert de Coulragh, who had assisted
+the said &quot;felon,&quot; paid dearly for their treason; and as they were
+Anglo-Normans, and subjects of the English crown, the term was justly
+applied to them, however cruel the sentence. They were starved to death
+in prison, &quot;on three morsels of the worst bread, and three draughts of
+foul water on alternate days, until life became extinct.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Since this chapter was written, Mr. O'Flanagan has kindly presented me
+with his valuable <i>History of Dundalk</i>, from which I am permitted to
+make the following extracts, which throw much additional light upon the
+subject:&mdash;<a name="FNanchor_348_349"></a><a href="#Footnote_348_349"><sup>[348]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>&quot;'In the ninth year of King Edward's reign,' writes Hollinshed, 'Edward
+Bruce, brother to Robert Bruce, King of Scots, entered<a name="Page_346"></a> the north part of
+Ireland, with 6,000 men. There were with him divers captains of high
+renown among the Scottish nation, of whom were these:&mdash;The Earls of
+Murray and Monteith, the Lord John Stewart, the Lord John Campbell, the
+Lord Thomas Randolf, Fergus of Ardrossan, John Wood, and John Bisset.
+They landed near to Cragfergus, in Ulster, and joining with the Irish (a
+large force of whom was led out by Fellim, son of Hugh O'Conor). Thus
+assisted, he conquered the Earldom of Ulster, and gave the English there
+divers great overthrows, took the town of Dundalk, spoiled and burned
+it, with a great part of Orgiel. They burned churches and abbeys, with
+the people whom they found in the same, sparing neither man, woman, nor
+child. Then was the Lord Butler chosen Lord Justice, who made the Earl
+of Ulster and the Geraldines friends, and reconciled himself with Sir
+John Mandeville, thus seeking to preserve the residue of the realm which
+Edward Bruce meant wholly to conquer, having caused himself to be
+crowned King of Ireland.'</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Dundalk was heretofore the stronghold of the English power, and the
+head-quarters of the army for the defence of the Pale. At the north, as
+Barbour preserves in his metrical history of Robert Bruce:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;'At Kilsaggart Sir Edward lay,<br /></span>
+<span>And wellsom he has heard say<br /></span>
+<span>That at Dundalk was assembly<br /></span>
+<span>Made of the lords of that country.'<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>&quot;It was not, however, within this town that the ceremony of Bruce's
+coronation took place, but, according to the best avouched tradition, on
+the hill of Knock-na-Melin, at half a mile's distance.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Connaught the while was torn with dissensions and family feuds, of
+which availing himself, 'the Lord Justice' (to resume the narrative of
+Hollinshed) 'assembled a great power out of Munster and Leinster, and
+other parts thereabouts; and the Earl of Ulster, with another army, came
+in unto him near unto Dundalk. There they consulted together how to deal
+in defending the country against the enemies; but, hearing the Scots
+were withdrawn back, the Earl of Ulster followed them, and, fighting
+with them at &quot;Coiners,&quot; he lost the field. There were many slain on both
+parts; and William de Burgh, the Earl's brother, Sir John Mandeville,
+and Sir Alan FitzAlan were taken prisoners.' Bruce's adherents
+afterwards ravaged other parts of the Pale, Meath, Kildare, &amp;c., but<a name="Page_347"></a> met
+with much, resistance. At length 'Robert le Bruce, King of Scots, came
+over himself, landed at Cragfergus, to the aid of his brother, whose
+soldiers most wickedly entered into churches, spoiling and defacing the
+same of all such tombs, monuments, plate, copes, and other ornaments
+which they found and might lay hands on.' Ultimately 'the Lord John
+Bermingham, being general of the field, and having with him divers
+captains of worthy fame, namely&mdash;Sir Richard Tuiyte, Sir Miles Verdon,
+Sir John Cusack, Sirs Edmund, and William, and Walter Bermingham, the
+Primate of Armagh, Sir Walter de la Pulle, and John Maupas (with some
+choice soldiers from Drogheda), led forth the King's power to the number
+of 1,324 able men, against Edward Bruce, who had, with his adherents
+(the Lord Philip Moubray, the Lord Walter Soulis, the Lord Allan Stuart,
+with three brothers, Sir Walter Lacy, Sir Robert and Aumar Lacy, John
+Kermerelyn, Walter White, and about 3,000 others, writes Pembridge),
+encamped, not two miles from Dundalk, with 3,000 men, there abiding the
+Englishmen to fight with them if they came forward, which they did with
+all convenient speed, being as desirous to give battle as the Scots were
+to receive it. The Primate of Armagh, personally accompanying the
+English power, and blessing the enterprise, gave them such comfortable
+exhortation as he thought served the time ere they began to encounter,
+and herewith buckling together, at length the Scots fully and wholly
+were vanquished, and 2,000 of them slain, together with the Captain,
+Edward Bruce. Maupas, that pressed into the throng to encounter with
+Bruce hand to hand, was found, in the search, dead, aloft upon the slain
+body of Bruce. The victory thus obtained, upon St. Calixtus' day, made
+an end of the Scottish kingdom in Ireland; and Lord Bermingham, sending
+the head of Bruce into England, presented it to King Edward, who, in
+recompense, gave him and his heirs male the Earldom of Louth, and the
+Baronies of Ardee and Athenry to him and his heirs general for ever,' as
+hereafter noticed.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;'Edward Bruce,' say the Four Masters, 'a man who spoiled Ireland
+generally, both English and Irish, was slain by the English, by force of
+battle and bravery, at Dundalk; and MacRory, Lord of the Hebrides,
+MacDonell, Lord of the Eastern Gael (in Antrim), and many others of the
+Albanian or Scottish chiefs were also slain; and no event occurred in
+Ireland for a long period from which so much benefit was derived as
+that, for a general famine prevailed in<a name="Page_348"></a> the country during the three
+years and a half he had been in it, and the people were almost reduced
+to the necessity of eating each other.' Edward Bruce was, however,
+unquestionably a man of great spirit, ambition, and bravery, but fiery,
+rash, and impetuous, wanting that rare combination of wisdom and valour
+which so conspicuously marked the character of his illustrious brother.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;During the sojourn of Edward Bruce in this kingdom, he did much to
+retard the spread of English rule. Having for allies many of the
+northern Irish, whose chieftain, O'Neill, invited him to be King over
+the Gael in Ireland, and whose neighbourhood to the Scottish coast made
+them regard his followers as their fellow-countrymen, he courted them on
+all occasions, and thus the Irish customs of gossipred and
+fostering&mdash;preferring the Brehon laws to statute law, whether enacted at
+Westminster or by the Parliaments of the Pale&mdash;destroyed all traces of
+the rule which the English wished to impose upon the province of Ulster.
+Many of the English settlers&mdash;Hugh de Lacy, John Lord Bissett, Sir Hugh
+Bissett, and others&mdash;openly took part with Bruce.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The eastern shores of Ulster, Spenser informs us, previous to Bruce's
+arrival, bounded a well-inhabited and prosperous English district,
+having therein the good towns of Knockfergus, Belfast, Armagh, and
+Carlingford; but in process of time became 'outbounds and abandoned
+places in the English Pale.' According to the metrical history of
+Barbour, Edward Bruce was by no means disposed to continue a subject,
+while his brother reigned King; and, though Robert conferred his
+hereditary Earldom of Carrick upon him, it by no means satisfied his
+ambitious projects:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;'The Erle of Carrick, Schyr Eduward,<br /></span>
+<span>That stouter was than a libbard,<br /></span>
+<span>And had na will to be in pess,<br /></span>
+<span>Thoucht that Scotland to litill was<br /></span>
+<span>Till his brother and hym alsua,<br /></span>
+<span>Therefor to purpose he gav ta<br /></span>
+<span>That he of Irland wold be king.'<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>&quot;Shortly after his landing at Carrickfergus he proceeded towards the
+Pale. Dundalk, then the principal garrison within the Pale, had all the
+Englishry of the country assembled in force to defend it, when the Scots
+proceeded to the attack, 'with banners all displayit.' The English sent
+out a reconnoitering party, who brought back the cheering news, the
+Scots would be but 'half a dinner' to<a name="Page_349"></a> them. This dinner, however, was
+never eaten. The town was stormed with such vigour that the streets
+flowed with the blood of the defenders; and such as could escape fled
+with the utmost precipitancy, leaving their foes profusion of victuals
+and great abundance of wine. This assault took place 29th June, 1315. It
+was upon this success the Scots crowned Edward Bruce King of Ireland, on
+the hill of Knocknamelan, near Dundalk, in the same simple national
+manner in which his brother had been inaugurated at Scone.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The new monarch, however, was not disposed to rest inactive, and his
+troops had many skirmishes with Richard de Burgh, called the Red Earl of
+Ulster, who drove them as far as Coleraine. There they were in great
+distress; and they would have suffered much from hunger and want, had
+not a famous pirate, Thomas of Down, or Thomas Don, sailed up the Bann
+and set them free. De Burgh's army were supplied with provisions from a
+distance; and one of Bruce's famous leaders, named Randolph, Earl of
+Murray, who commanded the left wing at Bannockburn, having surprised the
+convoy on its way to De Burgh's camp, equipped his men in the clothes of
+the escort, advanced at dusk with his cavalry, and the banner of the
+English flaunting in the night wind. A large party of De Burgh's force,
+perceiving, as they thought, the approach of the expected provisions,
+advanced unguardedly to drive off the cattle, when they were vigorously
+assailed by the Scots, shouting their war-cry, and they were chased back
+with the loss of a thousand slain. De Burgh's army included all the
+chivalry of Ireland&mdash;that is, the English portion, viz.:&mdash;'The Butlers,
+earls two, of Kildare and Desmond; Byrnhame (Bermingham), Widdan
+(Verdon), and FitzWaryne, and Schyr Paschall off Florentyne, a Knight of
+Lombardy; with the Mandvillas, Bissetts, Logans, Savages, and Schyr
+Nycholl off Kilkenave.' <i>The Ulster Journal</i> thinks this list of
+Barbour's incorrect; certainly Sir Edmond Butler was not among them, nor
+probably either of the Geraldine lords. Some lords of Munster, however,
+were present&mdash;Power, Baron of Donisle; Sir George Lord Roche, and Sir
+Roger Hollywood, of county Meath.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;On the 10th September, A.D. 1315, De Burgh, being reinforced, marched
+to attack Bruce's position; but the Scots, leaving their banners flying
+to deceive the Anglo-Irish, fell upon their flank and gained the
+victory. This gave them Coleraine; and next day they<a name="Page_350"></a> bore off a great
+store of corn, flour, wax, and wine, to Carrickfergus.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;This success gave to the Gael of the north an opportunity of declaring
+their exultation. Bruce, whose royal authority was previously confined
+to his Scottish troops, was proclaimed King of Ireland, and addressed as
+such.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He then sent the Earl of Murray to Edinburgh, where the King of
+Scotland kept his court, entreating him to join him in Ireland.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;'For war thai both in to that land<br /></span>
+<span>Thai suld find nane culd thaim withstand.'<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>&quot;Robert gladly promised compliance, but was for some time prevented by
+the exigencies of his own kingdom. Murray returned with a small
+reinforcement, but 500 men, and landed at Dundalk, where Edward Bruce
+met him. This was in the December of 1315.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;In January, 1316, Edward Bruce led his forces into the county of
+Kildare, and was stoutly opposed by the Lord Justiciary, or Viceroy, Sir
+Edward Butler, who, backed by the Geraldines, under John Fitzgerald,
+first Earl of Kildare, bravely repulsed the invaders. They retreated
+with the loss of Sir Walter Murray and Sir Fergus of Ardrossan, with
+seventy men, as Clyn records. A new ally for the Palesmen arrived at
+this juncture&mdash;Mortimer, Lord of Meath, in right of his wife, Joan de
+Joinville. He assembled a large force, and endeavoured to intercept the
+Scots at Kells, but, on the eve of the onset, was deserted by the Lacys
+and others, who left him almost defenceless. The season and scarcity
+made war against the Scots, and vast numbers perished from hunger. Bruce
+was forced to retreat once more northward, where his chief adherents
+lay. The citadel of Carrickfergus resisted the attacks of Bruce's army
+for a year. It was in this town that (probably in September, 1316)
+Robert, King of Scotland, with a strong force, came to his brother's
+help. Barbour gives the number who accompanied Robert at 5,000. This was
+enough to make the Viceroy take heed for his government. He hasted,
+Barbour says:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;'To Dewellyne, in full gret by,<br /></span>
+<span>With othyr lordis that fled him by,<br /></span>
+<span>And warnysit both castyls and towness<br /></span>
+<span>That war in their possessionnys.'<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+<a name="Page_351"></a>
+<p>&quot;The stout defence of Dublin is already mentioned; and, as on the fate
+of this metropolis the duration of English rule depended in Ireland, the
+public spirit and intrepidity of the citizens of Dublin ought, according
+to Lord Hailes, be held in perpetual remembrance. The citizens took the
+defence of the city into their own hands. The chief civic dignity was at
+that time most worthily borne by Robert Nottingham, who seems to have
+distanced the celebrated Sir Richard Whittington considerably, being
+<i>seventeen times</i> Mayor of Dublin. Knowing the close connexion between
+the Earl of Ulster and the Bruces (he was father of the Queen of Scots),
+the Mayor headed a strong band of citizens, and resolved to make him a
+hostage for the safety of the city. This was not effected without loss
+of life. The Mayor succeeded, and announced 'he would put the earl to
+death if the city was attacked.' This prompt step had the desired
+effect. Robert Bruce feared to risk his father-in-law's life, and,
+instead of entering the city, turned aside and encamped. Time was
+gained, of which the citizens promptly availed themselves. That night
+the blazing suburbs told they were ready to anticipate the fire of
+Moscow, rather than allow their invaders to possess their capital. They
+also worked so hard to strengthen the walls, that the Scots, seeing such
+determination, broke up their camp and retired. The value set upon the
+earl as a hostage was so great, that, although the King of England
+instantly wrote for his liberation, he was detained until the Scots left
+the kingdom.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Disappointed in their efforts on Dublin, the Scots ravaged the Pale,
+burned Naas, plundered Castledermot, passed on to Gowran, and advanced
+to Callan; thence they went to Limerick. Sir Edmond Butler followed with
+an army of 30,000 well-armed men; but, at the express desire of Roger
+Mortimer, Earl of March, the Lord Deputy, who was himself desirous of
+having the command against the King of Scots, delayed the encounter.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Mortimer did not accomplish this; for, shortly after, Robert hastened
+to his own kingdom, leaving a great number of his bravest knights to
+carry on the war for his brother. Edward continued in the north for
+several months, and once more proceeded south.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;'For he had not then in that land<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Of all men, I trow, two thousand,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Owtane (except) the Kings of Irischery<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">That in great route raid him by,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Towart Dundalk he tuk the way.'<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+<a name="Page_352"></a>
+<p>&quot;When the Viceroy was aware of the advance of the Scots towards the
+Pale, he assembled a great army, said to amount to '20,000 trappit
+horse,' and an equal number of foot.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The approach of this immensely superior force did not dishearten the
+brother of the lion-hearted King of Scotland. He declared he would fight
+were they sixfold more numerous.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;In vain his officers and allies counselled caution; in vain the Irish
+chiefs recommended him to avoid a pitched battle, and harass the enemy
+by skirmishing. Edward indignantly bade them 'draw aside, and look on,'
+which Barbour declares they did. A very interesting account on the
+battle on St. Callixtus' day is given in the <i>Ulster Arch&aelig;ological
+Journal</i>. The battle was on Sunday, 14th October, 1318. According to
+Barbour, Edward Bruce had a presentiment of his death, and would not use
+his usual coat-armour. The legend is, that having the idea the fall of
+King Edward Bruce would decide the battle, Sir John Bermingham, leader
+of the Anglo-Irish army, disguised himself as a friar, passed into the
+Scottish camp, and, being shown the king, who was hearing Mass, craved
+alms, so as to induce Bruce to look up from his prayer-book. This gave
+Bermingham the opportunity of marking well his face, in order to single
+him out in the fray. The king ordered relief to be given to the
+importunate friar; but the eager glance of the intrusive applicant so
+disquieted him&mdash;agitated, doubtless, from the idea of his small force
+being about to engage at such desperate odds&mdash;that he presently caused
+the attendants to look for the friar, but he was nowhere to be found.
+This caused him to array one Gib Harper in his armour, and appoint Lord
+Alan Stewart general of the field. The fight commenced with a rapid
+charge on the Scots by the Anglo-Irish under Bermingham. With him were
+divers lords and a great army. The force was chiefly composed, however,
+of yeomanry, or, as an ancient record says, 'the common people, with a
+powerful auxiliary <i>dextram Dei</i>.' Bermingham, believing Lord Stewart
+was Bruce, singled him out, and, after a terrible combat, slew him,
+whereon the Scots fled. According to the <i>Howth Chronicle</i>, few escaped,
+their loss being 1,230 men. Bruce's death is generally ascribed to John
+Mapas, one of the Drogheda contingent. The <i>Ulster Journal</i>
+states:&mdash;'There can be little doubt that the ancient Anglo-Irish family
+of &quot;Mape,&quot; of Maperath, in the shire of Meath, was descended from this
+distinguished slayer of Edward Bruce.' The heiress of John Mapas, Esq.,
+of Rochestown, county of Dublin,<a name="Page_353"></a> was married to the late Richard Wogan
+Talbot, Esq., of Malahide. After the defeat at Dundalk, the small
+remnant of the Scottish invaders yet alive fled northward, where they
+met a body of troops sent by King Robert as a reinforcement to his
+brother. They could not make head against the victorious troops of
+Bermingham, so they made their way to the coast, burning and destroying
+the country through which they passed.&quot;</p>
+<br />
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/069.jpg" width="315" height="477" alt="BUTLER&#39;S TOMB, FRIARY CHURCH, CLONMEL." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>BUTLER&#39;S TOMB, FRIARY CHURCH, CLONMEL.</h4>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><br /><br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/070.jpg" width="407" height="299" alt="CARRICKFERGUS." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>CARRICKFERGUS.</h4>
+
+<a name="Page_354"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXII.</h2>
+
+<h4>The Butlers&mdash;Quarrels of the Anglo-Norman Nobles&mdash;Treachery and its
+Consequences&mdash;The Burkes proclaim themselves Irish&mdash;Opposition
+Parliaments&mdash;The Statute of Kilkenny and its Effects&mdash;Mistakes of
+English Writers&mdash;Social Life in Ireland described by a French
+Knight&mdash;&quot;Banishment&quot; to Ireland&mdash;Richard II. visits Ireland.</h4>
+
+<h5>[A.D. 1326-1402.]</h5>
+
+<img src="images/u.jpg" width="51" height="197" align="left" alt="R" title="" />
+<p>ichard de Burgo, the Red Earl, died in 1326. He took leave of the
+nobles after a magnificent banquet at Kilkenny. When he had resigned his
+possessions to his grandson, William, he retired into the Monastery of
+Athassel, where he expired soon after. In the same year Edward II.
+attempted to take refuge in Ireland, from the vengeance of his people
+and his false Queen, the &quot;she-wolf of France.&quot; He failed in his attempt,
+and was murdered soon after&mdash;A.D. 1327.</p>
+
+<p>The Butler family now appear prominently in Irish history for the first
+time. It would appear from Carte<a name="FNanchor_349_350"></a><a href="#Footnote_349_350"><sup>[349]</sup></a> that the name was originally
+Walter, Butler being an addition distinctive of office. The family was
+established in Ireland by Theobald Walter (Gaultier), an Anglo-Norman of
+high rank, who received extensive grants of land from Henry II.,
+together with the hereditary office of &quot;Pincerna,&quot; Boteler, or Butler,
+in Ireland, to<a name="Page_355"></a> the Kings of England. In this capacity he and his
+successors were to attend these monarchs at their coronation, and
+present them, with the first cup of wine. In return they obtained many
+privileges. On account of the quarrels between this family and the De
+Burgos, De Berminghams, Le Poers, and the southern Geraldines, royal
+letters were issued, commanding them, under pain of forfeiture, to
+desist from warring on each other. The result was a meeting of the
+factious peers in Dublin, at which they engaged to keep the &quot;King's
+peace.&quot; On the following day they were entertained by the Earl of
+Ulster; the next day, at St. Patrick's, by Maurice FitzThomas; and the
+third day by the Viceroy and his fellow Knights Hospitallers, who had
+succeeded the Templars at Kilmainham. The Earldoms of Ormonde<a name="FNanchor_350_351"></a><a href="#Footnote_350_351"><sup>[350]</sup></a> and
+Desmond were now created. The heads of these families long occupied an
+important place in Irish affairs. Butler died on his return from a
+pilgrimage to Compostella, and was succeeded by his eldest son,
+Jacques&mdash;&quot;a liberal, friendly, pleasant, and stately youth&quot;&mdash;who was
+married this year to King Edward's cousin, Eleanor, daughter of the Earl
+of Essex. The Desmond peerage was created in 1329, when the County
+Palatine<a name="FNanchor_351_352"></a><a href="#Footnote_351_352"><sup>[351]</sup></a> of Kerry was given to that family.</p>
+
+<p>The quarrels of these nobles seemed to have originated, or rather to
+have culminated, in an insulting speech made by Poer to FitzGerald, whom
+he designated a &quot;rhymer.&quot; The &quot;King's peace&quot; did not last long; and in
+1330 the Lord Justice was obliged to imprison both Desmond and Ulster,
+that being the only method in which they could be &quot;bound over to keep
+the peace.&quot; The following year Sir Anthony de Lucy was sent to Ireland,
+as he had a reputation for summary justice. He summoned a Parliament in
+Dublin; but as the barons did not condescend to attend, he adjourned it
+to Kilkenny. This arrangement also failed to procure their presence. He
+seized Desmond, who had been placed in the care of the Sheriff of
+Limerick, and conveyed him to Dublin Castle. Several other nobles were
+arrested at the same time. Sir William Bermingham was confined with his
+son in the Keep of Dublin Castle, which still<a name="Page_356"></a> bears his name. He was
+hanged there soon after. De Lucy was recalled to England, probably in
+consequence of the indignation which was excited by this execution.<a name="FNanchor_352_353"></a><a href="#Footnote_352_353"><sup>[352]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>The years 1333 and 1334 were disgraced by fearful crimes, in which the
+English and Irish equally participated. In the former year the Earl of
+Ulster seized Walter de Burgo, and starved him to death in the Green
+Castle of Innishowen. The sister of the man thus cruelly murdered was
+married to Sir Richard Mandeville, and she urged her husband to avenge
+her brother's death. Mandeville took the opportunity of accompanying the
+Earl with some others to hear Mass at Carrickfergus,<a name="FNanchor_353_354"></a><a href="#Footnote_353_354"><sup>[353]</sup></a> and killed him
+as he was fording a stream. The young Earl's death was avenged by his
+followers, who slew 300 men. His wife, Maud, fled to England with her
+only child, a daughter, named Elizabeth,<a name="FNanchor_354_355"></a><a href="#Footnote_354_355"><sup>[354]</sup></a> who was a year old. The
+Burkes of Connaught, who were the junior branch of the family, fearing
+that she would soon marry again, and transfer the property to other
+hands, immediately seized the Connaught estates, declared themselves
+independent of English law, and renounced the English language and
+customs. They were too powerful to be resisted with impunity; and while
+the ancestor of the Clanrickardes assumed the Irish title of Mac William
+<i>Oughter</i>, or the Upper, Edmund Burke, the progenitor of the Viscounts
+of Mayo, took the appellation of Mac William <i>Eighter</i>, or the Lower.
+This was not the last time when English settlers identified themselves,
+not merely from policy, but even from inclination, with the race whom
+they had once hated and oppressed.</p>
+
+<p>In 1334 the English and Irish marched into Munster to attack MacNamara,
+and added the guilt of sacrilege to their other crimes, by burning a
+church, with 180 persons and two priests in it, none of whom were
+permitted to escape. Another outrage was committed by the settlers, who
+appear to have been quite as jealous of each<a name="Page_357"></a> others property as the
+Irish clans; for we find that one Edmund Burke drowned another of the
+same name in Lough Mask, and, as usual a war ensued between the
+partisans of each family. After a sanguinary struggle, Turlough O'Connor
+drove the murderer out of the province. But this prince soon after
+ruined himself by his wickedness. He married Burke's widow, and put away
+his own lawful wife; from which it may be concluded that he had avenged
+the crime either from love of this woman, or from a desire to possess
+himself of her husband's property. His immoral conduct alienated the
+other chieftains, and after three years' war he was deposed.</p>
+
+<p>Edward had thrown out some hints of an intended visit to Ireland,
+probably to conceal his real purpose of marching to Scotland. Desmond
+was released on bail in 1333, after eighteen months' durance, and
+repaired with some troops to assist the King at Halidon Hill. Soon after
+we find him fighting in Kerry, while the Earl of Kildare was similarly
+occupied in Leinster. In 1339 twelve hundred Kerry men were slain in one
+battle. The Anglo-Norman, FitzNicholas, was among the number of
+prisoners. He died in prison soon after. This gentleman, on one
+occasion, dashed into the assize court at Tralee, and killed Dermod, the
+heir of the MacCarthy More, as he sat with the judge on the bench. As
+MacCarthy was Irish, the crime was suffered to pass without further
+notice.</p>
+
+<p>In 1341 Edward took sweeping measures for a general reform of the
+Anglo-Norman lords, or, more probably, he hoped, by threats of such
+measures, to obtain subsidies for his continental wars. The colonists,
+however, were in possession, and rather too powerful to brook such
+interference. Sir John Morris was sent over to carry the royal plans
+into execution; but though he took prompt and efficient measures, the
+affair turned out a complete failure. The lords refused to attend his
+Parliament, and summoned one of their own, in which they threw the blame
+of maladministration on the English officials sent over from time to
+time to manage Irish affairs. They also protested strongly against the
+new arrangement, which proposed that all the offices then held in
+Ireland should be filled by Englishmen having no personal interest
+whatever in Ireland. The certainty that they would have a personal
+interest in it the very moment there was a chance of bettering their
+fortunes thereby, appears to have been quite overlooked. The settlers,
+therefore were allowed to continue their career as before, and felt all
+the secure for their effectual resistance of the royal interference.</p><a name="Page_358"></a>
+
+<p>In 1334 Sir Ralph Ufford, who had married Maud Plantagenet, the widow of
+the Earl of Ulster, was appointed Justiciary of Ireland. He commenced
+with a high hand, and endeavoured especially to humble the Desmonds. The
+Earl refused to attend the Parliament, and assembled one of his own at
+Callan; but the new Viceroy marched into Leinster with an armed force,
+seized his lands, farmed them out for the benefit of the crown, got
+possession of the strongholds of Castleisland and Inniskisty in Kerry,
+and hanged Sir Eustace Poer, Sir William Grant, and Sir John Cottrell,
+who commanded these places, on the charge of illegal exactions of coigne
+and livery.<a name="FNanchor_355_356"></a><a href="#Footnote_355_356"><sup>[355]</sup></a> The Viceroy also contrived to get the Earl of Kildare
+into his power; and it is probable that his harsh measures would have
+involved England in an open war with her colony and its English
+settlers, had not his sudden death put an end to his summary exercise of
+justice.</p>
+
+<p>It is said that his wife, Maud, who could scarcely forget the murder of
+her first husband, urged him on to many of these violent acts; and it
+was remarked, that though she had maintained a queenly state on her
+first arrival in Ireland, she was obliged to steal away from that
+country, with Ufford's remains enclosed in a leaden coffin, in which her
+treasure was concealed. Her second husband was buried near her first, in
+the Convent of Poor Clares, at Camposey, near Ufford, in Suffolk.</p>
+
+<p>The Black Death broke out in Ireland in the year 1348. The annalists
+give fearful accounts of this visitation. It appeared in Dublin first,
+and so fatal were its effects, that four thousand souls are said to have
+perished there from August to Christmas. It was remarked that this
+pestilence attacked the English specially, while the
+&quot;Irish-born&quot;&mdash;particularly those who lived in the mountainous parts of
+the country&mdash;escaped its ravages. We have already mentioned the account
+of this calamity given by Friar Clynn, who fell a victim to the plague
+himself, soon after he had recorded his mournful forebodings. Several
+other pestilences, more or less severe, visited the country at intervals
+during the next few years.</p>
+
+<p>Lionel, the third son of Edward III., who, it will be remembered, was
+Earl of Ulster in right of his wife, Isabella, was now appointed<a name="Page_359"></a>
+Viceroy. He landed in Dublin, on the 15th September, 1360, with an army
+of one thousand men. From the first moment of his arrival he exercised
+the most bitter hostility to the Irish, and enhanced the invidious
+distinction between the English by birth and the English by descent.
+Long before his arrival, the &quot;mere Irishman&quot; was excluded from the
+offices of mayor, bailiff, or officer in any town within the English
+dominions, as well as from all ecclesiastical promotion. Lionel carried
+matters still further, for he forbid any &quot;Irish by birth to come near
+his army.&quot; But he soon found that he could not do without soldiers, even
+should they have the misfortune to be Irish; and as a hundred of his
+best men were killed soon after this insulting proclamation, he was
+graciously pleased to allow all the King's subjects to assist him in his
+war against the enemy. He soon found it advisable to make friends with
+the colonists, and obtained the very substantial offering of two years'
+revenue of their lands, as a return for his condescension.</p>
+
+<p>In 1367 the Viceroy returned to England, but he was twice again
+intrusted with office in Ireland. During the last period of his
+administration, he held the memorable Parliament at Kilkenny, wherein
+the famous &quot;Statute of Kilkenny&quot; was enacted. This statute is another
+proof of the fatal policy pursued towards the Irish, and of the almost
+judicial blindness which appears to have prevented the framers of it,
+and the rulers of that unfortunate nation, from perceiving the folly or
+the wickedness of such enactments.</p>
+
+<p>It was a continuance of the old policy. The natives of the country were
+to be trampled down, if they could not be trampled out; the English and
+Irish were to be kept for ever separate, and for ever at variance. How,
+then, could the Irish heart ever beat loyally towards the English
+sovereign? How could the Irish people ever become an integral portion of
+the British Empire? Pardon me for directing your attention specially to
+this statute. It will explain to you that the Irish were not allowed to
+be loyal; it will excuse them if they have sometimes resented such cruel
+oppressions by equally cruel massacres and burnings&mdash;if they still
+remembered these wrongs with that statute before them, and the
+unfortunate fact that its enactments were virtually continued for
+centuries.</p>
+
+<p>This statute enacts (1) that any alliance with the Irish by marriage,
+nurture of infants, or gossipred [standing sponsors], should be
+punishable as high treason; (2) that any man of English race taking an
+Irish name, or using the Irish language, apparel, or customs, should<a name="Page_360"></a>
+forfeit all his lands; (3) that to adopt or submit to the Brehon law was
+treason; (4) that the English should not make war upon the natives
+without the permission of Government; (5) that the English should not
+permit the Irish to pasture or graze upon their lands, nor admit them to
+any ecclesiastical benefices or religious houses, nor entertain their
+minstrels or rhymers. (6) It was also forbidden to impose or cess any
+soldiers upon the <i>English</i> subjects against their will, under pain of
+felony; and some regulations were made to restrain the abuse of
+sanctuary, and to prevent the great lords from laying heavy burdens upon
+gentlemen and freeholders.</p>
+
+<p>I shall ask you to consider these statutes carefully; to remember that
+they were compiled under the direction of a crown prince, and confirmed
+by the men who had the entire government of Ireland in their hands. The
+first was an open and gross insult to the natives, who were treated as
+too utterly beneath their English rulers to admit of their entering into
+social relations with them. The settlers who had lived some time in the
+country, were ascertaining every day that its inhabitants were not
+savages, and that they considered the ties of honour which bound them to
+those whom they &quot;fostered,&quot; or for whom they stood sponsors, as of the
+most sacred description. Their own safety and interests, if not common
+feelings of humanity and affection, led them to form these connexions,
+which were now so ruthlessly denounced. But it led them also to treat
+the Irish with more respect, and placed them on some sort of social
+equality with themselves; and this was clearly a crime in the eyes of
+those who governed the country. The second clause had a similar object,
+and insulted the deepest feelings of the Celt, by condemning his
+language, which he loved almost as his life, and his customs, which had
+been handed down to him by an ancestry which the Anglo-Norman nobles
+might themselves have envied. The third enactment was an outrage upon
+common justice. It has been already shown that the Irish were <i>refused</i>
+the benefit of the English law; you will now see that their own law was
+forbidden. Some of these laws are at present open to public inspection,
+and show that the compilers, who wrote immediately after the
+introduction of Christianity into Ireland, and the original lawgivers,
+who existed many centuries before the Christian era, were by no means
+deficient in forensic abilities. Whatever feuds the Irish may have had
+between their clans, there is every reason to believe that justice<a name="Page_361"></a> was
+impartially administered long before the English settlement. That it was
+not so administered after that settlement, the preceding history, nay,
+even the very subject under discussion, sufficiently proves.</p>
+
+<p>The fourth clause might have been beneficial to the Irish, if it had
+been strictly observed. The other enactments were observed; but this,
+which required the consent of the Government to make war on the natives,
+was allowed to remain a dead letter. In any case, the Government would
+seldom have refused any permission which might help to lessen the number
+of the &quot;Irish enemy.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The last enactments, or series of enactments, were simply barbarous. The
+Irish were an agricultural nation; therefore they were not permitted to
+be agriculturists. Their wealth consisted solely in their flocks;
+therefore every obstacle should be placed to their increase. So much for
+the poor. The higher classes had formerly some hope of advancement if
+they chose to enter the English service in the army; to do so now they
+must renounce their Irish name, their language, and their customs. They
+might also have chosen the ecclesiastical state; from this now they are
+completely barred.</p>
+
+<p>Most fatal, most unjust policy! Had it been devised for the express
+purpose of imbittering the feelings of the Irish Celt eternally against
+the Saxon ruler, it could not have succeeded more effectually. The laws
+of Draco were figuratively said to have been written in blood: how many
+bloody deeds, at which men have stood aghast in horror and dismay, were
+virtually enacted by the Statute of Kilkenny? The country-loving,
+generous-hearted Celt, who heard it read for the first time, must have
+been more or less than human, if he did not utter &quot;curses, not loud, but
+deep,&quot; against the framers of such inhuman decrees. If Englishmen
+studied the history of Ireland carefully, and the character of the
+Celtic race, they would be less surprised at Irish discontent and
+disloyalty. An English writer on Irish history admits, that while &quot;there
+is no room to doubt the wisdom of the policy which sought to prevent the
+English baron from sinking into the unenviable state of the persecuted
+Irish chieftain, still less is there an apology to be offered for the
+iniquity of the attempt to shut the great mass of the Irish people out
+from the pale of law, civilization, and religion. The cruelty of
+conquest never broached a principle more criminal, unsound, or<a name="Page_362"></a>
+unsuccessful.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_356_357"></a><a href="#Footnote_356_357"><sup>[356]</sup></a> It is to be regretted that a more recent and really
+liberal writer should have attempted this apology, which his own
+countryman and namesake pronounced impossible. The author to whom we
+allude grants &quot;it sounds shocking that the killing of an Irishman by an
+Englishman should have been no felony;&quot; but he excuses it by stating,
+&quot;nothing more is implied than that the Irish were not under English
+jurisdiction, but under the native or Brehon law.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_357_358"></a><a href="#Footnote_357_358"><sup>[357]</sup></a> Unfortunately
+this assertion is purely gratuitous. It was made treason by this very
+same statute even to submit to the Brehon law; and the writer himself
+states that, in the reign of Edward I., &quot;a large body of the Irish
+petitioned for the English law, and offered 8,000 marks as a fee for
+that favour.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_358_359"></a><a href="#Footnote_358_359"><sup>[358]</sup></a> He states that an Irishman who murdered an
+Englishman, would only have been fined by his Brehon. True, no doubt;
+but if an Englishman killed an Irishman, he escaped scot-free. If,
+however, the Irishman was captured by the Englishman, he was executed
+according to the English law. If a regulation had been made that the
+Englishman should always be punished for his crimes by English law, and
+the Irishman by Irish law,<a name="FNanchor_359_360"></a><a href="#Footnote_359_360"><sup>[359]</sup></a> and if this arrangement had been carried
+out with even moderate impartiality, it would have been a fair
+adjustment, however anomalous.</p>
+
+<p>A little episode of domestic life, narrated by Froissart, is a
+sufficient proof that the social state of the Irish was neither so wild
+nor so barbarous as many have supposed; and that even a Frenchman might
+become so attached to the country as to leave it with regret,<a name="Page_363"></a> though, at
+the same time, it was not a little difficult to find an English Viceroy
+who would face the political complications which the Statute of Kilkenny
+had made more troublesome than ever. Froissart's account runs thus: He
+was waiting in the royal chamber at Eltham one Sunday, to present his
+treatise &quot;On Loves&quot; to Henry II.; and he takes care to tell us that the
+King had every reason to be pleased with the present, for it was
+&quot;handsomely written and illuminated,&quot; bound in crimson velvet, decorated
+with ten silver-gilt studs, and roses of the same. While he was awaiting
+his audience, he gossiped with Henry Cryst&egrave;de, whom he describes as a
+very agreeable, prudent, and well-educated gentleman, who spoke French
+well, and had for his arms a chevron gules on a field argent, with three
+besants gules, two above the chevron, and one below.</p>
+
+<p>Cryst&egrave;de gave him a sketch of his adventures in Ireland, which we can
+but condense from the quaint and amusing original. He had been in the
+service of the Earl of Ormonde, who kept him out of affection for his
+good horsemanship. On one occasion he was attending the Earl, mounted on
+one of his best horses, at a &quot;border foray&quot; on the unfortunate Irish,
+with whom he kept up constant warfare. In the pursuit his horse took
+fright, and ran away into the midst of the enemy, one of whom, by a
+wonderful feat of agility, sprang up behind him, and bore him off to his
+own house. He calls the gentleman who effected the capture &quot;Brian
+Costeree,&quot; and says he was a very handsome man, and that he lived in a
+strong house in a well barricaded city.</p>
+
+<p>Cryst&egrave;de remained here for seven years, and married one of the daughters
+of his host, by whom he had two children. At the end of this period his
+father-in-law was taken prisoner in an engagement with the Duke of
+Clarence, and Cryst&egrave;de's horse, which he rode, was recognized. Evidently
+the knight must have been a person of some distinction, for he states
+that the Duke of Clarence and the English officers were so well pleased
+to hear of the &quot;honorable entertainment&quot; he had received from &quot;Brian
+Costeree,&quot; that they at once proposed to set him at liberty, on
+condition that he should send Cryst&egrave;de to the army with his wife and
+children. At first &quot;he refused the offer, from his love to me, his
+daughter, and our children.&quot; Eventually the exchange was made. Cryst&egrave;de
+settled at Bristol. His two daughters were then married. One was settled
+in Ireland. He concluded the family history by stating that the<a name="Page_364"></a> Irish
+language was as familiar to him as English, for he always spoke it to
+his wife, and tried to introduce it, &quot;as much as possible,&quot; among his
+children.</p>
+
+<p>On the retirement of the Duke of Clarence, in 1367, the Viceroyalty was
+accepted by Gerald, fourth Earl of Desmond, styled &quot;the poet.&quot; He was
+one of the most learned men of the day, and thereby, as usual, obtained
+the reputation of practising magic. Yet this refined and educated
+nobleman wished to have his son fostered in an Irish family, and,
+despite the Statute of Kilkenny, obtained a special permission to that
+effect&mdash;another evidence that social life among the natives could not
+have been quite what the malice of Cambrensis, and others who wrote from
+hearsay reports, and not from personal knowledge, have represented it.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Richard Pembridge refused the office of Viceroy in 1369. He was
+stripped of all his lands and offices held under the crown, as a
+punishment for his contumacy, but this appears to have had no effect
+upon his determination. It was decided legally, however, that the King
+could neither fine nor imprison him for this refusal, since no man could
+be condemned to go into exile. High prices were now offered to induce
+men to bear this intolerable punishment. Sir William de Windsor asked
+something over &pound;11,000 per annum for his services, which Sir John Davis
+states exceeded the whole revenue of Ireland. The salary of a Lord
+Justice before this period was &pound;500 per annum, and he was obliged to
+support a small standing army. The truth was, that the government of
+Ireland had become every day more difficult, and less lucrative. The
+natives were already despoiled of nearly all their possessions, and the
+settlement of the feuds of the Anglo-Norman nobles was neither a
+pleasant nor a profitable employment. In addition to this, Edward was
+levying immense subsidies in Ireland, to support his wars in France and
+Scotland. At last the clergy were obliged to interfere. The Archbishop
+of Cashel opposed these unreasonable demands, and solemnly
+excommunicated the King's collector, and all persons employed in raising
+the obnoxious taxes.</p>
+
+<p>Richard II. succeeded his grandfather, A.D. 1377. As he was only in his
+eleventh year, the government was carried on by his uncles. The Earl of
+March was sent to Ireland as Justiciary, with extraordinary powers. He
+had married Philippa, daughter of Lionel, Duke of Clarence, by his first
+wife, and in her right became Earl of Ulster. One of the Irish princes
+who came to his court, was<a name="Page_365"></a> treacherously arrested and thrown into
+prison. The injustice was resented, or, perhaps, we should rather say,
+feared, by the English nobles as well as the Irish chieftains, who took
+care to keep out of the way of such adventures, by absenting themselves
+from the Viceregal hospitalities. Roger Mortimer succeeded his father,
+and was followed by Philip de Courtenay, the King's cousin. He was
+granted the office for ten years, but, in the interval, was taken into
+custody by the Council of Regency, for his peculations.</p>
+
+<p>There was war in Connaught between the O'Connors, in 1384, and fierce
+hostility continued for years after between the families of the O'Connor
+Don (Brown) and the O'Connor Roe (Red). Richard II. had his favourites
+as usual; and in a moment of wild folly he bestowed the sovereignty of
+Ireland on the Earl of Oxford, whom he also created Marquis of Dublin.
+His royal master accompanied him as far as Wales, and then, determining
+to keep the Earl near his person, despatched Sir John Sydney to the
+troublesome colony.</p>
+
+<p>A royal visit was arranged and accomplished soon after; and on the 2nd
+October, A.D. 1394, Richard II. landed on the Irish shores. The country
+was in its normal state of partial insurrection and general discontent;
+but no attempt was made to remove the chronic cause of all this
+unnecessary misery. There was some show of submission from the Irish
+chieftains, who were overawed by the immense force which attended the
+King. Art MacMurrough, the heir of the ancient Leinster kings, was the
+most formidable of the native nobles; and from his prowess and success
+in several engagements, was somewhat feared by the invaders. He refused
+to defer to any one but Richard, and was only prevailed on to make terms
+when he found himself suddenly immured in Dublin Castle, during a
+friendly visit to the court.</p>
+
+<p>The King's account of his reception shows that he had formed a tolerably
+just opinion of the political state of the country. He mentions in a
+letter from Dublin, that the people might be divided into three
+classes&mdash;the &quot;wild Irish, or enemies,&quot; the Irish rebels, and the English
+subjects; and he had just discernment enough to see that the &quot;rebels had
+been made such by wrongs, and by want of close attention to their
+grievances,&quot; though he had not the judgment or the justice to apply the
+necessary remedy. His next exploit was to persuade the principal Irish
+kings to receive knighthood in the English fashion. They submitted with
+the worst possible grace,<a name="Page_366"></a> having again and again repeated that they had
+already received the honour according to the custom of their own
+country. The dealings of the Anglo-Norman knights, with whom they
+already had intercourse, were not likely to have inspired them with very
+sublime ideas of the dignity. They might, indeed, have been chevaliers
+<i>sans peur</i>, but the latter part of the flattering appellation could not
+be applied.</p>
+
+<p>The customs of the Irish nobles were again made a subject of ridicule,
+as they had been during the visit of Prince John; though one should have
+supposed that an increased knowledge of the world should have led to a
+wiser policy, if not to an avoidance of that ignorant criticism, which
+at once denounces everything foreign as inferior.<a name="FNanchor_360_361"></a><a href="#Footnote_360_361"><sup>[360]</sup></a> Richard returned
+to England in 1395, after nine months of vain display. He appointed
+Roger Mortimer his Viceroy. Scarcely had the King and his fleet sailed
+from the Irish shores, when the real nature of the proffered allegiance
+of seventy-two kings and chieftains became apparent. The O'Byrnes rose
+up in Wicklow, and were defeated by the Viceroy and the Earl of Ormonde;
+the MacCarthys rose up in Munster, and balanced affairs by gaining a
+victory over the English. The Earl of Kildare was captured by Calvagh
+O'Connor, of Offaly, in 1398; and, in the same year, the O'Briens and
+O'Tooles avenged their late defeat, by a great victory, at Kenlis, in
+Ossory.</p>
+
+<p>In 1399 King Richard paid another visit to Ireland. His exactions and
+oppressions had made him very unpopular in England, and it is probable
+that this expedition was planned to divert the minds of his subjects. If
+this was his object, it failed signally; for the unfortunate monarch was
+deposed by Parliament the same year, and was obliged to perform the act
+of abdication with the best grace he could. His unhappy end belongs to
+English history. Richard again landed in state at Waterford, and soon
+after marched against<a name="Page_367"></a> the indomitable MacMurrough. His main object,
+indeed, appears to have been the subjugation of this &quot;rebel,&quot; who
+contrived to keep the English settlers in continual alarm. A French
+chronicler again attended the court, and narrated its proceedings. He
+describes MacMurrough's stronghold in the woods, and says that they did
+not seem much appalled at the sight of the English army. A special
+notice is given of the chieftain's horse, which was worth 400 cows.<a name="FNanchor_361_362"></a><a href="#Footnote_361_362"><sup>[361]</sup></a>
+The chieftain's uncle and some others had made an abject submission to
+the English monarch, who naturally hoped that MacMurrough would follow
+their example. He, therefore, despatched an embassy to him, to repair
+the &quot;wrongs&quot; which he had inflicted on the settlers, for which he
+demanded reparation. The Leinster king, however, could neither be
+frightened nor persuaded into seeing matters in that light, and,
+probably, thought the term rebel would be more appropriately applied to
+those who resisted the native rulers of the country. He declared that
+for all the gold in the world he would not submit.</p>
+<a name="Interview_between_MacMurrough_and_the_Officers_of_Richard_the_Strong"></a>
+<center>
+<img src="images/071.jpg" width="478" height="623" alt="Interview between MacMurrough and the Officers of Richard
+the Strong." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>Interview between MacMurrough and the Officers of Richard
+the Strong.</h4>
+
+<p>Richard's army was on the verge of starvation, so he was obliged to
+break up his camp, and march to Dublin. Upon his arrival there,
+MacMurrough made overtures for peace, which were gladly accepted, and
+the Earl of Gloucester proceeded at once to arrange terms with him. But
+no reconciliation could be effected, as both parties refused to yield.
+When Richard heard the result, &quot;he flew into a violent passion, and
+swore by St. Edward he would not leave Ireland until he had MacMurrough
+in his hands, dead or alive.&quot; How little he imagined, when uttering the
+mighty boast, that his own fate was even then sealed! Had he but the
+grace to have conciliated instead of threatened, a brave and loyal band
+of Irish chieftains would soon have surrounded him, and the next chapter
+of English history would have been less tragic. Disastrous accounts soon
+reached him from England, which at once annihilated his schemes of Irish
+conquest or revenge. His own people were up in arms, and the
+prescriptive right to grumble, which an Englishman is supposed to enjoy
+par <i>excellence</i>, had broken out into overt acts of violence. War was
+inaugurated between York and Lancaster, and for years England was
+deluged with blood.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><br /><br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>
+
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/072.jpg" width="449" height="303" alt="BUTTS&#39; CROSS, KILKENNY." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>BUTTS&#39; CROSS, KILKENNY.</h4>
+
+<a name="Page_368"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2>
+
+<h4>Henry IV.&mdash;A Viceroy's Difficulties&mdash;The Houses of York and
+Lancaster&mdash;The Colony almost Bankrupt&mdash;Literary Ladies in Ireland&mdash;A
+Congress of Literati&mdash;The Duke of York is made Viceroy&mdash;Affection of the
+Irish for him&mdash;Popularity of the Yorkists in Ireland&mdash;A Book given for a
+Ransom&mdash;Desolating Effects of the Wars of the Roses&mdash;Accession of Henry
+VII.&mdash;Insurrection of the Yorkists&mdash;Simnel is crowned in
+Dublin&mdash;Warbeck's Insurrection&mdash;Poyning's Parliament&mdash;Poyning's Law and
+its Effects&mdash;The Earl of Kildare accused of Treason&mdash;His Defence and
+Pardon&mdash;His Quickwitted Speeches&mdash;He is acquitted honorably&mdash;His Letter
+to the Gherardini&mdash;Ariosto.</h4>
+
+<h5>[A.D. 1402-1509.]</h5>
+
+<img src="images/v.jpg" width="51" height="163" align="left" alt="A" title="" />
+<p> scion of royalty was again sent to administer law&mdash;we cannot say
+truthfully to administer justice&mdash;in Ireland. On the accession of Henry
+IV., his second son, Thomas, Duke of Lancaster, was made Viceroy, and
+landed at Bullock, near Dalkey, on Sunday, November 13, 1402. As the
+youth was but twelve years of age, a Council was appointed to assist
+him. Soon after his arrival, the said Council despatched a piteous
+document from &quot;Le Naas,&quot; in which they represent themselves and their
+youthful ruler as on the very verge of starvation, in consequence of not
+having received remittances from England. In conclusion, they gently
+allude to the possibility&mdash;of course carefully deprecated&mdash;of &quot;peril and
+disaster&quot; befalling their lord, if further delay should be permitted.
+The King,<a name="Page_369"></a> however, was not in a position to tax his English subjects;
+and we find the prince himself writing to his royal father on the same
+matter, at the close of the year 1402. He mentions also that he had
+entertained the knights and squires with such cheer as could be procured
+under the circumstances, and adds: &quot;I, by the advice of my Council, rode
+against the Irish, your enemies, and did my utmost to harass them.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_362_363"></a><a href="#Footnote_362_363"><sup>[362]</sup></a>
+Probably, had he shared the cheer with &quot;the Irish his enemies,&quot; or even
+showed them some little kindness, he would not have been long placed in
+so unpleasant a position for want of supplies.</p>
+
+<p>John Duke, the then Mayor of Dublin, obtained the privilege of having
+the sword borne before the chief magistrate of that city, as a reward
+for his services in routing the O'Byrnes of Wicklow. About the same time
+John Dowdall, Sheriff of Louth, was murdered in Dublin, by Sir
+Bartholomew Vernon and three other English gentlemen, who were outlawed
+for this and other crimes, but soon after received the royal pardon. In
+1404 the English were defeated in Leix. In 1405 Art MacMurrough
+committed depredations at Wexford and elsewhere, and in 1406 the
+settlers suffered a severe reverse in Meath.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Stephen Scroope had been appointed Deputy for the royal Viceroy, and
+he led an army against MacMurrough, who was defeated after a gallant
+resistance. Teigue O'Carroll was killed in another engagement soon
+after. This prince was celebrated for learning, and is styled in the
+Annals<a name="FNanchor_363_364"></a><a href="#Footnote_363_364"><sup>[363]</sup></a> &quot;general patron of the literati of Ireland.&quot; A few years
+before his death he made a pilgrimage to Rome, and was honorably
+received on his return by Richard II., at Westminster. In 1412 the
+O'Neills desolated Ulster with their feuds, and about the same time the
+English merchants of Dublin and Drogheda armed to defend themselves
+against the Scotch merchants, who had committed several acts of piracy.
+Henry V. succeeded his father in 1413, and appointed Sir John Stanley
+Lord Deputy. He signalized himself by his exactions and cruelties, and,
+according to the Irish account, was &quot;rhymed to death&quot; by the poet Niall
+O'Higgin, of Usnagh, whom he had plundered in a foray. Sir John Talbot
+was the next Governor. He inaugurated his career by such martial
+exploits against the enemy, as<a name="Page_370"></a> to win golden opinions from the
+inhabitants of &quot;the Pale.&quot; Probably the news of his success induced his
+royal master to recall him to England, that he might have his assistance
+in his French wars.</p>
+
+<p>His departure was a general signal for &quot;the enemy&quot; to enact reprisals.
+O'Connor despoiled the Pale, and the invincible Art MacMurrough
+performed his last military exploit at Wexford (A.D. 1416), where he
+took 340 prisoners in one day. He died the following year, and Ireland
+lost one of the bravest and best of her sons. The Annals describe him as
+&quot;a man who had defended his own province, against the English and Irish,
+from his sixteenth to his sixtieth year; a man full of hospitality,
+knowledge, and chivalry.&quot; It is said that he was poisoned by a woman at
+New Ross, but no motive is mentioned for the crime. His son, Donough,
+who has an equal reputation for valour, was made prisoner two years
+after by the Lord Deputy, and imprisoned in the Tower of London.
+O'Connor of Offaly, another chieftain who had also distinguished himself
+against the English, died about this time. He had entered the Franciscan
+Monastery of Killeigh a month before his death.</p>
+
+<p>The Irish of English descent were made to feel their position painfully
+at the close of this reign, and this might have led the new settlers to
+reflect, if capable of reflection, that their descendants would soon
+find themselves in a similar condition. The commons presented a petition
+complaining of the extortions and injustices practised by the Deputies,
+some of whom had left enormous debts unpaid. They also represented the
+injustice of excluding Irish law students from the Inns of Court in
+London. A few years previous (A.D. 1417), the settlers had presented a
+petition to Parliament, praying that no Irishman should be admitted to
+any office or benefice in the Church, and that no bishop should be
+permitted to bring an Irish servant with him when he came to attend
+Parliament or Council. This petition was granted; and soon after an
+attempt was made to prosecute the Archbishop of Cashel, who had presumed
+to disregard some of its enactments.</p>
+
+<p>Henry VI. succeeded to the English throne while still a mere infant,
+and, as usual, the &quot;Irish question&quot; was found to be one of the greatest
+difficulties of the new administration. The O'Neills had been carrying
+on a domestic feud in Ulster; but they had just united to attack the
+English, when Edward Mortimer, Earl of March, assumed the government of
+Ireland (A.D. 1425). He died of the plague the following year; but his
+successor in office, Lord<a name="Page_371"></a> Furnival, contrived to capture a number of the
+northern chieftains, who were negotiating peace with Mortimer at the
+very time of his death. Owen O'Neill was ransomed, but the indignation
+excited by this act served only to arouse angry feelings; and the
+northerns united against their enemies, and soon recovered any territory
+they had lost.</p>
+
+<p>Donough MacMurrough was released from the Tower in 1428, after nine
+years' captivity. It is said the Leinster men paid a heavy ransom for
+him. The young prince's compulsory residence in England did not lessen
+his disaffection, for he made war on the settlers as soon as he returned
+to his paternal dominions. The great family feud between the houses of
+York and Lancaster, had but little effect on the state of Ireland.
+Different members of the two great factions had held the office of Lord
+Justice in that country, but, with one exception, they did not obtain
+any personal influence there. Indeed, the Viceroy of those days, whether
+an honest man or a knave, was sure to be unpopular with some party.</p>
+
+<p>The Yorkists and Lancastrians were descended directly from Edward III.
+The first Duke of York was Edward's fifth son, Edmund Plantagenet; the
+first Duke of Lancaster was John of Gaunt, the fourth son of the same
+monarch. Richard II. succeeded his grandfather, Edward III., as the son
+of Edward the Black Prince, so famed in English chivalry. His arrogance
+and extravagance soon made him unpopular; and, during his absence in
+Ireland, the Duke of Lancaster, whom he had banished, and treated most
+unjustly, returned to England, and inaugurated the fatal quarrel. The
+King was obliged to return immediately, and committed the government of
+the country to his cousin, Roger de Mortimer, who was next in succession
+to the English crown, in right of his mother, Philippa, the only child
+of the Duke of Clarence, third son of Edward III. The death of this
+nobleman opened the way for the intrusion of the Lancastrians, the Duke
+of Lancaster having obtained the crown during the lifetime of Richard,
+to the exclusion of the rightful heir-apparent, Edmund, Earl of March,
+son to the late Viceroy.</p>
+
+<p>The feuds of the Earl of Ormonde and the Talbots in Ireland, proved
+nearly as great a calamity to that nation as the disputes about the
+English succession. A Parliament was held in Dublin in 1441, in which
+Richard Talbot, the English Archbishop of Dublin. proceeded to lay
+various requests before the King, the great object of which was the
+overthrow of the Earl, who, by the intermarrying<a name="Page_372"></a> of his kinsmen with the
+Irish, possessed great influence among the native septs contiguous to
+his own territory. The petitioners pray that the government may be
+committed to some &quot;mighty English lord,&quot; and they moderately request
+that the said &quot;mighty lord&quot; may be permitted to create temporal peers.
+They hint at the Earl's age as an objection to his administration of
+justice, and assert that &quot;the Lieutenant should be a mighty, courageous,
+and laborious man, to keep the field and make resistance against the
+enemy.&quot; But the great crime alleged against him, is that &quot;he hath
+ordained and made Irishmen, and grooms and pages of his household,
+knights of the shire.&quot; These representations, however, had but little
+weight in the quarter to which they were addressed, for Ormonde was a
+stout Lancastrian; and if he had sinned more than his predecessors, his
+guilt was covered by the ample cloak of royal partiality. However, some
+appearance of justice was observed. Sir Giles Thornton was sent over to
+Ireland to make a report, which was so very general that it charged no
+one in particular, but simply intimated that there was no justice to be
+had for any party, and that discord and division prevailed amongst all
+the King's officers. The system of appointing deputies for different
+offices was very properly condemned; and the rather startling
+announcement made, that the annual expenses of the Viceroy and his
+officers exceeded all the revenues of Ireland for that year by &pound;4,456.
+In fact, it could not be otherwise; for every official, lay and
+ecclesiastical, English and Anglo-Irish, appear to have combined in one
+vast system of peculation, and, when it was possible, of wholesale
+robbery. Even the loyal burghers of Limerick, Cork, and Galway had
+refused to pay their debts to the crown, and the representatives of
+royalty were not in a position to enforce payment. The Talbot party
+seems to have shared the blame quite equally with the Ormondes, and the
+churchmen in power were just as rapacious as the seculars. After having
+ruined the &quot;mere Irish,&quot; the plunderers themselves were on the verge of
+ruin; and the Privy Council declared that unless an immediate remedy was
+applied, the law courts should be closed, and the royal castles
+abandoned. Further complaints were made in 1444; and Robert Maxwell, a
+groom of the royal chamber, was despatched to Ireland with a summons to
+Ormonde, commanding him to appear before the King and Council.</p>
+
+<p>The Earl at once collected his followers and adherents in Drogheda,
+where they declared, in the presence of the King's messenger,<a name="Page_373"></a> as in duty
+bound, that their lord had never been guilty of the treasons and
+extortions with which he was charged, and that they were all thankful
+for &quot;his good and gracious government:&quot; furthermore, they hint that he
+had expended his means in defending the King's possessions. However, the
+Earl was obliged to clear himself personally of these charges in London,
+where he was acquitted with honour by his royal master.<a name="FNanchor_364_365"></a><a href="#Footnote_364_365"><sup>[364]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>His enemy, Sir John Talbot, known better in English history as the Earl
+of Shrewsbury, succeeded him, in 1446. This nobleman had been justly
+famous for his valour in the wars with France, and it is said that even
+mothers frightened their children with his name. His success in Ireland
+was not at all commensurate with his fame in foreign warfare, for he
+only succeeded so far with the native princes as to compel O'Connor Faly
+to make peace with the English Government, to ransom his sons, and to
+supply some beeves for the King's kitchen. Talbot held a Parliament at
+Trim, in which, for the first time, an enactment was made about personal
+appearance, which widened the fatal breach still more between England
+and Ireland. This law declared that every man who did not shave<a name="FNanchor_365_366"></a><a href="#Footnote_365_366"><sup>[365]</sup></a> his
+upper lip, should be treated as an &quot;Irish enemy;&quot; and the said shaving
+was to be performed once, at least, in every two weeks.</p>
+
+<p>In the year 1447 Ireland was desolated by a fearful plague, in which
+seven hundred priests are said to have fallen victims, probably from
+their devoted attendance on the sufferers. In the same year Felim
+O'Reilly was taken prisoner treacherously by the Lord Deputy; and
+Finola, the daughter of Calvagh O'Connor Faly, and wife of Hugh Boy
+O'Neill, &quot;the most beautiful and stately, the most renowned and
+illustrious woman of all her time in Ireland, her own mother only
+excepted, retired from this transitory world,<a name="Page_374"></a> to prepare for eternal
+life, and assumed the yoke of piety and devotion in the Monastery of
+Cill-Achaidh.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>This lady's mother, Margaret O'Connor, was the daughter of O'Carroll,
+King of Ely, and well deserved the commendation bestowed on her. She was
+the great patroness of the <i>literati</i> of Ireland, whom she entertained
+at two memorable feasts. The first festival was held at Killeigh, in the
+King's county, on the Feast-day of <i>Da Sinchell</i> (St. Seanchan, March
+26). All the chiefs, brehons, and bards of Ireland and Scotland were
+invited, and 2,700 guests are said to have answered the summons. The
+Lady Margaret received them clothed in cloth of gold, and seated in
+queenly state. She opened the &quot;congress&quot; by presenting two massive
+chalices of gold on the high altar of the church&mdash;an act of duty towards
+God; and then took two orphan children to rear and nurse&mdash;an act of
+charity to her neighbour. Her noble husband, who had already
+distinguished himself in the field on many occasions, remained on his
+charger outside the church, to welcome his visitors as they arrived. The
+second entertainment was given on the Feast of the Assumption, in the
+same year, and was intended to include all who had not been able to
+accept the first invitation. The chronicler concludes his account with a
+blessing on Lady Margaret, and a curse on the disease which deprived the
+world of so noble an example: &quot;God's blessing, the blessing of all the
+saints, and every blessing, be upon her going to heaven; and blessed be
+he that will hear and read this, for blessing her soul.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_366_367"></a><a href="#Footnote_366_367"><sup>[366]</sup></a> It is
+recorded of her also, that she was indefatigable in building churches,
+erecting bridges, preparing highways, and providing mass-books. It is a
+bright picture on a dark page; and though there may not have been many
+ladies so liberal or so devoted to learning at that period in Ireland,
+still the general state of female education could not have been
+neglected, or such an example could not have been found or appreciated.
+Felim O'Connor, her son, died in the same year as his mother; he is
+described as &quot;a man of great fame and renown.&quot; He had been ill of
+decline for a long time, and only one night intervened between the death
+of the mother and the son, A.D. 1451. Calvagh died in 1458, and was
+succeeded by his son, Con, who was not unworthy of his noble ancestry.</p>
+
+<p>In 1449 the Duke of York was sent to undertake the Viceregal<a name="Page_375"></a> dignity and
+cares. His appointment is attributed to the all-powerful influence of
+Queen Margaret. The immortal Shakspeare, whose consummate art makes us
+read history in drama, and drama in history,<a name="FNanchor_367_368"></a><a href="#Footnote_367_368"><sup>[367]</sup></a> has commemorated this
+event, though not with his usual ability. The object of sending him to
+Ireland was to deprive the Yorkists of his powerful support and
+influence, and place the affairs of France, which he had managed with
+considerable ability, in other hands. In fact, the appointment was
+intended as an honorable exile. The Irish, with that natural veneration
+for lawful authority which is so eminently characteristic of the Celtic
+race, were ever ready to welcome a prince of the blood, each time hoping
+against hope that something like ordinary justice should be meted out
+from the fountain-head. For once, at least, they were not disappointed;
+and &quot;noble York&quot; is represented, by an English writer of the sixteenth
+century, as consoling himself &quot;for every kinde of smart,&quot; with the
+recollection of the faithful love and devotion of the Irish people.<a name="FNanchor_368_369"></a><a href="#Footnote_368_369"><sup>[368]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>The royal Duke arrived in Ireland on the 6th of July, 1447. He was
+accompanied by his wife, famous for her beauty, which had obtained her
+the appellation of the &quot;Rose of Raby,&quot; and famous also as the mother of
+two English kings, Edward IV. and Richard III. This lady was the
+daughter of Neville, Earl of Westmoreland,<a name="Page_376"></a> whose rather numerous family,
+consisting of twenty-two children, had all married amongst the highest
+families. The Duke was Earl of Ulster in right of Duke Lionel, from whom
+he was descended; but instead of marching at once to claim his
+possessions, he adopted such conciliatory measures as secured him the
+services and affections of a large body of Irish chieftains, with whose
+assistance he soon subdued any who still remained refractory. His
+popularity increased daily. Presents were sent to him by the most
+powerful and independent of the native chieftains. Nor was his &quot;fair
+ladye&quot; forgotten, for Brian O'Byrne, in addition to an offering of four
+hundred beeves to the Duke, sent &quot;two hobbies&quot;<a name="FNanchor_369_370"></a><a href="#Footnote_369_370"><sup>[369]</sup></a> for the special use
+of the &quot;Rose of Raby.&quot; Indeed, it was reported in England that &quot;the
+wildest Irishman in Ireland would before twelve months be sworn
+English.&quot; Such were the fruits of a conciliatory policy, or rather of a
+fair administration of justice.</p>
+
+<p>The cities of Cork, Kinsale, and Youghal, now sent in petitions to the
+Viceroy, complaining bitterly of the way in which the English noblemen
+&quot;fall at variance among themselves,&quot; so that the whole country was
+desolated. The settlers of Waterford and Wexford made similar complaints
+against an Irish chieftain, O'Driscoll, whom they describe as &quot;an Irish
+enemy to the King and to all his liege people of Ireland.&quot; The Duke
+pacified all parties, and succeeded in attaching the majority of the
+nation more and more to his person and his interests. His English
+friends, who looked on his residence in Ireland as equivalent to
+banishment and imprisonment, were actively employed in promoting his
+return. The disgraceful loss of the English possessions in France, and
+probably still more the haughty and unconciliatory policy adopted by the
+Queen, had strengthened the Yorkist party, and emboldened them to
+action. The Duke was requested to return to England, where the
+insurgents in Kent had already risen under the leadership of the famous
+Jack Cade, whose origin is involved in hopeless obscurity, and whose
+character has been so blackened by writers on the Lancastrian side that
+it is equally incomprehensible. He called himself John Mortimer,<a name="Page_377"></a> and
+asserted that he was cousin to the Viceroy. A proclamation, offering one
+thousand marks for his person, &quot;quick or dead,&quot; described him as born in
+Ireland. In consequence of the nonpayment of the annuity which had been
+promised to the Duke during his Viceroyalty, he had been obliged to
+demand assistance from the Irish, who naturally resisted so unjust a
+tax. After useless appeals to the King and Parliament, he returned to
+England suddenly, in September, 1450, leaving Sir James Butler, the
+eldest son of the Earl of Ormonde, as his Deputy.</p>
+
+<p>The history of the Wars of the Roses does not belong to our province; it
+must, therefore, suffice to say, that when his party was defeated in
+England for a time, he fled to Ireland, where he was enthusiastically
+received, and exercised the office of Viceroy at the very time that an
+act of attainder was passed against him and his family. He soon returned
+again to his own country; and there, after more than one brilliant
+victory, he was slain at the battle of Wakefield, on the 31st December,
+1460. Three thousand of his followers are said to have perished with
+him, and among the number were several Irish chieftains from Meath and
+Ulster. The Geraldines sided with the House of York, and the Butlers
+with the Lancastrians: hence members of both families fell on this fatal
+field on opposite sides.</p>
+
+<p>The Earl of Kildare was Lord Justice on the accession of Edward IV., who
+at once appointed his unfortunate brother, the Duke of Clarence, to that
+dignity. The Earls of Ormonde and Desmond were at war (A.D. 1462), and a
+pitched battle was fought between them at Pilltown, in the county
+Kilkenny, where the former was defeated with considerable loss. His
+kinsman, MacRichard Butler, was taken prisoner; and we may judge of the
+value of a book,<a name="FNanchor_370_371"></a><a href="#Footnote_370_371"><sup>[370]</sup></a> and the respect for literature in Ireland at that
+period, from the curious fact that a manuscript was offered and accepted
+for his ransom.</p><a name="Page_378"></a>
+
+<p>The eighth Earl of Desmond, Thomas, was made Viceroy in 1462. He was a
+special favourite with the King. In 1466 he led an army of the English
+of Meath and Leinster against O'Connor Faly, but he was defeated and
+taken prisoner in the engagement. Teigue O'Connor, the Earl's
+brother-in-law, conducted the captives to Carbury Castle, in Kildare,
+where they were soon liberated by the people of Dublin. The Irish were
+very successful in their forays at this period. The men of Offaly
+devastated the country from Tara to Naas; the men of Breffni and Oriel
+performed similar exploits in Meath. Teigue O'Brien plundered Desmond,
+and obliged the Burkes of Clanwilliam to acknowledge his authority, and
+only spared the city of Limerick for a consideration of sixty marks.</p>
+
+<p>The Earl of Desmond appears to have exerted himself in every way for the
+national benefit. He founded a college in Youghal, with a warden, eight
+fellows, and eight choristers. He obtained an Act for the establishment
+of a university at Drogheda, which was to have similar privileges to
+that of Oxford. He is described by native annalists&mdash;almost as loud in
+their praises of learning as of valour&mdash;as well versed in literature,
+and a warm patron of antiquaries and poets. But his liberality proved
+his ruin. He was accused of making alliances and fosterage of the King's
+Irish enemies; and perhaps he had also incurred the enmity of the Queen
+(Elizabeth Woodville), for it was hinted that she had some share in his
+condemnation. It is at least certain that he was beheaded at Drogheda,
+on the 15th of February, 1467, by the command of Typtoft, Earl of
+Worcester, who was sent to Ireland to take his place as Viceroy, and to
+execute the unjust sentence. The Earl of Kildare was condemned at the
+same time; but he escaped to England, and pleaded his cause so well with
+the King and Parliament, that he obtained his own pardon, and a reversal
+of the attainder against the unfortunate Earl of Desmond.</p>
+
+<p>During the reigns of Edward IV., Edward V., and the usurper Richard,
+there was probably more dissension in England than there ever had been
+at any time amongst the native Irish chieftains. Princes and nobles were
+sacrificed by each party as they obtained power, and regicide might
+almost be called common. The number of English slain in the Wars of the
+Roses was estimated at 100,000. Parliament made acts of attainder one
+day, and reversed them almost on the next. Neither life nor property was
+safe. Men armed themselves first in self-defence, and then in
+lawlessness; and<a name="Page_379"></a> a thoughtful mind might trace to the evil state of
+morals, caused by a long period of desolating domestic warfare, that
+fatal indifference to religion which must have permeated the people,
+before they could have departed as a nation from the faith of their
+fathers, at the mere suggestion of a profligate monarch. The English
+power in Ireland was reduced at this time to the lowest degree of
+weakness. This power had never been other than nominal beyond the Pale;
+within its precincts it was on the whole all-powerful. But now a few
+archers and spearmen were its only defence; and had the Irish combined
+under a competent leader, there can be little doubt that the result
+would have been fatal to the colony. It would appear as if Henry VII.
+hoped to propitiate the Yorkists in Ireland, as he allowed the Earl of
+Kildare to hold the office of Lord Deputy; his brother, Thomas
+FitzGerald, that of Chancellor; and his father-in-law, FitzEustace, that
+of Lord Treasurer. After a short time, however, he restored the Earl of
+Ormonde to the family honours and estates, and thus a Lancastrian
+influence was secured. The most important events of this reign, as far
+as Ireland is concerned, are the plots of Simnel and Perkin Warbeck, and
+the enactments of Poyning's Parliament. A contemporary Irish chronicler
+says: &quot;The son of a Welshman, by whom the battle of Bosworth field was
+fought, was made King; and there lived not of the royal blood, at that
+time, but one youth, who came the next year (1486) in exile to
+Ireland.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_371_372"></a><a href="#Footnote_371_372"><sup>[371]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>The native Irish appear not to have had the least doubt that Simnel was
+what he represented himself to be. The Anglo-Irish nobles were nearly
+all devoted to the House of York; but it is impossible now to determine
+whether they were really deceived, or if they only made the youth a
+pretext for rebellion. His appearance is admitted by all parties to have
+been in his favour; but the King asserted that the real Earl of Warwick
+was then confined in the Tower, and paraded him through London<a name="FNanchor_372_373"></a><a href="#Footnote_372_373"><sup>[372]</sup></a> as
+soon as the <a name="Page_380"></a>pseudo-noble was crowned in Ireland. Margaret, Dowager
+Duchess of Burgundy, was the great promoter of the scheme. She
+despatched Martin Swart, a famous soldier, of noble birth, to Ireland,
+with 2,000 men. The expedition was fitted out at her own expense. The
+English Yorkists joined his party, and the little army landed at Dublin,
+in May, 1487. On Whit-Sunday, the 24th of that month, Lambert Simnel was
+crowned in the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity. After the ceremony he was
+borne in state, on the shoulders of tall men to the Castle. One of his
+bearers, a gigantic Anglo-Irishman, was called Great Darcy. Coins were
+now struck, proclamations issued, and all the writs and public acts of
+the colony executed in the name of Edward VI.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after, Simnel's party conducted him to England, where they were
+joined by a few desperate men of the Yorkist party. The battle of Stoke,
+in Nottinghamshire, terminated the affair. The youth and his tutor were
+captured, and the principal officers were slain. According to one
+account, Simnel was made a turnspit in the royal kitchen; according to
+another authority<a name="FNanchor_373_374"></a><a href="#Footnote_373_374"><sup>[373]</sup></a> he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. It
+would appear as if Henry was afraid to visit the Earl of Kildare too
+heavily for his transgressions, as he retained him in the office of Lord
+Deputy.</p>
+
+<p>The use of fire-arms appears to have become general in Ireland about
+this period (1487), as the Annals mention that an O'Rourke was slain by
+an O'Donnell, &quot;with a ball from a gun;&quot; and the following year the Earl
+of Kildare destroyed the Castle of Balrath, in Westmeath, with ordnance.
+The early guns were termed hand-cannons and hand-guns, to distinguish
+them from the original fire-arms, which were not portable, though there
+were exceptions to this rule; for some of the early cannons were so
+small, that the cannonier held his gun in his hand, or supported it on
+his shoulder, when firing it.<a name="FNanchor_374_375"></a><a href="#Footnote_374_375"><sup>[374]</sup></a></p>
+<a name="Page_381"></a>
+<p>In 1488 Sir Richard Edgecumbe was sent to Ireland to exact new oaths of
+allegiance from the Anglo-Norman lords, whose fidelity Henry appears to
+have doubted, and not without reason. The commissioner took up his
+lodgings with the Dominican friars, who appear to have been more devoted
+to the English interests than their Franciscan brethren; but they did
+not entertain the knight at their own expense, for he complains
+grievously of his &quot;great costs and charges.&quot; A Papal Bull had been
+procured, condemning all who had rebelled against the King. This was
+published by the Bishop of Meath, with a promise of absolution and royal
+pardon for all who should repent. Edgecumbe appears to have been at his
+wit's end to conciliate the &quot;rebels,&quot; and informs us that he spent the
+night in &quot;devising as sure an oath as he could.&quot; The nobles at last came
+to terms, and took the proffered pledge in the most solemn manner, in
+presence of the Blessed Sacrament. This accomplished, the knight
+returned to England; and on his safe arrival, after a stormy passage,
+made a pilgrimage to Saint Saviour's, in Cornwall.</p>
+
+<p>It is quite impossible now to judge whether these solemn oaths were made
+to be broken, or whether the temptation to break them proved stronger
+than the resolution to keep them. It is at least certain that they were
+broken, and that in a year or two after the Earl of Kildare had received
+his pardon under the Great Seal. In May, 1492, the Warbeck plot was
+promulgated in Ireland, and an adventurer landed on the Irish shores,
+who declared himself to be Richard, Duke of York, the second son of
+Edward IV., who was supposed to have perished in the Tower. His stay in
+Ireland, however, was brief, although he was favourably received. The
+French monarch entertained him with the honours due to a crowned head;
+but this, probably, was merely for political purposes, as he was
+discarded as soon as peace had been made with England. He next visited
+Margaret, the Dowager Duchess of Burgundy, who treated him as if he were
+really her nephew.</p>
+
+<p>Henry now became seriously alarmed at the state of affairs in Ireland,
+and sent over Sir Edward Poyning, a privy counsellor and a Knight of the
+Garter, to the troublesome colony. He was<a name="Page_382"></a> attended by some eminent
+English lawyers, and what was of considerably greater importance, by a
+force of 1,000 men. But neither the lawyers nor the men succeeded in
+their attempt, for nothing was done to conciliate, and the old policy of
+force was the rule of action, and failed as usual. The first step was to
+hunt out the abettors of Warbeck's insurrection, who had taken refuge in
+the north: but the moment the Deputy marched against them, the Earl of
+Kildare's brother rose in open rebellion, and seized Carlow Castle. The
+Viceroy was, therefore, obliged to make peace with O'Hanlon and
+Magennis, and to return south. After recovering the fortress, he held a
+Parliament at Drogheda, in the month of November, 1494. In this
+Parliament the celebrated statute was enacted, which provided that
+henceforth no Parliament should be held in Ireland until the Chief
+Governor and Council had first certified to the King, under the Great
+Seal, as well the causes and considerations as the Acts they designed to
+pass, and till the same should be approved by the King and Council. This
+Act obtained the name of &quot;Poyning's Law.&quot; It became a serious grievance
+when the whole of Ireland was brought under English government; but at
+the time of its enactment it could only affect the inhabitants of the
+Pale, who formed a very small portion of the population of that country;
+and the colonists regarded it rather favourably, as a means of
+protecting them against the legislative oppressions of the Viceroys.</p>
+
+<p>The general object of the Act was nominally to reduce the people to
+&quot;whole and perfect obedience.&quot; The attempt to accomplish this desirable
+end had been continued for rather more than two hundred years, and had
+not yet been attained. The Parliament of Drogheda did not succeed,
+although the Viceroy returned to England afterwards under the happy
+conviction that he had perfectly accomplished his mission. Acts were
+also passed that ordnance<a name="FNanchor_375_376"></a><a href="#Footnote_375_376"><sup>[375]</sup></a> should not be kept in fortresses without
+the Viceregal licence; that the lords spiritual and temporal were to
+appear in their robes in Parliament, for the English lords of Ireland
+had, &quot;through penuriousness, done away<a name="Page_383"></a> the said robes to their own great
+dishonour, and the rebuke of all the whole land;&quot; that the &quot;many
+damnable customs and uses,&quot; practised by the Anglo-Norman lords and
+gentlemen, under the names of &quot;coigne, livery, and pay,&quot; should be
+reformed; that the inhabitants on the frontiers of the four shires
+should forthwith build and maintain a double-ditch, raised six feet
+above the ground on the side which &quot;meared next unto the Irishmen,&quot; so
+that the said Irishmen should be kept out; that all subjects were to
+provide themselves with cuirasses and helmets, with English bows and
+sheaves of arrows; that every parish should be provided with a pair of
+butts,<a name="FNanchor_376_377"></a><a href="#Footnote_376_377"><sup>[376]</sup></a> and the constables were ordered to call the parishioners
+before them on holidays, to shoot at least two or three games.</p>
+
+<p>The Irish war-cries<a name="FNanchor_377_378"></a><a href="#Footnote_377_378"><sup>[377]</sup></a> which had been adopted by the English lords
+were forbidden, and they were commanded to call upon St. George or the
+King of England. The Statutes of Kilkenny were confirmed, with the
+exception of the one which forbid the use of the Irish language. As
+nearly all the English settlers had adopted it, such an enactment could
+not possibly have been carried out. Three of the principal nobles of the
+country were absent from this assembly: Maurice, Earl of Desmond, was in
+arms on behalf of Warbeck; Gerald, Earl of Kildare, was charged with
+treason; and Thomas, Earl of Ormonde, was residing in England. The Earl
+of Kildare was sent to England to answer the charges of treason which
+were brought against him. Henry had discovered that Poyning's mission
+had not been as successful as he expected, and what, probably,
+influenced him still more, that it had proved very expensive.<a name="FNanchor_378_379"></a><a href="#Footnote_378_379"><sup>[378]</sup></a> He
+has the credit of being a wise king in many respects, notwithstanding
+his avariciousness; and he at once saw that Kildare would be more useful
+as a friend, and less expensive, if he ceased to be an enemy. The result
+was the pardon of the &quot;rebel,&quot; his marriage<a name="Page_384"></a> with the King's first
+cousin, Elizabeth St. John, and his restoration to the office of Deputy.
+His quick-witted speeches, when examined before the King, took the royal
+fancy. He was accused of having burned the Cathedral of Cashel, to
+revenge himself on the Archbishop, who had sided with his enemy, Sir
+James Ormonde. There was a great array of witnesses prepared to prove
+the fact; but the Earl excited shouts of laughter by exclaiming: &quot;I
+would never have done it, had it not been told me the Archbishop was
+within.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The Archbishop was present, and one of his most active accusers. The
+King then gave him leave to choose his counsel, and time to prepare his
+defence. Kildare exclaimed that he doubted if he should be allowed to
+choose the good fellow whom he would select. Henry gave him his hand as
+an assurance of his good faith. &quot;Marry,&quot; said the Earl, &quot;I can see no
+better man in England than your Highness, and will choose no other.&quot; The
+affair ended by his accusers declaring that &quot;all Ireland could not rule
+this Earl,&quot; to which Henry replied: &quot;Then, in good faith, shall this
+Earl rule all Ireland.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_379_380"></a><a href="#Footnote_379_380"><sup>[379]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>In August, 1489, Kildare was appointed Deputy to Prince Henry, who was
+made Viceroy. In 1498 he was authorized to convene a Parliament, which
+should not sit longer than half a year. This was the first Parliament
+held under Poyning's Act. Sundry regulations were made &quot;for the
+increasing of English manners and conditions within the land, and for
+diminishing of Irish usage.&quot; In 1503 the Earl's son, Gerald, was
+appointed Treasurer for Ireland by the King, who expressed the highest
+approval of his father's administration. He married the daughter of Lord
+Zouch of Codnor during his visit to England, and then returned with his
+father to Ireland. Both father and son were treated with the utmost
+consideration at court, and the latter took an important part in the
+funeral ceremonies for the King's eldest son, Arthur. The Earl continued
+in office during the reign of Henry VII. An interesting letter, which he
+wrote in reply to an epistle from the Gherardini of Tuscany, is still
+extant. In this document he requests them to communicate anything they<a name="Page_385"></a>
+can of the origin of their house, their numbers, and their ancestors. He
+informs them that it will give him the greatest pleasure to send them
+hawks, falcons, horses, or hounds, or anything that he can procure which
+they may desire. He concludes:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;God be with you; love us in return.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;GERALD, Chief in Ireland of the family of Gherardini, Earl of Kildare,
+Viceroy of the most serene Kings of England in Ireland.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Eight years after this letter was written, Ariosto writes thus of a
+brave old man, whose fame had passed long before to distant lands:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;Or guarda gl' Ibernisi: appresso il piano<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Sono due squadre; e il Conte di Childera<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Mena la pinna; e il Conte di Desmonda,<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Da fieri monti ha tratta la seconda.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/073.jpg" width="333" height="486" alt="ROUND TOWER, DONAGHMORE, CO. MEATH." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>ROUND TOWER, DONAGHMORE, CO. MEATH.</h4>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><br /><br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>
+<center>
+<img src="images/074.jpg" width="370" height="273" alt="RUINS OF SELSKER ABBEY, WEXFORD." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>RUINS OF SELSKER ABBEY, WEXFORD.</h4>
+
+<a name="Page_386"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2>
+
+<h4>The Reign of Henry VIII.&mdash;The Three Eras in Irish History: Military
+Violence, Legal Iniquity, and Religious Oppression&mdash;The Earl of
+Kildare&mdash;Report on the State of Ireland&mdash;The Insurrection of Silken
+Thomas&mdash;His Execution with his five Uncles&mdash;First Attempt to introduce
+the Reformation in Ireland&mdash;Real Cause of the English Schism&mdash;The King
+acts as Head of the Church&mdash;The New Religion enacted by Law, and
+enforced by the Sword&mdash;How the Act was opposed by the Clergy, and how
+the Clergy were disposed of&mdash;Dr. Browne's Letter to Henry&mdash;The Era of
+Religious Persecution&mdash;Massacre of a Prelate, Priest, and
+Friars&mdash;Wholesale Plunder of Religious Property.</h4>
+
+<h5>[A.D. 1509-1540.]</h5>
+
+<img src="images/h.jpg" width="52" height="175" align="left" alt="W" title="" />
+<p>e have now approached one of the most important standpoints in Irish
+history. An English writer has divided its annals into three eras, which
+he characterizes thus: first, the era of military violence; second, the
+era of legal iniquity; third, the era of religious persecution.<a name="FNanchor_380_381"></a><a href="#Footnote_380_381"><sup>[380]</sup></a> We
+may mark out roughly certain lines which divide these periods, but
+unhappily the miseries of the two former blended eventually with the yet
+more cruel wrongs of the latter. Still, until the reign of Henry VIII.,
+the element of religious contention did not exist; and its importance as
+an increased source of discord, may be easily estimated by a careful
+consideration of its subsequent effects. Nevertheless, I believe that
+Irish history has not been fairly represented by a considerable number<a name="Page_387"></a>
+of writers, who are pleased to attribute all the sufferings and wrongs
+endured by the people of that country to religious grounds.</p>
+
+<p>Ireland was in a chronic state of discontent and rebellion, in the eras
+of military violence and legal iniquity, which existed some centuries
+before the era of religious persecution; but, unquestionably all the
+evils of the former period were enhanced and intensified, when the power
+which had so long oppressed and plundered, sought to add to bodily
+suffering the still keener anguish of mental torture.</p>
+
+<p>In the era of military violence, a man was driven from his ancestral
+home by force of arms; in the era of legal iniquity, he was treated as a
+rebel if he complained; but in the era of religious persecution, his
+free will, the noblest gift of God to man&mdash;the gift which God Himself
+will not shackle&mdash;was demanded from him; and if he dared act according
+to the dictates of his conscience, a cruel death or a cruel confiscation
+was his portion. And this was done in the name of liberty of conscience!
+While England was Catholic, it showed no mercy to Catholic Ireland; I
+doubt much, if Ireland had become Protestant to a man, when England had
+become Protestant as a nation, that she would have shown more
+consideration for the Celtic race. But the additional cruelties with
+which the Irish were visited, for refusing to discard their faith at the
+bidding of a profligate king, are simply matters of history.</p>
+
+<p>Henry succeeded his father in the year 1509. The Earl of Kildare was
+continued in his office as Deputy; but the King's minister, Wolsey,
+virtually ruled the nation, until the youthful monarch had attained his
+majority; and he appears to have devoted himself with considerable zeal
+to Irish affairs. He attempted to attach some of the Irish chieftains to
+the English interest, and seems in some degree to have succeeded. Hugh
+O'Donnell, Lord of Tir-Connell, was hospitably entertained at Windsor,
+as he passed through England on his pilgrimage to Rome. It is said that
+O'Donnell subsequently prevented James IV. of Scotland from undertaking
+his intended expedition to Ireland; and, in 1521, we find him described
+by the then Lord Deputy as the best disposed of all the Irish chieftains
+&quot;to fall into English order.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Gerald, the ninth and last Catholic Earl of Kildare, succeeded his
+father as Lord Deputy in 1513. But the hereditary foes of his family
+were soon actively employed in working his ruin; and even his sister,
+who had married into that family, proved not the least formidable of his
+enemies. He was summoned to London; but<a name="Page_388"></a> either the charges against him
+could not be proved, or it was deemed expedient to defer them, for we
+find him attending Henry for four years, and forming one of his retinue
+at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. Kildare was permitted to return to
+Dublin again in 1523, but he was tracked by Wolsey's implacable hatred
+to his doom.<a name="FNanchor_381_382"></a><a href="#Footnote_381_382"><sup>[381]</sup></a> In 1533 he was confined in the Tower for the third
+time. The charges against him were warmly urged by his enemies. Two of
+his sisters were married to native chieftains; and he was accused of
+playing fast and loose with the English as a baron of the Pale&mdash;with the
+Irish as a warm ally.<a name="FNanchor_382_383"></a><a href="#Footnote_382_383"><sup>[382]</sup></a> Two English nobles had been appointed to
+assist him, or rather to act the spy upon his movements, at different
+times. One of these, Sir Thomas Skeffington, became his most dangerous
+enemy.</p>
+
+<p>In 1515 an elaborate report on the state of Ireland was prepared by the
+royal command. It gives a tolerably clear idea of the military and
+political condition of the country. According to this account, the only
+counties really subject to English rule, were Louth, Meath, Dublin,
+Kildare, and Wexford. Even the residents near the boundaries of these
+districts, were obliged to pay &quot;black mail&quot; to the neighbouring Irish
+chieftains. The King's writs were not executed beyond the bounds
+described; and within thirty miles of Dublin, the Brehon law was in full
+force. This document, which is printed in the first volume of the &quot;State
+Papers&quot; relating to Ireland, contains a list of the petty rulers of
+sixty different states or &quot;regions,&quot; some of which &quot;are as big as a
+shire; some more, some less.&quot; The writer then gives various opinions as
+to the plans which might be adopted for improving the state of Ireland,
+which he appears to have taken principally from a curious old book,
+called <i>Salus Populi</i>.<a name="FNanchor_383_384"></a><a href="#Footnote_383_384"><sup>[383]</sup></a> Both writers were of opinion that war to the
+knife was the only remedy for Ireland's grievances. It was at least
+clear that if dead men could tell no tales, neither could dead men rebel
+against oppression; and the writer of the report concludes, &quot;that<a name="Page_389"></a> if the
+King were as wise as Solomon the Sage, he shall never subdue the wild
+Irish to his obedience without dread of the sword.&quot; Even this he admits
+may fail; for he adds, &quot;so long as they may resist and save their lives,
+they will never obey the King.&quot; He then quotes the <i>Salus Populi</i>, to
+show the advantages which England might derive if the Irish united with
+her in her wars on foreign countries, and observes, &quot;that if this land
+were put once in order as aforesaid, it would be none other but a very
+paradise, delicious of all pleasaunce, in respect and regard of any
+other land in this world; inasmuch as there never was stranger nor alien
+person, great or small, that would leave it willingly, notwithstanding
+the said misorder, if he had the means to dwell therein honestly.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>It cannot now be ascertained whether Kildare had incited the Irish
+chieftains to rebellion or not. In 1520, during one of his periods of
+detention in London, the Earl of Surrey was sent over as Deputy with a
+large force. It would appear as if a general rising were contemplated at
+that time, and it was then the Earl wrote the letter<a name="FNanchor_384_385"></a><a href="#Footnote_384_385"><sup>[384]</sup></a> already
+mentioned to O'Carroll. The new Viceroy was entirely ignorant of the
+state of Ireland, and imagined he had nothing to do but conquer. Several
+successful engagements confirmed him in this pleasing delusion; but he
+soon discovered his mistake, and assured the King that it was hopeless
+to contend with an enemy, who were defeated one day, and rose up with
+renewed energy the next. As a last resource he suggested the policy of
+conciliation, which Henry appears to have adopted, as he empowered him
+to confer the honour of knighthood on any of the Irish chieftains to
+whom he considered it desirable to offer the compliment, and he sent a
+collar of gold to O'Neill. About the same time Surrey wrote to inform
+Wolsey, that Cormac Oge MacCarthy and MacCarthy Reagh were &quot;two wise
+men, and more conformable to order than some English were;&quot; but he was
+still careful to keep up the old policy of fomenting discord among the
+native princes, for he wrote to the King that &quot;it would be dangerful to
+have them<a name="Page_390"></a> both agreed and joined together, as the longer they continue
+in war, the better it should be for your Grace's poor subjects here.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Surrey became weary at last of the hopeless conflict, and at his own
+request he was permitted to return to England and resign his office,
+which was conferred on his friend, Pierse Butler,<a name="FNanchor_385_386"></a><a href="#Footnote_385_386"><sup>[385]</sup></a> of Carrick,
+subsequently Earl of Ormonde. The Scotch had begun to immigrate to
+Ulster in considerable numbers, and acquired large territories there;
+the Pale was almost unprotected; and the Irish Privy Council applied to
+Wolsey for six ships-of-war, to defend the northern coasts, A.D. 1522.
+The dissensions between the O'Neills and O'Donnells had broken out into
+sanguinary warfare.</p>
+
+<p>The Earl of Kildare left Ireland for the third and last time, in
+February, 1534. Before his departure he summoned a Council at Drogheda,
+and appointed his son, Thomas, to act as Deputy in his absence. On the
+Earl's arrival in London, he was at once seized and imprisoned in the
+Tower. A false report was carefully circulated in Ireland that he had
+been beheaded, and that the destruction of the whole family was even
+then impending. Nor was there anything very improbable in this
+statement. The English King had already inaugurated his sanguinary
+career. One of the most eminent English laymen, Sir Thomas More, and one
+of her best ecclesiastics, Bishop Fisher, had been accused and beheaded,
+to satisfy the royal caprice. When the King's tutor and his chancellor
+had been sacrificed, who could hope to escape?</p>
+
+<p>The unfortunate Earl had advised his son to pursue a cautious and gentle
+policy; but Lord Thomas' fiery temper could ill brook such precaution,
+and he was but too easily roused by the artful enemies who incited him
+to rebellion. The reports of his father's execution were confirmed. His
+proud blood was up, and he rushed madly on the career of
+self-destruction. On the 11th of June, 1534, he flung down the sword of
+state on the table of the <a name="Page_391"></a>council-hall at St. Mary's Abbey, and openly
+renounced his allegiance to the English monarch. Archbishop Cromer
+implored him with tears to reconsider his purpose, but all entreaties
+were vain. Even had he been touched by this disinterested counsel, it
+would probably have failed of its effect; for an Irish bard commenced
+chanting his praises and his father's wrongs, and thus his doom was
+sealed. An attempt was made to arrest him, but it failed. Archbishop
+Allen, his father's bitterest enemy, fled to the Castle, with several
+other nobles, and here they were besieged by FitzGerald and his
+followers. The Archbishop soon contrived to effect his escape. He
+embarked at night in a vessel which was then lying at Dame's Gate; but
+the ship was stranded near Clontarf, either through accident or design,
+and the unfortunate prelate was seized by Lord Thomas' people, who
+instantly put him to death. The young nobleman is said by some
+authorities to have been present at the murder, as well as his two
+uncles: there is at least no doubt of his complicity in the crime. The
+sentence of excommunication was pronounced against him, and those who
+assisted him, in its most terrible form.</p>
+
+<p>Ecclesiastical intervention was not necessary to complete his ruin. He
+had commenced his wild career of lawless violence with but few
+followers, and without any influential companions. The Castle of
+Maynooth, the great stronghold of the Geraldines, was besieged and
+captured by his father's old enemy, Sir William Skeffington. In the
+meanwhile the intelligence of his son's insurrection had been
+communicated to the Earl, and the news of his excommunication followed
+quickly. The unfortunate nobleman succumbed beneath the twofold blow,
+and died in a few weeks. Lord Thomas surrendered himself in August,
+1535, on the guarantee of Lord Leonard and Lord Butler, under a solemn
+promise that his life should be spared.<a name="FNanchor_386_387"></a><a href="#Footnote_386_387"><sup>[386]</sup></a> But his fate was in the
+hands of one who had no pity, even where the tenderest ties were
+concerned. Soon after the surrender of &quot;Silken Thomas,&quot; his five uncles
+were seized treacherously at a banquet; and although three of them had
+no part in the rebellion, the nephew and the uncles were all executed<a name="Page_392"></a>
+together at Tyburn, on the 3rd of February, 1537. If the King had hoped
+by this cruel injustice to rid himself of the powerful family, he was
+mistaken. Two children of the late Earl's still existed. They were sons
+by his second wife, Lady Elizabeth Grey. The younger, still an infant,
+was conveyed to his mother in England; the elder, a youth of twelve
+years of age, was concealed by his aunts, who were married to the
+chieftains of Offaly and Donegal, and was soon conveyed to France, out
+of the reach of the enemies who eagerly sought his destruction. It is
+not a little curious to find the native princes, who had been so cruelly
+oppressed by his forefathers, protecting and helping the hapless youth,
+even at the risk of their lives. It is one of many evidences that the
+antipathy of Celt to Saxon is not so much an antipathy of race or
+person, as the natural enmity which the oppressed entertains towards the
+oppressor.</p>
+
+<p>Henry made his first appearance at establishing his spiritual supremacy
+in the year 1534, by appointing an Augustinian friar, who had
+already<a name="FNanchor_387_388"></a><a href="#Footnote_387_388"><sup>[387]</sup></a> become a Protestant, to the see of Dublin. He was
+consecrated by Cranmer, always the servile instrument of the royal
+pleasure. The previous events in England, which resulted in the national
+schism, are too well known to require much observation. It must be
+admitted as one of the most patent facts of history, that the English
+King never so much as thought of asserting his supremacy in spiritual
+matters, until he found that submission to Papal supremacy interfered
+with his sinful inclinations. If Pope Clement VII. had dissolved the
+marriage between Queen Catherine and Henry VIII. in 1528, Parliament
+would not have been asked to legalize the national schism in 1534. Yet
+it would appear as if Henry had hesitated for a moment before he
+committed the final act of apostacy. It was Cromwell who suggested the
+plan which he eventually followed. With many expressions of humility he
+pointed out the course which might be pursued. The approbation of the
+Holy See, he said, was the one thing still wanting. It was plain now
+that neither bribes nor threats could procure that favour. But was it so
+necessary as the King had hitherto supposed? It might be useful to avert
+the resentment of the German Emperor; but if it could not be obtained,
+why should the King's pleasure<a name="Page_393"></a> depend on the will of another? Several of
+the German princes had thrown off their allegiance to the Holy See: why,
+then, should not the English King? The law could legalize the King's
+inclination, and who dare gainsay its enactments? Let the law declare
+Henry the head of the Church, and he could, as such, give himself the
+dispensations for which he sought. The law which could frame articles of
+faith and sanction canons, could regulate morals as easily as it could
+enact a creed.</p>
+
+<p>Such counsel was but too acceptable to a monarch resolved to gratify his
+passions at all hazards, temporal or spiritual. Cromwell was at once
+appointed a member of the Privy Council. He received a patent for life
+of the Chancellorship of the Exchequer, and he was authorized to frame
+the necessary bills, and conduct them through the two houses.<a name="FNanchor_388_389"></a><a href="#Footnote_388_389"><sup>[388]</sup></a>
+Parliament complied without hesitation; the clergy in convocation made a
+show of opposition, which just sufficed to enhance their moral
+turpitude, since their brief resistance intimated that they acted
+contrary to their consciences in giving their final assent. The royal
+supremacy in matters ecclesiastical, was declared to be the will of God
+and the law of the land.</p>
+
+<p>The King's mistress was now made his wife, by the same authority which
+had made the King head of the Church; and it was evident that the
+immediate cause of the separation of the English nation from the
+Catholic Church was the desire of the monarch, that his profligacy
+should obtain some kind of sanction. But this commencement of the
+Anglican Establishment, however true, is so utterly disreputable, that
+English historians have been fain to conceal, as far as might be, the
+real cause, and to justify the schism by bringing grave charges<a name="FNanchor_389_390"></a><a href="#Footnote_389_390"><sup>[389]</sup></a>
+against the Church. This, after all, is a mere<a name="Page_394"></a> <i>petitio principii</i>. It
+has been already remarked that England was demoralized socially to an
+extraordinary degree, as a nation always has been by a continuance of
+civil war. The clergy suffered from the same causes which affected the
+laity, and the moral condition of the ecclesiastical body was not all
+that could be desired. These were remote causes, which acted powerfully
+as they rolled along the stream of time, and which broke the barriers of
+faith like an overwhelming torrent, when an additional impetus was
+given. But it should be distinctly remembered (1) that the direct act of
+schism was committed when Henry required Parliament and Convocation to
+exalt him to the spiritual supremacy; and (2) that the sins of churchmen
+and the faith of the Church are two distinct questions. There may have
+been more corruption of life and morals, both in the laity and the
+priesthood of the Catholic Church at the Reformation, than at any other
+period of the Church's history; but the Jews had been commanded to obey
+the Scribes and Pharisees, because they sat in Moses' seat, at the very
+time when the Lamb of God could find no milder term to describe their
+hypocrisy and iniquity than that of a generation of vipers.</p>
+
+<p>If schism is admitted to be a sin, it is difficult to see how any amount
+of crime with which other individuals can be charged, even justly,
+lessens the guilt of the schismatic. There can be little doubt that the
+members of the Church are most fervent and edifying in their lives, when
+suffering from persecution. Ambition has less food when there are no
+glittering prizes within its reach. Faith is more sincere when there are
+no motives for a false profession, and every natural motive to conceal
+religious belief. The Irish clergy were never charged with the gross
+crimes which have been mentioned in connexion with some few of their
+brethren in England. Those who ministered outside the Pale, lived in
+poverty and simplicity. The monasteries were not so richly endowed as
+the English conventual houses; and, perhaps, this freedom from the
+world's<a name="Page_395"></a> goods, served to nerve them for the coming trial; and that their
+purer and more fervent lives saved the Irish Church and people from
+national apostacy.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after Dr. Browne's arrival in Ireland, he received an official
+letter from Cromwell, containing directions for his conduct there. He is
+informed it is &quot;the royal will and pleasure of his Majesty, that his
+subjects in Ireland, even as those in England, should obey his commands
+in spiritual matters as in temporal, and renounce their allegiance to
+the See of Rome.&quot; This language was sufficiently plain. They are
+required to renounce their allegiance to the See of Rome, simply because
+&quot;the King wills it.&quot; The affair is spoken of as if it were some
+political matter, which could easily be arranged. But the source of this
+prelate's authority was simply political; for Henry writes to him thus:
+&quot;Let it sink into your remembrance, that we be as able, for the not
+doing thereof, to remove you again, and put another man of more virtue
+and honesty into your place, as we were at the beginning to prefer you.&quot;
+Browne could certainly be in no doubt from whom he had received his
+commission to teach and preach to the people of Ireland; but that nation
+had received the faith many centuries before, from one who came to them
+with very different credentials; and years of oppression and most cruel
+persecution have failed in inducing them to obey human authority rather
+than divine.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Browne soon found that it was incomparably easier for Henry to issue
+commands in England, than for him to enforce them in Ireland. He
+therefore wrote to Cromwell, from Dublin, on &quot;the 4th of the kal. of
+December, 1535,&quot; and informed him that he &quot;had endeavoured, almost to
+the danger and hazard of my temporal life, to procure the nobility and
+gentry of this nation to due obedience in owning of his Highness their
+supreme head, as well spiritual as temporal; and do find much oppugning
+therein, especially by my brother Armagh, who hath been the main
+oppugner, and so hath withdrawn most of his suffragans and clergy within
+his see and diocese. He made a speech to them, laying a curse on the
+people whosoever should own his Highness' supremacy, saying, that
+isle&mdash;as it is in their Irish chronicles, <i>insula sacra</i>&mdash;belongs to
+none but the Bishop of Rome, and that it was the Bishop of Rome that
+gave it to the King's ancestors.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_390_391"></a><a href="#Footnote_390_391"><sup>[390]</sup></a> Dr. Browne then proceeds to
+inform<a name="Page_396"></a> his correspondent that the Irish clergy had sent two messengers
+to Rome.<a name="FNanchor_391_392"></a><a href="#Footnote_391_392"><sup>[391]</sup></a> He states &quot;that the common people of this isle are more
+zealous in their blindness, than the saints and martyrs were in truth;&quot;
+and he advises that a Parliament should at once be summoned, &quot;to pass
+the supremacy by Act; for they do not much matter his Highness'
+commission, which your lordship sent us over.&quot; Truly, the nation which
+had been so recently enlightened in so marvellous a manner, might have
+had a little patience with the people who could not so easily discern
+the new light; and, assuredly, if the term &quot;Church by law established&quot;
+be applicable to the Protestant religion in England, it is, if possible,
+still more applicable to the Protestant Establishment in Ireland, since
+the person delegated to found the new religion in that country, has
+himself stated it could only be established there by Act of Parliament.</p>
+
+<p>The Parliament was summoned in 1536; but, as a remote preparation, the
+Lord Deputy made a &quot;martial circuit&quot; of Ireland, hoping thereby to
+overawe the native septs, and compel their submission to the royal will
+and pleasure. &quot;This preparation being made,&quot; <i>i.e.,</i> the &quot;martial
+circuit&quot;&mdash;I am quoting from Sir John Davies;<a name="FNanchor_392_393"></a><a href="#Footnote_392_393"><sup>[392]</sup></a> I request the reader's
+special attention to the statement&mdash;&quot;he first propounded and passed in
+Parliament these Lawes, which made the great alteration in the State
+Ecclesiastical, namely, the Act which declared King Henry VIII. to be
+Supreme Head of the Church of Ireland; the Act prohibiting Apeales to
+the Church of Rome; the Act for first fruites and twentieth part to be
+paid to the King; and lastly, the Act that did utterly abolish the
+usurped Authoritie of the Pope. Next, for the increase of the King's
+Revenew. By one Act he suppressed sundry Abbayes and Religious Houses,
+and by another Act resumed the Lands of the Absentees.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The royal process of conversion to the royal opinions, had at least the
+merits of simplicity. There is an old rhyme&mdash;one of those old rhymes
+which are often more effectual in moving the hearts of the multitude
+than the most eloquent sermons, and truer exponents of popular feeling
+than Acts of Parliament&mdash;which describes the fate of Forrest, the
+Franciscan friar, confessor of the King's only lawful<a name="Page_397"></a> wife and the
+consequences of his temerity in denying the King's supremacy:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i1">&quot;Forrest, the fryar,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">That obstinate lyar,<br /></span>
+<span>That wilfully will be dead;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Incontinently<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The Gospel doth deny,<br /></span>
+<span>The King to be supreme head.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>There is a grand and simple irony in this not easily surpassed. Some
+very evident proofs had been given in England, that to deny the King's
+spiritual supremacy was &quot;wilfully to be dead,&quot; although neither the King
+nor the Parliament had vouchsafed to inform the victims in what part of
+the Gospel the keys of the kingdom of heaven had been given to a
+temporal prince. Still, as I have observed, the royal process was
+extremely simple&mdash;if you believed, you were saved; if you doubted, you
+died.</p>
+
+<p>With the example of Sir Thomas More<a name="FNanchor_393_394"></a><a href="#Footnote_393_394"><sup>[393]</sup></a> before their eyes, the
+Anglo-Norman nobles and gentlemen, assembled in Parliament by the royal
+command, were easily persuaded to do the royal bidding. But the
+ecclesiastics were by no means so pliable. Every diocese had the
+privilege of sending two proctors to Parliament; and these proctors
+proved so serious an obstacle, that Lords Grey and Brabazon wrote to
+Cromwell, that they had prorogued the <a name="Page_398"></a>Parliament in consequence of the
+&quot;forwardness and obstinacy of the proctors, of the clergy, and of the
+bishops and abbots;&quot; and they suggest that &quot;some means should be
+devised, whereby they should be brought to remember their duty better,&quot;
+or that &quot;means may be found which shall put these proctors from a voice
+in Parliament.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_394_395"></a><a href="#Footnote_394_395"><sup>[394]</sup></a> The means were easily found&mdash;the proctors were
+forbidden to vote.<a name="FNanchor_395_396"></a><a href="#Footnote_395_396"><sup>[395]</sup></a> The Act was passed. Every one who objected to it
+having been forbidden to vote, Henry's agents on the Continent
+proclaimed triumphantly that the Irish nation had renounced the
+supremacy of Rome. A triumph obtained at the expense of truth, is but
+poor compensation for the heavy retribution which shall assuredly be
+demanded of those who have thus borne false witness against their
+neighbour. Men forget too often, in the headlong eagerness of
+controversy, that truth is eternal and immutable, and that no amount of
+self-deceit or successful deception of others can alter its purity and
+integrity in the eyes of the Eternal Verity.</p>
+
+<p>The Irish Parliament, or, we should say more correctly, the men
+permitted to vote in Ireland according to royal directions, had already
+imitated their English brethren by declaring the marriage of Henry and
+Catherine of Arragon null and void, and limiting the succession to the
+crown to the children of Anna Boleyn. When this lady had fallen a victim
+to her husband's caprice, they attainted her and her posterity with
+equal facility. A modern historian has attempted to excuse Henry's
+repudiation of his lawful wife, on the ground of his sincere anxiety to
+prevent disputes about the succession.<a name="FNanchor_396_397"></a><a href="#Footnote_396_397"><sup>[396]</sup></a> But the King's subsequent
+conduct ought surely to have deterred any one from attempting so rash an
+apology. To doubt the royal supremacy, or the right of the lady, who for
+the time being held a place in Henry's affections, to royal honours, was
+an evidence of insincerity in devotion to himself which he could not
+easily pardon.</p>
+
+<p>As it was now ascertained that the Irish people would not <a name="Page_399"></a>apostatize as
+a nation, an expedient was prepared for their utter extirpation. It
+would be impossible to believe that the human heart could be guilty of
+such cruelty, if we had not evidence of the fact in the State Papers. By
+this diabolical scheme it was arranged to till or carry away their
+cattle, and to destroy their corn while it was green. &quot;The very living
+of the Irishry,&quot; observes the writer, &quot;doth clearly consist in two
+things; and take away the same from them, and they are past power to
+recover, or yet to annoy any subject in Ireland. Take first from them
+their corn&mdash;burn and destroy the same; and then have their cattle and
+beasts, which shall be most hardest to come by, and yet, with guides and
+policy, they be often had and taken.&quot; Such was the arrangement; and it
+was from no want of inclination that it was not entirely carried out,
+and the &quot;Irishry&quot; starved to death in their own land.</p>
+
+<p>The title of King of Ireland had not as yet been given to English
+monarchs, but the ever-subservient Parliament of this reign granted
+Henry this addition to his privileges, such as it was. We have already
+seen the style in which the &quot;supreme head of the Church&quot; addressed the
+bishops whom he had appointed; we shall now give a specimen of their
+subserviency to their master, and the fashion in which they executed his
+commands, before returning to secular history.</p>
+
+<p>Henry's letter to Dr. Browne is dated July 7th, 1537; the Bishop's reply
+is given on the 27th September, 1537. He commences by informing his most
+excellent Highness that he had received his most gracious letter on the
+7th September, and that &quot;it made him tremble in body for fear of
+incurring his Majesty's displeasure,&quot; which was doubtless the most
+truthful statement in his epistle. He mentions all his zeal and efforts
+against Popery, which, he adds, &quot;is a thing not little rooted among the
+inhabitants here.&quot; He assures the King of his activity in securing the
+twentieth part and first-fruits for the royal use (what had been given
+to God was now given to C&aelig;sar), and states what, indeed, could not be
+denied, that he was the &quot;first spiritual man who moved&quot; for this to be
+done. He concludes with the fearful profanity of &quot;desiring of God, that
+the ground, should open and swallow him up the hour or minute that he
+should declare the Gospel of Christ after any sort than he had done
+heretofore, in rebuking the Papistical power, <i>or in any other point
+concerning the advancement of his Grace's affairs</i>.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Such a tissue of profanity and absurdity was seldom penned;<a name="Page_400"></a> but men who
+could write and act thus were fitting instruments for a man, who made it
+a point of conscience to commit immoral crimes that he might preserve
+the succession; who kept his mistress in the same palace with his queen;
+and only went through the form of marriage when he found his real or
+pretended wishes about the same succession on the point of being
+realized in a manner that even he could not fail to see would scarcely
+be admitted as legal or legitimate by public opinion, whatever an
+obsequious Parliament might do. It is at least certain that such letters
+never were addressed by Catholic prelates to the Holy See, and that
+those who speak of its tyranny and priestcraft, and the absolute
+submission it requires from its subjects, would do well to remember the
+trite motto, <i>Audi alteram partem</i>, and to inquire whether a similar
+charge might not be made more justly against the founders of the
+Protestant Establishment.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Browne and the Lord Deputy now rivalled each other in their efforts
+to obtain the royal approbation, by destroying all that the Irish people
+held most sacred, determined to have as little cause as possible for
+&quot;the trembling in body&quot; which the King's displeasure would effect. They
+traversed the land from end to end, destroying cathedrals, plundering
+abbeys, and burning relics&mdash;all in the name of a religion which
+proclaimed liberty of conscience to worship God according to individual
+conviction, as the great boon which it was to confer on the nation.
+However full of painful interest these details may be, as details they
+belong to the province of the ecclesiastical historian. The Four Masters
+record the work of desecration in touching and mournful strains. They
+tell of the heresy which broke out in England, and graphically
+characterize it as &quot;the effect of pride, vain-glory, avarice, and
+sensual desire.&quot; They mention how &quot;the King and Council enacted new laws
+and statutes after their own will.&quot; They observe that all the property
+of the religious orders was seized for the King; and they conclude thus:
+&quot;They also made archbishops and bishops for themselves; and although
+great was the persecution of the Roman emperors against the Church, it
+is not probable that so great a persecution as this ever came upon the
+world; so that it is impossible to tell or narrate its description,
+unless it should be told by him saw it.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_397_398"></a><a href="#Footnote_397_398"><sup>[397]</sup></a></p><a name="Page_401"></a>
+
+<p>The era of religious persecution was thus inaugurated; and if Ireland
+had made no martyrs of the men who came to teach her the faith, she was
+not slow to give her best and noblest sons as victims to the fury of
+those who attempted to deprive her of that priceless deposit. Under the
+year 1540, the Four Masters record the massacre of the Guardian and
+friars of the Convent at Monaghan, for refusing to acknowledge the
+spiritual supremacy of the King. Cornelius, Bishop of Down, a Franciscan
+friar, and Father Thomas FitzGerald, a member of the noble family of the
+Geraldines, and a famous preacher, were both killed in the convent of
+that Order in Dublin. Father Dominic Lopez has given a detailed account
+of the sufferings of the religious orders in Ireland during the reign of
+Henry VIII., in a rare and valuable work, entitled, <i>Noticias Historicas
+de las tres florentissimas Provincias del celeste Ordem de la Ssma.
+Trinidad</i>.<a name="FNanchor_398_399"></a><a href="#Footnote_398_399"><sup>[398]</sup></a> I shall give two instances from this history, as a
+sample of the fashion in which the new doctrine of the royal supremacy
+was propagated. In 1539 the Prior and religious of the Convent of
+Atharee were commanded to take the oath of supremacy, and to surrender
+their property to the crown. The Superior, Father Robert, at once
+assembled his spiritual children, and informed them of the royal
+mandate. Their resolution was unanimous; after the example of the early
+Christians, when threatened with martyrdom and spoliation by heathen
+emperors, they at once distributed their provisions, clothing, and any
+money they had in hand amongst the poor, and concealed the sacred
+vessels and ornaments, so that not so much as a single emblem of our
+redemption was left to be desecrated by men professing to believe that
+they had been redeemed by the cross of Christ. Father Robert was
+summoned thrice to recognize the new authority. Thrice he declined;
+declaring that &quot;none had ever sought to propagate their religious tenets
+by the sword, except the pagan emperors in early ages, and Mahomet in
+later times. As for himself and his community, they were resolved that
+no violence should move them from the principles of truth: they
+recognized no head of the Catholic Church save the Vicar of Jesus
+Christ; and as for the King of England, they regarded him not even as a
+member of that holy Church, but as head of the synagogue of Satan.&quot; The
+conclusion of his reply was a signal for massacre. An officer instantly
+struck off his head with one blow.<a name="Page_402"></a> As the prisons were already full of
+&quot;recusants,&quot; the friars were placed in confinement in private houses,
+some were secretly murdered, and others were publicly hanged in the
+market-place. These events occurred on the 12th and 13th of February,
+1539.</p>
+
+<p>An almost similar tragedy was enacted in the Trinitarian Convent of
+Limerick, where the Prior was coadjutor to the Bishop of that city. He
+also assembled the brethren, exhorted them to perseverance, distributed
+their few poor possessions, and concealed the sacred vessels. On the
+feast of St. John Baptist, 24th June, in the year of grace 1539, he
+preached in his cathedral against the new heresy, and exhorted his flock
+to persevere in the faith. The emissaries of Government were afraid to
+attack him openly; but that evening they visited him at his private
+residence, and offered him his choice between death and apostacy. For
+all reply the venerable prelate knelt down, and exclaimed: &quot;O Lord, on
+this morning I offered to Thee on the altar the unbloody sacrifice of
+the body of my Saviour; grant that I may now offer, to Thy greater
+honour and glory, the sacrifice of my own life.&quot; Then he turned towards
+a picture of the most holy Trinity, which was suspended in his room, and
+scarce had time to pronounce the aspiration of his Order, &quot;<i>Sancta
+Trinitas, unus Deus, miserere nobis</i>,&quot; ere his head was severed from his
+body, and he entered upon the beatific vision of the Three in One, for
+Whom he had so gladly sacrificed his life.</p>
+
+<p>The Protestant Archbishop, Dr. Browne, the Lord Chancellor, and some
+other members of the Council, set out on a &quot;visitation&quot; of the four
+counties of Carlow, Wexford, Waterford, and Tipperary, in which the
+church militant was for the nonce represented by the church military.
+They transmitted an account of their expedition, and the novel fashion
+in which they attempted to propagate the Gospel, to England, on the 18th
+January, 1539. One brief extract must suffice as a specimen of their
+proceedings. &quot;The day following we kept the sessions there [at Wexford].
+There was put to execution four felons, accompanied with another, a
+friar, whom we commanded to be hanged in his habit, and so to remain
+upon the gallows for a mirror to all his brethren to live truly.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_399_400"></a><a href="#Footnote_399_400"><sup>[399]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>There was One, whom from reverence I name not here, who said, when about
+to die, that, when &quot;lifted up, He should draw all men unto Him.&quot;
+Centuries have rolled by since those most blessed<a name="Page_403"></a> words were uttered,
+but they have been verified in the disciples as well as in the Master.
+The &quot;lifting up&quot; of a friar upon the gallows, or of a bishop upon the
+block, has but served to draw men after them; and the reformations they
+failed to effect during their lives, by their preaching and example,
+have been accomplished after and because of their martyrdoms.</p>
+
+<p>The reformers now began to upbraid each other with the very crimes of
+which they had accused the clergy in England. When mention is made of
+the immense sums of money which were obtained by the confiscation of
+religious houses at this period, it has been commonly and naturally
+supposed, that the religious were possessors of immense wealth, which
+they hoarded up for their own benefit; and although each person made a
+vow of poverty, it is thought that what was possessed collectively, was
+enjoyed individually. But this false impression arises (1) from a
+mistaken idea of monastic life, and (2) from a misapprehension as to the
+kind of property possessed by the religious.</p>
+
+<p>A brief account of some of the property forfeited in Ireland, will
+explain this important matter. We do not find in any instance that
+religious communities had large funds of money. If they had extensive
+tracts of land, they were rather the property of the poor, who farmed
+them, than of the friars, who held them in trust. Any profit they
+produced made no addition to the fare or the clothing of the religious,
+for both fare and clothing were regulated by certain rules framed by the
+original founders, and which could not be altered. These rules
+invariably required the use of the plainest diet and of the coarsest
+habits. A considerable portion&mdash;indeed, by far the most considerable
+portion&mdash;of conventual wealth, consisted in the sacred vessels and
+ornaments. These had been bestowed on the monastic churches by
+benefactors, who considered that what was used in the service of God
+should be the best which man could offer. The monk was none the richer
+if he offered the sacrifice to the Eternal Majesty each morning in a
+chalice of gold, encrusted with the most precious jewels; but if it were
+right and fitting to present that chalice to God for the service of His
+Divine Majesty, who shall estimate the guilt of those who presumed to
+take the gift from Him to whom it had been given? We know how terrible
+was the judgment which came upon a heathen monarch who dared to use the
+vessels which had belonged to the Jewish Temple, and we may believe that
+a still more terrible judgment is prepared for those<a name="Page_404"></a> who desecrate
+Christian churches, and that it will be none the less sure, because,
+under the new dispensation of mercy, it comes less swiftly.</p>
+
+<p>All the gold and silver plate, jewels, ornaments, lead, bells, &amp;c., were
+reserved by special command for the King's use.<a name="FNanchor_400_401"></a><a href="#Footnote_400_401"><sup>[400]</sup></a> The church-lands
+were sold to the highest bidder, or bestowed as a reward on those who
+had helped to enrich the royal coffers by sacrilege. Amongst the records
+of the sums thus obtained, we find &pound;326 2s. 11d., the price of divers
+pieces of gold and silver, of precious stones, silver ornaments, &amp;c.;
+also &pound;20, the price of 1,000 lbs. of wax. The sum of &pound;1,710 2s. was
+realized from the sale of sacred vessels belonging to thirty-nine
+monasteries. The profits on the spoliation of St. Mary's, Dublin,
+realized &pound;385. The destruction of the Collegiate Church of St. Patrick
+must have procured an enormous profit, as we find that Cromwell received
+&pound;60 for his pains in effecting the same. It should also be remembered
+that the value of a penny then was equal to the value of a shilling now,
+so that we should multiply these sums at least by ten to obtain an
+approximate idea of the extent of this wholesale robbery.</p>
+
+<p>The spoilers now began to quarrel over the spoils. The most active or
+the most favoured received the largest share; and Dr. Browne grumbled
+loudly at not obtaining all he asked for. But we have not space to
+pursue the disedifying history of their quarrels. The next step was to
+accuse each other. In the report of the Commissioners appointed in 1538
+to examine into the state of the country, we find complaints made of the
+exaction of undue fees, extortions for baptisms and marriages, &amp;c. They
+also (though this was not made an accusation by the Commissioners)
+received the fruits of benefices in which they did not officiate, and
+they were accused of taking wives and dispensing with the sacrament of
+matrimony. The King, whatever personal views he might have on this
+subject, expected his clergy to live virtuously; and in 1542 he wrote to
+the Lord Deputy, requiring an Act to be passed &quot;for the continency of
+the clergy,&quot; and some &quot;reasonable plan to be devised<a name="Page_405"></a> for the avoiding of
+sin.&quot; However, neither the Act nor the reasonable plan appear to have
+succeeded. In 1545, Dr. Browne writes: &quot;Here reigneth insatiable
+ambition; here reigneth continually coigne and livery, and callid
+extortion.&quot; Five years later, Sir Anthony St. Leger, after piteous
+complaints of the decay of piety and the increase of immorality,
+epitomizes the state of the country thus: &quot;I never saw the land so far
+out of good order.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_401_402"></a><a href="#Footnote_401_402"><sup>[401]</sup></a> Pages might be filled with such details; but
+the subject shall be dismissed with a brief notice of the three props of
+the Reformation and the King's supremacy in Ireland. These were Dr.
+Browne of Dublin, Dr. Staples of Meath, and Dr. Bale of Ossory. The
+latter writing of the former in 1553, excuses the corruption of his own
+reformed clergy, by stating that &quot;they would at no hand obey; alleging
+for their vain and idle excuse, the lewd example of the Archbishop of
+Dublin, who was always slack in things pertaining to God's glory.&quot; He
+calls him &quot;an epicurious archbishop, a brockish swine, and a dissembling
+proselyte,&quot; and accuses him in plain terms of &quot;drunkenness and
+gluttony.&quot; Dr. Browne accuses Dr. Staples of having preached in such a
+manner, &quot;as I think the three-mouthed Cerberus of hell could not have
+uttered it more viperously.&quot; And Dr. Mant, the Protestant panegyrist of
+the Reformation and the Reformers, admits that Dr. Bale was guilty of
+&quot;uncommon warmth of temperament&quot;&mdash;a polite appellation for a most
+violent temper; and of &quot;unbecoming coarseness&quot;&mdash;a delicate definement of
+a profligate life. His antecedents were not very creditable. After
+flying from his convent in England, he was imprisoned for preaching
+sedition in York and London. He obtained his release by professing
+conformity to the new creed. He eventually retired to Canterbury, after
+his expulsion from Kilkenny by the Catholics, and there he died, in
+1563.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/075.jpg" width="331" height="163" alt="SCULPTURES AT DEVENISH." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>SCULPTURES AT DEVENISH.</h4>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><br /><br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>
+<center>
+<img src="images/076.jpg" width="366" height="239" alt="ROSS ISLAND." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>ROSS ISLAND.</h4>
+
+<a name="Page_406"></a>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XXV.</h2>
+
+<h4>Creation of the Earls of Thomond and Clanrickarde&mdash;How the King procured
+Money&mdash;Prayers in English&mdash;Opposition of Dr. Dowdall&mdash;Accession of Queen
+Mary&mdash;Joy of the Irish&mdash;The Catholic Service restored
+Publicly&mdash;Accession of Queen Elizabeth&mdash;Shane O'Neill obtains his
+Dominions&mdash;Parliament assembled&mdash;Unfair Dealing&mdash;Martyrs in the Reign of
+Elizabeth&mdash;The Protestant Archbishop advises Persecution&mdash;Cruelties
+enacted by English Officers&mdash;Shane O'Neill&mdash;The Deputy tries to get him
+Poisoned or Assassinated, with the Queen's Concurrence&mdash;His Visit to
+England&mdash;He refuses to Dress in the English Fashion.</h4>
+
+<h5>[A.D. 1540-1567.]</h5>
+
+<img src="images/k.jpg" width="58" height="193" align="left" alt="E" title="" />
+<p>very official was now required to take the oath of supremacy, and the
+consequences of refusal were too well known to be estimated lightly. It
+has been asserted by several historians, that no Irish clergyman
+suffered death during this reign; but this statement is quite incorrect.
+A careful examination of the State Papers and of the private records of
+the religious orders, prove the contrary. In the spring of the year
+1540, Lord Leonard Grey was recalled, and Sir William Brereton was
+appointed Chief Justice. Grey was soon after committed to the Tower, on
+a charge of high treason, and was executed in the following year. The
+usual feuds between the Irish chieftains and the settlers were continued
+during this period, as well as the usual feuds between the chiefs of
+each party. Sir Anthony St. Leger, who<a name="Page_407"></a> was appointed Deputy at the close
+of the year 1540, tried to reconcile the Ormondes and the Desmonds, and
+describes the latter as &quot;undoubtedly a very wise and discreet
+gentleman&quot;&mdash;a character which must be taken with some qualifications.</p>
+
+<p>On the 1st of July, 1543, Murrough O'Brien was created Earl of Thomond
+and Baron of Inchiquin; and De Burgo, known by the soubriquet of
+Ulich-na-gceann (&quot;of the heads&quot;), from the number of persons whom he
+decapitated in his wars, was created Earl of Clanrickarde and Baron of
+Dunkellin. These titles were conferred by the King, with great pomp, at
+Greenwich; but the Irish chieftains paid for the honour, if honour it
+could be called where honour was forfeited, by acknowledging the royal
+supremacy.</p>
+
+<p>The Four Masters record the following events under the year 1545:&mdash;A
+dispute between the Earl of Ormonde and the Lord Justice. Both repaired
+to the King of England to decide the quarrel, and both swore that only
+one of them should return to Ireland. &quot;And so it fell out; for the Earl
+died in England, and the Lord Justice returned to Ireland.&quot; Sir Richard
+Cox asserts that the Earl and thirty-five of his servants were poisoned,
+at a feast at Ely House, Holborn, and that he and sixteen of them died;
+but he does not mention any cause for this tragedy. It was probably
+accidental, as the Earl was a favourer of the reformed religion, and not
+likely to meet with treachery in England. The Irish annalists do not
+even allude to the catastrophe; the Four Masters merely observe, that
+&quot;he would have been lamented, were it not that he had greatly injured
+the Church by advice of the heretics.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_402_403"></a><a href="#Footnote_402_403"><sup>[402]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>Great dearth prevailed this year, so that sixpence of the old money was
+given for a cake of bread in Connaught, or six white pence in Meath.</p>
+
+<p>In 1546 they mention a rising of the Geraldines, &quot;which did
+indescribable damages;&quot; and two invasions of the Lord Justice in Offaly,
+who plundered and spoiled, burning churches and monasteries, crops and
+corn. They also mention the introduction of a new copper coin into
+Ireland, which the men of Ireland were obliged to use as silver.</p>
+
+<p>The immense sums which Henry had accumulated by the plunder of religious
+houses, appear to have melted away, like snow-wreaths sunshine, long
+before the conclusion of his reign. His French<a name="Page_408"></a> and Scotch wars
+undoubtedly exhausted large supplies; his mistresses made large demands
+for their pleasures and their needy friends; yet there should have been
+enough, and to spare, for all these claims. When the monasteries were
+destroyed, the English clergy trembled for their own existence. The King
+could easily have dispensed with their services, and deprived them of
+their revenues. They were quite aware of their precarious tenure of
+office, and willingly agreed, in 1543, to give Henry ten per cent, on
+their incomes for three years, after the deduction of the tenths already
+vested in the crown. Their incomes were thus ascertained, and a loan was
+demanded, which, when granted, was made a gift by the ever-servile
+Parliament.</p>
+
+<p>In 1545 a benevolence was demanded, though benevolences had been
+declared illegal by Act of Parliament. This method of raising money had
+been attempted at an early period of his reign; but the proposal met
+with such spirited opposition from the people, that even royalty was
+compelled to yield. A few years later, when the fatal result of
+opposition to the monarch's will and pleasure had become apparent, he
+had only to ask and obtain. Yet neither percentage, nor tenths, nor
+sacrilegious spoils, sufficed to meet his expenses; and, as a last
+expedient, the coin was debased, and irreparable injury inflicted on the
+country.</p>
+
+<p>On the 28th of January, 1547, Edward VI. was crowned King of England.
+The Council of Regency appointed by Henry was set aside, and Seymour,
+Duke of Somerset, appointed himself Protector. St. Leger was continued
+in the office of Lord Deputy in Ireland; but Sir Edward Bellingham was
+sent over as Captain-General, with a considerable force, to quell the
+ever-recurring disturbances. His energetic character bore down all
+opposition, as much by the sheer strength of a strong will as by force
+of arms. In 1549 the Earl of Desmond refused to attend a Council in
+Dublin, on the plea that he wished to keep Christmas in his own castle.
+Bellingham, who had now replaced St. Leger as Lord Deputy, set out at
+once, with a small party of horse, for the residence of the refractory
+noble, seized him as he sat by his own fireside, and carried him off in
+triumph to Dublin.</p>
+
+<p>In 1548 O'Connor and O'More were expelled from Offaly and Leix, and
+their territory usurped by an Englishman, named Francis Bryan. Cahir Roe
+O'Connor, one of the sept, was executed in Dublin, and a number of the
+tribe were sent to assist in the Scotch<a name="Page_409"></a> wars. The political cabals in
+England consequent on the youth of the King, who nominally governed the
+country, occasioned frequent changes in the Irish administration.</p>
+
+<p>In 1551 the Lord Deputy Crofts succeeded Sir Thomas Cusack, and led an
+army into Ulster against the Scotch settlers, who had long been regarded
+with a jealous eye by the English Government; but he was defeated both
+at this time and on a subsequent occasion. No Parliament was convened
+during this short reign, and the affairs of the country were
+administered by the Privy Council. Dr. Browne and Dr. Staples were
+leading members. The Chancellor, Read, and the Treasurer, Brabazon, were
+both English. The Irish members were Aylmer, Luttrell, Bath, Howth, and
+Cusack, who had all recently conformed, at least exteriorly, to the new
+religion.</p>
+
+<p>The most important native chieftain of the age was Shane O'Neill. His
+father, Con, surnamed Baccagh (&quot;the lame&quot;), had procured the title of
+Baron of Dungannon, and the entail of the earldom of Tyrone, from Henry
+VII., for his illegitimate son, Ferdoragh. He now wished to alter this
+arrangement; but the ungrateful youth made such charges against the old
+man, that he was seized and imprisoned by the Deputy. After his death
+Shane contended bravely for his rights. The French appear to have made
+some attempt about this period to obtain allies in Ireland, but the
+peace which ensued between that country and England soon terminated such
+intrigues.</p>
+
+<p>All efforts to establish the new religion during this reign was equally
+unsuccessful. On Easter Sunday, A.D. 1551, the liturgy was read for the
+first time in the English tongue, in Christ Church Cathedral. As a
+reward for his energy in introducing the reform in general, and the
+liturgy in particular, Edward VI. annexed the primacy of all Ireland to
+the see of Dublin by Act of Parliament. There was one insuperable
+obstacle, however, in the way of using the English tongue, which was
+simply that the people did not understand it. Even the descendants of
+the Anglo-Norman were more familiar with the Celtic dialect, and some
+attempt was made at this time to procure a Latin translation of the
+Protestant communion service.<a name="FNanchor_403_404"></a><a href="#Footnote_403_404"><sup>[403]</sup></a></p><a name="Page_410"></a>
+
+<p>Dr. Dowdall had been appointed, in 1543, to the primatial see of Armagh,
+by Henry VIII., who naturally hoped he would prove a ready instrument in
+his service; but, to the surprise of the court, he put himself at the
+head of the orthodox party, and was one of the most faithful opposers of
+the introduction of the Protestant form of prayer. In 1552 he was
+obliged to seek refuge on the Continent. On the death of Dr. Wauchop,
+petitions were sent to Rome, requesting his appointment to the see of
+Armagh. He was proposed in Consistory on the 1st of March, 1553.</p>
+
+<p>Mary succeeded to the crown in 1553. A Protestant writer explains the
+difference between the religious persecutions of her reign, and those
+which occurred during the reign of Henry VIII., with admirable
+discrimination and impartiality: &quot;The religious persecutions which
+prevailed in this reign, proceeded altogether from a different cause
+from that which stands as an everlasting blot on the memory of Henry
+VIII. In Henry's instance, people were tortured and murdered in the name
+of religion, but the real cause was their opposition to the will of an
+arbitrary tyrant; whereas those who suffered under Mary, were martyred
+because the Queen conscientiously believed in those principles to which
+she clung with such pertinacity.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_404_405"></a><a href="#Footnote_404_405"><sup>[404]</sup></a> One of the principal of these
+victims was Archbishop Cranmer, who had already caused several persons
+to suffer in the flames for differing from his opinions, and thus almost
+merited his fate. It is a curious fact that several Protestants came to
+Ireland during this reign, and settled in Dublin; they were subsequently
+the founders of respectable mercantile families.</p>
+
+<p>Although the English people had adopted the reformed religion
+nationally, there were still a few persons whom neither favour nor
+indifference could induce to renounce the ancient faith; and this brief
+respite from persecution tended to confirm and strengthen those who
+wavered. In Ireland, always Catholic, the joy was unbounded. Archbishop
+Dowdall immediately prepared to hold a provincial synod at Drogheda,
+where enactments were made for depriving the conforming prelates and
+priests. Happily their number was so few that there was but little
+difficulty in making the<a name="Page_411"></a> necessary arrangements. The only prelates that
+were removed were Browne, of Dublin; Staples, of Meath; Lancaster, of
+Kildare; and Travers, of Leighlin. Goodacre died a few months after his
+intrusion into the see of Armagh; Bale, of Ossory, fled beyond the seas;
+Casey, of Limerick, followed his example. All were English except the
+latter, and all, except Staples, were professing Protestants at the time
+of their appointment to their respective sees. Bale, who owed the
+Kilkenny people a grudge, for the indignant and rather warm reception
+with which they treated him on his intrusion into the see, gives a
+graphic account of the joy with which the news of Edward's death was
+received. The people &quot;flung up their caps to the battlements of the
+great temple;&quot; set the bells ringing; brought out incense and holy
+water, and formed once more a Catholic procession, chanting the <i>Sancta
+Maria, ora pro nobis</i>, as of old. In fact, &quot;on the accession of Mary to
+the throne, so little had been done in the interest of the Reformation,
+that there was little or nothing to undo. She issued a licence for the
+celebration of Mass in Ireland, where no other service was or had been
+celebrated worth mentioning, and where no other supreme head had been
+ever in earnest acknowledged but the Pope.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_405_406"></a><a href="#Footnote_405_406"><sup>[405]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>But the Irish obtained no temporal advantages during this reign&mdash;an
+illustration of the truth of what I have before remarked, that the
+nation has suffered almost as much from political as from religious
+causes. The work of extermination still went on. The boundaries of the
+Pale were increased thereby. Leix was designated the Queen's county, and
+the fort of Campa obtained the name of Maryborough, in compliment to the
+Queen. Offaly was named the King's county, and the fortress of Daing&egrave;an,
+Philipstown, in compliment to her Spanish consort.</p>
+
+<p>In the year 1553 Gerald and Edward, the sons of the late Earl of
+Kildare, returned from exile, and were restored to the family honours
+and possessions. The Four Masters say that &quot;there was great rejoicing
+because of their arrival, for it was thought that not one of the
+descendants of the Earls of Kildare or of the O'Connors Faly would ever
+again come to Ireland.&quot; They also mention that Margaret, a daughter of
+O'Connor Faly, went to England, &quot;relying on the number of her friends
+and relatives there, and her knowledge of the English language, to
+request Queen Mary to restore<a name="Page_412"></a> her father to her.&quot; Her petition was
+granted, but he was soon after seized again by the English officials,
+and cast into prison.</p>
+
+<p>Shane O'Neill made an unsuccessful attempt to recover his paternal
+dominions, in 1557. The following year his father died in
+captivity,<a name="FNanchor_406_407"></a><a href="#Footnote_406_407"><sup>[406]</sup></a> Dublin, and he procured the murder of Ferdoragh, so that
+he was able to obtain his wishes without opposition. Elizabeth had now
+ascended the English throne (A.D. 1558), and, as usual, those in power,
+who wished to retain office, made their religion suit the views of the
+new ruler. The Earl of Sussex still continued Viceroy, and merely
+reversed his previous acts. Sir Henry Sidney also made his worldly
+interests and his religious views coincide. A Parliament was held in
+Dublin, in 1560, on the 12th of January. It was composed of seventy-six
+members, the representatives of ten counties, the remainder being
+citizens and burgesses of those towns in which the royal authority was
+predominant. &quot;It is little wonder,&quot; observes Leland, &quot;that, in despite
+of clamour and opposition, in a session of a few weeks, the whole
+ecclesiastical system of Queen Mary was entirely reversed.&quot; Every
+subject connected with this assembly and its enactments, demands the
+most careful consideration, as it has been asserted by some
+writers&mdash;who, however, have failed to give the proofs of their
+assertion&mdash;that the Irish Church and nation conformed at this time to
+the Protestant religion. This certainly was not the opinion of the
+Government officials, who were appointed by royal authority to enforce
+the Act, and who would have been only too happy could they have reported
+success to their mistress.</p>
+
+<p>A recent writer, whose love of justice has led him to take a position in
+regard to Irish ecclesiastical history which has evoked unpleasant
+remarks from those who are less honest, writes thus: &quot;There was not even
+the show of free action in the ordering of that Parliament, nor the
+least pretence that liberty of choice was<a name="Page_413"></a> to be given to it. The
+instructions given to Sussex, on the 10th of May 1559, for making
+Ireland Protestant by Act of Parliament, were peremptory, and left no
+room for the least deliberation. Sussex had also other instructions
+(says Cox) to him and the Council, to set up the worship of God as it is
+in England, and make such statutes next Parliament as were lately made
+in England, <i>mutatis mutandis</i>. [Hist. Angl. Part I. p.313.] It is plain
+that her Majesty's command is not sufficient warrant for a national
+change of faith, and that a convocation of bishops only is not the
+proper or legal representative assembly of the Church. It is also plain
+that the acts of an unwilling Parliament, and that Parliament one which
+does not deserve the name of a Parliament, cannot be justly considered
+as the acts of either the Irish Church or the Irish people.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_407_408"></a><a href="#Footnote_407_408"><sup>[407]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>The official list of the members summoned to this Parliament, has been
+recently published by the Irish Arch&aelig;ological Society. More than
+two-thirds of the upper house were persons of whose devotion to the
+Catholic faith there has been no question; there were but few members in
+the lower house. No county in Ulster was allowed a representative, and
+only one of its borough towns, Carrickfergus, was permitted to elect a
+member. Munster furnished twenty members. No county members were allowed
+in Connaught, and it had only two boroughs, Galway and Athenry, from
+which it could send a voice to represent its wishes. The remaining fifty
+members were chosen from a part of Leinster. In fact, the Parliament was
+constituted on the plan before-mentioned. Those who were considered
+likely to agree with the Government, were allowed to vote; those of
+whose dissent there could be no doubt, were not allowed a voice in the
+affairs of the nation.</p>
+
+<p>It might be supposed that, with the exception of a few members of the
+upper house, such a Parliament would at once comply with the Queen's
+wishes; but the majority made no secret of their intention to oppose the
+change of religion, and the penal code which should be enacted to
+enforce it. The Deputy was in an unpleasant Position. Elizabeth would
+not easily brook the slightest opposition to her wishes. The Deputy did
+not feel prepared to encounter her anger, and he determined to avoid the
+difficulty, by having recourse<a name="Page_414"></a> to a most unworthy stratagem. First, he
+prorogued the house from the 11th of January to the 1st of February,
+1560; and then took advantage of the first day of meeting, when but few
+members were present, to get the Act passed; secondly, he solemnly swore
+that the law should never be carried into execution, and by this false
+oath procured the compliance of those who still hesitated. I shall give
+authority for these statements.</p>
+
+<p>The letter of Elizabeth, with her positive instructions to have the law
+passed, was dated October 18, 1559, and may be seen <i>in extenso</i> in the
+<i>Liber Munerum Hibernia</i>, vol. i. p.113. There are several authorities
+for the dishonest course pursued by the Lord Deputy. The author of
+<i>Cambrensis Eversus</i> says: &quot;The Deputy is said to have used force, and
+the Speaker treachery. I heard that it had been previously announced in
+the house that Parliament would not sit on that very day on which the
+laws against religion were enacted; but, in the meantime, a private
+summons was sent to those who were well known to be favourable to the
+old creed.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_408_409"></a><a href="#Footnote_408_409"><sup>[408]</sup></a> Father George Dillon, who died in 1650, a martyr to his
+charity in assisting the plague-stricken people of Waterford, gives the
+following account of the transaction: &quot;James Stanihurst, Lord of
+Corduff, who was Speaker of the lower house, by sending private summons
+to some, without any intimation to the more respectable Irish who had a
+right to attend, succeeded in carrying that law by surprise. As soon as
+the matter was discovered, in the next full meeting of Parliament, there
+was a general protest against the fraud, injustice, and <i>deliberate
+treachery</i> of the proceeding; but the Lord Justice, having solemnly
+sworn that the law would never be carried into execution, the
+remonstrants were caught in the dexterous snare, and consented that the
+enactment should remain on the statute-book.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_409_410"></a><a href="#Footnote_409_410"><sup>[409]</sup></a> Dr. Rothe
+corroborates these statements, and records the misfortunes which
+followed the Speaker's family from that date.<a name="FNanchor_410_411"></a><a href="#Footnote_410_411"><sup>[410]</sup></a> Dr. Moran<a name="FNanchor_411_412"></a><a href="#Footnote_411_412"><sup>[411]</sup></a> has
+very acutely observed, that the day appointed for the opening of
+Parliament was the festival of St. Brigid, which was always kept with
+special solemnity in Ireland; therefore, the orthodox members would
+probably have absented themselves,<a name="Page_415"></a> unless informed of some business
+which absolutely required their attendance.</p>
+
+<p>The Loftus MS., in Marsh's Library, and Sir James Ware, both mention the
+positive opposition of the Parliament to pass this law, and the mission
+of the Earl of Sussex to consult her Majesty as to what should be done
+with the refractory members. If he then proposed the treachery which he
+subsequently carried out, there is no reason to suppose her Majesty
+would have been squeamish about it, as we find she was quite willing to
+allow even more questionable methods to be employed on other occasions.</p>
+
+<p>The Loftus MS. mentions a convocation of bishops which assembled this
+year, &quot;by the Queen's command, for establishing the Protestant
+religion.&quot; The convocation was, if possible, a greater failure than the
+Parliament. If the bishops had obeyed the royal command, there would
+have been some record of their proceedings; but until the last few
+years, when the <i>ipse dixit</i> of certain writers was put forward as an
+argument&mdash;for proof it cannot be called&mdash;that the Irish Catholic bishops
+had conformed to the Protestant religion, so wild a theory was not even
+hazarded. It would be impossible here to go into details and proofs of
+the nonconformity of each bishop. The work has been already undertaken,
+with admirable success, by an Anglican clergyman.<a name="FNanchor_412_413"></a><a href="#Footnote_412_413"><sup>[412]</sup></a> I shall, however,
+give some of the impediments offered to the progress of the Reformation
+in the time of Queen Elizabeth, and of the cruel persecutions which were
+inflicted on those who dared to wish for liberty to worship God
+according to their conscience.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding the solemn promise of the Lord Deputy, the penal
+statutes against Catholics were carried out. In 1563 the Earl of Essex
+issued a proclamation, by which all priests, secular and<a name="Page_416"></a> regular, were
+forbidden to officiate, or even to reside in Dublin. Fines and penalties
+were strictly enforced for absence from the Protestant service; before
+long, torture and death were inflicted. Priests and religious were, as
+might be expected, the first victims. They were hunted into mountains
+and caves; and the parish churches and few monastic chapels which had
+escaped the rapacity of Henry VIII., were sacrificed to the sacrilegious
+emissaries of Elizabeth. Curry gives some account of those who suffered
+for the faith in this reign. He says: &quot;Among many other Roman Catholic
+bishops and priests, there were put to death for the exercise of their
+function in Ireland, Globy O'Boyle, Abbot of Boyle, and Owen O'Mulkeran,
+Abbot of the Monastery of the Holy Trinity, hanged and quartered by Lord
+Grey, in 1580. John Stephens suffered the same punishment from Lord
+Burroughs, for saying Mass, in 1597; Thady O'Boyle was slain in his own
+monastery at Donegal; six friars were slain at Moynihigan; John
+O'Calyhor and Bryan O'Freeor were killed at their monastery in Ulster,
+with Felimy O'Hara, a lay brother. Eneus Penny was massacred at the
+altar of his own parish church, Killagh. Fourteen other priests died in
+Dublin Castle, either from hard usage, or the violence of torture.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Adam Loftus, the Protestant Archbishop of Armagh, was one of the
+most violent persecutors of the Catholics. In his first report to the
+Queen, dated May 17th, 1565, he describes the nobility of the Pale as
+all devoted to the ancient creed; and he recommends that they should be
+fined &quot;in a good round sum,&quot; which should be paid to her Majesty's use,
+and &quot;sharply dealt withal.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_413_414"></a><a href="#Footnote_413_414"><sup>[413]</sup></a> An original method of conversion,
+certainly! But it did not succeed. On the 22nd of September, 1590, after
+twenty-five years had been spent in the fruitless attempt to convert the
+Irish, he writes to Lord Burleigh, detailing the causes of the general
+decay of the Protestant religion in Ireland, and suggesting &quot;how the
+same may be remedied.&quot; He advises that the ecclesiastical commission
+should be put in force, &quot;for the people are poor, and fear to be fined.&quot;
+He requests that he and such commissioners as are &quot;well affected in
+religion, may be permitted to imprison and fine all such as are
+obstinate and disobedient;&quot; and he has no doubt, that &quot;within a short
+time they will be reduced to good conformity.&quot; He concludes: &quot;And <i>this<a name="Page_417"></a>
+course of reformation</i>, the sooner it is begun the better it will
+prosper; and the longer it is deferred, the more dangerous it will be.&quot;
+When remember that such words were written, and such deeds were enacted,
+by the head of the Protestant Church in Ireland, and sanctioned by the
+head of the Protestant Church in England, they may surely be content to
+allow modern controversialists the benefit of their pleasant dream that
+Catholic bishops conformed. If they had conformed to such doctrines and
+such practice, it can scarcely be seen what advantage the Anglican
+Establishment could gain from their parentage.</p>
+
+<p>Seven years later, when the same prelate found that the more the Church
+was persecuted the more she increased, he wrote to advise pacification:
+&quot;The rebels are increased, and grown insolent. I see no other cure for
+this cursed country but pacification, [he could not help continuing]
+until, hereafter, when the fury is passed, her Majesty may, with more
+convenience, correct the heads of those traitors.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_414_415"></a><a href="#Footnote_414_415"><sup>[414]</sup></a> The prelate was
+ably seconded by the Lord Deputy. Even Sir John Perrot, who has the name
+of being one of the most humane of these Governors, could not refrain
+from acts of cruelty where Catholics were concerned. On one occasion he
+killed fifty persons, and brought their heads home in triumph to
+Kilmallock, where he arranged them as a trophy round the cross in the
+public square. In 1582 he advised her Majesty &quot;that friars, monks,
+Jesuits, priests, nuns, and such like vermin, who openly uphold the
+Papacy, should be executed by martial law.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_415_416"></a><a href="#Footnote_415_416"><sup>[415]</sup></a> The English officers
+seem to have rivalled each other in acts of cruelty. One is said to have
+tied his victim to a maypole, and then punched out his eyes with his
+thumbs.<a name="FNanchor_416_417"></a><a href="#Footnote_416_417"><sup>[416]</sup></a> Others amused themselves with flinging up infants into the
+air, and catching them on the points of their swords.<a name="FNanchor_417_418"></a><a href="#Footnote_417_418"><sup>[417]</sup></a> Francis
+Crosby, the deputy of Leix, used to hang men, women, and children on an
+immense tree which grew before his door, without any crime being imputed
+to them except their faith, and then to watch with delight how the
+unhappy infants hung by the long hair of their martyred mothers.<a name="FNanchor_418_419"></a><a href="#Footnote_418_419"><sup>[418]</sup></a></p><a name="Page_418"></a>
+
+<p>Father Dominic &agrave; Rosario, the author of <i>The Geraldines</i>, scarcely
+exceeded truth when he wrote these memorable words: &quot;This far famed
+English Queen has grown drunk on the blood of Christ's martyrs; and,
+like a tigress, she has hunted down our Irish Catholics, exceeding in
+ferocity and wanton cruelty the emperors of pagan Rome.&quot; We shall
+conclude this painful subject for the present with an extract from
+O'Sullivan Beare: &quot;All alarm from the Irish chieftains being ceased, the
+persecution was renewed with all its horrors. A royal order was
+promulgated, that all should renounce the Catholic faith, yield up the
+priests, receive from the heretical minister the morality and tenets of
+the Gospel. Threats, penalties and force were to be employed to enforce
+compliance. Every effort of the Queen and her emissaries was directed to
+despoil the Irish Catholics of their property, and exterminate them.
+More than once did they attempt this, for they knew that not otherwise
+could the Catholic religion be suppressed in our island, <i>unless by the
+extermination of those in whose hearts it was implanted</i>; nor could
+their heretical teachings be propagated, while the natives were alive to
+detest and execrate them.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_419_420"></a><a href="#Footnote_419_420"><sup>[419]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>In 1561 Sussex returned from England with reinforcements for his army,
+and marched to Armagh, where he established himself in the Cathedral.
+From thence he sent out a large body of troops to plunder in Tyrone, but
+they were intercepted by the redoubtable Shane O'Neill, and suffered so
+serious a defeat as to alarm the inhabitants of the Pale, and even the
+English nation. Fresh supplies of men and arms were hastily despatched
+from England, and the Earls of Desmond, Ormonde, Kildare, Thomond, and
+Clanrickarde assembled round the Viceregal standard to assist in
+suppressing the formidable foe. And well might they fear the
+lion-hearted chieftain! A few years later, Sidney describes him as the
+only strong man in Ireland. The Queen was warned, that unless he were
+speedily put down, she would lose Ireland, as her sister had lost
+Calais. He had gained all Ulster by his sword, and ruled therein with a
+far stronger hand, and on a far firmer foundation, than ever any English
+monarch had obtained in any part of Ireland. Ulster was his <i>terra
+clausa</i>; and he would be a bold, or, perhaps I should rather say, a rash
+man, who dare intrude in these dominions. He could muster seven thousand
+men in the field; and<a name="Page_419"></a> though he seldom hazarded a general engagement, he
+&quot;slew in conflicts 3,500 soldiers and 300 Scots of Sidney's army.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_420_421"></a><a href="#Footnote_420_421"><sup>[420]</sup></a>
+The English chronicler, Hooker, who lived in times when the blaze and
+smoke of houses and haggards, set on fire by Shane, could be seen even
+from Dublin Castle, declares that it was feared he intended to make a
+conquest over the whole land.</p>
+
+<p>Even his letters are signed, if not written, in royal style.<a name="FNanchor_421_422"></a><a href="#Footnote_421_422"><sup>[421]</sup></a> He
+dates one <i>Ex finibus de Tirconail</i>, when about to wage war with the
+neighbouring sept of O'Donnell; he dates another, <i>Ex silvis meis</i>,
+when, in pursuance of his Celtic mode of warfare, he hastened into his
+woods to avoid an engagement with the English soldiers; he signs himself
+<i>Misi O'Neill</i>&mdash;Me, the O'Neill. As this man was too clever to be
+captured, and too brave to be conquered, a plan was arranged, with the
+full concurrence of the Queen, by which he might be got rid of by poison
+or assassination. Had such an assertion been made by the Irish
+annalists, it would have been scouted as a calumny on the character of
+&quot;good Queen Bess;&quot; but the evidence of her complicity is preserved in
+the records of the State Paper Office. I shall show presently that
+attempts at assassination were a common arrangement for the disposal of
+refractory Irish chieftains during this reign.</p>
+
+<p>The proposal for this diabolical treachery, and the arrangements made
+for carrying it out, were related by Sussex to the Queen. He writes
+thus: &quot;In fine, I brake with him to kill Shane, and bound myself by my
+oath to see him have a hundred marks of land to him and to his heirs for
+reward. He seemed desirous to serve your Highness, and to have the land,
+but fearful to do it, doubting his own escape after. I told him the ways
+he might do it, and how to escape after with safety; which he offered
+and promised to do.&quot; The Earl adds a piece of information, which, no
+doubt, he communicated to the intended murderer, and which, probably,
+decided him on making the attempt: &quot;I assure your Highness he may do it
+without danger if he will; and if he will not do what he may in your
+service, there will be done to him what others may.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_422_423"></a><a href="#Footnote_422_423"><sup>[422]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>Her Majesty, however, had a character to support; and whatever<a name="Page_420"></a> she may
+have privately wished and commanded, she was obliged to disavow
+complicity publicly. In two despatches from court she expresses her
+&quot;displeasure at John Smith's horrible attempt to poison Shane O'Neill in
+his wine.&quot; In the following spring John Smith was committed to prison,
+and &quot;closely examined by Lord Chancellor Cusake.&quot; What became of John is
+not recorded, but it is recorded that &quot;Lord Chancellor Cusake persuaded
+O'Neill to forget the poisoning.&quot; His clan, however, were not so easily
+persuaded, and strongly objected to his meeting the Viceroy in person,
+or affording him an opportunity which he might not live to forget. About
+this time O'Neill despatched a document to the Viceroy for his
+consideration, containing a list of &quot;other evill practices devised to
+other of the Irish nation within ix or tenn yeares past.&quot; The first item
+mentions that Donill O'Breyne and Morghe O'Breyne, his son, &quot;required
+the benefit of her Majesty's laws, by which they required to be tried,
+and thereof was denied;&quot;<a name="FNanchor_423_424"></a><a href="#Footnote_423_424"><sup>[423]</sup></a> and that when they came to Limerick under
+the protection of the Lord Deputy, they were proclaimed traitors, and
+their lands and possessions taken from them. Several other violations of
+protection are then enumerated, and several treacherous murders are
+recorded, particularly the murder of Art Boy Cavanagh, at Captain
+Hearn's house, after he had dined with him, and of Randall Boye's two
+sons, who were murdered, one after supper, and the other in the tower,
+by Brereton, &quot;who escaped without punishment.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>In October, 1562, Shane was invited to England, and was received by
+Elizabeth with marked courtesy. His appearance at court is thus
+described by Camden, A.D. 1562: &quot;From Ireland came Shane O'Neill, who
+had promised to come the year before, with a guard of axe-bearing
+galloglasses, their heads bare, their long curling hair flowing on their
+shoulders, their linen garments dyed with saffron, with long open
+sleeves, with short tunics, and furry cloaks, whom the English wondered
+at as much as they do now at the Chinese or American aborigines.&quot;
+Shane's visit to London was considered of such importance, that we find
+a memorandum in the State Paper Office, by &quot;Secretary Sir W. Cecil,
+March, 1562,&quot; of the means to be used with Shane O'Neill, in which the
+first item is, that &quot;he be procured to change his <a name="Page_421"></a>garments, and go like
+an Englishman.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_424_425"></a><a href="#Footnote_424_425"><sup>[424]</sup></a> But this was precisely what O'Neill had no idea of
+doing. Sussex appears to have been O'Neill's declared and open enemy.
+There is more than one letter extant from the northern chief to the
+Deputy. In one of these he says: &quot;I wonder very much for what purpose
+your Lordship strives to destroy me.&quot; In another, he declares that his
+delay in visiting the Queen had been caused by the &quot;amount of
+obstruction which Sussex had thrown in his way, by sending a force of
+occupation into his territory without cause; for as long as there shall
+be one son of a Saxon in my territory against my will, from that time
+forth I will not send you either settlement or message, but will send my
+complaint through some other medium to the Queen.&quot; In writing to the
+Baron of Slane, he says that &quot;nothing will please him [the Deputy] but
+to plant himself in my lands and my native territory, as I am told every
+day that he desires to be styled Earl of Ulster.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The Lord Chancellor Cusack appears, on the contrary, to have constantly
+befriended him. On 12th January, 1568, he writes of O'Neill's
+&quot;dutifulness and most commendable dealing with the Scots;&quot; and soon
+after three English members of the Dublin Government complain that
+Cusack<a name="FNanchor_425_426"></a><a href="#Footnote_425_426"><sup>[425]</sup></a> had entrapped them into signing a letter to the unruly
+chieftain. There is one dark blot upon the escutcheon of this remarkable
+man. He had married the daughter of O'Donnell, Lord of one of the
+Hebrides. After a time he and his father-in-law quarrelled, and Shane
+contrived to capture O'Donnell and his second wife. He kept this lady
+for several years as his mistress; and his own wife is said to have died
+of shame and horror at his conduct, and at his cruel treatment of her<a name="Page_422"></a>
+father. English writers have naturally tried to blacken his character as
+deeply as possible, and have represented him as a drunkard and a
+profligate; but there appears no foundation for the former accusation.
+The foundation for the latter is simply what we have mentioned, which,
+however evil in itself, would scarcely appear so very startling to a
+court over which Henry VIII. had so long presided.</p>
+
+<p>After many attempts at assassination, <i>Shane-an-Diomais</i> [John the
+Ambitious] fell a victim to English treachery. Sir William Piers, the
+Governor of Carrickfergus, invited some Scotch soldiers over to Ireland,
+and then persuaded them to quarrel with him, and kill him. They
+accomplished their purpose, by raising a disturbance at a feast, when
+they rushed on the northern chieftain, and despatched him with their
+swords. His head was sent to Dublin, and his old enemies took the poor
+revenge of impaling it on the Castle walls.</p>
+
+<p>The Earl of Sussex was recalled from Ireland in 1564, and Sir Henry
+Sidney was appointed Viceroy. The Earls of Ormonde and Desmond had again
+quarrelled, and, in 1562, both Earls were summoned to court by the
+Queen. Elizabeth was related to the Butlers through her mother's family,
+and used to boast of the loyalty of the house of Ormonde. The Geraldines
+adhered to the ancient faith, and suffered for it. A battle was fought
+at Affane, near Cappoquin, between the two parties, in which Desmond was
+wounded and made prisoner. The man who bore him from the field asked,
+tauntingly: &quot;Where is now the proud Earl of Desmond?&quot; He replied, with
+equal pride and wit: &quot;Where he should be; upon the necks of the
+Butlers!&quot;</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/077.jpg" width="222" height="205" alt="GOLD EAR-RING, TORQUE PATTERN, FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE
+R.I.A., FOUND AT CASTLEREA, CO. ROSCOMMON." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>GOLD EAR-RING, TORQUE PATTERN, FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE
+R.I.A., FOUND AT CASTLEREA, CO. ROSCOMMON.</h4>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><br /><br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/078.jpg" width="406" height="284" alt="KILCOLMAN CASTLE." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>KILCOLMAN CASTLE.</h4>
+
+<a name="Page_423"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXVI.</h2>
+
+<h4>Spenser's Castle&mdash;Sidney's Official Account of Ireland&mdash;Miserable State
+of the Protestant Church&mdash;The Catholic Church and its Persecuted
+Rulers&mdash;The Viceroy's Administration&mdash;A Packed Parliament and its
+Enactments&mdash;Claim of Sir P. Carew&mdash;An Attempt to plant in
+Ulster&mdash;Smith's Settlement in the Ards&mdash;His Description of the Native
+Irish&mdash;He tries to induce Englishmen to join him&mdash;Smith is killed, and
+the attempt to plant fails&mdash;Essex next tries to colonize Ulster&mdash;He dies
+in Dublin&mdash;Sidney returns to Ireland&mdash;His Interview with
+Granuaile&mdash;Massacre at Mullamast&mdash;Spenser's Account of the State of
+Ireland.</h4>
+
+<h5>[A.D. 1567-1579.]</h5>
+
+<img src="images/s.jpg" width="60" height="187" align="left" alt="K" title="" />
+<p>ilcolman Castle, with its fair domains, were bestowed on the poet
+Spenser, who had accompanied Lord Grey to Ireland in 1579. He has left a
+fearful description of the miseries of the country; but it scarcely
+exceeds the official report of Sir Henry Sidney, which must first be
+noticed. At the close of the month of January, 1567, the Lord Deputy set
+out on a visitation of Munster and Connaught. In his official account he
+writes thus of Munster: &quot;Like as I never was in a more pleasant country
+in all my life, so never saw I a more waste and desolate land. Such
+horrible and lamentable spectacles are there to behold&mdash;as the burning
+of villages, the ruin of churches, the wasting of such as have been good
+towns and castles; yea, the view of the bones and skulls of the dead
+subjects, who, partly by murder, partly<a name="Page_424"></a> by famine, have died in the
+fields&mdash;as, in truth, hardly any Christian with dry eyes could behold.&quot;
+He declares that, in the territory subject to the Earl of Ormonde, he
+witnessed &quot;a want of justice and judgment.&quot; He describes the Earl of
+Desmond as &quot;a man devoid of judgment to govern, and will be to be
+ruled.&quot; The Earl of Thomond, he says, &quot;had neither wit of himself to
+govern, nor grace or capacity to learn of others.&quot; The Earl of
+Clanrickarde he describes as &quot;so overruled by a putative wife, as
+ofttimes, when he best intendeth, she forceth him to do the worst;&quot; and
+it would appear that neither he nor his lady could govern their own
+family, for their sons were so turbulent they kept the whole country in
+disturbance. In Galway he found the people trying to protect themselves,
+as best they might, from their dangerous neighbours; and at Athenry
+there were but four respectable householders, who presented him with the
+rusty keys of their town&mdash;&quot;a pitiful and lamentable present;&quot; and they
+requested him to keep those keys, for &quot;they were so impoverished by the
+extortions of the lords about them, as they were no longer able to keep
+that town.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Well might he designate the policy by which the country had been
+hitherto governed as &quot;cowardly,&quot; and contemn the practice of promoting
+division between the native princes, which was still practised. He adds:
+&quot;So far hath that policy, or rather lack of policy, in keeping
+dissensions among them, prevailed, as now, albeit all that are alive
+would become honest and live in quiet, yet there are not left alive, in
+those two provinces, the twentieth person necessary to inhabit the
+same.&quot; Sidney at once proceeded to remedy the evils under which the
+unfortunate country groaned, by enacting other evils. We shall leave him
+to give his own account of his proceedings. He writes thus, in one of
+his official despatches: &quot;I write not the names of each particular
+varlet that hath died since I arrived, as well by the ordinary course of
+the law, as of the martial law, as flat fighting with them, when they
+would take food without the good will of the giver, for I think it no
+stuff worthy the loading of my letters with; but I do assure you the
+number of them is great, and some of the best, and the rest tremble. For
+most part they fight for their dinner, and many of them lose their heads
+before they be served with supper. Down they go in every corner, and
+down they shall go, God willing.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_426_427"></a><a href="#Footnote_426_427"><sup>[426]</sup></a></p><a name="Page_425"></a>
+
+<p>When we remember Sidney's own description of the desolation of country,
+and read of the fashion in which he remedied that desolation we cannot
+wonder at the piteous account given a few years later by the English
+poet; for who could escape the threefold danger of &quot;ordinary law,
+martial law, and flat fighting.&quot; Nor was the state of religious affairs
+at all more promising. The Deputy describes the kingdom as &quot;overwhelmed
+by the most deplorable immorality and irreligion;&quot;<a name="FNanchor_427_428"></a><a href="#Footnote_427_428"><sup>[427]</sup></a> the Privy
+Council, in their deliberations, gives a similar account. &quot;As for
+religion, there was but small appearance of it; the churches uncovered,
+and the clergy scattered.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_428_429"></a><a href="#Footnote_428_429"><sup>[428]</sup></a> An Act of Parliament was then passed to
+remedy the evils which Acts of Parliament had created. In the preamble
+(11th Elizabeth, sess. iii. cap. 6) it mentions the disorders which
+Sidney had found, and complains of &quot;the great abuse of the clergy in
+getting into the said dignities by force, simony, friendship, and other
+corrupt means, to the great overthrow of God's holy Church;&quot; and for
+remedy, the Act authorizes the <i>Lord Deputy</i> to appoint, for ten years,
+to all the ecclesiastical benefices of these provinces, with the
+exception of the cathedral churches of Waterford, Limerick, Cork, and
+Cashel.</p>
+
+<p>But it was soon evident that Acts of Parliament could not effect
+ecclesiastical reform, though they might enforce exterior conformity to
+a new creed. In 1576, Sidney again complains of the state of the Irish
+Church, and addresses himself, with almost blasphemous flattery to the
+head of that body, &quot;as to the only sovereign salve-giver to this your
+sore and sick realm, the lamentable state of the most noble and
+principal limb thereof&mdash;the Church I mean&mdash;as foul, deformed, and as
+cruelly crushed as any other part thereof, only by your gracious order
+to be cured, or at least amended. I would not have believed, had I not,
+for a greater part, viewed the same throughout the whole realm.&quot; He then
+gives a detailed account of the state of the diocese of Meath, which he
+declares to be the best governed and best peopled diocese in the realm;
+and from his official report of the state of religion there, he thinks
+her Majesty may easily judge of the spiritual condition of less favoured
+districts. He says there are no resident parsons or vicars, and only a
+very simple or sorry curate appointed to serve them; of them only
+eighteen could speak English, the rest being &quot;Irish ministers, or rather
+Irish rogues, having very little Latin, and less<a name="Page_426"></a> learning or
+civility.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_429_430"></a><a href="#Footnote_429_430"><sup>[429]</sup></a> In many places he found the walls of the churches thrown
+down, the chancels uncovered, and the windows and doors ruined or
+spoiled&mdash;fruits of the iconoclastic zeal of the original reformers and
+of the rapacity of the nobles, who made religion an excuse for plunder.
+He complains that the sacrament of baptism was not used amongst them,
+and he accuses the &quot;prelates themselves&quot; of despoiling their sees,
+declaring that if he told all he should make &quot;too long a libel of his
+letter. But your Majesty may believe it, that, upon the face of the
+earth where Christ is professed, there is not a Church in so miserable a
+case.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>A Protestant nobleman, after citing some extracts from this document,
+concludes thus: &quot;Such was the condition of a Church which was, half a
+century ago, rich and flourishing, an object of reverence, and a source
+of consolation to the people. It was now despoiled of its revenues; the
+sacred edifices were in ruins; the clergy were either ignorant of the
+language of their flocks, or illiterate and uncivilized intruders; and
+the only ritual permitted by the laws was one of which the people
+neither comprehended the language nor believed the doctrines. And this
+was called establishing the Reformation!&quot;<a name="FNanchor_430_431"></a><a href="#Footnote_430_431"><sup>[430]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>It should be observed, however, that Sir Henry Sidney's remarks apply
+exclusively to the Protestant clergy. Of the state of the Catholic
+Church and clergy he had no knowledge, neither had he any interest in
+obtaining information. His account of the Protestant clergy who had been
+intruded into the Catholic parishes, and of the Protestant bishops who
+had been placed in the Catholic dioceses, we may presume to be correct,
+as he had no interest or object in misrepresentation; but his
+observation concerning the neglect of the sacrament of baptism, may be
+taken with some limitation. When a religious revolution takes place in a
+Catholic country, there is always a large class who conform exteriorly
+to whatever opinions maybe enforced by the sword. They have not the
+generosity to become confessors, nor the courage to become martyrs. But
+these persons rarely renounce the faith in their hearts; and sacrifice
+their conscience to their worldly interest, though not<a name="Page_427"></a> without
+considerable uneasiness. In such cases, these apparently conforming
+Protestants would never think of bringing their children to be baptized
+by a minister of the new religion; they would make no nice distinctions
+between the validity of one sacrament and another; and would either
+believe that sacraments were a matter of indifference, as the new creed
+implied, or if they were of any value that they should be administered
+by those who respected them and that their number should remain intact.
+In recent famine years, the men who risked their spiritual life to save
+their temporal existence, which the tempter would only consent to
+preserve on his own terms, were wont to visit the church, and bid
+Almighty God a solemn farewell until better times should come. They
+could not make up their minds to die of starvation, when food might be
+had for formal apostacy; they knew that they were denying their God when
+they appeared to deny their religion. It is more than probable that a
+similar feeling actuated thousands at the period of which we are
+writing; and that the poor Celt, who conformed from fear of the sword,
+took his children by night to the priest of the old religion, that he
+might admit them, by the sacrament of baptism, into the fold of the only
+Church in which he believed.</p>
+
+<p>It is also a matter of fact, that though the Protestant services were
+not attended, and the lives of the Protestant ministers were not
+edifying, that the sacraments were administered constantly by the
+Catholic clergy. It is true they date their letters &quot;from the place of
+refuge&quot; (<i>e loco refugii nostri</i>), which might be the wood nearest to
+their old and ruined parish-church, or the barn or stable of some
+friend, who dared not shelter them in his house; yet this was no
+hindrance to their ministrations; for we find Dr. Loftus complaining to
+Sir William Cecil that the persecuted Bishop of Meath, Dr. Walsh, was
+&quot;one of great credit amongst his countrymen, and upon whom (as touching
+cause of religion) they wholly depend.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_431_432"></a><a href="#Footnote_431_432"><sup>[431]</sup></a> Sir Henry Sidney's efforts
+to effect reformation of conduct in the clergy and laity, do not seem to
+have been so acceptable at court as he might have supposed. His strong
+measures were followed by tumults; and the way in which he obtained
+possession<a name="Page_428"></a> of the persons of some of the nobles, was not calculated to
+enhance his popularity. He was particularly severe towards the Earl of
+Desmond, whom he seized in Kilmallock, after requiring his attendance,
+on pretence of wishing him to assist in his visitation of Munster. In
+October, 1567, the Deputy proceeded to England to explain his conduct,
+taking with him the Earl of Desmond and his brother, John, whom he also
+arrested on false pretences. Sidney was, however, permitted to return,
+in September, 1568. He landed at Carrickfergus, where he received the
+submission of Turlough O'Neill, who had been elected to the chieftaincy
+on the death of Shane the Proud.</p>
+
+<p>The first public act of the Lord Deputy was to assemble a Parliament, in
+which all constitutional rules were simply set at defiance (January
+17th, 1569). Mayors and sheriffs returned themselves; members were sent
+up for towns not incorporated, and several Englishmen were elected as
+burgesses for places they had never seen. One of these men, Hooker, who
+was returned for Athenry, has left a chronicle of the age. He had to be
+protected by a guard in going to his residence. Popular feeling was so
+strongly manifested against this gross injustice, that the judges were
+consulted as to the legality of proceedings of whose iniquity there
+could be no doubt. The elections for non-corporate towns, and the
+election of individuals by themselves, were pronounced invalid; but a
+decision was given in favour of non-resident Englishmen, which still
+gave the court a large majority.<a name="FNanchor_432_433"></a><a href="#Footnote_432_433"><sup>[432]</sup></a> In this Parliament&mdash;if, indeed, it
+could be called such&mdash;Acts were passed for attainting Shane O'Neill, for
+suppressing the name, and for annexing Tyrone to the royal possessions.
+Charter schools were to be founded, of which the teachers should be
+English and Protestants; and the law before-mentioned, for permitting
+the Lord Deputy to appoint persons to ecclesiastical benefices for ten
+years, was passed.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Philip Carew came to Ireland about this time, and renewed the claim
+of his family to possessions in Ireland. This plea had been rejected in
+the reign of Edward III.; but he now produced a forged roll, which the
+corrupt administration of the day readily admitted as genuine. His claim
+was made in right of Robert FitzStephen, one of the first adventurers;
+his demand included one-half of the &quot;kingdom of Cork,&quot; and the barony of
+Idrone, in Carlow. Several engagements ensued, in one of which Carew
+boasted of<a name="Page_429"></a> having slain 400 Irish, and lost only one man. If his
+statement be true, it is probable the engagement was simply a massacre.
+The war became so formidable, that the MacCarthys, FitzGeralds,
+Cavanaghs, and FitzMaurices united against the &quot;common enemy,&quot; and at
+last despatched emissaries to the Pope to implore his assistance. It is
+strange to find native Irish chieftains uniting with Anglo-Norman lords
+to resist an English settler.</p>
+
+<p>Sidney now began to put his plan of local governments into execution;
+but this arrangement simply multiplied the number of licensed
+oppressors. Sir Edward Fitton was appointed President of Connaught, and
+Sir John Perrot, of Munster. Both of these gentlemen distinguished
+themselves by &quot;strong measures,&quot; of which cruelty to the unfortunate
+natives was the predominant feature. Perrot boasted that he would &quot;hunt
+the fox out of his hole,&quot; and devoted himself to the destruction of the
+Geraldines. Fitton arrested the Earl of Clanrickarde, and excited a
+general disturbance. In 1570 the Queen determined to lay claim to the
+possessions in Ulster, graciously conceded to her by the gentlemen who
+had been permitted to vote according to her royal pleasure in the
+so-called Parliament of 1569. She bestowed the district of Ards, in
+Down, upon her secretary, Sir Thomas Smith. It was described as &quot;divers
+parts and parcels of her Highness' Earldom of Ulster that lay waste, or
+else was inhabited with a wicked, barbarous, and uncivil people.&quot; There
+were, however, two grievous misstatements in this document. Ulster did
+not belong to her Highness, unless, indeed, the Act of a packed
+Parliament could be considered legal; and the people who inhabited it
+were neither &quot;wicked, barbarous, nor uncivil.&quot; The tract of country thus
+unceremoniously bestowed on an English adventurer, was in the possession
+of Sir Rowland Savage. His first ancestor was one of the most
+distinguished of the Anglo-Norman settlers who had accompanied De Courcy
+to Ireland. Thus, although he could not claim the prescriptive right of
+several thousand years for his possessions, he certainly had the right
+of possession for several centuries. An attempt had been made about ten
+years before to drive him out of part of his territory, and he had
+written a letter to &quot;The Right Hon. the Earl of Sussex,
+Lieutenant-General of Ireland,&quot; asking for &quot;justice,&quot; which justice he
+had not obtained. He was permitted to hold the Southern Ards, because he
+could not be expelled from it without considerable difficulty, and
+because it was the least valuable part of his property.</p><a name="Page_430"></a>
+
+<p>Smith confided the conduct of the enterprise to his natural son who has
+already been mentioned as the person who attempted to poison Shane
+O'Neill. The first State Paper notice of this enterprise is in a letter,
+dated February, 8, 1572, from Captain Piers to the Lord Deputy, stating
+that the country is in an uproar &quot;at Mr. Smith coming over to plant in
+the north.&quot; There is a rare black letter still extant, entitled,
+[&quot;Letter by F.B. on the Peopling of the Ardes&quot;] which Smith wrote to
+induce English adventurers to join him in his speculation. It is
+composed with considerable ability. He condemns severely the degeneracy
+of the early English settlers, &quot;who allied and fostered themselves with
+the Irish.&quot; He says that &quot;England was never fuller of people than it is
+at this day,&quot; and attributes this to &quot;the dissolution of abbeys, which
+hath doubled the number of gentlemen and marriages.&quot; He says the younger
+sons who cannot &quot;maintain themselves in the emulation of the world,&quot; as
+the elder and richer do, should emigrate; and then he gives glowing
+accounts of the advantages of this emigration.</p>
+
+<p>Strange to say, one of the principal inducements he offers is that the
+&quot;churle of Ireland is very simple and toylsomme man, desiring nothing
+but that he may not be eaten out with ceasse [rent], coyne, and
+liverie.&quot; He passes over the subject of rent without any comment, but he
+explains very fully how &quot;the churle is eaten up&quot; with the exactions of
+&quot;coyne and liverie.&quot; He says these laborious Irish will gladly come &quot;to
+live under us, and to farm our ground;&quot; but he does not say anything
+about the kind of treatment they were to receive in return for their
+labour. His next inducement is the immense sale (and profit) they might
+expect by growing corn; and he concludes by relieving their fears as to
+any objections which the inhabitants of this country might make to being
+dispossessed from their homes and lands, or any resistance they might
+offer. He considers it immaterial, &quot;for the country of Lecale [which had
+been taken in a similar manner from Savage] was some time kept by
+Brereton with a hundred horses, and Lieutenant Burrows kept <i>Castle
+Rean</i> [Castlereagh], and went daily one quarter of a mile to fetch his
+water, against five hundred Irish that lay again him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Smith concludes with &quot;an offer and order&quot; for those who wished to join
+in the enterprise. Each footman to have a pike,<a name="FNanchor_433_434"></a><a href="#Footnote_433_434"><sup>[433]</sup></a> or <a name="Page_431"></a>halberd, or
+caliver, and a convenient livery cloak, of red colour or carnation, with
+black facings. Each horseman to have a staffe<a name="FNanchor_434_435"></a><a href="#Footnote_434_435"><sup>[434]</sup></a> and a case of
+dagges,<a name="FNanchor_435_436"></a><a href="#Footnote_435_436"><sup>[435]</sup></a> and his livery<a name="FNanchor_436_437"></a><a href="#Footnote_436_437"><sup>[436]</sup></a> to be of the colour aforesaid.</p>
+
+<p>Strype wrote a life of Sir Thomas Smith, Bart., Oxford, 1620. He
+mentions this attempt at colonizing Ulster, having this good design
+therein: &quot;that those half-barbarous people might be taught some
+civility.&quot; He speaks of &quot;the hopeful gentleman,&quot; Sir Thomas Smith's son
+and concludes with stating how the expedition terminated: &quot;But when
+matters went on thus fairly, Mr. Smith was intercepted and slain by a
+wild Irishman.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Before his assassination Smith had written an account of his proceedings
+to his father, in which he says that &quot;envy had hindered him more than
+the enemy,&quot; and that he had been ill-handled by some of his own
+soldiers, ten of whom he had punished. He also expresses some fear of
+the native Irish, whom he had tried to drive out of their lands, as he
+says they sometimes &quot;lay wait to intrap and murther the maister
+himself.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>I have given details of this attempted plantation in Ulster, because it
+illustrates the subject; and each plantation which will be recorded
+afterwards, was carried out on the same plan. The object of the
+Englishman was to obtain a home and a fortune; to do this he was obliged
+to drive, the natives out of their homes, and to deprive them of their
+wealth, whether greater or less. The object of the Irishman was to keep
+out the intruder; and, if he could not be kept out, to get rid of him by
+fair means or foul.</p>
+
+<p>It is probable that the attempt of Smith was intended by Government<a name="Page_432"></a>
+principally as an experiment to ascertain whether the plantation could
+be carried out on a larger scale. The next attempt was made by Walter
+Devereux, Earl of Essex, who received part of the signories of Clannaboy
+and Ferney, provided he could expel the &quot;rebels&quot; who dwelt there. Essex
+mortgaged his estates to the Queen to obtain funds for the enterprise.
+He was accompanied by Sir Henry Kenlis, Lord Dacres, and Lord Norris'
+three sons.</p>
+
+<p>Sir William FitzGerald, the then Lord Deputy, complained loudly of the
+extraordinary powers granted to Essex; and some show of deference to his
+authority was made by requiring the Earl to receive his commission from
+him. Essex landed in Ireland in 1573, and the usual career of tyranny
+and treachery was enacted. The native chieftains resisted the invasion
+of their territories, and endeavoured to drive out the men whom they
+could only consider as robbers. The invaders, when they could not
+conquer, stooped to acts of treachery. Essex soon found that the
+conquest of Ulster was not quite so easy a task as he had anticipated.
+Many of the adventurers who had assumed his livery, and joined his
+followers, deserted him; and Brian O'Neill, Hugh O'Neill, and Turlough
+O'Neill rose up against him. Essex then invited Conn O'Donnell to his
+camp; but, as soon as he secured him, he seized his Castle of Lifford,
+and sent the unfortunate chieftain a prisoner to Dublin.</p>
+
+<p>In 1574 the Earl and Brian O'Neill made peace. A feast was prepared by
+the latter, to which Essex and his principal followers were invited; but
+after this entertainment had lasted for three days and nights, &quot;as they
+were agreeably drinking and making merry, Brian, his brother, and his
+wife were seized upon by the Earl, and all his people put unsparingly to
+the sword-men, women, youths, and maidens&mdash;in Brian's own presence.
+Brian was afterwards sent to Dublin, together with his wife and brother,
+where they were cut in quarters. Such was the end of their feast. This
+wicked and treacherous murder of the lord of the race of Hugh Boy
+O'Neill, the head and the senior of the race of Eoghan, son of Nial of
+the Nine Hostages, and of all the Gaels, a few only excepted, was a
+sufficient cause of hatred and dispute to the English by the
+Irish.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_437_438"></a><a href="#Footnote_437_438"><sup>[437]</sup></a></p><a name="Page_433"></a>
+
+<p>Essex visited England in 1575, and tried to induce the Queen to give him
+further assistance in his enterprise. On her refusal, he retired to
+Ireland, and died in Dublin, on the 22nd September, 1576. It was
+rumoured he had died of poison, and that the poison was administered at
+the desire of the Earl of Leicester, who soon after divorced his own
+wife, and married the widow of his late rival Essex complained bitterly,
+in his letter to Sir Henry Sidney, of the way in which he had been
+treated in his projected plantation of Clannaboy, and protested against
+the injustice which had been done through him on O'Donnell, MacMahon,
+and others, who were always peaceable and loyal, but &quot;whom he had, on
+the pledged word of the Queen, undone with fair promises.&quot; Probably,
+only for his own &quot;undoing,&quot; he would have had but scant pity for others.</p>
+
+<p>Yet Essex could be generous and knightly with his friends, kind and
+courtly, at least to his English dependents. There are some curious
+accounts of his expenses while he was &quot;<i>Lord-General of Ulster</i>,&quot; in a
+State Paper, from which it will appear that he could be liberal, either
+from natural benevolence or from policy. The entries of expenditure
+indicate a love of music, which he could easily gratify in Ireland,
+still famous for the skill of its bards. He gave ten shillings to the
+singing men of Mellifont, then inhabited by Edward Moore, to whom it had
+been granted at the suppression of monasteries. A harper at Sir John
+Bellew's received three shillings; &quot;Crues, my Lord of Ormonde's harper,&quot;
+received the large sum of forty shillings, but whether in compliment to
+the bard or the bard's master is doubtful. The Earl of Ormonde's
+&quot;musicians&quot; also got twenty shillings. But there are other
+disbursements, indicating that presents were gratefully received and
+vails expected. &quot;A boy that brought your lordship a pair of greyhounds&quot;
+had a small donation; but &quot;M'Genis, that brought your lordship two
+stags,&quot; had 13s. 4<i>d</i>., a sum equivalent to &pound;7 of our money. Nor were
+the fair sex forgotten, for Mrs. Fagan, wife of the Lord Mayor of
+Dublin, was presented with a piece of taffeta &quot;for good entertainment.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Sir Henry Sidney returned to Ireland in 1575. He tells us himself how he
+took on him, &quot;the third time, that thanklesse charge; and so taking
+leave of her Majesty, kissed her sacred hands, with most gracious and
+comfortable wordes, departed from her at Dudley Castell, passed the
+seas, and arrived the xiii of September, 1575, as nere the city of
+Dublin as I could saufly; for<a name="Page_434"></a> at that tyme the city was greevously
+infested with the contagion of the pestilence.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_438_439"></a><a href="#Footnote_438_439"><sup>[438]</sup></a> He proceeded thence
+to Tredagh (Drogheda), where he received the sword of the then Deputy.
+He next marched northward, and attacked Sorley Boy and the Scotch, who
+were besieging Carrickfergus; and after he had conquered them, he
+received the submission of Turlough O'Neill and other Ulster chieftains.
+Turlough's wife, the Lady Agnes O'Neill, <i>n&eacute;e</i> M'Donnell, was aunt to
+the Earl of Argyle, and appears to have been very much in favour with
+the Lord Deputy.</p>
+
+<p>In the &quot;depe of wynter&quot; he went to Cork, were he remained from Christmas
+to Candlemas. He mentions his entertainment at Barry's Court with
+evident zest, and says &quot;there never was such a Christmas kept in the
+same.&quot; In February he visited Thomond, and subdued &quot;a wicked generation,
+some of whom he killed, and some he hanged by order of law.&quot; A nice
+distinction, which could hardly have been appreciated by the victims.
+The Earl of Clanrickarde caused his &quot;two most bade and rebellious
+sonnes&quot; to make submission, &quot;whom I would to God I had then hanged.&quot;
+However, he kept them close prisoners, and &quot;had a sermon made of them
+and their wickedness in the chief church in the town.&quot; John seems to
+have been the principal delinquent. Some time after, when they had been
+set at liberty, they rebelled again; and he records the first &quot;memorable
+act&quot; which one of them had done, adding, &quot;which I am sure was
+John.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_439_440"></a><a href="#Footnote_439_440"><sup>[439]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>Sidney then marched into the west, and had an interview with the famous
+Grace O'Malley, or Granuaile, which he describes thus: &quot;There came to me
+also a most famous femynyne sea captain, called Granuge I'Mally, and
+offered her services unto me wheresoever I would command her, with three
+galleys and two hundred fighting men. She brought with her her husband,
+for she was as well by sea as by land more than master's-mate with him.
+He was of the nether Burkes, and called by nickname Richard in Iron.
+This was a notorious woman in all the coasts of Ireland. This woman did
+Philip Sidney<a name="Page_435"></a> see and speak with; he can more at large inform you of
+her.&quot; Grana, or Grace O'Malley, was the daughter of a chieftain of the
+same patronymic. Her paternal clan were strong in galleys and ships.
+They owned a large territory on the sea-coast, besides the islands of
+Arran. Her first husband was Donnell O'Flaherty. His belligerent
+propensities could scarcely have been less than hers, for he is termed
+<i>Aith Chogaid</i>, or &quot;of the wars.&quot; Her second husband, Sir Richard Burke,
+or Richard <i>an Iarainn</i>, is described by the Four Masters as a
+&quot;plundering, warlike, unjust, and rebellious man.&quot; He obtained his
+soubriquet from the circumstance of constantly appearing in armour. It
+would appear from this account that Sidney's statement of the Lady Grana
+being &quot;more than master's-mate with him,&quot; must be taken with some
+limitations, unless, indeed, he who ruled his foes abroad, failed to
+rule his wife at home, which is quite possible. The subjoined
+illustration represents the remains of one of her castles. It is
+situated near the lake of Borrishoole, in the county Mayo. The ruins are
+very striking, and evince its having once been an erection of
+considerable strength.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/079.jpg" width="451" height="372" alt="CARRIG-A-HOOLY&mdash;GRACE O&#39;MALLEY&#39;S CASTLE." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>CARRIG-A-HOOLY&mdash;GRACE O&#39;MALLEY&#39;S CASTLE.</h4>
+
+<p>Sir William Drury was made Lord President of Munster, 1576, in place of
+Sir John Perrot. Sir Nicholas Malby was installed in the<a name="Page_436"></a> same office in
+Connaught; but the barbarities enacted by his predecessor, Fitton, made
+the very name of president so odious, that Sidney gave the new Governor
+the title of Colonel of Connaught. The Earl of Desmond and Drury were
+soon at variance. Sidney says, in his <i>Memoir</i>, that the Earl &quot;was still
+repyning at the government of Drury.&quot; After causing great apprehension
+to the governors, the Lord Deputy sent the whole party to Kilkenny, and
+found the &quot;Earl hot, wilful, and stubborn; but not long after, as you
+know, he and his two brothers, Sir John and Sir James, fell into actual
+rebellion, in which the good knight, Sir William Drury, the Lord
+Justice, died, and he, as a malicious and unnatural rebel, still
+persisteth and liveth.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>In 1577 serious complications were threatened, in consequence of the
+pecuniary difficulties of the crown. An occasional subsidy had been
+granted hitherto for the support of the Government and the army; an
+attempt was now made to convert this subsidy into a tax. On previous
+occasions there had been some show of justice, however little reality,
+by permitting the Parliament to pass the grant; a scheme was now
+proposed to empower the Lord Deputy to levy assessments by royal
+authority, without any reference to Parliament. For the first time the
+Pale opposed the Government, and resisted the innovation. But their
+opposition was speedily and effectually silenced. The deputies whom they
+sent to London to remonstrate were committed to the Tower, and orders
+were despatched to Ireland that all who had signed the remonstrance
+should be consigned to Dublin Castle.</p>
+
+<p>It is said that Elizabeth was not without some misgivings as to the
+injustice with which her Irish subjects were treated, and that she was
+once so touched by the picture presented to her of their sufferings
+under such exactions, that she exclaimed: &quot;Ah, how I fear lest it be
+objected to us, as it was to Tiberius by Bato, concerning the Dalmatian
+commotions! You it is that are in fault, who have committed your flocks,
+not to shepherds, but to wolves.&quot; Nevertheless, the &quot;wolves&quot; were still
+permitted to plunder; and any impression made on the royal feelings
+probably evaporated under the fascinating influence of her next
+interview with Leicester, and the indignation excited by a &quot;rebel&quot; who
+refused to resign his ancestral home quietly to some penniless
+adventurer. There had been serious difficulties in England in 1462, in
+consequence of the shameful state of the current coin; and the Queen has
+received<a name="Page_437"></a> considerable praise for having accomplished a reform. But the
+idea, and the execution of the idea, originated with her incomparable
+minister, Cecil, whose master-mind applied itself with equal facility to
+every state subject, however trifling or however important; and the loss
+and expenditure which the undertaking involved, was borne by the country
+to the last penny. Mr. Froude says it was proposed that the &quot;worst money
+might be sent to Ireland, as the general dust-heap for the outcasting of
+England's vileness.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_440_441"></a><a href="#Footnote_440_441"><sup>[440]</sup></a> The standard for Ireland had always been under
+that of England, but the base proposal above-mentioned was happily not
+carried into execution. Still there were enough causes of misery in
+Ireland apart from its normal grievances. The Earl of Desmond wrote an
+elaborate and well-digested appeal to Lord Burleigh, complaining of
+military abuses, and assuring his Lordship that if he had &quot;sene them
+[the poor who were burdened with cess], he would rather give them
+charitable alms than burden them with any kind of chardge.&quot; He mentions
+specially the cruelty of compelling a poor man to carry for five, eight,
+or ten miles, on his back, as many sheaves as the &quot;horse-boies&quot; choose
+to demand of him; and if he goes not a &quot;good pace, though the poor soule
+be overburdened, he is all the waye beaten outt of all measure.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Cess was also commanded to be delivered at the &quot;Queen's price,&quot; which
+was considerably lower than the market price. Even Sidney was supposed
+to be too lenient in his exactions; but eventually a composition of
+seven years' purveyance, payable by instalments, was agreed upon, and
+the question was set at rest. The Queen and the English Council
+naturally feared to alienate the few nobles who were friendly to them,
+as well as the inhabitants of the Pale, who were as a majority in their
+interest.</p>
+
+<p>The Pale was kept in considerable alarm at this period, by the exploits
+of the famous outlaw, Rory Oge O'More. In 1577 he stole into Naas with
+his followers, and set the town on fire; after this exploit he retired,
+without taking any lives. He continued these depredations for eighteen
+years. In 1571 he was killed by one of MacGillapatrick's men, and the
+Pale was relieved from a most formidable source of annoyance. But the
+same year in which this brave outlaw terminated his career, is
+signalized by one of the most fearful acts of bloodshed and treachery on
+record. The heads of the<a name="Page_438"></a> Irish families of Offaly and Leix, whose
+extirpation had long been attempted unsuccessfully, were invited in the
+Queen's name, and under the Queen's protection, to attend a conference
+at the great rath on the hill of Mullach-Maistean (Mullamast). As soon
+as they had all assembled, they were surrounded by a treble line of the
+Queen's garrison soldiers, and butchered to a man in cold blood.</p>
+
+<p>This massacre was performed with the knowledge and approval of the
+Deputy, Sir Henry Sidney. The soldiers who accomplished the bloody work
+were commanded by Captain Francis Crosby, to whom the chief command of
+all the kerne in the Queen's pay was committed. We have already related
+some incidents in his career, which show how completely destitute he was
+of the slightest spark of humanity.<a name="FNanchor_441_442"></a><a href="#Footnote_441_442"><sup>[441]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>Sir Henry Sidney retired from office finally on the 26th of May, 1578.
+He dates his <i>Memoir</i> from &quot;Ludlow Castell, with more payne than harte,
+the 1st of March, 1582.&quot; In this document he complains bitterly of the
+neglect of his services by Government, and bemoans his losses in piteous
+strains. He describes himself as &quot;fifty-four yeres of age, toothlesse
+and trembling, being five thousand pounds in debt.&quot; He says he shall
+leave his sons &pound;20,000 worse off than his father left him. In one place
+he complains that he had not as much ground as would &quot;feede a mutton,&quot;
+and he evidently considers his services were worth an ampler
+remuneration; for he declares: &quot;I would to God the country was yet as
+well as I lefte it almost fyve yeres agoe.&quot; If he did not succeed in
+obtaining a large grant for his services, it certainly was not for want
+of asking it; and if he did not succeed in pacifying the country, it was
+not for lack of summary measures. Even in his postscript he mentions how
+he hanged a captain of Scots, and he thinks &quot;very nere twenty of his
+men.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>It seems almost needless to add anything to the official descriptions of
+Ireland, which have already been given in such detail;<a name="Page_439"></a> but as any remark
+from the poet Spenser has a special interest, I shall give some brief
+account of his <i>View of Ireland</i>. The work which bears this name is
+written with considerable prejudice, and abounds in misstatements. Like
+all settlers, he was utterly disgusted with the hardships he endured,
+though the poet's eye could not refuse its meed of admiration to the
+country in which they were suffered. His description of the miseries of
+the native Irish can scarcely be surpassed, and his description of the
+poverty of the country is epitomized in the well-known lines:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;Was never so great waste in any place,<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Nor so foul outrage done by living men;<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">For all the cities they shall sack and raze,<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">And the green grass that groweth they shall burn,<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">That even the wild beast shall die in starved den.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_442_443"></a><a href="#Footnote_442_443"><sup>[442]</sup></a><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Yet this misery never touched his heart; for the remedy he proposes
+poses for Irish sufferings is to increase them, if possible, a
+thousandfold; and he would have troops employed to &quot;tread down all
+before them, and lay on the ground all the stiff-necked people of the
+land.&quot; And this he would have done in winter, with a refinement of
+cruelty, that the bitter air may freeze up the half-naked peasant, that
+he may have no shelter from the bare trees, and that he may be deprived
+of all sustenance by the chasing and driving of his cows.</p>
+
+<p>It is probable that Spenser's &quot;view&quot; of Irish affairs was considerably
+embittered by his own sufferings there. He received his property on the
+condition of residence, and settled himself at Kilcolman Castle. Here he
+spent four years, and wrote the three first books of the <i>Faerie
+Queene</i>. He went to London with Sir Walter Raleigh to get them
+published. On his return he married a country girl, named Elizabeth&mdash;an
+act which was a disgrace to himself, if the Irish were what he described
+them to be. In 1598, during Tyrone's insurrection, his estate was
+plundered, his castle burned, and his youngest child perished in the
+flames. He then fled to London, where he died a year after in extreme
+indigence.</p>
+
+<p>His description of the condition of the Protestant Church coincides with
+the official account of Sidney. He describes the clergy as &quot;generally
+bad, licentious, and most disordered;&quot; and he adds: &quot;Whatever<a name="Page_440"></a>
+disorders<a name="FNanchor_443_444"></a><a href="#Footnote_443_444"><sup>[443]</sup></a> you see in the Church of England, you may find in
+Ireland, and many more, namely, gross simony, greedy covetousness,
+incontinence, and careless sloth.&quot; And then he contrasts the zeal of the
+Catholic clergy with the indifference of &quot;the ministers of the Gospel,&quot;
+who, he says, only take the tithes and offerings, and gather what fruit
+else they may of their livings.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/080.jpg" width="339" height="422" alt="THE HOUSE WHERE SIR WALTER RALEIGH LIVED." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>THE HOUSE WHERE SIR WALTER RALEIGH LIVED.</h4>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><br /><br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>
+
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/081.jpg" width="317" height="234" alt="SALTEE ISLANDS, WEXFORD." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>SALTEE ISLANDS, WEXFORD.</h4>
+
+<a name="Page_441"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXVII.</h2>
+
+<h4>FitzMaurice obtains Help from Spain and from Rome&mdash;The Martyrs of
+Kilmallock&mdash;Death of FitzMaurice&mdash;Drury's Cruelties and Death&mdash;Arrival
+of San Jos&eacute;&mdash;His Treachery&mdash;Massacre at the Fort del Ore&mdash;O'Neill shows
+Symptoms of Disaffection&mdash;Treacherous Capture of O'Donnell&mdash;Injustice to
+Tenants&mdash;O'Donnell attempts to Escape&mdash;O'Neill's Marriage with Mabel
+Bagnal&mdash;O'Donnell Escapes from Dublin Castle&mdash;Causes of
+Discontent&mdash;Cruel Massacre of Three Priests&mdash;Tortures and Death
+inflicted in Dublin on Bishop O'Hurley&mdash;O'Neill's Insurrection&mdash;His
+Interview with Essex&mdash;He marches to the South&mdash;His Fatal Reverse at
+Kinsale&mdash;The Siege of Dunboy&mdash;O'Neill's Submission&mdash;Foundation of
+Trinity College, Dublin, on the Site and with the Funds of a Catholic
+Abbey.</h4>
+
+<h5>[A.D. 1579-1605.]</h5>
+
+<img src="images/k.jpg" width="58" height="193" align="left" alt="E" title="" />
+<p>xaggerated rumours were now spread throughout
+Munster, of the probability of help from foreign sources&mdash;A.D. 1579.
+James FitzMaurice had been actively employed on the Continent in
+collecting troops and assistance for the Irish Catholics. In France his
+requests were politely refused, for Henry III. wished to continue on
+good terms with Elizabeth. Philip II. of Spain referred him to the Pope.
+In Rome he met with more encouragement; and at the solicitation of the
+Franciscan Bishop of Killaloe, Cornelius O'Mullrain, Dr. Allen, and Dr.
+Saunders, he obtained a Bull, encouraging the Irish to fight for the
+recovery of religious freedom, and for the liberation of their country.
+An expedition was fitted out at the<a name="Page_442"></a> expense of the Holy See, and
+maintained eventually by Philip of Spain. At the earnest request of
+FitzMaurice, an English adventurer, named Stukeley, was appointed
+admiral. The military command was bestowed on Hercules Pisano, a soldier
+of some experience.</p>
+
+<p>Stukeley was reported to be an illegitimate son of Henry VIII. He was a
+wild and lawless adventurer, and entirely unfitted for such a command.
+At Lisbon he forsook his squadron, and joined the expedition which
+Sebastian, the romantic King of Portugal, was preparing to send to
+Morocco. FitzMaurice had travelled through France to Spain, from whence
+he proceeded to Ireland, with a few troops. He had three small vessels
+besides his own, and on his way he captured two English ships. He was
+accompanied by Dr. Saunders,<a name="FNanchor_444_445"></a><a href="#Footnote_444_445"><sup>[444]</sup></a> as Legate, the Bishop of Killaloe, and
+Dr. Allen.<a name="FNanchor_445_446"></a><a href="#Footnote_445_446"><sup>[445]</sup></a> They were entirely ignorant of Stukeley's desertion
+until their arrival in Ireland. The squadron reached Dingle on the 17th
+of July, 1579. Eventually they landed at Smerwick Harbour, and threw
+themselves into the Fort del Ore, which they fortified as best they
+could. If the Earl of Desmond had joined his brother at once, the
+expedition might have ended differently; but he stood aloof, fearing to
+involve himself in a struggle, the issue of which could scarcely be
+doubtful.</p>
+
+<p>A short time before the arrival of this little expedition, three persons
+had landed in disguise at Dingle, whom Desmond, anxious to show his zeal
+towards the ruling powers, consigned to the authorities in Limerick.
+They were discovered to be Dr. Patrick O'Haly, a Franciscan, and Bishop
+of Mayo, and Father Cornelius O'Rourke; the name of the third person has
+not been ascertained. On Sir William Drury's arrival at Kilmallock, they
+were brought before him, and condemned to torture and death. The torture
+was executed with unusual barbarity, for Drury was a man who knew no
+mercy. The confessors were first placed upon the rack, and then, as if
+the agony of that torment was not sufficient, their hands and feet were
+broken with large hammers, and other torments were added. When life was
+nearly extinct, they were released, and their martyrdom was finally
+accomplished by hanging. For fourteen<a name="Page_443"></a> days their bodies remained
+suspended in chains, and the soldiers used them as targets in their
+shooting exercises.</p>
+
+<p>The Earl of Desmond, however, soon joined his brother. John Geraldine
+allied himself with the movement from its commencement. A second
+expedition was fitted out in Spain, which reached Ireland on the 13th of
+September, 1580. It was commanded by Colonel Sebastian San Jos&eacute;, who
+proved eventually so fearful a traitor to the cause he had volunteered
+to defend. Father Mathew de Oviedo, a member of the Franciscan Order,
+was the principal promoter of this undertaking. He was a native of
+Spain, and had been educated in the College of Salamanca, then famous
+for the learning and piety of its <i>alumni</i>. The celebrated Florence
+Conry, subsequently Archbishop of Tuam, was one of his companions; and
+when he entered the Franciscan novitiate, he had the society of eleven
+brethren who were afterwards elevated to the episcopate. Oviedo was the
+bearer of a letter from the Roman Pontiff, Gregory XIII., granting
+indulgences to those who joined the army.</p>
+
+<p>On the 18th of August, scarcely a month after he had landed in Ireland,
+James FitzMaurice was killed by Theobald and Ulick Burke, his own
+kinsmen. Their father, Sir William Burke, was largely rewarded for his
+loyalty in opposing the Geraldines; and, if Camden is to be believed, he
+died of joy in consequence of the favours heaped upon him. The death of
+FitzMaurice was a fatal blow to the cause. John Geraldine, however, took
+the command of the force; but the Earl hastened to Kilmallock to
+exculpate himself, as best he could, with the Lord Deputy. His apologies
+were accepted, and he was permitted to go free on leaving his only son,
+James, then a mere child, as hostage with Drury. The Geraldines were
+successful soon after in an engagement with the English; and Drury died
+in Waterford at the end of September. Ecclesiastical historians say that
+he had been cited by the martyrs of Kilmallock to meet them at Christ's
+judgment, and answer for his cruelties.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Nicholas Malby was left in command of the army, and Sir William
+Pelham was elected Lord Deputy in Dublin. The usual career of burning
+and plundering was enacted&mdash;&quot;the country was left one levelled plain,
+without corn or edifices.&quot; Youghal was burned to the ground, and the
+Mayor was hanged at his own door. James Desmond was hanged and
+quartered, by St. Leger and Raleigh, in Cork. Pelham signalized himself
+by cruelties, and executed<a name="Page_444"></a> a gentleman who had been blind from his
+birth, and another who was over a hundred years of age.</p>
+
+<p>But the crowning tragedy was at hand. The expedition commanded by San
+Jos&eacute; now arrived in Ireland. The Fort del Ore was once more occupied and
+strengthened; the courage of the insurgents was revived. Meanwhile Lord
+Grey was marching so southward with all possible haste. He soon reached
+the fort, and, at the same time, Admirals Winter and Bingham prepared to
+attack the place by sea. In a few days the courage of the Spanish
+commander failed, and he entered into treaty with the Lord Deputy. A
+bargain was made that he should receive a large share of the spoils. He
+had obtained a personal interview in the Viceroy's camp,<a name="FNanchor_446_447"></a><a href="#Footnote_446_447"><sup>[446]</sup></a> and the
+only persons for whom he made conditions were the Spaniards who had
+accompanied him on the expedition. The English were admitted to the
+fortress on the following day, and a feast was prepared for them. All
+arms and ammunition were consigned to the care of the English soldiers,
+and, this accomplished, the signal for massacre was given; and,
+according to Lord Grey's official<a name="FNanchor_447_448"></a><a href="#Footnote_447_448"><sup>[447]</sup></a> account, 600 men were slain in
+cold blood. So universal was the reprobation of this fearful tragedy,
+that Sir Richard Bingham tried to make it appear that it had not been
+premeditated. Grey's official despatch places the matter beyond
+question, and Dr. Saunders' letter supplies the details on authority
+which cannot be disputed.</p>
+
+<p>Three persons who had been treacherously given up to the Viceroy, were
+spared for special torments; those were&mdash;a priest named <a name="Page_445"></a>Lawrence, an
+Englishman named William Willick, and Oliver Plunket. They were offered
+liberty if they would renounce the faith; but on their resolute refusal,
+their legs and arms were broken in three places, and after they had been
+allowed to pass that night and the next day in torment, they were hanged
+and quartered. The State Papers confirm the account given by Saunders of
+these barbarities. The English officers now endeavoured to rival each
+other in acts of cruelty to obtain official commendation and royal
+favour. Sir Walter Raleigh was especially active in Cork, and brought a
+charge of treason against the Barrys and Roches, old English settlers;
+but Barry set fire to his castle, and took to the woods, where he joined
+Lord Desmond. Lord Roche was taken prisoner, but eventually escaped from
+his persecutors. Pretended plots were rumoured in all directions, and
+numbers of innocent persons were executed. William Burke was hanged in
+Galway, and forty-five persons were executed. The Geraldine cause was
+reduced to the lowest ebb by the treachery of Jos&eacute;. The Earl of Desmond
+and his sons were fugitives in their own country. The latter was offered
+pardon if he would surrender Dr. Saunders, the Papal Legate, but this he
+resolutely refused. Saunders continued his spiritual ministrations until
+he was entirely worn out with fatigue, and he died, at the close of the
+year 1581, in a miserable hovel in the woods of Claenglass. He was
+attended by the Bishop of Killaloe, from whom he received the last rites
+of the Church.</p>
+
+<p>Immense rewards were now offered for the capture of the Geraldine
+leaders, but their faithful followers would not be bribed. John was at
+length seized, through the intervention of a stranger. He was wounded in
+the struggle, and died immediately after; but his enemies wreaked their
+vengeance on his remains, which were gibbeted at Cork. The Earl of
+Desmond was assassinated on the 11th of November, 1583, and the hopeless
+struggle terminated with his death. He had been hunted from place to
+place like a wild beast, and, according to Hooker, obliged to dress his
+meat in one place, to eat it in another, and to sleep in a third. He was
+surprised, on one occasion, while his soldiers were cooking their
+mid-day meal, and five-and-twenty of his followers were put to the
+sword; but he escaped, and fled to Kerry, where he was apprehended ended
+and slain. His head was sent to Elizabeth, and impaled on London-bridge,
+according to the barbarous practice of the time. His body was interred
+in the little chapel of Kilnamaseagh,<a name="Page_446"></a> near Castleisland. Complaints of
+the extreme severity of Lord Grey's administration had been sent to the
+English court. Even English subjects declared that he had &quot;left her
+Majesty little to reign over but carcasses and ashes.&quot; He was therefore
+recalled. The administration was confided to Loftus, the Protestant
+Archbishop of Dublin, and Sir Henry Wallope, and an amnesty was
+proclaimed. Sir Thomas Norreys was appointed Governor of Munster, and
+Sir Richard Bingham, Governor of Connaught. In 1584 Sir John Perrot was
+made Deputy, and commenced his career by executing Beg O'Brien, who had
+taken an active part in the late insurrections, at Limerick, with a
+refinement of cruelty, as &quot;a warning to future evil-doers.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>In 1585 Perrot held a Parliament in Dublin, from which, however, no very
+important enactments proceeded. Its principal object appears to have
+been the confiscation of Desmond's estates. This was opposed by many of
+the members; but the crown was determined to have them, and the crown
+obtained them. Thus lands to the extent of 574,628 acres were ready for
+new adventurers. The most tempting offers were made to induce Englishmen
+to plant; estates were given for twopence an acre; rent was only to
+commence after three years. No Irish families were to be admitted as
+tenants, though their labours might be accepted or compelled. English
+families were to be substituted in certain proportions; and on these
+conditions, Raleigh, Hatton, Norris, St. Leger, and others, obtained
+large grants. The Irish question was to be settled finally, but somehow
+it was not settled, though no one seemed exactly prepared to say why.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Sir Richard Bingham was opposing the conciliatory policy of
+the Deputy, and hanged seventy persons at one session in Galway, in
+January, A.D. 1586. Perrot interfered; but the Burkes, who had been
+maddened by Bingham's cruelties, broke out into open rebellion; and he
+pointed to the revolt which he had himself occasioned, as a
+justification of his former conduct. The Scotch now joined the Burkes,
+but were eventually defeated by the President, the Irish annalists say,
+with the loss of 2,000 men. Another bloody assize was held in Galway,
+where young and old alike were victims.</p>
+
+<p>The state of Ulster was now giving considerable anxiety to the English
+Government. Hugh O'Neill was just commencing his famous career; and
+although he had fought under the English<a name="Page_447"></a> standard in Geraldine war, it
+was thought quite possible that he might set up a standard of his own.
+He had taken his seat in parliament as <i>Baron of Dungannon</i>. He had
+obtained the title of Earl of Tyrone. He had visited Elizabeth, and by a
+judicious mixture of flattery and deference, which she was never able to
+resist he obtained letters-patent under the Great Seal restoring his
+inheritance and his rank. He was even permitted, on his return, to keep
+up a standing army of six companies, &quot;to preserve the peace of the
+north.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>In 1586 a thousand soldiers were withdrawn from Ireland to serve in the
+Netherlands; and as the country was always governed by force, it could
+scarcely be expected not to rebel when the restraint was withdrawn.
+O'Neill manifested alarming symptoms of independence. He had married a
+daughter of Sir Hugh O'Donnell, and Sir Hugh refused to admit an English
+sheriff into his territory. The Government had, therefore, no resource
+but war or treachery. War was impossible, when so large a contingent had
+been withdrawn; treachery was always possible; and even Sir John Perrot
+stooped to this base means of attaining his end. The object was to get
+possession of Hugh Roe O'Donnell, a noble youth, and to keep him as
+hostage. The treachery was accomplished thus: a vessel, laden with
+Spanish wine, was sent to Donegal on pretence of traffic. It anchored at
+Rathmullen, where it had been ascertained that Hugh Roe O'Donnell was
+staying with his foster-father, MacSweeny. The wine was distributed
+plentifully to the country people; and when MacSweeny sent to make
+purchases, the men declared there was none left for sale, but if the
+gentlemen came on board, they should have what was left. Hugh and his
+companions easily fell into the snare. They were hospitably entertained,
+but their arms were carefully removed, the hatches were shut down, the
+cable cut, and the ship stood off to sea. The guests who were not wanted
+were put ashore, but the unfortunate youth was taken to Dublin, and
+confined in the Castle.<a name="FNanchor_448_449"></a><a href="#Footnote_448_449"><sup>[448]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>In 1588 Sir John Perrot was succeeded by Sir William FitzWilliam, a
+nobleman of the most opposite character and disposition. Perrot<a name="Page_448"></a> was
+generally regretted by the native Irish, as he was considered one of the
+most humane of the Lord Deputies. The wreck of the Spanish Armada
+occurred during this year, and was made at once an excuse for increased
+severity towards the Catholics, and for acts of grievous injustice. Even
+loyal persons were accused of harbouring the shipwrecked men, as it was
+supposed they might have obtained some treasure in return for their
+hospitality. FitzWilliam, according to Ware, wished to &quot;finger some of
+it himself,&quot; and invaded the territories of several Irish chieftains. A
+complete history of FitzWilliam's acts of injustice, and the consummate
+cruelty with which they were perpetrated, would be so painful to relate,
+that they can scarcely be recorded in detail. He farmed out the country
+to the highest bidders, who practised every possible extortion on the
+unfortunate natives. The favourite method of compelling them to yield up
+their lands without resistance, was to fry the soles of their feet in
+boiling brimstone and grease. When torture did not succeed, some unjust
+accusation was brought forward, and they were hanged. A tract preserved
+in Trinity College, Dublin, gives details of these atrocities, from
+which I shall only select one instance. A landlord was anxious to obtain
+the property of one of his tenants, an Irishman, who had lived
+&quot;peaceably and quietly, as a good subject,&quot; for many years. He agreed
+with the sheriff to divide the spoil with him, if he would assist in the
+plot. The man and his servant were seized; the latter was hanged, and
+the former was sent to Dublin Castle, to be imprisoned on some pretence.
+The gentleman and the sheriff at once seized the tenant's property, and
+turned his wife and children out to beg. After a short time, &quot;they, by
+their credit and countenance, being both English gentlemen, informed the
+Lord Deputy so hardly of him, as that, without indictment or trial, they
+executed him.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_449_450"></a><a href="#Footnote_449_450"><sup>[449]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>It was considered a grave reproach, and an evidence of barbarism, when
+Maguire sent word to the Lord Deputy, who wished to send a sheriff to
+Fermanagh: &quot;Your sheriff will be welcome, but let me know his eric [the
+fine which would be levied on the district if he were killed], that if
+my people cut off his head, I may levy it on the country.&quot; One other
+instance from another source will sufficiently prove that the dread of
+an English sheriff was well founded. The<a name="Page_449"></a> chieftain of Oriel, Hugh
+MacMahon, had given a present of 600 cows to the Lord Deputy to
+recognize his rights. Sir Henry Bagnal the Marshal of Ireland, had his
+head-quarters at Newry, where his property had been principally acquired
+by deeds of blood, and he wished for a share of the spoil. A charge of
+treason was made against MacMahon after the cows had been accepted; a
+jury of common soldiers was empannelled to try the case. A few were
+Irish, and they were locked up without food until they agreed to give
+the required verdict of guilty, while the English jurors were permitted
+to go in and out as they pleased. The unfortunate chieftain was hanged,
+in two days after his arrest, at his own door; his property was divided
+amongst those whom we must call his murderers. The MacMahon sept were,
+however, permitted to retain a portion on payment of a &quot;good fine,
+underhand,&quot; to the Lord Deputy.<a name="FNanchor_450_451"></a><a href="#Footnote_450_451"><sup>[450]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>In 1590, Hugh of the Fetters, an illegitimate son of the famous Shane
+O'Neill, was hanged by the Earl of Tyrone, for having made false charges
+against him to the Lord Deputy. This exercise of authority excited
+considerable fear, and the Earl was obliged to clear himself of blame
+before Elizabeth. After a brief detention in London, he was permitted to
+return to Ireland, but not until he had signed certain articles in the
+English interest, which he observed precisely as long as it suited his
+convenience. About this time his nephew, Hugh O'Donnell, made an
+ineffectual attempt to escape from Dublin Castle, but he was recaptured,
+and more closely guarded. This again attracted the attention of
+Government to the family; but a more important event was about to
+follow. O'Neill's wife was dead, and the chieftain was captivated by the
+beauty of Sir Henry Bagnal's sister. How they contrived to meet and to
+plight their vows is not known, though State Papers have sometimes
+revealed as romantic particulars. It has been discovered, however, from
+that invaluable source of information, that Sir Henry was furious, and
+cursed himself and his fate that his &quot;bloude, which had so often been
+spilled in reppressinge this rebellious race, should nowe be mingled
+with so traitorous a stocke and kindred.&quot; He removed the from Newry to
+her sister's house, near Dublin, who was the wife of Sir Patrick
+Barnwell. The Earl followed Miss Bagnal<a name="Page_450"></a> thither. Her brother-in-law
+received him courteously; and while the O'Neill engaged the family in
+conversation, a confidential friend rode off with the lady, who was
+married to O'Neill immediately after.</p>
+
+<p>But a crisis was approaching; and while this event tended to embitter
+the English officials against the Earl, a recurrence of outrages against
+the northern chieftains prepared them for revolt. One of their leading
+men, O'Rourke, was executed this year (A.D. 1591) in London. He had
+taken refuge in Scotland some time before, from those who wished to take
+his life, as the easiest method of securing his property, but the Scots
+had given him up to the English Government. He was said to be one of the
+handsomest and bravest men of his times, and his execution excited
+universal pity. The apostate, Miler Magrath, attempted to tamper with
+his faith in his last moments, but the chieftain bade him rather to
+repent himself and to return to the faith of his fathers.</p>
+
+<p>Hugh O'Donnell made another attempt to escape from confinement at
+Christmas, A.D. 1592. He succeeded on this occasion, though his life was
+nearly lost in the attempt. Turlough Roe O'Hagan, his father's faithful
+friend, was the principal agent in effecting his release. Henry and Art
+O'Neill, sons of Shane the Proud, were companions in his flight. They
+both fell exhausted on their homeward journey. Art died soon after, from
+the effects of fatigue and exposure, and Hugh recovered but slowly. He
+continued ill during the remainder of the winter, and was obliged to
+have his toes amputated. As soon as he was sufficiently recovered, a
+general meeting of his sept was convened, when he was elected to the
+chieftaincy, and inaugurated in the usual manner. He then commenced
+incursions on the territories occupied by the English; but as the Earl
+of Tyrone was anxious to prevent a premature rebellion, he induced the
+Lord Deputy to meet him at Dundalk, where he obtained a full pardon for
+his escape from Dublin Castle, and a temporary pacification was
+arranged.</p>
+
+<p>In 1593 he collected another army; Turlough Luineach resigned his
+chieftaincy to the Earl of Tyrone; and Ulster became wholly the
+possession of its old chieftains&mdash;the O'Neill and O'Donnell. An open
+rebellion broke out soon after, in consequence of the exactions of two
+English officers on the territories of Oge O'Rourke and Maguire. Several
+trifling engagements took place. The Earl of Tyrone was placed in a
+difficult position. He was obliged to join<a name="Page_451"></a> the English side, while his
+heart and inclination were with his own people; but he contrived to send
+a messenger to Hugh Roe, who had joined Maguire's party, requesting him
+not to fight against him. He was placed in a still greater difficulty at
+the siege of Enniskillen, which took place the following year; but he
+compromised matters by sending his brother, Cormac O'Neill, with a
+contingent, to fight on the national side. Cormac met the English
+soldiers, who had been sent to throw provisions into the town, almost
+five miles from their destination, and routed them with great slaughter.
+The site of the engagement was called the &quot;Ford of the Biscuits,&quot; from
+the quantity of that provision which he obtained there. An Irish
+garrison was left at Enniskillen, and the victorious party, after
+retaliating the cruelties which had been inflicted on the natives,
+marched into northern Connaught to attack Sir Richard Bingham.</p>
+
+<p>On the 11th of August, in this year, 1594, Sir William Russell was
+appointed Deputy in place of FitzWilliam. Tyrone appeared at the Castle
+soon after, and complained of the suspicions which were entertained of
+his loyalty, not, it is to be supposed, without a very clear personal
+conviction that they were well founded. The Viceroy would have received
+him favourably, but his old enemy, Bagnal, charged him with high
+treason. O'Neill's object was to gain time. He was unwilling to revolt
+openly, till he could do so with some prospect of success; and if his
+discretion was somewhat in advance of the average amount of that
+qualification as manifested by Irish chieftains hitherto, his valour
+redeemed him from all possible imputation of having made it an excuse
+for cowardice, or any conciliation with the &quot;English enemy,&quot; which was
+not warranted by motives of prudence.</p>
+
+<p>Tyrone now offered to clear himself by the ordeal of single combat with
+his adversary, but Bagnal declined the offer. The following year (A.D.
+1595), the new Deputy took O'Byrne's Castle, at Glenmalure. One of the
+Kildare Geraldines revenged the injuries done to this chieftain, by
+making nocturnal attacks in the neighbourhood of Dublin; but he was soon
+captured, and hanged in Dublin. These and similar outrages excited
+popular feeling to an unwonted degree; but there were other wrongs
+besides the robberies of chieftains' estates, and their subsequent
+murder if they resisted oppression. The men whose lives the Irish nation
+have always held even more sacred than those of their most ancient
+chiefs, were daily slaughtered before their eyes, and the slaughter was
+<a name="Page_452"></a>perpetrated with cruelties which were so utterly uncalled-for, so
+barbarously inhuman, that they might well have excited the burning
+indignation of a heathen or a Turk.</p>
+
+<p>These men were the priests of the old faith which the Irish had received
+so many hundred years before, and which neither death nor torments could
+induce them to forsake. I shall mention but two of these outrages,
+premising that there were few places in Ireland where similar scenes had
+not been enacted. In the year 1588 three Franciscan fathers were
+martyred, who had devoted themselves for some years previously to the
+spiritual necessities of the people. Many Catholic families from Carlow,
+Wexford, and Wicklow had been obliged to fly into the mountainous
+districts of Leinster, to escape further persecution. The three fathers,
+John Molloy, Cornelius Dogherty, and Wilfred Ferral, were unwearied in
+their ministrations. They spoke to these poor creatures of the true
+Home, where all their sufferings should be rewarded with eternal joy&mdash;of
+how wise it was to exchange the passing things of time for the enduring
+goods of eternity; they visited the sick, they consoled the dying; above
+all, they administered those life-giving sacraments so precious to the
+Catholic Christian; and if, like the holy martyrs, persecuted by heathen
+emperors, they were obliged to offer the adorable sacrifice on a rock or
+in a poor hut, it was none the less acceptable to God, and none the less
+efficacious to the worshippers. These shepherds of the flock were
+specially obnoxious to the Government. They preached patience, but they
+were accused of preaching rebellion; they confirmed their people in
+their faith, but this was supposed to be equivalent to exciting them to
+resist their oppressors. The three fathers were at last seized by a
+party of cavalry, in a remote district of the Queen's county. They were
+tied hand and foot, and conducted with every species of ignominy to the
+garrison of Abbeyleix. Here they were first flogged, then racked, and
+finally hanged<a name="FNanchor_451_452"></a><a href="#Footnote_451_452"><sup>[451]</sup></a>, drawn, and quartered. The soldiers, brutalized as
+man can be brutalized by familiarity with scenes of blood, scoffed at
+the agonies they inflicted, and hardened themselves for fresh
+barbarities. But there were men who stood by to weep and pray; and
+though they were obliged to conceal their tears, and to breathe their
+prayers softly into the eternal and ever-open<a name="Page_453"></a> ear of God, the lash which
+mangled the bodies of the men they revered lacerated their souls yet
+more deeply; and as they told to others the tale of patient suffering
+endured for Christ and His Church, the hearts of the people were bound
+yet closer to their faithful pastors, and they clung yet more ardently
+to the religion which produced such glorious examples.</p>
+
+<p>The other execution is, if possible, more barbarous. If the duty of an
+historian did not oblige me to give such details, I would but too gladly
+spare you the pain of reading and myself the pain of writing them. The
+name of Dermod O'Hurley has ever stood prominent in the roll of Irish
+martyrs. He was a man of more than ordinary learning, and of refined and
+cultivated tastes; but he renounced even the pure pleasures of
+intellectual enjoyments for the poor of Christ, and received for his
+reward the martyr's crown. After he had taught philosophy in Louvain and
+rhetoric at Rheims, he went to Rome, where his merit soon attracted the
+attention of Gregory XIII., who appointed him to the see of Cashel.
+O'Sullivan describes his personal appearance as noble and imposing, and
+says that &quot;none more mild had ever held the crozier of St. Cormac.&quot; His
+position was not an enviable one to flesh and blood; but to one who had
+renounced all worldly ties, and who only desired to suffer like his
+Lord, it was full of promise. His mission was soon discovered; and
+though he complied with the apostolic precept of flying, when he was
+persecuted, from one city to another, he was at last captured, and then
+the long-desired moment had arrived when he could openly announce his
+mission and his faith.</p>
+
+<p>When he had informed his persecutors that he was a priest and an
+archbishop, they at once consigned him to &quot;a dark and loathsome prison,
+and kept him there bound in chains till the Holy Thursday of the
+following year (1584).&quot; He was then summoned before the Protestant
+Archbishop Loftus and Wallop. They tempted him with promises of pardon,
+honour, and preferment; they reasoned with him, and urged all the usual
+arguments of heretics against his faith; but when all had failed, they
+declared their determination to use &quot;other means to change his purpose.&quot;
+They did use them-they failed. But these were the means: the Archbishop
+was again heavily ironed. He was remanded to prison. His persecutors
+hastened after him; and on the evening of Thursday, May 5, 1584, they
+commenced their cruel work. They tied him firmly to a tree, as his Lord
+had once been tied. His hands were bound,<a name="Page_454"></a> his body chained, and then his
+feet and legs were thrust into long boots, filled with oil, turpentine,
+and pitch, and stretched upon an iron grate, under which a slow fire was
+kindled. The spectacle which was exhibited when the instruments of
+torture were withdrawn has been described, but I cannot write the
+description. What sufferings he must have endured during that long
+night, no words could tell. Again he was tempted with the offer of
+earthly honours, and threatened with the vengeance of prolonged
+tortures. Through all his agony he uttered no word of complaint, and his
+countenance preserved its usual serene and tranquil expression. His
+sister was sent to him, as a last resource, to tempt him to apostatize,
+but he only bade her ask God's forgiveness for the crime she had
+committed. Meanwhile, the cruelties which had been executed on him
+became known; public feeling, as far as it was Catholic, was excited;
+and it was determined to get rid of the sufferer quietly. At early dawn
+of Friday, May 6, 1584, he was carried out to the place now called
+Stephen's-green, where what remained of human life was quickly
+extinguished, first by putting him again to torture, and then by
+hanging.</p>
+
+<p>O'Neill had hitherto acted merely on the defensive; but the memory of
+the events just related was still fresh in the minds of thousands, and
+it was generally felt that some effort must be made for freedom of
+conscience, if not for deliverance from political oppression. A
+conference was held at Dundalk. Wallop, the Treasurer, whose name has
+been so recently recorded in connexion with the torture of the
+Archbishop, and Gardiner, the Chief Justice, received the
+representatives of the northern chieftains, but no important results
+followed.</p>
+
+<p>In 1598 another conference was held, the intervening years having been
+spent in mutual hostilities, in which, on the whole, the Irish had the
+advantage. O'Neill's tone was proud and independent; he expected
+assistance from Spain, and he scorned to accept a pardon for what he did
+not consider a crime. The Government was placed in a difficult position.
+The prestige of O'Neill and O'Donnell was becoming every day greater. On
+the 7th of June, 1598, the Earl laid siege to the fort of the
+Blackwater, then commanded by Captain Williams, and strongly fortified.
+Reinforcements were sent to the besieged from England, but they were
+attacked <i>en route</i> by the Irish, and lost 400 men at Dungannon. At last
+the Earl of Ormonde and Bagnal determined to take up arms&mdash;the former<a name="Page_455"></a>
+marching against the Leinster insurgents; the latter, probably but too
+willing, set out to encounter his old enemy and brother-in-law. He
+commanded a fine body of men, and had but little doubt on which side
+victory should declare itself.</p>
+
+<p>The contingent set out for Armagh on the 14th of August, and soon
+reached the Yellow Ford, about two miles from that city, where the main
+body of the Irish had encamped. They were at once attacked on either
+flank by skirmishers from the hostile camp; but the vanguard of the
+English army advanced gallantly to the charge, and were soon in
+possession of the first entrenchments of the enemy. Although Bagnal's
+personal valour is unquestionable, he was a bad tactician. His leading
+regiment was cut to pieces before a support could come up; his divisions
+were too far apart to assist each other. Bagnal raised the visor of his
+helmet for one moment, to judge more effectually of the scene of combat,
+and that moment proved his last. A musket ball pierced his forehead, and
+he fell lifeless to the ground. Almost at the same moment an ammunition
+waggon exploded in his ranks&mdash;confusion ensued. O'Neill took advantage
+of the panic; he charged boldly; and before one o'clock the rout had
+become general.</p>
+
+<p>The English officers and their men fled to Armagh, and shut themselves
+up in the Cathedral; but they had left twenty-three officers and 1,700
+rank and file dead or dying on the field. &quot;It was a glorious victory for
+the rebels,&quot; says Camden, &quot;and of special advantage; for thereby they
+got both arms and provisions, and Tyrone's name was cried up all over
+Ireland.&quot; Ormonde thought that the &quot;devil had bewitched Bagnal,&quot; to
+leave his men unsupported; the Irish annalists thought that Providence
+had interfered wonderfully on their behalf.<a name="FNanchor_452_453"></a><a href="#Footnote_452_453"><sup>[452]</sup></a> O'Neill retired for a
+time to recruit his forces, and to rest his men; and a revolt was
+organized under his auspices in Munster, with immense success. O'Donnell
+was making rapid strides; but a new Viceroy was on his way to Ireland,
+and it was hoped by the royalist party that he would change the aspect
+of affairs.</p>
+
+<p>Essex arrived on the 15th of April, 1599. He had an army of 20,000 foot
+and 2,000 horse&mdash;the most powerful, if not the best<a name="Page_456"></a> equipped force ever
+sent into the country. He at once issued a proclamation, offering pardon
+to all the insurgents who should submit, and he despatched
+reinforcements to the northern garrison towns, and to Wicklow and Naas.
+He then marched southward not without encountering a sharp defeat from
+Rory O'More. Be attacked the Geraldines, without much success, in Fermoy
+and Lismore, having, on the whole, lost more than he had accomplished by
+the expedition. An engagement took place between O'Donnell and Sir
+Conyers Clifford, in the pass of Balloghboy, on the 16th of August, in
+which Conyers was killed, and his army defeated. His body was recognized
+by the Irish, towards whom he had always acted honorably, and they
+interred the remains of their brave and noble enemy with the respect
+which was justly due to him.</p>
+
+<p>Essex wrote to England for more troops, and his enemies were not slow to
+represent his incapacity, and to demand his recall: but he had not yet
+lost grace with his royal mistress, and his request was granted. The
+Viceroy now marched into the northern provinces. When he arrived at the
+Lagan, where it bounds Louth and Monaghan, O'Neill appeared on the
+opposite hill with his army, and sent the O'Hagan, his faithful friend
+and attendant, to demand a conference. The interview took place on the
+following day; and O'Neill, with chivalrous courtesy, dashed into the
+river on his charger, and there conversed with the English Earl, while
+he remained on the opposite bank. It was supposed that the Irish
+chieftain had made a favourable impression on Essex, and that he was
+disposed to conciliate the Catholics. He was obliged to go to England to
+clear himself of these charges; and his subsequent arrest and execution
+would excite more sympathy, had he been as amiable in his domestic
+relations as he is said to have been in his public life.</p>
+
+<p>Ulster enjoyed a brief period of rest under the government of its native
+princes. In 1600 O'Neill proceeded southward, laying waste the lands of
+the English settlers, but promoting the restoration of churches and
+abbeys, and assisting the clergy and the native Irish in every possible
+way. Having lost Hugh Maguire, one of his best warriors, in an
+accidental engagement with St. Leger, the President of Munster, he
+determined to return to Ulster. A new Viceroy had just arrived in
+Ireland, and he attempted to cut off his retreat ineffectually.</p>
+
+<p>O'Neill had now obtained a position of considerable importance, and one
+which he appears to have used invariably for the general<a name="Page_457"></a> good. The fame
+of his victories<a name="FNanchor_453_454"></a><a href="#Footnote_453_454"><sup>[453]</sup></a> had spread throughout the Continent. It was well
+known now that the Irish had not accepted Protestant Reformation, and it
+appeared as if there was at last some hope of permanent peace in
+Ireland.</p>
+<a name="Interview_between_Essex_and_ONeill"></a>
+<center>
+<img src="images/082.jpg" width="481" height="636" alt="Interview between Essex and O&#39;Neill" title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>Interview between Essex and O&#39;Neill</h4>
+
+<p>Sir George Carew was sent over as President of Munster. He has left an
+account of his exploits in the <i>Pacata Hibernia</i>, which are not much to
+the credit of his humanity, but which he was pleased to consider refined
+strokes of policy. The English Government not only countenanced his
+acts, but gave the example of a similar line of conduct. James, son of
+Gerald, Earl of Desmond, who had long been imprisoned in London, was now
+sent to Ireland, and a patent, restoring his title and estates, was
+forwarded to Carew, with private instructions that it should be used or
+not, as might be found expedient. The people flocked with joy to meet
+the heir of the ancient house, but their enthusiasm was soon turned into
+contempt. He arrived on a Saturday, and on Sunday went to the Protestant
+service, for he had been educated in the new religion in London. His
+people were amazed; they fell on their knees, and implored him not to
+desert the faith of his fathers; but he was ignorant of their language
+as well as of their creed. Once this was understood, they showed how
+much dearer that was to them than even the old ties of kindred, so
+revered in their island; and his return from prayers was hailed by
+groans and revilings. The hapless youth was found to be useless to his
+employers; he was therefore taken back to London, where he died soon
+after of a broken heart.</p>
+
+<p>Attempts were made to assassinate O'Neill in 1601. &pound;2,000 was offered to
+any one who would capture him alive; &pound;1,000 was offered for his head;
+but none of his own people could be found to play the traitor even for
+so high a stake. The &quot;Sugane Earl&quot; was treacherously captured about the
+end of August, and was sent to London in chains, with Florence
+MacCarthy. But the long-expected aid from Spain had at last arrived. The
+fleet conveyed a force of 3,000 infantry, and entered the harbour of
+Kinsale on the 23rd of September, under the command of Don Juan
+d'Aquila. It would appear<a name="Page_458"></a> as if Spanish expeditions were not destined to
+succeed on Irish soil for only part of the expedition arrived safely,
+and they had the misfortune to land in the worst situation, and to
+arrive after the war had ceased. The northern chieftains set out at once
+to meet their allies when informed of their arrival; and O'Donnell, with
+characteristic impetuosity, was the first on the road. Carew attempted
+to intercept him, but despaired of coming up with &quot;so swift-footed a
+general,&quot; and left him to pursue his way unmolested.</p>
+
+<p>The Lord Deputy was besieging Kinsale, and Carew joined him there. The
+siege was continued through the month of November during which time
+fresh reinforcements came from Spain; and on the 21st of December,
+O'Neill arrived with all his force. Unfortunately, the Spanish general
+had become thoroughly disgusted with the enterprise; and, although the
+position of the English was such that the Lord Deputy had serious
+thoughts of raising the siege, he insisted on decisive measures; and
+O'Neill was obliged to surrender his opinion, which was entirely against
+this line of action. A sortie was agreed upon for a certain night; but a
+youth in the Irish camp, who had been in the President's service
+formerly, warned him of the intended attack. This was sufficient in
+itself to cause the disaster which ensued. But there were other
+misfortunes. O'Neill and O'Donnell lost their way; and when they reached
+the English camp at dawn, found the soldiers under arms, and prepared
+for an attack. Their cavalry at once charged, and the new comers in vain
+struggled to maintain their ground, and a retreat which they attempted
+was turned into a total rout.</p>
+
+<p>A thousand Irish were slain, and the prisoners were hanged without
+mercy. The loss on the English side was but trifling. It was a fatal
+blow to the Irish cause. Heavy were the hearts and bitter the thoughts
+of the brave chieftains on that sad night. O'Neill no longer hoped for
+the deliverance of his country; but the more sanguine O'Donnell proposed
+to proceed at once to Spain, to explain their position to King Philip.
+He left Ireland in a Spanish vessel three days after the battle&mdash;if
+battle it can be called; and O'Neill marched rapidly back to Ulster with
+Rory O'Donnell, to whom Hugh Roe had delegated the chieftaincy of
+Tir-Connell.</p>
+
+<p>D'Aquila, whose haughty manners had rendered him very unpopular, now
+surrendered to Mountjoy, who received his submission with respect, and
+treated his army honorably. According to one account, the Spaniard had
+touched some English gold, and had thus<a name="Page_459"></a> been induced to desert the Irish
+cause; according to other authorities, he challenged the Lord Deputy to
+single combat, and wished them to decide the question at issue. In the
+meantime, O'Sullivan Beare contrived to get possession of his own Castle
+of Dunboy, by breaking into the wall at the dead of night, while the
+Spanish garrison were asleep, and then declaring that he held the
+fortress for the King of Spain, to whom he transferred his allegiance.
+Don Juan offered to recover it for the English by force of arms; but the
+Deputy, whose only anxiety was to get him quietly out of the country,
+urged his immediate departure. He left Ireland on the 20th of February;
+and the suspicions of his treachery must have had some foundation, for
+he was placed under arrest as soon as he arrived in Spain.</p>
+
+<p>The siege of Dunboy is one of the most famous and interesting episodes
+in Irish history. The castle was deemed almost impregnable from its
+situation; and every argument was used with Sir George Carew to induce
+him to desist from attacking it. It was then, indeed&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;Dunboy, the proud, the strong,<br /></span>
+<span>The Saxon's hate and trouble long.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_454_455"></a><a href="#Footnote_454_455"><sup>[454]</sup></a><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>But the Lord Deputy had resolved that it should be captured. The Lord
+President considered the enterprise would be by no means difficult, for
+&quot;he declared that he would plant the ordnance without the losse of a
+man; and within seven dayes after the battery was begun, bee master of
+all that place.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_455_456"></a><a href="#Footnote_455_456"><sup>[455]</sup></a> There was considerable delay in the arrival of the
+shipping which conveyed the ordnance, and operations did not commence
+until the 6th of June. The defence of the castle was intrusted by
+O'Sullivan to Richard MacGeoghegan. The chief himself was encamped with
+Tyrrell in the interior of the country. The soldiers were tempted, and
+the governor was tempted, but neither flinched for an instant from their
+duty. The garrison only consisted of 143 fighting men, with a few pieces
+of cannon. The besieging army was about 3,000 strong, and they were
+amply supplied with ammunition. On the 17th of June, when the castle was
+nearly shattered to pieces, its brave defenders offered to surrender if
+they were allowed to depart with their arms; but the only reply
+vouchsafed was to hang their messenger, and to commence an assault.</p><a name="Page_460"></a>
+
+<p>The storming party were resisted for an entire day with undaunted
+bravery. Their leader was mortally wounded, and Taylor took the command.
+The garrison at last retreated into a cellar into which the only access
+was a narrow flight of stone steps, and where nine barrels of gunpowder
+were stored. Taylor declared he would blow up the place if life were not
+promised to those who surrendered. Carew refused, and retired for the
+night, after placing a strong guard over the unfortunate men. The
+following morning he sent cannon-ball in amongst them, and Taylor was
+forced by his companions to yield without conditions. As the English
+soldiers descended the steps, the wounded MacGeoghegan staggered towards
+the gunpowder with a lighted candle, and was in the act of throwing it
+in, when he was seized by Captain Power, and in another moment he was
+massacred. Fifty-eight of those who had surrendered were hanged
+immediately; a few were reserved to see if they could be induced to
+betray their old companions, or to renounce their faith; but as they
+&quot;would not endeavour to merit life&quot;<a name="FNanchor_456_457"></a><a href="#Footnote_456_457"><sup>[456]</sup></a> they were executed without
+mercy. One of these prisoners was a Father Dominic Collins. He was
+executed in Youghal, his native town&mdash;a most unwise proceeding; for his
+fate was sure to excite double sympathy in the place where he was known,
+and, consequently, to promote double disaffection.<a name="FNanchor_457_458"></a><a href="#Footnote_457_458"><sup>[457]</sup></a> O'Sullivan Beare
+assigns the 31st of October as the day of his martyrdom.</p>
+
+<p>The fall of Dunboy was a fatal blow to the national cause. The news soon
+reached Spain. Hugh O'Donnell had been warmly received there; but the
+burst of grief which his people uttered when they saw him departing from
+his native land, was his death-keen, for he did not long survive his
+voluntary expatriation. The war might now be considered over&mdash;at least,
+until the victims recovered courage to fight once more for their own;
+but the victims had to be taught how dearly they should pay for each
+attempt at national independence. Captain Harvey was sent to Carberry,
+&quot;to purge the country of rebels&quot;<a name="FNanchor_458_459"></a><a href="#Footnote_458_459"><sup>[458]</sup></a> by martial law. Wilmot was sent to
+Kerry, with orders to extirpate whole districts, which arrangement<a name="Page_461"></a> is
+called &quot;settling the country,&quot; in the official document from which I
+quote. On one occasion a number of wounded Irish soldiers were found,
+who are described as &quot;hurt and sick men;&quot; they were at massacred, and
+this is called putting them out of pain.<a name="FNanchor_459_460"></a><a href="#Footnote_459_460"><sup>[459]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>Donnell O'Sullivan now found his position hopeless, and commenced his
+famous retreat to Leitrim. He set out with about 1,000 people, of whom
+only 400 were fighting men; the rest were servants, women, and children.
+He fought all the way, and arrived at his destination with only
+thirty-five followers.<a name="FNanchor_460_461"></a><a href="#Footnote_460_461"><sup>[460]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>O'Neill now stood merely on the defensive. The land was devastated by
+famine; Docwra, Governor of Derry, had planted garrisons at every
+available point; and Mountjoy plundered Ulster. In August he prepared to
+attack O'Neill with a large army, and, as he informs Cecil, &quot;by the
+grace of God, as near as he could, utterly to waste the country of
+Tyrone.&quot; O'Neill had now retired to a fastness at the extremity of Lough
+Erne, attended by his brother, Cormac Art O'Neill, and MacMahon.
+Mountjoy followed him, but could not approach nearer than twelve miles;
+he therefore returned to Newry. In describing this march to Cecil, he
+says: &quot;O'Hagan protested to us, that between Tullaghoge and Toome there
+lay unburied 1,000 dead.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The news of O'Donnell's death had reached Ireland; and his brother
+submitted to the Deputy. In 1603 Sir Garret More entered into
+negotiations with O'Neill, which ended in his submitting also. The
+ceremony took place at Mellifont, on the 31st of March. Queen Elizabeth
+had expired, more miserably than many of the victims who had been
+executed in her reign, on the 24th of March; but the news was carefully
+concealed until O'Neill had made terms with the Viceroy.</p>
+
+<p>Trinity College, Dublin, was founded during this reign. Sir John Perrot
+had proposed to convert St. Patrick's Cathedral into an university; but
+Loftus, the Protestant Archbishop, would not allow it, because,
+according to Leland, &quot;he was particularly interested in<a name="Page_462"></a> the livings of
+this church, by leases and estates, which he had procured for himself
+and his kinsmen.&quot; When the Deputy, whom he cordially hated, had been
+withdrawn, he proposed a plan which gave him the credit of the
+undertaking without any expenditure on his part. The site he selected
+was in what was then called Hogges-green, now College-green; and the
+place was the &quot;scite, ambit and presinct&quot;<a name="FNanchor_461_462"></a><a href="#Footnote_461_462"><sup>[461]</sup></a> of the Augustinian
+Monastery of All Saints, which had been founded by Dermod MacMurrough,
+King of Leinster, A.D. 1166. Dr. Loftus, after obtaining this grant, and
+such rents as still belonged to the old Catholic monastery, endeavoured
+to raise a subscription to supply the further funds still necessary to
+complete the work. In this he signally failed; for those to whom he
+applied excused themselves on the plea of poverty. Other funds were
+therefore sought for, and easily obtained; and the revenues of some
+suppressed Catholic houses in Kerry, Mayo, and Ulster, were taken to
+endow and erect the Protestant University.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/083.jpg" width="432" height="339" alt="RUIN&mdash;BLACKWATER." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>RUIN&mdash;BLACKWATER.</h4>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><br /><br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>
+<center>
+<img src="images/084.jpg" width="466" height="282" alt="TULLY CASTLE, COUNTY
+FERMANAGH." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>TULLY CASTLE, COUNTY FERMANAGH.</h4>
+
+<a name="Page_463"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h2>
+
+<h4>Accession of King James&mdash;Joy of the Irish Catholics&mdash;Their
+Disappointment&mdash;Bishops, Priests, and Laity imprisoned for the
+Faith&mdash;Paul V. encourages the Catholics to Constancy&mdash;Plot to entrap
+O'Neill and O'Donnell&mdash;Flight of the Earls&mdash;Ulster is left to the Mercy
+of the English Nation&mdash;The Plantation commences&mdash;Chichester's
+Parliament, and how he obtained Members&mdash;Death of James I., and
+Accession of Charles&mdash;The Hopes of the Catholics are raised again&mdash;They
+offer a large sum of Money to obtain &quot;Graces&quot;&mdash;It is accepted, and the
+&quot;Graces&quot; are treacherously refused&mdash;The Plantation of Connaught&mdash;How
+Obedience was enforced and Resistance punished&mdash;Conspiracy to seize
+Dublin&mdash;Sir Phelim O'Neill-Massacre of Island Magee.</h4>
+
+<h5>[A.D. 1605-1642.]</h5>
+
+<img src="images/w.jpg" width="68" height="256" align="left" alt="G" title="" />
+<p>reat was the joy of the Irish nation when James the First of England
+and the Sixth of Scotland ascended the throne. The people supposed him
+to be a Catholic in heart, and a prince in feeling. They should have
+judged less favourably of one who could see his mother sacrificed
+without making one real effort to avert her doom. His weakness,
+obstinacy, and duplicity, helped to prepare the way for the terrible
+convulsion of English society, whose origin was the great religious
+schism, which, by lessening national respect for the altar, undermined
+national respect for the throne.</p>
+
+<p>The Irish Catholics, only too ready to rejoice in the faintest gleam of
+hope, took possession of their<a name="Page_464"></a> own churches, and hoped they might
+practise their religion openly. The Cathedral of Limerick was
+re-dedicated by Richard Arthur, the Cathedral of Cork and Cloyne by
+Robert Urigh, the Metropolitan Church of Cashel by Thomas Rachtar, the
+churches of Wexford by John Coppinger. Dr. White restored himself the
+churches of Clonmel, Kilkenny, and Ross, and other clergymen acted in
+like manner in other places. But the most open and remarkable
+manifestation of devotion to the old faith was in Cork, always famous
+for its Catholicity, for the generosity of its people, and their special
+devotion to literature and religion. All the Protestant Bibles and
+Prayer-books were publicly and solemnly burned, the churches were
+hallowed, and Smith says: &quot;They had a person named a Legate from the
+Pope [Dr. Moran, who quotes this passage, supposes him to have been a
+Vicar-Apostolic], who went about in procession with a cross, and forced
+people to reverence it. They buried the dead with the Catholic
+ceremonies; and numbers took the sacrament to defend that religion with
+their lives and fortunes.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_462_463"></a><a href="#Footnote_462_463"><sup>[462]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>But the Catholics were soon undeceived. King James drank &quot;to the eternal
+damnation of the Papists&quot;<a name="FNanchor_463_464"></a><a href="#Footnote_463_464"><sup>[463]</sup></a> solemnly at a public dinner, no doubt to
+convince the sceptical of his Protestantism; and he divided his time
+very equally between persecuting the Puritans and the Catholics, when
+not occupied with his pleasures or quarrelling with his Parliament. The
+Puritans, however, had the advantage; popular opinion in England was on
+their side; they were sufficiently wealthy to emigrate if they pleased:
+while the Catholics were not only unpopular, but hated, and utterly
+impoverished by repeated fines and exactions.</p>
+
+<p>James' conduct on his accession was sufficiently plain. He was
+proclaimed in Dublin on the 28th September, 1605. A part of his
+proclamation ran thus: &quot;We hereby make known to our subjects in Ireland,
+that no toleration shall ever be granted by us. This we do for the
+purpose of cutting off all hope that any other religion shall be
+allowed, save that which is consonant to the laws and statutes of this
+realm.&quot; The penal statutes were renewed, and enforced with increased
+severity. Several members of the Corporation and some of the principal
+citizens of Dublin were sent to prison; similar outrages on religious
+liberty were perpetrated at Waterford, Ross, and<a name="Page_465"></a> Limerick. In some cases
+these gentlemen were only asked to attend the Protestant church once,
+but they nobly refused to act against their conscience even once, though
+it should procure them freedom from imprisonment, or even from death.
+The Vicar-Apostolic of Waterford and Lismore wrote a detailed account of
+the sufferings of the Irish nation for the faith at this period to
+Cardinal Baronius. His letter is dated &quot;Waterford, 1st of May, 1606.&quot; He
+says: &quot;There is scarcely a spot where Catholics can find a safe retreat.
+The impious soldiery, by day and night, pursue the defenceless priests,
+and mercilessly persecute them. Up to the present they have only
+succeeded in seizing three: one is detained in Dublin prison, another in
+Cork, and the third, in my opinion, is the happiest of all triumphing in
+heaven with Christ our Lord; for in the excess of the fury of the
+soldiery, without any further trial or accusation, having expressed
+himself to be a priest, he was hanged upon the spot.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>He then narrates the sufferings of the Catholic laity, many of whom he
+says are reduced to &quot;extreme poverty and misery;&quot; &quot;if they have any
+property, they are doubly persecuted by the avaricious courtiers.&quot; But
+so many have given a glorious testimony of their faith, he thinks their
+enemies and persecutors have gained but little. Thus, while one party
+was rejoicing in their temporal gain, the other was rejoicing in
+temporal loss; and while the former were preaching liberty of conscience
+as their creed, the latter were martyrs to it.</p>
+
+<p>Another letter to Rome says: &quot;2,000 florins are offered for the
+discovery of a Jesuit, and 1,000 for the discovery of any other priest,
+or even of the house where he lives. Whenever the servants of any of the
+clergy are arrested, they are cruelly scourged with whips, until they
+disclose all that they know about them. Bodies of soldiers are dispersed
+throughout the country in pursuit of bandits and priests; and all that
+they seize on, they have the power, by martial law, of hanging without
+further trial. They enter private house, and execute whom they please,
+vieing with each other in cruelty. It is difficult to define the precise
+number of those who are thus put to death. All who are greedy and
+spend-thrifts, seek to make a prey of the property of Catholics. No
+doors, walls, no enclosures can stop them in their course. Whatever is
+for profane use they profess to regard as sacred, and bear it off; and
+whatever is sacred they seize on to desecrate. Silver cups are called<a name="Page_466"></a>
+chalices, and gems are designated as <i>Agnus Deis</i>: and all are,
+therefore, carried away. There are already in prison one bishop, one
+vicar-general, some religious, very many priests, and an immense number
+of the laity of every class and condition. In one city alone five of the
+aldermen were thrown into prison successively, for refusing to take the
+nefarious oath of allegiance, on their being nominated to the mayoralty;
+in another city, no less than thirty were likewise thrust into prison at
+Easter last, for having approached the holy communion in the Catholic
+Church.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The Catholics protested against this treatment in vain. A petition was
+considered an offence, and the petitioners were sent to gaol for their
+pains.</p>
+
+<p>In 1611 the Bishop of Down and Connor was executed in Dublin. He had
+been seized, in 1587, by Perrot, and thrown into prison. He was released
+in 1593, and, according to Dr. Loftus, he took the oath of supremacy.
+This statement, however, is utterly incredible, for he devoted himself
+to his flock immediately after his release, and continued to administer
+the sacraments to them at the risk of his life, until June, 1611, when
+he was again arrested in the act of administering the sacrament of
+confirmation to a Catholic family. Father O'Luorchain was imprisoned
+with him, and they were both sentenced and executed together. At the
+trial the Bishop declared that the oath of spiritual supremacy was
+impious, and said that his enemies could not thirst more eagerly for his
+blood than he himself was desirous to shed it for Christ his Redeemer.
+This venerable prelate had attained his eightieth year, but he was full
+of the vigour of saintly heroism. When on the scaffold he asked the
+executioner to allow him to be the last victim, as he wished to spare
+Father O'Luorchain the terrible spectacle of his sufferings. But the
+good priest was not behind the Franciscan bishop in his zeal, and he
+exclaimed, with a touching grace of courtesy, which the occasion made
+sublime, that &quot;it was not fitting for a bishop to be without a priest to
+attend him, and he would follow him without fear.&quot; And he did follow
+him, for the Bishop went first to his crown.</p>
+
+<p>There was great difficulty in procuring any one who would carry out the
+sentence. The executioner fled, and could not be found when he learned
+on whom he was to do his office. At last an English culprit, under
+sentence of death, undertook the bloody work, on a promise that his own
+life should be granted as his reward.</p><a name="Page_467"></a>
+
+<p>Communications with Rome were still as frequent and as intimate as they
+had ever been since Ireland received the faith at the hands of the great
+Apostle. To be children of Patrick and children of Rome were convertible
+terms; and the Holy See watched still more tenderly over this portion of
+the Church while it was suffering and persecuted. Paul V. wrote a
+special letter to the Irish Catholics, dated from &quot;St. Mark's, 22nd of
+September, 1606,&quot; in which he mourns over their afflictions, commends
+their marvellous constancy, which he says can only be compared to that
+of the early Christians, and exhorts them specially to avoid the sin of
+attending Protestant places of worship&mdash;a compliance to which they were
+strongly tempted, when even one such act might procure exemption, for a
+time at least, from severe persecution or death.</p>
+
+<p>On another occasion the same Pontiff writes thus: &quot;You glory in that
+faith by which your fathers procured for their country the distinguished
+appellation of the Island of Saints. Nor have the sufferings which you
+have endured been allowed to remain unpublished; your fidelity and
+Christian fortitude have become the subject of universal admiration; and
+the praise of your name has long since been loudly celebrated in every
+portion of the Christian world.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_464_465"></a><a href="#Footnote_464_465"><sup>[464]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>O'Neill and O'Donnell may be justly considered the last of the
+independent native chieftains. When the latter died in exile, and the
+former accepted the coronet of an English earl, the glories of the olden
+days of princes, who held almost regal power, had passed away for ever.
+The proud title of &quot;the O'Neill&quot; became extinct; his country was made
+shire ground; he accepted patents, and held his broad acres &quot;in fee;&quot;
+sheriffs were admitted; judges made circuits; king's commissioners took
+careful note of place, person, and property; and such a system of
+espionage was established, that Davies boasts, &quot;it was not only known
+how people lived and what they do, but it is foreseen what they purpose
+and intend to do;&quot; which latter species of clairvoyance seems to have
+been largely practised by those who were waiting until all suspicions
+were lulled to rest, that they might seize on the property, and imprison
+the persons of those whose estates they coveted.</p>
+
+<p>In May, 1603, O'Neill had visited London, in company with Mountjoy and
+Rory O'Donnell. The northern chieftains<a name="Page_468"></a> were graciously received; and it
+was on this occasion that O'Neill renounced his ancient name for his new
+titles. O'Donnell was made Earl of Tyrconnel at the same time. The first
+sheriffs appointed for Ulster were Sir Edward Pelham and Sir John
+Davies. The latter has left it on record, as his deliberate opinion,
+after many years' experience, &quot;that there is no nation of people under
+the sun that doth love equal and indifferent justice better than the
+Irish, or will rest better satisfied with the execution thereof,
+<i>although it be against themselves, so that they may have the protection
+and benefits of the law, when, upon just cause, they do desire it.&quot;</i></p>
+
+<p>A plot was now got up to entrap O'Neill and O'Donnell. Their complicity
+in it has long been questioned, though Dr. O'Donovan appears to think
+that Moore has almost decided the question against them. Moore's
+evidence, however, is hardly complete, while there is unquestionable
+authority which favours the opinion that &quot;artful Cecil&quot; was intriguing
+to accomplish their destruction. Curry says, in his <i>Historical Review</i>:
+&quot;The great possessions of these two devoted Irish princes, proved the
+cause of their ruin. After the successful issue of the plot-contriving
+Cecil's gunpowder adventure in England, he turned his inventive thoughts
+towards this country. A plot to implicate the great northern chieftains
+was soon set on foot, and finally proved successful. The conspiracy is
+thus related by a learned English divine, Dr. Anderson, in his <i>Royal
+Genealogies</i>, printed in London, 1736: 'Artful Cecil employed one St.
+Lawrence to entrap the Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel, the Lord Delvin,
+and other Irish chiefs, into a sham plot, which had no evidence but
+his.'&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The next movement was to drop an anonymous letter at the door of the
+council-chamber, mentioning a design, as then in contemplation, for
+seizing the Castle of Dublin, and murdering the Lord Deputy. No names
+were mentioned, but it was publicly stated that Government had
+information in their possession which fixed the guilt of the conspiracy
+on the Earl of Tyrone. His flight, which took place immediately after,
+was naturally considered as an acknowledgment of his guilt. It is more
+probable that the expatriation was prompted by his despair.</p>
+
+<p>The Four Masters give a touching account of their departure, and
+exclaim: &quot;Woe to the heart that meditated, woe to the mind that
+conceived, woe to the council that decided on the project of their
+setting out on the voyage!&quot; The exiles left Rathmullen on the<a name="Page_469"></a> 14th of
+September, 1607. O'Neill had been with the Lord Deputy shortly before;
+and one cannot but suppose that he had then obtained some surmise of
+premeditated treachery, for he arranged his flight secretly and swiftly,
+pretending that he was about to visit London. O'Neill was accompanied by
+his Countess, his three sons, O'Donnell, and other relatives. They first
+sailed to Normandy, where an attempt was made by the English Government
+to arrest them, but Henry IV. would not give them up. In Rome they were
+received as confessors exiled for the faith, and were liberally
+supported by the Pope and the King of Spain. They all died in a few
+years after their arrival, and their ashes rest in the Franciscan Church
+of St. Peter-in-Montorio. Rome was indeed dear to them, but Ireland was
+still dearer; and the exiled Celt, whether expatriated through force or
+stern necessity, lives only to long for the old home, or dies weeping
+for it.</p>
+
+<p>The Red Hand of the O'Neills had hitherto been a powerful protection to
+Ulster. The attempts &quot;to plant&quot; there had turned out failures; but now
+that the chiefs were removed, the people became an easy prey.
+O'Dogherty, Chief of Innishowen, was insulted by Sir George Paulett, in
+a manner which no gentleman could be expected to bear without calling
+his insulter to account; and the young chieftain took fearful vengeance
+for the rude blow which he had received from the English sheriff. He got
+into Culmore Fort at night by stratagem, and then marched to Derry,
+killed Paulett, massacred the garrison, and burned the town. Some other
+chieftains joined him, and kept up the war until July; when O'Dogherty
+was killed, and his companions-in-arms imprisoned. Sir Arthur Chichester
+received his property in return for his suggestions for the plantation
+of Ulster, of which we must now make brief mention.</p>
+
+<p>There can be little doubt, from Sir Henry Docwra's own account, that
+O'Dogherty was purposely insulted, and goaded into rebellion. He was the
+last obstacle to the grand scheme, and he was disposed of. Ulster was
+now at the mercy of those who chose to accept grants of land; and the
+grants were made to the highest bidders, or to those who had paid for
+the favour by previous services. Sir Arthur Chichester evidently
+considered that he belonged to the latter class, for we find him
+writing<a name="FNanchor_465_466"></a><a href="#Footnote_465_466"><sup>[465]</sup></a> at considerable length<a name="Page_470"></a> to the Earl of Northampton, then a
+ruling member of King James' cabinet, to request that he may be
+appointed President of Ulster. He commences his epistle by stating how
+deeply he is indebted to his Lordship for his comfortable and kind
+letters, and the praise he has given him in public and private. He then
+bestows an abundant meed of commendation on his justice in return. He
+next explains his hopes and desires. He declares that he wishes for the
+Presidency of Ulster, &quot;more for the service he might there do his
+Majesty, than for the profit he expects,&quot;&mdash;a statement which the Earl no
+doubt read exactly as it was intended; and he says that he only mentions
+his case because &quot;charitie beginnes with myeselfe,&quot; which, indeed,
+appears to have been the view of that virtue generally taken by all
+planters and adventurers. He concludes with delicately informing his
+correspondent, that if he can advance any friend of his in any way he
+will be most happy to do so. This letter is dated from the &quot;Castle of
+Dublin, 7th of February, 1607.&quot; The date should read, according to the
+change of style, 1608. The Lord Deputy knew well what he was asking for.
+During the summer of the preceding year, he had made a careful journey
+through Ulster, with John Davies; and Carte has well observed, that
+&quot;nobody knew the territories better to be planted;&quot; and he might have
+added, that<a name="Page_471"></a> few persons had a clearer eye to their own advantage in the
+arrangements he made.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/085.jpg" width="428" height="281" alt="CASTLE MONEA, CO. FERMANAGH." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>CASTLE MONEA, CO. FERMANAGH.</h4>
+
+<p>The plan of the plantation was agreed upon in 1609. It was the old plan
+which had been attempted before, though with less show of legal
+arrangement, but with quite the same proportion of legal iniquity. The
+simple object was to expel the natives, and to extirpate the Catholic
+religion. The six counties to be planted were Tyrone, Derry, Donegal,
+Armagh, Fermanagh, and Cavan. These were parcelled out into portions
+varying from 2,000 to 4,000 acres, and the planters were obliged to
+build bawns and castles, such as that of Castle Monea, county Fermanagh,
+of which we subjoin an illustration. Tully Castle<a name="FNanchor_466_467"></a><a href="#Footnote_466_467"><sup>[466]</sup></a> was built by Sir
+John Hume, on his plantation. Both these castles afford good examples of
+the structures erected at this period. The great desiderata were
+proximity to water and rising ground&mdash;the beauty of the surrounding
+scenery, which was superadded at least at Tully Castle, was probably but
+little valued.</p>
+
+<p>Chichester now proposed to call a Parliament. The plantation of Ulster
+had removed some difficulties in the way of its accomplishment. The
+Protestant University of Dublin had obtained 3,000 acres there, and
+400,000 acres of tillage land had been partitioned out between English
+and Scotch proprietors. It was expressly stipulated that their tenants
+should be English or Scotch, and Protestants; the Catholic owners of the
+land were, in some cases, as a special favour, permitted to remain, if
+they took the oath of supremacy, if they worked well for their masters,
+and if they paid double the rent fixed for the others. Sixty thousand
+acres in Dublin and Waterford, and 385,000 acres in Westmeath, Longford,
+King's county, Queen's county, and Leitrim, had been portioned out in a
+similar manner. A Presbyterian minister, whose father was one of the
+planters, thus describes the men who came to establish English rule, and
+root out Popery: &quot;From Scotland came many, and from England not a few;
+yet all of them generally the scum of both nations, who, from debt, or
+making and fleeing from justice, or seeking shelter, came hither, hoping
+to be without fear of man s justice, in a land where there was nothing
+or but little as yet of the fear of God.... Most of the people were all
+void of godliness.... On all hands atheism increased, and disregard<a name="Page_472"></a> of
+God; iniquity abounds, with contention, fighting, murder and
+adultery.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_467_468"></a><a href="#Footnote_467_468"><sup>[467]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>It was with such persons as these the lower house was filled. The upper
+house was composed of the Protestant bishops and English aristocracy,
+who were of course unanimous in their views. Chichester obtained ample
+powers to arrange the lower house. Forty new boroughs were formed, many
+of them consisting merely of a few scattered houses; some of them were
+not incorporated until after the writs were issued. The Catholics were
+taken by surprise as no notice had been given, either of the Parliament
+or the laws intended to be enacted. Six Catholic lords of the Pale
+remonstrated with the King, but he treated them with the utmost
+contempt. The house assembled; there was a struggle for the Speaker's
+chair. The Catholic party proposed Sir John Everard, who had just
+resigned his position as Justice of the King's Bench sooner than take
+the oath of supremacy; the court party insisted on having Sir John
+Davies. The Catholics protested, and sent a deputation to James, who
+first lectured<a name="FNanchor_468_469"></a><a href="#Footnote_468_469"><sup>[468]</sup></a> them to show his learning, and them imprisoned them
+to show his power. Some kind of compromise was eventually effected. A
+severe penal law was withdrawn; a large subsidy was voted. In truth, the
+Irish party acted boldly, considering their peculiar circumstances, for
+one and all refused to enter the old cathedral, which their forefathers
+had erected, when Protestant service was read therein on the day of the
+opening of Parliament; and even Lord Barry retired when he laid the
+sword of state before the Lord Deputy. We may excuse them for submitting
+to the attainder of O'Neill and O'Donnell, for there were few national
+members who had not withdrawn before the vote was passed.</p>
+
+<p>Chichester retired from the government of Ireland in 1616. In 1617 a
+proclamation was issued for the expulsion of the Catholic clergy, and
+the city of Waterford was deprived of its charter in consequence of the
+spirited opposition which its corporation offered to the oath of
+spiritual supremacy. In 1622 Viscount Falkland<a name="Page_473"></a> came over as Lord Deputy,
+and Usher, who was at heart a Puritan,<a name="FNanchor_469_470"></a><a href="#Footnote_469_470"><sup>[469]</sup></a> preached a violent sermon on
+the occasion, in which he suggested a very literal application of his
+text, &quot;He beareth not the sword in vain.&quot; If a similar application of
+the text had been made by a Catholic divine, it would have been called
+intolerance, persecution, and a hint that the Inquisition was at hand;
+as used by him, it was supposed to mean putting down Popery by the
+sword.</p>
+
+<p>James I. died on the 27th March, 1625, and left his successor no very
+pleasant prospects in any part of his kingdom. He was pronounced by
+Sully to be &quot;the wisest fool in Europe;&quot; Henry IV. styled him &quot;Captain
+of Arts and Clerk of Arms;&quot; and a favourite epigram of the age is thus
+translated:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;When Elizabeth was England's King,<br /></span>
+<span>That dreadful name thro' Spain did ring<br /></span>
+<span>How altered is the case, ah sa' me!<br /></span>
+<span>The juggling days of good Queen Jamie.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>On the accession of Charles I., in 1625, it was so generally supposed he
+would favour the Catholic cause, that the earliest act of the new
+Parliament in London was to vote a petition, begging the King to enforce
+the laws against recusants and Popish priests. The Viceroy, Lord
+Falkland, advised the Irish Catholics to propitiate him with a voluntary
+subsidy. They offered the enormous sum of &pound;120,000, to be paid in three
+annual instalments, and in return he promised them certain &quot;graces.&quot; The
+contract was ratified by royal proclamation, in which the concessions
+were accompanied by a promise that a Parliament should be held to
+confirm them. The first instalment of the money was paid, and the Irish
+agents returned home to find themselves cruelly deceived and basely
+cheated. Falkland was recalled by the Puritan party, on suspicion of
+favouring the Catholics; Viscount Ely and the Earl of Cork were
+appointed Lords Justices; and a reign of terror was at once commenced.</p>
+
+<p>The Protestant Archbishop of Dublin, Dr. Bulkely, was <a name="Page_474"></a>foremost in
+commencing the persecution. He marched, with the Mayor and a file of
+soldiers, to the Franciscan<a name="FNanchor_470_471"></a><a href="#Footnote_470_471"><sup>[470]</sup></a> church in Cook-street, on St. Stephen's
+Day, 1629, dispersed the congregation, seized the friars profaned the
+church, and broke the statue of St. Francis. The friars were rescued by
+the people, and the Archbishop had &quot;to take to his heels and cry out for
+help,&quot; to save himself. Eventually the Franciscans established their
+novitiates on the Continent, but still continued their devoted
+ministrations to the people, at the risk of life and liberty. Their
+house in Cook-street was pulled down by royal order, and three other
+chapels and a Catholic seminary were seized and converted to the King's
+use. Wentworth assembled a Parliament in July, 1634, the year after his
+arrival in Ireland. Its subserviency was provided for by having a number
+of persons elected who were in the pay of the crown as military
+officers. The &quot;graces&quot; were asked for, and the Lord Deputy declared they
+should be granted, if the supply was readily voted. &quot;Surely,&quot; he said,
+&quot;so great a meanness cannot enter your hearts as once to suspect his
+Majesty's gracious regards of you, and performance with you, when you
+affix yourself upon his grace.&quot; This speech so took the hearts of the
+people, that all were ready to grant all that might be demanded; and six
+subsidies of &pound;50,000 each were voted, though Wentworth only expected
+&pound;30,000. In the meanwhile neither Wentworth nor the King had the
+slightest idea of granting the &quot;graces&quot; and the atrocious duplicity and
+incomparable &quot;meanness&quot; of the King is placed eternally on record, in
+his own letter to his favourite, in which he thanks him &quot;for keeping off
+the envy [odium] of a necessary negative from me, of those unreasonable
+graces that people expected from me.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_471_472"></a><a href="#Footnote_471_472"><sup>[471]</sup></a> Wentworth describes himself
+how two judges and Sir John Radcliffe assisted him in the plan, and how
+a positive refusal was made to recommend the passing of the &quot;graces&quot;
+into law at the next session.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Charles' faith&quot; might now safely rank with Grey's; and the<a name="Page_475"></a> poor
+impoverished Irishman, who would willingly have given his last penny, as
+well as the last drop of his blood, to save his faith, was again cruelly
+betrayed where he most certainly might have expected that he could have
+confided and trusted. One of the &quot;graces&quot; was to make sixty years of
+undisputed possession of property a bar to the claims of the crown; and
+certainly if there ever a country where such a demand was necessary and
+reasonable, it was surely Ireland. There had been so many plantations,
+it was hard for anything to grow; and so many settlements, it was hard
+for anything to be settled. Each new monarch, since the first invasion
+of the country by Henry II., had his favourites to provide for and his
+friends to oblige. The island across the sea was considered &quot;no man's
+land,&quot; as the original inhabitants were never taken into account, and
+were simply ignored, unless, indeed, when they made their presence very
+evident by open resistance to this wholesale robbery. It was no wonder,
+then, that this &quot;grace&quot; should be specially solicited. It was one in
+which the last English settler in Ulster had quite as great an interest
+as the oldest Celt in Connemara. The Burkes and the Geraldines had
+suffered almost as much from the rapacity of their own countrymen as the
+natives, on whom their ancestors had inflicted such cruel wrongs. No
+man's property was safe in Ireland, for the tenure was depending on the
+royal will; and the caprices of the Tudors were supplemented by the
+necessities of the Stuarts.</p>
+
+<p>But the &quot;grace&quot; was refused, although, probably, there was many a recent
+colonist who would have willingly given one-half of his plantation to
+have secured the other to his descendants. The reason of the refusal was
+soon apparent. As soon as Parliament was dissolved, a Commission of
+&quot;Defective Titles&quot; was issued for Connaught. Ulster had been settled,
+Leinster had been settled, Munster had been settled; there remained only
+Connaught, hitherto so inaccessible, now, with advancing knowledge of
+the art of war, and new means of carrying out that art, doomed to the
+scourge of desolation.</p>
+
+<p>The process was extremely simple. The lawyers were set to work to hunt
+out old claims for the crown; and as Wentworth had determined to
+invalidate the title to every estate in Connaught, they had abundant
+occupation. Roscommon was selected for a commencement. The sheriffs were
+directed to select jurors who would find for the crown. The jurors were
+made clearly to<a name="Page_476"></a> understand what was expected from them, and what the
+consequences would be if they were &quot;contumacious.&quot; The object of the
+crown was, of course, the general good of the country. The people of
+Connaught were to be civilized and enriched; but, in order to carry out
+this very desirable arrangement, the present proprietors were to be
+replaced by new landlords, and the country was to be placed entirely at
+the disposal of the Sovereign.<a name="FNanchor_472_473"></a><a href="#Footnote_472_473"><sup>[472]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>It was now discovered that the lands and lordships of De Burgo, adjacent
+to the Castle of Athlone, and, in fact, the whole remaining province,
+belonged to the crown. It would be useless here to give details of the
+special pleading on which this statement was founded; it is an
+illustration of what I have observed before, that the tenure of the
+English settler was quite as uncertain as the tenure of the Celt. The
+jury found for the King; and as a reward, the foreman, Sir Lucas Dillon,
+was graciously permitted to retain a portion of his own lands. Lowther,
+Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, got four shillings in the pound of
+the first year's rent raised under the Commission of &quot;Defective Titles.&quot;
+The juries of Mayo and Sligo were equally complacent; but there was
+stern resistance made in Galway, and stern reprisals were made for the
+resistance. The jurors were fined &pound;4,000 each and were imprisoned, and
+their estates seized until that sum was paid. The sheriff was fined
+&pound;1,000, and, being unable to pay that sum, he died in prison. And all
+this was done with the full knowledge and the entire sanction of the
+&quot;royal martyr.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The country was discontented, and the Lord Deputy demanded more troops,
+&quot;until the intended plantation should be settled.&quot; He could not see why
+the people should object to what was so very much for their own good,
+and never allowed himself to think that the disturbance had anything to
+do with the land question. The new proprietors were of the same opinion.
+Those who were or who feared to be dispossessed, and those who felt that
+their homes, whether humble or noble, could not be called their own,
+felt differently; but their opinion was as little regarded as their
+sufferings.</p>
+
+<p>The Earl of Ormonde's property was next attacked, but he made a prudent
+compromise, and his party was too powerful to permit of its refusal. A
+Court of Wards was also established about this time, for the purpose of
+having all heirs to estates brought up in<a name="Page_477"></a> the Protestant religion; and a
+High Commission Court was instituted, which rivalled the exactions of
+the Star Chamber in England.</p>
+
+<p>In 1640 another appeal was made by the King for assistance, and
+Wentworth headed the contribution with &pound;20,000. He had devoted himself
+with considerable ability to increasing the Irish revenue and the trade
+of the country had improved, although the Irish woollen manufacture had
+been completely crushed, as it threatened to interfere with English
+commerce. The Lord Deputy now saw the advantage of procuring a standing
+army in Ireland, and he proceeded to embody a force of 10,000 foot and
+1,000 horse. These men were principally Irish and Catholics, as he knew
+they would be most likely to stand by the King in an hour of trial,
+notwithstanding the cruel persecutions to which they had been subjected.
+But the Deputy's own career was nearer its termination than he had
+anticipated. When he forsook the popular side in England, Pym had
+remarked significantly: &quot;Though you have left us, I will not leave you
+while your head is on your shoulders.&quot; The Puritan faction never lost
+sight of a quarry when once they had it in sight, and it scarcely needed
+Stafford's haughtiness and devotion to the King to seal his doom. The
+unhappy King was compelled to sign his death-warrant; and the victim was
+executed on the 12th of May, 1641, redeeming in some manner, by the
+nobleness of his death, the cruelties, injustices, and duplicity of
+which he had been guilty during his life.</p>
+
+<p>The kingdom of England was never in a more critical state than at this
+period. The King was such only in name, and the ruling powers were the
+Puritan party, who already looked to Cromwell as their head. The
+resistance, which had begun in opposition to tyrannical enactments, and
+to the arbitrary exercise of authority by the King and his High Church
+prelates, was fast merging into, what it soon became, an open revolt
+against the crown, and all religion which did not square with the very
+peculiar and ill-defined tenets of the rebellious party. In 1641 the
+Queen's confessor was sent to the Tower, and a resolution was passed by
+both houses never to consent to the toleration of the Catholic worship
+in Ireland, or in any other part of his Majesty's dominions. The country
+party had determined to possess themselves of the command of the army;
+and whatever struggles the King might make, to secure the only support
+of his throne, it was clear that the question was to be decided in their
+favour. The conduct of Holles, Pym,<a name="Page_478"></a> Hampden, and Stroud was well known
+even in Ireland; and in Ireland fearful apprehensions were entertained
+that still more cruel sufferings were preparing for that unfortunate
+country.</p>
+
+<p>An insurrection was organized, and its main supports were some of the
+best and bravest of the old race, who had been driven by political and
+religious persecution to other lands, where their bravery had made them
+respected, and their honorable dealings had made them esteemed. Spain
+had received a considerable number of these exiles. In June, 1635, an
+Irish regiment in the Spanish service, commanded by Colonel Preston, had
+immortalized themselves by their heroic defence of Louvain. Wherever
+they went they were faithful to the sovereign under whom they served;
+and French and Spanish generals marvelled how the English nation could
+be so infatuated as to drive their noblest and bravest officers and men
+into foreign service. An important official document still exists in the
+State Paper Office, which was prepared by a Government spy, and which
+details the names, rank, and qualifications of many of these gentlemen.
+They were serving in Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Poland, and the Low
+Countries. Don Richard Burke&mdash;strange that the first on the list of
+Irish exiles should be of Anglo-Norman descent&mdash;was Governor of Leghorn,
+and had seen great service in Italy and in the West Indies; &quot;Phellemy
+O'Neill, nephew to old Tyrone,&quot; lived with great respect in Milan. There
+were one hundred able to command companies, and twenty fit to be made
+colonels under the Archduchess alone. The list of the names would fill
+several pages, and those, it should be remembered, were leading men.
+There were, besides, to be considered, an immense number of Irish of the
+lower classes, who had accompanied their chiefs abroad, and served in
+their regiments. The report says: &quot;They have long been providing of arms
+for any attempt against Ireland, and had in readiness five or six
+thousand arms laid up in Antwerp for that purpose, <i>bought out of the
+deduction of their monthly pay, as will be proved; and it is thought now
+they have doubled that proportion by those means</i>.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_473_474"></a><a href="#Footnote_473_474"><sup>[473]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>The reason of the increased sacrifice they made for their country, was
+probably the report that the moment was at hand when it might be
+available. The movement in Ireland was commenced by Roger O'More, a
+member of the ancient family of that name, who<a name="Page_479"></a> had been so unjustly
+expelled from their ancestral home in Leix; by Lord Maguire, who had
+been deprived of nearly all his ancient patrimony at Fermanagh, and his
+brother Roger; by Sir Phelim O'Neill of Kinnare, the elder branch of
+whose family had been expatriated; by Turlough O'Neill, his brother, and
+by several other gentlemen similarly situated. O'More was the chief
+promoter of the projected insurrection. He was eminently suited to
+become a popular leader for he was a man of great courage, fascinating
+address, and imbued with all the high honour of the old Celtic race. In
+May, 1641, Nial O'Neill arrived in Ireland with a promise of assistance
+from Cardinal Richelieu; and the confederates arranged that the rising
+should take place a few days before or after All Hallows, according to
+circumstances. In the meanwhile the exiled Earl of Tyrone was killed;
+but his successor, Colonel Owen Roe O'Neill, then serving in Flanders,
+entered warmly into all their plans.</p>
+
+<p>The King was now obliged to disband his Irish forces, and their
+commanders were sent orders for that purpose. They had instructions,
+however, to keep the men at home and together, so that they might easily
+be collected again if they could be made available, as, strange to say,
+the so-called &quot;Irish rebels&quot; were the only real hope which Charles had
+to rely on in his conflict with his disloyal English subjects. An
+understanding was soon entered into between these officers and the Irish
+party. They agreed to act in concert; and one of the former, Colonel
+Plunket, suggested the seizure of Dublin Castle. The 23rd of October was
+fixed on for the enterprise; but, though attempted, the attempt was
+frustrated by a betrayal of the plot, in consequence of an indiscretion
+of one of the leaders.</p>
+
+<p>The rage of the Protestant party knew no limits. The Castle was put in a
+state of defence, troops were ordered in all directions, and
+proclamations were issued. In the meantime the conspirators at a
+distance had succeeded better, but unfortunately they were not aware of
+the failure in Dublin until it was too late. Sir Phelim O'Neill was at
+the head of 30,000 men. He issued a proclamation, stating that he
+intended &quot;no hurt to the King, or hurt of any of his subjects, English
+or Scotch;&quot; but that his only object was the defence of Irish liberty.
+He added that whatever hurt was done any one, should be personally
+repaired. This proclamation was from &quot;Dungannon, the 23rd of October,
+1641,&quot; and signed &quot;PHELIM O'NEILL.&quot;</p>
+<a name="Page_480"></a>
+<p>A few days after he produced a commission, which he pretended he had
+received from the King, authorizing his proceedings; but he amply atoned
+for this <i>ruse de guerre</i> afterwards, by declaring openly and honorably
+that the document was forged. The Irish were treated with barbarous
+severity, especially by Sir Charles Coote; while they were most careful
+to avoid any bloodshed, except what was justifiable and unavoidable in
+war. Dr. Bedell, the good and gentle Protestant Bishop of Kilmore, and
+all his people, were protected; and he drew up a remonstrance, from the
+tenor of which he appears to have given some sanction to the proceedings
+of the northern chieftains. The massacre of Island Magee took place
+about this period; and though the exact date is disputed, and the exact
+number of victims has been questioned, it cannot be disproved that the
+English and Scotch settlers at Carrickfergus sallied forth at night, and
+murdered a number of defenceless men, women, and children. That there
+was no regular or indiscriminate massacre of Protestants by the
+Catholics at this period, appears to be proved beyond question by the
+fact, that no mention of such an outrage was made in any of the letters
+of the Lords Justices to the Privy Council. It is probable, however,
+that the Catholics did rise up in different places, to attack those by
+whom they had been so severely and cruelly oppressed; and although there
+was no concerted plan of massacre, many victims, who may have been
+personally innocent, paid the penalty of the guilty. In such evidence as
+is still on record, ghost stories predominate; and even the Puritans
+seem to have believed the wildest tales of the apparition of
+Protestants, who demanded the immolation of the Catholics who had
+murdered them.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/086.jpg" width="134" height="178" alt="ANCIENT DRINKING VESSEL OR METHER, FROM THE COLLECTION OF
+THE R.I.A." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>ANCIENT DRINKING VESSEL OR METHER, FROM THE COLLECTION OF
+THE R.I.A.</h4>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><br /><br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/087.jpg" width="328" height="259" alt="TABLE AND CHAIR USED AT THE CONFEDERATION OF KILKENNY." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>TABLE AND CHAIR USED AT THE CONFEDERATION OF KILKENNY.</h4>
+
+<a name="Page_481"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXIX.</h2>
+
+<h4>English Adventurers speculate on Irish Disaffection&mdash;Coote's
+Cruelties&mdash;Meeting of Irish Noblemen and Gentlemen&mdash;Discontent of the
+People&mdash;The Catholic Priests try to save Protestants from their fury&mdash;A
+National Synod to deliberate on the State of Irish Affairs&mdash;The General
+Assembly is convened at Kilkenny&mdash;A Mint is established&mdash;A
+Printing-Press set up&mdash;Relations are entered into with Foreign States,
+and a Method of Government is organized&mdash;Differences of Opinion between
+the Old Irish and Anglo-Irish&mdash;A Year's Treaty is made&mdash;Arrival of
+Rinuccini&mdash;He lands at Kenmare&mdash;His Account of the Irish People&mdash;His
+Reception at Kilkenny&mdash;His Opinion of the State of Affairs&mdash;Divisions of
+the Confederates&mdash;Ormonde's Intrigues&mdash;The Battle of Benburb&mdash;Divisions
+and Discord in Camp and Senate&mdash;A Treaty signed and published by the
+Representatives of the English King&mdash;Rinuccini returns to Italy.</h4>
+
+<h5>[A.D. 1642-1649.]</h5>
+
+<img src="images/g.jpg" width="75" height="229" align="left" alt="O" title="" />
+<p>'Neill now took the title of &quot;Lord-General of the Catholic army in
+Ulster.&quot; A proclamation was issued by the Irish Government, declaring he
+had received no authority from the King; and the ruling powers were
+often heard to say, &quot;that the more were in rebellion, the more lands
+should be forfeited to them.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_474_475"></a><a href="#Footnote_474_475"><sup>[474]</sup></a> A company of adventurers were already
+formed in London on speculation, and a rich harvest was anticipated.
+Several engagements took place, in which the insurgents were on the
+whole successful. It was now confidently stated that a general massacre
+of the Catholics was intended; and, indeed, the conduct of those engaged
+in putting down the rising, was very suggestive of such a purpose. In
+Wicklow, Sir Charles Coote put many<a name="Page_482"></a> innocent persons to the sword,
+without distinction of age or sex. On one occasion, when he met a
+soldier carrying an infant on the point of his pike, he was charged with
+saying that &quot;he liked such frolics.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_475_476"></a><a href="#Footnote_475_476"><sup>[475]</sup></a> Carte admits that his temper
+was rather &quot;sour;&quot; but he relates incidents in his career which should
+make one think &quot;barbarous&quot; would be the more appropriate term. The Lords
+Justices approved of his proceedings; and Lord Castlehaven gives a
+fearful account of the conduct of troops sent out by these gentlemen,
+who &quot;killed men, women, and children promiscuously; which procedure,&quot; he
+says, &quot;not only exasperated the rebels, and <i>induced them to commit the
+like cruelties upon the English</i>, but frightened the nobility and gentry
+about; who, seeing the harmless country people, without respect of age
+or sex, thus barbarously murdered, and themselves then openly threatened
+as favourers of the rebellion, for paying the contributions they could
+not possibly refuse, resolved to stand upon their guard.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_476_477"></a><a href="#Footnote_476_477"><sup>[476]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>Before taking an open step, even in self-defence, the Irish noblemen and
+gentlemen sent another address to the King; but their unfortunate
+messenger, Sir John Read, was captured, and cruelly racked by the party
+in power&mdash;their main object being to obtain something from his
+confessions which should implicate the King and Queen. Patrick Barnwell,
+an aged man, was also racked for a similar purpose. The Lords Justices
+now endeavoured to get several gentlemen into their possession, on
+pretence of holding a conference. Their design was suspected, and the
+intended victims escaped; but they wrote a courteous letter, stating the
+ground of their refusal. A meeting of the principal Irish noblemen and
+gentlemen was now held on the Hill of Crofty, in Meath. Amongst those
+present were the Earl of Fingall, Lords Gormanstown, Slane, Louth,
+Dunsany, Trimbleston, and Netterville, Sir Patrick Barnwell and Sir
+Christopher Bellew; and of the leading country gentlemen, Barnwell,
+Darcy, Bath, Aylmer, Cusack, Malone, Segrave, &amp;c. After they<a name="Page_483"></a> had been a
+few hours on the ground, the leaders of the insurgent party came up, and
+were accosted by Lord Gormanstown, who inquired why they came armed into
+the Pale. O'More replied that they had &quot;taken up arms for the freedom
+and liberty of their consciences, the maintenance of his Majesty's
+prerogative, in which they understood he was abridged, and the making
+the subjects of this kingdom as free as those of England.&quot; Lord
+Gormanstown answered: &quot;Seeing these be your true ends, we will likewise
+join with you therein.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>On the 1st of January, 1642, Charles issued a proclamation against the
+Irish rebels, and wished to take the command against them in person; but
+his Parliament was his master, and the members were glad enough of the
+excuse afforded by the troubles in Ireland to increase the army, and to
+obtain a more direct personal control over its movements. They voted
+away Irish estates, and uttered loud threats of exterminating Popery;
+but they had a more important and interesting game in hand at home,
+which occupied their attention, and made them comparatively indifferent
+to Irish affairs.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Phelim O'Neill was not succeeding in the north. He had been obliged
+to raise the siege of Drogheda, and the English had obtained possession
+of Dundalk. &pound;1,000 was offered for his head, and &pound;600 for the heads of
+some of his associates. Ormonde and Tichburne were in command of the
+Government forces, but Ormonde was considered to be too lenient; and two
+priests, Father Higgins and Father White, were executed by Coote, the
+one without trial, and the other without even the forms of justice,
+although they were under the Earl's protection. Carte says that Father
+Higgins' case excited special interest, for he had saved many
+Protestants from the fury of the Irish, and afforded them relief and
+protection afterwards. Indeed, at this period, the Catholic clergy were
+unwearied in their efforts to protect the Protestants. They must have
+been actuated by the purest motives of religion, which were none the
+less sacred to them because they could neither be understood nor
+appreciated by those whose whole conduct had been so different. Father
+Saul, a Jesuit, sheltered Dr. Pullen, the Protestant Dean of Clonfert,
+and his family; Father Everard and Father English, Franciscan friars,
+concealed many Protestants in their chapels, and even under their
+altars. Many similar instances are on record in the depositions
+concerning the murders and massacres of the times, at present in Trinity
+College, Dublin; though those depositions were taken<a name="Page_484"></a> with the avowed
+object of making out a case against the Catholics of having intended a
+general massacre. In Galway the Jesuits were especially active in
+charity to their enemies, and went through the town exhorting the
+people, for Christ's sake, our Lady's and St. Patrick's, to shed no
+blood. But although the Catholic hierarchy were most anxious to prevent
+outrages against humanity, they were by no means insensible to the
+outrages against justice, from which the Irish nation had so long
+suffered. They were far from preaching passive submission to tyranny, or
+passive acceptance of heresy. The Church had long since not only
+sanctioned, but even warmly encouraged, a crusade against the infidels,
+and the deliverance, by force of arms, of the holy places from
+desecration; it had also granted<a name="FNanchor_477_478"></a><a href="#Footnote_477_478"><sup>[477]</sup></a> similar encouragements and similar
+indulgences to all who should fight for &quot;liberties and rights&quot; in
+Ireland, and had &quot;exhorted, urged, and solicited&quot; the people to do so
+with &quot;all possible affection.&quot; The Irish clergy could have no doubt that
+the Holy See would sanction a national effort for national liberty. The
+Archbishop of Armagh, therefore, convened a provincial synod, which was
+held at Kells, on the 22nd of March, 1641, which pronounced the war
+undertaken by the Catholics of Ireland lawful and pious, but denounced
+murders and usurpations, and took steps for assembling a national synod
+at Kilkenny during the following year.</p>
+
+<p>The Catholic cause, meanwhile, was not advancing through the country.
+The Irish were defeated in nearly every engagement with the English
+troops. The want of a competent leader and of unanimity of purpose was
+felt again, as it had so often been felt before; but the Church
+attempted to supply the deficiency, and, if it did not altogether
+succeed, it was at least a national credit to have done something in the
+cause of freedom.</p>
+
+<p>The synod met at Kilkenny, on the 10th of May, 1642. It was attended by
+the Archbishops of Armagh, Cashel, and Tuam, and the Bishops of Ossory,
+Elphin, Waterford and Lismore, Kildare Clonfert, and Down and Connor.
+Proctors attended for the<a name="Page_485"></a> Archbishop of Dublin, and for the Bishops of
+Limerick, Emly, and Killaloe. There were present, also, sixteen other
+dignitaries and heads of religious orders. They issued a manifesto
+explaining their conduct and, forming a Provisional Government,
+concluded their labours, after three days spent in careful deliberation.</p>
+
+<p>Owen Roe O'Neill and Colonel Preston arrived in Ireland in July, 1642,
+accompanied by a hundred officers, and well supplied with arms and
+ammunition. Sir Phelim O'Neill went at once to meet O'Neill, and
+resigned the command of the army; and all promised fairly for the
+national cause. The Scots, who had kept up a war of their own for some
+time, against both the King and the Catholics, were wasting Down and
+Antrim; and O'Neill was likely to need all his military skill and all
+his political wisdom in the position in which he was placed.</p>
+
+<p>Preston had landed in Wexford, and brought a still larger force; while
+all the brave expatriated Irishmen in foreign service, hastened home the
+moment there appeared a hope that they could strike a blow with some
+effect for the freedom of their native land.</p>
+
+<p>The General Assembly projected by the national synod in Kilkenny, held
+its first meeting on October 14, 1642,&mdash;eleven spiritual and fourteen
+temporal peers, with 226 commoners, representing the Catholic population
+of Ireland. It was, in truth, a proud and glorious day for the nation.
+For once, at least, she could speak through channels chosen by her own
+free will; and for once there dawned a hope of legislative freedom of
+action for the long-enslaved people. The old house is still shown where
+that Assembly deliberated&mdash;a Parliament all but in name. The table then
+used, and the chair occupied by the Speaker, are still preserved, as sad
+mementos of freedom's blighted cause.<a name="FNanchor_478_479"></a><a href="#Footnote_478_479"><sup>[478]</sup></a> The house used was in the
+market-place, The peers and commoners sat together; but a private room
+was allotted for the lords to consult in. Dr. Patrick Darcy, an eminent
+lawyer, represented the Chancellor and the judges. Mr. Nicholas Plunket
+was chosen as Speaker; the Rev. Thomas O'Quirk, a learned Dominican
+friar, was appointed Chaplain to both houses.</p>
+
+<p>The Assembly at once declared that they met as a provisional government,
+and not as a parliament. The preliminary arrangements occupied them
+until the 1st of November. From the 1st<a name="Page_486"></a> until the 4th, the committee was
+engaged in drawing up a form for the Confederate Government; on the 4th
+it was sanctioned by the two houses. Magna Charta, and the common and
+statute law of England, in all points not contrary to the Catholic
+religion, or inconsistent with the liberty of Ireland, were made the
+basis of the new Government. The administrative authority was vested in
+a Supreme Council, which was then chosen, and of which Lord Mountgarret
+was elected President.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/088.jpg" width="454" height="320" alt="PARLIAMENT HOUSE, KILKENNY." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>PARLIAMENT HOUSE, KILKENNY.</h4>
+
+<p>There were six members elected for each province. For Leinster, the
+Archbishop of Dublin, Lords Gormanstown and Mountgarret, Nicholas
+Plunket, Richard Belling, and James Cusack. For Ulster, the Archbishop
+of Armagh, the Bishop of Down, Philip O'Reilly, Colonel MacMahon, Heber
+Magennis, and Turlough O'Neill. For Munster, Viscount Roche, Sir Daniel
+O'Brien, Edmund FitzMaurice, Dr. Fennell, Robert Lambert, and George
+Comyn. For Connaught, the Archbishop of Tuam, Viscount Mayo, the Bishop
+of Clonfert, Sir Lucas Dillon, Geoffrey Browne, and Patrick Darcy. The
+Earl of Castlehaven, who had just escaped from his imprisonment in
+Dublin, was added as a twenty-fifth member. Generals were appointed to
+take the command of the forces&mdash;Owen Roe O'Neill, for Ulster; Preston,
+for Leinster; Barry, for Munster; and Burke, for Connaught. A seal was
+made, a printing-press set up,<a name="Page_487"></a> and a mint established. Money was coined
+and levied for the necessary expenses; and a levy of 31,700 men was
+prepared to be drilled by the new officers. Envoys were sent to solicit
+assistance from the Catholic courts of Europe; and the famous and
+learned Franciscan, Father Luke Wadding, applied himself to the cause
+with unremitting earnestness. Father John Talbot was employed in a
+similar manner in Spain.</p>
+
+<p>The Assembly broke up on the 9th of January, 1643, after sending a
+remonstrance to the King, declaring their loyalty, and explaining their
+grievances. The complicated state of English politics proved the ruin of
+this noble undertaking, so auspiciously commenced. Charles was anxious
+to make terms with men whom he knew would probably be the only subjects
+on whose loyalty he could thoroughly depend. His enemies&mdash;and the most
+cursory glance at English history during this period proves how many and
+how powerful they were&mdash;desired to keep open the rupture, and, if
+possible, to bring it down, from the high stand of dignified
+remonstrance, to the more perilous and lower position of a general and
+ill-organized insurrection. The Lords Justices Borlase and Parsons were
+on the look-out for plunder; but Charles had as yet sufficient power to
+form a commission of his own, and he sent the Marquis of Ormonde and
+some other noblemen to treat with the Confederates. Ormonde was a cold,
+calculating, and, if we must judge him by his acts, a cruel man; for, to
+give only one specimen of his dealings, immediately after his
+appointment, he butchered the brave garrison of Timolin, who had
+surrendered on promise of quarter.</p>
+
+<p>The Confederates were even then divided into two parties. The section of
+their body principally belonging to the old English settlers, were
+willing to have peace on almost any terms; the ancient Irish had their
+memories burdened with so many centuries of wrong, that they demanded
+something like certainty of redress before they would yield. Ormonde was
+well aware of the men with whom, and the opinions with which, he had to
+deal, and he acted accordingly. In the various engagements which
+occurred, the Irish were on the whole successful They had gained an
+important victory near Fermoy, principally through the headlong valour
+of a troop of mere boys who dashed down with wild impetuosity on the
+English, and showed what mettle there was still left in the country.
+Envoys were arriving from foreign courts, and Urban VIII. had sent
+Father Scarampi with indulgences and a purse of 30,000 dollars,
+collected by<a name="Page_488"></a> Father Wadding. It was, therefore, most important that the
+movement should be checked in some way; and, as it could not be
+suppressed by force, it was suppressed by diplomacy.</p>
+
+<p>On the 15th of September, 1643, a cessation of arms for one year was
+agreed upon; and the tide, which had set in so gloriously for Irish
+independence, rolled back its sobbing waves slowly and sadly towards the
+English coast, and never returned again with the same hopeful freedom
+and overpowering strength.</p>
+
+<p>The Irish, even those whose wisdom or whose ardour made them most
+dissatisfied with the treaty, observed it honorably. The Puritan party
+professed to regard the cessation as a crime, and therefore did not
+consider themselves bound to observe it. As they were in fact the ruling
+powers, the unfortunate Irish were, as usual, the victims. The troops,
+who had been trained and collected for the defence of their native land,
+were now sent to Scotland, to shed their blood in the royal cause. As
+honorable men, having undertaken the duty, they fulfilled it gloriously,
+and won the admiration even of their enemies by their undaunted valour.</p>
+
+<p>The unhappy English monarch was now besieged by petitions and
+counter-petitions. The Confederates asked for liberty of conscience; the
+Puritans demanded a stern enforcement of the penal laws. Complaints were
+made on both sides of the infringement of the cessation; but Munroe was
+the chief offender; and Owen O'Neill was summoned to consult with the
+Supreme Council in Kilkenny. Lord Castlehaven, who was utterly
+incompetent for such an appointment, was given the command of the army;
+and O'Neill, though he felt hurt at the unjust preference, submitted
+generously.</p>
+
+<p>In August, 1644, the cessation was again renewed by the General Assembly
+until December, and subsequently for a longer period. Thus precious
+time, and what was still more precious, the fresh energies and interests
+of the Confederates, were hopelessly lost. The King's generals, or
+rather it should be said the Parliamentary officers, observed or held
+these engagements at their convenience, and made treaties of their
+own&mdash;Inchiquin and Purcell making a truce between themselves in the
+south. As the King's affairs became daily more complicated, and his
+position more perilous, he saw the necessity for peace with his Irish
+subjects, and for allying himself with them, if possible. Had he treated
+them with more consideration, or rather with common justice and
+humanity, at the commencement of his reign, England might have been
+saved the<a name="Page_489"></a> guilt of regicide and Cromwell's iron rule. Ormonde had
+received ample powers from Charles to grant the Catholics every justice
+now; but Ormonde could not resist the inclination to practise a little
+subtle diplomacy, even at the risk of his master's kingdom and his
+master's head. The Confederate commissioners rejected his temporizing
+measures with contempt, though a few of their members, anxious for
+peace, were inclined to yield.</p>
+
+<p>When Inchiquin set out to destroy the growing crops early in summer,
+Castlehaven was sent against him, and obliged him to retire into Cork.
+At the same time Coote was overrunning Connaught and took possession of
+Sligo. The Irish forces again recovered the town; but, in the attempt,
+the Archbishop and two friars fell into the hands of the enemy, and were
+cruelly murdered. Charles now made another attempt to obtain the
+assistance of the Catholic party, and sent over Lord Herbert to Ireland
+on a secret mission for that purpose. This nobleman and his
+father-in-law, the Earl of Thomond, were almost romantically attached to
+the King, and had already advanced &pound;200,000 for the support of the royal
+cause. He proceeded to Kilkenny, after a brief interview with Ormonde.
+England's difficulty proved Ireland's opportunity. Everything that could
+be desired was granted; and all that was asked was the liberty to
+worship God according to each man's conscience, and the liberty of
+action and employment, which is the right of every member of civil
+society who has not violated the rules of moral conduct which governors
+are bound to enforce. In return for the promise that they should enjoy
+the rights of subjects, the Irish Confederates promised to do the duty
+of subjects. They had already assisted more than one English King to
+rule his Scotch dominions; they were now to assist Charles to rule his
+English subjects; and they promised to send him 10,000 armed men, under
+the command of Lord Herbert. It was a great risk to trust a Stuart; and
+he made it a condition that the agreement should remain secret until the
+troops had landed in England.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime Belling, the Secretary of the Supreme Council, was sent
+to Rome and presented to Innocent X., by Father Wadding, as the envoy of
+the Confederate Catholics, in February, 1645. On hearing his report, the
+Pope sent John Baptist Rinuccini<a name="FNanchor_479_480"></a><a href="#Footnote_479_480"><sup>[479]</sup></a>, <a name="Page_490"></a>Archbishop of Fermo, to Ireland,
+as Nuncio-Extraordinary. This prelate set out immediately; and, after
+some detention at St. Germains, for the purpose of conferring with the
+English Queen, who had taken refuge there, he purchased the frigate <i>San
+Pietro</i> at Rochelle, stored it with arms and ammunition; and, after some
+escapes from the Parliamentary cruisers, landed safely in Kenmare Bay,
+on the 21st of October, 1645. He was soon surrounded and welcomed by the
+peasantry; and after celebrating Mass in a poor hut,<a name="FNanchor_480_481"></a><a href="#Footnote_480_481"><sup>[480]</sup></a> he at once
+proceeded to Limerick. Here he celebrated the obsequies of the
+Archbishop of Tuam, and then passed on to Kilkenny. He entered the old
+city in state, attended by the clergy. At the entrance to the Cathedral
+he was met by the Bishop of Ossory, who was<a name="Page_491"></a> unable to walk in the
+procession. When the <i>Te Deum</i> had been sung, he was received in the
+Castle by the General Assembly, and addressed them in Latin. After this
+he returned to the residence prepared for him.</p>
+
+<p>In a Catholic country, and with a Catholic people, the influence of a
+Papal Nuncio was necessarily preponderant, and he appears to have seen
+at a glance the difficulties and advantages of the position of Irish
+affairs and the Confederate movement. &quot;He had set his mind,&quot; says the
+author of the <i>Confederation of Kilkenny</i>, &quot;on one grand object&mdash;the
+freedom of the Church, in possession of all her rights and dignities,
+and the emancipation of the Catholic people from the degradation to
+which English imperialism had condemned them. The churches which the
+piety of Catholic lords and chieftains had erected, he determined to
+secure to the rightful inheritors. His mind and feelings recoiled from
+the idea of worshipping in crypts and catacombs; he abhorred the notion
+of a priest or bishop performing a sacred rite as though it were a
+felony; and despite the wily artifices of Ormonde and his faction, he
+resolved to teach the people of Ireland that they were not to remain
+mere dependents on English bounty, when a stern resolve might win for
+them the privileges of freemen.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_481_482"></a><a href="#Footnote_481_482"><sup>[481]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>The following extract from Rinuccini's own report, will show how
+thoroughly he was master of the situation in a diplomatic point of view:
+&quot;From time immemorial two adverse parties have always existed among the
+Catholics of Ireland. The first are called the 'old Irish.' They are
+most numerous in Ulster, where they seem to have their head-quarters;
+for even the Earl of Tyrone placed himself at their head, and maintained
+a protracted war against Elizabeth. The second may be called the 'old
+English,'&mdash;a race introduced into Ireland in the reign of Henry II., the
+fifth king in succession from William the Conqueror; so called to
+distinguish them from the 'new English,' who have come into the kingdom
+along with the modern heresy. These parties are opposed to each other
+principally on the following grounds: the old Irish, entertaining a
+great aversion for heresy, are also averse to the dominion of England,
+and have Biased, generally speaking, to accept the investiture of Church
+property offered to them since the apostacy of the Kings of England from
+the Church. The others, on the contrary, enriched with the<a name="Page_492"></a> spoils of the
+monasteries, and thus bound to the King by obligation, no less than by
+interest, neither seek nor desire anything but the exaltation of the
+crown, esteem no laws but those of the realm, are thoroughly English in
+their feelings, and, from their constant familiarity with heretics, are
+less jealous of differences of religion.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The Nuncio then goes on to state how even the military command was
+divided between these two parties,&mdash;O'Neill belonging to the old Irish
+interest, and Preston to the new. He also mentions the manner in which
+this difference of feeling extended to the lower classes, and
+particularly to those who served in the army.<a name="FNanchor_482_483"></a><a href="#Footnote_482_483"><sup>[482]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>I have given this lengthened extract from Rinuccini's report, because,
+with all the advantages of looking back upon the times and events, it
+would be impossible to explain more clearly the position of the
+different parties. It remains only to show how these unfortunate
+differences led to the ruin of the common cause.</p>
+
+<p>The Confederates now began to be distinguished into two parties, as
+Nuncionists and Ormondists. Two sets of negotiations were carried on,
+openly with Ormonde, and secretly with Glamorgan. The Nuncio, from the
+first, apprehended the treachery of Charles, and events proved the
+correctness of his forebodings. Glamorgan produced his credentials,
+dated April 30th, 1645, in which the King promised to ratify whatever
+terms he might make; and he further promised, that the Irish soldiers,
+whose assistance he demanded, should be brought back to their own
+shores, if these arrangements were not complied with by his master.
+Meanwhile a copy of this secret treaty was discovered on the Archbishop
+of Tuam, who had been killed at Sligo. It was used as an accusation
+against the King. Glamorgan was arrested in Dublin, and the whole scheme
+was defeated.</p>
+
+<p>The General Assembly met in Kilkenny, in January, 1646, and demanded the
+release of Glamorgan. He was bailed out; but the King disowned the
+commission, as Rinuccini had expected, and proved himself thereby
+equally a traitor to his Catholic and Protestant subjects. Ormonde took
+care to foment the division between the Confederate party, and succeeded
+so well that a middle party was formed, who signed a treaty consisting
+of thirty articles. This document only provided for the religious part
+of the question, that<a name="Page_493"></a> Roman Catholics should not be bound to take the
+oath of supremacy. An Act of oblivion was passed, and the Catholics were
+to continue to hold their possessions until a settlement could be made
+by Act of Parliament. Even in a political point of view, this treaty was
+a failure; and one should have thought that Irish chieftains and
+Anglo-Irish nobles had known enough of Acts of Parliament to have
+prevented them from confiding their hopes to such an uncertain future.</p>
+
+<p>The division of the command in the Confederate army had been productive
+of most disastrous consequences. The rivalry between O'Neill, Preston,
+and Owen Roe, increased the complication; but the Nuncio managed to
+reconcile the two O'Neills, and active preparations were made by Owen
+Roe for his famous northern campaign. The Irish troops intended for
+Charles had remained in their own country; the unfortunate monarch had
+committed his last fatal error by confiding himself to his Scotch
+subjects, who sold him to his own people for &pound;400,000. Ormonde now
+refused to publish the treaty which had been just concluded, or even to
+enforce its observance by Monroe, although the Confederates had given
+him &pound;3,000 to get up an expedition for that purpose.</p>
+
+<p>In the beginning of June, A.D. 1646, Owen Roe O'Neill marched against
+Monroe, with 5,000 foot and 500 horse. Monroe received notice of his
+approach; and although his force was far superior to O'Neill's, he sent
+for reinforcements of cavalry from his brother, Colonel George Monroe,
+who was stationed at Coleraine. But the Irish forces advanced more
+quickly than he expected; and on the 4th of June they had crossed the
+Blackwater, and encamped at Benburb. O'Neill selected his position
+admirably. He encamped between two small hills, with a wood in his rear.
+The river Blackwater protected him on the right, and an impassable bog
+on the left. Some brushwood in the front enabled him to conceal a party
+of musketeers; he was also well-informed of Monroe's movements, and took
+precautions to prevent the advance of his brother's forces. Monroe
+crossed the river at Kinard, at a considerable distance in the rear of
+his opponent, and then advanced, by a circuitous march, from the east
+and north. The approach was anticipated; and, on in the 5th of June,
+1646, the most magnificent victory ever recorded in the annals of Irish
+history was won. The Irish army prepared for the great day with solemn
+religious observances. The whole army approached the sacraments of
+penance and holy<a name="Page_494"></a> communion, and thus were prepared alike for death or
+victory. The chaplain deputed by the Nuncio addressed them briefly, and
+appealed to their religious feelings; their General, Owen Roe, appealed
+to their nationality. How deeply outraged they had been, both in their
+religion and in their national feelings, has been already mentioned; how
+they fought for their altars and their domestic hearths will now be
+recorded. O'Neill's skill as a military tactician, is beyond all praise.
+For four long hours he engaged the attention of the enemy, until the
+glare of the burning summer sun had passed away, and until he had
+intercepted the reinforcements which Monroe expected. At last the
+decisive moment had arrived. Monroe thought he saw his brother's
+contingent in the distance; O'Neill knew that they were some of his own
+men who had beaten that very contingent. When the Scotch general was
+undeceived, he resolved to retire. O'Neill saw his advantage, and gave
+the command to charge. With one loud cry of vengeance for desecrated
+altars and desolated homes, the Irish soldiers dashed to the charge, and
+Monroe's ranks were broken, and his men driven to flight. Even the
+General himself fled so precipitately, that he left his hat, sword, and
+cloak after him, and never halted until he reached Lisburn. Lord
+Montgomery was taken prisoner, and 3,000 of the Scotch were left on the
+field. Of the Irish only seventy men were killed, and 200 wounded. It
+was a great victory; and it was something more&mdash;it was a glorious
+victory; although Ireland remained, both as to political and religious
+freedom, much as it had been before. The standards captured on that
+bloody field were sent to the Nuncio at Limerick, and carried in
+procession to the Cathedral, where a solemn <i>Te Deum</i> was chanted&mdash;and
+that was all the result that came of it. Confusion thrice confounded
+followed in the rear. The King issued orders, under the compulsion of
+the Scotch, which Lord Digby declared to be just the contrary of what he
+really wished; and Ormonde proclaimed and ratified the treaty he had
+formerly declined to fulfil, while the &quot;old Irish&quot; everywhere
+indignantly rejected it. In Waterford, Clonmel, and Limerick, the people
+would not permit it even to be proclaimed. The Nuncio summoned a
+national synod in Waterford, at which it was condemned; and a decree was
+issued, on the 12th of August, declaring that all who adhered to such
+terms should be declared perjurers. Even Preston declared for the
+Nuncio; and the clergy and the nobles who led the unpopular cause, were
+obliged to ask<a name="Page_495"></a> Ormonde's assistance to help them out of their
+difficulty. The Earl arrived at Kilkenny with an armed force; but fled
+precipitately when he heard that O'Neill and Preston were advancing
+towards him.</p>
+
+<p>Rinuccini now took a high hand. He entered Kilkenny in state, on the
+18th of September, and committed the members of the Supreme Council as
+prisoners to the Castle, except Darcy and Plunket. A new Council was
+appointed, or self-appointed, on the 20th, of which the Nuncio was
+chosen President. The imprisonment of the old Council was undoubtedly a
+harsh and unwise proceeding, which can scarcely be justified; but the
+times were such that prompt action was demanded, and the result alone,
+which could not be foreseen, could justify or condemn it.</p>
+
+<p>The Generals were again at variance; and although the new Council had
+decided on attacking Dublin, their plans could not be carried out.
+Preston was unquestionably playing fast and loose; and when the
+Confederate troops did march towards Dublin, his duplicity ruined the
+cause which might even then have been gained. A disgraceful retreat was
+the result. An Assembly was again convened at Kilkenny; the old Council
+was released; the Generals promised to forget their animosities: but
+three weeks had been lost in angry discussion; and although the
+Confederates bound themselves by oath not to lay down their arms until
+their demands were granted, their position was weakened to a degree
+which the selfishness of the contending parties made them quite
+incapable of estimating.</p>
+
+<p>The fact was, the Puritan faction in England was every day gaining an
+increase of power; while every hour that the Confederate Catholics
+wasted in discussion or division, was weakening their moral strength.
+Even Ormonde found himself a victim to the party who had long made him
+their tool, and was ordered out of Dublin unceremoniously, and obliged
+eventually to take refuge in France. Colonel Jones took possession of
+Dublin Castle for the rebel forces and defeated Preston in a serious
+engagement at Dungan Hill soon after his arrival in Ireland. O'Neill now
+came to the rescue; and even the Ormondists, having lost their leader,
+admitted that he was their only resource. His admirable knowledge of
+military tactics enabled him to drive Jones into Dublin Castle, and keep
+him there for a time almost in a state of siege.</p>
+
+<p>In the mean time Inchiquin was distinguishing himself by his<a name="Page_496"></a> cruel
+victories in the south of Ireland. The massacre of Cashel followed. When
+the walls were battered down, the hapless garrison surrendered without
+resistance, and were butchered without mercy. The people fled to the
+Cathedral, hoping there, at least, to escape; but the savage General
+poured volleys of musket-balls through the doors and windows, and his
+soldiers rushing in afterwards, piked those who were not yet dead.
+Twenty priests were dragged out as objects of special vengeance; and the
+total number of those were thus massacred amounted to 3,000.</p>
+
+<p>An engagement took place in November between Inchiquin and Lord Taaffe,
+in which the Confederates were again beaten and cruelly massacred. Thus
+two of their generals had lost both their men and their <i>prestige</i>, and
+O'Neill alone remained as the prop of a falling cause. The Irish now
+looked for help from foreign sources, and despatched Plunket and French
+to Rome, and Muskerry and Browne to France; but Ormonde had already
+commenced negotiations on his own account, and he alone was accredited
+at the court of St. Germains. Even at this moment Inchiquin had been
+treating with the Supreme Council for a truce; but Rinuccini, who
+detested his duplicity, could never be induced to listen to his
+proposals. A man who had so mercilessly massacred his own countrymen,
+could scarcely be trusted by them on so sudden a conversion to their
+cause; but, unhappily, there were individuals who, in the uncertain
+state of public affairs, were anxious to steer their barks free of the
+thousand breakers ahead, and in their eagerness forgot that, when the
+whole coast-line was deluged with storms, their best chance of escape
+was the bold resolution of true moral courage. The cautious politicians,
+therefore, made a treaty with Inchiquin, which was signed at Dungarvan,
+on the 20th of May. On the 27th of that month the Nuncio promulgated a
+sentence of excommunication against all cities and villages where it
+should be received, and, at the same time, he withdrew to the camp of
+Owen Roe O'Neill, against whom Inchiquin and Preston were prepared to
+march. It was a last and desperate resource, and, as might be expected,
+it failed signally of its intended effects. Various attempts to obtain a
+settlement of the question at issue by force of arms, were made by the
+contending parties; but O'Neill baffled his enemies, and the Nuncio
+withdrew to Galway.</p>
+
+<p>Ormonde arrived in Ireland soon after, and was received at Cork, on the
+27th of September, 1648, by Inchiquin. He then proceeded<a name="Page_497"></a> to Kilkenny,
+where he was received in great state by the Confederates. On the 17th of
+January, 1649, he signed a treaty of peace, which concluded the seven
+years' war. This treaty afforded the most ample indulgences to the
+Catholics, and guaranteed fairly that civil and religious liberty for
+which alone they had contended; but the ink upon the deed was scarcely
+dry, ere the execution of Charles I., on the 30th of January, washed out
+its enactments in royal blood; and civil war, with more than ordinary
+complications, was added to the many miseries of our unfortunate
+country.</p>
+
+<p>Rinuccini embarked in the <i>San Pietro</i> once more, and returned to Italy,
+February 23, 1649. Had his counsels been followed, the result might have
+justified him, even in his severest measures; as it is we read only
+failure in his career; but it should be remembered, that there are
+circumstances under which failure is more noble than success.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/089.jpg" width="345" height="504" alt="THOMAS FLEMYNG&#39;S TOMB, COLLEGIATE CHURCH, YOUGHAL." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>THOMAS FLEMYNG&#39;S TOMB, COLLEGIATE CHURCH, YOUGHAL.</h4>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><br /><br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXX"></a>
+<center>
+<img src="images/090.jpg" width="369" height="277" alt="ST. LAWRENCE GATE, DROGHEDA." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>ST. LAWRENCE GATE, DROGHEDA.</h4>
+
+<a name="Page_498"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXX.</h2>
+
+<h4>Cromwell arrives in Ireland&mdash;He marches to Drogheda&mdash;Cruel Massacre of
+the Inhabitants after promise of Quarter&mdash;Account of an
+Eyewitness&mdash;Brutality of the Cromwellian Soldiers&mdash;Ladies are not
+spared&mdash;Cromwell's Letters&mdash;He boasts of his Cruelties&mdash;Massacre and
+Treachery at Drogheda&mdash;Brave Resistance at Clonmel&mdash;Charles II. arrives
+in Scotland&mdash;The Duplicity of his Conduct towards the Irish&mdash;Siege of
+Limerick&mdash;Ireton's Cruelties and Miserable Death&mdash;The Banishment to
+Connaught&mdash;The Irish are sold as Slaves to Barbadoes&mdash;General Desolation
+and Misery of the People.</h4>
+
+<h5>[A.D. 1649-1655.]</h5>
+
+<img src="images/p.jpg" width="56" height="192" align="left" alt="C" title="" />
+<p>romwell was now master of England, and ruled with all that authority
+which is so freely granted to a revolutionary leader, and so often
+denied to a lawful monarch. The great body of the English stood aghast
+with horror when they discovered that regicide, and the substitution of
+an illegal tyranny for one which at least was legal, was the end of all
+their hopes. The new ruler was aware of the precariousness of his
+position. The safety of his head, as well as the continuance of his
+power, depended on the caprice of the multitude; and he saw that the
+sword alone could maintain him in the elevated position to which he had
+risen, and the still more elevated position to which he aspired. We
+scarcely imagine him to have been more religious or less humane than
+many of his contemporaries, though it is evident that he required a
+great show of the kind of religion then fashionable to support his
+character as a reformer, and<a name="Page_499"></a> that he considered himself obliged to
+exercise wholesale cruelties to consolidate his power.</p>
+
+<p>The rightful heir to the English throne was then at the Hague, uncertain
+how to act and whither he should turn his steps. He wished to visit
+Ireland, where he would have been received with enthusiastic loyalty by
+the Catholics; but Ormonde persuaded him, from sinister motives, to
+defer his intention. Ormonde and Inchiquin now took the field together.
+The former advanced to Dublin, and the latter to Drogheda. This town was
+held by a Parliamentary garrison, who capitulated on honorable terms.
+Monck and Owen O'Neill, in the meantime, were acting in concert, and
+Inchiquin captured supplies which the English General was sending to the
+Irish chief. Newry, Dundalk, and the often-disputed and famous Castle of
+Trim<a name="FNanchor_483_484"></a><a href="#Footnote_483_484"><sup>[483]</sup></a> surrendered to him, and he marched back to Ormonde in triumph.
+As there appeared no hope of reducing Dublin except by famine, it was
+regularly blockaded; and the Earl wrote to Charles to inform him that
+his men were so loyal, he could &quot;persuade half his army to starve
+outright for his Majesty.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Ormonde now moved his camp from Finglas to Rathmines, and at the same
+time reinforcements arrived for the garrison, under the command of
+Colonels Reynolds and Venables. The besiegers made an attempt to guard
+the river, and for this purpose, Major-General Purcell was sent to take
+possession of the ruined Castle of Bagotrath, about a mile from the
+camp. Ormonde professed to have expected an attack during the night, and
+kept his men under arms; but just as he had retired to rest, an alarm
+was given. Colonel Jones had made a sortie from the city; the sortie
+became for a brief moment an engagement, and ended in a total rout. The
+Earl was suspected; and whether he had been guilty of treachery or of
+carelessness, he lost his credit, and soon after left the kingdom.</p>
+
+<p>Cromwell had been made Lieutenant-General of the English army in
+Ireland, but as yet he had been unable to take the command in person.
+His position was precarious; and he wished to secure his influence still
+more firmly in his own country, before he attempted the conquest of
+another. He had succeeded so far in the accomplishment of his plans that
+his departure and his journey to Bristol were undertaken in royal style.
+He left the metropolis early in June,<a name="Page_500"></a> in a coach drawn by six gallant
+Flanders' mares, and concluded his progress at Milford Haven, where he
+embarked, reaching Ireland on the 14th of August, 1649. He was attended
+by some of the most famous of the Parliamentary Generals&mdash;his son,
+Henry, the future Lord Deputy; Monk, Blake, Ireton, Waller, Ludlow and
+others. He brought with him, for the propagation of the Gospel and the
+Commonwealth, &pound;200,000 in money, eight regiments of foot, six of horse,
+several troops of dragoons, a large supply of Bibles,<a name="FNanchor_484_485"></a><a href="#Footnote_484_485"><sup>[484]</sup></a> and a
+corresponding provision of ammunition and scythes. The Bibles were to be
+distributed amongst his soldiers, and to be given to the poor
+unfortunate natives, who could not understand a word of their contents.
+The scythes and sickles were to deprive them of all means of living, and
+to preach a ghastly commentary on the conduct of the men who wished to
+convert them to the new Gospel, which certainly was not one of peace.
+Cromwell now issued two proclamations: one against intemperance, for he
+knew well the work that was before him, and he could not afford to have
+a single drunken soldier in his camp. The other proclamation prohibited
+plundering the country people: it was scarcely less prudent. His
+soldiers might any day become his masters, if they were not kept under
+strict control; and there are few things which so effectually lessen
+military discipline as permission to plunder: he also wished to
+encourage the country people to bring in provisions. His arrangements
+all succeeded.</p>
+
+<p>Ormonde had garrisoned Drogheda with 3,000 of his choicest troops. They
+were partly English, and were commanded by a brave loyalist, Sir Arthur
+Aston. This was really the most important town in Ireland; and Cromwell,
+whose skill as a military general cannot be disputed, at once determined
+to lay siege to it. He encamped before the devoted city on the 2nd of
+September, and in a few days had his siege guns posted on the hill shown
+in the accompanying illustration, and still known as Cromwell's Fort.
+Two breaches were made on the 10th, and he sent in his storming parties
+about five o'clock in the evening. Earthworks had been thrown up inside
+and the garrison resisted with undiminished bravery. The besieged<a name="Page_501"></a> at
+last wavered; quarter<a name="FNanchor_485_486"></a><a href="#Footnote_485_486"><sup>[485]</sup></a> was promised to them, and they yielded; but
+the promise came from men who knew neither how to keep faith or to show
+mercy. The brave Governor, Sir Arthur Aston, retired with his staff to
+an old mill on an eminence, but they were disarmed and slain in cold
+blood. The officers and soldiers were first exterminated, and then men,
+women, and children were put to the sword. The butchery occupied five
+entire days; Cromwell has himself described the scene, and glories in
+his cruelty. Another eyewitness, an officer in his army, has described
+it also, but with some faint touch of remorse.</p>
+<a name="Massacre_at_Drogheda"></a>
+<center>
+<img src="images/091.jpg" width="487" height="660" alt="Massacre at Drogheda" title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>Massacre at Drogheda</h4>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/092.jpg" width="479" height="340" alt="CROMWELL&#39;S FORT, DROGHEDA" title="" />
+</center>.
+<h4>CROMWELL&#39;S FORT, DROGHEDA</h4>
+
+<p>A number of the townspeople fled for safety to St. Peter's Church, on
+the north side of the city, but every one of them was murdered, all
+defenceless and unarmed as they were; others took refuge in the church
+steeple, but it was of wood, and Cromwell himself gave orders that it
+should be set on fire, and those who attempted to escape the flames were
+piked. The principal ladies of the city had sheltered themselves in the
+crypts. It might have been supposed<a name="Page_502"></a> that this precaution should be
+unnecessary, or, at least, that English officers would respect their
+sex; but, alas for common humanity! it was not so. When the slaughter
+had been accomplished above, it was continued below. Neither youth nor
+beauty was spared. Thomas Wood, who was one of these officers, and
+brother to Anthony Wood, the Oxford historian, says he found in these
+vaults &quot;the flower and choicest of the women and ladies belonging to the
+town; amongst whom, a most handsome virgin, arrayed in costly and
+gorgeous apparel, kneeled down to him with tears and prayer to save her
+life.&quot; Touched by her beauty and her entreaties he attempted to save
+her, and took her out of the church; but even his protection could not
+save her. A soldier thrust his sword into her body; and the officer,
+recovering from his momentary fit of compassion, &quot;flung her down over
+the rocks,&quot; according to his own account, but first took care to possess
+himself of her money and jewels. This officer also mentions that the
+soldiers were in the habit of taking up a child, and using it as a
+buckler, when they wished to ascend the lofts and galleries of the
+church, to save themselves from being shot or brained. It is an evidence
+that they knew their victims to be less cruel than themselves, or the
+expedient would not have been found to answer.</p>
+
+<p>Cromwell wrote an account of this massacre to the &quot;Council of State.&quot;
+His letters, as his admiring editor observes, &quot;tell their own
+tale;&quot;<a name="FNanchor_486_487"></a><a href="#Footnote_486_487"><sup>[486]</sup></a> and unquestionably that tale plainly intimates that whether
+the Republican General were hypocrite or fanatic&mdash;and it is probable he
+was a compound of both&mdash;he certainly, on his own showing, was little
+less than a demon of cruelty. Cromwell writes thus: &quot;It hath pleased God
+to bless our endeavours at Drogheda. After battery we stormed it. The
+enemy were about 3,000 strong in the town. They made a stout resistance.
+I believe we put to the sword the whole number of defendants. I do not
+think thirty of the whole number escaped with their lives. Those that
+did are in safe custody for the Barbadoes. This hath been a marvellous
+<a name="Page_503"></a>great mercy.&quot; In another letter he says that this &quot;great thing&quot; was done
+&quot;by the Spirit of God.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>These savage butcheries had the intended effect. The inhabitants of all
+the smaller towns fled at his approach, and the garrisons capitulated.
+Trim, Dundalk, Carlingford, and Newry, had yielded; but Wexford still
+held out. The garrison amounted to about 3,000 men, under the command of
+Colonel Sinnot, a brave loyalist. After some correspondence on both
+sides, a conference took place between four of the royalists and
+Cromwell, at which he contrived to bribe Captain Stafford, the Governor
+of the Castle. The conditions asked, preparatory to surrender, were
+liberty of conscience, and permission to withdraw in safety and with
+military honours. Cromwell's idea of liberty of conscience was as
+peculiar as his idea of honour. He wrote to the Governor of Ross to say
+that he would not &quot;meddle with any man's conscience;&quot; but adds: &quot;If by
+liberty of conscience you mean a liberty to exercise the Mass, I judge
+it best to use plain dealing, and to tell you now, where the Parliament
+of England have power, that will not be allowed of;&quot;<a name="FNanchor_487_488"></a><a href="#Footnote_487_488"><sup>[487]</sup></a> which, in
+plain English, meant that he professed liberty of conscience, but
+allowed it only to such as agreed with himself. Of his estimation of
+honour, his dealings at Wexford afford a fair sample. As soon as he had
+found that Stafford could be bribed, he denounced the proposals of the
+garrison as abominable and impudent. The traitor opened the
+castle-gates, and the Parliamentary troops marched in. The besieged were
+amazed and panic-struck; yet, to their eternal credit, they made what
+even Cromwell admits to have been a &quot;stiff resistance.&quot; The massacre of
+Drogheda was renewed with all its horrors, and the treacherous General
+held in his hand all the time the formal offer of surrender which had
+been made by the townspeople and his own reply. He informs the
+Parliament that he did not intend to destroy the town, but his own
+letter reveals his treachery; and he congratulates his correspondents on
+the &quot;unexpected providence&quot; which had befallen them. He excuses the
+massacre on the plea of some outrages which had been offered to the
+&quot;poor Protestants,&quot; forgetting what incomparably greater cruelties had
+been inflicted by the Protestants on the Catholics, both for their
+loyalty and for their religion.</p>
+
+<p>MacGeoghegan mentions the massacre of two hundred women,<a name="Page_504"></a> who clung round
+the market-cross for protection.<a name="FNanchor_488_489"></a><a href="#Footnote_488_489"><sup>[488]</sup></a> His statement is not corroborated
+by contemporary authority; but there appears no reason to doubt that it
+may have taken place, from what has already been recorded at Drogheda on
+unquestionable authority. Owen Roe and Ormonde now leagued together for
+the royal cause, but their union was of short duration, for the Irish
+chieftain died almost immediately, and it was said, not without
+suspicion of having been poisoned by wearing a &quot;pair of russet boots,&quot;
+sent to him by one Plunket, of Louth, who afterwards boasted of his
+exploit. His death was an irreparable loss to the Irish cause; for his
+noble and upright conduct had won him universal esteem, while his
+military prowess had secured him the respect even of his enemies. New
+Ross surrendered to Cromwell on the 18th of October and Luke Taaffe, the
+Commander, joined Ormonde at Kilkenny. The garrisons of Cork, Youghal,
+Kinsale, and Bandon, revolted to Cromwell, through the intervention of
+Lord Broghill, son of the Earl of Cork, who became one of the leading
+Parliamentary officers. On the 24th of November, Cromwell attempted to
+take Waterford; but finding the place too strong for him, he marched on
+to Dungarvan. Here the garrison surrendered at discretion, and his
+troops proceeded to Cork through Youghal.</p>
+
+<p>The Irish had now begun to distrust Ormonde thoroughly; even the
+citizens of Waterford refused to admit his soldiers into their town.
+Indeed, the distrust was so general, that he had considerable difficulty
+in providing winter quarters for his troops, and he wrote to ask
+permission from the exiled King to leave the country. The month of
+January, 1650, was spent by Cromwell in continuing his victorious march.
+He set out from Youghal on the 29th, and approached as near Limerick as
+he dared, taking such castles as lay in his way, and accepting the keys
+of Cashel and other towns, where the authorities surrendered
+immediately. On the 22nd of March he arrived before Kilkenny, to meet a
+resistance as hopeless as it was heroic. A fearful pestilence had
+reduced the garrison from 1,200 men to about 400, yet they absolutely
+refused<a name="Page_505"></a> to obey the summons to surrender, but, after a brave resistance,
+they were obliged to yield; and Cromwell hastened on to Clonmel, where
+he had to encounter the most formidable resistance he experienced in his
+Irish campaigns. The garrison was commanded by Hugh Dubh O'Neill. The
+Bishop of Ross attempted to raise the siege, but was taken and hanged by
+Broghill, because he would not desire the defenders of Carrigadrohid to
+surrender. The first attack on Clonmel took place on the 9th of May, and
+O'Neill determined to resist with the energy of despair, and the full
+knowledge of the demon vengeance with which the Puritans repaid such
+deeds of valour. When the place was no longer tenable, he withdrew his
+troops under cover of darkness; and the English General found next
+morning that he had been outwitted, and that nothing remained for his
+vengeance but the unfortunate townspeople.</p>
+
+<p>Pressing demands were now made by the Parliament for his return to
+England, where the royalists had also to be crushed and subdued; and
+after committing the command of his army to Ireton, he sailed from
+Youghal, on the 20th of May, leaving, as a legacy to Ireland, a name
+which was only repeated to be cursed, and an increase of miseries which
+already had seemed incapable of multiplication. In the meantime the
+Irish clergy held frequent conferences, and made every effort in their
+power to obtain peace for their unfortunate country. Ormonde became
+daily more and more distrusted; the people of Limerick and of Galway had
+both refused to receive him; and on the 6th of August the clergy met in
+synod at Jamestown, in the county Leitrim, and sent him a formal
+message, requesting his withdrawal from the kingdom, and asking for the
+appointment of some one in whom the people might have confidence. His
+pride was wounded, and he refused to retire until he should be compelled
+to do so; but the bishops published a declaration, denouncing his
+government, and threatening to impeach him before the King. They were
+yet to learn that the King, whom they served so faithfully, and in whom,
+despite all past disappointments, they confided so loyally, could be
+guilty of the greatest duplicity and the basest subterfuge.</p>
+
+<p>Charles II. landed in Scotland on the 28th of June, 1650, and soon after
+signed the Covenant, and a declaration in which he stated the peace with
+Ireland to be null and void, adding, with equal untruthfulness and
+meanness, that &quot;he was convinced in his conscience of the sinfulness and
+unlawfulness of it, and of allowing<a name="Page_506"></a> them [the Catholics] the liberty of
+the Popish religion; for which he did from his heart desire to be deeply
+humbled before the Lord.&quot; Ormonde declared, what was probably true, that
+the King had been obliged to make these statements, and that they meant
+nothing; but neither his protestations nor his diplomacy could save him
+from general contempt; and having appointed the Marquis of Clanrickarde
+to administer the Government of Ireland for the King, he left the
+country, accompanied by some of the leading royalists, and, after a
+stormy passage, arrived at St. Malo, in Brittany, early in the year
+1651. The Irish again sacrificed their interests to their loyalty, and
+refused favourable terms offered to them by the Parliamentary party;
+they even attempted to mortgage the town of Galway, to obtain money for
+the royal cause, and an agreement was entered into with the Duke of
+Lorraine for this purpose; but the disasters of the battle of Worcester,
+and the triumphs of the republican faction, soon deprived them of every
+hope.</p>
+
+<p>It will be remembered that Cromwell had passed by Limerick at a
+respectful distance; but the possession of that city was none the less
+coveted. Ireton now prepared to lay siege to it. To effect this, Coote
+made a feint of attacking Sligo; and when he had drawn off
+Clanrickarde's forces to oppose him, marched back hastily, and took
+Athlone. By securing this fortress he opened a road into Connaught; and
+Ireton, at the same time, forced the passage of the river at
+O'Briensbridge, and thus was enabled to invest Limerick. Lord Muskerry
+marched to its relief; but he was intercepted by Lord Broghill, and his
+men were routed with great slaughter. The castle at the salmon weir was
+first attacked; and the men who defended it were butchered in cold
+blood, although they had surrendered on a promise of quarter. At length
+treachery accomplished what valour might have prevented. The plague was
+raging in the city, and many tried to escape; but were either beaten
+back into the town, or killed on the spot by Ireton's troopers. The
+corporation and magistrates were in favour of a capitulation; but the
+gallant Governor, Hugh O'Neill, opposed it earnestly. Colonel Fennell,
+who had already betrayed the pass at Killaloe, completed his perfidy by
+seizing St. John's Gate and Tower, and admitting Ireton's men by night.
+On the following day the invader was able to dictate his own terms.
+2,500 soldiers laid down their arms in St. Mary's Church, and marched
+out of the city, many dropping dead on road of the fearful pestilence.
+Twenty-four persons were exempted<a name="Page_507"></a> from quarter. Amongst the number were
+a Dominican prelate, Dr. Terence O'Brien, Bishop of Emly, and a
+Franciscan, Father Wolfe. Ireton had special vengeance for the former,
+who had long encouraged the people to fight for their country and their
+faith, and had refused a large bribe<a name="FNanchor_489_490"></a><a href="#Footnote_489_490"><sup>[489]</sup></a> which the Cromwellian General
+had offered him if he would leave the city. The ecclesiastics were soon
+condemned; but, ere the Bishop was dragged to the gibbet, he turned to
+the dark and cruel man who had sacrificed so many lives, and poured such
+torrents of blood over the land, summoning him, in stern and prophetic
+tones, to answer at God's judgment-seat for the evils he had done. The
+Bishop and his companion were martyred on the Eve of All Saints, October
+31st, 1651. On the 26th of November Ireton was a corpse. He caught the
+plague eight days after he had been summoned to the tribunal of eternal
+justice; and he died raving wildly of the men whom he had murdered, and
+accusing everyone but himself of the crime he had committed.</p>
+
+<a name="Ireton_condemning_the_Bishop_of_Limerick"></a>
+<center>
+<img src="images/093.jpg" width="486" height="653" alt="Ireton condemning the Bishop of Limerick." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>Ireton condemning the Bishop of Limerick.</h4>
+
+<p>Several of the leading gentry of Limerick were also executed; and the
+traitor Fennell met the reward of his treachery, and was also hanged.
+Hugh O'Neill was saved through the remonstrances of some of the
+Parliamentary officers, who had the spirit to appreciate his valour and
+his honorable dealing.</p>
+
+<p>Ludlow now took the command, and marched to assist Coote, who was
+besieging Galway. This town surrendered on the 12th of May, 1652. The
+few Irish officers who still held out against the Parliament, made the
+best terms they could for themselves individually; and there was a brief
+peace, the precursor of yet more terrible storms.</p>
+
+<p>I have already given such fearful accounts of the miseries to which the
+Irish were reduced by confiscations, fines, and war, that it seems
+useless to add fresh details; yet, fearful as are the records given by
+Spenser of 1580, when neither the lowing of a cow nor the voice of a
+herdsman could be heard from Dunquin, in Kerry, to Cashel, in Munster,
+there seems to have been a deeper depth of misery after Cromwell's
+massacres. In 1653 the English themselves were nearly starving, even in
+Dublin; and cattle had to be imported from Wales. There was no tillage,
+and a licence was required to kill lamb.<a name="FNanchor_490_491"></a><a href="#Footnote_490_491"><sup>[490]</sup></a> The Irish had fled into
+the mountains, the only refuge<a name="Page_508"></a> left to them now; and the Parliamentary
+officers were obliged to issue proclamations inviting their return, and
+promising them safety and protection. But the grand object of the
+revolutionary party was still to carry out the wild scheme of unpeopling
+Ireland of the Irish, and planting it anew with English&mdash;a scheme which
+had been so often attempted, and had so signally failed, that one
+marvels how it could again have been brought forward. Still there were
+always adventurers ready to fight for other men's lands, and subjects
+who might be troublesome at home, whom it was found desirable to occupy
+in some way abroad. But a grand effort was made now to get rid of as
+many Irishmen as possible in a peaceable manner. The valour of the Irish
+soldier was well known abroad;<a name="FNanchor_491_492"></a><a href="#Footnote_491_492"><sup>[491]</sup></a> and agents from the King of Spain,
+the King of Poland, and the Prince de Cond&eacute;, were contending for those
+brave fellows, who were treated like slaves in their native land; and
+then, if they dared resist, branded with the foul name of rebels. If a
+keen had rung out loud and long when O'Donnell left his native land
+never to return, well might it ring out now yet more wildly. In May,
+1652, Don Ricardo White shipped 7,000 men for the King of Spain; in
+September, Colonel Mayo collected 3,000 more; Lord Muskerry took 5,000
+to Poland; and, in 1654, Colonel Dwyer went to serve the Prince de Cond&eacute;
+with 3,500 men. Other officers looked up the men who had served under
+them, and expatriated themselves in smaller parties; so that, between
+1651 and 1654, 34,000 Irishmen had left their native land; and few,
+indeed, ever returned to its desolate shores.</p>
+
+<p>But their lot was merciful compared with the fate of those who still
+remained. In 1653 Ireland was considered sufficiently depopulated by war
+and emigration to admit of a commencement of the grand planting. The
+country was again portioned out; again the ruling powers selected the
+best portion of the land for themselves and their favourites; again the
+religion of the country was reformed, and Protestant prelates were
+condemned as loudly, though they were not hunted as unmercifully, as
+Popish priests; again the wild and lawless adventurer was sent to eject
+the old proprietor, who<a name="Page_509"></a> might starve or beg while the intruder held his
+lands, and sheltered himself in his mansion, while a new cruelty was
+enacted, a new terror devised, a new iniquity framed, and this by rulers
+who talked so loudly of political and religious liberty. It was not
+convenient, more probably, it was not possible, to massacre all the
+native population who still survived; so they were to be
+banished&mdash;banished to a corner of their own land, imprisoned there
+safely by their ruthless conquerors, and there, without hope or help, it
+was supposed they must soon die out quietly.</p>
+
+<p>This is the official proclamation which was issued on the subject: &quot;The
+Parliament of the Commonwealth of England, having, by an Act lately
+passed (entitled an Act for the Settling of Ireland), declared that it
+is not their intention to extirpate this whole nation ... it is ordered
+that the Governor and Commissioners of Revenue ... do cause the said Act
+of Parliament, with this present declaration, to be published and
+proclaimed in their respective precincts, by beat of drum and sound of
+trumpet, on some market-day within ten days after the same shall come
+unto them within their respective precincts.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>We may imagine the dismay and anguish which this announcement caused.
+The old Irish chieftain and the Anglo-Irish lord still had some kind of
+home and shelter on their own estate&mdash;it might be but an outhouse or a
+barn; it was certainly on the worst and least cultivated portion of
+their land, for the old castle had long since been taken from them, and
+their broad acres transferred to others. Yet, though they tilled the
+soil of which they so lately had been the lords, this little spot was
+home: there the wife and mother loved her little ones as tenderly as in
+the stately halls which her husband or his fathers had so lately
+possessed. It was home, and if not the dear old home, it was, perhaps,
+loved all the more for its sorrowful proximity to the ancestral
+castle&mdash;for the faint hope that the rightful owner might still be
+restored. But the trumpet had sounded the nation's doom. Confiscation
+and banishment, wholesale plunder and untold iniquity, reigned supreme.
+The name of the God of justice was invoked to sanction<a name="FNanchor_492_493"></a><a href="#Footnote_492_493"><sup>[492]</sup></a> the grossest
+outrages upon justice; and men who professed to have freed their own
+nation from<a name="Page_510"></a> the tyranny of kingcraft and of Popery, perpetrated a
+tyranny on another nation, which has made the name of their leader a
+byword and a curse.</p>
+
+<p>The majority of the Catholic nobility and gentry were banished; the
+remainder of the nation, thus more than decimated, were sent to
+Connaught. On the 26th of September, 1653, all the property of the Irish
+people was declared to belong to the English army and adventurers, &quot;and
+it was announced that the Parliament had assigned Connaught [America was
+not then accessible] for the habitation of the Irish nation, whither
+they must transplant, with their wives, and daughters, and children,
+before 1st May following, under the penalty of death, if found on this
+side of the Shannon after that day.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_493_494"></a><a href="#Footnote_493_494"><sup>[493]</sup></a> It must not be supposed that
+this death penalty was a mere threat; I shall give instances to prove
+the contrary. Any man, woman, or child who had disobeyed this order, no
+matter from what cause, could be instantly executed in any way, by any
+of these soldiers or adventurers, without judge, jury, or trial. It was
+in fact constituting a special commission for the new comers to
+murder<a name="FNanchor_494_495"></a><a href="#Footnote_494_495"><sup>[494]</sup></a> all the old inhabitants.</p>
+
+<p>Connaught was selected for two reasons: first, because it was the most
+wasted province of Ireland; and secondly, because it could be, and in
+fact was, most easily converted into a national prison, by erecting a
+<i>cordon militaire</i> across the country, from sea to sea. To make the
+imprisonment more complete, a belt four miles wide, commencing one mile
+to the west of Sligo, and thence running along the coast and the
+Shannon, was to be given to the soldiery to plant. Thus, any Irishman
+who attempted to escape, would be sure of instant capture and execution.</p>
+
+<p>The Government, as it has been already remarked, reserved the best part
+of the land for themselves. They secured the towns, church-lands, and
+tithes, and abolished the Protestant Church, with all its officers,
+which had been so recently declared the religion of the country. A
+&quot;Church of Christ&quot; was now the established religion, and a Mr. Thomas
+Hicks was approved by the &quot;Church of Christ&quot; meeting at Chichester
+House, as one fully qualified to preach and dispense the Gospel as often
+as the Lord<a name="Page_511"></a> should enable him, and in such places as the Lord should
+make his ministry most effectual. The Parliament also reserved for
+themselves the counties of Dublin, Kildare, Carlow, and Cork; and from
+these lands and the church property they were to enrich themselves, and,
+with what they could spare, to reward the leading regicides and rebels.
+The adventurers were next provided for. They claimed &pound;960,000. This was
+divided into three lots, to be paid in lands in Munster, Leinster, and
+Ulster. All these were to be drawn by lot; and a lottery was held at
+Grocers' Hall, London, which commenced at eight o'clock in the morning,
+on the 20th of July, 1653, at which time and place men who professed the
+advancement of the Christian religion to be the business of their lives,
+openly and flagrantly violated the most solemn and explicit commands of
+that very belief which they declared themselves so zealous in upholding.
+The soldiers and officers were to obtain whatever was left after the
+adventurers had been satisfied.</p>
+
+<p>A book was written by a Franciscan father, called <i>Threnodia
+Hiberno-Catholica, sive Planctus Universalis totius Cleri et Populi
+Regni Hiberni&aelig;</i>,<a name="FNanchor_495_496"></a><a href="#Footnote_495_496"><sup>[495]</sup></a> in which the writer states he had heard a great
+Protestant statesman give three reasons why this transplantation was
+confined to the gentry, and why the poor, who had not been either
+transported or hanged, were allowed to remain: (1) because the English
+wanted them to till the ground; (2) they hoped they would become
+Protestants when deprived of their priests; (3) because the settlers
+required servants, or else they should have worked for themselves.</p>
+
+<p>But the fatal day at length arrived, and those who had dared to linger,
+or to hope that so cruel a sentence would not be finally executed, were
+at once undeceived. The commissioners had been in trouble all the
+winter: the people who were to be driven out of their farms refused to
+sow for those who were to succeed them; and the very plotters of the
+iniquity began to tremble for the consequences which<a name="Page_512"></a> might accrue to
+themselves. They fasted, they prayed, and they wrote pages of their
+peculiar cant, which would be ludicrous were it not profane. They talked
+loudly of their unworthiness for so great a service, but expressed no
+contrition for wholesale robbery. Meanwhile, however, despite cant,
+fasts, and fears, the work went on. The heads of each family were
+required to proceed to Loughrea before the 31st of January, 1654, to
+receive such allotments as the commissioners pleased to give them, and
+that they might erect some kind of huts on these allotments, to shelter
+their wives and daughters when they arrived. The allotment of land was
+proportioned to the stock which each family should bring; but they were
+informed that, at a future day, other commissioners were to sit at
+Athlone, and regulate even these regulations, according to their real or
+supposed affection or disaffection to the Parliament. All this was
+skilfully put forward, that the unfortunate people might transplant the
+more quietly, in the hope of procuring thereby the good-will of their
+tyrants; but the tyrants were quite aware that the stock would probably
+die from the fatigue of transportation and the want of food; then the
+land could be taken from the victim, and, as a last favour, he might be
+allowed to remain in the poor hut he had erected, until misery and
+disease had terminated his life also.</p>
+
+<p>Remonstrances and complaints were sent to the faction who governed
+England, but all was in vain. The principal petitioners were the
+descendants of the English nobles; they were now, by a just retribution,
+suffering themselves the very miseries which they had so ruthlessly
+inflicted on the native Irish. The petitioners, says Mr.
+Prendergast,<a name="FNanchor_496_497"></a><a href="#Footnote_496_497"><sup>[496]</sup></a> were the noble and the wealthy, men of ancient English
+blood, descendants of the invaders&mdash;the FitzGeralds, the Butlers, the
+Plunkets, the Barnwalls, Dillons, Cheevers, Cusacks, names found
+appended to various schemes for extirpating or transplanting the Irish,
+after the subduing of Lord Thomas FitzGerald's rebellion in 1535&mdash;who
+were now to transplant as Irish. The<a name="Page_513"></a> native Irish were too poor to pay
+scriveners and messengers to the Council, and their sorrows were
+unheard; though under their rough coats beat hearts that felt as great
+pangs at being driven from their native homes as the highest in the
+land.</p>
+
+<p>One of these English families demands special mention. Edmund Spenser's
+grandson was now commanded to transplant, as though he to had been &quot;mere
+Irish&quot; and the very estate near Fermoy, which had been confiscated from
+the FitzGeralds seventy years before, and which the poet had obtained
+thus fraudulently, was now confiscated anew, and granted to Cromwell's
+soldiers. William Spenser protested; he pleaded his grandfather's name,
+he pleaded his grandfather's services, especially the odium he had
+incurred amongst the Irish by the way in which he had written of them;
+and lastly, William Spenser declares of himself that he had utterly
+renounced Popery since he came to years of discretion. But even
+Cromwell's interference could not save him; the soldiers were determined
+to have his lands, and they had them.</p>
+
+<p>The commissioners appointed to conduct the transplanting had a busy
+time. They were overwhelmed with petitions: the heads of families
+demanding permission to return and save their crops; the women
+requesting to remain a few months longer for a similar purpose, when the
+men were not permitted to return. Hundreds of petitions were sent from
+aged and bedridden persons, to obtain leave to die in peace where they
+were. Then there were complaints from the officers who had charge of
+driving the people into the plantation; and above all, there was a
+charge, a grave charge, against the Irish people&mdash;they were as
+stiff-necked, wicked, and rebellious<a name="FNanchor_497_498"></a><a href="#Footnote_497_498"><sup>[497]</sup></a> as ever, and could not be
+brought to see that they were created for no other end than to be
+sacrificed for the benefit of English adventurers; and, moreover, they
+were declared to be a most treacherous race, for, years after, they
+might revenge all this kindness, by murdering the men who had taken
+possession of their lands and farms; and some had absolutely refused to
+transplant, and preferred death.</p><a name="Page_514"></a>
+
+<p>The manner in which these difficulties were met is thus recorded in a
+letter which was written for publication in London:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>&quot;<i>Athy, March</i> 4, 1664-5.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;I have only to acquaint you that the time prescribed for the
+     transplantation of the Irish proprietors, and those that have been
+     in arms and abettors of the rebellion, being near at hand, the
+     officers are resolved to fill the gaols and to seize them; by which
+     this bloody people will know that they [the officers] are not
+     degenerated from English principles; though I presume we shall be
+     very tender of hanging any except leading men; yet we shall make no
+     scruple of sending them to the West Indies, where they will serve
+     for planters, and help to plant the plantation that General
+     Venables, it is hoped, hath reduced.&quot;</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>So examples were made. Mr. Edward Hetherington was hanged in Dublin, on
+the 3rd of April, 1655, with placards on his breast and back, on which
+were written, &quot;For not transplanting;&quot; and at the summer assizes of
+1658, hundreds were condemned to death for the same cause, but were
+eventually sent as slaves to Barbadoes. The miseries of those who did
+transplant was scarcely less than those of the persons who were
+condemned to slavery. Some committed suicide, some went mad, all were
+reduced to the direst distress. The nobles of the land were as cruelly
+treated and as much distrusted as the poorest peasant. The very men who
+had laid down their arms and signed articles of peace at Kilkenny, were
+not spared; and the excuse offered was, that the Act of Parliament
+overrode the articles. One of the gentlemen thus betrayed was Lord
+Trimbleston, and his tomb may still be seen in the ruined Abbey of
+Kilconnell, with the epitaph:&mdash;</p>
+
+&quot;HERE LIES MATHEW, LORD BARON OF TRIMBLESTON,<br />
+ONE OF THE TRANSPLANTED.&quot;<br />
+<br />
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><br /><br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXXI"></a>
+<center>
+<img src="images/094.jpg" width="466" height="209" alt="SCULPTURES AT DEVENISH." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>SCULPTURES AT DEVENISH.</h4>
+
+<a name="Page_515"></a>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXI.</h2>
+
+<h4>The Irish transported as Slaves to Barbadoes&mdash;The Three Beasts who were
+to be hunted: the Wolf, the Priest, and the Tory&mdash;Origin and Causes of
+Agrarian Outrages&mdash;Cases of Individual Wrongs&mdash;Lord Roche&mdash;Mr. Luttrel
+Accession of Charles II.&mdash;His Base Conduct towards the Irish
+Loyalists&mdash;Gross Injustice towards the Irish Catholic Landowners&mdash;The
+Remonstrance opposed by the Clergy&mdash;A Quarrel in the House of Lords The
+Popish Plot&mdash;Ormonde's Difficulties&mdash;Seizure and Imprisonment of the
+Archbishop of Dublin&mdash;Imprisonment and Execution of the Most Rev. Dr.
+Plunkett, Archbishop of Armagh.</h4>
+
+<h5>[A.D.-1655-1681.]</h5>
+
+<img src="images/n.jpg" width="63" height="232" align="left" alt="M" title="" />
+<p>any of the Irish soldiers who had entered into the service of foreign
+princes, were obliged to leave their wives and families behind. When we
+recall the number of those who were thus expatriated, it will not seem
+surprising that thousands of young children were left utterly destitute.
+These boys and girls, however, were easily disposed of by the
+Government; and Sir William Petty states, that 6,000 were sent out as
+slaves to the West Indies. The Bristol sugar merchants traded in these
+human lives, as if they had been so much merchandize; and merchandize,
+in truth, they were, for they could be had for a trifle, and they
+fetched a high price in the slave-market. Even girls of noble birth were
+subjected to this cruel fate. Morison mentions an instance of this kind
+which came to<a name="Page_516"></a> his own knowledge. He was present when Daniel Connery, a
+gentleman of Clare, was sentenced to banishment, by Colonel Ingoldsby,
+for harbouring a priest. Mrs. Connery died of destitution, and three of
+his daughters, young and beautiful girls, were transported as slaves to
+Barbadoes.<a name="FNanchor_498_499"></a><a href="#Footnote_498_499"><sup>[498]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>A court was established for the punishment of &quot;rebels and malignants;&quot;
+the former consisting of persons who refused to surrender their houses
+and lands, and the latter being those who would not act contrary to
+their conscientious convictions in religious matters. These courts were
+called &quot;Cromwell's Slaughter-houses.&quot; Donnellan, who had acted as
+solicitor to the regicides, at the trial of Charles I., held the first
+court at Kilkenny, October 4, 1652. Lord Louther held a court in Dublin,
+in February, 1653, for the special purpose of trying &quot;all massacres and
+murders committed since the 1st day of October, 1641.&quot; The inquiries,
+however, were solely confined to the accused Catholics; and the result
+proved the falsehood of all the idle tales which had been circulated of
+their having intended a great massacre of Protestants, for convictions
+could only be obtained against 200 persons, and even these were
+supported by forged and corrupt evidence.<a name="FNanchor_499_500"></a><a href="#Footnote_499_500"><sup>[499]</sup></a> Sir Phelim O'Neill was
+the only person convicted in Ulster, and he was offered his life again
+and again, and even on the very steps of the scaffold, if he would
+consent to criminate Charles I.</p>
+
+<p>As the majority of the nation had now been disposed of, either by
+banishment, transportation, or hanging, the Government had time to turn
+their attention to other affairs. The desolation of the country was
+such, that the smoke of a fire, or the sign of a habitation, was
+considered a rare phenomenon. In consequence of this depopulation, wild
+beasts had multiplied on the lands, and three &quot;beasts&quot; were especially
+noted for destruction. In the Parliament held at Westminster in 1657,
+Major Morgan, member for the county Wicklow, enumerated these beasts
+thus: &quot;We have three beasts to destroy that lay burdens upon us. The
+first is the wolf, on whom we lay &pound;5 a head if a dog, and &pound;10 if a
+bitch. The second beast is a priest, on whose head we lay &pound;10; if he be
+eminent, more.<a name="Page_517"></a> The third beast is a Tory, on whose head, if he be a
+public Tory, we lay &pound;20; and forty shillings on a private Tory.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_500_501"></a><a href="#Footnote_500_501"><sup>[500]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>Wolves had increased so rapidly, that the officers who left Ireland for
+Spain, in 1652, were forbidden to take their dogs with them, and were
+thus deprived of the pleasure and the pride (for Irish dogs were famous)
+of this consolation in their exile. Public hunts were ordered, and every
+effort made to keep down beasts of prey. But the whole blame was thrown
+on the second beast. It was declared solemnly that if there had been no
+priests there would have been no wolves.<a name="FNanchor_501_502"></a><a href="#Footnote_501_502"><sup>[501]</sup></a> The syllogism ran somewhat
+in this fashion:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>The Popish priests are the cause of every misery in Ireland;</p>
+
+<p>The wolves are a misery:</p>
+
+<p>Therefore the priests are to blame for the existence of the wolves.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;By a similar process of reasoning,&quot; observes Mr. Prendergast, &quot;it is
+proved that the Irish have caused the ruin, the plundering, and the
+desolation of the country, from the first invasion, for so many ages.&quot;
+And this is undoubtedly true; for if there had been no Irish, no Irish
+could have been plundered; and if there had been no plunder, there could
+not have been the misery of the plundered. The number of wolves to be
+destroyed may be estimated from the fact, that some lands valued at a
+high rate were let for a stipulated number of wolves' heads in lieu of
+rent. But the wolves were more easily got rid of than the priests. The
+priests were accustomed to be persecuted, and accustomed to be hunted.
+They came to Ireland, as a general rule, with the full knowledge that
+this would be their fate, and that if they ended their lives, after a
+few years' ministration, by hanging, without any extra torture, it was
+the best they could hope for, as far as this world was concerned. Some,
+however, would have preferred the torture, expecting an additional
+recompense for it in the next. But there were parts of the country where
+it was incomparably more difficult to hunt out a priest than a wolf; so
+the Government gave notice, on the 6th of January, 1653, that all
+priests and friars who were willing to transport themselves, should have
+liberty to do so for twenty days. But the priests and friars had no idea
+of leaving the country. They had gone abroad, at the risk of their
+lives, to fit themselves in some of the splendid<a name="Page_518"></a> continental colleges
+for their duties, and to obtain authority to administer the sacraments;
+they returned, at the risk of their lives, to fulfil their mission; and
+they remained, at the risk of their lives, to devote them to their own
+people, for whose sakes they had renounced, not only earthly pleasures
+and joys, but even that quiet and peaceful life, which, as Christian
+priests, they might have had in foreign lands. The people for whom they
+suffered were not ungrateful. Poor as they were, none could be found to
+take the proffered bribe. Long lists may be found of priests who were
+captured and executed, and of the men who received the rewards for their
+capture; but you will not see a real Irish name amongst them; you will
+perceive that the priest-catchers were principally English soldiers; and
+you will remark that the man in whose house the priest was discovered
+generally shared his fate. But it was useless. They were hung, they were
+tortured, they were transported to Barbadoes, and, finally, such numbers
+were captured, that it was feared they would contaminate the very
+slaves, and they were confined on the island of Innisboffin, off the
+coast of Connemara. Yet more priests came to take the place of those who
+were thus removed, and the &quot;hunt&quot; was still continued.</p>
+
+<p>The number of secular priests who were victims to this persecution
+cannot be correctly estimated. The religious orders, who were in the
+habit of keeping an accurate chronicle of the entrance and decease of
+each member, furnish fuller details. An official record, drawn up in
+1656, gives the names of thirty Franciscans who had suffered for the
+faith; and this was before the more severe search had commenced. The
+martyrdom of a similar number of Dominicans is recorded almost under the
+same date; and Dr. Burgat<a name="FNanchor_502_503"></a><a href="#Footnote_502_503"><sup>[502]</sup></a> states that more than three hundred of
+the clergy were put to death by the sword or on the scaffold, while more
+than 1,000 were sent into exile.</p>
+
+<p>The third &quot;beast&quot; was the Tory. The Tory was the originator of agrarian
+outrages in Ireland, or we should rather say, the English planters were
+the originators, and the Tories the first perpetrators of the crime. The
+Irish could scarcely be expected to have very exalted ideas of the
+sanctity and inviolable rights of property, from<a name="Page_519"></a> the way in which they
+saw it treated. The English made their will law, and force their
+title-deed. The Anglo-Normans dispossessed the native Irish, the
+followers of the Tudors dispossessed the Anglo-Normans, and the men of
+the Commonwealth dispossessed them all. Still the Celt, peculiarly
+tenacious of his traditions, had a very clear memory of his ancient
+rights, and could tell you the family who even then represented the
+original proprietor, though that proprietor had been dispossessed five
+or six hundred years. The ejectments from family holdings had been
+carried out on so large a scale, that it can scarcely be a matter of
+surprise if some of the ejected resented this treatment. There were
+young men who preferred starving in the woods to starving in Connaught;
+and after a time they formed into bands in those vast tracts of land
+which had been wholly depopulated. The men were desperate. It is
+difficult to see how they could have been anything else, when driven to
+desperation. They were called robbers; but there was a general confusion
+about <i>meum</i> and <i>tuum</i> which they could not understand. Strangers had
+taken possession of their cattle, and they did not comprehend why they
+should not try to obtain it again in any possible way. Young men, whose
+fathers had landed estates of &pound;2,000 a-year, which were quietly divided
+amongst Cromwell's Life-Guards, while the proprietor was sent out to
+beg, and his daughters compelled to take in washing or do needlework,
+could scarcely be expected to take such a change in their circumstances
+very calmly. A man who had been transplanted from an estate worth &pound;2,500
+a year near Dublin, which his family had owned for four hundred years,
+and whose daughters were given the munificent gratuity of &pound;10 a-piece by
+the Council Board, and forbidden for the future to ask for any further
+assistance, might certainly plead extenuating circumstances<a name="FNanchor_503_504"></a><a href="#Footnote_503_504"><sup>[503]</sup></a> if he
+took to highway robbery. Such circumstances as these were common at this
+period; and it should be borne in mind that the man whose holding was
+worth but &pound;40 a-year felt the injustice, and resented the inhumanity of
+his expulsion, quite as much as the <a name="Page_520"></a>nobleman with &pound;4,000. So the Tories
+plundered their own property; and, if they could be captured, paid the
+penalty with their lives; but, when they were not caught, the whole
+district suffered, and some one was made a scapegoat for their crime,
+though it did not seem much to matter whether the victim could be
+charged with complicity or not. After some years, when even the sons of
+the proprietors had become old inhabitants, and the dispossessed
+generation had passed away, their children were still called Tories.
+They wandered from village to village, or rather from hovel to hovel,
+and received hospitality and respect from the descendants of those who
+had been tenants on the estates of their forefathers, and who still
+called them gentlemen and treated them as such, though they possessed
+nothing but the native dignity, which could not be thrown off, and the
+old title-deeds, which were utterly worthless, yet not the less
+carefully treasured. Yet, these men were condemned by their oppressors
+because they did not work for their living, and because they still
+remembered their ancient dignity, and resented their ancient wrongs. To
+have worked and to have forgotten might have been wiser; but those who
+are accustomed to ease are slow to learn labour, even with the best
+intentions; and those who had inflicted the wrongs were scarcely the
+persons who should have taunted the sufferers with the miseries they had
+caused.</p>
+
+<p>Charles II. commenced his reign <i>de facto</i> in 1660, under the most
+favourable auspices. People were weary of a Commonwealth which had
+promised so much and performed so little; of the name of liberty without
+the reality; of the exercise of kingly power without the appurtenances
+or right of majesty. But the new monarch had been educated in a bad
+school. Surrounded with all the prestige of royalty without its
+responsibilities, and courted most ardently by followers whose only
+object was their own future advancement, which they hoped to secure by
+present flattery, it is scarcely a matter of surprise that Charles
+should have disappointed the hopes of the nation. In England public
+affairs were easily settled. Those who had been expelled from their
+estates by the Cromwellian faction, drove out<a name="FNanchor_504_505"></a><a href="#Footnote_504_505"><sup>[504]</sup></a> by the new
+proprietors; but in Ireland the case was very different. Even the
+faithful loyalists, who had sacrificed everything for the King, and had
+so freely assisted his necessities out of their poverty, were now
+treated with contempt, and their<a name="Page_521"></a> claims silenced by proclamation; while
+the men who had been most opposed to the royal interest, and most cruel
+in their oppression of the natives, were rewarded and admitted into
+favour. Coote and Broghill were of this class. Each tried to lessen the
+other in opinion of their royal master as they ran the race for favour,
+and each boasted of services never accomplished, and of loyalty which
+never existed. The two enemies of each other and of the nation were now
+appointed Lord Justices of Ireland; and a Parliament was assembled on
+the 8th of May, 1661, the first meeting of the kind which had been held
+for twenty years.</p>
+
+<p>The Catholic, or national interest, was certainly not represented; for
+there were present seventy-two Protestant peers, and only twenty-one
+Catholics; while the House of Commons comprised two hundred and sixty
+members, all of whom were burgesses except sixty-four, and the towns had
+been so entirely peopled by Cromwell's Puritan followers, that there
+could be no doubt what course they would pursue. An attempt was now made
+to expel the few Catholics who were present, by requiring them to take
+the oath of supremacy. The obsequious Parliament voted &pound;30,000 to the
+Duke of Ormonde, whose career of duplicity was crowned with success. It
+is almost amusing to read his biographer's account<a name="FNanchor_505_506"></a><a href="#Footnote_505_506"><sup>[505]</sup></a> of the favours
+bestowed on him, and the laudations he bestows on his master for his
+condescension in accepting them. Carte would have us believe that
+Ormonde was a victim to his king and his country, and that the immense
+sums of money he received did not nearly compensate him for his outlays.
+Posterity will scarcely confirm the partiality of the biographer.</p>
+
+<p>The Bill of Settlement was opposed by the Irish Catholics through their
+counsel, but their claims were rejected and treated with contempt.
+Charles had told his Parliament, on his restoration, that he expected
+they would have a care of his honour and of the promise he had made.
+This promise had been explicitly renewed by Ormonde for the King, before
+he left for Breda; but the most solemn engagements were so regularly
+violated when Irish affairs were concerned, that nothing else could have
+been expected. A Court of Claims was at length established, to try the
+cases of ejectment which had occurred during the Commonwealth; but this<a name="Page_522"></a>
+excited so much indignation and alarm amongst the Protestants, that all
+hope of justice was quickly at an end, and the time-serving Ormonde
+closed the court. The grand occupation of each new reign, for the last
+few centuries, appears to have been to undo what had been done in the
+preceding reigns. An Act of Explanation was now passed, and a Protestant
+militia raised, to satisfy that party. It was provided by the new Act
+that the Protestants were, in the first place, and especially, to be
+settled; that any doubt which arose should be decided in their favour;
+and that no Papist, who, by the qualifications of the former Act, had
+not been adjudged innocent should at any future time be reputed
+innocent, or entitled to claim any lands or settlements. It will be
+remembered that Ormonde had cut short the sittings of the court to
+satisfy Protestant clamour; in consequence of this, more than 8,000
+Catholic claimants were condemned to forfeit their estates, without even
+the shadow of an inquiry, but with the pretence of having justice done
+to them, or, as Leland has expressed it, &quot;without the justice granted to
+the vilest criminal&mdash;that of a fair and equal trial.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_506_507"></a><a href="#Footnote_506_507"><sup>[506]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>Although it would seem to the ordinary observer that the Catholics had
+been dealt with severely, the dominant faction were still dissatisfied;
+and Ormonde was obliged to threaten a dissolution, and to expel some
+members for complicity in a plot to overthrow the English Government,
+which had just been discovered, and of which the ringleader was a man
+named Blood. It was now ascertained that the Cromwellian distribution of
+lands had been carried out with the most shameful injustice towards the
+very Government which had sanctioned it; and that the soldiers, who went
+with texts of Scripture on their lips, and swords in their hands, to
+destroy Popery, had cheated<a name="FNanchor_507_508"></a><a href="#Footnote_507_508"><sup>[507]</sup></a> their officers and self-elected rulers
+with shameless audacity.</p>
+
+<p>The famous Remonstrance was drawn up about this time. It was prepared by
+Peter Walsh, a Franciscan friar, who was a <a name="Page_523"></a>prot&eacute;g&eacute; of Ormonde's, and who
+devoted more attention to politics than to his religious duties. The
+Remonstrance contained expressions which were by no means consonant with
+that pure Catholic feeling for which the Irish had been always
+remarkable; but it suited the Duke's purpose all the better, and he
+induced a considerable number of the nobility, and some of the clergy,
+to affix their signatures to it. They were little aware, in giving
+expression to the loyalty they so sincerely felt, that they were
+supposed to countenance disrespect to the Church which they so deeply
+revered. A synod of the Irish bishops and clergy was therefore held in
+Dublin, to consider the document, June 11th, 1666. Although
+ecclesiastics were then under the penal laws, and liable to suffer at
+any moment, Ormonde connived at the meeting, hoping that his ends would
+be thereby attained. He has himself left his object on record. It was to
+&quot;sow divisions among the clergy;&quot; and Lord Orrery had written to him,
+being well aware of his plans, suggesting that this was a fitting time
+for their accomplishment. But the clergy were not so easily deceived;
+and even the miserable friar has left it on record, that out of 1,850
+ecclesiastics, regular and secular, only sixty-nine signed the
+Remonstrance. The synod now prepared another document; and if the
+expression of loyalty was all that Ormonde required, he should have been
+fully satisfied; but, unfortunately, this was not the case, and he bided
+his time to avenge himself bitterly on the men who refused to sacrifice
+their conscience to his will.</p>
+
+<p>During the same year (1660), the Irish sent over a contribution of
+15,000 bullocks, to relieve the distress which occurred in London after
+the Great Fire. In return for their charity, they were assured that this
+was a mere pretence to keep up the cattle trade with England; and
+accordingly an Act was passed in which the importation of Irish cattle
+was forbidden, and termed a &quot;nuisance,&quot; and language was used which, in
+the present day, would be considered something like a breach of
+privilege. The Duke of Buckingham, whose farming interests were in
+England, declared &quot;that none could oppose the Bill, except such as had
+Irish estates or Irish understandings.&quot; Lord Ossory protested that &quot;such
+virulence became none but one of Cromwell's counsellors;&quot; and he being
+the eldest of the Duke of Ormonde, and having Irish interests, opposed
+it. Several noble lords attempted to draw their swords. Ossory
+challenged Buckingham; Buckingham declined the challenge. Ossory was
+sent to the Tower; the word &quot;nuisance&quot; remained; some <a name="Page_524"></a>members of the
+&quot;Cabal&quot; said it should have been &quot;felony;&quot; and the Irish trade was
+crushed. Even the Puritan settlers in Ireland began to rebel at this,
+for they, too, had begun to have &quot;Irish interests,&quot; and could not quite
+see matters relative to that country in the same light as they had done
+when at the other side of the Channel. At last they became openly
+rebellious. Some soldiers mutinied for arrears of pay, and seized
+Carrickfergus Castle&mdash;ten of them were executed, and peace was restored;
+but the old Cromwellians, both in England and Ireland, gave considerable
+anxiety to the Government; and, indeed, it seems marvellous that they
+should not have revolted more openly and in greater force.</p>
+
+<p>So many complaints were made of Ormonde's administration, that he was
+now removed for a time. He was succeeded by Lord Berkeley, in May, 1670,
+a nobleman whose honest and impartial government earned him the respect
+of all who were not interested in upholding a contrary line of conduct.
+The Catholics offered him an address, which was signed by two prelates,
+who held a prominent position, not only in their Church, but also in the
+history of the period; these were Dr. Plunkett, Archbishop of Armagh,
+and Dr. Talbot, Archbishop of Dublin. Colonel Richard Talbot, who was
+afterwards created Earl of Tyrconnel by James II., had been, for some
+time, the accredited agent of the Irish Catholics at the English court;
+he now (A.D. 1671) attempted to obtain some examination into the claims
+of those who had been ejected from their estates during the
+Commonwealth. After some delay and much opposition, a commission was
+appointed; but although the &quot;Popish Plot&quot; had not yet made its
+appearance, a wild &quot;no Popery&quot; cry was raised, and the King was obliged
+to recall Lord Berkeley, and substitute the Earl of Essex. Even this did
+not quiet the storm. On the 9th of March, 1673, an address was presented
+to the King by the Commons in England, demanding the persecution of
+Papists in Ireland; and the weak monarch, all the more afraid of
+appearing to show partiality, because of his apprehension that Popery
+might be the true religion, and his still more serious apprehensions
+that his people might find out his opinion, at once complied, and even
+recalled the Commission of Enquiry.</p>
+
+<p>In 1677 Ormonde was again appointed Viceroy, and he held the office
+during the ensuing seven years, at an advanced age, and a period of
+extraordinary political excitement. The &quot;Popish treason&quot; was the first
+and the most fearful of these panics. Ormonde<a name="Page_525"></a> was at Kilkenny when he
+received the first intimation of the conspiracy, October 3, 1678; but he
+had too much knowledge of the world to credit it for a moment. Like
+other politicians of that, and indeed of other ages, he was obliged to
+keep up his reputation by appearing to believe it in public, while in
+private<a name="FNanchor_508_509"></a><a href="#Footnote_508_509"><sup>[508]</sup></a> he treated the whole affair with the contempt it merited.
+It was soon reported that the plot had extended to Ireland, and
+Archbishop Talbot was selected as the first victim. The prelate then
+resided with his brother, Colonel Talbot, at Carton, near Maynooth. He
+was in a dying state; but although his enemies might well have waited
+for his end, he was taken out of his bed, carried to Dublin, and
+confined a prisoner in the Castle. He died two years later. &quot;He was the
+last distinguished captive destined to end his days in that celebrated
+state prison, which has since been generally dedicated to the peaceful
+purposes of a reflected royalty.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_509_510"></a><a href="#Footnote_509_510"><sup>[509]</sup></a> His brother was arrested, but
+allowed to go beyond the seas; and a Colonel Peppard was denounced in
+England as one of the leading Irish traitors. But the Colonel was quite
+as imaginary as the plot. No such person existed, and a <i>non est
+inventis</i> was all the return that could be made to the most active
+inquiries. There was one illustrious victim, however, who was found, who
+was executed, and who was not guilty, even in thought, of the crime of
+which he was accused.</p>
+
+<p>Oliver Plunkett had been Archbishop of Armagh since the death of Dr.
+O'Reilly, in 1669. He belonged to the noble family of Fingall; but he
+was more respected for his virtues and his office than even for his
+rank. He was now accused of being in correspondence with the French; it
+was a favourite charge against Catholics at that time, and one which
+could be easily brought forward by men who did not mind swearing to a
+lie, and not easily disproved by men who could only assert their
+innocence. Lord Shaftesbury was the great patron of Titus Oates, the
+concocter of the plot, and the perjured murderer of scores of innocent
+men. It was a serious disappointment to find that no evidence of a
+conspiracy could be found in Ireland.<a name="Page_526"></a> Carte, who certainly cannot be
+suspected of the faintest shadow of preference for an Irishman or a
+Catholic, says that every effort was made to drive the people into
+rebellion. He gives the reason for this, which, from former experience,
+one fears must be true. &quot;There were,&quot; he says, &quot;too many Protestants in
+Ireland who wanted another rebellion, that they might increase their
+estates by new forfeitures.&quot; &quot;It was proposed to introduce the Test Act
+and all the English penal laws into Ireland; and that a proclamation
+should be forthwith issued for encouraging all persons that could make
+any further discoveries of the horrid Popish plot, to come in and
+declare the same.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Unfortunately for the credit of our common humanity, persons can always
+be found who are ready to denounce their fellow-creatures, even when
+guiltless, from mere malice. When, to the pleasure of gratifying a
+passion, there is added the prospect of a reward, the temptation becomes
+irresistible; and if the desire of revenge for an injury, real or
+imaginary, be superadded, the temptation becomes overwhelming. In order
+to satisfy the clamours of the &quot;no Popery&quot; faction, an order had been
+issued, on the 16th of October, 1677, for the expulsion of all
+ecclesiastics from Ireland; and a further proclamation was made,
+forbidding Papists to enter into the Castle of Dublin, or any fort or
+citadel; and so far, indeed, did this childish panic exceed others of
+its kind, that orders were sent to the great market-towns, commanding
+the markets to be held outside the walls, to prevent the obnoxious
+Catholics from entering into the interior. Rewards were offered of &pound;10
+for an officer, &pound;5 for a trooper, and &pound;4 for a soldier, if it could be
+proved that he attended Mass; and how many were sworn away by this
+bribery it would be difficult to estimate. On the 2nd of December, a
+strict search was ordered for the Catholic ecclesiastics who had not yet
+transported themselves. Dr. Plunkett had not left the country. At the
+first notice of the storm he withdrew, according to the apostolic
+example, to a retired situation, where he remained concealed, more in
+hope of martyrdom than in fear of apprehension.</p>
+
+<p>The prelate had never relaxed in his duties towards his flock, and he
+continued to fulfil those duties now with equal vigilance. One of the
+most important functions of a chief shepherd is to oversee the conduct
+of those who govern the flock of Christ under him. There was a Judas in
+the college of the Apostles, and many Judases have been found since
+then. The Archbishop had been obliged to<a name="Page_527"></a> excommunicate two of his
+priests and two friars, who had been denounced by their superiors for
+their unworthy lives. The unhappy men resented the degradation, without
+repenting of the crimes which had brought it upon them. They were ready
+for perjury, for they had renounced truth; and the gratification of
+their malice was probably a far stronger motive than the bribe for the
+capture of a bishop. The holy prelate was seized on the 6th December,
+1679. Even Ormonde wished to have spared him, so inoffensive and
+peaceful had been his life. He was arraigned at the Dundalk assizes; but
+although every man on the grand jury was a Protestant, from whom, at
+least, less partiality might be expected towards him than from members
+of his own Church, the perjured witnesses refused to come forward.
+Indeed, the prelate himself had such confidence in his innocence, and in
+the honorable dealing of his Protestant fellow-countrymen, when their
+better judgment was not bewildered by fanaticism, that he declared in
+London he would put himself on trial in Ireland before any Protestant
+jury who knew him, and who knew the men who swore against him, without
+the slightest doubt of the result.</p>
+
+<p>Jones, the Protestant Bishop of Meath, was, unfortunately for himself,
+influenced by fanaticism. He had served in Cromwell's army,<a name="FNanchor_510_511"></a><a href="#Footnote_510_511"><sup>[510]</sup></a> and had
+all that rancorous hatred of the Catholic Church so characteristic of
+the low class from whom the Puritan soldiery were drawn. He was
+determined that the Archbishop should be condemned; and as men could not
+be found to condemn him in Ireland, he induced Lord Shaftesbury to have
+him taken to London. The Archbishop was removed to Newgate, about the
+close of October, 1680, and so closely confined, that none of his
+friends could have access to him. He spent his time in prayer, and his
+gaolers were amazed at his cheerfulness and resignation. His trial took
+place on the 8th of June, 1681; but he was not allowed time to procure
+the necessary witnesses, and the court would not allow certain records
+to be put in, which would have proved the character of his accusers. Six
+of the most eminent English lawyers were arrayed against him. The legal
+arrangements of the times deprived him of the assistance of counsel, but
+they did not require the judges to help out the men who swore against
+him: this, however, they did do.</p><a name="Page_528"></a>
+
+<p>The prelate was condemned to die. The speech of the judge who pronounced
+sentence was not distinguished by any very special forensic acumen. Dr.
+Plunkett had been charged by the witnesses with political crimes; the
+judge sentenced<a name="FNanchor_511_512"></a><a href="#Footnote_511_512"><sup>[511]</sup></a> him for his religious convictions; and, by a
+process of reasoning not altogether peculiar to himself, insisted that
+his supposed treason was a necessary result of the faith he professed.
+The Archbishop suffered at Tyburn, on Friday, July 11, 1681. He went to
+his death rejoicing, as men go to a bridal. His dying declaration
+convinced his hearers of his innocence; and, perhaps, the deep regret
+for his martyrdom, which was felt by all but the wretches who had
+procured his doom, tended to still the wild storm of religious
+persecution, or, at least, to make men see that where conscience was
+dearer than life, conscientious convictions should be respected. It is
+at least certain, that his name was the last on the long roll of
+sufferers who had been executed at Tyburn for the faith. Blood was no
+longer exacted there as the price which men should pay for liberty of
+belief. It were well had that liberty been allowed by men to their
+fellow-men in after years, without fines or confiscations&mdash;without those
+social penalties, which, to a refined and sensitive mind, have in them
+the bitterness of death, without the consolations of martyrdom.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/095.jpg" width="204" height="271" alt="ANCIENT PITCHER, FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE R.I.A., FOUND
+IN A CRANNOGE, AT LOUGH TAUGHAN, LECALE, CO. DOWN." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>ANCIENT PITCHER, FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE R.I.A., FOUND
+IN A CRANNOGE, AT LOUGH TAUGHAN, LECALE, CO. DOWN.</h4>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><br /><br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXXII"></a>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/096.jpg" width="440" height="275" alt="OLDERFLEET CASTLE, LARNE." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>OLDERFLEET CASTLE, LARNE.</h4>
+
+<a name="Page_529"></a>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXII.</h2>
+
+<h4>Glimpses of Social Life in the Seventeenth Century&mdash;Literature and
+Literary Men&mdash;Keating&mdash;the Four
+Masters&mdash;Colgan&mdash;Ward&mdash;Usher&mdash;Ware&mdash;Lynch&mdash;Trade&mdash;Commerce depressed by
+the English&mdash;Fairs&mdash;Waterford Rugs&mdash;Exportation of Cattle
+forbidden&mdash;State of Trade in the Principal Towns&mdash;Population&mdash;Numbers
+employed in different Trades&mdash;Learned
+Professions&mdash;Physicians&mdash;Establishment of their College in
+Dublin&mdash;Shopkeepers&mdash;Booksellers&mdash;Coffee-houses&mdash;Clubs&mdash;Newspapers&mdash;Fashionable
+Churches&mdash;Post-houses and Post-offices
+established&mdash;Custom-house&mdash;Exchange&mdash;Amusements&mdash;Plays at the
+Castle&mdash;The First Theatre set up in Werburgh-street&mdash;Domestics Manners
+and Dress&mdash;Food-A Country Dinner Party in Ulster.</h4>
+
+<h5>[A.D. 1600-1700.]</h5>
+
+<img src="images/r.jpg" width="58" height="220" align="left" alt="N" title="" />
+<p>otwithstanding the persecutions to which the Irish had been subjected
+for so many centuries, they preserved their love of literature, and the
+cultivated tastes for which the Celt has been distinguished in all ages.
+Indeed, if this taste had not existed, the people would have sunk into
+the most degraded barbarism; for education was absolutely forbidden, and
+the object of the governing powers seems to have been to reduce the
+nation, both intellectually and morally, as thoroughly as possible. In
+such times, and under such circumstances, it is not a little remarkable
+to find men devoting themselves to literature with all the zest of a
+freshman anticipating collegiate distinctions, while surrounded by
+difficulties which would certainly have dismayed, if they did not
+altogether<a name="Page_530"></a> crush, the intellects of the present age. I have already of
+the mass of untranslated national literature existing country and in
+continental libraries. These treasures of mental labour are by no means
+confined to one period of our history; but it could scarcely be expected
+that metaphysical studies or the fine arts could flourish at a period
+when men's minds were more occupied with the philosophy of war than with
+the science of Descartes, and were more inclined to patronize a new
+invention in the art of gunnery, than the <i>chef d'oeuvre</i> of a limner or
+sculptor. The Irish language was the general medium of conversation in
+this century. No amount of Acts of Parliament had been able to repress
+its use, and even the higher classes of English settlers appear to have
+adopted it by preference. Military proclamations were issued in this
+language;<a name="FNanchor_512_513"></a><a href="#Footnote_512_513"><sup>[512]</sup></a> or if the Saxon tongue were used, it was translated for
+the general benefit into the vernacular. During the Commonwealth,
+however, the English tongue made some way; and it is remarkable that the
+English-speaking Irish of the lower classes, in the present day, have
+preserved the idioms and the accentuation used about this period. Many
+of the expressions which provoke the mirth of the modern Englishman, and
+which he considers an evidence of the vulgarity of the uneducated Irish,
+may be found in the works of his countrymen, of which he is most justly
+proud.</p>
+
+<p>The language of Cromwell's officers and men, from whom the Celt had such
+abundant opportunities of learning English, was (less the cant of
+Puritanism) the language of Shakspeare, of Raleigh, and of Spenser. The
+conservative tendencies of the Hibernian preserved the dialect intact,
+while causes, too numerous for present detail, so modified it across the
+Channel, that each succeeding century condemned as vulgarism what had
+been the highest fashion with their predecessors. Even as Homeric
+expressions lingered for centuries after the blind bard's obit had been
+on record, so the expressions of Chaucer, Spenser, and Shakspeare, may
+still be discovered in provincial dialects in many parts of the British
+Isles. I do not intend to quote <i>Tate and Brady</i> as models of
+versification and of syntax; but if the best poets of the age did not
+receive the commission to translate the Psalms into verse, it was a poor
+compliment to <a name="Page_531"></a>religion. We find the pronunciation of their rhymes
+corresponding with the very pronunciation which is now condemned as
+peculiarly Irish. Newton also rhymes <i>way</i> and <i>sea</i>, while one can
+scarcely read a page of Pope<a name="FNanchor_513_514"></a><a href="#Footnote_513_514"><sup>[513]</sup></a> without finding examples of
+pronunciation now supposed to be pure Hibernicism. In the Authorized
+Protestant version of the Bible, <i>learn</i> is used in the sense of <i>to
+teach</i>, precisely as it is used in Ireland at the present day: &quot;If thy
+children shall keep my covenant and my testimonies that I shall <i>learn</i>
+them&quot; and their use of the term <i>forninst</i> is undoubtedly derived from
+an English source, for we find it in Fairfax's <i>Tasso</i>.<a name="FNanchor_514_515"></a><a href="#Footnote_514_515"><sup>[514]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>History and theology were the two great studies of the middle ages, and
+to these subjects we find the <i>literati</i> of Ireland directing special
+attention. The importance and value of Latin as a medium of literary
+intercommunication, had been perceived from an early period: hence that
+language was most frequently employed by Irish writers after it had
+become known in the country. It is unquestionably a national credit,
+that no amount of suffering, whether inflicted for religious or
+political opinions, deprived the Irish of historians.<a name="FNanchor_515_516"></a><a href="#Footnote_515_516"><sup>[515]</sup></a> Some of their
+works were certainly compiled under the most disadvantageous
+circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>None of the writers whom we shall presently enumerate, worked for hope
+of gain, or from any other motive save that of the purest patriotism.
+Keating, whose merits are becoming more and more recognized since modern
+research has removed Celtic traditions from the region of fable to the
+tableland of possibility, wrote his <i>History</i> principally in the Galtee
+Mountains, where he had taken refuge from the vengeance of Carew,<a name="FNanchor_516_517"></a><a href="#Footnote_516_517"><sup>[516]</sup></a>
+Lord President of Munster. Although he had received a high education in
+the famous College<a name="Page_532"></a> of Salamanca, for the sake of his people he preferred
+suffering persecution, and, if God willed it, death, to the peaceful
+life of literary quiet which he might have enjoyed there. He wrote in
+his mother-tongue, although master of many languages; and in consequence
+of this choice his work remained in MS. for many years. When it came to
+light, those who were ignorant of the MS. materials of ancient Irish
+history, were pleased to suppose that he had invented a considerable
+portion, and supplied the remainder from the <i>viva voce</i> traditions of
+the country people. Unfortunately, he was not sufficiently master of the
+science of criticism to give the authorities which he had used so
+carefully, and to prove their value and authenticity. But truth has at
+length triumphed. Several of the works from which he has quoted have
+been discovered; and it has been shown that, wild as some of his legends
+may read in the garb in which he has given them, there is proof that
+important facts underlie the structure, though it has been somewhat
+overembellished by a redundant fancy.</p><a name="Page_533"></a>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/097.jpg" width="464" height="386" alt="TUBRID CHURCHYARD&mdash;BURIAL-PLACE OF THE HISTORIAN
+KEATING." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>TUBRID CHURCHYARD&mdash;BURIAL-PLACE OF THE HISTORIAN
+KEATING.</h4>
+
+<p>Keating was also a poet. Many of his pieces are still well known and
+highly popular in Munster, and copies of nearly all of them are
+preserved by the Royal Irish Academy. One of his ballads has been
+&quot;coaxed&quot; into verse by D'Arcy M'Gee, in his <i>Gallery of Irish Writers</i>.
+It is entitled &quot;Thoughts on Innisfail.&quot; I shall give one verse as a
+specimen, and as an illustration of the popular feelings of the time:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;And the mighty of Naas are mighty no more,<br /></span>
+<span>Like the thunders that boomed 'mid the banners of yore;<br /></span>
+<span>And the wrath-ripened fields, 'twas they who could reap them;<br /></span>
+<span>Till they trusted the forsworn, no foe could defeat them.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/098.jpg" width="413" height="394" alt="INSCRIPTION IN HONOUR OF KEATING." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>INSCRIPTION IN HONOUR OF KEATING.</h4>
+
+<p>The poet-priest must have died at an advanced age, though the precise
+date of his demise has not been ascertained. He has also left some
+religious works; and his &quot;Shaft of Death&quot; is well known and much admired
+both by divines and Celtic scholars.<a name="FNanchor_517_518"></a><a href="#Footnote_517_518"><sup>[517]</sup></a></p><a name="Page_534"></a>
+
+<p>O'Sullivan Beare's history is too well known to require more than a
+passing mention. It was said that he wrote as fiercely as he fought.
+Archbishop Usher, with whom he had many a literary feud, appears to have
+been of this opinion; for, after having described O'Sullivan as an
+&quot;egregious liar,&quot; he was so sensitive to any counter abuse he might
+receive in return, that he carefully cut out every disparaging epithet
+which the historian used from the copy of his reply, which at present
+lies, with Usher's other works, in the Library of Trinity College,
+Dublin.</p>
+
+<p>The Four Masters are included amongst the Irish writers of this century,
+but I have already given ample details of their labours. The <i>Acta
+Sanctorum</i> of Colgan, and Ward's literary efforts in a foreign land for
+his country, are beyond all praise. Usher and Ware were also amongst the
+giants of these days; and, considering the state of political and
+religious excitement amongst which they lived and wrote, it is
+incomparably marvellous that they should not have dipped their pens
+still deeper into the gall of controversy and prejudice. Usher was one
+of the <i>Hibernis ipsis Hiberniores</i>, for his family came to Ireland with
+King John; but he admired and wrote Celtic history with the enthusiasm
+of a Celt, and he gathered materials for other men's work with patient
+industry, however he may have allowed party spirit to influence and warp
+his own judgment in their use. Usher was Ware's most ardent patron.
+Habits of indefatigable research did for him, in some degree, what
+natural genius has done for others. Nor was he slow to recognize or
+avail himself of native talent; and there can be no doubt, if he had
+lived a few years longer after his acquaintance with MacFirbis, that
+Irish literature would have benefited considerably by the united efforts
+of the man of power, who was devoted to learning, and the man of gifts,
+who had the abilities which neither position nor wealth can purchase.
+John Lynch, the Bishop of Killala, and the indefatigable and successful
+impugner of Cambrensis, was another literary luminary of the age. His
+career is a fair sample of the<a name="Page_535"></a> extraordinary difficulties experienced by
+the Irish in their attempts to cultivate intellectual pursuits, and of
+their undaunted courage in attaining their end. Usher has himself
+recorded his visit to Galway, where found Lynch, then a mere youth,
+teaching a school of humanity (A.D. 1622). &quot;We had proofe,&quot; he says,
+&quot;during our continuance in that citie, how his schollars profitted under
+him, by the verses and orations which they brought us.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_518_519"></a><a href="#Footnote_518_519"><sup>[518]</sup></a> Usher then
+relates how he seriously advised the young schoolmaster to conform to
+the popular religion; but, as Lynch declined to comply with his wishes,
+he was bound over, under sureties of &pound;400 sterling, to &quot;forbear
+teaching.&quot; The tree of knowledge was, in truth, forbidden fruit, and
+guarded sedulously by the fiery sword of the law. I cannot do more than
+name a few of the other distinguished men of this century. There was
+Florence Conry, Archbishop of Tuam, and founder of the Irish College of
+Louvain. He was one of the first to suggest and to carry out the idea of
+supplying Irish youth with the means of education on the Continent,
+which they were denied at home. It is a fact, unexampled in the history
+of nations, that a whole race should have been thus denied the means of
+acquiring even the elements of learning, and equally unexampled is the
+zeal with which the nation sought to procure abroad the advantages from
+which they were so cruelly debarred at home. At Louvain some of the most
+distinguished Irish scholars were educated. An Irish press was
+established within its halls, which was kept constantly employed, and
+whence proceeded some of the most valuable works of the age, as well as
+a scarcely less important literature for the people, in the form of
+short treatises on religion or history. Colleges were also established
+at Douay, Lisle, Antwerp, Tournay, and St. Omers, principally through
+the exertions of Christopher Cusack, a learned priest of the diocese of
+Meath. Cardinal Ximenes founded an Irish College at Lisbon, and Cardinal
+Henriquez founded a similar establishment at Evora. It is a remarkable
+evidence of the value which has always been set on learning by the
+Catholic Church, that even in times of persecution, when literary
+culture demanded such sacrifices, she would not admit uneducated persons
+to the priesthood. The position which the proscribed Catholic priesthood
+held in Ireland at this period, compared with that which the favoured
+clergy of the Established Church<a name="Page_536"></a> held in England, is curious and
+significant. Macaulay says of the latter: &quot;A young levite&mdash;such was the
+phrase then in use&mdash;might be had for his board, a small garret, and ten
+pounds a year; and might not only perform his own professional
+functions, but might also save the expenses of a gardener or a groom.
+Sometimes the reverend man nailed up the apricots, and sometimes he
+curried the coach-horses. He cast up the farrier's bills. He walked ten
+miles with a message or a parcel. He was permitted to dine with the
+family, but he was expected to content himself with the plainest
+fare&mdash;till he was summoned to return thanks for the repast, from a great
+part of which he had been excluded.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_519_520"></a><a href="#Footnote_519_520"><sup>[519]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>In Ireland there were few learned men in the Established Church, and
+even Usher seems to have been painfully indifferent to the necessity of
+superior education, as well as regular ordination, for his clergy. In
+1623 Dr. Blair was invited to Ireland by Lord Clannaboy, to take the
+living of Bangor, vacated by the death of the Rev. John Gibson, &quot;sence
+Reformacione from Popary the first Deane of Down.&quot; Dr. Blair objected
+both to episcopal government and to use the English Liturgy; yet he
+&quot;procured a free and safe entry to the holy ministry,&quot; which, according
+to his own account, was accomplished thus. His patron, Lord Clannaboy,
+informed &quot;the Bishop Echlin how opposite I was to episcopacy and their
+liturgy, and had the influence to procure my admission on easy and
+honorable terms.&quot; At his interview with the Bishop, it was arranged that
+Dr. Blair was to receive ordination from Mr. Cunningham and the
+neighbouring clergy, and the Bishop was &quot;to come in among them in no
+other relation than a presbyter.&quot; These are the Bishop's own words; and
+his reason for ordaining at all was: &quot;I must ordain you, else neither I
+nor you can answer the law nor brook the land.&quot; In 1627 Blair had an
+interview with Archbishop Usher, and he says &quot;they were not so far from
+agreeing as he feared.&quot; &quot;He admitted that all those things [episcopacy
+and a form of prayer] ought to have been removed, but the constitution
+and laws of the place and time would not permit that to be done.&quot; A few
+years later Mr. John Livingstone thus relates his experience on similar
+subjects. He had been appointed also by Lord Clannaboy to the parish of
+Killinchy; and, &quot;because it was needful that he should be ordained to
+the ministry, and the Bishop of Down, in whose diocese Killinchy was,
+being a corrupt <a name="Page_537"></a>and timorous man, and would require some engagement,
+therefore my Lord Clannaboy sent some with me, and wrote to Mr. Andrew
+Knox, Bishop of Raphoe, who told me he knew my errand, and that I came
+to him because I had scruples against episcopacy and ceremonies,
+according as Mr. Josiah Welsh and some others had done before; and that
+he thought his old age was prolonged for little other purpose than to
+perform such ceremonies.&quot; It was then arranged that he should be
+ordained as Dr. Blair and others had been. The Bishop gave him the book
+of ordination, and said, &quot;though he durst not answer it to the State,&quot;
+that he might draw a line over anything he did not approve of, and that
+it should not be read. &quot;But,&quot; concludes Mr. Livingstone, &quot;I found that
+it had been so marked by some others before, that I needed not mark
+anything; so the Lord was pleased to carry that business far beyond
+anything that I have thought, or almost ever desired.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_520_521"></a><a href="#Footnote_520_521"><sup>[520]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>Such facts as these were well known to the people; and we can scarcely
+be surprised that they increased their reverence for the old clergy, who
+made such sacrifices for the attainment of the learning necessary for
+their ministry, and who could not minister, even if they would, without
+having received the office and authority of a priest by the sacrament of
+orders.</p>
+
+<p>But literary efforts in Ireland were not confined to the clergy;
+O'Flaherty and MacFirbis devoted themselves with equal zeal to the
+dissemination and preservation of knowledge; and we envy not the man who
+can read without emotion the gentle complaint of the former, in his
+<i>Ogygia</i>: &quot;I live a banished man within the bounds of my native soil&mdash;a
+spectator of others enriched by my birthright.&quot; And again: &quot;The Lord
+hath wonderfully recalled the royal heir to his kingdom, with the
+applause of all good men; but He hath not found me worthy to be restored
+to the kingdom of my cottage. Against Thee, O Lord, have I sinned: may
+the Lord be blessed for ever!&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The customs and dress of the upper classes in Ireland were probably much
+the same as those of a similar rank in England.<a name="FNanchor_521_522"></a><a href="#Footnote_521_522"><sup>[521]</sup></a> <a name="Page_538"></a>Commerce was so
+constantly restricted by English jealousy, that it had few opportunities
+of development. In a curious old poem, called the <i>Libel of English
+Policie</i>, the object of which was to impress on the English the
+necessity of keeping all trade and commerce in their own hands, we find
+Irish exports thus enumerated:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;Hides and fish, salmon, hake, herring,<br /></span>
+<span>Irish wool and linen cloth, falding<br /></span>
+<span>And masternes good be her marchandie;<br /></span>
+<span>Hertes, birds, and others of venerie,<br /></span>
+<span>Skins of otter, squirrel and Irish hare,<br /></span>
+<span>Of sheep, lambe, and fore is her chaffere,<br /></span>
+<span>Felles of kids, and conies great plentie.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>It will be observed that this list contains only the natural produce of
+the country; and had any attempt been made to introduce or encourage
+manufactures, some mention would have been made of them. The silver and
+gold mines of the country are alluded to further on, and the writer very
+sensibly observes, that if &quot;we [the English] had the peace and good-will
+of the wild Irish, the metal might be worked to our advantage.&quot; In the
+sixteenth century the Irish sent raw and tanned hides, furs, and
+woollens to Antwerp,<a name="FNanchor_522_523"></a><a href="#Footnote_522_523"><sup>[522]</sup></a> taking in exchange sugar, spices, and mercery.
+The trade with France and Spain for wines was very considerable; fish
+was the commodity exchanged for this luxury; and even in 1553, Philip
+II. of Spain paid<a name="FNanchor_523_524"></a><a href="#Footnote_523_524"><sup>[523]</sup></a> &pound;1,000 yearly&mdash;a large sum for that period&mdash;to
+obtain liberty for his subjects to fish upon the north coast of Ireland.
+Stafford, in speaking of the capture of Dunboy Castle, says that
+O'Sullivan made &pound;500 a-year by the duties which were paid to him by
+foreign fishermen, &quot;although the duties they paid were very
+little.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_524_525"></a><a href="#Footnote_524_525"><sup>[524]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>Stanihurst has described a fair in Dublin, and another in Waterford,
+where he says the wares were &quot;dog-cheap.&quot; These fairs continued for six
+days, and merchants came to them from Flanders and France, as well as
+from England. He gives the Waterford people<a name="Page_539"></a> the palm for commerce,
+declares they are &quot;addicted to thieving,&quot; that they distil the best
+<i>aqua vit&aelig;</i>, and spin the choicest rugs in Ireland. A friend of his, who
+took a fancy to one of these &quot;choice rugs,&quot; being &quot;demurrant in London,
+and the weather, by reason of a hard hoar frost, being somewhat nipping,
+repaired to Paris Garden, clad in one of the Waterford rugs. The
+mastiffs had no sooner espied him, but deeming he had been a bear, would
+fain have baited him; and were it not that the dogs were partly muzzled
+and partly chained, he doubted not he should have been well tugged in
+this Irish rug.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>After the plantation of Ulster, Irish commerce was allowed to flourish
+for a while; the revenue of the crown doubled; and statesmen should have
+been convinced that an unselfish policy was the best for both countries.
+But there will always be persons whose private interests clash with the
+public good, and who have influence enough to secure their own advantage
+at the expense of the multitude. Curiously enough, the temporary
+prosperity of Ireland was made a reason for forbidding the exports which
+had produced it. A declaration was issued by the English Government in
+1637, which expressly states this, and places every possible bar to its
+continuance. The Cromwellian settlement, however, acted more effectually
+than any amount of prohibitions or Acts of Parliament, and trade was
+entirely ruined by it for a time. When it again revived, and live cattle
+began to be exported in quantities to England, the exportation was
+strictly forbidden. The Duke of Ormonde, who possessed immense tracts of
+land in Ireland, presented a petition, with his own hands, against the
+obnoxious measure, and cleverly concluded it with the very words used by
+Charles himself, in the declaration for the settlement of Ireland at the
+Restoration, trusting that his Majesty &quot;would not suffer his good
+subjects to weep in one kingdom when they rejoiced in another.&quot; Charles,
+however, wanted money; so Ireland had to wait for justice. A vote,
+granting him &pound;120,000, settled the matter; and though for a time cattle
+were smuggled into England, the Bill introduced after the great fire of
+London, which we have mentioned in the last chapter, settled the matter
+definitively. The Irish question eventually merged into an unseemly
+squabble about prerogative, but Charles was determined &quot;never to kiss
+the block on which his father lost his head.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_525_526"></a><a href="#Footnote_525_526"><sup>[525]</sup></a> He<a name="Page_540"></a> overlooked the
+affront, and accepted the Bill, &quot;nuisance&quot; and all. One favour, however,
+was granted to the Irish; they were graciously permitted to send
+contributions of cattle to the distressed Londoners in the form of
+salted beef. The importation of mutton, lamb, butter, and cheese, were
+forbidden by subsequent Acts, and salted beef, mutton, and pork were not
+allowed to be exported from Ireland to England until the general dearth
+of 1757.</p>
+
+<p>The commercial status of the principal Irish towns at this period (A.D.
+1669), is thus given by Mr. Bonnell, the head collector of Irish customs
+in Dublin: &quot;Comparing together the proceeds of the duties for the six
+years ending December, 1669, received from the several ports of Ireland,
+they may be thus ranked according to their worth respectively, expressed
+in whole numbers, without fractions, for more clearness of
+apprehension:&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+
+
+
+<table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align='center'>&quot;Rate.</td><td align='center'>Ports.</td><td align='center'>Proportion</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'></td><td align='center'></td><td align='center'>per cent.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>1</td><td align='center'>Dublin</td><td align='center'>40</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>2</td><td align='center'>Cork</td><td align='center'>10</td><td align='center'></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>3</td><td align='center'>Waterford</td><td align='center'>7</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'></td><td align='center'>Galway</td><td align='center'>7 </td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'></td><td align='center'>Limerick</td><td align='center'>5 </td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>4</td><td align='center'>Kinsale</td><td align='center'>5 </td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'></td><td align='center'>Youghal</td><td align='center'>5</td><td align='center'></td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'></td><td align='center'>Drogheda</td><td align='center'>3</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>5</td><td align='center'>Londonderry</td><td align='center'>3</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'></td><td align='center'>Carrickfergus</td><td align='center'>3</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'></td><td align='center'>Ross</td><td align='center'>1</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'></td><td align='center'>Wexford</td><td align='center'>1</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'>6</td><td align='center'>Dundalk</td><td align='center'>1</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'></td><td align='center'>Baltimore</td><td align='center'>1</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='center'></td><td align='center'>Sligo</td><td align='center'>1&quot;</td></tr></table>
+
+
+
+<p>&quot;Killybeg, Dungarvan, Donaghadee, Strangford, Coleraine, and Dingle, are
+mentioned as &quot;under rate.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The linen trade had been encouraged, and, indeed, mainly established in
+Ireland, by the Duke of Ormonde. An English writer<a name="FNanchor_526_527"></a><a href="#Footnote_526_527"><sup>[526]</sup></a> says that
+200,000 pounds of yarn were sent annually to Manchester, a supply which
+seemed immense in that age; and yet, in the present day, would hardly
+keep the hands employed for forty-eight hours. A political economist of
+the age gives the &quot;unsettledness of the country&quot; as the first of a
+series of reasons why trade did not flourish in Ireland, and, amongst
+other remedies, suggests sumptuary laws and a tax upon celibacy, the
+latter to weigh quite<a name="Page_541"></a> equally on each sex.<a name="FNanchor_527_528"></a><a href="#Footnote_527_528"><sup>[527]</sup></a> Sir William Petty does
+not mention the trade but he does mention the enormous amount of
+tobacco<a name="FNanchor_528_529"></a><a href="#Footnote_528_529"><sup>[528]</sup></a> consumed by the natives. It is still a disputed question
+whether the so-called &quot;Danes' pipes,&quot; of which I give an illustration,
+were made before the introduction of tobacco by Sir Walter Raleigh, or
+whether any other narcotizing indigenous plant may have been used. Until
+one, at least, of these pipes shall have been found in a position which
+will indicate that they must have been left there at an earlier period
+than the Elizabethan age, the presumption remains in favour of their
+modern use.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/099.jpg" width="423" height="245" alt="&quot;DANES&#39; PIPES,&quot; FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE R.I.A." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>&quot;DANES&#39; PIPES,&quot; FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE R.I.A.</h4>
+
+<p>I shall now give some brief account of the domestic life of our
+ancestors 200 years ago, and of the general state of society, both in
+the upper and lower classes. Petty estimates the population of Ireland
+at 1,100,000, or 200,000 families. Of the latter he states that 160,000
+have no fixed hearths; these, of course, were the very poorest class,
+who lived then, as now, in those mud hovels, which are the astonishment
+and reprobation of foreign tourists. There were 24,000 families who had
+&quot;one chimney,&quot; and 16,000 who had<a name="Page_542"></a> more than one. The average number
+appears to be four. Dublin Castle had 125, and the Earl of Heath's
+house, twenty-seven. There were, however, 164 houses in Dublin which had
+more than ten.</p>
+
+<p>Rearing and tending cattle was the principal employment of the people,
+as, indeed, it always has been. There were, he estimates, 150,000
+employed in this way, and 100,000 in agriculture. &quot;Tailors and their
+wives&quot; are the next highest figure&mdash;45,000. Smiths and apprentices,
+shoemakers and apprentices, are given at the same figure&mdash;22,500.
+Millers and their wives only numbered 1,000, and the fishery trade the
+same. The woolworkers and their wives, 30,000; but the number of
+alehouse-keepers is almost incredible. In Dublin, where there were only
+4,000 families, there was, at one time, 1,180 alehouses and ninety-one
+public brewhouses. The proportion was equally great throughout the
+country; and if we may judge from the Table of Exports from Belfast
+before-mentioned, the manufacture was principally for home consumption,
+as the returns only mention three barrels of beer to Scotland, 124 ditto
+to the Colonies, 147 to France and Flanders, nineteen to Holland, and
+forty-five to Spain and the Mediterranean. There are considerable
+imports of brandy and wines, but no imports of beer. We find, however,
+that &quot;Chester ale&quot; was appreciated by the faculty as a medicament, for
+Sir Patrick Dun, who was physician to the army during the wars of 1688,
+sent two dozen bottles of Chester ale, as part of his prescription, to
+General Ginkles, Secretary-at-War, in the camp at Connaught, in 1691. He
+added two dozen of the best claret, and at the same time sent a &quot;lesser
+box,&quot; in which there was a dozen and a-half potted chickens in an
+earthen pot, and in another pot &quot;foure green geese.&quot; &quot;This,&quot; writes the
+doctor, &quot;is the physic I advise you to take; I hope it will not be
+nauseous or disagreeable to your stomach-a little of it upon a
+march.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_529_530"></a><a href="#Footnote_529_530"><sup>[529]</sup></a> It is to be supposed such prescriptions did not diminish
+the doctor's fame, and that they were appreciated as they deserved.</p>
+
+<p>A century previous (A.D. 1566), Thomas Smyth seems to have been the
+principal, if not the only English practitioner in Dublin; and although
+he sold his drugs with his advice, his business did not pay. However,
+Thomas was &quot;consoled&quot; and &quot;comforted,&quot; and &quot;induced to remain in the
+country,&quot; by the united persuasions of<a name="Page_543"></a> the Lord Deputy, the Counsellors
+of State, and the whole army. The consolation was administered in the
+form of a concordat, dated April 25th, 1566, by which an annual stipend
+was settled on him, the whole army agreeing to give him one day's pay,
+and every Counsellor of State twenty shillings, &quot;by reason of his long
+contynuance here, and his often and chardgeable provision of druggs and
+other apothecarie wares, which have, from tyme to tyme, layen and
+remained in manner for the most part unuttered; for the greater part of
+this contray folke ar wonted to use the mynisterie of their leeches and
+such lyke, and neglecting the apothecarie's science, the said Thomas
+thereby hath been greatly hyndered, and in manner enforced to abandon
+that his faculty.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_530_531"></a><a href="#Footnote_530_531"><sup>[530]</sup></a> It was only natural that the English settler
+should distrust the <i>leeche</i> who gathered his medicines on the hillside
+by moonlight, &quot;who invoked the fairies and consulted witches;&quot; and it
+was equally natural that the native should distrust the Saxon, who could
+kill or cure with those magical little powders and pills, so
+suspiciously small, so entirely unlike the traditionary medicants of the
+country. In a list still preserved of the medicines supplied for the use
+of Cromwell's army, we may judge of the &quot;medicants&quot; used in the
+seventeenth century. They must have been very agreeable, for the
+allowance of sugar, powder and loaf, of &quot;candie,&quot; white and brown, of
+sweet almonds and almond cakes, preponderates wonderfully over the
+&quot;rubarcke, sarsaparill, and aloes.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_531_532"></a><a href="#Footnote_531_532"><sup>[531]</sup></a> Mr. Richard Chatham was
+Apothecary-General, and had his drugs duty free by an order, dated at
+&quot;ye new Customs' House, Dublin, ye 24th of June, 1659.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Dr. William Bedell was the first who suggested the foundation of a
+College of Physicians. On the 15th of April, 1628, he wrote to Usher
+thus: &quot;I suppose it hath been an error all this while to neglect the
+faculties of law and physic, and attend only to the ordering of one poor
+college of divines.&quot; In 1637 a Regius Professor of Physic was nominated.
+In 1654 Dr. John Stearne was appointed President of Trinity Hall, which
+was at this time set apart &quot;for the sole and proper use of physicians;&quot;
+and, in 1667, the physicians received their first charter from Charles
+II. The new corporation obtained the title of &quot;The President and College
+of<a name="Page_544"></a> Physicians.&quot; It consisted of fourteen Fellows, including the
+President, Dr. Stearne. Stearne was a grand-nephew of Archbishop Usher,
+and was born in his house at Ardbraccan, county Meath. He was a man of
+profound learning; and although he appears to have been more devoted to
+scholastic studies than to physic, the medical profession in Ireland may
+well claim him as an ornament and a benefactor to their faculty. The
+College of Physicians was without a President from 1657 until 1690, when
+Sir Patrick Dun was elected. The cause of this was the unfortunate
+illiberality of the Provost and Fellows of Trinity College, who refused
+to confirm the election of Dr. Crosby, simply because he was a Roman
+Catholic. In 1692 the College received a new charter and more extended
+privileges; and these, with certain Acts of Parliament, form its present
+constitution.</p>
+
+<p>In medieval cities the castle was the centre round which the town
+extended itself. Dublin was no exception to this rule, and in this
+century we find High-street and Castle-street the fashionable resorts.
+The nobility came thither for society, the tradesmen for protection.
+Castle-street appears to have been the favourite haunt of the
+bookselling fraternity, and Eliphud Dobson (his name speaks for his
+religious views) was the most wealthy bookseller and publisher of his
+day. His house was called the Stationers' Arms, which flourished in the
+reign of James II. The Commonwealth was arbitrary in its requirements,
+and commanded that the printer (there was then only one) should submit
+any works he printed to the Clerk of the Council, to receive his
+<i>imprimatur</i> before publishing the same. The Williamites were equally
+tyrannical, for Malone was dismissed by them from the office of State
+Printer, and tried in the Queen's Bench, with John Dowling, in 1707, for
+publishing &quot;A Manuall of Devout Prayers,&quot; for the use of Roman
+Catholics.<a name="FNanchor_532_533"></a><a href="#Footnote_532_533"><sup>[532]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>There were also a great number of taverns and coffee-houses in this
+street; the most noted was the Rose Tavern, which stood<a name="Page_545"></a> nearly opposite
+to the present Castle steps. Swift alludes to this in the verses which
+he wrote on his own death, in 1731:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;Suppose me dead; and then suppose<br /></span>
+<span>A club assembled at the <i>Rose.&quot;</i><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Political clubs, lawyers' clubs, and benevolent clubs, all assembled
+here; and the Friendly Brothers of St. Patrick had their annual dinner
+at the <i>Rose</i>, at the primitive hour of four o'clock, annually, on the
+17th of March, having first transacted business and heard a sermon at
+St. Patrick's.</p>
+
+<p>The first Dublin newspaper was published in this century, by Robert
+Thornton, bookseller, at the sign of the Leather Bottle, in
+Skinner's-row, A.D. 1685. It consisted of a single leaf of small folio
+size, printed on both sides, and written in the form of a letter, each
+number being dated, and commencing with the word &quot;sir.&quot; The fashionable
+church was St. Michael's in High-street. It is described, in 1630, as
+&quot;in good reparacion; and although most of the parishioners were
+recusants, it was commonly full of Protestants, who resorted thither
+every Sunday to hear divine service and sermon.&quot; This church had been
+erected originally for Catholic worship. Meanwhile the priests were
+obliged to say Mass wherever they could best conceal themselves; and in
+the reign of James I. their services were solemnized in certain back
+rooms in the houses of Nicholas Quietrot, Carye, and the Widow O'Hagan,
+in High-street.<a name="FNanchor_533_534"></a><a href="#Footnote_533_534"><sup>[533]</sup></a> Amongst the fashionables who lived in this locality
+we find the Countess of Roscommon, Sir P. Wemys, Sir Thady Duff, and
+Mark Quin, the Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1667. Here, too, was established
+the first Dublin post-house, for which the nation appears to have been
+indebted indirectly to Shane O'Neill, of whose proceedings her Majesty
+Queen Elizabeth was anxious to be cognizant with as little delay as
+possible. In 1656, it having been found that the horses of the military,
+to whom postal communications had been confided previously, were &quot;much
+wearied, and his Highness' affayres much prejudiced for want of a
+post-office to carry publique letters,&quot; Evan Vaughan was employed to
+arrange postal communications, and was made Deputy Postmaster. Major
+Swift was the Postmaster at Holyhead, and he was allowed &pound;100 a-year for
+the maintenance of four boatmen, added to the packet boats, at the rate
+of <i>8d</i>. per diem and 18s. per month for wages. Post-houses were
+established<a name="Page_546"></a> in the principal towns in Ireland about the year 1670, by
+means of which, for 8<i>d</i>. or 12<i>d</i>., letters could be conveyed, twice a
+week, to the &quot;remotest parts of Ireland,&quot; and which afforded &quot;the
+conveniency of keeping good correspondence.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The Dublin Philosophical Society held their first meetings on Cork-hill,
+at the close of this century, and it is evident that there were many men
+in that age who had more than ordinary zeal for scientific research. Dr.
+Mullen has left a detailed account of the difficulties under which he
+dissected an elephant, which had been burned to death in the booth where
+it was kept for exhibition on the 17th June, 1682. According to Haller,
+oculists are indebted to him for some important discoveries connected
+with the organs of vision.<a name="FNanchor_534_535"></a><a href="#Footnote_534_535"><sup>[534]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>The old Custom-house stood on the site of houses now comprised in that
+part of Dublin known as Wellington-quay. Here a locality was selected,
+in the reign of James I., for the purpose of &quot;erecting cranes and making
+wharves.&quot; This street, now so busy and populous, was then in the
+suburbs, and is described in the lease, A.D. 1620, as &quot;a certain parcel
+of ground, lying in or near Dame-street, street, in the suburbs of the
+city of Dublin.&quot; A new Custom-house was erected about the period of the
+Restoration, with the addition of a council-chamber, where the Privy
+Council and Committees of the House of Commons were accustomed to
+assemble. By an order of the Privy Council, 19th September, 1662, the
+Custom-house-quay was appointed the sole place for landing and lading
+the exports and imports of the city of Dublin. In 1683 the public
+Exchange of Dublin was transferred from Cork House to the Tholsel, a
+building erected early in the reign of Edward II., and described by
+Camden as built of hewn stone. Here the Mayor was elected on Michaelmas
+Day, and the citizens held their public meetings. A clock was set up in
+1560, no doubt very much to the admiration of the citizens. A new
+Tholsel or City Hall was erected in 1683, on the same site, and there
+was a &quot;'Change,&quot; where merchants met every day, as in the Royal Exchange
+in London. Public dinners were given here also with great magnificence;
+but from the marshy nature of the ground on which the building had been
+set up, it fell to decay in 1797, and a new Sessions-house was erected
+in Green-street.</p><a name="Page_547"></a>
+
+<p>Nor did the good people of Dublin neglect to provide for their
+amusements. Private theatricals were performed in the Castle at the
+latter end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, if not earlier. The sum of
+one-and-twenty shillings and two groats was expended on wax tapers for
+the play of &quot;Gorbodne,&quot; &quot;done at the Castle,&quot; in September, 1601.
+Miracle and mystery plays were enacted as early as 1528, when the Lord
+Deputy was &quot;invited to a new play every day in Christmas;&quot; where the
+Tailors acted the part of Adam and Eve, it is to be supposed because
+they initiated the trade by introducing the necessity for garments; the
+Shoemakers, the story of Crispin and Crispianus; the Vintners, Bacchus
+and his story; the Carpenters, Mary and Joseph; the Smiths represented
+Vulcan; and the Bakers played the comedy of Ceres, the goddess of corn.
+The stage was erected on Hogges-green, now College-green; and probably
+the entertainment was carried out <i>al fresco</i>. The first playhouse
+established in Dublin was in Werburgh-street, in 1633. Shirley's plays
+were performed here soon after, and also those of &quot;rare Ben Jonson.&quot;
+Ogilvy, Shirley's friend, and the promoter of this enterprise, was
+appointed Master of the Revels in Ireland in 1661; and as his first
+theatre was ruined during the civil war, he erected a &quot;noble theatre,&quot;
+at a cost of &pound;2,000, immediately after his new appointment, on a portion
+of the Blind-quay. Dunton describes the theatres, in 1698, as more
+frequented than the churches, and the actors as &quot;no way inferior to
+those in London.&quot; The Viceroys appear to have been very regular in their
+patronage of this amusement; and on one occasion, when the news reached
+Dublin of the marriage of William of Orange and Mary, the Duke of
+Ormonde, after &quot;meeting the nobility and gentry in great splendour at
+the play, passed a general invitation to all the company to spend that
+evening at the Castle.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_535_536"></a><a href="#Footnote_535_536"><sup>[535]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>The inventory of the household effects of Lord Grey, taken in 1540,
+affords us ample information on the subject of dress and household
+effects. The list commences with &quot;eight tun and a<a name="Page_548"></a> pype of Gaskoyne
+wine,&quot; and the &quot;long board in the hall.&quot; A great advance had been made
+since we described the social life of the eleventh century; and the
+refinements practised at meals was not the least of many improvements. A
+<i>bord-clothe</i> was spread on the table, though forks were not used until
+the reign of James I. They came from Italy, to which country we owe many
+of the new fashions introduced in the seventeenth century. In <i>The Boke
+of Curtosye</i> there are directions given not to &quot;foule the <i>bord-clothe</i>
+wyth the knyfe;&quot; and Ben Jonson, in his comedy of &quot;The Devil is an Ass,&quot;
+alludes to the introduction of forks, and the consequent disuse of
+napkins:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i5">&quot;The laudable use of forks,<br /></span>
+<span>Brought into custom here as they are in Italy,<br /></span>
+<span>To th' sparing o' napkins.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The English edition of the <i>Janua Linguarum</i> of Comenius, represents the
+fashion of dining in England during the Commonwealth. The table was
+simply a board placed on a frame or trestles, which was removed after
+the meal to leave room for the dancers. Old Capulet's hall was prepared
+thus:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;A hall! a hall! give room, and foot it, girls!<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">More light, ye knaves, and turn the table up.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The head of the table, where the principal person sat, was called the
+&quot;board-end;&quot; and as one long table was now used instead of several
+smaller ones, the guests of higher and lower degree were divided by the
+massive saltcellar, placed in the centre of the table. Thus, in Ben
+Jonson, it is said of a man who treats his inferiors with scorn, &quot;He
+never drinks below the salt.&quot; The waiters, after settling the cloth,
+placed the spoons, knives, forks, bread, and napkins beside the
+trenchers. The butler served out the drink from the cupboard, the origin
+of our modern sideboard. The &quot;cobbord,&quot; erroneously supposed to have
+been like our modern cupboard, is specially mentioned amongst Lord
+Grey's effects. Lord Fairfax, in his directions to his servants, written
+about the middle of the seventeenth century, says: &quot;No man must fill
+beer or wine the cupboard keeper,&quot; and he should know which of his &quot;cups
+for beer and which for wine, for it were a foul thing to mix them
+together.&quot; There was another reason, however, for this arrangement&mdash;much
+&quot;idle tippling&quot; was cut off thereby; for as the<a name="Page_549"></a> draught of beer or wine
+had to be asked for when it was needed, demand was not likely to be so
+quick as if it were always at hand. There were also cups of &quot;assaye,&quot;
+from which the cupbearer was obliged to drink before his master, to
+prove that there was no poison in the liquor which he used. The cupboard
+was covered with a carpet, of which Lord Grey had two. These carpets, or
+tablecovers, were more or less costly, according to the rank and state
+of the owner. His Lordship had also &quot;two chares, two fformes, and two
+stooles.&quot; Chairs were decidedly a luxury at that day. Although the name
+is of Anglo-Norman origin, they did not come into general use until a
+late period; and it was considered a mark of disrespect to superiors,
+for young persons to sit in their presence on anything but hard benches
+or stools. The Anglo-Saxons called their seats <i>sett</i> and <i>stol</i>, a name
+which we still preserve in the modern stool. The hall was ornamented
+with rich hangings, and there was generally a <i>traves</i>, which could be
+used as a curtain or screen to form a temporary partition. The floor was
+strewn with rushes, which were not removed quite so frequently as would
+have been desirable, considering that they were made the repository of
+the refuse of the table. Perfumes were consequently much used, and we
+are not surprised to find &quot;a casting bottel, dooble gilte, for
+rose-water,&quot; in the effects of a Viceroy of the sixteenth century. Such
+things were more matters of necessity than of luxury at even a later
+period. Meat and pudding were the staple diet of the upper classes in
+1698. Wright<a name="FNanchor_536_537"></a><a href="#Footnote_536_537"><sup>[536]</sup></a> gives a long and amusing extract from a work published
+by a foreigner who had been much in England at this period, and who
+appears to have marvelled equally at the amount of solid meat consumed,
+the love of pudding, and the neglect of fruit at dessert.</p>
+
+<p>We are able, fortunately, to give a description of the fare used during
+the same period in Ireland, at least by the upper classes, who could
+afford to procure it. Captain Bodley, a younger brother of the founder
+of the famous Bodleian Library in Oxford, has left an account of a
+journey into Lecale, in Ulster, in 1603, and of the proceedings of his
+companions-in-arms, and the entertainment they met with. His &quot;tour&quot; is
+full of that gossiping, chatty, general<a name="Page_550"></a> information, which gives an
+admirable idea of the state of society. This is his description of a
+dinner: &quot;There was a large and beautiful collar of brawn, with its
+accompaniments, to wit, mustard and Muscatel wine; there were
+well-stuffed geese (such as the Lord Bishop is wont to eat at
+Ardbraccan), the legs of which Captain Caulfield always laid hold of for
+himself; there were pies of venison and various kinds of game; pasties
+also, some of marrow, with innumerable plums; others of it with
+coagulated milk, such as the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London almost
+always have at their feasts; others, which they call tarts, of divers
+shapes, materials, and colours, made of beef, mutton, and veal.&quot; Then he
+relates the amusements. After dinner they rode, and in the evening they
+played cards, and had, &quot;amongst other things, that Indian tobacco of
+which I shall never be able to make sufficient mention.&quot; Later in the
+evening &quot;maskers&quot; came to entertain them; and on one occasion, their
+host gave them up his own &quot;good and soft bed, and threw himself upon a
+pallet in the same chamber.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_537_538"></a><a href="#Footnote_537_538"><sup>[537]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>The large stand-bed, or four-post, was then coming into use, and was,
+probably, the &quot;good and soft bed&quot; which the host resigned to the use of
+the officers, and which, if we may judge by the illustration of this
+piece of furniture, would conveniently hold a considerable number of
+persons. The pallet was placed on the truckle-bed, which rolled under
+the large bed, and was generally used by a servant, who slept in his
+master's room. The reader will remember the speech of Mine Host of the
+Garter, in the &quot;Merry Wives of Windsor,&quot; who says of Falstaff's room:
+&quot;There's his chamber, his house, his castle, his standing-bed and
+truckle-bed.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>However interesting the subject may be, there is not space to go into
+further details. The inventory of Lord Grey's personal effects can
+scarcely be given as a picture of costume in this century, for even a
+few years produced as considerable changes in fashion then as now.
+Dekker, in his <i>Seven Deadly Sinnes of London</i>, describes an
+Englishman's suit as being like a traitor's body that had been hanged,
+drawn, and quartered, and set up in several places; and says: &quot;We that
+mock every nation for keeping one fashion, yet steal patches from every
+one of them to piece out our pride, and are now<a name="Page_551"></a> laughing-stocks to them.
+The block for his head alters faster than the feltmaker can fit him, and
+hereupon we are called in scorn block-heads.&quot; The courtiers of Charles
+II. compensated themselves for the stern restraints of Puritanism, by
+giving way to the wildest excesses in dress and manners. Enormous
+periwigs were introduced, and it became the fashion for a man of <i>ton</i>
+to be seen combing them on the Mall or at the theatre. The hat was worn
+with a broad brim, ornamented with feathers; a falling band of the
+richest lace adorned the neck; the short cloak was edged deeply with
+gold lace; the doublet was ornamented in a similar manner&mdash;it was long,
+and swelled out from the waist; but the &quot;petticoat breeches&quot; were the
+glory of the outer man, and sums of money were spent on ribbon and lace
+to add to their attractions.</p>
+
+<p>The ladies' costume was more simple, at least at this period; they
+compensated themselves, however, for any plainness in dress, by
+additional extravagances in their head-dresses, and wore
+&quot;heart-breakers,&quot; or artificial curls, which were set out on wires at
+the sides of the face. Patching and painting soon became common, and
+many a nonconformist divine lifted up his voice in vain against these
+vanities. Pepys has left ample details of the dress in this century;
+and, if we may judge from the entry under the 30th of October, 1663,
+either he was very liberal in his own expenditure, and very parsimonious
+towards his wife, or ladies' attire was much less costly than
+gentlemen's, for he murmurs over his outlay of about &pound;12 for Mrs. Pepys
+and &pound;55 for himself. The country people, however, were attired more
+plainly and less expensively, while many, probably&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;Shook their heads at folks in London,&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>and wondered at the follies of their superiors.</p>
+
+<p>The arms and military accoutrements of the period have already been
+mentioned incidentally, and are illustrated by the different costumes in
+our engravings, which Mr. Doyle has rendered with the minutest accuracy
+of detail. This subject, if treated at all, would require space which we
+cannot afford to give it. The Life Guards were embodied by Charles II,
+in 1681, in imitation of the French &quot;Gardes des Corps.&quot; The Coldstream
+were embodied by General Monk, in 1660, at the town from whence they
+obtained their name.</p>
+
+<p>From an account in the Hamilton MSS., published in the <i>Ulster<a name="Page_552"></a>
+Arch&aelig;ological Journal</i>, it would appear that it was usual, or, at least
+not uncommon, for young men of rank to go abroad for some time, attended
+by a tutor, to perfect themselves in continental languages. It need
+scarcely be said that travelling was equally tedious and expensive. A
+journey from Dublin to Cork occupied several days; postchaises are a
+comparatively modern invention; and Sir William Petty astonished the
+good people of Dublin, in the seventeenth century, by inventing some
+kind of carriage which could be drawn by horses. With his description of
+the condition of the lower classes in Ireland at this period, I shall
+conclude this chapter. The accompanying figure represents the costume of
+the Irish peasant about the fifteenth century. The dress was found on
+the body of a male skeleton, in the year 1824, which was preserved so
+perfectly, that a coroner was called to hold an inquest on it. The
+remains were taken from a bog in the parish of Killery, co. Sligo. The
+cloak was composed of soft brown cloth; the coat of the same material,
+but of finer texture. The buttons are ingeniously formed of the cloth.
+The trowsers consists of two distinct parts, of different colours and
+textures; the upper part is thick, coarse, yellowish-brown cloth; the
+lower, a brown and yellow plaid.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/100.jpg" width="462" height="922" alt="MAN IN ANCIENT COSTUME" title="" />
+</center>
+
+<p>&quot;The diet of these people is milk, sweet and sour, thick and thin; but
+tobacco, taken in short pipes seldom burned, seems the pleasure of their
+lives. Their food is bread in cakes, whereof a penny serves a week for
+each; potatoes from August till May; muscles, cockles, and oysters, near
+the sea; eggs and butter, made very rancid by<a name="Page_553"></a> keeping in bogs. As for
+flesh they seldom eat it. Their fuel is turf in most places.&quot; The
+potatoe, which has brought so many national calamities on the country,
+had been then some years in the country, but its use was not yet as
+general as it has become since, as we find from the mention of &quot;bread in
+cakes&quot; being an edible during a considerable part of the year.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/101.jpg" width="445" height="346" alt="CASTLE CAULFIELD, COUNTY TYRONE." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>CASTLE CAULFIELD, COUNTY TYRONE.</h4>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><br /><br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXXIII"></a>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/102.jpg" width="436" height="294" alt="SCENE OF THE BATTLE OF THE BOYNE." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>SCENE OF THE BATTLE OF THE BOYNE.</h4>
+
+<a name="Page_554"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXIII.</h2>
+
+<h4>Accession of James II.&mdash;Position of Public Affairs&mdash;Birth of an
+Heir&mdash;Landing of William of Orange&mdash;Arrival of King James in
+Ireland&mdash;The Siege of Derry&mdash;Cruelties of the Enniskilleners&mdash;Disease in
+Schomberg's Camp&mdash;The Battle of the Boyne&mdash;James' Defeat and Disgraceful
+Plight&mdash;The Siege of Athlone&mdash;The Siege of Limerick&mdash;Marlborough appears
+before Cork&mdash;William raises the Siege of Limerick and returns to
+England&mdash;The Siege of Athlone, Heroic Valour of its Defenders&mdash;The
+Battle of Aughrim&mdash;Surrender of Limerick.</h4>
+
+<h5>[A.D. 1688-1691.]</h5>
+
+<img src="images/s.jpg" width="60" height="187" align="left" alt="K" title="" />
+<p>ing James' accession again raised the hopes of the Catholics, and again
+they were doomed to disappointment; while the Protestants, who had their
+fears also, soon learned that policy would bend itself to popularity.
+Colonel Richard Talbot was now raised to the peerage as Earl of
+Tyrconnel, and appointed Commander-in-Chief of the forces, with an
+authority independent of the Lord Lieutenant. His character, as well as
+that of his royal master, has been judged rather by his political
+opinions than by facts, and both have suffered considerably at the hands
+of a modern historian, who has offered more than one holocaust to the
+manes of his hero, William of Orange.</p>
+
+<p>The moderate and cautious Clarendon was appointed Viceroy, and did his
+best to appease the fears of the <a name="Page_555"></a>Protestants; but he was soon succeeded
+by Tyrconnel, whose zeal for Irish interests was not always tempered by
+sufficient moderation to conciliate English politicians. He had fought
+against O'Neill; he had opposed Rinuccini; he had served in the Duke of
+Ormonde's army; he had helped to defend Drogheda against the
+Republicans, and had lain there apparently dead, and thus escaped any
+further suffering; he was of the Anglo-Irish party, who were so
+faithfully loyal to the crown, and whose loyalty was repaid with such
+cold indifference; yet his virtues have been ignored, and Macaulay
+accuses him of having &quot;adhered to the old religion, like the Celts,&quot;
+which was true, and of &quot;having taken part with them in the rebellion of
+1641,&quot; which was not true.</p>
+
+<p>James commenced his reign by proclaiming his desire for religious
+liberty. Individually he may not have been much beyond the age in
+opinion on this subject, but liberty of conscience was necessary for
+himself. He was a Catholic, and he made no secret of his religion; he
+was, therefore, obliged from this motive, if from no other, to accord
+the same boon to his subjects. The Quakers were set free in England, and
+the Catholics were set free in Ireland. But the Puritan faction, who had
+commenced by fighting for liberty of conscience for themselves, and who
+ended by fighting to deny liberty of conscience to others, were quite
+determined that neither Quakers nor Catholics should worship God as they
+believed themselves bound to do. Such intolerance, unhappily, was not
+altogether confined to the illiterate. Coke, in a previous generation,
+had declared that it was felony even to counsel the King to tolerate
+Catholics; and Usher, that it was a deadly sin. The King had neither the
+good sense nor the delicacy of feeling to guide him through these
+perils. His difficulties, and the complications which ensued, belong to
+the province of the English historian, but they were not the less felt
+in Ireland.</p>
+
+<p>The Protestants professed to be afraid of being massacred by the
+Catholics; the Catholics apprehended a massacre from the Protestants.
+Catholics were now admitted to the army, to the bar, and to the senate.
+Protestants declared this an infringement of their rights, and forgot
+how recently they had expelled their Catholic fellow-subjects, not
+merely from honours and emoluments, but even from their altars and their
+homes.</p>
+
+<p>An event now occurred which brought affairs to a crisis. The King's
+second wife, Mary of Modena, gave him an heir, and the<a name="Page_556"></a> heir appeared
+likely to live (A.D. 1688). William of Orange, who had long flattered
+himself that he should one day wear the crown of England, saw that no
+time should be lost if he intended to secure the prize, and commenced
+his preparations with all the ability and with all the duplicity for
+which his career has been admired by one party, and denounced by the
+other, according as political and religious opinions viewed the deceit
+under the strong light of the ability, or the ability under the glare of
+the deceit. The Protestant party could not but see all that was to be
+apprehended if a Catholic heir should succeed to the throne, and they
+sacrificed their loyalty to their interests, if not to their principles.</p>
+
+<p>William arrived in England on the 5th of November, 1688. He professed to
+have come for the purpose of investigating the rumours which had been so
+industriously circulated respecting the birth of the heir who had barred
+his pretensions, and to induce the King to join the league which had
+been just formed against France; but he took care to come provided with
+an armament, which gave the lie to his diplomatic pretensions; and as
+soon as he had been joined by English troops, of whose disaffection he
+was well aware, his real motive was no longer concealed. James fled to
+France, whither he had already sent his Queen and heir. Still there was
+a large party in England who had not yet declared openly for the
+usurper; and had not James entirely alienated the affection of his
+subjects by his tyrannical treatment of the Protestant bishops, his
+conduct towards the University of Oxford, and the permission, if not the
+sanction, which he gave to Jeffreys in his bloody career, there can be
+little doubt that William should have fought for the crown on English
+ground as he did on Irish.</p>
+
+<p>Ulster was principally peopled by Protestant Presbyterians, from the
+north of Scotland. They were not likely to be very loyal even to a
+Stuart, for the Irish had been called over to Scotland before now to
+defend royal rights; they had not very defined religious opinions,
+except on the subject of hatred of Popery and Prelacy. It cannot be a
+matter of surprise, therefore, that these men hailed the prospect of a
+new sovereign, whose opinions, both religious and political, coincided
+with their own. If he, too, had very general views as to the rights of
+kings, and no very particular view as to rights of conscience being
+granted to any who did not agree with him, he was none the less
+acceptable.</p>
+
+<p>Tyrconnel had neither men, money, nor arms, to meet the <a name="Page_557"></a>emergency. He
+had to withdraw the garrison from Derry to make up the contingent of
+3,000 men, which he sent to assist the King in England; but they were
+immediately disarmed, and the young men of Derry closed their gates, and
+thus were the first to revolt openly against their lawful King. The
+native Irish had been loyal when loyalty cost them their lives, without
+obtaining for them any increased liberty to exercise their religion;
+they were, therefore, not less likely to be loyal now, when both civil
+and religious liberty might depend upon their fealty to the crown. The
+Enniskilleners revolted; and the whole of Ulster, except Charlemont and
+Carrickfergus, declared for William of Orange.</p>
+
+<p>James determined to make an effort to regain his throne; and by this act
+rendered the attempt of his son-in-law simply a rebellion. Had the King
+declined the contest, had he violated the rules of government so grossly
+as no longer to merit the confidence of his people, or had there been no
+lawful heir to the throne, William's attempt might have been legitimate;
+under the circumstances, it was simply a successful rebellion. The King
+landed at Kinsale, on the 12th of March, 1689, attended by some Irish
+troops and French officers. He met Tyrconnel in Cork, created him a
+duke, and then proceeded to Bandon, where he received the submission of
+the people who had joined the rebellion. On his arrival in Dublin, he
+summoned a Parliament and issued proclamations, after which he proceeded
+to Derry, according to the advice of Tyrconnel. Useless negotiations
+followed; and James returned to Dublin, after having confided the
+conduct of the siege to General Hamilton. If that officer had not been
+incomparably more humane than the men with whom he had to deal, it is
+probable that the 'Prentice Boys of Derry would not have been able to
+join in their yearly commemoration of victory. The town was strongly
+fortified, and well supplied with artillery and ammunition; the
+besiegers were badly clad, badly provisioned, and destitute of almost
+every thing necessary to storm a town. Their only resource was to starve
+out the garrison; but of this resource they were partly deprived by the
+humanity of General Hamilton, who allowed a considerable number of men,
+women, and children to leave Derry, and thus enabled its defenders to
+hold out longer. Lundy, who urged them to capitulate to King James, was
+obliged to escape in disguise; and Major Baker, assisted by the Rev.
+George Walker, a Protestant clergyman, then took the command. According
+to the<a name="Page_558"></a> statements of the latter, the garrison amounted to 7,500 men, and
+they had twenty-two cannon, which alone gave them an immense advantage
+over the royal army. So much has been already said and written, and sung
+of the bravery of the Derry men, that nothing more remains to say. That
+they were brave, and that they bravely defended the cause which they had
+adopted, there is no doubt; but if polemics had not mingled with
+politics in the encounter, it is quite possible that we should have
+heard no more of their exploits than of those other men, equally gallant
+and equally brave. The Enniskilleners, who have obtained an unenviable
+notoriety for their merciless cruelty in war, occupied the King's troops
+so as to prevent them from assisting the besiegers. Several encounters
+took place between the Derry men and the royalists, but with no other
+result than loss of lives on each side. On the 13th of June, a fleet of
+thirty ships arrived from England with men and provisions; but the Irish
+had obtained the command of the river Foyle, and possession of Culmore
+Fort at the entrance, so that they were unable to enter. De Rosen was
+now sent by James to assist Hamilton. He proposed and carried out the
+barbarous expedition of driving all the Protestants whom he could find
+before the walls, and threatening to let them starve there to death
+unless the garrison surrendered. His plan was strongly disapproved by
+the King, it disgusted the Irish, and exasperated the besieged. The next
+day they erected a gallows on the ramparts, and threatened to hang their
+prisoners then and there if the unfortunate people were not removed. It
+is to the credit of the Derry men that they shared their provisions to
+the last with their prisoners, even while they were dying themselves of
+starvation. Perhaps the example of humanity set to them by General
+Hamilton was not without its effect, for kindness and cruelty seem
+equally contagious in time of war. Kirke's squadrons at last passed the
+forts, broke the boom, and relieved the garrison, who could not have
+held out forty-eight hours longer. It was suspected that English gold
+had procured their admittance, and that the officers who commanded the
+forts were bribed to let them pass unscathed. The siege was at once
+raised; the royal army withdrew on the 5th of August; and thus
+terminated the world-famed siege of Derry.</p>
+
+<p>James now held his Parliament in Dublin, repealed the Act of Settlement,
+passed the Act of Attainder, and issued an immense quantity of base
+coin. He has been loudly condemned by some<a name="Page_559"></a> historians for these
+proceedings; but it should be remembered (1) that the Act of Settlement
+was a gross injustice, and, as such, it was but justice that it should
+be repealed. Had the measure been carried out, however severely it might
+have been felt by the Protestant party, they could not have suffered
+from the repeal as severely as the Catholics had suffered from the
+enactment. (2) The Act of Attainder simply proclaimed that the
+revolutionists were rebels against their lawful King, and that they
+should be treated as such. (3) The utterance of base coin had already
+been performed by several Governments, and James only availed himself of
+the prerogatives exercised by his predecessors.</p>
+
+<p>The day on which the siege of Derry was raised, the royalists met with a
+severe reverse at Newtownbutler. They were under the command of Lord
+Mountcashel, when attacked by the Enniskilleners. The dragoons had
+already been dispirited by a reverse at Lisnaskea; and a word of
+command<a name="FNanchor_538_539"></a><a href="#Footnote_538_539"><sup>[538]</sup></a> which was given incorrectly, threw the old corps into
+confusion, from which their brave leader in vain endeavoured to rally
+them. Colonel Wolseley, an English officer, commanded the
+Enniskilleners; and the cruelties with which they hunted down the
+unfortunate fugitives, has made the name almost a byword of reproach.
+Five hundred men plunged into Lough Erne to escape their fury, but of
+these only one was saved. Lord Mountcashel was taken prisoner, but he
+escaped eventually, and fled to France. Sarsfield, who commanded at
+Sligo, was obliged to retire to Athlone; and the victorious Williamites
+remained masters of that part of the country.</p>
+
+<p>Schomberg arrived<a name="FNanchor_539_540"></a><a href="#Footnote_539_540"><sup>[539]</sup></a> at Bangor, in Down, on the 13th of August, 1689,
+with a large army, composed of Dutch, French Huguenots, and new levies
+from England. On the 17th he marched to Belfast, where he met with no
+resistance; and on the 27th Carrickfergus surrendered to him on
+honorable terms, after a siege of eight days, but not until its
+Governor, Colonel Charles MacCarthy More, was<a name="Page_560"></a> reduced to his last barrel
+of powder. Schomberg pitched on Dundalk for his winter quarters, and
+entrenched himself there strongly; but disease soon broke out in his
+camp, and it has been estimated that 10,000 men, fully one-half of the
+force, perished of want and dysentery. James challenged him to battle
+several times, but Schomberg was too prudent to risk an encounter in the
+state of his troops; and the King had not the moral courage to make the
+first attack. Complaints soon reached England of the condition to which
+the revolutionary army was reduced. If there were not &quot;own
+correspondents&quot; then in camp, it is quite clear there were very sharp
+eyes and very nimble pens. Dr. Walker, whose military experience at
+Derry appears to have given him a taste for campaigning, was one of the
+complainants. William sent over a commission to inquire into the matter,
+who, as usual in such cases, arrived too late to do any good. The men
+wanted food, the horses wanted provender, the surgeons and apothecaries
+wanted medicines for the sick.<a name="FNanchor_540_541"></a><a href="#Footnote_540_541"><sup>[540]</sup></a> In fact, if we take a report of
+Crimean mismanagement<a name="Page_561"></a>, we shall have all the details, minus the
+statement that several of the officers drank themselves to death, and
+that some who were in power were charged with going shares in the
+embezzlement of the contractor, Mr. John Shales, who, whether guilty or
+not, was made the scapegoat on the occasion, and was accused, moreover,
+of having caused all this evil from partiality to King James, in whose
+service he had been previously. Mr. John Shales was therefore taken
+prisoner, and sent under a strong guard to Belfast, and from thence to
+London. As nothing more is heard of him, it is probable the matter was
+hushed up, or that he had powerful accomplices in his frauds.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/560.jpg" width="473" height="320" alt="THE CASTLE OF TRIM." title="" />
+</center>
+
+<h4>THE CASTLE OF TRIM.</h4>
+
+<p>Abundant supplies arrived from England, which, if they could not restore
+the dead, served at least to renovate the living; and Schomberg was
+ready to take the field early in the year 1690, notwithstanding the loss
+of about 10,000 men. James, with the constitutional fatuity of the
+Stuarts, had lost his opportunity. If he had attacked the motley army of
+the revolutionary party while the men were suffering from want and
+disease, and while his own troops were fresh and courageous, he might
+have conquered; the most sanguine now could scarcely see any other
+prospect for him than defeat. He was in want of everything; and he had
+no Englishmen who hoped for plunder, no French refugees who looked for a
+new home, no brave Dutchmen who loved fighting for its own sake, to fall
+back upon in the hour of calamity. His French counsellors only agreed to
+disagree with him. There was the ordinary amount of jealousy amongst the
+Irish officers&mdash;the inevitable result of the want of a competent leader
+in whom all could confide. The King was urged by one party (the French)
+to retire to Connaught, and entrench himself there until he should
+receive succours from France; he was urged by another party (the Irish)
+to attack Schomberg<a name="Page_562"></a> without delay. Louvais, the French Minister of War,
+divided his hatred with tolerable impartiality between James and
+William: therefore, though quite prepared to oppose the latter, he was
+by no means so willing to assist the former; and when he did send men to
+Ireland, under the command of the Count de Lauzan, he took care that
+their clothing and arms should be of the worst description. He received
+in exchange a reinforcement of the best-equipped and best-trained
+soldiers of the Irish army. Avaux and De Rosen were both sent back to
+France by James; and thus, with but few officers, badly-equipped troops,
+and his own miserable and vacillating counsel, he commenced the war
+which ended so gloriously or so disastrously, according to the different
+opinions of the actors in the fatal drama. In July, 1690, some of James'
+party were defeated by the Williamites at Cavan, and several of his best
+officers were killed or made prisoners. Another engagement took place at
+Charlemont; the Governor, Teigue O'Regan, only yielded to starvation. He
+surrendered on honorable terms; and Schomberg, with equal humanity and
+courtesy, desired that each of his starving men should receive a loaf of
+bread at Armagh.</p>
+
+<p>William had intended for some time to conduct the Irish campaign in
+person. He embarked near Chester on the 11th of June, and landed at
+Carrickfergus on the 14th, attended by Prince George of Denmark, the
+Duke of Wurtemburg, the Prince of Hesse Darmstadt, the Duke of Ormonde,
+and the Earls of Oxford, Portland, Scarborough, and Manchester, with
+other persons of distinction. Schomberg met him half-way between
+Carrickfergus and Belfast. William, who had ridden so far, now entered
+the General's carriage, and drove to Belfast, where he was received with
+acclamations, and loud shouts of &quot;God bless the Protestant King!&quot; There
+were bonfires and discharges of cannon at the various camps of the
+Williamites. The officers of several regiments paid their respects to
+him in state. On the 22nd the whole army encamped at Loughbrickland,
+near Newry. In the afternoon William came up and reviewed the troops,
+pitching his tent on a neighbouring eminence.<a name="FNanchor_541_542"></a><a href="#Footnote_541_542"><sup>[541]</sup></a> The army comprised a
+strange medley of nationalities. More than half were foreigners; and on
+these William placed his principal reliance, for at any moment a
+reaction might take place in favour of the lawful King.<a name="Page_563"></a> The Williamite
+army was well supplied, well trained, admirably commanded, accustomed to
+war, and amounted to between forty and fifty thousand. The Jacobite
+force only consisted of twenty thousand,<a name="FNanchor_542_543"></a><a href="#Footnote_542_543"><sup>[542]</sup></a> and of these a large
+proportion were raw recruits. The officers, however, were brave and
+skilful; but they had only twelve field-pieces, which had been recently
+received from France. On the 22nd, news came that James had encamped
+near Dundalk; on the 23rd he marched towards Drogheda. On the same day
+William went to Newry; he was thoroughly aware of the movements of his
+hapless father-in-law, for deserters came into his camp from time to
+time. James obtained his information from an English officer, Captain
+Farlow, and some soldiers whom he made prisoners at a trifling
+engagement which took place between Newry and Dundalk.</p>
+
+<p>James now determined on a retreat to the Boyne through Ardee. His design
+was to protract the campaign as much as possible,&mdash;an arrangement which
+suited his irresolute habits; but where a kingdom was to be lost or won,
+it only served to discourage the troops and to defer the decisive
+moment.</p>
+
+<p>The hostile forces confronted each other for the first time on the banks
+of the Boyne, June 30, 1689. The Jacobite army was posted on the
+declivity of the Hill of Dunore&mdash;its right wing towards Drogheda, its
+left extending up the river. The centre was at the small hamlet of
+Oldbridge. Entrenchments were hastily thrown up to defend the fords, and
+James took up his position at a ruined church on the top of the Hill of
+Dunore. The Williamite army approached from the north, their brave
+leader directing every movement, and inspiring his men with courage and
+confidence. He obtained a favourable position, and was completely
+screened from view until he appeared on the brow of the hill, where his
+forces debouched slowly and steadily into the ravines below. After
+planting his batteries on the heights, he kept up an incessant fire on
+the Irish lines during the afternoon of the 30th. But James' officers
+were on the alert, even if their King were indifferent. William was
+recognized as he approached near their lines to reconnoitre. Guns were
+brought up to bear on him quietly and stealthily; &quot;six shots were fired
+at him, one whereof fell and struck off the top of the Duke Wurtemberg's
+pistol and the whiskers of his horse, and another tore the King's coat
+on his shoulder.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_543_544"></a><a href="#Footnote_543_544"><sup>[543]</sup></a></p><a name="Page_564"></a>
+
+<p>William, like a wise general as he was, took care that the news of his
+accident should not dispirit his men. He showed himself everywhere, rode
+through the camp, was as agreeable as it was in his nature to be; and
+thus made capital of what might have been a cause of disaster. In the
+meantime James did all that was possible to secure a defeat. At one
+moment he decided to retreat, at the next he would risk a battle; then
+he sent off his baggage and six of his field-pieces to Dublin, for his
+own special protection; and while thus so remarkably careful of himself,
+he could not be persuaded to allow the most necessary precaution to be
+taken for the safety of his army. Hence the real marvel to posterity is,
+not that the battle of the Boyne should have been lost by the Irish, but
+that they should ever have attempted to fight at all. Perhaps nothing
+but the inherent loyalty of the Irish, which neither treachery nor
+pusillanimity could destroy, and the vivid remembrance of the cruel
+wrongs always inflicted by Protestants when in power, prevented them
+from rushing over <i>en masse</i> to William's side of the Boyne. Perhaps, in
+the history of nations, there never was so brave a resistance made for
+love of royal right and religious freedom, as that of the Irish officers
+and men who then fought on the Jacobite side.</p>
+
+<p>The first attack of William's men was made at Slane. This was precisely
+what the Jacobite officers had anticipated, and what James had
+obstinately refused to see. When it was too late, he allowed Lauzan to
+defend the ford, but even Sir Nial O'Neill's gallantry was unavailing.
+The enemy had the advance, and Portland's artillery and infantry crossed
+at Slane. William now felt certain of victory, if, indeed, he had ever
+doubted it. It was low water at ten o'clock; the fords at Oldbridge were
+passable; a tremendous battery was opened on the Irish lines; they had
+not a single gun to reply, and yet they waited steadily for the attack.
+The Dutch Blue Guards dashed into the stream ten abreast, commanded by
+the Count de Solmes; the Londonderry and Enniskillen Dragoons followed,
+supported by the French Huguenots. The English infantry came next, under
+the command of Sir John Hanmer and the Count Nassau. William crossed at
+the fifth ford, where the water was deepest, with the cavalry of his
+left wing. It was a<a name="Page_565"></a> grand and terrible sight. The men in the water
+fought for William and Protestantism; the men on land fought for their
+King and their Faith. The men were equally gallant. Of the leaders I
+shall say nothing, lest I should be tempted to say too much. James had
+followed Lauzan's forces towards Slane. Tyrconnel's valour could not
+save the day for Ireland against fearful odds. Sarsfield's horse had
+accompanied the King. The Huguenots were so warmly received by the Irish
+at the fords that they recoiled, and their commander, Caillemont, was
+mortally wounded. Schomberg forgot his age, and the affront he had
+received from William in the morning; and the man of eighty-two dashed
+into the river with the impetuosity of eighteen. He was killed
+immediately, and so was Dr. Walker, who headed the Ulster Protestants.
+William may have regretted the brave old General, but he certainly did
+not regret the Protestant divine. He had no fancy for churchmen meddling
+in secular affairs, and a rough &quot;What brought him there?&quot; was all the
+reply vouchsafed to the news of his demise. The tide now began to flow,
+and the battle raged with increased fury. The valour displayed by the
+Irish was a marvel even to their enemies. Hamilton was wounded and taken
+prisoner. William headed the Enniskilleners, who were put to flight soon
+after by the Irish horse, at Platten, and were now rallied again by
+himself. When the enemy had crossed the ford at Oldbridge, James ordered
+Lauzan to march in a parallel direction with Douglas and young Schomberg
+to Duleek. Tyrconnel followed. The French infantry covered the retreat
+in admirable order, with the Irish cavalry. When the defile of Duleek
+had been passed, the royalist forces again presented a front to the
+enemy. William's horse halted. The retreat was again resumed; and at the
+deep defile of Naul the last stand was made. The shades of a summer
+evening closed over the belligerent camps. The Williamites returned to
+Duleek; and eternal shadows clouded over the destinies of the
+unfortunate Stuarts&mdash;a race admired more from sympathy with their
+miseries, than from admiration of their virtues.</p>
+
+<p>Thus ended the famous battle of the Boyne. England obtained thereby a
+new governor and a national debt; Ireland, fresh oppression, and an
+intensification of religious and political animosity, unparalleled in
+the history of nations.</p>
+
+<p>James contrived to be first in the retreat which he had anticipated, and
+for which he had so carefully prepared. He arrived in<a name="Page_566"></a> Dublin in the
+evening, and insulted Lady Tyrconnel by a rude remark about the
+fleetness of her husband's countrymen in running away from the battle;
+to which she retorted, with equal wit and truth, that his Majesty had
+set them the example. He left Dublin the next morning, having first
+insulted the civil and military authorities, by throwing the blame of
+the defeat on the brave men who had risked everything in his cause.
+Having carefully provided for his own safety by leaving two troops of
+horse at Bray to defend the bridge, should the enemy come up, he
+hastened towards Duncannon, where he arrived at sunrise. Here he
+embarked in a small French vessel for Kinsale, and from thence he sailed
+to France, and was himself the bearer of the news of his defeat. The
+command in Ireland was intrusted to Tyrconnel, who gave orders that the
+Irish soldiery should march at once to Limerick, each under the command
+of his own officer. William entered Dublin on Sunday, July 7th. He was
+received with acclamations by the Protestants, who were now relieved
+from all fear lest the Catholics should inflict on them the sufferings
+they had so remorselessly inflicted on the Catholics. Drogheda,
+Kilkenny, Duncannon, and Waterford, capitulated to the victorious army,
+the garrisons marching to Limerick, towards which place William now
+directed his course. Douglas was sent to besiege Athlone; but the
+Governor, Colonel Grace, made such brave resistance there, he was
+obliged to withdraw, and join William near Limerick.</p>
+
+<p>The French officers, who had long since seen the hopelessness of the
+conflict, determined to leave the country. Lauzan, after having surveyed
+Limerick, and declared that it might be taken with &quot;roasted apples,&quot;
+ordered all the French troops to Galway, where they could await an
+opportunity to embark for France. But the brave defenders of the devoted
+city were not deterred. The Governor consulted with Sarsfield,
+Tyrconnel, and the other officers; and the result was a message to
+William, in reply to his demand for a surrender, to the effect, that
+they hoped to merit his good opinion better by a vigorous defence of the
+fortress, which had been committed to them by their master, than by a
+shameful capitulation. By a skilfully executed and rapid march,
+Sarsfield contrived to intercept William's artillery on the Keeper
+Mountains, and after killing the escort, bursting the guns, and blowing
+up the ammunition, he returned in triumph to Limerick. His success
+animated the besieged, and infuriated the besiegers. But the walls of
+Limerick were not as<a name="Page_567"></a> stout as the brave hearts of its defenders. William
+sent for more artillery to Waterford; and it was found that two of the
+guns which Sarsfield had attempted to destroy, were still available.</p>
+
+<p>The trenches were opened on the 17th of August. On the 20th the garrison
+made a vigorous sortie, and retarded the enemy's progress; but on the
+24th the batteries were completed, and a murderous fire of red-hot shot
+and shells was poured into the devoted city. The trenches were carried
+within a few feet of the palisades, on the 27th; and a breach having
+been made in the wall near St. John's Gate, William ordered the assault
+to commence. The storming party were supported by ten thousand men. For
+three hours a deadly struggle was maintained. The result seemed
+doubtful, so determined was the bravery evinced on each side.
+Boisseleau, the Governor, had not been unprepared, although he was taken
+by surprise, and had opened a murderous cross-fire on the assailants
+when first they attempted the storm. The conflict lasted for nearly
+three hours. The Brandenburg regiment had gained the Black Battery, when
+the Irish sprung a mine, and men, faggots, and stones were blown up in a
+moment. A council of war was held; William, whose temper was not the
+most amiable at any time, was unusually morose. He had lost 2,000 men
+between the killed and the wounded, and he had not taken the city, which
+a French General had pronounced attainable with &quot;roasted Apples.&quot; On
+Sunday, the 31st of August, the siege was raised. William returned to
+England, where his presence was imperatively demanded. The military
+command was confided to the Count de Solmes, who was afterwards
+succeeded by De Ginkell; the civil government was intrusted to Lord
+Sidney, Sir Charles Porter, and Mr. Coningsby.</p>
+
+<p>Lauzan returned to France with Tyrconnel, and the Irish forces were
+confided to the care of the Duke of Berwick, a youth of twenty, with a
+council of regency and a council of war to advise him. Under these
+circumstances it was little wonder that there should We been
+considerable division of opinion, and no little jealousy, in the royal
+camp; and even then the seeds were sowing of what eventually proved the
+cause of such serious misfortune to the country.</p>
+
+<p>The famous Marlborough appeared before Cork with an army of 1,500 men,
+on the 22nd of September, and the garrison were made prisoners of war
+after a brief and brave resistance; but the conditions on which they
+surrendered were shamefully violated. Kinsale was next attacked; but
+with these exceptions, and some occasional<a name="Page_568"></a> skirmishes with the
+&quot;Rapparees,&quot; the winter passed over without any important military
+operations.</p>
+
+<p>Tyrconnel returned to Ireland in January, with a small supply of money
+and some provisions, notwithstanding the plots made against him by
+Luttrell and Purcell. He brought a patent from James, creating Sarsfield
+Earl of Lucan. A French fleet arrived in May, with provisions, clothing,
+and ammunition. It had neither men nor money; but it brought what was
+supposed to be a fair equivalent, in the person of St. Ruth, a
+distinguished French officer, who was sent to take the command of the
+Irish army. In the meantime Ginkell was organizing the most effective
+force ever seen in Ireland: neither men nor money was spared by the
+English Parliament. And this was the army which the impoverished and
+ill-provisioned troops of the royalists were doomed to encounter.</p>
+
+<p>Hostilities commenced on 7th June, with the siege of Ballymore Castle,
+in Westmeath. The Governor surrendered, and Athlone was next attacked.
+This town is situated on the river Shannon. Its position must be
+thoroughly understood, to comprehend the heroic bravery with which it
+was defended. It will be remembered that Athlone was one of the towns
+which the English of the Pale had fortified at the very commencement of
+their invasion of Ireland. That portion of the city which lay on the
+Leinster or Pale side of the river, had never been strongly fortified,
+and a breach was made at once in the wall. Ginkell assaulted it with
+4,000 men, and the defenders at once withdrew to the other side; but
+they held the bridge with heroic bravery, until they had broken down two
+of the arches, and placed the broad and rapid Shannon between themselves
+and their enemies. St. Ruth had arrived in the meantime, and posted his
+army, amounting to about 15,000 horse and foot, at the Irish side of the
+river. The English had now raised the works so high on their side, that
+they were able to keep up an incessant fire upon the town. According to
+their own historian, Story, they threw in 12,000 cannon balls and 600
+bombs, and the siege cost them &quot;nigh fifty tons of powder.&quot; The walls
+opposite to the batteries were soon broken down, and the town itself
+reduced to ruins. The besiegers next attempted to cross in a bridge of
+boats, but the defenders turned their few field-pieces on them. They
+then tried to mend the broken bridge; huge beams were flung across, and
+they had every hope of success. <i>But</i> they knew not yet what Irish
+valour could dare. Eight or ten devoted<a name="Page_569"></a> men dashed into the water, and
+tore down the planks, under a galling fire; and, as they fell dead or
+dying into the river, others rushed to take the places of their fallen
+comrades, and to complete the work.</p>
+
+<p>St. Ruth now ordered preparations to be made for an assault, and desired
+the ramparts on the Connaught side of the town to be levelled, that a
+whole battalion might enter abreast to relieve the garrison when it was
+assailed. But the Governor, D'Usson, opposed the plan, and neglected the
+order. All was now confusion in the camp. There never had been any real
+head to the royalist party in Ireland; and to insure victory in battle,
+or success in any important enterprise where multitudes are concerned,
+it is absolutely essential that all should act with union of purpose.
+Such union, where there are many men, and, consequently, many minds, can
+only be attained by the most absolute submission to one leader; and this
+leader, to obtain submission, should be either a lawfully constituted
+authority, or, in cases of emergency, one of those master-spirits to
+whom men bow with unquestioning submission, because of the majesty of
+intellect within them. There were brave men and true men in that camp at
+Athlone, but there was not one who possessed these essential requisites.</p>
+
+<p>According to the Williamite historian, Ginkell was informed by traitors
+of what was passing, and that the defences on the river side were
+guarded by two of the &quot;most indifferent Irish regiments.&quot; He immediately
+chose 2,000 men for the assault, distributed a gratuity of guineas
+amongst them, and at a signal from the church bell, at six in the
+evening, on the 30th of June, the assault was made, and carried with
+such rapidity, that St. Ruth, who was with the cavalry at a distance,
+was not aware of what had happened until all was over. St. Ruth at once
+removed his army to Ballinasloe, twelve miles from his former post, and
+subsequently to Aughrim. Tyrconnel was obliged to leave the camp, the
+outcry against him became so general.</p>
+
+<p>St. Ruth's ground was well chosen. He had placed his men upon an
+eminence, and each wing was protected by a morass or bog. The
+Williamites came up on Sunday, July 11th, while the Irish were hearing
+Mass. In this instance, as in so many others, it is impossible to
+ascertain correctly the numerical force of each army. The historians on
+either side were naturally anxious to magnify the numbers of their
+opponents, and to lessen their own. It is at least<a name="Page_570"></a> certain, that on
+this, as on other occasions, the Irish were miserably deficient in all
+the appliances of the art of war, while the English were admirably
+supplied. The most probable estimate of the Irish force appears to be
+15,000 horse and foot; and of the English 20,000. Ginkell opened fire on
+the enemy as soon as his guns were planted. Some trifling skirmishes
+followed. A council of war was held, and the deliberation lasted until
+half-past four in the evening, at which time a general engagement was
+decided on. A cannonade had been kept up on both sides, in which the
+English had immensely the advantage, St. Ruth's excellently chosen
+position being almost useless for want of sufficient artillery. At
+half-past six Ginkell ordered an advance on the Irish right centre,
+having previously ascertained that the bog was passable. The defenders,
+after discharging their fire, gradually drew the Williamites after them
+by an almost imperceptible retreat, until they had them face to face
+with their main line. Then the Irish cavalry charged with irresistible
+valour, and the English were thrown into total disorder. St. Ruth, proud
+of the success of his strategies and the valour of his men, exclaimed,
+&quot;Le jour est a nous, mes enfans.&quot; But St. Ruth's weak point was his left
+wing, and this was at once perceived and taken advantage of by the Dutch
+General. Some of his infantry made good their passage across the morass,
+which St. Ruth had supposed impassable; and the men, who commanded this
+position from a ruined castle, found that the balls with which they had
+been served did not suit their fire-arms, so that they were unable to
+defend the passage. St. Ruth at once perceived his error. He hastened to
+support them with a brigade of horse; but even as he exclaimed, &quot;They
+are beaten; let us beat them to the purpose,&quot; a cannon-ball carried off
+his head, and all was lost. Another death, which occurred almost
+immediately after, completed the misfortunes of the Irish. The infantry
+had been attended and encouraged by Dr. Aloysius Stafford, chaplain to
+the forces; but when &quot;death interrupted his glorious career,&quot;<a name="FNanchor_544_545"></a><a href="#Footnote_544_545"><sup>[544]</sup></a> they
+were panic-struck; and three hours after the death of the general and
+the priest, there was not a man of the Irish army left upon the field.
+But the real cause of the failure was the fatal misunderstanding which
+existed between the leaders. Sarsfield, who was thoroughly able to have
+taken St Ruth's position, and to have retrieved the fortunes of the day,
+had<a name="Page_571"></a> been placed in the rear by the jealousy of the latter, and kept in
+entire ignorance of the plan of battle. He was now obliged to withdraw
+without striking a single blow. The cavalry retreated along the highroad
+to Loughrea; the infantry fled to a bog, where numbers were massacred,
+unarmed and in cold blood.</p>
+
+<p>The loss on both sides was immense, and can never be exactly estimated.
+Harris says that &quot;had not St. Ruth been taken off, it would have been
+hard to say what the consequences of this day would have been.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_545_546"></a><a href="#Footnote_545_546"><sup>[545]</sup></a>
+Many of the dead remained unburied, and their bones were left to bleach
+in the storms of winter and the sun of summer. There was one exception
+to the general neglect. An Irish officer, who had been slain, was
+followed by his faithful dog. The poor animal lay beside his master's
+body day and night; and though he fed upon other corpses with the rest
+of the dogs, he would not permit them to touch the treasured remains. He
+continued his watch until January, when he flew at a soldier, who he
+feared was about to remove the bones, which were all that remained to
+him of the being by whom he had been caressed and fed. The soldier in
+his fright unslung his piece and fired, and the faithful wolf-dog laid
+down and died by his charge.<a name="FNanchor_546_547"></a><a href="#Footnote_546_547"><sup>[546]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>Ginkell laid siege to Galway a week after the battle of Aughrim. The
+inhabitants relied principally upon the arrival of Balldearg O'Donnell
+for their defence; but, as he did not appear in time, they capitulated
+on favourable terms, and the Dutch General marched to Limerick.</p>
+
+<p>Tyrconnel died at Limerick, of apoplexy, while he was preparing to put
+the city into a state of defence. He was a faithful and zealous
+supporter of the royal cause, and devoted to the Irish nation. His
+loyalty has induced one party to blacken his character; his haughty and
+unconciliatory manner prevented his good qualities from being fully
+appreciated by the other.</p>
+
+<p>The real command now devolved on M. D'Usson, the Governor of Limerick.
+Active preparations for the siege were made on both sides. Ginkell
+contrived to communicate with Henry Luttrell, but his perfidy was
+discovered, and he was tried by court-martial and imprisoned. Sixty
+cannon and nineteen mortars were planted against<a name="Page_572"></a> the devoted city, and
+on the 30th the bombardment commenced. The Irish horse had been
+quartered on the Clare side of the Shannon; but, through the treachery
+or indifference of Brigadier Clifford, who had been posted, with a
+strong body of dragoons, to prevent such an attempt, Ginkell threw
+across a pontoon-bridge, and sent over a large detachment of horse and
+foot, on the morning of the 16th, which effectually cut off
+communication between the citizens and their camp. On the 22nd he made a
+feint of raising the siege, but his real object was to lull suspicion,
+while he attacked the works at the Clare end of Thomond-bridge. The
+position was bravely defended by Colonel Lacy, but he was obliged to
+yield to overpowering numbers; and the Town-Major, fearing that the
+enemy would enter in the <i>m&ecirc;lee</i> with the Irish, drew up the bridge. The
+English gave no quarter, and, according to their own account, 600 men
+were slaughtered on the spot. This was the last engagement. Sarsfield
+recommended a surrender. Resistance was equally hopeless and useless; it
+could only end in a fearful sacrifice of life on both sides. A parley
+took place on the 23rd, and on the 24th a three days' truce was
+arranged. Hostages were exchanged, and a friendly intercourse was
+established. On the 3rd of October, 1691, the Treaty was signed. The
+large stone is still shown which was used as a table on the occasion.
+What that Treaty contained, and how it was violated, are matters which
+demand a careful and impartial consideration.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/572.jpg" width="482" height="358" alt="THE TREATY STONE, LIMERICK." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>THE TREATY STONE, LIMERICK.</h4>
+
+<h4>This stone was placed on a handsome pedestal a few years since, by the
+then Mayor of Limerick.</h4>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><br /><br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXXIV"></a>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/573.jpg" width="485" height="312" alt="SITE OF THE BATTLE OF AUGHRIM." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>SITE OF THE BATTLE OF AUGHRIM.</h4>
+
+<a name="Page_573"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXIV.</h2>
+
+<h4>Formation of the Irish Brigade&mdash;Violation of the Treaty of
+Limerick&mdash;Enactment of the Penal Laws&mdash;Restrictions on Trade&mdash;The
+Embargo Laws&mdash;The Sacramental Test introduced&mdash;The Palatines&mdash;The Irish
+forbidden to enlist in the Army&mdash;Dean Swift and the Drapier's
+Letters&mdash;Attempts to form a Catholic Association&mdash;Irish Emigrants defeat
+the English in France, Spain, and America&mdash;The Whiteboys&mdash;An Account of
+the Cause of these Outrages, by an English Tourist&mdash;Mr. Young's Remedy
+for Irish Disaffection&mdash;The Peculiar Position and Difficulties of Irish
+Priests&mdash;The Judicial Murder of Father Nicholas Sheehy&mdash;Grattan's Demand
+for Irish Independence&mdash;The Volunteers&mdash;A Glimpse of Freedom.</h4>
+
+<h5>[A.D. 1691-1783.]</h5>
+
+<img src="images/y.jpg" width="64" height="227" align="left" alt="S" title="" />
+<p>t. John's Gate and the Irish outworks were surrendered to the English;
+the English town was left for the Irish troops to occupy until their
+departure for France. The men were to have their choice whether they
+would serve under William III. or under the French. A few days after
+they were mustered on the Clare side of the Shannon, to declare which
+alternative they preferred. An Ulster battalion, and a few men in each
+regiment, in all about 1,000, entered the service of Government; 2,000
+received passes to return home; 11,000, with all the cavalry,
+volunteered for France, and embarked for that country in different
+detachments, under their respective officers. They were warmly<a name="Page_574"></a> received
+in the land of their adoption; and all Irish Catholics to France were
+granted the privileges of French citizens, without the formality of
+naturalization. And thus was formed the famous &quot;Irish Brigade,&quot; which
+has become a household word for bravery and the glory of the Irish
+nation.</p>
+
+<p>The Treaty, as I have said, was signed on the 3rd of October, 1691. The
+preamble states that the contracting parties were Sir Charles Porter and
+Thomas Coningsby, Lords Justices, with the Baron de Ginkell as
+Commander-in-Chief, on the part of William and Mary; Sarsfield, Earl of
+Lucan, Viscount Galmoy, Colonel Purcell, Colonel Cusack, Sir J. Butler,
+Colonel Dillon, and Colonel Brown, on the part of the Irish nation. The
+articles were fifty-two in number. They guaranteed to the Catholics (1)
+the free exercise of their religion; (2) the privilege of sitting in
+Parliament; (3) freedom of trade; (4) the safety of the estates of those
+who had taken up arms for King James; (5) a general amnesty; (6) all the
+honours of war to the troops, and a free choice for their future
+destination. The articles run to considerable length, and cannot,
+therefore, be inserted here; but they may be seen <i>in extenso</i> in
+MacGeoghegan's <i>History of Ireland</i>, and several other works. So little
+doubt had the Irish that this Treaty would be solemnly observed, that
+when the accidental omission of two lines was discovered in the clean
+copy, they refused to carry out the arrangements until those lines had
+been inserted. The Treaty was confirmed by William and Mary, who pledged
+&quot;the honour of England&quot; that it should be kept inviolably, saying: &quot;We
+do, for us, our heirs and successors, as far as in us lies, ratify and
+confirm the same, and every clause, matter, and thing therein
+contained.&quot; Two days after the signing of the Treaty, a French fleet
+arrived in the Shannon, with 3,000 soldiers, 200 officers, and 10,000
+stand of arms. Sarsfield was strongly urged to break faith with the
+English; but he nobly rejected the temptation. How little did he foresee
+how cruelly that nation would break faith with him!</p>
+
+<p>Two months had scarcely elapsed after the departure of the Irish troops,
+when an English historian was obliged to write thus of the open
+violation of the articles: &quot;The justices of the peace, sheriffs, and
+other magistrates, presuming on their power in the country, dispossessed
+several of their Majesties' Catholic subjects, not only of their goods
+and chattels, but also of their lands and tenements, to the<a name="Page_575"></a> great
+reproach of their Majesties' Government.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_547_548"></a><a href="#Footnote_547_548"><sup>[547]</sup></a> These complaints were so
+general, that the Lords Justices were at last obliged to issue a
+proclamation on the subject (November 19, 1691), in which they state
+that they had &quot;received complaints from all parts of Ireland of the
+ill-treatment of the Irish who had submitted; and that they [the Irish]
+were so extremely terrified with apprehensions of the continuance of
+that usage, that some of those who had quitted the Irish army and went
+home, with the resolution not to go to France, were then come back
+again, and pressed earnestly to go thither, rather than stay in Ireland,
+where, contrary to the public faith, as well as law and justice, they
+were robbed in their persons and abused in their substance.&quot; Let it be
+remembered that this was an official document, and that it emanated from
+the last persons who were likely to listen to such complaints, or
+relieve them if they could possibly have been denied.</p>
+
+<p>The men who had hoped for confiscations that they might share the
+plunder, now began to clamour loudly. It was necessary to get up a
+popular cry against Papists, as the surest means of attaining their end.
+Individuals who had as little personal hatred to the Pope as they had to
+the Grand Turk, and as little real knowledge of the Catholic Faith as of
+Mahometanism, uttered wild cries of &quot;No Popery!&quot; and &quot;No Surrender!&quot;
+William, whose morals, if not his professions, proclaimed that he was
+not troubled with any strong religious convictions, was obliged to yield
+to the faction who had set him on the throne. Probably, he yielded
+willingly; and was thus able, in some measure, to make a pretence of
+doing under pressure what he really wished to do of his own will.</p>
+
+<p>On the 28th of October, 1692, the Parliament in Dublin rejected a Bill
+which had been sent from England, containing restrictions on certain
+duties, solely to proclaim their independence. A few days after they
+were taught a lesson of obedience. Lord Sidney came down to the House
+unexpectedly, and prorogued Parliament, with a severe rebuke, ordering
+the Clerk to enter his protest against the proceedings of the Commons on
+the journals of the House of Lords. The hopes of the English were
+raised, and the Parliament brought forward the subject of the Limerick
+articles, with torrents of complaints against the Irish in general, and
+the Irish Catholics in particular. William received their remonstrance
+coolly, and the <a name="Page_576"></a>matter was allowed to rest for a time. In 1695 Lord
+Capel was appointed Viceroy. He at once summoned a Parliament, which sat
+for several sessions, and in which some of the penal laws against
+Catholics were enacted. As I believe the generality even of educated
+persons, both in England and Ireland, are entirely ignorant of what
+these laws really were, I shall give a brief account of their
+enactments, premising first, that seven lay peers and seven Protestant
+bishops had the honorable humanity to sign a protest against them.</p>
+
+<p>(1) The Catholic peers were deprived of their right to sit in
+Parliament. (2) Catholic gentlemen were forbidden to be elected as
+members of Parliament. (3) It denied all Catholics the liberty of
+voting, and it excluded them from all offices of trust, and indeed from
+<i>all remunerative</i> employment, however insignificant.<a name="FNanchor_548_549"></a><a href="#Footnote_548_549"><sup>[548]</sup></a> (4) They were
+fined &pound;60 a-month for absence from the Protestant form of worship. (5)
+They were forbidden to travel five miles from their houses, to keep
+arms, to maintain suits at law, or to be guardians or executors. (6) Any
+four justices of the peace could, without further trial, banish any man
+for life if he refused to attend the Protestant service. (7) Any two
+justices of the peace could call any man over sixteen before them, and
+if he refused to abjure the Catholic religion, they could bestow his
+property on the next of kin. (8) No Catholic could employ a Catholic
+schoolmaster to educate his children; and if he sent his child abroad
+for education, he was subject to a fine of &pound;100, and the child could not
+inherit any property either in England or Ireland. (9) Any Catholic
+priest who came to the country should be hanged. (10) Any Protestant
+suspecting any other Protestant of holding property<a name="FNanchor_549_550"></a><a href="#Footnote_549_550"><sup>[549]</sup></a> in trust for
+any Catholic, might file a bill against the suspected trustee, and take
+the estate or property from him. (11) Any Protestant seeing<a name="Page_577"></a> a Catholic
+tenant-at-will on a farm, which, in his opinion, yielded one-third more
+than the yearly rent, might enter on that farm, and, by simply swearing
+to the fact, take possession. (12) Any Protestant might take away the
+horse of a Catholic, no matter how valuable, by simply paying him &pound;5.
+(13) Horses and wagons belonging to Catholics, were in all cases to be
+seized for the use of the militia. (14) Any Catholic gentleman's child
+who became a Protestant, could at once take possession of his father's
+property.</p>
+
+<p>I have only enumerated some of the enactments of this code, and I
+believe there are few persons who will not be shocked at their atrocity.
+Even if the rights of Catholics had not been secured to them by the
+Treaty of Limerick, they had the rights of men; and whatever excuse, on
+the ground of hatred of Popery as a religion, may be offered for
+depriving men of liberty of conscience, and of a share in the government
+of their country, there can be no excuse for the gross injustice of
+defrauding them of their property, and placing life and estate at the
+mercy of every ruffian who had an interest in depriving them of either
+or of both. Although the seventeenth century has not yet been included
+in the dark ages, it is possible that posterity, reading these
+enactments, may reverse present opinion on this subject.</p>
+
+<p>But though the Parliament which sat in Dublin, and was misnamed Irish,
+was quite willing to put down Popery and to take the property of
+Catholics, it was not so willing to submit to English rule in other
+matters. In 1698 Mr. Molyneux, one of the members for the University of
+Dublin, published a work, entitled <i>The Case of Irelands being bound by
+Acts of Parliament in England, stated</i>. But Mr. Molyneux's book was
+condemned by the English Parliament; and after a faint show of
+resistance, the Irish members succumbed. The next attention which the
+English Houses paid to this country, was to suppress the woollen trade.
+In 1698 they passed a law for the prevention of the exportation of wool
+and of manufactures from Ireland, &quot;under the forfeiture of goods and
+ship, and a penalty of &pound;500 for every such offence.&quot; The penal laws had
+made it &quot;an offence&quot; for a man to practise his religion, or to educate
+his children either in Ireland or abroad; the trade laws made it &quot;an
+offence&quot; for a man to earn<a name="FNanchor_550_551"></a><a href="#Footnote_550_551"><sup>[550]</sup></a> his bread in an honest<a name="Page_578"></a> calling. The
+lower class of Protestants were the principal sufferers by the
+destruction of the woollen trade; it had been carried on by them almost
+exclusively; and it is said that 40,000 persons were reduced to utter
+destitution by this one enactment. In addition to this, navigation laws
+were passed, which prohibited Irish merchants from trading beyond seas
+in any ships except those which were built in England. The embargo laws
+followed, of which twenty-two were passed at different periods during
+forty years. They forbade Irish merchants, whether Protestant or
+Catholic, to trade with any foreign nation, or with any British colony,
+direct-to export or import <i>any article</i>, except to or from British
+merchants resident in England. Ireland, however, was allowed one
+consolation, and this was the permission to import rum duty free. I am
+certain that none of the honorable members who voted such laws had the
+deliberate intention of making the Irish a nation of beggars and
+drunkards; but if the Irish did not become such, it certainly was not
+the fault of those who legislated for their own benefit, and, as far as
+they had the power to do so, for her ruin, politically and socially.</p>
+
+<p>William had exercised his royal prerogative by disposing, according to
+his own inclination, of the estates forfeited by those who had fought
+for the royal cause. His favourite, Mrs. Villiers, obtained property
+worth &pound;25,000 per annum. In 1799 the English Parliament began to inquire
+into this matter, and the Commons voted that &quot;the advising and passing
+of the said grants was highly reflecting upon the King's honour.&quot;
+William had already began to see on what shifting sands the poor fabric
+of his popularity was erected. He probably thought of another case in
+which his honour had been really pledged, and in which he had been
+obliged to sacrifice it to the clamours of these very men. He had failed
+in the attempt to keep his Dutch Guards; his last days were embittered;
+and had not his death occurred soon after, it is just possible that even
+posterity might have read his life in a different fashion.</p>
+
+<p>Anne succeeded to the throne in 1702; and the following year the Duke of
+Ormonde was sent to Ireland as Lord Lieutenant. The<a name="Page_579"></a> House of Commons
+waited on him with a Bill &quot;to prevent the further growth of Popery.&quot; A
+few members, who had protested against this Act, resigned their seats,
+but others were easily found to take their places, whose opinions
+coincided with those of the majority. The Queen's Tory advisers objected
+to these strong measures, and attempted to nullify them, by introducing
+the clause known as the &quot;Sacramental Test,&quot; which excludes from public
+offices all who refused to receive the sacrament according to the forms
+of the Established Church. As dissenters from that Church had great
+influence in the Irish Parliament, and as it was well known that their
+abhorrence of the Church which had been established by law was little
+short of their hatred of the Church which had been suppressed by law, it
+was hoped that they would reject the bill; but they were assured that
+they would not be required to take the test, and with this assurance
+they passed the Act. It seems to those who look back on such
+proceedings, almost a marvel, how men, whose conscience forbade them to
+receive the sacrament according to certain rites, and who, in many
+cases, certainly would have resigned property, if not life, sooner than
+act contrary to their religious convictions, should have been so blindly
+infatuated as to compel other men, as far as they had power to do so, to
+violate their conscientious convictions. The whole history of the
+persecutions which Catholics have endured at the hands of Protestants of
+all and every denomination, is certainly one of the most curious phases
+of human perversity which the philosopher can find to study.</p>
+
+<p>Two of the gentlemen, Sir Toby Butler and Colonel Cusack, who had signed
+the Treaty of Limerick, petitioned to be heard by counsel against the
+Bill. But appeals to honour and to justice were alike in vain, when
+addressed to men who were destitute of both. The petitioners were
+dismissed with the insulting remark, that if they suffered from the Act
+it was their own fault, since, if they complied with its requirements,
+honours and wealth were at their command. But these were men who would
+not violate the dictates of conscience for all that the world could
+bestow on them, and of this one should think they had already given
+sufficient proof. The Bill was passed without a dissentient voice; and
+men who would themselves have rebelled openly and violently if the
+Sacramental Test had been imposed on them, and who would have talked
+loudly of liberty of conscience, and the blasphemy of interfering with
+any one's religious convictions, now, without a shadow of hesitation,
+imposed<a name="Page_580"></a> this burden upon their fellow-men, and were guilty of the very
+crime of persecution, with which they so frequently charged their
+Catholic fellow-subjects.</p>
+
+<p>One Act followed another, each adding some new restriction to the last,
+or some fresh incentive for persecution. In 1709 an attempt was made to
+plant some Protestant families from Germany in various parts of the
+country. These settlements obtained the name of Palatines. But it was
+labour lost. Sir John Chichester once observed, that it was useless to
+endeavour to root Popery out of Ireland, for it was impregnated in the
+very air. A few of the Palatines, like other settlers, still kept to
+their own religion; but the majority, as well as the majority of other
+settlers, learned to understand and then to believe the Catholic
+faith&mdash;learned to admire, and then to love, and eventually to amalgamate
+with the long-suffering and noble race amongst whom they had been
+established.</p>
+
+<p>It would appear that Queen Anne wished her brother to succeed her on the
+throne; but he had been educated a Catholic, and he resolutely rejected
+all temptations to renounce his faith. Her short and troubled reign
+ended on the 1st of August, 1714. Before her death the Parliament had
+chosen her successor. Her brother was proscribed, and a reward of
+&pound;50,000 offered for his apprehension. The rebellion in favour of James
+III., as he was called on the Continent, or the Pretender, as he was
+called by those who had no resource but to deny his legitimacy, was
+confined entirely to Scotland; but the Irish obtained no additional
+grace by their loyalty to the reigning monarch. A new proclamation was
+issued, which not only forbid them to enlist in the army, but offered
+rewards for the discovery of any Papist who had presumed to enlist, in
+order that &quot;he might be turned out, and punished with the utmost
+severity of the law.&quot; In the next reign we shall see how the suicidal
+effect of this policy was visited on the heads of its promoters.</p>
+
+<p>The Irish Parliament now came into collision with the English on a case
+of appellate jurisdiction, but they were soon taught their true
+position, and with becoming submission deferred to their fate. The Irish
+Parliament had long been such merely in name; and the only power they
+were allowed to exercise freely, was that of making oppressive and
+unjust enactments against their Catholic fellow-subjects. It is a poor
+consolation, but one which is not unfrequently indulged, when those who
+are oppressed by others become<a name="Page_581"></a> themselves in turn the oppressors of
+those who are unfortunate enough to be in their power.</p>
+
+<p>A new phase in Irish history was inaugurated by the versatile talents,
+and strong will in their exercise, which characterized the famous Dr.
+Jonathan Swift. The quarrels between Whigs and Tories were at their
+height. Swift is said to have been a Whig in politics and a Tory in
+religion. He now began to write as a patriot; and in his famous
+&quot;Drapier's Letters&quot; told the Government of the day some truths which
+were more plain than palatable.<a name="FNanchor_551_552"></a><a href="#Footnote_551_552"><sup>[551]</sup></a> An Englishman named Wood had
+obtained a patent under the Broad Seal, in 1723, for the coinage of
+copper halfpence. Even the servile Parliament was indignant, and
+protested against a scheme<a name="FNanchor_552_553"></a><a href="#Footnote_552_553"><sup>[552]</sup></a> which promised to flood Ireland with bad
+coin, and thus to add still more to its already impoverished condition.
+There was reason for anxiety. The South Sea Bubble had lately ruined
+thousands in England, and France was still suffering from the
+Mississippi Scheme. Speculations of all kinds were afloat, and a
+temporary mania seemed to have deprived the soberest people of their
+ordinary judgment. Dr. Hugh Boulter, an Englishman, was made Archbishop
+of Armagh, and sent over mainly to attend to the English interests in
+Ireland. But he was unable to control popular feeling; and Swift's
+letters accomplished what the Irish Parliament was powerless to effect.
+Although it was well known that he was the author of these letters, and
+though a reward of &pound;300 was offered for the discovery of the secret, he
+escaped unpunished. In 1725 the patent was withdrawn, and Wood received
+&pound;3,000 a year for twelve years as an indemnification&mdash;an evidence that
+he must have given a very large bribe for the original permission, and
+that he expected to<a name="Page_582"></a> make more by it than could have been made honestly.
+One of the subjects on which Swift wrote most pointedly and effectively,
+was that of absentees. He employed both facts and ridicule; but each
+were equally in vain. He describes the wretched state of the country;
+but his eloquence was unheeded. He gave ludicrous illustrations of the
+extreme ignorance of those who governed in regard to those whom they
+governed. Unfortunately the state of things which he described and
+denounced has continued, with few modifications, to the present day; but
+on this subject I have said sufficient elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p>George I. died at Osnaburg, in Germany, on the 10th of June, 1727. On
+the accession of his successor, the Catholics offered an address
+expressing their loyalty, but the Lords Justices took care that it
+should never reach England. The next events of importance were the
+efforts made by Dr. Boulter, the Protestant Primate, to establish
+Charter Schools, where Catholic children might be educated; and his
+equally zealous efforts to prevent Catholics, who had conformed
+exteriorly to the State religion, from being admitted to practise at the
+Bar. It may be observed in passing, that these men could scarcely have
+been as degraded in habits and intellect as some historians have been
+pleased to represent them, when they could at once become fit for
+forensic honours, and evinced such ability as to excite the fears of the
+Protestant party. It should be remarked that their &quot;conversion&quot; was
+manifestly insincere, otherwise there would have been no cause for
+apprehension.</p>
+
+<p>The country was suffering at this period from the most fearful distress.
+There were many causes for this state of destitution, which were quite
+obvious to all but those who were interested in maintaining it. The
+poorer classes, being almost exclusively Catholics, had been deprived of
+every means of support. Trade was crushed, so that they could not become
+traders; agriculture was not permitted, so that they could not become
+agriculturists. There was, in fact, no resource for the majority but to
+emigrate, to steal, or to starve. To a people whose religion always had
+a preponderating influence on their moral conduct, the last alternative
+only was available, as there was not the same facilities for emigration
+then as now. The cultivation of the potato had already become general;
+it was, indeed, the only way of obtaining food left to these
+unfortunates. They were easily planted, easily reared; and to men liable
+at any moment to be driven from their miserable holdings, if<a name="Page_583"></a> they
+attempted to effect &quot;improvements,&quot; or to plant such crops as might
+attract the rapacity of their landlords, they were an invaluable
+resource. The man might live who eat nothing but potatoes all the year
+round, but he could scarcely be envied or ejected for his wealth. In
+1739 a severe frost destroyed the entire crop, and a frightful famine
+ensued, in which it was estimated that 400,000 persons perished of
+starvation.</p>
+
+<p>In 1747 George Stone succeeded Dr. Hoadley as Primate of Ireland. His
+appointment was made evidently more in view of temporals than
+spirituals, and he acted accordingly. Another undignified squabble took
+place in 1751 and 1753, between the English and Irish Parliaments, on
+the question of privilege. For a time the &quot;patriot&quot; or Irish party
+prevailed; but eventually they yielded to the temptation of bribery and
+place. Henry Boyle, the Speaker, was silenced by being made Earl of
+Shannon; Anthony Malone was made Chancellor of the Exchequer; and the
+opposition party was quietly broken up.</p>
+
+<p>An attempt was now made to form a Catholic Association, and to obtain by
+combination and quiet pressure what had been so long denied to
+resistance and military force. Dr. Curry, a physician practising in
+Dublin, and the author of the well-known <i>Historical and Critical Review
+of the Civil Wars of Ireland;</i> Charles O'Connor, of Belanagar, the Irish
+antiquary, and Mr. Wyse, of Waterford, were the projectors and promoters
+of this scheme. The clergy stood aloof from it, fearing to lose any
+liberty they still possessed if they demanded more; the aristocracy held
+back, fearing to forfeit what little property yet remained to them, if
+they gave the least excuse for fresh &quot;settlements&quot; or plunderings. A few
+Catholic merchants, however, joined the three friends; and in
+conjunction they prepared an address to the Duke of Bedford, who was
+appointed Lord Lieutenant in 1757. The address was favourably received,
+and an answer returned after some time. The Government already had
+apprehensions of the French invasion, and it was deemed politic to give
+the Catholics some encouragement, however faint. It is at least certain
+that the reply declared, &quot;the zeal and attachment which they [the
+Catholics] professed, would never be more seasonably manifested than at
+the present juncture.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Charles Lucas now began his career of patriotism; for at last Irish
+Protestants were beginning to see, that if Irish Catholics suffered,
+Irish interests would suffer also; and if Irish interests suffered,<a name="Page_584"></a> they
+should have their share in the trial. A union between England and
+Ireland, such as has since been carried out, was now proposed, and
+violent excitement followed. A mob, principally composed of Protestants,
+broke into the House of Lords; but the affair soon passed over, and the
+matter was dropped.</p>
+
+<p>George II. died suddenly at Kensington, and was succeeded by his
+grandson, George III. But I shall request the attention of the reader to
+some remarks of considerable importance with regard to foreign events,
+before continuing the regular course of history. The predilections of
+the late King for his German connexions, had led him into war both with
+France and Spain; the imprudence of ministers, if not the unwise and
+unjust policy of colonial government, involved the country soon after in
+a conflict with the American dependencies. In each of these cases
+expatriated Irishmen turned the scale against the country from which
+they had been so rashly and cruelly ejected. In France, the battle of
+Fontenoy was won mainly by the Irish Brigade, who were commanded by
+Colonel Dillon; and the defeat of England by the Irish drew from George
+II. the well-known exclamation: &quot;Cursed be the laws that deprive me of
+such subjects!&quot; In Spain, where the Irish officers and soldiers had
+emigrated by thousands, there was scarcely an engagement in which they
+did not take a prominent and decisive part. In Canada, the agitation
+against British exactions was commenced by Charles Thompson, an Irish
+emigrant, and subsequently the Secretary of Congress; Montgomery,
+another Irishman, captured Montreal and Quebec; O'Brien and Barry, whose
+names sufficiently indicate their nationality, were the first to command
+in the naval engagements; and startled England began to recover slowly
+and sadly from her long infatuation, to discover what had, indeed, been
+discovered by the sharp-sighted Schomberg<a name="FNanchor_553_554"></a><a href="#Footnote_553_554"><sup>[553]</sup></a> and his master long
+before, that Irishmen, from their habits of endurance and undaunted
+courage, were the best soldiers she could find, and that, Celts and
+Papists <a name="Page_585"></a>as they were, her very existence as a nation might depend upon
+their co-operation.</p>
+
+<p>The agrarian outrages, the perpetrators of which were known at first by
+the name of Levellers, and eventually by the appellation of Whiteboys,
+commenced immediately after the accession of George III. An English
+traveller, who carefully studied the subject and who certainly could
+have been in no way interested in misrepresentation, has thus described
+the cause and the motive of the atrocities they practised. The first
+cause was the rapacity of the landlords, who, having let their lands far
+above their value, on condition of allowing the tenants the use of
+certain commons, now enclosed the commons, but did not lessen the rent.
+The bricks were to be made, but the straw was not provided; and the
+people were told that they were idle. The second cause was the exactions
+of the tithemongers, who were described by this English writer as
+&quot;harpies who squeezed out the very vitals of the people, and by process,
+citation, and sequestration, dragged from them the little which the
+landlord had left them.&quot; It was hard for those who had been once owners
+of the soil, to be obliged to support the intruders into their property
+in affluence; while they, with even the most strenuous efforts, could
+barely obtain what would keep them from starvation. It was still harder
+that men, who had sacrificed their position in society, and their
+worldly prospects, for the sake of their religion, should be obliged to
+support clergymen and their families, some of whom never resided in the
+parishes from which they obtained tithes, and many of whom could not
+count above half-a-dozen persons as regular members of their
+congregation.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Young thus suggests a remedy for these crimes, which, he says, were
+punished with a &quot;severity which seemed calculated for the meridian of
+Barbary, while others remain yet the law of the land, which would, if
+executed, tend more to raise than to quell an insurrection. From all
+which it is manifest, that the gentlemen of Ireland never thought of a
+radical cure, from overlooking the real cause of disease, which, in
+fact, lay in themselves, and not in the wretches they doomed to the
+gallows. Let them change their own conduct entirely, and the poor will
+not long riot. Treat them like men, who ought to be as free as
+yourselves; put an end to that system of religious persecution, which,
+for seventy years, has divided the kingdom against itself&mdash;in these two
+circumstances lies the cure of insurrection; perform them completely,
+and you will<a name="Page_586"></a> have an affectionate poor, instead of oppressed and
+discontented vassals.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_554_555"></a><a href="#Footnote_554_555"><sup>[554]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>How purely these outrages were the deeds of desperate men, who had been
+made desperate by cruel oppression, and insensible to cruelty by cruel
+wrongs, is evident from the dying declaration of five Whiteboys, who
+were executed, in 1762, at Waterford and who publicly declared, and took
+God to witness, &quot;that in all these tumults it never did enter into their
+thoughts to do anything against the King or Government.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_555_556"></a><a href="#Footnote_555_556"><sup>[555]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>It could not be expected that the Irish priest would see the people
+exposed to all this misery&mdash;and what to them was far more painful to all
+this temptation to commit deadly sin&mdash;without making some effort in
+their behalf. There may have been some few priests, who, in their zeal
+for their country, have sacrificed the sacredness of their office to
+their indignation at the injury done to their people&mdash;who have mixed
+themselves up with feats of arms, or interfered with more ardour than
+discretion in the arena of politics; but such instances have been rare,
+and circumstances have generally made them in some degree excusable. The
+position of the Irish priest in regard to his flock is so anomalous,
+that some explanation of it seems necessary in order to understand the
+accusations made against Father Nicholas Sheehy, and the animosity with
+which he was hunted to death by his persecutors. While the priest was
+driven from cave to mountain and from mountain to cave, he was the
+consoler of his equally persecuted people. The deep reverence which
+Catholics feel for the office of the priesthood, can scarcely be
+understood by those who have abolished that office, as far as the law of
+the land could do so; but a man of ordinary intellectual attainments
+ought to be able to form some idea of the feelings of others, though he
+may not have experienced them personally; and a man of ordinary humanity
+should be able to respect those feelings, however unwise they may seem
+to him. When education was forbidden to the Irish, the priest obtained
+education in continental colleges; and there is sufficient evidence to
+show that many Irish priests of<a name="Page_587"></a> that and of preceding centuries were men
+of more than ordinary abilities. The Irish, always fond of learning, are
+ever ready to pay that deference to its possessors which is the best
+indication of a superior mind, however uncultivated. Thus, the
+priesthood were respected both for their office and for their erudition.
+The landlord, the Protestant clergyman, the nearest magistrate, and,
+perhaps, the tithe-proctor, were the only educated persons in the
+neighbourhood; but they were leagued against the poor peasant; they
+demanded rent and tithes, which he had no means of paying; they refused
+justice, which he had no means of obtaining. The priest, then, was the
+only friend the peasant had. His friendship was disinterested&mdash;he gained
+nothing by his ministration but poor fare and poor lodging; his
+friendship was self-sacrificing, for he risked his liberty and his life
+for his flock. He it was&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;Who, in the winter's night,<br /></span>
+<span>When the cold blast did bite,<br /></span>
+<span>Came to my cabin door,<br /></span>
+<span>And, on the earthen floor,<br /></span>
+<span>Knelt by me, sick and poor;&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>and he, too, when the poor man was made still poorer by his sickness,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;Gave, while his eyes did brim,<br /></span>
+<span>What I should give to him.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_556_557"></a><a href="#Footnote_556_557"><sup>[556]</sup></a><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>But a time came when the priest was able to do more. Men had seen, in
+some measure, the absurdity, if not the wickedness, of persecuting the
+religion of a nation; and at this time priests were tolerated in
+Ireland. Still, though they risked their lives by it, they could not see
+their people treated unjustly without a protest. The priest was
+independent of the landlord; for, if he suffered from his vengeance, he
+suffered alone, and his own sufferings weighed lightly in the balance
+compared with the general good. The priest was a gentleman by education,
+and often by birth; and this gave him a social status which his
+uneducated people could not<a name="Page_588"></a> possess.<a name="FNanchor_557_558"></a><a href="#Footnote_557_558"><sup>[557]</sup></a> Such, was the position of
+Father Nicholas Sheehy, the parish priest of Clogheen. He had interfered
+in the vain hope of protecting his unfortunate parishioners from
+injustice; and, in return, he was himself made the victim of injustice.
+He was accused of encouraging a French invasion&mdash;a fear which was always
+present to the minds of the rulers, as they could not but know that the
+Irish had every reason to seek for foreign aid to free them from
+domestic wrongs. He was accused of encouraging the Whiteboys, because,
+while he denounced their crimes, he accused those who had driven them to
+these crimes as the real culprits. He was accused of treason, and a
+reward of &pound;300 was offered for his apprehension. Conscious of his
+innocence, he gave himself up at once to justice, though he might easily
+have fled the country. He was tried in Dublin and acquitted. But his
+persecutors were not satisfied. A charge of murder was got up against
+him; and although the body of the man could never be found, although it
+was sworn that he had left the country, although an <i>alibi</i> was proved
+for the priest, he was condemned and executed. A gentleman of property
+and position came forward at the trial to prove that Father Sheehy had
+slept in his house the very night on which he was<a name="Page_589"></a> accused of having
+committed the murder; but the moment he appeared in court, a clergyman
+who sat on the bench had him taken into custody, on pretence of having
+killed a corporal and a sergeant in a riot. The pretence answered the
+purpose. After Father Sheehy's execution Mr. Keating was tried; and, as
+there was not even a shadow of proof, he was acquitted. But it was too
+late to save the victim.</p>
+
+<p>At the place of execution, Father Sheehy most solemnly declared, on the
+word of a dying man, that he was not guilty either of murder or of
+treason; that he never had any intercourse, either directly or
+indirectly, with the French; and that he had never known of any such
+intercourse being practised by others. Notwithstanding this solemn
+declaration of a dying man, a recent writer of Irish history says,
+&quot;there can be no doubt&quot; that he was deeply implicated in treasonable
+practices, and &quot;he seems to have been&quot; a principal in the plot to murder
+Lord Carrick. The &quot;no doubt&quot; and &quot;seems to have been&quot; of an individual
+are not proofs, but they tend to perpetuate false impressions, and do
+grievous injustice to the memory of the dead. The writer has also
+omitted all the facts which tended to prove Father Sheehy's innocence.</p>
+
+<p>In 1771 a grace was granted to the Catholics, by which they were allowed
+to take a lease of fifty acres of bog, and half an acre of arable land
+for a house; but this holding should not be within a mile of any town.
+In 1773 an attempt was made to tax absentees; but as they were the
+principal landowners, they easily defeated the measure. A pamphlet was
+published in 1769, containing a list of the absentees, which is in
+itself sufficient to account for any amount of misery and disaffection
+in Ireland. There can be no doubt of the correctness of the statement,
+because the names of the individuals and the amount of their property
+are given in full. Property to the amount of &pound;73,375 belonged to persons
+who <i>never</i> visited Ireland. Pensions to the amount of &pound;371,900 were
+paid to persons who lived out of Ireland. Property to the amount of
+&pound;117,800 was possessed by persons who visited Ireland occasionally, but
+lived abroad. Incomes to the amount of &pound;72,200 were possessed by
+officials and bishops, who generally lived out of Ireland. The state of
+trade is also treated in the same work, in which the injustice the
+country has suffered is fully and clearly explained.</p>
+
+<p>The American war commenced in 1775, and the English Parliament at once
+resolved to relieve Ireland of some of her commercial<a name="Page_590"></a> disabilities. Some
+trifling concessions were granted, just enough to show the Irish that
+they need not expect justice except under the compulsion of fear, and
+not enough to benefit the country. Irish soldiers were now asked for and
+granted; but exportation of Irish commodities to America was forbidden,
+and in consequence the country was reduced to a state of fearful
+distress. The Irish debt rose to &pound;994,890, but the pension list was
+still continued and paid to absentees. When the independence of the
+American States was acknowledged by France, a Bill for the partial
+relief of the Catholics passed unanimously through the English
+Parliament. Catholics were now allowed a few of the rights of citizens.
+They were permitted to take and dispose of leases, and priests and
+schoolmasters were no longer liable to prosecution.</p>
+
+<p>Grattan had entered Parliament in the year 1775. In 1779 he addressed
+the House on the subject of a free trade<a name="FNanchor_558_559"></a><a href="#Footnote_558_559"><sup>[558]</sup></a> for Ireland; and on the
+19th of April, 1780, he made his famous demand for Irish independence.
+His address, his subject, and his eloquence were irresistible. &quot;I wish
+for nothing,&quot; he exclaimed, &quot;but to breathe in this our land, in common
+with my fellow-subjects, the air of liberty. I have no ambition, unless
+it be the ambition to break your chain and to contemplate your glory. I
+never will be satisfied as long as the meanest cottager in Ireland has a
+link of the British chain clinging to his rags; he may be naked, but he
+shall not be in irons. And I do see the time is at hand, the spirit is
+gone forth, the declaration is planted; and though great men should
+apostatize, yet the cause will live; and though the public speaker
+should die, yet the immortal fire shall outlast the organ which conveyed
+it; and the breath of liberty, like the word of the holy man, will not
+die with the prophet, but survive him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The country was agitated to the very core. A few links of the chain had
+been broken. A mighty reaction set in after long bondage. The
+newly-freed members of the body politic were enjoying all the delicious
+sensations of a return from a state of disease to a state o partial
+health. The Celt was not one to be stupefied or numbed by long
+confinement; and if the restraint were loosened a little more,<a name="Page_591"></a> he was
+ready to bound into the race of life, joyous and free, too happy to
+mistrust, and too generous not to forgive his captors. But, alas! the
+freedom was not yet granted, and the joy was more in prospect of what
+might be, than in thankfulness of what was.</p>
+<a name="Grattan_demanding_Irish_Independence"></a>
+<center>
+<img src="images/590.jpg" width="464" height="635" alt="Grattan demanding Irish Independence." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>Grattan demanding Irish Independence.</h4>
+
+<p>The Volunteer Corps, which had been formed in Belfast in 1779, when the
+coast was threatened by privateers, had now risen to be a body of
+national importance. They were reviewed in public, and complimented by
+Parliament. But they were patriots. On the 28th of December, 1781, a few
+of the leading members of the Ulster regiments met at Charlemont, and
+convened a meeting of delegates from all the Volunteer Associations, at
+Dungannon, on the 15th of February, 1782. The delegates assembled on the
+appointed day, and Government dared not prevent or interrupt their
+proceedings. Colonel William Irvine presided, and twenty-one resolutions
+were adopted, demanding civil rights, and the removal of commercial
+restraints. One resolution expresses their pleasure, as Irishmen, as
+Christians, and as Protestants, at the relaxation of the penal laws.
+This resolution was suggested by Grattan to Mr. Dobbs, as he was leaving
+Dublin to join the assembly. It was passed with only two dissentient
+votes.</p>
+
+<p>The effect of this combined, powerful, yet determined agitation, was
+decisive. On the 27th of May, 1782, when the Irish Houses met, after an
+adjournment of three weeks, the Duke of Portland announced the
+unconditional concessions which had been made to Ireland by the English
+Parliament. Mr. Grattan interpreted the concession in the fullest sense,
+and moved an address, &quot;breathing the generous sentiments of his noble
+and confiding nature.&quot; Mr. Flood and a few other members took a
+different and more cautious view of the case. They wished for something
+more than a simple repeal of the Act of 6 George I., and they demanded
+an express declaration that England would not interfere with Irish
+affairs. But his address was carried by a division of 211 to 2; and the
+House, to show its gratitude, voted that 20,000 Irish seamen should be
+raised for the British navy, at a cost of &pound;100,000, and that &pound;50,000
+should be given to purchase an estate and build a house for Mr. Grattan,
+whose eloquence had contributed so powerfully to obtain what they hoped
+would prove justice to Ireland.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><br /><br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXXV"></a>
+<center>
+<img src="images/592.jpg" width="416" height="263" alt="GOLDSMITH&#39;S WELL." title="" />
+</center>
+
+<h4>GOLDSMITH&#39;S WELL.</h4>
+
+<a name="Page_592"></a>
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXV.</h2>
+
+<h4>Celebrated Irishmen of the Eighteenth Century&mdash;BURKE&mdash;- His School and
+College Life&mdash;Early Hatred of Oppression&mdash;Johnson's Estimate of
+Burke&mdash;<i>Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful</i>&mdash;Commencement of his
+Political Career&mdash;Opinions on the American Question-English Infatuation
+and Injustice&mdash;Irishmen Prominent Actors in the American Revolution&mdash;Its
+Causes and Effects&mdash;Burke on Religious Toleration&mdash;Catholic
+Emancipation&mdash;His Indian Policy&mdash;MOORE&mdash;His Poetry and
+Patriotism&mdash;CURRAN&mdash;SWIFT&mdash;LUCAS&mdash;FLOOD&mdash;GRATTAN&mdash;EARL OF
+CHARLEMONT&mdash;Irish Artists, Authors, and Actors&mdash;SHERIDAN&mdash;Scene in the
+House of Lords during the Impeachment of Warren Hastings&mdash;GOLDSMITH.</h4>
+
+<h5>[A.D. 1700-1800.]</h5>
+
+<img src="images/k.jpg" width="58" height="193" align="left" alt="E" title="" />
+<p>ach century of Irish history would require a volume of its own, if the
+lives of its eminent men were recorded as they should be; but the
+eighteenth century may boast of a host of noble Irishmen, whose fame is
+known even to those who are most indifferent to the history of that
+country. It was in this century that Burke, coming forth from the Quaker
+school of Ballitore, his mind strengthened by its calm discipline, his
+intellect cultivated by its gifted master, preached political wisdom to
+the Saxons, who were politically wise as far as they followed his
+teaching, and politically unfortunate when they failed to do so. His
+public career demands the most careful consideration from every
+statesman who may have any higher object in view than the mere fact of
+having a seat in the cabinet; nor<a name="Page_593"></a> should it be of less interest or value
+to those whose intellectual capacities are such as to enable them to
+grasp any higher subject than the plot of a sensational novel. It was in
+this century also that Moore began to write his world-famed songs, to
+amaze the learned by his descriptions of a country which he had never
+seen, and to fling out those poetical hand grenades, those pasquinades
+and squibs, whose rich humour and keenly-pointed satire had so much
+influence on the politics of the day. It was in this century that
+Sheridan, who was the first to introduce Moore to London society,
+distinguished himself at once as dramatist, orator, and statesman, and
+left in his life and death a terrible lesson to his nation of the
+miseries and degradations consequent on indulgence in their besetting
+sin. It was in this century that Steele, the bosom friend of Addison,
+and his literary equal, contributed largely to the success and
+popularity of the <i>Spectator</i>, the <i>Guardian</i>, and the <i>Tatler,</i> though,
+as usual, English literature takes the credit to itself of what has been
+accomplished for it by Irish writers.<a name="FNanchor_559_560"></a><a href="#Footnote_559_560"><sup>[559]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>Burke is, however, unquestionably both the prominent man of his age and
+of his nation in that age; and happily we have abundant material for
+forming a correct estimate of his character and his works. Burke was
+born in Dublin, on the 1st of January, 1730. His father was an attorney
+in good business, and of course a Protestant, as at that period none,
+except those who professed the religion of a small minority, were
+permitted to govern the vast majority, or to avail themselves of any
+kind of temporal advancement. The mother of the future statesman was a
+Miss Nagle, of Mallow, a descendant of whose family became afterwards
+very famous as the foundress of a religious order.<a name="FNanchor_560_561"></a><a href="#Footnote_560_561"><sup>[560]</sup></a> The family
+estate was at Castletown-Roche, in the vicinity of Doneraile; this
+property descended to Garrett, Edmund's elder brother. A famous school
+had been<a name="Page_594"></a> founded by a member of the Society of Friends at Ballitore, and
+thither young Burke and his brother were sent for their education The
+boys arrived there on the 26th May, 1741. A warm friendship soon sprang
+up between Edmund and Richard Shackleton, the son of his master, a
+friendship which only terminated with death. We have happily the most
+ample details of Burke's school-days in the <i>Annals of Ballitore</i>, a
+work of more than ordinary interest written by Mrs. Leadbeater, the
+daughter of Burke's special friend. His native talent was soon developed
+under the care of his excellent master, and there can be little doubt
+that the tolerant ideas of his after life were learned, or at least
+cultivated, at the Quaker school.</p>
+
+<p>One instance of the early development of his talent for humour, and
+another of his keen sense of injustice, must find record here. The
+entrance of the judges to the county town of Athy was a spectacle which
+had naturally special attraction for the boys. All were permitted to go,
+but on condition that each of the senior pupils should write a
+description of what he had seen in Latin verse. Burke's task was soon
+accomplished&mdash;not so that of another hapless youth, whose ideas and
+Latinity were probably on a par. When he had implored the help of his
+more gifted companion, Edmund determined at least that he should
+contribute an idea for his theme, but for all reply as to what he had
+noticed in particular on the festal occasion, he only answered, &quot;A fat
+piper in a brown coat.&quot; However Burke's ideas of &quot;the sublime&quot; may have
+predominated, his idea of the ludicrous was at this time uppermost; and
+in a few moments a poem was composed, the first line of which only has
+been preserved&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;Piper erat fattus, qui brownum tegmen habebat.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>&quot;He loved humour,&quot; writes Mrs. Leadbeater,<a name="FNanchor_561_562"></a><a href="#Footnote_561_562"><sup>[561]</sup></a> &quot;and my father was very
+witty. The two friends sharpened their intellect and sported their wit
+till peals of laughter in the schoolroom often caused the reverend and
+grave master to implore them, with suppressed smiles, to desist, or he
+should have to turn them out, as their example might be followed, where
+folly and uproar would take the place of humour and wisdom.&quot;</p><a name="Page_595"></a>
+
+<p>His hatred of oppression and injustice was also manifested about this
+time. A poor man was compelled to pull down his cabin, because the
+surveyor of roads considered that it stood too near the highway. The boy
+watched him performing his melancholy task, and declared that, if he
+were in authority, such scenes should never be enacted. How well he kept
+his word, and how true he was in manhood to the good and holy impulses
+of his youth, his future career amply manifests.</p>
+
+<p>Burke entered Trinity College, Dublin, in 1744; Goldsmith entered
+college the following year, and Flood was a fellow-commoner; but these
+distinguished men knew little of each other in early life, and none of
+them were in any way remarkable during their academic career. In 1753
+Burke arrived in London, and occupied himself in legal studies and the
+pursuit of literature. His colloquial gifts and his attractive manner
+won all hearts, while his mental superiority commanded the respect of
+the learned. Even Johnson, who was too proud to praise others, much as
+he loved flattery himself, was fain to give his most earnest word of
+commendation to the young Irishman, and even admitted that he envied
+Burke for being &quot;continually the same,&quot; though he could not refrain from
+having a fling at him for not being a &quot;good listener&quot;&mdash;a deadly sin in
+the estimation of one who seldom wished to hear any other voice but his
+own. Burke, sir, he exclaimed to the obsequious Boswell&mdash;Burke is such a
+man, that if you met him for the first time in the street, and conversed
+with him for not five minutes, he'd talk to you in such a manner, that,
+when you parted, you would say that is an extraordinary man.<a name="FNanchor_562_563"></a><a href="#Footnote_562_563"><sup>[562]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>Some essays in imitation of Dr. Charles Lucas, and a translation of part
+of the second Georgic of Virgil, which, in finish of style, is, at
+least, not inferior to Dryden, were among the earliest efforts of his
+gifted pen; and, no doubt, these and other literary occupations gave him
+a faculty of expressing thought in cultivated language, which was still
+further developed by constant intercourse with Johnson, ever ready for
+argument, and his club, who were all equally desirous to listen when
+either spoke. His <i>Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful</i>,<a name="Page_596"></a> unfortunately
+better known in the present day by its title than by its contents, at
+once attracted immense attention, and brought considerable pecuniary
+help to the author. But the constant pressure of intellectual labour
+soon began to tell upon a constitution always delicate. His health gave
+way entirely, and he appeared likely to sink into a state of physical
+debility, entirely incompatible with any mental exertion. He applied for
+advice to Dr. Nugent; the skilful physician saw at once that something
+more was required than medicine or advice. It was one of those cases of
+suffering to which the most refined and cultivated minds are especially
+subjected&mdash;one of those instances which prove, perhaps, more than any
+others, that poor humanity has fallen low indeed. The master-mind was
+there, the brilliant gems of thought, the acute power of reasoning, that
+exquisitely delicate sense of feeling, which has never yet been
+accurately defined, and which probably never can be&mdash;which waits for
+some unseen mystic sympathy to touch it, and decide whether the chord
+shall be in minor or major key&mdash;which produces a tone of thought, now
+sublime, and now brimming over with coruscations of wit from almost the
+same incidents; and yet all those faculties of the soul, though not
+destroyed, are held in abeyance, because the body casts the dull shadow
+of its own inability and degradation over the spirit&mdash;because the spirit
+is still allied to the flesh, and must suffer with it.</p>
+
+<p>There was something more than perfect rest required in such a case. Rest
+would, indeed, recruit the body, worn out by the mind's overaction, but
+the mind also needed some healing process. Some gentle hand should
+soothe the overstrained chords of thought, and touch them just
+sufficiently to stimulate their action with gentlest suasion, while it
+carefully avoided all that might irritate or weary. And such help and
+healing was found for Burke, or, haply, from bodily debility, mental
+weakness might have developed itself into mental malady; and the
+irritability of weakness, to which cultivated minds are often most
+subjected, might have ended, even for a time, if not wisely treated, in
+the violence of lunacy. It was natural that the doctor's daughter should
+assist in the doctor's work; and, perhaps, not less natural that the
+patient should be fascinated by her. In a short time the cure was
+perfected, and Burke obtained the greatest earthly blessing for which
+any man can crave&mdash;a devoted wife, a loving companion, a wise adviser,
+and, above all, a sympathizing friend, to whom all which interested her
+husband,<a name="Page_597"></a> either in public or private, was her interest as much as, and,
+if possible, even more than his. Burke's public career certainly opened
+with happy auspices. He was introduced by the Earl of Charlemont to Mr.
+Hamilton in 1759, and in 1761 he returned to Ireland in the capacity of
+private secretary to that gentleman. Mr. Hamilton has acquired, as is
+well known, the appellation of &quot;single speech,&quot; and it is thought he
+employed Burke to compose his oration; it is probable that he required
+his assistance in more important ways. But the connexion was soon
+dissolved, not without some angry words on both sides. Hamilton taunted
+Burke with having taken him out of a garret, which was not true, for
+Burke's social position was scarcely inferior to his own; Burke replied
+with ready wit that he regretted having <i>descended</i> to know him.</p>
+
+<p>In the year 1765, when Lord Grenville was driven from office by the
+&quot;American Question,&quot; the Marquis of Rockingham succeeded him, appointed
+Burke his private secretary, and had him returned for the English
+borough of Wendover. His political career commenced at this period.
+Then, as now, Reform, Ireland, and America were the subjects of the day;
+and when one considers and compares the politics of the eighteenth and
+the nineteenth centuries, the progress of parliamentary intellectual
+development is not very encouraging. The speeches of honorable members,
+with some few very honorable exceptions, seem to run in the same groove,
+with the same utter incapacity of realizing a new idea, or a broad and
+cosmopolitan policy. There were men then, as there are men now, who
+talked of toleration in one breath, and proclaimed their wooden
+determination to enforce class ascendency of creed and of station in the
+next. There were men who would tax fresh air, and give unfortunate
+wretches poisonous drinks on the cheapest terms. There were men whose
+foreign policy consisted in wringing all that could be wrung out of
+dependencies, and then, when the danger was pointed out, when it was
+shown that those dependencies were not only likely to resist, but were
+in a position to resist&mdash;to a position in which neither shooting nor
+flogging could silence, if it did not convince&mdash;they hid their heads,
+with ostrich-like fatuity, in the blinding sands of their own ignorance,
+and declared there could be no danger, for <i>they</i> could not discern it.</p>
+
+<p>I have said that there were three great political questions which
+occupied the attention of statesmen at that day. I shall briefly<a name="Page_598"></a> glance
+at each, as they form a most important standpoint in our national
+history, and are subjects of the first interest to Irishmen and to Irish
+history; and as Burke's maiden speech in the House of Commons was made
+in favour of conciliating America, I shall treat that question first.
+The facts are brief and significant but by no means as thoroughly known
+or as well considered as they should be, when we remember their
+all-important results&mdash;results which as yet are by no means fully
+developed.<a name="FNanchor_563_564"></a><a href="#Footnote_563_564"><sup>[563]</sup></a> The actual contest between the English nation and her
+American colonies commenced soon after the accession of George III.;
+but, as early as the middle of the eighteenth century, Thomas Pownal,
+Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Massachusetts, South Carolina, and
+New Jersey came to England, and published a work on the administration
+of the colonies. He seems even then to have had a clear view of the
+whole case. There is an old proverb about the last grain of rice
+breaking the back of the camel, but we must remember that the load was
+made up of many preceding grains. The Stamp Act and Tea Duty were
+unquestionably the last links of an attempted chain of slavery with
+which England ventured to fetter the noblest of her colonies, but there
+were many preceding links. Pownal's work affords evidence of the
+existence of many. The crown, he said, <i>in theory</i> considered the lands
+and plantations of the colonists its own, and attempted a far greater
+control over the personal liberty of the subject than it dared to claim
+in England. The people, on the other hand, felt that they had by no
+means forfeited the rights of Englishmen because they had left England;
+and that, if they submitted to its laws, they should at least have some
+share in making them. A series of petty collisions, which kept up a
+state<a name="Page_599"></a> of constant irritation, prepared the way for the final
+declaration, which, flung aside the bonds of allegiance, and freed the
+people from the galling chains by which that allegiance was sought to be
+maintained. A wise policy at home might have averted the fatal
+disruption for a time, but it is doubtful that it could have been
+averted for many years, even if the utter incapacity of an obstinate
+sovereign, and the childish vindictiveness of a minister, had not
+precipitated the conclusion.</p>
+
+<p>The master intellect of Burke at once grasped the whole question, and
+his innate sense of justice suggested the remedy. Unfortunately for
+England, but happily for America, Burke was beyond his age in breadth of
+policy and in height of honour. Englishmen of the nineteenth century
+have very freely abused Englishmen of the eighteenth century for their
+conduct on this occasion; and more than one writer has set down the
+whole question as one in which &quot;right&quot; was on the side of England, but
+he argues that there are circumstances under which right should be
+sacrificed to policy. I cannot agree with this very able writer.<a name="FNanchor_564_565"></a><a href="#Footnote_564_565"><sup>[564]</sup></a>
+The question was not one of right, but of justice; and the English
+nation, in the reign of George III., failed to see that to do justice
+was both morally and politically the wisest course. The question of
+right too often develops itself into the question of might. A man easily
+persuades himself that he has a right to do what he has the power and
+the inclination to do; and when his inclination and his opportunities
+are on the same side, his moral consciousness becomes too frequently
+blinded, and the question of justice is altogether overlooked.</p>
+
+<p>It was in vain that Burke thundered forth denunciations of the childish
+policy of the Treasury benches, and asked men to look to first
+principles, who could hardly be made comprehend what first principles
+were. He altogether abandoned the question of right, in which men had so
+puzzled themselves as almost to lose sight of the question of policy.
+The King would tax the colony, because his nature was obstinate, and
+what he had determined to do he would do. To such natures reasoning is
+much like hammering on iron&mdash;it<a name="Page_600"></a> only hardens the metal. The minister
+would tax the colony because the King wished it; and he had neither the
+strength of mind nor the conscientiousness to resist his sovereign. The
+Lords stood on their dignity, and would impose the tax if only to show
+their power. The people considered the whole affair one of pounds
+shillings, and pence, and could not at all see why they should not wring
+out the last farthing from a distant colony&mdash;could not be taught to
+discern that the sacrifice of a few pounds at the present moment, might
+result in the acquisition of a few millions at a future day.</p>
+
+<p>Burke addressed himself directly to the point on all these questions. He
+laid aside the much-abused question of right; he did not even attempt to
+show that right and justice should not be separated, and that men who
+had no share in the government of a country, could not be expected in
+common justice to assist in the support of that country. He had to
+address those who could only understand reasons which appealed to their
+self-interest, and he lowered himself to his audience. The question he
+said was, &quot;not whether you have a right to render your people miserable,
+but whether it is not your interest to make them happy. It is not what a
+lawyer tells me I <i>may</i> do, but what humanity, reason, and justice, tell
+me I <i>ought</i> to do.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The common idea about the separation of the States from England, is
+simply that they resisted a stamp duty and a tax on tea; the fact is, as
+I have before hinted, that this was simply the last drop in the cup.
+Previous to this period, the American colonies were simply considered as
+objects of English aggrandizement. They were treated as states who only
+existed for the purpose of benefiting England. The case was in fact
+parallel to the case of Ireland, and the results would probably have
+been similar, had Ireland been a little nearer to America, or a little
+further from England. For many years the trade of America had been kept
+under the most vexatious restrictions. The iron found there must be sent
+to England to be manufactured; the ships fitted out there must be at
+least partly built in England; no saw-mills could be erected, no colony
+could trade directly with another colony, nor with any nation except
+England. This selfish, miserable policy met with a well-deserved fate.
+Even Pitt exclaimed indignantly, in the House of Commons: &quot;We are told
+that America is obstinate&mdash;that America is almost in open rebellion. I
+rejoice that she has resisted. Three<a name="Page_601"></a> millions of people, so dead to all
+sentiments of liberty as voluntarily to become slaves, would have been
+fit instruments to enslave their fellow-subjects.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>In 1765 an agitation was commenced in Philadelphia, by Mr. Charles
+Thompson, an Irishman, who, after ten years devoted to the cause of his
+adopted country, was appointed the Secretary of Congress. It has been
+well remarked, that the Irish, and especially the Irish Catholics, were,
+of the three nationalities, the most devoted to forwarding the
+Revolution; and we cannot wonder that it was so, since the Government
+which had driven them from their native land, ceased not to persecute
+them in the land of their exile.<a name="FNanchor_565_566"></a><a href="#Footnote_565_566"><sup>[565]</sup></a> The first naval engagement was
+fought under the command of Jeremiah O'Brien, an Irishman.<a name="FNanchor_566_567"></a><a href="#Footnote_566_567"><sup>[566]</sup></a> John
+Barry, also an Irishman, took the command of one of the first
+American-built ships of war. The first Continental Regiment was composed
+almost exclusively of Irish-born officers and men, and was the first
+Rifle Regiment ever organized in the world. Thompson, its first, and
+Hand, its second colonel, were natives of Ireland. At the siege of
+Boston the regiment was particularly dreaded by the British.</p>
+
+<p>In 1764 Franklin came to England<a name="FNanchor_567_568"></a><a href="#Footnote_567_568"><sup>[567]</sup></a> for the second time, and was<a name="Page_602"></a>
+examined before the House of Commons on the subject of the Stamp Act. He
+was treated with a contemptuous indifference, which he never forgot; but
+he kept his court suit, not without an object; and in 1783, when he
+signed the treaty of peace, which compelled England to grant humbly what
+she had refused haughtily, he wore the self-same attire. Well might the
+immortal Washington say to Governor Trumbull: &quot;There was a day, sir,
+when this step from our then acknowledged parent state, would have been
+accepted with gratitude; but that day is irrevocably past.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>In 1774, Burke was called upon by the citizens of Bristol to represent
+them in Parliament, and he presented a petition from them to the House
+in favour of American independence; but, with the singular inconsistency
+of their nation, they refused to re-elect him in 1780, because he
+advocated Catholic Emancipation.</p>
+
+<p>The same principle of justice which made Burke take the side of America
+against England, or rather made him see that it would be the real
+advantage of England to conciliate America, made him also take the side
+of liberty on the Catholic question. The short-sighted and narrow-minded
+politicians who resisted the reasonable demands of a colony until it was
+too late to yield, were enabled, unfortunately, to resist more
+effectually the just demands of several millions of their own people.</p>
+
+<p>It is unquestionably one of the strangest of mental phenomena, that
+persons who make liberty of conscience their boast and their watchword,
+should be the first to violate their own principles, and should be
+utterly unable to see the conclusion of their own favourite premises. If
+liberty of conscience mean anything, it must surely mean perfect freedom
+of religious belief for all; and such freedom is certainly incompatible
+with the slightest restraint, with the most trifling penalty for
+difference of opinion on such subjects. Again, Burke had recourse to the
+<i>argumentum ad hominum</i>, the only argument which those with whom he had
+to deal seemed capable of comprehending.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;After the suppression of the great rebellion of Tyrconnel by William of
+Orange,&quot; writes Mr. Morley,<a name="FNanchor_568_569"></a><a href="#Footnote_568_569"><sup>[568]</sup></a> &quot;ascendency began in all<a name="Page_603"></a> its vileness
+and completeness. The Revolution brought about in Ireland just the
+reverse of what it effected in England. Here it delivered the body of
+the nation from the attempted supremacy of a small sect; there it made a
+small sect supreme over the body of the nation.&quot; This is in fact an
+epitome of Irish history since the so-called Reformation in England, and
+this was the state of affairs which Burke was called to combat. On all
+grounds the more powerful party was entirely against him. The merchants
+of Manchester and Bristol, for whose supposed benefit Irish trade had
+been ruined, wished to keep up the ascendency, conceiving it to be the
+surest way of replenishing their coffers. The majority of Irish
+landlords, who looked always to their own immediate interest, and had
+none of the far-sighted policy which would enable them to see that the
+prosperity of the tenant would, in the end, most effectively secure the
+prosperity of the landlord, were also in favour of ascendency, which
+promised to satisfy their land hunger, and their miserable greed of
+gain. The Protestant Church was in favour of ascendency: why should it
+not be, since its ministers could only derive support from a people who
+hated them alike for their creed and their oppressions, at the point of
+the sword and by the &quot;brotherly agency of the tithe-procter,&quot; who, if he
+did not assist in spreading the Gospel, at least took care that its
+so-called ministers should lack no luxury which could be wrung from a
+starving and indignant people?<a name="FNanchor_569_570"></a><a href="#Footnote_569_570"><sup>[569]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>There were but two acts of common justice required on the part of
+England to make Ireland prosperous and free. It is glorious to say, that
+Burke was the first to see this, and inaugurate the reign of concession;
+it is pitiful, it is utterly contemptible, to be obliged to add, that
+what was then inaugurated is not yet fully accomplished. Burke demanded
+for Ireland political and religious freedom. Slowly some small
+concessions of both have been made when England has feared to refuse
+them. Had the grant been made once for all with manly generosity, some
+painful chapters of Irish history might have<a name="Page_604"></a> been omitted from this
+volume&mdash;some moments, let us hope, of honest shame might have been
+spared to those true-hearted Englishmen who deplore the fatuity and the
+folly of their countrymen. In 1782 the Irish Volunteers obtained from
+the fears of England what had been vainly asked from her justice.
+Burke's one idea of good government may be summed up in the words, &quot;Be
+just, and fear not.&quot; In his famous <i>Letter to Sir Hercules Langrishe</i>,
+written in 1792, upon the question of admitting the Catholics to the
+elective franchise, he asks: &quot;Is your government likely to be more
+secure by continuing causes of grounded discontent to two-thirds of its
+subjects? Will the constitution be made more solid by depriving this
+large part of the people of all concern or share in the representation?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>His Indian policy was equally just. &quot;Our dealings with India,&quot; says an
+English writer, &quot;originally and until Burke's time, so far from being
+marked with virtue and wisdom, were stained with every vice which can
+lower and deprave human character. How long will it take only to
+extirpate these traditions from the recollections of the natives? The
+more effectually their understandings are awakened by English efforts,
+the more vividly will they recognize, and the more bitterly resent, the
+iniquities of our first connexion with them.&quot; The Indian policy of
+England and her Irish policy might be written with advantage in parallel
+columns. It would, at least, have the advantage of showing Irishmen that
+they had been by no means worse governed than other dependencies of that
+professedly law and justice loving nation.</p>
+
+<p>I have treated, briefly indeed, and by no means as I should wish, of two
+of the questions of the day, and of Burke's policy thereon; of the third
+question a few words only can be said. Burke's idea of Reform consisted
+in amending the administration of the constitution, rather than in
+amending the constitution itself. Unquestionably a bad constitution well
+administered, may be incomparably more beneficial to the subject than a
+good constitution administered corruptly. Burke's great leading
+principle was: Be just&mdash;and can a man have a nobler end? To suppress an
+insurrection cruelly, to tax a people unjustly, or to extort money from
+a nation on false pretences, was to him deeply abhorrent. His first
+object was to secure the incorruptibility of ministers and of members of
+parliament. When the post of royal scullion could be confided to a
+member of parliament, and a favourable vote secured by appointing<a name="Page_605"></a> a
+representative of the people to the lucrative post of turnspit in the
+king's kitchen, administration was hopelessly corrupt. There were
+useless treasurers for useless offices. Burke gave the example of what
+he taught; and having fixed the Paymaster's salary at four thousand
+pounds a year, was himself the first person to accept the diminished
+income.</p>
+
+<p>He has been accused of forsaking his liberal principles in his latter
+days, simply and solely from his denunciations of the terrible excesses
+of the French Revolution. Such reprobation was rather a proof that he
+understood the difference between liberty and licentiousness, and that
+his accusers had neither the intellect nor the true nobility to
+discriminate between the frantic deeds of men, whose bad passions, long
+indulged, had led them on to commit the crimes of demons, and those
+noble but long-suffering patriots, who endured until endurance became a
+fault, and only resisted for the benefit of mankind as well as for their
+own.</p>
+
+<p>So much space has been given to Burke, that it only remains to add a few
+brief words of the other brilliant stars, who fled across the Channel in
+the vain pursuit of English patronage&mdash;in the vain hope of finding in a
+free country the liberty to ascend higher than the rulers of that free
+country permitted in their own.</p>
+
+<p>Moore was born in the year 1780, in the city of Dublin. His father was
+in trade, a fact which he had the manliness to acknowledge whenever such
+acknowledgment was necessary. He was educated for the bar, which was
+just then opened for the first time to the majority of the nation, so
+long governed, or misgoverned, by laws which they were neither permitted
+to make or to administer. His poetical talents were early manifested,
+and his first attempts were in the service of those who are termed
+patriots or rebels, as the speaker's opinion varies. That he loved
+liberty and admired liberators can scarcely be doubted, since even later
+in life he used to boast of his introduction to Thomas Jefferson, while
+in America, exclaiming: &quot;I had the honour of shaking hands with the man
+who drew up the Declaration of American Independence.&quot; His countryman,
+Sheridan introduced him to the Prince of Wales. His Royal Highness
+inquired courteously if he was the son of a certain baronet of the same
+name. &quot;No, your Royal Highness,&quot; replied Moore; &quot;I<a name="Page_606"></a> am the son of a
+Dublin grocer.&quot; He commenced writing his immortal <i>Melodies</i> in 1807,
+soon after his marriage. But he by no means confined himself to such
+subjects. With that keen sense of humour almost inseparable from, and
+generally proportionate to, the most exquisite sensibility of feeling,
+he caught the salient points of controversy in his day, and no doubt
+contributed not a little to the obtaining of Catholic Emancipation by
+the telling satires which he poured forth on its opposers. His
+reflections, addresed to the <i>Quarterly Review</i>, who recommended an
+increase of the Church Establishment as the grand panacea of Irish ills,
+might not be an inappropriate subject of consideration at the present
+moment. It commences thus:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;I'm quite of your mind: though these Pats cry aloud,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">That they've got too much Church, tis all nonsense and stuff;<br /></span>
+<span>For Church is like love, of which Figaro vowed,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">That even <i>too much</i> of it's not quite enough.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Nor was his letter to the Duke of Newcastle, who was an obstinate
+opposer of Catholic Emancipation, less witty, or less in point at the
+present time, for the Lords would not emancipate, whatever the Commons
+might do:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;While intellect, 'mongst high and low,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Is hastening on, they say,<br /></span>
+<span>Give me the dukes and lords, who go,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Like crabs, the other way.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Curran had been called to the bar a few years earlier. He was the son of
+a poor farmer in the county of Cork, and won his way to fame solely by
+the exercise of his extraordinary talent. Curran was a Protestant; but
+he did not think it necessary, because he belonged to a religion which
+professed liberty of conscience, to deny its exercise to every one but
+those of his own sect. He first distinguished himself at a contested
+election. Of his magnificent powers of oratory I shall say nothing,
+partly because their fame is European, and partly because it would be
+impossible to do justice to the subject in our limited space. His
+terrible denunciations of the horrible crimes and cruelties of the
+soldiers, who were sent to govern Ireland by force, for those who were
+not wise enough or<a name="Page_607"></a> humane enough to govern it by justice&mdash;his scathing
+denunciations of crown witnesses and informers, should be read at length
+to be appreciated fully.<a name="FNanchor_570_571"></a><a href="#Footnote_570_571"><sup>[570]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>Swift's career is also scarcely less known. He, too, was born in Dublin
+of poor parents, in 1667. Although he became a minister of the
+Protestant Church, and held considerable emoluments therein, he had the
+honesty to see, and the courage to acknowledge, its many corruptions.
+The great lesson which he preached to Irishmen was the lesson of
+nationality; and, perhaps, they have yet to learn it in the sense in
+which he intended to teach it. No doubt, Swift, in some way, prepared
+the path of Burke; for, different as were their respective careers and
+their respective talents, they had each the same end in view. The
+&quot;Drapier&quot; was long the idol of his countrymen, and there can be little
+doubt that the spirit of his writings did much to animate the patriots
+who followed him&mdash;Lucas, Flood, and Grattan. Lucas was undoubtedly one
+of the purest patriots of his time. His parents were poor farmers in the
+county Clare, who settled in Dublin, where Lucas was born, in 1713; and
+in truth patriotism seldom develops itself out of purple and fine linen.
+Flood, however, may be taken in exception to this inference; his father
+was a Chief Justice of the Irish King's Bench. When elected a member of
+the Irish House, his first public effort was for the freedom of his
+country from the atrocious imposition of Poyning's Law. Unfortunately,
+he and Grattan quarrelled, and their country was deprived of the immense
+benefits which might have accrued to it from the cordial political union
+of two such men.</p>
+
+<p>But a list of the great men of the eighteenth century, however brief,
+would be certainly most imperfect if I omitted the name of the Earl of
+Charlemont, who, had his courage been equal to his honesty of purpose,
+might have been enrolled not merely as an ardent, but even as a
+successful patriot. He was one of the <i>Hibernis ipsis Hiberniores</i>,&mdash;one
+of those who came to plunder, and who learned to respect their victims,
+and to repent their oppressions. It is probable that the nine years
+which the young Earl spent in travelling on the Continent, contributed
+not a little to his mental enlargement. On his return from countries
+where freedom exists with boasting, to a<a name="Page_608"></a> country where boasting exists
+without a corresponding amount of freedom, he was amazed and shocked at
+the first exhibition of its detestable tyranny of class. A grand
+procession of peers and peeresses was appointed to receive the
+unfortunate Princess Caroline; but, before the Princess landed, the
+Duchess of Bedford was commanded to inform the Irish peeresses that they
+were not to walk, or to take any part in the ceremonial. The young Earl
+could not restrain his indignation at this utterly uncalled-for insult.
+He obtained a royal audience, and exerted himself with so much energy,
+that the obnoxious order was rescinded. The Earl's rank, as well as his
+patriotism, naturally placed him at the head of his party; and he
+resolutely opposed those laws which Burke had designated as a &quot;disgrace
+to the statute-books of any nation, and so odious in their principles,
+that one might think they were passed in hell, and that demons were the
+legislators.&quot; In 1766, his Lordship brought a bill into the House of
+Lords to enable a poor Catholic peasant to take a lease of a cabin and a
+potato-garden; but, at the third reading, the Lords rushed in
+tumultuously, voted Lord Charlemont out of the chair, and taunted him
+with being little better than a Papist. The failure and the taunt
+bewildered an intellect never very clear; and, perhaps, hopelessness
+quenched the spirit of patriotism, which had once, at least, burned
+brightly. In fear of being taunted as a Papist, like many a wiser man,
+he rushed into the extreme of Protestant loyalty, and joined in the
+contemptible outcry for Protestant ascendency.</p>
+
+<p>The eighteenth century was also rife in Irishmen whose intellects were
+devoted to literature. It claims its painters in Barrett, who was
+actually the founder of the Royal Academy in England, and in Barry, the
+most eminent historical painter of his age; its poets in Parnell,
+Goldsmith, Wade, O'Keeffe, Moore, and many others; its musician in
+Kelly, a full list of whose operatic music would fill several pages; its
+authors in Steele, Swift, Young, O'Leary, Malone, Congreve, Sheridan,
+and Goldsmith; and its actors in Macklin, Milliken, Barry, Willis, and
+Woffington.</p>
+
+<p>Sheridan was born in Dublin, in the year 1757. He commenced his career
+as author by writing for the stage; but his acquaintance with Fox, who
+soon discerned his amazing abilities, led him in another direction. In
+1786 he was employed with Burke in the<a name="Page_609"></a> impeachment of Warren Hastings.
+The galleries of the House of Lords were filled to overflowing; peers
+and peeresses secured seats early in the day; actresses came to learn
+declamation, authors to learn style. Mrs. Siddons, accustomed as she was
+to the simulation of passion in herself and others, shrieked and swooned
+while he denounced the atrocities of which Hastings had been guilty.
+Fox, Pitt, and Byron, were unanimous in their praise. And on the very
+same night, and at the very same time, when the gifted Celt was
+thundering justice to India into the ears of Englishmen, his <i>School for
+Scandal</i>, one of the best comedies on the British stage, was being acted
+in one theatre, and his <i>Duenna</i>, one of its best operas, was being
+performed in another.</p>
+
+<p>Sheridan died in 1816, a victim to intemperance, for which he had not
+even the excuse of misfortune. Had not his besetting sin degraded and
+incapacitated him, it is probable he would have been prime-minister on
+the death of Fox. At the early age of forty he was a confirmed drunkard.
+The master mind which had led a senate, was clouded over by the fumes of
+an accursed spirit; the brilliant eyes that had captivated a million
+hearts, were dimmed and bloodshot; the once noble brain, which had used
+its hundred gifts with equal success and ability, was deprived of all
+power of acting; the tongue, whose potent spell had entranced thousands,
+was scarcely able to articulate. Alas, and a thousand times alas! that
+man can thus mar his Maker's work, and stamp ruin and wretchedness where
+a wealth of mental power had been given to reign supreme.</p>
+
+<p>Goldsmith's father was a Protestant clergyman. The poet was born at
+Pallas, in the county Longford. After a series of adventures, not always
+to his credit, and sundry wanderings on the Continent in the most
+extreme poverty, he settled in London. Here he met with considerable
+success as an author, and enjoyed the society of the first literary men
+of the day. After the first and inevitable struggles of a poor author,
+had he possessed even half as much talent for business as capacity for
+intellectual effort, he might soon have obtained a competency by his
+pen; but, unfortunately, though he was not seriously addicted to
+intemperance, his convivial habits, and his attraction for the gaming
+table, soon scattered his hard-won earnings. His &quot;knack of hoping,&quot;
+however, helped him through life. He died on the 4th April, 1774. His
+last words were sad indeed, in whatever sense they may<a name="Page_610"></a> be taken. He was
+suffering from fever, but his devoted medical attendant, Doctor Norton,
+perceiving his pulse to be unusually high even under such circumstances,
+asked, &quot;Is your mind at ease?&quot; &quot;No, it is not,&quot; was Goldsmith's sad
+reply; and these were the last words he uttered.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/103.jpg" width="417" height="566" alt="GOLDSMITH&#39;S MILL AT AUBURN" title="" />
+<h4>GOLDSMITH&#39;S MILL AT AUBURN</h4>
+</center>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><br /><br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXXVI"></a>
+<center>
+<img src="images/104.jpg" width="472" height="300" alt="BANTRY BAY&mdash;SCENE OF THE LANDING OF THE FRENCH." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>BANTRY BAY&mdash;SCENE OF THE LANDING OF THE FRENCH.</h4>
+
+<a name="Page_611"></a>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXVI.</h2>
+
+<h4>The Volunteers deserted by their Leaders&mdash;Agrarian Outrages and their
+Cause&mdash;Foundation of the United Irishmen&mdash;Cruelties of the
+Orangemen&mdash;Government Spies and Informers&mdash;Lord Moira exposes the
+Cruelty of the Yeomanry in Parliament&mdash;Mr. Orr's Trial and
+Death&mdash;Details of the Atrocities enacted by the Military from a
+Protestant History&mdash;Tom the Devil&mdash;Cruelties practised by Men of
+Rank&mdash;Licentiousness of the Army&mdash;Death of Lord Edward FitzGerald&mdash;The
+Rising&mdash;Martial Law in Dublin&mdash;The Insurrection in Wexford&mdash;Massacres at
+Scullabogue House and Wexford-bridge by the Insurgents&mdash;How the Priests
+were rewarded for saving Lives and Property&mdash;The Insurrection in
+Ulster&mdash;The State Prisoners&mdash;The Union.</h4>
+
+<h5>[A.D. 1783-1800.]</h5>
+
+<img src="images/x.jpg" width="58" height="213" align="left" alt="P" title="" />
+<p>arliament was dissolved on the 15th of July, 1783, and summoned to meet
+in October. The Volunteers now began to agitate on the important
+question of parliamentary reform, which, indeed, was necessary, for
+there were few members who really represented the nation. The close
+boroughs were bought and sold openly and shamelessly, and many members
+who were returned for counties were not proof against place or bribes.
+But the Volunteers had committed the fatal mistake of not obtaining the
+exercise of the elective franchise for their Catholic fellow-subjects:
+hence the Irish Parliament obtained only a nominal freedom, as its acts
+were entirely in the hands of the Government through the venality of the
+members. On the 10th of November, one hundred and sixty delegates
+assembled<a name="Page_612"></a> at the Royal Exchange, Dublin. They were headed by Lord
+Charlemont, and marched in procession to the Rotundo. The Earl of
+Bristol, an eccentric, but kind and warm-hearted character, who was also
+the Protestant Bishop of Derry, took a leading part in the
+deliberations. Sir Boyle Roche, an equally eccentric gentleman, brought
+a message from Lord Kenmare to the meeting, assuring them that the
+Catholics were satisfied with what had been granted to them. He had
+acted under a misapprehension; and the Bishop of Derry, who was in fact
+the only really liberal member of the corps, informed the delegates that
+the Catholics had held a meeting, with Sir Patrick Bellew in the chair,
+in which they repudiated this assertion. Several plans of reform were
+now proposed; and a Bill was introduced into the House by Mr. Flood, on
+the 29th of November, and warmly opposed by Mr. Yelverton, who was now
+Attorney-General, and had formerly been a Volunteer. A stormy scene
+ensued, but bribery and corruption prevailed. The fate of the Volunteers
+was sealed. Through motives of prudence or of policy, Lord Charlemont
+adjourned the convention <i>sine die</i>; and the flame, which had shot up
+with sudden brilliancy, died out even more rapidly than it had been
+kindled. The Volunteers were now deserted by their leaders, and assumed
+the infinitely dangerous form of a democratic movement. Such a movement
+can rarely succeed, and seldom ends without inflicting worse injuries on
+the nation than those which it has sought to avert.</p>
+
+<p>The delegates were again convened in Dublin, by Flood and Napper Tandy.
+They met in October, 1784, and their discussions were carried on in
+secret. Everywhere the men began to arm themselves, and to train others
+to military exercises. But the Government had gained a victory over them
+in the withdrawal of their leaders, and the Attorney-General attempted
+to intimidate them still further by a prosecution. In 1785 a Bill was
+introduced for removing some of the commercial restraints of the Irish
+nation; it passed the Irish House, but, to satisfy popular clamours in
+England, it was returned with such additions as effectually marred its
+usefulness. Grattan now saw how grievously he had been mistaken in his
+estimate of the results of all that was promised in 1782, and he
+denounced the measure with more than ordinary eloquence. It was rejected
+by a small majority, after a debate which lasted till eight o'clock in
+the morning; and the nationality of the small majority purchased the
+undying hatred of the English minister,<a name="Page_613"></a> William Pitt. The people were
+still suffering from the cruel exactions of landlords and
+tithe-proctors. Their poverty and misery were treated with contempt and
+indifference, and they were driven to open acts of violence, which could
+not be repressed either by the fear of the consequences, or the earnest
+exhortations of the Catholic bishops and clergy.<a name="FNanchor_571_572"></a><a href="#Footnote_571_572"><sup>[571]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>In the north some disturbances had originated as early as 1775, amongst
+the Protestant weavers, who suffered severely from the general
+depression of trade, and the avariciousness of commercial speculators.
+Their association was called &quot;Hearts of Steel.&quot; The author of the
+<i>United Irishman</i> mentions one instance as a sample of many others, in
+which the ruling elder of a Presbyterian congregation had raised the
+rents on a number of small farms, and excited in consequence severe acts
+of retaliation from them.<a name="FNanchor_572_573"></a><a href="#Footnote_572_573"><sup>[572]</sup></a> In 1784 two parties commenced agrarian
+outrages in Ulster, called respectively Peep-o'-Day Boys and Defenders.
+As the Catholics sided with one party, and the Protestants with another,
+it merged eventually into a religious feud. The former faction assumed
+the appellation of Protestant Boys, and at last became the Orange
+Society, whose atrocities, and the rancorous party-spirit which they so
+carefully fomented, was one of the principal causes of the rebellion of
+1798. The Catholics had assumed the name of Defenders, from being
+obliged to band in self-defence; but when once a number of uneducated
+persons are leagued together, personal feeling and strong passions will
+lead to acts of violence, which the original associates would have
+shrunk from committing.</p>
+
+<p>Pitt was again thwarted by the Irish Parliament on the Regency question,
+when the insanity of George III. required the appointment of his heir as
+governor of England. The Marquis of Buckingham, who was then Lord
+Lieutenant, refused to forward their address; but the members sent a
+deputation of their own. This nobleman was open and shameless in his
+acts of bribery, and added &pound;13,000 a-year to the pension list, already
+so fatally oppressive to the country. In 1790 he was succeeded by the
+Earl of Westmoreland, and various clubs were formed; but the Catholics
+were still<a name="Page_614"></a> excluded from them all. Still the Catholics were an immense
+majority nationally; the French Revolution had manifested what the
+people could do; and the rulers of the land, with such terrible examples
+before their eyes, could not for their own sakes afford to ignore
+Catholic interests altogether. But the very cause which gave hope was
+itself the means of taking hope away. The action of the Irish Catholics
+was paralyzed through fear of the demonlike cruelties which even a
+successful revolution might induce; and the general fear which the
+aristocratic party had of giving freedom to the uneducated classes,
+influenced them to a fatal silence. Again the middle classes were left
+without leaders, who might have tempered a praiseworthy nationality with
+a not less praiseworthy prudence, and which might have saved both the
+nation and some of its best and bravest sons from fearful suffering. A
+Catholic meeting was held in Dublin, on the 11th of February, 1791, and
+a resolution was passed to apply to Parliament for relief from their
+disabilities. This was in truth the origin of the United Irishmen. For
+the first time Catholics and Protestants agreed cordially and worked
+together harmoniously. The leading men on the Catholic committee were
+Keogh, M'Cormic, Sweetman, Byrne, and Branghall; the Protestant leaders
+were Theobald Wolfe Tone and the Hon. Simon Butler. Tone visited Belfast
+in October, 1791, and formed the first club of the Society of United
+Irishmen. He was joined there by Neilson, Simms, Russell, and many
+others. A club was then formed in Dublin, of which Napper Tandy became a
+leading member. The fundamental resolutions of the Society were
+admirable. They stated: &quot;1. That the weight of English influence in the
+government of this country is so great, as to require a cordial union
+among all the people of Ireland, to maintain that balance which is
+essential to the preservation of our liberties and the extension of our
+commerce. 2. That the sole constitutional mode by which this influence
+can be opposed, is by a complete and radical reform of the
+representation of the people in Parliament. 3. That no reform is just
+which does not include every Irishman of every religious persuasion.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Tone had already obtained considerable influence by his political
+pamphlets, which had an immense circulation. There can be no doubt that
+he was tinctured with republican sentiments; but it was impossible for
+an Irish Protestant, who had any real sympathy with his country, to feel
+otherwise: it had endured nothing but<a name="Page_615"></a> misery from the monarchical form
+of government. The Catholics, probably, were only prevented from
+adopting similar opinions by their inherent belief in the divine right
+of kings. In 1791 the fears of those who thought the movement had a
+democratic tendency, were confirmed by the celebration of the
+anniversary of the French Revolution in Belfast, July, 1791; and in
+consequence of this, sixty-four Catholics of the upper classes presented
+a loyal address to the throne. The Catholic delegates met in Dublin in
+December, 1792, and prepared a petition to the King representing their
+grievances. It was signed by Dr. Troy, the Catholic Archbishop of
+Dublin, and Dr. Moylan, on behalf of the clergy. Amongst the laity
+present were Lords Kenmare, Fingall, Trimbleston, Gormanstown, and
+French. Five delegates were appointed to present the petition, and they
+were provided with a very large sum of money, which induced those in
+power to obtain them an audience. They were introduced to George III. by
+Edmund Burke. His Majesty sent a message to the Irish Parliament,
+requesting them to remove some of the disabilities; but the Parliament
+treated the message with contempt, and Lord Chancellor FitzGibbon
+brought in a Bill to prevent any bodies from meeting by delegation for
+the future.</p>
+
+<p>In 1793 a Relief Bill was passed, in consequence of the war with France;
+a Militia Bill, and the Gunpowder and Convention Bills, were also
+passed, the latter being an attempt to suppress the Volunteers and the
+United Irishmen. A meeting of the latter was held in February, 1793, and
+the chairman and secretary were brought before the House of Lords, and
+sentenced to six months' imprisonment and a fine of &pound;500 each. The
+following year, January, 1794, Mr. Rowan was prosecuted for an address
+to the Volunteers, made two years before. Even Curran's eloquence, and
+the fact that the principal witness was perjured, failed to obtain his
+acquittal. He was sentenced to two years' imprisonment and a fine of
+&pound;500. His conviction only served to increase the popular excitement, as
+he was considered a martyr to his patriotism. An address was presented
+to him in Newgate by the United Irishmen, but he escaped on the 1st of
+May, and got safely to America, though &pound;1,000 was offered for his
+apprehension.</p>
+
+<p>The English minister now appears to have tried the old game of driving
+the people into a rebellion, which could be crushed at once by the
+sword, and would spare the necessity of making concessions; or of
+entangling the leaders in some act of overt treason, and<a name="Page_616"></a> quashing the
+movement by depriving it of its heads. An opportunity for the latter
+manoeuvre now presented itself. A Protestant clergyman, who had resided
+many years in France, came to the country for the purpose of opening
+communications between the French Government and the United Irishmen.
+This gentleman, the Rev. William Jackson, confided his secret to his
+solicitor, a man named Cockayne. The solicitor informed Mr. Pitt, and by
+his desire continued to watch his victim, and trade on his open-hearted
+candour, until he had led him to his doom. The end of the unfortunate
+clergyman was very miserable. He took poison when brought up for
+judgment, and died in the dock. His object in committing this crime was
+to save his property for his wife and children, as it would have been
+confiscated had his sentence been pronounced.</p>
+
+<p>The Viceroyalty of Earl FitzWilliam once more gave the Irish nation some
+hope that England would grant them justice. But he was soon recalled;
+Lord Camden was sent in his stead; and the country was given up to the
+Beresford faction, who were quite willing to co-operate in Mr. Pitt's
+plan of setting Protestants and Catholics against each other, of
+exciting open rebellion, and of profiting by the miseries of the nation
+to forge new chains for it, by its parliamentary union with England.
+Everything was done now that could be done to excite the Catholics to
+rebellion. The Orangemen, if their own statement on oath<a name="FNanchor_573_574"></a><a href="#Footnote_573_574"><sup>[573]</sup></a> is to be
+trusted, were actually bribed to persecute the Catholics; sermons<a name="FNanchor_574_575"></a><a href="#Footnote_574_575"><sup>[574]</sup></a>
+were preached by Protestant ministers to excite their feelings; and when
+the Catholics resisted, or offered reprisals, they were punished with
+the utmost<a name="Page_617"></a> severity, while their persecutors always escaped. Lord
+Carhampton, grandson of the worthless Henry Luttrell, who had betrayed
+the Irish at the siege of Limerick, commanded the army, and his cruelty
+is beyond description. An Insurrection Act was passed in 1796;
+magistrates were allowed to proclaim counties; suspected persons were to
+be banished the country or pressed into the fleet, without the shadow of
+trial; and Acts of Indemnity<a name="FNanchor_575_576"></a><a href="#Footnote_575_576"><sup>[575]</sup></a> were passed, to shield the magistrates
+and the military from the consequences of any unlawful cruelties which
+fanaticism or barbarity might induce them to commit.</p>
+
+<p>Grattan appealed boldly and loudly against these atrocities. &quot;These
+insurgents,&quot; he said, &quot;call themselves Protestant Boys&mdash;that is, a
+banditti of murderers, committing massacre in the name of God, and
+exercising despotic power in the name of liberty.&quot; The published
+declaration of Lord Gosford and of thirty magistrates, who attempted to
+obtain some justice for the unfortunate subjects of these wrongs, is
+scarcely less emphatic. It is dated December 28, 1795: &quot;It is no secret
+that a persecution, accompanied with all the circumstances of ferocious
+cruelty which have in all ages distinguished this calamity, is now
+raging in this country; neither age, nor sex, nor even acknowledged
+innocence, is sufficient to excite mercy or afford protection. The only
+crime which the unfortunate objects of this persecution are charged
+with, is a crime of easy proof indeed; it is simply a profession of the
+Roman Catholic faith. A lawless banditti have constituted themselves
+judges of this species of delinquency, and the sentence they pronounce
+is equally concise and terrible; it is nothing less than a confiscation
+of all property and immediate banishment&mdash;a prescription that has been
+carried into effect, and exceeds, in the number of those it consigns to
+ruin and misery, every example that ancient or modern history can
+supply. These horrors are now acting with impunity. The spirit of
+justice has disappeared from the country; and the supineness of the
+magistracy of Armagh has become a common topic of conversation in every
+corner of the kingdom.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>One should have supposed that an official declaration from such an
+authority, signed by the Governor of Armagh and thirty magistrates,<a name="Page_618"></a>
+would have produced some effect on the Government of the day; but the
+sequel proved that such honorable exposure was as ineffective as the
+rejected petition of millions of Catholics. The formation of the
+yeomanry corps filled up the cup of bitterness. The United Irishmen,
+seeing no hope of constitutional redress, formed themselves into a
+military organization. But, though the utmost precautions were used to
+conceal the names of members and the plans of the association, their
+movements were well known to Government from an early period. Tone, in
+the meantime, came to France from America, and induced Carnot to send an
+expedition to Ireland, under the command of General Hoche. It ended
+disastrously. A few vessels cruised for a week in the harbour of Bantry
+Bay; but, as the remainder of the fleet, which was separated by a fog,
+did not arrive, Grouchy, the second in command, returned to France.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, the Society of United Irishmen spread rapidly, and especially
+in those places where the Orangemen exercised their cruelties. Lord
+Edward FitzGerald now joined the movement; and even those who cannot
+commend the cause, are obliged to admire the perfection of his devoted
+self-sacrifice to what he believed to be the interests of his country.
+His leadership seemed all that was needed to secure success. His gay and
+frank manner made him popular; his military bearing demanded respect;
+his superior attainments gave him power to command; his generous
+disinterestedness was patent to all. But already a paid system of
+espionage had been established by Government. A set of miscreants were
+found who could lure their victims to their doom&mdash;who could eat and
+drink, and talk and live with them as their bosom friends, and then sign
+their death-warrant with the kiss of Judas. There was a regular gang of
+informers of a low class, like the infamous Jemmy O'Brien, who were
+under the control of the Town-Majors, Sirr and Swan. But there were
+gentlemen informers also, who, in many cases, were never so much as
+suspected by their dupes. MacNally, the advocate of the United Irishmen,
+and Mr. Graham, their solicitor, were both of that class. Thomas
+Reynolds, of Killeen Castle, entered their body on purpose to betray
+them. Captain Armstrong did the same. John Hughes, a Belfast bookseller,
+had himself arrested several times, to allay their suspicions. John
+Edward Nevill was equally base and treacherous. However necessary it may
+be for the ends of government to employ spies and informers, there is no<a name="Page_619"></a>
+necessity for men to commit crimes of the basest treachery. Such men and
+such crimes will ever be handed down to posterity with the reprobation
+they deserve.</p>
+
+<p>Attempts were now made to get assistance from France. Mr. O'Connor and
+Lord Edward FitzGerald proceeded thither for that purpose; but their
+mission was not productive of any great result. The people were goaded
+to madness by the cruelties which were committed on them every day; and
+it was in vain that persons above all suspicion of countenancing either
+rebels or Papists, protested against these enormities in the name of
+common humanity. In 1797 a part of Ulster was proclaimed by General
+Lalor, and Lord Moira described thus, in the English House of Lords, the
+sufferings of the unhappy people: &quot;When a man was taken up on suspicion,
+he was put to the torture; nay, if he were merely accused of concealing
+the guilt of another, the punishment of picketing, which had for some
+years been abolished as too inhuman even in the dragoon service, was
+practised. I have known a man, in order to extort confession of a
+supposed crime, or of that of some of his neighbours, picketed until he
+actually fainted; picketed a second time, until he fainted again;
+picketed a third time, until he once more fainted; and all upon mere
+suspicion. Nor was this the only species of torture; many had been taken
+and hung up until they were half dead, and then threatened with a
+repetition of this cruel treatment unless they made confession of the
+imputed guilt. These,&quot; continued his Lordship, &quot;were not particular acts
+of cruelty, exercised by men abusing the power committed to them, <i>but
+they formed part of a system</i>. They were notorious; and no person could
+say who would be the next victim of this oppression and cruelty.&quot; As
+redress was hopeless, and Parliament equally indifferent to cruelties
+and to remonstrances, Mr. Grattan and his colleagues left the Irish
+House to its inhumanity and its fate.</p>
+
+<p>In the autumn of this year, 1797, Mr. Orr, of Antrim, was tried and
+executed, on a charge of administering the oath of the United Irishmen
+to a soldier. This gentleman was a person of high character and
+respectability. He solemnly protested his innocence; the soldier, stung
+with remorse, swore before a magistrate that the testimony he gave at
+the trial was false. Petitions were at once sent in, praying for the
+release of the prisoner, but in vain; he was executed on the 14th of
+October, though no one doubted his innocence; and &quot;Orr's fate&quot; became a
+watchword of and an incitement<a name="Page_620"></a> to rebellion. Several of the jury made a
+solemn oath after the trial that, when locked up for the night to
+&quot;consider&quot; their verdict, they were supplied abundantly with
+intoxicating drinks, and informed one and all, that, if they did not
+give the required verdict of guilty, they should themselves be
+prosecuted as United Irishmen. Mr. Orr was offered his life and liberty
+again and again if he would admit his guilt; his wife and four young
+children added their tears and entreaties to the persuasions of his
+friends; but he preferred truth and honour to life and freedom. His end
+was worthy of his resolution. On the scaffold he turned to his faithful
+attendant, and asked him to remove his watch, as he should need it no
+more. Mr. Orr was a sincere Protestant; his servant was a Catholic. His
+last words are happily still on record. He showed the world how a
+Protestant patriot could die; and that the more sincere and deep his
+piety, the less likely he would be to indulge in fanatical hatred of
+those who differed from him. &quot;You, my friend,&quot; he said to his weeping
+and devoted servant&mdash;&quot;you, my friend, and I must now part. Our stations
+here on earth have been a little different, and our mode of worshipping
+the Almighty Being that we both adore. Before His presence we shall
+stand equal. Farewell! Remember Orr!&quot;<a name="FNanchor_576_577"></a><a href="#Footnote_576_577"><sup>[576]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>Alas! there was more to remember than the fate of this noble victim to
+legal injustice. I have before alluded to that strange phenomenon of
+human nature, by which men, who, at least, appear to be educated and
+refined, can, under certain circumstances, become bloodthirsty and
+cruel. The demon enters into the man, and make him tenfold more
+demoniacal than himself. But fearful as the deeds of officers and men
+have been in India, where the unhappy natives were shattered to atoms
+from the cannons' mouths: or, in more recent times, when men, and even
+women, have all but expired under the lash; no deeds of savage vengeance
+have ever exceeded those which were perpetrated daily and hourly in
+Ireland, before the rebellion of 1798. For the sake of our common
+humanity I would that they could be passed over unrecorded; for the sake
+of our common humanity I shall record them in detail, for it may be that
+the terror of what men can become when they give way to unrestrained
+passions, may deter some of my fellow-creatures from<a name="Page_621"></a> allowing themselves
+to participate in or to enact such deeds of blood. Historical justice,
+too, demands that they should be related. Englishmen have heard much of
+the cruelties of Irish rebels at Wexford, which I shall neither palliate
+nor excuse. Englishmen have heard but little of the inhuman atrocities
+which excited that insurrection, and prompted these reprisals. And let
+it be remembered, that there are men still living who saw these
+cruelties enacted in their childhood, and men whose fathers and nearest
+relations were themselves subjected to these tortures. To the Celt, so
+warm of heart and so tenacious of memory, what food this is for the
+tempter, who bids him recall, and bids him revenge, even now, these
+wrongs! What wonder if passion should take the place of reason, and if
+religion, which commands him to suffer patiently the memory of injuries
+inflicted on others, often harder to bear than one's own pain, should
+sometimes fail to assert its sway!<a name="FNanchor_577_578"></a><a href="#Footnote_577_578"><sup>[577]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>I shall give the account of these atrocities in the words of a
+Protestant historian first. The Rev. Mr. Gordon writes thus, in his
+narrative of these fearful times: &quot;The fears of the people became<a name="Page_622"></a> so
+great at length, that they forsook their houses in the night, and slept
+(if, under such circumstances, they could sleep) in the ditches and the
+women were even delivered in that exposed condition, <i>These facts were
+notorious at the time</i>.... Some abandoned their house from fear of being
+whipped; and this infliction many persons appeared to fear <i>more than
+death itself</i>. Many unfortunate men were strung up as it were to be
+hanged, but were let down now and then, to try if strangulation would
+oblige them to become informers.&quot; He then goes on to relate at length
+how the magistrates tortured smiths and carpenters at once, because it
+was supposed from their trade they must have made pikes; and how they,
+at last, professed to know a United Irishman by his face, and &quot;never
+suffered any person whom they deigned to honour with this distinction,
+to pass off without convincing proof of their attention.&quot; He also
+mentions the case of a hermit named Driscoll, whose name and the same
+details of his sufferings are given in Clancy's account of the
+insurrection. This man was strangled three times, and flogged four
+times, because a Catholic prayer-book was found in his possession, on
+which it was <i>supposed</i> that he used to administer oaths of disloyalty.</p>
+
+<p>I shall now give the account of another historian. Plowden writes thus;
+&quot;These military savages [the yeomanry corps&mdash;it will be remembered what
+Lord Moira said of them in Parliament] were permitted, both by
+magistrates and officers, in open day, to seize every man they wished or
+chose to suspect as a <i>Croppy</i>, and drag him to the guardhouse, where
+they constantly kept a supply of coarse linen caps, besmeared inside
+with pitch; and when the pitch was well heated, they forced the cap on
+his head; and sometimes the melted pitch, running into the eyes of the
+unfortunate victim, superadded blindness to his other tortures. They
+generally detained him till the pitch had so cooled, that the cap could
+not be detached from the head without carrying with it the hair and
+blistered skin; they then turned him adrift, disfigured, often blind,
+and writhing with pain. They enjoyed with loud bursts of laughter the
+fiendlike sport&mdash;the agonies of their victim. At other times, they
+rubbed moistened gunpowder into the hair, in the form of a cross, and
+set fire to it; and not unfrequently sheared off the ears and nose of
+the unfortunate Croppy.&quot; Plowden then details the atrocities of a
+sergeant of the Cork Militia, who was called <i>Tom the Devil</i>. He
+concludes: &quot;It would be uncandid to detail only instances of the<a name="Page_623"></a>
+brutality of the lower orders, whilst evidence is forthcoming of persons
+of fortune and education being still more brutalized by its deleterious
+spirit.&quot; He then mentions an instance, on the authority of both an
+eyewitness and the victim, in which Lord Kingsborough, Mr. Beresford,
+and an officer whose name he did not know, tortured two respectable
+Dublin tradesmen, one named John Fleming, a ferryman, the other Francis
+Gough, a coachmaker. The nobleman superintended the flagellation of
+Gough, and at every stroke insulted him with taunts and inquiries how he
+liked it. The unfortunate man was confined to his bed in consequence,
+for six months after the infliction. On Whit-Sunday, 1798, these men
+were again tortured with pitchcaps by the gentlemen. Other instances
+might be added, but these will suffice to show the feeling which
+actuated the rulers who permitted, and the men who perpetrated, these
+deeds of blood. &quot;With difficulty,&quot; says Mr. Plowden, &quot;does the mind
+yield reluctant consent to such debasement of the human species. The
+spirit which degrades it to that abandonment is of no ordinary
+depravity. The same spirit of Orangeism moved the colonel in Dublin, and
+his sergeant at Wexford. The effect of that spirit can only be faintly
+illustrated by facts. Those have been verified to the author by the
+spectator and the sufferer.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_578_579"></a><a href="#Footnote_578_579"><sup>[578]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>From a letter of Lady Napier's, never intended for publication, and
+above all suspicion of any sympathy with the lower order of Irish, it
+will be seen how the tenantry of the Duke of Leinster were driven to
+revolt. It is dated Castletown, 27th June, 1798, and addressed to the
+Duke of Richmond. &quot;The cruel hardships put on his tenants preferably to
+all others, has driven them to despair, and they join the insurgents,
+saying: 'It is better to die with a pike in my hand, than be shot like a
+dog at my work, or to see my children faint for want of food before my
+eyes.'&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Sir Ralph Abercrombie was appointed to command the army in Ireland, in
+1797; but he threw up his charge, disgusted with atrocities which he
+could not control, and which he was too humane even to appear to
+sanction.<a name="FNanchor_579_580"></a><a href="#Footnote_579_580"><sup>[579]</sup></a> He declared the army to be in a state<a name="Page_624"></a> of licentiousness,
+which made it formidable to every one but the enemy. General Lake, a
+fitting instrument for any cruelty, was appointed to take his place; and
+Lord Castlereagh informs us that &quot;measures were taken by Government to
+cause a premature explosion.&quot; It would have been more Christian in the
+first place, and more politic in the second place, if Government had
+taken measures to prevent any explosion at all.<a name="FNanchor_580_581"></a><a href="#Footnote_580_581"><sup>[580]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>On the 12th of March, 1798, the Leinster delegates, who had been long
+since betrayed, were seized by Major Swan, in Dublin. Fifteen persons
+were present, the greater number of whom were Protestants. Emmet,
+MacNevin, Jackson, and Sweetman, were seized the same day. Arthur
+O'Connor had already been arrested on his way to France, with Father
+Coigley. The latter was convicted on May 22, at Maidstone, and hanged on
+evidence so inconclusive, that Lord Chancellor Thurlow said: &quot;If ever a
+poor man was murdered, it was Coigley!&quot; The arrest of Lord Edward
+FitzGerald occurred soon after. The room in which he was arrested and
+the bed on which he lay is still shown, for the brave young noble had
+won for himself the heart's love of every true Irishman. The story of
+his life would occupy more space than can be given to it. To abridge it
+would be to destroy more than half of its real interest. A severe wound
+which he received in the struggle with his captors, combined with the
+effects of excitement and a cruel imprisonment, caused his death. He was
+a chevalier <i>sans peur et sans reproche</i>. Even his enemies, and the
+enemies of his country, could find no word to say against him. With him
+died the best hopes of the United Irishmen, and with his expiring breath
+they lost their best prospect of success.<a name="FNanchor_581_582"></a><a href="#Footnote_581_582"><sup>[581]</sup></a></p><a name="Page_625"></a>
+
+<p>Lord Edward died on the 4th of June. The 23rd of May had been fixed for
+the rising; but informations were in the hands of the Government.
+Captain Armstrong had betrayed the Sheares, two brothers who had devoted
+themselves to the cause of their country with more affection than
+prudence. The base traitor had wound himself into their confidence, had
+dined with them, and was on the most intimate social relations with
+their family. On the 12th of July he swore their lives away; and two
+days after they were executed, holding each other's hands as they passed
+into eternity.</p>
+
+<p>The rising did take place, but it was only partial. The leaders were
+gone, dead, or imprisoned; and nothing but the wild desperation, which
+suggested that it was better to die fighting than to die inch by inch,
+under inhuman torture, could have induced the people to rise at all. The
+ferocity with which the insurrection was put down, may be estimated by
+the cruelties enacted before it commenced. Lord Cornwallis, in his
+Government report to the Duke of Portland, declared that &quot;murder was the
+favourite pastime&quot; of the militia. He declared that the principal
+persons in the country and the members of Parliament were averse to all
+conciliation, and &quot;too much heated to see the effects which their
+violence must produce.&quot; To General Ross he writes: &quot;The violence of our
+friends, and their folly in endeavouring to make it a religious war,
+added to the ferocity of our troops, who delight in murder, must
+powerfully counteract all plans of conciliation; and the conversation,
+even at my table, where you will suppose I do all I can to prevent it,
+always turns on hanging, shooting, burning, &amp;c.; and if a priest<a name="Page_626"></a> has
+been put to death, the greatest joy is expressed by the whole company.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>On the 23rd of May, Dublin was placed under martial law; the citizens
+were armed, the guard was trebled, the barristers pleaded with
+regimentals and swords, and several of the lamplighters were hung from
+their own lamp-posts for neglecting to light the lamps. The country
+people were prepared to march on the city, but Lord Roden and his
+Foxhunters soon put down their attempt. The next morning the dead were
+exhibited in the Castle-yard, and the prisoners were hanged at
+Carlisle-bridge. Sir Watkins Wynn and his Ancient Britons distinguished
+themselves by their cruelties. The Homsperg Dragoons and the Orange
+Yeomanry equalled them in deeds of blood. The fighting commenced in
+Kildare, on the 24th, by an attack on Naas, which was repelled by Lord
+Gosport. Two of his officers and thirty men were killed, and the people
+were shot down and hanged indiscriminately. &quot;Such was the brutal
+ferocity of some of the King's troops,&quot; says Plowden, &quot;that they half
+roasted and eat the flesh of one man, named Walsh, who had not been in
+arms.&quot; At Prosperous the insurgents attacked and burned the barracks,
+and piked any of the soldiers who attempted to escape from the flames.
+This regiment, the North Cork Militia, had been specially cruel in their
+treatment of the people, who were only too willing to retaliate. A troop
+of dragoons, commanded by Captain Erskine, was almost annihilated at Old
+Kilcullen. But reverses soon followed. At Carlow the insurgents met with
+a severe defeat; and the defenceless and innocent inhabitants, who fled
+into their houses for shelter from the fire, were cruelly and ruthlessly
+burned to death in their own habitations by the military.</p>
+
+<p>A body of 2,000 men, under a leader named Perkins, encamped on the Hill
+of Allan, and agreed with General Douglas to lay down their arms. The
+General was honorable and humane, but his subordinates were not so.
+Major-General Duff, to whom the arms were to have been delivered up,
+ordered his troops to fire on the people, when they had assembled for
+that purpose. Lord Roden's cavalry cut them down, and an immense number
+were slaughtered in cold blood. Another attack took place at Tara, where
+the Irish were again defeated. The insurrection now broke out in
+Wexford. The people in this part of the country had not joined the
+movement in any way, until the arrival of the North<a name="Page_627"></a> Cork Militia,
+commanded by Lord Kingsborough. The men paraded in orange ribbons, fired
+at the peaceful country people, and employed pitchcaps and torture,
+until their victims were driven to desperation. The county was
+proclaimed on the 27th of April, by the magistrates; and before any riot
+had taken place, Mr. Hunter Gowan paraded through Gorey at the head of
+his yeomanry, with a human finger on the point of his sword, which was
+subsequently used to stir their punch in the evening.</p>
+
+<p>On Whit-Sunday, the 27th of May, the yeomen burned the Catholic Chapel
+of Boulavogue. Father John Murphy, the parish priest, who had hitherto
+tried to suppress the insurrection, placed himself at the head of the
+insurgents. The men now rose in numbers, and marched to Enniscorthy,
+which they took after some fighting. Vinegar Hill, a lofty eminence
+overlooking the town, was chosen for their camp. Some of the leading
+Protestant gentlemen of the county had either favoured or joined the
+movement; and several of them had been arrested on suspicion, and were
+imprisoned at Wexford. The garrison of this place, however, fled in a
+panic, caused by some successes of the Irish troops, and probably from a
+very clear idea of the kind of retaliation they might expect for their
+cruelties. Mr. Harvey, one of the prisoners mentioned above, was now
+released, and headed the insurgents; but a powerful body of troops,
+under General Loftus, was sent into the district, and eventually
+obtained possession of New Ross, which the Irish had taken with great
+bravery, but which they had not been able to hold for want of proper
+military discipline and command. They owed their defeat to
+insubordination and drunkenness. A number of prisoners had been left at
+Scullabogue House, near Carrickburne Hill. Some fugitives from the Irish
+camp came up in the afternoon, and pretended that Mr. Harvey had given
+orders for their execution, alleging, as a reason, what, indeed, was
+true, that the royalists massacred indiscriminately. The guard resisted,
+but were overpowered by the mob, who were impatient to revenge without
+justice the cruelties which had been inflicted on them without justice.
+A hundred were burned in a barn, and thirty-seven were shot or piked.
+This massacre has been held up as a horrible example of Irish treachery
+and cruelty. It was horrible, no doubt, and cannot be defended or
+palliated; but, amid these contending horrors of cruel war, the question
+still recurs: Upon whom is the original guilt of causing them to be
+charged?</p><a name="Page_628"></a>
+
+<p>Father Murphy<a name="FNanchor_582_583"></a><a href="#Footnote_582_583"><sup>[582]</sup></a> was killed in an attack on Carlow, and his death
+threw the balance strongly in favour of the Government troops, who
+eventually proved victorious. After the battle of Ross, the Wexford men
+chose the Rev. Philip Roche as their leader, in place of Mr. Bagenal
+Harvey, who had resigned the command. The insurgents were now guilty of
+following the example of their persecutors, if not with equal cruelty,
+at least with a barbarity which their leaders in vain reprobated. The
+prisoners whom they had taken were confined in the jail, and every
+effort was made to save them from the infuriated people. But one savage,
+named Dixon, would not be content without their blood; and while the
+army and their leaders were encamped on Vinegar Hill, he and some other
+villains as wicked as himself found their way into the jail, and marched
+the prisoners to the bridge, held a mock trial, and then piked
+thirty-five of their victims, and flung them into the water. At this
+moment a priest, who had heard of the bloody deed, hastened to the spot;
+and after in vain commanding them to desist, succeeded at last in making
+them kneel down, when he dictated a prayer that God might show them the
+same mercy which they would show to the surviving prisoners. This had
+its effect; and the men who waited in terror to receive the doom they
+had so often and so mercilessly inflicted on others, were marched back
+to prison.</p>
+
+<p>The camp on Vinegar Hill was now beset on all sides by the royal troops.
+An attack was planned by General Lake, with 20,000 men and a large train
+of artillery. General Needham did not arrive in time to occupy the
+position appointed for him; and after an hour and a-half of hard
+fighting, the Irish gave way, principally from want of gunpowder. The
+soldiers now indulged in the most wanton deeds of cruelty. The hospital
+at Enniscorthy was set on fire, and the wounded men shot in their beds.
+At Wexford, General Moore prevented his troops from committing such
+outrages; but when the rest of the army arrived, they acted as they had
+done at Enniscorthy. Courts-martial were held, in which the officers
+were not even sworn, and victims were consigned to execution with
+reckless atrocity. The bridge of Wexford, where a Catholic priest had<a name="Page_629"></a>
+saved so many Protestant lives, was now chosen for the scene of
+slaughter; and all this in spite of a promise of amnesty. Father Roche
+and Mr. Keogh were the first victims of the higher classes; Messrs.
+Grogan, Harvey, and Colclough were hanged the following day. A mixed
+commission was now formed of the magistrates, who were principally
+Orangemen, and the military, whose virulence was equally great. The Rev.
+Mr. Gordon, the Protestant clergyman whose account I have principally
+followed, as above all suspicion, declares that &quot;whoever could be proved
+to have saved an Orangeman or royalist from assassination, his house
+from burning, or his property from plunder, was considered as having
+influence amongst the revolters, and consequently as a rebel commander.&quot;
+The reward for their charity now was instant execution. The Rev. John
+Redmond, the Catholic priest of Newtownbarry, had saved Lord Mountmorris
+and other gentlemen from the fury of the exasperated people, and had
+preserved his house and property from plunder. He was now sent for by
+this nobleman; and, conscious of his innocence, and the benefits he had
+rendered him, he at once obeyed the summons. On his arrival, he was
+seized, brought before the court, and executed on the pretence of having
+been a commander in the rebel army. He had, indeed, commanded, but the
+only commands he ever uttered were commands of mercy. Well might Mr.
+Gordon sorrowfully declare, that he had &quot;heard of hundreds of United
+Irishmen, during the insurrection, who have, at the risk of their lives,
+saved Orangemen; but I have not heard of a single Orangeman who
+encountered any danger to save the life of a United Irishman.&quot; With
+equal sorrow he remarks the difference in the treatment of females by
+each party. The Irish were never once accused of having offered the
+slightest insult to a woman; the military, besides shooting them
+indiscriminately with the men, treated them in a way which cannot be
+described, and under circumstances which added a more than savage
+inhumanity to their crime.</p>
+
+<p>The next act of the fatal drama was the execution of the State
+prisoners. The rising in Ulster had been rendered ineffective, happily
+for the people, by the withdrawal of some of the leaders at the last
+moment. The command in Antrim was taken by Henry McCracken, who was at
+last captured by the royalists, and executed at Belfast, on the 17th of
+June. At Saintfield, in Down, they were commanded by Henry Monroe, who
+had been a Volunteer, and had some knowledge of military tactics. In an
+engagement at<a name="Page_630"></a> Ballinahinch, he showed considerable ability in the
+disposal of his forces, but they were eventually defeated, and he also
+paid the forfeit of his life. A remnant of the Wexford insurrection was
+all that remained to be crushed. On the 21st of June, Lord Cornwallis
+was sent to Ireland, with the command both of the military forces and
+the civil power. On the 17th of July an amnesty was proclaimed; and the
+majority of the State prisoners were permitted eventually to leave the
+country, having purchased their pardon by an account of the plans of the
+United Irishmen, which were so entirely broken up that their honour was
+in no way compromised by the disclosure.</p>
+
+<p>Several men, however, were executed, in whose fate the country had, for
+many reasons, more than ordinary interest. To have pardoned them would
+have been more humane and better policy. These were the two Sheares,
+M'Cann, and Mr. William Byrne. Their history will be found in the <i>Lives
+of the United Irishmen</i>, by Dr. Madden, a work of many volumes, whose
+contents could not possibly be compressed into the brief space which the
+limits of this work demands.</p>
+
+<p>Some painfully interesting details of this fearful period may be found
+in the <i>Annals of Ballitore</i>, a work already referred to in this volume.
+The writer being a member of the Society of Friends, must be beyond all
+suspicion of partiality for rebels or Papists; yet, happily, like many
+members of that Society, was distinguished for humanity and toleration
+for the opinions of others. Her account of '98, being the annals of a
+family and a village, is, perhaps, almost better calculated to give an
+exact idea of the state of the times than a work comprising a more
+extended range of observation; and yet what was suffered in Ballitore
+was comparatively trifling when compared with the sufferings of other
+villages and towns. The first trial was the quartering of the yeomen,
+&quot;from whose bosom,&quot; writes this gentle lady, &quot;pity seemed banished.&quot; The
+Suffolk Fencibles and the Ancient Britons were next quartered on the
+unfortunate inhabitants. Then commenced the cruel torturing, for which
+the yeomen and militia obtained an eternal reprobation; the public
+floggings, of which she writes thus&mdash;&quot;the torture was excessive, and the
+victims were long in recovering, and in almost every case it was applied
+fruitlessly;&quot; yet these demons in human form never relaxed their
+cruelty. &quot;The village, once so peaceful, exhibited a scene of tumult and
+dismay; and the air rang with the shrieks of<a name="Page_631"></a> the sufferers, and the
+lamentations of those who beheld them suffer.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_583_584"></a><a href="#Footnote_583_584"><sup>[583]</sup></a> Then follow fearful
+details, which cannot be given here, but which prove how completely the
+people were driven into rebellion, and how cruelly they were punished.
+Reprisals, of course, were made by the unfortunate victims; and on one
+occasion, Mrs. Leadbeater relates how Priest Cullen begged the life of a
+young man on his knees, and, as a reward of his humanity, was
+apprehended soon after, and condemned to death. The most cruel scene of
+all was the murder of the village doctor, a man who had devoted himself
+unweariedly to healing the wounds of both parties; but because he
+attended the &quot;rebels,&quot; and showed them any acts of common humanity, he
+was taken before a court-martial, and &quot;hacked to death&quot; by the yeomen
+with their swords. &quot;He was alone and unarmed when seized,&quot; writes Mrs.
+Leadbeater, &quot;and I believe had never raised his hand to injure any one.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The French allies of Irish insurgents appear to have a fatality for
+arriving precisely when their services are worse than useless. On the
+22nd of August, 1798, Humbert landed at Killala with a small French
+force, who, after a number of engagements, were eventually obliged to
+surrender at discretion.</p>
+
+<p>Ireland having been reduced to the lowest state of misery and servitude,
+the scheme for which much of this suffering had been enacted was now
+proposed and carried out. The first parliamentary intimation was given
+in a speech from the throne, on the 22nd of January, 1799; a pamphlet
+was published on the subject by Mr. Cooke, the Under-Secretary; but it
+required more cogent arguments than either speeches from the throne or
+pamphlets to effect the object of Government. Mr. Pitt had set his heart
+upon the Union, and Mr. Pitt had determined that the Union should be
+carried out at any expense of honour. The majority of the Irish lawyers
+protested against it. The Irish people, as far as they dared do so,
+opposed it. At a meeting of the Irish bar, on the 9th of December, there
+were 166 votes against the Union and only thirty-two in favour of it.
+The published correspondence of Lord Cornwallis and Lord Castlereagh has
+revealed an amount of nefarious corruption and treachery at which
+posterity stands aghast. &quot;These noblemen,&quot; writes Sir Jonah Barrington,
+&quot;seemed to have been created for such a crisis, and for each other. An
+unremitting perseverance,<a name="Page_632"></a> an absence of all political compunctions, an
+unqualified contempt of public opinion, and a disregard of every
+constitutional principle, were common to both.&quot; But Lord Cornwallis had
+some compunctions; for he wrote to General Ross, describing his office
+as &quot;the most cursed of all situations,&quot; and expressing, in language more
+forcible than gentlemanly, his ardent desire to &quot;kick those whom his
+public duty obliged him to court.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The immediate arrangements made for carrying out the Union were
+extremely simple. A scale of &quot;compensation&quot; was arranged&mdash;a word which
+could, by a slight perversion of the ordinary meaning of the English
+language, be used as a new form of expressing what was formerly called
+bribery. Every one was promised everything that he wished for, if he
+would only consent to the measure. The Catholics were to have
+emancipation, the Protestants ascendency, the bar promotion, the people
+higher wages, the boroughmongers magnificent compensation. FitzGibbon,
+who had been made Lord Clare, and was then Chancellor, bribed,
+threatened, and cajoled the Upper House; Mr. Secretary Cooke employed
+himself with equal ability in the Lower House. Grattan had left Ireland;
+Flood was in retirement; the members of the bar who had voted against
+the Union were dismissed from office, and the Prime Serjeant, Mr.
+FitzGerald, was the first victim. The thirty-two who formed the minority
+were at once removed. I have not space for the details of the various
+attempts which were made to pass the unpopular measure. Barrington has
+given a list of the members for the Union, and the rewards they
+received. His description of the last night of the Irish Parliament is
+too graphic to be omitted:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>&quot;The Commons' House of Parliament, on the last evening, afforded
+     the most melancholy example of a fine, independent people,
+     betrayed, divided, sold, and, as a State, annihilated. British
+     clerks and officers were smuggled into her Parliament, to vote away
+     the constitution of a country to which they were strangers, and in
+     which they had neither interest nor connexion. They were employed
+     to cancel the royal charter of the Irish nation, guaranteed by the
+     British Government, sanctioned by the British Legislature, and
+     unequivocally confirmed by the words, the signature, and the Great
+     Seal of their monarch.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;The situation of the Speaker on that night was of the most<a name="Page_633"></a>
+     distressing nature. A sincere and ardent enemy of the measure, he
+     headed its opponents; he resisted with all the power of his mind,
+     the resources of his experience, his influence, and his eloquence.
+     It was, however, through his voice that it was to be proclaimed and
+     consummated. His only alternative (resignation) would have been
+     unavailing, and could have added nothing to his character. His
+     expressive countenance bespoke the inquietude of his feeling;
+     solicitude was perceptible in every glance, and his embarrassment
+     was obvious in every word he uttered.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;The galleries were full, but the change was lamentable; they were
+     no longer crowded with those who had been accustomed to witness the
+     eloquence and to animate the debates of that devoted assembly. A
+     monotonous and melancholy murmur ran through benches, scarcely a
+     word was exchanged amongst the members, nobody seemed at ease, no
+     cheerfulness was apparent, and the ordinary business, for a short
+     time, proceeded in the usual manner.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;At length the expected moment arrived. The order of the day for
+     the third reading of the Bill for a 'Legislative Union between
+     Great Britain and Ireland,' was moved by Lord Castlereagh.
+     Unvaried, tame, coldblooded, the words seemed frozen as they issued
+     from his lips; and, as a simple citizen of the world, he seemed to
+     have no sensation on the subject.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;At that moment he had no country, no God but his ambition: he made
+     his motion, and resumed his seat with the utmost composure and
+     indifference.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;Confused murmurs again ran through the House; it was visibly
+     affected. Every character in a moment seemed involuntary rushing to
+     its index&mdash;some pale, some flushed, some agitated; there were few
+     countenances to which the heart did not despatch some messenger.
+     Several members withdrew before the question could be repeated, and
+     an awful momentary silence succeeded their departure. The Speaker
+     rose slowly from that chair which had been the proud source of his
+     honours and of his high character; for a moment he resumed his
+     seat, but the strength of his mind sustained him in his duty,
+     though his struggle was apparent. With that dignity which never
+     failed to signalize his official actions, he held up the Bill for a
+     moment in silence; he looked steadily around him on the last agony
+     of the expiring Parliament. He at length repeated, in an emphatic
+     tone, 'As many as are of opinion that <i>this Bill</i> do pass, say
+     aye.' The affirmative was languid but <a name="Page_634"></a>indisputable; another
+     momentary pause ensued; again his lips seemed to decline their
+     office; at length, with an eye averted from the object which he
+     hated, he proclaimed, with a subdued voice, 'The Ayes have it.' The
+     fatal sentence was now pronounced; for an instant he stood
+     statue-like; then indignantly, and with disgust, flung the Bill
+     upon the table, and sunk into his chair with an exhausted spirit.</p>
+
+<p>     &quot;An independent country was thus degraded into a province&mdash;Ireland,
+     as a nation, was extinguished.&quot;</p></blockquote>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/105.jpg" width="423" height="495" alt="LYNCH&#39;S HOUSE, GALWAY." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>LYNCH&#39;S HOUSE, GALWAY.</h4>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><br /><br />
+<a name="CHAPTER_XXXVII"></a>
+<center>
+<img src="images/106.jpg" width="418" height="358" alt="SWORDS&#39; CASTLE, COUNTY DUBLIN." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>SWORDS&#39; CASTLE, COUNTY DUBLIN.</h4>
+
+<a name="Page_635"></a>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER XXXVII.</h2>
+
+<h4>The State of Ireland before and after the Union&mdash;Advancement of Trade
+before the Union&mdash;Depression after it&mdash;Lord Clare and Lord Castlereagh
+in the English Parliament&mdash;The Catholic Question becomes a Ministerial
+Difficulty&mdash;The Veto&mdash;The O'Connell Sept&mdash;Early Life of Daniel
+O'Connell&mdash;The Doneraile Conspiracy&mdash;O'Connell as Leader of the Catholic
+Party&mdash;The Clare Election&mdash;O'Connell in the English House of
+Parliament&mdash;Sir Robert Peel&mdash;George IV. visits Ireland&mdash;Disturbances in
+Ireland from the Union to the year 1834, and their Causes&mdash;Parliamentary
+Evidence&mdash;The &quot;Second Reformation&quot;&mdash;Catholic Emancipation&mdash;Emigration,
+its Causes and Effects&mdash;Colonial Policy of England&mdash;Statistics of
+American Trade and Population&mdash;Importance of the Irish and Catholic
+Element in America&mdash;Conclusion.</h4>
+
+<h5>[A.D. 1800-1868.]</h5>
+
+<img src="images/j.jpg" width="54" height="193" align="left" alt="I" title="" />
+<p>t is both a mistake and an injustice to suppose that the page of Irish
+history closed with the dawn of that summer morning, in the year of
+grace 1800, when the parliamentary union of Great Britain and Ireland
+was enacted. I have quoted Sir Jonah Barrington's description of the
+closing night of the Irish Parliament, because he writes as an
+eyewitness, and because few could describe its &quot;last agony&quot; with more
+touching eloquence and more vivid truthfulness; but I beg leave, in the
+name of my country, to protest against his conclusion, that &quot;Ireland, as
+a nation, was extinguished.&quot; There never was, and we must almost fear
+there never will be, a moment in the history of our nation, in which her
+independence was proclaimed<a name="Page_636"></a> more triumphantly or gloriously, than when
+O'Connell, the noblest and the best of her sons, obtained Catholic
+Emancipation.</p>
+
+<p>The immediate effects of the dissolution of the Irish Parliament were
+certainly appalling. The measure was carried on the 7th of June, 1800.
+On the 16th of April, 1782, another measure had been carried, to which I
+must briefly call your attention. That measure was the independence of
+the Irish Parliament. When it passed, Grattan rose once more in the
+House, and exclaimed: &quot;Ireland is now a nation! In that new character I
+hail her, and bowing to her august presence, I say, <i>Esto perpetua!&quot;</i>
+period of unexampled prosperity followed. The very effects of a reaction
+from conditions under which commerce was purposely restricted and trade
+paralyzed by law, to one of comparative freedom, could not fail to
+produce such a result. If the Parliament had been reformed when it was
+freed, it is probable that Ireland at this moment would be the most
+prosperous of nations. But the Parliament was not reformed. The
+prosperity which followed was rather the effect of reaction, than of any
+real settlement of the Irish question. The land laws, which
+unquestionably are <i>the</i> grievance of Ireland, were left untouched, an
+alien Church was allowed to continue its unjust exactions; and though
+Ireland was delivered, her chains were not all broken; and those which
+were, still hung loosely round her, ready for the hand of traitor or of
+foe. Though nominally freed from English control, the Irish Parliament
+was not less enslaved by English influence. Perhaps there had never been
+a period in the history of that nation when bribery was more freely
+used, when corruption was more predominant. A considerable number of the
+peers in the Irish House were English by interest and by education; a
+majority of the members of the Lower House were their creatures. A man
+who ambitioned a place in Parliament, should conform to the opinions of
+his patron; the patron was willing to receive a &quot;compensation&quot; for
+making his opinions, if he had any, coincide with those of the
+Government. Many of the members were anxious for preferment for
+themselves or their friends; the price of preferment was a vote for
+ministers. The solemn fact of individual responsibility for each
+individual act, had yet to be understood. Perhaps the lesson has yet to
+be learned.</p>
+
+<p>One of the first acts of the Irish independent Parliament, was to order
+the appointment of a committee to inquire into the state of the
+manufactures of the kingdom, and to ascertain what might be<a name="Page_637"></a> necessary
+for their improvement. The hearts of the poor, always praying for
+employment, which had been so long and so cruelly withheld from them,
+bounded with joy. Petitions poured in on every side. David Bosquet had
+erected mills in Dublin for the manufacture of metals; he prayed for
+help. John and Henry Allen had woollen manufactories in the county
+Dublin; they prayed for help. Thomas Reilly, iron merchant, of the town
+of Wicklow, wished to introduce improvements in iron works. James Smith,
+an Englishman, had cotton manufactories at Balbriggan; he wished to
+extend them. Anthony Dawson, of Dundrum, near Dublin, had water mills
+for making tools for all kinds of artisans; this, above all, should be
+encouraged, now that there was some chance of men having some use for
+tools. Then there were requests for aid to establish carpet
+manufactories, linen manufactories, glass manufactories, &amp;c.; and Robert
+Burke, Esq., of the county Kildare, prayed for the loan of &pound;40,000 for
+seven years, that he might establish manufactories at Prosperous. These
+few samples of petitions, taken at random from many others, will enable
+the reader to form some faint idea of the state of depression in which
+Ireland was kept by the English nation&mdash;of the eagerness of the Irish to
+work if they were only permitted to do so.</p>
+
+<p>The Irish revenue for the year 1783 was, in round numbers, &pound;900,000,
+which amounted to a tax of about six shillings per annum on each person.
+It was distributed thus:</p>
+
+
+<table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align='left'>For the interest of the National Debt,</td><td align='right'>&pound;120,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Army and Ordnance, Civil Government, and other funds,</td><td align='right'>450,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Pensions, grants, bounties, and aids to manufacturers,</td><td align='right'>250,000</td></tr>
+<tr><td align='left'>Surplus unappropriated,</td><td align='right'>80,000</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td align='left'>Total,</td><td align='right'>&pound;900,000</td></tr></table>
+
+
+<p>More than &pound;200,000 was spent during that year in erecting forts,
+batteries, and other public buildings, which gave employment to the
+people in certain districts. Large sums were granted to the poor of Cork
+and Dublin for coals; and large grants were made to encourage
+manufactures. I have observed, however, in carefully examining these
+grants, which are by far too numerous for insertion,<a name="Page_638"></a> that they were
+principally, and, indeed, I might say exclusively, made to persons in
+Dublin and its neighbourhood, in the north of Ireland, and in the
+<i>cities</i> of Cork and Limerick. Hence, the prosperity of Ireland was only
+partial, and was confined exclusively, though, probably, not
+intentionally, to certain districts. This will explain why the misery
+and starvation of the poor, in the less favoured parts of the country,
+were a principal cause of the fearful insurrection which occurred within
+a few short years.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Clare proclaimed, in the House of Parliament, that &quot;no nation on
+the habitable globe had advanced in cultivation, commerce, and
+manufactures, with the same rapidity as Ireland, from 1782 to 1800.&quot;
+<i>The population increased from three millions to five.</i> There were 5,000
+carpenters fully employed in Dublin; there were 15,000 silk-weavers. Nor
+should we be surprised at this; for Dublin possesses at the present day
+substantial remains of her former prosperity, which are even now the
+admiration of Europe. All her great public buildings were erected at
+this period. The Custom-house was commenced, and completed in ten years,
+at a cost of a quarter of a million sterling. The Rotundo was commenced
+in 1784. The Law Courts, the most elegant and extensive in the British
+Empire, were begun in 1786. In 1788 there were 14,327 dwelling-houses in
+Dublin, and 110,000 inhabitants. Two hundred and twenty peers and three
+hundred commoners had separate residences. Dublin was fashionable, and
+Dublin prospered.<a name="FNanchor_584_585"></a><a href="#Footnote_584_585"><sup>[584]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>I have already said that corruption soon did its fatal work. It
+sanctioned, nay, it compelled, the persecution of the majority of the
+nation for their religious creed; and with this persecution the last
+flame of national prosperity expired, and the persecutors and the
+persecuted shared alike in the common ruin. In 1792 Lord Edward
+FitzGerald denounced the conduct of the House in these ever-memorable
+words: &quot;I do think, sir, that the Lord Lieutenant and the majority of
+this House are the worst subjects the King has;&quot; and when a storm arose,
+the more violent from consciousness that his words were but too true,
+for all retraction he would only say:</p>
+<a name="Page_639"></a>
+<p>&quot;I am accused of having said that I think the Lord Lieutenant and the
+majority of this House are the worst subjects the King has. I said so;
+'tis true; and I am sorry for it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>On the 1st of January, 1801, a new imperial standard was exhibited on
+London Tower, and on the Castles of Dublin and Edinburgh. It was formed
+of the three crosses of St. George, St. Patrick, and St. Andrew, and is
+popularly known as the Union Jack. The <i>fleur de lis</i> and the word
+France were omitted from royal prerogatives and titles; and a
+proclamation was issued appointing the words <i>Dei Gratia, Britaniarum
+Rex, Fidei Defensor</i>. The <i>Dublin Gazette</i> of July, 1800, contained the
+significant announcement of the creation of sixteen new peerages. The
+same publication for the last week of the year contained a fresh list of
+twenty-six others. Forty-two creations in six months were rather an
+extensive stretch of prerogative; and we cannot be surprised if the
+majority of the nation had more respect for the great untitled, whose
+ancestry were known, and were quite above accepting the miserable bribe
+of a modern peerage.</p>
+
+<p>Strangely enough, from the very day on which the Union was proclaimed,
+the Catholic question became a ministerial difficulty. Pitt's
+administration failed on this very point, although it had seemed
+invincible a few weeks before. The obstinacy of the King, which, indeed,
+almost amounted to a monomania, was the principal cause. He made it a
+personal matter, declared it the &quot;most jacobinical thing he had ever
+heard of;&quot; and he informed the world at large that he would consider any
+man who proposed it his personal enemy. Pitt resigned. Opinions varied
+as to his motives. He returned to office in 1804, having promised that
+he would not again press the subject; and he adhered to his
+determination until his death. The Irish nobles, who had worked hardest
+to carry the Union, were somewhat disappointed as to the result. Lord
+Clare was told by the Duke of Bedford, that the Union had not
+transferred his dictatorial powers to the Imperial Parliament. He
+retired to Ireland deeply chagrined, and was soon borne to his grave,
+amid the revilings of the people whom he had betrayed. Lord Castlereagh,
+who had been less accustomed to command, and had less difficulty in
+stooping to conquer, succeeded better with his English friends, and in a
+few years he ruled the cabinets of Europe; while the Iron Duke, another
+Irishman, dictated to their armies.</p>
+
+<p>In 1803 the flame of insurrection again broke out, and again<a name="Page_640"></a> French aid
+was expected, and the expedition ended in disappointment. Napoleon
+himself regretted that he had turned his armies towards Egypt, instead
+of towards Ireland. Emmet's career was brief, and would probably have
+been almost forgotten, but for his famous speech at the moment of
+receiving sentence, and for the history of his love and her devoted
+attachment to his memory.</p>
+
+<p>In 1805 Grattan entered the Imperial Parliament, at the request of Fox.
+An English constituency was found for him. At the same time, Plunket was
+brought into the house by Pitt; and thus these two famous men, the one
+so full of the brilliant, and the other so full of the powerful, gifts
+of mental science, again pleaded their country's cause together, and in
+perfect harmony, though differing on some political points. When Grattan
+first rose to address the British Senate, there was a hushed attention
+to his every word; as his eloquence kindled with his subject, there were
+suppressed murmurs of approbation; when he had concluded, there were
+thunders of applause. His subject was a petition from the Irish
+Catholics, which was presented to both Houses in 1805. The division gave
+339 to 124 against going into committee; still it was something gained,
+when Englishmen even listened to Irish grievances, or made some effort
+to understand them.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Veto</i> was now suggested. The object of this was to allow the crown
+a passive voice, if not an active one, in the nomination of Catholic
+bishops. Happily for the Catholic Church in Ireland, the proposal was
+steadily rejected, though with a determination which brought even
+members of the same Church into collision. Connexion with the State
+might have procured temporal advantages, but they would have been in
+truth a poor compensation for the loss of that perfect freedom of action
+so essential to the spiritual advancement of the Church.</p>
+
+<p>The Duke of Richmond came to Ireland in 1807, with Sir Arthur Wellesley
+as Chief Secretary. The young man, whose fame was yet unattained, showed
+himself as clearheaded in the cabinet as in the camp. He made every
+attempt to suppress the party demonstrations which have been the curse
+of Ireland, and induced the Wexford people to discontinue their annual
+celebration of the battle of Vinegar Hill. If he could have suppressed a
+few other anniversaries in the north, it would have been a blessing to
+the United Kingdom. In 1806 Mr. Grattan was returned for<a name="Page_641"></a> Dublin, and
+generously refused the sum of &pound;4,000, which his constituents had
+collected to pay his expenses. The Catholic question was now constantly
+coming up, and more than one cabinet was formed and dissolved according
+to the views of the different members on that matter. A new element of
+vitality had been introduced by the relaxation of the penal laws. Men
+were no longer afraid to ask for a grace which they wanted, lest they
+should lose a grace which they had. The people found that they might
+speak their real opinions without apprehensions of attempts at
+conversion in the shape of pitchcaps and half-hangings; and when the
+people were ready for a leader, the leader was ready for the people; and
+Daniel O'Connell took the place in the guidance of the Irish nation,
+which he will never lose in their memory and in their affections.</p>
+
+<p>The history of Ireland and the life of O'Connell are convertible terms
+for five-and-forty years. O'Connell represented Ireland, and Ireland was
+represented by O'Connell. We have had our great men and our good men,
+our brave men and our true men; but, to my poor thinking, the greatest
+of our men was O'Connell&mdash;for who ever approached him in his mighty
+power of ruling a nation by moral suasion only? the best of our men was
+O'Connell, for who dare assert that he was ever unfaithful to his
+country or to his country's faith? the bravest of our men was O'Connell,
+equally fearless in every danger, moral or physical; and the truest of
+our men was O'Connell, dying of a broken heart in a faraway land,
+because he saw his country's cause all but ruined&mdash;because he knew that
+with his failing breath one of his country's surest helpers would pass
+from her for ever. A <i>thoughtfully</i> written &quot;History of the life and
+Times of O'Connell,&quot; by some one really competent to do justice to the
+subject, is much wanted. I believe that posterity will do justice to his
+memory as one of the best and noblest patriots which the world has ever
+seen&mdash;a justice which as yet has been scarcely accorded to him as fully
+as he has merited. Had O'Connell accomplished no other work for Ireland
+than this&mdash;the giving of a tone of nationality and manliness to the
+people&mdash;he had accomplished a most glorious work. He taught Irishmen
+that chains do not make the slave, but rather the spirit in which the
+chains are worn. He awoke, in the hearts of his countrymen, that love of
+freedom, which is the first step towards making a successful effort to
+obtain it. He showed them how<a name="Page_642"></a> they might intimidate their oppressors
+without injuring themselves&mdash;a lesson eminently necessary where the
+oppressors are incomparably more powerful than the oppressed.</p>
+
+<p>The sept of O'Connell, from which this noble man was descended held a
+prominent position among the early Milesian clans. Pure Celtic blood ran
+in his veins; the fire of Celtic wit sparkled in his utterances; the
+lighthearted happiness of a Celtic spirit guided his actions; and the
+undaunted bravery of a Celtic warrior's courage looked out of his clear
+beaming eye. A nobleman, in truth, was Daniel O'Connell&mdash;a nobleman of
+whom any nation might justly be proud&mdash;a nobleman to whom we must hope
+that Ireland will yet raise some monument of enduring fame. The
+O'Connell sept were driven from their ancestral homes, in 1172, by
+Raymond, Strongbow's son-in-law. Their territory lay along the Shannon.
+They were now compelled to take refuge in a wild and desolate part of
+Kerry, too wild and too desolate to attract English cupidity. A MS. is
+still preserved in the British Museum, written by one of the O'Connell
+family; it is in the Irish language, and bears date 1245. In this
+document mention is made of a Daniel O'Connell, who proceeded to the
+north of Ireland, at the head of a large body of men, to resist an
+invading force. The Celts were successful; and when they had won the
+day, the chieftain and his vanquished foes feasted together. In 1586
+Richard O'Connell was High Sheriff of Kerry; but, from the accession of
+William III., until the illustrious Liberator obtained some degree of
+freedom for his country, all the O'Connells were prescribed from
+positions of emolument, for having held with unswerving fidelity to the
+old faith.</p>
+
+<p>O'Connell was born on the 6th of August, 1775, &quot;the very year,&quot; as he
+himself says, in a letter to the <i>Dublin Evening Post</i>, &quot;in which the
+stupid obstinacy of British oppression <i>forced</i> the reluctant people of
+America to seek for security in arms, and to commence that bloody
+struggle for national independence, which has been in its results
+beneficial to England, whilst it has shed glory, and conferred liberty,
+pure and sublime, on America.&quot; He was educated at St. Omers, and it is
+said manifested some inclination for the priesthood; but there can be no
+doubt that his vocation lay in another direction, as he was incomparably
+too deeply religious and too thoroughly honest not to have obeyed the
+call of God at any cost, had such a favour been vouchsafed to him. It is
+said, whatever his dislike of physical force may have<a name="Page_643"></a> been in
+after-life, that he unquestionably knew how to use the <i>argumentum
+baculinum</i> in his early days; and that more than one student was made to
+feel the effects thereof, when attempting ill-natured jokes on the
+herculean Celt. During his residence abroad he had some opportunities of
+witnessing the fearful effects of the French Revolution; and it is
+probable that a remembrance of these scenes, added to his own admirably
+keen common sense, saved him from leading his countrymen on to deeds of
+open violence. He was called to the Irish bar in the memorable year of
+1798. For some time he failed to obtain practice; for who would confide
+their case to a young Catholic lawyer, when the fact of his creed alone
+would be sufficient to condemn his client in the eyes of Protestant
+juries, judges, and attorneys? His maiden speech was made in opposition
+to the Union, even as his life was spent in the most strenuous efforts
+to obtain the reversal of that most fatal measure. A meeting was held in
+the Royal Exchange, Dublin, at the close of the year 1799, to petition
+against it; but even as O'Connell was denouncing, in his most eloquent
+language, the new attempt at national degradation, Major Sirr and his
+file of military rushed into the apartment, and separated the assembly.
+O'Connell now retired into private life, and, with the marvellous
+foresight of true genius, devoted himself to storing up that forensic
+knowledge which he felt sure he should one day use for the benefit of
+his countrymen.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most important instances in which O'Connell's legal acumen
+saved the lives of his countrymen, is known as the &quot;Doneraile
+Conspiracy;&quot; and as all the facts are eminently illustrative of the
+history of Ireland at that period, and of the character and abilities of
+one of her most distinguished sons, I shall relate the circumstances.
+Several Protestant gentlemen in the neighbourhood of Doneraile, had been
+making those abortive efforts to &quot;convert&quot; their tenants from Popery,
+which usually end in no small amount of ill-feeling on both sides;
+another of these gentlemen, with equal zeal and equal want of common
+sense and common humanity, had devoted himself to hunting out real or
+supposed rebels. This gentleman had at last brought on himself an armed
+attack, for which he deserved little pity. He contrived, however, to
+capture one of his assailants, who, of course, was hung. The gentlemen
+having thus excited the unfortunate peasantry, pointed to the results of
+their own folly as though these results had been the cause of it; and an
+informer came forward, who, with the<a name="Page_644"></a> usual recklessness of his atrocious
+class, accused some of the most respectable farmers of the district of
+having entered into a conspiracy to murder the Protestant gentlemen,&mdash;a
+cruel return certainly had it been true, for their earnest efforts to
+convert the natives from &quot;the errors of Popery to those of the
+Protestant Church.&quot; A special commission was sent down; the wildest
+excitement prevailed on all sides; and, as was usual in such cases, the
+bitterest prejudice against the unfortunate accused. The
+Solicitor-General led for the crown: the defence was a simple denial. In
+such cases the examination of the approvers is the great point for the
+accused, and should be confided to the ablest counsel. One of the
+unfortunate prisoners was a respectable farmer, aged seventy, of whom
+the highest character was given. But it was all in vain; after five
+minutes' deliberation, the jury gave in the verdict of guilty. As the
+men were to be made an &quot;example of,&quot; they were sentenced to be hanged in
+six days. This was on Saturday. The next lot of prisoners was to be
+tried at nine o'clock on Monday morning. There was one universal cry for
+&quot;O'Connell,&quot; from the great multitude who knew these poor victims were
+perfectly innocent. On Saturday night a farmer mounted the best horse
+that could be found in Cork, and, after a night of incessant riding, he
+reached Derrynane Abbey on Sunday morning at nine o'clock. His name was
+William Burke: let it be transmitted with all honour to posterity! He
+told his errand to one who never listened unmoved to the tale of his
+country's sorrows and wrongs; and he assured O'Connell that, unless he
+were in Cork by nine next morning, the unfortunate prisoners, &quot;though
+innocent as the child unborn,&quot; would all be hanged. The great man at
+once prepared for his journey; and so wild was the joy of Burke, so sure
+was he that there would now be a hope, if not a certainty, of justice,
+that only the earnest entreaties of O'Connell could induce him to remain
+a few hours to rest his weary horse. On the same good horse he set out
+again, and reached Cork at eight o'clock on Monday morning, having
+travelled 180 miles in thirty-eight hours. Scouts had been posted all
+along the road to watch the man's return: even as he passed through each
+little village, there was an anxious crowd waiting the word of life or
+death. &quot;O'Connell's coming, boys!&quot; was enough; and a wild cheer, which
+rent the very mountains, told how keenly an act of justice could be
+appreciated by the most justice-loving people upon earth. And O'Connell
+did come. He has himself described the sensations of that midnight
+journey,<a name="Page_645"></a> through all the autumn beauties of the most beautiful scenery
+in the United Kingdom. And then he exclaims: &quot;After that glorious feast
+of soul, I found myself settled down amid all the rascalities of an
+Irish court of justice.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The Solicitor-General was actually addressing the jury, when the shouts
+of the excited crowd announced the arrival of one who, by this act of
+his life alone, deserves, <i>par excellence</i>, the proud and glorious title
+of the LIBERATOR. He entered the courthouse, apologized for his
+unprofessional attire; and as he had no refreshment, and there was no
+time to lose, he requested permission of the judges to have a bowl of
+milk and some sandwiches sent to him. The Solicitor-General resumed his
+address, but had not proceeded far before the stentorian voice of
+O'Connell was heard exclaiming: &quot;That's not law.&quot; The bench decided in
+his favour. He was rapidly swallowing as much food as was necessary to
+sustain nature, and once more, with his mouth full, he exclaims: &quot;That's
+no longer law; the Act is repealed.&quot; Again the mortified counsel
+proceeded with his case, and once more O'Connell's knowledge of law
+served him in good stead. &quot;The learned Solicitor,&quot; he exclaimed, &quot;has
+<i>no right</i> to make such a statement; the crown cannot give such matters
+in evidence.&quot; For the third time the ruling was in favour of the
+Liberator. Then came the all-important cross-examination of the
+approvers; and the men who had lied so well and so boldly on Saturday,
+prevaricated, cursed, and howled under the searching questions of their
+new examiner; Nowlan, the vilest of the lot, exclaiming at last: &quot;It's
+little I thought I'd have to meet you, Counsellor O'Connell.&quot; Alas!
+thrice-wretched man, who thought still less of another Court and another
+Judgment. O'Connell won the day. He threatened the very
+Solicitor-General with impeachment before the House of Commons, for the
+way he conducted the case. He taunted him, bewildered him, scolded him,
+laughed at him, as he only could do; and when at last the unfortunate
+man came out with some observation about &quot;false <i>facts</i>,&quot; O'Connell
+threw the whole court into a roar of laughter by directing attention to
+the bull, and by his inimitable imitation of his English accent. The
+jury could not agree, and the men were acquitted. Another trial came on
+next day, and it was then discovered that one of the approvers differed
+in most important matters from his statements on oath before the
+magistrates of Doneraile, and in what he now stated. This was enough;
+and the jury brought in a verdict of not guilty, though, <a name="Page_646"></a>on the very
+same evidence, a verdict of guilty had been given on Saturday. As an
+act, however, of great clemency, the men who had been sentenced to be
+hanged in six days, were now <i>only</i> transported.</p>
+
+<p>During the time of O'Connell's retirement and study, he had but too many
+opportunities of knowing how little justice was likely to be meted out
+to Irishmen accused, justly or unjustly, of political crimes; and,
+doubtless, he directed his studies to those special points most likely
+to be helpful hereafter. Robert Emmet's execution took place in October,
+1803; and from that hour, until the accession of the Whigs to office, in
+1806, Ireland was ruled by martial law. The Habeas Corpus Act and trial
+by jury were suspended, and the jails and transport ships were crowded
+with the victims of military ferocity and magisterial vengeance. In the
+debate of 1805, when the Catholic petition was brought into the House of
+Commons by Mr. Fox, and treacherously opposed by Pitt, Mr. Ponsonby
+exclaimed, speaking of the Irish Catholics: &quot;I know them well; and I
+know, at the same time, that whatever is good in them, they owe to
+themselves; whatever is bad in them, they owe to you, and to your bad
+government.&quot; Mr. Grattan accused the English Tories of &quot;running about
+like old women in search of old prejudices; <i>preferring to buy foreign
+allies by subsidies, rather than to subsidize fellow-subjects by
+privileges.&quot;</i> He might have said by justice, for the Irish have never
+asked for privileges; they ask simply for the same justice as is shown
+to English subjects. Mr. Foster, the last Speaker of the Irish House of
+Commons, declared that, &quot;under the Union Act, by compact, the Protestant
+boroughs were suppressed, and a compensation of &pound;1,400,000 paid to
+Protestant owners, and not one shilling to the Catholics.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>O'Connell came prominently forward as a leader of the Catholic party in
+1810. A meeting was held in the Royal Exchange, Dublin, to petition for
+Repeal of the Union, at which the High Sheriff of that city presided,
+and many distinguished men were present&mdash;a proof that, however corrupted
+Irish Parliaments may have been by English gold, there was still some
+advantage to be gained to the country by possessing even a partial
+independence. O'Connell's speech was published, and circulated widely.
+To give the full details of his career as a leader of the people, would
+require a volume the size of the present work; to give even a
+sufficiently comprehensive outline, would require several chapters: I
+can but hope that some able hand <a name="Page_647"></a>will take up the subject, and with
+equal earnestness do I hope that it may be some one really capable of
+doing justice to it. One who would write the &quot;Life and Times of
+O'Connell&quot; as such a work should be written, would require to bring more
+than ordinary abilities to the task, and would deserve, at the hands of
+his countrymen, the highest expression of gratitude which they could
+give. Such a work would be incomparably the noblest monument which could
+be dedicated to his memory.</p>
+<a name="OConnell_refusing_to_take_the_Oath"></a>
+<center>
+<img src="images/107.jpg" width="477" height="674" alt="O&#39;Connell refusing to take the Oath." title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>O&#39;Connell refusing to take the Oath.</h4>
+
+<p>The Clare election is undoubtedly the culminating point in O'Connell's
+career. Men stood aghast in amazement at the boldness of the man who
+presumed to make such an attempt. Even his friends could scarcely
+believe that he was in earnest, or that he was wise. His success was a
+splendid example of what the energy and determination of one single man
+could accomplish. Well might the Lord Chancellor declare that &quot;this
+business must bring the Roman Catholic question to a crisis and a
+conclusion.&quot; The words were prophetic; the prophecy was realized. On the
+5th of March, 1829, Mr. Peel moved a committee of the whole House, &quot;to
+go into the consideration of the civil disabilities of his Majesty's
+Roman Catholic subjects.&quot; The motion was carried by a majority of 188.
+On the 15th of May, 1829, O'Connell appeared in the House to take his
+seat. He was introduced by Lords Ebrington and Dungannon. The House was
+thronged. The very peeresses came to gaze upon the arch-agitator,
+expecting to see a demagogue, and to hear an Irish brogue. There were
+whispers of surprise when they saw a gentleman, and a man who could
+speak, with the versatility of true talent, to suit his audience. The
+card containing the oath was handed to O'Connell; he read a portion of
+it over in an audible voice&mdash;the portion which required him to say that
+&quot;the sacrifice of the Mass, and the invocation of the Blessed Virgin
+Mary and other saints, as now practised in the Church of Rome, are
+impious and idolatrous;&quot; and to deny the dispensing power of the Pope,
+which never existed, except in the imagination of its framers. With a
+courteous bow he said, in a voice to be heard throughout the House: &quot;I
+decline, Mr. Clerk, to take this oath: part of it I know to be false;
+another part I believe not to be true.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Again he sought the votes of the electors of Clare, and again he was
+returned by them. On the 13th of April, 1829, the royal signature was
+affixed to the Act of Emancipation, and Irishmen were<a name="Page_648"></a> no longer refused
+the rights of citizens because they respected the rights of conscience.</p>
+
+<p>In the year 1812, the late Sir Robert Peel came to Ireland as Chief
+Secretary, unfortunately destitute of the enlargement of mind and the
+native genius of his predecessor, Sir Arthur Wellesley. His abilities,
+however great, were not such as to enable him to understand a
+nationality distinct from his own; and hence he could not deal with the
+Irish, either to his credit, or for their advantage. From the year 1815
+to 1817 the conduct of the English Parliament towards Ireland was
+regulated with the nicest attention to the movements of the General who
+ruled the Continent. In 1817 an Act was passed, which, with admirable
+policy, excused Catholic officers, naval and military, from forswearing
+transubstantiation. In 1821 George IV. visited Ireland. It was the first
+time that an English King had come to Ireland as the acknowledged
+sovereign of the people. Their hopes were high; and the deference for
+royalty, so eminently characteristic of the Celt, had at last found an
+opportunity of expressing itself. All that loyalty could do was done;
+all that the warmest heart could say was said. The King appeared
+impressed by demonstrations so entirely new to him; he wore a large
+bunch of shamrocks constantly during his brief stay; but before the
+shamrocks were faded, Irish wants and Irish loyalty were alike
+forgotten.</p>
+
+<p>In the year 1824 the subject of Irish disturbances was carefully
+inquired into by Select Committees of both Houses of Parliament. Some
+extracts from their reports will give the best and most correct idea of
+the state of the country from the Union to the year 1834, when another
+investigation was made. In 1807 the county Limerick was alarmingly
+disturbed. In 1812 the counties of Tipperary, Waterford, Kilkenny,
+Limerick, Westmeath, Roscommon, and the King's county, were the theatre
+of the same sanguinary tumults. Limerick and Tipperary remained under
+the Insurrection Act until 1818. In 1820 there were serious disturbances
+in Galway, and in 1821, in Limerick.</p>
+
+<p>These disturbances are thus accounted for Maxwell Blacker, Esq.,
+Barrister, who was appointed to administer the Insurrection Act, in
+1822, in the counties of Cork and Tipperary: &quot;The immediate cause of the
+disturbance I consider to be the great increase of population, and the
+fall in the price of produce after the war; the consequence of which
+was, that it was impossible to pay<a name="Page_649"></a> the rent or the tithes that had been
+paid when the country was prosperous.&quot; Sir Matthew Barrington, Crown
+Solicitor of the Munster Circuit for seventeen years, was asked: &quot;Do you
+attribute the inflammable state of the population to the state of misery
+in which they generally are?&quot; &quot;I do, to a great extent; I seldom knew
+any instance when there was sufficient employment for the people that
+they were inclined to be disturbed; if they had plenty of work and
+employment, they are generally peaceable.&quot; John Leslie Foster, Esq.,
+M.P., in his examination, states: &quot;I think the proximate cause [of the
+disturbances] is the extreme physical misery of the peasantry, coupled
+with their liability to be called upon for the payment of different
+charges, which it is often perfectly impossible for them to meet.&quot;
+Matthew Singleton, Esq., Chief Magistrate of Police in the Queen's
+county, said, on his examination: &quot;I have seen, and I know land to be
+set one-third above its value.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>It would be useless to give more of this evidence, for the details are
+always the same. The people were almost starving. They could scarcely
+get a sufficiency of the poorest food, yet they were compelled to pay
+rent and tithes far above the value of their land. If they were unable,
+they were thrown out upon the wayside to die like dogs.</p>
+
+<p>There can be no doubt that the outrages thus perpetrated were very
+fearful. Every man's hand was against them, and their hand was against
+every man. They shot their landlords, and they &quot;carded&quot; the
+tithe-proctors. Gentlemen's houses were barricaded, even in the daytime.
+Many families of the higher classes lived in a state of siege. The
+windows were made bullet-proof; the doors were never opened after
+nightfall. It was a fearful state of society for a Christian country,
+and the guilt and disgrace of it was surely on those who had caused it.
+Yet we do not find that the knowledge of these facts produced any effect
+upon the men who heard them, and who alone had it in their power to
+apply the remedy. Still something was done; and although it is one of
+the stern facts of history, one can scarcely choose but smile at the
+simplicity of those who planned and carried out such a scheme for the
+improvement of Ireland.</p>
+
+<p>The &quot;second reformation&quot; was commenced in 1827. The Catholic priests
+were challenged to controversy; even laymen interfered. Theology and
+theological differences became the town and <a name="Page_650"></a>table-talk of Ireland.
+Bibles and tracts were distributed in all directions amongst the
+starving poor, food and clothing were occasionally added; yet,
+notwithstanding these powerful inducements, the people starved and
+remained Catholics. Writs of ejectment were then tried; and the Irish
+poor had their choice between the Bible and beggary&mdash;but they chose
+beggary.</p>
+
+<p>So far did the Bible craze go, that it almost amounted to a monomania.
+One noble lord, to show his reverence for that book, and to convince his
+tenantry of the estimation in which he held it, flung every volume of
+his library into the lake of his demesne, and with the Bible in his
+hand, which commanded him to feed the hungry, refused to feed them
+unless they complied with his commands. Moore's satires were,
+unquestionably, the best weapons against such fanaticism. Sheil wrote in
+the <i>Gazette de France</i>, and hundreds of pens wrote in the American
+papers. A loud cry of &quot;Shame!&quot; arose in every quarter of the world; the
+echo reached the ears of the promoters of the movement; and the force of
+public opinion succeeded in suppressing the futile attempt.</p>
+
+<p>The influence of Irish emigrants in America was already beginning to be
+felt. Large sums of money poured in from that country to swell the
+Catholic rent, and a considerable portion of the funds were employed by
+O'Connell in providing for men who had been ejected by their landlords,
+for refusing either to believe a creed, or to give a vote contrary to
+their conscience. He even threatened to buy up the incumbrances on some
+of these gentlemen's estates, to foreclose their mortgages, and to sell
+them out. His threat, added to his well-known determination, was not
+without its effect.</p>
+
+<p>The whole subject of Irish emigration may be safely predicted to be the
+key which will unlock the future fate of Great Britain. It is true that,
+at this moment, every effort is being made by the English nation to
+conciliate America; it remains to be seen how Americans will be disposed
+to accept present flattery as a compensation for past injustice, and
+scarcely past contempt. A better knowledge of Irish history might
+prevent some fatal mistakes on both sides of the Atlantic. I have,
+therefore, felt it a duty to devote the concluding pages of this
+<i>History</i> to this important subject.</p>
+
+<p>The great tide of western emigration was undoubtedly caused, in part, by
+the sufferings of the famine year; but these sufferings were in
+themselves an effect, rather than a cause; and we must<a name="Page_651"></a> look to more
+remote history for the origin of the momentous exodus. It has, indeed,
+been well observed, that &quot;when a man leaves his country for one subject
+to foreign rule, it must, in general, be that he does not care for it,
+or that it does not care for him; it must either be that he is so little
+attached to the institutions of his own country, that he is willing to
+submit to those of another; or that he despises the latter sufficiently
+to look forward to replacing them by those of his own.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_585_586"></a><a href="#Footnote_585_586"><sup>[585]</sup></a> No
+unprejudiced person can for a moment doubt which of these causes has
+been most active in producing Irish emigration. The Irishman's love of
+home and of his native land, is a fact beyond all dispute: his
+emigration, then, can have no other cause than this, that his country,
+or the country which governs his native land, does not care for him; and
+when we find noble lords and honorable members suggesting &quot;the more
+emigration the better,&quot; we cannot doubt that he is the victim to
+indifference, if not to absolute dislike. Undoubtedly, if the Irishman
+did not care for his country, and if the Englishman, when planted in
+Ireland, did not become equally discontented and rather more indignant
+than his predecessors under English rule in Ireland, the arrangement
+might be a very admirable one; but Irishmen, to the third and fourth
+generation, do not forget their country, neither do they forget why they
+have been compelled to leave it. A work has been published lately on the
+subject of the Irish in America. It is much to be regretted, that the
+very able writer did not give statistics and facts, as well as
+inferences and anecdotes. A history of the Irish in America, should
+include statistics which could not be disputed, and facts which could
+not be denied. The facts in the work alluded to are abundant, and most
+important; but they should have been prefaced by an account of the
+causes which have led to emigration, and as accurate statistics as
+possible of its results.</p>
+
+<p>Some few English writers have had the honesty to admit that their
+colonial policy has not been the most admirable; &quot;nor should we forget,&quot;
+says the author of the <i>History of the United States</i>, &quot;that the spirit
+in which these colonies were ruled from England was one, in the main, of
+intense selfishness. The answer of Seymour, an English Attorney-General
+under William and Mary, or towards<a name="Page_652"></a> the close of the seventeenth century,
+to the request of Virginia, for a college, when her delegate begged him
+to consider that the people of Virginia had souls to be saved as well as
+the people of England: Souls! damn your souls! plant tobacco!&quot; is
+scarcely an unfair exponent of that spirit.<a name="FNanchor_586_587"></a><a href="#Footnote_586_587"><sup>[586]</sup></a> Another writer says:
+&quot;Historians, in treating of the American rebellion, have confined their
+arguments too exclusively to the question of internal taxation, and the
+right or policy of exercising this prerogative. The true source of the
+rebellion lay deeper&mdash;in our traditional colonial policy.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_587_588"></a><a href="#Footnote_587_588"><sup>[587]</sup></a> One more
+quotation must suffice: &quot;The legal rights of those colonies have been
+perpetually violated. Those which were strong enough were driven to
+separation; those which adhered to us in that great contest, or which we
+have subsequently acquired or founded, are either denied constitutions,
+or, if the local authorities oppose the will of the Imperial Parliament,
+find their constitutions changed, suspended, or annulled.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_588_589"></a><a href="#Footnote_588_589"><sup>[588]</sup></a> It will
+be remembered that the original colonists of America were principally
+Englishmen, who were driven from their own country by religious
+intolerance; yet no sooner had they established themselves in their new
+home, than they commenced to practise even more fearful persecutions on
+others than those from which they had fled. There was one honorable
+exception; the Roman Catholics who fled from persecution in England,
+never, even in the plenitude of their power, attempted the slightest
+persecution, religious, social, or legal.</p>
+
+<p>It will be seen, then, that the first emigrants to America from the
+British dominions, could not have had any special attachment to the
+country they had left; that, on the contrary, their feelings were
+embittered against the mother country before their departure from her
+shores; and after that departure she did nothing to allay the
+irritation, but much to increase it. For several centuries after the
+arrival of the &quot;May Flower,&quot; the number of emigrants from England and
+Ireland were, probably, tolerably equal, and by no means numerous. It
+was not an age of statistics, and no accurate statistics can be given.</p>
+
+<p>The disruption between the States and England, or rather the<a name="Page_653"></a> causes
+which led to it, re-opened whatever feelings there may have been against
+the mother country, and at the same time increased its bitterness a
+hundredfold. The tide of Irish emigration had set in even then&mdash;slowly,
+indeed, but surely; and it will be remembered that the Irish in America,
+few though they were, became the foremost to fan the flame of rebellion,
+and were amongst the first to raise the standard of revolt. The States
+obtained a glorious freedom&mdash;a freedom which, on the whole, they have
+used wisely and well; and even their bitterest enemies cannot deny that
+they have formed a powerful nation&mdash;a nation which may yet rule the
+destinies of the world. Let us endeavour now to estimate in some degree
+the influence of Irish emigration on American society. If the history of
+Ireland were written in detail up to the present day, fully one-fourth
+the detail should comprise a history of the Irish in America. Never in
+the world's history has an emigration been so continuous or so
+excessive; never in the world's history have emigrants continued so
+inseparably united, politically and socially, to the country which they
+have left. The cry of &quot;Ireland for the Irish,&quot; is uttered as loudly on
+the shores of the Mississippi as on the shores of the Shannon. It is
+almost impossible to arrive at accurate statistics of the number of
+Irish in America, but a fair approximation may be obtained. The
+population of America, according to a recent writer, was, in 1840,
+17,063,353; in 1850, it had risen to 23,191,876; it is now [1868],
+35,000,000. In 1842, the imports were in value, $100,162,087; the
+exports, $104,691,534; and the tonnage was 2,092,391. In 1859, the
+imports were $383,768,130; the exports were $356,789,462; and the
+tonnage was 5,146,037. This increase is beyond all historical
+precedence, and a future historian, who found such amazing statistics of
+increase, and knew nothing of emigration, would be strangely puzzled to
+account for it. But if he searched the files of an old English or Irish
+newspaper office, whatever might have been the creed or politics of its
+proprietors, he would soon arrive at a satisfactory solution. In the
+<i>Irish Times</i>, the leading Irish paper of the day, he would find the
+following reference to the present history of Ireland: &quot;The Emigration
+Commissioners notice with some surprise the fact, that, during the past
+year [1867], the emigrants from Ireland were better clothed, and carried
+with them better furnished kits, than either the English or foreign
+emigrants. During the past year, 51,000 Irish emigrants left Liverpool
+alone&mdash;<a name="Page_654"></a>a regiment nearly one thousand strong every week. The loss of
+100,000 persons annually, chiefly of the labouring classes, and
+generally strong, active, well-built men, affords matter for serious
+consideration. If the Government be contented that 100,000 yearly of the
+Irish population <i>should, increase the power of America</i> [the italics
+are our own], they have but to refuse those generous and considerate
+measures which alone can keep our people at home, by giving them a
+chance of progressing as they do in America.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>This is the honestly avowed opinion of a Protestant paper, whose editors
+are beyond all suspicion of writing to encourage &quot;Popery,&quot; or preach
+Fenianism. An admirable parliamentary comment has just occurred in the
+rejection of the Protestant Church Suspension Bill by the House of
+Lords, though there is no doubt that the good sense and the native
+justice of the English nation will at length compel its acceptance.</p>
+
+<p>The fact is, that at this moment nearly one-half the population of
+America are Irish and Catholics. The writer lately quoted, cannot
+refrain from a sneer at the &quot;low Irish&quot; in America, to whom he
+attributes the &quot;insult and injury&quot; which he is pleased to consider that
+Americans manifest to foreign nations, and especially to England; he
+forgets the old sources of injury, which no American can forget; and he
+forgets, also, how easily the same &quot;low Irish&quot; might have been prevented
+from exhibiting the feeling which he attributes to them.</p>
+
+<p>Let those who wish to understand the present history of Ireland, read
+Mr. Maguire's <i>Irish in America</i>, carefully and thoughtfully. If they do
+so, and if they are not blinded by wilful prejudices, they must admit
+that the oft-repeated charges against Irishmen of being improvident and
+idle are utterly groundless, unless, indeed, they can imagine that the
+magic influence of a voyage across the Atlantic can change a man's
+nature completely. Let them learn what the Irishman can do, and does do,
+when freed from the chains of slavery, and when he is permitted to reap
+some reward for his labour. Let him learn that Irishmen do not forget
+wrongs; and if they do not always avenge them, that is rather from
+motives of prudence, than from lack of will. Let him learn that the
+Catholic priesthood are the true fathers of their people, and the true
+protectors of their best interests, social and spiritual. Let him read
+how the good pastor gives his life for his sheep, and counts no<a name="Page_655"></a> journey
+too long or too dangerous, when even a single soul may be concerned. Let
+him judge for himself of the prudence of the same priests, even as
+regards the temporal affairs of their flocks, and see how, where they
+are free to do so, they are the foremost to help them, even in the
+attainment of worldly prosperity. Let him send for Sadlier's <i>Catholic
+Directory for the United States and Canada</i>, and count over the Catholic
+population of each diocese; read the names of priests and nuns, and see
+how strong the Irish element is there. Nay, let him send for one of the
+most popular and best written of the Protestant American serials, and he
+will find an account of Catholics and the Catholic religion, which is to
+be feared few English Protestants would have the honesty to write, and
+few English Protestant serials the courage to publish, however strong
+their convictions. The magazine to which I refer, is the <i>Atlantic
+Monthly;</i> the articles were published in the numbers for April and May,
+1868, and are entitled &quot;Our Roman Catholic Brethren.&quot; Perhaps a careful
+perusal of them would, to a thoughtful mind, be the best solution of the
+Irish question. The writer, though avowing himself a Protestant, and
+declaring that under no circumstances whatever would he be induced to
+believe in miracles, has shown, with equal candour and attractiveness,
+what the Catholic Church is, and what it can do, when free and
+unfettered. He shows it to be the truest and best friend of humanity; he
+shows it to care most tenderly for the poor and the afflicted; and he
+shows, above all, how the despised, exiled Irish are its best and truest
+supports; how the &quot;kitchen often puts the parlour to the blush;&quot; and the
+self-denial of the poor Irish girl assists not a little in erecting the
+stately temples to the Almighty, which are springing up in that vast
+continent from shore to shore, and are only lessened by the demands made
+on the same willing workers for the poor father and mother, the young
+brother or sister, who are supported in their poverty by the alms sent
+them freely, generously, and constantly by the Irish servant-girl.</p>
+
+<a name="Ireland_and_America"></a>
+<center>
+<img src="images/108.jpg" width="434" height="313" alt="Ireland and America" title="" />
+</center>
+<h4>Ireland and America</h4>
+
+<p>Nor have the Catholics of America overlooked the importance of literary
+culture. A host of cheap books and serials are in circulation, and are
+distributed largely and freely in convent schools, collegiate
+establishments, and country parishes; and with a keen appreciation of
+the religious necessities of the great mass of non-Catholics, of which,
+unfortunately, English Catholics are oblivious, tracts are published in
+thousands for general reading, and given to<a name="Page_656"></a> travellers in the railcars,
+and steamboats. Nor has a higher class of literature been overlooked.
+The gifted superior of the Congregation of St. Paul has been mainly
+instrumental in getting up and superintending the labours of the
+<i>Catholic Publication Society</i>, which, in addition to the multitude of
+valuable works it has published, sends forth its monthly magazine, well
+entitled <i>The Catholic World</i>, which is unquestionably the best serial
+of its kind, and may vie with those conducted by the most gifted
+Protestant writers of the day, while it is far superior to anything
+which has as yet been published by the Catholics of this country.</p>
+
+<p>Such is a brief outline, and scarcely even an outline, of the <i>present</i>
+history of Ireland, in which the hearts of so many of our people are in
+one country, while their bodies are in another. There is another phase
+of this present history on which I could have wished to have dwelt much
+longer; I mean the political union between America and Ireland. So long
+as Irish emigration continues&mdash;I should rather say, so long as real
+Irish grievances are permitted to continue&mdash;so long will this state of
+things be dangerous to England. Justice to Ireland may be refused with
+impunity just so long as there is peace between England and America; but
+who shall dare predict how long that peace will continue, when, as must
+assuredly happen in a few short years, the Irish in America, or their
+direct descendants, shall form the preponderating class, and therefore
+guide the political affairs of that mighty people?</p>
+
+<p>The maps which are appended to this edition of the <i>Illustrated History
+of Ireland</i>, will, it is hoped, be found not only interesting, but
+important. Irishmen in America will see, by a glance at the map of
+family names, the territories in Ireland formerly held by their
+ancestors. Statistics showing the fearful depopulation of the country,
+which, notwithstanding all the boasts of those who advocated it, has not
+benefited those who remain, will be found in another map. The third map
+is not less important; by that will be seen the immense preponderance of
+Catholics to Protestants; and it will suggest, no doubt, to thoughtful
+minds, the injustice of sacrificing the multitude to the individual few.</p>
+
+<p>A few words must also be said about the two full-page illustrations
+which have been added to this Edition. One of the most important events
+in the life of O'Connell has been chosen for the one; and, alas! one of
+the most frequent occurrences in Irish history, from the first English
+invasion to the present day, has<a name="Page_657"></a> been chosen for the other. In the
+engraving of O'Connell, it was impossible to preserve the likeness, as
+the expression demanded by the incident could not be produced from any
+of the portraits extant; with regard to the eviction scene, it is
+unfortunately true to the life. Those who have read Mr. Maguire's <i>Irish
+in America</i>, will recognize the special subject represented. Those who
+read the Irish local papers of the day, may continually peruse accounts
+of evictions; but only an eyewitness can describe the misery, and
+despair of the unfortunate victims. When shall the picture be reversed?
+When will Irishmen return from America, finding it possible to be as
+free and as prosperous here? Finding that a man who is willing to toil
+may obtain a fair remuneration for his labour, and that a man may have
+the rights of men;&mdash;then, and not till then, may we hope that Irish
+history will, for the future, be a record of past injustice, amply
+compensated for by present equity.</p>
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/657.jpg" width="226" height="251" alt="" title="" />
+</center>
+
+
+
+
+<br /><a name="Page_658"></a>
+
+<h2>APPENDIX.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The letter given below, which is from the pen of a distinguished
+Protestant clergyman, appears to me of such importance, that I place it
+here to be a permanent record for the future historian of Ireland, as an
+important opinion on the present history of this country, but too well
+supported by facts.</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>TO ISAAC BUTT, ESQ., LL.D.</p>
+
+<p>     My DEAR BUTT,&mdash;If every other man in the world entertained doubts
+     of my sincerity, you, at least, would give me credit for honesty
+     and just intentions. I write to you accordingly, because my mind
+     has been stirred to its inmost depths by the perusal of your
+     address in my native city of Limerick. I do not regard the subject
+     of your address as a political one. It ought to be regarded solely
+     as a question of humanity, justice, common sense, and common
+     honesty. I wish my lot had never been cast in rural places. As a
+     clergyman, I hear what neither landlords nor agents ever heard. I
+     see the depression of the people; their sighs and groans are before
+     me. They are brought so low as often to praise and glorify those
+     whom, in their secret hearts, are the objects of abhorrence. All
+     this came out gradually before me. Nor did I feel as I ought to
+     have felt in their behalf, until, in my own person and purse, I
+     became the victim of a system of tyranny which cries from earth to
+     heaven for relief. Were I to narrate my own story, it would startle
+     many of the Protestants of Ireland. There are good landlords&mdash;never
+     a better than the late Lord Downshire, or the living and beloved
+     Lord Roden. But there are too many of another state of feeling and
+     action. There are estates in the north where the screw is never
+     withdrawn from its circuitous and oppressive work. Tenant-right is
+     an unfortunate and delusive affair, simply because it is invariably
+     used to the landlord's advantage. Here we have an election in
+     prospect, and in many counties no farmer will be permitted to think
+     or act for himself. What right any one man has to demand the
+     surrender of another's vote I never could see. It is an act of
+     sheer felony&mdash;a perfect &quot;stand-and-deliver&quot; affair. To hear a man
+     slavishly and timorously, say, &quot;I must give my vote as the landlord
+     wishes,&quot; is an admission that the Legislature, which bestowed the
+     right of voting on the tenant, should not see him robbed of his
+     right, or subsequently scourged or banished from house and land,
+     because he disregarded a landlord's nod, or the menace of a
+     land-agent. At no little hazard of losing the friendship of some
+     who are high, and good, and kind, I write as I now do.</p>
+
+<p>     Yours, my dear Butt, very sincerely,</p>
+
+<p>     THOMAS DREW.</p>
+
+<p>     Dundrum, Cough, co. Down, Sept. 7, 1868.</p></blockquote>
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="INDEX"></a>INDEX.</h2>
+
+
+<p>A.</p>
+
+<ul><li>Abbey, the Black, Kilkenny, <a href='#Page_318'>318</a>.</li>
+<li><ul><li>  of Mellifont, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>.</li>
+<li>  of St. Mary, <a href='#Page_317'>317</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Holy Cross, <a href='#Page_317'>317</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Dunbrody, <a href='#Page_289'>289</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Tintern, <a href='#Page_317'>317</a>.</li>
+<li>  of St. Saviour's, Dublin, <a href='#Page_318'>318</a>.</li>
+<li>  of St. Thomas the Martyr, <a href='#Page_287'>287</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Boyle, <a href='#Page_316'>316</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Abercrombie, Sir Ralph, <a href='#Page_623'>623</a>.</li>
+<li>Act of Emancipation passed, <a href='#Page_647'>647</a>.</li>
+<li>Adamnan, St., <a href='#Page_172'>172</a>.</li>
+<li>Adrian's Bull, <a href='#Page_274'>274</a>.</li>
+<li>Aedh, St., <a href='#Page_221'>221</a>.</li>
+<li>Aengus, St., <a href='#Page_179'>179</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  his Festology, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a></li>
+<li>  his Chronicle, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Aengus Grove, Synod at, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a>.</li>
+<li>Aengus, King, baptism of, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  his death, <a href='#Page_130'>130</a></li>
+<li>  ancestor of the O'Keeffes, O'Sullivans, O'Callahans, and MacCarthys, <a href='#Page_130'>130</a>.</li></ul>
+</li>
+<li>Africa, Phoenician circumnavigation of, <a href='#Page_69'>69</a>.</li>
+<li>Agrarian outrages and their causes, <a href='#Page_613'>613</a>.</li>
+<li>Agricola, <a href='#Page_95'>95</a>.</li>
+<li>Aideadh Chonchobair, legend of, <a href='#Page_127'>127</a>.</li>
+<li>Ailbhé, Princess, <a href='#Page_105'>105</a>.</li>
+<li>Ainmire, Hugh, <a href='#Page_167'>167</a>.</li>
+<li>All Hallows Eve, <a href='#Page_88'>88</a>n.</li>
+<li>Altan, St., <a href='#Page_177'>177</a>.</li>
+<li>Amalgaidh, King, and his seven sons, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a>.</li>
+<li>Amato, prelate who consecrated St. Patrick, <a href='#Page_115'>115</a>.</li>
+<li>Amlaff the Dane, <a href='#Page_195'>195</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  in Dublin, <a href='#Page_191'>191</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Ancient pitcher, <a href='#Page_240'>240</a>.</li>
+<li><ul><li>  fireplaces, <a href='#Page_240'>240</a>.</li>
+<li>  shoes, <a href='#Page_252'>252</a>.</li>
+<li>  brooch, <a href='#Page_270'>270</a>.</li>
+<li>  boot, <a href='#Page_251'>251</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Andrew, St., Church of, in Henry II.'s time, <a href='#Page_272'>272</a>.</li>
+<li>Anglo-Irish and old Irish, their differences at Kilkenny, <a href='#Page_487'>487</a>.</li>
+<li>Annals of Ulster, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  compiled by Four Masters, <a href='#Page_51'>51</a></li>
+<li>  accounts in, confirmed _ab extra_, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a></li>
+<li>  poetry from, <a href='#Page_198'>198</a></li>
+<li>  kept with great care, <a href='#Page_233'>233</a></li>
+<li>  dedication of, <a href='#Page_53'>53</a></li>
+<li>  quotations from, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a>, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a>, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a>, <a href='#Page_88'>88</a>, <a href='#Page_90'>90</a>, <a href='#Page_94'>94</a>, <a href='#Page_132'>132</a>, <a href='#Page_144'>144</a>, <a href='#Page_198'>198</a>, <a href='#Page_199'>199</a>, <a href='#Page_218'>218</a>, <a href='#Page_232'>232</a>n, <a href='#Page_265'>265</a>, <a href='#Page_283'>283</a>, <a href='#Page_388'>388</a>, <a href='#Page_307'>307</a>, <a href='#Page_312'>312</a>n. <a href='#Page_313'>313</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Tighernach, <a href='#Page_48'>48</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Innis MacNerinn, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Innisfallen, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Boyle, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Clonmacnois, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>n.</li>
+<li>  of Loch Cé, <a href='#Page_115'>115</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Ballitore, <a href='#Page_630'>630</a>.</li>
+<li>  preserved by Celtic Race, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Anselm, St., commends the Irish prelates, <a href='#Page_229'>229</a>.</li>
+<li>Antiquities of pre-Christian Erinn, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a>.</li>
+<li>Antwerp, Irish soldiers in, <a href='#Page_478'>478</a>.</li>
+<li>Aqua vini and aqua vitæ, <a href='#Page_245'>245</a>.</li>
+<li>Architecture of Tara, <a href='#Page_167'>167</a>.</li>
+<li>Ardmore round tower, <a href='#Page_237'>237</a>.</li>
+<li>Armagh, See of, <a href='#Page_114'>114</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  founded, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a></li>
+<li>  streets of, <a href='#Page_187'>187</a>n.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Arnold on pedigree, <a href='#Page_85'>85</a>n.</li>
+<li><ul><li>  on history taught by verse, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a>n.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Athlone, siege of, <a href='#Page_568'>568</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  castle of, <a href='#Page_314'>314</a></li>
+<li>  bridge built, <a href='#Page_308'>308</a>n.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Attacotti, revolt of the, <a href='#Page_96'>96</a>.</li>
+<li>Augustinians, Order of, <a href='#Page_316'>316</a>.</li></ul>
+
+
+
+<p>B.</p>
+
+<ul><li>Bachall Isu, St. Patrick's, <a href='#Page_114'>114</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  its wanton destruction, <a href='#Page_115'>115</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Ballitore, sufferings in, <a href='#Page_630'>630</a>.</li>
+<li>Balor of the Evil Eye, <a href='#Page_64'>64</a>.</li>
+<li>Banbha, the Lady, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a>.</li>
+<li>Banqueting hall at Tara, <a href='#Page_160'>160</a>.</li>
+<li>Baptism, ceremonies at, <a href='#Page_229'>229</a>.</li>
+<li>Baraid, a Scandinavian chief, <a href='#Page_195'>195</a>.</li>
+<li>Barbadoes, the Irish seat as slaves to, <a href='#Page_515'>515</a>.</li>
+<li>Bards of Erinn, or filés, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>.</li>
+<li>Barretts, feud between Cusacks and, <a href='#Page_332'>332</a>.</li>
+<li>Barrington, Sir Jonah, on the last night of Irish Parliament, <a href='#Page_639'>639</a>.</li>
+<li>Barry, an Irishman, <a href='#Page_601'>601</a>.</li>
+<li>Barrys and Roches, <a href='#Page_445'>445</a>.</li>
+<li>Battle of Magh Tuireadh, <a href='#Page_61'>61</a>.</li>
+<li><ul><li>  of Sliabh Mis, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a>.</li>
+<li>  at Taillten, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a>.</li>
+<li>  between the Firbolgs and Tuatha Dé Dananns, <a href='#Page_62'>62</a>.</li>
+<li>  Connor, <a href='#Page_343'>343</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Géisill, <a href='#Page_78'>78</a>n.</li>
+<li>  of Bealagh Mughna (Ballaghmoon), Kildare, <a href='#Page_193'>193</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Dundalk, <a href='#Page_201'>201</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Sulcoit, near Tipperary, <a href='#Page_205'>205</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Belach-Lechta, near Macroom, co. Cork, <a href='#Page_207'>207</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Glen-Mama (Glen of the Gap), near Dunlavin, <a href='#Page_208'>208</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Clontarf, <a href='#Page_214'>214</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Downpatrick, <a href='#Page_325'>325</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Benburb, <a href='#Page_493'>493</a>.</li>
+<li>  of the Boyne, <a href='#Page_563'>563</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Aughrim, <a href='#Page_570'>570</a>.</li>
+<li>  of the Ford of Comar, Westmeath, <a href='#Page_160'>160</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Magh-Rath, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Almhain (near Kildare), <a href='#Page_186'>186</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Desertcreaght, <a href='#Page_332'>332</a>.</li>
+<li>  of St. Callixtus' day, <a href='#Page_352'>352</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Ford of the Biscuits, <a href='#Page_451'>451</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Beare, O'Sullivan, his History, <a href='#Page_534'>534</a>.</li>
+<li>Beasts, the three, to be hunted, <a href='#Page_517'>517</a>.</li>
+<li>Bede's account of Ireland, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  on Irish saints, <a href='#Page_173'>173</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Belgium, MSS. preserved in, <a href='#Page_46'>46</a>.</li>
+<li>Beltinne, or fire of Baal, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  origin of, <a href='#Page_164'>164</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Benignus, St., St. Patrick's successor in the See of Armagh. <a href='#Page_116'>116</a>.</li>
+<li>Berchau, St., <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>.</li>
+<li>Beresford faction, <a href='#Page_616'>616</a>.</li>
+<li>Bill, curious, of a play, <a href='#Page_547'>547</a>n.</li>
+<li>Bishops, Protestant, indifferent about regular ordination, <a href='#Page_536'>536</a>.</li>
+<li>Black Death. <a href='#Page_86'>86</a>.</li>
+<li>Blefed or pestilence, <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>.</li>
+<li>Bog butter and cheese, <a href='#Page_246'>246</a>.</li>
+<li>Bohun, Humphrey de, <a href='#Page_270'>270</a>.</li>
+<li>Bonnell, his statistics, <a href='#Page_540'>540</a>.</li>
+<li>Book, a, given for a ransom, <a href='#Page_377'>377</a>.</li>
+<li>Books preserved, list of, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a>, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  list of lost, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a>, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Book of Chronicum Scotorum, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a>.</li>
+<li><ul><li>  of Laws, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Ballymote, <a href='#Page_37'>37</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Leinster, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Lecain, <a href='#Page_37'>37</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>    when written, <a href='#Page_50'>50</a>n.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>  Annals of Ulster, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a>.</li>
+<li><ul><li>    of Innisfallen, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a>.</li>
+<li>    of Boyle, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a>.</li>
+<li>    of Four Masters, <a href='#Page_51'>51</a>.</li>
+<li>    of Tighernach, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a>.</li>
+<li>    of Inis MacNerinn, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a>.</li>
+<li>    of Clonmacnois, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>n.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>  Speckled, <a href='#Page_37'>37</a>.</li>
+<li>  Cuilmenn, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>.</li>
+<li>  Saltair of Tara, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>    when written <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>  of Uachongbhail, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a>.</li>
+<li>  Cin Droma Snechta, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>    when compiled, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>  Saltair of Cashel, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>    when compiled, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>  Saltair of Cormac, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a>.</li>
+<li>  of St. Mochta, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Cuana, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Dubhdaleithe, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>.</li>
+<li>  Saltair of Temair, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a>.</li>
+<li>  Saltair-na-Rann, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Leabhar buidhe Sláine, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Leabhar na h-Uidhre, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Eochaidh O'Flannagain, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Inis an Duin, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>.</li>
+<li>  Short, of St. Buithe's Monastery, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Flann of St. Buithe's Monastery, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Flann of Dungeimhin (Dungiven, co. Derry), <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Dun da Leth Ghlas (Downpatrick), <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Doiré (Derry), <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Sabhall Phatraic (co. Down), <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Uachongbhail (Navan), <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>.</li>
+<li>  Leabhar dubh Molaga, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>.</li>
+<li>  Leabhar buidhe Moling, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>.</li>
+<li>  Leabhar buidhe Mhic Murchadha, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>.</li>
+<li>  Leabhar Arda Macha. <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>.</li>
+<li>  Leabhar ruadh Mhic Aedhagain, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>.</li>
+<li>  Leabhar breac Mhic Aedhagain, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>.</li>
+<li>  of O'Scoba of Cluain Mhic Nois (or Clonmacnois), <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Leabhar fada Leithghlinne, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Book of Invasions, <a href='#Page_54'>54</a>.</li>
+<li><ul><li>of Duil Droma Ceata, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a></li>
+<li>of Clonsost, (Queen's county), <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>.</li>
+<li>of Trias Thaumaturgas, <a href='#Page_52'>52</a>.</li>
+<li>of Hispania Illustrata, <a href='#Page_70'>70</a>,</li>
+<li>of Acaill, <a href='#Page_104'>104</a>.</li>
+<li>of Armagh, <a href='#Page_109'>109</a>.</li>
+<li>of Rights, <a href='#Page_253'>253</a>n.</li>
+</ul></li>
+
+<li>Boromean Tribute, the origin of, <a href='#Page_98'>98</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  remitted, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Boulter, Dr., <a href='#Page_581'>581</a>.</li>
+<li>Bran Dubh, bravery and stratagem of, <a href='#Page_168'>168</a>.</li>
+<li>Bravery of the Dalcassians, <a href='#Page_218'>218</a>.</li>
+<li>Breas, the warrior, <a href='#Page_62'>62</a>.</li>
+<li>Brehon laws, <a href='#Page_147'>147</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  by whom compiled, <a href='#Page_144'>144</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Brendan, St. and his voyages, <a href='#Page_169'>169</a>.</li>
+<li>Brian Boroimhé, <a href='#Page_205'>205</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  avenges the death of Mahoun, <a href='#Page_207'>207</a></li>
+<li>  deposes Malachy, <a href='#Page_209'>209</a></li>
+<li>  his wife, <a href='#Page_211'>211</a></li>
+<li>  his death, <a href='#Page_217'>217</a></li>
+<li>  romantic ballad of the lady, <a href='#Page_209'>209</a></li>
+<li>  originator of surnames, <a href='#Page_210'>210</a>n.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Brigid, St., her birthplace, <a href='#Page_131'>131</a>.</li>
+<li>Briton, origin of name, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>.</li>
+<li>Brodir, the apostate Dane, <a href='#Page_212'>212</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  kills Brian Boroimhé, <a href='#Page_217'>217</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Browne, Dr., <a href='#Page_395'>395</a>.</li>
+<li>Bruce, invasion of, <a href='#Page_350'>350</a>.</li>
+<li>Bruce's, Edward, campaign, <a href='#Page_342'>342</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  his death, <a href='#Page_345'>345</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Brunehalt, Queen, <a href='#Page_173'>173</a>.</li>
+<li>Burke, MacWilliam, <a href='#Page_299'>299</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  head of the Burke family in Ireland, <a href='#Page_299'>299</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Burke, MacWilliam, <a href='#Page_326'>326</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  wars of, with the FitzGeralds, <a href='#Page_326'>326</a></li>
+<li>  defeat of, by O'Connor, <a href='#Page_328'>328</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Burke, celebrated statesman of <a href='#Page_18'>18</a>th century, <a href='#Page_593'>593</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  his school days, <a href='#Page_594'>594</a></li>
+<li>  his hatred of oppression, <a href='#Page_595'>595</a></li>
+<li>  his marriage, <a href='#Page_596'>596</a></li>
+<li>  becomes secretary, <a href='#Page_597'>597</a></li>
+<li>  his maiden speech, <a href='#Page_598'>598</a></li>
+<li>  on Indian policy, <a href='#Page_604'>604</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Burkes and Geraldines, <a href='#Page_333'>333</a>.</li>
+<li>Burgat, Dr., his Brevis Relatio, <a href='#Page_518'>518</a>n.</li>
+<li>Burgo, Richard de, <a href='#Page_309'>309</a>.</li>
+<li>Burnt Njal, quotations from, <a href='#Page_217'>217</a>.</li>
+<li>Butlers, the, their history, <a href='#Page_354'>354</a>.</li></ul>
+
+
+
+<p>C.</p>
+
+<ul><li>Cæsar, his accounts of the Druids, <a href='#Page_138'>138</a>.</li>
+<li>Cairbré, Satire of, <a href='#Page_63'>63</a>.</li>
+<li>Cairbré, Cinn-Cait, <a href='#Page_97'>97</a>.</li>
+<li>Cairbrés, the three, <a href='#Page_102'>102</a>.</li>
+<li>Caligraphy, Irish skilled in, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a>.</li>
+<li>Callaghan of Cashel, <a href='#Page_196'>196</a>.</li>
+<li>Cambridge, treatise on origin of, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a>.</li>
+<li>Camden on Ogygia, <a href='#Page_72'>72</a>.</li>
+<li>Cannibalism, charge of, refuted, <a href='#Page_74'>74</a>.</li>
+<li>Cannon-balls first used, <a href='#Page_381'>381</a>n.</li>
+<li>Canons, St. Patrick's, <a href='#Page_117'>117</a>.</li>
+<li>Carew's, Sir P., claim, <a href='#Page_428'>428</a>.</li>
+<li>Carhampton, Lord, cruelties of, <a href='#Page_617'>617</a>n.</li>
+<li>Carmelite monasteries, <a href='#Page_323'>323</a>.</li>
+<li>Cashel, the Saltair of, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>.</li>
+<li><ul><li>  the Synod of, <a href='#Page_275'>275</a>.</li>
+<li>  massacre at, <a href='#Page_496'>496</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Castlehaven Memoirs, <a href='#Page_482'>482</a>n.</li>
+<li>Casts for celts, <a href='#Page_246'>246</a>.</li>
+<li>Cataldus, St., <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>.</li>
+<li>Catalogue of lost books, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>.</li>
+<li>Cathair Crofinn, a circular fort, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a>.</li>
+<li>Cathal Carragh, <a href='#Page_296'>296</a>.</li>
+<li>Cathal Crovderg, <a href='#Page_296'>296</a>.</li>
+<li>Catholic Emancipation, <a href='#Page_647'>647</a>.</li>
+<li><ul><li>  worship publicly restored, <a href='#Page_411'>411</a>,</li>
+<li>  Association, <a href='#Page_583'>583</a>.</li>
+<li>  priests, their peculiar position and difficulties, <a href='#Page_586'>586</a>.</li>
+<li>  question, a ministerial difficulty, <a href='#Page_639'>639</a>.</li>
+<li>  delegates met in Dublin, <a href='#Page_615'>615</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Catholics, Orangemen bribed to persecute, <a href='#Page_616'>616</a>n</li>
+<li><ul><li>  penal laws against, <a href='#Page_576'>576</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Cauldrons as tribute, <a href='#Page_241'>241</a>.</li>
+<li>Cavalry, <a href='#Page_309'>309</a>n.</li>
+<li>Ceann Cruach, great ancient idol of the Irish, <a href='#Page_121'>121</a>.</li>
+<li>Ceasair, taking of Erinn by, <a href='#Page_54'>54</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  landing in Ireland of, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Celedabhaill, his quatrains, <a href='#Page_198'>198</a>.</li>
+<li>Celestine, Pope, sends St. Patrick to Ireland, <a href='#Page_115'>115</a>.</li>
+<li>Celsus, St., <a href='#Page_227'>227</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  when buried, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Celtic language, antiquity of, <a href='#Page_147'>147</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  remains of, <a href='#Page_46'>46</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Celtic literature, <a href='#Page_37'>37</a>.</li>
+<li>Celtic and Roman history, <a href='#Page_81'>81</a>.</li>
+<li>Celts, description of, <a href='#Page_160'>160</a>.</li>
+<li>Chariots used in Ireland, <a href='#Page_167'>167</a>.</li>
+<li>Charlemont, Earl of, his life, <a href='#Page_607'>607</a>.</li>
+<li>Charles I., reign of, <a href='#Page_473'>473</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  his "faith," <a href='#Page_475'>475</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Charles II., reign of, <a href='#Page_520'>520</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  his treatment of the loyalists, <a href='#Page_521'>521</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Chesterfield and Adam Smith on Ireland, <a href='#Page_603'>603</a>.</li>
+<li>Chichester, Sir John, <a href='#Page_580'>580</a>.</li>
+<li>Chichester's Parliament, <a href='#Page_471'>471</a>.</li>
+<li>Chieftains, Irish, <a href='#Page_303'>303</a>.</li>
+<li>Child, interment of a, <a href='#Page_157'>157</a>n.</li>
+<li>Christ, the age of, <a href='#Page_94'>94</a>.</li>
+<li>Christian missions, <a href='#Page_108'>108</a>.</li>
+<li>Christianity, introduction of, <a href='#Page_112'>112</a>.</li>
+<li>Chronicle of Cormac MacCullinan, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a>.</li>
+<li><ul><li>  of Aengus Ceilé Dé, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Richard of Cirencester, <a href='#Page_139'>139</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Chronicum Scotorum, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  compiled by, <a href='#Page_50'>50</a></li>
+<li>  account in, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a></li>
+<li>  on Partholan's landing in Ireland, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Chronology, difficulties of, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  Irish, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Cin Droma Snechta, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  quotations from, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a></li>
+<li>  on Irish immigration, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Circular forts, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a>.</li>
+<li>Cistercians, Order of, <a href='#Page_316'>316</a>.</li>
+<li>Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a>.</li>
+<li>Clanrickarde, Earl of, <a href='#Page_356'>356</a>.</li>
+<li>Clare, Lord, on Irish cultivation, <a href='#Page_638'>638</a>.</li>
+<li>Clare election, the, <a href='#Page_649'>649</a>.</li>
+<li>Clarence, Duke of, <a href='#Page_371'>371</a>.</li>
+<li>Clergy, state of the Catholic, in the reign of Elizabeth, <a href='#Page_426'>426</a>.</li>
+<li>Clonmacnois, the Annals of, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>n.</li>
+<li>Clubs in the seventeenth century, <a href='#Page_545'>545</a></li>
+<li>Clynn, the annalist, <a href='#Page_319'>319</a>.</li>
+<li>Cobhthach Cael, <a href='#Page_90'>90</a>.</li>
+<li>Codex, containing Venerable Bede's works, <a href='#Page_47'>47</a>.</li>
+<li>Coigley, Father, arrested and hanged, <a href='#Page_624'>624</a>.</li>
+<li>Colgan, his labours, <a href='#Page_52'>52</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  mention of, <a href='#Page_534'>534</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>College of Physicians, establishment of, in Dublin, <a href='#Page_543'>543</a>.</li>
+<li>Colleges, continental, established for Irish students, <a href='#Page_535'>535</a>.</li>
+<li>Colonists--Scythians, Greeks, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>.</li>
+<li>Colonization, proofs of our early, <a href='#Page_55'>55</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  the last, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Columba, St., and the Bards, <a href='#Page_168'>168</a>.</li>
+<li>Columbanus, St., his rule, <a href='#Page_173'>173</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  on papal supremacy, <a href='#Page_176'>176</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Commercial status of Irish towns, <a href='#Page_540'>540</a>.</li>
+<li>Comyn, John, Archbishop of Dublin, <a href='#Page_291'>291</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  his imprisonment, <a href='#Page_295'>295</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Conchessa, <a href='#Page_112'>112</a>.</li>
+<li>Confessions, St. Patrick's, <a href='#Page_113'>113</a>.</li>
+<li>Conairé II., <a href='#Page_103'>103</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  collects laws, <a href='#Page_104'>104</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Conn of the Hundred Battles, <a href='#Page_101'>101</a>.</li>
+<li>Conn's half of Ireland, <a href='#Page_102'>102</a>.</li>
+<li>Connaught, ancient, <a href='#Page_64'>64</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  massacre in, <a href='#Page_297'>297</a></li>
+<li>  three claimants for, <a href='#Page_307'>307</a></li>
+<li>  rising of the men, <a href='#Page_323'>323</a></li>
+<li>  plantation of, <a href='#Page_475'>475</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Conor Mac Nessa, legend of, <a href='#Page_127'>127</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  death of, <a href='#Page_128'>128</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Controversy, theological, of the "Three Chapters," <a href='#Page_175'>175</a>.</li>
+<li>Cooke, Mr., publishes a pamphlet, <a href='#Page_631'>631</a>.</li>
+<li>Coote's cruelties, <a href='#Page_482'>482</a>.</li>
+<li>Cork Militia, cruelties of the, <a href='#Page_626'>626</a>.</li>
+<li>Cormac, author of Saltair of Tara, <a href='#Page_104'>104</a>.</li>
+<li>Council at Tara, <a href='#Page_172'>172</a>.</li>
+<li>Courcy, John de, in Ulster, <a href='#Page_286'>286</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  his valour, <a href='#Page_286'>286</a></li>
+<li>  his defeat in Antrim, <a href='#Page_288'>288</a></li>
+<li>  his death. <a href='#Page_298'>298</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Craftiné, the poet, <a href='#Page_91'>91</a>.</li>
+<li>Crannoges, <a href='#Page_159'>159</a>.</li>
+<li>Cranmer, Archbishop, <a href='#Page_410'>410</a>.</li>
+<li>Cremation not usual in Erinn, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a>.</li>
+<li>Crom Chonaill, the, <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>.</li>
+<li>Cromlechs, <a href='#Page_155'>155</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  in the Phoenix Park, <a href='#Page_161'>161</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Cromwell arrives in Ireland, <a href='#Page_500'>500</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  marches to Drogheda, <a href='#Page_500'>500</a></li>
+<li>  massacre at Drogheda. <a href='#Page_501'>501</a></li>
+<li>  letters, <a href='#Page_502'>502</a></li>
+<li>  his cruelties, <a href='#Page_503'>503</a></li>
+<li>  brutality of his soldiers, <a href='#Page_503'>503</a></li>
+<li>  his massacre at Wexford, <a href='#Page_503'>503</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Cromwellian settlement in Ireland, <a href='#Page_512'>512</a>n.</li>
+<li>Crovderg, Hugh, <a href='#Page_307'>307</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  his death, <a href='#Page_308'>308</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Cruelties of English officers, <a href='#Page_417'>417</a>.</li>
+<li>Crystède, his account of Ireland, <a href='#Page_363'>363</a>.</li>
+<li>Cuilmenn, the, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>.</li>
+<li>Culdees, the, <a href='#Page_182'>182</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  question on the <a href='#Page_179'>179</a>n.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Curia Regis, held at Lismore, <a href='#Page_273'>273</a>.</li>
+<li>Curragh of Kildare, <a href='#Page_255'>255</a>.</li>
+<li>Curran, his life, <a href='#Page_606'>606</a>.</li>
+<li>Cusack, Sir Thomas. <a href='#Page_409'>409</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  favours O'Neill, <a href='#Page_421'>421</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Custom-house built, <a href='#Page_638'>638</a>.</li></ul>
+
+
+
+<p>D.</p>
+
+<ul><li>Dá Derga, destruction of the court of, <a href='#Page_91'>91</a>.</li>
+<li>Dagges, <a href='#Page_413'>413</a>n.</li>
+<li>Dalriada, the Irish, <a href='#Page_131'>131</a>.</li>
+<li>Danes, Malachy's exploits against the, <a href='#Page_207'>207</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  in Ireland, <a href='#Page_204'>204</a></li>
+<li>  cruelties of the, <a href='#Page_190'>190</a></li>
+<li>  divided into Black and White Gentiles, <a href='#Page_191'>191</a></li>
+<li>  found sea-port towns, <a href='#Page_200'>200</a></li>
+<li>  supposed conversion of, <a href='#Page_204'>204</a></li>
+<li>  pipes, <a href='#Page_241'>241</a></li>
+<li>  the Dalcassians fight the, <a href='#Page_205'>205</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Danish fortress in Dublin, <a href='#Page_278'>278</a>n</li>
+<li><ul><li>  the first invasion, <a href='#Page_188'>188</a></li>
+<li>  attempted second invasion, <a href='#Page_224'>224</a></li>
+<li>  pirates, first raid of the, <a href='#Page_188'>188</a></li>
+<li>  valour, battle of Clontarf, <a href='#Page_215'>215</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Dante, <a href='#Page_385'>385</a>.</li>
+<li>D'Alton on the Round Towers, <a href='#Page_163'>163</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  on History, Religion, &amp;c., of Ancient Ireland, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>n.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Dathi, <a href='#Page_107'>107</a>.</li>
+<li>Defective Titles, Commission of, <a href='#Page_475'>475</a>.</li>
+<li>Derry, siege of, <a href='#Page_558'>558</a>.</li>
+<li>Dervorgil, the Lady, <a href='#Page_234'>234</a>.</li>
+<li>Desmond, Earls of, their ancestors and descendants, <a href='#Page_282'>282</a>n.</li>
+<li><ul><li>  Castle, <a href='#Page_221'>221</a>.</li>
+<li>  Earl of, his witty reply, <a href='#Page_384'>384</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Destruction of the idols, <a href='#Page_121'>121</a>.</li>
+<li>Details of the atrocities of the military, <a href='#Page_621'>621</a>.</li>
+<li>Diarmaid, Princess, pursuit of, <a href='#Page_106'>106</a>.</li>
+<li>Diarmaid's reign, misfortunes of, <a href='#Page_167'>167</a>.</li>
+<li>Dicho, St. Patrick's first convert, <a href='#Page_116'>116</a>.</li>
+<li>Dinnseanchus, a topographical work, <a href='#Page_164'>164</a>.</li>
+<li>Dog, story of a faithful, <a href='#Page_571'>571</a>.</li>
+<li>Domhnach, Gaedhilic term for Sunday, <a href='#Page_121'>121</a>.</li>
+<li>Domhnach Airgid, <a href='#Page_134'>134</a>n.</li>
+<li>Dominican Order in Ireland, <a href='#Page_318'>318</a>.</li>
+<li>Donatus, St., <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>.</li>
+<li>Doneraile Conspiracy, <a href='#Page_643'>643</a>.</li>
+<li>Dowdall, Dr., opposition of, <a href='#Page_410'>410</a>.</li>
+<li>Downpatrick, battle of, <a href='#Page_325'>325</a>.</li>
+<li>Drapier's Letters, the, <a href='#Page_581'>581</a>.</li>
+<li>Dress of the poorer classes in Ireland in seventeenth century, <a href='#Page_552'>552</a>.</li>
+<li>Drink of the ancient Irish, <a href='#Page_243'>243</a>.</li>
+<li>Drinking vessels of different kinds, <a href='#Page_243'>243</a>.</li>
+<li>Druids and their teaching, <a href='#Page_137'>137</a>.</li>
+<li>Drumceat, first convention held at, <a href='#Page_167'>167</a>.</li>
+<li>Drury, his cruelties, <a href='#Page_443'>443</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  his death, <a href='#Page_443'>443</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Dubhdaleithe, Book of, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>.</li>
+<li>Dublin in the seventeenth century, <a href='#Page_544'>544</a>.</li>
+<li>Dublin, fashionable and prosperous, <a href='#Page_638'>638</a>.</li>
+<li>Dubtach salutes St. Patrick at Tara, <a href='#Page_121'>121</a>.</li>
+<li>Duke of Clarence, Viceroy, <a href='#Page_371'>371</a>.</li>
+<li>Duke of York, viceroyalty of, <a href='#Page_375'>375</a>.</li>
+<li>Dunboy, siege of, <a href='#Page_460'>460</a>.</li>
+<li>Duncheadh, St., <a href='#Page_221'>221</a>.</li>
+<li>Dundalk, battle of, <a href='#Page_201'>201</a>.</li></ul>
+
+
+
+<p>E.</p>
+
+<ul><li>Early missionaries. <a href='#Page_108'>108</a>.</li>
+<li>Eber, <a href='#Page_84'>84</a>.</li>
+<li>Ecclesiastics, cruelties practised on, <a href='#Page_452'>452</a>.</li>
+<li>Ecclesiastical property, confiscation of, <a href='#Page_403'>403</a>.</li>
+<li>Edward I., reign of, <a href='#Page_329'>329</a>.</li>
+<li>Elizabeth, Queen, accession of, <a href='#Page_412'>412</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  martyrs in the reign of, <a href='#Page_416'>416</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Emania, Palace of, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a>.</li>
+<li>Embargo laws, <a href='#Page_578'>578</a>.</li>
+<li>Emmet's career, <a href='#Page_640'>640</a>.</li>
+<li>Enda, St., <a href='#Page_169'>169</a>.</li>
+<li>English, invasion of the, <a href='#Page_257'>257</a>.</li>
+<li><ul><li>  come to Ireland for instruction, <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>.</li>
+<li>  quarrels of, barons, <a href='#Page_300'>300</a>.</li>
+<li>  law refused to Ireland, <a href='#Page_362'>362</a>.</li>
+<li>  writers, mistakes of, <a href='#Page_361'>361</a>.</li>
+<li>  schism, real cause of, <a href='#Page_394'>394</a>.</li>
+<li>  Irish emigrants defeat the, <a href='#Page_584'>584</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Enniskilleners, cruelties of the, <a href='#Page_559'>559</a>.</li>
+<li>Eras, three, in Irish history, <a href='#Page_387'>387</a>.</li>
+<li>Eremon, reign of, <a href='#Page_77'>77</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  his death, <a href='#Page_78'>78</a></li>
+<li>  families descended from, <a href='#Page_84'>84</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Eric, or compensation for murder, <a href='#Page_146'>146</a>.</li>
+<li>Erinn, St. Patrick's mission to, <a href='#Page_112'>112</a>.</li>
+<li><ul><li>  ancient chronicles of, <a href='#Page_48'>48</a>n.</li>
+<li>  pre-Noahacian colonization of, <a href='#Page_55'>55</a>.</li>
+<li>  takings of, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a>.</li>
+<li>  early geographical accounts of, <a href='#Page_72'>72</a>.</li>
+<li>  social accounts of, <a href='#Page_73'>73</a>.</li>
+<li>  ancient laws of, <a href='#Page_144'>144</a>.</li>
+<li>  religion of, <a href='#Page_137'>137</a>.</li>
+<li>  customs of, <a href='#Page_139'>139</a>.</li>
+<li>  language of, <a href='#Page_147'>147</a>.</li>
+<li>  antiquities of, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a>.</li>
+<li>  five great roads of ancient, <a href='#Page_101'>101</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Essex, Earl of, tries to colonize Ulster, <a href='#Page_432'>432</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  his interview with O'Neill, <a href='#Page_456'>456</a></li>
+<li>  his death, <a href='#Page_433'>433</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Ethnea, Princess, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a>.</li>
+<li>Eva, her marriage with Strongbow, <a href='#Page_264'>264</a>.</li>
+<li>Exchequer of the King of England in Dublin, fourteenth century, <a href='#Page_339'>339</a>.</li>
+<li>Exiled Irishmen, <a href='#Page_478'>478</a>.</li></ul>
+
+
+
+<p>F.</p>
+
+<ul><li>Fairs, Irish, seventeenth century, <a href='#Page_538'>538</a>.</li>
+<li>Falkland, Lord, suspected of favouring the Catholics, <a href='#Page_473'>473</a>.</li>
+<li>Fauna, description of, <a href='#Page_253'>253</a>.</li>
+<li>Fené-men, the, <a href='#Page_42'>42</a>n.</li>
+<li>Fenian poems and tales, <a href='#Page_87'>87</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  ascribed to, <a href='#Page_105'>105</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Fes, or triennial assembly, <a href='#Page_163'>163</a>.</li>
+<li>Fethlimia, Princess, <a href='#Page_122'>122</a>.</li>
+<li>Fiacc's Hymn, Scholiast on, <a href='#Page_111'>111</a>.</li>
+<li>Fidh Aengussa, the Synod of, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a>.</li>
+<li>Fifth taking of Ireland, <a href='#Page_62'>62</a>,</li>
+<li>Fiacre, St., <a href='#Page_177'>177</a>.</li>
+<li>Finnachta Fleadhach, the Hospitable, <a href='#Page_171'>171</a>.</li>
+<li>Finnen, St., <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>,</li>
+<li>Fintan, son of Bochra, the Irish historian, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>.</li>
+<li>Firbolg chiefs, division of Ireland by, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  battles of, <a href='#Page_62'>62</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Fish in Ireland, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>n</li>
+<li><ul><li>  anecdote on, <a href='#Page_72'>72</a>n.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>FitzAldelm, his viceroyalty, <a href='#Page_285'>285</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  his death, <a href='#Page_299'>299</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>FitzGerald, war between De Burgo and, <a href='#Page_326'>326</a>.</li>
+<li>FitzGerald, war between De Vesci and, <a href='#Page_333'>333</a>.</li>
+<li>FitzGerald, Lord Edward, joins the United Irishmen, <a href='#Page_618'>618</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  arrest of, <a href='#Page_624'>624</a></li>
+<li>  his death, <a href='#Page_624'>624</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Fithil, the poet, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>.</li>
+<li>FitzMaurice obtains foreign aid, <a href='#Page_441'>441</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  his death, <a href='#Page_443'>443</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>FitzStephen, <a href='#Page_260'>260</a>.</li>
+<li>FitzWilliam, Earl, viceroyalty, of <a href='#Page_616'>616</a>.</li>
+<li>Flahertach, Abbot, and King of Munster, <a href='#Page_194'>194</a></li>
+<li>Flann, his Synchronisms, <a href='#Page_49'>49</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  synchronizes the chiefs and monarchs with the kings of Erinn, <a href='#Page_50'>50</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Flann, King, his reign, <a href='#Page_192'>192</a>.</li>
+<li>Flint used to make weapons of defence, <a href='#Page_160'>160</a>.</li>
+<li>Flood, his life, <a href='#Page_607'>607</a>.</li>
+<li>Flora, description of, <a href='#Page_253'>253</a>.</li>
+<li>Foillan, St., <a href='#Page_177'>177</a>.</li>
+<li>Fomorians, the, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>-<a href='#Page_64'>64</a>.</li>
+<li>Food of the ancient Irish, <a href='#Page_241'>241</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  of poorer classes in seventeenth century, <a href='#Page_553'>553</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Ford of the Biscuits, battle of, <a href='#Page_451'>451</a>.</li>
+<li>Fothadh of the Canons, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a>.</li>
+<li>Franciscan Order in Ireland, <a href='#Page_319'>319</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  their patriotism, <a href='#Page_344'>344</a></li>
+<li>  their convents, <a href='#Page_312'>312</a></li>
+<li>  remarkable spring, <a href='#Page_319'>319</a></li>
+<li>  persecution of, <a href='#Page_474'>474</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Friars Preachers, Order of, <a href='#Page_318'>318</a>.</li>
+<li>Fridolin, St., <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>.</li>
+<li>Froude's History of England,</li>
+<li><ul><li>  quotations from his account of the English clergy, <a href='#Page_440'>440</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Fursey, St., <a href='#Page_177'>177</a>.</li></ul>
+
+
+
+<p>G.</p>
+
+<ul><li>Gall, St., <a href='#Page_177'>177</a>.</li>
+<li>Galls, description of, <a href='#Page_187'>187</a>n.</li>
+<li>Gallic Church, labours of the Irish in <a href='#Page_177'>177</a>.</li>
+<li>Gaul, the Celts of, <a href='#Page_73'>73</a>.</li>
+<li><ul><li>  Irish saints venerated in, <a href='#Page_183'>183</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Géisill, battle of, <a href='#Page_78'>78</a>n.</li>
+<li>Genealogies, differences between, and pedigrees, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>-<a href='#Page_82'>82</a>.</li>
+<li><ul><li>  Milesian, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>.</li>
+<li>  peculiar historical value of, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>.</li>
+<li>  and pedigrees, <a href='#Page_51'>51</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>General Assembly at Kilkenny, <a href='#Page_485'>485</a>.</li>
+<li>Geographical accounts of Ireland, <a href='#Page_72'>72</a></li>
+<li>George I., <a href='#Page_582'>582</a>.</li>
+<li>Geraldines, rising of, 1534, <a href='#Page_390'>390</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  ancestor of the, <a href='#Page_333'>333</a></li>
+<li>  their wars, <a href='#Page_334'>334</a></li>
+<li>  defeated at Kenmare, <a href='#Page_325'>325</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Germanus, St., his Canons, <a href='#Page_117'>117</a>.</li>
+<li>Gertrude, St., daughter of King Pepin, <a href='#Page_177'>177</a>.</li>
+<li>Gherardini, letter from the, <a href='#Page_384'>384</a>.</li>
+<li>Gilla Caemhain, an Irish writer, <a href='#Page_49'>49</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  gives annals of all times, <a href='#Page_49'>49</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Ginkell, General, <a href='#Page_568'>568</a>.</li>
+<li>Glundubh, Nial, lamentation for, <a href='#Page_196'>196</a>.</li>
+<li>Gold ornaments, <a href='#Page_157'>157</a>.</li>
+<li>Goldsmith, his life, <a href='#Page_609'>609</a>.</li>
+<li>Gordon's, Mr., account of the atrocities of the military, <a href='#Page_628'>628</a>, <a href='#Page_629'>629</a>.</li>
+<li>Gormgal, St., <a href='#Page_221'>221</a>.</li>
+<li>Gormflaith, Brian Boroimhé's wife, <a href='#Page_210'>210</a>.</li>
+<li>Gospels, the, used by St. Patrick, <a href='#Page_134'>134</a>.</li>
+<li>Graces, the, <a href='#Page_474'>474</a>.</li>
+<li>Grammatica Celtica, <a href='#Page_46'>46</a>.</li>
+<li>Granard and Staigue, <a href='#Page_237'>237</a>.</li>
+<li>Grattan's demand for Irish independence, <a href='#Page_590'>590</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  his life, <a href='#Page_607'>607</a></li>
+<li>  entrance into the Imperial Parliament, <a href='#Page_640'>640</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Grainné, pursuit of, and Diarmaid, <a href='#Page_106'>106</a>.</li>
+<li>Greeks said to have visited Ireland, <a href='#Page_139'>139</a>.</li>
+<li>Grey, Lord, desecrates churches, <a href='#Page_133'>133</a>.</li>
+<li>Grey, John de, <a href='#Page_301'>301</a>.</li>
+<li>Guaire, his hostility to St. Columba, <a href='#Page_167'>167</a>.</li></ul>
+
+
+
+<p>H.</p>
+
+<ul><li>Harp, when first used as an emblem, <a href='#Page_249'>249</a>.</li>
+<li>Haverty's History of Ireland, <a href='#Page_221'>221</a>n.</li>
+<li>Henry II. lands in Ireland, <a href='#Page_270'>270</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  produces the Bull, <a href='#Page_274'>274</a></li>
+<li>  makes his son Lord of Ireland, <a href='#Page_287'>287</a></li>
+<li>  holds a synod at Cashel, <a href='#Page_273'>273</a></li>
+<li>  his palace, <a href='#Page_272'>272</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Henry IV., his reign, <a href='#Page_368'>368</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  his death, <a href='#Page_294'>294</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Henry V., <a href='#Page_369'>369</a>.</li>
+<li>Henry VI., Wars of the Roses, <a href='#Page_371'>371</a>.</li>
+<li>Henry VII., <a href='#Page_379'>379</a>.</li>
+<li>Henry VIII., <a href='#Page_387'>387</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  persecutions during the reign of, <a href='#Page_401'>401</a></li>
+<li>  Dr. Browne's letter to, <a href='#Page_399'>399</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Herodotus, quotations from, <a href='#Page_69'>69</a>.</li>
+<li>Hibernia, the first buried in, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a>.</li>
+<li>Himantiliginos, game of, <a href='#Page_141'>141</a>.</li>
+<li>Himerus and Iberus, <a href='#Page_70'>70</a>.</li>
+<li>Hispania Illustrata, <a href='#Page_70'>70</a>.</li>
+<li>Historians of Erinn, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>.</li>
+<li>Historians of the seventeenth century, <a href='#Page_531'>531</a>.</li>
+<li>Historic Tales, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a>.</li>
+<li>Historical value of genealogies, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>, <a href='#Page_87'>87</a>.</li>
+<li>History, Ecclesiastical, <a href='#Page_227'>227</a>.</li>
+<li>History of the Exile, <a href='#Page_91'>91</a>.</li>
+<li>Hoggen's Butt, and Le Hogges, <a href='#Page_272'>272</a>.</li>
+<li>Holy wells not superstitious, <a href='#Page_143'>143</a>.</li>
+<li>Honorius III., <a href='#Page_305'>305</a>.</li>
+<li>Howth family founded, <a href='#Page_298'>298</a>n.</li>
+<li>Hua Alta, race of, <a href='#Page_125'>125</a>.</li>
+<li>Hy-Figeinte (Munster), <a href='#Page_125'>125</a>.</li>
+<li>Hy-Kinsallagh (co. Carlow), <a href='#Page_125'>125</a>.</li>
+<li>Hymn of St. Fiacc, <a href='#Page_117'>117</a>.</li>
+<li><ul><li>  of St. Patrick, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Hy-Nials, contention between the, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  palace of, <a href='#Page_224'>224</a></li>
+<li>  the northern, <a href='#Page_192'>192</a></li>
+<li>  divided into two clans, <a href='#Page_204'>204</a>.</li></ul></li></ul>
+
+
+
+
+<p>I.</p>
+
+<ul><li>Idols, worship of, <a href='#Page_88'>88</a>.</li>
+<li>Immoralities of the reformed clergy, <a href='#Page_404'>404</a>.</li>
+<li>Imperial standard, <a href='#Page_639'>639</a>.</li>
+<li>Inchiquin, <a href='#Page_488'>488</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  massacre at Cashel by, <a href='#Page_496'>496</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Innocent I., <a href='#Page_100'>100</a>.</li>
+<li>Innocent X., <a href='#Page_490'>490</a>.</li>
+<li>Insult to the Irish peeresses, <a href='#Page_608'>608</a>.</li>
+<li>Insurrection in Wexford, <a href='#Page_626'>626</a>.</li>
+<li><ul><li>  in Ulster, <a href='#Page_629'>629</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Ireland, climate of, <a href='#Page_80'>80</a>,</li>
+<li><ul><li>  colonization of, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a>.</li>
+<li>  article on, in Rees' Cyclopædia, <a href='#Page_67'>67</a>.</li>
+<li>  last colonization of, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a>.</li>
+<li>  ancient laws of, <a href='#Page_144'>144</a>.</li>
+<li>  antiquarian remains in, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a>.</li>
+<li>  first mill in, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a>.</li>
+<li>  fauna and flora of, <a href='#Page_253'>253</a>.</li>
+<li>  literary ladies in, <a href='#Page_374'>374</a>.</li>
+<li>  persecutions in, <a href='#Page_388'>388</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Ireland, ecclesiastical property forfeited in, <a href='#Page_403'>403</a>.</li>
+<li><ul><li>  plantations attempted in, <a href='#Page_429'>429</a>, <a href='#Page_432'>432</a>.</li>
+<li>  social life in, seventeenth century, <a href='#Page_529'>529</a>.</li>
+<li>  before the Union, and after, <a href='#Page_637'>637</a>.</li>
+<li>  early geographical account of, <a href='#Page_72'>72</a>.</li>
+<li>  early social account of, <a href='#Page_73'>73</a>.</li>
+<li>  Bede's account of, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>.</li>
+<li>  the Romans feared to invade, <a href='#Page_95'>95</a>.</li>
+<li>  Saxon invasion of, <a href='#Page_185'>185</a>.</li>
+<li>  first Danish invasion of, <a href='#Page_188'>188</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>    second invasion, <a href='#Page_224'>224</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>  the circuit of, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a>.</li>
+<li>  Murtough's circuit of, <a href='#Page_224'>224</a>.</li>
+<li>  Spenser's account of, <a href='#Page_439'>439</a>.</li>
+<li>  division of, by the Firbolg chiefs, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>.</li>
+<li>  receives the faith generously, <a href='#Page_111'>111</a>.</li>
+<li>  given the name of Hibernia, <a href='#Page_70'>70</a>.</li>
+<li>  the first writer who names, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a>.</li>
+<li>  called Iernis, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Ireton's cruelties and miserable death, <a href='#Page_507'>507</a>.</li>
+<li>Irish genealogies, their rise, <a href='#Page_85'>85</a>.</li>
+<li><ul><li>  keen, <a href='#Page_141'>141</a>.</li>
+<li>  painters, <a href='#Page_608'>608</a>.</li>
+<li>  musicians, <a href='#Page_608'>608</a>.</li>
+<li>  MSS., <a href='#Page_45'>45</a>.</li>
+<li>  authors, <a href='#Page_608'>608</a>.</li>
+<li>  actors, <a href='#Page_608'>608</a>.</li>
+<li>  missionaries, <a href='#Page_173'>173</a>.</li>
+<li>  missionary saints, <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>.</li>
+<li>  poetry, <a href='#Page_180'>180</a>.</li>
+<li>  poets, <a href='#Page_605'>605</a>.</li>
+<li>  bishops at the Council of Lateran, <a href='#Page_289'>289</a>.</li>
+<li>  war-cries forbidden, <a href='#Page_383'>383</a>.</li>
+<li>  pedigrees, their importance, <a href='#Page_81'>81</a>.</li>
+<li>  people transplanted as slaves to Barbadoes, <a href='#Page_514'>514</a>.</li>
+<li>  chronology compared with Roman, <a href='#Page_81'>81</a>.</li>
+<li>  schools and scholars, <a href='#Page_183'>183</a>.</li>
+<li>  alphabet, <a href='#Page_152'>152</a>.</li>
+<li>  butter and cheese, <a href='#Page_246'>246</a>.</li>
+<li>  fireplace, <a href='#Page_247'>247</a>.</li>
+<li>  clothing, <a href='#Page_250'>250</a>.</li>
+<li>  priests, their devotion to the people, <a href='#Page_587'>587</a>.</li>
+<li>  communications with Rome, <a href='#Page_490'>490</a>.</li>
+<li>  old, the, and the new English, <a href='#Page_491'>491</a>.</li>
+<li>  priests, their peculiar position, <a href='#Page_586'>586</a>.</li>
+<li>  history, materials for, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a>.</li>
+<li>  martyr, the first, <a href='#Page_125'>125</a>.</li>
+<li>  saints, <a href='#Page_167'>167</a>.</li>
+<li>  religious, <a href='#Page_221'>221</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Irish king sent to the Isle of Man, <a href='#Page_225'>225</a>.</li>
+<li><ul><li>  Rinuccini's account of the, <a href='#Page_491'>491</a>.</li>
+<li>  Catholic landowners, injustice towards, <a href='#Page_509'>509</a>.</li>
+<li>  Brigade, formation of, <a href='#Page_574'>574</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Irishmen, celebrated, of the eighteenth century, <a href='#Page_592'>592</a>,</li>
+<li>Iron Duke, <a href='#Page_639'>639</a>.</li>
+<li>Island Magee, massacre of, <a href='#Page_481'>481</a>.</li>
+<li>Ita, St. <a href='#Page_169'>169</a>.</li></ul>
+
+
+
+<p>J.</p>
+
+<ul><li>Jackson, Rev. William, his miserable death, <a href='#Page_616'>616</a>.</li>
+<li>James I., his reign, <a href='#Page_463'>463</a>.</li>
+<li>James II., his reign, <a href='#Page_555'>555</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  arrival in Ireland, <a href='#Page_557'>557</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Japhet, Milesians descended from, <a href='#Page_84'>84</a>.</li>
+<li>Jerome's, St., statement on Ireland, <a href='#Page_74'>74</a>.</li>
+<li>John of the Shamrocks, <a href='#Page_434'>434</a>.</li>
+<li>John, Prince, receives title of King of Ireland, <a href='#Page_287'>287</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  his visit to Ireland, <a href='#Page_292'>292</a></li>
+<li>  second visit to Ireland, <a href='#Page_302'>302</a></li>
+<li>  succeeds to the English crown, <a href='#Page_296'>296</a></li>
+<li>  starves a bishop to death, <a href='#Page_301'>301</a></li>
+<li>  letter of Innocent III. to, <a href='#Page_295'>295</a></li>
+<li>  death, <a href='#Page_304'>304</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Josephus, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>.</li>
+<li>Judgment of a king, <a href='#Page_103'>103</a>.</li></ul>
+
+
+
+<p>K.</p>
+
+<ul><li>Kadlubeck, historian of Poland, <a href='#Page_48'>48</a>.</li>
+<li>Keating, the historian, <a href='#Page_531'>531</a>.</li>
+<li><ul><li>  on Erinn, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a>n.</li>
+<li>  quotations from, on the division of Ireland, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>.</li>
+<li>  on descent from the Scythians, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>.</li>
+<li>  on the battle of Bealagh Mughna, <a href='#Page_193'>193</a>.</li>
+<li>  books referred to by, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a>.</li>
+<li>  on colour, as a distinction of rank, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a>n.</li>
+<li>  on battle of Dundalk, <a href='#Page_203'>203</a>.</li>
+<li>  burial-place, <a href='#Page_532'>532</a>.</li>
+<li>  inscription in honour of, <a href='#Page_533'>533</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Kennedy, Prince of Munster, <a href='#Page_202'>202</a>.</li>
+<li>Kildare, Earl of, and Henry VII., <a href='#Page_384'>384</a>.</li>
+<li><ul><li>  accused of treason, <a href='#Page_384'>384</a>.</li>
+<li>  last Catholic Earl of, <a href='#Page_387'>387</a>.</li>
+<li>  letter of, <a href='#Page_388'>388</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Kildare, Monastery of, <a href='#Page_132'>132</a>.</li>
+<li>Kilian, St., <a href='#Page_177'>177</a>.</li>
+<li>Kincora, Brian's "Happy Family" at, <a href='#Page_209'>209</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  destruction of, <a href='#Page_226'>226</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Knights of the Royal Branch, <a href='#Page_125'>125</a>.</li>
+<li>Kunrann the poet, <a href='#Page_187'>187</a>.</li></ul>
+
+
+
+<p>L.</p>
+
+<ul><li>Lacy, De, made Viceroy of Ireland, <a href='#Page_289'>289</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  endeavours to become King of Ireland, <a href='#Page_291'>291</a></li>
+<li>  cruel death, <a href='#Page_293'>293</a></li>
+<li>  family become extinct, <a href='#Page_311'>311</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Lady physicians, <a href='#Page_66'>66</a>.</li>
+<li>Laeghairé, King, holds a pagan festival, <a href='#Page_119'>119</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  receives St. Patrick at Tara, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a></li>
+<li>  his oath, <a href='#Page_129'>129</a></li>
+<li>  his death, <a href='#Page_129'>129</a></li>
+<li>  his burial, <a href='#Page_129'>129</a>n.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Lammas-day, <a href='#Page_164'>164</a>.</li>
+<li>Landing of the Picts, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>.</li>
+<li><ul><li>  of Partholan, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Ceasair, <a href='#Page_57'>57</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, <a href='#Page_228'>228</a>.</li>
+<li>Langton, Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury, <a href='#Page_301'>301</a>.</li>
+<li>Language of ancient Erinn, <a href='#Page_147'>147</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  writing in pre-Christian Erinn, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a></li>
+<li>  Ogham writing, <a href='#Page_150'>150</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Laws, the Brehon code of, <a href='#Page_144'>144</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  its peculiarities, <a href='#Page_145'>145</a>.</li>
+<li>  of the Innocents, <a href='#Page_172'>172</a>.</li>
+<li>  of succession, <a href='#Page_146'>146</a>.</li>
+<li>  of ancient Erinn, <a href='#Page_144'>144</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Leix, St. Patrick's visit to, <a href='#Page_124'>124</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  cruelties of the deputy of, <a href='#Page_417'>417</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Lewis, Sir G.C., <a href='#Page_85'>85</a>n.</li>
+<li>Lhind, quotations from, <a href='#Page_95'>95</a>n.</li>
+<li>Lia Fail, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  or Stone of Destiny, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a></li>
+<li>  mention of, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Life, social, previous to the English invasion, <a href='#Page_237'>237</a>.</li>
+<li>Limerick, siege of, by Ireton. <a href='#Page_506'>506</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  by William of Orange, <a href='#Page_566'>566</a></li>
+<li>  by Ginkell, <a href='#Page_571'>571</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Linen trade, <a href='#Page_251'>251</a>, <a href='#Page_540'>540</a>.</li>
+<li>Literary ladies in Ireland, <a href='#Page_374'>374</a></li>
+<li>Literary men of the seventeenth century, <a href='#Page_531'>531</a>.</li>
+<li>Livin, St., <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>.</li>
+<li>Londres, Henry de, made Governor of Ireland, <a href='#Page_306'>306</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  surnamed Scorch Villain, <a href='#Page_306'>306</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Louvain collection, <a href='#Page_46'>46</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  friars, <a href='#Page_52'>52</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Loyola, St. Ignatius, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a>n.</li>
+<li>Lucas, his life, <a href='#Page_607'>607</a>.</li></ul>
+
+
+
+<p>M.</p>
+
+<ul><li>Macaille, St., <a href='#Page_131'>131</a>.</li>
+<li>MacArt's, Cormac, Saltair. <a href='#Page_40'>40</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  his reign, <a href='#Page_103'>103</a></li>
+<li>  his death, <a href='#Page_105'>105</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Macaulay, Lays of Ancient Rome, <a href='#Page_247'>247</a>n.</li>
+<li>Maccallin, St., <a href='#Page_221'>221</a>.</li>
+<li>MacCarthy, King of Desmond, <a href='#Page_229'>229</a>.</li>
+<li>MacCarthy More murdered at Tralee, <a href='#Page_357'>357</a>.</li>
+<li>MacCullinan, Cormac, priest and king, <a href='#Page_192'>192</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  his reign, <a href='#Page_193'>193</a></li>
+<li>  his death, <a href='#Page_193'>193</a>n.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>MacCumhaill, Finn, <a href='#Page_105'>105</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  his courtship with the Princess Ailbhé, <a href='#Page_105'>105</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>MacFirbis, quotations from, <a href='#Page_54'>54</a>, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  his book on pedigrees, <a href='#Page_85'>85</a></li>
+<li>  his pedigrees of the ancient Irish and Anglo-Norman families, <a href='#Page_50'>50</a></li>
+<li>  murdered, <a href='#Page_51'>51</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>MacGilluire, Coarb of St. Patrick, <a href='#Page_315'>315</a>.</li>
+<li>MacLiag, the poet, <a href='#Page_210'>210</a>n.</li>
+<li>MacMurrough, Dermod, King of Leinster, <a href='#Page_233'>233</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  attends synod at Mellifont, <a href='#Page_234'>234</a></li>
+<li>  his interview with Henry II., <a href='#Page_258'>258</a></li>
+<li>  Henry grants him letters-patent, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a></li>
+<li>  his death, <a href='#Page_266'>266</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>MacMurrough, Art, <a href='#Page_367'>367</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  his death, <a href='#Page_370'>370</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>MacNally, advocate of the United Irishmen, <a href='#Page_618'>618</a>.</li>
+<li>Macutenius on St. Patrick's Canons, <a href='#Page_118'>118</a>.</li>
+<li>Maelmuire, "servant of Mary," <a href='#Page_227'>227</a>n.</li>
+<li>Maelruain, St., of Tallaght, <a href='#Page_179'>179</a>.</li>
+<li>Magna Charta, <a href='#Page_305'>305</a>.</li>
+<li>Magog and his colony, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  his descendants, <a href='#Page_84'>84</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Magrath, Miler, the apostate, <a href='#Page_78'>78</a>.</li>
+<li>Mahoun, brother to Brian, <a href='#Page_204'>204</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  is murdered, <a href='#Page_206'>206</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Mailduf, St., <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>.</li>
+<li>Malachy, St., <a href='#Page_229'>229</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  visits Rome, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a></li>
+<li>  death of, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Malachy II., <a href='#Page_198'>198</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  exploits against the Danes, <a href='#Page_208'>208</a></li>
+<li>  wins his "collar of gold," <a href='#Page_208'>208</a></li>
+<li>  Brian deposes, <a href='#Page_209'>209</a></li>
+<li>  his death, <a href='#Page_218'>218</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Manners and Customs of Ancient Greece, <a href='#Page_141'>141</a>.</li>
+<li>Marco Polo, <a href='#Page_46'>46</a>.</li>
+<li>Marisco, De, his treachery, <a href='#Page_311'>311</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  his death, <a href='#Page_312'>312</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Mary, Queen, <a href='#Page_410'>410</a>.</li>
+<li>Massacre of a prelate, priest, and friars, <a href='#Page_402'>402</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  of a bishop, <a href='#Page_466'>466</a></li>
+<li>  at Wexford-bridge, <a href='#Page_628'>628</a></li>
+<li>  at Cashel, <a href='#Page_496'>496</a></li>
+<li>  at Wexford, <a href='#Page_503'>503</a></li>
+<li>  of three priests, <a href='#Page_445'>445</a></li>
+<li>  of three Franciscans, <a href='#Page_453'>453</a></li>
+<li>  at Drogheda, <a href='#Page_501'>501</a></li>
+<li>  at Mullamast, <a href='#Page_438'>438</a></li>
+<li>  at Fort del Ore, <a href='#Page_444'>444</a></li>
+<li>  at Scullabogue House, <a href='#Page_627'>627</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Mellifont, Abbey of, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  Synod at, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a></li>
+<li>  founded, <a href='#Page_317'>317</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Meloughlin, King of Meath, <a href='#Page_191'>191</a>.</li>
+<li>Metalogicus, the, of John of Salisbury, <a href='#Page_275'>275</a>n.</li>
+<li>Milcho, St. Patrick's master in captivity, <a href='#Page_116'>116</a>.</li>
+<li>Milesian genealogies, <a href='#Page_84'>84</a>, <a href='#Page_88'>88</a>.</li>
+<li>Milesians, landing of the, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  they conquer, <a href='#Page_77'>77</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Milford Haven, <a href='#Page_292'>292</a>.</li>
+<li>Milidh, fleet of the sons of, entrance into Ireland, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a>.</li>
+<li>Mississippi Scheme, <a href='#Page_584'>584</a>.</li>
+<li>Mochta, St., <a href='#Page_151'>151</a>.</li>
+<li>Moira, Lord, exposes the cruelty of the yeomanry, <a href='#Page_619'>619</a>.</li>
+<li>Moling, St., <a href='#Page_109'>109</a>.</li>
+<li>Monastery of Kildare, St. Brigid's, <a href='#Page_132'>132</a>.</li>
+<li><ul><li>  Kilcrea, <a href='#Page_321'>321</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Bobbio, <a href='#Page_176'>176</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Timoleague, <a href='#Page_321'>321</a>,</li>
+<li>  of Tallaght, <a href='#Page_179'>179</a>.</li>
+<li>  of St. Columbkille, <a href='#Page_293'>293</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Cluain Eidhneach, <a href='#Page_179'>179</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Donegal, <a href='#Page_321'>321</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>    desolation and plunder of, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>  of Clonbroney, <a href='#Page_188'>188</a>n.</li>
+<li>  of St. Columba, <a href='#Page_230'>230</a>, <a href='#Page_234'>234</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Ibrach (Ivragh), Kerry, <a href='#Page_230'>230</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Lismore, <a href='#Page_226'>226</a>.</li>
+<li>  of St. Kevin, <a href='#Page_235'>235</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Dunbrody, <a href='#Page_289'>289</a>.</li>
+<li>  of St. Peter's of Lemene, near Chambery, <a href='#Page_381'>381</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Clonfert, <a href='#Page_170'>170</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Mellifont, <a href='#Page_234'>234</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Clonmacnois, <a href='#Page_221'>221</a>.</li>
+<li>  Irrelagh (Muckross), <a href='#Page_322'>322</a>.</li>
+<li>  Clonmel, <a href='#Page_322'>322</a>.</li>
+<li>  Drogheda, <a href='#Page_322'>322</a>.</li>
+<li>  Cill-Achaidh, <a href='#Page_374'>374</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Montgomery, <a href='#Page_584'>584</a>.</li>
+<li>Montmarisco, <a href='#Page_237'>237</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  becomes a monk, <a href='#Page_289'>289</a></li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Monroe, <a href='#Page_493'>493</a>.</li>
+<li>Monroe, Henry, <a href='#Page_629'>629</a>.</li>
+<li>Moore, his History, <a href='#Page_37'>37</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  his partiality for Malachy, <a href='#Page_209'>209</a></li>
+<li>  on religion, <a href='#Page_111'>111</a></li>
+<li>  his life, <a href='#Page_605'>605</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Morann the good, and his collar of gold, <a href='#Page_97'>97</a>.</li>
+<li>MSS. preserved in Trinity College, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>.</li>
+<li><ul><li>  of ancient Irish history, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a>n.</li>
+<li>  Celtic, preserved in Belgium, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a>.</li>
+<li>  Continental, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a>n.</li>
+<li>  in British Museum, <a href='#Page_46'>46</a>.</li>
+<li>  Stowe collection of, <a href='#Page_45'>45</a>n.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>MSS., Latin, <a href='#Page_46'>46</a>.</li>
+<li><ul><li>  Loftus, <a href='#Page_415'>415</a>.</li>
+<li>  Burgundian, <a href='#Page_46'>46</a>.</li>
+<li>  legendary and historical, of Irish history, <a href='#Page_39'>39</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Muckross Abbey, <a href='#Page_322'>322</a>.</li>
+<li>Muircheartach, first Christian king of Ireland, <a href='#Page_131'>131</a>.</li>
+<li>Muircheartach, his circuit of Ireland, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  killed by Blacaire, <a href='#Page_197'>197</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Murphy, Father, killed, <a href='#Page_628'>628</a>.</li>
+<li>Murrough's game of chess, <a href='#Page_211'>211</a>.</li>
+<li>Murtough of the Leathern Cloaks, <a href='#Page_196'>196</a>.</li></ul>
+
+
+
+<p>N.</p>
+
+<ul><li>Neamhnach, the well, <a href='#Page_164'>164</a>.</li>
+<li>Napier's, Lady, letter respecting the tenantry of Duke of Leinster, <a href='#Page_623'>623</a>.</li>
+<li>Nathi, King, <a href='#Page_116'>116</a>.</li>
+<li>National joy at the restoration of Catholic worship, <a href='#Page_464'>464</a>.</li>
+<li>Nemedh, arrival of, <a href='#Page_59'>59</a>.</li>
+<li>Nemenians, emigration of, <a href='#Page_60'>60</a>, <a href='#Page_62'>62</a>.</li>
+<li>Nemthur, St. Patrick's birthplace, <a href='#Page_110'>110</a>.</li>
+<li>Nennius, <a href='#Page_69'>69</a>.</li>
+<li>Nesta, her beauty and infamy, <a href='#Page_259'>259</a>.</li>
+<li>Nestor, <a href='#Page_48'>48</a>.</li>
+<li>Netterville, John, Archbishop of Armagh, <a href='#Page_318'>318</a>.</li>
+<li>Newspapers in seventeenth century, <a href='#Page_545'>545</a>.</li>
+<li>Newtownbutler, engagement at, <a href='#Page_595'>595</a>.</li>
+<li>Nial of the Nine Hostages, <a href='#Page_106'>106</a>.</li>
+<li>Nial Black Knee, <a href='#Page_194'>194</a>.</li>
+<li>Nicholas, St., College of, <a href='#Page_51'>51</a>.</li>
+<li>Niebuhr, his theory of history, <a href='#Page_82'>82</a>.</li>
+<li><ul><li>  on the story of Tarpeia, <a href='#Page_82'>82</a>n.</li>
+<li>  on learning by verse, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Noah, genealogies from, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a>.</li>
+<li>Normans, their arrival in Ireland, <a href='#Page_257'>257</a>.</li>
+<li><ul><li>  their luxurious habits, <a href='#Page_272'>272</a>.</li>
+<li>  Cambrensis' account of them, <a href='#Page_277'>277</a>.</li>
+<li>  the, ridicule the Irish nobles, <a href='#Page_293'>293</a>.</li>
+<li>  feuds of the, in Ireland, <a href='#Page_300'>300</a>.</li>
+<li>  their treachery, <a href='#Page_311'>311</a>.</li>
+<li>  Viceroys, <a href='#Page_285'>285</a>.</li></ul>
+</li>
+<li>Nuada of the Silver Hand, <a href='#Page_61'>61</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  his privy council, <a href='#Page_64'>64</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Numa Pompilius, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a>.</li></ul>
+
+
+
+<p>O.</p>
+
+<ul><li>O'Brien, Turlough, Monarch of Ireland, <a href='#Page_222'>222</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  his death, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>O'Brien, Donnell, King of Thomond, <a href='#Page_271'>271</a>.</li>
+<li>O'Briens, from whom descended, <a href='#Page_84'>84</a>.</li>
+<li>O'Clery, Michael, one of the Four Masters, <a href='#Page_52'>52</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  his literary labours and piety, <a href='#Page_54'>54</a></li>
+<li>  his first work, Trias Thaumaturgas, <a href='#Page_52'>52</a></li>
+<li>  rewrote the Book of Invasions, <a href='#Page_54'>54</a></li>
+<li>  patronized by Fearghal O'Gara, <a href='#Page_53'>53</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>O'Connell, Daniel, in the House of Parliament, <a href='#Page_647'>647</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  obtains Catholic Emancipation, <a href='#Page_647'>647</a></li>
+<li>  represented Ireland, <a href='#Page_641'>641</a></li>
+<li>  his life, <a href='#Page_642'>642</a></li>
+<li>  his maiden speech, <a href='#Page_643'>643</a></li>
+<li>  Doneraile Conspiracy, <a href='#Page_643'>643</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>O'Curry, when Moore visited, <a href='#Page_37'>37</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  his opinion of early Irish civilization, <a href='#Page_104'>104</a></li>
+<li>  his labours, <a href='#Page_38'>38</a></li>
+<li>  on Erinn, <a href='#Page_48'>48</a>n</li>
+<li>  on Keating's statement of Irish descent, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a></li>
+<li>  on Cormac's writings, <a href='#Page_104'>104</a>n</li>
+<li>  on the Bachall Isu, <a href='#Page_115'>115</a></li>
+<li>  on Brehon Laws, <a href='#Page_145'>145</a></li>
+<li>  on Irish saints, <a href='#Page_178'>178</a></li>
+<li>  on musical instruments, <a href='#Page_250'>250</a></li>
+<li>  on Irish martyrs, <a href='#Page_416'>416</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>O'Connor, Hugh, <a href='#Page_308'>308</a>.</li>
+<li><ul><li>  Felim, <a href='#Page_309'>309</a>, <a href='#Page_313'>313</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Offaly, <a href='#Page_339'>339</a>.</li>
+<li>  Roderic, <a href='#Page_235'>235</a>.</li>
+<li>  expelled from Offaly, <a href='#Page_408'>408</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>    returns to Ireland, <a href='#Page_411'>411</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>  Margaret, a literary lady, <a href='#Page_374'>374</a>.</li>
+<li>  Nuala, <a href='#Page_321'>321</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>    establishes the monastery of Franciscans at Donegal, <a href='#Page_321'>321</a></li>
+<li>    her death, <a href='#Page_322'>322</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>  Arthur, <a href='#Page_624'>624</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>O'Connor Faly, Margaret, visits England, <a href='#Page_411'>411</a>.</li>
+<li>O'Daly, the poet, <a href='#Page_303'>303</a>.</li>
+<li>O'Donnell, Hugh, entertainment of, at Windsor, <a href='#Page_387'>387</a>.</li>
+<li>O'Donnell, Hugh Roe, his treacherous capture, <a href='#Page_447'>447</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  leaves Ireland, <a href='#Page_459'>459</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>O'Donnell More, died at Assaroe, <a href='#Page_313'>313</a>.</li>
+<li>O'Donovan, Dr., quotations from, on Brehon laws, <a href='#Page_144'>144</a>.</li>
+<li>Odran, St., <a href='#Page_147'>147</a>.</li>
+<li>O'Duffy, Catholicus, <a href='#Page_304'>304</a>.</li>
+<li>O'Duffy, Donnell, <a href='#Page_233'>233</a>.</li>
+<li>O'Flaherty, his Chronology, <a href='#Page_81'>81</a>.</li>
+<li>Ogham writing, <a href='#Page_149'>149</a>.</li>
+<li>Oghma, Danann prince, invented the writing called Ogham Craove, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a>.</li>
+<li>Ogygia of the Greeks, <a href='#Page_72'>72</a>.</li>
+<li>Ogygia, account in, of ancient writings, <a href='#Page_148'>148</a>n.</li>
+<li>O'Hagan, the Abbot Imar, <a href='#Page_229'>229</a>.</li>
+<li>O'Hartigan, Kenneth, <a href='#Page_221'>221</a>.</li>
+<li>O'Hurly, Dr., <a href='#Page_453'>453</a>.</li>
+<li>Ollamh Fodhla, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a>.</li>
+<li>Ollamh, office and qualifications of a, <a href='#Page_83'>83</a>, <a href='#Page_86'>86</a>.</li>
+<li>O'Loughlin, Donnell, <a href='#Page_226'>226</a>.</li>
+<li>O'Loughlins of Tyrone, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>.</li>
+<li>O'More, Rory Oge, <a href='#Page_437'>437</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  Roger, <a href='#Page_480'>480</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>O'Neill, Donough, <a href='#Page_207'>207</a></li>
+<li>O'Neill, Shane, <a href='#Page_409'>409</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  feared by the English, <a href='#Page_418'>418</a></li>
+<li>  attempts to poison him, <a href='#Page_419'>419</a></li>
+<li>  Lord Chancellor Cusack persuades him to forget the poisoning, <a href='#Page_420'>420</a></li>
+<li>  he is killed treacherously, <a href='#Page_422'>422</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>O'Neill, Hugh, marriage of, <a href='#Page_450'>450</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  his insurrection, <a href='#Page_454'>454</a></li>
+<li>  defeats Bagnal, <a href='#Page_455'>455</a></li>
+<li>  his interview with Essex, <a href='#Page_456'>456</a></li>
+<li>  attempts to assassinate him, <a href='#Page_458'>458</a></li>
+<li>  his power decreases, <a href='#Page_461'>461</a></li>
+<li>  plot to entrap him, <a href='#Page_468'>468</a></li>
+<li>  his flight and death in Rome, <a href='#Page_469'>469</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>O'Neill, Sir Phelim, <a href='#Page_480'>480</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  marches against Monroe, <a href='#Page_493'>493</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>O'Neill, Owen Roe, <a href='#Page_480'>480</a>.</li>
+<li>O'Neill, Hugh Boy, slain in 1283, <a href='#Page_332'>332</a>.</li>
+<li>O'Neill, Donnell, <a href='#Page_198'>198</a>,</li>
+<li>Ormonde, the Duke of. <a href='#Page_483'>483</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  his intrigues, <a href='#Page_492'>492</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Orpheus, first writer who mention Ireland, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a>.</li>
+<li>Orr, Mr., his trial and death, <a href='#Page_620'>620</a>.</li>
+<li>O'Toole, St. Laurence, Archbishop of Dublin, <a href='#Page_234'>234</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  his genealogy, <a href='#Page_235'>235</a></li>
+<li>  Abbot of St. Kevin's monastery, at Glendalough, <a href='#Page_235'>235</a></li>
+<li>  his patriotism, <a href='#Page_267'>267</a></li>
+<li>  his journey to France, <a href='#Page_290'>290</a></li>
+<li>  sent as ambassador to Henry II., <a href='#Page_281'>281</a></li>
+<li>  his death, <a href='#Page_290'>290</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Oirdnidhe, Hugh, the legislator, <a href='#Page_179'>179</a>.</li></ul>
+
+
+<p>
+P.</p>
+
+<ul><li>Palatines, the, <a href='#Page_580'>580</a>.</li>
+<li>Palladius, St., mission of, <a href='#Page_109'>109</a>.</li>
+<li>Palliums, <a href='#Page_231'>231</a>.</li>
+<li>Partholan, landing of, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a>.</li>
+<li>Partholyan, English traditions of, <a href='#Page_71'>71</a>.</li>
+<li>Patrick, St., his birthplace, <a href='#Page_112'>112</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  visits Tara, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a></li>
+<li>  his successful preaching, <a href='#Page_123'>123</a></li>
+<li>  relic of his hand, <a href='#Page_134'>134</a></li>
+<li>  his copy of the Gospels, <a href='#Page_134'>134</a></li>
+<li>  his burial-place, <a href='#Page_133'>133</a></li>
+<li>  devotion of his servant, <a href='#Page_125'>125</a></li>
+<li>  his death, <a href='#Page_126'>126</a></li>
+<li>  his vision, <a href='#Page_113'>113</a></li>
+<li>  his prayer for Ireland, <a href='#Page_135'>135</a></li>
+<li>  destruction of the idols, <a href='#Page_121'>121</a></li>
+<li>  his Hymn, <a href='#Page_120'>120</a></li>
+<li>  his captivity, <a href='#Page_113'>113</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Peep-o'-Day Boys and Defenders, <a href='#Page_613'>613</a>.</li>
+<li>Pelasgian remains, <a href='#Page_158'>158</a>.</li>
+<li>Pembroke, Earl of, plots against, <a href='#Page_311'>311</a>.</li>
+<li>Penal Laws, enactment of, <a href='#Page_576'>576</a>.</li>
+<li>Perrot, Sir John, <a href='#Page_417'>417</a>.</li>
+<li>Petrie, Dr., quotations from, on Brehon laws, <a href='#Page_115'>115</a>.</li>
+<li>Petty, Sir William, <a href='#Page_541'>541</a>.</li>
+<li>Philosophical Society, the Dublin, <a href='#Page_546'>546</a>.</li>
+<li>Phoenician colonization of Spain, <a href='#Page_70'>70</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  circumnavigation of Africa, <a href='#Page_69'>69</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Physicians, establishment of their college in Dublin, <a href='#Page_543'>543</a></li>
+<li>Picts, landing of the, <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>.</li>
+<li>Pitt, William, <a href='#Page_613'>613</a>.</li>
+<li>Plantation of Connaught, <a href='#Page_510'>510</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  of Ulster, <a href='#Page_469'>469</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Plowden's account of the atrocities of the military, <a href='#Page_602'>602</a>.</li>
+<li>Plunkett, Dr., his trial and execution, <a href='#Page_528'>528</a>.</li>
+<li>Plunkett, Lord, in parliament, <a href='#Page_640'>640</a>.</li>
+<li>Poyning's Parliament, <a href='#Page_379'>379</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  law, and its effects, <a href='#Page_382'>382</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Presentation Order, <a href='#Page_593'>593</a>n.</li>
+<li>Priests, cruel massacre of, <a href='#Page_496'>496</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  their efforts to save Protestants, <a href='#Page_483'>483</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Protestant Church, state of, <a href='#Page_425'>425</a>.</li></ul>
+
+
+
+<p>Q.</p>
+
+<ul><li>Quipus used as a register by the Indians, <a href='#Page_150'>150</a>.</li></ul>
+
+
+
+<p>R.</p>
+
+<ul><li>Raith Beóthaigh (Rath Beagh), an ancient burial-place, <a href='#Page_78'>78</a>.</li>
+<li>Raleigh, Sir Walter, <a href='#Page_439'>439</a>.</li>
+<li>Rath at Leighlin, <a href='#Page_200'>200</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  of the Synods, <a href='#Page_165'>165</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Reformation, attempts to introduce the, <a href='#Page_415'>415</a>.</li>
+<li>Reformed clergy, preaching of, <a href='#Page_405'>405</a>.</li>
+<li>Religious houses and their founders, <a href='#Page_316'>316</a>.</li>
+<li>Remonstrance to the Holy See, <a href='#Page_341'>341</a>.</li>
+<li>Reports on the state of Ireland, <a href='#Page_648'>648</a></li>
+<li>Richard I., accession of, <a href='#Page_294'>294</a>.</li>
+<li>Richard II., visits Ireland, <a href='#Page_365'>365</a>.</li>
+<li>Rinuccini, <a href='#Page_489'>489</a>n</li>
+<li><ul><li>  lands at Kenmare, <a href='#Page_490'>490</a></li>
+<li>  reception in Kilkenny, <a href='#Page_491'>491</a></li>
+<li>  returns to Italy, <a href='#Page_497'>497</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Rock of Cashel, <a href='#Page_193'>193</a>.</li>
+<li>Rodanus, St., <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>.</li>
+<li>Romantic Tales, <a href='#Page_91'>91</a>.</li>
+<li>Rose Tavern, <a href='#Page_544'>544</a>.</li>
+<li>Rotundo built, <a href='#Page_638'>638</a>.</li>
+<li>Round Tower controversy, <a href='#Page_153'>153</a>.</li>
+<li>Rowan, A. Hamilton, <a href='#Page_615'>615</a></li>
+<li>Rufus, William, boast of, <a href='#Page_257'>257</a>.</li></ul>
+
+
+
+<p>S.</p>
+
+<ul><li>Sacramental test, <a href='#Page_579'>579</a>.</li>
+<li>Saltair of Temair, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a>.</li>
+<li><ul><li>  na-Rann, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Cashel, <a href='#Page_44'>44</a>.</li>
+<li>  of Cormac, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>San José, arrival of, <a href='#Page_443'>443</a>.</li>
+<li>Saviour's, St., Dublin, <a href='#Page_318'>318</a>.</li>
+<li>Schomberg's camp, disease in, <a href='#Page_560'>560</a>.</li>
+<li>Scots, <a href='#Page_69'>69</a>.</li>
+<li>Scraball, <a href='#Page_164'>164</a>.</li>
+<li>Scythian colonists, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  Irish claim descent from, <a href='#Page_65'>65</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Seanchaidhé, poet, <a href='#Page_83'>83</a>n.</li>
+<li>Seanchus Mor, language of, <a href='#Page_145'>145</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  translator of, <a href='#Page_145'>145</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Sedulus, St., <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>.</li>
+<li>Segetius, priest, <a href='#Page_115'>115</a>.</li>
+<li>Senchan Torpéist, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>.</li>
+<li>Severe winters and pestilences in Ireland, <a href='#Page_223'>223</a>.</li>
+<li>Sheehy, Father Nicholas, judicial murder of, <a href='#Page_589'>589</a>.</li>
+<li>Sheridan, his life, <a href='#Page_608'>608</a>.</li>
+<li>Shrines of the three saints, <a href='#Page_133'>133</a>.</li>
+<li>Sidney's official account of Ireland, <a href='#Page_423'>423</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  his interview with Granuaile, <a href='#Page_434'>434</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Silken Thomas, his rebellion, <a href='#Page_391'>391</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  his execution, <a href='#Page_392'>392</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Silver shields, <a href='#Page_89'>89</a>.</li>
+<li>Simnel crowned in Dublin, <a href='#Page_380'>380</a>.</li>
+<li>Simon, Rabbi, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>.</li>
+<li>Sitric arrival of, <a href='#Page_195'>195</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  treachery of, <a href='#Page_201'>201</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Smith, Adam, on Ireland, <a href='#Page_603'>603</a>.</li>
+<li>Smithfield, origin of the name, <a href='#Page_241'>241</a>n.</li>
+<li>South Sea Bubble, <a href='#Page_581'>581</a>.</li>
+<li>Spenser's Castle, <a href='#Page_423'>423</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  grandson, <a href='#Page_513'>513</a></li>
+<li>  description of Irish misery, <a href='#Page_439'>439</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Sreng, warrior, <a href='#Page_62'>62</a>.</li>
+<li>Statements in our annals confirmed by a Jewish writer, <a href='#Page_68'>68</a>.</li>
+<li>Statute of Kilkenny and its effects, <a href='#Page_359'>359</a>.</li>
+<li>Stierman, <a href='#Page_48'>48</a>.</li>
+<li>Sterne, Dr., <a href='#Page_544'>544</a>.</li>
+<li>Strafford, Earl of, <a href='#Page_77'>77</a>.</li>
+<li>Strongbow, Earl of Clare, arrives in Ireland, <a href='#Page_263'>263</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  genealogy, <a href='#Page_263'>263</a></li>
+<li>  marriage of, and Eva, <a href='#Page_264'>264</a></li>
+<li>  proclaims himself king of Leinster, <a href='#Page_266'>266</a></li>
+<li>  returns to England. <a href='#Page_268'>268</a></li>
+<li>  death of, <a href='#Page_282'>282</a></li>
+<li>  his seal, <a href='#Page_284'>284</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Succession, law of, <a href='#Page_146'>146</a>.</li>
+<li>Superstitions, Irish, <a href='#Page_142'>142</a>.</li>
+<li>Swan, Major, <a href='#Page_624'>624</a>.</li>
+<li>Swift, Dean, <a href='#Page_581'>581</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  his writings, <a href='#Page_581'>581</a></li>
+<li>  his life, <a href='#Page_607'>607</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Swords and chariots of ancient Ireland, <a href='#Page_167'>167</a>.</li></ul>
+
+
+
+<p>T.</p>
+
+<ul><li>Tacitus, <a href='#Page_95'>95</a>.</li>
+<li>Táin bó Chuailgné, the expedition of, <a href='#Page_92'>92</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  the story of, <a href='#Page_93'>93</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Talbot, Archbishop, <a href='#Page_525'>525</a>.</li>
+<li>Tanaiste, <a href='#Page_147'>147</a>.</li>
+<li>Tandy, Napper, <a href='#Page_612'>612</a>.</li>
+<li>Tara, account of ancient, <a href='#Page_163'>163</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  site of, <a href='#Page_41'>41</a></li>
+<li>  cursing of, <a href='#Page_162'>162</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Taverns and coffee-houses, <a href='#Page_544'>544</a>.</li>
+<li>Theatre, the first, in Dublin, <a href='#Page_547'>547</a>.</li>
+<li>Thomas, St., of Canterbury, <a href='#Page_266'>266</a>.</li>
+<li>Thompson, Charles, Secretary of Congress, <a href='#Page_601'>601</a>.</li>
+<li>Threnodia Hiberno-Catholica, <a href='#Page_511'>511</a>.</li>
+<li>Tighernach's Annals, <a href='#Page_49'>49</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  uses the dominical letter, <a href='#Page_49'>49</a></li>
+<li>  mentions the lunar cycle, <a href='#Page_49'>49</a></li>
+<li>  quotes historical writers, <a href='#Page_49'>49</a></li>
+<li>  his home, <a href='#Page_48'>48</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Tighearnmas, <a href='#Page_88'>88</a>.</li>
+<li>Timoleague, Monastery of, <a href='#Page_321'>321</a>.</li>
+<li>Tithes introduced into Ireland, <a href='#Page_232'>232</a>.</li>
+<li>Tom the Devil, <a href='#Page_622'>622</a>.</li>
+<li>Tone, Theobald Wolfe, <a href='#Page_614'>614</a>.</li>
+<li>Tradition, its use in history, <a href='#Page_40'>40</a>.</li>
+<li>Trias Thaumaturgas, <a href='#Page_52'>52</a>.</li>
+<li>Trinity College, foundation of, <a href='#Page_462'>462</a>.</li>
+<li>Tuatha Dé Dananns, fifth taking of Ireland by, <a href='#Page_61'>61</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  their skill as artificers, <a href='#Page_61'>61</a></li>
+<li>  battles of, <a href='#Page_62'>62</a>, <a href='#Page_75'>75</a></li>
+<li>  dynasty passed away, <a href='#Page_76'>76</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Tuathal, reign of, <a href='#Page_98'>98</a>.</li>
+<li>Tuite, Richard (the great baron), <a href='#Page_333'>333</a>.</li>
+<li>Turgesius the Dane, <a href='#Page_189'>189</a>.</li>
+<li>Tussach, St, <a href='#Page_126'>126</a>.</li></ul>
+
+
+
+<p>U.</p>
+
+<ul><li>Ugainé Mor, reign of, <a href='#Page_90'>90</a>.</li>
+<li>Ultan, St., <a href='#Page_171'>171</a>.</li>
+<li>Union, the, <a href='#Page_632'>632</a>.</li>
+<li>United Irishmen, the, <a href='#Page_618'>618</a>.</li>
+<li>Usher, Archbishop, <a href='#Page_534'>534</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  his indifference about orders, <a href='#Page_536'>536</a></li>
+<li>  on St. Patrick's Canons, <a href='#Page_117'>117</a></li>
+<li>  as an historian, <a href='#Page_534'>534</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Usher's Island, <a href='#Page_318'>318</a>n.</li></ul>
+
+
+
+<p>V.</p>
+
+<ul><li>Veto, the, <a href='#Page_643'>643</a>.</li>
+<li>Victorious, <a href='#Page_113'>113</a>n.</li>
+<li>Vinegar Hill, the battle of, <a href='#Page_627'>627</a>.</li>
+<li>Volunteers, the, <a href='#Page_591'>591</a>.</li>
+<li>Virgilius, St., <a href='#Page_178'>178</a>.</li>
+<li>Vivian, Cardinal, <a href='#Page_286'>286</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  entombs the relics of the three saints anew, <a href='#Page_294'>294</a>.</li></ul></li></ul>
+
+
+
+
+<p>W.</p>
+
+<ul><li>Warbeck's plot, <a href='#Page_381'>381</a>.</li>
+<li>Ware, <a href='#Page_415'>415</a>.</li>
+<li>Ward, Father, <a href='#Page_52'>52</a>.</li>
+<li>Waterford rugs, <a href='#Page_539'>539</a>.</li>
+<li>Wellesley, Chief Secretary, <a href='#Page_640'>640</a>.</li>
+<li>Wesley, John, his remark about Moira House, <a href='#Page_318'>318</a>n.</li>
+<li>Wheat planted early, <a href='#Page_243'>243</a>.</li>
+<li>White and Black Gentiles, <a href='#Page_191'>191</a>.</li>
+<li>Whiteboys, the, <a href='#Page_584'>584</a>.</li>
+<li>Wilde, Sir W., <a href='#Page_79'>79</a>n.</li>
+<li>Wives purchased in Erinn, <a href='#Page_43'>43</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  exchanged, <a href='#Page_229'>229</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Words and Places, <a href='#Page_58'>58</a>n.</li>
+<li>Wood's halfpence, <a href='#Page_581'>581</a>.</li>
+<li>Wren, veneration for the, <a href='#Page_140'>140</a>.</li></ul>
+
+
+
+<p>Y.</p>
+
+<ul><li>Yeomanry, fearful cruelties of the, <a href='#Page_630'>630</a>.</li>
+<li>York, house of, <a href='#Page_371'>371</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  Duke of, made Viceroy, <a href='#Page_375'>375</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Yorkists, popularity in Ireland, <a href='#Page_376'>376</a>.</li>
+<li><ul><li>  insurrection of the, <a href='#Page_378'>378</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Youghal, foundation of Convent of, <a href='#Page_318'>318</a></li>
+<li><ul><li>  College of, <a href='#Page_378'>378</a></li>
+<li>  burned down, <a href='#Page_443'>443</a>.</li></ul></li>
+
+<li>Young's remedy for Irish disaffection, <a href='#Page_585'>585</a>.</li></ul>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<center>
+<img src="images/671.jpg" width="226" height="194" alt="" title="" />
+</center>
+
+
+<h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<a name="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1">[A]</a><div class="note"><p> The Rev. U. Burke, of St. Jarlath's College, Tuam, has a
+note on this subject, in a work which he is at this moment passing
+through the press, and which he kindly permits me to publish. He says:
+&quot;This book [the &quot;Illustrated History of Ireland&quot;] ought to be in the
+hands of every young student and of every young Irish maiden attending
+the convent schools. Oh, for ten thousand Irish ladies knowing the
+history of Ireland! How few know anything of it! The present volume, by
+Sister Francis Clare, is an atoning sacrifice for this sin of neglect.&quot;
+</p><p>
+I am aware that the price of the &quot;Illustrated History of Ireland,&quot; even
+in its present form, although it is offered at a sacrifice which no
+bookseller would make, is an obstacle to its extensive use as a school
+history. We purpose, however, before long, to publish a history for the
+use of schools, at a very low price, and yet of a size to admit of
+sufficient expansion for the purpose. Our countrymen must, however,
+remember that only a very large number of orders can enable the work to
+be published as cheaply as it should be. It would save immense trouble
+and expense, if priests, managers of schools, and the heads of colleges,
+would send orders for a certain number of copies at once. If every
+priest, convent, and college, ordered twelve copies for their schools,
+the work could be put in hands immediately.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_1_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_2">[1]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Work.</i>&mdash;<i>Lectures on the MS. Materials of Ancient Irish
+History</i>. This work was published at the sole cost of the Catholic
+University of Ireland, and will be an eternal monument of their
+patriotism and devotion to literature. A chair of Irish History and
+Arch&aelig;ology was also founded at the very commencement of the University;
+and yet the &quot;Queen's Colleges&quot; are discarding this study, while an
+English professor in Oxford is warmly advocating its promotion. Is the
+value of a chair to be estimated by the number of pupils who surround
+it, or by the contributions to science of the professor who holds it?</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_2_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_3">[2]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Leinster.</i>&mdash;Book of Leinster, H.2.18, T.C.D. See O'Curry,
+p. 8.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_3_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_4">[3]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Ballymote.</i>&mdash;Library R.I.A., at fol. 145, a.a.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_4_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_5">[4]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Lecan.</i>&mdash;Trinity College, Dublin, classed H.2.16.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_5_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_6">[5]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Uachongbhail</i>.&mdash;O'Curry's <i>MS. Materials</i>, p. 11.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_6_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_7">[6]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Same</i>.&mdash;Ibid. p. 12. The Psalms derived their name from
+the musical instrument to which they were sung. This was called in
+Hebrew <i>nebel</i>. It obtained the name from its resemblance to a bottle or
+flagon. Psaltery is the Greek translation, and hence the name psalm.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_7_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_8">[7]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Devastated</i>.&mdash;This was probably written in the year 1001,
+when Brian Boroimh&eacute; had deposed Malachy.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_8_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_9">[8]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Fen&eacute;-men</i>.&mdash;The farmers, who were not Fenians then
+certainly, for &quot;Cormac was a righteous judge of the <i>Agraria Lex</i> of the
+Gaels.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_9_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_10">[9]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Erinn.</i>&mdash;Keating says: &quot;We will set down here the
+branching off of the races of Magog, according to the Book of Invasions
+(of Ireland), which was called the Cin of Drom Snechta; and it was
+before the coming of Patrick to Ireland the author of that book
+existed.&quot;&mdash;See Keating, page 109, in O'Connor's translation. It is most
+unfortunate that this devoted priest and ardent lover of his country did
+not bring the critical acumen to his work which would have made its
+veracity unquestionable. He tells us that it is &quot;the business of his
+history to be particular,&quot; and speaks of having &quot;faithfully collected
+and transcribed.&quot; But until recent investigations manifested the real
+antiquity and value of the MS. Materials of Ancient Irish History, his
+work was looked on as a mere collection of legends. The quotation at
+present under consideration is a case in point. He must have had a copy
+of the Cin of Drom Snechta in his possession, and he must have known who
+was the author of the original, as he states so distinctly the time of
+its compilation. Keating's accuracy in matters of fact and
+transcription, however, is daily becoming more apparent. This statement
+might have been considered a mere conjecture of his own, had not Mr.
+O'Curry discovered the name of the author in a partially effaced
+memorandum in the Book of Leinster, which he reads thus: &quot;[Ern&iacute;n, son
+of] Duach [that is], son of the King of Connacht, an <i>Ollamh</i>, and a
+prophet, and a professor in history, and a professor in wisdom: it was
+he that collected the Genealogies and Histories of the men of Erinn in
+one book, that is, the <i>Cin Droma Snechta</i>.&quot; Duach was the son of Brian,
+son of the monarch <i>Eochaidh</i>, who died A.D. 305.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_10_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_11">[10]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Besides.</i>&mdash;O'Curry, page 16.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_11_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_12">[11]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Sages.</i>&mdash;M. Nigra, the Italian Ambassador at Paris, is at
+this moment engaged in publishing continental MSS.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_12_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_13">[12]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Vellum.</i>&mdash;The use of vellum is an indication that the
+MSS. must be of some antiquity. The word &quot;paper&quot; is derived from
+<i>papyrus</i>, the most ancient material for writing, if we except the rocks
+used for runes, or the wood for oghams. Papyrus, the pith of a reed, was
+used until the discovery of parchment, about 190 B.C. A MS. of the
+<i>Antiquities of Josephus</i> on papyrus, was among the treasures seized by
+Buonaparte in Italy.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_13_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_14">[13]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Acquainted</i>.&mdash;O'Curry's <i>MS. Materials</i>, page 24.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_14_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_15">[14]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Collection</i>.-A recent writer in the <i>Cornhill</i> says that
+Lord Ashburnham refuses access to this collection, now in his
+possession, fearing that its contents may be depreciated so as to lessen
+its value at a future sale. We should hope this statement can scarcely
+be accurate. Unhappily, it is at least certain that access to the MSS.
+is denied, from whatever motive.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_15_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_16">[15]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Erinn</i>.&mdash;O'Curry, page 57. It has also been remarked,
+that there is no nation in possession of such ancient chronicles written
+in what is still the language of its people.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_16_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_17">[16]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Years</i>.&mdash;See O'Curry, <i>passim</i>.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_17_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_18">[17]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Erinn</i>.&mdash;<i>Eire</i> is the correct form for the nominative.
+Erinn is the genitive, but too long in use to admit of alteration. The
+ordinary name of Ireland, in the oldest Irish MSS., is (h)Erin, gen.
+(h)Erenn, dat. (h)Erinn; but the initial <i>h</i> is often omitted. See Max
+M&uuml;ller's Lectures for an interesting note on this subject, to which we
+shall again refer.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_18_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_19">[18]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Poets</i>.&mdash;The <i>Book of Lecain</i> was written in 1416, by an
+ancestor of Mac Firbis. Usher had it for some time in his possession;
+James II. carried it to Paris, and deposited it in the Irish College in
+the presence of a notary and witnesses. In 1787, the Chevalier O'Reilly
+procured its restoration to Ireland; and it passed eventually from
+Vallancey to the Royal Irish Academy, where it is now carefully
+preserved.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_19_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_20">[19]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Murdered</i>.&mdash;The circumstances of the murder are unhappily
+characteristic of the times. The Celtic race was under the ban of penal
+laws for adherence to the faith of their fathers. The murderer was free.
+As the old historian travelled to Dublin, he rested at a shop in
+Dunflin. A young man came in and took liberties with the young woman who
+had care of the shop. She tried to check him, by saying that he would be
+seen by the gentleman in the next room. In a moment he seized a knife
+from the counter, and plunged it into the breast of Mac Firbis. There
+was no &quot;justice for Ireland&quot; then, and, of course, the miscreant escaped
+the punishment he too well deserved.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_20_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_21">[20]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Lost</i>.&mdash;He was also employed by Sir James Ware to
+translate for him, and appears to have resided in his house in
+Castle-street, Dublin, just before his death.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_21_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_22">[21]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Betaghs</i>.&mdash;Poems, by D.F. Mac Carthy.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_22_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_23">[22]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Noah</i>.&mdash;This is a clear argument. The names of
+pre-Noahacian patriarchs must have been preserved by tradition, with
+their date of succession and history. Why should not other genealogies
+have been preserved in a similar manner, and <i>even the names of
+individuals</i> transmitted to posterity?</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_23_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_24">[23]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Laws</i>.&mdash;MacFirbis. Apud O'Curry, p. 219.</p></div>
+<a name="Footnote_24_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_25">[24]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Hibernia</i>.&mdash;Chronicum Scotorum, p. 3.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_25_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_26">[25]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Tradition</i>.&mdash;O'Curry, p. 13.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_26_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_27">[26]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Names</i>.&mdash;Four Masters, O'Donovan, p. 3.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_27_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_28">[27]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Abraham.&mdash;</i>Chronicum Scotorum, p. 5.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_28_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_29">[28]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Years</i>.&mdash;Four Masters, p. 5.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_29_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_30">[29]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Inver.&mdash;Inver</i> and <i>A[=b] er</i> have been used as test
+words in discriminating between the Gaedhilic and Cymric Celts. The
+etymology and meaning is the same&mdash;a meeting of waters. Inver, the Erse
+and Gaedhilic form, is common in Ireland, and in those parts of Scotland
+where the Gael encroached on the Cymry. See <i>Words and Places</i>, p. 259,
+for interesting observations on this subject.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_30_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_31">[30]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Year</i>.&mdash;Annals, p. 7.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_31_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_32">[31]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Ireland.</i>&mdash;Ib. p. 9.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_32_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_33">[32]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Annals.</i>&mdash;Ib. I. p. 9.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_33_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_34">[33]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>World</i>.&mdash;See Conell MacGeoghegan's Translation of the
+Annals of Clonmacnois, quoted by O'Donovan, p. 11.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_34_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_35">[34]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Maol</i>.&mdash;The Teutonic languages afford no explanation of
+the name of Britain, though it is inhabited by a Teutonic race. It is
+probable, therefore, that they adopted an ethnic appellation of the
+former inhabitants. This may have been patronymic, or, perhaps, a Celtic
+prefix with the Euskarian suffix <i>etan</i>, a district or country. See
+<i>Words and Places</i>, p. 60.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_35_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_36">[35]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Ulster</i>.&mdash;Neither the Annals nor the Chronicum give these
+divisions; the above is from the Annals of Clonmacnois. There is a poem
+in the Book of Lecain, at folio 277, b., by MacLiag, on the Firbolg
+colonies, which is quoted as having been taken from their own account of
+themselves; and another on the same subject at 278, a.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_36_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_37">[36]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Hand</i>.&mdash;Four Masters, p. 17.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_37_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_38">[37]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Reliance</i>.&mdash;O'Curry, p. 243.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_38_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_39">[38]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Spears</i>.&mdash;O'Curry, p. 245.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_39_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_40">[39]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Eye</i>.&mdash;There is a curious note by Dr. O'Donovan (Annals,
+p. 18) about this Balor. The tradition of his deeds and enchantments is
+still preserved in Tory Island, one of the many evidences of the value
+of tradition, and of the many proofs that it usually overlies a strata
+of facts.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_40_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_41">[40]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Country</i>.&mdash;We find the following passages in a work
+purporting to be a history of Ireland, recently published: &quot;It would be
+throwing away time to examine critically <i>fables</i> like those contained
+in the present and following chapter.&quot; The subjects of those chapters
+are the colonization of Partholan, of the Nemedians, Fomorians, Tuatha
+D&eacute; Dananns, and Milesians, the building of the palace of Emania, the
+reign of Cairbr&eacute;, Tuathal, and last, not least, the death of Dathi. And
+these are &quot;fables&quot;! The writer then calmly informs us that the period at
+which they were &quot;invented, extended probably from the tenth to the
+twelfth century.&quot; Certainly, the &quot;inventors&quot; were men of no ordinary
+talent, and deserve some commendation for their inventive faculties. But
+on this subject we shall say more hereafter. At last the writer arrives
+at the &quot;first ages of Christianity.&quot; We hoped that here at least he
+might have granted us a history; but he writes: &quot;The history of early
+Christianity in Ireland is obscure and doubtful, precisely in proportion
+as it is unusually copious. If legends enter largely into the civil
+history of the country, they found their way tenfold into the history of
+the Church, because there the tendency to believe in them was much
+greater, as well as the inducement to invent and adopt them.&quot; The
+&quot;inventors&quot; of the pre-Christian history of Ireland, who accomplished
+their task &quot;from the tenth to the twelfth century,&quot; are certainly
+complimented at the expense of the saints who Christianized Ireland.
+This writer seems to doubt the existence of St. Patrick, and has &quot;many
+doubts&quot; as to the authenticity of the life of St. Columba. We should not
+have noticed this work had we not reason to know that it has circulated
+largely amongst the middle and lower classes, who may be grievously
+misled by its very insidious statements. It is obviously written for the
+sake of making a book to sell; and the writer has the honesty to say
+plainly, that he merely gives the early history of Ireland, pagan and
+Christian, because he could not well write a history of Ireland and omit
+this portion of it!</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_41_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_42">[41]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Pillars</i>.&mdash;The monuments ascribed to the Tuatha D&eacute;
+Dananns are principally situated in Meath, at Drogheda, Dowlet, Knowth,
+and New Grange. There are others at Cnoc-Ain&egrave; and Cnoc-Gr&eacute;in&egrave;, co.
+Limerick, and on the Pap Mountains, co. Kerry.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_42_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_43">[42]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Josephus</i>.&mdash;Con. Apionem, lib. i.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_43_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_44">[43]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Snechta</i>.&mdash;O'Curry, p. 14.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_44_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_45">[44]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Work</i>&mdash;See ante, p. 43.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_45_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_46">[45]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Writes</i>.&mdash;Josephus, lib. i. c. 6. Most of the authorities
+in this chapter are taken from the Essay on the ancient history,
+religion, learning, arts, and government of Ireland, by the late W.
+D'Alton. The Essay obtained a prize of &pound;80 and the Cunningham Gold Medal
+from the Royal Irish Academy. It is published in volume xvi. of the
+Transactions, and is a repertory of learning of immense value to the
+student of Irish history.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_46_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_47">[46]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Sea</i>.&mdash;Lib. Zoar, p. 87, as cited by Vallancey, and
+Parson's Defence, &amp;c., p. 205.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_47_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_48">[47]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Sea</i>.&mdash;Herodotus, l. vii. c. 89.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_48_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_49">[48]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Me</i>.&mdash;&quot;Sic mihi peritissimi Scotorum nunciaverunt.&quot; The
+reader will remember that the Irish were called Scots, although the
+appellative of Ierins or Ierne continued to be given to the country from
+the days of Orpheus to those of Claudius. By Roman writers Ireland was
+more usually termed Hibernia. Juvenal calls it Juverna.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_49_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_50">[49]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Writers</i>.&mdash;The circumnavigation of Africa by a Phoenician
+ship, in the reign of Neco, about 610 B.C., is credited by Humboldt,
+Rennell, Heeren, Grote, and Rawlinson. Of their voyages to Cornwall for
+tin there is no question, and it is more than probable they sailed to
+the Baltic for amber. It has been even supposed that they anticipated
+Columbus in the discovery of America. Niebuhr connects the primitive
+astronomy of Europe with that of America, and, therefore, must suppose
+the latter country to have been discovered.&mdash;<i>Hist. of Rome</i>, vol. i. p.
+281. This, however, is very vague ground of conjecture; the tide of
+knowledge, as well as emigration, was more probably eastward.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_50_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_51">[50]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Procopius.&mdash;Hist. Gen. d'Espagne</i>, vol. i.c.l. p.4.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_51_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_52">[51]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Chief.&mdash;De Antiq. et Orig. Cantab</i>. See D'Alton's
+<i>Essay</i>, p. 24, for other authorities.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_52_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_53">[52]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Poem</i>.&mdash;There has been question of the author, but none
+as to the authenticity and the probable date of compilation.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_53_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_54">[53]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Ogygia</i>.&mdash;Camden writes thus: &quot;Nor can any one conceive
+why they should call it Ogygia, unless, perhaps, from its antiquity; for
+the Greeks called nothing Ogygia unless what was extremely ancient.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_54_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_55">[54]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Fish</i>.&mdash;And it still continues to be a national article
+of consumption and export. In a recent debate on the &quot;Irish question,&quot;
+an honorable member observes, that he regrets to say &quot;fish&quot; is the only
+thing which appears to be flourishing in Ireland. We fear, however, from
+the report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons on the
+question of Irish sea-coast fisheries, that the poor fishermen are not
+prospering as well as the fish. Mr. Hart stated: &quot;Fish was as plenty as
+ever; but numbers of the fishermen had died during the famine, others
+emigrated, and many of those who remained were unable, from want of
+means, to follow the pursuit.&quot; And yet these men are honest; for it has
+been declared before the same committee, that they have scrupulously
+repaid the loans which were given them formerly; and they are willing to
+work, for when they can get boats and nets, <i>they do work</i>. These are
+facts. Shakspeare has said that facts are &quot;stubborn things;&quot; they are,
+certainly, sometimes very unpleasant things. Yet, we are told, the Irish
+have no real grievances. Of course, starvation from want of work is not
+a grievance!
+</p><p>
+Within the few months which have elapsed since the publication of the
+first edition of this History and the present moment, when I am engaged
+in preparing a second edition, a fact has occurred within my own
+personal knowledge relative to this very subject, and of too great
+importance to the history of Ireland in the present day to be omitted. A
+shoal of sprats arrived in the bay of &mdash;&mdash; and the poor people crowded
+to the shore to witness the arrival and, alas! the departure of the
+finny tribe. All their nets had been broken or sold in the famine year;
+they had, therefore, no means of securing what would have been a
+valuable addition to their poor fare. The wealthy, whose tables are
+furnished daily with every luxury, can have but little idea how bitter
+such privations are to the poor. Had there been a resident landlord in
+the place, to interest himself in the welfare of his tenants, a few
+pounds would have procured all that was necessary, and the people,
+always grateful for kindness, would long have remembered the boon and
+the bestower of it.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_55_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_56">[55]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Commerce</i>.&mdash;&quot;Phoenices a vetustissimis inde temporibus
+frequenter crebras mercatur&aelig; grati&acirc; navigationes instituerunt.&quot;&mdash;Diod.
+Sic. vers. Wesseling, t.i.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_56_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_57">[56]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Confessio</i>.&mdash;Dr. O'Donovan states, in an article in the
+<i>Ulster Arch&aelig;ological Journal</i>, vol. viii. p. 249, that he had a letter
+from the late Dr. Prichard, who stated that it was his belief the
+ancient Irish were not anthropophagi. He adds: &quot;Whatever they may have
+been when their island was called <i>Insula Sacra</i>, there are no people in
+Europe who are more squeamish in the use of meats than the modern Irish
+peasantry, for they have a horror of every kind of carrion;&quot; albeit he
+is obliged to confess that, though they abuse the French for eating
+frogs, and the English for eating rooks, there is evidence to prove that
+horseflesh was eaten in Ireland, even in the reign of Queen Elizabeth.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_57_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_58">[57]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Scota</i>.&mdash;The grave is still pointed out in the valley of
+Gleann Scoithin, county Kerry.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_58_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_59">[58]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Taillten</i>.&mdash;Now Telltown, county Meath.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_59_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_60">[59]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Amhergen</i>.&mdash;Annals of the Four Masters, vol. i. p. 25.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_60_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_61">[60]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Also</i>.&mdash;This tale bears a simple and obvious
+interpretation. The druids were the most learned and experienced in
+physical science of their respective nations; hence the advice they gave
+appeared magical to those who were less instructed.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_61_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_62">[61]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>G&eacute;isill</i>.&mdash;The scene of the battle was at a place called
+<i>Tochar eter dh&aacute; mhagh</i>, or &quot;the causeway between two plains,&quot; and on
+the bank of the river <i>Bri Damh</i>, which runs through the town of
+Tullamore. The name of the battle-field is still preserved in the name
+of the townland of Ballintogher, in the parish and barony of <i>G&eacute;isill</i>.
+At the time of the composition of the ancient topographical tract called
+the Dinnseanchus, the mounds and graves of the slain were still to be
+seen.&mdash;See O'Curry, page 449. The author of this tract, Amergin Mac
+Amalgaidh, wrote about the sixth century. A copy of his work is
+preserved in the Book of Ballymote, which was compiled in the year 1391.
+There is certainly evidence enough to prove the fact of the <i>m&eacute;lee</i>, and
+that this was not a &quot;legend invented from the tenth to the twelfth
+centuries.&quot; It is almost amusing to hear the criticisms of persons
+utterly ignorant of our literature, however well-educated in other
+respects. If the treasures of ancient history which exist in Irish MSS.
+existed in Sanscrit, or even in Greek or Latin, we should find scholars
+devoting their lives and best intellectual energies to understand and
+proclaim their value and importance, and warmly defending them against
+all impugners of their authenticity.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_62_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_63">[62]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Island</i>.&mdash;The axe figured above is a remarkable weapon.
+The copy is taken, by permission, from the collection of the Royal Irish
+Academy. Sir W. Wilde describes the original thus in the Catalogue: &quot;It
+is 3-1/8 inches in its longest diameter, and at its thickest part
+measures about half-an-inch. It has been chipped all over with great
+care, and has a sharp edge all round. This peculiar style of tool or
+weapon reached perfection in this specimen, which, whether used as a
+knife, arrow, spike, or axe, was an implement of singular beauty of
+design, and exhibits great skill in the manufacture.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_63_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_64">[63]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Fotharta</i>.&mdash;Now the barony of Forth, in Wexford.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_64_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_65">[64]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Bede.&mdash;Ecclesiastical History</i>, Bohn's edition, p. 6.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_65_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_66">[65]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Honey</i>.&mdash;Honey was an important edible to the ancients,
+and, therefore, likely to obtain special mention. Keating impugns the
+veracity of Solinus, who stated that there were no bees in Ireland, on
+the authority of Camden, who says: &quot;Such is the quantity of bees, that
+they are found not only in hives, but even in the trunks of trees, and
+in holes in the ground.&quot; There is a curious legend anent the same useful
+insect, that may interest apiarians as well as hagiologists. It is said
+in the life of St. David, that when Modomnoc (or Dominic) was with St.
+David at Menevia, in Wales, he was charged with the care of the
+beehives, and that the bees became so attached to him that they followed
+him to Ireland. However, the Rule of St. Albans, who lived in the time
+of St. Patrick (in the early part of the fifth century), may be quoted
+to prove that bees existed in Ireland at an earlier period, although the
+saint may have been so devoted to his favourites as to have brought a
+special colony by miracle or otherwise to Ireland. The Rule of St. Alban
+says: &quot;When they [the monks] sit down at table, let them be brought
+[served] beets or roots, washed with water, in clean baskets, also
+apples, beer, and honey from the hive.&quot; Certainly, habits of regularity
+and cleanliness are here plainly indicated as well as the existence of
+the bee.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_66_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_67">[66]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Fish</i>.&mdash;It is to be presumed that fish are destined to
+prosper in Hibernia: of the ancient deer, more hereafter. The goats
+still nourish also, as visitors to Killarney can testify; though they
+will probably soon be relics of the past, as the goatherds are
+emigrating to more prosperous regions at a rapid rate.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_67_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_68">[67]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Monarchs</i>.&mdash;See Bunsen's <i>Egypt, passim</i>.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_68_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_69">[68]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Writers</i>.&mdash;The first ten books of Livy are extant, and
+bring Roman history to the consulship of Julius Maximus Gurges and
+Junius Brutus Scoene, in 292 B.C. Dionysius published his history seven
+years before Christ. Five of Plutarch's Lives fall within the period
+before the war with Pyrrhus. There are many sources besides those of the
+works of historians from which general information is obtained.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_69_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_70">[69]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Niebuhr</i>.&mdash;&quot;Genuine or oral tradition has kept the story
+of Tarpeia for <i>five-and-twenty hundred years</i> in the mouths of the
+common people, who for many centuries have been total strangers to the
+names of Cloelia and Cornelia.&quot;&mdash;<i>Hist</i>. vol. i. p. 230.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_70_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_71">[70]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Event.&mdash;Credibility of Early Roman History</i>, vol. i. p.
+101.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_71_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_72">[71]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Libri lintei</i>.&mdash;Registers written on linen, mentioned by
+Livy, under the year 444 B.C.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_72_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_73">[72]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Nail</i>.&mdash;Livy quotes Cincius for the fact that a series of
+nails were extant in the temple of Hostia, at Volsinii, as a register of
+successive years. Quite as primitive an arrangement as the North
+American <i>quipus</i>.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_73_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_74">[73]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Seanchaidh&eacute;</i> (pronounced &quot;shanachy&quot;).&mdash;It means, in this
+case, strictly a historian; but the ancient historian was also a bard or
+poet.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_74_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_75">[74]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Privileges</i>.&mdash;We can scarcely help requesting the special
+attention of the reader to these well-authenticated facts. A nation
+which had so high an appreciation of its annals, must have been many
+degrees removed from barbarism for centuries.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_75_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_76">[75]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Before</i>.&mdash;O'Curry, p. 240.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_76_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_77">[76]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Before</i>.&mdash;This, of course, opens up the question as to
+whether the Irish Celts had a written literature before the arrival of
+St. Patrick. The subject will be fully entertained later on.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_77_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_78">[77]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Genealogies</i>.-There is a &quot;distinction and a difference&quot;
+between a genealogy and a pedigree. A genealogy embraces the descent of
+a family, and its relation to all the other families that descended from
+the same remote parent stock, and took a distinct tribe-name, as the
+Dalcassians. A pedigree traces up the line of descent to the individual
+from whom the name was derived.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_78_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_79">[78]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Events</i>.&mdash;Arnold mentions &quot;the <i>family traditions</i> and
+funeral orations out of which the oldest annalists [of Roman history]
+compiled their narratives.&quot; vol. i. p. 371. Sir G.C. Lewis, however,
+thinks that the composition of national annals would precede the
+composition of any private history; but he adds that he judges from the
+&quot;example of modern times.&quot; With all respect to such an authority, it
+seems rather an unphilosophical conclusion. Family pedigrees would
+depend on family pride, in which the Romans were by no means deficient;
+and on political considerations, which were all-important to the Irish
+Celt.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_79_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_80">[79]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Tales</i>.&mdash;O'Curry, p. 241.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_80_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_81">[80]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Verse</i>.&mdash;See Niebuhr, <i>Hist</i>. vol i. pp. 254-261. Arnold
+has adopted his theory, and Macaulay <i>has acted on it</i>. But the Roman
+poems were merely recited at public entertainments, and were by no means
+a national arrangement for the preservation of history, such as existed
+anciently in Ireland. These verses were sung by boys <i>more patrum</i> (Od.
+iv. 15), for the entertainment of guests. Ennius, who composed his
+<i>Annales</i> in hexameter verse, introducing, for the first time, the Greek
+metre into Roman literature, mentions the verses which the <i>Fauns</i>, or
+religious poets, used to chant. Scaliger thinks that the <i>Fauns</i> were a
+class of men who exercised in Latium, at a very remote period, the same
+functions as the Magians in Persia and <i>the Bards in Gaul</i>. Niebuhr
+supposes that the entire history of the Roman, kings was formed from
+poems into a prose narrative.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_81_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_82">[81]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Samhain</i>.&mdash;Now All Hallows Eve. The peasantry still use
+the pagan name. It is a compound word, signifying &quot;summer&quot; and &quot;end.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_82_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_83">[82]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Breifn&eacute;</i>.&mdash;In the present county Cavan. We shall refer
+again to this subject, when mentioning St. Patrick's destruction of the
+idols.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_83_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_84">[83]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Colours</i>.&mdash;Keating says that a slave was permitted only
+one colour, a peasant two, a soldier three, a public victualler five.
+The Ollamh ranked, with royalty, and was permitted six&mdash;another of the
+many proofs of extraordinary veneration for learning in pre-Christian
+Erinn. The Four Masters, however, ascribe the origin of this distinction
+to Eochaidh Eadghadhach. It is supposed that this is the origin of the
+Scotch plaid. The ancient Britons dyed their <i>bodies</i> blue. The Cymric
+Celts were famous for their colours.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_84_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_85">[84]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Emania</i>.&mdash;The legend of the building of this palace will
+be given in a future chapter.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_85_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_86">[85]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>France</i>.&mdash;It is said that foreigners who came with him
+from Gaul were armed with broad-headed lances (called in Irish
+<i>laighne</i>), whence the province of Leinster has derived its name.
+Another derivation of the name, from <i>coige</i>, a fifth part, is
+attributed to the Firbolgs.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_86_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_87">[86]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Diction</i>.-This tract contains a description of arms and
+ornaments which might well pass for a poetic flight of fancy, had we not
+articles of such exquisite workmanship in the Royal Irish Academy, which
+prove incontrovertibly the skill of the ancient artists of Erinn. This
+is the description of a champion's attire:&mdash;&quot;A red and white cloak
+flutters about him; a golden brooch in that cloak, at his breast; a
+shirt of white, kingly linen, with gold embroidery at his skin; a white
+shield, with gold fastenings at his shoulder; a gold-hilted long sword
+at his left side; a long, sharp, dark green spear, together with a
+short, sharp spear, with a rich band and carved silver rivets in his
+hand.&quot;&mdash;O'Curry, p. 38. We give an illustration on previous page of a
+flint weapon of a ruder kind.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_87_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_88">[87]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Brains</i>.&mdash;My friend, Denis Florence MacCarthy, <i>Esq</i>.,
+M.R.I.A., our poet <i>par excellence</i>, is occupied at this moment in
+versifying some portions of this romantic story. I believe he has some
+intention of publishing the work in America, as American publishers are
+urgent in their applications to him for a complete and uniform edition
+of his poems, including his exquisite translations from the dramatic and
+ballad literature of Spain. We hope Irish publishers and the Irish
+people will not disgrace their country by allowing such a work to be
+published abroad. We are too often and too justly accused of deficiency
+in cultivated taste, which unfortunately makes trashy poems, and verbose
+and weakly-written prose, more acceptable to the majority than works
+produced by highly-educated minds. Irishmen are by no means inferior to
+Englishmen in natural gifts, yet, in many instances, unquestionably they
+have not or do not cultivate the same taste for reading, and have not
+the same appreciation of works of a higher class than the lightest
+literature. Much of the fault, no doubt, lies in the present system of
+education: however, as some of the professors in our schools and
+colleges appear to be aware of the deficiency, we may hope for better
+things.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_88_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_89">[88]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Lands</i>.&mdash;Lhuid asserts that the names of the principal
+commanders in Gaul and Britain who opposed C&aelig;sar, are Irish Latinized.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_89_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_90">[89]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Received</i>.&mdash;&quot;They are said to have fled into Ireland,
+some for the sake of ease and quietness, others to keep their eyes
+untainted by Roman insolence.&quot;&mdash;See Harris' Ware. The Brigantes of
+Waterford, Tipperary, and Kilkenny, are supposed to have been emigrants,
+and to have come from the colony of that name in Yorkshire.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_90_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_91">[90]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Fear</i>.&mdash;&quot;In spem magis quam ob formidinem.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_91_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_92">[91]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Merchants</i>.&mdash;&quot;Melius aditus portusque per commercia et
+negotiatores cognitis.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_92_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_93">[92]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Island.&mdash;Vita Julii Agric. c.</i> 24.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_93_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_94">[93]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Year.&mdash;Hist. Rer. Angl</i>. lib. ii. c. 26.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_94_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_95">[94]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Aitheach Tuatha</i>.&mdash;The word means rentpayers, or
+rentpaying tribes or people. It is probably used as a term of reproach,
+and in contradiction to the free men. It has been said that this people
+were the remnants of the inhabitants of Ireland before the Milesians
+colonized it. Mr. O'Curry denies this statement, and maintains that they
+were Milesians, but of the lower classes, who had been cruelly oppressed
+by the magnates of the land.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_95_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95_96">[95]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>State</i>.&mdash;&quot;Evil was the state of Ireland during his reign:
+fruitless the corn, for there used to be but one grain on the stalk;
+fruitless her rivers; milkless her cattle; plentiless her fruit, for
+there used to be but one acorn on the oak.&quot;&mdash;Four Masters, p. 97.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_96_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96_97">[96]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Morann</i>.&mdash;Morann was the inventor of the famous &quot;collar
+of gold.&quot; The new monarch appointed him his chief Brehon or judge, and
+it is said that this collar closed round the necks of those who were
+guilty, but expanded to the ground when the wearer was innocent. This
+collar or chain is mentioned in several of the commentaries on the
+Brehon Laws, as one of the ordeals of the ancient Irish. The Four
+Masters style him &quot;the very intelligent Morann.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_97_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97_98">[97]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Woods</i>.&mdash;Four Masters, p. 97.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_98_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98_99">[98]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Magh Bolg</i>.&mdash;Now Moybolgue, a parish in the county
+Cavan.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_99_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99_100">[99]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Teachtmar</i>, i.e., the legitimate, Four Masters, p.
+99.&mdash;The history of the revolt of the Attacotti is contained in one of
+the ancient tracts called Histories. It is termed &quot;The Origin of the
+Boromean Tribute.&quot; There is a copy of this most valuable work in the
+Book of Leinster, which, it will be remembered, was compiled in the
+twelfth century. The details which follow above concerning the Boromean
+Tribute, are taken from the same source.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_100_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100_101">[100]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Polished</i>.&mdash;Keating, p. 264.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_101_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101_102">[101]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Roads</i>.&mdash;Those roads were Slighe Asail, Slighe
+Midhluachra, Slighe Cualann, Slighe Dala, and Slighe M&ocirc;r. Slighe M&ocirc;r was
+the Eiscir Riada, and division line of Erinn into two parts, between
+Conn and E&oacute;ghan M&ocirc;r. These five roads led to the fort of Teamair (Tara),
+and it is said that they were &quot;discovered&quot; on the birthnight of the
+former monarch. We shall refer to the subject again in a chapter on the
+civilization of the early Irish. There is no doubt of the existence of
+these roads, and this fact, combined with the care with which they were
+kept, is significant.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_102_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102_103">[102]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Magh Lena</i>.&mdash;The present parish of Moylana, or Kilbride,
+Tullamore, King's county.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_103_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103_104">[103]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Reuda</i>.&mdash;Bede, <i>Eccl. Hist</i>. p. 7.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_104_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104_105">[104]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Lance</i>.&mdash;O'Curry, p. 45. This quotation is translated by
+Mr. O'Curry, and is taken from the Book of Ballymote. This book,
+however, quotes it from the <i>Uachongbhail</i>, a much older authority.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_105_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105_106">[105]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Write</i>.&mdash;Professor O'Curry well observes, that &quot;such a
+man could scarcely have carried out the numerous provisions of his
+comprehensive enactments without some written medium. And it is no
+unwarrantable presumption to suppose, that, either by his own hand, or,
+at least, in his own time, by his command, his laws were committed to
+writing; and when we possess very ancient testimony to this effect, I
+can see no reason for rejecting it, or for casting a doubt upon the
+statement.&quot;&mdash;<i>MS. Materials</i>, p. 47. Mr. Petrie writes, if possible,
+more strongly. He says: &quot;It is difficult, if not impossible, to conceive
+how the minute and apparently accurate accounts found in the various
+MSS. of the names and localities of the Attacottic tribes of Ireland in
+the first century, could have been preserved, without coming to the
+conclusion that they had been preserved in writing in some
+work.&quot;&mdash;<i>Essay on Tara Hill</i>, p. 46. Elsewhere, however, he speaks more
+doubtfully.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_106_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106_107">[106]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Land</i>.&mdash;Four Masters, p. 117.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_107_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107_108">[107]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Collas</i>.&mdash;They were sons of Eochaidh Domlen, who made
+themselves famous by their warlike exploits, and infamous by their
+destruction of the palace of Emania.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_108_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108_109">[108]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Groans</i>.&mdash;Bede, <i>Eccl. Hist</i>. c. 12.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_109_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109_110">[109]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Sources</i>.&mdash;The Abb&eacute; M'Geoghegan says that there is a
+very ancient registry in the archives of the house of Sales, which
+mentions that the King of Ireland remained some time in the Castle of
+Sales. See his <i>History</i>, p. 94.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_110_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110_111">[110]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Christ</i>.&mdash;&quot;Ad Scotos in Christum credentes ordinatur a
+papa C&aelig;lestino Palladius et primus episcopus mittitur.&quot;&mdash;<i>Vet. Lat.
+Scrip. Chron. Roncallius</i>, Padua, 1787.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_111_112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111_112">[111]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Wicklow</i>.&mdash;Probably on the spot where the town of
+Wicklow now stands. It was then called the region of Hy-Garchon. It is
+also designated <i>Fortreatha Laighen</i> by the Scholiast on Fiacc's Hymn.
+The district, probably, received this name from the family of <i>Eoichaidh
+Finn Fothart</i>, a brother of Conn of the Hundred Battles.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_112_113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_112_113">[112]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Armagh</i>&mdash;Fol. 16, a.a.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_113_114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_113_114">[113]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Patricius</i>.&mdash;This name was but an indication of rank. In
+the later years of the Roman Empire, Gibbon says, &quot;the meanest subjects
+of the Roman Empire [5th century] assumed the illustrious name of
+Patricius.&quot;&mdash;<i>Decline and Fall</i>, vol. viii. p. 300. Hence the confusion
+that arose amongst Celtic hagiographers, and the interchanging of the
+acts of several saints who bore the same name.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_114_115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_114_115">[114]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Deacon</i>.&mdash;This was an important office in the early
+Roman Church.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_115_116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_115_116">[115]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Heresy</i>.&mdash;The Pelagian.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_116_117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_116_117">[116]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Followed him</i>.&mdash;The Four Masters imply, however, that
+they remained in Ireland. They also name the three wooden churches which
+he erected. Celafine, which has not been identified; Teach-na-Romhan,
+House of the Romans, probably Tigroni; and Domhnach-Arta, probably the
+present Dunard.&mdash;Annals, p. 129.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_117_118"></a><a href="#FNanchor_117_118">[117]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Nemthur</i>.&mdash;The <i>n</i> is merely a prefix; it should read
+Em-tur.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_118_119"></a><a href="#FNanchor_118_119">[118]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Celestine.</i>&mdash;See the Scholiast on Fiacc's Hymn.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_119_120"></a><a href="#FNanchor_119_120">[119]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Preserved.</i>&mdash;It is much to be regretted that almost
+every circumstance in the life of St. Patrick has been made a field for
+polemics. Dr. Todd, of whom one might have hoped better things, has
+almost destroyed the interest of his otherwise valuable work by this
+fault. He cannot allow that St. Patrick's mother was a relative of St.
+Martin of Tours, obviously because St. Martin's Catholicity is
+incontrovertible. He wastes pages in a vain attempt to disprove St.
+Patrick's Roman mission, for similar reasons; and he cannot even admit
+that the Irish received the faith as a nation, all despite the clearest
+evidence; yet so strong is the power of prejudice, that he accepts far
+less proof for other questions.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_120_121"></a><a href="#FNanchor_120_121">[120]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Victoricus</i>.&mdash;There were two saints, either of whom
+might have been the mysterious visitant who invited St. Patrick to
+Ireland. St. Victoricus was the great missionary of the Morini, at the
+end of the fourth century. There was also a St. Victoricus who suffered
+martyrdom at Amiens, A.D. 286. Those do not believe that the saints were
+and are favoured with supernatural communications, and whose honesty
+compels them to admit the genuineness of such documents as the
+Confession of St. Patrick, are put to sad straits to explain away what
+he writes.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_121_122"></a><a href="#FNanchor_121_122">[121]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Lerins.&mdash;See Monks of the West</i>, v. i. p. 463. It was
+then styled <i>insula beata</i>.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_122_123"></a><a href="#FNanchor_122_123">[122]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>St. Germain</i>.&mdash;St. Fiacc, who, it will be remembered,
+was contemporary with St. Patrick, write thus in his Hymn:
+</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;The angel, Victor, sent Patrick over the Alps;<br /></span>
+<span>Admirable was his journey&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span>Until he took his abode with Germanus,<br /></span>
+<span>Far away in the south of Letha.<br /></span>
+<span>In the isles of the Tyrrhene sea he remained;<br /></span>
+<span>In them he meditated;<br /></span>
+<span>He read the canon with Germanus&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span>This, histories make known.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div></div>
+
+
+<a name="Footnote_123_124"></a><a href="#FNanchor_123_124">[123]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Canons</i>&mdash;This Canon is found in the Book of Armagh, and
+in that part of that Book which was copied from <i>St. Patrick's own
+manuscript</i>. Even could it be proved that St. Patrick never wrote these
+Canons, the fact that they are in the Book of Armagh, which was
+compiled, according to O'Curry, before the year 727, and even at the
+latest before the year 807, is sufficient to prove the practice of the
+early Irish Church on this important subject.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_124_125"></a><a href="#FNanchor_124_125">[124]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Further.&mdash;Life of St. Patrick</i>, p. 315.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_125_126"></a><a href="#FNanchor_125_126">[125]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Authenticated</i>.&mdash;A copy of this ancient hymn, with a
+Latin and English translation, may be found in Petrie's <i>Essay on Tara</i>,
+p. 57, in Dr. Todd's <i>Life of St. Patrick</i>, and in Mr. Whitley Stokes'
+<i>Goidilica</i>. We regret exceedingly that our limited space will not
+permit us to give this and other most valuable and interesting
+documents. There is a remarkable coincidence of thought and expression
+between some portions of this hymn and the well-known prayer of St.
+Ignatius of Loyola, <i>Corpus Christi, salve me</i>. Such coincidences are
+remarkable and beautiful evidences of the oneness of faith, which
+manifests itself so frequently in similarity of language as well as in
+unity of belief. The Hymn of St. Patrick, written in the fifth century,
+is as purely Catholic as the Prayer of St. Ignatius, written in the
+sixteenth. St. Patrick places the virtue or power of the saints between
+him and evil, and declares his hope of merit for his good work with the
+same simple trust which all the saints have manifested from the earliest
+ages. This hymn is written in the <i>Bearla Feine</i>, or most ancient
+Gaedhilic dialect. Dr. O'Donovan well observes, that it bears internal
+evidence of its authenticity in its allusion to pagan customs. Tirechan,
+who wrote in the seventh century, says that there were four honours paid
+to St. Patrick in <i>all monasteries and churches throughout the whole of
+Ireland</i>. First, the festival of St. Patrick was honoured for three days
+and nights with all good cheer, except flesh meat [which the Church did
+not allow then to be used in Lent]. Second, there was a proper preface
+for him in the Mass. Third, his hymn was sung for the whole time.
+Fourth, his Scotic hymn was sung always. As we intend publishing a
+metrical translation of his hymn suitable for general use, we hope it
+will be &quot;said and sung&quot; by thousands of his own people on his festival
+for all time to come.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_126_127"></a><a href="#FNanchor_126_127">[126]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Hell</i>.&mdash;O'Curry, p. 539. This is translated from the
+Tripartite Life of St. Patrick.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_127_128"></a><a href="#FNanchor_127_128">[127]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Moment</i>.&mdash;Keating, Vol ii. p. 15.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_128_129"></a><a href="#FNanchor_128_129">[128]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Land</i>.&mdash;Near the present town of Killala, co. Mayo.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_129_130"></a><a href="#FNanchor_129_130">[129]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Protected him</i>.&mdash;Book of Armagh and Vit. Trip.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_130_131"></a><a href="#FNanchor_130_131">[130]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Death</i>.&mdash;Vit. Trip. It was probably at this time St.
+Patrick wrote his celebrated letter to Caroticus.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_131_132"></a><a href="#FNanchor_131_132">[131]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Daire</i>.&mdash;Book of Armagh, fol. 6, b.a.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_132_133"></a><a href="#FNanchor_132_133">[132]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Confessio</i>.&mdash;This most remarkable and interesting
+document will be translated and noticed at length in the <i>Life of St.
+Patrick</i>, which we are now preparing for the press.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_133_134"></a><a href="#FNanchor_133_134">[133]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>St. Tussach</i>.&mdash;All this Dr. Todd omits. The Four Masters
+enter the obituary of St. Patrick under the year 457. It is obvious that
+some uncertainty must exist in the chronology of this early period.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_134_135"></a><a href="#FNanchor_134_135">[134]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Oracle</i>.&mdash;It is said that, three years before St.
+Patrick's apostolic visit to Ireland, the druids of King Laeghair&eacute;
+predicted the event to their master as an impending calamity. The names
+of the druids were Lochra and Luchat Mael; their prophecy runs thus:&mdash;
+</p>
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;A <i>Tailcenn</i> will come over the raging sea,<br /></span>
+<span>With his perforated garment, his crook-headed staff,<br /></span>
+<span>With his table at the east end of his house,<br /></span>
+<span>And all his people will answer 'Amen, Amen.'&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+<p>
+The allusions to the priestly vestments, the altar at the east end of
+the church, and the pastoral staff, are sufficiently obvious, and easily
+explained. The prophecy is quoted by Macutenius, and quoted again from
+him by Probus; but the original is in one of the most ancient and
+authentic Irish MSS., the Book of Armagh.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_135_136"></a><a href="#FNanchor_135_136">[135]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Died</i>.&mdash;O'Curry, p. 273.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_136_137"></a><a href="#FNanchor_136_137">[136]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Burial</i>.&mdash;&quot;The body of Laeghair&eacute; was brought afterwards
+from the south, and interred with his armour of championship in the
+south-east of the outer rampart of the royal rath of Laeghair&eacute;, at Tara,
+with his face turned southwards upon the men of Leinster, as fighting
+with them, for he was the enemy of the Leinster men in his
+lifetime.&quot;&mdash;Translated from the <i>Leabhar na Nuidhre.</i> Petrie's <i>Tara</i>,
+p. 170.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_137_138"></a><a href="#FNanchor_137_138">[137]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Always</i>.&mdash;National customs and prejudices have always
+been respected by the Church: hence she has frequently been supposed to
+sanction what she was obliged to tolerate. A long residence in
+Devonshire, and an intimate acquaintance with its peasantry, has
+convinced us that there is incalculably more superstitions believed and
+<i>practised</i> there of the <i>grossest kind</i>, than in any county in Ireland.
+Yet we should be sorry to charge the Established Church or its clergy,
+some of whom are most earnest and hard-working men, with the sins of
+their parishioners. The following extract from St. Columba's magnificent
+Hymn, will show what the early Irish saints thought of pagan
+superstitions:
+</p>
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;I adore not the voice of birds,<br /></span>
+<span>Nor sneezing, nor lots in this world,<br /></span>
+<span>Nor a boy, nor chance, nor woman:<br /></span>
+<span>My Druid is Christ, the Son of God;<br /></span>
+<span>Christ, Son of Mary, the great Abbot,<br /></span>
+<span>The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+</div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_138_139"></a><a href="#FNanchor_138_139">[138]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Aengus</i>.&mdash;
+</p>
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;Died the branch, the spreading tree of gold,<br /></span>
+<span>Aenghus the laudable.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+<p>
+&mdash;Four Masters, p. 153. The branches of this tree have indeed spread far
+and wide, and the four great families mentioned above have increased and
+multiplied in all parts of the world.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_139_140"></a><a href="#FNanchor_139_140">[139]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Year</i> 503.&mdash;The Four Masters give the date 498, which
+O'Donovan corrects both in the text and in a note.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_140_141"></a><a href="#FNanchor_140_141">[140]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Broccan's Hymn</i>.&mdash;This Hymn was written about A.D. 510.
+See the translation in Mr. Whitley Stokes' <i>Goidilica</i>, Calcutta, 1866.
+Privately printed.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_141_142"></a><a href="#FNanchor_141_142">[141]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Saints</i>.&mdash;St. Patrick, St. Columba, and St. Brigid. See
+Reeves' <i>Ecc. Anti. of Down and Connor</i>, p. 225, and Giraldus
+Cambrensis, d. 3, cap. 18.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_142_143"></a><a href="#FNanchor_142_143">[142]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Domhnach Airgid</i>.&mdash;See O'Curry, <i>MS. Materials</i>, p. 321,
+for a complete verification of the authenticity of this relic. The
+Tripartite Life of St. Patrick mentions the gift of this relic by the
+saint to <i>St. MacCarthainn</i>. Dr. Petrie concludes that the copy of the
+Gospels contained therein, was undoubtedly the one which was used by our
+apostle. We give a fac-simile of the first page, which cannot fail to
+interest the antiquarian.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_143_144"></a><a href="#FNanchor_143_144">[143]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Famine years</i>.&mdash;During the famous, or rather infamous,
+Partry evictions, an old man of eighty and a woman of seventy-four were
+amongst the number of those who suffered for their ancient faith. They
+were driven from the home which their parents and grandfathers had
+occupied, in a pitiless storm of sleet and snow. The aged woman utters
+some slight complaint; but her noble-hearted aged husband consoles her
+with this answer: &quot;The sufferings and death of Jesus Christ were
+bitterer still.&quot; Sixty-nine souls were cast out of doors that day. Well
+might the <i>Times</i> say: &quot;These evictions are a hideous scandal; and the
+bishop should rather die than be guilty of such a crime.&quot; Yet, who can
+count up all the evictions, massacres, tortures, and punishments which
+this people has endured?</p></div>
+<a name="Footnote_144_145"></a><a href="#FNanchor_144_145">[144]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Authors</i>.&mdash;Strabo, l. iv. p. 197; Suetonius, <i>V. Cla.</i>;
+Pliny, <i>Hist. Nat.</i> l. xxv. c. 9. Pliny mentions having seen the
+serpent's egg, and describes it.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_145_146"></a><a href="#FNanchor_145_146">[145]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Virgil</i>.&mdash;<i>Ec.</i>. 6, v. 73.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_146_147"></a><a href="#FNanchor_146_147">[146]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Year</i>.&mdash;Dio. Sic. tom. i. p. 158.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_147_148"></a><a href="#FNanchor_147_148">[147]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Magi</i>.&mdash;Magi is always used in Latin as the equivalent
+for the Irish word which signifies druid. See the <i>Vit&aelig; S. Columb&aelig;</i>, p.
+73; see also Reeves' note to this word.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_148_149"></a><a href="#FNanchor_148_149">[148]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Worship</i>.&mdash;In the Chronicle of Richard of Cirencester,
+ch. 4, certain Roman deities are mentioned as worshipped by the British
+druids; but it is probable the account is merely borrowed from C&aelig;sar's
+description of the Gauls.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_149_150"></a><a href="#FNanchor_149_150">[149]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Ceremonies</i>.&mdash;Bohn's edition, p. 431.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_150_151"></a><a href="#FNanchor_150_151">[150]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Wren</i>.&mdash;In Scotland the wren is an object of reverence:
+hence the rhyme&mdash;
+</p>
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;Malisons, malisons, more than ten,<br /></span>
+<span>That harry the Ladye of Heaven's hen.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+<p>
+But it is probable the idea and the verse were originally imported from
+France, where the bird is treated with special respect. There is a very
+interesting paper in the <i>Ulster Arch&aelig;ological Journal</i>, vol. vii. p.
+334, on the remarkable correspondence of Irish, Greek, and Oriental
+legends, where the tale of Labhradh Loinseach is compared with that of
+Midas. Both had asses' ears, and both were victims to the loquacious
+propensities of their barbers.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_151_152"></a><a href="#FNanchor_151_152">[151]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Etruscans</i>.&mdash;See <i>Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria</i>, vol
+i p. 295, where the bas-reliefs are described which represent the
+<i>pr&aelig;fic&aelig;</i>, or hired mourners, wailing over the corpse.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_152_153"></a><a href="#FNanchor_152_153">[152]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Laid down</i>.&mdash;Law, Saxon, <i>lagu, lah</i>; from
+<i>lecgan</i>==Goth. <i>lagjan</i>, to lay, to place; Gael. <i>lagh</i>, a law; <i>leag</i>,
+to lie down; Latin, <i>lex</i>, from Gr. <i>lego</i>, to lay.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_153_154"></a><a href="#FNanchor_153_154">[153]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>It</i>.&mdash;Four Masters, vol. i p. 133. The Seanchus Mor was
+sometimes called <i>Cain Phadruig</i>, or Patrick's Law.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_154_155"></a><a href="#FNanchor_154_155">[154]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Seanchus</i>.&mdash;From the old Celtic root <i>sen</i>, old, which
+has direct cognates, not merely in the Indo-European, but also in the
+Semitic; Arabic, <i>sen</i>, old, ancient&mdash;<i>sunnah</i>, institution, regulation;
+Persian, <i>san</i>, law, right; <i>sanna</i>, Phoenicibus idem fuit quod Arabibus
+<i>summa</i>, lex, doctrina jux canonicum.&mdash;Bochart, <i>Geo. S&aelig;</i>. 1. ii. c. 17.
+See Petrie's <i>Tara</i>, p. 79.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_155_156"></a><a href="#FNanchor_155_156">[155]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Day</i>.&mdash;O'Curry, page 201.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_156_157"></a><a href="#FNanchor_156_157">[156]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Works</i>.&mdash;He appears to have been the author of the
+original Book of Rights, and &quot;commenced and composed the Psalter of
+Caiseal, in which are described the acts, <i>laws,&quot;</i> &amp;c.&mdash;See Preface to
+Seanchus Mor, p. 17.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_157_158"></a><a href="#FNanchor_157_158">[157]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Arrears</i>.&mdash;Elphinstone's <i>India</i>, vol. i. p. 372.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_158_159"></a><a href="#FNanchor_158_159">[158]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Forbidden</i>.&mdash;&quot;You shall not take money of him that is
+guilty of blood, but he shall die forthwith.&quot;&mdash;Numbers, xxxv. 31.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_159_160"></a><a href="#FNanchor_159_160">[159]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Proved</i>.&mdash;See Pictet's <i>Origines Indo-Europ&eacute;ennes</i>. He
+mentions his surprise at finding a genuine Sanscrit word in Irish,
+which, like a geological boulder, had been transported from one
+extremity of the Aryan world to the other. Pictet considers that the
+first wave of Aryan emigration occurred 3,000 years before the Christian
+Era.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_160_161"></a><a href="#FNanchor_160_161">[160]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Writing</i>.&mdash;&quot;Finally, Dudley Firbisse, hereditary
+professor of the antiquities of his country, mentions in a letter [to
+me] a fact collected from the monuments of his ancestors, that one
+hundred and eighty tracts [tractatus] of the doctrine of the druids or
+magi, were condemned to the flames in the time of St.
+Patrick.&quot;&mdash;<i>Ogygia</i>, iii. 30, p. 219. A writer in the <i>Ulster Arch.
+Journal</i> mentions a &quot;Cosmography,&quot; printed at &quot;Lipsi&aelig;, 1854.&quot; It appears
+to be a Latin version or epitome of a Greek work. The writer of this
+Cosmography was born in 103. He mentions having &quot;examined the volumes&quot;
+of the Irish, whom he visited. If this authority is reliable, it would
+at once settle the question.&mdash;See <i>Ulster Arch. Journal</i>, vol. ii. p.
+281.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_161_162"></a><a href="#FNanchor_161_162">[161]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Hand</i>.&mdash;A work on this subject has long been promised by
+Dr. Graves, and is anxiously expected by paleographists. We regret to
+learn that there is no immediate prospect of its publication.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_162_163"></a><a href="#FNanchor_162_163">[162]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Quipus</i>.&mdash;Quipus signifies a knot. The cords were of
+different colours. Yellow denoted gold and all the allied ideas; white,
+silver, or peace; red, war, or soldiers. Each quipus was in the care of
+a quiper-carnayoe, or keeper. Acorta mentions that he saw a woman with a
+handful of these strings, which she said contained a confession of her
+life. See Wilson's <i>Pre-Historic Man</i> for most interesting details on
+the subject of symbolic characters and early writing.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_163_164"></a><a href="#FNanchor_163_164">[163]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Care</i>.&mdash;Annals of Boyle, vol. ii. p. 22. <i>Essay</i>, p.
+82.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_164_165"></a><a href="#FNanchor_164_165">[164]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Peoples</i>.&mdash;See <i>Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria</i>, vol.
+ii. p. 314, where the writer describes tombs sunk beneath a tumulus,
+about twenty-five or thirty feet in diameter, and also tombs exactly
+resembling the Irish cromlech, the covering slab of enormous size, being
+inclined &quot;apparently to carry off the rain.&quot; In his account of the
+geographical sites of these remains, he precisely, though most
+unconsciously, marks out the line of route which has been assigned by
+Irish annalists as that which led our early colonizers to Ireland. He
+says they are found in the presidency of Madras, among the mountains of
+the Caucasus, on the steppes of Tartary, in northern Africa, &quot;<i>on the
+shores of the Mediterranean they are particularly abundant</i>,&quot; and in
+Spain.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_165_166"></a><a href="#FNanchor_165_166">[165]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Shells</i>.&mdash;Cat. Ant. R.I.A.; Stone Mat. p. 180. The
+ethnographic phases of conchology might form a study in itself. Shells
+appear to be the earliest form of ornament in use. The North American
+Indians have their shell necklaces buried with them also. See Wilson's
+<i>Pre-Historic Man</i>.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_166_167"></a><a href="#FNanchor_166_167">[166]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Child</i>.&mdash;Mr. Wilson gives a most interesting description
+of an interment of a mother and child in an ancient Peruvian grave. The
+mother had an unfinished piece of weaving beside her, with its colours
+still bright. The infant was tenderly wrapped in soft black woollen
+cloth, to which was fastened a pair of little sandals, 2-1/2 inches
+long; around its neck was a green cord, attached to a small
+shell.&mdash;<i>Pre-Historic Man</i>, vol. i. p. 234.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_167_168"></a><a href="#FNanchor_167_168">[167]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Clare</i>.&mdash;In 1855, in digging for a railway-cutting in
+the county Clare, gold ornaments were found worth &pound;2,000 as bullion.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_168_169"></a><a href="#FNanchor_168_169">[168]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Carbuncle</i>.&mdash;This word was used to denote any shining
+stone of a red colour, such as garnet, a production of the country.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_169_170"></a><a href="#FNanchor_169_170">[169]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Blefed</i>.&mdash;The name <i>Crom Chonaill</i> indicates a sickness
+which produced a yellow colour in the skin.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_170_171"></a><a href="#FNanchor_170_171">[170]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Sanctuary</i>.&mdash;This may appear a severe punishment, but
+the right of sanctuary was in these ages the great means of protection
+against lawless force, and its violation was regarded as one of the
+worst of sacrileges.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_171_172"></a><a href="#FNanchor_171_172">[171]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Oak</i>.&mdash;Dr. Petrie mentions that there were stones still
+at Tara which probably formed a portion of one of the original
+buildings. It was probably of the Pelasgian or Cyclopean kind.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_172_173"></a><a href="#FNanchor_172_173">[172]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Hour</i>.&mdash;Petrie's <i>Tara</i>, p. 31.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_173_174"></a><a href="#FNanchor_173_174">[173]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Tuathal</i>.&mdash;Very ancient authorities are found for this
+in the <i>Leabhar Gabhala</i>, or Book of Conquests.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_174_175"></a><a href="#FNanchor_174_175">[174]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Mill</i>.&mdash;&quot;Cormac, the grandson of Con, brought a
+millwright over the great sea.&quot; It is clear from the Brehon laws that
+mills were common in Ireland at an early period. It is probable that
+Cormac brought the &quot;miller and his men&quot; from Scotland. Whittaker shows
+that a water-mill was erected by the Romans at every stationary city in
+Roman Britain. The origin of mills is attributed to Mithridates, King of
+Cappadocia, about seventy years B.C. The present miller claims to be a
+descendant of the original miller.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_175_176"></a><a href="#FNanchor_175_176">[175]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Identical</i>.&mdash;First, &quot;because the <i>Lia Fail</i> is spoken of
+by all ancient Irish writers in such a manner as to leave no doubt that
+it remained in its original situation at the time they wrote.&quot; Second,
+&quot;because no Irish account of its removal to Scotland is found earlier
+than Keating, and he quotes Boetius, who obviously wished to sustain the
+claims of the Stuarts.&quot; The pillar-stone is composed of granular
+limestone, but no stone of this description is found in the vicinity. As
+may be supposed, there are all kinds of curious traditions about this
+stone. One of these asserts that it was the pillar on which Jacob
+reposed when he saw the vision of angels. Josephus states that the
+descendants of Seth invented astronomy, and that they <i>engraved their
+discoveries on a pillar of brick and a pillar of stone</i>. These pillars
+remained, in the historian's time, in the land of Siris.&mdash;<i>Ant. Jud</i>. l.
+2, &sect; 3.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_176_177"></a><a href="#FNanchor_176_177">[176]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>At once</i>.&mdash;See Petrie's <i>Tara</i>, p. 213.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_177_178"></a><a href="#FNanchor_177_178">[177]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Roads</i>.&mdash;See Napoleon's <i>Julius C&aelig;sar</i>, vol. ii. p. 22,
+for mention of the Celtic roads in Gaul.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_178_179"></a><a href="#FNanchor_178_179">[178]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Chariots</i>.&mdash;St. Patrick visited most parts of Ireland in
+a chariot, according to the Tripartite Life. <i>Carbad</i> or chariots are
+mentioned in the oldest Celtic tales and romances, and it is distinctly
+stated in the life of St. Patrick preserved in the Book of Armagh, that
+the pagan Irish had chariots. Different kinds of roads are expressly
+mentioned, and also the duty of road-mending, and those upon whom this
+duty devolved. See Introduction to the Book of Rights, p. 56.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_179_180"></a><a href="#FNanchor_179_180">[179]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Probable</i>.&mdash;The legend of St. Brendan was widely
+diffused in the Middle Ages. In the <i>Biblioth&eacute;que Imp&eacute;riale</i>, at Paris,
+there are no less than eleven MSS. of the original Latin legend, the
+dates of which vary from the eleventh to the fourteenth century. In the
+old French and Romance dialects there are abundant copies in most public
+libraries in France; while versions in Irish, Dutch, German, Italian,
+Spanish, and Portuguese, abound in all parts of the Continent. Traces of
+ante-Columbian voyages to America are continually cropping up. But the
+appearance, in 1837, of the <i>Antiquitates American&aelig; sive ita Scriptores
+Septentrionales rerum ante-Columbiarum</i>, in America, edited by Professor
+Rafu, at Copenhagen, has given final and conclusive evidence on this
+interesting subject. America owes its name to an accidental landing. Nor
+is it at all improbable that the Phoenicians, in their voyage across the
+stormy Bay of Biscay, or the wild Gulf of Guinea, may have been driven
+far out of their course to western lands. Even in 1833 a Japanese junk
+was wrecked upon the coast of Oregon. Humboldt believes that the Canary
+Isles were known, not only to the Phoenicians, but &quot;perhaps even to the
+Etruscans.&quot; There is a map in the Library of St. Mark, at Venice, made
+in the year 1436, where an island is delineated and named Antillia. See
+Trans. R.I.A. vol. xiv. A distinguished modern poet of Ireland has made
+the voyage of St. Brendan the subject of one of the most beautiful of
+his poems.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_180_181"></a><a href="#FNanchor_180_181">[180]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Magh-Rath</i>.&mdash;Now Moira, in the county Down. The
+Chronicum Scotorum gives the date 636, and the Annals of Tighernach at
+637, which Dr. O'Donovan considers to be the true date.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_181_182"></a><a href="#FNanchor_181_182">[181]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Gratis</i>.&mdash;Ven. Bede, cap. xxviii.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_182_183"></a><a href="#FNanchor_182_183">[182]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Rule</i>.&mdash;&quot;The light which St. Columbanus disseminated, by
+his knowledge and doctrine, wherever he presented himself, caused a
+contemporary writer to compare him to the sun in his course from east to
+west; and he continued after his death to shine forth in numerous
+disciples whom he had trained in learning and piety.&quot;&mdash;<i>Benedictine
+Hist. Litt. de la France</i>.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_183_184"></a><a href="#FNanchor_183_184">[183]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>World</i>.&mdash;See Herring's <i>Collectanea</i> and the
+<i>Bibliotheca Patrum</i>, tom. xii.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_184_185"></a><a href="#FNanchor_184_185">[184]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Bobbio</i>.&mdash;My learned friend, the Rev. J.P. Gaffney, of
+Clontarf, has in his possession a printed copy of the celebrated <i>Bobbio
+Missal</i>. It is contained in a work entitled &quot;MUSEUM ITALICUM, seu
+collectio Veterum Scriptorum ex Bibliothesis Italicis,&quot; eruta a D.J.
+Mabillon et D.M. Germain, presbyteris et monachis, Benedictin&aelig;, Cong. S.
+Maur&eacute;. This work was published at Paris in 1687. The original Missal was
+discovered by Mabillon two hundred years ago, and is at present
+preserved in the Ambrosian Library at Milan. It dates from the seventh
+century, and is no doubt the identical Missal or Mass-book used by the
+saint. As my friend has allowed me to retain the treasure for a time, I
+intend to give full details on the subject in my Ecclesiastical History.
+For further information at present, I refer the reader to the Rev. J.P.
+Gaffney's <i>Religion of the Ancient Irish Church</i> p. 43, and to Dr.
+Moran's learned <i>Essays</i>, p. 287. I especially request the superiors of
+religious orders to afford me any information in their possession
+concerning the history of their respective orders in Ireland, and also
+of their several houses. Details of re-erections of religious houses on
+old sites are particularly desired. All books or documents which may be
+forwarded to me shall be carefully returned.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_185_186"></a><a href="#FNanchor_185_186">[185]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Solivagus</i>.&mdash;Four Masters, p. 391.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_186_187"></a><a href="#FNanchor_186_187">[186]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Ireland</i>.&mdash;The elder Sedulius, whose hymns are even now
+used by the Church, lived in the fifth century. The hymn, <i>A solis ortis
+cardine</i>, and many others, are attributed to him.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_187_188"></a><a href="#FNanchor_187_188">[187]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Culdee</i>.&mdash;There was much dispute at one time as to the
+origin and true character of the Culdees. The question, however, has
+been quite set at rest by the researches of recent Irish scholars.
+Professor O'Curry traces them up to the time of St. Patrick. He thinks
+they were originally mendicant monks, and that they had no communities
+until the end of the eighth century, when St. Maelruain of Tallaght drew
+up a rule for them. This rule is still extant. Mr. Haverty (<i>Irish
+History</i>, p. 110) has well observed, they probably resembled the
+Tertiaries, or Third Orders, which belong to the Orders of St. Dominic
+and St. Francis at the present day. See also Dr. Reeves' <i>Life of St.
+Columba,</i> for some clear and valuable remarks on this subject.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_188_189"></a><a href="#FNanchor_188_189">[188]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Measure</i>.&mdash;The subject of Irish poetical composition
+would demand a considerable space if thoroughly entertained. Zeuss has
+done admirable justice to the subject in his <i>Grammatica Celtica</i>, where
+he shows that the word rhyme [<i>rimum</i>] is of Irish origin. The Very Rev.
+U. Burke has also devoted some pages to this interesting investigation,
+in his <i>College Irish Grammar</i>. He observes that the phonetic framework
+in which the poetry of a people is usually fashioned, differs in each of
+the great national families, even as their language and genius differ.
+He also shows that the earliest Latin ecclesiastical poets were Irish,
+and formed their hymns upon the rules of Irish versification; thus quite
+controverting the theory that rhyme was introduced by the Saracens in
+the ninth century.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_189_190"></a><a href="#FNanchor_189_190">[189]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Order</i>.&mdash;This refers to the vision in which St. Patrick
+is said to have seen three orders of saints, who should succeed each
+other in Ireland.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_190_191"></a><a href="#FNanchor_190_191">[190]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Discipline</i>.&mdash;Bede, lib. iii. cap. 3. We have used
+Bohn's translation, as above all suspicion.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_191_192"></a><a href="#FNanchor_191_192">[191]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>England</i>.&mdash;Camden says: &quot;At that age the Anglo-Saxons
+repaired on all sides to Ireland as to a general mart of learning,
+whence we read, in our writers, of holy men, that they went to study in
+Ireland&quot;&mdash;<i>Amandatus est ad disciplinam in Hiberniam</i>.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_192_193"></a><a href="#FNanchor_192_193">[192]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Expanded</i>.&mdash;I take this opportunity of requesting from
+laymen or ecclesiastics who may read this announcement, the favour of
+any information they may consider valuable.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_193_194"></a><a href="#FNanchor_193_194">[193]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Heaven.&mdash;Ec. Hist</i>. lib. iv. c. 26. &quot;From that time the
+hopes and strength of the English crown began to waver and retrograde,
+for the Picts recovered their own lands,&quot; &amp;c. The Annals of the Four
+Masters mention a mortality among cattle throughout the whole world, and
+a severe frost, which followed this invasion: &quot;The sea between Ireland
+and Scotland was frozen, so that there was a communication between them
+on the ice.&quot;&mdash;vol. ii. p. 291. They also mention the mission of Adamnan
+to &quot;Saxon land.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_194_195"></a><a href="#FNanchor_194_195">[194]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Galls</i>.&mdash;Gall was a generic name for foreigners. The
+Danes were Finn Galls, or White Foreigners, and Dubh Galls, or Black
+Foreigners. The former were supposed to have been the inhabitants of
+Norway; the latter, of Jutland. In Irish, <i>gaill</i> is the nom., and
+<i>gall</i>, gen.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_195_196"></a><a href="#FNanchor_195_196">[195]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Streets</i>.&mdash;In Armagh the buildings were formed into
+streets and wards, for the better preservation of monastic discipline.
+Armagh was divided into three parts&mdash;<i>trian-more</i>, the town proper;
+<i>trian-Patrick</i>, the cathedral close; and <i>trian-Sassenagh</i>, the home of
+the foreign students.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_196_197"></a><a href="#FNanchor_196_197">[196]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Michaelmas</i>.&mdash;Annals, p. 371. Another fearful
+thunderstorm is recorded in the Annals for 799. This happened on the eve
+of St. Patrick's Day. It is said that a thousand and ten persons were
+killed on the coast of Clare. The island of Fitha (now Mutton Island)
+was partly submerged, and divided into three parts. There was also a
+storm in 783&mdash;&quot;thunder, lightning, and wind-storms&quot;&mdash;by which the
+Monastery of Clonbroney was destroyed.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_197_198"></a><a href="#FNanchor_197_198">[197]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Reachrainn</i>.-Rechru appears to be the correct form. It
+has not yet been ascertained whether this refers to Lambay, near Dublin,
+or the island 01 Rathlinn. See note, p. 32, to the &quot;Introduction&quot; to the
+<i>Wars of the Gaedhil with the Gall</i>.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_198_199"></a><a href="#FNanchor_198_199">[198]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Mistake.&mdash;Ethel. Chron. Pro.</i> book iii.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_199_200"></a><a href="#FNanchor_199_200">[199]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Irish</i>.&mdash;The history of the two hundred years during
+which these northern pirates desolated the island, has been preserved in
+a MS. of venerable age and undoubted authenticity. It is entitled
+<i>Cogadh Gaedhil re Gallaibh</i> (the Wars of the Gaedhil with the Gall). It
+was quoted by Keating, known to Colgan, and used by the Four Masters;
+but for many years it was supposed to have been completely lost, until
+it was discovered, in 1840, by Mr. O'Curry, among the Seabright MSS. The
+work is now edited, with a translation and most valuable notes, by Dr.
+Todd. Several other copies have been discovered since, notably one by
+the Franciscan Brother, Michael O'Clery, which is at present in the
+Burgundian Library at Brussels. From internal evidence, it is presumed
+that the author was a contemporary of King Brian Boroimh&eacute;. Dr. O'Connor
+refers the authorship to Mac Liag, who was chief poet to that monarch,
+and died in 1016, two years after his master. Dr. Todd evidently
+inclines to this opinion, though he distinctly states that there is no
+authority for it.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_200_201"></a><a href="#FNanchor_200_201">[200]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Death</i>.&mdash;It appears doubtful whether he really died at
+this time. It is said that he repented of his sins of sacrilege, and
+ended his days in penance and religious retirement. See Four Masters, p.
+472.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_201_202"></a><a href="#FNanchor_201_202">[201]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Conquered</i>.&mdash;Duald Mac Firbis gives a curious account of
+these contests in his <i>fragments of Annals</i>. The White Galls, or
+Norwegians, had long been masters of the situation. The Black Galls
+fought with them for three days and nights, and were finally victorious.
+They take the ships they have captured to Dublin, and deprive the
+Lochlanns (Black Galls) of all the spoil they had so cruelly and
+unjustly acquired from the &quot;shrines and sanctuaries of the saints of
+Erinn;&quot; which the annalist naturally considers a judgment on them for
+their sins. They make another struggle, and gain the victory. But the
+Banish general, Horm, advises his men to put themselves under the
+protection of St. Patrick, and to promise the saint &quot;honorable alms for
+gaining victory and triumph&quot; over enemies who had plundered his
+churches. They comply with this advice; and though greatly inferior in
+numbers, they gain the victory, &quot;on account of the tutelage of St.
+Patrick.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_202_203"></a><a href="#FNanchor_202_203">[202]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Carlow</i>.&mdash;The site of the battle is still shown there,
+and even the stone on which the soldier decapitated Cormac. Cormac's
+death is thus described in a MS. in the Burgundian Library: &quot;The hind
+feet of his horse slipped on the slippery road in the track of that
+blood; the horse fell backwards, and broke his [Cormac's] back and his
+neck in twain; and he said, when falling, <i>In manus tuas commendo
+spiritum meum</i>, and he gives up his spirit; and the impious sons of
+malediction come and thrust spears into his body, and sever his head
+from his body.&quot; Keating gives a curious account of this battle, from an
+ancient tract not known at present.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_203_204"></a><a href="#FNanchor_203_204">[203]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Amlaff</i>.&mdash;Dr. Todd identifies Amlaff with Olaf Huita
+(the white), of Scandinavian history, who was usually styled King of
+Dublin, and was the leader of the Northmen in Ireland for many years.
+See &quot;Introduction&quot; to the <i>Wars of the Gaedhil</i>, p. 69.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_204_205"></a><a href="#FNanchor_204_205">[204]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Cenn-Fuait</i>.&mdash;Fuat Head. The site has not been
+accurately identified.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_205_206"></a><a href="#FNanchor_205_206">[205]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Magh-Neill, i.e.,</i> the Plain of Nial, a bardic name for
+Ireland.&mdash;Four Masters, vol. ii. p. 595.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_206_207"></a><a href="#FNanchor_206_207">[206]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Ath-Truisten</i>.&mdash;From Dublin to a ford on the river
+Green, near Mullaghmast, co. Kildare.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_207_208"></a><a href="#FNanchor_207_208">[207]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Muircheartach</i>.&mdash;This prince obtained the soubriquet of
+Muircheartach of the Leathern Cloaks. The origin of this appellation has
+not been precisely ascertained.</p></div>
+<a name="Footnote_208_209"></a><a href="#FNanchor_208_209">[208]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Dagger</i>.&mdash;The king visited the shrine on his way to
+battle, and hanging up his dagger, the then symbol of knightly valour,
+vowed to release it with a kingly ransom if God gave him the victory. He
+obtained his desire, and nobly fulfilled his vow.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_209_210"></a><a href="#FNanchor_209_210">[209]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Tyrants</i>.&mdash;J. Roderick O'Flanagan, Esq., M.R.I.A., has
+permitted me to extract the account of the battle of Dundalk from his
+valuable and interesting <i>History of Dundalk and its Environs.</i> Dublin:
+Hodges and Smith, 1864. This gentleman has devoted himself specially to
+elucidating the subject, and with a kindness which I cannot easily
+forget, permits me to avail myself, not only of his literary labours,
+but even to transfer to the pages of this work several complete pages
+from his own.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_210_211"></a><a href="#FNanchor_210_211">[210]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Chess</i>.&mdash;Flann Sionna, Monarch of Ireland, had encamped
+on this plain, and ostentatiously commenced a game of chess as a mark of
+contempt for the chieftains whose country he had invaded. His folly met
+its just punishment, for he was ignominiously defeated. See <i>Wars of the
+Gaedhil</i>, p. 113, note.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_211_212"></a><a href="#FNanchor_211_212">[211]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Valour.&mdash;Wars of the Gaedhil</i>, p. 101.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_212_213"></a><a href="#FNanchor_212_213">[212]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Belach-Lechta</i>.&mdash;The site has not been definitely
+ascertained. Some authorities place it near Macroom, co. Cork.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_213_214"></a><a href="#FNanchor_213_214">[213]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Glen-Mama</i>.&mdash;The Glen of the Gap, near Dunlavin. This
+was the ancient stronghold of the kings of Leinster in Wicklow. There is
+a long and very interesting note on the locality, by the Rev. J.F.
+Shearman, R.C.C., in the &quot;Introduction&quot; to the <i>Wars of the Gaedhil</i>. He
+mentions that pits have been discovered even recently, containing the
+remains of the slain.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_214_215"></a><a href="#FNanchor_214_215">[214]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Deeds</i>.&mdash;The origin of surnames is also attributed to
+Brian Boroimh&eacute;, from a fragment in the Library of Trinity College,
+Dublin, supposed to be a portion of a life of that monarch written by
+his poet Mac Liag. Surnames were generally introduced throughout Europe
+in the tenth and twelfth centuries. The Irish gave their names to their
+lands. In other countries patronymics were usually taken from the names
+of the hereditary possessions.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_215_216"></a><a href="#FNanchor_215_216">[215]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Fifty-three</i>.&mdash;See Dr. O'Donovan's note to Annals, p.
+747.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_216_217"></a><a href="#FNanchor_216_217">[216]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Fidh-Gaibhli</i>.&mdash;Now Feegile, near Portarlington.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_217_218"></a><a href="#FNanchor_217_218">[217]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Given</i>.&mdash;The Book of Rights mentions, that one of the
+rights to which the King of Leinster was entitled from the King of
+Ireland, was &quot;fine textured clothes at Tara,&quot; as well as &quot;sevenscore
+suits of clothes of good colour, for the use of the sons of the great
+chieftain.&quot;&mdash;Book of Rights, p. 251. From the conduct of Gormflaith, as
+related above, it is evident that the tunic was some token of
+vassalage.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_218_219"></a><a href="#FNanchor_218_219">[218]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Murrough</i>.&mdash;He was eldest son by Brian's first wife,
+M&ocirc;r. He had three sons by this lady, who were all slain at Clontarf.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_219_220"></a><a href="#FNanchor_219_220">[219]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Yew-tree</i>.&mdash;This was a sharp insult. After the battle of
+Glen-Mama, Maelmordha had hidden himself in a yew-tree, where he was
+discovered and taken prisoner by Murrough.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_220_221"></a><a href="#FNanchor_220_221">[220]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Land.&mdash;Wars of the Gaedhil</i>, p. 151.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_221_222"></a><a href="#FNanchor_221_222">[221]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Brodir</i>.&mdash;It has been suggested that this was not his
+real name. He was Ospak's <i>brother</i>, and Brodir may have been mistaken
+for a proper name. There was a Danish Viking named Gutring, who was an
+apostate deacon, and who may have been the Brodir of Irish history.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_222_223"></a><a href="#FNanchor_222_223">[222]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Baptism.&mdash;Burnt Njal</i>, ii. 332.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_223_224"></a><a href="#FNanchor_223_224">[223]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Combat.&mdash;Wars of the Gaedhil</i>, p. 157.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_224_225"></a><a href="#FNanchor_224_225">[224]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Magh-n-Ealta</i>.&mdash;The Plain of the Flocks, lying between
+Howth and Tallaght, so called from Eder, a chieftain who perished before
+the Christian era.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_225_226"></a><a href="#FNanchor_225_226">[225]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Clontarf</i>.&mdash;There is curious evidence that the account
+of the battle of Clontarf must have been written by an eye-witness, or
+by one who had obtained his information from an eye-witness. The author
+states that &quot;the foreigners came out to fight the battle in the morning
+at the full tide,&quot; and that the tide came in again in the evening at the
+same place. The Danes suffered severely from this, &quot;for the tide had
+carried away their ships from them.&quot; Consequently, hundreds perished in
+the waves.&mdash;<i>Wars of the Gaedhil,</i> p. 191. Dr. Todd mentions that he
+asked the Rev. S. Haughton, of Trinity College, Dublin, to calculate for
+him &quot;what was the hour of high water at the shore of Clontarf, in Dublin
+Bay, on the 23rd of April, 1014.&quot; The result was a full confirmation of
+the account given by the author of the <i>Wars of the Gaedhil</i>&mdash;the Rev.
+S. Haughton having calculated that the morning tide was full in at 5.30
+a.m., the evening tide being full at 5.55 p.m.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_226_227"></a><a href="#FNanchor_226_227">[226]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Siguard</i>.&mdash;Various accounts are given of the disposition
+of forces on each side, so that it is impossible to speak with accuracy
+on the subject. We know how difficult it is to obtain correct
+particulars on such occasions, even with the assistance of &quot;own
+correspondents&quot; and electric telegraphs.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_227_228"></a><a href="#FNanchor_227_228">[227]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Psalms</i>.&mdash;To recite the Psalter in this way was a
+special devotional practice of the middle ages.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_228_229"></a><a href="#FNanchor_228_229">[228]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Brian</i>.&mdash;<i>Burnt Njal</i>, ii. 337. If this account be
+reliable, Brian did not live to receive the last sacraments, as other
+authorities state.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_229_230"></a><a href="#FNanchor_229_230">[229]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>City</i>.&mdash;Some Irish religious are also said to have lived
+in amity with Greek monks, who were established at Tours, in France; and
+it is said that the Irish joined them in the performance of the
+ecclesiastical offices in their own language.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_230_231"></a><a href="#FNanchor_230_231">[230]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Connemara</i>.&mdash;Haverty's <i>History of Ireland</i>, p. 156. See
+also an interesting note on this subject in the Chronicum Scotorum.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_231_232"></a><a href="#FNanchor_231_232">[231]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Martyr</i>.&mdash;Page 887. The famine in the preceding year is
+also recorded, as well as the cholic and &quot;lumps,&quot; which prevailed in
+Leinster, and also spread throughout Ireland. Donough was married to an
+English princess, Driella, the daughter of the English Earl Godwin, and
+sister of Harold, afterwards King of England. During the rebellion of
+Godwin and his sons against Edward the Confessor, Harold was obliged to
+take refuge in Ireland, and remained there &quot;all the winter on the king's
+security.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_232_233"></a><a href="#FNanchor_232_233">[232]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>St. Patrick</i>.&mdash;It is observable all through the Annals,
+how the name and spiritual authority of St. Patrick is revered. This
+expression occurs regularly from the earliest period, wherever the
+Primate of Ireland is mentioned.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_233_234"></a><a href="#FNanchor_233_234">[233]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Vengeance</i>.&mdash;See O'Curry, <i>passim</i>, for curious
+traditions or so-called prophecies about St. John Baptist's Day.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_234_235"></a><a href="#FNanchor_234_235">[234]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Aileach</i>.&mdash;The remains of this fortress are still
+visible near Londonderry, and are called Grianan-Elagh.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_235_236"></a><a href="#FNanchor_235_236">[235]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>West</i>.&mdash;Annals, vol. ii. p. 969.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_236_237"></a><a href="#FNanchor_236_237">[236]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Him.&mdash;Ib.</i> p 973.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_237_238"></a><a href="#FNanchor_237_238">[237]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Ua h-Ocain</i>.&mdash;Now anglicised O'Hagan. This family had
+the special privilege of crowning the O'Neills, and were their
+hereditary Brehons. The Right Honorable Judge O'Hagan is, we believe,
+the present head of the family.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_238_239"></a><a href="#FNanchor_238_239">[238]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Maelmuire</i>.&mdash;&quot;The servant of Mary.&quot; Devotion to the
+Mother of God, which is still a special characteristic of the Irish
+nation, was early manifested by the adoption of this name.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_239_240"></a><a href="#FNanchor_239_240">[239]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Suffering</i>.&mdash;This abuse was not peculiar to the Irish
+Church. A canon of the Council of London, A.D. 1125, was framed to
+prevent similar lay appropriations. In the time of Cambrensis there were
+lay (so called) abbots, who took the property of the Church into their
+own hands, and made their children receive holy orders that they might
+enjoy the revenues.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_240_241"></a><a href="#FNanchor_240_241">[240]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Desmond</i>.&mdash;See the commencement of this chapter, for an
+illustration of the ruins of its ancient rath and the more modern
+castle. These remains are among the most interesting in Ireland.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_241_242"></a><a href="#FNanchor_241_242">[241]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Ibrach</i>.&mdash;Supposed to be Ivragh, in Kerry, which was
+part of Cormac Mac Carthy's kingdom.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_242_243"></a><a href="#FNanchor_242_243">[242]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Robbed</i>.&mdash;In MacGeoghegan's translation of the Annals of
+Clonmacnois he says:&mdash;&quot;The clergy of Clone made incessant prayer to God
+and St. Keyran, to be a means for the revelation of the party that took
+away the said jewels.&quot; The &quot;party&quot; was a Dane. He was discovered, and
+hung in 1130. It is said that he entered several ships to leave the
+country, but they could get no wind, while other vessels sailed off
+freely.&mdash;Annals of the Four Masters, vol. ii. p. 1035.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_243_244"></a><a href="#FNanchor_243_244">[243]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Blinded</i>.&mdash;In 1165 Henry II. gratified his irritation
+against the Welsh by laying hands upon the hostages of their noblest
+families, and commanding that the eyes of the males should be rooted
+out, and the ears and noses of the females cut off; and yet Henry is
+said to have been liberal to the poor, and though passionately devoted
+to the chase, he did not inflict either death or mutilation on the
+intruders in the royal forests.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_244_245"></a><a href="#FNanchor_244_245">[244]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Moin M&ocirc;r</i>.&mdash;Now Moanmore, county Tipperary.</p></div>
+<a name="Footnote_245_246"></a><a href="#FNanchor_245_246">[245]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Day</i>.&mdash;Wilkinson's <i>Geology and Architecture of
+Ireland</i>, p. 59.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_246_247"></a><a href="#FNanchor_246_247">[246]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Celt</i>.&mdash;Catalogue of R.I.A. p. 43. This celt is the
+largest discovered in Ireland, and is formed of coarse clay-slate. It is
+22 inches long, 1 inch thick, and 3-3/4 broad at the widest part. It was
+found in the bed of the river Blackwater, two miles below Charlemont,
+county Armagh.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_247_248"></a><a href="#FNanchor_247_248">[247]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Axe</i>.&mdash;Catalogue of R.I.A. p. 80. Sir W. Wilde
+pronounces this to be one of the most beautiful specimens of the stone
+battle-axe which has been found in Ireland, both for design and
+execution. It is composed of fine-grained remblendic sylicite, and is
+highly polished all over. It was found in the river at Athlone.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_248_249"></a><a href="#FNanchor_248_249">[248]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Wright</i>.&mdash;<i>History of Domestic Manners and Sentiments</i>,
+p. 11.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_249_250"></a><a href="#FNanchor_249_250">[249]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Hall</i>.&mdash;Hence the term &quot;hall&quot; is still used to denote
+mansions of more than ordinary importance. The hall was the principal
+part of the ancient Saxon house, and the term used for the part was
+easily transferred to the whole.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_250_251"></a><a href="#FNanchor_250_251">[250]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Discovery</i>.&mdash;<i>Ulster Arch. Journal</i>, vol. v. p. 83.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_251_252"></a><a href="#FNanchor_251_252">[251]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Assigned</i>.&mdash;Petrie's <i>Tara</i>, p. 200.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_252_253"></a><a href="#FNanchor_252_253">[252]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Smith</i>.&mdash;The animals were brought to the smith, who
+knocked them down with his big hammer: hence, probably, the name of
+Smithfield for a cattle market. He was an important personage in the
+olden time. In the Odyssey, as armourer, he ranks with the bard and
+physician.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_253_254"></a><a href="#FNanchor_253_254">[253]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Tinn&eacute;s</i>.&mdash;Dr. Petrie does not give the meaning of this
+word, but Dr. O'Donovan supplies the deficiency in the Book of Rights,
+where he explains it to mean a salted pig, or in plain English, bacon.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_254_255"></a><a href="#FNanchor_254_255">[254]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Table</i>.&mdash;In the earliest ages of Tara's existence, the
+household may have been served as they sat on the benches round the
+hall. The table was at first simply a board: hence we retain the term a
+hospitable board; a board-room, a room where a board was placed for
+writing on. The board was carried away after dinner, and the trestles on
+which it stood, so as to leave room for the evening's amusements.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_255_256"></a><a href="#FNanchor_255_256">[255]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Cooked</i>.&mdash;Wright's <i>Domestic Manners</i>, p. 87. The
+knights in this engraving are using their shields as a substitute for a
+table. At p. 147 there is an illustration of the method of cooking on a
+spit; this is turned by a boy. The Irish appear to have had a mechanical
+arrangement for this purpose some centuries earlier. Bellows, which are
+now so commonly used in Ireland, and so rare in England, appear to have
+been a Saxon invention.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_256_257"></a><a href="#FNanchor_256_257">[256]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Poems</i>.&mdash;<i>Ulster Arch. Journal</i>, vol. i. p. 108. It
+would appear as if corn had been eaten raw, or perhaps partly scorched,
+at an early period, as was customary in eastern countries. Teeth have
+been found in crania taken from our ancient tombs, quite worn down by
+some such process of mastication.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_257_258"></a><a href="#FNanchor_257_258">[257]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Weir</i>.&mdash;Salt appears to have been used also at a very
+ancient period, though it cannot now be ascertained how it was procured.
+Perhaps it was obtained from native sources now unknown.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_258_259"></a><a href="#FNanchor_258_259">[258]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Gold</i>.&mdash;Book of Rights, pp. 145, 209, &amp;c. The King of
+Cashel was entitled to a hundred drinking horns.&mdash;p. 33.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_259_260"></a><a href="#FNanchor_259_260">[259]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Beer</i>.&mdash;Book of Rights, p. 9.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_260_261"></a><a href="#FNanchor_260_261">[260]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Period</i>.&mdash;Accounts will be given later of the use of
+<i>aqua vit&aelig;</i>, or whisky, after the English invasion. The English appear
+to have appreciated this drink, for we find, in 1585, that the Mayor of
+Waterford sent Lord Burleigh a &quot;rundell of <i>aqua vit&aelig;</i>;&quot; and in another
+letter, in the State Paper Office, dated October 14, 1622, the Lord
+Justice Coke sends a &quot;runlett of milde Irish <i>uskebach</i>,&quot; from his
+daughter Peggie (heaven save the mark!) to the &quot;good Lady Coventry,&quot;
+because the said Peggie &quot;was so much bound to her ladyship for her great
+goodness.&quot; However, the said Lord Justice strongly recommends the
+<i>uskebach</i> to his lordship, assuring him that &quot;if it please his lordship
+next his heart in the morning to drinke a little of this Irish
+<i>uskebach</i>, it will help to digest all raw humours, expell wynde, and
+keep his inward parte warm all the day after.&quot; A poor half-starved
+Irishman in the present century, could scarcely have brought forward
+more extenuating circumstances for his use of the favourite beverage;
+and he might have added that <i>he</i> had nothing else to &quot;keep him warm.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_261_262"></a><a href="#FNanchor_261_262">[261]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Bricks</i>.&mdash;In an ancient life of St. Kevin of
+Glendalough, there is mention made of certain brick-cheeses, which the
+saint converted into real bricks, in punishment to a woman for telling a
+lie.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_262_263"></a><a href="#FNanchor_262_263">[262]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>King</i>.&mdash;Book of Rights, p. 15.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_263_264"></a><a href="#FNanchor_263_264">[263]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Informs us</i>.&mdash;<i>Domestic Manners</i>, p. 43.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_264_265"></a><a href="#FNanchor_264_265">[264]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Macaulay</i>.&mdash;<i>Lays of Ancient Rome</i>.&mdash;Horatius.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_265_266"></a><a href="#FNanchor_265_266">[265]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Cambrensis</i>.&mdash;&quot;Hinc accidit, ut Episcopi et Abbates, et
+Sancti in Hiberni&acirc; viri cytharas circumferre et in eis modulando pi&eacute;
+delectari consueverunt.&quot;&mdash;<i>Cam. Des.</i> p. 739.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_266_267"></a><a href="#FNanchor_266_267">[266]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Observes</i>.&mdash;<i>Asiatic Researches</i>, vol. ix. p. 76.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_267_268"></a><a href="#FNanchor_267_268">[267]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Asia</i>.&mdash;See Carl Eugen's valuable work on the <i>Music of
+Ancient Nations passim</i>.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_268_269"></a><a href="#FNanchor_268_269">[268]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Country</i>.&mdash;<i>Erste Wanderung der &auml;ltesten Tonkunst</i>, von
+G.W. Fruh, Essen, 1831. In Conran's <i>National Music of Ireland</i>, he
+attributes this to the influence of ecclesiastical music. But an article
+by Mr. Darmey, in the <i>Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society</i>, takes a
+much more probable view. The Ambrosian chant, introduced about A.D. 600,
+could not have influenced national music which existed for centuries
+before that period.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_269_270"></a><a href="#FNanchor_269_270">[269]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Shoes</i>.&mdash;The use of inauguration shoes appears to have
+been very ancient in Ireland. It will be remembered how early and how
+frequently the shoe is mentioned in Scripture in connexion with legal
+arrangements. It was obviously an important object in Eastern business
+transactions.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_270_271"></a><a href="#FNanchor_270_271">[270]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Book of Rights</i>.&mdash;The great antiquity and perfect
+authenticity of this most valuable work, should be remembered. It is
+admitted that the original Book of Rights was compiled by St. Benignus,
+the disciple of St. Patrick. Dr. O'Donovan thinks there is every reason
+to believe that this work was in existence in the time of Cormac, the
+bishop-king of Cashel, A.D. 900. It is probable that the present Book of
+Rights was compiled about this period, from the more ancient volume of
+the same name.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_271_272"></a><a href="#FNanchor_271_272">[271]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>D&aacute; Derga</i>.&mdash;See an interesting Essay on the Curragh of
+Kildare, by Mr. W.M. Hennessy, read before the R.I.A., February 26,
+1866.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_272_273"></a><a href="#FNanchor_272_273">[272]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Profit</i>.&mdash;The trustees of the estates forfeited in 1688
+notice this especially. Trees to the value of &pound;20,000 were cut down and
+destroyed on the estate of Sir Valentine Brown, near Killarney, and to
+the value of &pound;27,000 on the territory of the Earl of Clancarty. Some of
+these trees were sold for <i>sixpence a piece</i>.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_273_274"></a><a href="#FNanchor_273_274">[273]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Merchants</i>.&mdash;Wright says that &quot;theft and unfair dealing&quot;
+were fearfully prevalent among the Anglo-Normans, and mentions, as an
+example, how some Irish merchants were robbed who came to Ely to sell
+their wares.&mdash;<i>Domestic Manners</i>, p. 78. It would appear that there was
+considerable slave-trade carried on with the British merchants. The
+Saxons, who treated their dependents with savage cruelty (see Wright, p.
+56), sold even their children as slaves to the Irish. In 1102 this
+inhuman traffic was forbidden by the Council of London. Giraldus
+Cambrensis mentions that, at a synod held at Armagh, A.D. 1170, the
+Irish clergy, who had often forbidden this trade, pronounced the
+invasion of Ireland by Englishmen to be a just judgment on the Irish for
+their share in the sin, and commanded that all who had English slaves
+should at once set them free. Mr. Haverty remarks, that it was a curious
+and characteristic coincidence, that an Irish deliberative assembly
+should thus, by an act of humanity to Englishmen, have met the merciless
+aggressions which the latter had just then commenced against this
+country.&mdash;<i>Hist. of Ireland</i>, p. 169.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_274_275"></a><a href="#FNanchor_274_275">[274]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Nesta</i>.&mdash;David Powell, in his notes to the <i>Itinerary of
+Cambria</i>, states that this lady was a daughter of Rufus, Prince of
+Demetia. She was distinguished for her beauty, and infamous for her
+gallantries. She had a daughter by Gerald of Windsor, called Augweth,
+who was mother to Giraldus Cambrensis. This relationship accounts for
+the absurd eulogiums which he has lavished on the Geraldines. Demetia is
+the district now called Pembrokeshire, where a colony of Normans
+established themselves after the Norman Conquest.&mdash;See Thierry's <i>Norman
+Conquest</i>.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_275_276"></a><a href="#FNanchor_275_276">[275]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Men-at-arms</i>.&mdash;<i>Hibernia Expugnata</i>, lib. i. c. 16.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_276_277"></a><a href="#FNanchor_276_277">[276]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Bargy</i>.&mdash;Our illustration gives a view of the remains of
+this ancient castle. It was formerly the residence of Bagenal Harvey, a
+Protestant gentleman, who suffered in the rebellion of 1798, for his
+adherence to the cause of Ireland.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_277_278"></a><a href="#FNanchor_277_278">[277]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Flemings</i>.&mdash;Dr. O'Donovan mentions, in a note to the
+Four Masters, that he was particularly struck with the difference
+between the personal appearance of the inhabitants of the baronies where
+they settled. The Cavanaghs and Murphys are tall and slight; the
+Flemings and Codds short and stout. They still retain some peculiarities
+of language.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_278_279"></a><a href="#FNanchor_278_279">[278]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Rule</i>.&mdash;What the rule of this ferocious monster may have
+been we can judge from what is related of him by Cambrensis. Three
+hundred heads of the slain were piled up before him; and as he leaped
+and danced with joy at the ghastly sight, he recognized a man to whom he
+had a more than ordinary hatred. He seized the head by the ears, and
+gratified his demoniacal rage by biting off the nose and lips of his
+dead enemy.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_279_280"></a><a href="#FNanchor_279_280">[279]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Easterly</i>.&mdash;Cambrensis takes to himself the credit of
+having advised the despatch of a letter to Strongbow. He also gives us
+the letter, which probably was his own composition, as it is written in
+the same strain of bombast as his praises of his family.&mdash;<i>Hib. Expug</i>.
+lib. i. c. 12. It commences thus: &quot;We have watched the storks and
+swallows; the summer birds are come and gone,&quot; &amp;c. We imagine that
+Dermod's style, if he had taken to epistolary correspondence, would have
+been rather a contrast.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_280_281"></a><a href="#FNanchor_280_281">[280]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Suffolk</i>.&mdash;See Gilbert's <i>Viceroys of Dublin, passim</i>.
+We recommend this work to our readers. It should be in the hands of
+every Irishman at least. It combines the attraction of romance with the
+accuracy of carefully written history.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_281_282"></a><a href="#FNanchor_281_282">[281]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Been</i>.&mdash;If we are to believe Cambrensis, Raymond argued
+against this cruelty, and Henry in favour of it.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_282_283"></a><a href="#FNanchor_282_283">[282]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Deserved</i>.&mdash;The Annals of Clonmacnois give a similar
+account; but in a paper MS. in Trinity College, Dublin, it is said that
+he died &quot;after the victory of penance and unction.&quot; The old account is
+probably the more reliable, as it is the more consonant with his
+previous career.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_283_284"></a><a href="#FNanchor_283_284">[283]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Difficulty</i>.&mdash;The army was so well supplied, that the
+English got sufficient corn, meal, and pork to victual the city of
+Dublin for a whole year.&mdash;Harris' <i>Hibern&aelig;</i>, p. 25.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_284_285"></a><a href="#FNanchor_284_285">[284]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Crime</i>.&mdash;So fearful was the unfortunate monarch of a
+public excommunication and interdict, that he sent courtiers at once to
+Rome to announce his submission. When he heard of the murder he shut
+himself up for three days, and refused all food, except &quot;milk of
+almonds.&quot; See <i>Vita Quadrip</i>. p. 143. It would appear this was a
+favourite beverage, from the amount of almonds which were brought to
+Ireland for his special benefit. See p. 272.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_285_286"></a><a href="#FNanchor_285_286">[285]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Irish Brooch</i>.&mdash;The brooch figured above is of great
+antiquity. It was found in the Ardkillen crannoge, near Strokestown,
+county Roscommon. The original is in the Royal Irish Academy, and is
+considered the finest specimen of bronze workmanship in the collection.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_286_287"></a><a href="#FNanchor_286_287">[286]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Standing</i>.&mdash;Four Masters, vol. iii. p. 5, note <i>m</i>.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_287_288"></a><a href="#FNanchor_287_288">[287]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Mills</i>.&mdash;Dame-street derived its name from a dam or
+mill-stream near it. There was also the gate of Blessed Mary del Dam.
+The original name was preserved until quite recently. In the reign of
+Charles I. the Master of the Rolls had a residence here, which is
+described as being &quot;in a very wholesome air, with a good orchard and
+garden leading down to the water-side.&quot;&mdash;Gilbert's <i>Dublin</i>, vol. ii.
+p. 264. In fact, the residences here were similar to those pleasant
+places on the Thames, once the haunts of the nobility of London.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_288_289"></a><a href="#FNanchor_288_289">[288]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Peacocks</i>.&mdash;To serve a peacock with its feathers was one
+of the grandest exploits of medi&aelig;val cookery. It was sown up in its skin
+after it had been roasted, when it was allowed to cool a little. The
+bird then appeared at the last course as if alive. Cream of almonds was
+also a favourite dainty. Indeed, almonds were used in the composition of
+many dishes; to use as many and as various ingredients as possible
+seeming to be the acme of gastronomy. St. Bernard had already loudly
+condemned the <i>bon vivants</i> of the age. His indignation appears to have
+been especially excited by the various methods in which eggs were
+cooked. But even seculars condemned the excesses of Norman luxuries, and
+declared that the knights were loaded with wine instead of steel, and
+spits instead of lances.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_289_290"></a><a href="#FNanchor_289_290">[289]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Henri-curt-mantel</i>.&mdash;A soubriquet derived from the short
+mantle he constantly wore.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_290_291"></a><a href="#FNanchor_290_291">[290]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Good</i>.&mdash;Even the infidel Voltaire admitted that the
+Popes restrained princes, and protected the people. The Bull <i>In Coena
+Domini</i> contained an excommunication against those who should levy new
+taxes upon their estates, or should increase those already existing
+beyond the bounds of right. For further information on this subject, see
+Balmez, <i>European Civilization, passim.</i> M. Guizot says: &quot;She [the
+Church] alone resisted the system of castes; she alone maintained the
+principle of equality of competition; she alone called all legitimate
+superiors to the possession of power.&quot;&mdash;<i>Hist. Gen. de la Civilization
+en Europe</i>, Lect. 5.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_291_292"></a><a href="#FNanchor_291_292">[291]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Grounds</i>.&mdash;De Maistre and F&eacute;n&eacute;lon both agree in
+grounding this power on constitutional right; but the former also
+admitted a divine right.&mdash;De Maistre, <i>Du Pape</i>, lib. ii. p. 387.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_292_293"></a><a href="#FNanchor_292_293">[292]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Grant</i>.&mdash;See M. Gosselin's <i>Power of the Popes during
+the Middle Ages</i>, for further information on this subject.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_293_294"></a><a href="#FNanchor_293_294">[293]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Writer</i>.&mdash;<i>Ireland, Historical and Statistical</i>.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_294_295"></a><a href="#FNanchor_294_295">[294]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Bull</i>.&mdash;There can be no reasonable doubt of the
+authenticity of this document. Baronius published it from the <i>Codex
+Vaticanus</i>; John XXII. has annexed it to his brief addresed to Edward
+II.; and John of Salisbury states distinctly, in his <i>Metalogicus</i>, that
+he obtained this Bull from Adrian. He grounds the right of donation on
+the supposed gift of the island by Constantine. As the question is one
+of interest and importance, we subjoin the original: &quot;Ad preces meas
+illustri Regi Anglorum Henrico II. concessit (Adrianus) et dedit
+Hiberniam jure h&aelig;reditario possidendam, sicut literae ipsius testantur
+in hodiernum diem. Nam omnes insul&aelig; de jure antiquo ex donatione
+Constantini, qui eam fundavit et dotavit, dicuntur ad Romanam Ecclesiam
+pertinere.&quot;&mdash;<i>Metalogicus</i>, i. 4.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_295_296"></a><a href="#FNanchor_295_296">[295]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Friends.&mdash;Hib. Expug</i>. lib. ii. c. 38.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_296_297"></a><a href="#FNanchor_296_297">[296]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Hugh de Lacy</i>.&mdash;In a charter executed at Waterford,
+Henry had styled this nobleman &quot;Bailli,&quot; a Norman term for a
+representative of royalty. The territory bestowed on him covered 800,000
+acres. This was something like wholesale plunder.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_297_298"></a><a href="#FNanchor_297_298">[297]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Building</i>.&mdash;This was the Danish fortress of Dublin,
+which occupied the greater part of the hill on which the present Castle
+of Dublin stands. See <i>note,</i> Four Masters, vol. iii. p. 5. The Annals
+say this was a &quot;spectacle of intense pity to the Irish.&quot; It certainly
+could not have tended to increase their devotion to English rule.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_298_299"></a><a href="#FNanchor_298_299">[298]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Waterford</i>.&mdash;The English and Irish accounts of this
+affair differ widely. The Annals of Innisfallen make the number of slain
+to be only seven hundred. MacGeoghegan agrees with the Four Masters.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_299_300"></a><a href="#FNanchor_299_300">[299]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Coat-of-mail</i>.&mdash;Costly mantles were then fashionable.
+Strutt informs us that Henry I. had a mantle of fine cloth, lined with
+black sable, which cost &pound;100 of the money of the time&mdash;about &pound;1,500 of
+our money. Fairholt gives an illustration of the armour of the time
+(<i>History of Costume</i>, p. 74). It was either tegulated or formed of
+chains in rings. The nasal appendage to the helmet was soon after
+discarded, probably from the inconvenient hold it afforded the enemy of
+the wearer in battle. Face-guards were invented soon after.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_300_301"></a><a href="#FNanchor_300_301">[300]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Property</i>.&mdash;Maurice FitzGerald died at Wexford in 1179.
+He is the common ancestor of the Earls of Desmond and Kildare, the
+Knights of Glynn, of Kerry, and of all the Irish Geraldines.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_301_302"></a><a href="#FNanchor_301_302">[301]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Letter</i>.&mdash;&quot;To Raymond, her most loving lord and husband,
+his own Basilia wishes health as to herself. Know you, my dear lord,
+that the great tooth in my jaw, which was wont to ache so much, is now
+fallen out; wherefore, if you have any love or regard for me, or of
+yourself, you will delay not to hasten hither with all
+speed.&quot;&mdash;Gilbert's <i>Viceroys</i>, p. 40. It is said that this letter was
+read for Raymond by a cleric of his train, so it is presumable that
+reading and writing were not made a part of his education.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_302_303"></a><a href="#FNanchor_302_303">[302]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Terms</i>.&mdash;<i>Hib. Expug.</i> lib. i. cap. 27.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_303_304"></a><a href="#FNanchor_303_304">[303]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Buried</i>.&mdash;The early history of this church is involved
+in much obscurity. It probably owes its origin to the Danes. Cambrensis
+gives some interesting details about it, and mentions several miraculous
+occurrences which caused it to be held in great veneration in his days.
+He specially mentions the case of a young man in the train of Raymond
+<i>le Gros</i>, who had robbed him of his greaves, and who had taken a false
+oath before the cross of that church to clear himself. After a short
+absence in England he was compelled to return and confess his guilt, &quot;as
+he felt the weight of the cross continually oppressing him.&quot; Strongbow's
+effigy was broken in 1562, but it was repaired in 1570, by Sir Henry
+Sidney. Until the middle of the last century, the Earl's tomb was a
+regularly appointed place for the payment of bonds, rents, and bills of
+exchange. A recumbent statue by his side is supposed to represent his
+son, whom he is said to have cut in two with his sword, for cowardice in
+flying from an engagement. A writer of the seventeenth century, however,
+corrects this error, and says that &quot;Strongbow did no more than run his
+son through the belly, as appears by the monument and the
+chronicle.&quot;&mdash;Gilbert's <i>Dublin</i>, vol. i. p. 113.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_304_305"></a><a href="#FNanchor_304_305">[304]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Warrior.&mdash;Hib. Expug.</i> lib. ii. cap. 17.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_305_306"></a><a href="#FNanchor_305_306">[305]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Defeated</i>.&mdash;Giraldus gives a detailed account of these
+affairs.&mdash;<i>Hib. Expug.</i> lib. ii. cap. 17. He says the Irish forces under
+Dunlevy amounted to ten thousand warriors; but this statement cannot at
+all be credited. De Courcy took advantage of some old Irish prophecies
+to further his cause. They were attributed to St. Columbkille, and to
+the effect that a foreigner who would ride upon a white horse, and have
+little birds painted on his shield, should conquer the country. De
+Courcy did ride upon a white horse, and the birds were a part of his
+armorial bearings.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_306_307"></a><a href="#FNanchor_306_307">[306]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Newry</i>.&mdash;See an interesting note to the Annals (Four
+Masters), vol. iii. p. 40, which identifies the valley of Glenree with
+the vale of Newry. In an ancient map, the Newry river is called <i>Owen
+Glenree fluvius</i>.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_307_308"></a><a href="#FNanchor_307_308">[307]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>General</i>.&mdash;This is mentioned also by O'Flaherty, who
+quotes from some other annals. See his account of Iar-Connaught, printed
+for the Arch&aelig;ological Society.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_308_309"></a><a href="#FNanchor_308_309">[308]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Says</i>.&mdash;<i>Sylloge</i>, ep. 48.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_309_310"></a><a href="#FNanchor_309_310">[309]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Lives</i>.&mdash;We give authority for this statement, as it
+manifests how completely the Holy See was deceived in supposing that any
+reform was likely to be effected in Ireland by English interference:
+&quot;Ita ut quodam tempore (quod dictu mirum est) centum et quadraginta
+presby. incontinenti&aelig; convictos Romani miserit absolvendos.&quot;&mdash;Surius, t.
+vi. St. Laurence had faculties for absolving these persons, but for some
+reason&mdash;probably as a greater punishment&mdash;he sent them to Rome. English
+writers at this period also complain of the relaxed state of
+ecclesiastical discipline in that country. How completely all such evils
+were eradicated by the faithful sons of the Church, and the exertions of
+ecclesiastical superiors, is manifest from the fact, that no such
+charges could be brought against even a single priest at the time of the
+so-called Reformation.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_310_311"></a><a href="#FNanchor_310_311">[310]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Midnight</i>.&mdash;&quot;Itaque cum sext&aelig; feri&aelig; terminus advenisset,
+in confinio sabbati subsequentis Spiritum Sancti viri requies &aelig;terna
+suscepit.&quot;&mdash;<i>Vita S. Laurentii</i>, cap. xxxiii. The saint's memory is
+still honoured at Eu. The church has been lately restored, and there is
+a little oratory on the hill near it to mark the spot where he
+exclaimed, <i>Hoec est requies mea</i>, as he approached the town where he
+knew he should die. Dr. Kelly (<i>Cambrensis Eversus</i>, vol. ii. p. 648)
+mentions in a note that the names of several Irishmen were inscribed
+there.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_311_312"></a><a href="#FNanchor_311_312">[311]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Fatal</i>.&mdash;Dr. O'Donovan gives a long and most interesting
+note on the genealogy of St. Laurence O'Toole, in which he shows that
+his father was a chieftain of an important territory in the county
+Kildare, and that he was not a Wicklow prince, as has been incorrectly
+asserted. The family removed there after the death of St. Laurence, when
+they were driven from their property by an English adventurer.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_312_313"></a><a href="#FNanchor_312_313">[312]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Conduct</i>.&mdash;This is mentioned even by Cox, who, Dr.
+O'Donovan observes, was always anxious to hide the faults of the
+English, and vilify the Irish. He calls Hugh Tyrrell &quot;a man of ill
+report,&quot; and says he returned to Dublin &quot;loaden both with curses and
+extortions.&quot;&mdash;<i>Hib. Angl.</i> p. 38, ad an. 1184.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_313_314"></a><a href="#FNanchor_313_314">[313]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Accusation</i>.&mdash;There can be no doubt that De Lacy had
+ambitious designs. See Cambrensis, <i>Hib. Expug.</i> lib. ii. cap. 20. Henry
+II. heard of his death with considerable satisfaction.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_314_315"></a><a href="#FNanchor_314_315">[314]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Colum-cille</i>.&mdash;Dr. O'Donovan remarks that a similar
+disaster befell Lord Norbury. He was also assassinated by a hand still
+unknown, after having erected a castle on the same <i>site</i> as that of De
+Lacy, and preventing the burial of the dead in the ancient cemetery of
+Durrow.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_315_316"></a><a href="#FNanchor_315_316">[315]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>King of Ireland</i>.&mdash;During the reign of Richard all the
+public affairs of the Anglo-Norman colony were transacted in the name of
+&quot;John, Lord of Ireland, Earl of Montague.&quot; Palgrave observes that John
+never claimed to be King of the Irish; like Edward, who wrote himself
+Lord of Scotland, and acknowledged Baliol to be King of the Scots.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_316_317"></a><a href="#FNanchor_316_317">[316]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Accounts</i>.&mdash;Gilbert's <i>Viceroys</i>, p. 58.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_317_318"></a><a href="#FNanchor_317_318">[317]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>FitzHenri</i>.&mdash;His father was an illegitimate son of Henry
+I. When a mere youth, FitzHenri came to Ireland with the Geraldines, and
+obtained large possessions.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_318_319"></a><a href="#FNanchor_318_319">[318]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Pension</i>.&mdash;One hundred pounds per annum. Orders
+concerning it are still extant on the Close Rolls of England.&mdash;<i>Rol.
+Lit. Clau.</i> 1833, 144. It is curious, and should be carefully noted, how
+constantly proofs are appearing that the Irish bards and chroniclers,
+from the earliest to the latest period, were most careful as to the
+truth of their facts, though they may have sometimes coloured them
+highly. Dr. O'Donovan has devoted some pages in a note (Four Masters,
+vol. iii. p. 139) to the tales in the Book of Howth which record the
+exploits of De Courcy. He appears satisfied that they were &quot;invented in
+the fifteenth or sixteenth century.&quot; Mr. Gilbert has ascertained that
+they were placed on record as early as 1360, in Pembridge's Annals. As
+they are merely accounts of personal valour, we do not reproduce them
+here. He also gives an extract from Hoveden's Annals, pars port, p. 823,
+which further supports the Irish account. Rapin gives the narrative as
+history. Indeed, there appears nothing very improbable about it. The
+Howth family were founded by Sir Almaric St. Lawrence, who married De
+Courcy's sister.</p></div>
+
+
+<a name="Footnote_319_320"></a><a href="#FNanchor_319_320">[319]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Limerick</i>.&mdash;We give an illustration, at the head of this
+chapter, of King John's Castle, Limerick. Stanihurst says that King John
+&quot;was so pleased with the agreeableness of the city, that he caused a
+very fine castle and bridge to be built there.&quot; This castle has endured
+for more than six centuries. Richard I. granted this city a charter to
+elect a Mayor before London had that privilege, and a century before it
+was granted to Dublin. M'Gregor says, in his <i>History of Limerick</i>, that
+the trade went down fearfully after the English invasion.&mdash;vol. ii. p.
+53.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_320_321"></a><a href="#FNanchor_320_321">[320]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Address</i>.&mdash;Gilbert's <i>Viceroys</i>, p. 82, where the
+address may be seen <i>in extenso</i>.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_321_322"></a><a href="#FNanchor_321_322">[321]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Year</i>.&mdash;Four Masters, vol. iii. p. 227.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_322_323"></a><a href="#FNanchor_322_323">[322]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Carnfree</i>.&mdash;This place has been identified by Dr.
+O'Donovan. It is near the village of Tulsk, co. Roscommon. It was the
+usual place of inauguration for the O'Connors. See <i>note d</i>, Annals,
+vol. iii. p. 221.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_323_324"></a><a href="#FNanchor_323_324">[323]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Athlone</i>.&mdash;This was one of the most important of the
+English towns, and ranked next to Dublin at that period. We give an
+illustration of the Castle of Athlone at the beginning of Chapter XX.
+The building is now used for a barrack, which in truth is no great
+deviation from its original purpose. It stands on the direct road from
+Dublin to Galway, and protects the passage of the Shannon. There is a
+curious representation on a monument here of an unfortunate English
+monk, who apostatized and came to Ireland. He was sent to Athlone to
+superintend the erection of the bridge by Sir Henry Sidney; but,
+according to the legend, he was constantly pursued by a demon in the
+shape of a rat, which never left him for a single moment. On one
+occasion he attempted to preach, but the eyes of the animal glared on
+him with such fury that he could not continue. He then took a pistol and
+attempted to shoot it, but in an instant it had sprung on the weapon,
+giving him, at the same time, a bite which caused his death. It is to be
+presumed that this circumstance must have been well known, and generally
+believed at the time, or it would not have been made a subject for the
+sculptor.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_324_325"></a><a href="#FNanchor_324_325">[324]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Woman</i>.&mdash;There are several versions of this story. The
+Four Masters say he was killed &quot;treacherously by the English.&quot; The
+Annals of Clonmacnois say that &quot;he came to an atonement with Geoffrey
+March, and was restored to his kingdom,&quot; and that he was afterwards
+treacherously killed by an Englishman, &quot;for which cause the Deputy the
+next day hanged the Englishman that killed him, for that foul fact.&quot; The
+cause of the Englishman's crime was &quot;meer jealousie,&quot; because O'Connor
+had kissed his wife.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_325_326"></a><a href="#FNanchor_325_326">[325]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Cavalry</i>.&mdash;Horse soldiery were introduced early into
+Britain, through the Romans, who were famous for their cavalry.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_326_327"></a><a href="#FNanchor_326_327">[326]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Castle</i>.&mdash;The Annals of Boyle contain a wonderful
+account of the <i>pirrels</i> or engines constructed by the English for
+taking this fortress.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_327_328"></a><a href="#FNanchor_327_328">[327]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Felim</i>.&mdash;The Four Masters say, when writing of the act
+of treachery mentioned above: &quot;They all yearned to act treacherously
+towards Felim, although he was the gossip of the Lord Justice.&quot;&mdash;Annals,
+vol. iii. p. 285. He was sponsor or godfather to one of his children.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_328_329"></a><a href="#FNanchor_328_329">[328]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Life</i>.&mdash;Annals, vol. iii. p. 189.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_329_330"></a><a href="#FNanchor_329_330">[329]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Christ</i>.&mdash;Annals, vol. iii. p. 281.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_330_331"></a><a href="#FNanchor_330_331">[330]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Find</i>.&mdash;<i>Ib.</i> vol. iii. p. 275.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_331_332"></a><a href="#FNanchor_331_332">[331]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Usher's Island</i>.&mdash;This was once a fashionable resort.
+Moira House stood here. It was ornamented so beautifully, that John
+Wesley observed, when visiting Lady Moira, that one of the rooms was
+more elegant than any he had seen in England. Here, in 1777, Charles Fox
+was introduced to Grattan. Poor Pamela (Lady Edward FitzGerald) was at
+Moira House on the evening of her husband's arrest; and here she heard
+the fatal news on the following morning, her friends having concealed it
+from her until then. In 1826 it was converted into a mendicity
+institution, and all its ornamental portions removed.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_332_333"></a><a href="#FNanchor_332_333">[332]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Defeated</i>.&mdash;O'Neill's bard, MacNamee, wrote a lament for
+the chieftains who fell in this engagement. He states that the head of
+&quot;O'Neill, King of Tara, was sent to London;&quot; and attributes the defeat
+of the Irish to the circumstance of their adversaries having fought in
+coats-of-mail, while they had only satin shirts:&mdash;
+</p>
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;Unequal they entered the battle,<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">The Galls and the Irish of Tara;<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Fair satin shirts on the race of Conn,<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">The Galls in one mass of iron.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+<p>
+He further deplores the removal of the chief's noble face from Down,
+lamenting that his resurrection should not be from amongst the
+limestone-covered graves of the fathers of his clan at Armagh.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_333_334"></a><a href="#FNanchor_333_334">[333]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>MacCarthy</i>.&mdash;Four Masters, vol. iii. p. 389.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_334_335"></a><a href="#FNanchor_334_335">[334]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Ulster</i>.&mdash;The Annals of Innisfallen say he obtained this
+title in 1264, after his marriage with Maud, daughter of Hugh de Lacy
+the younger.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_335_336"></a><a href="#FNanchor_335_336">[335]</a><div class="note">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span><i>Ladies</i>.&mdash;&quot;Tantz bele dames ne vi en foss&eacute;e,<br /></span>
+<span class="i17">Mult fu cil en bon sire n&eacute;e,<br /></span>
+<span class="i17">Re purreit choisir &agrave; sa volont&eacute;.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+</div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_336_337"></a><a href="#FNanchor_336_337">[336]</a><div class="note">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span><i>Clergy</i>.&mdash;&quot;E les prestres, quant on chant&eacute;,<br /></span>
+<span class="i17">Si vont ovrir au foss&eacute;,<br /></span>
+<span class="i17">E travellent mut durement,<br /></span>
+<span class="i17">Plus qe ne funt autre gent.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+<p>
+This ballad has been published, with a translation by W. Crofton
+Croker.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_337_338"></a><a href="#FNanchor_337_338">[337]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Crime</i>.&mdash;We really must enter a protest against the way
+in which Irish history is written by some English historians. In
+Wright's <i>History of Ireland</i> we find the following gratuitous assertion
+offered to excuse De Clare's crime: &quot;Such a refinement of cruelty <i>must</i>
+have arisen from a suspicion of treachery, or from some other grievous
+offence with which we are not acquainted.&quot; If all the dark deeds of
+history are to be accounted for in this way, we may bid farewell to
+historical justice. And yet this work, which is written in the most
+prejudiced manner, has had a far larger circulation in Ireland than Mr.
+Haverty's truthful and well-written history. When Irishmen support such
+works, they must not blame their neighbours across the Channel for
+accepting them as truthful histories.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_338_339"></a><a href="#FNanchor_338_339">[338]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Shooting</i>.&mdash;Four Masters, vol. iii. p. 435. These
+champions appear to have been very famous. They are mentioned in the
+Annals of Ulster and in the Annals of Clonmacnois, with special
+commendations for their skill. The following year O'Dowda was killed by
+Adam Cusack. It is hoped that he is not the same person as &quot;the Cusack&quot;
+whom he had assisted just before.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_339_340"></a><a href="#FNanchor_339_340">[339]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Horses</i>.&mdash;As votaries of the turf maybe interested in
+knowing the appellations of equine favourites in the thirteenth century,
+we subjoin a sample of their names: Lynst, Jourdan, Feraunt de Trim,
+Blanchard de Londres, Connetable, Obin the Black, &amp;c.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_340_341"></a><a href="#FNanchor_340_341">[340]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Progress</i>.&mdash;The following passage is taken from a work
+published a few years ago. It is not a work of any importance, but it
+had some circulation in its day; and like many other works then
+published, was calculated to do immense mischief, by quoting the false
+statements of Cambrensis as authority, and by giving grotesque sketches
+of Irish character, which were equally untrue. The writer says: &quot;They
+[the Irish chieftains] opposed the introduction of English law, because
+they had a direct interest in encouraging murder and theft.&quot; The fact
+was, as we have shown, that the Irish did their best to obtain the
+benefit of English law; but the English nobles who ruled Ireland would
+not permit it, unquestionably &quot;because <i>they</i> had a direct interest
+encouraging murder and theft.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_341_342"></a><a href="#FNanchor_341_342">[341]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Calculating</i>.&mdash;We derived the word from <i>calculus</i>, a
+white stone, the Romans having used small white stones for arithmetical
+purposes. Probably they taught this custom to the aboriginal English,
+whose descendants retained it long after.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_342_343"></a><a href="#FNanchor_342_343">[342]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Notched</i>.&mdash;Quite as primitive an arrangement as the
+<i>quipus</i>, and yet used in a condition of society called civilized.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_343_344"></a><a href="#FNanchor_343_344">[343]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Salary</i>.&mdash;The value may be estimated by the current
+price of provisions: cows from 5s. to 13s. 4d. each; heifers, 3s. 4d. to
+5s.; sheep, 8d. to 1s.; ordinary horses, 13s. 4d. to 40s.; pigs, 1s. 6d.
+to 2s.; salmon, 6d. each; wheat, corn, and malt varied with the produce
+of the season. Most of the details given above have been taken from Mr.
+Gilbert's <i>Viceroys</i>.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_344_345"></a><a href="#FNanchor_344_345">[344]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Carbury</i>.&mdash;Extensive ruins still mark the site.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_345_346"></a><a href="#FNanchor_345_346">[345]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Oppression</i>.&mdash;The original Latin is preserved by Fordun.
+Translations may be found in the Abb&eacute; MacGeoghegan's <i>History of
+Ireland</i>, p. 323, and in Plowden's <i>Historical Review</i>. We append one
+clause, in which these writers complain of the corruption of manners
+produced by intercourse with the English settlers: &quot;Quod sancta et
+columbina ejus simplicitas, ex eorum cohabitatione et exemplo reprobo,
+in serpentinam calliditatem mirabiliter est mutata.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_346_347"></a><a href="#FNanchor_346_347">[346]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Effect</i>.&mdash;See Theiner, <i>Vet. Man. Hiber. et Scot.</i> p.
+188, for the efforts made by the Holy See to procure peace. The Pope's
+letter to Edward III. will be found at p. 206. It is dated <i>Avinione,
+iii. Kal. Junii, Pontificatus nostri anno secundo.</i></p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_347_348"></a><a href="#FNanchor_347_348">[347]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Prisoners</i>.&mdash;Gilbert's <i>Viceroys</i>, p. 138.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_348_349"></a><a href="#FNanchor_348_349">[348]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Subject.&mdash;History of Dundalk</i>, pp. 46-58.</p></div>
+<a name="Footnote_349_350"></a><a href="#FNanchor_349_350">[349]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Carte</i>.&mdash;See his <i>Life of the Duke of Ormonde</i>, folio
+edition, p. 7.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_350_351"></a><a href="#FNanchor_350_351">[350]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Ormonde</i>.&mdash;The name Ormonde is intended to represent the
+Irish appellative <i>Ur-Mhumhain</i>, or Eastern Munster. This part of the
+country was the inheritance of <i>Cairbr&eacute; Musc</i>.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_351_352"></a><a href="#FNanchor_351_352">[351]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Palatine</i>.&mdash;The Lords-Palatine were endowed with
+extraordinary power, and were able to exercise a most oppressive tyranny
+over the people under their government.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_352_353"></a><a href="#FNanchor_352_353">[352]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Execution</i>.&mdash;Bermingham was related to De Lucy, which
+perhaps induced him to deal more harshly with him. De Lucy's Viceroyalty
+might otherwise have been popular, as he had won the affections of the
+people by assisting them during a grievous famine. See page 329 for an
+illustration of the scene of this tragedy.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_353_354"></a><a href="#FNanchor_353_354">[353]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Carrickfergus</i>.&mdash;See illustration at the commencement of
+this chapter.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_354_355"></a><a href="#FNanchor_354_355">[354]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Elizabeth</i>.&mdash;This lady was married to Lionel, third son
+of Edward III., in 1352. This prince was created in her right Earl of
+Ulster. The title and estates remained in possession of different
+members of the royal family, until they became the special inheritance
+of the crown in the reign of Edward IV.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_355_356"></a><a href="#FNanchor_355_356">[355]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Coigne and livery</i>.&mdash;This was an exaction of money,
+food, and entertainment for the soldiers, and fodder for their horses. A
+tax of a similar kind existed among the ancient Irish; but it was part
+of the ordinary tribute paid to the chief, and therefore was not
+considered an exaction.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_356_357"></a><a href="#FNanchor_356_357">[356]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Unsuccessful</i>.&mdash;<i>Ireland, Historical and Statistical</i>,
+vol. i. p. 200.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_357_358"></a><a href="#FNanchor_357_358">[357]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Law</i>.&mdash;<i>Irish History and Irish Character</i>, p. 69.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_358_359"></a><a href="#FNanchor_358_359">[358]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Favour</i>.&mdash;<i>Ibid</i>. p. 70.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_359_360"></a><a href="#FNanchor_359_360">[359]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Irish law</i>.&mdash;A considerable amount of testimony might be
+produced to prove that the Irish were and are peculiarly a law-loving
+people; but, in the words of the writer above-quoted, &quot;a people cannot
+be expected to love and reverence oppression, because it is consigned to
+a statute-book, and called law.&quot;&mdash;p. 71. The truth is, that it was and
+is obviously the interest of English writers to induce themselves to
+believe that Irish discontent and rebellion were caused by anything or
+everything but English oppression and injustice. Even in the present day
+the Irish are supposed to be naturally discontented and rebellious,
+because they cannot submit silently to be expelled from their farms
+without any compensation or any other means of support, either from
+political or religious motives, and because they object to maintain a
+religion contrary to their conscience, and which is admitted by its own
+members to be &quot;clearly a political evil.&quot; See concluding remarks in Mr.
+Goldwin Smith's interesting little volume.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_360_361"></a><a href="#FNanchor_360_361">[360]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Inferior</i>.&mdash;While these sheets were passing through the
+press, we chanced to meet the following paragraph in an English paper.
+The article was headed &quot;International Courtesy,&quot; apropos of the affair
+at Dinan:&mdash;&quot;Prince John pulling the beards of the Irish chiefs is the
+aggravated type of a race which alienated half a continent by treating
+its people as colonial, and which gave India every benefit but civility,
+till Bengal showed that it was strong, and Bombay that it could be
+rich,&quot; And yet it would be quite as unjust to accuse a whole nation of
+habitual insolence to foreigners and dependents, as to blame every
+Englishman, in the reigns of John or Richard, for the insults offered to
+the Irish nation.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_361_362"></a><a href="#FNanchor_361_362">[361]</a><div class="note">
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span><i>Cows</i>.&mdash;&quot;Un cheval ot sans sele ne arcon,<br /></span>
+<span class="i15">Qui lui avint const&eacute;, ce disoit-on,<br /></span>
+<span class="i15">Quatre cens vaches, tant estoil bel et bon.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+</div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_362_363"></a><a href="#FNanchor_362_363">[362]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Them</i>.&mdash;Gilbert's <i>Viceroys</i>, p. 292.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_363_364"></a><a href="#FNanchor_363_364">[363]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Annals</i>.&mdash;Four Masters, vol. iv. p. 791.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_364_365"></a><a href="#FNanchor_364_365">[364]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Master</i>.&mdash;Gilbert's <i>Viceroys</i>, p. 347.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_365_366"></a><a href="#FNanchor_365_366">[365]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Shave</i>.&mdash;There are no monumental effigies of Henry VI.
+His remains were removed several times by Richard III., who was annoyed
+at the popular belief that he worked miracles; but the costume of the
+period may be studied in an engraving by Strutt, from a scene depicted
+in the Royal M.S., 15E 6, which represents Talbot in the act of
+presenting a volume of romances to the King and Queen. Henry was
+notoriously plain in his dress, but his example was not followed by his
+court. Fairholt says: &quot;It would appear as if the English nobility and
+gentry sought relief in the invention of all that was absurd in apparel,
+as a counter-excitement to the feverish spirit engendered by civil
+war.&quot;&mdash;<i>History of Costume</i>, p. 146.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_366_367"></a><a href="#FNanchor_366_367">[366]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Soul</i>.&mdash;Duald Mac Firbis.&mdash;<i>Annals</i>.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_367_368"></a><a href="#FNanchor_367_368">[367]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>History</i>.&mdash;The scene is laid at the Abbey of Bury. A
+<i>Poste</i> enters and exclaims&mdash;
+</p>
+<div class="poem">
+<span>&quot;<i>Poste</i>.&mdash;Great lords, from Ireland am I come amain,<br /></span>
+<span class="i16">To signify that rebels there are up,<br /></span>
+<span class="i16">And put the Englishmen unto the sword.<br /></span>
+<span class="i16">Send succours (lords), and stop the rage betime,<br /></span>
+<span class="i16">Before the wound do grow uncurable;<br /></span>
+<span class="i16">For being green, there is great hope of help.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div>
+<div class="stanza">
+<span><i>&mdash;King Henry VI. Part ii. Act 3.</i><br /></span>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_368_369"></a><a href="#FNanchor_368_369">[368]</a><div class="note">
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span><i>People</i>.&mdash;&quot;I twise bore rule in Normandy and Fraunce,<br /></span>
+<span class="i17">And last lieutenant in Ireland, where my hart<br /></span>
+<span class="i17">Found remedy for every kinde of smart;<br /></span>
+<span class="i17">For through the love my doings there did breede,<br /></span>
+<span class="i17">I had my helpe at all times in my neede.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div>
+<div class="stanza">
+<span>&mdash;<i>Mirrour for Magistrates</i>, vol. ii. p. 189.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+<p>
+Hall, in his <i>Union of the Two Noble Houses</i> (1548), wrote that York
+&quot;got him such love and favour of the country [Ireland] and the
+inhabitants, that their sincere love and friendly affection could never
+be separated from him and his lineage.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_369_370"></a><a href="#FNanchor_369_370">[369]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Hobbies</i>.&mdash;Irish horses were famous from an early period
+of our history. They were considered presents worthy of kings. The name
+<i>hobbies</i> is a corruption of <i>hobilarius</i>, a horseman. It is probable
+the term is derived from the Spanish <i>caballo</i>, a horse. There were
+three different Irish appellations for different kinds of horses,
+<i>groidh, each</i>, and <i>gearran</i>. These words are still in use, but
+<i>capall</i> is the more common term.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_370_371"></a><a href="#FNanchor_370_371">[370]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Book</i>.&mdash;This ancient MS. is still in existence, in the
+Bodleian Library in Oxford (Laud, 610). It is a copy of such portions of
+the Psalter of Cashel as could then be deciphered, which was made for
+Butler, by Shane O'Clery, A.D. 1454. There is an interesting memorandum
+in it in Irish, made by MacButler himself: &quot;A blessing on the soul of
+the Archbishop of Cashel, i.e., Richard O'Hedigan, for it was by him the
+owner of this book was educated. This is the Sunday before Christmas;
+and let all those who shall read this give a blessing on the souls of
+both.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_371_372"></a><a href="#FNanchor_371_372">[371]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Ireland</i>.&mdash;<i>The Annals of Ulster</i>, compiled by Maguire,
+Canon of Armagh, who died A.D. 1498.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_372_373"></a><a href="#FNanchor_372_373">[372]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>London</i>.&mdash;The Irish Yorkists declared that this youth
+was a counterfeit. The Earl of Lincoln, son of Elizabeth Plantagenet,
+sister of Richard III., saw and conversed with the boy at the court at
+Shene, and appeared to be convinced that he was not his real cousin, for
+he joined the movement in favour of Simnel immediately after the
+interview. Mr. Gilbert remarks in his <i>Viceroys</i>, p. 605, that the fact
+of all the documents referring to this period of Irish history having
+been destroyed, has been quite overlooked. A special Act of Poyning's
+Parliament commanded the destruction of all &quot;records, processes,
+ordinances, &amp;c., done in the 'Laddes' name.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_373_374"></a><a href="#FNanchor_373_374">[373]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Authority</i>.&mdash;Gilbert's <i>Viceroys</i>, p. 605. The English
+Parliament attainted those English gentlemen and nobles who had fought
+against the King at Stoke, but they took no notice of the English in
+Ireland, who were the real promoters of the rebellion. This is a curious
+and valuable illustration of the state of affairs in that country.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_374_375"></a><a href="#FNanchor_374_375">[374]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Firing it</i>.&mdash;A valuable paper on this subject, by Sir
+S.R. Meyrick, will be found in the <i>Arch&aelig;ologia</i>, vol. xxii. The people
+of Lucca are supposed to have been the first to use hand-cannons, at the
+beginning of the fifteenth century. Cannon-balls were first made of
+stone, but at the battle of Cressy the English &quot;shot small balls of
+iron.&quot; For popular information on this subject, see Fairholt, <i>History
+of Costume</i>.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_375_376"></a><a href="#FNanchor_375_376">[375]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Ordnance</i>.&mdash;In 1489 six hand-guns or musquets were sent
+from Germany to the Earl of Kildare, which his guard bore while on
+sentry at Thomas Court, his Dublin residence. The word &quot;Pale&quot; came to be
+applied to that part of Ireland occupied by the English, in consequence
+of one of the enactments of Poyning's Parliament, which required all the
+colonists to &quot;pale&quot; in or enclose that portion of the country possessed
+by the English.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_376_377"></a><a href="#FNanchor_376_377">[376]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Butts</i>.&mdash;We give an illustration, at the head of this
+chapter, of the Butts' Cross, Kilkenny.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_377_378"></a><a href="#FNanchor_377_378">[377]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>War-cries</i>.&mdash;That of the Geraldines of Kildare was
+<i>Cromadh-abu</i>, from Croom Castle, in Limerick; the war-cry of the
+Desmond Geraldines was <i>Seanaid-abu</i>, from Shannid Castle.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_378_379"></a><a href="#FNanchor_378_379">[378]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Expensive</i>.&mdash;English writers accuse Henry of miserable
+avariciousness. He is accused of having consented to the execution of
+Sir William Stanley, who had saved his life, for the sake of his
+enormous wealth.&mdash;Lingard's <i>History of England</i>, vol. v. p. 308. He is
+also accused, by a recent writer, of having seized the Wealth of the
+Queen Dowager, because he chose to believe that she had assisted
+Simnel.&mdash;<i>Victoria History of England</i>, p. 223.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_379_380"></a><a href="#FNanchor_379_380">[379]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Ireland</i>.&mdash;On one occasion, when the Earl and Sir James
+Ormonde had a quarrel, the latter retired into the chapter-house of St.
+Patrick's Cathedral, the door of which he closed and barricaded. The
+Earl requested him to come forth, and pledged his honour for his safety.
+As the knight still feared treachery, a hole was cut in the door,
+through which Kildare passed his hand; and after this exploit, Ormonde
+came out, and they embraced each other.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_380_381"></a><a href="#FNanchor_380_381">[380]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Persecution</i>.&mdash;Smith's <i>Ireland Hist. and Statis</i>. vol.
+i. p. 327.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_381_382"></a><a href="#FNanchor_381_382">[381]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Doom</i>.&mdash;See <i>The Earls of Kildare</i>, vol. i. p. 106, for
+Wolsey's reasons for not removing him from the Viceroyalty,
+notwithstanding his dislike.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_382_383"></a><a href="#FNanchor_382_383">[382]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Ally</i>.&mdash;He was charged with having written a letter to
+O'Carroll of Ely, in which he advised him to keep peace with the Pale
+until a Deputy should come over, and then to make war on the English.
+The object of this advice is not very clear.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_383_384"></a><a href="#FNanchor_383_384">[383]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Salus Populi</i>.&mdash;There is a copy of this book in MS. in
+the British Museum. The name of the author is not known.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_384_385"></a><a href="#FNanchor_384_385">[384]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Letter</i>.&mdash;The deposition accusing Kildare is printed in
+the &quot;State Papers,&quot; part iii. p. 45. The following is an extract from
+the translation which it gives of his letter to O'Carroll. The original
+was written in Irish: &quot;Desiring you to kepe good peas to English men
+tyll an English Deputie come there; and when any English Deputie shall
+come thydder, doo your beste to make warre upon English men there,
+except suche as bee towardes mee, whom you know well your silf.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_385_386"></a><a href="#FNanchor_385_386">[385]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Pierse Butler</i>.&mdash;Called by the Irish, Red Pierse. Leland
+gives a curious story about him. He was at war with MacGillapatrick, who
+sent an ambassador to Henry VIII. to complain of the Earl's proceedings.
+The messenger met the English King as he was about to enter the royal
+chapel, and addressed him thus: &quot;Stop, Sir King! my master,
+Gillapatrick, has sent me to thee to say, that if thou wilt not punish
+the Red Earl he will make war on thee.&quot; Pierse resigned his title in
+favour of Sir Thomas Boleyn, in 1527, and was created Earl of Ossory;
+but after the death of the former he again took up the old title, and
+resigned the new.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_386_387"></a><a href="#FNanchor_386_387">[386]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Spared.</i>&mdash;It is quite evident from the letter of the
+Council to Henry VIII. (State Papers, ciii.), that a promise was made.
+Henry admits it, and regrets it in his letter to Skeffington (S.P.
+cvi.): &quot;The doyng whereof [FitzGerald's capture], albeit we accept it
+thankfully, yet, if he had been apprehended after such sorte as was
+convenable to his deservynges, the same had been muche more thankfull
+and better to our contentacion.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_387_388"></a><a href="#FNanchor_387_388">[387]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Already</i>.&mdash;Mant describes him as a man &quot;whose mind was
+happily freed from the thraldom of Popery,&quot; before his
+appointment.&mdash;<i>History of the Church of Ireland</i>, vol. i. p. 111.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_388_389"></a><a href="#FNanchor_388_389">[388]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Houses</i>.&mdash;Lingard, vol. vi. p. 203.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_389_390"></a><a href="#FNanchor_389_390">[389]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Charges</i>.&mdash;Mr. Froude has adopted this line with
+considerable ability, in his <i>History of England</i>. He has collected
+certain statements, which he finds in the books of the Consistory
+Courts, and gives details from these cases which certainly must &quot;shock
+his readers&quot; considerably, as he expects. He leaves it to be implied
+that, as a rule, ecclesiastics lived in open immorality. He gives names
+and facts concerning the punishment of priests for vicious lives
+(<i>History of England</i>, vol. i. pp. 178-180); and asserts that their
+offences were punished lightly, while another measure was dealt out to
+seculars. He might as well select the cases of scandal given by
+Protestant clergymen in modern times from the law books, and hold them
+up as specimens of the lives of all their brethren. The cases were
+exceptions; and though they do prove, what is generally admitted, that
+the moral condition of the clergy was not all that could be desired in
+individual cases, they also prove that such cases were exceptional, and
+that they were condemned by the Church, or they would not have been
+punished. With regard to the punishment, we can scarcely call it a light
+penance for a <i>priest</i> to be compelled to go round the church barefoot,
+to kneel at each altar and recite certain prayers, and this while High
+Mass was singing. It was a moral disgrace, and keener than a corporal
+punishment. The writer also evidently misunderstands the Catholic
+doctrine of absolution, when he says that a fine of six-and-eightpence
+was held sufficient penalty for a mortal sin.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_390_391"></a><a href="#FNanchor_390_391">[390]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Ancestors</i>.&mdash;See the <i>Phoenix</i>, a collection of valuable
+papers, published in London, 1707; and the <i>Harleian Miscellany</i>, &amp;c.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_391_392"></a><a href="#FNanchor_391_392">[391]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Rome</i>.&mdash;This was the invariable practice of the Irish
+Church. It will be remembered how letters and expostulations had been
+sent to the Holy See in regard to the temporal oppressions of the
+English settlers.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_392_393"></a><a href="#FNanchor_392_393">[392]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Davies.&mdash;Cause why Ireland was never Subdued</i>.&mdash;Thorn's
+Reprints, vol. i. p. 694.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_393_394"></a><a href="#FNanchor_393_394">[393]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>More</i>.-Sir Thomas More's son-in-law, Roper, gives the
+following account of his condemnation: &quot;Mr. Rich, pretending friendly
+talk with him, among other things of a set course, said this unto him:
+'Admit there were, sir, an Act of Parliament that the realm should take
+me for king; would not you, Master More, take me for King?' 'Yes, sir,'
+quoth Sir Thomas More, 'that I would.' 'I put the case further,' quoth
+Mr. Rich, 'that there were an Act of Parliament that all the realm
+should take me for Pope; would not you then, Master More, take me for
+Pope?' 'For answer, sir,' quoth Sir Thomas More, 'to your first case,
+the Parliament may well, Master Rich, meddle with the state of temporal
+princes; but to make answer to your other case, I will put you this
+case. Suppose the Parliament should make a law that God should not be
+God, would you then, Master Rich, say that God were not God?' 'No, sir,'
+quoth he, 'that I would not, sith no Parliament may make any such law.'
+'No more,' quoth Sir Thomas More, 'could the Parliament make the King
+supreme head of the Church.' Upon whose only report was Sir Thomas
+indicted for high treason on the statute to deny the King to be supreme
+head of the Church, into which indictment were put these heinous
+words&mdash;maliciously, traitorously, and diabolically.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_394_395"></a><a href="#FNanchor_394_395">[394]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Parliament</i>.&mdash;State Papers, vol. ii. p. 437.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_395_396"></a><a href="#FNanchor_395_396">[395]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Vote</i>.&mdash;Irish Statutes, 28th Henry VIII. c. xii.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_396_397"></a><a href="#FNanchor_396_397">[396]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Succession</i>.&mdash;Froude, vol. i. p. 94. He also quotes Hall
+to the effect that &quot;all indifferent and discreet persons judged that it
+was right and necessary.&quot; Persons who were &quot;indifferent&quot; enough to think
+that any reason could make a sin necessary, or &quot;discreet&quot; enough to mind
+losing their heads or their property, were generally of that opinion.
+But Henry's difficulties in divorcing his wife are a matter of history.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_397_398"></a><a href="#FNanchor_397_398">[397]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Saw it</i>,&mdash;Four Masters, vol. v. p. 1445.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_398_399"></a><a href="#FNanchor_398_399">[398]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Trinidad</i>.&mdash;Madrid, 1714.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_399_400"></a><a href="#FNanchor_399_400">[399]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Truly</i>.&mdash;State Papers, vol. iii. p. 108.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_400_401"></a><a href="#FNanchor_400_401">[400]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Use</i>.&mdash;28th Henry VIII. cap. xvi. In Shirley's <i>Original
+Letters</i>, p. 31, we find the following order from the Lord Protector,
+Somerset, to the Dean of St. Patrick's: &quot;Being advertised that one
+thousand ounces of plate of crosses and such like things remaineth in
+the hands of you, we require you to deliver the same to be employed to
+his Majesty's use,&quot; &amp;c. He adds that the Dean is to receive &quot;&pound;20 in
+ready money&quot; for the safe keeping of the same.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_401_402"></a><a href="#FNanchor_401_402">[401]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Order</i>.&mdash;The original letter may be seen in Shirley, pp.
+41, 42.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_402_403"></a><a href="#FNanchor_402_403">[402]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Heretics</i>.&mdash;Annals, vol. v. p. 1493.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_403_404"></a><a href="#FNanchor_403_404">[403]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Service</i>.&mdash;Shirley's <i>Original Letters</i>, p. 47. Dr.
+Browne gives an account of his signal failures in attempting to
+introduce the Protestant form of prayer in his letters to Cromwell. He
+says one prebendary of St. Patrick's &quot;thought scorn to read them.&quot; He
+adds: &quot;They be in a manner all the same point with me. There are
+twenty-eight of them, and yet scarce one that favoureth God's
+Word.&quot;&mdash;<i>State Papers</i>, vol. iii. p. 6.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_404_405"></a><a href="#FNanchor_404_405">[404]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Pertinacity</i>.&mdash;<i>The Victoria History of England</i>, p.
+256.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_405_406"></a><a href="#FNanchor_405_406">[405]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Pope</i>.&mdash;<i>Lib. Mun. Hib</i>. part i. p. 37.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_406_407"></a><a href="#FNanchor_406_407">[406]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Captivity</i>.&mdash;Lord Chancellor Cusack addressed a very
+curious &quot;Book on the State of Ireland&quot; to the Duke of Northumberland, in
+1552, in which he mentions the fearful condition of the northern
+counties. He states that &quot;the cause why the Earl was detained [in Dublin
+Castle] was for the wasting and destroying of his county.&quot; This Sir
+Thomas Cusack, who took a prominent part in public affairs during the
+reign of Queen Elizabeth, was a son of Thomas Cusack, of Cassington, in
+Meath, an ancient Norman-Irish family, who were hereditary seneschals
+and sheriffs of that county.&mdash;<i>Ulster Arch. Jour</i>. vol. iii p. 51.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_407_408"></a><a href="#FNanchor_407_408">[407]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>People.&mdash;The Irish Reformation</i>, by the Rev. W. Maziere
+Brady, D.D., fifth edition, pp. 32, 33.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_408_409"></a><a href="#FNanchor_408_409">[408]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Creed</i>.&mdash;<i>Cambrensis Eversus</i>, vol. iii. p. 19.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_409_410"></a><a href="#FNanchor_409_410">[409]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Book</i>.&mdash;<i>Orationes et Motiva</i>, p. 87.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_410_411"></a><a href="#FNanchor_410_411">[410]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Date</i>.&mdash;<i>Analecta</i>, p. 387.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_411_412"></a><a href="#FNanchor_411_412">[411]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Dr. Moran</i>.&mdash;<i>Archbishops of Dublin</i>, p. 68. Further
+information may be obtained also in Curry's <i>Historical Review</i>.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_412_413"></a><a href="#FNanchor_412_413">[412]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Clergyman</i>.&mdash;The Rev. W. Maziere Brady, D.D. Mr. Froude
+remarks, in his <i>History of England</i>, vol. x. p. 480: &quot;There is no
+evidence that any of the bishops in Ireland who were in office at Queen
+Mary's death, with the exception of Curwin, either accepted the Reformed
+Prayer-Book, or abjured the authority of the Pope.&quot; He adds, in a
+foot-note: &quot;I cannot express my astonishment at a proposition maintained
+by Bishop Mant and others, that whole hierarchy of Ireland went over to
+the Reformation with the Government. In a survey of the country supplied
+to Cecil in 1571, after death and deprivation had enabled the Government
+to fill several sees, the Archbishops Armagh, Tuam, and Cashel, with
+almost every one of the Bishops of the respective provinces, are
+described as <i>Catholici et Confederati</i>. The Archbishop of Dublin, with
+the Bishops of Kildare, Ossory, and Ferns, are alone returned as
+'Protestantes'&quot;</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_413_414"></a><a href="#FNanchor_413_414">[413]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Withal</i>.&mdash;Shirley, <i>Original Letters</i>, p. 194.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_414_415"></a><a href="#FNanchor_414_415">[414]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Traitors</i>.&mdash;Letter of October 18, 1597.&mdash;State Paper
+Office.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_415_416"></a><a href="#FNanchor_415_416">[415]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Law</i>.&mdash;Letter to the Queen, in <i>Government of Ireland
+under Sir John Parrot</i>, p.4.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_416_417"></a><a href="#FNanchor_416_417">[416]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Thumbs</i>.&mdash;Despatch of Castlerosse, in State Paper
+Office, London.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_417_418"></a><a href="#FNanchor_417_418">[417]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Swords</i>.&mdash;O'Sullivan Beare, <i>Hist. Cath</i>. p. 238.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_418_419"></a><a href="#FNanchor_418_419">[418]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Mothers</i>.&mdash;<i>Ibid</i>. p. 99.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_419_420"></a><a href="#FNanchor_419_420">[419]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Them.&mdash;Hist. Cath</i>. p.133.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_420_421"></a><a href="#FNanchor_420_421">[420]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Army</i>.&mdash;See Dr. Stuart's <i>History of Armagh</i>, p. 261.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_421_422"></a><a href="#FNanchor_421_422">[421]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Style</i>.&mdash;In one of the communications from Sussex to
+O'Neill, he complains of the chieftain's letters as being &quot;<i>nimis
+superbe script&aelig;</i>.&quot;&mdash;State Papers for 1561.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_422_423"></a><a href="#FNanchor_422_423">[422]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>May</i>.&mdash;Moore's <i>History of Ireland</i>, vol. iv. p.33.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_423_424"></a><a href="#FNanchor_423_424">[423]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Denied</i>.&mdash;This document has been printed in the <i>Ulster
+Arch. Jour</i>. vol. ii, p.221, but the editor does not mention where the
+original was procured.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_424_425"></a><a href="#FNanchor_424_425">[424]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Englishman</i>.&mdash;Moore, vol. iv. p. 37, has &quot;like a
+gentleman,&quot; but the above is the correct reading. In 1584 Sir J. Perrot
+tried to get the Irish chieftains to attend Parliament clothed in the
+English fashion, and even offered them robes and cloaks of velvet and
+satin. The chieftains objected; the Lord Deputy insisted. At last one of
+them, with exquisite humour, suggested that if he were obliged to wear
+English robes, a Protestant minister should accompany him attired in
+Irish garments, so that the mirth and amazement of the People should be
+fairly divided between them.&mdash;<i>Sir J. Perrot's Life</i>, p.198.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_425_426"></a><a href="#FNanchor_425_426">[425]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Cusack</i>.&mdash;One reason, perhaps, was that the Chancellor
+always treated O'Neill with the respect due from one gentleman to
+another. Flemyng mentions, in a letter to Cecil, November 29, 1563, that
+O'Neill told him, when about to take the oaths of his people to an
+agreement with the Queen, that &quot;Cusack did not give them their oath so,
+<i>but let me give them their oath</i>.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_426_427"></a><a href="#FNanchor_426_427">[426]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Willing</i>.&mdash;Sidney's Despatches, British Museum, MSS.
+Cat. Titus B. x.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_427_428"></a><a href="#FNanchor_427_428">[427]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Irreligion</i>.&mdash;Mant, vol. i. p.287.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_428_429"></a><a href="#FNanchor_428_429">[428]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Scattered</i>.&mdash;Cox, vol. i. p.319.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_429_430"></a><a href="#FNanchor_429_430">[429]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Civility</i>.&mdash;Sidney's <i>Letters and Memorials</i>, vol i.
+p.112. Sidney's memoir has been published <i>in extenso</i> in the <i>Ulster
+Arch. Journal</i>, with most interesting notes by Mr. Hore of Wexford.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_430_431"></a><a href="#FNanchor_430_431">[430]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Reformation</i>.&mdash;<i>Past and Present Policy of England
+towards Ireland</i>, p. 27. London, 1845.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_431_432"></a><a href="#FNanchor_431_432">[431]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Depend</i>.&mdash;Shirley, p. 219. An admirable <i>History of the
+Diocese of Meath</i>, in two volumes, has been published lately by the Rev.
+A. Cogan, Catholic Priest of Navan. It is very much to be wished that
+this rev. author would extend his charitable labours to other dioceses
+throughout Ireland.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_432_433"></a><a href="#FNanchor_432_433">[432]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Majority</i>.&mdash;Leland, vol. ii. p.241.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_433_434"></a><a href="#FNanchor_433_434">[433]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Pike</i>.&mdash;This was probably the <i>Morris pike</i> or <i>Moorish
+pike</i>, much used in the reign of Henry VIII and Elizabeth. The common
+pike was used very generally by foot soldiers until the reign of George
+II. The halberd was introduced during the reign of Henry VIII. It was
+peculiar to the royal guard, and is still carried by them. In Shirley's
+comedy, <i>A Bird in a Cage</i> (1633), one of the characters is asked, &quot;You
+are one of the guard?&quot; and replies, &quot;A Poor halberd man, sir.&quot; The
+caliver was quite recently introduced. It was a light kind of musket,
+fired without a rest. It derived its name from the <i>calibre</i> or width of
+its bore.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_434_435"></a><a href="#FNanchor_434_435">[434]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Staffe.</i>&mdash;This was probably a cane staff. We read in
+<i>Piers Plowman's Vision</i> of &quot;hermits on a heap with hookyd staves.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_435_436"></a><a href="#FNanchor_435_436">[435]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Dagges.</i>&mdash;&quot;Pistols.&quot;&mdash;&quot;My <i>dagge</i> was levelled at his
+heart.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_436_437"></a><a href="#FNanchor_436_437">[436]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Livery</i>&mdash;It was usual for all retainers of a noble house
+to wear a uniform-coloured cloth in dress. Thus, in the old play of <i>Sir
+Thomas More</i>, we find:
+</p>
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;That no man whatsoever<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Do walk without the <i>livery</i> of his lord,<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Either in cloak or any other garment.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+</div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_437_438"></a><a href="#FNanchor_437_438">[437]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Irish</i>.&mdash;Four Masters, vol. v. pp. 1678-9. Camden
+mentions the capture of O'Neill, and says Essex slew 200 of his men; but
+he does not mention the treachery with which this massacre was
+accomplished.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_438_439"></a><a href="#FNanchor_438_439">[438]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Pestilence</i>.&mdash;Memoir or Narrative addressed to Sir
+Francis Walsingham, 1583. Ware says he wrote &quot;Miscellanies of the
+Affairs of Ireland,&quot; but the MS. has not yet been discovered. The Four
+Masters notice the pestilence, which made fearful ravages.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_439_440"></a><a href="#FNanchor_439_440">[439]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>John</i>.&mdash;He was called <i>Shane Seamar Oge</i>, or John of the
+Shamrocks, from having threatened to live on shamrocks sooner than
+submit to the English. John was the younger of the two De Burgos or
+Burkes.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_440_441"></a><a href="#FNanchor_440_441">[440]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Vileness.&mdash;Reign of Elizabeth</i>, vol. i, p. 458.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_441_442"></a><a href="#FNanchor_441_442">[441]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Humanity</i>.&mdash;Dr. O'Donovan, with his usual conscientious
+accuracy, has given a long and most interesting note on the subject of
+this massacre, in the <i>Annals of the Four Masters</i>, vol. v.p. 1695.
+Dowling is the oldest writer who mentions the subject, and he expressly
+mentions Crosby and Walpole as the principal agents in effecting it. Dr.
+O'Donovan gives a curious traditional account of the occurrence, in
+which several Catholic families are accused of having taken part.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_442_443"></a><a href="#FNanchor_442_443">[442]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Den.&mdash;Faerie Queene</i>, book iii c. 3.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_443_444"></a><a href="#FNanchor_443_444">[443]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Disorders</i>.&mdash;&quot;In many dioceses in England (A.D. 1561), a
+third of the parishes were left without a clergyman, resident or
+non-resident.... The children grew up unbaptized; the dead buried their
+dead.&quot; Elizabeth had to remonstrate with Parliament upon the &quot;open
+decays and ruins&quot; of the churches. &quot;They were not even kept commonly
+clean, and nothing was done to make them known to be places provided for
+divine service.&quot; &quot;The cathedral plate adorned the prebendal sideboards
+and dinner-tables. The organ pipes were melted into dishes for their
+kitchens. The organ frames were carved into bedsteads, where the wives
+reposed beside their reverend lords. The copes and vestments were slit
+into gowns and bodices. Having children to provide for, the chapters cut
+down their woods, and worked their fines ... for the benefit of their
+own generation.&quot; &quot;The priests' wives were known by their dress in the
+street, and their proud gait, from a hundred other women.&quot;&mdash;Froude,
+<i>Reign of Elizabeth</i>, vol. i. pp. 465-467.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_444_445"></a><a href="#FNanchor_444_445">[444]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Dr. Saunders</i>.&mdash;He has given a full and most interesting
+account of this expedition, in a letter to the Roman court. The original
+has been printed by Monsignor Moran, in his <i>Archbishops</i>, a work which
+every reader should possess.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_445_446"></a><a href="#FNanchor_445_446">[445]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Dr. Allen</i>.&mdash;He was a medical man, and was killed in an
+engagement immediately after the arrival of the expedition.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_446_447"></a><a href="#FNanchor_446_447">[446]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Camp</i>.&mdash;Dr. Saunders' letter, Moran's <i>Archbishops</i>, p.
+202.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_447_448"></a><a href="#FNanchor_447_448">[447]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Official</i>.&mdash;Lord Grey says, in his official despatch to
+the Queen, dated &quot;From the camp before Smerwick, November 12, 1580:&quot; &quot;I
+sent streighte certeyne gentlemen to see their weapons and armouries
+laid down, and to guard the munition and victual, then left, from spoil;
+<i>then put in certeyne bandes, who streighte fell to execution. There
+were 600 slayn</i>.&quot; After this exploit, &quot;Grey's faith&quot;&mdash;<i>Graia
+fides</i>&mdash;became proverbial even on the Continent. Grey appears to have a
+touch of the Puritan (by anticipation) in his composition, for we find
+him using very unctuous language about one John Cheeke, who &quot;so wrought
+in him God's Spirit, plainlie declairing him a child of His elected;&quot;
+and he calls the Pope &quot;a detestable shaveling.&quot; Raleigh is said to have
+had the execution of this butchery; his friend, Spenser, was &quot;not far
+off,&quot; according to his own account. He has attempted to excuse his
+patron, Lord Grey, but his excuse simply shows that the massacre was
+reprobated by all persons not destitute of common humanity.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_448_449"></a><a href="#FNanchor_448_449">[448]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Castle.</i>&mdash;The Four Masters give a detailed account of
+this treachery, taken from the life of Hugh Roe O'Donnell, which was
+written by one of themselves. A copy of this work, in the handwriting of
+Edward O'Reilly, is still preserved in the Library of the Royal Irish
+Academy.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_449_450"></a><a href="#FNanchor_449_450">[449]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Him.</i>&mdash;This document was written by Captain Lee, and
+presented to the Queen in 1594. It is printed in <i>Desiderata Curiosa
+Hibernica</i>, vol. ii. p. 91.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_450_451"></a><a href="#FNanchor_450_451">[450]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Deputy.</i>&mdash;Four Masters, vol. vi. p. 1878. The State
+Papers clearly prove the Deputy's guilt.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_451_452"></a><a href="#FNanchor_451_452">[451]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Hanged</i>.&mdash;It was usual to hang the Franciscans by their
+own cord, or to tie them together with their cords and hurl them from
+the summit of a tower or from a high rock into the sea.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_452_453"></a><a href="#FNanchor_452_453">[452]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Behalf</i>.&mdash;The Four Masters give copious details of this
+important engagement, which O'Donovan has supplemented with copious
+notes, vol. vi. pp.2061-2075.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_453_454"></a><a href="#FNanchor_453_454">[453]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Victories</i>.&mdash;The victory of the Blackwater was hailed
+with salvos of artillery from S. Angelo. The Pope and Philip III. of
+Spain corresponded with O'Neill constantly, the one about the affairs of
+the Church, the other with generous offers of assistance. At one time
+the Emperor sent him 22,000 crowns of gold.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_454_455"></a><a href="#FNanchor_454_455">[454]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Long&mdash;Dunboy and other Poems</i>, by T.D. Sullivan, Esq.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_455_456"></a><a href="#FNanchor_455_456">[455]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Place&mdash;Hibernia Pacata</i>, vol. ii. p. 559.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_456_457"></a><a href="#FNanchor_456_457">[456]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Life.&mdash;Hib. Pac</i>. vol. ii. p. 578.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_457_458"></a><a href="#FNanchor_457_458">[457]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Disaffection</i>.&mdash;Dr. Moran quotes a letter from Dublin,
+written 26th Feb., 1603, which says that he imparted great edification
+to the faithful by his constancy, and that the whole city of Cork
+accompanied him with its tears.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_458_459"></a><a href="#FNanchor_458_459">[458]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Rebels.&mdash;</i>Commission from the Lord Deputy to
+Harvey.&mdash;See the document <i>in extenso, Hib, Pac</i>. vol ii. p. 447.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_459_460"></a><a href="#FNanchor_459_460">[459]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Pain.&mdash;Hib. Pac</i>. p. 659.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_460_461"></a><a href="#FNanchor_460_461">[460]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Followers</i>.&mdash;The father and mother of the celebrated
+historian, O'Sullivan were amongst the number of those who reached
+Leitrim in safety. Philip, the author, had been sent to Spain while a
+boy in 1602, for his education: the whole family joined him there soon
+after. Dr. O'Donovan is not correct in his genealogy. It is well known
+that the real representative of the family is Murtough O'Sullivan, Esq.,
+of Clohina, co. Cork.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_461_462"></a><a href="#FNanchor_461_462">[461]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Presinct.&mdash;History of the University of Dublin</i>, by
+W.B.S. Taylor. London, 1845.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_462_463"></a><a href="#FNanchor_462_463">[462]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Fortunes.</i>&mdash;Smith's <i>History of Kerry</i>, vol. ii. p. 97.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_463_464"></a><a href="#FNanchor_463_464">[463]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Papists.</i>&mdash;Oliver's <i>Collections</i>, quoted by Dr. Moran,
+p. 250.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_464_465"></a><a href="#FNanchor_464_465">[464]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>World.</i>&mdash;Dr. Rothe, quoted by Monsignor Moran, p. 251.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_465_466"></a><a href="#FNanchor_465_466">[465]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Writing</i>.&mdash;The original is in the Cot. Col. British
+Museum.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_466_467"></a><a href="#FNanchor_466_467">[466]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Tully Castle</i>.&mdash;See heading of this chapter.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_467_468"></a><a href="#FNanchor_467_468">[467]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Adultery</i>.&mdash;MS. History, by Rev. A. Stuart, quoted in
+Reid's <i>History of the Presbyterian Church</i>, vol. i. p. 96.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_468_469"></a><a href="#FNanchor_468_469">[468]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Lectured</i>. The address of the Irish party to James is
+given in O'Sullivan Beare's <i>History</i>, p. 316, and also the King's
+reply, p. 323. A collection made throughout Ireland to defray the
+expenses of the delegates.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_469_470"></a><a href="#FNanchor_469_470">[469]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Puritan</i>&mdash;Plowden's <i>History of Ireland</i>, vol. i. p.
+338. &quot;By his management and contrivance, he provided the whole doctrine
+of Calvin to be received as the public belief of the Protestant Church
+of Ireland, and ratified by Chichester in the King's name.&quot; Chichester
+himself was a thorough Puritan, and a disciple of Cartwright, who used
+to pray, &quot;O Lord, give us grace and power as one man to set ourselves
+against them&quot; (the bishops).</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_470_471"></a><a href="#FNanchor_470_471">[470]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Franciscan</i>.&mdash;An account of the sufferings of the
+Franciscans will be found in <i>St. Francis and the Franciscans</i>. The Poor
+Clares, who are the Second Order of St. Francis, were refounded and
+established in Ireland, by Sir John Dillon's sister, about this time,
+and suffered severe persecutions. Miss Dillon, the Abbess, was brought
+before the Lord Deputy; but her quiet dignity made such impression on
+the court, that she was dismissed without molestation for the time.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_471_472"></a><a href="#FNanchor_471_472">[471]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>From me</i>.&mdash;Stafford's State Letters, vol. i. p. 331.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_472_473"></a><a href="#FNanchor_472_473">[472]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Sovereign</i>.&mdash;Strafford's Letters, vol. ii. p. 241.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_473_474"></a><a href="#FNanchor_473_474">[473]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Means.</i>&mdash;This curious document was first published in
+the <i>Nation</i> of February 5th, 1859.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_474_475"></a><a href="#FNanchor_474_475">[474]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Them</i>.&mdash;Castlehaven's <i>Memoirs</i>, p, 28.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_475_476"></a><a href="#FNanchor_475_476">[475]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Frolics</i>.&mdash;Carte's <i>Ormonde</i>, vol. i. p. 245, folio
+edition.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_476_477"></a><a href="#FNanchor_476_477">[476]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Guard</i>.&mdash;Castlehaven's <i>Memoirs</i>, p. 30. Coote's
+cruelties are admitted on all sides to have been most fearful. Leland
+speaks of &quot;his ruthless and indiscriminate carnage.&quot;&mdash;<i>History of
+Ireland</i>, vol. iii. p. 146. Warner says &quot;he was a stranger to
+mercy.&quot;&mdash;<i>History of the Irish Rebellion</i>, p. 135. &quot;And yet this was the
+man,&quot; says Lord Castlehaven, &quot;whom the Lords Justices picked out to
+entrust with a commission of martial-law, which he performed with
+delight, and with a wanton kind of cruelty.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_477_478"></a><a href="#FNanchor_477_478">[477]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Granted</i>.&mdash;This most important and interesting document
+may be seen in O'Sullivan's <i>Hist. Cath</i>. p. 121. It is headed: &quot;Gregory
+XIII., to the Archbishops, Bishops, and other prelates, as also to the
+Catholic Princes, Earls, Barons, Clergy, Nobles, and People of Ireland,
+health and apostolic benediction.&quot; It is dated: &quot;Given at Rome, the 13th
+day of May, 1580, the eighth of our pontificate.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_478_479"></a><a href="#FNanchor_478_479">[478]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Cause</i>.&mdash;See illustration at head of this chapter.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_479_480"></a><a href="#FNanchor_479_480">[479]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Rinuccini,</i>&mdash;A work was published in Florence, 1844,
+entitled <i>Nunziatura in Irlanda</i>, di M. Gio. Battista Rinuccini, &amp;c.
+This work, which only forms a portion of the Rinuccini MS., throws much
+valuable light upon the history of the period. It is supposed to have
+been written by the Dean of Fermo, who attended the Nuncio during his
+official visit to Ireland. This volume also contains, in the original
+Italian, the report presented by Rinuccini to the Pope on his return
+from Ireland. Burke has given some extracts from the MS. in his
+<i>Hibernia Dominicana</i>, and Carte mentions it also; but otherwise these
+very important documents appear to have been quite overlooked.
+</p><p>
+Since the publication of the first edition of this work, I have obtained
+a copy of a translation of the Nuncio's narrative, which appeared in the
+<i>Catholic Miscellany</i> for 1829. This translation was made by a
+Protestant clergyman, from a Latin translation of the original, in the
+possession of Mr. Coke, of Holham, Norfolk. The Nuncio's account is one
+of great importance, but it would demand considerable space if treated
+of in detail. There was a very able article on the subject in the
+<i>Dublin Review</i> for March, 1845.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_480_481"></a><a href="#FNanchor_480_481">[480]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Hut</i>.&mdash;Some extracts from a curious and interesting
+letter, describing the voyage from France and the landing in Ireland of
+Rinuccini and his party, were published in the <i>Dublin Review</i> for
+March, 1845. It is addressed to Count Thomas Rinuccini, but the writer
+is supposed to have been the Dean of Fermo. He gives a graphic
+description of their arrival at Kenmare&mdash;&quot;al porto di Kilmar&quot; and of the
+warm reception they met from the poor, and their courtesy&mdash;&quot;La cortesia
+di quei poveri popoli dove Monsignor capito, fu incomparabile.&quot; He also
+says: &quot;Gran cosa, nelle montagne e luoghi rozzi, e gente povera per le
+devastazioni fatte dei nemici eretici, trovai pero la nobilta della S.
+fede Catolica, giach&eacute; auro vi fu uomo, o donna, o ragazzo, ancor che
+piccolo, che non me sapesse recitar il Pater, Ave, Credo, e i
+commandamenti della Santa Chiesa.&quot; &quot;It is most wonderful that in this
+wild and mountainous place, and a people so impoverished by the
+heretical enemy, I found, nevertheless, the noble influence of the holy
+Catholic faith; for there was not a man or woman, or a child however
+young, who could not repeat the Our Father, Hail Mary, Creed, and the
+commands of Holy Church.&quot; We believe the same might be said at the
+present day of this part of Ireland. It is still as poor, and the people
+are still as well instructed in and as devoted to their faith now as in
+that century.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_481_482"></a><a href="#FNanchor_481_482">[481]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Freemen</i>.&mdash;<i>Confederation of Kilkenny</i>, p. 117.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_482_483"></a><a href="#FNanchor_482_483">[482]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Army,&mdash;Nunziatura in Irlanda</i>, p. 391.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_483_484"></a><a href="#FNanchor_483_484">[483]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Trim</i> For an illustration of this castle, see p. 560.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_484_485"></a><a href="#FNanchor_484_485">[484]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Bibles</i>.&mdash;See <i>The Cromwellian Settlement of Ireland</i>,
+by John P. Prendergast, Esq.&mdash;a most important work, and one which
+merits the careful consideration of all who wish to understand this
+period of Irish history, and one of the many causes of Irish
+disaffection. The scythes and sickles were to the corn, that the Irish
+might be starved if they could not be conquered.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_485_486"></a><a href="#FNanchor_485_486">[485]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Quarter</i>.&mdash;Cromwell says, in his letters, that quarter
+was not promised; Leland and Carte say that it was.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_486_487"></a><a href="#FNanchor_486_487">[486]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Tale</i>.&mdash;<i>Cromwell's Letters and Speeches</i>, vol. i. p.
+456. The simplicity with which Carlyle attempts to avert the just
+indignation of the Irish, by saying that the garrison &quot;consisted mostly
+of Englishmen,&quot; coupled with his complacent impression that eccentric
+phrases can excuse crime, would be almost amusing were it not that he
+admits himself to be as cruel as his hero.&mdash;vol. i. p. 453. A man who
+can write thus is past criticism. If the garrison did consist mainly of
+Englishmen, what becomes of the plea, that this barbarity was a just
+vengeance upon the Irish for the &quot;massacre.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_487_488"></a><a href="#FNanchor_487_488">[487]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Allowed of</i>.&mdash;<i>Letters and Speeches</i>, vol. i. p. 477.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_488_489"></a><a href="#FNanchor_488_489">[488]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Protection</i>.&mdash;Dr. French, the Catholic Bishop of Ferns,
+has given an account of the storming of Wexford, in a letter to the
+Papal Nuncio, in which he states that the soldiers were not content with
+simply murdering their victims, but used &quot;divers sorts of torture.&quot; As
+he was then in the immediate neighbourhood, he had every opportunity of
+being correctly informed. Cromwell must have sanctioned this, if he did
+not encourage it.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_489_490"></a><a href="#FNanchor_489_490">[489]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Bribe</i>.&mdash;40,000 golden crowns, and free leave to
+emigrate where he chose.&mdash;<i>Hib. Dom.</i> p. 448.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_490_491"></a><a href="#FNanchor_490_491">[490]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Lamb.</i>.&mdash;<i>Cromwellian Settlement</i>, p. 16. See also
+Petty's <i>Political Anatomy of Ireland.</i></p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_491_492"></a><a href="#FNanchor_491_492">[491]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Abroad</i>.&mdash;The Prince of Orange declared they were born
+soldiers. Sir John Norris said that he &quot;never beheld so few of any
+country as of Irish that were idiots or cowards,&quot; Henry IV. of France
+said that Hugh O'Neill was the third soldier of the age; and declared
+that no nation had such resolute martial men.&mdash;<i>Cromwellian Settlement</i>,
+p. 22.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_492_493"></a><a href="#FNanchor_492_493">[492]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Sanction</i>.&mdash;See <i>Cromwellian Settlement</i>, p. 61, for a
+specimen of the &quot;Bible stuff with which they crammed their heads and
+hardened their hearts.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_493_494"></a><a href="#FNanchor_493_494">[493]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Day</i>.&mdash;<i>Cromwellian Settlement</i>, p. 163.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_494_495"></a><a href="#FNanchor_494_495">[494]</a><div class="note">
+<p> <i>Murder</i>.&mdash;&quot;Whenever any unwary person chanced to pass
+these limits he was knocked on the head by the first officer or soldier
+who met him. Colonel Astell killed <i>six women</i> in this way.&quot;&mdash;<i>Ibid</i>. p.
+164.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_495_496"></a><a href="#FNanchor_495_496">[495]</a><div class="note">
+<p> <i>Hiberni&aelig;</i>.&mdash;<i>The Wail of the Irish Catholics; or, Groans
+of the Whole Clergy and People, &amp;c.</i> By Father Maurice Morison, of the
+Minors of Strict Observance, an eyewitness of these cruelties. Insbruck,
+A.D. 1659. This religious had remained in Ireland, like many of his
+brethren, in such complete disguise, that their existence was not even
+suspected. In order to minister the more safely to their afflicted
+people, they often hired as menials in Protestant families and thus, in
+a double sense, became the servants of all men. Father Maurice was in
+the household of Colonel Ingolsby, the Parliamentary Governor of
+Limerick.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_496_497"></a><a href="#FNanchor_496_497">[496]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Prendergast.&mdash;Cromwellian Settlement</i>, p. 34. We can
+only recommend this volume to the consideration of our readers. It would
+be impossible, in anything less than a volume, to give the different
+details which Mr. Prendergast has brought together with so much
+judgment, and at the expense of years of research. We might have
+selected some cases from his work, but, on the whole, we think it will
+be more satisfactory to the reader to peruse it in its entirety. It may
+be obtained from our publishers, Messrs. Longmans and Co.,
+Paternoster-row, London.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_497_498"></a><a href="#FNanchor_497_498">[497]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Rebellious</i>.&mdash;If the subject were not so serious, the
+way in which the officials wrote about the feelings of the Irish would
+almost provoke a smile. They say: &quot;It is the nature of this people to be
+rebellious; and they have been so much the more disposed to it, having
+been highly exasperated by the transplanting work.&quot; Surely they could
+not be expected to be anything else but rebellious and exasperated!</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_498_499"></a><a href="#FNanchor_498_499">[498]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Barbadoes</i>.&mdash;<i>Threnodia Hib.</i> p. 287.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_499_500"></a><a href="#FNanchor_499_500">[499]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Evidence</i>.&mdash;In a work written expressly to excite
+feeling in England against the Irish, it is stated that they [the Irish]
+failed in the massacre.&mdash;See <i>Cromwellian Settlement</i>, p. 5, for further
+evidence.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_500_501"></a><a href="#FNanchor_500_501">[500]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Tory.&mdash;Cromwellian Settlement</i>, p. 150.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_501_502"></a><a href="#FNanchor_501_502">[501]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>No wolves</i>&mdash;Declaration printed at Cork, 1650.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_502_503"></a><a href="#FNanchor_502_503">[502]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Dr. Burgat.&mdash;Brevis Relatio</i>. Presented to the Sacred
+Congregation in 1667. Dr. Moran's little work, <i>Persecution of the Irish
+Catholics</i>, gives ample details on this subject; and every statement is
+carefully verified, and the authority given for it.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_503_504"></a><a href="#FNanchor_503_504">[503]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Circumstances</i>.&mdash;Lord Roche and his daughters were
+compelled to go on foot to Connaught, and his property was divided
+amongst the English soldiers. His wife, the Viscountess Roche, was
+hanged without a shadow of evidence that she had committed the crime of
+which she was accused. Alderman Roche's daughters had nothing to live on
+but their own earnings by washing and needlework; and Mr. Luttrell, the
+last case mentioned above, was allowed as a favour to occupy his <i>own
+stables</i> while preparing to transplant.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_504_505"></a><a href="#FNanchor_504_505">[504]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Drove out</i>.&mdash;Carte's <i>Ormonde</i>, vol ii. p. 398.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_505_506"></a><a href="#FNanchor_505_506">[505]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Accounts</i>&mdash;Carte's <i>Ormonde</i>, vol. ii. pp. 398, 399. He
+considers all &quot;bounties&quot; to him as mere acts of justice.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_506_507"></a><a href="#FNanchor_506_507">[506]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Trial</i>.&mdash;Chief Justice Nugent, afterwards Lord
+Riverston, in a letter, dated Dublin, June 23rd, 1686, and preserved in
+the State Paper Office, London, says: &quot;There are 5,000 in this kingdom
+who were never outlawed.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_507_508"></a><a href="#FNanchor_507_508">[507]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Cheated</i>.&mdash;Books were found in the office of the
+surveyor for the county Tipperary alone, in which only 50,000 acres were
+returned as unprofitable, and the adventurers had returned
+245,207.&mdash;Carte's <i>Ormonde</i>, vol. ii. p. 307. &quot;These soldiers,&quot; says
+Carte, &quot;were for the most part Anabaptists, Independents, and
+Levellers.&quot; Equal roguery was discovered in other places.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_508_509"></a><a href="#FNanchor_508_509">[508]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Private</i>.&mdash;For full information on this subject, see
+Carte's <i>Ormonde</i>, vol. ii. pp. 476-482. I will give one extract to
+verify the statement above. &quot;The Duke of Ormonde had, in truth,
+difficulties enough to struggle with in the government of Ireland, to
+preserve that kingdom in peace, and yet to give those who wished to
+imbroil it no handle of exception to the measures he took for that
+end.&quot;&mdash;vol. ii. p. 477.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_509_510"></a><a href="#FNanchor_509_510">[509]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Royalty</i>.&mdash;D'Arcy M'Gee's <i>History of Ireland</i>, vol ii
+p. 560.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_510_511"></a><a href="#FNanchor_510_511">[510]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Army</i>.&mdash;Carte says &quot;he was
+Scout-Master-General.&quot;&mdash;<i>Ormonde</i>, vol. ii. p. 473.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_511_512"></a><a href="#FNanchor_511_512">[511]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Sentenced</i>.&mdash;See Dr. Moran's <i>Memoir of the Most Rev.
+Dr. Plunkett</i>. This interesting work affords full details of the
+character of the witnesses, the nature of the trial, and the Bishop's
+saintly end.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_512_513"></a><a href="#FNanchor_512_513">[512]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Language</i>&mdash;A proclamation in Irish, issued by Tyrone in
+1601, is still extant, with a contemporary English translation.&mdash;<i>See
+Ulster Arch. Jour</i>. vol. vi. p. 57.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_513_514"></a><a href="#FNanchor_513_514">[513]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Pope</i>.&mdash;He rhymes spirit and merit; fit and yet; civil
+and devil; obey and tea.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_514_515"></a><a href="#FNanchor_514_515">[514]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Tasso</i>.&mdash;
+</p>
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>&quot;The land fornenst the Greekish shore he held.&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+<p>
+Chaucer, too, uses <i>faute</i> for <i>fault</i> in the <i>Canterbury Tales</i>.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_515_516"></a><a href="#FNanchor_515_516">[515]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Historians</i>.&mdash;Max M&uuml;ller&mdash;<i>Lectures on the Science of
+Language</i>, p. 271&mdash;states, that labourers in country parishes in England
+do not use more than 300 words. A friend of mine, who is an excellent
+Irish scholar, assures me the most illiterate Irish-speaking peasant
+would use at least 500.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_516_517"></a><a href="#FNanchor_516_517">[516]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Carew</i>.&mdash;The tradition of the country says that this
+vengeance was excited by the complaints of a lady, with whom the Lord
+President had some gallantries, and whose conduct Keating had reproved
+publicly.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_517_518"></a><a href="#FNanchor_517_518">[517]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Scholars</i>.&mdash;We have been favoured with an accurate
+photograph of this inscription, by William Williams, Esq., of Dungarvan,
+from which the engraving given above has been made. The view of Tubrid
+Churchyard is also engraved from a sketch with which he has favoured us.
+It is hoped that many Irishmen in distant lands will look with no little
+interest on these beautifully executed engravings, and breathe a
+blessing on the memory of the good and gifted priest. A Keating Society
+was established a few years ago, principally through the exertions of
+Mr. Williams and the Rev. P. Meany, C.C. A Catechism in Irish has
+already appeared, and other works will follow in due time.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_518_519"></a><a href="#FNanchor_518_519">[518]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Brought us</i>.&mdash;Regal Visitation Book. A.D. 1622, MS.,
+Marsh's Library, Dublin.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_519_520"></a><a href="#FNanchor_519_520">[519]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Excluded</i>.&mdash;<i>History of England</i>, People's Edition, part
+ii. p. 156.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_520_521"></a><a href="#FNanchor_520_521">[520]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Desired</i>.&mdash;See the Hamilton Manuscripts, <i>Ulster Arch.
+Jour</i>. vol. iii. pp. 155-147. Blair complains also that his patron
+&quot;would receive the sacrament kneeling.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_521_522"></a><a href="#FNanchor_521_522">[521]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>England</i>.&mdash;&quot;The diet, housing, and clothing of the
+16,000 families above-mentioned [those were the middle class] is much
+the same as in England; nor is the French elegance unknown in many of
+them, nor the French and Latin tongues. The latter whereof is very
+frequent among the poorest Irish, and chiefly in Kerry, most remote from
+Dublin.&quot;&mdash;<i>Political Anatomy of Ireland</i>, Petty, p. 58.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_522_523"></a><a href="#FNanchor_522_523">[522]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Antwerp</i>.&mdash;<i>Descrittione dei Paesi Bassi:</i> Anvers,
+1567.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_523_524"></a><a href="#FNanchor_523_524">[523]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Paid</i>.&mdash;<i>The Sovereignly of the British Seas:</i> London,
+1651.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_524_525"></a><a href="#FNanchor_524_525">[524]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Little</i>.&mdash;<i>Hib. Pac</i>.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_525_526"></a><a href="#FNanchor_525_526">[525]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Head</i>.&mdash;The tract entitled <i>Killing no Murder</i>, which
+had disturbed Cromwell's &quot;peace and rest,&quot; and obliged him to live
+almost as a fugitive in the country over which he had hoped to reign as
+a sovereign, still left its impression on English society. The miserable
+example of a royal execution was a precedent which no amount of
+provocation should have permitted.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_526_527"></a><a href="#FNanchor_526_527">[526]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Writer</i>.&mdash;<i>Merchant's Map of Commerce:</i> London, 1677.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_527_528"></a><a href="#FNanchor_527_528">[527]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Sex</i>.&mdash;<i>The Interest of Ireland in its Trade and
+Wealth</i>, by Colonel Lawrence: Dublin, 1682.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_528_529"></a><a href="#FNanchor_528_529">[528]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Tobacco</i>.&mdash;A Table of the Belfast Exports and Imports
+for the year 1683, has been published in the <i>Ulster Arch. Jour.</i> vol.
+iii. p. 194, which fully bears out this statement, and is of immense
+value in determining the general state of Irish commerce at this period.
+There are, however, some mistakes in the quotations of statistics,
+probably misprints.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_529_530"></a><a href="#FNanchor_529_530">[529]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>March</i>.&mdash;Gilbert's <i>Dublin</i>, vol. i. p. 178.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_530_531"></a><a href="#FNanchor_530_531">[530]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Faculty.</i>&mdash;Document in the State Paper Office, Dublin,
+entitled <i>Smyth's Information for Ireland.</i></p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_531_532"></a><a href="#FNanchor_531_532">[531]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Aloes.</i>&mdash;<i>Ulster Arch. Jour.</i> vol. iii. p. 163.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_532_533"></a><a href="#FNanchor_532_533">[532]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Roman Catholics</i>.&mdash;The noisy and violent opposition
+which was made to a Catholic if he attempted to enter either a trade or
+a profession, would scarcely be credited at the present day; yet it
+should be known and remembered by those who wish to estimate the social
+state of this country accurately and fairly. After the Revolution, the
+Protestant portion of the Guild of Tailors petitioned William III. to
+make their corporation exclusively Protestant, and their request was
+granted.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_533_534"></a><a href="#FNanchor_533_534">[533]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>High-street</i>.&mdash;Gilbert's <i>Dublin</i>, vol. i. p. 220.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_534_535"></a><a href="#FNanchor_534_535">[534]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Vision</i>.&mdash;Gilbert's <i>Dublin</i>, vol. ii. p. 149.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_535_536"></a><a href="#FNanchor_535_536">[535]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Castle</i>.&mdash;Gilbert's <i>Dublin</i>, vol. ii. p. 69. There is a
+curious account in the <i>Quarterly Journal of the Kilkenny Arch&aelig;ological
+Society</i>, July, 1862, p. 165, of a comic playbill, issued for a Kilkenny
+theatre, in May, 1793. The value of the tickets was to be taken, if
+required, in candles, bacon, soap, butter, and cheese, and no one was to
+be admitted into the boxes without shoes and stockings; which leads one
+to conclude that the form of admission and style of attire were not
+uncommon, or there would have been no joke in the announcement.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_536_537"></a><a href="#FNanchor_536_537">[536]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Wright.&mdash;Domestic Manners</i>, pp. 465, 466: &quot;Oh! what an
+excellent thing is an English pudding! Make a pudding for an Englishman,
+and you will regale him, be he where he will.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_537_538"></a><a href="#FNanchor_537_538">[537]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Chamber</i>.&mdash;This most interesting and amusing journal is
+published in the <i>Ulster Arch. Jour</i>. vol. iii. p. 73, with a
+translation and notes. The original is in Latin.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_538_539"></a><a href="#FNanchor_538_539">[538]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Command</i>.&mdash;Mountcashel gave the word &quot;right face;&quot; it
+was repeated &quot;right about face.&quot; Colonel Hamilton and Captain Lavallin
+were tried in Dublin by court-martial for the mistake, and the latter
+was shot.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_539_540"></a><a href="#FNanchor_539_540">[539]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Arrived</i>.&mdash;The journals of two officers of the
+Williamite army have been published in the <i>Ulster Arch. Jour</i>., and
+furnish some interesting details of the subsequent campaign. One of the
+writers is called Bonnivert, and was probably a French refugee; the
+other was Dr. Davis, a Protestant clergyman, who obtained a captaincy in
+William's army, and seemed to enjoy preaching and fighting with equal
+zest.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_540_541"></a><a href="#FNanchor_540_541">[540]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Sick</i>.&mdash;Harris' <i>Life of King William</i>, p. 254, 1719.
+Macaulay's account of the social state of the camp, where there were so
+many divines preaching, is a proof that their ministrations were not
+very successful, and that the lower order of Irish were not at all below
+the English of the same class in education or refinement. &quot;The moans of
+the sick were drowned by the blasphemy and ribaldry of their companions.
+Sometimes, seated on the body of a wretch who had died in the morning,
+might be seen a wretch destined to die before night, cursing, singing
+loose songs, and swallowing usquebaugh to the health of the devil. When
+the corpses were taken away to be buried, the survivors grumbled. A dead
+man, they said, was a good screen and a good stool. Why, when there was
+so abundant a supply of such useful articles of furniture, were people
+to be exposed to the cold air, and forced to crouch on the moist
+ground?&quot;&mdash;Macaulay's <i>History of England</i>, People's Ed. part viii. p.
+88.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_541_542"></a><a href="#FNanchor_541_542">[541]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Eminence</i>.&mdash;Journal of Captain Davis, published in the
+<i>Ulster Arch&aelig;ological Journal</i>, vol. iv.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_542_543"></a><a href="#FNanchor_542_543">[542]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Twenty thousand</i>.&mdash;Captain Davis' Journal.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_543_544"></a><a href="#FNanchor_543_544">[543]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Shoulder</i>.&mdash;Davis' Journal The coat was exhibited at the
+meeting of the British Association in Belfast, in 1852. It had descended
+as an heirloom through Colonel Wetherall, William's aide-de-camp, who
+took it off him after the accident.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_544_545"></a><a href="#FNanchor_544_545">[544]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Career</i>.&mdash;<i>History of the King's Inns</i>, p. 239.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_545_546"></a><a href="#FNanchor_545_546">[545]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Been.&mdash;Life of William III</i>. p. 327.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_546_547"></a><a href="#FNanchor_546_547">[546]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Charge</i>.&mdash;See the <i>Green Book</i>, p. 231, for some curious
+stories about this engagement, and for a detailed account of St. Ruth's
+death.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_547_548"></a><a href="#FNanchor_547_548">[547]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Government</i>.&mdash;Harris' <i>Life of William III</i>. p. 357.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_548_549"></a><a href="#FNanchor_548_549">[548]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Insignificant</i>.&mdash;A petition was sent in to Parliament by
+the Protestant porters of Dublin, complaining of Darby Ryan for
+employing Catholic porters. The petition was respectfully received, and
+referred to a &quot;Committee of Grievances.&quot;&mdash;<i>Com. Jour</i>. vol. ii. f. 699.
+Such an instance, and it is only one of many, is the best indication of
+the motive for enacting the penal laws, and the cruelty of them.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_549_550"></a><a href="#FNanchor_549_550">[549]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Property</i>.&mdash;It will be remembered that at this time
+Catholics were in a majority of at least five to one over Protestants.
+Hence intermarriages took place, and circumstances occurred, in which
+Protestants found it their interest to hold property for Catholics, to
+prevent it from being seized by others. A gentleman of considerable
+property in the county Kerry, has informed me that his property was held
+in this way for several generations.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_550_551"></a><a href="#FNanchor_550_551">[550]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Earn</i>.&mdash;One of the articles of the &quot;violated Treaty&quot;
+expressly provided that the poor Catholics should be allowed to exercise
+their trade. An Act to prevent the further growth of Popery was passed
+afterwards, which made it forfeiture of goods and imprisonment for any
+Catholic to exercise a trade in Limerick or Galway, except seamen,
+fishermen, and day labourers, and they were to be licensed by the
+Governor, and not to exceed twenty.&mdash;<i>Com. Jour</i>. vol. iii. f. 133.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_551_552"></a><a href="#FNanchor_551_552">[551]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Palatable</i>.&mdash;In his fourth letter he says: &quot;Our
+ancestors reduced this kingdom to the obedience of England, in return
+for which we have been rewarded with a worse climate, the privilege of
+being governed by laws to which we do not consent, a ruined trade, a
+house of peers without jurisdiction, almost an incapacity for all
+employments, and the dread of Wood's halfpence.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_552_553"></a><a href="#FNanchor_552_553">[552]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Scheme</i>.&mdash;The very bills of some of the companies were
+so absurd, that it is marvellous how any rational person could have been
+deceived by them. One was &quot;for an undertaking which shall be in due time
+revealed.&quot; The undertaker was as good as his word. He got &pound;2,000 paid in
+on shares one morning, and in the afternoon the &quot;undertaking&quot; was
+revealed, for he had decamped with the money. Some wag advertised a
+company &quot;for the invention of melting down sawdust and chips, and
+casting them into clean deal boards, without cracks or knots.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_553_554"></a><a href="#FNanchor_553_554">[553]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Schomberg</i>.&mdash;He wrote to William of Orange, from before
+Dundalk, that the English nation made the worst soldiers he had ever
+seen, because they could not bear hardships; &quot;yet,&quot; he adds, &quot;the
+Parliament and people have a prejudice, that an English new-raised
+soldier can beat above six of his enemies.&quot;&mdash;Dalrymple's <i>Memoirs</i>, vol.
+ii. p. 178. According to the records of the War Office in France,
+450,000 Irishmen died in the service of that country from 1691 to 1745,
+and, in round numbers, as many more from 1745 to the Revolution.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_554_555"></a><a href="#FNanchor_554_555">[554]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Vassals</i>.&mdash;Young's <i>Tour</i>, vol. ii. pp. 41, 42. It
+should be remembered that Mr. Young was an Englishman and a Protestant,
+and that he had no property in Ireland to blind him to the truth.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_555_556"></a><a href="#FNanchor_555_556">[555]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Government</i>,&mdash;Curry's <i>Historical Review</i>, vol. ii. p.
+274, edition of 1786. This work affords a very valuable and accurate
+account of the times, written from personal knowledge.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_556_557"></a><a href="#FNanchor_556_557">[556]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Him</i>.&mdash;The ballad of <i>Soggarth Aroon</i> (priest, dear) was
+written by John Banim, in 1831. It is a most true and vivid expression
+of the feelings of the Irish towards their priests.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_557_558"></a><a href="#FNanchor_557_558">[557]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Possess</i>.&mdash;While these pages were passing through the
+press, a circumstance has occurred which so clearly illustrates the
+position of the Irish priest, that I cannot avoid mentioning it. A
+gentleman has purchased some property, and his first act is to give his
+three tenants notice to quit. The unfortunate men have no resource but
+to obey the cruel mandate, and to turn out upon the world homeless and
+penniless. They cannot go to law, for the law would be against them.
+They are not in a position to appeal to public opinion, for they are
+only farmers. The parish priest is their only resource and their only
+friend. He appeals to the feelings of their new landlord in a most
+courteous letter, in which he represents the cruel sufferings these
+three families must endure. The landlord replies that he has bought the
+land as a &quot;commercial speculation,&quot; and of course he has a right to do
+whatever he considers most for his advantage; but offers to allow the
+tenants to remain if they consent to pay double their former rent&mdash;a
+rent which would be double the real value of the land. Such cases are
+constantly occurring, and are constantly exposed by priests; and we have
+known more than one instance in which fear of such exposure has obtained
+justice. A few of them are mentioned from time to time in the Irish
+local papers. The majority of cases are entirely unknown, except to the
+persons concerned; but they are remembered by the poor sufferers and
+their friends. I believe, if the people of England were aware of
+one-half of these ejectments, and the sufferings they cause, they would
+rise up as a body and demand justice for Ireland and the Irish; they
+would marvel at the patience with which what to them would be so
+intolerable has been borne so long.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_558_559"></a><a href="#FNanchor_558_559">[558]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Free trade</i>,&mdash;A very important work was published in
+1779, called <i>The Commercial Restraints of Ireland Considered</i>. It is a
+calm and temperate statement of facts and figures. The writer shows that
+the agrarian outrages of the Whiteboys were caused by distress, and
+quotes a speech Lord Northumberland to the same effect.&mdash;<i>Com. Res.</i>, p.
+59.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_559_560"></a><a href="#FNanchor_559_560">[559]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Writers</i>.&mdash;As a general rule, when Irishmen succeed
+either in literature, politics, or war, the credit of their performances
+is usually debited to the English; when they fail, we hear terrible
+clamours of Irish incapacity. Thackeray commences his &quot;<i>English</i>
+Humourists of the Eighteenth Century&quot; with Swift, and ends them with
+Goldsmith! I do not suppose he had any intention of defrauding the
+Celtic race; he simply followed the usual course. Irishmen are, perhaps,
+themselves most to blame, for much of this is caused by their suicidal
+deference to a dominant race.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_560_561"></a><a href="#FNanchor_560_561">[560]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Order</i>.&mdash;The Presentation Order was founded by Miss Nano
+Nagle, of Cork.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_561_562"></a><a href="#FNanchor_561_562">[561]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Leadbeater.&mdash;Annals of Ballitore</i>, vol. i. p. 50, second
+edition, 1862. I shall refer to this interesting work again.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_562_563"></a><a href="#FNanchor_562_563">[562]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Man</i>.&mdash;The exact words are: &quot;If a man were to go by
+chance at the same time with Burke, under a shed to shun a shower, he
+would say: 'This is an extraordinary man.'&quot;&mdash;<i>Boswell's Johnson</i>, vol.
+iv. p. 245. Foster's version is as above.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_563_564"></a><a href="#FNanchor_563_564">[563]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Developed</i>.&mdash;Since this sentence was penned, I find,
+with great satisfaction, that a similar view has been taken by a recent
+writer. See <i>Secularia; or, Surveys on the Main Stream of History</i>, by
+S. Lucas, p. 250. He opens a chapter on the revolt of the American
+States thus: &quot;The relations of Great Britain to its colonies, past and
+present, are an important part of the history of the world; and the form
+which these relations <i>may hereafter take, will be no small element in
+the political future.</i> Even our Professors of History ... abstain from
+noticing their system of government, or <i>the predisposing motives to
+their subsequent revolt.</i>.&quot; The italics are our own. Neglect of the
+study of Irish history is, I believe, also, one of the causes why Irish
+grievances are not remedied by the English Government. But grievances
+may get settled in a way not always satisfactory to the neglecters of
+them, while they are waiting their leisure to investigate their cause.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_564_565"></a><a href="#FNanchor_564_565">[564]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Writer</i>.&mdash;Morley. <i>Edmund Burke, an Historical Study:</i>
+Macmillan and Co., 1867. A masterly work, and one which every statesman,
+and every thinker would do well to peruse carefully. He says: &quot;The
+question to be asked by every statesman, and by every citizen, with
+reference to a measure that is recommended to him as the enforcement of
+a public right, is whether the right is one which it is to the public
+advantage to enforce.&quot;&mdash;p. 146.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_565_566"></a><a href="#FNanchor_565_566">[565]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Exile</i>.&mdash;Maguire's <i>Irish in America</i>, p. 355: &quot;It would
+seem as if they instinctively arrayed themselves in hostility to the
+British power; a fact to be explained alike by their love of liberty,
+and <i>their vivid remembrance of recent or past misgovernment</i>.&quot; The
+italics are our own. The penal laws were enacted with the utmost rigour
+against Catholics in the colonies, and the only place of refuge was
+Maryland, founded by the Catholic Lord Baltimore. Here there was liberty
+of conscience for all, but here only. The sects who had fled to America
+to obtain &quot;freedom to worship God,&quot; soon manifested their determination
+that no one should have liberty of conscience except themselves, and
+gave the lie to their own principles, by persecuting each other for the
+most trifling differences of opinion on religious questions, in the
+cruelest manner. Cutting off ears, whipping, and maiming were in
+constant practice. See Maguire's <i>Irish in America</i>, p. 349; Lucas'
+<i>Secularia</i>, pp. 220-246.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_566_567"></a><a href="#FNanchor_566_567">[566]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Irishman</i>.&mdash;See Cooper's <i>Naval History</i>.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_567_568"></a><a href="#FNanchor_567_568">[567]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>England</i>.&mdash;He wrote to Thompson, from London, saying
+that he could effect nothing: &quot;The sun of liberty is set; we must now
+light up the candles of industry.&quot; The Secretary replied, with Celtic
+vehemence: &quot;Be assured we shall light up torches of a very different
+kind.&quot; When the Catholics of the United States sent up their celebrated
+Address to Washington, in 1790, he alludes in one part of his reply to
+the immense assistance obtained from them in effecting the Revolution:
+&quot;I presume that your fellow-citizens will not forget the patriotic part
+which you took in the accomplishment of their revolution and the
+establishment of their government, or the important assistance they
+received from a nation in which the Roman Catholic religion is
+professed.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_568_569"></a><a href="#FNanchor_568_569">[568]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Morley</i>.&mdash;<i>Edmund Burke, an Historical Study</i>, p. 181.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_569_570"></a><a href="#FNanchor_569_570">[569]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>People</i>.&mdash;Chesterfield said, in 1764, that the poor
+people in Ireland were used &quot;worse than negroes.&quot; &quot;Aristocracy,&quot; said
+Adam Smith, &quot;was not founded in the natural and respectable distinctions
+of birth and fortune, but in the most odious of all distinctions, those
+of religious and political prejudices&mdash;distinctions which, more than any
+other, animate both the insolence of the oppressors, and the hatred and
+indignation of the oppressed.&quot;&mdash;Morley's <i>Edmund Burke</i>, p. 183.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_570_571"></a><a href="#FNanchor_570_571">[570]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Fully</i>.&mdash;See <i>Curran's Letters and Speeches:</i> Dublin,
+1865.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_571_572"></a><a href="#FNanchor_571_572">[571]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Clergy</i>.&mdash;Barrington says, in his <i>Rise and Fall of the
+Irish Nation</i>, p. 67, the Catholic clergy had every inclination to
+restrain their flocks within proper limits, and found no difficulty in
+effecting that object. The first statement is unquestionably true; the
+second statement is unfortunately disproved by many painful facts.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_572_573"></a><a href="#FNanchor_572_573">[572]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Them</i>.&mdash;Vol. ii. p. 93.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_573_574"></a><a href="#FNanchor_573_574">[573]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Oath</i>.&mdash;I give authority for these details. In the
+spring of 1796, three Orangemen swore before a magistrate of Down and
+Armagh, that the Orangemen frequently met in committees, amongst whom
+were some members of Parliament, who gave them money, and promised that
+they should not suffer for any act they might commit, and pledged
+themselves that they should be provided for by Government. The
+magistrate informed the Secretary of State, and asked how he should act;
+but he never received any answer, for further details on this head, see
+Plowden's <i>History of the Insurrection</i>.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_574_575"></a><a href="#FNanchor_574_575">[574]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Sermons</i>.&mdash;On the 1st of July, 1795, the Rev. Mr.
+Monsell, a Protestant clergyman of Portadown, invited his flock to
+celebrate the anniversary of the battle of the Boyne by attending
+church, and preached such a sermon against the Papists that his
+congregation fell on every Catholic they met going home, beat them
+cruelly, and finished the day by murdering two farmer's sons, who were
+quietly at work in a bog.&mdash;Mooney's <i>History of Ireland</i>, p. 876.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_575_576"></a><a href="#FNanchor_575_576">[575]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Indemnity</i>.&mdash;Lord Carhampton sent 1,300 men on board the
+fleet, on mere suspicion. They demanded a trial in vain. An Act of
+Indemnity was at once passed, to free his Lordship from any unpleasant
+consequences.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_576_577"></a><a href="#FNanchor_576_577">[576]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Remember Orr</i>.&mdash;<i>Lives and Times of the United
+Irishmen</i>, second series, vol. ii. p. 380.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_577_578"></a><a href="#FNanchor_577_578">[577]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Sway</i>.&mdash;An important instance of how the memory or
+tradition of past wrongs excites men to seize the first opportunity of
+revenge, if not of redress, has occurred in our own times. It is a
+circumstance which should be very carefully pondered by statesmen who
+have the real interest of the whole nation at heart. It is a
+circumstance, as a sample of many other similar cases, which should be
+known to every Englishman who wishes to understand the cause of &quot;Irish
+disturbances.&quot; One of the men who was shot by the police during the late
+Fenian outbreak in Ireland, was a respectable farmer named Peter
+Crowley. His history tells the motive for which he risked and lost his
+life. His grandfather had been outlawed in the rebellion of '98. His
+uncle, Father Peter O'Neill, had been imprisoned and <i>flogged most
+barbarously, with circumstances of peculiar cruelty</i>, in Cork, in the
+year 1798. The memory of the insult and injury done to a priest, who was
+entirely guiltless of the crimes with which he was charged, left a
+legacy of bitterness and hatred of Saxon rule in the whole family,
+which, unhappily, religion failed to eradicate. Peter Crowley was a
+sober, industrious, steady man, and his parish priest, who attended his
+deathbed, pronounced his end &quot;most happy and edifying.&quot; Three clergymen
+and a procession of young men, women, and children, scattering flowers
+before the coffin, and bearing green boughs, attended his remains to the
+grave. He was mourned as a patriot, who had loved his country, not
+wisely, but too well; and it was believed that his motive for joining
+the Fenian ranks was less from a desire of revenge, which would have
+been sinful, than from a mistaken idea of freeing his country from a
+repetition of the cruelties of '98, and from her present grievances.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_578_579"></a><a href="#FNanchor_578_579">[578]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Sufferer</i>.&mdash;Plowden, <i>Hist</i>. p. 102.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_579_580"></a><a href="#FNanchor_579_580">[579]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Sanction</i>.&mdash;His son says: &quot;His estimate of the people
+led him to appreciate justly the liveliness of their parts. But while he
+knew their vices, and the origin of them, he knew that there was in
+their character much of the generosity and warmth of feeling which made
+them acutely sensitive when they were treated considerately and kindly.
+His judgment of the upper classes of society, and of the purity and
+wisdom of the government, was less favorable. He saw that the gentry
+were imperfectly educated; that they were devoted to the pursuits of
+pleasure and political intrigue; and that they were ignorant or
+neglectful of the duties imposed on them as landlords, and as the
+friends and protectors of those who depended on them for their
+existence.&quot;&mdash;<i>Memoir of Sir Ralph Abercrombie</i>, p. 72.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_580_581"></a><a href="#FNanchor_580_581">[580]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>All</i>.&mdash;Lord Holland says, in his <i>Memoirs of the Whig
+Party</i>: &quot;The fact is incontestable that the people of Ireland were
+driven to resistance, which, <i>possibly</i>, they meditated before, by the
+free quarters and excesses of the soldiery, which are not permitted in
+civilized warfare, even in an enemy's country.&quot; The state prisoners
+declared the immediate cause of the rising was &quot;the free quarters, the
+house-burnings, the tortures, and the military executions.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_581_582"></a><a href="#FNanchor_581_582">[581]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Success</i>.&mdash;The real betrayer of this brave but
+unfortunate nobleman has only been discovered of late years. Dr. Madden
+was the first to throw light upon the subject. He discovered the item of
+&pound;1,000 entered in the <i>Secret Service Money-book</i>, as paid to F.H. for
+the discovery of L.E.F. The F.H. was undoubtedly Francis Higgins, better
+known as the Sham Squire, whose infamous career has been fully exposed
+by Mr. Fitzpatrick. In the fourth volume of the <i>United Irishmen</i>, p.
+579, Dr. Madden still expresses his doubt as to who was the person
+employed by Higgins as &quot;setter.&quot; It evidently was some one in the
+secrets of Lord Edward's party. The infamous betrayer has been at last
+discovered, in the person of Counsellor Magan, who received at various
+times large sums of money from Government for his perfidy. See the <i>Sham
+Squire</i>, p. 114. Higgins was buried at Kilbarrack, near Clontarf. In
+consequence of the revelations of his vileness, which have been lately
+brought before the public, the tomb was smashed to pieces, and the
+inscription destroyed. See Mr. Fitzpatrick's <i>Ireland before the Union</i>,
+p. 152.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_582_583"></a><a href="#FNanchor_582_583">[582]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Murphy</i>.&mdash;Rev. Mr. Gordon says: &quot;Some of the soldiers of
+the Ancient British regiment cut open the dead body of Father Michael
+Murphy, after the battle of Arklow, took out his heart, roasted his
+body, and oiled their boots with the grease which dropped from
+it.&quot;&mdash;<i>History of the Rebellion</i>, p. 212.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_583_584"></a><a href="#FNanchor_583_584">[583]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Suffer.&mdash;Annals of Ballitore</i>, vol. i. p. 227.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_584_585"></a><a href="#FNanchor_584_585">[584]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Prospered</i>.&mdash;This gives an average of about eight
+persons to each house. There were 22,276 inhabited houses in Dublin in
+1861, and the population was 254,480. This would leave an average of
+eleven persons to each house. There are only seventy-five carpenters in
+<i>Thom's Directory</i>, and sixty-four cabinet makers: if we give them an
+average of ten men each in their employment, it would not give more than
+680 at the trade in all.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_585_586"></a><a href="#FNanchor_585_586">[585]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Own</i>.&mdash;<i>History of the United States</i>, p. 3. Ludlow and
+Hughes; Macmillan, London, 1862. The title of this work is singularly
+infelicitous, for it is merely a sketchy and not very clear account of
+the late war in America.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_586_587"></a><a href="#FNanchor_586_587">[586]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Spirit</i>.&mdash;<i>History of the United States</i>, p. 7.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_587_588"></a><a href="#FNanchor_587_588">[587]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Policy</i>.&mdash;Morley's <i>Burke</i>, p. 153.</p></div>
+
+<a name="Footnote_588_589"></a><a href="#FNanchor_588_589">[588]</a><div class="note"><p> <i>Annulled</i>.&mdash;<i>Historical and Philosophical Essays</i>,
+Senior, vol. i. p. 197.</p></div>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF IRELAND FROM AD 400 TO 1800***</p>
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+*** END: FULL LICENSE ***
+</pre>
+</body>
+</html>
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@@ -0,0 +1,27285 @@
+The Project Gutenberg eBook, An Illustrated History of Ireland from AD 400
+to 1800, by Mary Frances Cusack, Illustrated by Henry Doyle
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: An Illustrated History of Ireland from AD 400 to 1800
+
+Author: Mary Frances Cusack
+
+Release Date: January 22, 2005  [eBook #14754]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF IRELAND
+FROM AD 400 TO 1800***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Project Rastko, Zoran Stefanovic, Nenad Petrovic, Susan
+Skinner, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 14754-h.htm or 14754-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/7/5/14754/14754-h/14754-h.htm)
+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/7/5/14754/14754-h.zip)
+
+
+
+
+
+AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF IRELAND FROM AD 400 TO 1800
+
+by
+
+MARY FRANCES CUSACK
+
+'The Nun of Kenmare'
+
+Illustrations by Henry Doyle
+
+1868
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+TO THE
+
+RIGHT HONORABLE JUDGE O'HAGAN,
+
+AND TO
+
+HIS SISTER MARY,
+
+FOUNDRESS AND ABBESS OF SAINT CLARE'S CONVENT, KENMARE,
+
+THIS VOLUME
+
+IS AFFECTIONATELY AND RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
+
+By
+
+The Author.
+
+
+
+
+List of Full-Page Illustrations
+
+ETC.
+
+THE EMIGRANTS' FAREWELL
+SPECIMENS OF ANCIENT IRISH MANUSCRIPTS
+ST. PATRICK GOING TO TARA
+KING BRIAN BOROIMHE KILLED BY THE VIKING
+MARRIAGE OF EVA AND STRONGBOW
+INTERVIEW BETWEEN MACMURROUGH AND THE OFFICERS OF RICHARD II.
+INTERVIEW BETWEEN ESSEX AND O'NEILL
+MASSACRE AT DROGHEDA
+IRETON CONDEMNING THE BISHOP OF LIMERICK
+GRATTAN'S DEMAND FOR IRISH INDEPENDENCE
+O'CONNELL REFUSING TO TAKE THE OATH
+IRELAND AND AMERICA
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+TO THE SECOND EDITION.
+
+
+A demand for a Second Edition of the "Illustrated History of Ireland,"
+within three months from the date of the publication of the First,
+consisting of 2,000 copies, is a matter of no little gratification to
+the writer, both personally and relatively. It is a triumphant proof
+that Irishmen are not indifferent to Irish history--a fault of which
+they have been too frequently accused; and as many of the clergy have
+been most earnest and generous in their efforts to promote the
+circulation of the work, it is gratifying to be able to adduce this fact
+also in reply to the imputations, even lately cast upon the
+ecclesiastics of Ireland, of deficiency in cultivated tastes, and of
+utter neglect of literature.
+
+Nor, as a Catholic and a religious, can I fail to express my respectful
+gratitude and thankfulness for the warm approbation which the work has
+received from so many distinguished prelates. A few of these
+approbations will be found at the commencement of the volume--it was
+impossible to find space for all. It may be, however, well to observe,
+that several of the English Catholic bishops have not been less kind and
+earnest in their commendations, though I have not asked their permission
+to publish their communications. Some extracts are given from the
+reviews, which also are necessarily condensed and limited; and, as the
+Most Rev. Dr. Derry has observed, the press has been most favorable in
+its criticisms. Even those who differed from the present writer _toto
+coelo_, both in religion and politics, have not been less commendatory,
+and, in some instances, have shown the writer more than ordinary
+courtesy.
+
+Nor should I omit to acknowledge the encouragement which so many
+gentlemen, both English and Irish, have given to the work, and the
+assistance they have afforded in promoting its circulation. In a
+circular, quite recently published in London, and addressed to the
+members of a society for the republication of English mediaeval
+literature, gentlemen are called on by the secretary, even at the risk,
+as he himself admits, of "boring them, by asking them to canvass for
+orders, like a bookseller's traveller," to assist in obtaining
+additional subscribers to the series, and he requests every subscriber
+"to get another at once." I am happy to say that, without such
+solicitation on our part, many Irish gentlemen have done us this
+kindness, and have obtained not one, but many orders from their friends.
+I confidently hope that many more will exert themselves in a similar
+manner, for the still wider dissemination of the Second Edition. It is a
+time, beyond all others, when Irish history should be thoroughly known
+and carefully studied. It is a disgrace to Irishmen not to know their
+history perfectly, and this with no mere outline view, but completely
+and in detail. It is very much to be regretted that Irish history is not
+made a distinct study in schools and colleges, both in England and
+Ireland. What should be thought of a school where English history was
+not taught? and is Irish history of less importance? I have had very
+serious letters complaining of this deficiency from the heads of several
+colleges, where our history has been introduced as a class-book.[A]
+
+There are some few Irish Catholics who appear to think that Irishmen
+should not study their history--some because they imagine that our
+history is a painful subject; others, because they imagine that its
+record of wrongs cannot fail to excite violent feelings, which may lead
+to violent deeds. I cannot for one moment admit that our history is
+either so very sorrowful, or that we have cause to do anything but
+rejoice in it. If we consider temporal prosperity to be the _summum
+bonum_ of our existence, no doubt we may say with truth, like the
+Apostle, that of all peoples we are "most miserable;" but we have again
+and again renounced temporal advantages, and discarded temporal
+prosperity, to secure eternal gain; and we have the promise of the
+Eternal Truth that we shall attain all that we have desired. Our
+history, then, far from being a history of failures, has been a history
+of the most triumphant success--of the most brilliant victories. I
+believe the Irish are the only nation on earth of whom it can be truly
+said that they have never apostatized nationally. Even the most Catholic
+countries of the Continent have had their periods of religious
+revolution, however temporary. Ireland has been deluged with blood again
+and again; she has been defeated in a temporal point of view again and
+again; but spiritually--NEVER! Is this a history to be ashamed of? Is
+this a history to regret? Is this a history to lament? Is it not rather
+a history over which the angels in heaven rejoice, and of which the
+best, the holiest, and the noblest of the human race may justly be
+proud?
+
+On the second count, I shall briefly say that if Irish history were
+taught in our Irish colleges and schools to children while still young,
+and while the teacher could impress on his charge the duty of
+forgiveness of enemies, of patient endurance, of the mighty power of
+moral force, which has effected even for Ireland at times what more
+violent measures have failed to accomplish, then there could be no
+danger in the study. Perhaps the greatest human preservative of the
+faith, for those whose lot may be cast hereafter in other lands, would
+be to inculcate a great reverence for our history, and a _true_
+appreciation of its value. The taunt of belonging to a despised nation,
+has led many a youth of brilliant promise to feel ashamed of his
+country, and almost inevitably to feel ashamed of his faith. A properly
+directed study of Irish history would tend much to remove this danger.
+During the debate on the Irish Church question, Mr. Maguire, M.P. for
+Cork, significantly remarked on the effect produced by the "deliberate
+exclusion" of any instruction in Irish history from National schools. It
+does seem curious that national history should be a forbidden subject in
+National schools, and this fact makes the appellation of "National" seem
+rather a misnomer. The result of this deliberate exclusion was
+graphically described by the honorable member. The youth comes forth
+educated, and at a most impressible age he reads for the first time the
+history of his country, and burns with indignant desire to avenge her
+many wrongs. The consequences are patent to all. It is, then, for the
+advantage of England, as well as of Ireland, that Irish history should
+be made the earliest study of Irish youth; nor is it of less importance
+that Irish history should be thoroughly known by Englishmen. It is the
+duty of every Englishman who has a vote to give, to make himself
+acquainted with the subjects on which his representative will give, in
+his name, that final decision which makes his political opinion the law
+of the land. I suppose no one will deny that the Irish Question is the
+question of the day. The prosperity of England, as well as the
+prosperity of Ireland, is involved in it. No educated man, however
+humble his station, has a right to assist in returning a member to
+Parliament without clearly comprehending the principles of his
+representative. But unless he has some comprehension of the principles
+themselves, it is of little use for him to record his vote. I do not say
+that every English voter is bound to study Irish history in detail, but
+I do say that, at the present day, he is bound to know what the Irish
+themselves demand from England; and if he considers their demands
+reasonable, he should record his vote only for those who will do their
+utmost to obtain the concessions demanded. A man is unworthy of the
+privilege of voting, if he is deficient either in the intellect or the
+inclination to understand the subject on which he votes.
+
+But it is of still more importance that members of Parliament should
+read--and not only read, but carefully study--the history of Ireland.
+Irishmen have a right to _demand_ that they shall do so. If they
+undertake to legislate for us, they are bound in conscience and in
+honour to know what we require, to know our past and our present state.
+Englishmen pride themselves on their honour; but it is neither honorable
+to undertake to govern without a thorough knowledge of the governed, or
+to misrepresent their circumstances to others whose influence may decide
+their future.
+
+It was manifest from the speech of her Majesty's minister, on the night
+of the all-important division on the Irish Church question, that he
+either had not studied Irish history, or that he had forgotten its
+details. If his statements are correctly reported by the press, they are
+inconceivably wild. It may be said that the circumstances in which he
+found himself obliged him to speak as he did, but is this an excuse
+worthy of such an honorable position? The Normans, he is reported to
+have said, conquered the land in Ireland, but in England they conquered
+completely. The most cursory acquaintance with Irish history would have
+informed the right honorable gentleman, that the Normans did _not_
+conquer the land in Ireland--no man has as yet been rash enough to
+assert that they conquered the people. The Normans obtained possession
+of a small portion, a very small portion of Irish land; and if the
+reader will glance at the map of the Pale, which will be appended to
+this edition, at the proper place, he will see precisely what extent of
+country the English held for a few hundred years. Even that portion they
+could scarcely have been said to have conquered, for they barely held it
+from day to day at the point of the sword. Morally Ireland was never
+conquered, for he would be a bold man who dared to say that the Irish
+people ever submitted nationally to the English Church established by
+law. In fact, so rash does the attempt seem even to those who most
+desire to make it, that they are fain to find refuge and consolation in
+the supposed introduction of Protestantism into Ireland by St. Patrick,
+a thousand years and more before that modern phase of religious thought
+appeared to divide the Christian world.
+
+But I deny that Ireland has ever been really conquered; and even should
+the most sanguinary suggestions proposed in a nineteenth-century serial
+be carried out, I am certain she could not be. Ireland has never been
+permanently subdued by Dane or Norman, Dutchman or Saxon; nor has she
+ever been _really_ united to England. A man is surely not united to a
+jailer because he is bound to him by an iron chain which his jailer has
+forged for his safe keeping. This is not union; and the term "United
+Kingdom" is in fact a most miserable misnomer. Unity requires something
+more than a mere material approximation. I believe it to be _possible_
+that England and Ireland may become united; and if ever this should be
+accomplished, let no man forget that the first link in the golden chain
+issued from the hands of the right honorable member for South
+Lancashire, when he proposed equality of government on religious
+questions--the first step towards that equality of government which
+alone can effect a moral union of the two countries. It might be
+treasonable to hint that some noble-hearted men, who loved their country
+not wisely but too well, and who are paying in lifelong anguish the
+penalty of their patriotism, had anything to do with the formation of
+this golden chain--so I shall not hint it.
+
+I believe the Fenian movement, at one time scouted as a mere ebullition,
+at another time treated as a dangerous and terrible rebellion, has done
+at least this one good to England--it has compelled honest and honorable
+men to inquire each for himself what are the grievances of Ireland, and
+why she continues disaffected to English rule. For men who are honest
+and honorable to make such inquiries, is the first step, and a certain
+step, towards their remedy; and as I glanced down the list of the _ayes_
+in the division, I could see the names of men who, in England, have been
+distinguished during years for their private and public virtues, and who
+have been lavish in their charities whenever their own countrymen
+required their assistance.
+
+There can be little doubt that a new era has dawned upon old Erinn's
+shores. It remains to be proved if her sons shall be as faithful in
+prosperity as they have been in adversity. It remains to be proved, if
+opportunities are afforded us of obtaining higher intellectual culture
+without the danger of the moral deterioration which might have attended
+that culture under other circumstances, whether we shall avail ourselves
+of them to the full. May we not hope that Ireland will become once more
+famous both for learning and sanctity. The future of our nation is in
+the hands of the Irish hierarchy. No government dare refuse anything
+which they may demand perseveringly and unitedly. The people who have
+been guided by them, and saved by them for so many centuries, will
+follow as they lead. If their tone of intellectual culture is elevated,
+the people will become elevated also; and we shall hear no more of those
+reproaches, which are a disgrace to those who utter them, rather than to
+those of whom they are uttered. Let our people be taught to appreciate
+something higher than a mere ephemeral literature; let them be taught to
+take an interest in the antiquities and the glorious past of their
+nation; and then let them learn the history of other peoples and of
+other races. A high ecclesiastical authority has declared recently that
+"ecclesiastics do not cease to be citizens," and that they do not
+consider anything which affects the common weal of their country is
+remote from their duty. The clergy of the diocese of Limerick, headed by
+their Dean, and, it must be presumed, with the sanction of their Bishop,
+have given a tangible proof that they coincide in opinion with his Grace
+the Archbishop of Westminster. The letter addressed to Earl Grey by that
+prelate, should be in the hands of every Irishman; and it is with no
+ordinary gratification that we acknowledge the kindness and
+condescension of his Grace in favouring us with an early copy of it.
+
+This letter treats of the two great questions of the day with admirable
+discretion. As I hope that every one who reads these pages possesses a
+copy of the pamphlet, I shall merely draw attention to two paragraphs in
+it: one in which Fenianism is treated of in that rational spirit which
+appears to have been completely lost sight of in the storm of angry
+discussion which it has excited. On this subject his Grace writes: "It
+would be blindness not to see, and madness to deny, that we have entered
+into another crisis in the relation of England and Ireland, of which
+'98, '28, and '48 were precursors;" and he argues with clearness and
+authority, that when Englishmen once have granted justice to Ireland,
+Ireland will cease to accuse England of injustice.
+
+To one other paragraph in this remarkable letter, I shall briefly
+allude: "I do not think Englishmen are enough aware of the harm some
+among us do by a contemptuous, satirical, disrespectful, defiant,
+language in speaking of Ireland and the Irish people." From peculiar
+circumstances, the present writer has had more than ordinary
+opportunities of verifying the truth of this statement. The wound caused
+by a sarcastic expression may often fester far longer than the wound
+caused by a hasty blow. The evil caused by such language is by no means
+confined entirely to Protestants. There are, indeed, but few English
+Catholics who speak contemptuously of Ireland, of its people, or of its
+history; but, if I am to credit statements which have been made to me on
+unquestionable authority, there are some who are not free from this
+injustice. A half-commiserating tone of patronage is quite as offensive
+as open contempt; and yet there have been instances where English
+Catholic writers, while obliged to show some deference to Ireland and
+the Irish, in order to secure the patronage and support of that country
+for their publications, have at the same time, when they dared, thrown
+out insinuations against peculiarities of Irish character, and made
+efforts to discredit Irish historical documents.
+
+I had intended, in preparing the Second Edition of the "Illustrated
+History of Ireland," to omit the original Preface, in order to leave
+more space for the historical portion of the work. When this intention
+was mentioned, several laymen and ecclesiastics expostulated so
+earnestly against it, that I have been obliged to yield to their
+request. I am aware that some few persons objected to my remarks on the
+state of land laws in Ireland, or rather on the want of proper land
+laws; but the opinion of those interested in maintaining an evil, will
+always be averse to its exposure; and I cannot conceive how any one who
+desires an injustice to be removed, can object to a fair and impartial
+discussion of the subject. An English writer, also, has made some
+childish remarks about the materials for Irish history not being yet
+complete, and inferred that in consequence an Irish history could not
+yet be written. His observations are too puerile to need refutation. I
+have been informed also that some objection has been made to a
+"political preface;" and that one gentleman, whose name I have not had
+the honour of hearing, has designated the work as a "political
+pamphlet." Even were not Irish history exceptional, I confess myself
+perplexed to understand how history and politics can be severed. An
+author may certainly write a perfectly colourless history, but he must
+state the opinions of different parties, and the acts consequent on
+those opinions, even should he do so without any observation of his own.
+I never for a moment entertained the intention of writing such a
+history, though I freely confess I have exercised considerable
+self-restraint as to the expression of my own opinion when writing some
+portions of the present work. You might as well attempt to write an
+ecclesiastical history without the slightest reference to different
+religious opinions, as attempt to write the history of any nation, and,
+above all, of Ireland, without special and distinct reference to the
+present and past political opinions of the different sections of which
+the nation is composed. Such suggestions are only worthy of those who,
+when facts are painful, try to avert the wound they cause by turning on
+the framer of the weapon which has driven these facts a little deeper
+than usual into their intellectual conception; or of those uneducated,
+or low-minded, even if educated persons, who consider that a woman
+cannot write a history, and would confine her literary efforts to
+sensation novels and childish tales. I am thankful, and I hope I am not
+unduly proud, that men of the highest intellectual culture, both in
+England and Ireland, on the Continent of Europe, and in America, have
+pronounced a very different judgment on the present work, and on the
+desire of the writer to raise her countrywomen to higher mental efforts
+than are required by the almost exclusive perusal of works of fiction.
+If women may excel as painters and sculptors, why may not a woman
+attempt to excel as an historian? Men of cultivated intellect, far from
+wishing to depreciate such efforts, will be the first to encourage them
+with more than ordinary warmth; the opinions of other persons, whatever
+may be their position, are of little value.
+
+On the Irish Church question I feel it unnecessary to say more than a
+word of congratulation to my countrymen, and of hearty thanks for the
+noble conduct of so many Englishmen at this important crisis. Irish
+Protestants have been quite as national as Irish Catholics; and now that
+the fatal bane of religious dissension has been removed, we may hope
+that Irishmen, of all classes and creeds, will work together
+harmoniously for the good of their common country: and thus one great
+means of Irish prosperity will be opened. The Irish are eminently a
+justice-loving people. Let justice once be granted to them, and there is
+that in their national character which will make them accept as a boon
+what others might accept as a right.
+
+In concluding the Preface to this Edition, I cannot omit to express my
+grateful thanks to Sir William Wilde, and other members of the Royal
+Irish Academy, through whose kindness I obtained the special favour of
+being permitted to copy some of the most valuable illustrations of Irish
+antiquities contained in their Catalogue, and which has enabled the
+reader, for the first time, to have an Irish history illustrated with
+Irish antiquities--a favour which it is hoped an increase of cultivated
+taste amongst our people will enable them to appreciate more and more.
+To John O'Hagan, Esq., Q.C., I owe a debt of gratitude which cannot
+easily be repaid, for the time he bestowed on the correction of the
+proofs of the First Edition, and for many kind suggestions, and much
+valuable advice. I am indebted, also, to M.J. Rhodes, Esq., of
+Hoddersfield, for a liberal use of his library, perhaps one of the most
+valuable private libraries in Ireland, and for permitting me to retain,
+for a year and more, some of its most costly treasures. The same
+kindness was also granted by the Rev. D. M'Carthy, Professor of Sacred
+Scripture and Hebrew at Maynooth, who is himself doing so much for its
+ecclesiastical students by his valuable literary labours, and who was
+one of the first to urge me to undertake this work. In preparing the
+Second Edition, I am not a little indebted to the Rev. James Gaffney,
+C.C., M.R.I.A., of Clontarf, who, even during the heavy pressure of
+Lenten parochial duties, has found time to give me the benefit of many
+important suggestions, and to show his love of Ireland by deeming no
+effort too great to further a knowledge of her glorious history. I am
+also indebted to the Rev. John Shearman, C.C., M.R.I.A., of Howth, for
+the valuable paper read before the R.I.A., on the "Inscribed Stones at
+Killeen Cormac;" and to many other authors who have presented me with
+their works; amongst the number, none were more acceptable than the
+poems of Dr. Ferguson, and the beautiful and gracefully written _Irish
+before the Conquest_, of Mrs. Ferguson, whose gifts are all the more
+treasured for the peculiar kindness with which they were presented.
+
+To my old friend, Denis Florence MacCarthy, Esq., M.R.I.A., who should
+be the laureate of Ireland--and why should not Ireland, that land of
+song, have her laureate?--I can only offer my affectionate thanks, for
+his kindnesses are too numerous to record, and are so frequent that they
+would scarcely bear enumeration. At this moment, Roderick O'Flanagan,
+Esq., M.R.I.A., has found, or rather made, leisure, amongst his many
+professional and literary occupations, to prepare the valuable and
+important map of Irish families, which will be given _gratis_ to all
+subscribers, and in which W.H. Hennessy, Esq., M.R.I.A., at present
+employed by Government on the important work of publishing ancient Irish
+MS., will also give his assistance.
+
+To many of the gentlemen in Cork, and principally to Nicholas Murphy,
+Esq., of Norwood, and Eugene M'Sweeny, Esq., I cannot fail to offer my
+best thanks, for the generous help they have given in promoting the sale
+of the First Edition, and for over-payments of subscriptions, made
+unasked, and with the most considerate kindness, when they found the
+heavy cost of the First Edition was likely to prove a loss to the
+convent, in consequence of expenses which could scarcely be foreseen in
+the increased size of the work, and the high class of engravings used,
+which demanded an immense outlay in their production. The subscribers to
+the Second Edition are indebted to not a few of the subscribers to the
+First, many of them priests with limited incomes, for the generosity
+which has enabled them to obtain this new issue on such favourable
+terms. It is with feelings of no ordinary pleasure that I add also the
+names of the Superioresses of nearly all the convents of the order of
+Our Lady of Mercy and of the order of the Presentation, to the list of
+our benefactors. With the exception of, perhaps, two or three convents
+of each order, they have been unanimous in their generous efforts to
+assist the circulation of the Irish History, and of all our
+publications; and this kindness has been felt by us all the more deeply,
+because from our own poverty, and the poverty of the district in which
+we live, we have been unable to make them any return, or to assist them
+even by the sale of tickets for their bazaars. Such disinterested
+charity is, indeed, rare; and the efforts made by these religious--the
+true centres of civilization in Ireland--to promote the education and to
+improve the moral and intellectual tone of the lower and middle classes,
+are beyond all praise, combined, as these efforts are, with
+never-ceasing labour for the spiritual and temporal good of the poor in
+their respective districts. Nor should I omit a word for the friends
+across the wide Atlantic, to whom the very name of Ireland is so
+precious, and to whom Irish history is so dear. The Most Rev. Dr.
+Purcell, Archbishop of Cincinnati, has pronounced the work to be the
+only Irish history worthy of the name. John Mitchel has proclaimed, in
+the _Irish Citizen_, that a woman has accomplished what men have failed
+to do; and Alderman Ternan, at a banquet in New Fork, has uttered the
+same verdict, and declares that there, at least, no other history can
+compete with ours, although Moore and D'Arcy Magee have preceded us in
+their efforts to promote the knowledge of what Ireland has been, and the
+hope of what Ireland may yet become.
+
+M.F.C.
+ST. CLARE'S CONTENT, KENMARK, CO. KERRY,
+May 8th, 1868.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[A] The Rev. U. Burke, of St. Jarlath's College, Tuam, has a note on
+this subject, in a work which he is at this moment passing through the
+press, and which he kindly permits me to publish. He says: "This book
+[the "Illustrated History of Ireland"] ought to be in the hands of every
+young student and of every young Irish maiden attending the convent
+schools. Oh, for ten thousand Irish ladies knowing the history of
+Ireland! How few know anything of it! The present volume, by Sister
+Francis Clare, is an atoning sacrifice for this sin of neglect."
+
+I am aware that the price of the "Illustrated History of Ireland," even
+in its present form, although it is offered at a sacrifice which no
+bookseller would make, is an obstacle to its extensive use as a school
+history. We purpose, however, before long, to publish a history for the
+use of schools, at a very low price, and yet of a size to admit of
+sufficient expansion for the purpose. Our countrymen must, however,
+remember that only a very large number of orders can enable the work to
+be published as cheaply as it should be. It would save immense trouble
+and expense, if priests, managers of schools, and the heads of colleges,
+would send orders for a certain number of copies at once. If every
+priest, convent, and college, ordered twelve copies for their schools,
+the work could be put in hands immediately.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+TO THE FIRST EDITION.
+
+
+The history of the different races who form an integral portion of the
+British Empire, should be one of the most carefully cultivated studies
+of every member of that nation. To be ignorant of our own history, is a
+disgrace; to be ignorant of the history of those whom we govern, is an
+injustice. We can neither govern ourselves nor others without a thorough
+knowledge of peculiarities of disposition which may require restraint,
+and of peculiarities of temperament which may require development. We
+must know that water can extinguish fire, before it occurs to us to put
+out a fire by the use of water. We must know that fire, when properly
+used, is a beneficent element of nature, and one which can be used to
+our advantage when properly controlled, before we shall attempt to avail
+ourselves of it for a general or a particular benefit. I believe a time
+has come when the Irish are more than ever anxious to study their
+national history. I believe a time has come when the English nation, or
+at least a majority of the English nation, are willing to read that
+history without prejudice, and to consider it with impartiality.
+
+When first I proposed to write a History of Ireland, at the earnest
+request of persons to whose opinion. I felt bound to defer, I was
+assured by many that it was useless; that Irishmen did not support Irish
+literature; above all, that the Irish clergy were indifferent to it, and
+to literature in general. I have since ascertained, by personal
+experience, that this charge is utterly unfounded, though I am free to
+admit it was made on what appeared to be good authority. It is certainly
+to be wished that there was a more general love of reading cultivated
+amongst the Catholics of Ireland, but the deficiency is on a fair way to
+amendment. As a body, the Irish priesthood may not be devoted to
+literature; but as a body, unquestionably they are devoted--nobly
+devoted--to the spread of education amongst their people.
+
+With regard to Englishmen, I cannot do better than quote the speech of
+an English member of Parliament, Alderman Salomons, who has just
+addressed his constituents at Greenwich in these words:--
+
+     "The state of Ireland will, doubtless, be a prominent subject of
+     discussion next session. Any one who sympathizes with distressed
+     nationalities in their struggles, must, when he hears of the
+     existence of a conspiracy in Ireland, similar to those combinations
+     which used to be instituted in Poland in opposition to Russian
+     oppression, be deeply humiliated. Let the grievances of the Irish
+     people be probed, and let them be remedied when their true nature
+     is discovered. Fenianism is rife, not only in Ireland, but also in
+     England, and an armed police required, which is an insult to our
+     liberty. I did not know much of the Irish land question, but I know
+     that measures have been over and over again brought into the House
+     of Commons with a view to its settlement, and over and over again
+     they have been cushioned or silently withdrawn. If the question can
+     be satisfactorily settled, why let it be so, and let us conciliate
+     the people of Ireland by wise and honorable means. The subject of
+     the Irish Church must also be considered. I hold in my hand an
+     extract from the report of the commissioner of the Dublin
+     _Freeman's Journal_, who is now examining the question. It stated
+     what will be to you almost incredible--namely, that the population
+     of the united dioceses of Cashel, Emly, Waterford, and Lismore is
+     370,978, and that of those only 13,000 are members of the
+     Established Church, while 340,000 are Roman Catholics. If you had
+     read of this state of things existing in any other country, you
+     would call out loudly against it. Such a condition of things, in
+     which large revenues are devoted, not for the good of the many, but
+     the few, if it does not justify Fenianism, certainly does justify a
+     large measure of discontent. I am aware of the difficulties in the
+     way of settling the question, owing to the fear of a collision
+     between Protestants and Catholics; but I think Parliament ought to
+     have the power to make the Irish people contented."
+
+This speech, I believe, affords a fair idea of the opinion of educated
+and unprejudiced Englishmen on the Irish question. They do not know much
+about Irish history; they have heard a great deal about Irish
+grievances, and they have a vague idea that there is something wrong
+about the landlords, and something wrong about the ecclesiastical
+arrangements of the country. I believe a careful study of Irish history
+is essential to the comprehension of the Irish question; and it is
+obviously the moral duty of every man who has a voice in the government
+of the nation, to make himself master of the subject. I believe there
+are honest and honorable men in England, who would stand aghast with
+horror if they thoroughly understood the injustices to which Ireland has
+been and _still is_ subject. The English, as a nation, profess the most
+ardent veneration for liberty. To be a patriot, to desire to free one's
+country, unless, indeed, that country happen to have some very close
+connexion with their own, is the surest way to obtain ovations and
+applause. It is said that circumstances alter cases; they certainly
+alter opinions, but they do not alter facts. An Englishman applauds and
+assists insurrection in countries where they profess to have for their
+object the freedom of the individual or of the nation; he imprisons and
+stifles it at home, where the motive is precisely similar, and the
+cause, in the eyes of the insurgents at least, incomparably more valid.
+But I do not wish to raise a vexed question, or to enter on political
+discussions; my object in this Preface is simply to bring before the
+minds of Englishmen that they have a duty to perform towards Ireland--a
+duty which they cannot cast aside on others--a duty which it may be for
+their interest, as well as for their honour, to fulfil. I wish to draw
+the attention of Englishmen to those Irish grievances which are
+generally admitted to exist, and which can only be fully understood by a
+careful and unprejudiced perusal of Irish history, past and present.
+Until grievances are thoroughly understood, they are not likely to be
+thoroughly remedied. While they continue to exist, there can be no real
+peace in Ireland, and English prosperity must suffer in a degree from
+Irish disaffection.
+
+It is generally admitted by all, except those who are specially
+interested in the denial, that the Land question and the Church question
+are the two great subjects which lie at the bottom of the Irish
+difficulty. The difficulties of the Land question commenced in the reign
+of Henry II.; the difficulties of the Church question commenced in the
+reign of Henry VIII. I shall request your attention briefly to the
+standpoints in Irish history from which we may take a clear view of
+these subjects. I shall commence with the Land question, because I
+believe it to be the more important of the two, and because I hope to
+show that the Church question is intimately connected with it.
+
+In the reign of Henry II., certain Anglo-Norman nobles came to Ireland,
+and, partly by force and partly by intermarriages, obtained estates in
+that country. Their tenure was the tenure of the sword. By the sword
+they expelled persons whose families had possessed those lands for
+centuries; and by the sword they compelled these persons, through
+poverty, consequent on loss of property, to take the position of
+inferiors where they had been masters. You will observe that this first
+English settlement in Ireland was simply a colonization on a very small
+scale. Under such circumstances, if the native population are averse to
+the colonization, and if the new and the old races do not amalgamate, a
+settled feeling of aversion, more or less strong, is established on both
+sides. The natives hate the colonist, because he has done them a
+grievous injury by taking possession of their lands; the colonist hates
+the natives, because they are in his way; and, if he be possessed of
+"land hunger," they are an impediment to the gratification of his
+desires. It should be observed that there is a wide difference between
+colonization and conquest The Saxons conquered what we may presume to
+have been the aboriginal inhabitants of England; the Normans conquered
+the Saxon: the conquest in both cases was sufficiently complete to
+amalgamate the races--the interest of the different nationalities became
+one. The Norman lord scorned the Saxon churl quite as contemptuously as
+he scorned the Irish Celt; but there was this very important
+difference--the interests of the noble and the churl soon became one;
+they worked for the prosperity of their common country. In Ireland, on
+the contrary, the interests were opposite. The Norman noble hated the
+Celt as a people whom he could not subdue, but desired most ardently to
+dispossess; the Celt hated the invader as a man most naturally will hate
+the individual who is just strong enough to keep a wound open by his
+struggles, and not strong enough to end the suffering by killing the
+victim.
+
+The land question commenced when Strongbow set his foot on Irish soil;
+the land question will remain a disgrace to England, and a source of
+misery to Ireland, until the whole system inaugurated by Strongbow has
+been reversed. "At the commencement of the connexion between England and
+Ireland," says Mr. Goldwin Smith, "the foundation was inevitably laid
+for the fatal system of ascendency--a system under which the dominant
+party were paid for their services in keeping down rebels by a monopoly
+of power and emolument, and thereby strongly tempted to take care that
+there should always be rebels to keep down." There is a fallacy or two
+in this statement; but let it pass. The Irish were not rebels then,
+certainly, for they were not under English dominion; but it is something
+to find English writers expatiating on Irish wrongs; and if they would
+only act as generously and as boldly as they speak, the Irish question
+would receive an early and a most happy settlement.
+
+For centuries Ireland was left to the mercy and the selfishness of
+colonists. Thus, with each succeeding generation, the feeling of hatred
+towards the English was intensified with each new act of injustice, and
+such acts were part of the normal rule of the invaders. A lord deputy
+was sent after a time to rule the country. Perhaps a more unfortunate
+form of government could not have been selected for Ireland. The lord
+deputy knew that he was subject to recall at any moment; he had neither
+a personal nor a hereditary interest in the country. He came to make his
+fortune there, or to increase it. He came to rule for his own benefit,
+or for the benefit of his nation. The worst of kings has, at least, an
+hereditary interest in the country which he governs; the best of lord
+deputies might say that, if he did not oppress and plunder for himself,
+other men would do it for themselves: why, then, should he be the loser,
+when the people would not be gainers by his loss?
+
+When parliaments began to be held, and when laws were enacted, every
+possible arrangement was made to keep the two nations at variance, and
+to intensify the hostility which already existed. The clergy were set at
+variance. Irish priests were forbidden to enter certain monasteries,
+which were reserved for the use of their English brethren; Irish
+ecclesiastics were refused admission to certain Church properties in
+Ireland, that English ecclesiastics might have the benefit of them.
+Lionel, Duke of Clarence, when Viceroy of Ireland, issued a
+proclamation, forbidding the "Irish by birth" even to come near his
+army, until he found that he could not do without soldiers, even should
+they have the misfortune to be Irish. The Irish and English were
+forbidden to intermarry several centuries before the same bar was placed
+against the union of Catholics and Protestants. The last and not the
+least of the fearful series of injustices enacted, in the name of
+justice, at the Parliament of Kilkenny, was the statute which denied,
+which positively refused, the benefit of English law to Irishmen, and
+equally forbid them to use the Brehon law, which is even now the
+admiration of jurists, and which had been the law of the land for many
+centuries.
+
+If law could be said to enact that there should be no law, this was
+precisely what was done at the memorable Parliament of Kilkenny. If
+Irishmen had done this, it would have been laughed at as a Hibernicism,
+or scorned as the basest villany; but it was the work of Englishmen, and
+the Irish nation were treated as rebels if they attempted to resist. The
+confiscation of Church property in the reign of Henry VIII., added a new
+sting to the land grievance, and introduced a new feature in its
+injustice. Church property had been used for the benefit of the poor far
+more than for the benefit of its possessors. It is generally admitted
+that the monks of the middle ages were the best and most considerate
+landlords. Thousands of families were now cast upon the mercy of the new
+proprietors, whose will was their only law; and a considerable number of
+persons were deprived of the alms which these religious so freely
+distributed to the sick and the aged. Poverty multiplied fearfully, and
+discontent in proportion. You will see, by a careful perusal of this
+history, that the descendants of the very men who had driven out the
+original proprietors of Irish estates, were in turn driven out
+themselves by the next set of colonists. It was a just retribution, but
+it was none the less terrible. Banishments and confiscations were the
+rule by which Irish property was administered. Can you be surprised that
+the Irish looked on English adventurers as little better than robbers,
+and treated them as such? If the English Government had made just and
+equitable land laws for Ireland at or immediately after the Union, all
+the miseries which have occurred since then might have been prevented.
+Unfortunately, the men who had to legislate for Ireland are interested
+in the maintenance of the unjust system; and there is an old proverb, as
+true as it is old, about the blindness of those who do not wish to see.
+Irish landlords, or at least a considerable number of Irish landlords,
+are quite willing to admit that the existence of the Established Church
+is a grievance. Irish Protestant clergymen, who are not possessed by an
+anti-Popery crochet--and, thank God, there are few afflicted with that
+unfortunate disease now--are quite free to admit that it is a grievance
+for a tenant to be subject to ejection by his landlord, _even if he pays
+his rent punctually_.
+
+
+I believe the majority of Englishmen have not the faintest idea of the
+way in which the Irish tenant is oppressed, _not by individuals_, for
+there are many landlords in Ireland devoted to their tenantry, but by a
+system. There are, however, it cannot be denied, cases of individual
+oppression, which, if they occurred in any part of Great Britain, and
+were publicly known, would raise a storm, from the Land's End to John o'
+Groat's House, that would take something more than revolvers to settle.
+As one of the great objects of studying the history of our own country,
+is to enable us to understand and to enact such regulations as shall be
+best suited to the genius of each race and their peculiar circumstances,
+I believe it to be my duty as an historian, on however humble a scale,
+not only to show how our present history is affected by the past, but
+also to give you such a knowledge of our present history as may enable
+you to judge how much the country is still suffering from _present
+grievances_, occasioned by past maladministration. Englishmen are quite
+aware that thousands of Irishmen leave their homes every year for a
+foreign country; but they have little idea of the cause of this
+emigration. Englishmen are quite aware that from time to time
+insurrections break out in Ireland, which seem to them very absurd, if
+not very wicked; but they do not know how much grave cause there is for
+discontent in Ireland. The very able and valuable pamphlets which have
+been written on these subjects by Mr. Butt and Mr. Levey, and on the
+Church question by Mr. De Vere, do not reach the English middle classes,
+or probably even the upper classes, unless their attention is directed
+to them individually. The details of the sufferings and ejectments of
+the Irish peasantry, which are given from time to time in the Irish
+papers, and principally in the Irish _local_ papers, are never even
+known across the Channel. How, then, can the condition of Ireland, or of
+the Irish people, be estimated as it should? I believe there is a love
+of fair play and manly justice in the English nation, which only needs
+to be excited in order to be brought to act.
+
+But ignorance on this subject is not wholly confined to the English. I
+fear there are many persons, even in Ireland, who are but imperfectly
+acquainted with the working of their own land laws, if, indeed, what
+sanctions injustice deserves the name of law. To avoid prolixity, I
+shall state very briefly the position of an Irish tenant at the present
+day, and I shall show (1) how this position leads to misery, (2) how
+misery leads to emigration, and (3) how this injustice recoils upon the
+heads of the perpetrators by leading to rebellion. First, the position
+of an Irish tenant is simply this: he is rather worse off than a slave.
+I speak advisedly. In Russia, the proprietors of large estates worked by
+slaves, are obliged to feed and clothe their slaves; in Ireland, it
+quite depends on the will of the proprietor whether he will let his
+lands to his tenants on terms which will enable them to feed their
+families on the coarsest food, and to clothe them in the coarsest
+raiment If a famine occurs--and in some parts of Ireland famines are of
+annual occurrence--the landlord is not obliged to do anything for his
+tenant, but the tenant _must_ pay his rent. I admit there are humane
+landlords in Ireland; but these are questions of fact, not of feeling.
+It is a most flagrant injustice that Irish landlords should have the
+power of dispossessing their tenants if they pay their rents. But this
+is not all; although the penal laws have been repealed, the power of the
+landlord over the conscience of his tenant is unlimited. It is true he
+cannot apply bodily torture, except, indeed, the torture of starvation,
+but he can apply mental torture. It is in the power of an Irish landlord
+to eject his tenant if he does not vote according to his wishes. A man
+who has no conscience, has no moral right to vote; a man who tyrannizes
+over the conscience of another, should have no legal right. But there is
+yet a deeper depth. I believe you will be lost in amazement at what is
+yet to come, and will say, as Mr. Young said of penal laws in the last
+century, that they were more "fitted for the meridian of Barbary." You
+have heard, no doubt, of wholesale evictions; they are of frequent
+occurrence in Ireland--sometimes from political motives, because the
+poor man will not vote with his landlord; sometimes from religious
+motives, because the poor man will not worship God according to his
+landlord's conscience; sometimes from selfish motives, because his
+landlord wishes to enlarge his domain, or to graze more cattle. The
+motive does not matter much to the poor victim. He is flung out upon the
+roadside; if he is very poor, he may die there, or he may go to the
+workhouse, but he must not be taken in, even for a time, by any other
+family on the estate. The Irish Celt, with his warm heart and generous
+impulses, would, at all risks to himself, take in the poor outcasts, and
+share his poverty with them; but the landlord could not allow this. The
+commission of one evil deed necessitates the commission of another. An
+Irish gentleman, who has no personal interest in land, and is therefore
+able to look calmly on the question, has been at the pains to collect
+instances of this tyranny, in his _Plea for the Celtic Race._ I shall
+only mention one as a sample. In the year 1851, on an estate which was
+at the time supposed to be one of the most fairly treated in Ireland,
+"the agent of the property had given public notice to the tenantry that
+expulsion from their farms would be the penalty inflicted on them, if
+they harboured _any one_ not resident on the estate. The penalty was
+enforced against a widow, for giving food and shelter _to a destitute
+grandson of twelve years old_. The child's mother at one time held a
+little dwelling, from which she was expelled; his father was dead. He
+found a refuge with his grandmother, who was ejected from her farm for
+harbouring the poor boy." When such things can occur, we should not hear
+anything more about the Irish having only "sentimental grievances." The
+poor child was eventually driven from house to house. He stole a
+shilling and a hen--poor fellow!--what else could he be expected to do?
+He wandered about, looking in vain for shelter from those who dared not
+give it. He was expelled with circumstances of peculiar cruelty from one
+cabin. He was found next morning, cold, stiff, and dead, on the ground
+outside. The poor people who had refused him shelter, were tried for
+their lives. They were found guilty of manslaughter _only_, in
+consideration of the agent's order. The agent was not found guilty of
+anything, nor even tried. The landlord was supposed to be a model
+landlord, and his estates were held up at the very time as models; yet
+evictions had been fearfully and constantly carried out on them. Mr.
+Butt has well observed: "The rules of the estate are often the most
+arbitrary and the most sternly enforced upon great estates, the property
+of men of the highest station, upon which rents are moderate, and no
+harshness practised to the tenantry, who implicitly submit." Such
+landlords generally consider emigration the great remedy for the evils
+of Ireland. They point to their own well-regulated and well-weeded
+estates; but they do not tell you all the human suffering it cost to
+exile those who were turned out to make room for large dairy farms, or
+all the quiet tyranny exercised over those who still remain. Neither
+does it occur to them that their successors may raise these moderate
+rents at a moment's notice; and if their demands are not complied with,
+he may eject these "comfortable farmers" without one farthing of
+compensation for all their improvements and their years of labour.
+
+I have shown how the serfdom of the Irish tenant leads to misery. But
+the subject is one which would require a volume. No one can understand
+the depth of Irish misery who has not lived in Ireland, and taken pains
+to become acquainted with the habits and manner of life of the lower
+orders. The tenant who is kept at starvation point to pay his landlord's
+rent, has no means of providing for his family. He cannot encourage
+trade; his sons cannot get work to do, if they are taught trades.
+Emigration or the workhouse is the only resource. I think the efforts
+which are made by the poor in Ireland to get work are absolutely
+unexampled, and it is a cruel thing that a man who is willing to work
+should not be able to get it. I know an instance in which a girl
+belonging to a comparatively respectable family was taken into service,
+and it was discovered that for years her only food, and the only food of
+her family, was dry bread, and, as an occasional luxury, weak tea. So
+accustomed had she become to this wretched fare, that she actually could
+not even eat an egg. She and her family have gone to America; and I have
+no doubt, after a few years, that the weakened organs will recover their
+proper tone, with the gradual use of proper food.
+
+There is another ingredient in Irish misery which has not met with the
+consideration it deserves. If the landlord happens to be humane, he may
+interest himself in the welfare of the _families_ of his tenantry. He
+may also send a few pounds to them for coals at Christmas, or for
+clothing; but such instances are unhappily rare, and the alms given is
+_comparatively_ nothing. In England the case is precisely the reverse.
+On this subject I speak from personal knowledge. There is scarcely a
+little village in England, however poor, where there is not a committee
+of ladies, assisted by the neighbouring gentry, who distribute coals,
+blankets, and clothing in winter; and at all times, where there is
+distress, give bread, tea, and meat. Well may the poor Irish come home
+discontented after they have been to work in England, and see how
+differently the poor are treated there. I admit, and I repeat it again,
+that there are instances in which the landlord takes an interest in his
+tenantry, but those instances are exceptions. Many of these gentlemen,
+who possess the largest tracts of land in Ireland, have also large
+estates in England, and they seldom, sometimes _never_, visit their
+Irish estates. They leave it to their agent. Every application for
+relief is referred to the agent. The agent, however humane, cannot be
+expected to have the same interest in the people as a landlord _ought_
+to have. The agent is the instrument used to draw out the last farthing
+from the poor; he is constantly in collision with them. They naturally
+dislike him; and he, not unnaturally, dislikes them.
+
+The burden, therefore, of giving that relief to the poor, which they
+always require in times of sickness, and when they cannot get work,
+falls almost exclusively upon the priests and the convents. Were it not
+for the exertions made by the priests and nuns throughout Ireland for
+the support of the poor, and to obtain work for them, and the immense
+sums of money sent to Ireland by emigrants, for the support of aged
+fathers and mothers, I believe the destitution would be something
+appalling, and that landlords would find it even more difficult than at
+present to get the high rents which they demand. Yet, some of these same
+landlords, getting perhaps L20,000 or L40,000 a-year from their Irish
+estates, will not give the slightest help to establish industrial
+schools in connexion with convents, or to assist them when they are
+established, though they are the means of helping their own tenants to
+pay their rent. There are in Ireland about two hundred conventual
+establishments. Nearly all of these convents have poor schools, where
+the poor are taught, either at a most trifling expense, or altogether
+without charge. The majority of these convents feed and clothe a
+considerable number of poor children, and many of them have established
+industrial schools, where a few girls at least can earn what will almost
+support a whole family in comfort. I give the statistics of one convent
+as a sample of others. I believe there are a few, but perhaps only a
+very few other places, where the statistics would rise higher; but there
+are many convents where the children are fed and clothed, and where work
+is done on a smaller scale. If such institutions were encouraged by the
+landlords, much more could be done. The convent to which I allude was
+founded at the close of the year 1861. There was a national school in
+the little town (in England it would be called a village), with an
+attendance of about forty children. The numbers rose rapidly year by
+year, after the arrival of the nuns, and at present the average daily
+attendance is just 400. It would be very much higher, were it not for
+the steady decrease in the population, caused by emigration. The
+emigration would have been very much greater, had not the parish priest
+given employment to a considerable number of men, by building a new
+church, convent, and convent schools. The poorest of the children, and,
+in Ireland, none but the very poorest will accept such alms, get a
+breakfast of Indian meal and milk all the year round. The comfort of
+this hot meal to them, when they come in half-clad and starving of a
+winter morning, can only be estimated by those who have seen the
+children partake of it, and heard the cries of delight of the babies of
+a year old, and the quiet expression of thankfulness of the elder
+children. Before they go home they get a piece of dry bread, and this is
+their dinner--a dinner the poorest English child would almost refuse.
+The number of meals given at present is 350 per diem. The totals of
+meals given per annum since 1862 are as follows:--
+
+During the year 1862 ...... 36,400
+  "     "       1863 ...... 45,800
+  "     "       1864 ...... 46,700
+  "     "       1865 ...... 49,000
+  "     "       1866 ...... 70,000
+  "     "       1867 ...... 73,000
+                           _______
+
+       Making a total of   320,900
+
+There were also 1,035 _suits_ of clothing given.
+
+The Industrial School was established in 1863. It has been principally
+supported by English ladies and Protestants. The little town where the
+convent is situated, is visited by tourists during the summer months;
+and many who have visited the convent have been so much struck by the
+good they saw done there, that they have actually devoted themselves to
+selling work amongst their English friends for the poor children.
+
+The returns of work sold in the Industrial School are as follows:--
+
+                          L  s. d.
+Work sold in 1863 .....  70  3  6-1/2
+ "     "     1864 ..... 109 18  5
+ "     "     1805 ..... 276  1  3-1/2
+ "     "     1866 ..... 421 16  3
+ "     "     1867 ..... 350  2  4-1/2
+                       ______________
+
+   Making a total of L1,228  1 10-1/2
+
+The falling off in 1867 has been accounted for partly from the Fenian
+panic, which prevented tourists visiting Ireland as numerously as in
+other years, and partly from the attraction of the French Exhibition
+having drawn tourists in that direction. I have been exact in giving
+these details, because they form an important subject for consideration
+in regard to the present history of Ireland. They show at once the
+poverty of the people, their love of industry, and their eagerness to do
+work when they can get it. In this, and in other convent schools
+throughout Ireland, the youngest children are trained to habits of
+industry. They are paid even for their first imperfect attempts, to
+encourage them to go on; and they treasure up the few weekly pence they
+earn as a lady would her jewels. One child had in this way nearly saved
+up enough to buy herself a pair of shoes--a luxury she had not as yet
+possessed; but before the whole amount was procured she went to her
+eternal home, where there is no want, and her last words were a message
+of love and gratitude to the nuns who had taught her.
+
+The causes of emigration, as one should think, are patent to all.
+Landlords do not deny that they are anxious to see the people leave the
+country. They give them every assistance to do so. Their object is to
+get more land into their own hands, but the policy will eventually prove
+suicidal. A revolutionary spirit is spreading fast through Europe.
+Already the standing subject of public addresses to the people in
+England, is the injustice of certain individuals being allowed to hold
+such immense tracts of country in their possession. We all know what
+came of the selfish policy of the landowners in France before the
+Revolution, which consigned them by hundreds to the guillotine. A little
+self-sacrifice, which, in the end, would have been for their own
+benefit, might have saved all this. The attempt to depopulate Ireland
+has been tried over and over again, and has failed signally. It is not
+more likely to succeed in the nineteenth century than at any preceding
+period. Even were it possible that wholesale emigration could benefit
+any country, it is quite clear that Irish emigration cannot benefit
+England. It is a plan to get rid of a temporary difficulty at a terrific
+future cost. Emigration has ceased to be confined to paupers.
+Respectable farmers are emigrating, and taking with them to America
+bitter memories of the cruel injustice which has compelled them to leave
+their native land.
+
+Second, _How misery leads to emigration_. The poor are leaving the
+country, because they have no employment. The more respectable classes
+are leaving the country, because they prefer living in a free land,
+where they can feel sure that their hard earnings will be their own, and
+not their landlord's, and where they are not subject to the miserable
+political and religious tyranny which reigns supreme in Ireland. In the
+evidence given before the Land Tenure Committee of 1864, we find the
+following statements made by Dr. Keane, the Roman Catholic Bishop of
+Cloyne. His Lordship is a man of more than ordinary intelligence, and of
+more than ordinary patriotism. He has made the subject of emigration his
+special study, partly from a deep devotion to all that concerns the
+welfare of his country, and partly from the circumstance of his
+residence being at Queenstown, the port from which Irishmen leave their
+native shores, and the place where wails of the emigrants continually
+resound. I subjoin a few of his replies to the questions proposed:--
+
+     "I attribute emigration principally to the want of employment."
+
+     "A man who has only ten or twelve acres, and who is a
+     tenant-at-will, finding that the land requires improvement, is
+     afraid to waste it [his money], and he goes away. I see many of
+     these poor people in Queenstown every day."
+
+     "I have made inquiries over and over again in Queenstown and
+     elsewhere, and I never yet heard that a single farmer emigrated and
+     left the country who had a lease."
+
+Well might Mr. Heron say, in a paper read before the Irish Statistical
+Society, in May, 1864: "Under the present laws, no Irish peasant able to
+read and write ought to remain in Ireland. If Ireland were an
+independent country, in the present state of things there would be a
+bloody insurrection in every county, and the peasantry would ultimately
+obtain the property in land, as _they have obtained it in Switzerland
+and in France_." That the Irish people will eventually become the
+masters of the Irish property, from which every effort has been made to
+dispossess them, by fair means and by foul, since the Norman invasion of
+Ireland, I have not the slightest doubt. The only doubt is whether the
+matter will be settled by the law or by the sword. But I have hope that
+the settlement will be peaceful, when I find English members of
+Parliament treating thus of the subject, and ministers declaring, at
+least when they are out of office, that something should be done for
+Ireland.
+
+Mr. Stuart Mill writes: "The land of Ireland, the land of every country,
+belongs to the people of that country. The individuals called landowners
+have no right, in morality or justice, to anything but the rent, or
+compensation for its saleable value. When the inhabitants of a country
+quit the country _en masse_, because the Government will not make it a
+place fit for them to live in, the Government is judged and condemned,
+It is the duty of Parliament to reform the landed tenure of Ireland."
+
+More than twenty years ago Mr. Disraeli said: "He wished to see a public
+man come forward and say what the Irish question was. Let them consider
+Ireland as they would any other country similarly circumstanced. They
+had a starving population, an absentee aristocracy, an alien Church,
+and, in addition, the weakest executive in the world. This was the Irish
+question. What would gentlemen say on hearing of a country in such a
+position? They would say at once, in such case, the remedy is
+revolution--not the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act. But the
+connexion with England prevented it: therefore England was logically in
+the active position of being the cause of all the misery of Ireland.
+What, then, was the duty of an English minister? To effect by policy all
+the changes which a revolution would do by force." If these words had
+been acted upon in 1848, we should not have had a Fenian insurrection in
+1867. If a peaceful revolution is to be accomplished a few persons must
+suffer, though, in truth, it is difficult to see what Irish landlords
+could lose by a fair land law, except the power to exercise a tyrannical
+control over their tenants. I believe, if many English absentee
+landlords had even the slightest idea of the evil deeds done in their
+names by their agents, that they would not tolerate it for a day. If a
+complaint is made to the landlord, he refers it to his agent. It is
+pretty much as if you required the man who inflicted the injury to be
+the judge of his own conduct. The agent easily excuses himself to the
+landlord; but the unfortunate man who had presumed to lift up his voice,
+is henceforth a marked object of vengeance; and he is made an example to
+his fellows, that they may not dare to imitate him. The truth is, that
+the real state of Ireland, and the real feelings of the Irish people,
+can only be known by personal intercourse with the lower orders.
+Gentlemen making a hurried tour through the country, may see a good deal
+of misery, if they have not come for the purpose of not seeing it; but
+they can never know the real wretchedness of the Irish poor unless they
+remain stationary in some district long enough to win the confidence of
+the people, and to let them feel that they can tell their sorrows and
+their wrongs without fear that they shall be increased by the
+disclosure.
+
+Third, one brief word of how this injustice recoils upon the heads of
+the perpetrators, and I shall have ended. It recoils upon them
+indirectly, by causing a feeling of hostility between the governors and
+the governed. A man cannot be expected to revere and love his landlord,
+when he finds that his only object is to get all he can from him--when
+he finds him utterly reckless of his misery, and still more indifferent
+to his feelings. A gentleman considers himself a model of humanity if he
+pays the emigration expenses of the family whom he wishes to eject from
+the holding which their ancestors have possessed for centuries. He is
+amazed at the fearful ingratitude of the poor man, who cannot feel
+overwhelmed with joy at his benevolent offer. But the gentleman
+considers he has done his duty, and consoles himself with the reflection
+that the Irish are an ungrateful race. Of all the peoples on the face of
+the globe, the Irish Celts are the most attached to their families and
+to their lands. God only knows the broken hearts that go over the ocean
+strangers to a strange land. The young girls who leave their aged
+mothers, the noble, brave young fellows who leave their old fathers, act
+not from a selfish wish to better themselves, but from the hope, soon to
+be realized, that they may be able to earn in another land what they
+cannot earn in their own. I saw a lad once parting from his aged father.
+I wish I had not seen it. I heard the agonized cries of the old man: "My
+God! he's gone! he's gone!" I wish I had not heard it. I heard the wild
+wailing cry with which the Celt mourns for his dead, and glanced
+impulsively to the window. It was not death, but departure that prompts
+that agony of grief. A car was driving off rapidly on the mountain road
+which led to the nearest port. The car was soon out of sight. The father
+and the son had looked their last look into each other's eyes--had
+clasped the last clasp of each other's hands. An hour had passed, and
+still the old man lay upon the ground, where he had flung himself in his
+heart's bitter anguish; and still the wail rung out from time to time:
+"My God! he's gone! he's gone!"
+
+Those who have seen the departure of emigrants at the Irish seaports,
+are not surprised at Irish disaffection--are not surprised that the
+expatriated youth joins the first wild scheme, which promises to release
+his country from such cruel scenes, and shares his money equally between
+his starving relatives at home, and the men who, sometimes as deceivers,
+and sometimes with a patriotism like his own, live only for one
+object--to obtain for Ireland by the sword, the justice which is denied
+to her by the law.
+
+I conclude with statistics which are undeniable proofs of Irish misery.
+The emigration _at present_ amounts to 100,000 per annum.
+
+[Illustration: The Emigrants' Farewell.]
+
+From the 1st of May, 1851, to the 31st of December, 1865, 1,630,722
+persons emigrated. As the emigrants generally leave their young children
+after them for a time, and as aged and imbecile persons do not emigrate,
+the consequence is, that, from 1851 to 1861, the number of deaf and dumb
+increased from 5,180 to 5,653; the number of blind, from 5,787 to 6,879;
+and the number of lunatics and idiots, from 9,980 to 14,098. In 1841,
+the estimated value of crops in Ireland was L50,000,000; in 1851, it was
+reduced to L43,000,000; and in 1861, to L35,000,000. The number of
+gentlemen engaged in the learned professions is steadily decreasing; the
+traffic on Irish railways and the returns are steadily decreasing; the
+live stock in cattle, which was to have supplied and compensated for the
+live stock in men, is fearfully decreasing; the imports and exports are
+steadily decreasing. The decrease in cultivated lands, from 1862 to
+1863, amounted to 138,841 acres.
+
+While the Preface to the Second Edition was passing through the press,
+my attention was called to an article, in the _Pall Mall Gazette_, on
+the Right Rev. Dr. Manning's Letter to Earl Grey. The writer of this
+article strongly recommends his Grace to publish a new edition of his
+Letter, omitting the last sixteen pages. We have been advised, also, to
+issue a new edition of our HISTORY, to omit the Preface, and any remarks
+or facts that might tend to show that the Irish tenant was not the
+happiest and most contented being in God's creation.
+
+The _Pall Mall Gazette_ argues--if, indeed, mere assertion can be called
+argument--first, "that Dr. Manning has obviously never examined the
+subject for himself, but takes his ideas and beliefs from the universal
+statements of angry and ignorant sufferers whom he has met in England,
+or from intemperate and utterly untrustworthy party speeches and
+pamphlets, whose assertions he receives as gospel;" yet Dr. Manning has
+given statements of facts, and the writer has not attempted to disprove
+them. Second, he says: "Dr. Manning echoes the thoughtless complaints of
+those who cry out against emigration as a great evil and a grievous
+wrong, when he might have known, if he had thought or inquired at all
+about the matter, not only that this emigration has been the greatest
+conceivable blessing to the emigrants, but was an absolutely
+indispensable step towards improving the condition of those who remained
+at home;" and then the old calumnies are resuscitated about the Irish
+being "obstinately idle and wilfully improvident," as if it had not been
+proved again and again that the only ground on which such appellations
+can be applied to them in Ireland is, that their obstinacy consists in
+objecting to work without fair remuneration for their labour, and their
+improvidence in declining to labour for the benefit of their masters. It
+is the old story, "you are idle, you are idle,"--it is the old demand,
+"make bricks without straw,"--and then, by way of climax, we are assured
+that these "poor creatures" are assisted to emigrate with the tenderest
+consideration, and that, in fact, emigration is a boon for which they
+are grateful.
+
+It is quite true that many landlords pay their tenants to emigrate, and
+send persons to see them safe out of the country; but it is absolutely
+false that the people emigrate willingly. No one who has witnessed the
+departure of emigrants dare make such an assertion. They are offered
+their choice between starvation and emigration, and they emigrate. If a
+man were offered his choice between penal servitude and hanging, it is
+probable he would prefer penal servitude, but that would not make him
+appreciate the joys of prison life. The Irish parish priest alone can
+tell what the Irish suffer at home, and how unwillingly they go abroad.
+A pamphlet has just been published on this very subject, by the Very
+Rev. P. Malone, P.P., V.F., of Belmullet, co. Mayo, and in this he says:
+"I have _seen_ the son, standing upon the deck of the emigrant ship,
+divest himself of his only coat, and place it upon his father's
+shoulders, saying, 'Father, take you this; I will soon earn the price of
+a coat in the land I am going to.'" Such instances, which might be
+recorded by the hundred, and the amount of money sent to Ireland by
+emigrants for the support of aged parents, and to pay the passage out of
+younger members of the family, are the best refutation of the old
+falsehood that Irishmen are either idle or improvident.
+
+
+
+
+AN
+
+ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF IRELAND.
+
+
+[Illustration: IRISH HISTORY.]
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+Celtic Literature--Antiquity of our Annals--Moore--How we should
+estimate Tradition--The Materials for Irish History--List of the Lost
+Books--The Cuilmenn--The Saltair of Tara, &c.--The Saltair of
+Cashel--Important MSS. preserved in Trinity College--By the Royal Irish
+Academy--In Belgium.
+
+
+The study of Celtic literature, which is daily becoming of increased
+importance to the philologist, has proved a matter of no inconsiderable
+value to the Irish historian. When Moore visited O'Curry, and found him
+surrounded with such works as the _Books of Ballymote and Lecain_, the
+_Speckled Book_, the _Annals of the Four Masters_, and other treasures
+of Gaedhilic lore, he turned to Dr. Petrie, and exclaimed: "These large
+tomes could not have been written by fools or for any foolish purpose. I
+never knew anything about them before, and I had no right to have
+undertaken the _History of Ireland_." His publishers, who had less
+scruples, or more utilitarian views, insisted on the completion of his
+task. Whatever their motives may have been, we may thank them for the
+result. Though Moore's history cannot now be quoted as an authority, it
+accomplished its work for the time, and promoted an interest in the
+history of one of the most ancient nations of the human race.
+
+There are two sources from whence the early history of a nation may be
+safely derived: the first internal--the self-consciousness of the
+individual; the second external--the knowledge of its existence by
+others--the _ego sum_ and the _tu es_; and our acceptance of the
+statements of each on _matters of fact_, should depend on their mutual
+agreement.
+
+The first question, then, for the historian should be, What accounts
+does this nation give of its early history? the second, What account of
+this nation's early history can be obtained _ab extra_? By stating and
+comparing these accounts with such critical acumen as the writer may be
+able to command, we may obtain something approaching to authentic
+history. The history of ancient peoples must have its basis on
+tradition. The name tradition unfortunately gives an _a priori_
+impression of untruthfulness, and hence the difficulty of accepting
+tradition as an element of truth in historic research. But tradition is
+not necessarily either a pure myth or a falsified account of facts. The
+traditions of a nation are like an aged man's recollection of his
+childhood, and should be treated as such. If we would know his early
+history, we let him tell the tale in his own fashion. It may be he will
+dwell long upon occurrences interesting to himself, and apart from the
+object of our inquiries; it may be he will equivocate unintentionally if
+cross-examined in detail; but truth will underlie his garrulous story,
+and by patient analysis we may sift it out, and obtain the information
+we desire.
+
+A nation does not begin to write its history at the first moment of its
+existence. Hence, when the chronicle is compiled which first embodies
+its story, tradition forms the basis. None but an inspired historian can
+commence _In principio_. The nation has passed through several
+generations, the people already begin to talk of "old times;" but as
+they are nearer these "old times" by some thousands of years than we
+are, they are only burdened with the traditions of a few centuries at
+the most; and unless there is evidence of a wilful object or intent to
+falsify their chronicles, we may in the main depend on their accuracy.
+Let us see how this applies to Gaedhilic history. The labours of the
+late lamented Eugene O'Curry have made this an easy task. He took to his
+work a critical acumen not often attained by the self-educated, and a
+noble patriotism not often maintained by the gifted scions of a country
+whose people and whose literature have been alike trodden down and
+despised for centuries. The result of his researches is embodied in a
+work[1] which should be in the hands of every student of Irish history,
+and of every Irishman who can afford to procure it. This volume proves
+that the _early_ history of Ireland has yet to be written; that it
+should be a work of magnitude, and undertaken by one gifted with special
+qualifications, which the present writer certainly does not possess; and
+that it will probably require many years of patient labour from the
+"host of Erinn's sons," before the necessary materials for such a
+history can be prepared.
+
+The manuscript materials for ancient Irish history may be divided into
+two classes: the historical, which purports to be a narrative of facts,
+in which we include books of laws, genealogies, and pedigrees; and the
+legendary, comprising tales, poems, and legends. The latter, though not
+necessarily true, are generally founded on fact, and contain a mass of
+most important information, regarding the ancient customs and manner of
+life among our ancestors. For the present we must devote our attention
+to the historical documents. These, again, may be divided into two
+classes--the lost books and those which still remain. Of the former
+class the principal are the CUILMENN, _i.e._, the great book written on
+skins; the SALTAIR OF TARA; the BOOK OF THE UACHONGBHAIL (pron. "ooa
+cong-wall"); the CIN DROMA SNECHTA; and the SALTAIR OF CASHEL. Besides
+these, a host of works are lost, of lesser importance as far as we can
+now judge, which, if preserved, might have thrown a flood of light not
+only upon our annals, but also on the social, historical, and
+ethnographic condition of other countries. The principal works which
+have been preserved are: the ANNALS OF TIGHERNACH (pron. "Teernagh");
+the ANNALS OF ULSTER; the ANNALS OF INIS MAC NERINN; the ANNALS OF
+INNISFALLEN; the ANNALS OF BOYLE; the CHRONICUM SCOTORUM, so ably edited
+by Mr. Hennessy; the world-famous ANNALS OF THE FOUR MASTERS; the BOOK
+OF LEINSTER; the BOOK OF LAWS (the Brehon Laws), now edited by Dr. Todd,
+and many books of genealogies and pedigrees.
+
+For the present it must suffice to say, that these documents have been
+examined by the ordinary rules of literary criticism, perhaps with more
+than ordinary care, and that the result has been to place their
+authenticity and their antiquity beyond cavil.
+
+Let us see, then, what statements we can find which may throw light on
+our early history, first in the fragments that remain of the lost books,
+and then in those which are still preserved.
+
+The CUILMENN is the first of the lost books which we mentioned. It is
+thus referred to in the Book of Leinster:[2] "The _files_ [bards] of
+Erinn were now called together by _Senchan Torpeist_ [about A.D. 580],
+to know if they remembered the _Tain bo Chuailgne_ in full; and they
+said that they knew of it but fragments only. Senchan then spoke to his
+pupils to know which of them would go into the countries of _Letha_ to
+learn the _Tain_ which the _Sai_ had taken 'eastwards' after the
+_Cuilmenn_. Emine, the grandson of Ninine, and Muirgen, Senchan's own
+son, set out to go to the East."
+
+Here we have simply an indication of the existence of this ancient work,
+and of the fact that in the earliest, if not in pre-Christian times,
+Irish manuscripts travelled to the Continent with Irish scholars--Letha
+being the name by which Italy, and especially what are now called the
+Papal States, was then designated by Irish writers.
+
+The SALTAIR OF TARA next claims our attention; and we may safely affirm,
+merely judging from the fragments which remain, that a nation which
+could produce such a work had attained no ordinary pitch of civilization
+and literary culture. The Book of Ballymote,[3] and the Yellow Book of
+Lecan,[4] attribute this work to Cormac Mac Art: "A noble work was
+performed by Cormac at that time, namely, the compilation of Cormac's
+Saltair, which was composed by him and the Seanchaidhe [Historians] of
+Erinn, including Fintan, son of Bochra, and Fithil, the poet and judge.
+And their synchronisms and genealogies, the succession of their kings
+and monarchs, their battles, their contests, and their antiquities, from
+the world's beginning down to that time, were written; and this is the
+Saltair of Temair [pron. "Tara," almost as it is called now], which is
+the origin and fountain of the Historians of Erinn from that period down
+to this time. This is taken from the Book of the Uachongbhail."[5]
+
+As we shall speak of Cormac's reign and noble qualities in detail at a
+later period, it is only necessary to record here that his panegyric, as
+king, warrior, judge, and philosopher, has been pronounced by almost
+contemporary writers, as well as by those of later date. The name
+_Saltair_ has been objected to as more likely to denote a composition of
+Christian times. This objection, however, is easily removed: first, the
+name was probably applied after the appellation had been introduced in
+Christian times; second, we have no reason to suppose that King Cormac
+designated his noble work by this name; and third, even could this be
+proven, the much maligned Keating removes any difficulty by the simple
+and obvious remark, that "it is because of its having been written in
+poetic metre, the chief book which was in the custody of the _Ollamh_ of
+the King of Erinn, was called the _Saltair of Temair;_ and the Chronicle
+of holy Cormac Mac Cullinan, _Saltair of Cashel;_ and the Chronicle of
+Aengus _Ceile De_ [the Culdee], _Saltair-na-Rann_ [that is, Saltair of
+the Poems or Verses], because a Salm and a Poem are the same, and
+therefore a _Salterium_ and a _Duanaire_ [book of poems] are the
+same."[6]
+
+[Illustration: SITE OF TARA.]
+
+The oldest reference to this famous compilation is found in a poem on
+the site of ancient Tara, by Cuan O'Lochain, a distinguished scholar,
+and native of Westmeath, who died in the year 1024. The quotation given
+below is taken from the Book of Ballymote, a magnificent volume,
+compiled in the year 1391, now in possession of the Royal Irish
+Academy:--
+
+    Temair, choicest of hills,
+    For [possession of] which Erinn is now devastated,[7]
+    The noble city of Cormac, son of Art,
+    Who was the son of great Conn of the hundred battles:
+    Cormac, the prudent and good,
+    Was a sage, a file [poet], a prince:
+    Was a righteous judge of the Fene-men,[8]
+    Was a good friend and companion.
+    Cormac gained fifty battles:
+    He compiled the Saltair of Temur.
+    In that Saltair is contained
+    The best summary of history;
+    It is that Saltair which assigns
+    Seven chief kings to Erinn of harbours;
+    They consisted of the five kings of the provinces,--
+    The Monarch of Erinn and his Deputy.
+    In it are (written) on either side,
+    What each provincial king is entitled to,
+    From the king of each great musical province.
+    The synchronisms and chronology of all,
+    The kings, with each other [one with another] all;
+    The boundaries of each brave province,
+    From a cantred up to a great chieftaincy.
+
+From this valuable extract we obtain a clear idea of the importance and
+the subject of the famous Saltair, and a not less clear knowledge of the
+admirable legal and social institutions by which Erinn was then
+governed.
+
+The CIN OF DROM SNECHTA is quoted in the Book of Ballymote, in support
+of the ancient legend of the antediluvian occupation of Erinn by the
+Lady _Banbha_, called in other books Cesair (pron. "kesar"). The Book of
+Lecan quotes it for the same purpose, and also for the genealogies of
+the chieftains of the ancient Rudrician race of Ulster. Keating gives
+the descent of the Milesian colonists from Magog, the son of Japhet, on
+the authority of the Cin of Drom Snechta, which, he states, was compiled
+before St. Patrick's mission to Erinn.[9] We must conclude this part of
+our subject with a curious extract from the same work, taken from the
+Book of Leinster: "From the Cin of Drom Snechta, this below. Historians
+say that there were exiles of Hebrew women in Erinn at the coming of the
+sons of Milesius, who had been driven by a sea tempest into the ocean by
+the Tirren Sea. They were in Erinn before the sons of Milesius. They
+said, however, to the sons of Milesius [who, it would appear, pressed
+marriage on them], that they preferred their own country, and that they
+would not abandon it without receiving dowry for alliance with them. It
+is from this circumstance that it is the men that purchase wives in
+Erinn for ever, whilst it is the husbands that are purchased by the
+wives throughout the world besides."[10] The SALTAIR OF CASHEL was
+compiled by Cormac Mac Cullinan King of Munster, and Archbishop of
+Cashel. He was killed in the year 903. This loss of the work is most
+painful to the student of the early history of Erinn. It is believed
+that the ancient compilation known as Cormac's Glossary, was compiled
+from the interlined gloss to the Saltair; and the references therein to
+our ancient history, laws, mythology, and social customs, are such as to
+indicate the richness of the mine of ancient lore. A copy was in
+existence in 1454, as there is in the Bodleian Library in Oxford (Laud,
+610) a copy of such portions as could be deciphered at the time. This
+copy was made by Shane O'Clery for Mac Richard Butler.
+
+The subjoined list of the lost books is taken from O'Curry's _MS.
+Materials_, page 20. It may be useful to the philologist and interesting
+to our own people, as a proof of the devotion to learning so early
+manifested in Erinn:--
+
+     "In the first place must be enumerated again the _Cuilmenn_; the
+     Saltair of Tara; the _Cin Droma Snechta;_ the Book of St. Mochta;
+     the Book of _Cuana_; the Book of _Dubhdaleithe_; and the Saltair of
+     Cashel. Besides these we find mention of the _Leabhar buidhe
+     Slaine_ or Yellow Book of Slane; the original _Leabhar na
+     h-Uidhre;_ the Books of _Eochaidh O'Flannagain_; a certain book
+     known as the Book eaten by the poor people in the desert; the Book
+     of _Inis an Duin_; the Short Book of St. Buithe's Monastery (or
+     Monasterboice); the Books of Flann of the same Monastery; the Book
+     of Flann of _Dungeimhin_ (Dungiven, co. Derry); the Book of _Dun da
+     Leth Ghlas_ (or Downpatrick); the Book of _Doire_ (Derry); the Book
+     of _Sabhall Phatraic_ (or Saull, co. Down); the Book of the
+     _Uachongbhail_ (Navan, probably); the _Leabhar dubh Molaga_, or
+     Black Book of St. Molaga; the _Leabhar buidhe Moling_, or Yellow
+     Book of St. Moling; the _Leabhar buidhe Mhic Murchadha_, or Yellow
+     Book of Mac Murrach; the _Leabhar Arda Macha_, or Book of Armagh
+     (quoted by Keating); the _Leabhar ruadh Mhic Aedhagain_, or Red
+     Book of Mac Aegan; the _Leabhar breac Mhic Aedhagain_, or Speckled
+     Book of Mac Aegan; the _Leabhar fada Leithghlinne_, or Long Book of
+     Leithghlinn, or Leithlin; the Books of O'Scoba of _Cluain Mic Nois_
+     (or Clonmacnois); the _Duil Droma Ceata_, or Book of Drom Ceat; and
+     the Book of Clonsost (in Leix, in the Queen's County)."
+
+[Illustration: (A) MS. in the "_Domhnach Airgid,_" [R.I.A.] (temp. St.
+Patrick, circa A.D. 430.)]
+
+[Illustration: (B) MS. in the "_Cathach_," (6th century MS attributed to
+St. Colum Cille)]
+
+Happily, however, a valuable collection of ancient MSS. are still
+preserved, despite the "drowning" of the Danes, and the "burning" of the
+Saxon. The researches of continental scholars are adding daily to our
+store; and the hundreds of Celtic MSS., so long entombed in the
+libraries of Belgium and Italy, will, when published, throw additional
+light upon the brightness of the past, and, it may be, enhance the
+glories of the future, which we must believe are still in reserve for
+the island of saints and sages.[11]
+
+The list of works given above are supposed by O'Curry to have existed
+anterior to the year 1100. Of the books which Keating refers to in his
+History, written about 1630, only one is known to be extant--the
+_Saltair-na-Rann_, written by Aengus Ceile De.
+
+The principal Celtic MSS. which are still preserved to us, may be
+consulted in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, and in the Library
+of the Royal Irish Academy. The latter, though founded at a much later
+period, is by far the more extensive, if not the more important,
+collection. Perhaps, few countries have been so happy as to possess a
+body of men so devoted to its archaeology, so ardent in their
+preservation of all that can be found to illustrate it, and so capable
+of elucidating its history by their erudition, which, severally and
+collectively, they have brought to bear on every department of its
+ethnology. The collection in Trinity College consists of more than 140
+volumes, several of them are vellum,[12] dating from the early part of
+the twelfth to the middle of the last century. The collection of the
+Royal Irish Academy also contains several works written on vellum, with
+treatises of history, science, laws, and commerce; there are also many
+theological and ecclesiastical compositions, which have been pronounced
+by competent authorities to be written in the purest style that the
+ancient Gaedhilic language ever attained. There are also a considerable
+number of translations from Greek, Latin, and other languages. These are
+of considerable importance, as they enable the critical student of our
+language to determine the meaning of many obscure or obsolete words or
+phrases, by reference to the originals; nor are they of less value as
+indicating the high state of literary culture which prevailed in Ireland
+during the early Christian and the Middle Ages. Poetry, mythology,
+history, and the classic literature of Greece and Rome, may be found
+amongst these translations; so that, as O'Curry well remarks, "any one
+well read in the comparatively few existing fragments of our Gaedhilic
+literature, and whose education had been confined solely to this source,
+would find that there are but very few, indeed, of the great events in
+the history of the world with which he was not acquainted."[13] He then
+mentions, by way of illustration of classical subjects, Celtic versions
+of the Argonautic Expedition, the Siege of Troy, the Life of Alexander
+the Great; and of such subjects as cannot be classed under this head,
+the Destruction of Jerusalem; the Wars of Charlemagne, including the
+History of Roland the Brave; the History of the Lombards, and the almost
+contemporary translation of the Travels of Marco Polo.
+
+There is also a large collection of MSS. in the British Museum, a few
+volumes in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, besides the well-known,
+though inaccessible, Stowe collection.[14]
+
+The treasures of Celtic literature still preserved on the Continent, can
+only be briefly mentioned here. It is probable that the active
+researches of philologists will exhume many more of these long-hidden
+volumes, and obtain for our race the place it has always deserved in the
+history of nations.
+
+The Louvain collection, formed chiefly by Fathers Hugh Ward, John
+Colgan, and Michael O'Clery, between the years 1620 and 1640, was widely
+scattered at the French Revolution. The most valuable portion is in the
+College of St. Isidore in Rome. The Burgundian Library at Brussels also
+possesses many of these treasures. A valuable resume of the MSS. which
+are preserved there was given by Mr. Bindon, and printed in the
+Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy in the year 1847. There are also
+many Latin MSS. with Irish glosses, which have been largely used by
+Zeuss in his world-famed _Grammatica Celtica_. The date of one of
+these--a codex containing some of Venerable Bede's works--is fixed by an
+entry of the death of Aed, King of Ireland, in the year 817. This most
+important work belonged to the Irish monastery of Reichenau, and is now
+preserved at Carlsruhe. A codex is also preserved at Cambray, which
+contains a fragment of an Irish sermon, and the canons of an Irish
+council held A.D. 684.
+
+
+[Illustration: DOORWAY OF CLONMACNOIS.]
+
+[Illustration: CLONMACNOIS.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] _Work._--_Lectures on the MS. Materials of Ancient Irish History_.
+This work was published at the sole cost of the Catholic University of
+Ireland, and will be an eternal monument of their patriotism and
+devotion to literature. A chair of Irish History and Archaeology was also
+founded at the very commencement of the University; and yet the "Queen's
+Colleges" are discarding this study, while an English professor in
+Oxford is warmly advocating its promotion. Is the value of a chair to be
+estimated by the number of pupils who surround it, or by the
+contributions to science of the professor who holds it?
+
+[2] _Leinster._--Book of Leinster, H.2.18, T.C.D. See O'Curry, p. 8.
+
+[3] _Ballymote._--Library R.I.A., at fol. 145, a.a.
+
+[4] _Lecan._--Trinity College, Dublin, classed H.2.16.
+
+[5] _Uachongbhail_.--O'Curry's _MS. Materials_, p. 11.
+
+[6] _Same_.--Ibid. p. 12. The Psalms derived their name from the musical
+instrument to which they were sung. This was called in Hebrew _nebel_.
+It obtained the name from its resemblance to a bottle or flagon.
+Psaltery is the Greek translation, and hence the name psalm.
+
+[7] _Devastated_.--This was probably written in the year 1001, when
+Brian Boroimhe had deposed Malachy.
+
+[8] _Fene-men_.--The farmers, who were not Fenians then certainly, for
+"Cormac was a righteous judge of the _Agraria Lex_ of the Gaels."
+
+[9] _Erinn._--Keating says: "We will set down here the branching off of
+the races of Magog, according to the Book of Invasions (of Ireland),
+which was called the Cin of Drom Snechta; and it was before the coming
+of Patrick to Ireland the author of that book existed."--See Keating,
+page 109, in O'Connor's translation. It is most unfortunate that this
+devoted priest and ardent lover of his country did not bring the
+critical acumen to his work which would have made its veracity
+unquestionable. He tells us that it is "the business of his history to
+be particular," and speaks of having "faithfully collected and
+transcribed." But until recent investigations manifested the real
+antiquity and value of the MS. Materials of Ancient Irish History, his
+work was looked on as a mere collection of legends. The quotation at
+present under consideration is a case in point. He must have had a copy
+of the Cin of Drom Snechta in his possession, and he must have known who
+was the author of the original, as he states so distinctly the time of
+its compilation. Keating's accuracy in matters of fact and
+transcription, however, is daily becoming more apparent. This statement
+might have been considered a mere conjecture of his own, had not Mr.
+O'Curry discovered the name of the author in a partially effaced
+memorandum in the Book of Leinster, which he reads thus: "[Ernin, son
+of] Duach [that is], son of the King of Connacht, an _Ollamh_, and a
+prophet, and a professor in history, and a professor in wisdom: it was
+he that collected the Genealogies and Histories of the men of Erinn in
+one book, that is, the _Cin Droma Snechta_." Duach was the son of Brian,
+son of the monarch _Eochaidh_, who died A.D. 305.
+
+[10] _Besides._--O'Curry, page 16.
+
+[11] _Sages._--M. Nigra, the Italian Ambassador at Paris, is at this
+moment engaged in publishing continental MSS.
+
+[12] _Vellum._--The use of vellum is an indication that the MSS. must be
+of some antiquity. The word "paper" is derived from _papyrus_, the most
+ancient material for writing, if we except the rocks used for runes, or
+the wood for oghams. Papyrus, the pith of a reed, was used until the
+discovery of parchment, about 190 B.C. A MS. of the _Antiquities of
+Josephus_ on papyrus, was among the treasures seized by Buonaparte in
+Italy.
+
+[13] _Acquainted_.--O'Curry's _MS. Materials_, page 24.
+
+[14] _Collection_.-A recent writer in the _Cornhill_ says that Lord
+Ashburnham refuses access to this collection, now in his possession,
+fearing that its contents may be depreciated so as to lessen its value
+at a future sale. We should hope this statement can scarcely be
+accurate. Unhappily, it is at least certain that access to the MSS. is
+denied, from whatever motive.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+Tighernach and his Annals--Erudition and Research of our Early
+Writers--The Chronicum Scotorum--Duald Mac Firbis--Murdered, and _his_
+Murderer is protected by the Penal Laws--The Annals of the Four
+Masters--Michael O'Clery--His Devotion to his
+Country--Ward--_Colgan_--Dedication of the Annals--The Book of
+Invasions--Proofs of our Early Colonization.
+
+
+Our illustration can give but a faint idea of the magnificence and
+extent of the ancient abbey of Clonmacnois, the home of our famous
+annalist, Tighernach. It has been well observed, that no more ancient
+chronicler can be produced by the northern nations. Nestor, the father
+of Russian history, died in 1113; Snorro, the father of Icelandic
+history, did not appear until a century later; Kadlubeck, the first
+historian of Poland, died in 1223; and Stierman could not discover a
+scrap of writing in all Sweden older than 1159. Indeed, he may be
+compared favourably even with the British historians, who can by no
+means boast of such ancient pedigrees as the genealogists of Erinn.[15]
+Tighernach was of the Murray-race of Connacht; of his personal history
+little is known. His death is noted in the _Chronicum Scotorum_, where
+he is styled successor (_comharba_) of St. Ciaran and St. Coman. The
+Annals of Innisfallen state that he was interred at Clonmacnois. Perhaps
+his body was borne to its burial through the very doorway which still
+remains, of which we gave an illustration at the end of the last
+chapter.
+
+The writers of history and genealogy in early ages, usually commenced
+with the sons of Noah, if not with the first man of the human race. The
+Celtic historians are no exceptions to the general rule; and long before
+Tighernach wrote, the custom had obtained in Erinn. His chronicle was
+necessarily compiled from more ancient sources, but its fame rests upon
+the extraordinary erudition which he brought to bear upon every subject.
+Flann, who was contemporary with Tighernach, and a professor of St.
+Buithe's monastery (Monasterboice), is also famous for his Synchronisms,
+which form an admirable abridgment of universal history. He appears to
+have devoted himself specially to genealogies and pedigrees, while
+Tighernach took a wider range of literary research. His learning was
+undoubtedly most extensive. He quotes Eusebius, Orosius, Africanus,
+Bede, Josephus, Saint Jerome, and many other historical writers, and
+sometimes compares their statements on points in which they exhibit
+discrepancies, and afterwards endeavours to reconcile their conflicting
+testimony, and to correct the chronological errors of the writers by
+comparison with the dates given by others. He also collates the Hebrew
+text with the Septuagint version of the Scriptures. He uses the common
+era, though we have no reason to believe that this was done by the
+writers who immediately preceded him. He also mentions the lunar cycle,
+and uses the dominical letter with the kalends of several years.[16]
+
+Another writer, _Gilla Caemhain_, was also contemporary with Flann and
+Tighernach. He gives the "annals of all time," from the beginning of the
+world to his own period; and computes the second period from the
+Creation to the Deluge; from the Deluge to Abraham; from Abraham to
+David; from David to the Babylonian Captivity, &c. He also synchronizes
+the eastern monarchs with each other, and afterwards with the Firbolgs
+and Tuatha De Danann of Erinn,[17] and subsequently with the Milesians.
+Flann synchronizes the chiefs of various lines of the children of Adam
+in the East, and points out what monarchs of the Assyrians, Medes,
+Persians, and Greeks, and what Roman emperors were contemporary with the
+kings of Erinn, and the leaders of its various early colonies. He begins
+with Ninus, son of Belus, and comes down to Julius Caesar, who was
+contemporary with _Eochaidh Feidhlech_, an Irish king, who died more
+than half a century before the Christian era. The synchronism is then
+continued from Julius Caesar and _Eochaidh_ to the Roman emperors
+Theodosius the Third and Leo the Third; they were contemporaries with
+the Irish monarch Ferghal, who was killed A.D. 718.
+
+The ANNALS and MSS. which serve to illustrate our history, are so
+numerous, that it would be impossible, with one or two exceptions, to do
+more than indicate their existence, and to draw attention to the weight
+which such an accumulation of authority must give to the authenticity of
+our early history. But there are two of these works which we cannot pass
+unnoticed: the CHRONICUM SCOTORUM and the ANNALS OF THE FOUR MASTERS.
+
+The Chronicum Scotorum was compiled by Duald Mac Firbis. He was of royal
+race, and descended from _Dathi_, the last pagan monarch of Erinn. His
+family were professional and hereditary historians, genealogists, and
+poets,[18] and held an ancestral property at Lecain Mac Firbis, in the
+county Sligo, until Cromwell and his troopers desolated Celtic homes,
+and murdered the Celtic dwellers, often in cold blood. The young Mac
+Firbis was educated for his profession in a school of law and history
+taught by the Mac Egans of Lecain, in Ormonde. He also studied (about
+A.D. 1595) at Burren, in the county Clare, in the literary and legal
+school of the O'Davorens. His pedigrees of the ancient Irish and the
+Anglo-Norman families, was compiled at the College of St. Nicholas, in
+Galway, in the year 1650. It may interest some of our readers to peruse
+the title of this work, although its length would certainly horrify a
+modern publisher:--
+
+"The Branches of Relationship and the Genealogical Ramifications of
+every Colony that took possession of Erinn, traced from this time up to
+Adam (excepting only those of the Fomorians, Lochlanns, and Saxon-Gaels,
+of whom we, however, treat, as they have settled in our country);
+together with a Sanctilogium, and a Catalogue of the Monarchs of Erinn;
+and, finally, an Index, which comprises, in alphabetical order, the
+surnames and the remarkable places mentioned in this work, which was
+compiled by _Dubhaltach Mac Firbhisigh_ of Lecain, 1650." He also gives,
+as was then usual, the "place, time, author, and cause of writing the
+work." The "cause" was "to increase the glory of God, and for the
+information of the people in general;" a beautiful and most true epitome
+of the motives which inspired the penmen of Erinn from the first
+introduction of Christianity, and produced the "countless host" of her
+noble historiographers.
+
+Mac Firbis was murdered[19] in the year 1670, at an advanced age; and
+thus departed the last and not the least distinguished of our long line
+of poet-historians. Mac Firbis was a voluminous writer. Unfortunately
+some of his treatises have been lost;[20] but the CHRONICUM SCOTORUM is
+more than sufficient to establish his literary reputation.
+
+The ANNALS OF THE FOUR MASTERS demand a larger notice, as unquestionably
+one of the most remarkable works on record. It forms the last link
+between the ancient and modern history of Ireland; a link worthy of the
+past, and, we dare add, it shall be also worthy of the future. It is a
+proof of what great and noble deeds may be accomplished under the most
+adverse circumstances, and one of the many, if not one of the most,
+triumphant denials of the often-repeated charges of indolence made
+against the mendicant orders, and of aversion to learning made against
+religious orders in general. Nor is it a less brilliant proof that
+intellectual gifts may be cultivated and are fostered in the cloister;
+and that a patriot's heart may burn as ardently, and love of country
+prove as powerful a motive, beneath the cowl or the veil, as beneath the
+helmet or the coif.
+
+Michael O'Clery, the chief of the Four Masters, was a friar of the order
+of St. Francis. He was born at Kilbarron, near Ballyshannon, county
+Donegal, in the year 1580, and was educated principally in the south of
+Ireland, which was then more celebrated for its academies than the
+north. The date of his entrance into the Franciscan order is not known,
+neither is it known why he,
+
+    "Once the heir of bardic honours,"
+
+became a simple lay-brother. In the year 1627 he travelled through
+Ireland collecting materials for Father Hugh Ward, also a Franciscan
+friar, and Guardian of the convent of St. Antony at Louvain, who was
+preparing a series of Lives of Irish Saints. When Father Ward died, the
+project was taken up and partially carried out by Father John Colgan.
+His first work, the _Trias Thaumaturgus_, contains the lives of St.
+Patrick, St. Brigid, and St. Columba. The second volume contains the
+lives of Irish saints whose festivals occur from the 1st of January to
+the 31st of March; and here, unfortunately, alike for the hagiographer
+and the antiquarian, the work ceased. It is probable that the idea of
+saving--
+
+          "The old memorials
+    Of the noble and the holy,
+    Of the chiefs of ancient lineage,
+    Of the saints of wondrous virtues;
+    Of the Ollamhs and the Brehons,
+    Of the bards and of the betaghs,"[21]
+
+occurred to him while he was collecting materials for Father Ward. His
+own account is grand in its simplicity, and beautiful as indicating that
+the deep passion for country and for literature had but enhanced the yet
+deeper passion which found its culminating point in the dedication of
+his life to God in the poor order of St. Francis. In the troubled and
+disturbed state of Ireland, he had some difficulty in securing a patron.
+At last one was found who could appreciate intellect, love of country,
+and true religion. Although it is almost apart from our immediate
+subject, we cannot refrain giving an extract from the dedication to this
+prince, whose name should be immortalized with that of the friar patriot
+and historian:--
+
+"I, Michael _O'Clerigh_, a poor friar of the Order of St. Francis (after
+having been for ten years transcribing every old material that I found
+concerning the saints of Ireland, observing obedience to each provincial
+that was in Ireland successively), have come before you, O noble
+_Fearghal_ O'Gara. I have calculated on your honour that it seemed to
+you a cause of pity and regret, grief and sorrow (for the glory of God
+and the honour of Ireland), how much the race of Gaedhil, the son of
+Niul, have passed under a cloud and darkness, without a knowledge or
+record of the obit of saint or virgin, archbishop, bishop, abbot, or
+other noble dignitary of the Church, or king or of prince, of lord or of
+chieftain, [or] of the synchronism of connexion of the one with the
+other." He then explains how he collected the materials for his work,
+adding, alas! most truly, that should it not be accomplished then, "they
+would not again be found to be put on record to the end of the world."
+He thanks the prince for giving "the reward of their labour to the
+chroniclers," and simply observes, that "it was the friars of the
+convent of Donegal who supplied them with food and attendance." With
+characteristic humility he gives his patron the credit of all the "good
+which will result from this book, in giving light to all in general;"
+and concludes thus:--
+
+"On the twenty-second day of the month of January, A.D. 1632, this book
+was commenced in the convent of Dun-na-ngall, and, it was finished in
+the same convent on the tenth day of August, 1636, the eleventh year of
+the reign of our king Charles over England, France, Alba, and over
+_Eire_."
+
+There were "giants in those days;" and one scarcely knows whether to
+admire most the liberality of the prince, the devotion of the friars of
+Donegal, who "gave food and attendance" to their literary brother, and
+thus had their share in perpetuating their country's fame, or the gentle
+humility of the great Brother Michael.
+
+It is unnecessary to make any observation on the value and importance of
+the Annals of the Four Masters. The work has been edited with
+extraordinary care and erudition by Dr. O'Donovan, and published by an
+Irish house. We must now return to the object for which this brief
+mention of the MS. materials of Irish history has been made, by showing
+on what points other historians coincide in their accounts of our first
+colonists, of their language, customs, and laws; and secondly, how far
+the accounts which may be obtained _ab extra_ agree with the statements
+of our own annalists. The _Book of Invasions_, which was rewritten and
+"purified" by brother Michael O'Clery, gives us in a few brief lines an
+epitome of our history as recorded by the ancient chroniclers of
+Erinn:--
+
+"The sum of the matters to be found in the following book, is the taking
+of Erinn by [the Lady] _Ceasair;_ the taking by _Partholan;_ the taking
+by _Nemedh;_ the taking by the Firbolgs; the taking by the _Tuatha De
+Danann;_ the taking by the sons of _Miledh_ [or Miletius]; and their
+succession down to the monarch _Melsheachlainn_, or Malachy the Great
+[who died in 1022]." Here we have six distinct "takings," invasions, or
+colonizations of Ireland in pre-Christian times.
+
+It may startle some of our readers to find any mention of Irish history
+"before the Flood," but we think the burden of proof, to use a logical
+term, lies rather with those who doubt the possibility, than with those
+who accept as tradition, and as _possibly_ true, the statements which
+have been transmitted for centuries by careful hands. There can be no
+doubt that a high degree of cultivation, and considerable advancement in
+science, had been attained by the more immediate descendants of our
+first parents. Navigation and commerce existed, and Ireland may have
+been colonized. The sons of Noah must have remembered and preserved the
+traditions of their ancestors, and transmitted them to their
+descendants. Hence, it depended on the relative anxiety of these
+descendants to preserve the history of the world before the Flood, how
+much posterity should know of it. MacFirbis thus answers the objections
+of those who, even in his day, questioned the possibility of preserving
+such records:--"If there be any one who shall ask who preserved the
+history [_Seanchus_], let him know that they were very ancient and
+long-lived old men, recording elders of great age, whom God permitted to
+preserve and hand down the history of Erinn, in books, in succession,
+one after another, from the Deluge to the time of St. Patrick."
+
+The artificial state of society in our own age, has probably acted
+disadvantageously on our literary researches, if not on our moral
+character. Civilization is a relative arbitrary term; and the ancestors
+whom we are pleased to term uncivilized, may have possessed as high a
+degree of mental culture as ourselves, though it unquestionably differed
+in kind. Job wrote his epic poem in a state of society which we should
+probably term uncultivated; and when Lamech gave utterance to the most
+ancient and the saddest of human lyrics, the world was in its infancy,
+and it would appear as if the first artificer in "brass and iron" had
+only helped to make homicide more easy. We can scarce deny that murder,
+cruel injustice, and the worst forms of inhumanity, are but too common
+in countries which boast of no ordinary refinement; and we should
+hesitate ere we condemn any state of society as uncivilized, simply
+because we find such crimes in the pages of their history.
+
+The question of the early, if not pre-Noahacian colonization of Ireland,
+though distinctly asserted in our annals, has been met with the ready
+scepticism which men so freely use to cover ignorance or indifference.
+It has been taken for granted that the dispersion, after the confusion
+of tongues at Babel, was the first dispersion of the human race; but it
+has been overlooked that, on the lowest computation, a number of
+centuries equal, if not exceeding, those of the Christian era, elapsed
+between the Creation of man and the Flood; that men had "multiplied
+exceedingly upon the earth;" and that the age of stone had already given
+place to that of brass and iron, which, no doubt, facilitated commerce
+and colonization, even at this early period of the world's history. The
+discovery of works of art, of however primitive a character, in the
+drifts of France and England, indicates an early colonization. The
+rudely-fashioned harpoon of deer's horn found beside the gigantic whale,
+in the alluvium of the carse near the base of Dummyat, twenty feet above
+the highest tide of the nearest estuary, and the tusk of the mastodon
+lying alongside fragments of pottery in a deposit of the peat and sands
+of the post-pliocene beds in South Carolina, are by no means solitary
+examples. Like the night torch of the gentle Guanahane savage, which
+Columbus saw as he gazed wearily from his vessel, looking, even after
+sunset, for the long hoped-for shore, and which told him that his desire
+was at last consummated, those indications of man, associated with the
+gigantic animals of a geological age, of whose antiquity there can be no
+question, speak to our hearts strange tales of the long past, and of the
+early dispersion and progressive distribution of a race created to
+"increase and multiply."
+
+The question of transit has also been raised as a difficulty by those
+who doubt our early colonization. But this would seem easily removed. It
+is more than probable that, at the period of which we write, Britain, if
+not Ireland, formed part of the European continent; but were it not so,
+we have proof, even in the present day, that screw propellers and iron
+cast vessels are not necessary for safety in distant voyages, since the
+present aboriginal vessels of the Pacific will weather a storm in which
+a _Great Eastern_ or a _London_ might founder hopelessly.
+
+Let us conclude an apology for our antiquity, if not a proof of it, in
+the words of our last poet historian:--
+
+     "We believe that henceforth no wise person will be found who will
+     not acknowledge that it is possible to bring the genealogies of the
+     Gaedhils to their origin, to Noah and to Adam; and if he does not
+     believe that, may he not believe that he himself is the son of his
+     own father. For there is no error in the genealogical history, but
+     as it was left from father to son in succession, one after another.
+
+     "Surely every one believes the Divine Scriptures, which give a
+     similar genealogy to the men of the world, from Adam down to
+     Noah;[22] and the genealogy of Christ and of the holy fathers, as
+     may be seen in the Church [writings]. Let him believe this, or let
+     him deny God. And if he does believe this, why should he not
+     believe another history, of which there has been truthful
+     preservation, like the history of Erinn? I say truthful
+     preservation, for it is not only that they [the preservers of it]
+     were very numerous, as we said, preserving the same, but there was
+     an order and a law with them and upon them, out of which they could
+     not, without great injury, tell lies or falsehoods, as may be seen
+     in the Books of _Fenechas_ [Law], of _Fodhla_ [Erinn], and in the
+     degrees of the poets themselves, their order, and their laws."[23]
+
+[Illustration: BEREHAVEN]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[15] _Erinn_.--O'Curry, page 57. It has also been remarked, that there
+is no nation in possession of such ancient chronicles written in what is
+still the language of its people.
+
+[16] _Years_.--See O'Curry, _passim_.
+
+[17] _Erinn_.--_Eire_ is the correct form for the nominative. Erinn is
+the genitive, but too long in use to admit of alteration. The ordinary
+name of Ireland, in the oldest Irish MSS., is (h)Erin, gen. (h)Erenn,
+dat. (h)Erinn; but the initial _h_ is often omitted. See Max Mueller's
+Lectures for an interesting note on this subject, to which we shall
+again refer.
+
+[18] _Poets_.--The _Book of Lecain_ was written in 1416, by an ancestor
+of Mac Firbis. Usher had it for some time in his possession; James II.
+carried it to Paris, and deposited it in the Irish College in the
+presence of a notary and witnesses. In 1787, the Chevalier O'Reilly
+procured its restoration to Ireland; and it passed eventually from
+Vallancey to the Royal Irish Academy, where it is now carefully
+preserved.
+
+[19] _Murdered_.--The circumstances of the murder are unhappily
+characteristic of the times. The Celtic race was under the ban of penal
+laws for adherence to the faith of their fathers. The murderer was free.
+As the old historian travelled to Dublin, he rested at a shop in
+Dunflin. A young man came in and took liberties with the young woman who
+had care of the shop. She tried to check him, by saying that he would be
+seen by the gentleman in the next room. In a moment he seized a knife
+from the counter, and plunged it into the breast of Mac Firbis. There
+was no "justice for Ireland" then, and, of course, the miscreant escaped
+the punishment he too well deserved.
+
+[20] _Lost_.--He was also employed by Sir James Ware to translate for
+him, and appears to have resided in his house in Castle-street, Dublin,
+just before his death.
+
+[21] _Betaghs_.--Poems, by D.F. Mac Carthy.
+
+[22] _Noah_.--This is a clear argument. The names of pre-Noahacian
+patriarchs must have been preserved by tradition, with their date of
+succession and history. Why should not other genealogies have been
+preserved in a similar manner, and _even the names of individuals_
+transmitted to posterity?
+
+[23] _Laws_.--MacFirbis. Apud O'Curry, p. 219.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+First Colonists--The Landing of Ceasair, before the Flood--Landing of
+Partholan, after the Flood, at Inver Scene--Arrival of Nemedh--The
+Fomorians--Emigration of the Nemenians--The Firbolgs--Division of
+Ireland by the Firbolg Chiefs--The Tuatha De Dananns--Their Skill as
+Artificers--Nuada of the Silver Hand--The Warriors Sreng and Breas--The
+Satire of Cairbre--Termination of the Fomorian Dynasty.
+
+[A.M. 1599.]
+
+
+We shall, then, commence our history with such accounts as we can find
+in our annals of the pre-Christian colonization of Erinn. The legends of
+the discovery and inhabitation of Ireland before the Flood, are too
+purely mythical to demand serious notice. But as the most ancient MSS.
+agree in their account of this immigration, we may not pass it over
+without brief mention.
+
+The account in the _Chronicum Scotorum_ runs thus:--
+
+"Kal. v.f.l. 10. Anno mundi 1599.
+
+"In this year the daughter of one of the Greeks came to Hibernia, whose
+name was h-Erui, or Berba, or Cesar, and fifty maidens and three men
+with her. Ladhra was their conductor, who was the first that was buried
+in Hibernia."[24] The Cin of Drom Snechta is quoted in the Book of
+Ballymote as authority for the same tradition.[25] The Book of Invasions
+also mentions this account as derived from ancient sources. MacFirbis,
+in the Book of Genealogies, says: "I shall devote the first book to
+Partholan, who first took possession of Erinn after the Deluge, devoting
+the beginning of it to the coming of the Lady Ceasair," &c. And the
+Annals of the Four Masters: "Forty days before the Deluge, Ceasair came
+to Ireland with fifty girls and three men--Bith, Ladhra, and Fintain
+their names."[26] All authorities agree that Partholan was the first who
+colonized Ireland after the Flood. His arrival is stated in the
+Chronicum Scotorum to have taken place "in the sixtieth year of the age
+of Abraham."[27] The Four Masters say: "The age of the world, when
+Partholan came into Ireland, 2520 years."[28]
+
+Partholan landed at Inver[29] Scene, now the Kenmare river, accompanied
+by his sons, their wives, and a thousand followers. His antecedents are
+by no means the most creditable; and we may, perhaps, feel some
+satisfaction, that a colony thus founded should have been totally swept
+away by pestilence a few hundred years after its establishment.
+
+The Chronicum Scotorum gives the date of his landing thus: "On a Monday,
+the 14th of May, he arrived, his companions being eight in number, viz.,
+four men and four women." If the kingdom of Desmond were as rich then as
+now in natural beauty, a scene of no ordinary splendour must have
+greeted the eyes and gladdened the hearts of its first inhabitants. They
+had voyaged past the fair and sunny isles of that "tideless sea," the
+home of the Phoenician race from the earliest ages. They had escaped the
+dangers of the rough Spanish coast, and gazed upon the spot where the
+Pillars of Hercules were the beacons of the early mariners. For many
+days they had lost sight of land, and, we may believe, had well-nigh
+despaired of finding a home in that far isle, to which some strange
+impulse had attracted them, or some old tradition--for the world even
+then was old enough for legends of the past--had won their thoughts. But
+there was a cry of land. The billows dashed in wildly, then as now, from
+the coasts of an undiscovered world, and left the same line of white
+foam upon Eire's western coast. The magnificent _Inver_ rolled its tide
+of beauty between gentle hills and sunny slopes, till it reached what
+now is appropriately called Kenmare. The distant Reeks showed their
+clear summits in sharp outline, pointing to the summer sky. The
+long-backed Mangerton and quaintly-crested Carn Tual were there also;
+and, perchance, the Roughty and the Finihe sent their little streams to
+swell the noble river bay. But it was no time for dreams, though the
+Celt in all ages has proved the sweetest of dreamers, the truest of
+bards. These men have rough work to do, and, it may be, gave but scant
+thought to the beauties of the western isle, and scant thanks to their
+gods for escape from peril. Plains were to be cleared, forests cut down,
+and the red deer and giant elk driven to deeper recesses in the
+well-wooded country.
+
+Several lakes are said to have sprung forth at that period; but it is
+more probable that they already existed, and were then for the first
+time seen by human eye. The plains which Partholan's people cleared are
+also mentioned, and then we find the ever-returning obituary:--
+
+"The age of the world 2550, Partholan died on Sean Mhagh-Ealta-Edair in
+this year."[30]
+
+The name of Tallaght still remains, like the peak of a submerged world,
+to indicate this colonization, and its fatal termination. Some very
+ancient tumuli may still be seen there. The name signifies a place where
+a number of persons who died of the plague were interred together; and
+here the Annals of the Four Masters tells us that nine thousand of
+Partholan's people died in one week, after they had been three hundred
+years in Ireland.[31]
+
+The third "taking" of Ireland was that of Nemedh. He came, according to
+the Annals,[32] A.M. 2859, and erected forts and cleared plains, as his
+predecessors had done. His people were also afflicted by plague, and
+appeared to have had occupation enough to bury their dead, and to fight
+with the "Fomorians in general," an unpleasantly pugilistic race, who,
+according to the Annals of Clonmacnois, "were a sept descended from
+Cham, the sonne of Noeh, and lived by pyracie and spoile of other
+nations, and were in those days very troublesome to the whole
+world."[33] The few Nemedians who escaped alive after their great battle
+with the Fomorians, fled into the interior of the island. Three bands
+were said to have emigrated with their respective captains. One party
+wandered into the north of Europe, and are believed to have been the
+progenitors of the Tuatha De Dananns; others made their way to Greece,
+where they were enslaved, and obtained the name of Firbolgs, or bagmen,
+from the leathern bags which they were compelled to carry; and the third
+section sought refuge in the north of England, which is said to have
+obtained its name of Briton from their leader, Briotan Maol.[34]
+
+The fourth immigration is that of the Firbolgs; and it is remarkable how
+early the love of country is manifested in the Irish race, since we find
+those who once inhabited its green plains still anxious to return,
+whether their emigration proved prosperous, as to the Tuatha De Dananns,
+or painful, as to the Firbolgs.
+
+According to the _Annals of Clonmacnois, Keating_, and the
+_Leabhar-Gabhala_, the Firbolgs divided the island into five provinces,
+governed by five brothers, the sons of Dela Mac Loich:--"Slane, the
+eldest brother, had the province of Leynster for his part, which
+containeth from Inver Colpe, that is to say, where the river Boyne
+entereth into the sea, now called in Irish Drogheda, to the meeting of
+the three waters, by Waterford, where the three rivers, Suyre, Ffeoir,
+and Barrow, do meet and run together into the sea. Gann, the second
+brother's part, was South Munster, which is a province extending from
+that place to Bealagh-Conglaissey. Seangann, the third brother's part,
+was from Bealagh-Conglaissey to Rossedahaileagh, now called Limbriche,
+which is in the province of North Munster. Geanaun, the fourth brother,
+had the province of Connacht, containing from Limerick to Easroe. Rorye,
+the fifth brother, and youngest, had from Easroe aforesaid to Inver
+Colpe, which is in the province of Ulster."[35]
+
+The Firbolg chiefs had landed in different parts of the island, but they
+soon met at the once famous Tara, where they united their forces. To
+this place they gave the name of _Druim Cain_, or the Beautiful
+Eminence.
+
+The fifth, or Tuatha De Danann "taking" of Ireland, occurred in the
+reign of Eochaidh, son of Erc, A.M. 3303. The Firbolgian dynasty was
+terminated at the battle of _Magh Tuireadh_. Eochaidh fled from the
+battle, and was killed on the strand of Traigh Eothaile, near
+Ballysadare, co. Sligo. The cave where he was interred still exists, and
+there is a curious tradition that the tide can never cover it.
+
+The Tuatha De Danann king, Nuada, lost his hand in this battle, and
+obtained the name of Nuada of the Silver Hand,[36] his artificer, Credne
+Cert, having made a silver hand for him with joints. It is probable the
+latter acquisition was the work of Mioch, the son of Diancecht, Nuada's
+physician, as there is a tradition that he "took off the hand and
+infused feeling and motion into every joint and finger of it, as if it
+were a natural hand." We may doubt the "feeling," but it was probably
+suggested by the "motion," and the fact that, in those ages, every act
+of more than ordinary skill was attributed to supernatural causes,
+though effected through human agents. Perhaps even, in the enlightened
+nineteenth century, we might not be much the worse for the pious belief,
+less the pagan cause to which it was attributed. It should be observed
+here, that the Brehon Laws were probably then in force; for the
+"blemish" of the monarch appears to have deprived him of his dignity, at
+least until the silver hand could satisfy for the defective limb. The
+Four Masters tell us briefly that the Tuatha De Dananns gave the
+sovereignty to Breas, son of Ealathan, "while the hand of Nuada was
+under cure," and mentions that Breas resigned the kingdom to him in the
+seventh year after the cure of his hand.
+
+A more detailed account of this affair may be found in one of our
+ancient historic tales, of the class called _Catha_ or _Battles_, which
+Professor O'Curry pronounces to be "almost the earliest event upon the
+record of which we may place sure reliance."[37] It would appear that
+there were two battles between the Firbolgs and Tuatha De Dananns, and
+that, in the last of these, Nuada was slain. According to this ancient
+tract, when the Firbolg king heard of the arrival of the invaders, he
+sent a warrior named Sreng to reconnoitre their camp. The Tuatha De
+Dananns were as skilled in war as in magic; they had sentinels carefully
+posted, and their _videttes_ were as much on the alert as a Wellington
+or a Napier could desire. The champion Breas was sent forward to meet
+the stranger. As they approached, each raised his shield, and cautiously
+surveyed his opponent from above the protecting aegis. Breas was the
+first to speak. The mother-tongue was as dear then as now, and Sreng was
+charmed to hear himself addressed in his own language, which, equally
+dear to the exiled Nemedian chiefs, had been preserved by them in their
+long wanderings through northern Europe. An examination of each others
+armour next took place. Sreng was armed with "two heavy, thick,
+pointless, but sharply rounded spears;" while Breas carried "two
+beautifully shaped, thin, slender, long, sharp-pointed spears."[38]
+Perhaps the one bore a spear of the same class of heavy flint weapons of
+which we give an illustration, and the other the lighter and more
+graceful sword, of which many specimens may be seen in the collection of
+the Royal Irish Academy. Breas then proposed that they should divide the
+island between the two parties; and after exchanging spears and promises
+of mutual friendship, each returned to his own camp.
+
+[Illustration: FLINT SPEAR-HEAD, FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE R.I.A.] The
+Firbolg king, however, objected to this arrangement; and it was decided,
+in a council of war, to give battle to the invaders. The Tuatha De
+Dananns were prepared for this from the account which Breas gave of the
+Firbolg warriors: they, therefore, abandoned their camp, and took up a
+strong position on Mount Belgadan, at the west end of _Magh Nia_, a site
+near the present village of Cong, co. Mayo.
+
+The Firbolgs marched from Tara to meet them; but Nuada, anxious for
+pacific arrangements, opened new negociations with King Eochaidh through
+the medium of his bards. The battle which has been mentioned before then
+followed. The warrior Breas, who ruled during the disability of Nuada,
+was by no means popular. He was not hospitable, a _sine qua non_ for
+king or chief from the earliest ages of Celtic being; he did not love
+the bards, for the same race ever cherished and honoured learning; and
+he attempted to enslave the nobles. Discontent came to a climax when the
+bard Cairbre, son of the poetess Etan, visited the royal court, and was
+sent to a dark chamber, without fire or bed, and, for all royal fare,
+served with three small cakes of bread. If we wish to know the true
+history of a people, to understand the causes of its sorrows and its
+joys, to estimate its worth, and to know how to rule it wisely and well,
+let us read such old-world tales carefully, and ponder them well. Even
+if prejudice or ignorance should induce us to undervalue their worth as
+authentic records of its ancient history, let us remember the undeniable
+fact, that they _are_ authentic records of its deepest national
+feelings, and let them, at least, have their weight as such in our
+schemes of social economy, for the present and the future.
+
+The poet left the court next morning, but not until he pronounced a
+bitter and withering satire on the king--the first satire that had ever
+been pronounced in Erinn. It was enough. Strange effects are attributed
+to the satire of a poet in those olden times; but probably they could,
+in all cases, bear the simple and obvious interpretation, that he on
+whom the satire was pronounced was thereby disgraced eternally before
+his people. For how slight a punishment would bodily suffering or
+deformity be, in comparison to the mental suffering of which a
+quick-souled people are eminently capable!
+
+Breas was called on to resign. He did so with the worst possible grace,
+as might be expected from such a character. His father, Elatha, was a
+Fomorian sea-king or pirate, and he repaired to his court. His reception
+was not such as he had expected; he therefore went to Balor of the Evil
+Eye,[39] a Fomorian chief. The two warriors collected a vast army and
+navy, and formed a bridge of ships and boats from the Hebrides to the
+north-west coast of Erinn. Having landed their forces, they marched to a
+plain in the barony of Tirerrill (co. Sligo), where they waited an
+attack or surrender of the Tuatha De Danann army. But the magical skill,
+or, more correctly, the superior abilities of this people, proved them
+more than equal to the occasion. The chronicler gives a quaint and most
+interesting account of the Tuatha De Danann arrangements. Probably the
+Crimean campaign, despite our nineteenth century advancements in the art
+of war, was not prepared for more carefully, or carried out more
+efficiently.
+
+Nuada called a "privy council," if we may use the modern term for the
+ancient act, and obtained the advice of the great Daghda; of Lug, the
+son of Cian, son of Diancecht, the famous physician; and of Ogma
+Grian-Aineach (of the sun-like face). But Daghda and Lug were evidently
+secretaries of state for the home and war departments, and arranged
+these intricate affairs with perhaps more honour to their master, and
+more credit to the nation, than many a modern and "civilized" statesman.
+They summoned to their presence the heads of each department necessary
+for carrying on the war. Each department was therefore carefully
+pre-organized, in such a manner as to make success almost certain, and
+to obtain every possible succour and help from those engaged in the
+combat, or those who had suffered from it. The "smiths" were prepared to
+make and to mend the swords, the surgeons to heal or staunch the wounds,
+the bards and druids to praise or blame; and each knew his work, and
+what was expected from the department which he headed before the battle,
+for the questions put to each, and their replies, are on record.
+
+Pardon me. You will say I have written a romance, a legend, for the
+benefit of my country[40]--a history of what might have been, of what
+should be, at least in modern warfare, and, alas! often is not. Pardon
+me. The copy of the tracts from which I have compiled this meagre
+narrative, is in existence, and in the British Museum. It was written on
+vellum, about the year 1460, by Gilla-Riabhach O'Clery; but there is
+unquestionable authority for its having existed at a much earlier
+period. It is quoted by Cormac Mac Cullinan in his Glossary, in
+illustration of the word _Nes_, and Cormac was King of Munster in the
+year of grace 885, while his Glossary was compiled to explain words
+which had then become obsolete. This narrative must, therefore, be of
+great antiquity. If we cannot accept it as a picture of the period, in
+the main authentic, let us give up all ancient history as a myth; if we
+do accept it, let us acknowledge that a people who possessed such
+officials had attained a high state of intellectual culture, and that
+their memory demands at least the homage of our respect.
+
+The plain on which this battle was fought, retains the name of the Plain
+of the Towers (or Pillars) of the Fomorians, and some very curious
+sepulchral monuments may still be seen on the ancient field.
+
+In those days, as in the so-called middle ages, ladies exercised their
+skill in the healing art; and we find honorable mention made of the Lady
+Ochtriuil, who assisted the chief physician (her father) and his sons in
+healing the wounds of the Tuatha De Danann heroes. These warriors have
+also left many evidences of their existence in raths and monumental
+pillars.[41] It is probable, also, that much that has been attributed to
+the Danes, of right belongs to the Dananns, and that a confusion of
+names has promoted a confusion of appropriation. Before we turn to the
+Milesian immigration, the last colonization of the old country, let us
+inquire what was known and said of it, and of its people, by foreign
+writers.
+
+[Illustration: CAVITY, CONTAINING OVAL BASIN. NEW GRANGE.]
+
+[Illustration: THE SEVEN CASTLES OF CLONMINES]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[24] _Hibernia_.--Chronicum Scotorum, p. 3.
+
+[25] _Tradition_.--O'Curry, p. 13.
+
+[26] _Names_.--Four Masters, O'Donovan, p. 3.
+
+[27] _Abraham.--_Chronicum Scotorum, p. 5.
+
+[28] _Years_.--Four Masters, p. 5.
+
+[29] _Inver.--Inver_ and _A[=b] er_ have been used as test words in
+discriminating between the Gaedhilic and Cymric Celts. The etymology and
+meaning is the same--a meeting of waters. Inver, the Erse and Gaedhilic
+form, is common in Ireland, and in those parts of Scotland where the
+Gael encroached on the Cymry. See _Words and Places_, p. 259, for
+interesting observations on this subject.
+
+[30] _Year_.--Annals, p. 7.
+
+[31] _Ireland._--Ib. p. 9.
+
+[32] _Annals._--Ib. I. p. 9.
+
+[33] _World_.--See Conell MacGeoghegan's Translation of the Annals of
+Clonmacnois, quoted by O'Donovan, p. 11.
+
+[34] _Maol_.--The Teutonic languages afford no explanation of the name
+of Britain, though it is inhabited by a Teutonic race. It is probable,
+therefore, that they adopted an ethnic appellation of the former
+inhabitants. This may have been patronymic, or, perhaps, a Celtic prefix
+with the Euskarian suffix _etan_, a district or country. See _Words and
+Places_, p. 60.
+
+[35] _Ulster_.--Neither the Annals nor the Chronicum give these
+divisions; the above is from the Annals of Clonmacnois. There is a poem
+in the Book of Lecain, at folio 277, b., by MacLiag, on the Firbolg
+colonies, which is quoted as having been taken from their own account of
+themselves; and another on the same subject at 278, a.
+
+[36] _Hand_.--Four Masters, p. 17.
+
+[37] _Reliance_.--O'Curry, p. 243.
+
+[38] _Spears_.--O'Curry, p. 245.
+
+[39] _Eye_.--There is a curious note by Dr. O'Donovan (Annals, p. 18)
+about this Balor. The tradition of his deeds and enchantments is still
+preserved in Tory Island, one of the many evidences of the value of
+tradition, and of the many proofs that it usually overlies a strata of
+facts.
+
+[40] _Country_.--We find the following passages in a work purporting to
+be a history of Ireland, recently published: "It would be throwing away
+time to examine critically _fables_ like those contained in the present
+and following chapter." The subjects of those chapters are the
+colonization of Partholan, of the Nemedians, Fomorians, Tuatha De
+Dananns, and Milesians, the building of the palace of Emania, the reign
+of Cairbre, Tuathal, and last, not least, the death of Dathi. And these
+are "fables"! The writer then calmly informs us that the period at which
+they were "invented, extended probably from the tenth to the twelfth
+century." Certainly, the "inventors" were men of no ordinary talent, and
+deserve some commendation for their inventive faculties. But on this
+subject we shall say more hereafter. At last the writer arrives at the
+"first ages of Christianity." We hoped that here at least he might have
+granted us a history; but he writes: "The history of early Christianity
+in Ireland is obscure and doubtful, precisely in proportion as it is
+unusually copious. If legends enter largely into the civil history of
+the country, they found their way tenfold into the history of the
+Church, because there the tendency to believe in them was much greater,
+as well as the inducement to invent and adopt them." The "inventors" of
+the pre-Christian history of Ireland, who accomplished their task "from
+the tenth to the twelfth century," are certainly complimented at the
+expense of the saints who Christianized Ireland. This writer seems to
+doubt the existence of St. Patrick, and has "many doubts" as to the
+authenticity of the life of St. Columba. We should not have noticed this
+work had we not reason to know that it has circulated largely amongst
+the middle and lower classes, who may be grievously misled by its very
+insidious statements. It is obviously written for the sake of making a
+book to sell; and the writer has the honesty to say plainly, that he
+merely gives the early history of Ireland, pagan and Christian, because
+he could not well write a history of Ireland and omit this portion of
+it!
+
+[41] _Pillars_.--The monuments ascribed to the Tuatha De Dananns are
+principally situated in Meath, at Drogheda, Dowlet, Knowth, and New
+Grange. There are others at Cnoc-Aine and Cnoc-Greine, co. Limerick, and
+on the Pap Mountains, co. Kerry.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+The Scythians Colonists--Testimony of Josephus--Magog and his
+Colony--Statements of our Annals confirmed by a Jewish Writer--By
+Herodotus--Nennius relates what is told by the "Most Learned of the
+Scoti"--Phoenician Circumnavigation of Africa--Phoenician Colonization
+of Spain--Iberus and Himerus--Traditions of Partholan--Early
+Geographical Accounts of Ireland--Early Social Accounts of Ireland.
+
+
+The writer of the article on Ireland, in Rees' Cyclopaedia, says: "It
+does not appear improbable, much less absurd, to suppose that the
+Phoenicians might have colonized Ireland at an early period, and
+introduced their laws, customs, and knowledge, with a comparatively high
+state of civilization; and that these might have been gradually lost
+amidst the disturbances of the country, and, at last, completely
+destroyed by the irruptions of the Ostmen." Of this assertion, which is
+now scarcely doubted, there is abundant proof; and it is remarkable that
+Josephus[42] attributes to the Phoenicians a special care in preserving
+their annals above that of other civilized nations, and that this
+feeling has existed, and still exists, more vividly in the Celtic race
+than in any other European people.
+
+The Irish annalists claim a descent from the Scythians, who, they say,
+are descended from Magog, the son of Japhet, the son of Noah. Keating
+says: "We will set down here the branching off of the race of Magog,
+according to the Book of Invasions (of Ireland), which was called the
+Cin of Drom Snechta."[43] It will be remembered how curiously O'Curry
+verified Keating's statement as to the authorship of this work,[44] so
+that his testimony may be received with respect. In the Scripture
+genealogy, the sons of Magog are not enumerated; but an historian, who
+cannot be suspected of any design of assisting the Celts to build up a
+pedigree, has happily supplied the deficiency. Josephus writes:[45]
+"Magog led out a colony, which from him were named Magoges, but by the
+Greeks called Scythians." But Keating specifies the precise title of
+Scythians, from which the Irish Celts are descended. He says they had
+established themselves in remote ages on the borders of the Red Sea, at
+the town of Chiroth; that they were expelled by the grandson of that
+Pharaoh who had been drowned in the Red Sea; and that he persecuted them
+because they had supplied the Israelites with provisions.
+
+This statement is singularly and most conclusively confirmed by Rabbi
+Simon, who wrote two hundred years before the birth of Christ. He says
+that certain Canaanites near the Red Sea gave provisions to the
+Israelites; "and because these Canaan ships gave Israel of their
+provisions, God would not destroy their ships, but with an east wind
+carried them down the Red Sea."[46] This colony settled in what was
+subsequently called Phoenicia; and here again our traditions are
+confirmed _ab extra_, for Herodotus says: "The Phoenicians anciently
+dwelt, as they allege, on the borders of the Red Sea."[47]
+
+It is not known at what time this ancient nation obtained the specific
+appellation of Phoenician. The word is not found in Hebrew brew copies
+of the Scriptures, but is used in the Machabees, the original of which
+is in Greek, and in the New Testament. According to Grecian historians,
+it was derived from Phoenix, one of their kings and brother of Cadmus,
+the inventor of letters. It is remarkable that our annals mention a king
+named Phenius, who devoted himself especially to the study of languages,
+and composed an alphabet and the elements of grammar. Our historians
+describe the wanderings of the Phoenicians, whom they still designate
+Scythians, much as they are described by other writers. The account of
+their route may differ in detail, but the main incidents coincide.
+Nennius, an English chronicler, who wrote in the seventh century, from
+the oral testimony of trustworthy Irish Celts, gives corroborative
+testimony. He writes thus: "If any one would be anxious to learn how
+long Ireland was uninhabited and deserted, he shall hear it, as the most
+learned of the Scots have related it to me.[48] When the children of
+Israel came to the Red Sea, the Egyptians pursued them and were drowned,
+as the Scripture records. In the time of Moses there was a Scythian
+noble who had been banished from his kingdom, and dwelt in Egypt with a
+large family. He was there when the Egyptians were drowned, but he did
+not join in the persecution of the Lord's people. Those who survived
+laid plans to banish him, lest he should assume the government, because
+their brethren were drowned in the Red Sea; so he was expelled. He
+wandered through Africa for forty-two years, and passed by the lake of
+Salinae to the altars of the Philistines, and between Rusicada and the
+mountains Azure, and he came by the river Mulon, and by sea to the
+Pillars of Hercules, and through the Tuscan Sea, and he made for Spain,
+and dwelt there many years, and he increased and multiplied, and his
+people were multiplied."
+
+Herodotus gives an account of the circumnavigation of Africa by the
+Phoenicians, which may have some coincidence with this narrative. His
+only reason for rejecting the tradition, which he relates at length, is
+that he could not conceive how these navigators could have seen the sun
+in a position contrary to that in which it is seen in Europe. The
+expression of his doubt is a strong confirmation of the truth of his
+narrative, which, however, is generally believed by modern writers.[49]
+
+This navigation was performed about seven centuries before the Christian
+era, and is, at least, a proof that the maritime power of the
+Phoenicians was established at an early period, and that it was not
+impossible for them to have extended their enterprises to Ireland. The
+traditions of our people may also be confirmed from other sources.
+Solinus writes thus: "In the gulf of Boatica there is an island, distant
+some hundred paces from the mainland, which the Tyrians, who came from
+the Red Sea, called Erythroea, and the Carthaginians, in their language,
+denominate Gadir, i.e., the enclosure."
+
+Spanish historians add their testimony, and claim the Phoenicians as
+their principal colonizers. The _Hispania Illustrata_, a rare and
+valuable work, on which no less than sixty writers were engaged, fixes
+the date of the colonization of Spain by the Phoenicians at 764 A.C. De
+Bellegarde says: "The first of whom mention is made in history is
+Hercules, the Phoenician, by some called Melchant." It is alleged that
+he lived in the time of Moses, and that he retired into Spain when the
+Israelites entered the land of promise. This will be consistent with old
+accounts, if faith can be placed in the inscription of two columns,
+which were found in the province of Tingitane, at the time of the
+historian Procopius.[50] A Portuguese historian, Emanuel de Faria y
+Sousa, mentions the sailing of Gatelus from Egypt, with his whole
+family, and names his two sons, Iberus and Himerus, the first of whom,
+he says, "some will have to have sailed into Ireland, and given the name
+Hibernia to it."
+
+Indeed, so strong has been the concurrent testimony of a Phoenician
+colonization of Ireland from Spain, and this by independent authorities,
+who could not have had access to our bardic histories, and who had no
+motive, even had they known of their existence, to write in confirmation
+of them, that those who have maintained the theory of a Gaulish
+colonization of Ireland, have been obliged to make Spain the point of
+embarkation.
+
+There is a curious treatise on the antiquities and origin of Cambridge,
+in which it is stated, that, in the year of the world 4321, a British
+prince, the son of Gulguntius, or Gurmund, having crossed over to
+Denmark, to enforce tribute from a Danish king, was returning victorious
+off the Orcades, when he encountered thirty ships, full of men and
+women. On his inquiring into the object of their voyage, their leader,
+_Partholyan_, made an appeal to his good-nature, and entreated from the
+prince some small portion of land in Britain, as his crew were weary of
+sailing over the ocean. Being informed that he came from Spain, the
+British prince received him under his protection, and assigned faithful
+guides to attend him into Ireland, which was then wholly uninhabited;
+and he granted it to them, subject to an annual tribute, and confirmed
+the appointment of Partholyan as their chief.[51]
+
+This account was so firmly believed in England, that it is specially set
+forth in an Irish act (11th of Queen Elizabeth) among the "auncient and
+sundry strong authentique tytles for the kings of England to this land
+of Ireland." The tradition may have been obtained from Irish sources,
+and was probably "improved" and accommodated to fortify the Saxon claim,
+by the addition of the pretended grant; but it is certainly evidence of
+the early belief in the Milesian colonization of Ireland, and the name
+of their leader.
+
+The earliest references to Ireland by foreign writers are, as might be
+expected, of a contradictory character. Plutarch affirms that Calypso
+was "an island five days' sail to the west of Britain," which, at least,
+indicates his knowledge of the existence of Erinn. Orpheus is the first
+writer who definitely names Ireland. In the imaginary route which he
+prescribes for Jason and the Argonauts, he names Ireland (Iernis), and
+describes its woody surface and its misty atmosphere. All authorities
+are agreed that this poem[52] was written five hundred years before
+Christ; and all doubt as to whether Iernis meant the present island of
+Ireland must be removed, at least to an unprejudiced inquirer, by a
+careful examination of the route which is described, and the position of
+the island in that route.
+
+The early history of a country which has been so long and so cruelly
+oppressed, both civilly and morally, has naturally fallen into
+disrepute. We do not like to display the qualifications of one whom we
+have deeply injured. It is, at least, less disgraceful to have forbidden
+a literature to a people who had none, than to have banned and barred
+the use of a most ancient language,--to have destroyed the annals of a
+most ancient people. In self-defence, the conqueror who knows not how to
+triumph nobly will triumph basely, and the victims may, in time, almost
+forget what it has been the policy of centuries to conceal from them.
+But ours is, in many respects, an age of historical justice, and truth
+will triumph in the end. It is no longer necessary to England's present
+greatness to deny the facts of history; and it is one of its most patent
+facts that Albion was unknown, or, at least, that her existence was
+unrecorded, at a time when Ireland is mentioned with respect as the
+Sacred Isle, and the Ogygia[53] of the Greeks.
+
+As might be expected, descriptions of the social state of ancient Erinn
+are of the most contradictory character; but there is a remarkable
+coincidence in all accounts of the physical geography of the island. The
+moist climate, the fertile soil, the richly-wooded plains, the navigable
+rivers, and the abundance of its fish,[54] are each and all mentioned by
+the early geographers. The description given by Diodorus Siculus of a
+"certain large island a considerable distance out at sea, and in the
+direction of the west, many days' sail from Lybia," if it applies to
+Ireland, would make us suppose that the Erinn of pagan times was
+incomparably more prosperous than Erinn under Christian rule. He also
+specially mentions the fish, and adds: "The Phoenicians, from the very
+remotest times, made repeated voyages thither for purposes of
+commerce."[55]
+
+The descriptions of our social state are by no means so flattering; but
+it is remarkable, and, perhaps, explanatory, that the most unfavourable
+accounts are the more modern ones. All without the pale of Roman
+civilization were considered "barbarians," and the epithet was freely
+applied. Indeed, it is well known that, when Cicero had a special object
+in view, he could describe the Celtae of Gaul as the vilest monsters,
+and the hereditary enemies of the gods, for whose wickedness
+extermination was the only remedy. As to the "gods" there is no doubt
+that the Druidic worship was opposed to the more sensual paganism of
+Greece and Rome, and, therefore, would be considered eminently
+irreligious by the votaries of the latter.
+
+The most serious social charge against the Irish Celts, is that of being
+anthropophagi; and the statement of St. Jerome, that he had seen two
+Scoti in Gaul feeding on a human carcass, has been claimed as strong
+corroboration of the assertions of pagan writers. As the good father was
+often vehement in his statements and impulsive in his opinions, he may
+possibly have been mistaken, or, perhaps, purposely misled by those who
+wished to give him an unfavourable impression of the Irish. It is
+scarcely possible that they could have been cannibal as a nation, since
+St. Patrick never even alludes to such a custom in his _Confessio_,[56]
+where it would, undoubtedly, have been mentioned and reproved, had it
+existence.
+
+[Illustration: CROSS AT GLENDALOUGH, CO. WICKLOW.]
+
+[Illustration: CROMLECH AT DUNMORE, WATERFORD.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[42] _Josephus_.--Con. Apionem, lib. i.
+
+[43] _Snechta_.--O'Curry, p. 14.
+
+[44] _Work_--See ante, p. 43.
+
+[45] _Writes_.--Josephus, lib. i. c. 6. Most of the authorities in this
+chapter are taken from the Essay on the ancient history, religion,
+learning, arts, and government of Ireland, by the late W. D'Alton. The
+Essay obtained a prize of L80 and the Cunningham Gold Medal from the
+Royal Irish Academy. It is published in volume xvi. of the Transactions,
+and is a repertory of learning of immense value to the student of Irish
+history.
+
+[46] _Sea_.--Lib. Zoar, p. 87, as cited by Vallancey, and Parson's
+Defence, &c., p. 205.
+
+[47] _Sea_.--Herodotus, l. vii. c. 89.
+
+[48] _Me_.--"Sic mihi peritissimi Scotorum nunciaverunt." The reader
+will remember that the Irish were called Scots, although the appellative
+of Ierins or Ierne continued to be given to the country from the days of
+Orpheus to those of Claudius. By Roman writers Ireland was more usually
+termed Hibernia. Juvenal calls it Juverna.
+
+[49] _Writers_.--The circumnavigation of Africa by a Phoenician ship, in
+the reign of Neco, about 610 B.C., is credited by Humboldt, Rennell,
+Heeren, Grote, and Rawlinson. Of their voyages to Cornwall for tin there
+is no question, and it is more than probable they sailed to the Baltic
+for amber. It has been even supposed that they anticipated Columbus in
+the discovery of America. Niebuhr connects the primitive astronomy of
+Europe with that of America, and, therefore, must suppose the latter
+country to have been discovered.--_Hist. of Rome_, vol. i. p. 281. This,
+however, is very vague ground of conjecture; the tide of knowledge, as
+well as emigration, was more probably eastward.
+
+[50] _Procopius.--Hist. Gen. d'Espagne_, vol. i.c.l. p.4.
+
+[51] _Chief.--De Antiq. et Orig. Cantab_. See D'Alton's _Essay_, p. 24,
+for other authorities.
+
+[52] _Poem_.--There has been question of the author, but none as to the
+authenticity and the probable date of compilation.
+
+[53] _Ogygia_.--Camden writes thus: "Nor can any one conceive why they
+should call it Ogygia, unless, perhaps, from its antiquity; for the
+Greeks called nothing Ogygia unless what was extremely ancient."
+
+[54] _Fish_.--And it still continues to be a national article of
+consumption and export. In a recent debate on the "Irish question," an
+honorable member observes, that he regrets to say "fish" is the only
+thing which appears to be flourishing in Ireland. We fear, however,
+from the report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons on the
+question of Irish sea-coast fisheries, that the poor fishermen are not
+prospering as well as the fish. Mr. Hart stated: "Fish was as plenty as
+ever; but numbers of the fishermen had died during the famine, others
+emigrated, and many of those who remained were unable, from want of
+means, to follow the pursuit." And yet these men are honest; for it has
+been declared before the same committee, that they have scrupulously
+repaid the loans which were given them formerly; and they are willing to
+work, for when they can get boats and nets, _they do work_. These are
+facts. Shakspeare has said that facts are "stubborn things;" they are,
+certainly, sometimes very unpleasant things. Yet, we are told, the Irish
+have no real grievances. Of course, starvation from want of work is not
+a grievance!
+
+Within the few months which have elapsed since the publication of the
+first edition of this History and the present moment, when I am engaged
+in preparing a second edition, a fact has occurred within my own
+personal knowledge relative to this very subject, and of too great
+importance to the history of Ireland in the present day to be omitted. A
+shoal of sprats arrived in the bay of ---- and the poor people crowded
+to the shore to witness the arrival and, alas! the departure of the
+finny tribe. All their nets had been broken or sold in the famine year;
+they had, therefore, no means of securing what would have been a
+valuable addition to their poor fare. The wealthy, whose tables are
+furnished daily with every luxury, can have but little idea how bitter
+such privations are to the poor. Had there been a resident landlord in
+the place, to interest himself in the welfare of his tenants, a few
+pounds would have procured all that was necessary, and the people,
+always grateful for kindness, would long have remembered the boon and
+the bestower of it.
+
+[55] _Commerce_.--"Phoenices a vetustissimis inde temporibus frequenter
+crebras mercaturae gratia navigationes instituerunt."--Diod. Sic. vers.
+Wesseling, t.i.
+
+[56] _Confessio_.--Dr. O'Donovan states, in an article in the _Ulster
+Archaeological Journal_, vol. viii. p. 249, that he had a letter from the
+late Dr. Prichard, who stated that it was his belief the ancient Irish
+were not anthropophagi. He adds: "Whatever they may have been when their
+island was called _Insula Sacra_, there are no people in Europe who are
+more squeamish in the use of meats than the modern Irish peasantry, for
+they have a horror of every kind of carrion;" albeit he is obliged to
+confess that, though they abuse the French for eating frogs, and the
+English for eating rooks, there is evidence to prove that horseflesh was
+eaten in Ireland, even in the reign of Queen Elizabeth.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+Landing of the Milesians--Traditions of the Tuatha De Dananns in St.
+Patrick's time--The Lia Fail, or Stone of Destiny--The Milesians go back
+to sea "nine waves"--They conquer ultimately--Reign of Eremon--Landing
+of the Picts--Bede's Account of Ireland--Fame of its Fish and
+Goats--Difficulties of Irish Chronology--Importance and Authenticity of
+Irish Pedigrees--Qualifications of an Ollamh--Milesian
+Genealogies--Historical Value of Pedigrees--National Feelings should be
+respected--Historic Tales--Poems.
+
+[A.M. 3500.]
+
+
+The last colonization of Ireland is thus related in the Annals of the
+Four Masters: "The age of the world 3500. The fleet of the sons of
+Milidh came to Ireland at the end of this year, to take it from the
+Tuatha De Dananns, and they fought the battle of Sliabh Mis with them on
+the third day after landing. In this battle fell Scota, the daughter of
+Pharaoh, wife of Milidh; and the grave of Scota[57] is [to be seen]
+between Sliabh Mis and the sea. Therein also fell Fas, the wife of Un,
+son of Uige, from whom is [named] Gleann Faisi. After this the sons of
+Milidh fought a battle at Taillten[58] against the three kings of the
+Tuatha De Dananns, MacCuill, MacCeacht, and MacGriene. The battle lasted
+for a long time, until MacCeacht fell by Eiremhon, MacCuill by Eimheur,
+and Mac Griene by Amhergen."[59] Thus the Tuatha De Danann dynasty
+passed away, but not without leaving many a quaint legend of magic and
+mystery, and many an impress of its more than ordinary skill in such
+arts as were then indications of national superiority. The real names of
+the last chiefs of this line, are said to have been respectively Ethur,
+Cethur, and Fethur. The first was called MacCuill, because he worshipped
+the hazel-tree, and, more probably, because he was devoted to some
+branch of literature which it symbolized; the second MacCeacht, because
+he worshipped the plough, i.e., was devoted to agriculture; and the
+third obtained his appellation of MacGriene because he worshipped the
+sun.
+
+It appears from a very curious and ancient tract, written in the shape
+of a dialogue between St. Patrick and Caoilte MacRonain, that there were
+many places in Ireland where the Tuatha De Dananns were then supposed to
+live as sprites and fairies, with corporeal and material forms, but
+endued with immortality. The inference naturally to be drawn from these
+stories is, that the Tuatha De Dananns lingered in the country for many
+centuries after their subjugation by the Gaedhils, and that they lived
+in retired situations, where they practised abstruse arts, from which
+they obtained the reputation of being magicians.
+
+The Tuatha De Dananns are also said to have brought the famous. Lia
+Fail, or Stone of Destiny, to Ireland. It is said by some authorities
+that this stone was carried to Scotland when an Irish colony invaded
+North Britain, and that it was eventually brought to England by Edward
+I., in the year 1300, and deposited in Westminster Abbey. It is supposed
+to be identical with the large block of stone which may be seen there
+under the coronation chair. Dr. Petrie, however, controverts this
+statement, and believes it to be the present pillar stone over the
+Croppies' Grave in one of the raths of Tara.
+
+A Danann prince, called Oghma, is said to have invented the occult form
+of writing called the Ogham Craove, which, like the round towers has
+proved so fertile a source of doubt and discussion to our antiquaries.
+
+The Milesians, however, did not obtain a colonization in Ireland without
+some difficulty. According to the ancient accounts, they landed at the
+mouth of the river Slainge, or Slaney, in the present county of Wexford,
+unperceived by the Tuatha De Dananns. From thence they marched to Tara,
+the seat of government, and summoned the three kings to surrender. A
+curious legend is told of this summons and its results, which is
+probably true in the more important details. The Tuatha De Danann
+princes complained that they had been taken by surprise, and proposed to
+the invaders to re-embark, and to go out upon the sea "the distance of
+nine waves" stating that the country should be surrendered to them if
+they could then effect a landing by force. The Milesian chiefs assented;
+but when the original inhabitants found them fairly launched at sea,
+they raised a tempest by magical incantations, which entirely dispersed
+the fleet. One part of it was driven along the east coast of Erinn, to
+the north, under the command of Eremon, the youngest of the Milesian
+brothers; the remainder, under the command of Donn, the elder brother,
+was driven to the south-west of the island.
+
+But the Milesians had druids also.[60] As soon as they suspected the
+agency which had caused the storm, they sent a man to the topmast of the
+ship to know "if the wind was blowing at that height over the surface of
+the sea." The man reported that it was not. The druids then commence
+practising counter arts of magic, in which they soon succeeded, but not
+until five of the eight brothers were lost. Four, including Donn, were
+drowned in the wild Atlantic, off the coast of Kerry. Colpa met his fate
+at the mouth of the river Boyne, called from him Inbhear Colpa. Eber
+Finn and Amergin, the survivors of the southern party, landed in Kerry,
+and here the battle of Sliabh Mis was fought, which has been already
+mentioned.
+
+The battle of Taillten followed; and the Milesians having become masters
+of the country, the brothers Eber Finn and Eremon divided it between
+them; the former taking all the southern part, from the Boyne and the
+Shannon to Cape Clear, the latter taking all the part lying to the north
+of these rivers.
+
+This arrangement, however, was not of long continuance. Each was
+desirous of unlimited sovereignty; and they met to decide their claims
+by an appeal to arms at Geisill,[61] a place near the present Tullamore,
+in the King's county. Eber and his chief leaders fell in this
+engagement, and Eremon assumed the sole government of the island.[62]
+
+[Illustration: ANCIENT FLINT AXE.]
+
+He took up his residence in Leinster, and after a reign of fifteen years
+died, and was buried at _Raith Beothaigh_, in _Argat Ross_. This ancient
+rath still exists, and is now called Rath Beagh. It is situated on the
+right bank of the river Nore, near the present village of Ballyragget,
+county Kilkenny. This is not narrated by the Four Masters, neither do
+they mention the coming of the Cruithneans or Picts into Ireland. These
+occurrences, however, are recorded in all the ancient copies of the Book
+of Invasions, and in the Dinnseanchus. The Cruithneans or Picts are said
+to have fled from the oppression of their king in Thrace, and to have
+passed into Gaul. There they founded the city of Poictiers. From thence
+they were again driven by an act of tyranny, and they proceeded first to
+Britain, and then to Ireland. Crimhthann Sciath-bel, one of King
+Bremen's leaders, was at Wexford when the new colony landed. He was
+occupied in extirpating a tribe of Britons who had settled in
+Fotharta,[63] and were unpleasantly distinguished for fighting with
+poisoned weapons. The Irish chieftain asked the assistance of the new
+comers. A battle was fought, and the Britons were defeated principally
+by the skill of the Pictish druid, who found an antidote for the poison
+of their weapons. According to the quaint account of Bede,[64] the
+Celtic chiefs gave good advice to their foreign allies in return for
+their good deeds, and recommended them to settle in North Britain,
+adding that they would come to their assistance should they find any
+difficulty or opposition from the inhabitants. The Picts took the
+advice, but soon found themselves in want of helpmates. They applied
+again to their neighbours, and were obligingly supplied with wives on
+the condition "that, when any difficulty should arise, they should
+choose a king from the female royal race rather than from the male." The
+Picts accepted the terms and the ladies; "and the custom," says Bede,
+"as is well known, is observed among the Picts to this day."
+
+Bede then continues to give a description of Ireland. His account,
+although of some length, and not in all points reliable, is too
+interesting to be omitted, being the opinion of an Englishman, and an
+author of reputation, as to the state of Ireland, socially and
+physically, in the seventh century: "Ireland, in breadth and for
+wholesomeness and serenity of climate, far surpasses Britain; for the
+snow scarcely ever lies there above three days; no man makes hay in
+summer for winter's provision, or builds stables for his beasts of
+burden. No reptiles are found there; for, though often carried thither
+out of Britain, as soon as the ship comes near the shore, and the scent
+of the air reaches them, they die. On the contrary, almost all things in
+the island are good against poison. In short, we have known that when
+some persons have been bitten by serpents, the scrapings of leaves of
+books that were brought out of Ireland, being put into water and given
+them to drink, have immediately expelled the spreading poison, and
+assuaged the swelling. The island abounds in milk and honey;[65] nor is
+there any want of vines, fish,[66] and fowl; and it is remarkable for
+deer and goats."
+
+The chronology of Irish pagan history is unquestionably one of its
+greatest difficulties. But the chronology of all ancient peoples is
+equally unmanageable. When Bunsen has settled Egyptian chronology to the
+satisfaction of other literati as well as to his own, and when Hindoo
+and Chinese accounts of their postdiluvian or antediluvian ancestors
+have been reconciled and synchronized, we may hear some objections to
+"Irish pedigrees," and listen to a new "Irish question."
+
+Pre-Christian Irish chronology has been arranged, like most ancient
+national chronologies, on the basis of the length of reign of certain
+kings. As we do not trace our descent from the "sun and moon" we are not
+necessitated to give our kings "a gross of centuries apiece," or to
+divide the assumed period of a reign between half-a-dozen monarchs;[67]
+and the difficulties are merely such as might be expected before
+chronology had become a science. The Four Masters have adopted the
+chronology of the Septuagint; but O'Flaherty took the system of
+Scaliger, and thus reduced the dates by many hundred years. The
+objection of hostile critics has been to the history rather than to the
+chronology of the history; but these objections are a mere _petitio
+principii_. They cannot understand how Ireland could have had a
+succession of kings and comparative civilization,--in fact, a national
+existence,--from 260 years before the building of Rome, when the
+Milesian colony arrived, according to the author of the _Ogygia_, at
+least a thousand years before the arrival of Caesar in Britain, and his
+discovery that its inhabitants were half-naked savages. The real
+question is not what Caesar said of the Britons, nor whether they had an
+ancient history before their subjugation by the victorious cohorts of
+Rome; but whether the annals which contained the pre-Christian history
+of Ireland may be accepted as, in the main, authentic.
+
+We have already given some account of the principal works from which our
+annals may be compiled. Before we proceed to that portion of our history
+the authenticity of which cannot be questioned, it may, perhaps, be
+useful to give an idea of the authorities for the minor details of
+social life, the individual incidents of a nation's being, which, in
+fact, make up the harmonious whole. We shall find a remarkable
+coincidence between the materials for early Roman history, and those for
+the early history of that portion of the Celtic race which colonized
+Ireland.
+
+We have no trace of any historical account of Roman history by a
+contemporary writer, native or foreign, before the war with Pyrrhus; yet
+we have a history of Rome for more than four hundred years previous
+offered to us by classical writers[68], as a trustworthy narrative of
+events. From whence did they derive their reliable information?
+Unquestionably from works such as the _Origines_ of Cato the Censor, and
+other writers, which were then extant, but which have since perished.
+And these writers, whence did they obtain their historical narratives?
+If we may credit the theory of Niebuhr,[69] they were transmitted simply
+by bardic legends, composed in verse. Even Sir G.C. Lewis admits that
+"commemorative festivals and other periodical observances, may, in
+certain cases, have served to perpetuate a true tradition of some
+national event."[70] And how much more surely would the memory of such
+events be perpetuated by a people, to whom they had brought important
+political revolutions, who are eminently tenacious of their traditions,
+and who have preserved the memory of them intact for centuries in local
+names and monumental sites! The sources from whence the first annalists,
+or writers of Irish history, may have compiled their narratives, would,
+therefore, be--1. The Books of Genealogies and Pedigrees. 2. The
+Historic Tales. 3. The Books of Laws. 4. The Imaginative Tales and
+Poems. 5. National Monuments, such as cromlechs and pillar stones, &c.,
+which supplied the place of the brazen tablets of Roman history, the
+_libri lintei_,[71] or the chronological nail.[72]
+
+The Books of Genealogies and Pedigrees form a most important element in
+Irish pagan history. For social and political reasons, the Irish Celt
+preserved his genealogical tree with scrupulous precision. The rights of
+property and the governing power were transmitted with patriarchal
+exactitude on strict claims of primogeniture, which claims could only be
+refused under certain conditions defined by law. Thus, pedigrees and
+genealogies became a family necessity; but since private claims might be
+doubted, and the question of authenticity involved such important
+results, a responsible public officer was appointed to keep the records
+by which all claims were decided. Each king had his own recorder, who
+was obliged to keep a true account of his pedigree, and also of the
+pedigrees of the provincial kings and of their principal chieftains. The
+provincial kings had also their recorders (Ollamhs or Seanchaidhe[73]);
+and in obedience to an ancient law established long before the
+introduction of Christianity, all the provincial records, as well as
+those of the various chieftains, were required to be furnished every
+third year to the convocation at Tara, where they were compared and
+corrected.
+
+The compilers of these genealogies were persons who had been educated as
+Ollamhs--none others were admissible; and their "diplomas" were obtained
+after a collegiate course, which might well deter many a modern aspirant
+to professorial chairs. The education of the Ollamh lasted for twelve
+years; and in the course of these twelve years of "hard work," as the
+early books say, certain regular courses were completed, each of which
+gave the student an additional degree, with corresponding title, rank,
+and privileges.[74]
+
+"In the Book of _Lecain_ (fol. 168) there is an ancient tract,
+describing the laws upon this subject, and referring, with quotations,
+to the body of the _Brethibh Nimhedh_, or 'Brehon Laws.' According to
+this authority, the perfect Poet or _Ollamh_ should know and practise
+the _Teinim Laegha_, the _Imas Forosnadh_, and the _Dichedal do
+chennaibh_. The first appears to have been a peculiar druidical verse,
+or incantation, believed to confer upon the druid or poet the power of
+understanding everything that it was proper for him to say or speak. The
+second is explained or translated, 'the illumination of much knowledge,
+as from the teacher to the pupil,' that is, that he should be able to
+explain and teach the four divisions of poetry or philosophy, 'and each
+division of them,' continues the authority quoted, 'is the chief
+teaching of three years of hard work.' The third qualification, or
+_Dichedal_, is explained, 'that he begins at once the head of his poem,'
+in short, to improvise extempore in correct verse. 'To the _Ollamh_,'
+says the ancient authority quoted in this passage in the Book of
+_Lecain_,' belong synchronisms, together with the _laegha laidhibh_, or
+illuminating poems [incantations], and to him belong the pedigrees and
+etymologies of names, that is, he has the pedigrees of the men of Erinn
+with certainty, and the branching off of their various relationships.'
+Lastly, 'here are the four divisions of the knowledge of poetry (or
+philosophy),' says the tract I have referred to; 'genealogies,
+synchronisms, and the reciting of (historic) tales form the first
+division; knowledge of the seven kinds of verse, and how to measure them
+by letters and syllables, form another of them; judgment of the seven
+kinds of poetry, another of them; lastly, _Dichedal_ [or improvisation],
+that is, to contemplate and recite the verses without ever thinking of
+them before.'"[75]
+
+The pedigrees were collected and written into a single book, called the
+_Cin_ or Book of Drom Snechta, by the son of Duach Galach, King of
+Connacht, an Ollamh in history and genealogies, &c., shortly before[76]
+the arrival of St. Patrick in Ireland, which happened about A.D. 432. It
+is obvious, therefore, that these genealogies must have existed for
+centuries prior to this period. Even if they were then committed to
+writing for the first time, they could have been handed down for many
+centuries orally by the Ollamhs; for no amount of literary effort could
+be supposed too great for a class of men so exclusively and laboriously
+devoted to learning.
+
+As the Milesians were the last of the ancient colonists, and had subdued
+the races previously existing in Ireland, only their genealogies, with a
+few exceptions, have been preserved. The genealogical tree begins,
+therefore, with the brothers Eber and Eremon, the two surviving leaders
+of the expedition, whose ancestors are traced back to Magog, the son of
+Japhet. The great southern chieftains, such as the MacCarthys and
+O'Briens, claim descent from Eber; the northern families of O'Connor,
+O'Donnell, and O'Neill, claim Eremon as their head. There are also other
+families claiming descent from Emer, the son of Ir, brother to Eber and
+Eremon; as also from their cousin Lugaidh, the son of Ith. From four
+sources the principal Celtic families of Ireland have sprung; and though
+they do not quite trace up the line to
+
+    "The grand old gardener and his wife,"
+
+they have a pedigree which cannot be gainsaid, and which might be
+claimed with pride by many a monarch. MacFirbis' Book of
+Genealogies,[77] compiled in the year 1650, from lost records, is the
+most perfect work of this kind extant. But there are tracts in the Book
+of Leinster (compiled A.D. 1130), and in the Book of Ballymote (compiled
+A.D. 1391), which are of the highest authority. O'Curry is of opinion,
+that those in the Book of Leinster were copied from the Saltair of
+Cashel and other contemporaneous works.
+
+The historical use of these genealogies is very great, not only because
+they give an authentic pedigree and approximate data for chronological
+calculation, but from the immense amount of correlative information
+which they contain. Every free-born man of the tribe was entitled by
+_blood_, should it come to his turn, to succeed to the chieftaincy:
+hence the exactitude with which each pedigree was kept; hence their
+importance in the estimation of each individual; hence the incidental
+matter they contain, by the mention of such historical events[78] as may
+have acted on different tribes and families, by which they lost their
+inheritance or independence, and consequently their claim, however
+remote, to the chieftaincy.
+
+The ancient history of a people should always be studied with care and
+candour by those who, as a matter of interest or duty, wish to
+understand their social state, and the government best suited to that
+state. Many of the poorest families in Ireland are descendants of its
+ancient chiefs. The old habit--the habit which deepened and intensified
+itself during centuries--cannot be eradicated, though it may be
+ridiculed, and the peasant will still boast of his "blood;" it is all
+that he has left to him of the proud inheritance of his ancestors.
+
+The second source of historical information may be found in the HISTORIC
+TALES. The reciting of historic tales was one of the principal duties of
+the Ollamh, and he was bound to preserve the truth of history "pure and
+unbroken to succeeding generations."
+
+"According to several of the most ancient authorities, the _Ollamh_, or
+perfect Doctor, was bound to have (for recital at the public feasts and
+assemblies) at least Seven Fifties of these Historic narratives; and
+there appear to have been various degrees in the ranks of the poets, as
+they progressed in education towards the final degree, each of which was
+bound to be supplied with at least a certain number. Thus the _Anroth_,
+next in rank to an _Ollamh_ should have half the number of an _Ollamh_;
+the _Cli_, one-third the number, according to some authorities, and
+eighty according to others; and so on down to the _Fochlog_, who should
+have thirty; and the _Driseg_ (the lowest of all), who should have
+twenty of these tales."[79]
+
+The Ollamhs, like the druids or learned men of other nations, were in
+the habit of teaching the facts of history to their pupils in verse,[80]
+probably that they might be more easily remembered. A few of these tales
+have been published lately, such as the Battle of _Magh Rath_, the
+Battle of _Muighe Leana_, and the _Tochmarc Momera_. Besides the tales
+of Battles (Catha), there are the tales of Longasa, or Voyages; the
+tales of Toghla, or Destructions; of Slaughters, of Sieges, of
+Tragedies, of Voyages, and, not least memorable, of the Tana, or Cattle
+Spoils, and the Tochmarca, or Courtships. It should be remembered that
+numbers of these tales are in existence, offering historical materials
+of the highest value. The Books of Laws demand a special and more
+detailed notice, as well as the Historical Monuments. With a brief
+mention of the Imaginative Tales and Poems, we must conclude this
+portion of our subject.
+
+Ancient writings, even of pure fiction, must always form an important
+historical element to the nation by which they have been produced.
+Unless they are founded on fact, so far as customs, localities, and mode
+of life are concerned, they would possess no interest; and their
+principal object is to interest. Without some degree of poetic
+improbabilities as to events, they could scarcely amuse; and their
+object is also to amuse. Hence, the element of truth is easily separated
+from the element of fiction, and each is available in its measure for
+historic research. The most ancient of this class of writings are the
+Fenian Poems and Tales, ascribed to Finn Mac Cumhaill, to his sons,
+Oisin and Fergus Finnbheoill (the Eloquent), and to his kinsman,
+Caeilite. There are also many tales and poems of more recent date. Mr.
+O'Curry estimates, that if all MSS. known to be in existence, and
+composed before the year 1000, were published, they would form at least
+8,000 printed pages of the same size as O'Donovan's Annals of the Four
+Masters.
+
+[Illustration: FROM SCULPTURES AT DEVENISH.]
+
+[Illustration: ROUND TOWER OF DYSART, NEAR CROOM, LIMERICK.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[57] _Scota_.--The grave is still pointed out in the valley of Gleann
+Scoithin, county Kerry.
+
+[58] _Taillten_.--Now Telltown, county Meath.
+
+[59] _Amhergen_.--Annals of the Four Masters, vol. i. p. 25.
+
+[60] _Also_.--This tale bears a simple and obvious interpretation. The
+druids were the most learned and experienced in physical science of
+their respective nations; hence the advice they gave appeared magical to
+those who were less instructed.
+
+[61] _Geisill_.--The scene of the battle was at a place called _Tochar
+eter dha mhagh_, or "the causeway between two plains," and on the bank
+of the river _Bri Damh_, which runs through the town of Tullamore. The
+name of the battle-field is still preserved in the name of the townland
+of Ballintogher, in the parish and barony of _Geisill_. At the time of
+the composition of the ancient topographical tract called the
+Dinnseanchus, the mounds and graves of the slain were still to be
+seen.--See O'Curry, page 449. The author of this tract, Amergin Mac
+Amalgaidh, wrote about the sixth century. A copy of his work is
+preserved in the Book of Ballymote, which was compiled in the year 1391.
+There is certainly evidence enough to prove the fact of the _melee_, and
+that this was not a "legend invented from the tenth to the twelfth
+centuries." It is almost amusing to hear the criticisms of persons
+utterly ignorant of our literature, however well-educated in other
+respects. If the treasures of ancient history which exist in Irish MSS.
+existed in Sanscrit, or even in Greek or Latin, we should find scholars
+devoting their lives and best intellectual energies to understand and
+proclaim their value and importance, and warmly defending them against
+all impugners of their authenticity.
+
+[62] _Island_.--The axe figured above is a remarkable weapon. The copy
+is taken, by permission, from the collection of the Royal Irish Academy.
+Sir W. Wilde describes the original thus in the Catalogue: "It is 3-1/8
+inches in its longest diameter, and at its thickest part measures about
+half-an-inch. It has been chipped all over with great care, and has a
+sharp edge all round. This peculiar style of tool or weapon reached
+perfection in this specimen, which, whether used as a knife, arrow,
+spike, or axe, was an implement of singular beauty of design, and
+exhibits great skill in the manufacture."
+
+[63] _Fotharta_.--Now the barony of Forth, in Wexford.
+
+[64] _Bede.--Ecclesiastical History_, Bohn's edition, p. 6.
+
+[65] _Honey_.--Honey was an important edible to the ancients, and,
+therefore, likely to obtain special mention. Keating impugns the
+veracity of Solinus, who stated that there were no bees in Ireland, on
+the authority of Camden, who says: "Such is the quantity of bees, that
+they are found not only in hives, but even in the trunks of trees, and
+in holes in the ground." There is a curious legend anent the same useful
+insect, that may interest apiarians as well as hagiologists. It is said
+in the life of St. David, that when Modomnoc (or Dominic) was with St.
+David at Menevia, in Wales, he was charged with the care of the
+beehives, and that the bees became so attached to him that they followed
+him to Ireland. However, the Rule of St. Albans, who lived in the time
+of St. Patrick (in the early part of the fifth century), may be quoted
+to prove that bees existed in Ireland at an earlier period, although the
+saint may have been so devoted to his favourites as to have brought a
+special colony by miracle or otherwise to Ireland. The Rule of St. Alban
+says: "When they [the monks] sit down at table, let them be brought
+[served] beets or roots, washed with water, in clean baskets, also
+apples, beer, and honey from the hive." Certainly, habits of regularity
+and cleanliness are here plainly indicated as well as the existence of
+the bee.
+
+[66] _Fish_.--It is to be presumed that fish are destined to prosper in
+Hibernia: of the ancient deer, more hereafter. The goats still nourish
+also, as visitors to Killarney can testify; though they will probably
+soon be relics of the past, as the goatherds are emigrating to more
+prosperous regions at a rapid rate.
+
+[67] _Monarchs_.--See Bunsen's _Egypt, passim_.
+
+[68] _Writers_.--The first ten books of Livy are extant, and bring Roman
+history to the consulship of Julius Maximus Gurges and Junius Brutus
+Scoene, in 292 B.C. Dionysius published his history seven years before
+Christ. Five of Plutarch's Lives fall within the period before the war
+with Pyrrhus. There are many sources besides those of the works of
+historians from which general information is obtained.
+
+[69] _Niebuhr_.--"Genuine or oral tradition has kept the story of
+Tarpeia for _five-and-twenty hundred years_ in the mouths of the common
+people, who for many centuries have been total strangers to the names of
+Cloelia and Cornelia."--_Hist_. vol. i. p. 230.
+
+[70] _Event.--Credibility of Early Roman History_, vol. i. p. 101.
+
+[71] _Libri lintei_.--Registers written on linen, mentioned by Livy,
+under the year 444 B.C.
+
+[72] _Nail_.--Livy quotes Cincius for the fact that a series of nails
+were extant in the temple of Hostia, at Volsinii, as a register of
+successive years. Quite as primitive an arrangement as the North
+American _quipus_.
+
+[73] _Seanchaidhe_ (pronounced "shanachy").--It means, in this case,
+strictly a historian; but the ancient historian was also a bard or poet.
+
+[74] _Privileges_.--We can scarcely help requesting the special
+attention of the reader to these well-authenticated facts. A nation
+which had so high an appreciation of its annals, must have been many
+degrees removed from barbarism for centuries.
+
+[75] _Before_.--O'Curry, p. 240.
+
+[76] _Before_.--This, of course, opens up the question as to whether the
+Irish Celts had a written literature before the arrival of St. Patrick.
+The subject will be fully entertained later on.
+
+[77] _Genealogies_.-There is a "distinction and a difference" between a
+genealogy and a pedigree. A genealogy embraces the descent of a family,
+and its relation to all the other families that descended from the same
+remote parent stock, and took a distinct tribe-name, as the Dalcassians.
+A pedigree traces up the line of descent to the individual from whom the
+name was derived.
+
+[78] _Events_.--Arnold mentions "the _family traditions_ and funeral
+orations out of which the oldest annalists [of Roman history] compiled
+their narratives." vol. i. p. 371. Sir G.C. Lewis, however, thinks that
+the composition of national annals would precede the composition of any
+private history; but he adds that he judges from the "example of modern
+times." With all respect to such an authority, it seems rather an
+unphilosophical conclusion. Family pedigrees would depend on family
+pride, in which the Romans were by no means deficient; and on political
+considerations, which were all-important to the Irish Celt.
+
+[79] _Tales_.--O'Curry, p. 241.
+
+[80] _Verse_.--See Niebuhr, _Hist_. vol i. pp. 254-261. Arnold has
+adopted his theory, and Macaulay _has acted on it_. But the Roman poems
+were merely recited at public entertainments, and were by no means a
+national arrangement for the preservation of history, such as existed
+anciently in Ireland. These verses were sung by boys _more patrum_ (Od.
+iv. 15), for the entertainment of guests. Ennius, who composed his
+_Annales_ in hexameter verse, introducing, for the first time, the Greek
+metre into Roman literature, mentions the verses which the _Fauns_, or
+religious poets, used to chant. Scaliger thinks that the _Fauns_ were a
+class of men who exercised in Latium, at a very remote period, the same
+functions as the Magians in Persia and _the Bards in Gaul_. Niebuhr
+supposes that the entire history of the Roman, kings was formed from
+poems into a prose narrative.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+Tighearnmas--His Death--Introduces Colours as a Distinction of
+Rank--Silver Shields and Chariots first used--Reign of Ugaine Mor--The
+Treachery of Cobhthach--Romantic Tales--Queen Mab--Dispute which led to
+the celebrated Cattle Spoil--The Story of the Tain bo Chuailgne--The
+Romans feared to invade Ireland--Tacitus--Revolt of the Attacotti--Reign
+of Tuathal--Origin of the Boromean Tribute.
+
+[B.C. 1700.]
+
+
+Our annals afford but brief details from the time of Eremon to that of
+_Ugaine Mor_. One hundred and eighteen sovereigns are enumerated from
+the Milesian conquest of Ireland (according to the Four Masters, B.C.
+1700) to the time of St. Patrick, A.D. 432. The principal events
+recorded are international deeds of arms, the clearing of woods, the
+enactment of laws, and the erection of palaces.
+
+Tighearnmas, one of these monarchs, is said to have introduced the
+worship of idols into Ireland. From this it would appear, that the more
+refined Magian, or Sun-worship, had prevailed previously. He died, with
+"three-fourths" of the men of Ireland about him, on the night of
+Samhain,[81] while worshipping the idol called Crom Cruach, at Magh
+Slacht, in Breifne.[82] Tighearnmas reigned seventy-five years. He is
+said to have been the first who attempted the smelting of gold in
+Ireland; and the use of different colours,[83] as an indication of rank,
+is also attributed to him.
+
+Silver shields were now made (B.C. 1383) at Airget-Ros, by Enna
+Airgtheach, and four-horse chariots were first used in the time of
+Roitheachtaigh, who was killed by lightning near the Giant's Causeway.
+Ollamh Fodhla (the wise or learned man) distinguished himself still more
+by instituting triennial assemblies at Tara. Even should the date given
+by the Four Masters (1317 B.C.) be called in question, there is no doubt
+of the fact, which must have occurred some centuries before the
+Christian era; and this would appear to be the earliest instance of a
+national convocation or parliament in any country. Ollamh Fodhla also
+appointed chieftains over every cantred or hundred, he constructed a
+rath at Tara, and died there in the fortieth year of his reign.
+
+At the reign of Cimbaoth (B.C. 716) we come to that period which
+Tighernach considers the commencement of indisputably authentic history.
+It is strange that he should have selected a provincial chief, and a
+period in no way remarkable except for the building of the palace of
+Emania.[84] But the student of Irish pre-Christian annals may be content
+to commence with solid foundation as early as seven centuries before
+Christ. The era was an important one in universal history. The Greeks
+had then counted sixteen Olympiads, and crowned Pythagoras the victor.
+Hippomenes was archon at Athens. Romulus had been succeeded by Numa
+Pompilius, and the foundations of imperial Rome were laid in blood by
+barbarian hordes. The Chaldeans had just taken the palm in astronomical
+observations, and recorded for the first time a lunar eclipse; while the
+baffled Assyrian hosts relinquished the siege of Tyre, unhappily
+reserved for the cruel destruction accomplished by Alexander, a few
+centuries later. The prophecies of Isaiah were still resounding in the
+ears of an ungrateful people. He had spoken of the coming Christ and His
+all-peaceful mission in mystic imagery, and had given miraculous
+evidences of his predictions. But suffering should be the precursor of
+that marvellous advent. The Assyrian dashed in resistless torrent upon
+the fold. Israel was led captive. Hosea was in chains. Samaria and the
+kingdom of Israel were added to the conquests of Sennacherib; and the
+kingdom of Judah, harassed but not destroyed, waited the accomplishment
+of prophecy, and the measure of her crimes, ere the most ancient of
+peoples should for ever cease to be a nation.
+
+Ugaine Mor is the next monarch who demands notice. His obituary record
+is thus given by the Four Masters:--"At the end of this year, A.M. 4606,
+Ugaine Mor, after he had been full forty years King of Ireland, and of
+the whole of the west of Europe, as far as Muir-Toirrian, was slain by
+Badhbhchad at Tealach-an-Choisgair, in Bregia. This Ugaine was he who
+exacted oaths by all the elements, visible and invisible, from the men
+of Ireland in general, that they would never contend for the sovereignty
+of Ireland with his children or his race."
+
+Ugaine was succeeded by his son, Laeghaire Lorc, who was cruelly and
+treacherously killed by his brother, Cobhthach Cael. Indeed, few
+monarchs lived out their time in peace during this and the succeeding
+centuries. The day is darkest before the dawn, in the social and
+political as well as in the physical world. The Eternal Light was
+already at hand; the powers of darkness were aroused for the coming
+conflict; and deeds of evil were being accomplished, which make men
+shudder as they read. The assassination of Laeghaire was another
+manifestation of the old-world story of envy. The treacherous Cobhthach
+feigned sickness, which he knew would obtain a visit from his brother.
+When the monarch stooped to embrace him, he plunged a dagger into his
+heart. His next act was to kill his nephew, Ailill Aine; and his
+ill-treatment of Aine's son, Maen, was the consummation of his cruelty.
+The fratricide was at last slain by this very youth, who had now
+obtained the appellation of Labhraidh-Loingseach, or Lowry of the Ships.
+We have special evidence here of the importance of our Historic Tales,
+and also that the blending of fiction and fact by no means deteriorates
+from their value.
+
+Love affairs form a staple ground for fiction, with a very substantial
+under-strata of facts, even in the nineteenth century; and the annals of
+pre-Christian Erinn are by no means deficient in the same fertile source
+of human interest. The History of the Exile is still preserved in the
+Leabhar Buidhe Lecain, now in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin. It
+is a highly romantic story, but evidently founded on fact, and full of
+interest as descriptive of public and private life in the fifth century
+before Christ. It tells how Maen, though supposed to be deaf and dumb,
+was, nevertheless, given in charge of two officers of the court to be
+educated; that he recovered or rather obtained speech suddenly, in a
+quarrel with another youth; and that he was as symmetrical of form and
+noble of bearing as all heroes of romance are bound to be. His uncle
+expelled him from the kingdom, and he took refuge at the court of King
+Scoriath. King Scoriath had a daughter, who was beautiful; and Maen, of
+course, acted as a knight was bound to do under such circumstances, and
+fell desperately in love with the princess. The Lady Moriath's beauty
+had bewildered more heads than that of the knight-errant; but the Lady
+Moriath's father and mother were determined their daughter should not
+marry.
+
+The harper Craftine came to the rescue, and at last, by his
+all-entrancing skill, so ravished the whole party of knights and nobles,
+that the lovers were able to enjoy a tete-a-tete, and pledged mutual
+vows. As usual, the parents yielded when they found it was useless to
+resist; and, no doubt, the poet Craftine, who, poet and all as he was,
+nearly lost his head in the adventure, was the most welcome of all
+welcome guests at the nuptial feast. Indeed, he appears to have been
+retained as comptroller of the house and confidential adviser long
+after; for when Labhraidh Maen was obliged to fly the country, he
+confided his wife to the care of Craftine. On his return from
+France,[85] he obtained possession of the kingdom, to which he was the
+rightful heir, and reigned over the men of Erinn for eighteen years.
+
+Another Historic Tale gives an account of the destruction of the court
+of Da Derga, but we have not space for details. The Four Masters merely
+relate the fact in the following entry:--
+
+"Conaire, the son of Ederscel, after having been seventy years in the
+sovereignty of Erinn, was slain at Bruighean Da Dhearga by insurgents."
+Another prince, Eochaidh Feidhlech, was famous for sighing. He rescinded
+the division of Ireland into twenty-five parts, which had been made by
+Ugaine Mor, and divided the island into five provinces, over each of
+which he appointed a provincial king, under his obedience. The famous
+Meadhbh, or Mab, was his daughter; and though unquestionably a lady of
+rather strong physical and mental capabilities, the lapse of ages has
+thrown an obscuring halo of romance round her belligerent
+qualifications, and metamorphosed her into the gentle "Faery Queen" of
+the poet Spenser. One of Meav's exploits is recorded in the famous Tain
+bo Chuailgne, which is to Celtic history what the Argonautic Expedition,
+or the Seven against Thebes, is to Grecian. Meav was married first to
+Conor, the celebrated provincial king of Ulster; but the marriage was
+not a happy one, and was dissolved, in modern parlance, on the ground of
+incompatibility. In the meanwhile, Meav's three brothers had rebelled
+against their father; and though his arms were victorious, the victory
+did not secure peace. The men of Connacht revolted against him, and to
+retain their allegiance he made his daughter Queen of Connacht, and gave
+her in marriage to Ailill, a powerful chief of that province. This
+prince, however, died soon after; and Meav, determined for once, at
+least, to choose a husband for herself, made a royal progress to
+Leinster, where Ross Ruadb held his court at Naas. She selected the
+younger son of this monarch, who bore the same name as her former
+husband, and they lived together happily as queen and king consort for
+many years. On one occasion, however, a dispute arose about their
+respective treasures, and this dispute led to a comparison of their
+property. The account of this, and the subsequent comparison, is given
+at length in the _Tain_, and is a valuable repertory of archaeological
+information. They counted their vessels, metal and wooden; they counted
+their finger rings, their clasps, their thumb rings, their diadems, and
+their gorgets of gold. They examined their many-coloured garments of
+crimson and blue, of black and green, yellow and mottled, white and
+streaked. All were equal. They then inspected their flocks and herds,
+swine from the forests, sheep from the pasture lands, and cows--here the
+first difference arose. It was one to excite Meav's haughty temper.
+There was a young bull found among Ailill's bovine wealth: it had been
+calved by one of Meav's cows; but "not deeming it honorable to be under
+a woman's control," it had attached itself to Ailill's herds. Meav was
+not a lady who could remain quiet under such provocation. She summoned
+her chief courier, and asked him could he a match for Finnbheannach (the
+white-horned). The courier declared that he could find even a superior
+animal; and at once set forth on his mission, suitably attended. Meav
+had offered the most liberal rewards for the prize she so much coveted;
+and the courier soon arranged with Dare, a noble of large estates, who
+possessed one of the valuable breed. A drunken quarrel, however,
+disarranged his plans. One of the men boasted that if Dare had not given
+the bull for payment, he should have been compelled to give it by force.
+Dare's steward heard the ill-timed and uncourteous boast. He flung down
+the meat and drink which he had brought for their entertainment, and
+went to tell his master the contemptuous speech. The result may be
+anticipated. Dare refused the much-coveted animal, and Meav proceeded to
+make good her claim by force of arms. But this is only the prologue of
+the drama; the details would fill a volume. It must suffice to say, that
+the bulls had a battle of their own. Finnbheannach and Donn Chuailgne
+(the Leinster bull) engaged in deadly combat, which is described with
+the wildest flights of poetic diction.[86] The poor "white horn" was
+killed, and Donn Chuailgne, who had lashed himself to madness, dashed
+out his brains.[87]
+
+[Illustration: FLINT SPEAR-HEAD, FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE R.I.A.]
+
+Meav lived to the venerable age of a hundred. According to Tighernach,
+she died A.D. 70, but the chronology of the Four Masters places her
+demise a hundred years earlier. This difference of calculation also
+makes it questionable what monarch reigned in Ireland at the birth of
+Christ. The following passage is from the Book of Ballymote, and is
+supposed to be taken from the synchronisms of Flann of Monasterboice:
+"In the fourteenth year of the reign of Conaire and of Conchobar, Mary
+was born; and in the fourth year after the birth of Mary, the expedition
+of the Tain bo Chuailgne took place. Eight years after the expedition of
+the Tain, Christ was born."
+
+The Four Masters have the following entry after the age of the world
+5194:--
+
+THE AGE OF CHRIST.
+
+"The first year of the age of Christ, and the eighth year of the reign
+of Crimhthann Niadhnair." Under the heading of the age of Christ 9,
+there is an account of a wonderful expedition of this monarch, and of
+all the treasures he acquired thereby. His "adventures" is among the
+list of Historic Tales in the Book of Leinster, but unfortunately there
+is no copy of this tract in existence. It was probably about this time
+that a recreant Irish chieftain tried to induce Agricola to invade
+Ireland. But the Irish Celts had extended the fame of their military
+prowess even to distant lands,[88] and the Roman general thought it
+better policy to keep what he had than to risk its loss, and, perhaps,
+obtain no compensation. Previous to Caesar's conquest of Britain, the
+Irish had fitted out several expeditions for the plunder of that
+country, and they do not appear to have suffered from retaliation until
+the reign of Egbert. It is evident, however, that the Britons did not
+consider them their worst enemies, for we find mention of several
+colonies flying to the Irish shores to escape Roman tyranny, and these
+colonies were hospitably received.[89] The passage in Tacitus which
+refers to the proposed invasion of Ireland by the Roman forces, is too
+full of interest to be omitted:--"In the fifth year of these
+expeditions, Agricola, passing over in the first ship, subdued in
+frequent victories nations hitherto unknown. He stationed troops along
+that part of Britain which looks to Ireland, more on account of hope
+than fear,[90] since Ireland, from its situation between Britain and
+Spain, and opening to the Gallic Sea, might well connect the most
+powerful parts of the empire with reciprocal advantage. Its extent,
+compared with Britain, is narrower, but exceeds that of any islands of
+our sea. The genius and habits of the people, and the soil and climate,
+do not differ much from those of Britain. Its channels and ports are
+better known to commerce and to merchants.[91] Agricola gave his
+protection to one of its petty kings, who had been expelled by faction;
+and with a show of friendship, he retained him for his own purposes. I
+often heard him say, that Ireland could he conquered and taken with one
+legion and a small reserve; and such a measure would have its advantages
+even as regards Britain, if Roman power were extended on every side, and
+liberty taken away as it were from the view of the latter island."[92]
+
+We request special attention to the observation, that the Irish ports
+were better known to commerce and merchants. Such a statement by such an
+authority must go far to remove any doubt as to the accounts given on
+this subject by our own annalists. The proper name of the recreant
+"regulus" has not been discovered, so that his infamy is transmitted
+anonymously to posterity. Sir John Davies has well observed, with regard
+to the boast of subduing Ireland so easily, "that if Agricola had
+attempted the conquest thereof with a far greater army, he would have
+found himself deceived in his conjecture." William of Neuburg has also
+remarked, that though the Romans harassed the Britons for three
+centuries after this event, Ireland never was invaded by them, even when
+they held dominion of the Orkney Islands, and that it yielded to no
+foreign power until the year[93] 1171. Indeed, the Scots and Picts gave
+their legions quite sufficient occupation defending the ramparts of
+Adrian and Antoninus, to deter them from attempting to obtain more, when
+they could so hardly hold what they already possessed.
+
+The insurrection of the Aitheach Tuatha,[94] or Attacotti, is the next
+event of importance in Irish history. Their plans were deeply and wisely
+laid, and promised the success they obtained. It is one of the lessons
+of history which rulers in all ages would do well to study. There is a
+degree of oppression which even the most degraded will refuse to endure;
+there is a time when the injured will seek revenge, even should they
+know that this revenge may bring on themselves yet deeper wrongs. The
+leaders of the revolt were surely men of some judgment; and both they
+and those who acted under them possessed the two great qualities needed
+for such an enterprise. They were silent, for their plans were not even
+suspected until they were accomplished; they were patient, for these
+plans were three years in preparation. During three years the helots
+saved their scanty earnings to prepare a sumptuous death-feast for their
+unsuspecting victims. This feast was held at a place since called _Magh
+Cru_, in Connaught. The monarch, Fiacha Finnolaidh, the provincial kings
+and chiefs, were all invited, and accepted the invitation. But while the
+enjoyment was at its height, when men had drank deeply, and were soothed
+by the sweet strains of the harp, the insurgents did their bloody work.
+Three ladies alone escaped. They fled to Britain, and there each gave
+birth to a son--heirs to their respective husbands who had been slain.
+
+After the massacre, the Attacotti elected their leader, Cairbre
+Cinn-Cait (or the Cat-head), to the royal dignity, for they still
+desired to live under a "limited monarchy." But revolutions, even when
+successful, and we had almost said necessary, are eminently productive
+of evil. The social state of a people when once disorganized, does not
+admit of a speedy or safe return to its former condition. The mass of
+mankind, who think more of present evils, however trifling, than of past
+grievances, however oppressive, begin to connect present evils with
+present rule, and having lost, in some degree, the memory of their
+ancient wrongs, desire to recall a dynasty which, thus viewed, bears a
+not unfavourable comparison with their present state.[95]
+
+Cairbre died after five years of most unprosperous royalty, and his son,
+the wise and prudent Morann,[96] showed his wisdom and prudence by
+refusing to succeed him. He advised that the rightful heirs should be
+recalled. His advice was accepted. Fearadhach Finnfeachteach was invited
+to assume the reins of government. "Good was Ireland during this his
+time. The seasons were right tranquil; the earth brought forth its
+fruit; fishful its river-mouths; milkful the kine; heavy-headed the
+woods."[97]
+
+Another revolt of the Attacotti took place in the reign of Fiacha of the
+White Cattle. He was killed by the provincial kings, at the slaughter of
+Magh Bolg.[98] Elim, one of the perpetrators of this outrage, obtained
+the crown, but his reign was singularly unprosperous; and Ireland was
+without corn, without milk, without fruit, without fish, and without any
+other great advantage, since the Aitheach Tuatha had killed Fiacha
+Finnolaidh in the slaughter of Magh Bolg, till the time of Tuathal
+Teachtmar.[99]
+
+Tuathal was the son of a former legitimate monarch, and had been invited
+to Ireland by a powerful party. He was perpetually at war with the
+Attacotti, but at last established himself firmly on the throne, by
+exacting an oath from the people, "by the sun, moon, and elements," that
+his posterity should not be deprived of the sovereignty. This oath was
+taken at Tara, where he had convened a general assembly, as had been
+customary with his predecessors at the commencement of each reign; but
+it was held by him with more than usual state. His next act was to take
+a small portion of land from each of the four provinces, forming what is
+now the present county of Meath, and retaining it as the mensal portion
+of the Ard-Righ, or supreme monarch. On each of these portions he
+erected a palace for the king of every province, details of which will
+be given when we come to that period of our history which refers to the
+destruction of Tara. Tuathal had at this time two beautiful and
+marriageable daughters, named Fithir and Dairine. Eochaidh Aincheann,
+King of Leinster, sought and obtained the hand of the younger daughter,
+Dairine, and after her nuptials carried her to his palace at Naas, in
+Leinster. Some time after, his people pursuaded him that he had made a
+bad selection, and that the elder was the better of the two sisters;
+upon which Eochaidh determined by stratagem to obtain the other daughter
+also. For this purpose he shut the young queen up in a secret apartment
+of his palace, and gave out a report that she was dead. He then
+repaired, apparently in great grief to Tara, informed the monarch that
+his daughter was dead, and demanded her sister in marriage. Tuathal gave
+his consent, and the false king returned home with his new bride. Soon
+after her arrival at Naas, her sister escaped from her confinement, and
+suddenly and unexpectedly encountered the prince and Fithir. In a moment
+she divined the truth, and had the additional anguish of seeing her
+sister, who was struck with horror and shame, fall dead before her face.
+The death of the unhappy princess, and the treachery of her husband, was
+too much for the young queen; she returned to her solitary chamber, and
+in a very short time died of a broken heart.
+
+The insult offered to his daughters, and their untimely death, roused
+the indignation of the pagan monarch, and was soon bitterly avenged. At
+the head of a powerful force, he burned and ravaged Leinster to its
+utmost boundary, and then compelled its humbled and terror-stricken
+people to bind themselves and their descendants for ever to the payment
+of a triennial tribute to the monarch of Erinn, which, from the great
+number of cows exacted by it, obtained the name of the "Boromean
+Tribute"--_bo_ being the Gaedhilic for a cow.
+
+The tribute is thus described in the old annals:
+
+    "The men of Leinster were obliged to pay
+    To Tuathal, and all the monarchs after him,
+    Three-score hundred of the fairest cows,
+    And three-score hundred ounces of pure silver,
+    And three-score hundred mantles richly woven,
+    And three-score hundred of the fattest hogs,
+    And three-score hundred of the largest sheep,
+    And three-score hundred cauldrons strong and polished[100]."
+
+It is elsewhere described as consisting of five thousand ounces of
+silver, five thousand mantles, five thousand fat cows, five thousand fat
+hogs, five thousand wethers, and five thousand vessels of brass or
+bronze for the king's laving, with men and maidens for his service.
+
+The levying of the tribute was the cause of periodical and sanguinary
+wars, from the time of Tuathal until the reign of Finnachta the Festive.
+About the year 680 it was abolished by him, at the entreaty of St.
+Moling, of Tigh Moling (now St. Mullen's, in the county Carlow). It is
+said by Keating, that he a ailed himself of a pious ruse for this
+purpose,--asking the king to pledge himself not to exact the tribute
+until after Monday, and then, when his request was complied with,
+declaring that the Monday he intended was the Monday after Doomsday. The
+tribute was again revived and levied by Brian, the son of Cinneidigh, at
+the beginning of the eleventh century, as a punishment on the Leinster
+men for their adherence to the Danish cause. It was from this
+circumstance that Brian obtained the surname of _Boroimhe_.
+
+[Illustration: LOUGH HYNE.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[81] _Samhain_.--Now All Hallows Eve. The peasantry still use the pagan
+name. It is a compound word, signifying "summer" and "end."
+
+[82] _Breifne_.--In the present county Cavan. We shall refer again to
+this subject, when mentioning St. Patrick's destruction of the idols.
+
+[83] _Colours_.--Keating says that a slave was permitted only one
+colour, a peasant two, a soldier three, a public victualler five. The
+Ollamh ranked, with royalty, and was permitted six--another of the many
+proofs of extraordinary veneration for learning in pre-Christian Erinn.
+The Four Masters, however, ascribe the origin of this distinction to
+Eochaidh Eadghadhach. It is supposed that this is the origin of the
+Scotch plaid. The ancient Britons dyed their _bodies_ blue. The Cymric
+Celts were famous for their colours.
+
+[84] _Emania_.--The legend of the building of this palace will be given
+in a future chapter.
+
+[85] _France_.--It is said that foreigners who came with him from Gaul
+were armed with broad-headed lances (called in Irish _laighne_), whence
+the province of Leinster has derived its name. Another derivation of the
+name, from _coige_, a fifth part, is attributed to the Firbolgs.
+
+[86] _Diction_.-This tract contains a description of arms and ornaments
+which might well pass for a poetic flight of fancy, had we not articles
+of such exquisite workmanship in the Royal Irish Academy, which prove
+incontrovertibly the skill of the ancient artists of Erinn. This is the
+description of a champion's attire:--"A red and white cloak flutters
+about him; a golden brooch in that cloak, at his breast; a shirt of
+white, kingly linen, with gold embroidery at his skin; a white shield,
+with gold fastenings at his shoulder; a gold-hilted long sword at his
+left side; a long, sharp, dark green spear, together with a short, sharp
+spear, with a rich band and carved silver rivets in his hand."--O'Curry,
+p. 38. We give an illustration on previous page of a flint weapon of a
+ruder kind.
+
+[87] _Brains_.--My friend, Denis Florence MacCarthy, _Esq_., M.R.I.A.,
+our poet _par excellence_, is occupied at this moment in versifying some
+portions of this romantic story. I believe he has some intention of
+publishing the work in America, as American publishers are urgent in
+their applications to him for a complete and uniform edition of his
+poems, including his exquisite translations from the dramatic and ballad
+literature of Spain. We hope Irish publishers and the Irish people will
+not disgrace their country by allowing such a work to be published
+abroad. We are too often and too justly accused of deficiency in
+cultivated taste, which unfortunately makes trashy poems, and verbose
+and weakly-written prose, more acceptable to the majority than works
+produced by highly-educated minds. Irishmen are by no means inferior to
+Englishmen in natural gifts, yet, in many instances, unquestionably they
+have not or do not cultivate the same taste for reading, and have not
+the same appreciation of works of a higher class than the lightest
+literature. Much of the fault, no doubt, lies in the present system of
+education: however, as some of the professors in our schools and
+colleges appear to be aware of the deficiency, we may hope for better
+things.
+
+[88] _Lands_.--Lhuid asserts that the names of the principal commanders
+in Gaul and Britain who opposed Caesar, are Irish Latinized.
+
+[89] _Received_.--"They are said to have fled into Ireland, some for the
+sake of ease and quietness, others to keep their eyes untainted by Roman
+insolence."--See Harris' Ware. The Brigantes of Waterford, Tipperary,
+and Kilkenny, are supposed to have been emigrants, and to have come from
+the colony of that name in Yorkshire.
+
+[90] _Fear_.--"In spem magis quam ob formidinem."
+
+[91] _Merchants_.--"Melius aditus portusque per commercia et
+negotiatores cognitis."
+
+[92] _Island.--Vita Julii Agric. c._ 24.
+
+[93] _Year.--Hist. Rer. Angl_. lib. ii. c. 26.
+
+[94] _Aitheach Tuatha_.--The word means rentpayers, or rentpaying tribes
+or people. It is probably used as a term of reproach, and in
+contradiction to the free men. It has been said that this people were
+the remnants of the inhabitants of Ireland before the Milesians
+colonized it. Mr. O'Curry denies this statement, and maintains that they
+were Milesians, but of the lower classes, who had been cruelly oppressed
+by the magnates of the land.
+
+[95] _State_.--"Evil was the state of Ireland during his reign:
+fruitless the corn, for there used to be but one grain on the stalk;
+fruitless her rivers; milkless her cattle; plentiless her fruit, for
+there used to be but one acorn on the oak."--Four Masters, p. 97.
+
+[96] _Morann_.--Morann was the inventor of the famous "collar of gold."
+The new monarch appointed him his chief Brehon or judge, and it is said
+that this collar closed round the necks of those who were guilty, but
+expanded to the ground when the wearer was innocent. This collar or
+chain is mentioned in several of the commentaries on the Brehon Laws, as
+one of the ordeals of the ancient Irish. The Four Masters style him "the
+very intelligent Morann."
+
+[97] _Woods_.--Four Masters, p. 97.
+
+[98] _Magh Bolg_.--Now Moybolgue, a parish in the county Cavan.
+
+[99] _Teachtmar_, i.e., the legitimate, Four Masters, p. 99.--The
+history of the revolt of the Attacotti is contained in one of the
+ancient tracts called Histories. It is termed "The Origin of the
+Boromean Tribute." There is a copy of this most valuable work in the
+Book of Leinster, which, it will be remembered, was compiled in the
+twelfth century. The details which follow above concerning the Boromean
+Tribute, are taken from the same source.
+
+[100] _Polished_.--Keating, p. 264.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: ORATORY AT GALLARUS, CO. KERRY.]
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+Tuathal-Conn "of the Hundred Battles"--The Five Great Roads of Ancient
+Erinn--Conn's Half--Conaire II.--The Three Cairbres--Cormac Mac
+Airt--His Wise Decision--Collects Laws--His Personal Appearance-The
+Saltair of Tara written in Cormac's Reign--Finn Mac Cumhaill--His
+Courtship with the Princess Ailbhe--The Pursuit of Diarmaid and
+Grainne--Nial "of the Nine Hostages"--Dathi.
+
+
+Tuathal reigned for thirty years, and is said to have fought no less
+than 133 battles with the Attacotti. He was at last slain himself by his
+successor, Nial, who, in his turn, was killed by Tuathal's son. Conn "of
+the Hundred Battles" is the next Irish monarch who claims more than a
+passing notice. His exploits are a famous theme with the bards, and a
+poem on his "Birth" forms part of the _Liber Flavus Fergusorum_, a MS.
+volume of the fifteenth century. His reign is also remarkable for the
+mention of five great roads[101] which were then discovered or
+completed. One of these highways, the Eiscir Riada, extended from the
+declivity on which Dublin Castle now stands, to the peninsula of Marey,
+at the head of Galway Bay. It divided Conn's half of Ireland from the
+half possessed by Eoghan Mor, with whom he lived in the usual state of
+internecine feud which characterized the reigns of this early period.
+One of the principal quarrels between these monarchs, was caused by a
+complaint which Eoghan made of the shipping arrangements in Dublin.
+Conn's half (the northern side) was preferred, and Eoghan demanded a
+fair division. They had to decide their claims at the battle of Magh
+Lena.[102] Eoghan was assisted by a Spanish chief, whose sister he had
+married. But the Iberian and his Celtic brother-in-law were both slain,
+and the mounds are still shown which cover their remains.
+
+Conn was succeeded by Conaire II., the father of the three Cairbres, who
+were progenitors of important tribes. Cairbre Muse gave his name to six
+districts in Munster; the territory of Corcabaiscinn, in Clare, was
+named after Cairbre Bascain; and the Dalriada of Antrim were descended
+from Cairbre Riada. He is also mentioned by Bede under the name of
+Reuda,[103] as the leader of the Scots who came from Hibernia to Alba.
+Three centuries later, a fresh colony of Dalriadans laid the foundation
+of the Scottish monarchy under Fergus, the son of Erc. Mac Con was the
+next Ard-Righ or chief monarch of Ireland. He obtained the royal power
+after a battle at Magh Mucruimhe, near Athenry, where Art the
+Melancholy, son of Con of the Hundred Battles, and the seven sons of
+Oilioll Oluim, were slain.
+
+The reign of Cormac Mac Airt is unquestionably the most celebrated of
+all our pagan monarchs. During his early years he had been compelled to
+conceal himself among his mother's friends in Connaught; but the severe
+rule of the usurper Mac Con excited a desire for his removal, and the
+friends of the young prince were not slow to avail themselves of the
+popular feeling. He, therefore, appeared unexpectedly at Tara, and
+happened to arrive when the monarch was giving judgment in an important
+case, which is thus related: Some sheep, the property of a widow,
+residing at Tara, had strayed into the queen's private lawn, and eaten
+the grass. They were captured, and the case was brought before the king.
+He decided that the trespassers should be forfeited; but Cormac
+exclaimed that his sentence was unjust, and declared that as the sheep
+had only eaten the fleece of the land, they should only forfeit their
+own fleece. The _vox populi_ applauded the decision. Mac Con started
+from his seat, and exclaimed: "That is the judgment of a king." At the
+same moment he recognized the prince, and commanded that he should be
+seized; but he had already escaped. The people now recognized their
+rightful king, and revolted against the usurper, who was driven into
+Munster. Cormac assumed the reins of government at Tara, and thus
+entered upon his brilliant and important career, A.D. 227.
+
+Cormac commenced his government with acts of severity, which were,
+perhaps, necessary to consolidate his power. This being once firmly
+established, he devoted himself ardently to literary pursuits, and to
+regulate and civilize his dominions. He collected the national laws, and
+formed a code which remained in force until the English invasion, and
+was observed for many centuries after outside the Pale. The bards dwell
+with manifest unction on the "fruit and fatness" of the land in his
+time, and describe him as the noblest and most bountiful of all princes.
+Indeed, we can scarcely omit their account, since it cannot be denied
+that it pictures the costume of royalty in Ireland at that period,
+however poetically the details may be given. This, then, is the bardic
+photograph:--
+
+"His hair was slightly curled, and of golden colour: a scarlet shield
+with engraved devices, and golden hooks, and clasps of silver: a
+wide-folding purple cloak on him, with a gem-set gold brooch over his
+breast; a gold torque around his neck; a white-collared shirt,
+embroidered with gold, upon him; a girdle with golden buckles, and
+studded with precious stones, around him; two golden net-work sandals
+with golden buckles upon him; two spears with golden sockets, and many
+red bronze rivets in his hand; while he stood in the full glow of
+beauty, without defect or blemish. You would think it was a shower of
+pearls that were set in his mouth; his lips were rubies; his symmetrical
+body was as white as snow; his cheek was like the mountain ash-berry;
+his eyes were like the sloe; his brows and eye-lashes were like the
+sheen of a blue-black lance."[104]
+
+The compilation of the Saltair of Tara, as we mentioned previously, is
+attributed to this monarch. Even in Christian times his praises are
+loudly proclaimed. The poet Maelmura, who lived in the eighth century,
+styles him Ceolach, or the Musical, and Kenneth O'Hartigan, who died
+A.D. 973, gives a glowing account of his magnificence and of his royal
+palace at Tara. O'Flaherty quotes a poem, which he says contains an
+account of three schools, instituted by Cormac at Tara; one for military
+discipline, one for history, and the third for jurisprudence. The Four
+Masters say: "It was this Cormac, son of Art, also, that collected the
+chronicles of Ireland to Teamhair [Tara], and ordered them to write[105]
+the chronicles of Ireland in one book, which was named the Saltair of
+Teamhair. In that book were [entered] the coeval exploits and
+synchronisms of the kings of Ireland with the kings and emperors of the
+world, and of the kings of the provinces with the monarchs of Ireland.
+In it was also written what the monarchs of Ireland were entitled to
+[receive] from the provincial kings, and the rents and dues of the
+provincial kings from their subjects, from the noble to the subaltern.
+In it, also, were [described] the boundaries and mears of Ireland from
+shore to shore, from the provinces to the cantred, from the cantred to
+the townland, from the townland to the traighedh of land."[106] Although
+the Saltair of Tara has disappeared from our national records, a law
+tract, called the Book of Acaill, is still in existence, which is
+attributed to this king. It is always found annexed to a Law Treatise by
+Cennfaelad the Learned, who died A.D. 677. In an ancient MS. in Trinity
+College, Dublin (Class H.L. 15, p. 149), it is stated that it was the
+custom, at the inauguration of Irish chiefs, to read the Instructions of
+the Kings (a work ascribed to Cormac) and his Laws.
+
+There is a tradition that Cormac became a Christian before his death. In
+the thirty-ninth year of his reign, one of his eyes was thrust out by a
+spear, and he retired in consequence to one of those peaceful abodes of
+learning which were so carefully fostered in ancient Erinn. The
+high-minded nobility of this people is manifest notably in the law which
+required that the king should have no personal blemish; and in obedience
+to this law, Cormac vacated the throne. He died A.D. 266, at Cleiteach,
+near Stackallen Bridge, on the south bank of the Boyne. It is said that
+he was choked by a salmon bone, and that this happened through the
+contrivances of the druids, who wished to avenge themselves on him for
+his rejection of their superstitions.
+
+This reign was made more remarkable by the exploits of his son-in-law,
+the famous Finn Mac Cumhaill (pronounced "coole"). Finn was famous both
+as a poet and warrior. Indeed, poetical qualifications were considered
+essential to obtain a place in the select militia of which he was the
+last commander. The courtship of the poet-warrior with the Princess
+Ailbhe, Cormac's daughter, is related in one of the ancient historic
+tales called _Tochmarca_, or Courtships. The lady is said to have been
+the wisest woman of her time, and the wooing is described in the form of
+conversations, which savour more of a trial of skill in ability and
+knowledge, than of the soft utterances which distinguish such narratives
+in modern days. It is supposed that the Fenian corps which he commanded
+was modelled after the fashion of the Roman legions; but its loyalty is
+more questionable, for it was eventually disbanded for insubordination,
+although the exploits of its heroes are a favourite topic with the
+bards. The Fenian poems, on which Macpherson founded his celebrated
+forgery, are ascribed to Finn's sons, Oisin and Fergus the Eloquent, and
+to his kinsman Caeilte, as well as to himself. Five poems only are
+ascribed to him, but these are found in MSS. of considerable antiquity.
+The poems of Oisin were selected by the Scotch writer for his grand
+experiment. He gave a highly poetical translation of what purported to
+be some ancient and genuine composition, but, unfortunately for his
+veracity, he could not produce the original. Some of the real
+compositions of the Fenian hero are, however, still extant in the Book
+of Leinster, as well as other valuable Fenian poems. There are also some
+Fenian tales in prose, of which the most remarkable is that of the
+Pursuit of Diarmaid and Grainne--a legend which has left its impress in
+every portion of the island to the present day. Finn, in his old age,
+asked the hand of Grainne, the daughter of Cormac Mac Airt; but the lady
+being young, preferred a younger lover. To effect her purpose, she
+drugged the guest-cup so effectually, that Finn, and all the guests
+invited with him, were plunged into a profound slumber after they had
+partaken of it. Oisin and Diarmaid alone escaped, and to them the Lady
+Grainne confided her grief. As true knights they were bound to rescue
+her from the dilemma. Oisin could scarcely dare to brave his father's
+vengeance, but Diarmaid at once fled with the lady. A pursuit followed,
+which extended all over Ireland, during which the young couple always
+escaped. So deeply is the tradition engraven in the popular mind, that
+the cromlechs are still called the "Beds of Diarmaid and Grainne," and
+shown as the resting-places of the fugitive lovers.
+
+There are many other tales of a purely imaginative character, which, for
+interest, might well rival the world-famous Arabian Nights'
+Entertainments; and, for importance of details, illustrative of manners,
+customs, dress, weapons, and localities, are, perhaps, unequalled.
+
+Nial of the Nine Hostages and Dathi are the last pagan monarchs who
+demand special notice. In the year 322, Fiacha Sraibhtine was slain by
+the three Collas,[107] and a few short-lived monarchs succeeded. In 378,
+Crimhthann was poisoned by his sister, who hoped that her eldest son,
+Brian, might obtain the royal power. Her attempt failed, although she
+sacrificed herself for its accomplishment, by taking the poisoned cup to
+remove her brother's suspicions; and Nial of the Nine Hostages, the son
+of her husband by a former wife, succeeded to the coveted dignity. This
+monarch distinguished himself by predatory warfare against Albion and
+Gaul. The "groans"[108] of the Britons testify to his success in that
+quarter, which eventually obliged them to become an Anglo-Saxon nation;
+and the Latin poet, Claudian, gives evidence that troops were sent by
+Stilicho, the general of Theodosius the Great, to repel his successful
+forays. His successor, Dathi, was killed by lightning at the foot of the
+Alps, and the possibility of this occurrence is also strangely verified
+from extrinsic sources.[109]
+
+[Illustration: GAP OF DUNLOE, KILLARNEY.]
+
+[Illustration: ARMAGH.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[101] _Roads_.--Those roads were Slighe Asail, Slighe Midhluachra,
+Slighe Cualann, Slighe Dala, and Slighe Mor. Slighe Mor was the Eiscir
+Riada, and division line of Erinn into two parts, between Conn and
+Eoghan Mor. These five roads led to the fort of Teamair (Tara), and it
+is said that they were "discovered" on the birthnight of the former
+monarch. We shall refer to the subject again in a chapter on the
+civilization of the early Irish. There is no doubt of the existence of
+these roads, and this fact, combined with the care with which they were
+kept, is significant.
+
+[102] _Magh Lena_.--The present parish of Moylana, or Kilbride,
+Tullamore, King's county.
+
+[103] _Reuda_.--Bede, _Eccl. Hist_. p. 7.
+
+[104] _Lance_.--O'Curry, p. 45. This quotation is translated by Mr.
+O'Curry, and is taken from the Book of Ballymote. This book, however,
+quotes it from the _Uachongbhail_, a much older authority.
+
+[105] _Write_.--Professor O'Curry well observes, that "such a man could
+scarcely have carried out the numerous provisions of his comprehensive
+enactments without some written medium. And it is no unwarrantable
+presumption to suppose, that, either by his own hand, or, at least, in
+his own time, by his command, his laws were committed to writing; and
+when we possess very ancient testimony to this effect, I can see no
+reason for rejecting it, or for casting a doubt upon the
+statement."--_MS. Materials_, p. 47. Mr. Petrie writes, if possible,
+more strongly. He says: "It is difficult, if not impossible, to conceive
+how the minute and apparently accurate accounts found in the various
+MSS. of the names and localities of the Attacottic tribes of Ireland in
+the first century, could have been preserved, without coming to the
+conclusion that they had been preserved in writing in some
+work."--_Essay on Tara Hill_, p. 46. Elsewhere, however, he speaks more
+doubtfully.
+
+[106] _Land_.--Four Masters, p. 117.
+
+[107] _Collas_.--They were sons of Eochaidh Domlen, who made themselves
+famous by their warlike exploits, and infamous by their destruction of
+the palace of Emania.
+
+[108] _Groans_.--Bede, _Eccl. Hist_. c. 12.
+
+[109] _Sources_.--The Abbe M'Geoghegan says that there is a very ancient
+registry in the archives of the house of Sales, which mentions that the
+King of Ireland remained some time in the Castle of Sales. See his
+_History_, p. 94.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+St. Patrick--How Ireland was first Christianized--Pagan Rome used
+providentially to promote the Faith--The Mission of St.
+Palladius--Innocent I. claims authority to found Churches and condemn
+Heresy--Disputes concerning St. Patrick's Birthplace--Ireland receives
+the Faith generously--Victoricus--St. Patrick's Vision--His Roman
+Mission clearly proved--Subterfuges of those who deny it--Ancient Lives
+of the Saint--St. Patrick's Canons--His Devotion and Submission to the
+Holy See.
+
+[A.D. 378-432.]
+
+
+It has been conjectured that the great Apostle of Ireland, St. Patrick,
+was carried captive to the land of his adoption, in one of the
+plundering expeditions of the monarch Nial--an eminent instance of the
+overruling power of Providence, and of the mighty effects produced by
+causes the most insignificant and unconscious. As we are not writing an
+ecclesiastical history of Ireland, and as we have a work of that nature
+in contemplation, we shall only make brief mention of the events
+connected with the life and mission of the saint at present; but the
+Christianizing of any country must always form an important epoch,
+politically and socially, and, as such, demands the careful
+consideration of the historian. How and when the seed of faith was sown
+in ancient Erinn before the time of the great Apostle, cannot now be
+ascertained. We know the silent rapidity with which that faith spread,
+from its first promulgation by the shores of the Galilean lake, until it
+became the recognized religion of earth's mightiest empire. We know,
+also, that, by a noticeable providence, Rome was chosen from the
+beginning as the source from whence the light should emanate. We know
+how pagan Rome, which had subdued and crushed material empires, and
+scattered nations and national customs as chaff before the wind, failed
+utterly to subdue or crush this religion, though promulgated by the
+feeblest of its plebeians. We know how the material prosperity of that
+mighty people was overruled for the furtherance of eternal designs; and
+as the invincible legions continually added to the geographical extent
+of the empire they also added to the number of those to whom the gospel
+of peace should be proclaimed.
+
+The first Christian mission to Ireland, for which we have definite and
+reliable data, was that of St. Palladius. St. Prosper, who held a high
+position in the Roman Church, published a chronicle in the year 433, in
+which we find the following register: "Palladius was consecrated by Pope
+Celestine, and sent as the first Bishop to the Irish believing in
+Christ."[110] This mission was unsuccessful. Palladius was repulsed by
+the inhabitants of Wicklow,[111] where he landed. He then sailed
+northward, and was at last driven by stress of weather towards the
+Orkneys, finding harbour, eventually, on the shores of Kincardineshire.
+Several ancient tracts give the details of his mission, its failure, and
+his subsequent career. The first of those authorities is the Life of St.
+Patrick in the Book of Armagh; and in this it is stated that he died in
+the "land of the Britons." The second Life of St. Patrick, in Colgan's
+collection, has changed Britons into "Picts." In the "Annotations of
+Tierchan," also preserved in the Book of Armagh,[112] it is said that
+Palladius was also called Patricius,[113] and that he suffered martyrdom
+among the Scots, "as ancient saints relate."
+
+Prosper also informs us, that Palladius was a deacon[114] of the Roman
+Church, and that he received a commission from the Holy See to send
+Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre, to root out heresy,[115] and convert the
+Britons to the Catholic faith. Thus we find the Church, even in the
+earliest ages, occupied in her twofold mission of converting the
+heathen, and preserving the faithful from error. St. Innocent I.,
+writing to Decentius, in the year 402, refers thus to this important
+fact: "Is it not known to all that the things which have been delivered
+to the Roman Church by Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, and preserved
+ever since, should be observed by all; and that nothing is to be
+introduced devoid of authority, or borrowed elsewhere? Especially, as it
+is manifest that no one has founded churches for all Italy, the Gauls,
+Spain, Africa, and the interjacent islands, except such as were
+appointed priests by the venerable Peter and his successors."
+
+Palladius was accompanied by four companions: Sylvester and Solinus, who
+remained after him in Ireland; and Augustinus and Benedictus, who
+followed him[116] to Britain, but returned to their own country after
+his death. The _Vita Secunda_ mentions that he brought relics of the
+blessed Peter and Paul, and other saints, to Ireland, as well as copies
+of the Old and New Testament, all of which were given to him by Pope
+Celestine.
+
+The birthplace of the great Apostle of Ireland has long been, and still
+continues, a subject of controversy. St. Fiacc states that he was born
+at Nemthur,[117] and the Scholiast on St. Fiacc's Hymn identifies this
+with Alcuith, now Dumbarton, on the Firth of Clyde. The most reliable
+authority unquestionably is St. Patrick's own statements, in his
+_Confessio_. He there says (1) that his father had a farm or villa at
+Bonavem Taberniae, from whence he was taken captive. It does not follow
+necessarily from this, that St. Patrick was born there; but it would
+appear probable that this was a paternal estate. (2)The saint speaks of
+Britanniae as his country. The difficulty lies in the identification of
+these places. In the _Vita Secunda_, Nemthur and Campus Taberniae are
+identified. Probus writes, that he had ascertained as a matter of
+certainty, that the _Vicus Bannave Taburniae regionis_ was situated in
+Neustria. The Life supposed to be by St. Eleran, states that the parents
+of the saint were of Strats-Cludi (Strath-Clyde), but that he was born
+in Nemthur--"Quod oppidum in Campo Taburniae est;" thus indicating an
+early belief that France was the land of his nativity. St. Patrick's
+mention of Britanniae, however, appears to be conclusive. There was a
+tribe called Brittani in northern France, mentioned by Pliny, and the
+Welsh Triads distinctly declare that the Britons of Great Britain came
+from thence.
+
+There can be no doubt, however, that St. Patrick was intimately
+connected with Gaul. His mother, Conchessa, was either a sister or niece
+of the great St. Martin of Tours; and it was undoubtedly from Gaul that
+the saint was carried captive to Ireland.
+
+Patrick was not the baptismal name of the saint; it was given him by St.
+Celestine[118] as indicative of rank, or it may be with some prophetic
+intimation of his future greatness. He was baptized by the no less
+significant appellation of Succat--"brave in battle." But his warfare
+was not with a material foe. Erinn received the faith at his hands, with
+noble and unexampled generosity; and one martyr, and only one, was
+sacrificed in preference of ancient pagan rites; while we know that
+thousands have shed their blood, and it maybe hundreds even in our own
+times have sacrificed their lives, to preserve the treasure so gladly
+accepted, so faithfully preserved.[119]
+
+Moore, in his _History of Ireland_, exclaims, with the force of truth,
+and the eloquence of poetry: "While in all other countries the
+introduction of Christianity has been the slow work of time, has been
+resisted by either government or people, and seldom effected without
+lavish effusion of blood, in Ireland, on the contrary, by the influence
+of one zealous missionary, and with but little previous preparation of
+the soil by other hands, Christianity burst forth at the first ray of
+apostolic light, and, with the sudden ripeness of a northern summer, at
+once covered the whole land. Kings and princes, when not themselves
+amongst the ranks of the converted, saw their sons and daughters joining
+in the train without a murmur. Chiefs, at variance in all else, agreed
+in meeting beneath the Christian banner; and the proud druid and bard
+laid their superstitions meekly at the foot of the cross; nor, by a
+singular blessing of Providence--unexampled, indeed, in the whole
+history of the Church--was there a single drop of blood shed on account
+of religion through the entire course of this mild Christian revolution,
+by which, in the space of a few years, all Ireland was brought
+tranquilly under the dominion of the Gospel."
+
+It is probable that St. Patrick was born in 387, and that in 403 he was
+made captive and carried into Ireland. Those who believe Alcuith or
+Dumbarton to have been his birthplace, are obliged to account for his
+capture in Gaul--which has never been questioned--by supposing that he
+and his family had gone thither to visit the friends of his mother,
+Conchessa. He was sold as a slave, in that part of Dalriada comprised in
+the county of Antrim, to four men, one of whom, Milcho, bought up their
+right from the other three, and employed him in feeding sheep or swine.
+Exposed to the severity of the weather day and night, a lonely slave in
+a strange land, and probably as ignorant of the language as of the
+customs of his master, his captivity, would, indeed, have been a bitter
+one, had he not brought with him, from a holy home, the elements of most
+fervent piety. A hundred times in the day, and a hundred times in the
+night, he lifted up the voice of prayer and supplication to the Lord of
+the bondman and the free, and faithfully served the harsh, and at times
+cruel, master to whom Providence had assigned him. Perhaps he may have
+offered his sufferings for those who were serving a master even more
+harsh and cruel.
+
+After six years he was miraculously delivered. A voice, that was not of
+earth, addressed him in the stillness of the night, and commanded him to
+hasten to a certain port, where he would find a ship ready to take him
+to his own country. "And I came," says the saint, "in the power of the
+Lord, who directed my course towards a good end; and I was under no
+apprehension until I arrived where the ship was. It was then clearing
+out, and I called for a passage. But the master of the vessel got angry,
+and said to me, 'Do not attempt to come with us.' On hearing this I
+retired, for the purpose of going to the cabin where I had been received
+as a guest. And, on my way thither, I began to pray; but before I had
+finished my prayer, I heard one of the men crying out with a loud voice
+after me, 'Come, quickly; for they are calling you,' and immediately I
+returned. And they said to me, 'Come, we receive thee on trust. Be our
+friend, just as it may be agreeable to you.' We then set sail, and after
+three days reached land." The two Breviaries of Rheims and Fiacc's Hymn
+agree in stating that the men with whom Patrick embarked were merchants
+from Gaul, and that they landed in a place called Treguir, in Brittany,
+some distance from his native place. Their charity, however, was amply
+repaid. Travelling through a desert country, they had surely perished
+with hunger, had not the prayers of the saint obtained them a miraculous
+supply of food.
+
+It is said that St. Patrick suffered a second captivity, which, however,
+only lasted sixty days; but of this little is known. Neither is the
+precise time certain, with respect to these captivities, at which the
+events occurred which we are about to relate. After a short residence at
+the famous monastery of St. Martin, near Tours, founded by his saintly
+relative, he placed himself (probably in his thirtieth year) under the
+direction of St. Germain of Auxerre.
+
+It was about this period that he was favoured with the remarkable vision
+or dream relating to his Irish apostolate. He thus describes it in his
+_Confessio_:--
+
+"I saw, in a nocturnal vision, a man named Victoricus[120] coming as if
+from Ireland, with a large parcel of letters, one of which he handed to
+me. On reading the beginning of it, I found it contained these words:
+'The voice of the Irish;' and while reading it I thought I heard, at the
+same moment, the voice of a multitude of persons near the Wood of
+Foclut, which is near the western sea; and they cried out, as if with
+one voice, '_We entreat thee, holy youth, to come and henceforth walk
+amongst us.'_ And I was greatly affected in my heart, and could read no
+longer; and then I awoke."
+
+St. Patrick retired to Italy after this vision, and there spent many
+years. During this period he visited Lerins,[121] and other islands in
+the Mediterranean. Lerins was distinguished for its religious and
+learned establishments; and probably St. Germain,[122] under whose
+direction the saint still continued, had recommended him to study there.
+It was at this time that he received the celebrated staff, called the
+_Bachall Isu_, or Staff of Jesus.
+
+St. Bernard mentions this _Bachall Isu_, in his life of St. Malachy, as
+one of those insignia of the see of Armagh, which were popularly
+believed to confer upon the possessor a title to be regarded and obeyed
+as the successor of St. Patrick. Indeed, the great antiquity of this
+long-treasured relic has never been questioned; nor is there any reason
+to suppose that it was not in some way a miraculous gift.
+
+Frequent notices of this pastoral staff are found in ancient Irish
+history. St. Fiacc speaks of it as having been richly adorned by an
+ecclesiastic contemporary with the saint.
+
+A curious MS. is still preserved in the Chapter House of Westminster
+Abbey, containing an examination of "Sir Gerald Machshayne, knight,
+sworn 19th March, 1529, upon the Holie Mase-booke and the _great relicke
+of Erlonde, called Baculum Christi_, the presence of the Kynge's
+Deputie, Chancellour, Tresoror, and Justice."
+
+Perhaps it may be well to conclude the account of this interesting relic
+by a notice of its wanton destruction, as translated from the Annals of
+Loch Ce by Professor O'Curry:--
+
+"The most miraculous image of Mary, which was at _Baile Atha Truim_
+(Trim), and which the Irish people had all honoured for a long time
+before that, which used to heal the blind, the deaf, the lame, and every
+disease in like manner, was burned by the Saxons. And the Staff of
+Jesus, which was in Dublin, and which wrought many wonders and miracles
+in Erinn since the time of Patrick down to that time, and which was in
+the hand of Christ Himself, was burned by the Saxons in like manner. And
+not only that, but there was not a holy cross, nor an image of Mary, nor
+other celebrated image in Erinn over which their power reached, that
+they did not burn. Nor was there one of the seven Orders which came
+under their power that they did not ruin. And the Pope and the Church in
+the East and at home were excommunicating the Saxons on that account,
+and they did not pay any attention or heed unto that, &c. And I am not
+certain whether it was not in the year preceding the above [A.D. 1537]
+that these relics were burned."
+
+St. Patrick visited Rome about the year 431, accompanied by a priest
+named Segetius, who was sent with him by St. Germanus to vouch for the
+sanctity of his character, and his fitness for the Irish mission.
+Celestine received him favourably, and dismissed him with his
+benediction and approbation. St. Patrick then returned once more to his
+master, who was residing at Auxerre. From thence he went into the north
+of Gaul, and there receiving intelligence of the death of St. Palladius,
+and the failure of his mission, he was immediately consecrated bishop by
+the venerable Amato, a prelate of great sanctity, then residing in the
+neighbourhood of Ebovia. Auxilius, Isserninus, and other disciples of
+the saint, received holy orders at the same time. They were subsequently
+promoted to the episcopacy in the land of their adoption.
+
+In the year 432 St. Patrick landed in Ireland. It was the first year of
+the pontificate of St. Sixtus III., the successor of Celestine; the
+fourth year of the reign of Laeghaire, son of Nial of the Nine Hostages,
+King of Ireland. It is generally supposed that the saint landed first at
+a place called Inbher De, believed to be the mouth of the Bray river, in
+Wicklow. Here he was repulsed by the in habitants,--a circumstance which
+can be easily accounted for from its proximity to the territory of King
+Nathi, who had so lately driven away his predecessor, Palladius.
+
+St. Patrick returned to his ship, and sailing towards the north landed
+at the little island of Holm Patrick, near Skerries, off the north coast
+of Dublin. After a brief stay he proceeded still farther northward, and
+finally entering Strangford Lough, landed with his companions in the
+district of Magh-Inis, in the present barony of Lecale. Having
+penetrated some distance into the interior, they were encountered by
+Dicho, the lord of the soil, who, hearing of their embarkation, and
+supposing them to be pirates, had assembled a formidable body of
+retainers to expel them from his shores. But it is said that the moment
+he perceived, Patrick, his apprehensions vanished. After some brief
+converse, Dicho invited the saint and his companions to his house, and
+soon after received himself the grace of holy baptism. Dicho was St.
+Patrick's first convert, and the first who erected a Christian church
+under his direction. The memory of this event is still preserved in the
+name Saull, the modern contraction of _Sabhall Padruic_, or Patrick's
+Barn. The saint was especially attached to the scene of his first
+missionary success, and frequently retired to the monastery which was
+established there later.
+
+After a brief residence with the new converts, Patrick set out for the
+habitation of his old master, Milcho, who lived near Slieve Mis, in the
+present county of Antrim, then part of the territory called Dalriada. It
+is said that when Milcho heard of the approach of his former slave, he
+became so indignant, that, in a violent fit of passion, he set fire to
+his house, and perished himself in the flames. The saint returned to
+Saull, and from thence journeyed by water to the mouth of the Boyne,
+where he landed at a small port called Colp. Tara was his destination;
+but on his way thither he stayed a night at the house of a man of
+property named Seschnan. This man and his whole family were baptized,
+and one of his sons received the name of Benignus from St. Patrick, on
+account of the gentleness of his manner. The holy youth attached himself
+from this moment to his master, and was his successor in the primatial
+see of Armagh.
+
+Those who are anxious, for obvious reasons, to deny the fact of St.
+Patrick's mission from Rome, do so on two grounds: first, the absence of
+a distinct statement of this mission in one or two of the earliest lives
+of the saints; and his not having mentioned it himself in his genuine
+writings. Second, by underrating the value of those documents which do
+mention this Roman mission. With regard to the first objection, it is
+obvious that a hymn which was written merely as a panegyric (the Hymn of
+St. Fiacc) was not the place for such details. But St. Fiacc _does_
+mention that Germanus was the saint's instructor, and that "he read his
+canons," _i.e._, studied theology under him.
+
+St. Patrick's Canons,[123] which even Usher admits to be genuine,
+contain the following passage. We give Usher's own translation, as
+beyond all controversy for correctness:--"Whenever any cause that is
+very difficult, and unknown unto all the judges of the Scottish nation,
+shall arise, it is rightly to be referred to the See of the Archbishop
+of the Irish (that is, of Patrick), and to the examination of the
+prelate thereof. But if there, by him and his wise men, a cause of this
+nature cannot easily be made up, we have decreed it shall be sent to the
+See Apostolic, that is to say, to the chair of the Apostle Peter, which
+hath the authority of the city of Rome." Usher's translation of St.
+Patrick's Canon is sufficiently plain, and evidently he found it
+inconveniently explicit, for he gives a "gloss" thereon, in which he
+apologizes for St. Patrick's Roman predilections, by suggesting that the
+saint was influenced by a "special regard for the Church of Rome." No
+doubt this was true; it is the feeling of all good Catholics; but it
+requires something more than a "special regard" to inculcate such
+absolute submission; and we can scarcely think even Usher himself could
+have gravely supposed, that a canon written to bind the whole Irish
+Church, should have inculcated a practice of such importance, merely
+because St. Patrick had a regard for the Holy See. This Canon was acted
+upon in the Synod of Magh-Lene, in 630, and St. Cummian attests the fact
+thus:--"In accordance with the canonical, decree, that if questions of
+grave moment arise, they shall be referred to the head of cities, we
+sent such as we knew were wise and humble men to Rome." But there is yet
+another authority for St. Patrick's Roman mission. There is an important
+tract by Macutenius, in the Book of Armagh. The authenticity of the
+tract has not, and indeed could not, be questioned; but a leaf is
+missing: happily, however, the titles of the chapters are preserved, so
+there can be no doubt as to what they contained. In these headings we
+find the following:--
+
+"5. De aetate ejus quando iens videre Sedem Apostolicam voluit discere
+sapientiam."
+
+"6. De inventione Sancti Germani in Galiis et ideo non exivit ultra."
+
+Dr. Todd, by joining these two separate titles, with more ingenuity than
+fairness, has made it appear that "St. Patrick desired to visit the
+Apostolic See, and there to learn wisdom, but that meeting with St.
+Germanus in Gaul he went no further."[124] Even could the headings of
+two separate chapters be thus joined together, the real meaning of _et
+ideo non exivit ultra_ would be, that St. Patrick never again left
+Germanus,--a meaning too obviously inadmissible to require further
+comment. But it is well known that the life of St. Patrick which bears
+the name of Probus, is founded almost verbally on the text of
+Macutenius, and this work supplies the missing chapters. They clearly
+relate not only the Roman mission of the saint, but also the saint's
+love of Rome, and his desire to obtain from thence "due authority" that
+he might "preach with confidence."
+
+[Illustration: ANCIENT SWORD, FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE R.I.A., FOUND
+AT HILLSWOOD, CO. GALWAY.]
+
+[Illustration: SCULPTURES AT DEVENISH.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[110] _Christ_.--"Ad Scotos in Christum credentes ordinatur a papa
+Caelestino Palladius et primus episcopus mittitur."--_Vet. Lat. Scrip.
+Chron. Roncallius_, Padua, 1787.
+
+[111] _Wicklow_.--Probably on the spot where the town of Wicklow now
+stands. It was then called the region of Hy-Garchon. It is also
+designated _Fortreatha Laighen_ by the Scholiast on Fiacc's Hymn. The
+district, probably, received this name from the family of _Eoichaidh
+Finn Fothart_, a brother of Conn of the Hundred Battles.
+
+[112] _Armagh_--Fol. 16, a.a.
+
+[113] _Patricius_.--This name was but an indication of rank. In the
+later years of the Roman Empire, Gibbon says, "the meanest subjects of
+the Roman Empire [5th century] assumed the illustrious name of
+Patricius."--_Decline and Fall_, vol. viii. p. 300. Hence the confusion
+that arose amongst Celtic hagiographers, and the interchanging of the
+acts of several saints who bore the same name.
+
+[114] _Deacon_.--This was an important office in the early Roman Church.
+
+[115] _Heresy_.--The Pelagian.
+
+[116] _Followed him_.--The Four Masters imply, however, that they
+remained in Ireland. They also name the three wooden churches which he
+erected. Celafine, which has not been identified; Teach-na-Romhan, House
+of the Romans, probably Tigroni; and Domhnach-Arta, probably the present
+Dunard.--Annals, p. 129.
+
+[117] _Nemthur_.--The _n_ is merely a prefix; it should read Em-tur.
+
+[118] _Celestine._--See the Scholiast on Fiacc's Hymn.
+
+[119] _Preserved._--It is much to be regretted that almost every
+circumstance in the life of St. Patrick has been made a field for
+polemics. Dr. Todd, of whom one might have hoped better things, has
+almost destroyed the interest of his otherwise valuable work by this
+fault. He cannot allow that St. Patrick's mother was a relative of St.
+Martin of Tours, obviously because St. Martin's Catholicity is
+incontrovertible. He wastes pages in a vain attempt to disprove St.
+Patrick's Roman mission, for similar reasons; and he cannot even admit
+that the Irish received the faith as a nation, all despite the clearest
+evidence; yet so strong is the power of prejudice, that he accepts far
+less proof for other questions.
+
+[120] _Victoricus_.--There were two saints, either of whom might have
+been the mysterious visitant who invited St. Patrick to Ireland. St.
+Victoricus was the great missionary of the Morini, at the end of the
+fourth century. There was also a St. Victoricus who suffered martyrdom
+at Amiens, A.D. 286. Those do not believe that the saints were and are
+favoured with supernatural communications, and whose honesty compels
+them to admit the genuineness of such documents as the Confession of St.
+Patrick, are put to sad straits to explain away what he writes.
+
+[121] _Lerins.--See Monks of the West_, v. i. p. 463. It was then styled
+_insula beata_.
+
+[122] _St. Germain_.--St. Fiacc, who, it will be remembered, was
+contemporary with St. Patrick, write thus in his Hymn:
+
+"The angel, Victor, sent Patrick over the Alps; Admirable was his
+journey-- Until he took his abode with Germanus, Far away in the south
+of Letha. In the isles of the Tyrrhene sea he remained; In them he
+meditated; He read the canon with Germanus-- This, histories make
+known."
+
+
+
+[123] _Canons_--This Canon is found in the Book of Armagh, and in that
+part of that Book which was copied from _St. Patrick's own manuscript_.
+Even could it be proved that St. Patrick never wrote these Canons, the
+fact that they are in the Book of Armagh, which was compiled, according
+to O'Curry, before the year 727, and even at the latest before the year
+807, is sufficient to prove the practice of the early Irish Church on
+this important subject.
+
+[124] _Further.--Life of St. Patrick_, p. 315.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+St. Patrick visits Tara--Easter Sunday--St. Patrick's Hymn--Dubtach
+salute him--He overthrows the Idols at Magh Slecht--The Princesses
+Ethnea and Fethlimia--Their Conversion--Baptism of Aengus--St. Patrick
+travels through Ireland--His Success in Munster--He blesses the whole
+country from Cnoc Patrick--The First Irish Martyr--St. Patrick's
+Death--Pagan Prophecies--Conor Mac Nessa--Death of King Laeghaire--The
+Church did not and does not countenance Pagan Superstition--Oilioll
+Molt--Death of King Aengus--Foundation of the Kingdom of Scotland--St.
+Brigid--Shrines of the Three Saints--St Patrick's Prayer for Ireland,
+and its Fulfilment.
+
+[A.D. 432--543.]
+
+
+On Holy Saturday St. Patrick arrived at Slane, where he caused a tent to
+be erected, and lighted the paschal fire at nightfall, preparatory to
+the celebration of the Easter festival. The princes and chieftains of
+Meath were, at the same time, assembled at Tara, where King Laeghaire
+was holding a great pagan festival. The object of this meeting has been
+disputed, some authorities saying that it was convoked to celebrate the
+Beltinne, or fire of Bal or Baal; others, that the king was
+commemorating his own birthday. On the festival of Beltinne it was
+forbidden to light any fire until a flame was visible from the top of
+Tara Hill. Laeghaire was indignant that this regulation should have been
+infringed; and probably the representation of his druids regarding the
+mission of the great apostle, did not tend to allay his wrath.
+Determined to examine himself into the intention of these bold
+strangers, he set forth, accompanied, by his bards and attendants, to
+the place where the sacred fire had been kindled, and ordered the
+apostle to be brought before him strictly commanding, at the same time,
+that no respect should be shown to him.
+
+Notwithstanding the king's command, Erc, the son of Dego, rose up to
+salute him, obtained the grace of conversion, and was subsequently
+promoted to the episcopate. The result of this interview was the
+appointment of a public discussion, to take place the next day at Tara,
+between St. Patrick and the pagan bards.
+
+[Illustration: St. Patrick going to Tara.]
+
+It was Easter Sunday--a day ever memorable for this event in the annals
+of Erinn. Laeghaire and his court sat in state to receive the ambassador
+of the Eternal King. Treacherous preparations had been made, and it was
+anticipated that Patrick and his companions would scarcely reach Tara
+alive. The saint was aware of the machinations of his enemies; but life
+was of no value to him, save as a means of performing the great work
+assigned him, and the success of that work was in the safe keeping of
+Another. The old writers love to dwell on the meek dignity of the
+apostle during this day of trial and triumph. He set forth with his
+companions, from where he had encamped, in solemn procession, singing a
+hymn of invocation which he had composed, in the Irish tongue, for the
+occasion, and which is still preserved, and well authenticated.[125] He
+was clothed as usual, in white robes; but he wore his mitre, and carried
+in his hand the Staff of Jesus. Eight priests attended him, robed also
+in white, and his youthful convert, Benignus, the son of Seschnan.
+
+Thus, great in the arms of meekness and prayer, did the Christian hosts
+calmly face the array of pagan pomp and pride. Again the monarch had
+commanded that no honour should be paid to the saint, and again he was
+disobeyed. His own chief poet and druid, Dubtach, rose up instantly on
+the entrance of the strangers, and saluted the venerable apostle with
+affection and respect. The Christian doctrine was then explained by St.
+Patrick to his wondering audience, and such impression made, that
+although Laeghaire lived and died an obstinate pagan, he nevertheless
+permitted the saint to preach where and when he would, and to receive
+all who might come to him for instruction or holy baptism.
+
+On the following day St. Patrick repaired to Taillten, where the public
+games were commencing; and there he remained for a week, preaching to an
+immense concourse of people. Here his life was threatened by Cairbre, a
+brother of King Laeghaire; but the saint was defended by another of the
+royal brothers, named Conall Creevan, who was shortly after converted.
+The church of Donough Patrick, in Meath, was founded by his desire. It
+is said that all the Irish churches which begin with the name Donough
+were founded by the saint, the foundation being always marked out by him
+on a Sunday, for which Domhnach is the Gaedhilic term.
+
+Having preached for some time in the western part of the territory of
+Meath, the saint proceeded as far as Magh Slecht, where the great idol
+of the nation, Ceann [or Crom] Cruach was solemnly worshipped. The
+legend of its destruction, as given in the oldest annals, is singularly
+interesting. We give a brief extract from Professor O'Curry's
+translation: "When Patrick saw the idol from the water, which is named
+_Guthard_ [loud voice] (i.e., he elevated his voice); and when he
+approached near the idol, he raised his arm to lay the Staff of Jesus on
+him, and it did not reach him; he bent back from the attempt upon his
+right side, for it was to the south his face was; and the mark of the
+staff lies in his left side still although the staff did not leave
+Patrick's hand; and the earth swallowed the other twelve idols to their
+heads; and they are in that condition in commemoration of the miracle.
+And he called upon all the people _cum rege Laeghuire;_ they it was that
+adored the idol. And all the people saw him (i.e., the demon), and they
+dreaded their dying if Patrick had not sent him to hell."[126]
+
+After this glorious termination of Easter week, the saint made two other
+important converts. He set out for Connaught; and when near Rath
+Cruaghan, met the daughters of King Laeghaire, the princesses Ethnea and
+Fethlimia, who were coming, in patriarchal fashion, to bathe in a
+neighbouring well. These ladies were under the tuition of certain
+druids, or magi; but they willingly listened to the instruction of the
+saint, and were converted and baptized.
+
+The interview took place at daybreak. The royal sisters heard the
+distant chant of the priests, who were reciting matins as they walked
+along; and when they approached and beheld them in their white garments,
+singing, with books in their hands, it was naturally supposed that they
+were not beings of earth.
+
+"Who are ye?" they inquired of the saint and his companions. "Are ye of
+the sea, the heavens, or the earth?"
+
+St. Patrick explained to them such of the Christian mysteries as were
+most necessary at the moment, and spoke of the one only true God.
+
+"But where," they asked, "does your God dwell? Is it in the sun or on
+earth, in mountains or in valleys, in the sea or in rivers?"
+
+Then the apostle told them of his God,--the Eternal, the Invisible,--and
+how He had indeed dwelt on earth as man, but only to suffer and die for
+their salvation. And as the maidens listened to his words, their hearts
+were kindled with heavenly love, and they inquired further what they
+could do to show their gratitude to this great King. In that same hour
+they were baptized; and in a short time they consecrated themselves to
+Him, the story of whose surpassing charity had so moved their young
+hearts.
+
+Their brother also obtained the grace of conversion; and an old Irish
+custom of killing a sheep on St. Michael's Day, and distributing it
+amongst the poor, is said to date from a miracle performed by St.
+Patrick for this royal convert.
+
+Nor is the story of Aengus, another royal convert, less interesting.
+About the year 445, the saint, after passing through Ossory, and
+converting a great number of people, entered the kingdom of Munster. His
+destination was Cashel, from whence King Aengus, the son of Natfraech,
+came forth to meet him with the utmost reverence.
+
+This prince had already obtained some knowledge of Christianity, and
+demanded the grace of holy baptism.
+
+The saint willingly complied with his request. His courtiers assembled
+with royal state to assist at the ceremony. St. Patrick carried in his
+hand, as usual, the Bachall Isu; at the end of this crozier there was a
+sharp iron spike, by which he could plant it firmly in the ground beside
+him while preaching, or exercising his episcopal functions. On this
+occasion, however, he stuck it down into the king's foot, and did not
+perceive his mistake until--
+
+    "The royal foot transfixed, the gushing blood
+    Enrich'd the pavement with a noble flood."
+
+The ceremony had concluded, and the prince had neither moved nor
+complained of the severe suffering he had endured. When the saint
+expressed his deep regret for such an occurrence, Aengus merely replied
+that he believed it to be a part of the ceremony, and did not appear to
+consider any suffering of consequence at such a moment.[127]
+
+When such was the spirit of the old kings of Erinn who received the
+faith of Christ from Patrick, we can scarcely marvel that their
+descendants have adhered to it with such unexampled fidelity.
+
+After the conversion of the princesses Ethnea and Fethlimia, the
+daughters of King Laeghaire, St. Patrick traversed almost every part of
+Connaught, and, as our divine Lord promised to those whom He
+commissioned to teach all nations, proved his mission by the exercise of
+miraculous powers. Some of his early biographers have been charged with
+an excess of credulity on this point. But were this the place or time
+for such a discussion, it might easily be shown that miracles were to be
+expected when a nation was first evangelized, and that their absence
+should be rather a matter of surprise than their frequency or
+marvellousness. He who alone could give the commission to preach, had
+promised that "greater things" than He Himself did should be done by
+those thus commissioned. And after all, what greater miracle could there
+be than that one who had been enslaved, and harshly, if not cruelly
+treated, should become the deliverer of his enslavers from spiritual
+bondage, and should sacrifice all earthly pleasures for their eternal
+gain? Nor is the conversion of the vast multitude who listened to the
+preaching of the saint, less marvellous than those events which we
+usually term the most supernatural.
+
+The saint's greatest success was in the land[128] of Tirawley, near the
+town of Foclut, from whence he had heard the voice of the Irish even in
+his native land. As he approached this district, he learned that the
+seven sons of King Amalgaidh were celebrating a great festival. Their
+father had but lately died, and it was said these youths exceeded all
+the princes of the land in martial courage and skill in combat. St.
+Patrick advanced in solemn procession even into the very midst of the
+assembly, and for his reward obtained the conversion of the seven
+princes and twelve thousand of their followers. It is said that his life
+was at this period in some danger, but that Endeus, one of the converted
+princes, and his son Conall, protected him.[129] After seven years spent
+in Connaught, he passed into Ulster; there many received the grace of
+holy baptism, especially in that district now comprised in the county
+Monaghan.
+
+It was probably about this time that the saint returned to Meath, and
+appointed his nephew, St. Secundinus or Sechnal, who was bishop of the
+place already mentioned as Domhnach Sechnail, to preside over the
+northern churches during his own absence in the southern part of
+Ireland.
+
+The saint then visited those parts of Leinster which had been already
+evangelized by Palladius, and laid the foundation of many new churches.
+He placed one of his companions, Bishop Auxilius, at Killossy, near
+Naas, and another, Isserninus, at Kilcullen, both in the present county
+of Kildare. At Leix, in the Queen's county, he obtained a great many
+disciples, and from thence he proceeded to visit his friend, the poet
+Dubtach, who, it will be remembered, paid him special honour at Tara,
+despite the royal prohibition to the contrary. Dubtach lived in that
+part of the country called Hy-Kinsallagh, now the county Carlow. It was
+here the poet Fiacc was first introduced to the saint, whom he
+afterwards so faithfully followed. Fiacc had been a disciple of Dubtach,
+and was by profession a bard, and a member of an illustrious house. He
+was the first Leinster man raised to episcopal dignity. It was probably
+at this period that St. Patrick visited Munster, and the touching
+incident already related occurred at the baptism of Aengus. This prince
+was singularly devoted to religion, as indeed his conduct during the
+administration of the sacrament of regeneration could not fail to
+indicate.
+
+The saint's mission in Munster was eminently successful. Lonan, the
+chief of the district of Ormonde, entertained him with great
+hospitality, and thousands embraced the faith. Many of the inhabitants
+of Corca Baiscin crossed the Shannon in their hidecovered boats
+(curaghs) when the saint was on the southern side, in Hy-Figeinte, and
+were baptized by him in the waters of their magnificent river. At their
+earnest entreaty, St. Patrick ascended a hill which commanded a view of
+the country of the Dalcassians, and gave his benediction to the whole
+territory. This hill is called Findine in the ancient lives of the
+saint; but this name is now obsolete. Local tradition and antiquarian
+investigation make it probable that the favoured spot is that now called
+Cnoc Patrick, near Foynes Island.
+
+The saint's next journey was in the direction of Kerry, where he
+prophesied that "St. Brendan, of the race of Hua Alta, the great
+patriarch of monks and star of the western world, would be born, and
+that his birth would take place some years after his own death."[130]
+
+We have now to record the obituary of the only Irish martyr who suffered
+for the faith while Ireland was being evangelized. While the saint was
+visiting Ui-Failghe, a territory now comprised in the King's county, a
+pagan chieftain, named Berraidhe, formed a plan for murdering the
+apostle. His wicked design came in some way to the knowledge of Odran,
+the saint's charioteer, who so arranged matters as to take his master's
+place, and thus received the fatal blow intended for him.
+
+The See of Armagh was founded about the year 455, towards the close of
+the great apostle's life. The royal palace of Emania, in the immediate
+neighbourhood, was then the residence of the kings of Ulster. A wealthy
+chief, by name Daire,[131] gave the saint a portion of land for the
+erection of his cathedral, on an eminence called _Druim-Sailech_, the
+Hill of Sallows. This high ground is now occupied by the city of Armagh
+(Ard-Macha). Religious houses for both sexes were established near the
+church, and soon were filled with ardent and devoted subjects.
+
+The saint's labours were now drawing to a close, and the time of eternal
+rest was at hand. He retired to his favourite retreat at Saull, and
+there probably wrote his _Confessio_.[132] It is said that he wished to
+die in the ecclesiastical metropolis of Ireland, and for this purpose,
+when he felt his end approaching, desired to be conveyed thither; but
+even as he was on his journey an angel appeared to him, and desired him
+to return to Saull. Here he breathed his last, on Wednesday, the 17th of
+March, in the year of our Lord 492. The holy viaticum and last anointing
+were administered to him by St. Tussach.[133]
+
+The saint's age at the time of his death, as also the length of his
+mission in Ireland, has been put at a much longer period by some
+authors, but modern research and correction of chronology have all but
+verified the statement given above.
+
+The intelligence of the death of St. Patrick spread rapidly through the
+country; prelates and priests flocked from all parts to honour the
+mortal remains of their glorious father. As each arrived at Saull, he
+proceeded to offer the adorable sacrifice according to his rank. At
+night the plain resounded with the chanting of psalms; and the darkness
+was banished by the light of such innumerable torches, that it seemed
+even as if day had hastened to dawn brightly on the beloved remains. St.
+Fiacc, in his often-quoted Hymn, compares it to the long day caused by
+the standing of the sun at the command of Joshua, when he fought against
+the Gabaonites.
+
+It is said that the pagan Irish were not without some intimation of the
+coming of their great apostle. Whether these prophecies were true or
+false is a question we cannot pretend to determine; but their existence
+and undoubted antiquity demand that they should have at least a passing
+notice. Might not the Gaedhilic druid, as well as the Pythian priestess,
+have received even from the powers of darkness, though despite their
+will, an oracle[134] which prophesied truth?
+
+There is a strange, wild old legend preserved in the Book of Leinster,
+which indicates that even in ancient Erinn the awful throes of nature
+were felt which were manifested in so many places, and in such various
+ways, during those dark hours when the Son of God hung upon the accursed
+tree for the redemption of His guilty creatures.
+
+This tale or legend is called the _Aideadh Chonchobair_. It is one of
+that class of narratives known under the generic title of Historical
+Tragedies, or Deaths. The hero, Conor Mac Nessa, was King of Ulster at
+the period of the Incarnation of our Lord. His succession to the throne
+was rather a fortuity than the result of hereditary claim. Fergus Mac
+Nessa was rightfully king at the time; but Conor's father having died
+while he was yet an infant, Fergus, then the reigning monarch, proposed
+marriage to his mother when the youth was about fifteen, and only
+obtained the consent of the celebrated beauty on the strange condition
+that he should hand over the sovereignty of Ulster to her son for a
+year. The monarch complied, glad to secure the object of his affections
+on any terms. Conor, young as he was, governed with such wisdom and
+discretion as to win all hearts; and when the assigned period had
+arrived, the Ulster men positively refused to permit Fergus to resume
+his rightful dignity. After much contention the matter was settled
+definitely in favour of the young monarch, and Fergus satisfied himself
+with still retaining the wife for whose sake he had willingly made such
+sacrifices. Conor continued to give ample proofs of the wisdom of his
+people's decision. Under his government the noble Knights of the Royal
+Branch sprang up in Ulster, and made themselves famous both in field and
+court.
+
+It was usual in those barbarous times, whenever a distinguished enemy
+was killed in battle, to cleave open his head, and to make a ball of the
+brains by mixing them with lime, which was then dried, and preserved as
+a trophy of the warrior's valour. Some of these balls were preserved in
+the royal palace at Emania. One, that was specially prized, passed
+accidentally into the hands of a famous Connaught champion, who found a
+treacherous opportunity of throwing it at Conor, while he was displaying
+himself, according to the custom of the times, to the ladies of an
+opposing army, who had followed their lords to the scene of action. The
+ball lodged in the king's skull, and his physicians declared that an
+attempt to extract it would prove fatal. Conor was carried home; he soon
+recovered, but he was strictly forbidden to use any violent exercise,
+and required to avoid all excitement or anger. The king enjoyed his
+usual health by observing those directions, until the very day of the
+Crucifixion. But the fearful phenomena which then occurred diverted his
+attention, and he inquired if _Bacrach_, his druid, could divine the
+cause.
+
+The druid consulted his oracles, and informed the king that Jesus
+Christ, the Son of the living God, was, even at that moment, suffering
+death at the hands of the Jews. "What crime has He committed?" said
+Conor. "None," replied the druid. "Then are they slaying Him
+innocently?" said Conor. "They are," replied the druid.
+
+It was too great a sorrow for the noble prince; he could not bear that
+his God should die unmourned; and rushing wildly from where he sat to a
+neighbouring forest, he began to hew the young trees down, exclaiming:
+"Thus would I destroy those who were around my King at putting Him to
+death." The excitement proved fatal; and the brave and good King Conor
+Mac Nessa died[135] avenging, in his own wild pagan fashion, the death
+of his Creator.
+
+The secular history of Ireland, during the mission of St. Patrick,
+affords but few events of interest or importance. King Laeghaire died,
+according to the Four Masters, A.D. 458. The popular opinion attributed
+his demise to the violation of his oath to the Leinster men. It is
+doubtful whether he died a Christian, but the account of his burial[136]
+has been taken to prove the contrary. It is much to be regretted that
+persons entirely ignorant of the Catholic faith, whether that ignorance
+be wilful or invincible, should attempt to write lives of Catholic
+saints, or histories of Catholic countries. Such persons, no doubt
+unintentionally, make the most serious mistakes, which a well-educated
+Catholic child could easily rectify. We find a remarkable instance of
+this in the following passage, taken from a work already mentioned:
+"Perhaps this [King Laeghaire's oath] may not be considered an absolute
+proof of the king's paganism. To swear by the sun and moon was
+apparently, no doubt, paganism. But is it not also paganism to represent
+the rain and wind as taking vengeance? ... for this is the language
+copied by all the monastic annalists, and even by the Four Masters,
+Franciscan friars, writing in the seventeenth century." The passage is
+improved by a "note," in which the author mentions this as a proof that
+such superstitions would not have been necessarily regarded two
+centuries ago as inconsistent with orthodoxy. Now, in the first place,
+the Catholic Church has always[137] condemned superstition of every
+kind. It is true that as there are good as well as bad Christians in her
+fold, there are also superstitious as well as believing Christians; but
+the Church is not answerable for the sins of her children. She is
+answerable for the doctrine which she teaches; and no one can point to
+any place or time in which the Church taught such superstitions.
+Secondly, the writers of history are obliged to relate facts as they
+are. The Franciscan fathers do this, and had they not done it carefully,
+and with an amount of labour which few indeed have equalled, their
+admirable Annals would have been utterly useless. They do mention the
+pagan opinion that it was "the sun and wind that killed him [Laeghaire],
+because he had violated them;" but they do not say that they believed
+this pagan superstition, and no one could infer it who read the passage
+with ordinary candour.
+
+It is probable that Oilioll Molt, who succeeded King Laeghaire, A.D.
+459, lived and died a pagan. He was slain, after a reign of twenty
+years, by Laeghaire's son, Lughaidh, who reigned next. The good king
+Aengus[138] died about this time. He was the first Christian King of
+Munster, and is the common ancestor of the MacCarthys, O'Sullivans,
+O'Keeffes, and O'Callahans. The foundation of the kingdom of Scotland by
+an Irish colony, is generally referred to the year 503.[139] It has
+already been mentioned that Cairbre Riada was the leader of an
+expedition thither in the reign of Conaire II. The Irish held their
+ground without assistance from the mother country until this period,
+when the Picts obtained a decisive victory, and drove them from the
+country. A new colony of the Dalriada now went out under the leadership
+of Loarn, Aengus, and Fergus, the sons of Erc. They were encouraged and
+assisted in their undertaking by their relative Mortagh, the then King
+of Ireland. It is said they took the celebrated _Lia Fail_ to Scotland,
+that Fergus might be crowned thereon. The present royal family of
+England have their claim to the crown through the Stuarts, who were
+descendants of the Irish Dalriada. Scotland now obtained the name of
+Scotia, from the colony of Scots. Hence, for some time, Ireland was
+designated Scotia Magna, to distinguish it from the country which so
+obtained, and has since preserved, the name of the old race.
+
+Muircheartach, A.D. 504, was the first Christian King of Ireland; but he
+was constantly engaged in war with the Leinster men about the most
+unjust Boromean tribute. He belonged to the northern race of Hy-Nial,
+being descended from Nial of the Nine Hostages. On his death, the crown
+reverted to the southern Hy-Nials in the person of their representative,
+Tuathal Maelgarbh.
+
+It would appear from a stanza in the Four Masters, that St. Brigid had
+some prophetic intimation or knowledge of one of the battles fought by
+Muircheartach. Her name is scarcely less famous for miracles than that
+of the great apostle. Broccan's Hymn[140] contains allusions to a very
+great number of these supernatural favours. Many of these marvels are of
+a similar nature to those which the saints have been permitted to
+perform in all ages of the Church's history.
+
+Brigid belonged to an illustrious family, who were lineally descended
+from Eochad, a brother of Conn of the Hundred Battles. She was born at
+Fochard, near Dundalk, about the year 453, where her parents happened to
+be staying at the time; but Kildare was their usual place of residence,
+and there the holy virgin began her saintly career. In her sixteenth
+year she received the white cloak and religious veil, which was then the
+distinctive garment of those who were specially dedicated to Christ,
+from the hands of St. Macaille, the Bishop of Usneach, in Westmeath.
+Eight young maidens of noble birth took the veil with her. Their first
+residence was at a place in the King's county, still called Brigidstown.
+The fame of her sanctity now extended far and wide, and she was
+earnestly solicited from various parts of the country to found similar
+establishments. Her first mission was to Munster, at the request of Erc,
+the holy Bishop of Slane, who had a singular respect for her virtue.
+Soon after, she founded a house of her order in the plain of Cliach,
+near Limerick; but the people of Leinster at last became fearful of
+losing their treasure, and sent a deputation requesting her return, and
+offering land for the foundation of a large nunnery. Thus was
+established, in 483, the famous Monastery of Kildare, or the Church of
+the Oak.
+
+At the request of the saint, a bishop was appointed to take charge of
+this important work; and under the guidance of Conlaeth, who heretofore
+had been a humble anchorite, it soon became distinguished for its
+sanctity and usefulness. The concourse of strangers and pilgrims was
+immense; and in the once solitary plain one of the largest cities of the
+time soon made its appearance. It is singular and interesting to remark,
+how the call to a life of virginity was felt and corresponded with in
+the newly Christianized country, even as it had been in the Roman
+Empire, when it also received the faith. Nor is it less noticeable how
+the same safeguards and episcopal rule preserved the foundations of each
+land in purity and peace, and have transmitted even to our own days, in
+the same Church, and in it only, that privileged life.
+
+The Four Masters give her obituary under the year 525. According to
+Cogitosus, one of her biographers, her remains were interred in her own
+church. Some authorities assert that her relics were removed to Down,
+when Kildare was ravaged by the Danes, about the year 824.
+
+It has been doubted whether Downpatrick could lay claim to the honour of
+being the burial-place of Ireland's three great saints,[141] but there
+are good arguments in its favour. An old prophecy of St. Columba
+regarding his interment runs thus:--
+
+    "My prosperity in guiltless Hy,
+    And my soul in Derry,
+    And my body under the flag
+    Beneath which are Patrick and Brigid."
+
+The relics of the three saints escaped the fury of the Danes, who burned
+the town and pillaged the cathedral six or seven times, between the
+years 940 and 1111. In 1177, John de Courcy took possession of the town,
+and founded a church attached to a house of Secular Canons, under the
+invocation of the Blessed Trinity. In 1183 they were replaced by a
+community of Benedictine monks, from St. Wirburgh's Abbey, at Chester.
+Malachy, who was then bishop, granted the church to the English monks
+and prior, and changed the name to that of the Church of St. Patrick.
+This prelate was extremely anxious to discover the relics of the saints,
+which a constant tradition averred were there concealed. It is said,
+that one day, as he prayed in the church, his attention was directed
+miraculously to an obscure part of it; or, according to another and more
+probable account, to a particular spot in the abbey-yard, where, when
+the earth was removed, their remains were found in a triple
+cave,--Patrick in the middle, Columba and Brigid on either side.
+
+At the request of De Courcy, delegates were despatched to Rome by the
+bishop to acquaint Urban III. of the discovery of the bodies. His
+Holiness immediately sent Cardinal Vivian to preside at the translation
+of the relics. The ceremony took place on the 9th of June, 1186, that
+day being the feast of St. Columba. The relics of the three saints were
+deposited in the same monument at the right side of the high altar. The
+right hand of St. Patrick was enshrined and placed on the high altar. In
+1315, Edward Bruce invaded Ulster, marched to Downpatrick, destroyed the
+abbey, and carried off the enshrined hand. In 1538, Lord Grey, who
+marched into Lecale to establish the supremacy of his master, Henry
+VIII., by fire and sword, "effaced the statues of the three patron
+saints, and burned the cathedral, for which act, along with many others
+equally laudable, he was beheaded three years afterwards." The
+restoration of the old abbey-church was undertaken of late years, and
+preceded by an act of desecration, which is still remembered with
+horror. The church had been surrounded by a burying-ground, where many
+had wished to repose, that they might, even in death, be near the relics
+of the three great patron saints of Erinn. But the graves were exhumed
+without mercy, and many were obliged to carry away the bones of their
+relatives, and deposit them where they could. The "great tomb," in which
+it was believed that "Patrick, Brigid, and Columkille" had slept for
+more than six centuries, was not spared; the remains were flung out into
+the churchyard, and only saved from further desecration by the piety of
+a faithful people.
+
+The shrine of St. Patrick's hand was in possession of the late Catholic
+Bishop of Belfast. The relic itself has long disappeared; but the
+shrine, after it was carried off by Bruce, passed from one trustworthy
+guardian to another, until it came into his hands. One of these was a
+Protestant, who, with noble generosity, handed it over to a Catholic as
+a more fitting custodian. One Catholic family, into whose care it passed
+at a later period, refused the most tempting offers for it, though
+pressed by poverty, lest it should fall into the hands of those who
+might value it rather as a curiosity than as an object of devotion.
+
+This beautiful reliquary consists of a silver case in the shape of the
+hand and arm, cut off a little below the elbow. It is considerably
+thicker than the hand and arm of an ordinary man, as if it were intended
+to enclose these members without pressing upon them too closely. The
+fingers are bent, so as to represent the hand in the attitude of
+benediction.
+
+But there is another relic of St. Patrick and his times of scarcely less
+interest. The _Domhnach Airgid_[142] contains a copy of the Four
+Gospels, which, there is every reason to believe, were used by the great
+apostle of Ireland. The relic consists of two parts--the shrine or case
+and the manuscript. The shrine is an oblong box, nine inches by seven,
+and five inches in height. It is composed of three distinct covers, in
+the ages of which there is obviously a great difference. The inner or
+first cover is of wood, apparently yew, and may be coeval with the
+manuscript it is intended to preserve. The second, which is of copper
+plated with silver, is assigned to a period between the sixth and
+twelfth centuries, from the style of its scroll or interlaced ornaments.
+The figures in relief, and letters on the third cover, which is of
+silver plated with gold, leave no doubt of its being the work of the
+fourteenth century.
+
+The last or external cover is of great interest as a specimen of the
+skill and taste in art of its time in Ireland, and also for the highly
+finished representations of ancient costume which it preserves. The
+ornaments on the top consist principally of a large figure of the
+Saviour in _alto-relievo_ in the centre, and eleven figures of saints in
+_basso-relievo_ on each side in four oblong compartments. There is a
+small square reliquary over the head of our divine Lord, covered with a
+crystal, which probably contained a piece of the holy cross. The smaller
+figures in relief are, Columba, Brigid, and Patrick; those in the second
+compartment, the Apostles James, Peter, and Paul; in the third, the
+Archangel Michael, and the Virgin and Child; in the fourth compartment a
+bishop presents a _cumdach_, or cover, to an ecclesiastic. This,
+probably, has a historical relation to the reliquary itself.
+
+One prayer uttered by St. Patrick has been singularly fulfilled. "May my
+Lord grant," he exclaims, "that I may never lose His people, which He
+has acquired in the ends of the earth!" From hill and dale, from camp
+and cottage, from plebeian and noble, there rang out a grand "Amen." The
+strain was caught by Secundinus and Benignus, by Columba and Columbanus,
+by Brigid and Brendan. It floated away from Lindisfarne and Iona, to
+Iceland and Tarentum. It was heard on the sunny banks of the Rhine, at
+Antwerp and Cologne, in Oxford, in Pavia, and in Paris. And still the
+old echo is breathing its holy prayer. By the priest, who toils in cold
+and storm to the "station" on the mountain side, far from his humble
+home. By the confessor, who spends hour after hour, in the heat of
+summer and the cold of winter, absolving the penitent children of
+Patrick. By the monk in his cloister. By noble and true-hearted men,
+faithful through centuries of persecution. And loudly and nobly, though
+it be but faint to human ears, is that echo uttered also by the aged
+woman who lies down by the wayside to die in the famine years,[143]
+because she prefers the bread of heaven to the bread of earth, and the
+faith taught by Patrick to the tempter's gold. By the emigrant, who,
+with broken heart bids a long farewell to the dear island home, to the
+old father, to the grey-haired mother, because his adherence to his
+faith tends not to further his temporal interest, and he must starve or
+go beyond the sea for bread. Thus ever and ever that echo is gushing up
+into the ear of God, and never will it cease until it shall have merged
+into the eternal alleluia which the often-martyred and ever-faithful
+children of the saint shall shout with him in rapturous voice before the
+Eternal Throne.
+
+[Illustration: ST. PATRICK'S BELL.]
+
+[Illustration: CROMLECH, AT CASTLE MARY, CLOYNE.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[125] _Authenticated_.--A copy of this ancient hymn, with a Latin and
+English translation, may be found in Petrie's _Essay on Tara_, p. 57, in
+Dr. Todd's _Life of St. Patrick_, and in Mr. Whitley Stokes'
+_Goidilica_. We regret exceedingly that our limited space will not
+permit us to give this and other most valuable and interesting
+documents. There is a remarkable coincidence of thought and expression
+between some portions of this hymn and the well-known prayer of St.
+Ignatius of Loyola, _Corpus Christi, salve me_. Such coincidences are
+remarkable and beautiful evidences of the oneness of faith, which
+manifests itself so frequently in similarity of language as well as in
+unity of belief. The Hymn of St. Patrick, written in the fifth century,
+is as purely Catholic as the Prayer of St. Ignatius, written in the
+sixteenth. St. Patrick places the virtue or power of the saints between
+him and evil, and declares his hope of merit for his good work with the
+same simple trust which all the saints have manifested from the earliest
+ages. This hymn is written in the _Bearla Feine_, or most ancient
+Gaedhilic dialect. Dr. O'Donovan well observes, that it bears internal
+evidence of its authenticity in its allusion to pagan customs. Tirechan,
+who wrote in the seventh century, says that there were four honours paid
+to St. Patrick in _all monasteries and churches throughout the whole of
+Ireland_. First, the festival of St. Patrick was honoured for three days
+and nights with all good cheer, except flesh meat [which the Church did
+not allow then to be used in Lent]. Second, there was a proper preface
+for him in the Mass. Third, his hymn was sung for the whole time.
+Fourth, his Scotic hymn was sung always. As we intend publishing a
+metrical translation of his hymn suitable for general use, we hope it
+will be "said and sung" by thousands of his own people on his festival
+for all time to come.
+
+[126] _Hell_.--O'Curry, p. 539. This is translated from the Tripartite
+Life of St. Patrick.
+
+[127] _Moment_.--Keating, Vol ii. p. 15.
+
+[128] _Land_.--Near the present town of Killala, co. Mayo.
+
+[129] _Protected him_.--Book of Armagh and Vit. Trip.
+
+[130] _Death_.--Vit. Trip. It was probably at this time St. Patrick
+wrote his celebrated letter to Caroticus.
+
+[131] _Daire_.--Book of Armagh, fol. 6, b.a.
+
+[132] _Confessio_.--This most remarkable and interesting document will
+be translated and noticed at length in the _Life of St. Patrick_, which
+we are now preparing for the press.
+
+[133] _St. Tussach_.--All this Dr. Todd omits. The Four Masters enter
+the obituary of St. Patrick under the year 457. It is obvious that some
+uncertainty must exist in the chronology of this early period.
+
+[134] _Oracle_.--It is said that, three years before St. Patrick's
+apostolic visit to Ireland, the druids of King Laeghaire predicted the
+event to their master as an impending calamity. The names of the druids
+were Lochra and Luchat Mael; their prophecy runs thus:--
+
+"A _Tailcenn_ will come over the raging sea, With his perforated
+garment, his crook-headed staff, With his table at the east end of his
+house, And all his people will answer 'Amen, Amen.'"
+
+The allusions to the priestly vestments, the altar at the east end of
+the church, and the pastoral staff, are sufficiently obvious, and easily
+explained. The prophecy is quoted by Macutenius, and quoted again from
+him by Probus; but the original is in one of the most ancient and
+authentic Irish MSS., the Book of Armagh.
+
+[135] _Died_.--O'Curry, p. 273.
+
+[136] _Burial_.--"The body of Laeghaire was brought afterwards from the
+south, and interred with his armour of championship in the south-east of
+the outer rampart of the royal rath of Laeghaire, at Tara, with his face
+turned southwards upon the men of Leinster, as fighting with them, for
+he was the enemy of the Leinster men in his lifetime."--Translated from
+the _Leabhar na Nuidhre._ Petrie's _Tara_, p. 170.
+
+[137] _Always_.--National customs and prejudices have always been
+respected by the Church: hence she has frequently been supposed to
+sanction what she was obliged to tolerate. A long residence in
+Devonshire, and an intimate acquaintance with its peasantry, has
+convinced us that there is incalculably more superstitions believed and
+_practised_ there of the _grossest kind_, than in any county in Ireland.
+Yet we should be sorry to charge the Established Church or its clergy,
+some of whom are most earnest and hard-working men, with the sins of
+their parishioners. The following extract from St. Columba's magnificent
+Hymn, will show what the early Irish saints thought of pagan
+superstitions:
+
+"I adore not the voice of birds, Nor sneezing, nor lots in this world,
+Nor a boy, nor chance, nor woman: My Druid is Christ, the Son of God;
+Christ, Son of Mary, the great Abbot, The Father, the Son, and the Holy
+Ghost."
+
+
+
+[138] _Aengus_.--
+
+"Died the branch, the spreading tree of gold, Aenghus the laudable."
+
+--Four Masters, p. 153. The branches of this tree have indeed spread far
+and wide, and the four great families mentioned above have increased and
+multiplied in all parts of the world.
+
+[139] _Year_ 503.--The Four Masters give the date 498, which O'Donovan
+corrects both in the text and in a note.
+
+[140] _Broccan's Hymn_.--This Hymn was written about A.D. 510. See the
+translation in Mr. Whitley Stokes' _Goidilica_, Calcutta, 1866.
+Privately printed.
+
+[141] _Saints_.--St. Patrick, St. Columba, and St. Brigid. See Reeves'
+_Ecc. Anti. of Down and Connor_, p. 225, and Giraldus Cambrensis, d. 3,
+cap. 18.
+
+[142] _Domhnach Airgid_.--See O'Curry, _MS. Materials_, p. 321, for a
+complete verification of the authenticity of this relic. The Tripartite
+Life of St. Patrick mentions the gift of this relic by the saint to _St.
+MacCarthainn_. Dr. Petrie concludes that the copy of the Gospels
+contained therein, was undoubtedly the one which was used by our
+apostle. We give a fac-simile of the first page, which cannot fail to
+interest the antiquarian.
+
+[143] _Famine years_.--During the famous, or rather infamous, Partry
+evictions, an old man of eighty and a woman of seventy-four were amongst
+the number of those who suffered for their ancient faith. They were
+driven from the home which their parents and grandfathers had occupied,
+in a pitiless storm of sleet and snow. The aged woman utters some slight
+complaint; but her noble-hearted aged husband consoles her with this
+answer: "The sufferings and death of Jesus Christ were bitterer still."
+Sixty-nine souls were cast out of doors that day. Well might the _Times_
+say: "These evictions are a hideous scandal; and the bishop should
+rather die than be guilty of such a crime." Yet, who can count up all
+the evictions, massacres, tortures, and punishments which this people
+has endured?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+[Gothic: The Religion of Ancient Erinn]--The Druids and their
+Teaching--The Irish were probably Fire-worshippers--[Gothic: The Customs
+of Ancient Erinn]--Similarity between Eastern and Irish Customs--Beal
+Fires--Hunting the Wren--"Jacks," a Grecian game--"Keen," an Eastern
+Custom--Superstitions--The Meaning of the Word--What Customs are
+Superstitious and what are not--Holy Wells--[Gothic: The Laws of Ancient
+Erinn]--Different kinds of Laws--The Lex non Scripta and the Lex
+Scripta--Christianity necessitated the Revision of Ancient Codes--The
+Compilation of the Brehon Laws--Proofs that St. Patrick assisted
+thereat--Law of Distress--Law of Succession--[Gothic: The Language of
+Ancient Erinn]--Writing in pre-Christian Erinn--Ogham Writing--[Gothic:
+Antiquities of pre-Christian Erinn]--Round
+Towers--Cromlechs--Raths--Crannoges.
+
+
+Eastern customs and eastern superstitions, which undoubtedly are a
+strong confirmatory proof of our eastern origin, abounded in ancient
+Erinn. Druidism was the religion of the Celts, and druidism was probably
+one of the least corrupt forms of paganism. The purity of the
+divinely-taught patriarchal worship, became more and more corrupted as
+it passed through defiled channels. Yet, in all pagan mythologies, we
+find traces of the eternal verity in an obvious prominence of cultus
+offered to one god above the rest; and obvious, though grossly
+misapplied, glimpses of divine attributes, in the many deified objects
+which seemed to symbolize his power and his omnipotence.
+
+The Celtic druids probably taught the same doctrine as the Greek
+philosophers. The metempsychosis, a prominent article of this creed, may
+have been derived from the Pythagoreans, but more probably it was one of
+the many relics of patriarchal belief which were engrafted on all pagan
+religions. They also taught that the universe would never be entirely
+destroyed, supposing that it would be purified by fire and water from
+time to time. This opinion may have been derived from the same source.
+The druids had a _pontifex maximus_, to whom they yielded entire
+obedience,--an obvious imitation of the Jewish custom. The nation was
+entirely governed by its priests, though after a time, when the kingly
+power developed itself, the priestly power gave place to the regal. Gaul
+was the head-quarters of druidism; and thither we find the Britons, and
+even the Romans, sending their children for instruction. Eventually,
+Mona became a chief centre for Britain. The Gaedhilic druids, though
+probably quite as learned as their continental brethren, were more
+isolated; and hence we cannot learn so much of their customs from
+external sources. There is no doubt that the druids of Gaul and Britain
+offered human sacrifices; it appears almost certain the Irish druids did
+not.
+
+Our principal and most reliable information about this religion, is
+derived from Caesar. His account of the learning of its druids, of their
+knowledge of astronomy, physical science, mechanics, arithmetic, and
+medicine, however highly coloured, is amply corroborated by the casual
+statements of other authors.[144] He expressly states that they used the
+Greek character in their writings, and mentions tables found in the camp
+of the Helvetii written in these characters, containing an account of
+all the men capable of bearing arms.
+
+It is probable that Irish druidical rites manifested themselves
+principally in Sun-worship. The name of Bel, still retained in the
+Celtic Beltinne, indicates its Phoenician origin; Baal being the name
+under which they adored that luminary. It is also remarkable that Grian,
+which signifies the sun in Irish, resembles an epithet of Apollo given
+by Virgil,[145] who sometimes styles him Grynaeus. St. Patrick also
+confirms this conjecture, by condemning Sun-worship in his Confession,
+when he says: "All those who adore it shall descend into misery and
+punishment." If the well-known passage of Diodorus Siculus may be
+referred to Ireland, it affords another confirmation. Indeed, it appears
+difficult to conceive how any other place but Ireland could be intended
+by the "island in the ocean over against Gaul, to the north, and not
+inferior in size to Sicily, the _soil of which is so fruitful_ that they
+mow there twice in the year."[146] In this most remarkable passage, he
+mentions the skill of their harpers, their sacred groves and _singular
+temple of round form_, their attachment to the Greeks by a singular
+affection from _old times_, and their tradition of having been visited
+by the Greeks, who left offerings which were noted in _Greek letters_.
+
+Toland and Carte assume that this passage refers to the Hebrides,
+Rowlands applies it to the island of Anglesea; but these conjectures are
+not worth regarding. We can scarcely imagine an unprejudiced person
+deciding against Ireland; but where prejudice exists, no amount of proof
+will satisfy. It has been suggested that the Irish pagan priests were
+not druids properly so called, but magi;[147] and that the Irish word
+which is taken to mean druid, is only used to denote persons specially
+gifted with wisdom. Druidism probably sprung from magism, which was a
+purer kind of worship, though it would be difficult now to define the
+_precise_ limits which separated these forms of paganism. If the
+original pagan religion of ancient Erinn was magism, introduced by its
+Phoenician colonizers, it is probable that it had gradually degenerated
+to the comparatively grosser rites of the druid before the advent of St.
+Patrick. His destruction of the idols at Magh Slecht is unquestionable
+evidence that idol worship[148] was then practised, though probably in a
+very limited degree.
+
+The folklore of a people is perhaps, next to their language, the best
+guide to their origin. The editor of Bohn's edition of the Chronicle of
+Richard of Cirencester remarks, that "many points of coincidence have
+been remarked in comparing the religion of the Hindoos with that of the
+ancient Britons; and in the language of these two people some striking
+similarities occur in those proverbs and modes of expression which are
+derived from national and religious ceremonies."[149] We are not aware
+of any British customs or proverbs which bear upon this subject, nor
+does the writer mention any in proof of his assertion: if, however, for
+Britons we read Irish, his observations may be amply verified.
+
+The kindly "God save you!" and "God bless all here!" of the Irish
+peasant, finds its counterpart in the eastern "God be gracious to thee,
+my son!" The partiality, if not reverence, for the number seven, is
+indicated in our churches. The warm-hearted hospitality of the very
+poorest peasant, is a practical and never-failing illustration of the
+Hindoo proverb, "The tree does not withdraw its shade even from the
+woodcutter."
+
+The celebration of St. John's Eve by watchfires, is undoubtedly a
+remnant of paganism, still practised in many parts of Ireland, as we can
+aver from personal knowledge; but the custom of passing cattle through
+the fire has been long discontinued, and those who kindle the fires have
+little idea of its origin, and merely continue it as an amusement. Kelly
+mentions, in his _Folklore_, that a calf was sacrificed in
+Northamptonshire during the present century, in one of these fires, to
+"stop the murrain." The superstitious use of fire still continues in
+England and Scotland, though we believe the Beltinne on St. John's Eve
+is peculiar to Ireland. The hunting of the wren[150] on St. Stephen's
+Day, in this country, is said, by Vallancey, to have been originated by
+the first Christian missionaries, to counteract the superstitious
+reverence with which this bird was regarded by the druids. Classic
+readers will remember the origin of the respect paid to this bird in
+pagan times. The peasantry in Ireland, who have never read either Pliny
+or Aristotle, are equally conversant with the legend.
+
+The common and undignified game of "jacks" also lays claim to a noble
+ancestry. In Mr. St. John's work on _The Manners and Customs of Ancient
+Greece_, he informs us that the game was a classical one, and called
+_pentalitha._ It was played with five _astragals_--knuckle-bones,
+pebbles, or little balls--which were thrown up into the air, and then
+attempted to be caught when falling on the back of the hand. Another
+Irish game, "pricking the loop," in Greece is called _himantiliginos_,
+pricking the garter. Hemestertius supposes the Gordian Knot to have been
+nothing but a variety of the himantiliginos. The game consists in
+winding a thong in such an intricate manner, that when a peg is inserted
+in the right ring, it is caught, and the game is won; if the mark is
+missed, the thong unwinds without entangling the peg.
+
+The Irish keen [_caoine_] may still be heard in Algeria and Upper Egypt,
+even as Herodotus heard it chanted by Lybian women. This wailing for the
+deceased is a most ancient custom; and if antiquity imparts dignity, it
+can hardly be termed barbarous. The Romans employed keeners at their
+funerals, an idea which they probably borrowed from the Etruscans,[151]
+with many others incomparably more valuable, but carefully
+self-appropriated. Our _wakes_ also may have had an identity of origin
+with the funeral feasts of the Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans, whose
+customs were all probably derived from a common source.
+
+The fasting of the creditor on the debtor is still practised in India,
+and will be noticed in connexion with the Brehon Laws. There is,
+however, a class of customs which have obtained the generic term of
+superstitions, which may not quite be omitted, and which are, for many
+reasons, difficult to estimate rightly. In treating of this subject, we
+encounter, _prima facie_, the difficulty of giving a definition of
+superstition. The Irish are supposed to be pre-eminently a superstitious
+people. Those who make this an accusation, understand by superstition
+the belief in anything supernatural; and they consider as equally
+superstitious, veneration of a relic, belief in a miracle, a story of a
+banshee, or a legend of Finn Mac Cumhaill. Probably, if the Celts did
+not venerate relics, and believe in the possibility of miracles, we
+should hear far less of their superstitions. Superstition of the
+grossest kind is prevalent among the lower orders in every part of
+England, and yet the nation prides itself on its rejection of this
+weakness. But according to another acceptation of the term, only such
+heathen customs as refer to the worship of false gods, are
+superstitions. These customs remain, unfortunately, in many countries,
+but in some they have been Christianized. Those who use the term
+superstition generically, still call the custom superstitious, from a
+latent and, perhaps, in some cases, unconscious impression that there is
+no supernatural. Such persons commence with denying all miraculous
+interventions except those which are recorded in holy Scripture; and
+unhappily, in some cases, end by denying the miracles of Scripture.
+
+To salute a person who sneezed with some form of benediction, was a
+pagan custom. It is said to have originated through an opinion of the
+danger attending it; and the exclamation used was: "Jupiter help me!" In
+Ireland, the pagan custom still remains, but it has been Christianized,
+and "God bless you!" is substituted for the pagan form. Yet we have
+known persons who considered the use of this aspiration superstitious,
+and are pleased to assert that the Irish use the exclamation as a
+protection against evil spirits, meaning thereby fairies. When a motive
+is persistently attributed which does not exist, argument is useless.
+
+Devotion to certain places, pilgrimages, even fasting and other bodily
+macerations, were pagan customs. These, also, have been Christianized.
+Buildings once consecrated to the worship of pagan gods, are now used as
+Christian temples: what should we think of the person who should assert
+that because pagan gods were once adored in these churches, therefore
+the worship now offered in them was offered to pagan deities? The
+temples, lite the customs, are Christianized.
+
+The author of a very interesting article in the _Ulster Archaeological
+Journal_ (vol. ix. p. 256), brings forward a number of Irish customs for
+which he finds counterparts in India. But he forgets that in Ireland the
+customs are Christianized, while in India, they remain pagan; and like
+most persons who consider the Irish pre-eminently superstitious, he
+appears ignorant of the teaching of that Church which Christianized the
+world. The special "superstition" of this article is the devotion to
+holy wells. The custom still exists in Hindostan; people flock to them
+for cure of their diseases, and leave "rags" on the bushes as
+"scapegoats," _ex votos_, so to say, of cures, or prayers for cures. In
+India, the prayer is made to a heathen deity; in Ireland, the people
+happen to believe that God hears the prayers of saints more readily than
+their own; and acting on the principle which induced persons, in
+apostolic times, to use "handkerchiefs and aprons" which had touched the
+person of St. Paul as mediums of cure, because of his virgin sanctity,
+in preference to "handkerchiefs and aprons" of their own, they apply to
+the saints and obtain cures. But they do not believe the saints can give
+what God refuses, or that the saints are more merciful than God. They
+know that the saints are His special friends, and we give to a friend
+what we might refuse to one less dear. _Lege totum, si vis scire totum_,
+is a motto which writers on national customs should not forget.
+
+Customs were probably the origin of laws. Law, in its most comprehensive
+sense, signifies a rule of action laid down[152] by a superior. Divine
+law is manifested (1) by the law of nature, and (2) by revelation. The
+law of nations is an arbitrary arrangement, founded on the law of nature
+and the law of revelation: its perfection depends obviously on its
+correspondence with the divine law. Hence, by common consent, the
+greatest praise is given to those laws of ancient nations which
+approximate most closely to the law of nature, though when such laws
+came to be revised by those who had received the law of revelation, they
+were necessarily amended or altered in conformity therewith. No
+government can exist without law; but as hereditary succession preceded
+the law of hereditary succession, which was at first established by
+custom, so the _lex non scripta_, or national custom, preceded the _lex
+scripta_, or statute law. The intellectual condition of a nation may be
+well and safely estimated by its laws. A code of laws that were observed
+for centuries before the Christian era, and for centuries after the
+Christian era, and which can bear the most critical tests of forensic
+acumen in the nineteenth century, evidence that the framers of the code
+were possessed of no slight degree of mental culture. Such are the
+Brehon laws, by which pagan and Christian Erinn was governed for
+centuries.
+
+The sixth century was a marked period of legal reform. The Emperor
+Justinian, by closing the schools of Athens, gave a deathblow to Grecian
+philosophy and jurisprudence. But Grecian influence had already acted on
+the formation of Roman law, and probably much of the Athenian code was
+embodied therein. The origin of Roman law is involved in the same
+obscurity as the origin of the Brehon code. In both cases, the mist of
+ages lies like a light, but impenetrable veil, over all that could give
+certainty to conjecture. Before the era of the Twelve Tables, mention is
+made of laws enacted by Romulus respecting what we should now call civil
+liabilities. Laws concerning religion are ascribed to Numa, and laws of
+contract to Servius Tullius, who is supposed to have collected the
+regulations made by his predecessors. The Twelve Tables were notably
+formed on the legal enactments of Greece. The cruel severity of the law
+for insolvent debtors, forms a marked contrast to the milder and more
+equitable arrangements of the Brehon code. By the Roman enactments, the
+person of the debtor was at the mercy of his creditor, who might sell
+him for a slave beyond the Tiber. The Celt allowed only the seizure of
+goods, and even this was under regulations most favourable to the
+debtor. The legal establishment of Christianity by Constantine, or we
+should rather say the existence of Christianity, necessitated a complete
+revision of all ancient laws: hence we find the compilation of the
+Theodosian code almost synchronizing with the revision of the Brehon
+laws. The spread of Christianity, and the new modes of thought and
+action which obtained thereby, necessitated the reconstruction of
+ancient jurisprudence in lands as widely distant geographically, and as
+entirely separated politically, as Italy and Ireland.
+
+Those who have studied the subject most carefully, and who are therefore
+most competent to give an opinion, accept the popular account of the
+revision of our laws.
+
+The Four Masters thus record this important event:--"The age of Christ
+438. The tenth year of Laeghaire. The Feinchus of Ireland were purified
+and written, the writings and old works of Ireland having been collected
+[and brought] to one place at the request of St. Patrick. Those were the
+nine supporting props by whom this was done: Laeghaire, i.e., King of
+Ireland, Corc, and Daire, the three kings; Patrick, Benen, and
+Cairneach, the three saints; Ross, Dubhthach, and Fearghus, the three
+antiquaries." Dr. O'Donovan, in his note, shelters himself under an
+extract from Petrie's _Tara;_ but it is to be supposed that he coincides
+in the opinion of that gentleman. Dr. Petrie thinks that "little doubt
+can be entertained that such a work was compiled within a short period
+after the introduction of Christianity in the country, and that St.
+Patrick may have laid the foundations of it;"[153] though he gives no
+satisfactory reason why that saint should not have assisted at the
+compilation, and why the statements of our annalists should be refused
+on this subject, when they are accepted on others. A list of the
+"family" [household] of Patrick is given immediately after, which Dr.
+O'Donovan has taken great pains to verify, and with which he appears
+satisfied. If the one statement is true, why should the other be false?
+Mr. O'Curry, whose opinion on such subjects is admittedly worthy of the
+highest consideration, expresses himself strongly in favour of receiving
+the statements of our annalists, and thinks that both Dr. Petrie and Dr.
+Lanigan are mistaken in supposing that the compilation was not effected
+by those to whom it has been attributed. As to the antiquity of these
+laws, he observes that Cormac Mac Cullinan quotes passages from them in
+his Glossary, which was written not later than the ninth century, and
+then the language of the Seanchus[154] Mor was so ancient that it had
+become obsolete. To these laws, he well observes, the language of Moore,
+on the MSS. in the Royal Irish Academy, may be applied: "They were not
+written by a foolish people, nor for any foolish purpose;" and these
+were the "laws and institutions which regulated the political and social
+system of a people the most remarkable in Europe, from a period almost
+lost in the dark mazes of antiquity, down to about within two hundred
+years of our own time, and whose spirit and traditions influence the
+feelings and actions of the native Irish even to this day."[155]
+
+But we can adduce further testimony. The able editor and translator of
+the _Seanchus Mor_, which forms so important a portion of our ancient
+code, has, in his admirable Preface, fully removed all doubt on this
+question. He shows the groundlessness of the objections (principally
+chronological) which had been made regarding those who are asserted to
+have been its compilers. He also makes it evident that it was a work in
+which St. Patrick should have been expected to engage: (1) because,
+being a Roman citizen, and one who had travelled much, he was probably
+well aware of the Christian modifications which had already been
+introduced into the Roman code. (2) That he was eminently a judicious
+missionary, and such a revision of national laws would obviously be no
+slight support to the advancement of national Christianity. It is also
+remarked, that St. Patrick may not necessarily have assisted personally
+in writing the MS.; his confirmation of what was compiled by others
+would be sufficient. St. Benignus, who is known to be the author of
+other works,[156] probably acted as his amanuensis.
+
+The subject-matter of the portions of the Seanchus Mor which have been
+translated, is the law of distress. Two points are noticeable in this:
+First, the careful and accurate administration of justice which is
+indicated by the details of these legal enactments; second, the custom
+therein sanctioned of the creditor fasting upon the debtor, a custom
+which still exists in Hindostan. Hence, in some cases, the creditor
+fasts on the debtor until he is compelled to pay his debt, lest his
+creditor should die at the door; in other cases, the creditor not only
+fasts himself, but also compels his debtor to fast, by stopping his
+supplies. Elphinstone describes this as used even against princes, and
+especially by troops to procure payment of arrears.[157]
+
+One of the most noticeable peculiarities of the Brehon law is the
+compensation for murder, called _eric_. This, however, was common to
+other nations. Its origin is ascribed to the Germans, but the
+institution was probably far more ancient. We find it forbidden[158] in
+the oldest code of laws in existence; and hence the _eric_ must have
+been in being at an early period of the world's civil history.
+
+The law of succession, called _tanaisteacht_, or tanistry, is one of the
+most peculiar of the Brehon laws. The eldest son succeeded the father to
+the exclusion of all collateral claimants, unless he was disqualified by
+deformity, imbecility, or crime. In after ages, by a compact between
+parents or mutual agreement, the succession was sometimes made alternate
+in two or more families. The eldest son, being recognized as presumptive
+heir, was denominated _tanaiste_, that is, minor or second; while the
+other sons, or persons eligible in case of failure, were termed
+_righdhamhua_, which literally means king-material, or king-makings. The
+_tanaiste_ had a separate establishment and distinct privileges. The
+primitive intention was, that the "best man" should reign; but
+practically it ended in might being taken for right, and often for less
+important qualifications.
+
+The possession and inheritance of landed property was regulated by the
+law called gavelkind (gavail-kinne), an ancient Celtic institution, but
+common to Britons, Anglo-Saxons, and others. By this law, inherited or
+other property was divided equally between the sons, to the exclusion of
+the daughters (unless, indeed, in default of heirs male, when females
+were permitted a life interest). The _tanaiste_, however, was allotted
+the dwelling-house and other privileges.
+
+The tenure of land was a tribe or family right; and, indeed, the whole
+system of government and legislation was far more patriarchal than
+Teutonic--another indication of an eastern origin. All the members of a
+tribe or family had an equal right to their proportionate share of the
+land occupied by the whole. This system created a mutual independence
+and self-consciousness of personal right and importance, strongly at
+variance with the subjugation of the Germanic and Anglo-Norman vassal.
+
+The compilation of the Brehon laws originated in a question that arose
+as to how the murderer of Odran, Patrick's charioteer, should be
+punished. The saint was allowed to select whatever Brehon he pleased to
+give judgment. He chose Dubhthach; and the result of his decision was
+the compilation of these laws, as it was at once seen that a purely
+pagan code would not suit Christian teaching.
+
+The Celtic language is now admittedly one of the most ancient in
+existence. Its affinity with Sanscrit, the eldest daughter of the
+undiscoverable mother-tongue, has been amply proved,[159] and the study
+of the once utterly despised Irish promises to be one which will
+abundantly repay the philologist. It is to be regretted that we are
+indebted to German students for the verification of these statements;
+but the Germans are manifestly born philologists, and they have
+opportunities of leisure, and encouragement for the prosecution of such
+studies, denied to the poorer Celt. It is probable that Celtic will yet
+be found to have been one of the most important of the Indo-European
+tongues. Its influence on the formation of the Romance languages has yet
+to be studied in the light of our continually increasing knowledge of
+its more ancient forms; and perhaps the conjectures of Betham will, by
+the close of this century, receive as much respect as the once equally
+ridiculed history of Keating.
+
+It is almost impossible to doubt that the Irish nation had letters and
+some form of writing before the arrival of St. Patrick. There are so
+many references to the existence of writings in the most ancient MSS.,
+that it appears more rash to deny their statements than to accept them.
+
+[Illustration: RUNES FROM THE RUNIC CROSS AT RUTHWELL.]
+
+The three principal arguments against a pre-Christian alphabet appears
+to be: (1) The absence of any MS. of such writing. (2) The use of the
+Roman character in all MSS. extant. (3) The universal opinion, scarcely
+yet exploded, that the Irish Celts were barbarians. In reply to the
+first objection, we may observe that St. Patrick is said to have
+destroyed all the remnants of pagan writing.[160] Caesar mentions that
+the druids of Gaul used Greek characters. It appears impossible that the
+Irish druids, who were at least their equals in culture, should have
+been destitute of any kind of written character. The ancient form of
+Welsh letters were somewhat similar to the runes of which we give a
+specimen, and this alphabet was called the "alphabet of the bards," in
+contradistinction to which is placed the "alphabet of the monks," or
+Roman alphabet. The alphabet of the Irish bard may have been the
+Beith-luis-nion, represented by the Ogham character, of which more
+hereafter.
+
+The difficulty arising from the fact of St. Patrick's having given
+_abgitorium_, or alphabets, to his converts, appears to us purely
+chimerical. Latin was from the first the language of the Church, and
+being such, whether the Irish converts had or had not a form of writing,
+one of the earliest duties of a Christian missionary was to teach those
+preparing for the priesthood the language in which they were to
+administer the sacraments. The alphabet given by the saint was simply
+the common Roman letter then in use. The Celtic characteristic
+veneration for antiquity and religion, has still preserved it; and
+strange to say, the Irish of the nineteenth century alone use the
+letters which were common to the entire Roman Empire in the fifth. The
+early influence of ecclesiastical authority, and the circumstance that
+the priests of the Catholic Church were at once the instructors in and
+the preservers of letters, will account for the immediate disuse of
+whatever alphabet the druids may have had. The third objection is a mere
+_argumentum ad ignorantiam_.
+
+[Illustration: CUNEIFORM CHARACTERS.]
+
+It is to be regretted that the subject of Ogham writing has not been
+taken up by a careful and competent hand.[161] There are few people who
+have not found out some method of recording their history, and there are
+few subjects of deeper interest than the study of the efforts of the
+human mind to perpetuate itself in written characters. The Easterns had
+their cuneiform or arrow-headed symbols, and the Western world has even
+yet its quipus, and tells its history by the number of its knots.
+
+[Illustration: The Quipus]
+
+The peasant girl still knots her handkerchief as her _memoria technica_,
+and the lady changes her ring from its accustomed finger. Each practice
+is quite as primitive an effort of nature as the Ogham of the Celtic
+bard. He used a stone pillar or a wooden stick for his notches,--a more
+permanent record than the knot or the Indian quipus.[162] The use of a
+stick as a vehicle for recording ideas by conventional marks, appears
+very ancient; and this in itself forms a good argument for the antiquity
+of Ogham writing. Mr. O'Curry has given it expressly as his opinion,
+"that the pre-Christian Gaedhils possessed and practised a system of
+writing and keeping records quite different from and independent of the
+Greek and Roman form and characters, which gained currency in the
+country after the introduction of Christianity." He then gives in
+evidence passages from our ancient writings which are preserved, in
+which the use of the Ogham character is distinctly mentioned. One
+instance is the relation in the _Tain bo Chuailgne_ of directions having
+been left on wands or hoops written in Ogham by Cuchulainn for Meav.
+When these were found, they were read for her by Fergus, who understood
+the character. We have not space for further details, but Professor
+O'Curry devotes some pages to the subject, where fuller information may
+be found. In conclusion, he expresses an opinion that the original
+copies of the ancient books, such as the Cuilmenn and the Saltair of
+Tara, were not written in Ogham. He supposes that the druids or poets,
+who, it is well known, constantly travelled for educational purposes,
+brought home an alphabet, probably the Roman then in use. "It is, at all
+events, quite certain that the Irish druids had written books before the
+coming of St. Patrick, in 432; since we find the statement in the
+Tripartite Life of the saint, as well as in the Annotations of Tirechan,
+preserved in the Book of Armagh, which were taken by him from the lips
+and books of his tutor, St. Mochta, who was the pupil and disciple of
+St. Patrick himself."
+
+[Illustration: Ogham stone]
+
+[Illustration: SAGRANI FILI CUNOTAMI]
+
+We give two illustrations of Ogham writing. The pillar-stone is from the
+collection of the Royal Irish Academy. It is about four and a-half feet
+high, and averages eleven inches across. It was found, with three others
+similarly inscribed, built into the walls of a dwelling-house in the
+county Kerry, to which it is believed they had been removed from the
+interior of a neighbouring rath. The bilingual Ogham was found at St.
+Dogmael's, near Cardiganshire. The Ogham alphabet is called
+_beithluisnion_, from the name of its two first letters, _beith_, which
+signifies a birch-tree, and _luis_, the mountain-ash. If this kind of
+writing had been introduced in Christian times, it is quite unlikely
+that such names would have been chosen. They are manifestly referable to
+a time when a tree had some significance beyond the useful or the
+ornamental. It has been supposed that the names of the letters were
+given to the trees, and not the names of the trees to the letters. It is
+at least certain that the names of the trees and the letters coincide,
+and that the trees are all indigenous to Ireland. The names of the
+letters in the Hebrew alphabet are also significant, but appear to be
+chosen indiscriminately, while there is a manifest and evidently
+arbitrary selection in the Celtic appellations. The number of letters
+also indicate antiquity. The ancient Irish alphabet had but sixteen
+characters, thus numerically corresponding with the alphabet brought
+into Greece by Cadmus. This number was gradually increased with the
+introduction of the Roman form, and the arrangement was also altered to
+harmonize with it. The Ogham alphabet consists of lines, which represent
+letters. They are arranged in an arbitrary manner to the right or left
+of a stemline, or on the edge of the material on which they are traced.
+Even the names of those letters, _fleasg_ (a tree), seem an indication
+of their origin. A cross has been found, sculptured more or less rudely,
+upon many of these ancient monuments; and this has been supposed by some
+antiquarians to indicate their Christian origin. Doubtless the practice
+of erecting pillar-stones, and writing Oghams thereon, was continued
+after the introduction of Christianity; but this by no means indicates
+their origin. Like many other pagan monuments, they may have been
+consecrated by having the sign of the cross engraven on them hundreds of
+years after their erection.
+
+During the few months which have elapsed between the appearance of the
+first edition and the preparation of the second edition, my attention
+has been called to this portion of the history by four or five eminent
+members of the Royal Irish Academy, who express their regret that I
+should appear to have adopted, or at least favoured, Mr. D'Alton's view
+of the Christian origin of the round towers. I cannot but feel gratified
+at the interest which they manifested, and not less so at their kind
+anxiety that my own views should accord with those of the majority. I am
+quite aware that my opinion on such a subject could have little weight.
+To form a decided opinion on this subject, would require many years'
+study; but when one of these gentlemen, the Earl of Dunraven,
+distinguished for his devotion to archaeology, writes to me that both
+Irish, English, and Continental scholars are all but unanimous in
+ascribing a Christian origin to these remarkable buildings, I cannot but
+feel that I am bound to accept this opinion, thus supported by an
+overwhelming weight of authority. It may, however, be interesting to
+some persons to retain an account of the opposing theories, and for this
+reason I still insert page 115 of the original edition, only making such
+modifications as my change of opinion make necessary.
+
+The theories which have been advanced on this subject may be classified
+under seven heads--
+
+(1) That the Phoenicians erected them for fire temples.
+
+(2) That the Christians built them for bell towers.
+
+(3) That the Magians used them for astronomical purposes.
+
+(4) That they were for Christian anchorites to shut themselves up in.
+
+(5) That they were penitentiaries.
+
+(6) That the Druids used them to proclaim their festivals.
+
+(7) That the Christians used them to keep their church plate and
+treasures.
+
+[Illustration: URN AND ITS CONTENTS FOUND IN A CROMLECH IN THE PHOENIX
+PARK, DUBLIN.]
+
+Contradictory as these statements appear, they may easily be ranged into
+two separate theories of pagan or Christian origin. Dr. Petrie has been
+the great supporter of the latter opinion, now almost generally
+received. He founds his opinion: (1) On the assumption that the Irish
+did not know the use of lime mortar before the time of St. Patrick. For
+this assumption, however, he gives no evidence. (2) On the presence of
+certain Christian emblems on some of these towers, notably at Donaghmore
+and Antrim. But the presence of Christian emblems, like the cross on the
+Ogham stones, may merely indicate that Christians wished to consecrate
+them to Christian use. (3) On the assumption that they were used as
+keeps or monastic castles, in which church plate was concealed, or
+wherein the clergy could shelter themselves from the fury of Danes, or
+other invaders. But it is obvious that towers would have been built in a
+different fashion had such been the object of those who erected them.
+The late Mr. D'Alton has been the most moderate and judicious advocate
+of their pagan origin. He rests his theory (1) on certain statements in
+our annals, which, if true, must at once decide the dispute. The Annals
+of Ulster mention the destruction of fifty-seven of them in consequence
+of a severe earthquake, A.D. 448. He adduces the testimony of Giraldus
+Cambrensis, who confirms the account of the origin of Lough Neagh by an
+inundation, A.D. 65, and adds: "It is no improbable testimony to this
+event, that the fishermen beheld the religious towers (_turres
+ecclesiasticas_), which, according to the custom of the country, are
+narrow, lofty, and round, immersed under the waters; and they frequently
+show them to strangers passing over them, and wondering at their
+purposes" (_reique causas admirantibus_). This is all the better
+evidence of their then acknowledged antiquity, because the subject of
+the writer was the formation of the lough, and not the origin of the
+towers. Mr. D'Alton's (2) second argument is, that it was improbable the
+Christians would have erected churches of wood and bell towers of stone,
+or have bestowed incomparably more care and skill on the erection of
+these towers, no matter for what use they may have been intended, than
+on the churches, which should surely be their first care.[163]
+
+The cromlechs next claim our notice. There has been no question of their
+pagan origin; and, indeed, this method of honouring or interring the
+dead, seems an almost universal custom of ancient peoples.[164]
+Cremation does not appear to have been the rule as to the mode of
+interment in ancient Erinn, as many remains of skeletons have been
+found; and even those antiquarians who are pleased entirely to deny the
+truth of the _historical_ accounts of our early annalists, accept their
+statements as to customs of the most ancient date. When the dead were
+interred without cremation, the body was placed either in a horizontal,
+sitting, or recumbent posture. When the remains were burned, a fictile
+vessel was used to contain the ashes. These urns are of various forms
+and sizes. The style of decoration also differs widely, some being but
+rudely ornamented, while others bear indications of artistic skill which
+could not have been exercised by a rude or uncultivated people.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+We give a full-page illustration of an urn and its contents, at present
+in the collection of the Royal Irish Academy. This urn was found in a
+tumulus, which was opened in the Phoenix Park, near Dublin, in the year
+1838. The tumulus was about 120 feet in diameter at the base, and
+fifteen feet high. Four sepulchral vases, containing burnt ashes, were
+found within the tomb. It also enclosed two perfect male skeletons, the
+tops of the femora of another, and a bone of some animal. A number of
+shells[165] were found under the head of each skeleton, of the kind
+known to conchologists as the _Nerita littoralis_. The urn which we have
+figured is the largest and most perfect, and manifestly the earliest of
+the set. It is six inches high, rudely carved, yet not without some
+attempt at ornament. The bone pin was probably used for the hair, and
+the shells are obviously strung for a necklace. We give above a specimen
+of the highest class of cinerary urns. It stands unrivalled, both in
+design and execution, among all the specimens found in the British
+isles. This valuable remain was discovered in the cutting of a railway,
+in a small stone chamber, at Knockneconra, near Bagnalstown, county
+Carlow. Burned bones of an infant, or very young child, were found in
+it, and it was inclosed in a much larger and ruder urn, containing the
+bones of an adult.
+
+Possibly, suggests Sir W. Wilde, they may have been the remains of
+mother and child.[166]
+
+[Illustration: GOLD HEAD-DRESS, R.I.A.]
+
+The collection of antiquities in the Royal Irish Academy, furnishes
+abundant evidence that the pagan Irish were well skilled in the higher
+arts of working in metals. If the arbitrary division of the ages of
+stone, bronze, and iron, can be made to hold good, we must either
+suppose that the Irish Celt was possessed of extraordinary mental
+powers, by which he developed the mechanical arts gradually, or that,
+with successive immigrations, he obtained an increase of knowledge from
+exterior sources. The bardic annals indicate the latter theory. We have
+already given several illustrations of the ruder weapons. The
+illustration appended here may give some idea of the skill obtained by
+our pagan ancestors in working gold. This ornament, which is quite
+complete, though fractured in two places, stands 11-1/2 inches high. It
+weighs 16 oz. 10 dwts. 13 grs. The gold of which it is formed is very
+red. It was procured with the Sirr Collection, and is said to have been
+found in the county Clare.[167] Our readers are indebted to the kindness
+of the Council of the Royal Irish Academy, for the permission to depict
+these and the other rare articles from the collection which are inserted
+in our pages.
+
+The amount of gold ornaments which have been found in Ireland at various
+times, has occasioned much conjecture as to whether the material was
+found in Ireland or imported. It is probable that auriferous veins
+existed, which were worked out, or that some may even now exist which
+are at present unknown. The discovery of gold ornaments is one of the
+many remarkable confirmations of the glowing accounts given by our
+bardic annalists of Erinn's ancient glories. O'Hartigan thus describes
+the wealth and splendour of the plate possessed by the ancient monarchs
+who held court at Tara:--
+
+    "Three hundred cupbearers distributed
+    Three times fifty choice goblets
+    Before each party of great numbers,
+    Which were of pure strong carbuncle,[168]
+    Or gold or of silver all."
+
+Dr. Petrie observes that this statement is amply verified by the
+magnificent gold ornaments, found within a few yards of this very spot,
+now in the possession of the Royal Irish Academy. We shall see, at a
+later period, when the cursing of Tara will demand a special notice of
+its ancient glories, how amply the same writer has vindicated the
+veracity of Celtic annalists on this ground also.
+
+A remarkable resemblance has been noticed between the pagan military
+architecture of Ireland, and the early Pelasgian monuments in Greece.
+They consist of enclosures, generally circular, of massive clay walls,
+built of small loose stones, from six to sixteen feet thick. These forts
+or fortresses are usually entered by a narrow doorway, wider at the
+bottom than at the top, and are of Cyclopean architecture. Indeed, some
+of the remains in Ireland can only be compared to the pyramids of Egypt,
+so massive are the blocks of stone used in their construction. As this
+stone is frequently of a kind not to be found in the immediate
+neighbourhood, the means used for their transportation are as much a
+matter of surprise and conjecture, as those by which they were placed in
+the position in which they are found. The most remarkable of these forts
+may still be seen in the Isles of Arran, on the west coast of Galway;
+there are others in Donegal, Mayo, and in Kerry. Some of these erections
+have chambers in their massive walls, and in others stairs are found
+round the interior of the wall; these lead to narrow platforms, varying
+from eight to forty-three feet in length, on which the warriors or
+defenders stood. The fort of Dunmohr, in the middle island of Arran, is
+supposed to be at least 2,000 years old. Besides these forts, there was
+the private house, a stone habitation, called a _clochann_, in which an
+individual or family resided; the large circular dome-roofed buildings,
+in which probably a community lived; and the rath, intrenched and
+stockaded.
+
+But stone was not the only material used for places of defence or
+domestic dwellings; the most curious and interesting of ancient Irish
+habitations is the _crannoge_, a name whose precise etymology is
+uncertain, though there is little doubt that it refers in some way to
+the peculiar nature of the structure.
+
+The crannoges were formed on small islets or shallows of clay or marl in
+the centre of a lake, which were probably dry in summer, but submerged
+in winter. These little islands, or mounds, were used as a foundation
+for this singular habitation. Piles of wood, or heaps of stone and bones
+driven into or heaped on the soil, formed the support of the crannoge.
+They were used as places of retreat or concealment, and are usually
+found near the ruins of such old forts or castles as are in the vicinity
+of lakes or marshes. Sometimes they are connected with the mainland by a
+causeway, but usually there is no appearance of any; and a small canoe
+has been, with but very few exceptions, discovered in or near each
+crannoge.
+
+Since the investigation of these erections in Ireland, others have been
+discovered in the Swiss lakes of a similar kind, and containing, or
+rather formed on, the same extraordinary amount of bones heaped up
+between the wooden piles.
+
+The peculiar objects called celts, and the weapons and domestic utensils
+of this or an earlier period, are a subject of scarcely less interest.
+The use of the celt has fairly perplexed all antiquarian research. Its
+name is derived not, as might be supposed, from the nation to whom this
+distinctive appellation was given, but from the Latin word _celtis_, a
+chisel. It is not known whether these celts, or the round, flat,
+sharp-edged chisels, were called _Lia Miledh_, "warriors' stones." In
+the record of the battle of the Ford of Comar, Westmeath, the use of
+this instrument is thus described:--
+
+"There came not a man of Lohar's people without a broad green spear, nor
+without a dazzling shield, nor without a _Liagh-lamha-laich_ (a
+champion's hand stone), stowed away in the hollow cavity of his
+shield.... And Lohar carried his stone like each of his men; and seeing
+the monarch his father standing in the ford with Ceat, son of Magach, at
+one side, and Connall Cearnach at the other, to guard him, he grasped
+his battle-stone quickly and dexterously, and threw it with all his
+strength, and with unerring aim, at the king his father; and the massive
+stone passed with a swift rotatory motion towards the king, and despite
+the efforts of his two brave guardians, it struck him on the breast, and
+laid him prostrate in the ford. The king, however, recovered from the
+shock, arose, and placing his foot upon the formidable stone, pressed it
+into the earth, where it remains to this day, with a third part of it
+over ground, and the print of the king's foot visible upon it."
+
+Flint proper, or chalk flint, is found but in few places in Ireland;
+these are principally in the counties of Antrim, Down, and Derry. In the
+absence of a knowledge of the harder metals, flint and such-like
+substances were invaluable as the only material that could be fashioned
+into weapons of defence, and used to shape such rude clothing as was
+then employed. The scarcity of flint must have rendered these weapons of
+great value in other districts. Splitting, chipping, and polishing, and
+this with tools as rude as the material worked on, were the only means
+of manufacturing such articles; and yet such was the perfection, and, if
+the expression be applicable, the amount of artistic skill attained,
+that it seems probable flint-chipping was a special trade, and doubtless
+a profitable one to those engaged in it.
+
+When flints were used as arrows, either in battle or in the chase, a bow
+was easily manufactured from the oak and birch trees with which the
+island was thickly wooded. It was bent by a leathern thong, or the
+twisted intestine of some animal. The handles of the lance or
+javelin--formidable weapons, if we may judge from the specimens in the
+Museum of the Royal Irish Academy--were also formed of wood; but these
+have perished in the lapse of ages, and left only the strangely and
+skilfully formed implement of destruction.
+
+Among primitive nations, the tool and the weapon differed but little.
+The hatchet which served to fell the tree, was as readily used to cleave
+open the head of an enemy. The knife, whether of stone or hard wood,
+carved the hunter's prey, or gave a deathstroke to his enemy. Such
+weapons or implements have, however, frequently been found with metal
+articles, under circumstances which leave little doubt that the use of
+the former was continued long after the discovery of the superior value
+of the latter. Probably, even while the Tuatha De Danann artificers were
+framing their more refined weapons for the use of nobles and knights,
+the rude fashioner of flint-arrows and spear-heads still continued to
+exercise the craft he had learned from his forefathers, for the benefit
+of poorer or less fastidious warriors.
+
+[Illustration: CROMLECH IN THE PHOENIX PARK.
+The urn and necklace, figured at page 154, were found in this tomb.]
+
+[Illustration: CLONDALKIN ROUND TOWER.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[144] _Authors_.--Strabo, l. iv. p. 197; Suetonius, _V. Cla._; Pliny,
+_Hist. Nat._ l. xxv. c. 9. Pliny mentions having seen the serpent's egg,
+and describes it.
+
+[145] _Virgil_.--_Ec._. 6, v. 73.
+
+[146] _Year_.--Dio. Sic. tom. i. p. 158.
+
+[147] _Magi_.--Magi is always used in Latin as the equivalent for the
+Irish word which signifies druid. See the _Vitae S. Columbae_, p. 73; see
+also Reeves' note to this word.
+
+[148] _Worship_.--In the Chronicle of Richard of Cirencester, ch. 4,
+certain Roman deities are mentioned as worshipped by the British druids;
+but it is probable the account is merely borrowed from Caesar's
+description of the Gauls.
+
+[149] _Ceremonies_.--Bohn's edition, p. 431.
+
+[150] _Wren_.--In Scotland the wren is an object of reverence: hence the
+rhyme--
+
+"Malisons, malisons, more than ten, That harry the Ladye of Heaven's
+hen."
+
+But it is probable the idea and the verse were originally imported from
+France, where the bird is treated with special respect. There is a very
+interesting paper in the _Ulster Archaeological Journal_, vol. vii. p.
+334, on the remarkable correspondence of Irish, Greek, and Oriental
+legends, where the tale of Labhradh Loinseach is compared with that of
+Midas. Both had asses' ears, and both were victims to the loquacious
+propensities of their barbers.
+
+[151] _Etruscans_.--See _Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria_, vol i p.
+295, where the bas-reliefs are described which represent the _praeficae_,
+or hired mourners, wailing over the corpse.
+
+[152] _Laid down_.--Law, Saxon, _lagu, lah_; from _lecgan_==Goth.
+_lagjan_, to lay, to place; Gael. _lagh_, a law; _leag_, to lie down;
+Latin, _lex_, from Gr. _lego_, to lay.
+
+[153] _It_.--Four Masters, vol. i p. 133. The Seanchus Mor was sometimes
+called _Cain Phadruig_, or Patrick's Law.
+
+[154] _Seanchus_.--From the old Celtic root _sen_, old, which has direct
+cognates, not merely in the Indo-European, but also in the Semitic;
+Arabic, _sen_, old, ancient--_sunnah_, institution, regulation; Persian,
+_san_, law, right; _sanna_, Phoenicibus idem fuit quod Arabibus _summa_,
+lex, doctrina jux canonicum.--Bochart, _Geo. Sae_. 1. ii. c. 17. See
+Petrie's _Tara_, p. 79.
+
+[155] _Day_.--O'Curry, page 201.
+
+[156] _Works_.--He appears to have been the author of the original Book
+of Rights, and "commenced and composed the Psalter of Caiseal, in which
+are described the acts, _laws,"_ &c.--See Preface to Seanchus Mor, p.
+17.
+
+[157] _Arrears_.--Elphinstone's _India_, vol. i. p. 372.
+
+[158] _Forbidden_.--"You shall not take money of him that is guilty of
+blood, but he shall die forthwith."--Numbers, xxxv. 31.
+
+[159] _Proved_.--See Pictet's _Origines Indo-Europeennes_. He mentions
+his surprise at finding a genuine Sanscrit word in Irish, which, like a
+geological boulder, had been transported from one extremity of the Aryan
+world to the other. Pictet considers that the first wave of Aryan
+emigration occurred 3,000 years before the Christian Era.
+
+[160] _Writing_.--"Finally, Dudley Firbisse, hereditary professor of the
+antiquities of his country, mentions in a letter [to me] a fact
+collected from the monuments of his ancestors, that one hundred and
+eighty tracts [tractatus] of the doctrine of the druids or magi, were
+condemned to the flames in the time of St. Patrick."--_Ogygia_, iii. 30,
+p. 219. A writer in the _Ulster Arch. Journal_ mentions a "Cosmography,"
+printed at "Lipsiae, 1854." It appears to be a Latin version or epitome
+of a Greek work. The writer of this Cosmography was born in 103. He
+mentions having "examined the volumes" of the Irish, whom he visited. If
+this authority is reliable, it would at once settle the question.--See
+_Ulster Arch. Journal_, vol. ii. p. 281.
+
+[161] _Hand_.--A work on this subject has long been promised by Dr.
+Graves, and is anxiously expected by paleographists. We regret to learn
+that there is no immediate prospect of its publication.
+
+[162] _Quipus_.--Quipus signifies a knot. The cords were of different
+colours. Yellow denoted gold and all the allied ideas; white, silver, or
+peace; red, war, or soldiers. Each quipus was in the care of a
+quiper-carnayoe, or keeper. Acorta mentions that he saw a woman with a
+handful of these strings, which she said contained a confession of her
+life. See Wilson's _Pre-Historic Man_ for most interesting details on
+the subject of symbolic characters and early writing.
+
+[163] _Care_.--Annals of Boyle, vol. ii. p. 22. _Essay_, p. 82.
+
+[164] _Peoples_.--See _Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria_, vol. ii. p.
+314, where the writer describes tombs sunk beneath a tumulus, about
+twenty-five or thirty feet in diameter, and also tombs exactly
+resembling the Irish cromlech, the covering slab of enormous size, being
+inclined "apparently to carry off the rain." In his account of the
+geographical sites of these remains, he precisely, though most
+unconsciously, marks out the line of route which has been assigned by
+Irish annalists as that which led our early colonizers to Ireland. He
+says they are found in the presidency of Madras, among the mountains of
+the Caucasus, on the steppes of Tartary, in northern Africa, "_on the
+shores of the Mediterranean they are particularly abundant_," and in
+Spain.
+
+[165] _Shells_.--Cat. Ant. R.I.A.; Stone Mat. p. 180. The ethnographic
+phases of conchology might form a study in itself. Shells appear to be
+the earliest form of ornament in use. The North American Indians have
+their shell necklaces buried with them also. See Wilson's _Pre-Historic
+Man_.
+
+[166] _Child_.--Mr. Wilson gives a most interesting description of an
+interment of a mother and child in an ancient Peruvian grave. The mother
+had an unfinished piece of weaving beside her, with its colours still
+bright. The infant was tenderly wrapped in soft black woollen cloth, to
+which was fastened a pair of little sandals, 2-1/2 inches long; around
+its neck was a green cord, attached to a small shell.--_Pre-Historic
+Man_, vol. i. p. 234.
+
+[167] _Clare_.--In 1855, in digging for a railway-cutting in the county
+Clare, gold ornaments were found worth L2,000 as bullion.
+
+[168] _Carbuncle_.--This word was used to denote any shining stone of a
+red colour, such as garnet, a production of the country.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+Pestilence of the _Blefed_--The Cursing of Tara by St. Rodanus--Extent
+and Importance of Ancient Tara--The First Mill in Ireland--The _Lia
+Fail_--Cormac's House--The Rath of the Synods--The Banqueting
+Hall--Chariots and Swords--St. Columba--St. Brendan and his
+Voyages--Pre-Columbian Discovery of America--The Plague again--St.
+Columba and St. Columbanus--Irish Saints and Irish Schools--Aengus the
+Culdee.
+
+[A.D. 543-693.]
+
+
+From time to time, in the world's history, terrible and mysterious
+pestilences appear, which defy all calculation as to their cause or
+probable reappearance. Such was the _Blefed_,[169] or _Crom Chonaill_,
+which desolated Ireland in the year 543.
+
+The plague, whatever its nature may have been, appears to have been
+general throughout Europe. It originated in the East; and in Ireland was
+preceded by famine, and followed by leprosy. St. Berchan of Glasnevin
+and St. Finnen of Clonard were amongst its first victims.
+
+Diarmaid, son of Fergus Keval, of the southern Hy-Nial race, was
+Ard-Righ during this period. In his reign Tara was cursed by St. Rodanus
+of Lothra, in Tipperary, in punishment for violation of sanctuary;[170]
+and so complete was its subsequent desertion, that in 975 it was
+described as a desert overgrown with grass and weeds.
+
+But enough still remains to give ample evidence of its former
+magnificence. An inspection of the site must convince the beholder of
+the vast extent of its ancient palaces; nor can we, for a moment,
+coincide with those who are pleased to consider that these palaces
+consisted merely of a few planks of wood, rudely plastered over, or of
+hollow mounds of earth. It is true that, from an association of ideas,
+the cause of so many fallacies, we naturally connect "halls" with marble
+pavements, magnificently carved pillars, and tesselated floors; but the
+harp that once resounded through Tara's halls, may have had as
+appreciating, if not as critical, an audience as any which now exists,
+and the "halls" may have been none the less stately, because their floor
+was strewn with sand, or the trophies which adorned them fastened to
+walls of oak.[171]
+
+According to Celtic tradition, as embodied in our annals, Tara became
+the chief residence of the Irish kings on the first establishment of a
+monarchical government under Slainge:--
+
+"Slaine of the Firbolgs was he by whom Temair was first raised."
+
+One hundred and fifty monarchs reigned there from this period until its
+destruction, in 563. The _Fes_, or triennial assembly, was instituted by
+Ollamh Fodhla. The nature of these meetings is explained in a poem,
+which Keating ascribes to O'Flynn, who died A.D. 984. It is clear that
+what was then considered crime was punished in a very peremptory manner;
+for--
+
+    "Gold was not received as retribution from him,
+    But his soul in one hour."[172]
+
+In the reign of Tuathal a portion of land was separated from each of the
+four provinces, which met together at a certain place: this portion was
+considered a distinct part of the country from the provinces. It was
+situated in the present county of Meath.
+
+In the tract separated from Munster, Tuathal[173] built the royal seat
+of Tlachtga, where the fire of Tlachtga was ordained to be kindled. On
+the night of All Saints, the druids assembled here to offer sacrifices,
+and it was established, under heavy penalties that no fire should be
+kindled on that night throughout the kingdom, so that the fire which was
+used afterwards might be procured from it. To obtain this privilege, the
+people were obliged to pay a scraball, or about three-pence, yearly, to
+the King of Munster.
+
+On the 1st of May a convocation was held in the royal palace of the King
+of Connaught. He obtained subsidies in horses and arms from those who
+came to this assembly. On this occasion two fires were lit, between
+which cattle were driven as a preventative or charm against the murrain
+and other pestilential distempers. From this custom the feast of St.
+Philip and St. James was anciently called Beltinne, or the Day of Bel's
+Fire.
+
+The third palace, erected by Tuathal, was on the portion of land taken
+from the province of Ulster. Here the celebrated fair of Tailtean was
+held, and contracts of marriage were frequently made. The royal tribute
+was raised by exacting an ounce of silver from every couple who were
+contracted and married at that time. The fair of Tailtean had been
+instituted some years before, in honour of Tailte, who was buried here.
+This fair, says Keating, was then kept upon the day known in the Irish
+language as La Lughnasa, or the day ordained by Lughaidh, and is called
+in English Lammas-day.
+
+The fourth and the most important of the royal seats was the palace of
+Temair, or Tara: here, with the greatest state and ceremony, the affairs
+of the nation were discussed and decided. On these occasions, in order
+to preserve the deliberations from the public, the most strict secrecy
+was observed, and women were entirely excluded.
+
+The Dinnseanchus, a topographical work, compiled in the twelfth century
+from ancient MSS., is the principal source of information on this
+subject. Dr. Petrie, in his famous _Essay_, has given both the original
+and translation of this tract, and of other documents on the same
+subject; and he remarks how exactly the accounts given by the poet
+historians coincide with the remains which even now exist. In fact, each
+site has been ascertained with precise accuracy--an accuracy which
+should very much enhance our appreciation of the value of our ancient
+histories.
+
+The well _Neamhnach_ was first identified. Tradition asserts that the first
+mill[174] erected in Ireland was turned by the stream which flowed from
+it, and even at the present day a mill is still worked there. The
+situation of the _Rath-na-Riogh_ was then easily ascertained. This is
+the most important of these ancient sites, but it is now, unfortunately,
+nearly levelled to the ground. This rath is oval and measures about 853
+feet from north to south; it contains the ruins of the _Forradh_ and of
+_Teach Cormac_ (the House of Cormac). A pillar-stone was removed in 1798
+to the centre of the mound of the Forradh. It formerly stood by the side
+of a small mound lying within the enclosure of Rath-Riogh. This stone
+Dr. Petrie considers identical[175] with the famous _Lia Fail_, or Stone
+of Destiny, which other authorities suppose to have been removed to
+Scotland, and subsequently to Westminster. The _Rath-na-Riogh_ is
+identical with Teamur, and is, in fact, _the_ ancient Tara, or royal
+residence, around which other scarcely less important buildings were
+gradually erected. It was also called _Cathair Crofinn_. The name of
+_Cathair_ was exclusively applied to circular stone fortifications built
+without cement; and stones still remain which probably formed a portion
+of the original building. In ancient Irish poems this fortification is
+sometimes called the Strong Tower of Teamur, an appellation never
+applied to a rath, but constantly to a _Cathair_, or circular stone
+fort.
+
+The Rath of the Synods obtained its name at a comparatively recent
+period. The situation is distinctly pointed out both in the prose and
+verse accounts. Here was held the Synod of Patrick, the Synod of Ruadhan
+and Brendan, and lastly, the Synod of Adamnan. The next existing
+monument which has been identified with certainty, is the
+_Teach-Miodhchuarta_, or Banqueting Hall, so famous in Irish history and
+bardic tradition. This was also the great house of the thousand
+soldiers, and the place where the _Fes_ or triennial assemblies were
+held. It had fourteen doors--seven to the east and seven to the west.
+Its length, taken from the road, is 759 feet, and its breadth was
+probably about 90 feet. Kenneth O'Hartigan is the great, and indeed
+almost the only authority for the magnificence and state with which the
+royal banquets were held herein. As his descriptions are written in a
+strain of eloquent and imaginative verse, his account has been too
+readily supposed to be purely fictitious. But we have already shown that
+his description of the gold vessels which were used, is amply
+corroborated by the discovery of similar articles. His account of the
+extent, if not of the exterior magnificence, of the building, has also
+been fully verified; and there remains no reason to doubt that a
+"thousand soldiers" may have attended their lord at his feasts, or that
+"three times fifty stout cooks" may have supplied the viands. There was
+also the "House of the Women," a term savouring strangely of eastern
+customs and ideas; and the "House of the Fians," or commons soldiers.
+
+Two poems are still preserved which contain ground-plans of the
+different compartments of the house, showing the position allotted to
+different ranks and occupations, and the special portion which was to be
+assigned to each. The numerous distinctions of rank, and the special
+honours paid to the learned, are subjects worthy of particular notice.
+The "_saoi_ of literature" and the "royal chief" are classed in the same
+category, and were entitled to a _primchrochait_, or steak; nor was the
+Irish method of cooking barbarous, for we find express mention of a spit
+for roasting meat, and of the skill of an artificer who contrived a
+machine by which thirty spits could be turned at once.[176] The five
+great Celtic roads[177] have already been mentioned. Indistinct traces
+of them are still found at Tara. The _Slighe Mor_ struck off from the
+Slope of the Chariots,[178] at the northern head of the hill, and joined
+the Eiscir Riada, or great Connaught road, from Dublin _via_ Trim. Dr.
+Petrie concludes his Essay on Tara thus: "But though the houses were
+unquestionably of these materials [wood and clay, with the exception of
+the Tuatha De Danann Cathair], it must not be inferred that they were
+altogether of a barbarous structure. It is not probable that they were
+unlike or inferior to those of the ancient Germans, of which Tacitus
+speaks in terms of praise, and which he describes as being overlaid with
+an earth so pure and splendid, that they resembled painting." And the
+historian Moore, writing on the same subject, observes: "That these
+structures were in wood is by no means conclusive either against the
+elegance of their structure, or the civilization, to a certain extent,
+of those who erected them. It was in wood that the graceful forms of
+Grecian architecture first unfolded their beauties; and there is reason
+to believe that, at the time when Xerxes invaded Greece, most of her
+temples were still of this perishable material."
+
+But the cursing of Tara was by no means the only misfortune of
+Diarmaid's reign. His unaccountable hostility to St. Columba involved
+him in many troubles; and, in addition to these, despite famine and
+pestilence, the country was afflicted with domestic wars. It is said
+that his war with Guaire, King of Connaught, was undertaken as a
+chastisement for an injustice committed by that monarch, who, according
+to an old chronicle, had deprived a woman, who had vowed herself to a
+religious life, of a cow, which was her only means of support. It is
+more probable, however, that the motive was not quite so chivalric, and
+that extortion of a tribute to which he had no right was the real cause.
+The high character for probity unanimously attributed to Guaire, makes
+it extremely unlikely that he should have committed any deliberate act
+of injustice.
+
+The first great convention of the Irish states, after the abandonment of
+Tara, was held in Drumceat, in 573, in the reign of Hugh, son of
+Ainmire. St. Columba and the leading members of the Irish clergy
+attended. Precedence was given to the saint by the prelates of North
+Britain, to honour his capacity of apostle or founder of the Church in
+that country.
+
+Two important subjects were discussed on this occasion, and on each the
+opinion of St. Columba was accepted as definitive. The first referred to
+the long-vexed question whether the Scottish colony of Alba should still
+be considered dependent on the mother country. The saint, foreseeing the
+annoyances to which a continuance of this dependence must give rise,
+advised that it should be henceforth respected as an independent state.
+The second question was one of less importance in the abstract, but far
+more difficult to settle satisfactorily. The bards, or more probably
+persons who wished to enjoy their immunities and privileges without
+submitting to the ancient laws which obliged them to undergo a long and
+severe course of study before becoming licentiates, if we may use the
+expression, of that honorable calling, had become so numerous and
+troublesome, that loud demands were made for their entire suppression.
+The king, who probably suffered from their insolence as much as any of
+his subjects, was inclined to comply with the popular wish, but yielded
+so far to the representations of St. Columba, as merely to diminish
+their numbers, and place them under stricter rules.
+
+Hugh Ainmire was killed while endeavouring to exact the Boromean
+Tribute. The place of his death was called Dunbolg, or the Fort of the
+Bags. The Leinster king, Bran Dubh, had recourse to a stratagem, from
+whence the name was derived. Finding himself unable to cope with the
+powerful army of his opponent, he entered his camp disguised as a leper,
+and spread a report that the Leinster men were preparing to submit.
+
+In the evening a number of bullocks, laden with leathern bags, were seen
+approaching the royal camp. The drivers, when challenged by the
+sentinels, said that they were bringing provisions; and this so tallied
+with the leper's tale, that they were permitted to deposit their burdens
+without further inquiry. In the night, however, an armed man sprang from
+each bag, and headed by their king, whose disguise was no longer needed,
+slaughtered the royal army without mercy, Hugh himself falling a victim
+to the personal bravery of Bran Dubh.
+
+The deaths of several Irish saints, whose lives are of more than
+ordinary interest, are recorded about this period. Amongst them, St.
+Brendan of Clonfert demands more than a passing notice. His early youth
+was passed under the care of St. Ita, a lady of the princely family of
+the Desii. By divine command she established the Convent of _Cluain
+Credhuil_, in the present county of Limerick, and there, it would
+appear, she devoted herself specially to the care of youth. When Brendan
+had attained his fifth year, he was placed under the protection of
+Bishop Ercus, from whom he received such instruction as befitted his
+advancing years. But Brendan's tenderest affection clung to the gentle
+nurse of his infancy; and to her, in after years, he frequently
+returned, to give or receive counsel and sympathy.
+
+The legend of his western voyage, if not the most important, is at least
+the most interesting part of his history. Kerry was the native home of
+the enterprising saint; and as he stood on its bold and beautiful
+shores, his naturally contemplative mind was led to inquire what
+boundaries chained that vast ocean, whose grand waters rolled in mighty
+waves beneath his feet. His thoughtful piety suggested that where there
+might be a country there might be life--human life and human souls dying
+day by day, and hour by hour, and knowing of no other existence than
+that which at best is full of sadness and decay.
+
+Traditions of a far-away land had long existed on the western coast of
+ancient Erinn. The brave Tuatha De Dananns were singularly expert in
+naval affairs, and their descendants were by no means unwilling to
+impart information to the saint.
+
+The venerable St. Enda, the first Abbot of Arran, was then living, and
+thither St. Brendan journeyed for counsel. Probably he was encouraged in
+his design by the holy abbot; for, he proceeded along the coast of Mayo,
+inquiring as he went for traditions of the western continent. On his
+return to Kerry, he decided to set out on the important expedition. St.
+Brendan's Hill still bears his name; and from the bay at the foot of
+this lofty eminence he sailed for the "far west." Directing his course
+towards the south-west, with a few faithful companions, in a
+well-provisioned bark, he came, after some rough and dangerous
+navigation, to calm seas, where, without aid of oar or sail, he was
+borne along for many weeks. It is probable that he had entered the great
+Gulf Stream, which brought his vessel ashore somewhere on the Virginian
+coasts. He landed with his companions, and penetrated into the interior,
+until he came to a large river flowing from east to west, supposed to be
+that now known as the Ohio. Here, according to the legend, he was
+accosted by a man of venerable bearing, who told him that he had gone
+far enough; that further discoveries were reserved for other men, who
+would in due time come and christianize that pleasant land.
+
+After an absence of seven years, the saint returned once more to
+Ireland, and lived not only to tell of the marvels he had seen, but even
+to found a college of three thousand monks at Clonfert. This voyage took
+place in the year 545, according to Colgan; but as St. Brendan must have
+been at that time at least sixty years old, an earlier date has been
+suggested as more probable.[179]
+
+The northern and southern Hy-Nials had long held rule in Ireland; but
+while the northern tribe were ever distinguished, not only for their
+valour, but for their chivalry in field or court, the southern race fell
+daily lower in the estimation of their countrymen. Their disgrace was
+completed when two kings, who ruled Erinn jointly, were treacherously
+slain by Conall Guthvin. For this crime the family were excluded from
+regal honours for several generations.
+
+Home dissensions led to fatal appeals for foreign aid, and this
+frequently from the oppressing party. Thus, Congal Caech, who killed the
+reigning sovereign in 623, fled to Britain, and after remaining there
+nine years, returned with foreign troops, by whose assistance he hoped
+to attain the honours unlawfully coveted. The famous battle of
+Magh-Rath,[180] in which the auxiliaries were utterly routed and the
+false Congal slain, unfortunately did not deter his countrymen from
+again and again attempting the same suicidal course.
+
+In 656 the country was once more visited by the fatal _Crom Chonaill_,
+and again holy prelates and sainted religious were foremost amongst its
+victims. Many orphans were of necessity thrown on the mercy of those to
+whom charity was their only claim. Nor was the call unheeded. The
+venerable Bishop of Ardbraccan, St. Ultan, whom we may perhaps term the
+St. Vincent of Ireland, gathered these hapless little ones into a safe
+asylum, and there, with a thoughtfulness which in such an age could
+scarcely have been expected, sought to supply by artificial means for
+the natural nourishment of which they had been deprived.
+
+Venerable Bede mentions this pestilence, and gives honorable testimony
+to the charity of the Irish, not only to their own people, but even to
+strangers. He says: "This pestilence did no less harm, in the island of
+Ireland. Many of the nobility and of the lower ranks of the English
+nation were there at that time, who, in the days of Bishop Finan and
+Colman, forsaking their native land, retired thither, either for the
+sake of divine studies, or for a more continent life. The Scots
+willingly received them all, and took care to supply them with food, as
+also to furnish them with books to read and their teaching gratis."[181]
+
+In 673 Finnachta Fleadhach, or the Hospitable, began his reign. He
+yielded to the entreaties of St. Moling, and remitted the Boromean
+Tribute, after he had forced it from the Leinster men in a bloody
+battle. In 687 he abdicated, and showed his respect for religion still
+further by embracing the monastic state himself. In 684 the Irish coasts
+were devastated, and even the churches pillaged, by the soldiers of
+Egfrid, the Saxon King of Northumbria. Venerable Bede attributes his
+subsequent defeat and death, when fighting against the Picts, to the
+judgment of God, justly merited by these unprovoked outrages on a nation
+which had always been most friendly to the English (_nationi Anglorum
+semper amicissimam_).
+
+It has been supposed that revenge may have influenced Egfrid's conduct:
+this, however, does not make it more justifiable in a Christian king.
+Ireland was not merely the refuge of men of learning in that age; it
+afforded shelter to more than one prince driven unjustly from his
+paternal home. Alfred, the brother of the Northumbrian monarch, had fled
+thither from his treachery, and found a generous welcome on its
+ever-hospitable shores. He succeeded his brother in the royal dignity;
+and when St. Adamnan visited his court to obtain the release of the
+Irish captives whom Egfrid's troops had torn from their native land, he
+received him with the utmost kindness, and at once acceded to his
+request.
+
+St. Adamnan, whose fame as the biographer of St. Columba has added even
+more to the lustre of his name than his long and saintly rule over the
+Monastery of Iona, was of the race of the northern Hy-Nials. He was born
+in the territory of Tir-Connell, about the year 627. Little is known of
+his early history; it is generally supposed that he was educated at
+Iona, and that, having embraced the monastic rule, he returned to his
+own country to extend its observance there. He presided over the great
+Abbey of Raphoe, of which he was the founder, until the year 679, when
+he was raised to the government of his order, and from that period he
+usually resided at Iona. The fact of his having been chosen to such an
+important office, is a sufficient testimony to his virtues, and of the
+veneration and respect in which he was held by his contemporaries.
+
+St. Adamnan paid more than one visit to his friend the Northumbrian
+monarch (_regem Alfridem amicum_). On the second occasion he went with
+the Abbot Ceolfrid, and after some conversation with him and other
+learned ecclesiastics, he adopted the Roman paschal computation. Yet,
+with all his influence and eloquence, he was unable to induce his monks
+to accept it; and it was not until the year 716 that they yielded to the
+persuasions of Egbert, a Northumbrian monk. Adamnan was more successful
+in his own country. In 697 he visited Ireland, and took an important
+part in a legislative council held at Tara. On this occasion he procured
+the enactment of a law, which was called the Canon of Adamnan, or the
+Law of the Innocents, and sometimes "the law not to kill women." We have
+already referred to the martial tendencies of the ladies of ancient
+Erinn--a tendency, however, which was by no means peculiar at that
+period of the world's history. The propensity for military engagements
+was not confined to queens and princesses--women of all ranks usually
+followed their lords to the field of battle; but as the former are
+generally represented as having fallen victims to each other's prowess
+in the fight, it appears probable that they had their own separate line
+of battle, or perhaps fought out the field in a common _melee_ of
+feminine forces.
+
+Had we not the abundant testimony of foreign writers to prove the
+influence and importance of the missions undertaken by Irish saints at
+this period of her history, it might be supposed that the statements of
+her annalists were tinged with that poetic fancy in which she has ever
+been so singularly prolific, and that they rather wrote of what might
+have been than of what was. But the testimony of Venerable Bede (to go
+no further) is most ample on this subject.
+
+Irish missionary zeal was inaugurated in the person of St. Columba,
+although its extension to continental Europe was commenced by another,
+who, from similarity of name, has been frequently confounded with the
+national apostle.
+
+St. Columbanus was born about the year 539. The care of his education
+was confided to the venerable Senile, who was eminent for his sanctity
+and knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. It was probably through his
+influence that the young man resolved to devote himself to the monastic
+life. For this purpose he placed himself under the direction of St.
+Comgall, who then governed the great Monastery of Bangor (Banchorr).
+
+It was not until he entered his fiftieth year that he decided on
+quitting his native land, so that there can be no reason to doubt that
+his high intellectual attainments were acquired and perfected in
+Ireland.
+
+With the blessing of his superior, and the companionship of twelve
+faithful monks, he set forth on his arduous mission; and arduous truly
+it proved to be. The half-barbarous Franks, then ruled by Thierry or
+Theodoric, lived more a pagan than a Christian life, and could ill brook
+the stern lessons of morality which they heard from, and saw practised
+by, their new teacher. The saint did not spare the demoralized court,
+and the Queen-Dowager Brunehalt became his bitterest foe. He had already
+established two monasteries: one at Luxovium, or Luxeuil, in a forest at
+the foot of the Vosges; the other, on account of its numerous springs,
+was called Ad-fontanas (Fontaines). Here the strict discipline of the
+Irish monks was rigidly observed, and the coarsest fare the only
+refection permitted to the religious.
+
+For a time they were allowed to continue their daily routine of prayer
+and penance without molestation; but the relentless Brunehalt, who, from
+the basest motives, had encouraged the young king in every vice, could
+no longer brave either the silent preaching of the cloister or the bold
+denunciations of the saint. As Columbanus found that his distant
+remonstrances had no effect on the misguided monarch, for whose eternal
+welfare he felt the deep interest of true sanctity, he determined to try
+a personal interview. For a brief space his admonitions were heard with
+respect, and even the haughty queen seemed less bent on her career of
+impiety and deceit; but the apparent conversion passed away as a summer
+breeze, and once more the saint denounced and threatened in vain.
+
+Strict enclosure had been established in the monasteries professing the
+Columbanian rule[182] and this afforded a pretext for the royal
+vengeance. Theodoric attempted to violate the sanctuary in person; but
+though he was surrounded by soldiers, he had to encounter one whose
+powers were of another and more invincible character. The saint remained
+in the sanctuary, and when the king approached addressed him sternly:
+
+"If thou, sire," he exclaimed, "art come hither to violate the
+discipline already established, or to destroy the dwellings of the
+servants of God, know that in heaven there is a just and avenging power;
+thy kingdom shall be taken from thee, and both thou and thy royal race
+shall be cut off and destroyed on the earth."
+
+The undaunted bearing of Columbanus, and, perhaps, some lingering light
+of conscience, not yet altogether extinguished, had its effect upon the
+angry monarch. He withdrew; but he left to others the task he dared not
+attempt in person. The saint was compelled by armed men to leave his
+monastery, and only his Irish and British subjects were permitted to
+bear him company. They departed in deep grief, not for the cruel
+treatment they suffered, but for their brethren from whom they were thus
+rudely torn. As the monks who were left behind clung weeping to their
+father, he consoled them with these memorable words: "God will be to you
+a Father, and reward you with mansions where the workers of sacrilege
+can never enter."
+
+Nantes was the destination of the exiled religious. Here they were put
+on board a vessel bound for Ireland; but scarcely had they reached the
+open sea, when a violent storm arose, by which the vessel was driven
+back and stranded on the shore, where it lay all night. The captain
+attributed the misfortune to his travelling companions, and refused to
+carry them any farther. Columbanus, perceiving in this accident an
+indication of the will of heaven in their regard, determined to seek a
+settlement in some other part of the Continent. In the third year after
+his expulsion from Luxeuil, he arrived at Milan, where he was hospitably
+received by the Lombard king, A.D. 612. On his journey thither he had
+evangelised Austrasia, then governed by Theodebert. This prince, though
+a brother of the monarch by whom he had been expelled, entertained him
+with the utmost courtesy. At Mentz, the bishop vainly endeavoured to
+detain him. Zeal for the conversion of souls led the saint to desire a
+less cultivated field of labour. As he passed along the Lake of Zurich,
+and in the Canton of Zug, he reaped a rich harvest; from, thence he
+directed his course to Bregentz, then inhabited by an idolatrous people.
+
+Here he was repulsed by those who most needed his apostolic labours;
+but, undaunted, he retired to the neighbouring county, where he secured
+a band of zealous converts. Surrounded by these, and attended by his
+faithful monks, he once more entered the idolatrous city, and proceeded
+boldly to the temple where their false gods were enshrined. Here he
+invoked the Holy Name, and by its power the idols were miraculously
+overthrown, and a multitude of the people were converted, including in
+their number some of the principal inhabitants of Bregentz.
+
+The theological controversy, known as that of the "Three Chapters," was
+now prevalent in northern Italy. A letter is still extant which St.
+Columbanus addressed to Pope Boniface on this subject, in which, while
+he uses the privilege of free discussion on questions not defined by the
+Church, he is remarkably, and perhaps for some inconveniently, explicit
+as to his belief in papal supremacy. A brief extract from this important
+document will show that the faith for which Ireland has suffered, and
+still suffers so much, was the same in the "early ages" as it is now. He
+writes thus to the Holy Father:--
+
+"For we Irish [Scoti] are disciples of St. Peter and St. Paul, and of
+all the divinely inspired canonical writers, adhering constantly to the
+evangelical and apostolical doctrine. Amongst us neither Jew, heretic,
+nor schismatic can be found; but the Catholic faith, entire and
+unshaken, precisely as we have received it from you, who are the
+successors of the holy Apostles. For, as I have already said, we are
+attached to the chair of St. Peter; and although Rome is great and
+renowned, yet with us it is great and distinguished only on account of
+that apostolic chair. Through the two Apostles of Christ you are almost
+celestial, and Rome is the head of the churches of the world."[183]
+
+In the year 613 St. Columbanus founded the world-famed Monastery of
+Bovium, or Bobbio,[184] in a magnificently romantic site on the
+Apennines. Near his church was an oratory dedicated to the Mother of
+God, who, as we shall presently see, was as devoutly worshipped in
+ancient as in modern Erinn.
+
+Agilulph, the Lombardian monarch, was ever a warm patron of the monks.
+Clothaire had now ascended the French throne. He earnestly pressed the
+saint to return to Luxeuil, but Columbanus excused himself on the plea
+of age and infirmities. He did not fail, however, to send advice for the
+government of the monasteries which he had founded, where his rule had
+continued to be observed with the utmost fervour.
+
+St. Columbanus died at Bobbio, on the 21st of November, 615, at the age
+of seventy-two years. His name is still preserved in the town of St.
+Columbano. His memory has been ever venerated in France and Italy.
+
+While the saint was evangelizing in Switzerland, one of his disciples
+became seriously ill, and was unable to travel farther. It was a
+providential sickness for the Helvetians. The monk was an eloquent
+preacher, and well acquainted with their language, which was a dialect
+of that of the Franks. He evangelized the country, and the town of St.
+Gall still bears the name of the holy Irishman, while his abbey contains
+many precious relics of the literature and piety of his native land. St.
+Gall died on the 16th October, 645, at a very advanced age. The
+monastery was not erected until after his decease, and it was not till
+the year 1798 that the abbey lands were aggregated to the Swiss
+Confederation as one of the cantons.
+
+Another Irish saint, who evangelized in France, was St. Fiacre. He
+erected a monastery to the Blessed Virgin in a forest near Meaux. The
+fame of his sanctity became so great, and the pilgrimage to his tomb so
+popular, that the French hackney coaches _(fiacre)_ obtained their name
+from their constant employment in journeys to his shrine.
+
+About the same period, St. Fursey founded a monastery near Burgh Castle,
+in Suffolk, where he was kindly received by Sigbert, King of the East
+Angles. From thence he proceeded to Lagny, in France, where his
+missionary zeal was long remembered. His brothers, St. Foillan and St.
+Altan, were his constant companions. St. Fursey died on the 16th
+January, 650, at Macerius. His remains were subsequently translated to
+Peronne, in Picardy. The evangelic labours of many of his Irish
+disciples, are matter of history in the Gallic Church. It is said that
+the fame of the Irish for their skill in music, was so well known on the
+Continent at this period, that St. Gertrude, daughter of King Pepin, and
+Abbess of Nivelle, in Brabant, invited the brothers of St. Fursey to
+instruct her community in sacred music. They complied with her request,
+and soon after erected a monastery at Fosse, near Nivelle. Nor were the
+Scoti without their missionary martyrs, amongst whom the great St.
+Kilian holds a distinguished place. The spirit of devotion to the Holy
+See seems almost to be an heirloom in the little island of the western
+sea. True to the instincts of his native land, the martyr-saint would
+not undertake his mission in Franconia, great as was its necessity,
+until he knelt at the feet of the Vicar of Christ to obtain his
+permission and blessing. Thus fortified, he commenced his glorious race,
+so happily crowned with the martyr's palm. His bold rebuke of the open
+scandal given by the conduct of the ruling prince, was the immediate
+cause of his obtaining this favour. St. Kilian was assassinated at
+midnight, while singing the Divine Office, with two of his faithful
+companions. Their remains were interred in the church of Wurtzberg,
+where St. Kilian is still revered as its patron and apostle.
+
+We can but name St. Mailduf, from whom Malmsbury has been named; St.
+Livin, who converted the inhabitants of Flanders and Brabant; St.
+Cataldus and his brother, St. Donatus, the former patron of the
+metropolitan see of Tarentum, and whose name is still preserved in the
+little town of _San Cataldo_, the latter Bishop of Lecce, in the kingdom
+of Naples, and both famous for miracles and sanctity of life; St.
+Virgilius, called in the ancient annals "Ferghil the Geometer," and by
+Latin writers Solivagus,[185] or the "solitary wanderer," who died
+Bishop of Saltzburg, distinguished for literary fame; St. Fridolin, "the
+traveller," son of an Irish king, who evangelized Thuringia, and was
+appointed by the Pope Bishop of Buraburgh, near Fritzlar, in the year
+741; St. Sedulius the younger, who wrote commentaries on Holy Scripture,
+and assisted at a council held in Rome, in the year 721, under Gregory
+II. It is noticeable that this saint was consecrated Bishop of Oreto, in
+Spain, while in Rome. When he entered on the mission thus confided to
+him, he wrote a treatise to prove that, being Irish, he was of Spanish
+descent; thus showing that at this period the idea of a Milesian origin
+was common to men of learning in Ireland.[186]
+
+But if Ireland gave saints and martyrs to foreign lands, her charity was
+in some measure repaid in kind. True, she needed not the evangelic
+labours of other missionaries, for the gospel-seed had taken deep root,
+and borne a rich harvest on her happy shores; still, as the prayers of
+saints are the very life and joy of the Church, she could not choose but
+rejoice in the hundreds of pure and saintly souls who gathered round her
+altars at home, who crowded her monasteries, or listened devoutly to the
+teachers of her distinguished schools. In the Litany of Aengus the
+Culdee[187] we find hundreds of foreign saints invoked, each grouped
+according to their nation. "The oldest tract, or collection of the
+pedigrees of the saints of Erinn," says Professor O'Curry, "of which we
+have now any recognizable copy remaining, is that which is ascribed to
+Aengus Ceile De, commonly called Aengus the Culdee. The genuineness of
+this composition is admitted by all writers of modern times, Protestant
+and Catholic, by Usher and Ware as well as by Colgan."
+
+Aengus wrote about the year 798. He was descended from the illustrious
+chieftains of Dalriada, and completed his education in the Monastery of
+Cluain Eidhneach, in the present Queen's county. The remains of a church
+he founded at Disert Aengusa, near Ballingarry, in the county of
+Limerick, may still be seen.
+
+The Monastery of Tamhlacht (Tallaght), near Dublin, was founded in the
+year 769, by St. Maelruain, on a site offered "to God, to Michael the
+Archangel, and to Maelruain," by Donnach, the pious and illustrious King
+of Leinster. St. Aengus presented himself at this monastery as a poor
+man seeking for service, and was employed for some time in charge of the
+mill or kiln, the ruins of which have but lately yielded to "the
+improving hand of modern progress." Here he remained hidden for many
+years, until, by some happy accident, his humility and his learning were
+at once discovered.
+
+Aengus composed his "Festology" in the reign of Hugh Oirdnidhe (the
+Legislator), who was Monarch of Ireland from the year 793 to the year
+817. Hugh commenced his reign by attaching the province of Leinster, and
+then marched to the confines of Meath. The Archbishop of Armagh and all
+his clergy were commanded to attend this expedition, for such had
+hitherto been the custom. The ecclesiastics, however, protested against
+the summons, and complained to the king of the injustice and
+inconsistency of demanding their presence on such occasions. Hugh
+referred the matter to Fothadh, his poet and adviser. The learning and
+piety of the bard were well known; and a decision favourable to the
+clergy was the result. This decision was given in a short poem of four
+quatrains which is preserved in the preface to the "Martyrology" of
+Aengus. The following is a literal translation:--
+
+    "The Church of the living God,
+    Touch her not, nor waste;
+    Let her rights be reserved,
+    As best ever they were.
+
+    "Every true monk who is
+    Possessed of a pious conscience,
+    To the church to which it is due
+    Let him act as any servant.
+
+    "Every faithful servant from that out,
+    Who is not bound by vows of obedience,
+    Has liberty to join in the battles
+    Of Aedh (Hugh) the Great, son of Nial.
+
+    "This is the proper rule,
+    Certain it is not more, not less:
+    Let every one serve his lot,
+    Without defect, and without refusal."
+
+This decision obtained the name of a canon, and henceforth its author
+was distinguished as _Fothadh na Canoine_, or Fothadh of the Canons.
+
+At the time of the promulgation of this canon, Aengus was residing at
+his church of Disert Bethech, near the present town of Monasterevan, not
+far from where the Irish monarch had pitched his camp.
+
+The poet visited Aengus, and showed him the canon before presenting it
+to the king. An intimacy was thus commenced, which must have proved one
+of singular pleasure to both parties. Aengus had just finished his
+"Festology," and showed it for the first time to his brother poet, who
+expressed the warmest approbation of the work.
+
+This composition consists of three parts. The first part is a poem of
+five quatrains, invoking the grace and sanctification of Christ for the
+poet and his undertaking:--
+
+    "Sanctify, O Christ! my words:
+    O Lord of the seven heavens!
+    Grant me the gift of wisdom,
+    O Sovereign of the bright sun!
+
+    "O bright Sun, who dost illuminate
+    The heavens with all Thy holiness!
+    O King, who governest the angels!
+    O Lord of all the people!
+
+    "O Lord of the people!
+    O King, all righteous and good!
+    May I receive the full benefit
+    Of praising Thy royal hosts.
+
+    "Thy royal hosts I praise,
+    Because Thou art my sovereign;
+    I have disposed my mind
+    To be constantly beseeching Thee.
+
+    "I beseech a favour from Thee,
+    That I be purified from my sins,
+    Through the peaceful bright-shining flock,
+    The royal host whom I celebrate."
+
+Then follows a metrical preface, consisting of eighty stanzas. These
+verses are in the same measure[188] as the invocation, Englished by
+modern Gaedhilic scholars as "chain-verse;" that is, an arrangement of
+metre by which the first words of every succeeding quatrain are
+identical with the last words of the preceding one.
+
+After the invocation follows a preface, the second part of this
+remarkable poem. In this there is a glowing account of the tortures and
+sufferings of the early Christian martyrs; it tells "how the names of
+the persecutors are forgotten, while the names of their victims are
+remembered with honour, veneration, and affection; how Pilate's wife is
+forgotten, while the Blessed Virgin Mary is remembered and honoured from
+the uttermost bounds of the earth to its centre." The martyrology
+proper, or festology, comes next, and consists of 365 quatrains, or a
+stanza for each day in the year.
+
+It commences with the feast of the Circumcision:--
+
+    "At the head of the congregated saints
+    Let the King take the front place;
+    Unto the noble dispensation did submit
+    Christ--on the kalends of January."
+
+St. Patrick is commemorated thus, on the 17th of March:--
+
+    "The blaze of a splendid sun,
+    The apostle of stainless Erinn,
+    Patrick, with his countless thousands,
+    May he shelter our wretchedness."
+
+On the 13th of April, Bishop Tussach, one of the favourite companions of
+the great saint, is also mentioned as--
+
+    "The kingly bishop Tussach,
+    Who administered, on his arrival,
+    The Body of Christ, the truly powerful King,
+    And the Communion to Patrick."
+
+It will be remembered it was from this saint that the great apostle
+received the holy viaticum. In the third division of his great work,
+Aengus explains its use, and directs the people how to read it.
+
+It will be manifest from these poems that the religious principles of
+the Culdees and of the Irish ecclesiastics generally, were those of the
+Universal Church at this period. We find the rights of the Church
+respected and advocated; the monarchs submitting to the decision of the
+clergy; invocation of the saints; the practice of administering the holy
+viaticum; and the commemoration of the saints on the days devoted to
+their honour.
+
+Usher observes, that the saints of this period might be grouped into a
+fourth order.[189] Bede says: "That many of the Scots [Irish] came daily
+into Britain, and with great devotion preached the word and administered
+baptism.... The English, great and small, were by their Scottish [Irish]
+masters instructed in the rules and observances of regular
+discipline."[190] Eric of Auxerre writes thus to Charles the Bald: "What
+shall I say of Ireland, which, despising the dangers of the deep, is
+migrating with her whole train of philosophers to our coast?" Rency,
+after describing the poetry and literature of ancient Erinn as perhaps
+the most cultivated of all Western Europe, adds, that Ireland "counted a
+host of saints and learned men, venerated in England[191] and Gaul; for
+no country had furnished more Christian missionaries." It is said that
+three thousand students, collected from all parts of Europe, attended
+the schools of Armagh; and, indeed, the regulations which were made for
+preserving scholastic discipline, are almost sufficient evidence on this
+subject.
+
+The discussions of the Irish and English ecclesiastics on the time of
+keeping of Easter, with their subsequent decision, and all details
+concerning domestic regulations as to succession to office and church
+lands, are more properly matters for elucidation in a Church History,
+for which we reserve their consideration.
+
+[Illustration: ANCIENT ADZE, FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE ROYAL IRISH
+ACADEMY.]
+
+[Illustration: CROSS AT FINGLAS.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[169] _Blefed_.--The name _Crom Chonaill_ indicates a sickness which
+produced a yellow colour in the skin.
+
+[170] _Sanctuary_.--This may appear a severe punishment, but the right
+of sanctuary was in these ages the great means of protection against
+lawless force, and its violation was regarded as one of the worst of
+sacrileges.
+
+[171] _Oak_.--Dr. Petrie mentions that there were stones still at Tara
+which probably formed a portion of one of the original buildings. It was
+probably of the Pelasgian or Cyclopean kind.
+
+[172] _Hour_.--Petrie's _Tara_, p. 31.
+
+[173] _Tuathal_.--Very ancient authorities are found for this in the
+_Leabhar Gabhala_, or Book of Conquests.
+
+[174] _Mill_.--"Cormac, the grandson of Con, brought a millwright over
+the great sea." It is clear from the Brehon laws that mills were common
+in Ireland at an early period. It is probable that Cormac brought the
+"miller and his men" from Scotland. Whittaker shows that a water-mill
+was erected by the Romans at every stationary city in Roman Britain. The
+origin of mills is attributed to Mithridates, King of Cappadocia, about
+seventy years B.C. The present miller claims to be a descendant of the
+original miller.
+
+[175] _Identical_.--First, "because the _Lia Fail_ is spoken of by all
+ancient Irish writers in such a manner as to leave no doubt that it
+remained in its original situation at the time they wrote." Second,
+"because no Irish account of its removal to Scotland is found earlier
+than Keating, and he quotes Boetius, who obviously wished to sustain the
+claims of the Stuarts." The pillar-stone is composed of granular
+limestone, but no stone of this description is found in the vicinity. As
+may be supposed, there are all kinds of curious traditions about this
+stone. One of these asserts that it was the pillar on which Jacob
+reposed when he saw the vision of angels. Josephus states that the
+descendants of Seth invented astronomy, and that they _engraved their
+discoveries on a pillar of brick and a pillar of stone_. These pillars
+remained, in the historian's time, in the land of Siris.--_Ant. Jud_. l.
+2, sec. 3.
+
+[176] _At once_.--See Petrie's _Tara_, p. 213.
+
+[177] _Roads_.--See Napoleon's _Julius Caesar_, vol. ii. p. 22, for
+mention of the Celtic roads in Gaul.
+
+[178] _Chariots_.--St. Patrick visited most parts of Ireland in a
+chariot, according to the Tripartite Life. _Carbad_ or chariots are
+mentioned in the oldest Celtic tales and romances, and it is distinctly
+stated in the life of St. Patrick preserved in the Book of Armagh, that
+the pagan Irish had chariots. Different kinds of roads are expressly
+mentioned, and also the duty of road-mending, and those upon whom this
+duty devolved. See Introduction to the Book of Rights, p. 56.
+
+[179] _Probable_.--The legend of St. Brendan was widely diffused in the
+Middle Ages. In the _Bibliotheque Imperiale_, at Paris, there are no
+less than eleven MSS. of the original Latin legend, the dates of which
+vary from the eleventh to the fourteenth century. In the old French and
+Romance dialects there are abundant copies in most public libraries in
+France; while versions in Irish, Dutch, German, Italian, Spanish, and
+Portuguese, abound in all parts of the Continent. Traces of
+ante-Columbian voyages to America are continually cropping up. But the
+appearance, in 1837, of the _Antiquitates Americanae sive ita Scriptores
+Septentrionales rerum ante-Columbiarum_, in America, edited by Professor
+Rafu, at Copenhagen, has given final and conclusive evidence on this
+interesting subject. America owes its name to an accidental landing. Nor
+is it at all improbable that the Phoenicians, in their voyage across the
+stormy Bay of Biscay, or the wild Gulf of Guinea, may have been driven
+far out of their course to western lands. Even in 1833 a Japanese junk
+was wrecked upon the coast of Oregon. Humboldt believes that the Canary
+Isles were known, not only to the Phoenicians, but "perhaps even to the
+Etruscans." There is a map in the Library of St. Mark, at Venice, made
+in the year 1436, where an island is delineated and named Antillia. See
+Trans. R.I.A. vol. xiv. A distinguished modern poet of Ireland has made
+the voyage of St. Brendan the subject of one of the most beautiful of
+his poems.
+
+[180] _Magh-Rath_.--Now Moira, in the county Down. The Chronicum
+Scotorum gives the date 636, and the Annals of Tighernach at 637, which
+Dr. O'Donovan considers to be the true date.
+
+[181] _Gratis_.--Ven. Bede, cap. xxviii.
+
+[182] _Rule_.--"The light which St. Columbanus disseminated, by his
+knowledge and doctrine, wherever he presented himself, caused a
+contemporary writer to compare him to the sun in his course from east to
+west; and he continued after his death to shine forth in numerous
+disciples whom he had trained in learning and piety."--_Benedictine
+Hist. Litt. de la France_.
+
+[183] _World_.--See Herring's _Collectanea_ and the _Bibliotheca
+Patrum_, tom. xii.
+
+[184] _Bobbio_.--My learned friend, the Rev. J.P. Gaffney, of Clontarf,
+has in his possession a printed copy of the celebrated _Bobbio Missal_.
+It is contained in a work entitled "MUSEUM ITALICUM, seu collectio
+Veterum Scriptorum ex Bibliothesis Italicis," eruta a D.J. Mabillon et
+D.M. Germain, presbyteris et monachis, Benedictinae, Cong. S. Maure. This
+work was published at Paris in 1687. The original Missal was discovered
+by Mabillon two hundred years ago, and is at present preserved in the
+Ambrosian Library at Milan. It dates from the seventh century, and is no
+doubt the identical Missal or Mass-book used by the saint. As my friend
+has allowed me to retain the treasure for a time, I intend to give full
+details on the subject in my Ecclesiastical History. For further
+information at present, I refer the reader to the Rev. J.P. Gaffney's
+_Religion of the Ancient Irish Church_ p. 43, and to Dr. Moran's learned
+_Essays_, p. 287. I especially request the superiors of religious orders
+to afford me any information in their possession concerning the history
+of their respective orders in Ireland, and also of their several houses.
+Details of re-erections of religious houses on old sites are
+particularly desired. All books or documents which may be forwarded to
+me shall be carefully returned.
+
+[185] _Solivagus_.--Four Masters, p. 391.
+
+[186] _Ireland_.--The elder Sedulius, whose hymns are even now used by
+the Church, lived in the fifth century. The hymn, _A solis ortis
+cardine_, and many others, are attributed to him.
+
+[187] _Culdee_.--There was much dispute at one time as to the origin and
+true character of the Culdees. The question, however, has been quite set
+at rest by the researches of recent Irish scholars. Professor O'Curry
+traces them up to the time of St. Patrick. He thinks they were
+originally mendicant monks, and that they had no communities until the
+end of the eighth century, when St. Maelruain of Tallaght drew up a rule
+for them. This rule is still extant. Mr. Haverty (_Irish History_, p.
+110) has well observed, they probably resembled the Tertiaries, or Third
+Orders, which belong to the Orders of St. Dominic and St. Francis at the
+present day. See also Dr. Reeves' _Life of St. Columba,_ for some clear
+and valuable remarks on this subject.
+
+[188] _Measure_.--The subject of Irish poetical composition would demand
+a considerable space if thoroughly entertained. Zeuss has done admirable
+justice to the subject in his _Grammatica Celtica_, where he shows that
+the word rhyme [_rimum_] is of Irish origin. The Very Rev. U. Burke has
+also devoted some pages to this interesting investigation, in his
+_College Irish Grammar_. He observes that the phonetic framework in
+which the poetry of a people is usually fashioned, differs in each of
+the great national families, even as their language and genius differ.
+He also shows that the earliest Latin ecclesiastical poets were Irish,
+and formed their hymns upon the rules of Irish versification; thus quite
+controverting the theory that rhyme was introduced by the Saracens in
+the ninth century.
+
+[189] _Order_.--This refers to the vision in which St. Patrick is said
+to have seen three orders of saints, who should succeed each other in
+Ireland.
+
+[190] _Discipline_.--Bede, lib. iii. cap. 3. We have used Bohn's
+translation, as above all suspicion.
+
+[191] _England_.--Camden says: "At that age the Anglo-Saxons repaired on
+all sides to Ireland as to a general mart of learning, whence we read,
+in our writers, of holy men, that they went to study in
+Ireland"--_Amandatus est ad disciplinam in Hiberniam_.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+Christianity improves the Social State of Ireland--A Saxon Invasion of
+Ireland--Domestic Wars--The English come to Ireland for Instruction--A
+Famine and Tempests--The First Danish Invasion--Cruelty of the
+Danes--The Black and White Gentiles--King Cormac Mac
+Cullinan--Cashel--Amlaff the Dane--Plunder of the Towns--Arrival of
+Sitric--Death of Nial Glundubh--The Circuit of Ireland--Malachy the
+Second--Entries in the Annals.
+
+[A.D. 693-926.]
+
+
+Very few events of any special interest occur between the commencement
+of the seventh century and the Danish invasion. The obituaries of
+ecclesiastics and details of foreign missions, which we have already
+recorded, are its salient points. The wars of the Saxon Heptarchy and
+the Celtic Pentarchy almost synchronize, though we find several Irish
+kings influenced by the examples of sanctity with which they were
+surrounded, and distinguished for piety, while Charlemagne pronounces
+their neighbours a perfidious and perverse race, worse than pagans.
+There can be no doubt that Charlemagne's high opinion of the Irish was
+caused by the fact, that so many of the heads of his schools were of
+that nation, which was then in the vanguard of civilization and
+progress. The cloister, always the nursery of art, the religious, always
+the promoters of learning, were pre-eminent in this age for their
+devotion to literary pursuits. In the present work it is impossible to
+give details of their MSS. still preserved, of their wonderful skill in
+caligraphy, still the admiration of the most gifted, and of the
+perfection to which they brought the science of music; but I turn from
+this attractive subject with less regret, from the hope of being soon
+able to produce an Ecclesiastical History of Ireland, in which such
+details will find their proper place, and will be amply expanded.[192]
+The revolution of social feeling which was effected in Ireland by the
+introduction of Christianity, is strongly marked. Before the advent of
+St. Patrick, few Irish monarchs died a natural death--ambition or
+treachery proved a sufficient motive for murder and assassination; while
+of six kings who reigned during the eighth and ninth centuries, only one
+died a violent death, and that death was an exception, which evidently
+proved the rule, for Nial was drowned in a generous effort to save the
+life of one of his own servants.
+
+The fatal pestilence, already recorded, did not appear again after its
+severe visitation, which terminated in 667. In 693 Finnachta Fleadhach
+(the Hospitable) commenced his reign. He remitted the Boromean Tribute
+at the request of St. Moling, and eventually abdicated, and embraced a
+religious life. In the year 684, Egfrid, the Saxon King of
+Northumberland, sent an army to Ireland, which spared neither churches
+nor monasteries, and carried off a great number of the inhabitants as
+slaves. Bede denounces and laments this barbarous invasion, attributing
+the defeat and death of King Egfrid, which took place in the following
+year, to the vengeance of heaven.[193] St. Adamnan was sent to
+Northumbria, after the death of this prince, to obtain the release of
+the captives. His mission was successful, and he was honoured there as
+the worker of many miracles.
+
+The generosity of Finnachta failed in settling the vexed question of
+tribute. Comgal, who died in 708, ravaged Leinster as fiercely as his
+predecessors, and Fearghal, his successor, invaded it "five times in one
+year." Three wonderful showers are said to have fallen in the eighth
+year of his reign (A.D. 716 according to the Four Masters)--a shower of
+silver, a shower of honey, and a shower of blood. These were, of course,
+considered portents of the awful Danish invasions. Fearghal was killed
+at the battle of Almhain (Allen, near Kildare), in 718. In this
+engagement, the Leinster men only numbered nine thousand, while their
+opponents numbered twenty-one thousand. The Leinster men, however, made
+up for numbers by their valour; and it is said that the intervention of
+a hermit, who reproached Fearghal with breaking the pacific promise of
+his predecessor, contributed to the defeat of the northern forces.
+Another battle took place in 733, when Hugh Allan, King of Ireland, and
+Hugh, son of Colgan, King of Leinster, engaged in single combat. The
+latter was slain, and the Leinster men "were killed, slaughtered, cut
+off, and dreadfully exterminated." In fact, the Leinster men endured so
+many "dreadful exterminations," that one almost marvels how any of their
+brave fellows were left for future feats of arms. The "northerns were
+joyous after this victory, for they had wreaked their vengeance and
+their animosity upon the Leinster men," nine thousand of whom were
+slain. St. Samhthann, a holy nun, who died in the following year, is
+said to have predicted the fate of Aedh, Comgal's son, if the two Aedhs
+(Hughs) met. Aedh Allan commemorated her virtues in verse, and concludes
+thus:--
+
+    "In the bosom of the Lord, with a pure death, Samhthann passed
+          from her sufferings."
+
+Indeed, the Irish kings of this period manifested their admiration of
+peaceful living, and their desire for holy deaths, in a more practical
+way than by poetic encomiums on others. In 704 Beg Boirche "took a
+pilgrim's staff, and died on his pilgrimage." In 729 Flahertach
+renounced his regal honours, and retired to Armagh, where he died. In
+758 Donal died on a pilgrimage at Iona, after a reign of twenty years;
+and in 765 his successor, Nial Frassagh, abdicated the throne, and
+became a monk at Iona. Here he died in 778, and was buried in the tomb
+of the Irish kings in that island.
+
+An Irish poet, who died in 742, is said to have played a clever trick on
+the "foreigners" of Dublin. He composed a poem for them, and then
+requested payment for his literary labours. The _Galls,_[194] who were
+probably Saxons, refused to meet his demand, but Rumrann said he would
+be content with two _pinguins_ (pennies) from every good man, and one
+from each bad one. The result may be anticipated. Rumrann is described
+as "an adept in wisdom, chronology, and poetry;" we might perhaps add,
+and in knowledge of human nature. In the Book of Ballymote he is called
+the Virgil of Ireland. A considerable number of Saxons were now in the
+country; and it is said that a British king, named Constantine, who had
+become a monk, was at that time Abbot of Rahen, in the King's county,
+and that at Cell-Belaigh there were seven streets[195] of those
+foreigners. Gallen, in the King's county, was called Galin of the
+Britons, and Mayo was called Mayo of the Saxons, from the number of
+monasteries therein, founded by members of these nations.
+
+The entries during the long reign of Domhnall contain little save
+obituaries of abbots and saints. The first year of the reign of Nial
+Frassagh is distinguished by a shower of silver, a shower of wheat, and
+a shower of honey. The Annals of Clonmacnois say that there was a most
+severe famine throughout the whole kingdom during the early part of his
+reign, so much that the king himself had very little to live upon. Then
+the king prayed very fervently to God, being in company with seven holy
+bishops; and he asked that he might die rather than see so many of his
+faithful subjects perishing, while he was helpless to relieve them. At
+the conclusion of his prayer, the "three showers" fell from heaven; and
+then the king and the seven bishops gave great thanks to the Lord.
+
+But a more terrible calamity than famine was even then impending, and,
+if we may believe the old chroniclers, not without marvellous
+prognostications of its approach. In the year 767 there occurred a most
+fearful storm of thunder and lightning, with "terrific and horrible
+signs." It would appear that the storm took place while a fair was going
+on, which obtained the name of the "Fair of the clapping of hands." Fear
+and horror seized the men of Ireland, so that their religious seniors
+ordered them to make two fasts, together with fervent prayer, and one
+meal between them, to protect and save them from a pestilence, precisely
+at Michaelmas.[196]
+
+The first raid of the Danish pirates is recorded thus: "The age of
+Christ 790 [_recte_ 795]. The twenty-fifth year of Donnchadh. The
+burning of Reachrainn[197] by plunderers; and its shrines were broken
+and plundered." They had already attacked the English coasts, "whilst
+the pious King Bertric was reigning over its western division." Their
+arrival was sudden and so unexpected, that the king's officer took them
+for merchants, paying with his life for the mistake.[198] A Welsh
+chronicle, known by the name of _Brut y Tywysogion_, or the Chronicle of
+the Chieftains, has a corresponding record under the year 790: "Ten
+years with fourscore and seven hundred was the age of Christ when the
+pagans went to Ireland." Three MSS. add, "and destroyed Rechren."
+Another chronicle mentions, that the black pagans, who were the first of
+their nation to land in Ireland, had previously been defeated in
+Glamorganshire, and after their defeat they had invaded Ireland, and
+devastated Rechru.
+
+If by bravery we understand utter recklessness of life, and utter
+recklessness in inflicting cruelties on others, then the Vikings may be
+termed brave. The heroism of patient endurance was a bravery but little
+understood at that period. If the heathen Viking was brave when he
+plundered and burned monastic shrines--when he massacred the defenceless
+with wanton cruelty--when he flung little children on the points of
+spears, and gloated over their dying agonies; perhaps we may also admit
+those who endured such torments, either in their own persons, or in the
+persons of those who were dear to them, and yet returned again and again
+to restore the shrine so rudely destroyed, have also their claim to be
+termed brave, and may demand some commendation for that virtue from
+posterity.
+
+As plunder was the sole object of these barbarians, they naturally
+sought it first where it could be obtained most easily and surely. The
+islands on the Irish coast were studded with monasteries. Their position
+was chosen as one which seemed peculiarly suitable for a life of retreat
+from worldly turmoil, and contemplation of heavenly things. They were
+richly endowed, for ancient piety deemed it could never give enough to
+God. The shrines were adorned with jewels, purchased with the wealth
+which the monks had renounced for their own use; the sacred vessels were
+costly, the gifts of generous hearts. The Danes commenced their work of
+plunder and devastation in the year 795. Three years after, A.D. 798,
+they ravaged Inis-patrick of Man and the Hebrides. In 802 they burned
+"Hi-Coluim-Cille." In 806 they attacked the island again, and killed
+sixty-eight of the laity and clergy. In 807 they became emboldened by
+success, and for the first time marched inland; and after burning
+Inishmurray, they attacked Roscommon. During the years 812 and 813 they
+made raids in Connaught and Munster, but not without encountering stout
+resistance from the native forces. After this predatory and internecine
+warfare had continued for about thirty years, Turgesius, a Norwegian
+prince, established himself as sovereign of the Vikings, and made Armagh
+his head-quarters, A.D. 830. If the Irish chieftains had united their
+forces, and acted in concert, the result would have been the expulsion
+of the intruders; but, unhappily, this unity of purpose in matters
+political has never existed. The Danes made and broke alliances with the
+provincial kings at their own convenience, while these princes gladly
+availed themselves of even temporary assistance from their cruel foes,
+while engaged in domestic wars, which should never have been undertaken.
+Still the Northmen were more than once driven from the country by the
+bravery of the native commanders, and they often paid dearly for the
+cruel wrongs they inflicted on their hapless victims. Sometimes the
+Danish chiefs mustered all their forces, and left the island for a brief
+period, to ravage the shores of England or Scotland; but they soon
+returned to inflict new barbarities on the unfortunate Irish.[199]
+
+Burning churches or destroying monasteries was a favourite pastime of
+these pirates, wherever they could obtain a landing on Christian shores;
+and the number of religious houses in Ireland afforded them abundant
+means of gratifying their barbarous inclinations. But when they became
+so far masters as to have obtained some permanent settlement, this mode
+of proceeding was considered either more troublesome or less profitable
+than that of appropriating to themselves the abbeys and churches.
+Turgesius, it is said, placed an abbot of his own in every monastery;
+and as he had already conferred ecclesiastical offices on himself and on
+his lady, we may presume he was not very particular in his selections.
+The villages, too, were placed under the rule of a Danish captain; and
+each family was obliged to maintain a soldier of that nation, who made
+himself master of the house, using and wasting the food for lack of
+which the starving children of the lawful owner were often dying of
+hunger.
+
+All education was strictly forbidden; books and manuscripts were burned
+and _drowned;_ and the poets, historians, and musicians imprisoned and
+driven to the woods and mountains. Martial sports were interdicted, from
+the lowest to the highest rank. Even nobles and princes were forbidden
+to wear their usual habiliments, the cast-off clothes of the Danes being
+considered sufficiently good for slaves.
+
+The clergy, who had been driven from their monasteries, concealed
+themselves as best they could, continuing still their prayers and fasts,
+and the fervent recital of the Divine Office. The Irish, true to their
+faith in every trial, were not slow to attribute their deliverance to
+the prayers of these holy men.
+
+In 831 Nial Caille led an army against them, and defeated them at Derry;
+but in the meanwhile, Felim, King of Cashel, with contemptible
+selfishness, marched into Leinster to claim tribute, and plundered every
+one, except the Danes, who should have been alone considered as enemies
+at such a time. Even the churches were not spared by him, for he laid
+waste the termon-lands of Clonmacnois, "up to the church door." After
+his death,[200] A.D. 843, a brave and good king came to the rescue of
+his unfortunate country. While still King of Meath, Meloughlin had freed
+the nation from Turgesius, one of its worst tyrants, by drowning him in
+Lough Owel. His death was a signal for a general onslaught on the Danes.
+The people rose simultaneously, and either massacred their enemies, or
+drove them to their ships. In 846 Meloughlin met their forces at Skreen,
+where they were defeated; they also suffered a reverse at Kildare.
+
+The Danes themselves were now divided into two parties--the Dubh Galls,
+or Black Gentiles; and the Finn Galls, or White Gentiles. A fierce
+conflict took place between them in the year 850, in which the Dubh
+Galls conquered.[201] In the following year, however, both parties
+submitted to Amlaff, son of the Norwegian king; and thus their power was
+once more consolidated. Amlaff remained in Dublin; his brothers, Sitric
+and Ivar, stationed themselves in Waterford and Limerick. A great
+meeting was now convened by the ecclesiastics of Ireland at Rathugh, for
+the purpose of establishing peace and concord amongst the native
+princes. The northern Hy-Nials alone remained belligerent; and to defend
+themselves, pursued the usual suicidal course of entering into an
+alliance with the Danes. Upon the death of the Irish monarch, the
+northern chief, Hugh Finnlaith, succeeded to the royal power; broke his
+treaty with Amlaff, which had been only one of convenience; and turned
+his arms vigorously against the foreigners. This prince was married to a
+daughter of Kenneth M'Alpine, the first sole Monarch of Scotland. After
+the death of the Irish prince, his wife married his successor, Flann,
+who, according to the alternate plan of succession, came of the southern
+Hy-Nial family, and was a son of Meloughlin, once the formidable
+opponent of the lady's former husband. During the reign of Flann, Cormac
+Mac Cullinan, a prelate distinguished for his learning and sanctity, was
+obliged to unite the office of priest and king. This unusual
+combination, however, was not altogether without precedent. The
+archbishopric of Cashel owes its origin remotely to this great man; as
+from the circumstance of the city of Cashel having been the seat of
+royalty in the south, and the residence of the kings of Munster, it was
+exalted, in the twelfth century, to the dignity of an archiepiscopal
+see.
+
+Of Cormac, however interesting his history, we can only give a passing
+word. His reign commenced peaceably; and so wise--perhaps we should
+rather say, so holy--was his rule, that his kingdom once more enjoyed
+comparative tranquillity, and religion and learning flourished again as
+it had done in happier times.
+
+But the kingdom which he had been compelled to rule, was threatened by
+the very person who should have protected it most carefully; and Cormac,
+after every effort to procure peace, was obliged to defend his people
+against the attacks of Flann. Even then a treaty might have been made
+with the belligerent monarch; but Cormac, unfortunately for his people
+and himself, was guided by an abbot, named Flahertach, who was by no
+means so peaceably disposed as his good master. This unruly ecclesiastic
+urged war on those who were already too willing to undertake it; and
+then made such representations to the bishop-king, as to induce him to
+yield a reluctant consent. It is said that Cormac had an intimation of
+his approaching end. It is at least certain, that he made preparations
+for death, as if he believed it to be imminent.
+
+On the eve of the fatal engagement he made his confession, and added
+some articles to his will, in which he left large bounties to many of
+the religious houses throughout the kingdom. To Lismore he bequeathed a
+golden chalice and some rich vestments; to Armagh, twenty-four ounces of
+gold and silver; to his own church of Cashel, a golden and a silver
+chalice, with the famous Saltair. Then he retired to a private place for
+prayer, desiring the few persons whom he had informed of his approaching
+fate to keep their information secret, as he knew well the effect such
+intelligence would have on his army, were it generally known.
+
+[Illustration: ROCK OF CASHEL.]
+
+Though the king had no doubt that he would perish on the field, he still
+showed the utmost bravery, and made every effort to cheer and encourage
+his troops; but the men lost spirit in the very onset of the battle, and
+probably were terrified at the numerical strength of their opponents.
+Six thousand Munster men were slain, with many of their princes and
+chieftains. Cormac was killed by falling under his horse, which missed
+its footing on a bank slippery with the blood of the slain. A common
+soldier, who recognized the body, cut off his head, and brought it as a
+trophy to Flann; but the monarch bewailed the death of the good and
+great prince, and reproved the indignity with which his remains had been
+treated. This battle was fought at a place called Bealagh Mughna, now
+Ballaghmoon, in the county of Kildare, a few miles from the town of
+Carlow.[202]
+
+Flahertach survived the battle, and, after some years spent in penance,
+became once more minister, and ultimately King of Munster. As he
+advanced in years, he learned to love peace, and his once irascible
+temper became calm and equable.
+
+The Rock of Cashel, and the ruins of a small but once beautiful chapel,
+still preserve the memory of the bishop-king. His literary fame also has
+its memorials. His Rule is contained in a poem of fourteen stanzas,
+written in the most pure and ancient style of Gaedhilic, of which, as
+well as of many other languages, the illustrious Cormac was so profound
+a master. This Rule is general in several of its inculcations; but it
+appears to have been written particularly as an instruction to a priest,
+for the moral and spiritual direction of himself and his flock. He was
+also skilled in the Ogham writings, as may be gathered from a poem
+written by a contemporary, who, in paying compliments to many of the
+Irish kings and chiefs, addresses the following stanza to Cormac:--
+
+    "Cormac of Cashel, with his champions,
+    Munster is his,--may he long enjoy it!
+    Around the King of _Raith-Bicli_ are cultivated
+    The letters and the trees."
+
+The death of Cormac is thus pathetically deplored by Dallan, son of
+Mor:--
+
+    "The bishop, the soul's director, the renowned, illustrious doctor,
+    King of Caiseal, King of Farnumha: O God! alas for Cormac!"
+
+Flann's last years were disturbed by domestic dissensions. His sons,
+Donough and Conor, both rebelled against him; but Nial Glundubh (of the
+black knee), a northern Hy-Nial chief, led an army against them, and
+compelled them to give hostages to their father. Flann died the
+following year, A.D. 914, and was succeeded by the prince who had so
+ably defended him. Meanwhile, the Danes were not idle. Amlaff[203] has
+signalized his advent by drowning Conchobhar, "heir apparent of Tara;"
+by slaying all the chieftains of the Deisi at Cluain-Daimh; by killing
+the son of Clennfaeladh, King of Muscraighe Breoghain; by smothering
+Machdaighren in a cave, and by the destruction of Caitill Find (Ketill
+the White) and his whole garrison. Oisill is the next chief of
+importance; and he "succeeded in plundering the greatest part of
+Ireland." It is not recorded how long he was occupied in performing this
+exploit, but he was eventually slain, and his army cut off, by the men
+of Erinn. The deaths of several Danish chieftains occured about this
+period, and are referred to the vengeance of certain saints, whose
+shrines they had desecrated. In A.D. 864 according to the Four Masters,
+867 according to O'Flaherty, the Danes were defeated at Lough Foyle, by
+Hugh Finnliath, King of Ireland. Soon after, Leinster and Munster were
+plundered by a Scandinavian chief, named Baraid, who advanced as far as
+_Ciarraighe_ (Kerry): "And they left not a cave under ground that they
+did not explore; and they left nothing, from Limerick to Cork, that they
+did not ravish." What treasures the antiquarian of the nineteenth
+century must have lost by this marauder! How great must have been the
+wealth of the kings and princes of ancient Erinn, when so much remains
+after so much was taken! In 877 the Black Gentiles took refuge in
+Scotland, after suffering a defeat in an engagement with the White
+Gentiles. They were, however, consoled by a victory over the men of
+Alba, in which Constantine, son of Kenneth, was slain, and many others
+with him. Their success proved beneficial to Ireland, for we are told
+that a period of "rest to the men of Erinn" ensued. The Danes still held
+their own in Dublin and at Limerick, occasionally plundered the
+churches, and now and then had a skirmish with the "men of Erinn;" but
+for forty years the country was free from the foreign fleets, and,
+therefore, enjoyed a time of comparative quiet.
+
+In the year 913 new fleets arrived. They landed in the harbour of
+Waterford, where they had a settlement formerly; but though they
+obtained assistance here, they were defeated by the native Irish, both
+in Kerry and in Tipperary. Sitric came with another fleet in 915, and
+settled at Cenn-Fuait.[204] Here he was attacked by the Irish army, but
+they were repulsed with great slaughter. Two years after they received
+another disastrous defeat at Cill-Mosanhog, near Rathfarnham. A large
+cromlech, still in that neighbourhood, probably marks the graves of the
+heroes slain in that engagement. Twelve kings fell in this battle. Their
+names are given in the _Wars of the Gaedhil_, and by other authorities,
+though in some places the number is increased. Nial Glundubh was amongst
+the slain. He is celebrated in pathetic verse by the bards. Of the
+battle was said:--
+
+    "Fierce and hard was the Wednesday
+    On which hosts were strewn under the fall of shields;
+    It shall be called, till judgment's day,
+    The destructive burning of Ath-cliath."
+
+The lamentation of Nial was, moreover, said:--
+
+    "Sorrowful this day is sacred Ireland,
+    Without a valiant chief of hostage reign!
+    It is to see the heavens without a sun,
+    To view Magh-Neill[205] without a Nial."
+
+    "There is no cheerfulness in the happiness of men;
+    There is no peace or joy among the hosts;
+    No fair can be celebrated
+    Since the sorrow of sorrow died."
+
+Donough, son of Flann Sinna, succeeded, and passed his reign in
+obscurity, with the exception of a victory over the Danes at Bregia. Two
+great chieftains, however, compensated by their prowess for his
+indifference; these were Muircheartach, son of the brave Nial Glundubh,
+the next heir to the throne, and Callaghan of Cashel, King of Munster.
+The northern prince was a true patriot, willing to sacrifice every
+personal feeling for the good of his country: consequently, he proved a
+most formidable foe to the Danish invader. Callaghan of Cashel was,
+perhaps, as brave, but his name cannot be held up to the admiration of
+posterity. The personal advancement of the southern Hy-Nials was more to
+him than the political advancement of his country; and he disgraced his
+name and his nation by leaguing with the invaders. In the year 934 he
+pillaged Clonmacnois. Three years later he invaded Meath and Ossory, in
+conjunction with the Danes. Muircheartach was several times on the eve
+of engagements with the feeble monarch who nominally ruled the country,
+but he yielded for the sake of peace, or, as the chroniclers quaintly
+say, "God pacified them." After one of these pacifications, they joined
+forces, and laid "siege to the foreigners of Ath-cliath, so that they
+spoiled and plundered all that was under the dominion of the foreigners,
+from Ath-cliath to Ath-Truisten."[206]
+
+In the twenty-second year of Donough, Muircheartach determined on a
+grand expedition for the subjugation of the Danes. He had already
+conducted a fleet to the Hebrides, from whence he returned flushed with
+victory. His first care was to assemble a body of troops of special
+valour; and he soon found himself at the head of a thousand heroes, and
+in a position to commence "his circuit of Ireland." The Danish chief,
+Sitric, was first seized as a hostage. He then carried off Lorcan, King
+of Leinster. He next went to the Munster men, who were also prepared for
+battle; but they too yielded, and gave up their monarch also, "and a
+fetter was put on him by Muircheartach." He afterwards proceeded into
+Connaught, where Conchobhar, son of Tadhg, came to meet him, "but no
+gyve or lock was put upon him." He then returned to Oileach, carrying
+these kings with him as hostages. Here he feasted them for five months
+with knightly courtesy, and then sent them to the Monarch Donough.
+
+After these exploits we cannot be surprised that Muircheartach should be
+styled the Hector of the west of Europe. But he soon finds his place in
+the never-ceasing obituary. In two years after his justly famous
+exploit, he was slain by "Blacaire, son of Godfrey, lord of the
+foreigners." This event occurred on the 26th of March, A.D. 941,
+according to the chronology of the Four Masters. The true year, however,
+is 943. The chroniclers briefly observe, that "Ard-Macha was plundered
+by the same foreigners, on the day after the killing of
+Muircheartach."[207]
+
+Donough died in 942, after a reign of twenty-five years. He was
+succeeded by Congallach, who was killed by the Danes, A.D. 954. Donnell
+O'Neill, a son of the brave Muircheartach, now obtained the royal power,
+such as it was; and at his death the throne reverted to Maelseachlainn,
+or Malachy II., the last of his race who ever held the undisputed
+sovereignty of Ireland. But it must not be supposed that murders and
+massacres are the staple commodities of our annals during this eventful
+period. Every noteworthy event is briefly and succinctly recorded. We
+find, from time to time, mention of strange portents, such as double
+suns, and other celestial phenomena of a more or less remarkable
+character. Fearful storms are also chronicled, which appear to have
+occurred at certain intervals, and hard frosts, which proved almost as
+trying to the "men of Erinn" as the wars of the Gentiles, black or
+white. But the obituaries of abbots or monks, with the quaint remarks
+appended thereto, and epitomes of a lifetime in a sentence, are by no
+means the least interesting portion of those ancient tomes. In one page
+we may find record of the Lord of Aileach, who takes a pilgrim's staff;
+in another, we have mention of the Abbot Muireadhach and others, who
+were "destroyed in the refectory" of Druim-Mesclainn by Congallach; and
+we read in the lamentation of Muireadhach, that he was "the lamp of
+every choir." Then we are told simply how a nobleman "died in religion,"
+as if that were praise enough for him; though another noble, Domhnall,
+is said to have "died in religion, after a good life." Of some abbots
+and bishops there is nothing more than the death record; but in the age
+of Christ 926, when Celedabhaill, son of Scannal, went to Rome on his
+pilgrimage from the abbacy of Beannchair, we are given in full the four
+quatrains which he composed at his departure,--a composition which
+speaks highly for the poetic powers and the true piety of the author. He
+commences thus:--
+
+ "Time for me to prepare to pass from the shelter of a habitation,
+  To journey as a pilgrim over the surface of the noble lively sea;
+  Time to depart from the snares of the flesh, with all its guilt;
+  Time now to ruminate how I may find the great Son of Mary;
+  Time to seek virtue, to trample upon the will with sorrow;
+  Time to reject vices, and to renounce the demon.
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+ "Time to barter the transitory things for the country of the King of heaven;
+  Time to defy the ease of the little earthly world of a hundred pleasures;
+  Time to work at prayer in adoration of the high King of angels."
+
+The obituary notices, however, were not always complimentary. We find
+the following entry in the Annals of Clonmacnois:--"Tomhair Mac Alchi,
+King of Denmark, is reported to go [to have gone] to hell with his
+pains, as he deserved."
+
+
+[Illustration: GREY MAN'S PATH, GIANT'S CAUSEWAY.]
+
+[Illustration: RATH AT LEIGHLIN, CARLOW]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[192] _Expanded_.--I take this opportunity of requesting from laymen or
+ecclesiastics who may read this announcement, the favour of any
+information they may consider valuable.
+
+[193] _Heaven.--Ec. Hist_. lib. iv. c. 26. "From that time the hopes and
+strength of the English crown began to waver and retrograde, for the
+Picts recovered their own lands," &c. The Annals of the Four Masters
+mention a mortality among cattle throughout the whole world, and a
+severe frost, which followed this invasion: "The sea between Ireland and
+Scotland was frozen, so that there was a communication between them on
+the ice."--vol. ii. p. 291. They also mention the mission of Adamnan to
+"Saxon land."
+
+[194] _Galls_.--Gall was a generic name for foreigners. The Danes were
+Finn Galls, or White Foreigners, and Dubh Galls, or Black Foreigners.
+The former were supposed to have been the inhabitants of Norway; the
+latter, of Jutland. In Irish, _gaill_ is the nom., and _gall_, gen.
+
+[195] _Streets_.--In Armagh the buildings were formed into streets and
+wards, for the better preservation of monastic discipline. Armagh was
+divided into three parts--_trian-more_, the town proper;
+_trian-Patrick_, the cathedral close; and _trian-Sassenagh_, the home of
+the foreign students.
+
+[196] _Michaelmas_.--Annals, p. 371. Another fearful thunderstorm is
+recorded in the Annals for 799. This happened on the eve of St.
+Patrick's Day. It is said that a thousand and ten persons were killed on
+the coast of Clare. The island of Fitha (now Mutton Island) was partly
+submerged, and divided into three parts. There was also a storm in
+783--"thunder, lightning, and wind-storms"--by which the Monastery of
+Clonbroney was destroyed.
+
+[197] _Reachrainn_.-Rechru appears to be the correct form. It has not
+yet been ascertained whether this refers to Lambay, near Dublin, or the
+island 01 Rathlinn. See note, p. 32, to the "Introduction" to the _Wars
+of the Gaedhil with the Gall_.
+
+[198] _Mistake.--Ethel. Chron. Pro._ book iii.
+
+[199] _Irish_.--The history of the two hundred years during which these
+northern pirates desolated the island, has been preserved in a MS. of
+venerable age and undoubted authenticity. It is entitled _Cogadh Gaedhil
+re Gallaibh_ (the Wars of the Gaedhil with the Gall). It was quoted by
+Keating, known to Colgan, and used by the Four Masters; but for many
+years it was supposed to have been completely lost, until it was
+discovered, in 1840, by Mr. O'Curry, among the Seabright MSS. The work
+is now edited, with a translation and most valuable notes, by Dr. Todd.
+Several other copies have been discovered since, notably one by the
+Franciscan Brother, Michael O'Clery, which is at present in the
+Burgundian Library at Brussels. From internal evidence, it is presumed
+that the author was a contemporary of King Brian Boroimhe. Dr. O'Connor
+refers the authorship to Mac Liag, who was chief poet to that monarch,
+and died in 1016, two years after his master. Dr. Todd evidently
+inclines to this opinion, though he distinctly states that there is no
+authority for it.
+
+[200] _Death_.--It appears doubtful whether he really died at this time.
+It is said that he repented of his sins of sacrilege, and ended his days
+in penance and religious retirement. See Four Masters, p. 472.
+
+[201] _Conquered_.--Duald Mac Firbis gives a curious account of these
+contests in his _fragments of Annals_. The White Galls, or Norwegians,
+had long been masters of the situation. The Black Galls fought with them
+for three days and nights, and were finally victorious. They take the
+ships they have captured to Dublin, and deprive the Lochlanns (Black
+Galls) of all the spoil they had so cruelly and unjustly acquired from
+the "shrines and sanctuaries of the saints of Erinn;" which the annalist
+naturally considers a judgment on them for their sins. They make another
+struggle, and gain the victory. But the Banish general, Horm, advises
+his men to put themselves under the protection of St. Patrick, and to
+promise the saint "honorable alms for gaining victory and triumph" over
+enemies who had plundered his churches. They comply with this advice;
+and though greatly inferior in numbers, they gain the victory, "on
+account of the tutelage of St. Patrick."
+
+[202] _Carlow_.--The site of the battle is still shown there, and even
+the stone on which the soldier decapitated Cormac. Cormac's death is
+thus described in a MS. in the Burgundian Library: "The hind feet of his
+horse slipped on the slippery road in the track of that blood; the horse
+fell backwards, and broke his [Cormac's] back and his neck in twain; and
+he said, when falling, _In manus tuas commendo spiritum meum_, and he
+gives up his spirit; and the impious sons of malediction come and thrust
+spears into his body, and sever his head from his body." Keating gives a
+curious account of this battle, from an ancient tract not known at
+present.
+
+[203] _Amlaff_.--Dr. Todd identifies Amlaff with Olaf Huita (the white),
+of Scandinavian history, who was usually styled King of Dublin, and was
+the leader of the Northmen in Ireland for many years. See "Introduction"
+to the _Wars of the Gaedhil_, p. 69.
+
+[204] _Cenn-Fuait_.--Fuat Head. The site has not been accurately
+identified.
+
+[205] _Magh-Neill, i.e.,_ the Plain of Nial, a bardic name for
+Ireland.--Four Masters, vol. ii. p. 595.
+
+[206] _Ath-Truisten_.--From Dublin to a ford on the river Green, near
+Mullaghmast, co. Kildare.
+
+[207] _Muircheartach_.--This prince obtained the soubriquet of
+Muircheartach of the Leathern Cloaks. The origin of this appellation
+has not been precisely ascertained.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+The Battle of Dundalk--The Danes supposed to be Christianized--Brian
+Boroimhe and his Brother Mahoun--The Dalcassians fight the Danes--Mahoun
+is assassinated--Brian revenges his Brother's Murder--Malachy's Exploits
+against the Danes--Malachy and Brian form a Treaty and fight the
+Danes--Malachy wins "the Collar of Gold"--Brian's "Happy Family" at
+Kincora--He usurps the Supreme Power, and becomes Monarch of
+Ireland--Remote Causes of the Battle of Clontarf--Gormflaith is "grim"
+with Brian--Blockade of Dublin--The Danes prepare for a Fierce
+Conflict--Brian prepares also--The Battle of Clontarf--Disposition of
+the Forces--Brian's Death--Defeat of the Danes.
+
+[A.D. 926-1022.]
+
+
+Many of the sea-coast towns were now in possession of the Danes. They
+had founded Limerick, and, indeed, Wexford and Waterford almost owe them
+the debt of parentage. Obviously, the ports were their grand
+securities--a ready refuge if driven by native valour to embark in their
+fleets; convenient head-quarters when marauding expeditions to England
+or Scotland were in preparation. But the Danes never obtained the same
+power in Ireland as in the sister country. The domestic dissensions of
+the men of Erinn, ruinous as they were to the nation, gave it at least
+the advantage of having a brave and resolute body of men always in arms,
+and ready to face the foe at a moment's notice, when no selfish policy
+interfered. In 937 Athelstane gained his famous victory over the Danes
+at Brunanbriegh in Northumberland, and came triumphantly to reclaim the
+dagger[208] which he had left at the shrine of St. John of Beverley.
+After his death, in 941, Amlaff returned to Northumberland, and once
+more restored the Danish sway. From this time, until the accession of
+the Danish King Canute, England was more or less under the dominion of
+these ruthless tyrants.[209]
+
+"The Danes of Ireland, at this period, were ruled by Sitric, son of
+Turgesius, whose name was sufficient to inspire the Irish with terror.
+Through policy he professed willingness to enter into a treaty of peace
+with Callaghan, King of Munster; and, as proof of his sincerity, offered
+him his sister, the Princess Royal of Denmark, in marriage. The Irish
+king had fallen in love with this amiable and beautiful princess, and he
+readily consented to the fair and liberal measures proposed. He sent
+word to Sitric he would visit him; and, attended by a royal retinue, to
+be followed in a little time by his guards, as escort for his future
+queen, proceeded to meet his royal bride.
+
+"Sitric's project of inveigling the King of Munster into his district,
+in order to make him prisoner, under the expectation of being married to
+the Princess of Denmark, having been disclosed to his wife, who was of
+Irish birth, she determined to warn the intended victim of the meditated
+treachery, and accordingly she disguised herself, and placed herself in
+a pass which Callaghan should traverse, and met him. Here she informed
+him who she was, the design of Sitric against him, and warned him to
+return as fast as possible. This was not practicable. Sitric had barred
+the way with armed men; and Callaghan and his escort, little prepared
+for an encounter, found themselves hemmed in by an overwhelming Danish
+force. To submit without a struggle was never the way with the
+Momonians. They formed a rampart round the person of their king, and cut
+through the Danish ranks. Fresh foes met them on every side; and, after
+a bloody struggle, the men of Munster were conquered. Callaghan, the
+king, and Prince Duncan, son of Kennedy, were brought captives to
+Dublin. Then the royal prisoners were removed to Armagh, and their safe
+keeping entrusted to nine Danish earls, who had a strong military force
+at their orders to guard them.
+
+"The news of this insidious act rapidly fanned the ardour of the Munster
+troops to be revenged for the imprisonment of their beloved king.
+Kennedy, the Prince of Munster, father of Duncan, was appointed regent,
+with ample powers to govern the country in the king's absence. The first
+step was to collect an army to cope with the Danes. To assemble a
+sufficient body of troops on land was easy; but the great strength of
+the northern rovers lay in their swift-sailing ships. 'It must strike
+the humblest comprehension with astonishment,' says Marmion, 'that the
+Irish, although possessed of an island abounding with forests of the
+finest oak, and other suitable materials for ship-building--enjoying
+also the most splendid rivers, loughs, and harbours, so admirably
+adapted to the accommodation of extensive fleets, should,
+notwithstanding, for so many centuries, allow the piratical ravages of
+the Danes, and subsequently the more dangerous subversion of their
+independence by the Anglo-Normans, without an effort to build a navy
+that could cope with those invaders on that element from which they
+could alone expect invasion from a foreign foe.' This neglect has also
+been noticed by the distinguished Irish writer--Wilde--who, in his
+admirably executed _Catalogue of the Antiquities in the Royal Irish
+Academy_, observes:--'Little attention has been paid to the subject of
+the early naval architecture of this country. So far as we yet know, two
+kinds of boats appear to have been in use in very early times in the
+British Isles--the canoe and the corragh; the one formed of a single
+piece of wood, the other composed of wickerwork, covered with hides.'
+Larger vessels there must have been; though, from the length of time
+which has since elapsed, we have no traces of them now. Kennedy not only
+collected a formidable army by land, but 'he fitted out a fleet of
+ships, and manned it with able seamen, that he might make sure of his
+revenge, and attack the enemy by sea and land.' The command of the fleet
+was conferred on an admiral perfectly skilled in maritime affairs,
+Failbhe Fion, King of Desmond.
+
+"When the army of Munster arrived near Armagh, they learnt the prisoners
+had been removed thence by Sitric, and placed on board ship. Enraged at
+this disappointment, they gave no quarter to the Danes, and advanced
+rapidly to Dundalk, where the fleet lay, with the king and young prince
+on board. Sitric, unable to withstand the opposing army on shore,
+ordered his troops to embark, and resolved to avoid the encounter
+through means of his ships. While the baffled Irish army were chafing at
+this unexpected delay to their hoped for vengeance, they espied, from
+the shore of Dundalk, where they encamped, a sail of ships, in regular
+order, steering with a favourable gale towards the Danish fleet moored
+in Dundalk bay. Joy instantly filled their hearts; for they recognized
+the fleet of Munster, with the admiral's vessel in the van, and the rest
+ranged in line of battle. The Danes were taken by surprise; they beheld
+an enemy approach from a side where they rather expected the raven flag
+of their country floating on the ships. The Munster admiral gave them no
+time to form. He steered straight to Sitric's vessel, and, with his
+hardy crew, sprang on board. Here a sight met his gaze which filled his
+heart with rage; he saw his beloved monarch, Callaghan, and the young
+prince, tied with cords to the main-mast. Having, with his men, fought
+through the Danish troops to the side of the king and prince, he cut the
+cords and set them free. He then put a sword into the hands of the
+rescued king, and they fought side by side: Meanwhile Sitric, and his
+brothers, Tor and Magnus, did all they could to retrieve the fortunes of
+the day. At the head of a chosen band they attacked the Irish admiral,
+and he fell, covered with wounds. His head, exposed by Sitric on a pole,
+fired the Danes with hope--the Irish with tenfold rage. Fingal, next in
+rank to Failbhe Fion, took the command, and determined to avenge his
+admiral. Meeting the Danish ruler in the combat, he seized Sitric round
+the neck, and flung himself with his foe into the sea, where both
+perished. Seagdor and Connall, two captains of Irish ships, imitated
+this example--threw themselves upon Tor and Magnus, Sitric's brothers,
+and jumped with them overboard, when all were drowned. These desperate
+deeds paralysed the energy of the Danes, and the Irish gained a complete
+victory in Dundalk bay.
+
+"The Irish fleet having thus expelled the pirates from their coast, came
+into harbour, where they were received with acclamations of joy by all
+who witnessed their bravery. Such is a summary of Keating's poetic
+account of this day's achievements; and there are extant fuller accounts
+in various pieces of native poetry, especially one entitled 'The Pursuit
+after Callaghan of Cashel, by the Chief of Munster, after he had been
+entrapped by the Danes.'"
+
+The year 948 has generally been assigned as that of the conversion of
+the Danes to Christianity; but, whatever the precise period may have
+been, the conversion was rather of a doubtful character as we hear of
+their burning churches, plundering shrines, and slaughtering
+ecclesiastics with apparently as little remorse as ever. In the very
+year in which the Danes of Dublin are said to have been converted, they
+burned the belfry of Slane while filled with religious who had sought
+refuge there. Meanwhile the Irish monarchies were daily weakened by
+divisions and domestic wars. Connaught was divided between two or three
+independent princes, and Munster into two kingdoms.
+
+The ancient division of the country into five provinces no longer held
+good; and the Ard-Righ, or chief monarch, was such only in name. Even
+the great northern Hy-Nials, long the bravest and most united of the
+Irish clans, were now divided into two portions, the Cinel-Connaill and
+Cinel-Owen; the former of whom had been for some time excluded from the
+alternate accession of sovereignty, which was still maintained between
+the two great families of the race of Nial. But, though this arrangement
+was persevered in with tolerable regularity, it tended little to the
+promotion of peace, as the northern princes were ever ready to take
+advantage of the weakness of the Meath men, who were their inferiors
+both in numbers and in valour.
+
+The sovereignty of Munster had also been settled on the alternate
+principle, between the great tribe of Dalcassians, or north Munster
+race, and the Eoghanists, or southeners. This plan of succession, as may
+be supposed, failed to work peaceably; and, in 942, Kennedy, the father
+of the famous Brian Boroimhe, contested the sovereignty with the
+Eoghanist prince, Callaghan Cashel, but yielded in a chivalrous spirit,
+not very common under such circumstances, and joined his former opponent
+in his contests with the Danes. The author of the _Wars of the Gaedhil
+with the Gall_ gives a glowing account of the genealogy of Brian and his
+eldest brother, Mathgamhain. They are described as "two fierce,
+magnificent heroes, the two stout, able, valiant pillars," who then
+governed the Dalcassian tribes; Mathgamhain (Mahoun) being the actual
+chieftain, Brian the heir apparent. A guerilla war was carried on for
+some time in the woods of Thomond, in which no quarter was given on
+either side, and wherein it was "woe to either party to meet the other."
+Mahoun at last proposed a truce, but Brian refused to consent to this
+arrangement. He continued the war until he found his army reduced to
+fifteen men. Mahoun then sent for him. An interview took place, which is
+described in the form of a poetic dialogue, between the two brothers.
+Brian reproached Mahoun with cowardice; Mahoun reproached Brian with
+imprudence. Brian hints broadly that Mahoun had interested motives in
+making this truce, and declares that neither Kennedy, their father, nor
+Lorcan, their grandfather, would have been so quiescent towards the
+foreigners for the sake of wealth, nor would they have given them even
+as much time as would have sufficed to play a game of chess[210] on the
+green of Magh Adhair. Mahoun kept his temper, and contented himself with
+reproaching Brian for his recklessness, in sacrificing the lives of so
+many of his faithful followers to no purpose. Brian replied that he
+would never abandon his inheritance, without a contest, to "such
+foreigners as Black Grim Gentiles."
+
+The result was a conference of the tribe, who voted for war, and marched
+into the country of the Eoghanists (the present co. Kerry), who at once
+joined the standard of the Dalcassians. The Danes suffered severely in
+Munster. This aroused the Limerick Danes; and their chieftain, Ivar,
+attacked the territory of Dal-Cais, an exploit in which he was joined,
+to their eternal shame, by several native princes and tribes, amongst
+whom were Maolmuadh (Molloy), son of Braun, King of Desmond, and
+Donabhan (Donovan), son of Cathal, King of Ui Cairbhri. The result was a
+fierce battle at Sulcoit, near Tipperary, wherein the Danes were
+gloriously defeated. The action was commenced by the Northmen. It
+continued from sunrise till mid-day, and terminated in the rout of the
+foreigners, who fled "to the ditches, and to the valleys, and to the
+solitudes of the great sweet flower plain," where they were followed by
+the conquerors, and massacred without mercy.
+
+The Dalcassians now obtained possession of Limerick, with immense spoils
+of jewels, gold and silver, foreign saddles, "soft, youthful, bright
+girls, blooming silk-clad women, and active well-formed boys." The
+active boys were soon disposed of, for we find that they collected the
+prisoners on the hillocks of Saingel, where "every one that was fit for
+war was put to death, and every one that was fit for a slave was
+enslaved." This event is dated A.D. 968.
+
+Mahoun was now firmly established on the throne, but his success
+procured him many enemies. A conspiracy was formed against him under the
+auspices of Ivar of Limerick and his son, Dubhcenn. The Eoghanist clans
+basely withdrew their allegiance from their lawful sovereign, allied
+themselves with the Danes, and became principals in the plot of
+assassination. Their motive was as simple as their conduct was vile. The
+two Eoghanist families were represented by Donovan and Molloy. They were
+descendants of Oilioll Oluim, from whom Mahoun was also descended, but
+his family were Dalcassians. Hitherto the Eoghanists had succeeded in
+depriving the tribes of Dal-Cais of their fair share of alternate
+succession to the throne of Munster; they became alarmed at and jealous
+of the advancement of the younger tribe, and determined to do by
+treachery what they could not do by force. With the usual headlong
+eagerness of traitors, they seem to have forgotten Brian, and quite
+overlooked the retribution they might expect at his hands for their
+crime. There are two different accounts of the murder, which do not
+coincide in detail. The main facts, however, are reliable: Mahoun was
+entrapped in some way to the house of Donovan, and there he was basely
+murdered, in violation of the rights of hospitality, and in defiance of
+the safe-conduct of the bishop, which he secured before his visit.
+
+The traitors gained nothing by their treachery except the contempt of
+posterity. Brian was not slow in avenging his brother. "He was not a
+stone in place of an egg, nor a wisp of hay in place of a club; but he
+was a hero in place of a hero, and valour after valour."[211]
+
+Public opinion was not mistaken in its estimate of his character. Two
+years after the death of Mahoun, Brian invaded Donovan's territory,
+drove off his cattle, took the fortress of Cathair Cuan, and slew
+Donovan and his Danish ally, Harolt. He next proceeded to settle
+accounts with Molloy. Cogaran is sent to the whole tribe of Ui Eachach,
+to know "the reason why" they killed Mahoun, and to declare that no
+_cumhal_ or fine would be received, either in the shape of hostages,
+gold, or cattle, but that Molloy must himself be given up. Messages were
+also sent to Molloy, both general and particular--the general message
+challenged him to battle at Belach-Lechta; the particular message, which
+in truth he hardly deserved, was a challenge to meet Murrough, Brian's
+son, in single combat. The result was the battle of Belach-Lechta,[212]
+where Molloy was slain, with twelve hundred of his troops, both native
+and foreign. Brian remained master of the field and of the kingdom, A.D.
+978.
+
+Brian was now undisputed King of Munster. In 984 he was acknowledged
+Monarch of Leth Mogha, the southern half of Ireland. Meanwhile Malachy,
+who governed Leth Cuinn, or the northern half of Ireland, had not been
+idle. He fought a battle with the Danes in 979, near Tara, in which he
+defeated their forces, and slew Raguall, son of Amlaibh, King of Dublin.
+Amlaibh felt the defeat so severely, that he retired to Iona, where he
+died of a broken heart. Donough O'Neill, son of Muircheartach, died this
+year, and Malachy obtained the regal dignity. Emboldened by his success
+at Tara, he resolved to attack the foreigners in Dublin; he therefore
+laid siege to that city, and compelled it to surrender after three days,
+liberated two thousand prisoners, including the King of Leinster, and
+took abundant spoils. At the same time he issued a proclamation, freeing
+every Irishman then in bondage to the Danes, and stipulating that the
+race of Nial should henceforth be free from tribute to the foreigners.
+
+It is probable that Brian had already formed designs for obtaining the
+royal power. The country resounded with the fame of his exploits, and
+Malachy became aware at last that he should either have him for an ally
+or an enemy. He prudently chose the former alternative, and in the
+nineteenth year of his reign (997 according to the Four Masters) he made
+arrangements with Brian for a great campaign against the common enemy.
+Malachy surrendered all hostages to Brian, and Brian agreed to recognize
+Malachy as sole Monarch of northern Erinn, "without war or trespass."
+This treaty was absolutely necessary, in order to offer effective
+resistance to the Danes. The conduct of the two kings towards each other
+had not been of a conciliatory nature previously. In 981 Malachy had
+invaded the territory of the Dalcassians, and uprooted the great
+oak-tree of Magh Adair, under which its kings were crowned--an insult
+which could not fail to excite bitter feelings both in prince and
+people. In 989 the monarch occupied himself fighting the Danes in
+Dublin, to whom he laid siege for twenty nights, reducing the garrison
+to such straits that they were obliged to drink the salt water when the
+tide rose in the river. Brian then made reprisals on Malachy, by sending
+boats up the Shannon burning the royal rath of Dun Sciath. Malachy, in
+his turn, recrossed the Shannon, burned Nenagh, plundered Ormonde, and
+defeated Brian himself in battle. He then marched again to Dublin, and
+once more attacked "the proud invader." It was on this occasion that he
+obtained the "collar of gold," which Moore has immortalized in his
+world-famous "Melodies."
+
+When the kings had united their forces, they obtained another important
+victory at Glen-Mama.[213] Harolt, son of Olaf Cuaran, the then Danish
+king, was slain, and four thousand of his followers perished with him.
+The victorious army marched at once to Dublin. Here they obtained spoils
+of great value, and made many slaves and captives. According to some
+accounts, Brian remained in Dublin until the feast of St. Brigid
+(February 1st); other annalists say he only remained from Great
+Christmas to Little Christmas. Meanwhile there can be but little doubt
+that Brian had in view the acquisition of the right to be called sole
+monarch of Ireland. It is a blot on an otherwise noble character--an
+ugly spot in a picture of more than ordinary interest. Sitric, another
+son of Olaf's, fled for protection to Aedh and Eochaidh, two northern
+chieftains; but they gave him up, from motives of fear or policy to
+Brian's soldiers, and after due submission he was restored to his former
+position. Brian then gave his daughter in marriage to Sitric, and
+completed the family alliance by espousing Sitric's mother, Gormflaith,
+a lady of rather remarkable character, who had been divorced from her
+second husband, Malachy. Brian now proceeded to depose Malachy. The
+account of this important transaction is given in so varied a manner by
+different writers, that it seems almost impossible to ascertain the
+truth. The southern annalists are loud in their assertions of the
+incapacity of the reigning monarch, and would have it believed that
+Brian only yielded to the urgent entreaties of his countrymen in
+accepting the proffered crown. But the warlike exploits of Malachy have
+been too faithfully recorded to leave any doubt as to his prowess in the
+field; and we may probably class the regret of his opponent in accepting
+his position, with similar protestations made under circumstances in
+which such regret was as little likely to be real.
+
+The poet Moore, with evident partiality for the subject of his song,
+declares that the magnanimous character of Malachy was the real ground
+of peace under such provocation, and that he submitted to the
+encroachments of his rival rather from motives of disinterested desire
+for his country's welfare, than from any reluctance or inability to
+fight his own battle.
+
+But Brian had other chieftains to deal with, of less amiable or more
+warlike propensities: the proud Hy-Nials of the north were long in
+yielding to his claims; but even these he at length subdued, compelling
+the Cinel-Eoghain to give him hostages, and carrying off the Lord of
+Cinel-Connaill bodily to his fortress at Kincora. Here he had assembled
+a sort of "happy family," consisting of refractory princes and knights,
+who, refusing hostages to keep the peace with each other, were obliged
+to submit to the royal will and pleasure, and at least to appear
+outwardly in harmony.
+
+These precautionary measures, however summary, and the energetic
+determination of Brian to have peace kept either by sword or law, have
+given rise to the romantic ballad of the lady perambulating Erinn with a
+gold ring and white wand, and passing unmolested through its once
+belligerent kingdoms.
+
+Brian now turned his attention to the state of religion and literature,
+restoring the churches and monasteries which had been plundered and
+burnt by the Danes. He is said also to have founded the churches of
+Killaloe and Iniscealtra, and to have built the round tower of Tomgrany,
+in the present county Clare. A gift of twenty ounces of gold to the
+church of Armagh,--a large donation for that period,--is also recorded
+amongst his good deeds.[214]
+
+There is some question as to the precise year in which Brian obtained or
+usurped the authority and position of Ard-Righ: A.D. 1002, however, is
+the date most usually accepted. He was probably about sixty-one years of
+age, and Malachy was then about fifty-three.[215]
+
+It will be remembered that Brian had married the Lady Gormflaith. Her
+brother, Maelmordha, was King of Leinster, and he had obtained his
+throne through the assistance of the Danes. Brian was Gormflaith's third
+husband. In the words of the Annals, she had made three leaps--"jumps
+which a woman should never jump"--a hint that her matrimonial
+arrangements had not the sanction of canon law. She was remarkable for
+her beauty, but her temper was proud and vindictive. This was probably
+the reason why she was repudiated both by Malachy and Brian. There can
+be no doubt that she and her brother, Maelmordha, were the remote causes
+of the famous battle of Clontarf. The story is told thus: Maelmordha
+came to Brian with an offering of three large pine-trees to make masts
+for shipping. These were probably a tribute which he was bound to pay to
+his liege lord. The trees had been cut in the great forest of Leinster,
+called Fidh-Gaibhli.[216] Some other tribes were bringing their
+tree-tributes at the same time; and as they all journeyed over the
+mountains together, there was a dispute for precedency. Maelmordha
+decided the question by assisting to carry the tree of the Ui-Faelain.
+He had on a tunic of silk which Brian had given[217] him, with a border
+of gold round it and silver buttons. One of the buttons came off as he
+lifted the tree. On his arrival at Kincora, he asked his sister,
+Gormflaith, to replace it for him; but she at once flung the garment
+into the fire, and then bitterly reproached her brother with having
+accepted this token of vassalage. The Sagas say she was "grim" against
+Brian, which was undoubtedly true. This excited Maelmordha's temper. An
+opportunity soon offered for a quarrel. Brian's eldest son,
+Murrough,[218] was playing a game of chess with his cousin, Conoing;
+Maelmordha was looking on, and suggested a move by which Murrough lost
+the game. The young prince exclaimed: "That was like the advice you gave
+the Danes, which lost them Glen-Mama." "I will give them advice now, and
+they shall not be defeated," replied the other. "Then you had better
+remind them to prepare a yew-tree[219] for your reception," answered
+Murrough.
+
+Early the next morning Maelmordha left the place, "without permission
+and without taking leave." Brian sent a messenger after him to pacify
+him, but the angry chief, for all reply, "broke all the bones in his
+head." He now proceeded to organize a revolt against Brian, and
+succeeded. Several of the Irish princes flocked to his standard. An
+encounter took place in Meath, where they slew Malachy's grandson,
+Domhnall, who should have been heir if the usual rule of succession had
+been observed. Malachy marched to the rescue, and defeated the
+assailants with great slaughter, A.D. 1013. Fierce reprisals now took
+place on each side. Sanctuary was disregarded, and Malachy called on
+Brian to assist him. Brian at once complied. After successfully ravaging
+Ossory he marched to Dublin, where he was joined by Murrough, who had
+devastated Wicklow, burning, destroying, and carrying off captives,
+until he reached _Cill Maighnenn_ (Kilmainham). They now blockaded
+Dublin, where they remained from St. Ciaran's in harvest (Sept. 9th)
+until Christmas Day. Brian was then obliged to raise the siege and
+return home for want of provisions.
+
+The storm was now gathering in earnest, and the most active preparations
+were made on both sides for a mighty and decisive conflict. The Danes
+had already obtained possession of England, a country which had always
+been united in its resistance to their power, a country numerically
+superior to Ireland: why should they not hope to conquer, with at least
+equal facility, a people who had so many opposing interests, and who
+rarely sacrificed these interests to the common good? Still they must
+have had some fear of the result, if we may judge by the magnitude of
+their preparations. They despatched ambassadors in all directions to
+obtain reinforcements. Brodir, the earl, and Amlaibh, son of the King of
+Lochlann, "the two Earls of Cair, and of all the north of Saxon
+land,"[220] came at the head of 2,000 men; "and there was not one
+villain of that 2,000 who had not polished, strong, triple-plated armour
+of refined iron, or of cooling, uncorroding brass, encasing their sides
+and bodies from head to foot." Moreover, the said villains "had no
+reverence, veneration, or respect, or mercy for God or man, for church
+or for sanctuary; they were cruel, ferocious, plundering, hard-hearted,
+wonderful Dannarbrians, selling and hiring themselves for gold and
+silver, and other treasure as well." Gormflaith was evidently "head
+centre" on the occasion; for we find wonderful accounts of her zeal and
+efforts in collecting forces. "Other treasure" may possibly be referred
+to that lady's heart and hand, of which she appears to have been very
+liberal on this occasion. She despatched her son, Sitric, to Siguard,
+Earl of the Orkneys, who promised his assistance, but he required the
+hand of Gormflaith as payment for his services, and that he should be
+made King of Ireland. Sitric gave the required promise, and found, on
+his return to Dublin, that it met with his mother's entire approbation.
+She then despatched him to the Isle of Man, where there were two
+Vikings, who had thirty ships, and she desired him to obtain their
+co-operation "at any price." They were the brothers Ospak and Brodir.
+The latter demanded the same conditions as the Earl Siguard, which were
+promised quite as readily by Sitric, only he charged the Viking to keep
+the agreement secret, and above all not to mention it to Siguard.
+
+Brodir,[221] according to the Saga, was an apostate Christian, who had
+"thrown off his faith, and become God's dastard." He was both tall and
+strong, and had such long black hair that he tucked it under his belt;
+he had also the reputation of being a magician. The Viking Ospak refused
+to fight against "the good King Brian," and, touched by some prodigies,
+became a convert to Christianity, joined the Irish monarch at Kincora,
+on the Shannon, and received holy baptism.[222] The author of the _Wars
+of the Gaedhil_ gives a formidable list of the other auxiliaries who
+were invited by the Dublin Danes. The Annals of Loch Ce also give an
+account of the fleet he assembled, and its "chosen braves." Maelmordha
+had mustered a large army also; indeed, he was too near the restless and
+revengeful Larmflaith to have taken matters quietly, even had he been so
+inclined.
+
+Meanwhile Brian had been scarcely less successful, and probably not less
+active. He now marched towards Dublin, "with all that obeyed him of the
+men of Ireland." These were the provincial troops of Munster and
+Connaught and the men of Meath. His march is thus described in the _Wars
+of the Gaedhil_:--"Brian looked out behind him, and beheld the battle
+phalanx--compact, huge, disciplined, moving in silence, mutely, bravely,
+haughtily, unitedly, with one mind, traversing the plain towards them;
+threescore and ten banners over them--of red, and of yellow, and of
+green, and of all kinds of colours; together with the everlasting,
+variegated, lucky, fortunate banner, that had gained the victory in
+every battle, and in every conflict, and in every combat."[223] The
+portion of the narrative containing this account is believed to be an
+interpolation, but the description may not be the less accurate. Brian
+plundered and destroyed as usual on his way to Dublin. When he had
+encamped near that city, the Danes came out to give him battle on the
+plain of Magh-n-Ealta.[224] The king then held a council of war, and the
+result, apparently, was a determination to give battle in the morning.
+It is said that the Northmen pretended flight in order to delay the
+engagement. The Njal Saga says the Viking Brodir had found out by his
+sorcery, "that if the fight were on Good Friday, King Brian would fall,
+but win the day; but if they fought before, they would all fall who were
+against him." Some authorities also mention a traitor in Brian's camp,
+who had informed the Danes that his forces had been weakened by the
+absence of his son Donough, whom he had sent to devastate Leinster.
+Malachy has the credit of this piece of treachery, with other
+imputations scarcely less disreputable.
+
+The site of the battle has been accurately defined. It took place on the
+plain of Clontarf,[225] and is called the Battle of the Fishing Weir of
+Clontarf. The weir was at the mouth of the river Tolka, where the bridge
+of Ballybough now stands. The Danish line was extended along the coast,
+and protected at sea by their fleets. It was disposed in three
+divisions, and comprised about 21,000 men, the Leinster forces being
+included in the number. The first division or left wing was the nearest
+to Dublin. It was composed of the Danes of Dublin, and headed by Sitric,
+who was supported by the thousand mail-clad Norwegians, commanded by
+Carlus and Anrud. In the centre were the Lagennians, under the command
+of Maelmordha. The right wing comprised the foreign auxiliaries, under
+the command of Brodir and Siguard.[226]
+
+Brian's army was also disposed in three divisions. The first was
+composed of his brave Dalcassians, and commanded by his son Murrough,
+assisted by his four brothers, Teigue, Donough, Connor, and Flann, and
+his youthful heir, Turlough, who perished on the field. The second
+division or centre was composed of troops from Munster, and was
+commanded by Mothla, grandson of the King of the Deisi, of Waterford,
+assisted by many native princes. The third battalion was commanded by
+Maelruanaidh (Mulrooney of the Paternosters) and Teigue O'Kelly, with
+all the nobles of Connaught. Brian's army numbered about twenty thousand
+men. The accounts which relate the position of Malachy, and his conduct
+on this occasion, are hopelessly conflicting. It appears quite
+impossible to decide whether he was a victim to prejudice, or whether
+Brian was a victim to his not unnatural hostility.
+
+On the eve of the battle, one of the Danish chiefs, Plait, son of King
+Lochlainn, sent a challenge to Domhnall, son of Emhin, High Steward of
+Mar. The battle commenced at daybreak. Plait came forth and exclaimed
+three times, "_Faras Domhnall_?" (Where is Domhnall?) Domhnall replied:
+"Here, thou reptile." A terrible hand-to-hand combat ensued. They fell
+dead at the same moment, the sword of each through the heart of the
+other, and the hair of each in the clenched hand of the other. And the
+combat of those two was the first combat of the battle.
+
+Before the engagement Brian harangued his troops, with the crucifix in
+one hand and a sword in the other. He reminded them of all they had
+suffered from their enemies, of their tyranny, their sacrilege, their
+innumerable perfidies; and then, holding the crucifix aloft, he
+exclaimed: "The great God has at length looked down upon our sufferings,
+and endued you with the power and the courage this day to destroy for
+ever the tyranny of the Danes, and thus to punish them for their
+innumerable crimes and sacrileges by the avenging power of the sword.
+Was it not on this day that Christ Himself suffered death for you?"
+
+He was then compelled to retire to the rear, and await the result of the
+conflict; but Murrough performed prodigies of valour. Even the Danish
+historians admit that he fought his way to their standard, and cut down
+two successive bearers of it.
+
+The mailed armour of the Danes seems to have been a source of no little
+dread to their opponents. But the Irish battle-axe might well have set
+even more secure protection at defiance. It was wielded with such skill
+and force, that frequently a limb was lopped off with a single blow,
+despite the mail in which it was encased; while the short lances, darts,
+and slinging-stones proved a speedy means of decapitating or stunning a
+fallen enemy.
+
+The Dalcassians surpassed themselves in feats of arms. They hastened
+from time to time to refresh their thirst and cool their hands in a
+neighbouring brook; but the Danes soon filled it up, and deprived them
+of this resource. It was a conflict of heroes--a hand-to-hand fight.
+Bravery was not wanting on either side, and for a time the result seemed
+doubtful. Towards the afternoon, as many of the Danish leaders were cut
+down, their followers began to give way, and the Irish forces prepared
+for a final effort. At this moment the Norwegian prince, Anrud,
+encountered Murrough, whose arms were paralyzed from fatigue; he had
+still physical strength enough to seize his enemy, fling him on the
+ground, and plunge his sword into the body of his prostrate foe. But
+even as he inflicted the death-wound, he received a mortal blow from the
+dagger of the Dane, and the two chiefs fell together.
+
+The _melee_ was too general for an individual incident, however
+important in itself, to have much effect. The Northmen and their allies
+were flying hard and fast, the one towards their ships, the others
+towards the city. But as they fled across the Tolka, they forgot that it
+was now swollen with the incoming tide, and thousands perished by water
+who had escaped the sword. The body of Brian's grandson, the boy
+Turlough, was found in the river after the battle, with his hands
+entangled in the hair of two Danish warriors, whom he had held down
+until they were drowned. Sitric and his wife had watched the combat from
+the battlements of Dublin. It will be remembered that this lady was the
+daughter of King Brian, and her interests were naturally with the Irish
+troops. Some rough words passed between her and her lord, which ended in
+his giving her so rude a blow, that he knocked out one of her teeth. But
+we have yet to record the crowning tragedy of the day. Brian had retired
+to his tent to pray, at the commencement of the conflict. When the
+forces met, he began his devotions, and said to his attendant: "Watch
+thou the battle and the combats, whilst I say the psalms." After he had
+recited fifty psalms, fifty collects, and fifty paternosters, he desired
+the man to look out and inform him how the battle went, and the position
+of Murrough's standard. He replied the strife was close and vigorous,
+and the noise was as if seven battalions were cutting down Tomar's wood;
+but the standard was safe. Brian then said fifty more psalms, and made
+the same inquiry. The attendant replied that all was in confusion, but
+that Murrough's standard still stood erect, and moved westwards towards
+Dublin. "As long as that standard remains erect," replied Brian, "it
+shall go well with the men of Erinn." The aged king betook himself to
+his prayers once more, saying again fifty psalms[227] and collects;
+then, for the last time, he asked intelligence of the field. Latean
+replied: "They appear as if Tomar's wood was on fire, and its brushwood
+all burned down;" meaning that the private soldiers of both armies were
+nearly all slain, and only a few of the chiefs had escaped; adding the
+most grievous intelligence of all, that Murrough's standard had fallen.
+"Alas!" replied Brian, "Erinn has fallen with it: why should I survive
+such losses, even should I attain the sovereignty of the world?" His
+attendant then urged him to fly, but Brian replied that flight was
+useless, for he had been warned of his fate by Aibinn (the banshee of
+his family), and that he knew his death was at hand. He then gave
+directions about his will and his funeral, leaving 240 cows to the
+"successor of Patrick." Even at this moment the danger was impending. A
+party of Danes approached, headed by Brodir. The king sprang up from the
+cushion where he had been kneeling, and unsheathed his sword. At first
+Brodir did not know him, and thought he was a priest from finding him at
+prayer; but one of his followers informed him that it was the Monarch of
+Ireland. In a moment the fierce Dane had opened his head with his
+battle-axe. It is said that Brian had time to inflict a wound on the
+Viking, but the details of this event are so varied that it is
+impossible to decide which account is most reliable. The Saga states
+that Brodir knew Brian,[228] and, proud of his exploit, held up the
+monarch's reeking head, exclaiming, "Let it be told from man to man that
+Brodir felled Brian." All accounts agree in stating that the Viking was
+slain immediately, if not cruelly, by Brian's guards, who thus revenged
+their own neglect of their master. Had Brian survived this conflict, and
+had he been but a few years younger, how different might have been the
+political and social state of Ireland even at the present day! The
+Danish power was overthrown, and never again obtained an ascendency in
+the country. It needed but one strong will, one wise head, one brave
+arm, to consolidate the nation, and to establish a regular monarchy; for
+there was mettle enough in the Celt, if only united, to resist foreign
+invasion for all time to come.
+
+[Illustration: King Brian Boroimhe killed by the Viking.]
+
+On Easter Monday the survivors were employed in burying the dead and
+attending to the wounded. The remains of more than thirty chieftains
+were borne off to their respective territorial churches for interment.
+But even on that very night dissension arose in the camp. The chieftains
+of Desmond, seeing the broken condition of the Dalcassian force, renewed
+their claim to the alternate succession. When they had reached Rath
+Maisten (Mullaghmast, near Athy) they claimed the sovereignty of
+Munster, by demanding hostages. A battle ensued, in which even the
+wounded Dalcassians joined. Their leader desired them to be placed in
+the fort of Maisten, but they insisted on being fastened to stakes,
+firmly planted in the ground to support them, and stuffing their wounds
+with moss, they awaited the charge of the enemy. The men of Ossory,
+intimidated by their bravery, feared to give battle. But many of the
+wounded men perished from exhaustion--a hundred and fifty swooned away,
+and never recovered consciousness again. The majority were buried where
+they stood; a few of the more noble were carried to their ancestral
+resting-places. "And thus far the wars of the Gall with the Gaedhil, and
+the battle of Clontarf."
+
+The Annals state that both Brian and his son, Murrough, lived to receive
+the rites of the Church, and that their remains were conveyed by the
+monks to Swords, and from thence, through Duleek and Louth, to Armagh,
+by Archbishop Maelmuire, the "successor of St. Patrick." Their obsequies
+were celebrated with great splendour, for twelve days and nights, by the
+clergy; after which the body of Brian was deposited in a stone coffin,
+on the north side of the high altar, in the cathedral. Murrough was
+buried on the south side. Turlough was interred in the old churchyard of
+Kilmainham, where the shaft of an ancient cross still marks the site.
+
+Malachy once more assumed the reins of government by common consent, and
+proved himself fully equal to the task. A month before his death he
+gained an important victory over the Danes at Athboy, A.D. 1022. An
+interregnum of twenty years followed his death, during which the country
+was governed by two wise men, Cuan O'Lochlann, a poet, and Corcran
+Cleireach, an anchoret. The circumstances attending Malachy's death are
+thus related by the Four Masters:--"The age of Christ 1022.
+Maelseachlainn Mor, pillar of the dignity and nobility of the west of
+the world, died in Croinis Locha-Aininn, in the seventy-third year of
+his age, on the 4th of the nones of September, on Sunday precisely,
+after intense penance for his sins and transgressions, after receiving
+the body of Christ and His blood, after being anointed by the hands of
+Amhalgaidh, successor of Patrick, for he and the successor of
+Colum-Cille, and the successors of Ciaran, and most of the seniors of
+Ireland were present [at his death], and they sung masses, hymns,
+psalms, and canticles for the welfare of his soul."
+
+[Illustration: COVER OF ST. PATRICK'S BELL.]
+
+[Illustration: DESMOND CASTLE AND RATH, LIMERICK.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[208] _Dagger_.--The king visited the shrine on his way to battle, and
+hanging up his dagger, the then symbol of knightly valour, vowed to
+release it with a kingly ransom if God gave him the victory. He obtained
+his desire, and nobly fulfilled his vow.
+
+[209] _Tyrants_.--J. Roderick O'Flanagan, Esq., M.R.I.A., has permitted
+me to extract the account of the battle of Dundalk from his valuable and
+interesting _History of Dundalk and its Environs._ Dublin: Hodges and
+Smith, 1864. This gentleman has devoted himself specially to elucidating
+the subject, and with a kindness which I cannot easily forget, permits
+me to avail myself, not only of his literary labours, but even to
+transfer to the pages of this work several complete pages from his own.
+
+[210] _Chess_.--Flann Sionna, Monarch of Ireland, had encamped on this
+plain, and ostentatiously commenced a game of chess as a mark of
+contempt for the chieftains whose country he had invaded. His folly met
+its just punishment, for he was ignominiously defeated. See _Wars of the
+Gaedhil_, p. 113, note.
+
+[211] _Valour.--Wars of the Gaedhil_, p. 101.
+
+[212] _Belach-Lechta_.--The site has not been definitely ascertained.
+Some authorities place it near Macroom, co. Cork.
+
+[213] _Glen-Mama_.--The Glen of the Gap, near Dunlavin. This was the
+ancient stronghold of the kings of Leinster in Wicklow. There is a long
+and very interesting note on the locality, by the Rev. J.F. Shearman,
+R.C.C., in the "Introduction" to the _Wars of the Gaedhil_. He mentions
+that pits have been discovered even recently, containing the remains of
+the slain.
+
+[214] _Deeds_.--The origin of surnames is also attributed to Brian
+Boroimhe, from a fragment in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin,
+supposed to be a portion of a life of that monarch written by his poet
+Mac Liag. Surnames were generally introduced throughout Europe in the
+tenth and twelfth centuries. The Irish gave their names to their lands.
+In other countries patronymics were usually taken from the names of the
+hereditary possessions.
+
+[215] _Fifty-three_.--See Dr. O'Donovan's note to Annals, p. 747.
+
+[216] _Fidh-Gaibhli_.--Now Feegile, near Portarlington.
+
+[217] _Given_.--The Book of Rights mentions, that one of the rights to
+which the King of Leinster was entitled from the King of Ireland, was
+"fine textured clothes at Tara," as well as "sevenscore suits of clothes
+of good colour, for the use of the sons of the great chieftain."--Book
+of Rights, p. 251. From the conduct of Gormflaith, as related above, it
+is evident that the tunic was some token of vassalage.
+
+[218] _Murrough_.--He was eldest son by Brian's first wife, Mor. He had
+three sons by this lady, who were all slain at Clontarf.
+
+[219] _Yew-tree_.--This was a sharp insult. After the battle of
+Glen-Mama, Maelmordha had hidden himself in a yew-tree, where he was
+discovered and taken prisoner by Murrough.
+
+[220] _Land.--Wars of the Gaedhil_, p. 151.
+
+[221] _Brodir_.--It has been suggested that this was not his real name.
+He was Ospak's _brother_, and Brodir may have been mistaken for a proper
+name. There was a Danish Viking named Gutring, who was an apostate
+deacon, and who may have been the Brodir of Irish history.
+
+[222] _Baptism.--Burnt Njal_, ii. 332.
+
+[223] _Combat.--Wars of the Gaedhil_, p. 157.
+
+[224] _Magh-n-Ealta_.--The Plain of the Flocks, lying between Howth and
+Tallaght, so called from Eder, a chieftain who perished before the
+Christian era.
+
+[225] _Clontarf_.--There is curious evidence that the account of the
+battle of Clontarf must have been written by an eye-witness, or by one
+who had obtained his information from an eye-witness. The author states
+that "the foreigners came out to fight the battle in the morning at the
+full tide," and that the tide came in again in the evening at the same
+place. The Danes suffered severely from this, "for the tide had carried
+away their ships from them." Consequently, hundreds perished in the
+waves.--_Wars of the Gaedhil,_ p. 191. Dr. Todd mentions that he asked
+the Rev. S. Haughton, of Trinity College, Dublin, to calculate for him
+"what was the hour of high water at the shore of Clontarf, in Dublin
+Bay, on the 23rd of April, 1014." The result was a full confirmation of
+the account given by the author of the _Wars of the Gaedhil_--the Rev.
+S. Haughton having calculated that the morning tide was full in at 5.30
+a.m., the evening tide being full at 5.55 p.m.
+
+[226] _Siguard_.--Various accounts are given of the disposition of
+forces on each side, so that it is impossible to speak with accuracy on
+the subject. We know how difficult it is to obtain correct particulars
+on such occasions, even with the assistance of "own correspondents" and
+electric telegraphs.
+
+[227] _Psalms_.--To recite the Psalter in this way was a special
+devotional practice of the middle ages.
+
+[228] _Brian_.--_Burnt Njal_, ii. 337. If this account be reliable,
+Brian did not live to receive the last sacraments, as other authorities
+state.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+Distinguished Irish Scholars and Religious--Domestic Feuds--O'Brien's
+Illness caused by Fright--Pestilence and Severe Winters--Contentions
+between the Northerns and Southerns--Murtough's Circuit of Ireland--The
+Danes attempt an Invasion--An Irish King sent to the Isle of
+Man--Destruction of Kincora--St. Celsus makes Peace--The Synod of Fidh
+Aengussa--Subjects considered by the Synod: (1) The Regulation of the
+Number of Dioceses, (2) the Sacrament of Matrimony, (3) the Consecration
+of Bishops, (4) Ceremonies at Baptism--St. Malachy--The Traitor
+Dermod--Synod at Mellifont Abbey--St. Laurence O'Toole.
+
+[A.D. 1022-1167.]
+
+
+Domestic wars were, as usual, productive of the worst consequences, as
+regards the social state of the country. The schools and colleges, which
+had been founded and richly endowed by the converted Irish, were now,
+without exception, plundered of their wealth, and, in many cases,
+deprived of those who had dispensed that wealth for the common good. It
+has been already shown that men lived holy lives, and died peaceful
+deaths, during the two hundred years of Danish oppression; we shall now
+find that schools were revived, monasteries repeopled, and missionaries
+sent to convert and instruct in foreign lands. A few monks from Ireland
+settled in Glastonbury early in the tenth century, where they devoted
+themselves to the instruction of youth. St. Dunstan, who was famous for
+his skill in music, was one of their most illustrious pupils: he was a
+scholar, an artist, and a musician. But English writers, who give him
+the credit of having brought "Englishmen to care once more for learning,
+after they had quite lost the taste for it, and had sunk back into
+ignorance and barbarism," forget to mention who were his instructors.
+
+St. Maccallin, another Irishman, was teaching in France at the same
+period; and Duncan, who governed the Monastery of St. Remigius, at
+Rheims, was writing books of instruction for his students, which are
+still extant. Marianus Scotus, whose chronicles are considered the most
+perfect compositions of their times, was teaching at Cologne. St.
+Fingen, who succeeded St. Cadroe as Abbot of the Monastery of St. Felix
+at Metz, was invested with the government of the Monastery of St.
+Symphorian in that city[229]. It was then ordered by the bishop, that
+none but Irish monks should be received into his house, unless their
+supply failed. In 975 the Monastery of St. Martin, near Cologne, was
+made over to the Irish monks in perpetuity. Happily, however, Ireland
+still retained many of her pious and gifted sons. We have mentioned
+elsewhere the Annals of Tighernach, and the remarkable erudition they
+evince. The name of Cormac Mac Cullinan may also be added to the list of
+literary men of the period. The poems of Kenneth O'Hartigan are still
+extant, as well as those of Eochd O'Flynn. The authorship of the _Wars
+of the Gaedhil and the Gall_, has been attributed to Brian Boroimhe's
+secretary, Mac Liag; it is, at least, tolerably certain that it was
+written by one who witnessed the events described. The obituaries of
+several saints also occur at the close of the tenth and commencement of
+the eleventh centuries. Amongst these we find St. Duncheadh, Abbot of
+Clonmacnois, who is said to have been the last Irish saint who raised
+the dead. St. Aedh (Hugh) died in the year 1004, "after a good life, at
+Ard-Macha, with great honour and veneration." And in the year 1018, we
+have the mortuary record of St. Gormgal, of Ardvilean, "the remains of
+whose humble oratory and cloghan cell are still to be seen on that rocky
+island, amid the surges of the Atlantic, off the coast of
+Connemara."[230]
+
+Dr. Todd has well observed, in his admirably written "Introduction" to
+the _Wars of the Gaedhil and the Gall_, that from the death of Malachy
+to the days of Strongbow, the history of Ireland is little more than a
+history of the struggles for ascendency between the great clans or
+families of O'Neill, O'Connor, O'Brien, and the chieftains of Leinster.
+
+After the death of Brian Boroimhe, his son Donough obtained the
+undisputed sovereignty of Munster. He defeated the Desmonians, and
+instigated the murder of his brother Teigue. His next step was to claim
+the title of King of Ireland, but he had a formidable opponent in Dermod
+Mac Mael-na-mbo, King of Leinster. Strange to say, though he had the
+guilt of fratricide on his conscience, he assembled the clergy and
+chieftains of Munster at Killaloe, in the year 1050, to pass laws for
+the protection of life and property--a famine, which occurred at this
+time, making such precautions of the first necessity. In 1033, his
+nephew, Turlough, avenged the death of Teigue, in a battle, wherein
+Donough was defeated. After his reverse he went on a pilgrimage to Rome,
+where he died in the following year, after doing penance for his
+brother's murder. The Annals say that "he died under the victory of
+penance, in the Monastery of Stephen the Martyr."[231] Dermod Mac
+Mael-na-mbo was killed in battle by the King of Meath, A.D. 1072, and
+Turlough O'Brien, consequently, was regarded as his successor to the
+monarchy of Ireland. Turlough, as usual, commenced by taking hostages,
+but he found serious opposition from the northern Hy-Nials. His
+principal opponents were the Mac Loughlins of Aileach, and the
+O'Melaghlins of Meath. In 1079 O'Brien invaded the territory of Roderic
+O'Connor, King of Connaught, expelled him from his kingdom, and
+plundered it as far as Croagh Patrick. Next year he led an army to
+Dublin, and received the submission of the men of Meath, appointing his
+son Murtough lord of the Danes of Dublin. The Annals of the Four Masters
+give a curious account of O'Brien's death. They say that the head of
+Connor O'Melaghlin, King of Meath, was taken from the church of
+Clonmacnois, and brought to Thomond, by his order. When the king took
+the head in his hand, a mouse ran out of it, and the shock was so great
+that "he fell ill of a sore disease by the miracles (intervention) of
+St. Ciaran." This happened on the night of Good Friday. The day of the
+resurrection (Easter Sunday) the head was restored, with two rings of
+gold as a peace-offering. But Turlough never recovered from the effects
+of his fright, and lingered on in bad health until the year 1086, when
+he died. He is called the "modest Turlough" in the Annals, for what
+special reason does not appear. It is also recorded that he performed
+"intense penance for his sins"--a grace which the kings and princes of
+Ireland seem often to have needed, and, if we may believe the Annals,
+always to have obtained.
+
+A period of anarchy ensued, during which several princes contended for
+royal honours. This compliment was finally awarded to Mac Loughlin, King
+of Aileach, and a temporary peace ensued. Its continuance was brief. In
+1095 there was a pestilence all over Europe, "and some say that the
+fourth part of the men of Ireland died of the malady." A long list is
+given of its victims, lay and ecclesiastical. Several severe winters are
+recorded as having preceded this fatal event; probably they were its
+remote cause. In the year 1096, the festival of St. John Baptist fell on
+Friday. This event caused general consternation, in consequence of some
+old prophecy. A resolution "of the clergy of Ireland, with the successor
+of St. Patrick[232] at their head," enjoined a general abstinence from
+Wednesday to Sunday every month, with other penitential observances; and
+"the men of Ireland were saved for that time from the fire of
+vengeance."[233]
+
+But the most important event of the period was the contention between
+the northern and southern Hy-Nials. Murtough was planning, with great
+military ability, to obtain the supreme rule. The Archbishop of Armagh
+and the clergy strove twice to avert hostilities, but their interference
+was almost ineffectual. "A year's peace" was all they could obtain. In
+the year 1100, Murtough brought a Danish fleet against the northerns,
+but they were cut off by O'Loughlin, "by killing or drowning." He also
+assembled an army at Assaroe, near Ballyshannon, "with the choice part
+of the men of Ireland," but the Cinel-Connaill defended their country
+bravely, and compelled him to retire "without booty, without hostages,
+without pledges." In 1101, when the twelvemonths' truce obtained by the
+clergy had expired, Murtough collected a powerful army, and devastated
+the north, without opposition. He demolished the palace of the Hy-Nials,
+called the Grianan of Aileach.[234] This was an act of revenge for a
+similar raid, committed a few years before, on the stronghold of the
+O'Briens, at Kincora, by O'Loughlin. So determined was he on
+devastation, that he commanded a stone to be carried away from the
+building in each of the sacks which had contained provisions for the
+army. He then took hostages of Ulidia, and returned to the south, having
+completed the circuit of Ireland in six weeks. The expedition was called
+the "circuitous hosting." His rather original method of razing a palace,
+is commemorated in the following quatrain:--
+
+    "I never heard of the billeting of grit stones,
+    Though I heard _[sic]_ of the billeting of companies,
+    Until the stones of Aileach was billeted
+    On the horses of the king of the west."[235]
+
+Murtough appears to have been a not unusual compound of piety and
+profanity. We read in one place of his reckless exploits in burning
+churches and desecrating shrines, and in others of his liberal
+endowments of the same.
+
+The Danes had now settled quietly in the mercantile towns which they had
+mainly contributed to form, and expended all their energies on commerce
+instead of war; but the new generation of Northmen, who had not yet
+visited Ireland, could not so easily relinquish the old project of
+conquering it. About the year 1101, Magnus planned an expedition to
+effect this purpose. He arrived in Dublin the following year; a "hosting
+of the men of Ireland came to oppose him;"[236] but they made peace with
+him for one year, and Murtough gave his daughter in marriage to his son
+Sitric, "with many jewels and gifts." The year 1103 was distinguished
+for sanguinary conflicts. Murdhadh Drun was killed on a predatory
+excursion in Magh Cobha. Raghnall Ua h-Ocain,[237] lawgiver of Felach
+Og, was slain by the men of Magh Itha. There was a "great war" between
+the Cinel-Eoghain and the Ulidians; and Murtough O'Brien, with the men
+of Munster, Leinster, and Ossory, the chiefs of Connaught, and the men
+of Meath and their kings, proceeded to Magh Cobha (Donaghmore, co. Down)
+to relieve the Ulidians. When the men of Munster "were wearied,"
+Murtough proceeded to Ard-Macha, and left eight ounces of gold upon the
+altar, and promised eightscore cows. The northern Hy-Nials then attacked
+the camp of the Leinster men, and a spirited battle was fought. The
+Cinel-Eoghain and Cinel-Connaill returned victoriously and triumphantly
+to their forts, with valuable jewels and much wealth, together with the
+royal tent, the standard, and jewels.
+
+Magnus, King of Lochlann and the Isles, was slain by the Ulidians this
+year.
+
+It is noticeable that, in the Annals of the Four Masters, obituaries of
+saints or good men always occupy the first place. The Annals of this
+year are of unusual length; but they commence with the obituary of
+Murchadh O'Flanaghan, Arrchinneach of Ardbo, a paragon of wisdom and
+instruction, who died on his pilgrimage at Ard-Macha. A priest of
+Kildare is also mentioned, and the Tanist-Abbot of Clonmacnois, a
+prosperous and affluent man.
+
+It would appear that the Irish were sufficiently occupied with domestic
+wars to prevent their offering assistance elsewhere. This, however, was
+not the case. When Harold returned to England, his brother-in-law,
+Donough, lent him nine ships; and we find the Irish affording assistance
+in several other feuds of the Anglo-Saxons of this period. A deputation
+of the nobles of Man and other islands visited Dublin, and waited on
+Murtough O'Brien to solicit a king. He sent his nephew, Donnell; but he
+was soon expelled on account of his tyranny. Another Donnell O'Brien,
+his cousin, was, at the same time, lord of the Danes in Dublin. In 1114
+Murtough O'Brien was obliged to resign the crown in consequence of
+ill-health; the Annals say that he became a living skeleton. His
+brother, Dermod, took advantage of this circumstance to declare himself
+King of Munster. This obliged Murtough to resume the reins of
+government, and put himself at the head of his army. He succeeded in
+making Dermod prisoner, but eventually he was obliged to resign the
+kingdom to him, and retired into the Monastery of Lismore, where he died
+in 1119. The Annals call him the prop of the glory and magnificence of
+the western world. In the same year Nial Mac Lochlann, royal heir of
+Aileach and of Ireland, fell by the Cinel-Moain, in the twenty-eighth
+year of his age. He was the "paragon of Ireland, for personal form,
+sense, hospitality, and learning." The Chief Ollamh of Ireland,
+Cucollchoille ua Biagheallain, was killed by the men of Lug and
+Tuatha-ratha (Tooragh, co. Fermanagh), with his wife, "two very good
+sons," and five-and-thirty persons in one house, on the Saturday before
+Little Easter. The cause of this outrage is not mentioned. The Annals of
+the Four Masters and the Annals of Ulster record the same event, and
+mention that he was distinguished for charity, hospitality, and
+universal benevolence.
+
+Donnell O'Loughlin died in 1121, in the Monastery of St. Columba, at
+Derry. He is styled King of Ireland, although the power of his southern
+rival preponderated during the greater part of his reign. In 1118 Rory
+O'Connor died in the Monastery of Clonmacnois. He had been blinded some
+years previously by the O'Flaherties. This cruel custom was sometimes
+practised to prevent the succession of an obnoxious person, as freedom
+from every blemish was a _sine qua non_ in Erinn for a candidate to
+royal honours. Teigue Mac Carthy, King of Desmond, died, "after
+penance," at Cashel, A.D. 1124. From the time of Murtough O'Brien's
+illness, Turlough O'Connor, son of the prince who had been blinded,
+comes prominently forward in Irish history. His object was to exalt the
+Eoghanists or Desmonian family, who had been virtually excluded from the
+succession since the time of Brian Boroimhe. In 1116 he plundered
+Thomond as far as Limerick. In 1118 he led an army as far as Glanmire
+(co. Cork), and divided Munster, giving Desmond to Mac Carthy, and
+Thomond to the sons of Dermod O'Brien. He then marched to Dublin, and
+took hostages from the Danes, releasing Donnell, son of the King of
+Meath, whom they had in captivity. The following year he sailed down the
+Shannon with a fleet, and destroyed the royal palace of Kincora, hurling
+its stones and timber beams into the river. He then devoted himself to
+wholesale plundering, and expelled his late ally and father-in-law from
+Meath, ravaging the country from Traigh Li (Tralee) to the sanctuary
+lands of Lismore. In 1126 he bestowed the kingdom of Dublin on his son
+Cormac. In 1127 he drove Cormac Mac Carthy from his kingdom, and divided
+Munster in three parts. In fact, there was such a storm of war
+throughout the whole country, that St. Celsus was obliged to interfere.
+He spent a month and a year trying to establish peace, and promulgating
+rules and good customs in every district, among the laity and clergy.
+His efforts to teach "good rules and manners" seem to have been scarcely
+effectual, for we find an immediate entry of the decapitation of
+Ruaidhri, after he had made a "treacherous prey" in Aictheara. In the
+year 1128 the good Archbishop succeeded in making a year's truce between
+the Connaught men and the men of Munster. The following year the saint
+died at Ardpatrick, where he was making a visitation. He was only fifty
+years of age, but anxiety and care had worn him old. St. Celsus was
+buried at Lismore, and interred in the cemetery of the bishops.
+
+We must now give a brief glance at the ecclesiastical history of
+Ireland, before narrating the events which immediately preceded the
+English invasion.
+
+In the year 1111 a synod was convened at Fidh Aengussa, or Aengus Grove,
+near the Hill of Uisneach, in Westmeath. It was attended by fifty
+bishops, 300 priests, and 3,000 religious. Murtough O'Brien was also
+permitted to be present, and some of the nobles of his province. The
+object of the synod was to institute rules of life and manners for the
+clergy and people. St. Celsus, the Archbishop of Armagh, and
+Maelmuire[238] or Marianus O'Dunain, Archbishop of Cashel, were present.
+Attention had already been directed to certain abuses in ecclesiastical
+discipline. Such abuses must always arise from time to time in the
+Church, through the frailty of her members; but these abuses are always
+carefully reprehended as they arise, so that she is no longer
+responsible for them. It is remarkable that men of more than ordinary
+sanctity have usually been given to the Church at such periods. Some
+have withheld heretical emperors from deeds of evil, and some have
+braved the fury of heretical princes. In Ireland, happily, the rulers
+needed not such opposition; but when the country had been again and
+again devastated by war, whether from foreign or domestic sources, the
+intervention of saintly men was especially needed to restore peace, and
+to repair, as far as might be, the grievous injury which war always
+inflicts on the social state of those who have suffered from its
+devastations.
+
+Lanfranc, the great Archbishop of Canterbury, had already noticed the
+state of the Irish Church. He was in constant communication with the
+Danish bishops, who had received consecration from him; and their
+accounts were probably true in the main, however coloured by prejudice.
+He wrote an earnest epistle to Turlough O'Brien, whom he addresses
+respectfully as King of Ireland, and whose virtues as a Christian prince
+he highly commends. His principal object appears to have been to draw
+the king's attention to an abuse, of which the Danes had informed him,
+with regard to the sacrament of matrimony. This subject shall be noticed
+again. Pope Gregory VII. also wrote to Turlough, but principally on the
+temporal authority of the Holy See.
+
+The synod had four special subjects for consideration: (1) First, to
+regulate the number of bishops--an excessive and undue multiplication of
+episcopal dignity having arisen from the custom of creating chorepiscopi
+or rural bishops. It was now decided that there should be but
+twenty-four dioceses--twelve for the northern and twelve for the
+southern half of Ireland. Cashel was also recognized as an
+archiepiscopal see, and the successor of St. Jarlath was sometimes
+called Archbishop of Connaught. The custom of lay appropriations, which
+had obtained in some places, was also firmly denounced. This was an
+intolerable abuse. St. Celsus, the Archbishop of Armagh, though himself
+a member of the family who had usurped this office, made a special
+provision in his will that he should be succeeded by St. Malachy. This
+saint obtained a final victory over the sacrilegious innovators, but not
+without much personal suffering.[239]
+
+The (2) second abuse which was now noticed, referred to the sacrament of
+matrimony. The Irish were accused of abandoning their lawful wives and
+taking others, of marrying within the degrees of consanguinity, and it
+was said that in Dublin wives were even exchanged. Usher, in commenting
+on the passage in Lanfranc's letter which refers to these gross abuses,
+observes that the custom of discarding wives was prevalent among the
+Anglo-Saxons and in Scotland. This, however, was no excuse for the
+Irish. The custom was a remnant of pagan contempt of the female sex,--a
+contempt from which women were never fully released, until Christianity
+restored the fallen, and the obedience of the second Eve had atoned for
+the disobedience of the first. It appears, however, that these
+immoralities were almost confined to the half-Christianized Danes, who
+still retained many of their heathen customs. The canons of St. Patrick,
+which were always respected by the native Irish, forbid such practices;
+and the synod, therefore, had only to call on the people to observe the
+laws of the Church more strictly.
+
+Two other subjects, (3) one regarding the consecration of bishops, the
+other (4) referring to the ceremonies of baptism, were merely questions
+of ecclesiastical discipline, and as such were easily arranged by
+competent authority. In St. Anselm's correspondence with the prelates of
+the south of Ireland, he passes a high eulogium on their zeal and piety,
+while he deplores certain relaxations of discipline, which they were as
+anxious to reform as he could desire.
+
+We have already mentioned that St. Celsus appointed St. Malachy his
+successor in the Archiepiscopal See of Armagh. Malachy had been educated
+by the Abbot Imar O'Hagan, who presided over the great schools of that
+city; and the account given of his early training, sufficiently
+manifests the ability of his gifted instructor, and the high state of
+intellectual culture which existed in Ireland. While still young, St.
+Malachy undertook the restoration of the famous Abbey of Bangor. Here he
+erected a small oratory of wood, and joined himself to a few devoted men
+ardent for the perfection of a religious life. He was soon after elected
+Bishop of Connor. With the assistance of some of his faithful monks, he
+restored what war and rapine had destroyed; and was proceeding
+peacefully and successfully in his noble work, when he was driven from
+his diocese by a hostile prince. He now fled to Cormac Mac Carthy, King
+of Desmond;[240] but he was not permitted to remain here long. The See
+of Armagh was vacated by the death of St. Celsus, and Malachy was
+obliged to commence another arduous mission. It is said that it almost
+required threats of excommunication to induce him to undertake the
+charge. Bishop Gilbert of Limerick, the Apostolic-Delegate, and Bishop
+Malchus of Lismore, with other bishops and several chieftains, visited
+him in the monastery which he had erected at Ibrach,[241] and at last
+obtained compliance by promising him permission to retire when he had
+restored order in his new diocese.
+
+[Illustration: BANGOR CASTLE.]
+
+St. Malachy found his mission as painful as he had anticipated. The lay
+intruders were making a last attempt to keep up their evil custom; and,
+after the death of the usurper who made this false claim, another person
+attempted to continue it; but popular feeling was so strong against the
+wretched man, that he was obliged to fly. Ecclesiastical discipline was
+soon restored; and after Malachy had made a partition of the diocese, he
+was permitted to resign in favour of Gelasius, then Abbot of the great
+Columbian Monastery of Derry.
+
+But peace was not yet established in Ireland. I shall return again to
+the narrative of domestic feuds, which made it a "trembling sod," the
+O'Loughlins of Tyrone being the chief aggressors; for the present we
+must follow the course of ecclesiastical history briefly. St. Malachy
+was now appointed Bishop of Down, to which his old see of Connor was
+united. He had long a desire to visit Rome--a devotional pilgrimage of
+the men of Erinn from the earliest period. He was specially anxious to
+obtain a formal recognition of the archiepiscopal sees in Ireland, by
+the granting of palliums. On his way to the Holy City he visited St.
+Bernard at Clairvaux, and thus commenced and cemented the friendship
+which forms so interesting a feature in the lives of the French and
+Irish saints. It is probable that his account of the state of the Irish
+Church took a tinge of gloom from the heavy trials he had endured in his
+efforts to remove its temporary abuses. St. Bernard's ardent and
+impetuous character, even his very affectionateness, would lead him also
+to look darkly on the picture: hence the somewhat over-coloured accounts
+he has given of its state at that eventful period. St. Malachy returned
+to Ireland after an interview with the reigning Pontiff, Pope Innocent
+II. His Holiness had received him with open arms, and appointed him
+Apostolic Legate; but he declined to give the palliums, until they were
+formally demanded by the Irish prelates.
+
+In virtue of his legatine power, the saint assembled local synods in
+several places. He rebuilt and restored many churches; and in 1142 he
+erected the famous Cistercian Abbey of Mellifont, near Drogheda. This
+monastery was liberally endowed by O'Carroll, King of Oriel, and was
+peopled by Irish monks, whom St. Malachy had sent to Clairvaux, to be
+trained in the Benedictine rule and observances. But his great act was
+the convocation of the Synod of Inis Padraig. It was held in the year
+1148. St. Malachy presided as Legate of the Holy See; fifteen bishops,
+two hundred priests, and some religious were present at the
+deliberations, which lasted for four days. The members of the synod were
+unwilling that Malachy should leave Ireland again; but Eugene III., who
+had been a Cistercian monk, was visiting Clairvaux, and it was hoped he
+might grant the favour there. The Pope had left the abbey when the saint
+arrived, who, in a few days after, was seized with mortal sickness, and
+died on the 2nd November, 1148. His remains were interred at Clairvaux.
+His feast was changed from the 2nd of November, All Souls, to the 3rd,
+by "the seniors," that he might be the more easily revered and honoured.
+
+In 1151 Cardinal Paparo arrived in Ireland with the palliums which had
+been solicited by St. Malachy. The insignia of dignity were conferred
+the following year, at the Council of Kells. Tithes were then introduced
+for the first time in Ireland, but they were not enforced until after
+the English invasion.
+
+It will be remembered that we turned to ecclesiastical history, after
+mentioning the year's truce (A.D. 1128) which had been made, through the
+intervention of St. Celsus, between the men of Munster and Connaught. In
+1129 the great Church of Clonmacnois was robbed[242] of some of its
+greatest treasures. Amongst these was a model of Solomon's Temple,
+presented by a prince of Meath, and a silver chalice burnished with
+gold, which had been engraved by a sister of King Turlough O'Connor--an
+evidence that the ladies of Ireland were by no means behind the age in
+taste and refinement.
+
+After the death of Donnell O'Loughlin, Turlough had full scope for the
+exercise of his ambitious projects; but in 1131 he found serious
+opposition from Connor O'Brien, who had succeeded his father, Dermod, on
+the throne of Munster. Connor now carried off hostages from Leinster and
+Meath, and defeated the cavalry of Connaught. The following year he sent
+a fleet to the western coast of Ireland. Eventually Turlough O'Connor
+was glad to make a truce with his opponents. In 1184 the consecration of
+a church at Cashel was celebrated. This is still known as Cormac's
+Chapel, and was long supposed to have been erected by the more ancient
+monarch of that name. But the good king was soon after treacherously
+slain in his own house, by Turlough O'Connor and the two sons of the
+O'Connor of Kerry. Turlough was unquestionably somewhat Spartan in his
+severities, if not Draconian in his administration of justice. In 1106
+he put out the eyes of his own son, Hugh, and in the same year he
+imprisoned another son, named Roderic. The nature of their offences is
+not manifest; but Roderic was liberated through the interference of the
+clergy. Seven years after he was again imprisoned, "in violation of the
+most solemn pledges and guarantees." The clergy again interfered; from
+which we may infer that he was a favourite. They even held a public
+feast at Rathbrendan on his behalf; but he was not released until the
+following year. In the year 1136 we find the obituary of the chief
+keeper of the calendar of Ard-Macha, on the night of Good Friday. He is
+also mentioned as its chief antiquary and librarian, an evidence that
+the old custom was kept up to the very eve of the English invasion. The
+obituary of Donnell O'Duffy, Archbishop of Connaught, is also given. He
+died after Mass and celebration; according to the Annals of Clonmacnois,
+he had celebrated Mass by himself, at Clonfert, on St. Patrick's Day,
+and died immediately after. About the same time the Breinemen behaved
+"so exceedingly outrageous," that they irreverently stript O'Daly,
+arch-poet of Ireland, "of all his clothes."
+
+In the meantime domestic wars multiplied with extraordinary rapidity.
+Dermod Mac Murrough, the infamous King of Leinster, now appears for the
+first time in the history of that country which he mainly contributed to
+bring under the English yoke. He commenced his career of perfidy by
+carrying off the Abbess of Kildare from her cloister, killing 170 of the
+people of Kildare, who interfered to prevent this wanton and
+sacrilegious outrage. In 1141 he endeavoured to crush the opposers of
+his atrocious tyranny by a barbarous onslaught, in which he killed two
+nobles, put out the eyes of another, and blinded[243] seventeen
+chieftains of inferior rank. A fitting commencement of his career of
+treachery towards his unfortunate country! In 1148 a temporary peace was
+made by the Primate of Armagh between the northern princes, who had
+carried on a deadly feud; but its duration, as usual, was brief.
+Turlough O'Brien was deposed by Teigue in 1151. He was assisted by
+Turlough O'Connor and the infamous Dermod. The united armies plundered
+as far as Moin Mor,[244] where they encountered the Dalcassian forces
+returning from the plunder of Desmond. A sanguinary combat ensued, and
+the men of north Munster suffered a dreadful slaughter, leaving 7,000
+dead upon the field of battle. This terrible sacrifice of life is
+attributed to the mistaken valour of the Dal-Cais, who would neither fly
+nor ask quarter.
+
+In 1157 a synod was held in the Abbey of Mellifont, attended by the
+Bishop of Lismore, Legate of the Holy See, the Primate, and seventeen
+other bishops. Murtough O'Loughlin, the Monarch of Ireland, and several
+other kings, were also present. The principal object of this meeting was
+the consecration of the abbey church and the excommunication of Donough
+O'Melaghlin, who had become the common pest of the country. He was, as
+might be expected, the particular friend and ally of Dermod Mac
+Murrough. His last exploit was the murder of a neighbouring chief,
+despite the most solemn pledges. In an old translation of the Annals of
+Ulster, he is termed, with more force than elegance, "a cursed atheist."
+After his excommunication, his brother Dermod was made King of Meath, in
+his place.
+
+At this synod several rich gifts were made to the abbey. O'Carroll,
+Prince of Oriel, presented sixty ounces of gold. O'Loughlin made a grant
+of lands, gave one hundred and forty cows and sixty ounces of gold. The
+Lady Dervorgil gave the same donation in gold, together with a golden
+chalice for the altar of Mary, with gifts for each of the other nine
+altars of the church. Dervorgil was the wife of Tiernan O'Rourke, Lord
+of Breffni, who had been dispossessed of his territories in 1152; at the
+same time she was carried off by Dermod Mac Murrough. Her abduction
+seems to have been effected with her own consent, as she carried off the
+cattle which had formed her dowry. Her husband, it would appear, had
+treated her harshly. Eventually she retired to the Monastery of
+Mellifont, where she endeavoured to atone for her past misconduct by a
+life of penance.
+
+Another synod was held in the year 1158, at Trim. Derry was then erected
+into an episcopal see, and Flahertach O'Brolchain, Abbot of St.
+Columba's Monastery, was consecrated its first bishop. The bishops of
+Connaught were intercepted and plundered by Dermod's soldiers; they
+therefore returned and held a provincial synod in Roscommon.
+
+In 1162 St. Laurence O'Toole was chosen to succeed Greine, or Gregory,
+the Danish Archbishop of Dublin. He belonged to one of the most noble
+ancient families of Leinster. His father was chieftain of the district
+of Hy-Muirahy, a portion of the present county Kildare. St. Laurence had
+chosen the ecclesiastical state early in life; at the age of twenty-five
+he was chosen Abbot of St. Kevin's Monastery, at Glendalough. The Danish
+Bishop of Dublin had been consecrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury,
+but the saint received the episcopal office from the successor of St.
+Patrick. A synod was held at Clane the year of his consecration; it was
+attended by twenty-six prelates and many other ecclesiastics. The
+college of Armagh was then virtually raised to the rank of a university,
+as it was decreed that no one, who had not been an alumnus of Armagh,
+should be appointed lector or professor of theology in any of the
+diocesan schools in Ireland. Indeed, the clergy at this period were most
+active in promoting the interests of religion, and most successful in
+their efforts, little anticipating the storm which was then impending
+over their country.
+
+In 1166 the Irish Monarch, O'Loughlin, committed a fearful outrage on
+Dunlevy, Prince of Dalriada. A peace had been ratified between them,
+but, from some unknown cause, O'Loughlin suddenly became again the
+aggressor, and attacked the northern chief, when he was unprepared, put
+out his eyes, and killed three of his leading officers. This cruel
+treachery so provoked the princes who had guaranteed the treaty, that
+they mustered an army at once and proceeded northwards. The result was a
+sanguinary engagement, in which the Cinel-Eoghan were defeated, and the
+Monarch, O'Loughlin, was slain. Roderick O'Connor immediately assumed
+the reins of government, and was inaugurated in Dublin with more pomp
+than had ever been manifested on such an occasion. It was the last
+glittering flicker of the expiring lamp. Submission was made to him on
+every side; and had he only possessed the ability or the patriotism to
+unite the forces under his command, he might well have set all his
+enemies at defiance. An assembly of the clergy and chieftains of Ireland
+was convened in 1167, which is said to have emulated, if it did not
+rival, the triennial _Fes_ of ancient Tara. It was but the last gleam of
+sunlight, which indicates the coming of darkness and gloom. The traitor
+already had his plans prepared, and was flying from a country which
+scorned his meanness, to another country where that meanness was made
+the tool of political purposes, while the unhappy traitor was probably
+quite as heartily despised.
+
+[Illustration: ARDMORE ROUND TOWER.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[229] _City_.--Some Irish religious are also said to have lived in amity
+with Greek monks, who were established at Tours, in France; and it is
+said that the Irish joined them in the performance of the ecclesiastical
+offices in their own language.
+
+[230] _Connemara_.--Haverty's _History of Ireland_, p. 156. See also an
+interesting note on this subject in the Chronicum Scotorum.
+
+[231] _Martyr_.--Page 887. The famine in the preceding year is also
+recorded, as well as the cholic and "lumps," which prevailed in
+Leinster, and also spread throughout Ireland. Donough was married to an
+English princess, Driella, the daughter of the English Earl Godwin, and
+sister of Harold, afterwards King of England. During the rebellion of
+Godwin and his sons against Edward the Confessor, Harold was obliged to
+take refuge in Ireland, and remained there "all the winter on the king's
+security."
+
+[232] _St. Patrick_.--It is observable all through the Annals, how the
+name and spiritual authority of St. Patrick is revered. This expression
+occurs regularly from the earliest period, wherever the Primate of
+Ireland is mentioned.
+
+[233] _Vengeance_.--See O'Curry, _passim_, for curious traditions or
+so-called prophecies about St. John Baptist's Day.
+
+[234] _Aileach_.--The remains of this fortress are still visible near
+Londonderry, and are called Grianan-Elagh.
+
+[235] _West_.--Annals, vol. ii. p. 969.
+
+[236] _Him.--Ib._ p 973.
+
+[237] _Ua h-Ocain_.--Now anglicised O'Hagan. This family had the special
+privilege of crowning the O'Neills, and were their hereditary Brehons.
+The Right Honorable Judge O'Hagan is, we believe, the present head of
+the family.
+
+[238] _Maelmuire_.--"The servant of Mary." Devotion to the Mother of
+God, which is still a special characteristic of the Irish nation, was
+early manifested by the adoption of this name.
+
+[239] _Suffering_.--This abuse was not peculiar to the Irish Church. A
+canon of the Council of London, A.D. 1125, was framed to prevent similar
+lay appropriations. In the time of Cambrensis there were lay (so called)
+abbots, who took the property of the Church into their own hands, and
+made their children receive holy orders that they might enjoy the
+revenues.
+
+[240] _Desmond_.--See the commencement of this chapter, for an
+illustration of the ruins of its ancient rath and the more modern
+castle. These remains are among the most interesting in Ireland.
+
+[241] _Ibrach_.--Supposed to be Ivragh, in Kerry, which was part of
+Cormac Mac Carthy's kingdom.
+
+[242] _Robbed_.--In MacGeoghegan's translation of the Annals of
+Clonmacnois he says:--"The clergy of Clone made incessant prayer to God
+and St. Keyran, to be a means for the revelation of the party that took
+away the said jewels." The "party" was a Dane. He was discovered, and
+hung in 1130. It is said that he entered several ships to leave the
+country, but they could get no wind, while other vessels sailed off
+freely.--Annals of the Four Masters, vol. ii. p. 1035.
+
+[243] _Blinded_.--In 1165 Henry II. gratified his irritation against the
+Welsh by laying hands upon the hostages of their noblest families, and
+commanding that the eyes of the males should be rooted out, and the ears
+and noses of the females cut off; and yet Henry is said to have been
+liberal to the poor, and though passionately devoted to the chase, he
+did not inflict either death or mutilation on the intruders in the royal
+forests.
+
+[244] _Moin Mor_.--Now Moanmore, county Tipperary.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+Social life previous to the English Invasion--Domestic
+Habitations--Forts--Granard and Staigue--Crannoges and
+Log-houses--Interior of the Houses--The Hall--Food and Cooking
+Utensils--Regulations about Food--The Kind of Food used--Animal
+Food--Fish--Game--Drink and Drinking Vessels--Whisky--Heath
+Beer--Mead--Animal Produce--Butter and Cheese--Fire--Candles--Occupations
+and Amusements--Chess--Music--Dress--Silk--Linen--Ancient Woollen
+Garments--Gold Ornaments--Trade--General Description of the Fauna and
+Flora of the Country.
+
+
+Customs which illustrate the social life of our ancestors, are scarcely
+the least interesting or important elements of history. Before we enter
+upon that portion of our annals which commences with the English
+invasion, under the auspices of Henry II., we shall give a brief account
+of the habitations, manners, customs, dress, food, and amusements of the
+people of Ireland. Happily there is abundant and authentic information
+on this subject, though we may be obliged to delve beneath the tertiary
+deposits of historical strata in order to obtain all that is required.
+English society and English social life were more or less influenced by
+Ireland from the fifth to the twelfth century. The monks who had
+emigrated to "Saxon land" were men of considerable intellectual culture,
+and, as such, had a preponderating influence, creditable alike to
+themselves and to those who bowed to its sway. From the twelfth to the
+sixteenth century, English manners and customs were introduced in
+Ireland within the Pale. The object of the present chapter is to show
+the social state of the country before the English invasion--a condition
+of society which continued for some centuries later in the western and
+southern parts of the island.
+
+The pagan architecture of public erections has already been as fully
+considered as our limits would permit. Let us turn from pillar-stones,
+cromlechs, and cairns, to the domestic habitations which preceded
+Christianity, and continued in use, with gradual improvements, until the
+period when English influence introduced the comparative refinements
+which it had but lately received from Norman sources. The raths, mounds,
+and forts, whose remains still exist throughout the country, preceded
+the castellated edifices, many of which were erected in the twelfth and
+thirteenth centuries, principally by English settlers. The rath was
+probably used for the protection and enclosure of cattle; and as the
+wealth of the country consisted principally in its herds, it was an
+important object. Its form is circular, having an internal diameter
+averaging from forty to two hundred feet, encompassed by a mound and
+outer fosse or ditch. In some localities, where stone is abundant and
+the soil shallow, rude walls have been formed: the raths, however, are
+principally earthwork alone. Forts were erected for defence, and the
+surrounding fosse was filled with water. They were, in fact, the
+prototypes of the more modern castle and moat. These forts were
+sometimes of considerable size, and in such cases were surrounded by
+several fosses and outworks. They were approached by a winding inclined
+plane, which at once facilitated the entrance of friends, and exposed
+comers with hostile intentions to the concentrated attacks of the
+garrison. The fort at Granard is a good example of this kind of
+building. It is probably of considerable antiquity, though it has been
+improved and rebuilt in some portions at a more modern period. The
+interior of it evidences the existence of several different apartments.
+An approach internally has been exposed on one side, and exhibits a
+wide, flat arch of common masonry, springing from the top of two side
+walls, the whole well-constructed.
+
+Forts of dry-wall masonry, which are, undoubtedly, the more ancient, are
+very numerous in the south-west of Ireland. It is probable that similar
+erections existed throughout the country at a former period, and that
+their preservation is attributable to the remoteness of the district.
+The most perfect of these ancient habitations is that of Staigue Fort,
+near Derryquin Castle, Kenmare. This fort has an internal diameter of
+eighty-eight feet. The masonry is composed of flat-bedded stones of the
+slate rock of the country, which show every appearance of being
+quarried, or carefully broken from larger blocks. There is no appearance
+of dressed work in the construction; but the slate would not admit of
+this, as it splinters away under the slightest blow. Still the building
+is an admirable example of constructive masonry; it is almost impossible
+to dislodge any fragment from off the filling stones from the face of
+the wall. A competent authority has pronounced that these structures
+cannot be equalled by any dry masonry elsewhere met with in the country,
+nor by any masonry of the kind erected in the present day.[245] Some
+small stone buildings are also extant in this part of Ireland, but it is
+doubtful whether they were used for ecclesiastical or domestic purposes.
+The crannoge was another kind of habitation, and one evidently much
+used, and evincing no ordinary skill in its construction. From the
+remains found in these island habitations, we may form a clear idea of
+the customs and civilization of their inmates: their food is indicated
+by the animal remains, which consist of several varieties of oxen, deer,
+goats, and sheep; the implements of cookery remain, even to the knife,
+and the blocks of stone blackened from long use as fire-places; the
+arrows, which served for war or chase, are found in abundance; the
+personal ornaments evidence the taste of the wearers, and the skill of
+the artist; while the canoe, usually of solid oak, and carefully hidden
+away, tells its own tale how entrance and exit were effected. One of the
+earliest crannoges which was discovered and examined in modern times,
+was that of Lagere, near Dunshaughlin, county Meath. It is remarkable
+that Loch Gabhair is said to have been one of the nine lakes which burst
+forth in Ireland, A.M. 3581. The destruction of this crannoge is
+recorded by the Four Masters, A.D. 933, giving evidence that it was
+occupied up to that period. In 1246 there is a record of the escape of
+Turlough O'Connor from a crannoge, after he had drowned his keepers;
+from which it would appear such structures might be used for prisons,
+and, probably, would be specially convenient for the detention of
+hostages. In 1560 we read that Teigue O'Rourke was drowned as he was
+going across a lake to sleep in a crannoge; and even so late as the
+sixteenth century, crannoges were declared to be the universal system of
+defence in the north of Ireland.
+
+[Illustration: CELT.]
+
+Log-houses were also used, and were constructed of beams and planks of
+timber, something like the Swiss _chalet_. One of these ancient
+structures was discovered in Drumhalin bog, county Donegal, in 1833. The
+house consisted of a square structure, twelve feet wide and nine feet
+high: it was formed of rough planks and blocks of timber; the mortises
+were very roughly cut--a stone celt,[246] which was found lying upon the
+floor, was, probably, the instrument used to form them. The logs were
+most likely formed by a stone axe.[247] The roof was flat, and the house
+consisted of two compartments, one over the other, each four feet high.
+A paved causeway led from the house to the fire-place, on which was a
+quantity of ashes, charred wood, half-burnt turf, and hazle-nuts. So
+ancient was this habitation, that twenty-six feet of bog had grown up
+around and over it. It is supposed that this was only one portion of a
+collection of houses, which were used merely as sleeping-places. A
+slated enclosure was also traced, portions of the gates of which were
+discovered. A piece of a leathern sandal, an arrow-headed flint, and a
+wooden sword, were also found in the same locality.
+
+[Illustration: STONE AXE.]
+
+It is probable that wattles and clay formed the staple commodity for
+building material in ancient Erinn. Planks and beams, with rough blocks
+of wood or stone, were most likely reserved for the dwelling-place of
+chieftains. Such were the material used also for the royal residence in
+Thorney Island, a swampy morass in the Thames, secured by its insular
+position, where the early English kings administered justice; and such,
+probably, were the material of the original _Palais de Justice_, where
+the kings of Gaul entrenched themselves in a _pal-lis_, or impaled fort.
+
+From the description which Wright[248] gives of Anglo-Saxon domestic
+architecture, it appears to have differed but little from that which was
+in use at the same period in Ireland. The hall[249] was the most
+important part of the building, and halls of stone are alluded to in a
+religious poem at the beginning of the Exeter Book: "Yet, in the earlier
+period at least, there can be little doubt that the materials of
+building were chiefly wood." The hall, both in Erinn and Saxon land, was
+the place of general meeting for all domestic purposes. Food was cooked
+and eaten in the same apartment; the chief and his followers eat at the
+same time and in the same place. On the subject of food we have ample
+details scattered incidentally through our annals. Boiling was probably
+the principal method of preparing meat, and for this purpose the Irish
+were amply provided with vessels. A brazen cauldron is lithographed in
+the _Ulster Archaeological Journal_, which is a most interesting specimen
+of its kind. It was found in a turf bog in the county Down, at a depth
+of five feet from the surface; and as this bog has been used from time
+immemorial for supplying the neighbourhood with fuel, and is remembered
+to have been forty feet above its present level by a generation now
+living, the antiquity of the vessel is unquestionable. As a specimen of
+superior workmanship, the cauldron has been greatly admired. It is made
+of sheets of gold-coloured bronze, evidently formed by hammering: the
+rim is of much thicker metal than the rest, and is rendered stiffer by
+corrugation--a process which has been patented in England within the
+last dozen years, as a new and valuable discovery.[250]
+
+Cauldrons are constantly mentioned in the Book of Rights, in a manner
+which shows that these vessels were in constant use. It was one of the
+tributes to be presented in due form by the King of Cashel to the King
+of Tara; and in the will of Cahir Mor, Monarch of Ireland in the second
+century, fifty copper cauldrons are amongst the items bequeathed to his
+family. Probably the poorer classes, who could not afford such costly
+vessels, may have contented themselves with roasting their food
+exclusively, unless, indeed, they employed the primitive method of
+casting red hot stones into water when they wished it boiled.
+
+The exact precision which characterizes every legal enactment in ancient
+Erinn, and which could not have existed in a state of barbarism, is
+manifested even in the regulations about food. Each member of the
+chieftain's family had his appointed portion, and there is certainly a
+quaintness in the parts selected for each. The _saoi_ of literature and
+the king were to share alike, as we observed when briefly alluding to
+this subject in the chapter on ancient Tara; their portion was a prime
+steak. Cooks and trumpeters were specially to be supplied with "cheering
+mead," it is to be supposed because their occupations required more than
+ordinary libations; the historian was to have a crooked bone; the
+hunter, a pig's shoulder: in fact, each person and each office had its
+special portion assigned[251] to it, and the distinction of ranks and
+trades affords matter of the greatest interest and of the highest
+importance to the antiquarian. There can be but little doubt that the
+custom of Tara was the custom of all the other kings and chieftains, and
+that it was observed throughout the country in every family rich enough
+to have dependents. This division of food was continued in the Highlands
+of Scotland until a late period. Dr. Johnson mentions it, in his _Tour
+in the Hebrides_, as then existing. He observes that he had not
+ascertained the details, except that the smith[252] had the head.
+
+The allowance for each day is also specified. Two cows, and two
+_tinnes_,[253] and two pigs was the quantity for dinner. This allowance
+was for a hundred men. The places which the household were to occupy
+were also specified; so that while all sat at a common table,[254] there
+was, nevertheless, a certain distinction of rank. At Tara there were
+different apartments, called _imdas_, a word now used in the north of
+Ireland to denote a couch or bed. The name probably originated in the
+custom of sleeping in those halls, on the benches which surrounded them,
+or on the floor near the fire-place. In the ground plan of the
+banqueting hall at Tara, the house is shown as divided into five parts,
+which are again divided into others. Each of the two divisions extending
+along the side wall, is shown as subdivided into twelve _imdas_, which
+here mean seats; the central division is represented as containing three
+fires at equal distances, a vat, and a chandelier.
+
+Benches were the seats used, even by persons of rank, until a late
+period. In the French Carlovingian romances, even princes and great
+barons sat on them. Chairs were comparatively rare, and only used on
+state occasions, as late as the twelfth century. Wright gives some
+curious woodcuts of persons conversing together, who are seated on
+settles, or on seats formed in the walls round the room; such as may
+still be seen in monastic cloisters and the chapter houses of our old
+cathedrals. Food which had been roasted was probably handed round to the
+guests on the spit on which it had been cooked.[255] Such at least was
+the Anglo-Saxon fashion; and as the Irish had spits, and as forks were
+an unknown luxury for centuries later, we may presume they were served
+in a similar manner. The food was varied and abundant, probably none the
+less wholesome for being free from the Anglo-Norman refinements of
+cookery, introduced at a later period. For animal diet there were fat
+beeves, dainty venison, pork, fresh and salted, evidently as favourite a
+dish with the ancients as with the moderns--except, alas! that in the
+good old times it was more procurable. Sheep and goats also varied the
+fare, with "smaller game," easily procured by chase, or shot down with
+arrows or sling stones. The land abounded in "milk and honey." Wheat was
+planted at an early period; and after the introduction of Christianity,
+every monastic establishment had its mill. There were "good old times"
+in Ireland unquestionably. Even an English prince mentions "the honey
+and wheat, the gold and silver," which he found in "fair Innis-fail." It
+is probable that land was cultivated then which now lies arid and
+unreclaimed, for a writer in the _Ulster Archaeological Journal_ mentions
+having found traces of tillage, when laying out drains in remote
+unproductive districts, several feet beneath the peaty soil. Dr.
+O'Donovan also writes in the same journal: "I believe the Irish have had
+wheat in the more fertile valleys and plains from a most remote period.
+It is mentioned constantly in the Brehon laws and in our most ancient
+poems."[256] Nor should we omit to mention fish in the list of edibles.
+During the summer months, fishing was a favourite and lucrative
+occupation; and if we are to believe a legend quoted in the
+_Transactions of the Ossianic Society_, the Fenians enjoyed a monopoly
+in the trade, for no man dare take a salmon, "dead or alive," excepting
+a man in the Fenian ranks; and piscatory squabbles seem to have extended
+themselves into downright battles between the Northmen and the natives,
+when there was question of the possession of a weir.[257]
+
+Drinking vessels, of various shapes and materials, are constantly
+mentioned in the Book of Rights. There were drinking-horns with handsome
+handles, carved drinking-horns, variegated drinking-horns,
+drinking-horns of various colours, and drinking-horns of gold.[258] Even
+in pagan times, cups or goblets were placed beside the public wells; and
+it is related that, in the reign of Conn of the Hundred Battles, Ireland
+was so prosperous, so wealthy, and so civilized (_circa_ A.D. 123) that
+those cups were made of silver. Brian revived this custom nearly a
+thousand years later. The Danes probably carried off most of these
+valuables, as there are no remains of them at present. We are able,
+however, to give an illustration of a stone drinking-cup, which is
+considered a very beautiful specimen of its kind. This great rarity was
+found in the Shannon excavations. We give a specimen below of a celt,
+and on page 246 of a celt mould, for which we have also to acknowledge
+our grateful obligations to the Council of the Royal Irish Academy.
+
+[Illustration: STONE DRINKING-CUP.]
+
+Drink was usually served to the guests after meals. Among the seven
+prerogatives for the King of Teamhair (Tara) we find:
+
+    "The fruits of Manann, a fine present;
+    And the heath fruit of Brigh Leithe;
+    The venison of Nas; the fish of the Boinn;
+    The cresses of the kindly Brosnach."
+
+[Illustration: PALSTAVE CELT.]
+
+Dr. O'Donovan suggests that the "heath fruit" may have been bilberries
+or whortleberries, and adds that some of the old Irish suppose that
+this, and not the heath, was the shrub from which the Danes brewed their
+beer.[259] It would appear that the Celts were not in the habit of
+excessive drinking until a comparatively recent period. In the year 1405
+we read of the death of a chieftain who died of "a surfeit in drinking;"
+but previous to this entry we may safely assert that the Irish were
+comparatively a sober race. The origin of the drink called whisky in
+modern parlance, is involved in considerable obscurity. Some authorities
+consider that the word is derived from the first part of the term
+usquebaugh; others suppose it to be derived from the name of a place,
+the Basque provinces, where some such compound was concocted in the
+fourteenth century. In Morewood's _History of Inebriating Liquors_, he
+gives a list of the ingredients used in the composition of usquebaugh,
+and none of these are Irish productions.
+
+There is a nice distinction between aqua vitae and aqua vini in the Red
+Book of Ossory, which was rescued by Dr. Graves from a heap of rubbish,
+the result of a fire in Kilkenny Castle in 1839. MacGeoghegan, in his
+annotations on the death of the chieftain above-mentioned, observes that
+the drink was not _aqua vitae_ to him, but rather _aqua mortis_; and he
+further remarks, that this is the first notice of the use of _aqua
+vitae_, usquebaugh, or whisky, in the Irish annals. Mead was made from
+honey, and beer from malt; and these were, probably, the principal
+liquors at the early period[260] of which we are now writing. As to the
+heath beer of Scandinavian fame, it is probable that the heather was
+merely used as a tonic or aromatic ingredient, although the author of a
+work, published in London in 1596, entitled _Sundrie Newe and Artificial
+Remedies against Famine_, does suggest the use of heath tops to make a
+"pleasing and cheape drink for Poor Men, when Malt is extream Deare;"
+much, we suppose, on the same principle that shamrocks and grass were
+used as a substitute for potatoes in the famine year, when the starving
+Irish had no money to buy Indian corn. But famine years were happily
+rare in Ireland in the times of which we write; and it will be
+remembered that on one such occasion the Irish king prayed to God that
+he might die, rather than live to witness the misery he could not
+relieve.
+
+[Illustration: MOULD FOR CASTING BRONZE CELTS.]
+
+It would appear that butter was also a plentiful product then as now.
+Specimens of bog butter are still preserved, and may be found in the
+collection of the Royal Irish Academy. The butter was thus entombed
+either for safety, or to give it that peculiar flavour which makes it
+resemble the old dry Stilton cheese, so much admired by the modern _bon
+vivant_. A writer in the _Ulster Archaeological Journal_ mentions that he
+found a quantity of red cows' hair mixed with this butter, when boring a
+hole in it with a gouge. It would appear from this as if the butter had
+been made in a cow-skin, a fashion still in use among the Arabs. A
+visitor to the Museum (Mr. Wilmot Chetwode) asked to see the butter from
+Abbeyleix. He remarked that some cows' heads had been discovered in that
+neighbourhood, which belonged to the old Irish long-faced breed of
+cattle; the skin and hair remained on one head, and that was red. An
+analysis of the butter proved that it was probably made in the same way
+as the celebrated Devonshire cream, from which the butter in that part
+of England is generally prepared. The Arabs and Syrians make their
+butter now in a similar manner. There is a curious account of Irish
+butter in the _Irish Hudibras_, by William Moffat, London, 1755, from
+which it appears that bog butter was then well known:--
+
+    "But let his faith be good or bad,
+    He in his house great plenty had
+    Of burnt oat bread, and butter found,
+    With garlick mixt, in boggy ground;
+    So strong, a dog, with help of wind,
+    By scenting out, with ease might find."
+
+A lump of butter was found, twelve feet deep, in a bog at Gortgole,
+county Antrim, rolled up in a coarse cloth. It still retains visibly the
+marks of the finger and thumb of the ancient dame who pressed it into
+its present shape.
+
+Specimens of cheese of great antiquity have also been discovered. It was
+generally made in the shape of bricks,[261] probably for greater
+convenience of carriage and pressure in making. Wax has also been
+discovered, which is evidently very ancient. A specimen may be seen in
+the collection of the Royal Irish Academy. According to the Book of
+Rights, the use of wax candles was a royal prerogative:--
+
+    "A hero who possesses five prerogatives,
+    Is the King of Laighlin of the fort of Labhraidh:
+    The fruit of Almhain [to be brought to him] to his house;
+    And the deer of Gleann Searraigh;
+    To drink by [the light of] fair wax candles,
+    At Din Riogh, is very customary to the king."[262]
+
+In this matter, at least, the Irish kings and princes were considerably
+in advance of their Anglo-Saxon neighbours. Wright informs us[263] that
+their candle was a mere mass of fat, plastered round a wick, and stuck
+upon an upright stick: hence the name candlestick.
+
+It is probable that fire-light was, however, the principal means of
+assisting the visual organs after dark in both countries. Until
+comparatively recent times, fires were generally made on square, flat
+stones, and these could be placed, as appears to have been the case at
+Tara, in different parts of any large hall or apartment. There was
+sometimes a "back stone" to support the pile of wood and turf. The smoke
+got out how best it might, unless where there was a special provision
+made for its exit, in the shape of a round hole in the roof. At a later
+period a "brace" was sometimes made for conducting it. The brace was
+formed of upright stakes, interlaced with twigs, and plastered over,
+inside and outside, with prepared clay--the earliest idea of the modern
+chimney.
+
+Macaulay[264] gives us a picture of an ancient Roman fire-side, and the
+occupations of those who sat round it. We can, perhaps, form a more
+accurate and reliable idea of the dress, amusements, and occupations of
+those who surrounded the hall-fires of ancient Tara, or the humble,
+domestic hearths of the crannoges or wattled houses.
+
+The amusements of the pre-Christian Celt were, undeniably, intellectual.
+Chess has already been mentioned more than once in this work as a
+constant occupation of princes and chieftains. Indeed, they appear to
+have sat down to a game with all the zest of a modern amateur. A few
+specimens of chessmen have been discovered: a king, elaborately carved,
+is figured in the Introduction to the Book of Rights. It belonged to Dr.
+Petrie, and was found, with some others, in a bog in the county Meath.
+The chessmen of ancient times appear to have been rather formidable as
+weapons. In the _Tain bo Chuailgne_, Cuchullain is represented as having
+killed a messenger, who told him a lie, with a chessman, "which pierced
+him to the centre of his brain." English writers speak of the use of
+chess immediately after the Conquest, and say that the Saxons learned
+the game from the Danes. The Irish were certainly acquainted with it at
+a much earlier period; if we are to credit the Annals, it was well known
+long before the introduction of Christianity. Wright gives an engraving
+of a Quarrel at Chess, in which Charles, the son of the Emperor
+Charlemagne, is represented knocking out the brains of his adversary
+with a chessboard. The illustration is ludicrously graphic, and the
+unfortunate man appears to submit to his doom with a touching grace of
+helpless resignation.
+
+We may then suppose that chess was a favourite evening amusement of the
+Celt. Chessboards at least were plentiful, for they are frequently
+mentioned among the rights of our ancient kings. But music was the Irish
+amusement _par excellence_; and it is one of the few arts for which they
+are credited. The principal Irish instruments were the harp, the
+trumpet, and the bagpipe. The harp in the Museum of Trinity College,
+Dublin, usually known as Brian Boroimhe's harp, is supposed, by Dr.
+Petrie, to be the oldest instrument of the kind now remaining in Europe.
+It had but one row of strings, thirty in number; the upright pillar is
+of oak, and the sound-board of red sallow. The minute and beautiful
+carving on all parts of the instrument, attests a high state of artistic
+skill at whatever period it was executed. As the harp is only thirty-two
+inches high, it is supposed that it was used by ecclesiastics in the
+church services, Cambrensis[265] mentions this custom; and there is
+evidence of its having existed from the first introduction of
+Christianity. Harps of this description are figured on the knees of
+ecclesiastics on several of our ancient stone crosses.
+
+The subject of Irish music would require a volume, and we cannot but
+regret that it must be dismissed so briefly. The form of the harp has
+been incorrectly represented on our coins. It was first assumed in the
+national arms about the year 1540. When figured on the coins of Henry
+VIII., the artist seems to have taken the Italian harp of twenty-four
+strings for his model; but in the national arms sketched on the map of
+Ireland in the State Papers, executed in the year 1567, the form is more
+correct. That the Irish possessed this musical instrument in
+pre-Christian times, cannot be doubted. The ornamental cover of an Irish
+MS., which Mr. Ferguson considers to date prior to A.D. 1064, contains
+five examples of the harp of that period. This, and the sculptured harp
+at Nieg, in Rosshire, are believed to be the earliest delineations of
+the perfect harp. Dr. Bunting gives a sketch of a harp and harper, taken
+from one of the compartments of a sculptured cross at Ullard, county
+Kilkenny. This is a remarkable example. The cross is supposed to be
+older than that of Monasterboice, which was erected A.D. 830, and this
+is believed to be the first specimen of a harp without a fore pillar
+that has been discovered out of Egypt. If the Irish harp be really a
+variety of the cithara, derived through an Egyptian channel, it would
+form another important link in the chain of evidence, which leads us
+back to colonization from Egypt through Scythia. Captain Wilford
+observes,[266] that there may be a clue to the Celtic word bard in the
+Hindoo _bardatri_; but the Irish appellation appears to be of
+comparatively modern use. It is, however, a noticeable fact, that the
+farther we extend our inquiries, the more forcibly we are directed to
+the East as the cradle of our music. Several recent travellers have
+mentioned the remarkable similarity between Celtic airs and those which
+they heard in different parts of Asia.[267] Sir W. Ouseley observed, at
+the close of the last century, that many Hindoo melodies possessed the
+plaintive simplicity of the Scotch and Irish.
+
+A German scholar has written a work, to prove that the pentatonic scale
+was brought over by the Celts from Asia, and that it was preserved
+longer in Scotland than elsewhere, on account of the isolated position
+of that country.[268] The Phoenicians are supposed to have invented the
+_kinnor, trigonon_, and several other of the most remarkable instruments
+of antiquity. Their skill as harpists, and their love of music, are
+indicated by the prophetic denunciation in Ezechiel, where the ceasing
+of songs and the sound of the harp are threatened as a calamity they
+were likely specially to feel.
+
+We give at least one evidence that the Irish monks practised the choral
+performance of rhythmical hymns. Colgan supplies the proof, which we
+select from one of the Latin hymns of St. Columba:--
+
+    "Protegat nos altissimus,
+    De suis sanctis sedibus,
+    Dum ibi hymnos canimus,
+    Decem statutis vicibus."
+
+Mr. O'Curry gives the names of all the ancient Irish musical instruments
+as follows:--_Cruit_, a harp; _Timpan_, a drum, or tambourine; _Corn_, a
+trumpet; _Stoc_, a clarion; _Pipai_, the pipes; _Fidil_, the fiddle. He
+adds: "All those are mentioned in an ancient poem in the Book of
+Leinster, a MS. of about the year 1150, now in the Library of Trinity
+College. The first four are found in various old tales and descriptions
+of battles."
+
+We shall find how powerful was the influence of Irish music on the Irish
+race at a later period of our history, when the subject of political
+ballads will be mentioned.
+
+The dress of the rich and the poor probably varied as much in the
+century of which we write as at the present day. We have fortunately
+remains of almost every description of texture in which the Irish Celt
+was clad; so that, as Sir W. Wilde has well observed, we are not left to
+conjecture, or forced to draw analogies from the habits of
+half-civilized man in other countries at the present day.
+
+In the year 1821 the body of a male adult was found in a bog on the
+lands of Gallagh, near Castleblakeney, county Galway, clad in its
+antique garb of deerskin. A few fragments of the dress are preserved,
+and may be seen in the collection of the Royal Irish Academy. Portions
+of the seams still remain, and are creditable specimens of early
+needlework. The material employed in sewing was fine gut of three
+strands, and the regularity and closeness of the stitching cannot fail
+to excite admiration. It is another of the many proofs that, even in the
+earliest ages, the Celt was gifted with more than ordinary skill in the
+execution of whatever works he took in hand. After all, the skin of
+animals is one of the most costly and appreciated adornments of the
+human race, even at the present day; and our ancestors differ less from
+us in the kind of clothes they wore, than in the refinements by which
+they are fashioned to modern use. It is stated in the old bardic tale of
+the _Tain bo Chuailgne_, that the charioteer of the hero was clothed in
+a tunic of deerskin. This statement, taken in connexion with the fact
+above-mentioned, is another evidence that increased knowledge is daily
+producing increased respect for the veracity of those who transmitted
+the accounts of our ancestral life, which, at one time, were supposed to
+be purely mythical. Skin or leather garments were in use certainly until
+the tenth century, in the form of cloaks. It is supposed that
+Muircheartach obtained the soubriquet "of the leathern cloaks," from the
+care which he took in providing his soldiers with them; and it is said
+that, in consequence of this precaution, there was not a single man lost
+in this campaign.
+
+[Illustration: ANCIENT BOOT.]
+
+We give a specimen of an ancient shoe and boot, from the collection of
+the Royal Irish Academy. It would appear as if the Celt was rather in
+advance of the Saxon in the art of shoemaking; for Mr. Fairholt has been
+obliged to give an illustration selected from Irish remains, in his
+history, although it is exclusively devoted to British costume. In
+illustrating the subject of gold ornaments, he has also made a selection
+from the same source. Some curious specimens of shoes joined together,
+and therefore perfectly useless for ordinary wear, have also been
+discovered. Sir W. Wilde conjectures they may have been used by
+chieftains as inauguration shoes.[269]
+
+[Illustration: ANCIENT SHOE.]
+
+Saffron was a favourite colour, though it does not appear evident how
+the dye was procured. There is no doubt the Irish possessed the art of
+dyeing from an early period. Its introduction is attributed to King
+Tighearnmas, who reigned from A.M. 3580 to 3664. It is probable the
+Phoenicians imparted this knowledge to our ancestors. Although our old
+illuminations are not as rich in figures as those from which English
+historians have obtained such ample information regarding the early
+costume of that country, we have still some valuable illustrations of
+this interesting subject. These representations also are found to
+correspond faithfully, even in the details of colour, with the remains
+which have been discovered from time to time. Our ancient crosses give
+immense scope for antiquarian research, though the costumes are
+principally ecclesiastical, and hence are not of so much general
+interest. But the Book of Rights[270] affords ample information, as far
+as mere description, of the clothing of a higher class. While the
+peasant was covered with a garment of untanned skin or fur, however
+artistically sown together, the bards, the chieftains, and the monarchs
+had their tunics [_imar_] of golden borders, their mantles [_leanna_] or
+shirts of white wool or deep purple, their fair beautiful matals, and
+their cloaks of every colour. If we add to this costume the magnificent
+ornaments which still remain to attest the truth of the bardic accounts
+of Erinn's ancient greatness, we may form a correct picture of the
+Celtic noble as he stood in Tara's ancient palace; and we must coincide
+in the opinion of the learned editor of the Catalogue of the Royal Irish
+Academy, that "the variegated and glowing colours, as well as the
+gorgeous decorations of the different articles of dress enumerated in
+the Book of Rights, added to the brilliancy of the arms, must have
+rendered the Irish costume of the eighth and ninth centuries very
+attractive."
+
+With a passing glance at our ancient _Fauna_ and _Flora_, and the
+physical state of the country at this period, we must conclude briefly.
+
+It is probable that the province of Ulster, which was styled by statute,
+in Queen Elizabeth's time, "the most perilous place in all the isle,"
+was much in the same state as to its physical characteristics in the
+century of which we write. It was densely wooded, and strong in
+fortresses, mostly placed on lakes, natural or artificial. Two great
+roads led to this part of Ireland--the "Gap of the North," by
+Carrickmacross, and the historically famous pass by Magh-Rath. From the
+former place to Belturbet the country was nearly impassable, from its
+network of bogs, lakes, and mountains. We shall find at a later period
+what trouble these natural defences gave to the English settlers.
+
+Munster so abounded in woods, that it was proposed, in 1579, to employ
+4,000 soldiers for the sole purpose of hewing them down. Indeed, its
+five great forests were the strongholds of the Earls of Desmond; and
+enough evidence still remains at Glengariff and Killarney, to manifest
+the value of their sylvan possessions. The cold and withering blasts of
+the great Atlantic, appear to have stunted or hindered the growth of
+trees in Connaught. In 1210 the Four Masters mention the wilderness of
+Cinel-Dorfa, its principal forest; but it was amply provided with other
+resources for the protection of native princes. In 1529 Chief Baron
+Finglas gave a list of dangerous passes, with the recommendation that
+the "Lord Deputy be eight days in every summer cutting passes into the
+woods next adjoining the king's subjects."
+
+[Illustration: HEAD OF OX.]
+
+In Leinster the forests had been cleared at an earlier period; and the
+country being less mountainous, was more easily cultivated. But this
+portion of Ireland contained the well-known Curragh of Kildare, which
+has its history also, and a more ancient one than its modern visitors
+are likely to suppose. The Curragh is mentioned for the first time in
+the _Liber Hymnorum_, in a hymn in praise of St. Brigid. The Scholiast
+in a contemporary gloss says: "_Currech, a cursu equorum dictus est_."
+It is also mentioned in Cormac's Glossary, where the etymology is
+referred to running or racing. But the most important notice is
+contained in the historical tale of the destruction of the mansion of Da
+Derga.[271] In this, Connaire Mor, who was killed A.D. 60, is
+represented as having gone to the games at the Curragh with four
+chariots. From this and other sources we may conclude, that
+chariot-races preceded horse-races in ancient Erinn, and that the
+Curragh has been used as a place of public amusement for the last 2,000
+years. It would appear that every province in Ireland possessed an
+_Aenach_ or "fair-green," where the men assembled to celebrate their
+games and festivals. In an old list of Irish Triads, the three great
+_Aenachs_ of Ireland are said to have been _Aenach Crogan_, in
+Connaught; _Aenach Taillten_, in Meath; and _Aenach Colmain_, the
+Curragh. The last would appear, however, to have been frequented by
+persons from all parts of Ireland; and it is not a little strange that
+it should still be used in a similar manner as a place of public
+amusement. Ireland in the tenth century and Ireland in the nineteenth
+form a painful contrast, notwithstanding the boasted march of intellect.
+The ancient forests have been hewn down with little profit[272] to the
+spoiler, and to the injury in many ways of the native. The noble rivers
+are there still, and the mountains look as beautiful in the sunsets of
+this year of grace as they did so many hundred years before; but the
+country, which was in "God's keeping" then, has but little improved
+since it came into the keeping of man; for the poor tenant, who may be
+here to-day, and to-morrow cast out on the wayside, has but substituted
+ill-fenced and ill-cultivated fields for wide tracts of heather and
+moorland, which had at least the recommendation of attractive scenery,
+and of not suggesting painful reflections.
+
+[Illustration: HEADS OF IRISH WOLF DOGS.]
+
+The most formidable, if not the largest, of the carnivora in this
+island, was the brown bear. The wolf lingered on until the beginning of
+the last century; and the Irish greyhound has passed with it also. The
+gigantic Irish elk, _Cervus megaseros_, belongs more to the
+palaeontologist than to the historian, as it is supposed to have existed
+only in pre-historic times. A smaller variety has been found in peat
+overlaying the clay, from which it is inferred that some species may
+have been contemporary with the human race. The horse co-existed with
+the elephant. The red deer was the principal object of chase from an
+early period. The wild boar found abundant food from our noble oaks; and
+the hare, the rabbit, the goat, and the sheep supplied the wants of the
+Celt in ancient as in modern times. But the great wealth of Ireland
+consisted in her cows, which then, as now, formed a staple article of
+commerce. Indeed, most of the ancient feuds were simply cattle raids,
+and the successful party signalized his victory by bearing off the
+bovine wealth of the vanquished enemy.
+
+It is impossible exactly to estimate the population of Ireland at this
+period with any degree of reliable exactitude. The only method of
+approximating thereto should be based on a calculation of the known or
+asserted number of men in arms at any given time. When Roderic and his
+allies invested the Normans in Dublin, he is said to have had 50,000
+fighting men. Supposing this to include one-fourth of all the men of the
+military age in the country, and to bear the proportion of one-fifth to
+the total number of the inhabitants, it would give a population of about
+a million, which would probably be rather under than over the correct
+estimate.
+
+[Illustration: FERRITER'S CASTLE.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[245] _Day_.--Wilkinson's _Geology and Architecture of Ireland_, p. 59.
+
+[246] _Celt_.--Catalogue of R.I.A. p. 43. This celt is the largest
+discovered in Ireland, and is formed of coarse clay-slate. It is 22
+inches long, 1 inch thick, and 3-3/4 broad at the widest part. It was
+found in the bed of the river Blackwater, two miles below Charlemont,
+county Armagh.
+
+[247] _Axe_.--Catalogue of R.I.A. p. 80. Sir W. Wilde pronounces this to
+be one of the most beautiful specimens of the stone battle-axe which has
+been found in Ireland, both for design and execution. It is composed of
+fine-grained remblendic sylicite, and is highly polished all over. It
+was found in the river at Athlone.
+
+[248] _Wright_.--_History of Domestic Manners and Sentiments_, p. 11.
+
+[249] _Hall_.--Hence the term "hall" is still used to denote mansions of
+more than ordinary importance. The hall was the principal part of the
+ancient Saxon house, and the term used for the part was easily
+transferred to the whole.
+
+[250] _Discovery_.--_Ulster Arch. Journal_, vol. v. p. 83.
+
+[251] _Assigned_.--Petrie's _Tara_, p. 200.
+
+[252] _Smith_.--The animals were brought to the smith, who knocked them
+down with his big hammer: hence, probably, the name of Smithfield for a
+cattle market. He was an important personage in the olden time. In the
+Odyssey, as armourer, he ranks with the bard and physician.
+
+[253] _Tinnes_.--Dr. Petrie does not give the meaning of this word, but
+Dr. O'Donovan supplies the deficiency in the Book of Rights, where he
+explains it to mean a salted pig, or in plain English, bacon.
+
+[254] _Table_.--In the earliest ages of Tara's existence, the household
+may have been served as they sat on the benches round the hall. The
+table was at first simply a board: hence we retain the term a hospitable
+board; a board-room, a room where a board was placed for writing on. The
+board was carried away after dinner, and the trestles on which it stood,
+so as to leave room for the evening's amusements.
+
+[255] _Cooked_.--Wright's _Domestic Manners_, p. 87. The knights in this
+engraving are using their shields as a substitute for a table. At p. 147
+there is an illustration of the method of cooking on a spit; this is
+turned by a boy. The Irish appear to have had a mechanical arrangement
+for this purpose some centuries earlier. Bellows, which are now so
+commonly used in Ireland, and so rare in England, appear to have been a
+Saxon invention.
+
+[256] _Poems_.--_Ulster Arch. Journal_, vol. i. p. 108. It would appear
+as if corn had been eaten raw, or perhaps partly scorched, at an early
+period, as was customary in eastern countries. Teeth have been found in
+crania taken from our ancient tombs, quite worn down by some such
+process of mastication.
+
+[257] _Weir_.--Salt appears to have been used also at a very ancient
+period, though it cannot now be ascertained how it was procured. Perhaps
+it was obtained from native sources now unknown.
+
+[258] _Gold_.--Book of Rights, pp. 145, 209, &c. The King of Cashel was
+entitled to a hundred drinking horns.--p. 33.
+
+[259] _Beer_.--Book of Rights, p. 9.
+
+[260] _Period_.--Accounts will be given later of the use of _aqua vitae_,
+or whisky, after the English invasion. The English appear to have
+appreciated this drink, for we find, in 1585, that the Mayor of
+Waterford sent Lord Burleigh a "rundell of _aqua vitae_;" and in another
+letter, in the State Paper Office, dated October 14, 1622, the Lord
+Justice Coke sends a "runlett of milde Irish _uskebach_," from his
+daughter Peggie (heaven save the mark!) to the "good Lady Coventry,"
+because the said Peggie "was so much bound to her ladyship for her great
+goodness." However, the said Lord Justice strongly recommends the
+_uskebach_ to his lordship, assuring him that "if it please his lordship
+next his heart in the morning to drinke a little of this Irish
+_uskebach_, it will help to digest all raw humours, expell wynde, and
+keep his inward parte warm all the day after." A poor half-starved
+Irishman in the present century, could scarcely have brought forward
+more extenuating circumstances for his use of the favourite beverage;
+and he might have added that _he_ had nothing else to "keep him warm."
+
+[261] _Bricks_.--In an ancient life of St. Kevin of Glendalough, there
+is mention made of certain brick-cheeses, which the saint converted into
+real bricks, in punishment to a woman for telling a lie.
+
+[262] _King_.--Book of Rights, p. 15.
+
+[263] _Informs us_.--_Domestic Manners_, p. 43.
+
+[264] _Macaulay_.--_Lays of Ancient Rome_.--Horatius.
+
+[265] _Cambrensis_.--"Hinc accidit, ut Episcopi et Abbates, et Sancti in
+Hibernia viri cytharas circumferre et in eis modulando pie delectari
+consueverunt."--_Cam. Des._ p. 739.
+
+[266] _Observes_.--_Asiatic Researches_, vol. ix. p. 76.
+
+[267] _Asia_.--See Carl Eugen's valuable work on the _Music of Ancient
+Nations passim_.
+
+[268] _Country_.--_Erste Wanderung der aeltesten Tonkunst_, von G.W.
+Fruh, Essen, 1831. In Conran's _National Music of Ireland_, he
+attributes this to the influence of ecclesiastical music. But an article
+by Mr. Darmey, in the _Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society_, takes a
+much more probable view. The Ambrosian chant, introduced about A.D. 600,
+could not have influenced national music which existed for centuries
+before that period.
+
+[269] _Shoes_.--The use of inauguration shoes appears to have been very
+ancient in Ireland. It will be remembered how early and how frequently
+the shoe is mentioned in Scripture in connexion with legal arrangements.
+It was obviously an important object in Eastern business transactions.
+
+[270] _Book of Rights_.--The great antiquity and perfect authenticity of
+this most valuable work, should be remembered. It is admitted that the
+original Book of Rights was compiled by St. Benignus, the disciple of
+St. Patrick. Dr. O'Donovan thinks there is every reason to believe that
+this work was in existence in the time of Cormac, the bishop-king of
+Cashel, A.D. 900. It is probable that the present Book of Rights was
+compiled about this period, from the more ancient volume of the same
+name.
+
+[271] _Da Derga_.--See an interesting Essay on the Curragh of Kildare,
+by Mr. W.M. Hennessy, read before the R.I.A., February 26, 1866.
+
+[272] _Profit_.--The trustees of the estates forfeited in 1688 notice
+this especially. Trees to the value of L20,000 were cut down and
+destroyed on the estate of Sir Valentine Brown, near Killarney, and to
+the value of L27,000 on the territory of the Earl of Clancarty. Some of
+these trees were sold for _sixpence a piece_.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+The English Invasion--Dermod's Interview with Henry II.--Henry grants
+Letters-patent--Dermod obtains the assistance of Strongbow, Earl de
+Clare--He returns to Ireland--Arrival of English Forces under
+FitzStephen--Fatal Indifference of Roderic, the Irish Monarch--He is at
+last roused to action, but acknowledges Dermod's Authority almost
+without a Struggle--Strongbow's Genealogy--He obtains a Tacit Permission
+to invade Ireland--His Arrival in Ireland--Marriage of Strongbow and
+Eva--Death of Dermod Mac Murrough--Strongbow proclaims himself King of
+Leinster--Difficulties of his Position--Siege of Dublin--Strongbow's
+Retreat--He returns to England.
+
+[A.D. 1168-1171.]
+
+
+[Illustration: Letter 'U']
+
+Until this period (A.D. 1168) the most friendly relations appear to have
+existed between England and Ireland. Saxon nobles and princes had fled
+for shelter, or had come for instruction to the neighbouring shores. The
+assistance of Irish troops had been sought and readily obtained by them.
+Irish merchants[273] had taken their goods to barter in English markets;
+but when the Norman had won the Saxon crown, and crushed the Saxon race
+under his iron heel, the restless spirit of the old Viking race looked
+out for a new quarry, and long before Dermod had betrayed his country,
+that country's fate was sealed.
+
+William Rufus is reported to have said, as he stood on the rocks near
+St. David's, that he would make a bridge with his ships from that spot
+to Ireland--a haughty boast, not quite so easily accomplished. His
+speech was repeated to the King of Leinster, who inquired "if the king,
+in his great threatening, had added, 'if it so please God'?" The
+reporter answered in the negative. "Then," said he, "seeing this king
+putteth his trust only in man, and not in God, I fear not his coming."
+When Dermod Mac Murrough was driven in disgrace from Ireland, he fled at
+once to Bristol. There he learned that Henry was still in Aquitaine, and
+thither, with a perseverance worthy of a better cause, he followed the
+English king. Henry was only too happy to listen to his complaints, and
+forward his views; but he was too much occupied with his personal
+affairs to attempt the conquest of a kingdom. Letters-patent were
+incomparably more convenient than men-at-arms, and with letters-patent
+the renegade was fain to be content. Dermod only asked help to recover
+the kingdom from which he had been expelled for his crimes; Henry
+pretended no more than to give the assistance asked, and for all reward
+only wished that Dermod should pay a vassal's homage to the English
+king. Henry may have known that his client was a villain, or he may not.
+Henry may have intended to annex Ireland to the British dominions (if he
+could), or he may merely have hoped for some temporary advantage from
+the new connexion. Whatever he knew or whatever he hoped, he received
+Dermod "into the bosom of his grace and benevolence," and he did but
+distantly insinuate his desires by proclaiming him his "faithful and
+liege subject." The royal letter ran thus:--"Henry, King of England,
+Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and Earl of Anjou, to all his liegemen,
+English, Norman, Welsh, and Scotch, and to all the nation under his
+dominion, sends greeting. As soon as the present letter shall come to
+your hands, know that Dermod, Prince of Leinster, has been received into
+the bosom of our grace and benevolence: wherefore, whosoever, within the
+ample extent of our territories, shall be willing to lend aid towards
+this prince as our faithful and liege subject, let such person know that
+we do hereby grant to him for said purpose our licence and favour."
+
+In this document there is not even the most remote reference to the Bull
+of Adrian, conferring the island of Ireland on Henry, although this Bull
+had been obtained some time before. In whatever light we may view this
+omission, it is certainly inexplicable.
+
+For some time Dermod failed in his efforts to obtain assistance. After
+some fruitless negotiations with the needy and lawless adventurers who
+thronged the port of Bristol, he applied to the Earl of Pembroke,
+Richard de Clare. This nobleman had obtained the name of Strongbow, by
+which he is more generally known, from his skill in archery. Two other
+young men of rank joined the party; they were sons of the beautiful and
+infamous Nesta,[274] once the mistress of Henry I., but now the wife of
+Gerald, Governor of Pembroke and Lord of Carew. The knights were Maurice
+FitzGerald and Robert FitzStephen. Dermod had promised them the city of
+Wexford and two cantreds of land as their reward. Strongbow was to
+succeed him on the throne of Leinster, and to receive the hand of his
+young and beautiful daughter, Eva, in marriage.
+
+There is considerable uncertainty as to the real date and the precise
+circumstances of Dermod's arrival in Ireland. According to one account,
+he returned at the close of the year 1168, and concealed himself during
+the winter in a monastery of Augustinian Canons at Ferns, which he had
+founded. The two principal authorities are Giraldus Cambrensis and
+Maurice Regan; the latter was Dermod Mac Murrough's secretary. According
+to his account, Robert FitzStephen landed at Bannow, near Waterford, in
+May, 1169, with an army of three hundred archers, thirty knights, and
+sixty men-at-arms.[275] A second detachment arrived the next day, headed
+by Maurice de Prendergast, a Welsh gentleman, with ten knights and sixty
+archers. Dermod at once assembled his men, and joined his allies. He
+could only muster five hundred followers; but with their united forces,
+such as they were, the outlawed king and the needy adventurers laid
+siege to the city of Wexford. The brave inhabitants of this mercantile
+town at once set forth to meet them; but, fearing the result if attacked
+in open field by well-disciplined troops, they fired the suburbs, and
+entrenched themselves in the town. Next morning the assaulting party
+prepared for a renewal of hostilities, but the clergy of Wexford advised
+an effort for peace: terms of capitulation were negotiated, and Dermod
+was obliged to pardon, when he would probably have preferred to
+massacre. It is said that FitzStephen burned his little fleet, to show
+his followers that they must conquer or die. Two cantreds of land,
+comprising the present baronies of Forth and Bargy,[276] were bestowed
+on him: and thus was established the first English colony in Ireland.
+The Irish princes and chieftains appear to have regarded the whole
+affair with silent contempt. The Annals say they "set nothing by the
+Flemings;"[277] practically, they set nothing by any of the invaders.
+Could they have foreseen, even for one moment, the consequences of their
+indifference, we cannot doubt but that they would have acted in a very
+different manner. Roderic, the reigning monarch, was not the man either
+to foresee danger, or to meet it when foreseen; though we might pardon
+even a more sharp-sighted and vigilant warrior, for overlooking the
+possible consequence of the invasion of a few mercenary troops, whose
+only object appeared to be the reinstatement of a petty king. Probably,
+the troops and their captains were equally free from suspecting what
+would be the real result of their proceedings.
+
+[Illustration: BARGY CASTLE.]
+
+The fair of Telltown was celebrated about this time; and from the
+accounts given by the Annals of the concourse of people, and the number
+of horsemen who attended it, there can be little doubt that Ireland was
+seldom in a better position to resist foreign invasion. But unity of
+purpose and a competent leader were wanted then, as they have been
+wanted but too often since. Finding so little opposition to his plans,
+Mac Murrough determined to act on the offensive. He was now at the head
+of 3,000 men. With this force he marched into the adjoining territory of
+Ossory, and made war on its chief, Donough FitzPatrick; and after a
+brave but unsuccessful resistance, it submitted to his rule.[278] The
+Irish monarch was at length aroused to some degree of apprehension. He
+summoned a hosting of the men of Ireland at Tara; and with the army thus
+collected, assisted by the Lords of Meath, Oriel, Ulidia, Breffni, and
+some northern chieftains, he at once proceeded to Dublin. Dermod was
+alarmed, and retired to Ferns. Roderic pursued him thither. But
+dissension had already broken out in the Irish camp: the Ulster chiefs
+returned home; the contingent was weakened; and, either through fear, or
+from the natural indolence of his pacific disposition, he agreed to
+acknowledge Mac Murrough's authority. Mac Murrough gave his son Cormac
+as hostage for the fulfilment of the treaty. A private agreement was
+entered into between the two kings, in which Dermod pledged himself to
+dismiss his foreign allies as soon as possible, and to bring no more
+strangers into the country. It is more than probable that he had not the
+remotest idea of fulfilling his promise; it is at least certain that he
+broke it the first moment it was his interest to do so. Dermod's object
+was simply to gain time, and in this he succeeded.
+
+Maurice FitzGerald arrived at Wexford a few days after, and the recreant
+king at once proceeded to meet him; and with this addition to his army,
+marched to attack Dublin. The Dano-Celts, who inhabited this city, had
+been so cruelly treated by him, that they dreaded a repetition of his
+former tyrannies. They had elected a governor for themselves; but
+resistance was useless. After a brief struggle, they were obliged to sue
+for peace--a favour which probably would not have been granted without
+further massacres and burnings, had not Dermod wished to bring his arms
+to bear in another quarter.
+
+Donnell O'Brien, Prince of Thomond, who had married a daughter of
+Dermod, had just rebelled against Roderic, and the former was but too
+willing to assist him in his attempt. Thus encouraged where he should
+have been treated with contempt, and hunted down with ignominy, his
+ambition became boundless. He played out the favourite game of traitors;
+and no doubt hoped, when he had consolidated his own power, that he
+could easily expel his foreign allies. Strongbow had not yet arrived,
+though the winds had been long enough "at east and easterly."[279] His
+appearance was still delayed. The fact was, that the Earl was in a
+critical position. Henry and his barons were never on the most amiable
+terms; and there were some very special reasons why Strongbow should
+prove no exception to the rule.
+
+The first member of the Earl's family who had settled in England, was
+Richard, son of the Norman Earl Brien, a direct descendant of Robert
+"the Devil," Duke of Normandy, father of William the Conqueror. In
+return for services at the battle of Hastings, and general assistance in
+conquering the Saxon, this family obtained a large grant of land in
+England, and took the title of Earl of Clare from one of their
+ninety-five lordships in Suffolk.[280] The Strongbow family appears to
+have inherited a passion for making raids on neighbouring lands, from
+their Viking ancestors. Strongbow's father had obtained his title of
+Earl of Pembroke, and his property in the present county of that name,
+from his successful marauding expedition in Wales, in 1138. But as he
+revolted against Stephen, his lands were seized by that king; and after
+his death, in 1148, his son succeeded to his very numerous titles,
+without any property commensurate thereto. Richard was not in favour
+with his royal master, who probably was jealous of the Earl, despite his
+poverty; but as Strongbow did not wish to lose the little he had in
+England, or the chance of obtaining more in Ireland, he proceeded at
+once to the court, then held in Normandy, and asked permission for his
+new enterprise. Henry's reply was so carefully worded, he could declare
+afterwards that he either had or had not given the permission, whichever
+version of the interview might eventually prove most convenient to the
+royal interests. Strongbow took the interpretation which suited his own
+views, and proceeded to the scene of action with as little delay as
+possible. He arrived in Ireland, according to the most generally
+received account, on the vigil of St. Bartholomew, A.D. 1170, and landed
+at Dundonnell, near Waterford. His uncle, Hervey de Montmarisco, had
+already arrived, and established himself in a temporary fort, where he
+had been attacked by the brave citizens of Wexford. But the besieged
+maintained their position, killed five hundred men, and made prisoners
+of seventy of the principal citizens of Waterford. Large sums of money
+were offered for their ransom, but in vain. They were brutally murdered
+by the English soldiers, who first broke their limbs, and then hurled
+them from a precipice into the sea. It was the first instalment of the
+utterly futile theory, so often put in practice since that day, of
+"striking terror into the Irish;" and the experiment was quite as
+unsuccessful as all such experiments have ever been.[281]
+
+While these cruelties were enacting, Strongbow had been collecting
+forces in South Wales; but, as he was on the very eve of departure, he
+received a peremptory order from Henry, forbidding him to leave the
+kingdom. After a brief hesitation, he determined to bid defiance to the
+royal mandate, and set sail for Ireland. The day after his arrival he
+laid siege to Waterford. The citizens behaved like heroes, and twice
+repulsed their assailants; but their bravery could not save them in the
+face of overpowering numbers. A breach was made in the wall; the
+besiegers poured in; and a merciless massacre followed. Dermod arrived
+while the conflict was at its height, and for once he has the credit of
+interfering on the side of mercy. Reginald, a Danish lord, and O'Phelan,
+Prince of the Deisi, were about to be slain by their captors, but at his
+request they were spared, and the general carnage was suspended. For the
+sake of common humanity, one could wish to think that this was an act of
+mercy. But Mac Murrough had his daughter Eva with him; he wished to have
+her nuptials with Strongbow celebrated at once; and he could scarcely
+accomplish his purpose while men were slaying their fellows in a
+cold-blooded massacre. The following day the nuptials were performed.
+The English Earl, a widower, and long past the prime of manhood, was
+wedded to the fair young Celtic maiden; and the marriage procession
+passed lightly over the bleeding bodies of the dying and the dead. Thus
+commenced the union between Great Britain and Ireland: must those
+nuptials be for ever celebrated in tears and blood?
+
+Immediately after the ceremony, the army set out for Dublin. Roderic had
+collected a large force near Clondalkin, and Hosculf, the Danish
+governor of the city, encouraged by their presence, had again revolted
+against Dermod. The English army having learned that the woods and
+defiles between Wexford and Dublin were well guarded, had made forced
+marches along the mountains, and succeeded in reaching the capital long
+before they were expected. Their decision and military skill alarmed the
+inhabitants--they might also have heard reports of the massacres at
+Wexford; be this as it may, they determined to negotiate for peace, and
+commissioned their illustrious Archbishop, St. Laurence O'Toole, to make
+terms with Dermod. While the discussion was pending, two of the English
+leaders, Raymond _le Gros_ and Miles de Cogan, obtained an entrance into
+the city, and commenced a merciless butchery of the inhabitants. When
+the saint returned he heard cries of misery and groans of agony in all
+quarters, and it was not without difficulty that he succeeded in
+appeasing the fury of the soldiers, and the rage of the people, who had
+been so basely treated.
+
+[Illustration: Marriage of Eva and Strongbow.]
+
+The Four Masters accuse the people of Dublin of having attempted to
+purchase their own safety at the expense of the national interests, and
+say that "a miracle was wrought against them" as a judgment for their
+selfishness. Hosculf, the Danish governor, fled to the Orkneys, with
+some of the principal citizens, and Roderic withdrew his forces to
+Meath, to support O'Rourke, on whom he had bestowed a portion of that
+territory. Miles de Cogan was invested with the government of Dublin,
+and Dermod marched to Meath, to attack Roderic and O'Rourke, against
+whom he had an old grudge of the worst and bitterest kind. He had
+injured him by carrying off his wife, Dervorgil, and men generally hate
+most bitterly those whom they have injured most cruelly.
+
+Meanwhile MacCarthy of Desmond had attacked and defeated the English
+garrison at Waterford, but without any advantageous results. Roderic's
+weakness now led him to perpetrate an act of cruelty, although it could
+scarcely be called unjust according to the ideas of the times. It will
+be remembered that he had received hostages from Dermod for the treaty
+of Ferns. That treaty had been openly violated, and the King sent
+ambassadors to him to demand its fulfilment, by the withdrawal of the
+English troops, threatening, in case of refusal, to put the hostages to
+death. Dermod laughed at the threat. Under any circumstances, he was not
+a man who would hesitate to sacrifice his own flesh and blood to his
+ambition. Roderic was as good as his word; and the three royal hostages
+were put to death at Athlone.
+
+An important synod was held at the close of this year (A.D. 1170), at
+Armagh. We have already mentioned one of its principal enactments, which
+deplored and condemned the practice of buying English slaves from the
+Bristol merchants. Other subjects shall be more fully entertained when
+we come to the Synod of Cashel, which was held two years later.
+
+In 1171 Dermod MacMurrough, the author of so many miseries, and the
+object of so much just reprobation, died at Ferns, on the 4th of May.
+His miserable end was naturally considered a judgment for his evil life.
+His obituary is thus recorded: "Diarmaid Mac Murchadha, King of
+Leinster, by whom a trembling soil was made of all Ireland, after having
+brought over the Saxons, after having done extensive injuries to the
+Irish, after plundering and burning many churches, as Ceanannus,
+Cluain-Iraired, &c., died before the end of a year [after this
+plundering], of an insufferable and unknown disease; for he became
+putrid while living, through the miracle of God, Colum-cille, and
+Finnen, and the other saints of Ireland, whose churches he had profaned
+and burned some time before; and he died at Fearnamor, without [making]
+a will, without penance, without the body of Christ, without unction, as
+his evil deeds deserved."[282]
+
+But the death of the traitor could not undo the traitor's work. Men's
+evil deeds live after them, however they may repent them on their
+deathbeds. Strongbow had himself at once proclaimed King of
+Leinster--his marriage with Eva was the ground of his claim; but though
+such a mode of succession might hold good in Normandy, it was perfectly
+illegal in Ireland. The question, however, was not one of right but of
+might, and it was settled as all such questions invariably are. But
+Strongbow had a master at the other side of the Channel, who had his own
+views of these complications. His tenure, however, was somewhat
+precarious. His barons, always turbulent, had now a new ground for
+aggression, in the weakness to which he had exposed himself by his
+virtual sanction of the murder of St. Thomas of Canterbury, and he was
+fain to content himself with a strong injunction commanding all his
+English subjects then in Ireland to return immediately, and forbidding
+any further reinforcements to be sent to that country. Strongbow was
+alarmed, and at once despatched Raymond _le Gros_ with apologies and
+explanations, offering the King all the lands he had acquired in
+Ireland. Henry does not appear to have taken the slightest notice of
+these communications, and the Earl determined to risk his displeasure,
+and remain in Ireland.
+
+His prospects, however, were by no means promising. His Irish adherents
+forsook him on the death of Dermod; Dublin was besieged by a
+Scandinavian force, which Hosculf had collected in the Orkneys, and
+which was conveyed in sixty vessels, under the command of Johan _le
+Deve_ (the Furious). Miles de Cogan repulsed this formidable attack
+successfully, and captured the leaders. Hosculf was put to death; but he
+appears to have brought his fate on himself by a proud and incautious
+boast.
+
+At this period the thoughtful and disinterested Archbishop of Dublin saw
+a crisis in the history of his country on which much depended. He
+endeavoured to unite the national chieftains, and rally the national
+army. His words appear to have had some effect. Messengers were sent to
+ask assistance from Godfred, King of the Isle of Man, and other island
+warriors. Strongbow became aware of his danger, and threw himself into
+Dublin; but he soon found himself landlocked by an army, and enclosed at
+sea by a fleet. Roderic O'Connor commanded the national forces,
+supported by Tiernan O'Rourke and Murrough O'Carroll. St. Laurence
+O'Toole remained in the camp, and strove to animate the men by his
+exhortations and example. The Irish army contented themselves with a
+blockade, and the besieged were soon reduced to extremities from want of
+food. Strongbow offered terms of capitulation through the Archbishop,
+proposing to hold the kingdom of Leinster as Roderic's vassal; but the
+Irish monarch demanded the surrender of the towns of Dublin, Wexford,
+and Waterford, and required the English invaders to leave the country by
+a certain day.
+
+While these negotiations were pending, Donnell Cavanagh, son of the late
+King of Leinster, got into the city in disguise, and informed Strongbow
+that FitzStephen was closely besieged in Wexford. It was then at once
+determined to force a passage through the Irish army. Raymond _le Gros_
+led the van, Miles de Cogan followed; Strongbow and Maurice FitzGerald,
+who had proposed the sortie, with the remainder of their force, brought
+up the rere. The Irish army was totally unprepared for this sudden move;
+they fled in panic, and Roderic, who was bathing in the Liffey, escaped
+with difficulty.[283]
+
+Strongbow again committed the government of Dublin to Miles de Cogan,
+and set out for Wexford. On his way thither he was opposed by O'Regan,
+Prince of Idrone. An action ensued, which might have terminated fatally
+for the army, had not the Irish prince received his death-wound from an
+English archer. His troops took to flight, and Strongbow proceeded on
+his journey. But he arrived too late. Messengers met him on the way, to
+inform him that the fort of Carrig had fallen into the hands of the
+Irish, who are said to have practised an unjustifiable stratagem to
+obtain possession of the place. As usual, there are two versions of the
+story. One of these versions, which appears not improbable, is that the
+besieged had heard a false report of the affair in Dublin; and believing
+Strongbow and the English army to have been overthrown, they surrendered
+on the promise of being sent in safety to Dublin. On their surrender,
+the conditions were violated, FitzStephen was imprisoned, and some of
+his followers killed. The charge against the besiegers is that they
+invented the report as a stratagem to obtain their ends, and that the
+falsehood was confirmed in a solemn manner by the bishops of Wexford and
+Kildare.
+
+As soon as the Wexford men had heard of Strongbow's approach, they set
+fire to the town, and fled to Beg-Erin, a stockaded island, at the same
+time sending him a message, that, if he attempted to approach, they
+would kill all their prisoners. The Earl withdrew to Waterford in
+consequence of this threat, and here he learned that his presence was
+indispensable in England; he therefore set off at once to plead his own
+cause with his royal master. A third attack had been made on Dublin, in
+the meantime, by the Lord of Breffni, but it was repulsed by Miles. With
+this exception, the Irish made no attempt against the common enemy, and
+domestic wars were as frequent as usual.
+
+Henry had returned to England, and was now in Newenham, in
+Gloucestershire, making active preparations for his visit to Ireland.
+The odium into which he had fallen, after his complicity in the murder
+of St. Thomas of Canterbury, had rendered his position perilous in the
+extreme; and probably his Irish expedition would never have been
+undertaken, had he not required some such object to turn his thoughts
+and the thoughts of his subjects from the consequences of his
+crime.[284] He received Strongbow coldly, and at first refused him an
+interview. After a proper delay, he graciously accepted the Earl's offer
+of "all the lands he had won in Ireland"--a very questionable gift,
+considering that there was not an inch of ground there which he could
+securely call his own. Henry, however, was pleased to restore his
+English estates; but, with consummate hypocrisy and villany, he seized
+the castles of the Welsh lords, whom he hated for their vigorous and
+patriotic opposition, and punished them for allowing the expedition,
+which he had just sanctioned, to sail from their coasts unmolested.
+
+[Illustration: THE LOGAN STONE, KILLARNEY.]
+
+[Illustration: ANCIENT IRISH BROOCH.[285]]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[273] _Merchants_.--Wright says that "theft and unfair dealing" were
+fearfully prevalent among the Anglo-Normans, and mentions, as an
+example, how some Irish merchants were robbed who came to Ely to sell
+their wares.--_Domestic Manners_, p. 78. It would appear that there was
+considerable slave-trade carried on with the British merchants. The
+Saxons, who treated their dependents with savage cruelty (see Wright, p.
+56), sold even their children as slaves to the Irish. In 1102 this
+inhuman traffic was forbidden by the Council of London. Giraldus
+Cambrensis mentions that, at a synod held at Armagh, A.D. 1170, the
+Irish clergy, who had often forbidden this trade, pronounced the
+invasion of Ireland by Englishmen to be a just judgment on the Irish for
+their share in the sin, and commanded that all who had English slaves
+should at once set them free. Mr. Haverty remarks, that it was a curious
+and characteristic coincidence, that an Irish deliberative assembly
+should thus, by an act of humanity to Englishmen, have met the merciless
+aggressions which the latter had just then commenced against this
+country.--_Hist. of Ireland_, p. 169.
+
+[274] _Nesta_.--David Powell, in his notes to the _Itinerary of
+Cambria_, states that this lady was a daughter of Rufus, Prince of
+Demetia. She was distinguished for her beauty, and infamous for her
+gallantries. She had a daughter by Gerald of Windsor, called Augweth,
+who was mother to Giraldus Cambrensis. This relationship accounts for
+the absurd eulogiums which he has lavished on the Geraldines. Demetia is
+the district now called Pembrokeshire, where a colony of Normans
+established themselves after the Norman Conquest.--See Thierry's _Norman
+Conquest_.
+
+[275] _Men-at-arms_.--_Hibernia Expugnata_, lib. i. c. 16.
+
+[276] _Bargy_.--Our illustration gives a view of the remains of this
+ancient castle. It was formerly the residence of Bagenal Harvey, a
+Protestant gentleman, who suffered in the rebellion of 1798, for his
+adherence to the cause of Ireland.
+
+[277] _Flemings_.--Dr. O'Donovan mentions, in a note to the Four
+Masters, that he was particularly struck with the difference between the
+personal appearance of the inhabitants of the baronies where they
+settled. The Cavanaghs and Murphys are tall and slight; the Flemings and
+Codds short and stout. They still retain some peculiarities of language.
+
+[278] _Rule_.--What the rule of this ferocious monster may have been we
+can judge from what is related of him by Cambrensis. Three hundred heads
+of the slain were piled up before him; and as he leaped and danced with
+joy at the ghastly sight, he recognized a man to whom he had a more than
+ordinary hatred. He seized the head by the ears, and gratified his
+demoniacal rage by biting off the nose and lips of his dead enemy.
+
+[279] _Easterly_.--Cambrensis takes to himself the credit of having
+advised the despatch of a letter to Strongbow. He also gives us the
+letter, which probably was his own composition, as it is written in the
+same strain of bombast as his praises of his family.--_Hib. Expug_. lib.
+i. c. 12. It commences thus: "We have watched the storks and swallows;
+the summer birds are come and gone," &c. We imagine that Dermod's style,
+if he had taken to epistolary correspondence, would have been rather a
+contrast.
+
+[280] _Suffolk_.--See Gilbert's _Viceroys of Dublin, passim_. We
+recommend this work to our readers. It should be in the hands of every
+Irishman at least. It combines the attraction of romance with the
+accuracy of carefully written history.
+
+[281] _Been_.--If we are to believe Cambrensis, Raymond argued against
+this cruelty, and Henry in favour of it.
+
+[282] _Deserved_.--The Annals of Clonmacnois give a similar account;
+but in a paper MS. in Trinity College, Dublin, it is said that he died
+"after the victory of penance and unction." The old account is probably
+the more reliable, as it is the more consonant with his previous career.
+
+[283] _Difficulty_.--The army was so well supplied, that the English got
+sufficient corn, meal, and pork to victual the city of Dublin for a
+whole year.--Harris' _Hibernae_, p. 25.
+
+[284] _Crime_.--So fearful was the unfortunate monarch of a public
+excommunication and interdict, that he sent courtiers at once to Rome to
+announce his submission. When he heard of the murder he shut himself up
+for three days, and refused all food, except "milk of almonds." See
+_Vita Quadrip_. p. 143. It would appear this was a favourite beverage,
+from the amount of almonds which were brought to Ireland for his special
+benefit. See p. 272.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+Arrival of Henry II.--Some of the Native Princes pay him Homage--His
+Character--Dublin in the time of Henry II.--His Winter Palace--Norman
+Luxuries--King Henry holds a Court--Adrian's Bull--Temporal Power of the
+Popes in the Middle Ages--Conduct of the Clergy--Irish Property given to
+English Settlers--Henry II. returns to England--The Account Cambrensis
+gives of the Injuries done to Ireland by his Countrymen--Raymond,
+Montmarisco, and Strongbow--The latter is defeated--He recalls Raymond
+from Wales--Treaty between Roderic and Henry--Death of Strongbow.
+
+[A.D. 1171-1176.]
+
+
+[Illustration: H]
+
+Henry landed in Ireland on the 18th of October, 1171, at Crook, in the
+county of Waterford. He was accompanied by Strongbow, William
+FitzAldelm, Humphrey de Bohun, Hugh de Lacy, Robert FitzBarnard, and
+many other lords. His whole force, which, according to the most
+authentic English accounts, was distributed in four hundred ships,
+consisted of 500 knights and 4,000 men-at-arms. It would appear the
+Irish had not the least idea that he intended to claim the kingdom as
+his own, and rather looked upon him as a powerful potentate who had come
+to assist the native administration of justice. Even had they suspected
+his real object, no opposition might have been made to it. The nation
+had suffered much from domestic dissension; it had yet to learn that
+foreign oppression was an incomparable greater evil.
+
+If a righteous king or a wise statesman had taken the affair in hand,
+Ireland might have been made an integral and most valuable portion of
+the British Empire without a struggle. The nation would have bowed
+gratefully to an impartial government; they have not yet ceased to
+resent a partial and frequently unjust rule. From the very commencement,
+the aggrandizement of the individual, and not the advantage of the
+people, has been the rule of action. Such government is equally
+disgraceful to the rulers, and cruel to the governed.
+
+MacCarthy of Desmond was the first Irish prince who paid homage to the
+English King. At Cashel, Donnell O'Brien, King of Thomond, swore fealty,
+and surrendered the city of Limerick. Other princes followed their
+example. The "pomp and circumstance" of the royal court, attracted the
+admiration of a people naturally deferential to authority; the
+condescension and apparent disinterestedness of the monarch, won the
+hearts of an impulsive and affectionate race. They had been accustomed
+to an Ard-Righ, a chief monarch, who, in name at least, ruled all the
+lesser potentates: why should not Henry be such to them? and why should
+they suppose that he would exercise a tyranny as yet unknown in the
+island?
+
+The northern princes still held aloof; but Roderic had received Henry's
+ambassadors personally, and paid the usual deference which one king owed
+to another who was considered more powerful. Henry determined to spend
+his Christmas in Dublin, and resolved on a special display of royal
+state. It is to be presumed that he wished to make up for deficiency in
+stateliness of person by stateliness of presence; for, like most of the
+descendants of Duke Robert "the Devil" and the daughter of the Falaise
+tanner, his appearance was not calculated to inspire respect. His grey
+bloodshot eyes and tremulous voice, were neither knightly nor kingly
+qualifications; his savage and ungovernable temper, made him appear at
+times rather like a demon than a man. He was charged with having
+violated the most solemn oaths when it suited his convenience. A
+cardinal had pronounced him an audacious liar. Count Thiebault of
+Champagne had warned an archbishop not to rely on any of his promises,
+however sacredly made. He and his sons spent their time quarrelling with
+each other, when not occupied in quarrelling with their subjects. His
+eldest son, Richard, thus graphically sketched the family
+characteristics:--"The custom in our family is that the son shall hate
+the father; our destiny is to detest each other; from the devil we came,
+to the devil we shall go." And the head of this family had now come to
+reform the Irish, and to improve their condition--social, secular, and
+ecclesiastical!
+
+A special residence was erected for the court on part of the ground now
+occupied by the southern side of Dame-street. The whole extent of Dublin
+at that time was, in length, from Corn Market to the Lower Castle Yard;
+and in breadth, from the Liffey, then covering Essex-street, to Little
+Sheep-street, now Ship-street, where a part of the town wall is yet
+standing.[286] The only edifices in existence on the southern side of
+Dame-street, even at the commencement of the seventeenth century, were
+the Church of St. Andrew and the King's Mills.[287] College-green was
+then quite in the country, and was known as the village of _Le Hogges_,
+a name that is apparently derived from the Teutonic word _Hoge_, which
+signifies a small hill or sepulchral mound. Here there was a nunnery
+called St. Mary le Hogges, which had been erected or endowed not many
+years before Henry's arrival, and a place called Hoggen's Butt, where
+the citizens exercised themselves in archery. Here, during the winter of
+1171, the Celt, the Saxon, and the Norman, may have engaged in peaceful
+contests and pleasant trials of skill.
+
+Henry's "winter palace" was extemporized with some artistic taste. It
+was formed of polished osiers. Preparations had been made on an
+extensive scale for the luxuries of the table--a matter in which the
+Normans had greatly the advantage of either Celt or Saxon. The use of
+crane's flesh was introduced into Ireland for the first time, as well as
+that of herons, peacocks,[288] swans, and wild geese. Almonds had been
+supplied already by royal order in great abundance; wine was purchased
+in Waterford, even now famous for its trade with Spain in that
+commodity. Nor had the King's physician forgotten the King's health; for
+we find a special entry amongst the royal disbursements of the sum of
+L10 7s., paid to Josephus Medicus for spices and electuaries. Yet
+Henri-curt-mantel[289] was careful of his physical well-being, and
+partook but sparingly of these luxuries. Fearing his tendency to
+corpulency, he threw the short cloak of his native Anjou round him at an
+earlier hour in the morning than suited the tastes of his courtiers, and
+took exercise either on horseback or on foot, keeping in constant motion
+all day.
+
+When the Christmas festivities had passed, Henry turned his attention to
+business, if, indeed, the same festivities had not also been a part of
+his diplomatic plans, for he was not deficient in kingcraft. In a synod
+at Cashel he attempted to settle ecclesiastical affairs. In a _Curia
+Regis_, held at Lismore, he imagined he had arranged temporal affairs.
+These are subjects which demand our best consideration. It is an
+historical fact, that the Popes claimed and exercised great temporal
+power in the middle ages; it is admitted also that they used this power
+in the main for the general good;[290] and that, as monks and friars
+were the preservers of literature, so popes and bishops were the
+protectors of the rights of nations, as far as was possible in such
+turbulent times. It does not belong to our present subject to theorize
+on the origin or the grounds[291] of this power; it is sufficient to say
+that it had been exercised repeatedly both before and after Adrian
+granted the famous Bull, by which he conferred the kingdom of Ireland on
+Henry II. The Merovingian dynasty was changed on the decision of Pope
+Zachary. Pope Adrian threatened Frederick I., that if he did not
+renounce all pretensions to ecclesiastical property in Lombardy, he
+should forfeit the crown, "received from himself and through his
+unction." When Pope Innocent III. pronounced sentence of deposition
+against Lackland in 1211, and conferred the kingdom of England on Philip
+Augustus, the latter instantly prepared to assert his claim, though he
+had no manner of title, except the Papal grant.[292] In fact, at the
+very moment when Henry was claiming the Irish crown in right of Adrian's
+Bull, given some years previously, he was in no small trepidation at the
+possible prospect of losing his English dominions, as an excommunication
+and an interdict were even then hanging over his head. Political and
+polemical writers have taken strangely perverted views of the whole
+transaction. One writer,[293] with apparently the most genuine
+impartiality, accuses the Pope, the King, and the Irish prelates of the
+most scandalous hypocrisy. A cursory examination of the question might
+have served to prove the groundlessness of this assertion. The Irish
+clergy, he asserts--and his assertion is all the proof he
+gives--betrayed their country for the sake of tithes. But tithes had
+already been enacted, and the Irish clergy were very far from conceding
+Henry's claims in the manner which some historians are pleased to
+imagine.
+
+It has been already shown that the possession of Ireland was coveted at
+an early period by the Norman rulers of Great Britain. When Henry II.
+ascended the throne in 1154, he probably intended to take the matter in
+hands at once. An Englishman, Adrian IV., filled the Papal chair. The
+English monarch would naturally find him favourable to his own country.
+John of Salisbury, then chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury, was
+commissioned to request the favour. No doubt he represented his master
+as very zealous for the interests of religion, and made it appear that
+his sole motive was the good, temporal and spiritual, of the barbarous
+Irish; at least this is plainly implied in Adrian's Bull.[294] The Pope
+could have no motive except that which he expressed in the document
+itself. He had been led to believe that the state of Ireland was
+deplorable; he naturally hoped that a wise and good government would
+restore what was amiss. There is no doubt that there was much which
+required amendment, and no one was more conscious of this, or strove
+more earnestly to effect it, than the saintly prelate who governed the
+archiepiscopal see of Dublin. The Irish clergy had already made the most
+zealous efforts to remedy whatever needed correction; but it was an age
+of lawless violence. Reform was quite as much wanted both in England and
+in the Italian States; but Ireland had the additional disadvantage of
+having undergone three centuries of ruthless plunder and desecration of
+her churches and shrines, and the result told fearfully on that land
+which had once been the home of saints.
+
+Henry's great object was to represent himself as one who had come to
+redress grievances rather than to claim allegiance; but however he may
+have deceived princes and chieftains, he certainly did not succeed in
+deceiving the clergy. The Synod of Cashel, which he caused to be
+convened, was not attended as numerously as he had expected, and the
+regulations made thereat were simply a renewal of those which had been
+made previously. The Primate of Ireland was absent, and the prelates who
+assembled there, far from having enslaved the State to Henry, avoided
+any interference in politics either by word or act. It has been well
+observed, that, whether "piping or mourning," they are not destined to
+escape. Their office was to promote peace. So long as the permanent
+peace and independence of the nation seemed likely to be forwarded by
+resistance to foreign invasion, they counselled resistance; when
+resistance was hopeless, they recommended acquiescence, not because they
+believed the usurpation less unjust, but because they considered
+submission the wisest course. But the Bull of Adrian had not yet been
+produced; and Henry's indifference about this document, or his
+reluctance to use it, shows of how little real importance it was
+considered at the time. One fearful evil followed from this Anglo-Norman
+invasion. The Irish clergy had hitherto been distinguished for the high
+tone of their moral conduct; the English clergy, unhappily, were not so
+rich in this virtue, and their evil communication had a most injurious
+effect upon the nation whom it was supposed they should be so eminently
+capable of benefiting.
+
+Henry did not succeed much better with his administration of secular
+affairs. In his _Curia Regis_, at Lismore, he modelled Irish
+administration on Norman precedents, apparently forgetting that a
+kingdom and a province should be differently governed. Strongbow was
+appointed Earl Marshal; Hugh de Lacy, Lord Constable; Bertram de Verdun,
+Seneschal; Theobald Walter, Chief Butler; and De Wellesley, Royal
+Standard-bearer. It was also arranged that, on the demise of a Chief
+Governor, the Norman nobles were to elect a successor, who should have
+full authority, until the royal pleasure could be known. Henry did not
+then attempt to style himself King or Lord of Ireland; his object seems
+to have been simply to obtain authority in the country through his
+nobles, as Wales had been subdued in a similar manner. English laws and
+customs were also introduced for the benefit of English settlers; the
+native population still adhered to their own legal observances. Henry
+again forgot that laws must be suited to the nation for whom they are
+made, and that Saxon rules were as little likely to be acceptable to the
+Celt, as his Norman tongue to an English-speaking people.
+
+Dublin was now made over to the inhabitants of Bristol. Hugh de Lacy,
+its governor, has been generally considered in point of fact the first
+Viceroy for Ireland. He was installed in the Norman fashion, and the
+sword and cap of maintenance were made the insignia of the dignity.
+Waterford and Wexford were also bestowed on royal favourites, or on such
+knights as were supposed most likely to hold them for the crown. Castles
+were erected throughout the country, which was portioned out among
+Henry's needy followers; and, for the first time in Ireland, a man was
+called a rebel if he presumed to consider his house or lands as his own
+property.
+
+The winter had been so stormy that there was little communication with
+England; but early in spring the King received the portentous
+intelligence of the arrival of Papal Legates in Normandy, and learned
+that they threatened to place his dominions under an interdict, if he
+did not appear immediately to answer for his crime. Queen Eleanor and
+his sons were also plotting against him, and there were many who boldly
+declared that the murder of the Archbishop of Canterbury would yet be
+fearfully avenged. Henry determined at once to submit to the Holy See,
+and to avert his doom by a real or pretended penitence. He therefore
+sailed for England from Wexford Harbour, on Easter Monday, the 17th of
+April, 1172, and arrived the same day at Port Finnen, in Wales. We give
+the testimony of Cambrensis, no friend to Ireland, to prove that neither
+clergy nor laity benefited by the royal visit. He thus describes the
+inauguration of that selfish system of plunder and devastation, to which
+Ireland has been subjected for centuries--a system which prefers the
+interests of the few to the rights of the many, and then scoffs bitterly
+at the misery it has created: "The clergy are reduced to beggary in the
+island; the cathedral churches mourn, having been deprived, by the
+aforesaid persons [the leading adventurers], and others along with them,
+or who came over after them, of the lands and ample estates which had
+been formerly granted to them faithfully and devoutly. And thus the
+exalting of the Church has been changed into the despoiling or
+plundering of the Church." Nor is his account of the temporal state of
+the kingdom any better. He informs us that Dermod Mac Murrough, the
+originator of all those evils, "oppressed his nobles, exalted upstarts,
+was a calamity to his countrymen, hated by the strangers, and, in a
+word, at war with the world." Of the Anglo-Norman nobles, who, it will
+be remembered, were his own relatives, and of their work, he writes
+thus: "This new and bloody conquest was defiled by an enormous effusion
+of blood, and the slaughter of a Christian people." And again: "The
+lands even of the Irish who stood faithful to our cause, from the first
+descent of FitzStephen and the Earl, you have, in violation of a treaty,
+made over to your friends."[295] His character of Henry is, that he was
+more given to "hunting than to holiness."
+
+The English monarch, however, could assume an appearance of most
+profound humility and the deepest piety, when it suited his convenience.
+He excelled himself in this department by his submission to the Holy
+See, when he found that submission alone could save his crown.
+
+The Lord of Breffni had been one of Henry's favourite guests at his
+Christmas festivities. He possessed the territory of East Meath, and
+this territory Henry had coolly bestowed on Hugh de Lacy.[296] The
+rightful owner was not quite so dazzled by the sunshine of royal favour,
+as to be willing to resign his property without a struggle. The Irish
+chieftain, whose name was Tiernan O'Rourke, was persuaded to hold a
+conference with the English usurper at the Hill of Tara, near Athboy.
+Both parties were attended by armed men. A dispute ensued. The
+interpreter was killed by a blow aimed at De Lacy, who fled
+precipitately; O'Rourke was killed by a spear-thrust as he mounted his
+horse, and vengeance was wreaked on his dead body, for the crime of
+wishing to maintain his rights, by subjecting it to decapitation. His
+head was impaled over the gate of Dublin Castle, and afterwards sent as
+a present to Henry II. His body was gibbeted, with the feet upwards, on
+the northern side of the same building.[297] The Four Masters say that
+O'Rourke was treacherously slain. From the account given by Cambrensis,
+it would appear that there was a plot to destroy the aged chieftain, but
+for want of clearer evidence we may give his enemies the benefit of the
+doubt.
+
+Strongbow was now employing himself by depredating the territories which
+had been conferred on him. He took an army of 1,000 horse and foot into
+Offaly, to lay waste O'Dempsey's territory, that prince having also
+committed the crime of wishing to keep his ancestral estates. He met
+with no opposition until he was about to return with the spoils; then,
+as he passed through a defile, the chieftain set upon him in the rear,
+and slew several of his knights, carrying off the Norman standard.
+Robert de Quincey, who had just married a daughter of Strongbow's by a
+former marriage, was amongst the slain. The Earl had bestowed a large
+territory in Wexford on him.
+
+Henry was at that time suffering from domestic troubles in Normandy; he
+therefore summoned De Clare to attend him there. It would appear that he
+performed good service for his royal master, for he received further
+grants of lands and castles, both in Normandy and in Ireland. On his
+return to the latter country, he found that the spoilers had quarrelled
+over the spoil. Raymond _le Gros_ contrived to ingratiate himself with
+the soldiers, and they demanded that the command should be transferred
+from Hervey de Montmarisco, Strongbow's uncle, to the object of their
+predilection. The Earl was obliged to comply. Their object was simply to
+plunder. The new general gratified them; and after a raid on the
+unfortunate inhabitants of Offaly and Munster, they collected their
+booty at Lismore, intending to convey it by water to Waterford.
+
+The Ostmen of Cork attacked them by sea, but failed to conquer. By land
+the Irish suffered another defeat. Raymond encountered MacCarthy of
+Desmond on his way to Cork, and plundered him, driving off a rich cattle
+spoil, in addition to his other ill-gotten goods. Raymond now demanded
+the appointment of Constable of Leinster, and the hand of Strongbow's
+sister, Basilia. But the Earl refused; and the general, notwithstanding
+his successes, retired to Wales in disgust.
+
+Hervey now resumed the command, A.D. 1174, and undertook an expedition
+against Donnell O'Brien, which proved disastrous to the English. Roderic
+once more appears in the field. The battle took place at Thurles, and
+seventeen hundred of the English were slain. In consequence of this
+disaster, the Earl proceeded in sorrow to his house in Waterford.[298]
+This great success was a signal for revolt amongst the native
+chieftains. Donald Cavanagh claimed his father's territory, and
+Gillamochalmog and other Leinster chieftains rose up against their
+allies. Roderic O'Connor at the same time invaded Meath, and drove the
+Anglo-Normans from their castles at Trim and Duleek. Strongbow was
+obliged to despatch messengers at once to invite the return of Raymond
+_le Gros_, and to promise him the office he had demanded, and his
+sister's hand in marriage.
+
+Raymond came without a moment's delay, accompanied by a considerable
+force. His arrival was most opportune for the English cause. The
+Northmen of Waterford were preparing to massacre the invaders, and
+effected their purpose when the Earl left the town to join the new
+reinforcements at Wexford. The nuptials were celebrated at Wexford with
+great pomp; but news was received, on the following morning, that
+Roderic had advanced almost to Dublin; and the mantle and tunic of the
+nuptial feast were speedily exchanged for helmet and coat-of-mail.[299]
+Unfortunately Roderic's army was already disbanded. The English soon
+repaired the injuries which had been done to their fortresses; and once
+more the Irish cause was lost, even in the moment of victory, for want
+of combination and a leader.
+
+Henry now considered it time to produce the Papal Bulls, A.D. 1175. He
+therefore despatched the Prior of Wallingford and William FitzAldelm to
+Waterford, where a synod of the clergy was assembled to hear these
+important documents. The English monarch had contrived to impress the
+Holy See with wonderful ideas of his sanctity, by his penitential
+expiations of his share in the murder of St. Thomas a Becket. It was
+therefore easy for him to procure a confirmation of Adrian's Bull from
+the then reigning Pontiff, Alexander III. The Pope also wrote to
+Christian, the Legate, to the Irish archbishops, and to the King. Our
+historians have not informed us what was the result of this meeting. Had
+the Papal donation appeared a matter of national importance, there can
+be little doubt that it would have excited more attention.
+
+Raymond now led an army to Limerick, to revenge himself on Donnell
+O'Brien, for his defeat at Thurles. He succeeded in his enterprise.
+Several engagements followed, in which the Anglo-Normans were always
+victorious. Roderic now sent ambassadors to Henry II. The persons chosen
+were Catholicus, Archbishop of Tuam; Concors, Abbot of St. Brendan's, in
+Clonfert; and St. Laurence O'Toole, styled quaintly, in the old Saxon
+manner, "Master Laurence." The King and Council received them at
+Windsor. The result of their conference was, that Roderic consented to
+pay homage to Henry, by giving him a hide from every tenth head of
+cattle; Henry, on his part, bound himself to secure the sovereignty of
+Ireland to Roderic, excepting only Dublin, Meath, Leinster, Waterford,
+and Dungarvan. In fact, the English King managed to have the best share,
+made a favour of resigning what he never possessed, and of not keeping
+what he could never have held. This council took place on the octave of
+the feast of St. Michael, A.D. 1175. By this treaty Henry was simply
+acknowledged as a superior feudal sovereign; and had Ireland been
+governed with ordinary justice, the arrangement might have been
+advantageous to both countries.
+
+Roderic was still a king, both nominally and _ipso facto_. He had power
+to judge and depose the petty kings, and they were to pay their tribute
+to him for the English monarch. Any of the Irish who fled from the
+territories of the English barons, were to return; but the King of
+Connaught might compel his own subjects to remain in his land. Thus the
+English simply possessed a colony in Ireland; and this colony, in a few
+years, became still more limited, while throughout the rest of the
+country the Irish language, laws, and usages, prevailed as they had
+hitherto done.
+
+Henry now appointed Augustin, an Irishman, to the vacant see of
+Waterford, and sent him, under the care of St. Laurence, to receive
+consecration from the Archbishop of Cashel, his metropolitan. For a
+century previous to this time, the Bishops of Waterford had been
+consecrated by the Norman Archbishops of Canterbury, with whom they
+claimed kindred.
+
+St. Gelasius died in 1173, and was succeeded in the see of Armagh by
+Connor MacConcoille. This prelate proceeded to Rome very soon after his
+consecration, and was supposed to have died there. When the Most Rev.
+Dr. Dixon, the late Archbishop of Armagh, was visiting Rome, in 1854, he
+ascertained that Connor had died at the Monastery of St. Peter of
+Lemene, near Chambery, in 1176, where he fell ill on his homeward
+journey. His memory is still honoured there by an annual festival on the
+4th of June; another of the many instances that, when the Irish Church
+was supposed to be in a state of general disorder, it had still many
+holy men to stem and subdue the torrent of evil. We shall find, at a
+later period, that several Irish bishops assisted at the Council of
+Lateran.
+
+Dermod MacCarthy's son, Cormac, had rebelled against him, and he was
+unwise enough to ask Raymond's assistance. As usual, the Norman was
+successful; he reinstated the King of Desmond, and received for his
+reward a district in Kerry, where his youngest son, Maurice, became the
+founder of the family of FitzMaurice, and where his descendants, the
+Earls of Lansdowne, still possess immense property.[300] The Irish
+princes were again engaging in disgraceful domestic feuds. Roderic now
+interfered, and, marching into Munster, expelled Donnell O'Brien from
+Thomond.
+
+[Illustration: RAM'S ISLAND, ARMAGH.]
+
+While Raymond was still in Limerick, Strongbow died in Dublin. As it was
+of the highest political importance that his death should be concealed
+until some one was present to hold the reigns of government, his sister,
+Basilia, sent an enigmatical letter[301] to her husband, which certainly
+does no small credit to her diplomatic skill. The messengers were not
+acquainted with the Earl's death; and such of the Anglo-Normans in
+Dublin as were aware of it, had too much prudence to betray the secret.
+Raymond at once set out on his journey. Immediately after his arrival,
+FitzGislebert, Earl de Clare, was interred in the Cathedral of the Holy
+Trinity, now called Christ's Church.
+
+Strongbow has not obtained a flattering character, either from his
+friends or his enemies. Even Cambrensis admits that he was obliged to be
+guided by the plans of others, having neither originality to suggest,
+nor talent to carry out any important line of action.
+
+The Irish annalists call him the greatest destroyer of the clergy and
+laity that came to Ireland since the times of Turgesius (Annals of
+Innisfallen). The Four Masters record his demise thus: "The English Earl
+[_i.e._, Richard] died in Dublin, of an ulcer which had broken out in
+his foot, through the miracles of SS. Brigid and Colum-cille, and of all
+the other saints whose churches had been destroyed by him. He saw, he
+thought, St. Brigid in the act of killing him." Pembridge says he died
+on the 1st of May, and Cambrensis about the 1st of June. His personal
+appearance is not described in very flattering terms;[302] and he has
+the credit of being more of a soldier than a statesman, and not very
+knightly in his manner or bearing.
+
+The Earl de Clare left only one child, a daughter, as heir to his vast
+estates. She was afterwards married to William Marshal, Earl of
+Pembroke. Although Strongbow was a "destroyer" of the native clergy, he
+appears to have been impregnated with the mediaeval devotion for
+establishing religious houses. He founded a priory at Kilmainham for the
+Knights of the Temple, with an alms-house and hospital He was also a
+liberal benefactor to the Church of the Holy Trinity, where he was
+buried.[303]
+
+An impression on green wax of his seal still exists, pendent from a
+charter in the possession of the Earl of Ormonde. The seal bears on the
+obverse a mounted knight, in a long surcoat, with a triangular shield,
+his head covered by a conical helmet, with a nasal. He has a broad,
+straight sword in his right hand. A foot soldier, with the legend,
+"Sigillum Ricardi, Filii Comitis Gilleberti," is on the reverse. The
+last word alone is now legible.
+
+[Illustration: KEIM-AN-EIGH.]
+
+[Illustration: WICKLOW MOUNTAINS.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[285] _Irish Brooch_.--The brooch figured above is of great antiquity.
+It was found in the Ardkillen crannoge, near Strokestown, county
+Roscommon. The original is in the Royal Irish Academy, and is considered
+the finest specimen of bronze workmanship in the collection.
+
+[286] _Standing_.--Four Masters, vol. iii. p. 5, note _m_.
+
+[287] _Mills_.--Dame-street derived its name from a dam or mill-stream
+near it. There was also the gate of Blessed Mary del Dam. The original
+name was preserved until quite recently. In the reign of Charles I. the
+Master of the Rolls had a residence here, which is described as being
+"in a very wholesome air, with a good orchard and garden leading down to
+the water-side."--Gilbert's _Dublin_, vol. ii. p. 264. In fact, the
+residences here were similar to those pleasant places on the Thames,
+once the haunts of the nobility of London.
+
+[288] _Peacocks_.--To serve a peacock with its feathers was one of the
+grandest exploits of mediaeval cookery. It was sown up in its skin after
+it had been roasted, when it was allowed to cool a little. The bird then
+appeared at the last course as if alive. Cream of almonds was also a
+favourite dainty. Indeed, almonds were used in the composition of many
+dishes; to use as many and as various ingredients as possible seeming to
+be the acme of gastronomy. St. Bernard had already loudly condemned the
+_bon vivants_ of the age. His indignation appears to have been
+especially excited by the various methods in which eggs were cooked. But
+even seculars condemned the excesses of Norman luxuries, and declared
+that the knights were loaded with wine instead of steel, and spits
+instead of lances.
+
+[289] _Henri-curt-mantel_.--A soubriquet derived from the short mantle
+he constantly wore.
+
+[290] _Good_.--Even the infidel Voltaire admitted that the Popes
+restrained princes, and protected the people. The Bull _In Coena Domini_
+contained an excommunication against those who should levy new taxes
+upon their estates, or should increase those already existing beyond the
+bounds of right. For further information on this subject, see Balmez,
+_European Civilization, passim._ M. Guizot says: "She [the Church] alone
+resisted the system of castes; she alone maintained the principle of
+equality of competition; she alone called all legitimate superiors to
+the possession of power."--_Hist. Gen. de la Civilization en Europe_,
+Lect. 5.
+
+[291] _Grounds_.--De Maistre and Fenelon both agree in grounding this
+power on constitutional right; but the former also admitted a divine
+right.--De Maistre, _Du Pape_, lib. ii. p. 387.
+
+[292] _Grant_.--See M. Gosselin's _Power of the Popes during the
+Middle Ages_, for further information on this subject.
+
+[293] _Writer_.--_Ireland, Historical and Statistical_.
+
+[294] _Bull_.--There can be no reasonable doubt of the authenticity of
+this document. Baronius published it from the _Codex Vaticanus_; John
+XXII. has annexed it to his brief addresed to Edward II.; and John of
+Salisbury states distinctly, in his _Metalogicus_, that he obtained this
+Bull from Adrian. He grounds the right of donation on the supposed gift
+of the island by Constantine. As the question is one of interest and
+importance, we subjoin the original: "Ad preces meas illustri Regi
+Anglorum Henrico II. concessit (Adrianus) et dedit Hiberniam jure
+haereditario possidendam, sicut literae ipsius testantur in hodiernum
+diem. Nam omnes insulae de jure antiquo ex donatione Constantini,
+qui eam fundavit et dotavit, dicuntur ad Romanam Ecclesiam
+pertinere."--_Metalogicus_, i. 4.
+
+[295] _Friends.--Hib. Expug_. lib. ii. c. 38.
+
+[296] _Hugh de Lacy_.--In a charter executed at Waterford, Henry had
+styled this nobleman "Bailli," a Norman term for a representative of
+royalty. The territory bestowed on him covered 800,000 acres. This was
+something like wholesale plunder.
+
+[297] _Building_.--This was the Danish fortress of Dublin, which
+occupied the greater part of the hill on which the present Castle of
+Dublin stands. See _note,_ Four Masters, vol. iii. p. 5. The Annals say
+this was a "spectacle of intense pity to the Irish." It certainly could
+not have tended to increase their devotion to English rule.
+
+[298] _Waterford_.--The English and Irish accounts of this affair differ
+widely. The Annals of Innisfallen make the number of slain to be only
+seven hundred. MacGeoghegan agrees with the Four Masters.
+
+[299] _Coat-of-mail_.--Costly mantles were then fashionable. Strutt
+informs us that Henry I. had a mantle of fine cloth, lined with black
+sable, which cost L100 of the money of the time--about L1,500 of our
+money. Fairholt gives an illustration of the armour of the time
+(_History of Costume_, p. 74). It was either tegulated or formed of
+chains in rings. The nasal appendage to the helmet was soon after
+discarded, probably from the inconvenient hold it afforded the enemy of
+the wearer in battle. Face-guards were invented soon after.
+
+[300] _Property_.--Maurice FitzGerald died at Wexford in 1179. He is the
+common ancestor of the Earls of Desmond and Kildare, the Knights of
+Glynn, of Kerry, and of all the Irish Geraldines.
+
+[301] _Letter_.--"To Raymond, her most loving lord and husband, his own
+Basilia wishes health as to herself. Know you, my dear lord, that the
+great tooth in my jaw, which was wont to ache so much, is now fallen
+out; wherefore, if you have any love or regard for me, or of yourself,
+you will delay not to hasten hither with all speed."--Gilbert's
+_Viceroys_, p. 40. It is said that this letter was read for Raymond by a
+cleric of his train, so it is presumable that reading and writing were
+not made a part of his education.
+
+[302] _Terms_.--_Hib. Expug._ lib. i. cap. 27.
+
+[303] _Buried_.--The early history of this church is involved in much
+obscurity. It probably owes its origin to the Danes. Cambrensis gives
+some interesting details about it, and mentions several miraculous
+occurrences which caused it to be held in great veneration in his days.
+He specially mentions the case of a young man in the train of Raymond
+_le Gros_, who had robbed him of his greaves, and who had taken a false
+oath before the cross of that church to clear himself. After a short
+absence in England he was compelled to return and confess his guilt, "as
+he felt the weight of the cross continually oppressing him." Strongbow's
+effigy was broken in 1562, but it was repaired in 1570, by Sir Henry
+Sidney. Until the middle of the last century, the Earl's tomb was a
+regularly appointed place for the payment of bonds, rents, and bills of
+exchange. A recumbent statue by his side is supposed to represent his
+son, whom he is said to have cut in two with his sword, for cowardice in
+flying from an engagement. A writer of the seventeenth century, however,
+corrects this error, and says that "Strongbow did no more than run his
+son through the belly, as appears by the monument and the
+chronicle."--Gilbert's _Dublin_, vol. i. p. 113.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+FitzAldelm appointed Viceroy--De Courcy in Ulster--Arrival of Cardinal
+Vivian--Henry II. confers the Title of King of Ireland on his son
+John--Irish Bishops at the Council of Lateran--Death of St. Laurence
+O'Toole--Henry's Rapacity--John Comyn appointed Archbishop of
+Dublin--John's Visit to Ireland--Insolence of his Courtiers--De Lacy's
+Death--Death of Henry II.--Accession of Richard I.--An English
+Archbishop tries to obtain Justice for Ireland--John succeeds to the
+Crown--Cathal Crovderg--Massacres in Connaught--De Courcy's Disgrace and
+Downfall--His Death.
+
+[A.D. 1176-1201.]
+
+
+News of the Earl's death soon reached Henry II., who was then holding
+his court at Valognes, in Normandy. He at once nominated his Seneschal,
+FitzAldelm de Burgo, Viceroy of Ireland, A.D. 1176. The new governor was
+accompanied by John de Courcy, Robert FitzEstevene, and Miles de Cogan.
+Raymond had assumed the reins of government after the death of
+Strongbow, but Henry appears always to have regarded him with jealousy,
+and gladly availed himself of every opportunity of lessening the power
+of one who stood so high in favour with the army. The Viceroy was
+received at Wexford by Raymond, who prudently made a merit of necessity,
+and resigned his charge. It is said that FitzAldelm was much struck by
+his retinue and numerous attendants, all of whom belonged to the same
+family; and that he then and there vowed to effect their ruin. From this
+moment is dated the distrust so frequently manifested by the English
+Government towards the powerful and popular Geraldines.
+
+The new Viceroy was not a favourite with the Anglo-Norman colonists. He
+was openly accused of partiality to the Irish, because he attempted to
+demand justice for them. It is not known whether this policy was the
+result of his own judgment, or a compliance with the wishes of his royal
+master. His conciliatory conduct, whatever may have been its motive, was
+unhappily counteracted by the violence of De Courcy. This nobleman
+asserted that he had obtained a grant of Ulster from Henry II., on what
+grounds it would be indeed difficult to ascertain. He proceeded to make
+good his claim; and, in defiance of the Viceroy's prohibition, set out
+for the north, with a small army of chosen knights and soldiers. His
+friend, Sir Almaric Tristram de Saint Lawrence, was of the number. He
+was De Courcy's brother-in-law, and they had made vows of eternal
+friendship in the famous Cathedral of Rouen. De Courcy is described as a
+man of extraordinary physical strength, of large proportions, shamefully
+penurious, rashly impetuous, and, despite a fair share in the vices of
+the age, full of reverence for the clergy, at least if they belonged to
+his own race. Cambrensis gives a glowing description of his valour, and
+says that "any one who had seen Jean de Courci wield his sword, lopping
+off heads and arms, might well have commended the might of this
+warrior."[304]
+
+De Courcy arrived in Downpatrick in four days. The inhabitants were
+taken by surprise; and the sound of his bugles at daybreak was the first
+intimation they received of their danger. Cardinal Vivian, who had come
+as Legate from Alexander III., had but just arrived at the spot. He did
+his best to promote peace. But neither party would yield; and as the
+demands of the Norman knights were perfectly unreasonable, Vivian
+advised Dunlevy, the chieftain of Ulidia, to have recourse to arms. A
+sharp conflict ensued, in which the English gained the victory,
+principally through the personal bravery of their leader. This battle
+was fought about the beginning of February; another engagement took
+place on the 24th of June, in which the northerns were again
+defeated.[305]
+
+Cardinal Vivian now proceeded to Dublin, where he held a synod. The
+principal enactment referred to the right of sanctuary. During the
+Anglo-Norman wars, the Irish had secured their provisions in the
+churches; and it is said that, in order to starve out the enemy, they
+even refused to sell at any price. It was now decreed that sanctuary
+might be violated to obtain food; but a fair price was to be paid for
+whatever was taken. It is to be feared these conditions were seldom
+complied with. The Abbey of St. Thomas the Martyr was founded in Dublin
+about this time, by FitzAldelm, at the command of Henry II., one of his
+many acts of reparation. The site was the place now called Thomas Court.
+The Viceroy endowed it with a carnucate of land, in the presence of the
+Legate and St. Laurence O'Toole. After the settlement of these affairs,
+Cardinal Vivian passed over to Chester, on his way to Scotland.
+
+One of Roderic O'Connor's sons, Murrough, having rebelled against him,
+Miles de Cogan went to his assistance,--a direct and flagrant violation
+of the treaty of Windsor. At Roscommon the English were joined by the
+unnatural rebel, who guided them through the province. The King was in
+Iar-Connaught, and the allies burned and plundered without mercy, as
+they passed along to Trim. Here they remained three nights; but as the
+people had fled with their cattle and other moveable property into the
+fastnesses, they had not been able to procure any spoil on their march.
+Roderic soon appeared to give them battle; but they were defeated
+without considerable loss. Murrough was taken prisoner by his father,
+and his eyes were put out as a punishment for his rebellion, and to
+prevent a repetition of his treachery.
+
+Another violation of the treaty of Windsor was also perpetrated this
+year, A.D. 1177. Henry II. summoned a council of his prelates and barons
+at Oxford, and solemnly conferred the title of King of Ireland on his
+youngest son, John, then a mere child. A new grant of Meath to Hugh de
+Lacy was made immediately after, in the joint names of Henry II. and
+John. Desmond was also granted to Miles de Cogan, with the exception of
+the city of Cork, which the King reserved to himself. Thomond was
+offered to two English nobles, who declined the tempting but dangerous
+favour. It was then presented to Philip de Bresosa; but though the
+knight was no coward, he fled precipitately, when he discovered, on
+coming in sight of Limerick, that the inhabitants had set it on fire, so
+determined was their resistance to foreign rule. The territory of
+Waterford was granted to Roger le Poer; but, as usual, the city was
+reserved for the royal benefit. In fact, Sir John Davies well observed,
+that "all Ireland was by Henry II. cantonized among ten of the English
+nation; and though they did not gain possession of one-third of the
+kingdom, yet in title they were owners and lords of all, as nothing was
+left to be granted to the natives." He might have said with greater
+truth, that the natives were deprived of everything, as far as it was
+possible to do so, by those who had not the slightest right or title to
+their lands.
+
+Meanwhile De Courcy was plundering the northern provinces. His wife,
+Affreca, was a daughter of Godfrey, King of Man, so that he could secure
+assistance by sea as well as by land. But the tide of fortune was not
+always in his favour. After he had plundered in Louth, he was attacked,
+in the vale of Newry[306] river, by O'Carroll of Oriel and Dunlevy of
+Ulidia. On this occasion he lost four hundred men, many of whom were
+drowned. Soon after he suffered another defeat in Antrim, from O'Flynn.
+The Four Masters say he fled to Dublin; Dr. O'Donovan thinks that we
+should read Downpatrick. The latter part of the name cannot be correctly
+ascertained, as the paper is worn away.
+
+The Irish were, as usual, engaged in domestic dissensions, and the
+English acted as allies on whichever side promised to be most
+advantageous to themselves. The Annals record a great "windstorm" during
+this year, which prostrated oaks, especially at Derry-Columcille, which
+was famous for its forest. They also record the drying up of the river
+Galliv (Galway), "for a period of a natural day. All the articles that
+had been lost in it from the remotest times, as well as its fish, were
+collected by the inhabitants of the fortress, and by the people of the
+country in general."[307]
+
+In 1179 Henry gave the office of Viceroy to De Lacy, and recalled
+FitzAldelm. The new governor employed himself actively in erecting
+castles and oppressing the unfortunate Irish. Cambrensis observes, that
+he "amply enriched himself and his followers by oppressing others with a
+strong hand." Yet he seems to have had some degree of popularity, even
+with the native Irish, for he married a daughter of Roderic O'Connor as
+his second wife. This alliance, for which he had not asked permission,
+and his popularity, excited the jealousy of the English King, who
+deprived him of his office. But he was soon reinstated, although the
+Bishop of Shrewsbury, with the name of counsellor, was set as a spy on
+his actions. These events occurred A.D. 1181. De Lacy's old companion,
+Hervey de Montmarisco, became a monk at Canterbury, after founding the
+Cistercian Monastery of Dunbrody, in the county of Wexford. He died in
+this house, in his seventy-fifth year.
+
+In 1179 several Irish bishops were summoned by Alexander III. to attend
+the third General Council of Lateran. These prelates were, St. Laurence
+of Dublin, O'Duffy of Tuam, O'Brien of Killaloe, Felix of Lismore,
+Augustine of Waterford, and Brictius of Limerick. Usher says[308]
+several other bishops were summoned; it is probable they were unable to
+leave the country, and hence their names have not been given. The real
+state of the Irish Church was then made known to the Holy See; no living
+man could have described it more accurately and truthfully than the
+sainted prelate who had sacrificed himself for so many years for its
+good. Even as the bishops passed through England, the royal jealousy
+sought to fetter them with new restrictions; and they were obliged to
+take an oath that they would not sanction any infringements on Henry's
+prerogatives. St. Malachy was now appointed Legate by the Pope, with
+jurisdiction over the five suffragans, and the possessions attached to
+his see were confirmed to him. As the Bull was directed to Ireland, it
+would appear that he returned there; but his stay was brief, and the
+interval was occupied in endeavouring to repress the vices of the
+Anglo-Norman and Welsh clergy, many of whom were doing serious injury to
+the Irish Church by their immoral and dissolute lives.[309]
+
+Henry now became jealous of the Archbishop, and perhaps was not
+overpleased at his efforts to reform these ecclesiastics. Roderic
+O'Connor had asked St. Laurence to undertake a mission on his behalf to
+the English court; but the King refused to listen to him, and forbid him
+to return to Ireland. After a few weeks' residence at the Monastery of
+Abingdon, in Berkshire, the saint set out for France. He fell ill on his
+journey, in a religious house at Eu, where his remains are still
+preserved. When on his deathbed, the monks asked him to make his will;
+but he exclaimed, "God knows that out of all my revenues I have not a
+single coin to bequeath." With the humility of true sanctity, he was
+heard frequently calling on God for mercy, and using the words of the
+Psalmist, so familiar to ecclesiastics, from their constant perusal of
+the Holy Scriptures. As he was near his end, he was heard exclaiming, in
+his own beautiful mother-tongue: "Foolish people, what will become of
+you? Who will relieve you? Who will heal you?" And well might his
+paternal heart ache for those who were soon to be left doubly orphans,
+and for the beloved nation whose sorrows he had so often striven to
+alleviate.
+
+St. Laurence went to his eternal reward on the 14th of November, 1180.
+He died on the _feria sexta_ at midnight.[310] His obsequies were
+celebrated with great pomp and solemnity, and attended by the Scotch
+Legate, Alexis, an immense concourse of clergy, and many knights and
+nobles. His remains were exposed for some days in the Church of Notre
+Dame, at Eu.
+
+Henry immediately despatched his chaplain, Geoffrey de la Haye, to
+Ireland, not with a royal message of consolation for the national
+calamity, but to sequester the revenues of the archiepiscopal see of
+Dublin. He took care to possess himself of them for a year before he
+would consent to name a successor to the deceased prelate. St. Laurence
+had happily left no funds in store for the royal rapacity; the orphan
+and the destitute had been his bankers. During a year of famine he is
+said to have relieved five hundred persons daily; he also established an
+orphanage, where a number of poor children were clothed and educated.
+The Annals of the Four Masters say he suffered martyrdom in England. The
+mistake arose in consequence of an attempt having been made on his life
+there by a fanatic, which happily did not prove fatal.[311]
+
+The Archbishop of Dublin became an important functionary from this
+period. Henry obtained the election of John Comyn to this dignity, at
+the Monastery of Evesham, in Worcester, and the King granted the
+archiepiscopal estates to him "in barony," by which tenure he and his
+successors in the see were constituted parliamentary barons, and
+entitled to sit in the councils, and hold court in their lordships and
+manors. Comyn, after his election by the clergy of Dublin, proceeded to
+Rome, where he was ordained priest, and subsequently to Veletri, where
+Pope Lucius III. consecrated him archbishop. He then came to Dublin,
+A.D. 1184, where preparations were making for the reception of Henry's
+son, John, who, it will be remembered, he had appointed King of Ireland
+when a mere child.
+
+In 1183 the unfortunate Irish monarch, Roderic, had retired to the Abbey
+of Cong, and left such empty titles as he possessed to his son, Connor.
+De Lacy and De Courcy had occupied themselves alternately in plundering
+and destroying the religious houses which had so long existed, and in
+founding new monasteries with a portion of their ill-gotten gains. It
+would appear that De Lacy built so far on his popularity with the
+Anglo-Normans, as to have aspired to the sovereignty of Ireland,--an
+aspiration which his master soon discovered, and speedily punished. He
+was supplanted by Philip of Worcester, who excelled all his predecessors
+in rapacity and cruelty. Not satisfied with the miseries inflicted on
+Ulster by De Courcy, he levied contributions there by force of arms. One
+of his companions, Hugh Tyrrell, who "remained at Armagh, with his
+Englishmen, during six days and nights, in the middle of Lent,"
+signalized himself by carrying off the property of the clergy of Armagh.
+Amongst other things, he possessed himself of a brewing-pan, which he
+was obliged to abandon on his way, he met so many calamities, which were
+naturally attributed to his sacrilegious conduct.[312]
+
+John was now preparing for his visit to Ireland, and his singularly
+unfelicitous attempt at royalty. It would appear that the Prince wished
+to decline the honour and the expedition; for, as he was on the eve of
+his departure, Eraclius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, arrived in England, to
+enjoin the fulfilment of the King's vow to undertake a crusade to
+Palestine. As Henry had got out of his difficulties, he declined to
+fulfil his solemn engagement, and refused permission to his son, John,
+who threw himself at his father's feet, and implored leave to be his
+substitute. Eraclius then poured forth his indignation upon Henry, with
+all the energetic freedom of the age. He informed him that God would
+punish his impieties--that he was worse than any Saracen; and hinted
+that he might have inherited his wickedness from his grandmother, the
+Countess of Anjou, who was reported to be a witch, and of whom it was
+said that she had flown through the window during the most solemn part
+of Mass, though four squires attempted to hold her.
+
+John sailed from Milford Haven on the evening of Easter Wednesday, 1185.
+He landed with his troops at Waterford, at noon, on the following day.
+His retinue is described as of unusual splendour, and, no doubt, was
+specially appointed to impress the "barbarous" Irish. Gerald Barry, the
+famous Cambrensis, who had arrived in Ireland some little time before,
+was appointed his tutor, in conjunction with Ranulf de Glanville. The
+bitter prejudice of the former against Ireland and the Irish is a matter
+of history, as well as the indefatigable zeal of the latter in pursuit
+of his own interests at the expense of justice.
+
+A retinue of profligate Normans completed the court, whom an English
+authority describes as "great quaffers, lourdens, proud, belly swains,
+fed with extortion and bribery." The Irish were looked upon by these
+worthies as a savage race, only created to be plundered and scoffed at.
+The Normans prided themselves on their style of dress, and, no doubt,
+the Irish costume surprised them. Common prudence, however, might have
+taught them, when the Leinster chieftains came to pay their respects to
+the young Prince, that they should not add insult to injury; for, not
+content with open ridicule, they proceeded to pull the beards of the
+chieftains, and to gibe their method of wearing their hair.
+
+De Lacy has the credit of having done his utmost to render the Prince's
+visit a failure. But his efforts were not necessary. The insolence of
+the courtiers, and the folly of the youth himself, were quite sufficient
+to ruin more promising prospects. In addition to other outrages, the
+Irish had seen their few remaining estates bestowed on the new comers;
+and even the older Anglo-Norman and Welsh settlers were expelled to make
+room for the Prince's favourites--an instalment of the fatal policy
+which made them eventually "more Irish than the Irish." When the colony
+was on the verge of ruin, the young Prince returned to England. He threw
+the blame of his failure on Hugh de Lacy; but the Norman knight did not
+live long enough after to suffer from the accusation.[313] De Lacy was
+killed while inspecting a castle which he had just built on the site of
+St. Columbkille's Monastery at Durrow, in the Queen's county. He was
+accompanied by three Englishmen; as he was in the act of stooping, a
+youth of an ancient and noble family, named O'Meyey, gave him his
+deathblow, severed his head from his body, and then fled with such
+swiftness as to elude pursuit. It is said that he was instigated to
+perform this deed by Sumagh O'Caharnay (the Fox), with whom he now took
+refuge.
+
+The Annals mention this as a "revenge of Colum-cille,"[314] they also
+say that "all Meath was full of his English castles, from the Shannon to
+the sea." Henry at once appointed his son, John, to the Irish
+Viceroyalty, but domestic troubles prevented his plans from being
+carried out. Archbishop Comyn held a synod in Dublin during this year,
+1187; and on the 9th of June the relics of SS. Patrick, Columba, and
+Brigid were discovered, and solemnly entombed anew under the direction
+of Cardinal Vivian, who came to Ireland to perform this function. During
+the year 1188 the Irish continued their usual fatal and miserable
+dissensions; still they contrived to beat the common enemy, and
+O'Muldony drove De Courcy and his troops from Ballysadare. He was again
+attacked in crossing the Curlieu Mountains, and escaped to Leinster with
+considerable loss and difficulty.
+
+In 1189 Henry II. died at Chinon, in Normandy. He expired launching
+anathemas against his sons, and especially against John, as he had just
+discovered that he had joined those who conspired against him. In his
+last moments he was stripped of his garments and jewels, and left naked
+and neglected.
+
+Richard I., who succeeded to the throne, was too much occupied about
+foreign affairs to attend to his own kingdom. He was a brave soldier,
+and as such merits our respect; but he can scarcely be credited as a
+wise king. Irish affairs were committed to the care of John, who does
+not appear to have profited by his former experience. He appointed Hugh
+de Lacy Lord Justice, to the no small disgust of John de Courcy; but it
+was little matter to whom the government of that unfortunate country was
+confided. There were nice distinctions made about titles; for John, even
+when King of England, did not attempt to write himself King of
+Ireland.[315] But there were no nice distinctions about property; for
+the rule seemed to be, that whoever could get it should have it, and
+whoever could keep it should possess it.
+
+In 1189 Roderic's son, Connor Moinmoy, fell a victim to a conspiracy of
+his own chieftains,--a just retribution for his rebellion against his
+father. He had, however, the reputation of being brave and generous. At
+his death Connaught was once more plunged in civil war, and after some
+delay and difficulty Roderic resumed the government.
+
+In 1192 the brave King of Thomond again attacked the English invaders.
+But after his death, in 1194, the Anglo-Normans had little to apprehend
+from native valour. His obituary is thus recorded: "Donnell, son of
+Turlough O'Brien, King of Munster, a burning lamp in peace and war, and
+the brilliant star of the hospitality and valour of the Momonians, and
+of all Leth-Mogha, died." Several other "lamps" went out about the same
+time; one of these was Crunce O'Flynn, who had defeated De Courcy in
+1178, and O'Carroll, Prince of Oriel, who had been hanged by the English
+the year before, after the very unnecessary cruelty of putting out his
+eyes.
+
+The affairs of the English colony were not more prosperous. New Lords
+Justices followed each other in quick succession. One of these
+governors, Hamon de Valois, attempted to replenish his coffers from
+church property,--a proceeding which provoked the English Archbishop
+Comyn. As this ecclesiastic failed to obtain redress in Ireland, he
+proceeded to England with his complaints; but he soon learned that
+justice could not be expected for Ireland. The difference between the
+conduct of ecclesiastics, who have no family but the Church, and no
+interests but the interests of religion, is very observable in all
+history. While English and Norman soldiers were recklessly destroying
+church property and domestic habitations in the country they had
+invaded, we find, with few exceptions, that the ecclesiastic, of
+whatever nation, is the friend and father of the people, wherever his
+lot may be cast. The English Archbishop resented the wrongs of the Irish
+Church as personal injuries, and devoted himself to its advancement as a
+personal interest. We are indebted to Archbishop Comyn for building St.
+Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, as well as for his steady efforts to
+promote the welfare of the nation. After an appeal in person to King
+Richard and Prince John, he was placed in confinement in Normandy, and
+was only released by the interference of the Holy See; Innocent III.,
+who had probably by this time discovered that the English monarchs were
+not exactly the persons to reform the Irish nation, having addressed a
+letter from Perugia to the Earl of Montague (Prince John), reprimanding
+him for detaining "his venerable brother, the Archbishop of Dublin," in
+exile, and requiring him to repair the injuries done by his Viceroy,
+Hamon de Valois, on the clergy of Leighlin. The said Hamon appears to
+have meddled with other property besides that belonging to the Church--a
+more unpardonable offence, it is to be feared, in the eyes of his
+master. On returning from office after two years viceroyalty, he was
+obliged to pay a thousand marks to obtain an acquittance from his
+accounts.[316]
+
+John ascended the English throne in 1199. He appointed Meiller
+FitzHenri[317] Governor of Ireland. It has been conjectured that if John
+had not obtained the sovereignty, he and his descendants might have
+claimed the "Lordship of Ireland." There can be no doubt that he and
+they might have claimed it; but whether they could have held it is quite
+another consideration. It is generally worse than useless to speculate
+on what might have been. In this case, however, we may decide with
+positive certainty, that no such condition of things could have
+continued long. The English kings would have looked with jealousy even
+on the descendants of their ancestors, if they kept possession of the
+island; and the descendants would have become, as invariably happened,
+_Hibernicis ipsis Hibernior_, and therefore would have shared the fate
+of the "common enemy."
+
+Meanwhile the O'Connors were fighting in Kerry. Cathal Carragh obtained
+the services of FitzAldelm, and expelled Cathal Crovderg. He, in his
+turn, sought the assistance of Hugh O'Neill, who had been distinguishing
+himself by his valour against De Courcy and the English. They marched
+into Connaught, but were obliged to retreat with great loss. The exiled
+Prince now sought English assistance, and easily prevailed on De Courcy
+and young De Lacy to help him. But misfortune still followed him. His
+army was again defeated; and as they fled to the peninsula of Rindown,
+on Lough Ree, they were so closely hemmed in, that no way of escape
+remained, except to cross the lake in boats. In attempting to do this a
+great number were drowned. The Annals of Kilronan and Clonmacnois enter
+these events under the year 1200; the Four Masters under the year 1199.
+The former state that "Cahall Carragh was taken deceitfully by the
+English of Meath," and imprisoned until he paid a ransom; and that De
+Courcy, "after slaying of his people," returned to Ulster.
+
+Cathal Crovderg now obtained the assistance of the Lord Justice, who
+plundered Clonmacnois. He also purchased the services of FitzAldelm, and
+thus deprived his adversary of his best support. The English, like the
+mercenary troops of Switzerland and the Netherlands, appear to have
+changed sides with equal alacrity, when it suited their convenience; and
+so as they were well paid, it mattered little to them against whom they
+turned their arms. In 1201 Cathal Crovderg marched from Limerick to
+Roscommon, with his new ally and the sons of Donnell O'Brien and
+Florence MacCarthy. They took up their quarters at Boyle, and occupied
+themselves in wantonly desecrating the abbey. Meanwhile Cathal Carragh,
+King of Connaught, had assembled his forces, and came to give them
+battle. Some skirmishes ensued, in which he was slain, and thus the
+affair was ended. FitzAldelm, or De Burgo, as he is more generally
+called now, assisted by O'Flaherty of West Connaught, turned against
+Cathal when they arrived at Cong to spend the Easter. It would appear
+that the English were billeted on the Irish throughout the country; and
+when De Burgo demanded wages for them, the Connacians rushed upon them,
+and slew six hundred men. For once his rapacity was foiled, and he
+marched off to Munster with such of his soldiers as had escaped the
+massacre. Three years after he revenged himself by plundering the whole
+of Connaught, lay and ecclesiastical.
+
+During this period Ulster was also desolated by civil war. Hugh O'Neill
+was deposed, and Connor O'Loughlin obtained rule; but the former was
+restored after a few years.
+
+John de Courcy appears always to have been regarded with jealousy by the
+English court. His downfall was at hand, A.D. 1204; and to add to its
+bitterness, his old enemies, the De Lacys, were chosen to be the
+instruments of his disgrace. It is said that he had given mortal offence
+to John, by speaking openly of him as a usurper and the murderer of his
+nephew; but even had he not been guilty of this imprudence, the state he
+kept, and the large tract of country which he held, was cause enough for
+his ruin. He had established himself at Downpatrick, and was surrounded
+in almost regal state by a staff of officers, including his constable,
+seneschal, and chamberlain; he even coined money in his own name.
+Complaints of his exactions were carried to the King. The De Lacys
+accused him of disloyalty. In 1202 the then Viceroy, Hugh de Lacy,
+attempted to seize him treacherously, at a friendly meeting. He failed
+to accomplish this base design; but his brother, Walter, succeeded
+afterwards in a similar attempt, and De Courcy was kept in durance until
+the devastations which his followers committed in revenge obliged his
+enemies to release him.
+
+In 1204 he defeated the Viceroy in a battle at Down. He was aided in
+this by the O'Neills, and by soldiers from Man and the Isles. It will be
+remembered that he could always claim assistance from the latter, in
+consequence of his connexion by marriage. But this did not avail him. He
+was summoned before the Council in Dublin, and some of his possessions
+were forfeited. Later in the same year (A.D. 1204) he received a safe
+conduct to proceed to the King. It is probable that he was confined in
+the Tower of London for some time; but it is now certain that he
+revisited Ireland in 1210, if not earlier, in the service of John, who
+granted him an annual pension.[318] It is supposed that he died about
+1219; for in that year Henry III. ordered his widow, Affreca, to be paid
+her dower out of the lands which her late husband had possessed in
+Ireland.
+
+Cambrensis states that De Courcy had no children; but the Barons of
+Kinsale claim to be descended from him; and even so late as 1821 they
+exercised the privilege of appearing covered before George IV.--a favour
+said to have been granted to De Courcy by King John, after his recall
+from Ireland, as a reward for his prowess. Dr. Smith states, in his
+_History of Cork_, that Miles de Courcy was a hostage for his father
+during the time when he was permitted to leave the Tower to fight the
+French champion. In a pedigree of the MacCarthys of Cooraun Lough,
+county Kerry, a daughter of Sir John de Courcy is mentioned. The Irish
+annalists, as may be supposed, were not slow to attribute his downfall
+to his crimes.
+
+Another English settler died about this period, and received an equal
+share of reprobation; this was FitzAldelm, more commonly known as Mac
+William Burke (De Burgo), and the ancestor of the Burke family in
+Ireland. Cambrensis describes him as a man addicted to many vices. The
+Four Masters declare that "God and the saints took vengeance on him; for
+he died of a shameful disease." It could scarcely be expected that one
+who had treated the Irish with such unvarying cruelty, could obtain a
+better character, or a more pleasing obituary. Of his miserable end,
+without "shrive or unction," there appears to be no doubt.
+
+
+[Illustration: STALACTITE CAVE, TIPPERARY.]
+
+[Illustration: KING JOHN'S CASTLE, LIMERICK.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[304] _Warrior.--Hib. Expug._ lib. ii. cap. 17.
+
+[305] _Defeated_.--Giraldus gives a detailed account of these
+affairs.--_Hib. Expug._ lib. ii. cap. 17. He says the Irish forces under
+Dunlevy amounted to ten thousand warriors; but this statement cannot at
+all be credited. De Courcy took advantage of some old Irish prophecies
+to further his cause. They were attributed to St. Columbkille, and to
+the effect that a foreigner who would ride upon a white horse, and have
+little birds painted on his shield, should conquer the country. De
+Courcy did ride upon a white horse, and the birds were a part of his
+armorial bearings.
+
+[306] _Newry_.--See an interesting note to the Annals (Four Masters),
+vol. iii. p. 40, which identifies the valley of Glenree with the vale of
+Newry. In an ancient map, the Newry river is called _Owen Glenree
+fluvius_.
+
+[307] _General_.--This is mentioned also by O'Flaherty, who quotes from
+some other annals. See his account of Iar-Connaught, printed for the
+Archaeological Society.
+
+[308] _Says_.--_Sylloge_, ep. 48.
+
+[309] _Lives_.--We give authority for this statement, as it manifests
+how completely the Holy See was deceived in supposing that any reform
+was likely to be effected in Ireland by English interference: "Ita ut
+quodam tempore (quod dictu mirum est) centum et quadraginta presby.
+incontinentiae convictos Romani miserit absolvendos."--Surius, t. vi. St.
+Laurence had faculties for absolving these persons, but for some
+reason--probably as a greater punishment--he sent them to Rome. English
+writers at this period also complain of the relaxed state of
+ecclesiastical discipline in that country. How completely all such evils
+were eradicated by the faithful sons of the Church, and the exertions of
+ecclesiastical superiors, is manifest from the fact, that no such
+charges could be brought against even a single priest at the time of the
+so-called Reformation.
+
+[310] _Midnight_.--"Itaque cum sextae feriae terminus advenisset, in
+confinio sabbati subsequentis Spiritum Sancti viri requies aeterna
+suscepit."--_Vita S. Laurentii_, cap. xxxiii. The saint's memory is
+still honoured at Eu. The church has been lately restored, and there is
+a little oratory on the hill near it to mark the spot where he
+exclaimed, _Hoec est requies mea_, as he approached the town where he
+knew he should die. Dr. Kelly (_Cambrensis Eversus_, vol. ii. p. 648)
+mentions in a note that the names of several Irishmen were inscribed
+there.
+
+[311] _Fatal_.--Dr. O'Donovan gives a long and most interesting note on
+the genealogy of St. Laurence O'Toole, in which he shows that his father
+was a chieftain of an important territory in the county Kildare, and
+that he was not a Wicklow prince, as has been incorrectly asserted. The
+family removed there after the death of St. Laurence, when they were
+driven from their property by an English adventurer.
+
+[312] _Conduct_.--This is mentioned even by Cox, who, Dr. O'Donovan
+observes, was always anxious to hide the faults of the English, and
+vilify the Irish. He calls Hugh Tyrrell "a man of ill report," and says
+he returned to Dublin "loaden both with curses and extortions."--_Hib.
+Angl._ p. 38, ad an. 1184.
+
+[313] _Accusation_.--There can be no doubt that De Lacy had ambitious
+designs. See Cambrensis, _Hib. Expug._ lib. ii. cap. 20. Henry II. heard
+of his death with considerable satisfaction.
+
+[314] _Colum-cille_.--Dr. O'Donovan remarks that a similar disaster
+befell Lord Norbury. He was also assassinated by a hand still unknown,
+after having erected a castle on the same _site_ as that of De Lacy, and
+preventing the burial of the dead in the ancient cemetery of Durrow.
+
+[315] _King of Ireland_.--During the reign of Richard all the public
+affairs of the Anglo-Norman colony were transacted in the name of "John,
+Lord of Ireland, Earl of Montague." Palgrave observes that John never
+claimed to be King of the Irish; like Edward, who wrote himself Lord of
+Scotland, and acknowledged Baliol to be King of the Scots.
+
+[316] _Accounts_.--Gilbert's _Viceroys_, p. 58.
+
+[317] _FitzHenri_.--His father was an illegitimate son of Henry I. When
+a mere youth, FitzHenri came to Ireland with the Geraldines, and
+obtained large possessions.
+
+[318] _Pension_.--One hundred pounds per annum. Orders concerning it are
+still extant on the Close Rolls of England.--_Rol. Lit. Clau._ 1833,
+144. It is curious, and should be carefully noted, how constantly proofs
+are appearing that the Irish bards and chroniclers, from the earliest to
+the latest period, were most careful as to the truth of their facts,
+though they may have sometimes coloured them highly. Dr. O'Donovan has
+devoted some pages in a note (Four Masters, vol. iii. p. 139) to the
+tales in the Book of Howth which record the exploits of De Courcy. He
+appears satisfied that they were "invented in the fifteenth or sixteenth
+century." Mr. Gilbert has ascertained that they were placed on record as
+early as 1360, in Pembridge's Annals. As they are merely accounts of
+personal valour, we do not reproduce them here. He also gives an extract
+from Hoveden's Annals, pars port, p. 823, which further supports the
+Irish account. Rapin gives the narrative as history. Indeed, there
+appears nothing very improbable about it. The Howth family were founded
+by Sir Almaric St. Lawrence, who married De Courcy's sister.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+Quarrels of the English Barons--The Interdict--John crushes and starves
+an Archdeacon to Death--King John's Visit to Ireland--He starves the
+Wife and Son of Earl de Braose to Death--Henry de Londres--The Poet
+O'Daly--Obituaries of Good Men--Henry III.--Regulations about the
+Viceroy--The Scorch Villain--Scandalous Conduct of the Viceroys--Three
+Claimants for Connaught--Death of Hugh Crovderg--Felim
+O'Connor--Henry's Foreign Advisers--Plots against the Earl of
+Pembroke--He is wounded treacherously--His Pious Death--Misfortunes of
+the Early Settlers--De Marisco's Son is hanged for High Treason, and he
+dies miserably in Exile.
+
+[A.D. 1201-1244.]
+
+
+King John was now obliged to interfere between his English barons in
+Ireland, who appear to have been quite as much occupied with feuds among
+themselves as the native princes. In 1201 Philip of Worcester and
+William de Braose laid waste the greater part of Munster in their
+quarrels. John had sold the lands of the former and of Theobald Walter
+to the latter, for four thousand marks--Walter redeemed his property for
+five hundred marks; Philip obtained his at the point of the sword. De
+Braose had large property both in Normandy and in England. He had his
+chancellor, chancery, and seal, recognizances of all pleas, not even
+excepting those of the crown, with judgment of life and limb. His sons
+and daughters had married into powerful families. His wife, Matilda, was
+notable in domestic affairs, and a vigorous oppressor of the Welsh. A
+bloody war was waged about the same time between De Lacy, De Marisco,
+and the Lord Justice. Cathal Crovderg and O'Brien aided the latter in
+besieging Limerick, while some of the English fortified themselves in
+their castles and plundered indiscrimately.
+
+In 1205 the Earldom of Ulster was granted to Hugh de Lacy. The grant is
+inscribed on the charter roll of the seventh year of King John, and is
+the earliest record now extant of the creation of an Anglo-Norman
+dignity in Ireland. England was placed under an interdict in 1207, in
+consequence of the violence and wickedness of its sovereign. He procured
+the election of John de Grey to the see of Canterbury, a royal
+favourite, and, if only for this reason, unworthy of the office. Another
+party who had a share in the election chose Reginald, the Sub-Prior of
+the monks of Canterbury. But when the choice was submitted to Pope
+Innocent III., he rejected both candidates, and fixed on an English
+Cardinal, Stephen Langton, who was at once elected, and received
+consecration from the Pope himself. John was highly indignant, as might
+be expected. He swore his favourite oath, "by God's teeth," that he
+would cut off the noses and pluck out the eyes of any priest who
+attempted to carry the Pope's decrees against him into England. But some
+of the bishops, true to their God and the Church, promulgated the
+interdict, and then fled to France to escape the royal vengeance. It was
+well for them they did so; for Geoffrey, Archdeacon of Norwich, was
+seized, and enveloped, by the royal order, in a sacerdotal vestment of
+massive lead, and thus thrown into prison, where he was starved to death
+beneath the crushing weight. We sometimes hear of the cruelties of the
+Inquisition, of the barbarity of the Irish, of the tyranny of
+priestcraft; but such cruelties, barbarities, and tyrannies, however
+highly painted, pale before the savage vengeance which English kings
+have exercised, on the slightest provocation, towards their unfortunate
+subjects. But we have not yet heard all the refinements of cruelty which
+this same monarch exercised. Soon after, John was excommunicated
+personally. When he found that Philip of France was prepared to seize
+his kingdom, and that his crimes had so alienated him from his own
+people that he could hope for little help from them, he cringed with the
+craven fear so usually found in cruel men, and made the most abject
+submission. In the interval between the proclamation of the interdict
+and the fulmination of the sentence of excommunication (A.D. 1210), John
+visited Ireland. It may be supposed his arrival could not excite much
+pleasure in the hearts of his Irish subjects, though, no doubt, he
+thought it a mark of disloyalty that he should not be welcomed with
+acclamations. A quarter of a century had elapsed since he first set his
+foot on Irish ground. He had grown grey in profligacy, but he had not
+grown wiser or better with advancing years.
+
+The year before his arrival, Dublin had been desolated by a pestilence,
+and a number of people from Bristol had taken advantage of the decrease
+in the population to establish themselves there. On the Easter Monday
+after their arrival, when they had assembled to amuse themselves in
+Cullen's Wood, the O'Byrnes and O'Tooles rushed down upon them from the
+Wicklow Mountains, and took a terrible vengeance for the many wrongs
+they had suffered, by a massacre of some three hundred men. The citizens
+of Bristol sent over new colonists; but the anniversary of the day was
+long known as Black Monday.
+
+The English King obtained money for his travelling expenses by extortion
+from the unfortunate Jews. He landed at Crook, near Waterford, on the
+20th June, 1210. His army was commanded by the Earl of Salisbury, son to
+Henry I., by "Fair Rosamond," of tragic memory. De Braose fled to
+England when he heard of the King's movements. Here he endeavoured to
+make peace with his master, but failing to do so, he carefully avoided
+putting himself in his power, and took refuge in France. His wife was
+not so fortunate. After John's return to England, Matilda and her son
+were seized by his command, and imprisoned at Corfe Castle, in the isle
+of Pembroke. Here they were shut up in a room, with a sheaf of wheat and
+a piece of raw bacon for their only provision. When the prison door was
+opened on the eleventh day, they were both found dead.
+
+De Lacy also fled before the King's visit; John took Carrickfergus
+Castle from his people, and stationed a garrison of his own there.
+Several Irish princes paid homage to him; amongst others we find the
+names of Cathal Crovderg and Hugh O'Neill. The Norman lords were also
+obliged to swear fealty, and transcripts of their oaths were placed in
+the Irish Exchequer. Arrangements were also made for the military
+support of the colony, and certain troops were to be furnished with
+forty days' ration by all who held lands by "knight's service." The
+Irish princes who lived in the southern and western parts of Ireland,
+appear to have treated the King with silent indifference; they could
+afford to do so, as they were so far beyond the reach of his vengeance.
+
+John remained only sixty days in Ireland. He returned to Wales on the
+26th of August, 1210, after confiding the government of the colony to
+John de Grey, Bishop of Norwich, whose predilection for secular affairs
+had induced the Holy See to refuse his nomination to the Archbishopric
+of Canterbury. The most important act of his Viceroyalty was the
+erection of a bridge and castle at _Ath-Luain_ (Athlone). He was
+succeeded, in 1213, by Henry de Londres, who had been appointed to the
+see of Dublin during the preceding year. This prelate was one of those
+who were the means of obtaining _Magna Charta_. His name appears second
+on the list of counsellors who advised the grant; and he stood by the
+King's side, at Runnymede, when the barons obtained the bulwark of
+English liberty. It is sometimes forgotten that the clergy were the
+foremost to demand it, and the most persevering in their efforts to
+obtain it.
+
+The Archbishop was now sent to Rome by the King to plead his cause
+there, and to counteract, as best he might, the serious complaints made
+against him by all his subjects--A.D. 1215. In 1213 Walter de Lacy
+obtained the restoration of his father's property in Wales and England.
+Two years later he recovered his Irish lands; but the King retained his
+son, Gislebert, as hostage, and his Castle of _Droicead-Atha_
+(Drogheda).
+
+The Irish chieftains made some stand for their rights at the close of
+this reign. Cormac O'Melaghlin wrested Delvin, in Meath, from the
+English. O'Neill and O'Donnell composed their difference _pro tem._, and
+joined in attacking the invaders. In the south there was a war between
+Dermod and Connor Carthy, in which the Anglo-Normans joined, and, as
+usual, got the lion's share, obtaining such an increase of territory as
+enabled them to erect twenty new castles in Cork and Kerry.
+
+The Four Masters give a curious story under the year 1213. O'Donnell
+More sent his steward to Connaught to collect his tribute. On his way he
+visited the poet Murray O'Daly, and began to wrangle with him, "although
+his lord had given him no instructions to do so." The poet's ire was
+excited. He killed him on the spot with a sharp axe--an unpleasant
+exhibition of literary justice--and then fled into Clanrickarde for
+safety. O'Donnell determined to revenge the insult, until Mac William
+(William de Burgo) submitted to him. But the poet had been sent to seek
+refuge in Thomond. The chief pursued him there also, and laid siege to
+Limerick.[319] The inhabitants at once expelled the murderer, who
+eventually fled to Dublin. After receiving tribute from the men of
+Connaught, O'Donnell marched to Dublin, and compelled the people to
+banish Murray to Scotland. Here he remained until he had composed three
+poems in praise of O'Donnell, imploring peace and forgiveness. He was
+then pardoned, and so far received into favour as to obtain a grant of
+land and other possessions.
+
+The Irish bishops were, as usual, in constant intercourse with Rome.
+Several prelates attended the fourth General Council of Lateran, in
+1215. The Annals give the obituaries of some saintly men, whose lives
+redeemed the age from the character for barbarity, which its secular
+literature would seem to justify. Amongst these we find the obituary of
+Catholicus O'Duffy, in 1201; of Uaireirghe, "one of the noble sages of
+Clonmacnois, a man full of the love of God and of every virtue;" of Con
+O'Melly, Bishop of Annaghdown, "a transparently bright gem of the
+Church;" of Donnell O'Brollaghan, "a prior, a noble senior, a sage,
+illustrious for his intelligence;" and of many others. A great number of
+monasteries were also founded, especially by the Anglo-Normans, who
+appear to have had periodical fits of piety, after periodical
+temptations to replenish their coffers out of their neighbours'
+property. We may not quite judge their reparations as altogether
+insincere; for surely some atonement for evil deeds is better than an
+utter recklessness of future punishment.
+
+Henry III. succeeded his father, John, while only in his tenth year.
+William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, was appointed protector of the
+kingdom and the King. The young monarch was hastily crowned at Bristol,
+with one of his mother's golden bracelets. Had the wise and good Earl
+lived to administer affairs for a longer period, it would have been a
+blessing to both countries. Geoffrey de Marisco still continued Governor
+of Ireland. Affairs in England were in an extremely critical position.
+The profligate Isabella had returned to her first husband, Hugh de
+Lusignan, whom she had before forsaken for King John. Gloucester,
+London, and Kent, were in the hands of the Dauphin of France. Some few
+acts of justice to Ireland were the result; but when justice is only
+awarded from motives of fear or interest, it becomes worse than
+worthless as a mode of conciliation. Such justice, however, as was
+granted, only benefited the Anglo-Norman settlers; the "mere Irish" were
+a race devoted to plunder and extermination.
+
+In consequence of complaints from the English barons in Ireland, a
+modified form of Magna Charta was granted to them, and a general amnesty
+was proclaimed, with special promises of reparation to the nobles whom
+John had oppressed. Hugh de Lacy was also pardoned and recalled; but it
+was specially provided that the Irish should have no share in such
+favours; and the Viceroy was charged to see that no native of the
+country obtained cathedral preferment. This piece of injustice was
+annulled through the interference of Pope Honorius III.
+
+In 1217 the young King, or rather his advisers, sent the Archbishop of
+Dublin to that city to levy a "tallage," or tax, for the royal benefit.
+The Archbishop and the Justiciary were directed to represent to the
+"Kings of Ireland," and the barons holding directly from the crown, that
+their liberality would not be forgotten; but neither the politeness of
+the address[320] nor the benevolence of the promises were practically
+appreciated, probably because neither were believed to be sincere, and
+the King's coffers were not much replenished.
+
+Arrangements were now made defining the powers of the Viceroy or
+Justiciary. The earliest details on this subject are embodied in an
+agreement between Henry III. and Geoffrey de Marisco, sealed at Oxford,
+in March, 1220, in presence of the Papal Legate, the Archbishop of
+Dublin, and many of the nobility.
+
+By these regulations the Justiciary was bound to account in the
+Exchequer of Dublin for all taxes and aids received in Ireland for the
+royal purse. He was to defray all expenses for the maintenance of the
+King's castles and lands out of the revenues. In fact, the people of the
+country were taxed, either directly or indirectly, for the support of
+the invaders. The King's castles were to be kept by loyal and proper
+constables, who were obliged to give hostages. Indeed, so little faith
+had the English kings in the loyalty of their own subjects, that the
+Justiciary himself was obliged to give a hostage as security for his own
+behaviour. Neither does the same Viceroy appear to have benefited trade,
+for he is accused of exacting wine, clothing, and victuals, without
+payment, from the merchants of Dublin.
+
+In 1221 the Archbishop of Dublin, Henry de Londres, was made Governor.
+He obtained the name of "Scorch Villain," from having cast into the fire
+the leases of the tenants of his see, whom he had cited to produce these
+documents in his court. The enraged landholders attacked the attendants,
+and laid hands on the Archbishop, who was compelled to do them justice
+from fear of personal violence. When such was the mode of government
+adopted by English officials, we can scarcely wonder that the people of
+Ireland have not inherited very ardent feelings of loyalty and devotion
+to the crown and constitution of that country.
+
+Such serious complaints were made of the unjust Governor, that Henry was
+at last obliged to check his rapacity. Probably, he was all the more
+willing to do so, in consequence of some encroachments on the royal
+prerogative.
+
+After the death of the Earl of Pembroke, who had obtained the pardon of
+Hugh de Lacy, a feud arose between the latter and the son of his former
+friend. In consequence of this quarrel, all Meath was ravaged, Hugh
+O'Neill having joined De Lacy in the conflict.
+
+Some of the Irish chieftains now tried to obtain protection from the
+rapacity of the Anglo-Norman barons, by paying an annual stipend to the
+crown; but the crown, though graciously pleased to accept anything which
+might be offered, still held to its royal prerogative of disposing of
+Irish property as appeared most convenient to royal interests. Though
+Cathal Crovderg had made arrangements with Henry III., at an immense
+sacrifice, to secure his property, that monarch accepted his money, but,
+nevertheless, bestowed the whole province of Connaught shortly after on
+Richard de Burgo.
+
+Crovderg had retired into a Franciscan monastery at Knockmoy, which he
+had founded, and there he was interred nobly and honourably. After his
+death there were no less than three claimants for his dignity. De Burgo
+claimed it in right of the royal gift; Hugh Cathal claimed it as heir to
+his father, Crovderg; Turlough claimed it for the love of fighting,
+inherent in the Celtic race; and a general guerilla warfare was carried
+on by the three parties, to the utter ruin of each individual. For the
+next ten years the history of the country is the history of deadly feuds
+between the native princes, carefully fomented by the English settlers,
+whose interest it was to make them exterminate each other.
+
+The quarrel for the possession of Connaught began in the year 1225. The
+Anglo-Normans had a large army at Athlone, and Hugh Cathal went to claim
+their assistance. The Lord Justice put himself at the head of the army;
+they marched into Connaught, and soon became masters of the situation.
+Roderic's sons at once submitted, but only to bide their time. During
+these hostilities the English of Desmond, and O'Brien, a Thomond prince,
+assisted by the Sheriff of Cork, invaded the southern part of Connaught
+for the sake of plunder. In the previous year, 1224, "the corn remained
+unreaped until the festival of St. Brigid [1st Feb.], when the ploughing
+was going on." A famine also occurred, and was followed by severe
+sickness. Well might the friar historian exclaim: "Woeful was the
+misfortune which God permitted to fall upon the west province in Ireland
+at that time; for the young warriors did not spare each other, but
+preyed and plundered to the utmost of their power. Women and children,
+the feeble and the lowly poor, perished by cold and famine in this
+year."[321]
+
+O'Neill had inaugurated Turlough at Carnfree.[322] He appears to have
+been the most popular claimant. The northern chieftains then returned
+home. As soon as the English left Connaught, Turlough again revolted.
+Hugh Cathal recalled his allies; and the opposite party, finding their
+cause hopeless, joined him in such numbers that Roderic's sons fled for
+refuge to Hugh O'Neill. The Annals suggest that the English might well
+respond when called on, "for their spirit was fresh, and their struggle
+trifling." Again we find it recorded that the corn remained unreaped
+until after the festival of St. Brigid. The wonder is, not that the
+harvest was not gathered in, but that there was any harvest to gather.
+
+Soon after these events, Hugh O'Connor was captured by his English
+allies, and would have been sacrificed to their vengeance on some
+pretence, had not Earl Marshal rescued him by force of arms. He escorted
+him out of the court, and brought him safely to Connaught; but his son
+and daughter remained in the hands of the English. Hugh soon found an
+opportunity of retaliating. A conference was appointed to take place
+near Athlone,[323] between him and William de Marisco, son of the Lord
+Justice. When in sight of the English knights, the Irish prince rushed
+on William, and seized him, while his followers captured his attendants,
+one of whom, the Constable of Athlone, was killed in the fray. Hugh then
+proceeded to plunder and burn the town, and to rescue his son and
+daughter, and some Connaught chieftains.
+
+At the close of the year 1227, Turlough again took arms. The English had
+found it their convenience to change sides, and assisted him with all
+their forces. Probably they feared the brave Hugh, and were jealous of
+the very power they had helped him to obtain. Hugh Roderic attacked the
+northern districts, with Richard de Burgo. Turlough Roderic marched to
+the peninsula of Rindown, with the Viceroy. Hugh Crovderg had a narrow
+escape near the Curlieu Mountains, where his wife was captured by the
+English. The following year he appears to have been reconciled to the
+Lord Deputy, for he was killed in his house by an Englishman, in revenge
+for a liberty he had taken with a woman.[324]
+
+As usual, on the death of Hugh O'Connor, the brothers who had fought
+against him now fought against each other. The Saxon certainly does not
+deserve the credit of all our national miseries. If there had been a
+little less home dissension, there would have been a great deal less
+foreign oppression. The English, however, helped to foment the discord.
+The Lord Justice took part with Hugh, the younger brother, who was
+supported by the majority of the Connaught men, although Turlough had
+already been inaugurated by O'Neill. A third competitor now started up;
+this was Felim brother to Hugh O'Connor. Some of the chieftains declared
+that they would not serve a prince who acknowledged English rule, and
+obliged Hugh to renounce his allegiance. But this question was settled
+with great promptitude. Richard de Burgo took the field, desolated the
+country--if, indeed, there was anything left to desolate--killed Donn
+Oge Mageraghty, their bravest champion, expelled Hugh, and proclaimed
+Felim.
+
+The reign of this prince was of short duration. In 1231 he was taken
+prisoner at Meelick, despite the most solemn guarantees, by the very man
+who had so lately enthroned him. Hugh was reinstated, but before the end
+of the year Felim was released. He now assembled his forces again, and
+attacked Hugh, whom he killed, with several of his relations, and many
+English and Irish chieftains. His next exploit was to demolish the
+castles of Galway; Dunannon, on the river Suck, Roscommon; Hags' Castle,
+on Lough Mask; and Castle Rich, on Lough Corrib; all of which had been
+erected by Roderic's sons and their English allies. But the tide of
+fortune soon turned. The invincible De Burgo entered Connaught once
+more, and plundered without mercy. In a pitched battle the English
+gained the day, principally through the skill of their cavalry[325] and
+the protection of their coats-of-mail.
+
+Felim fled to the north, and sought refuge with O'Donnell of
+Tir-Connell. O'Flaherty, who had always been hostile to Felim, joined
+the English, and, by the help of his boats, they were able to lay waste
+the islands of Clew Bay. Nearly all the inhabitants were killed or
+carried off. The victorious forces now laid siege to a castle[326] on
+the Rock of Lough Key, in Roscommon, which was held for O'Connor by Mac
+Dermod. They succeeded in taking it, but soon lost their possession by
+the quick-witted cleverness of an Irish soldier, who closed the gates on
+them when they set out on a plundering expedition. The fortress was at
+once demolished, that it might not fall into English hands again.
+
+When William Pembroke died, A.D. 1231, he bequeathed his offices and
+large estates in England and Ireland to his brother, Richard, who is
+described by the chroniclers as a model of manly beauty. Henry III.
+prohibited his admission to the inheritance, and charged him with
+treason. The Earl escaped to Ireland, and took possession of the lands
+and castles of the family, waging war upon the King until his rights
+were acknowledged. In 1232 Henry had granted the Justiciary of England
+and of Ireland, with other valuable privileges, to Hubert de Burgo. Earl
+Richard supported him against the adventurers from Poitou and Bretagne,
+on whom the weak King had begun to lavish his favours. The Parliament
+and the barons remonstrated, and threatened to dethrone Henry, if he
+persevered in being governed by foreigners. And well they might; for one
+of these needy men, Pierre de Rivaulx, had obtained a grant for life of
+nearly every office and emolument in Ireland; amongst others, we find
+mention of "the vacant sees, and the Jews in Ireland." Henry did his
+best to get his own views carried out; but Earl Richard leagued with the
+Welsh princes, and expelled the intruders from the towns and castles in
+that part of the country.
+
+The King's foreign advisers determined to destroy their great enemy as
+speedily as possible. Their plain was deeply laid. They despatched
+letters to Ireland, signed by twelve privy counsellors, requiring the
+Viceroy and barons to seize his castles, bribing them with a promise of
+a share in his lands. The wily Anglo-Normans demanded a charter,
+specifying which portion of his property each individual should have.
+They obtained the document, signed with the royal seal, which had been
+purloined for the occasion from the Chancellor. The Anglo-Normans acted
+with detestable dissimulation. Geoffrey de Marisco tried to worm himself
+into the confidence of the man on whose destruction he was bent. On the
+1st of April, 1232, a conference was arranged to take place on the
+Curragh of Kildare. The Viceroy was accompanied by De Lacy, De Burgo,
+and a large number of soldiers and mercenaries. The Earl was attended by
+a few knights and the false De Marisco. He declined to comply with the
+demands of the barons, who refused to restore his castles. The
+treacherous De Marisco withdrew from him at this moment, and he suddenly
+found himself overpowered by numbers. With the thoughtfulness of true
+heroism, he ordered some of his attendants to hasten away with his young
+brother, Walter. Nearly all his retainers had been bribed to forsake him
+in the moment of danger; and now that the few who obeyed his last
+command were gone, he had to contend single-handed with the multitude.
+His personal bravery was not a little feared, and the coward barons, who
+were either afraid or ashamed to attack him individually, urged on their
+soldiers, until he was completely surrounded. The Earl laid prostrate
+six of his foes, clove one knight to the middle, and struck off the
+hands of another, before he was captured. At last the soldiers aimed at
+the feet of his spirited steed, until they were cut off, and by this
+piece of cruelty brought its rider to the ground. A treacherous stab
+from behind, with a long knife, plunged to the haft in his back,
+completed the bloody work.
+
+The Earl was borne off, apparently lifeless, to one of his own castles,
+which had been seized by the Viceroy. It is said that even his surgeon
+was bribed to prevent his recovery. Before submitting his wounds to the
+necessary treatment, he prepared for death, and received the last
+sacraments. He died calmly and immediately, clasping a crucifix, on Palm
+Sunday, the sixteenth day after his treacherous capture. And thus
+expired the "flower of chivalry," and the grandson of Strongbow, the
+very man to whom England owed so much of her Irish possessions.
+
+It could not fail to be remarked by the Irish annalists, that the first
+Anglo-Norman settlers had been singularly unfortunate. They can scarcely
+be blamed for supposing that these misfortunes were a judgment for their
+crimes. Before the middle of this century (the thirteenth) three of the
+most important families had become extinct. De Lacy, Lord of Meath, died
+in 1241, infirm and blind; his property was inherited by his
+grand-daughters, in default of a male heir. Hugh de Lacy died in 1240,
+and left only a daughter. The Earl of Pembroke died from wounds received
+at a tournament. Walter, who succeeded him, also died without issue. The
+property came eventually to Anselm, a younger brother, who also died
+childless; and it was eventually portioned out among the females of the
+family.
+
+It is said Henry III. expressed deep grief when he heard of Earl
+Richard's unfortunate end, and that he endeavoured to have restitution
+made to the family. Geoffrey de Marisco was banished. His son, William,
+conspired against the King, and even employed an assassin to kill him.
+The man would have probably accomplished his purpose, had he not been
+discovered accidentally by one of the Queen's maids, hid under the straw
+of the royal bed. The real traitor was eventually captured, drawn at
+horses' tails to London, and hanged with the usual barbarities.
+
+His miserable father, who had been thrice Viceroy of Ireland, and a peer
+of that country and of England, died in exile, "pitifully, yet
+undeserving of pity, for his own treason against the unfortunate Earl
+Richard, and his son's treason against the King." Such were the men who
+governed Ireland in the thirteenth century.
+
+Treachery seems to have been the recognized plan of capturing an enemy.
+In 1236 this method was attempted by the government in order to get
+Felim O'Connor into their power. He was invited to attend a meeting in
+Athlone, but, fortunately for himself, he discovered the designs of his
+enemies time enough to effect his escape. He was pursued to Sligo. From
+thence he fled to Tir-Connell, which appears to have been the Cave of
+Adullam in that era; though there were so many discontented persons, and
+it was so difficult to know which party any individual would espouse
+continuously, that the Adullamites were tolerably numerous. Turlough's
+son, Brian O'Connor, was now invested with the government of Connaught
+by the English, until some more promising candidate should appear. But
+even their support failed to enable him to keep the field. Felim[327]
+returned the following year, and after defeating the soldiers of the
+Lord Justice, made Brian's people take to flight so effectually, that
+none of Roderic's descendants ever again attempted even to possess their
+ancestral lands.
+
+The Four Masters have the following graphic entry under the year 1236:
+"Heavy rains, harsh weather, and much war prevailed in this year." The
+Annals of Kilronan also give a fearful account of the wars, the weather,
+and the crimes. They mention that Brian's people burned the church of
+Imlagh Brochada over the heads of O'Flynn's people, while it was full of
+women, children, and nuns, and had three priests in it. There were so
+many raids on cows, that the unfortunate animals must have had a
+miserable existence. How a single cow survived the amount of driving
+hither and thither they endured, considering their natural love of ease
+and contemplative habits, is certainly a mystery. In the year 1238, the
+Annals mention that the English erected castles in Connaught,
+principally in the territory from which the O'Flahertys had been
+expelled. This family, however, became very powerful in that part of the
+country in which they now settled.
+
+As Connaught had been fairly depopulated, and its kings and princes
+nearly annihilated, the English turned their attention to Ulster, where
+they wished to play the same game. The Lord Justice and Hugh de Lacy led
+an army thither, and deposed MacLoughlin, giving the government to
+O'Neill's son; but MacLoughlin obtained rule again, after a battle
+fought the following year at Carnteel.
+
+In 1240 the King of Connaught went to England to complain personally of
+De Burgo's oppressions and exactions; but his mission, as might be
+expected, was fruitless, although he was received courteously, and the
+King wrote to the Lord Justice "to pluck out by the root that fruitless
+sycamore, De Burgo, which the Earl of Kent, in the insolence of his
+power, hath planted in these parts." However, we find that Henry was
+thankful to avail himself of the services of the "fruitless sycamore"
+only two years after, in an expedition against the King of France. He
+died on the voyage to Bourdeaux, and was succeeded by his son, Walter.
+In 1241 More O'Donnell, Lord of Tir-Connell, died in Assaroe, in the
+monastic habit. In 1244 Felim O'Connor and some Irish chieftains
+accompanied the then Viceroy, FitzGerald, to Wales, where Henry had
+requested their assistance.
+
+The King was nearly starved out, the Irish reinforcements were long in
+coming over, and the delay was visited on the head of the unfortunate
+Justiciary, who was deprived of his office. John de Marisco was
+appointed in his place.
+
+[Illustration: ATHLONE CASTLE.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[319] _Limerick_.--We give an illustration, at the head of this chapter,
+of King John's Castle, Limerick. Stanihurst says that King John "was so
+pleased with the agreeableness of the city, that he caused a very fine
+castle and bridge to be built there." This castle has endured for more
+than six centuries. Richard I. granted this city a charter to elect a
+Mayor before London had that privilege, and a century before it was
+granted to Dublin. M'Gregor says, in his _History of Limerick_, that the
+trade went down fearfully after the English invasion.--vol. ii. p. 53.
+
+[320] _Address_.--Gilbert's _Viceroys_, p. 82, where the address may be
+seen _in extenso_.
+
+[321] _Year_.--Four Masters, vol. iii. p. 227.
+
+[322] _Carnfree_.--This place has been identified by Dr. O'Donovan. It
+is near the village of Tulsk, co. Roscommon. It was the usual place of
+inauguration for the O'Connors. See _note d_, Annals, vol. iii. p. 221.
+
+[323] _Athlone_.--This was one of the most important of the English
+towns, and ranked next to Dublin at that period. We give an illustration
+of the Castle of Athlone at the beginning of Chapter XX. The building is
+now used for a barrack, which in truth is no great deviation from its
+original purpose. It stands on the direct road from Dublin to Galway,
+and protects the passage of the Shannon. There is a curious
+representation on a monument here of an unfortunate English monk, who
+apostatized and came to Ireland. He was sent to Athlone to superintend
+the erection of the bridge by Sir Henry Sidney; but, according to the
+legend, he was constantly pursued by a demon in the shape of a rat,
+which never left him for a single moment. On one occasion he attempted
+to preach, but the eyes of the animal glared on him with such fury that
+he could not continue. He then took a pistol and attempted to shoot it,
+but in an instant it had sprung on the weapon, giving him, at the same
+time, a bite which caused his death. It is to be presumed that this
+circumstance must have been well known, and generally believed at the
+time, or it would not have been made a subject for the sculptor.
+
+[324] _Woman_.--There are several versions of this story. The Four
+Masters say he was killed "treacherously by the English." The Annals of
+Clonmacnois say that "he came to an atonement with Geoffrey March, and
+was restored to his kingdom," and that he was afterwards treacherously
+killed by an Englishman, "for which cause the Deputy the next day hanged
+the Englishman that killed him, for that foul fact." The cause of the
+Englishman's crime was "meer jealousie," because O'Connor had kissed his
+wife.
+
+[325] _Cavalry_.--Horse soldiery were introduced early into Britain,
+through the Romans, who were famous for their cavalry.
+
+[326] _Castle_.--The Annals of Boyle contain a wonderful account of the
+_pirrels_ or engines constructed by the English for taking this
+fortress.
+
+[327] _Felim_.--The Four Masters say, when writing of the act of
+treachery mentioned above: "They all yearned to act treacherously
+towards Felim, although he was the gossip of the Lord Justice."--Annals,
+vol. iii. p. 285. He was sponsor or godfather to one of his children.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+The Age was not all Evil--Good Men in the World and in the
+Cloister--Religious Houses and their Founders--The Augustinians and
+Cistercians--Franciscans and Dominicans--Their close Friendship--
+Dominican Houses--St. Saviour's, Dublin--The Black Abbey, Kilkenny--
+Franciscan Houses--Youghal--Kilkenny--Multifarnham--Timoleague--
+Donegal--Carmelite Convents and Friars--Rising of the Connaught Men--
+A Plunderer of the English--Battle of Downpatrick--The MacCarthys
+defeat the Geraldines at Kenmare--War between De Burgo and FitzGerald.
+
+[A.D. 1244-1271.]
+
+
+Zeal for founding religious houses was one of the characteristics of the
+age. Even the men who spent their lives in desolating the sanctuaries
+erected by others, and in butchering their fellow-creatures, appear to
+have had some thought of a future retribution--some idea that crime
+demanded atonement--with a lively faith in a future state, where a stern
+account would be demanded. If we contented ourselves with merely
+following the sanguinary careers of kings and chieftains, we should have
+as little idea of the real condition of the country, as we should obtain
+of the present social state of England by an exclusive study of the
+police reports in the _Times_. Perhaps, there was not much more crime
+committed then than now. Certainly there were atonements made for
+offending against God and man, which we do not hear of at the present
+day. Even a cursory glance through the driest annals, will show that it
+was not all evil--that there was something besides crime and misery. On
+almost every page we find some incident which tells us that faith was
+not extinct. In the Annals of the Four Masters, the obituaries of good
+men are invariably placed before the records of the evil deeds of
+warriors or princes. Perhaps writers may have thought that such names
+would be recorded in another Book with a similar precedence. The feats
+of arms, the raids, and destructions occupy the largest space. Such
+deeds come most prominently before the eyes of the world, and therefore
+we are inclined to suppose that they were the most important. But though
+the Annals may devote pages to the exploits of De Lacy or De Burgo, and
+only say of Ainmie O'Coffey, Abbot of the Church of Derry-Columcille,
+that he was "a noble ecclesiastic, distinguished for his piety,
+meekness, charity, wisdom, and every other virtue;" or of MacGilluire,
+Coarb of St. Patrick, and Primate of Ireland, that "he died at Rome,
+after a well-spent life,"[328]--how much is enfolded in the brief
+obituary! How many, of whom men never have heard in this world, were
+influenced, advised, and counselled by the meek and noble ecclesiastic!
+
+The influence of good men is like the circle we make when we cast a
+little stone into a great stream, and which extends wider and wider
+until it reaches the opposite bank. It is a noiseless influence, but not
+the less effective. It is a hidden influence, but not the less
+efficacious. The Coarb of St. Patrick, in his "well-spent life," may
+have influenced for good as many hundreds, as the bad example of some
+profligate adventurer influenced for evil; but we are quite sure to hear
+a great deal about the exploits of the latter, and equally certain that
+the good deeds of the former will not be so carefully chronicled.
+
+Nor should we at all suppose that piety in this age was confined to
+ecclesiastics. The Earls of Pembroke stand conspicuously amongst their
+fellows as men of probity, and were none the less brave because they
+were sincerely religious. At times, even in the midst of the fiercest
+raids, men found time to pray, and to do deeds of mercy. On one Friday,
+in the year of grace 1235, the English knights, in the very midst of
+their success at Umallia, and after fearful devastations commanded "that
+no people shall be slain on that day, in honour of the crucifixion of
+Christ."[329] It is true they "plundered and devastated both by sea and
+land the very next day;" but even one such public act of faith was
+something that we might wish to see in our own times. After the same
+raid, too, we find the "English of Ireland" and the Lord Justice sparing
+and protecting Clarus, the Archdeacon of Elphin, and the Canons of
+Trinity Island, in honour of the Blessed Trinity--another act of faith;
+and the "Lord Justice himself and the chiefs of the English went to see
+that place, and to kneel and pray there." On another occasion the
+"English chiefs were highly disgusted" when their soldiers broke into
+the sacristy of Boyle Abbey, and "took away the chalices, vestments, and
+other valuable things." Their leaders "sent back everything they could
+find, and paid for what they could not find."[330] We must, however,
+acknowledge regretfully that this species of "disgust" and reparation
+were equally rare. To plunder monasteries which they had not erected
+themselves, seems to have been as ordinary an occupation as to found new
+ones with a portion of their unjust spoils.
+
+Although this is not an ecclesiastical history, some brief account of
+the monks, and of the monasteries founded in Ireland about this period,
+will be necessary. The earliest foundations were houses of the
+Cistercian Order and the Augustinians. The Augustinian Order, as its
+name implies, was originally founded by St. Augustine, the great
+Archbishop of Hippo, in Africa. His rule has been adopted and adapted by
+the founders of several congregations of men and women. The great
+Benedictine Order owes its origin to the Patriarch of the West, so
+famous for his rejection of the nobility of earth, that he might attain
+more securely to the ranks of the noble in heaven. This Order was
+introduced into England at an early period. It became still more popular
+and distinguished when St. Bernard preached under the mantle of
+Benedict, and showed how austerity towards himself and tenderness
+towards others could be combined in its highest perfection.
+
+The twin Orders of St. Dominic and St. Francis, founded in the early
+part of the thirteenth century--the one by a Spanish nobleman, the other
+by an Italian merchant--were established in Ireland in the very lifetime
+of their founders. Nothing now remains of the glories of their ancient
+houses, on which the patrons had expended so much wealth, and the artist
+so much skill; but their memory still lives in the hearts of the people,
+and there are few places in the country without traditions which point
+out the spot where a Franciscan was martyred, or a Dominican taken in
+the act of administering to the spiritual necessities of the people.
+
+The Abbey of Mellifont was founded A.D. 1142, for Cistercian monks, by
+Donough O'Carroll, King of Oriel. It was the most ancient monastery of
+the Order in this country, and was supplied with monks by St. Bernard,
+direct from Clairvaux, then in all its first fervour. We have already
+mentioned some of the offerings which were made to this monastery. The
+date of the erection of St. Mary's Abbey in Dublin has not been
+correctly ascertained, but it is quite certain that the Cistercians were
+established here in 1139, although it was probably built originally by
+the Danes. The abbots of this monastery, and of the monastery at
+Mellifont, sat as barons in Parliament. There were also houses at
+Bectiff, county Meath; Baltinglass, county Wicklow; Moray, county
+Limerick; Ordorney, county Kerry (quaintly and suggestively called
+_Kyrie Eleison_), at Newry, Fermoy, Boyle, Monasterevan, Ashro, and
+Jerpoint. The superiors of several of these houses sat in Parliament.
+Their remains attest their beauty and the cultivated tastes of their
+founders. The ruins of the Abbey of Holy Cross, county Tipperary,
+founded in 1182, by Donald O'Brien, are of unusual extent and
+magnificence. But the remains of Dunbrody, in the county of Wexford,
+are, perhaps, the largest and the most picturesque of any in the
+kingdom. It was also richly endowed. It should be remembered that these
+establishments were erected by the founders, not merely as an act of
+piety to God during their lifetime, but with the hope that prayers
+should be offered there for the repose of their souls after death. Those
+who confiscated these houses and lands to secular purposes, have
+therefore committed a double injustice, since they have robbed both God
+and the dead.
+
+A great number of priories were also founded for the Canons Regular of
+St. Augustine. These establishments were of great use in supplying a
+number of zealous and devoted priests, who ministered to the spiritual
+wants of the people in their several districts. Tintern Abbey was
+founded in the year 1200, by the Earl of Pembroke. When in danger at
+sea, he made a vow that he would erect a monastery on whatever place he
+should first arrive in safety. He fulfilled his promise, and brought
+monks from Tintern, in Monmouthshire, who gave their new habitation the
+name of their old home. In 1224 the Cistercians resigned the Monastery
+of St. Saviour, Dublin, which had been erected for them by the same
+Earl, to the Dominicans, on condition that they should offer a lighted
+taper, on the Feast of the Nativity, at the Abbey of St. Mary, as an
+acknowledgment of the grant. The Mayor of Dublin, John Decer (A.D.
+1380), repaired the church, and adorned it with a range of massive
+pillars. The friars of this house were as distinguished for literature
+as the rest of their brethren; and in 1421 they opened a school of
+philosophy and divinity on Usher's Island.[331]
+
+The Dominican Convent of St. Mary Magdalene at Drogheda was founded, in
+1224, by John Netterville, Archbishop of Armagh. Richard II. and Henry
+IV. were great benefactors to this house. Four general chapters were
+also held here. The Black Abbey of Kilkenny was erected by the younger
+William, Earl of Pembroke. Four general chapters were also held here,
+and it was considered one of the first houses of the Order in Ireland.
+We shall give details, at a later period, of the destruction and
+restoration of this and other monasteries. The Dominicans had also
+houses at Waterford, Cork, Mullingar, Athenry, Cashel, Tralee, Sligo,
+Roscommon, and, in fact, in nearly all the principal towns in the
+country.
+
+Nor were their Franciscan brethren less popular. The Order of Friars
+Minor generally found a home near the Friars Preachers; and so close was
+the friendship between them, that it was usual, on the festivals of
+their respective founders, for the Franciscan to preach the panegyric of
+St. Dominic, and the Dominican to preach the panegyric of St. Francis.
+Youghal was the first place where a convent of this Order was erected.
+The founder, Maurice FitzGerald, was Lord Justice in the year 1229, and
+again in 1232. He was a patron of both Orders, and died in the
+Franciscan habit, on the 20th May, 1257. Indeed, some of the English and
+Irish chieftains were so devout to the two saints, that they appear to
+have had some difficulty in choosing which they would have for their
+special patron. In 1649 the famous Owen O'Neill was buried in a convent
+of the Order at Cavan. When dying he desired that he should be clothed
+in the Dominican habit, and buried in the Franciscan monastery.
+
+Some curious particulars are related of the foundation at Youghal. The
+Earl was building a mansion for his family in the town, about the year
+1231. While the workmen were engaged in laying the foundation, they
+begged some money, on the eve of a great feast, that they might drink to
+the health of their noble employer. FitzGerald willingly complied with
+their request, and desired his eldest son to be the bearer of his
+bounty. The young nobleman, however, less generous than his father, not
+only refused to give them the money, but had angry words with the
+workmen. It is not mentioned whether the affair came to a more serious
+collision; but the Earl, highly incensed with the conduct of his son,
+ordered the workmen to erect a monastery instead of a castle, and
+bestowed the house upon the Franciscan fathers. The following year he
+took their habit, and lived in the convent until his death. This house
+was completely destroyed during the persecutions in the reign of
+Elizabeth.
+
+The Convent of Kilkenny was founded immediately after. Its benefactor
+was the Earl of Pembroke, who was buried in the church. Here was a
+remarkable spring, dedicated to St. Francis, at which many miraculous
+cures are said to have been wrought. The site occupied by this building
+was very extensive; its ruins only remain to tell how spacious and
+beautiful its abbey and church must have been. It was also remarkable
+for the learned men who there pursued their literary toil, among whom we
+may mention the celebrated annalist, Clynn. He was at first Guardian of
+the Convent of Carrick-on-Suir; but, about 1338, he retired to Kilkenny,
+where he compiled the greater part of his Annals. It is probable that he
+died about 1350. His history commences with the Christian era, and is
+carried down to the year 1349. At this time the country was all but
+depopulated by a fearful pestilence. The good and learned brother seems
+to have had some forebodings of his impending fate, for his last written
+words run thus:--"And, lest the writing should perish with the writer,
+and the work should fail with the workman, I leave behind me parchment
+for continuing it; if any man should have the good fortune to survive
+this calamity, or any one of the race of Adam should escape this
+pestilence, and live to continue what I have begun." This abbey was also
+one of the great literary schools of Ireland, and had its halls of
+philosophy and divinity, which, were well attended for many years.
+
+In Dublin the Franciscans were established by the munificence of their
+great patron, Henry III. Ralph le Porter granted a site of land in that
+part of the city where the street still retains the name of the founder
+of the Seraphic Order. In 1308 John le Decer proved a great benefactor
+to the friars, and erected a very beautiful chapel, dedicated to the
+Blessed Virgin, in which he was interred.
+
+But the Convent of Multifarnham was the great glory of this century. It
+was erected, in 1236, by Lord Delemere; and from its retired situation,
+and the powerful protection of its noble patrons, escaped many of the
+calamities which befell other houses of the Order. The church and
+convent were built "in honour of God and St. Francis." The monastery
+itself was of unusual size, and had ample accommodation for a number of
+friars. Hence, in times of persecution, it was the usual refuge of the
+sick and infirm, who were driven from their less favoured homes. The
+church was remarkable for its beauty and the richness of its ornaments.
+Here were the tombs of its noble founders and patrons; and the
+south-eastern window was gorgeous with their heraldic devices. The
+convent was situated on Lake Derravaragh, and was endowed with many
+acres of rich land, through which flow the Inny and the Gaine. Such a
+position afforded opportunity for mills and agricultural labours, of
+which the friars were not slow to avail themselves.
+
+The site, as we have remarked, was secluded, at some distance even from
+any village, and far from the more frequented roads. In process of time
+the family of the Nugents became lords of the manor, but they were not
+less friendly to the religious than the former proprietors. Indeed, so
+devoted were they to the Order, that, at the time of the dissolution of
+the monasteries, Multifarnham would have shared the common fate, had
+they not again and again repurchased it from those to whom it had been
+sold by Henry. Even during the reign of Elizabeth it was protected by
+the same family. But the day of suffering was even then approaching. In
+the October of the year 1601, a detachment of English soldiers was sent
+from Dublin by Lord Mountjoy, to destroy the convent which had been so
+long spared. The friars were seized and imprisoned, the monastery
+pillaged; and the soldiers, disappointed in their hope of a rich booty,
+wreaked their vengeance by setting fire to the sacred pile.
+
+The Convent of Kilcrea was another sequestered spot. It was founded in
+the fifteenth century, by the MacCarthys, under the invocation of St.
+Brigid. The richness and magnificence of the church, its graceful
+bell-tower, carved windows, and marble ornaments, showed both the
+generosity and the taste of the Lord Muskerry. Cormac was interred here
+in 1495; and many noble families, having made it their place of
+sepulture, protected the church for the sake of their ancestral tombs.
+
+Nor was the Monastery of Timoleague less celebrated. The honour of its
+foundation is disputed, as well as the exact date; but as the tombs of
+the MacCarthys, the O'Donovans, O'Heas, and De Courcys, are in its
+choir, we may suppose that all had a share in the erection or adornment
+of this stately church. One of the De Courcy family, Edmund, Bishop of
+Ross, himself a Franciscan friar, rebuilt the bell-tower, which rises to
+a height of seventy feet, as well as the dormitory, infirmary, and
+library. At his death, in 1548, he bequeathed many valuable books,
+altar-plate, &c., to his brethren.
+
+The history of the establishment of the Order at Donegal is amusing
+enough, and very characteristic of the customs of the age. In the year
+1474 the Franciscans were holding a general chapter in their convent
+near Tuam. In the midst of their deliberations, however, they were
+unexpectedly interrupted by the arrival of the Lady Nuala O'Connor,
+daughter of the noble O'Connor Faly, and wife of the powerful chieftain,
+Hugh O'Donnell. She was attended by a brilliant escort, and came for no
+other purpose than to present her humble petition to the assembled
+fathers, for the establishment of their Order in the principality of
+Tir-Connell. After some deliberation, the Provincial informed her that
+her request could not be complied with at present, but that at a future
+period the friars would most willingly second her pious design. The Lady
+Nuala, however, had a woman's will, and a spirit of religious fervour to
+animate it. "What!" she exclaimed, "have I made this long and painful
+journey only to meet with a refusal? Beware of God's wrath! for to Him I
+will appeal, that He may charge you with all the souls whom your delay
+may cause to perish." This was unanswerable. The Lady Nuala journeyed
+home with a goodly band of Franciscans in her train; and soon the
+establishment of the Monastery of Donegal, situated at the head of the
+bay, showed that the piety of the lady was generously seconded by her
+noble husband. Lady Nuala did not live to see the completion of her
+cherished design. Her mortal remains were interred under the high altar,
+and many and fervent were the prayers of the holy friars for the eternal
+repose of their benefactress.
+
+The second wife of O'Donnell was not less devoted to the Order. This
+lady was a daughter of Connor O'Brien, King of Thomond. Her zeal in the
+good work was so great, that the monastery was soon completed, and the
+church dedicated in 1474. The ceremony was carried out with the utmost
+magnificence, and large benefactions bestowed on the religious. After
+the death of her husband, who had built a castle close to the monastery,
+and was buried within the sacred walls, the widowed princess retired to
+a small dwelling near the church, where she passed the remainder of her
+days in prayer and penance. Her son, Hugh Oge, followed the steps of his
+good father. So judicious and upright was his rule, that it was said, in
+his days, the people of Tir-Connell never closed their doors except to
+keep out the wind. In 1510 he set out on a pilgrimage to Rome. Here he
+spent two years, and was received everywhere as an independent prince,
+and treated with the greatest distinction. But neither the honours
+conferred on him, nor his knightly fame (for it is said he was never
+vanquished in the field or the lists), could satisfy the desires of his
+heart. After a brief enjoyment of his ancestral honours, he retired to
+the monastery which his father had erected, and found, with the poor
+children of St. Francis, that peace and contentment which the world
+cannot give.
+
+In the county Kerry there were at least two convents of the Order--one
+at Ardfert, founded, probably, in the year 1389; the other, famous for
+the beauty of its ruins, and proximity to the far-famed Lakes of
+Killarney, demands a longer notice.
+
+The Convent of Irrelagh, or, as it is now called, Muckross, was founded
+early in the fifteenth century, by a prince of the famous family of
+MacCarthy More, known afterwards as _Tadeige Manistireach_, or Teigue of
+the Monastery.
+
+According to the tradition of the county, and a MS. description of
+Kerry, written about the year 1750, and now preserved in the Library of
+the Royal Irish Academy, the site on which the monastery was to be built
+was pointed out to MacCarthy More in a vision, which warned him not to
+erect his monastery in any situation except at a place called
+Carrig-an-Ceoil, i.e., the rock of the music. As no such place was known
+to him, he despatched some of his faithful followers to ascertain in
+what part of his principality it was situated. For some time they
+inquired in vain; but as they returned home in despair, the most
+exquisite music was heard to issue from a rock at Irrelagh. When the
+chief was made aware of this, he at once concluded it was the spot
+destined by Providence for his pious undertaking, which he immediately
+commenced.
+
+It was finished by his son, Donnell (1440). The convent was dedicated to
+the Blessed Trinity. It is said there was a miraculous image of the
+Blessed Virgin here, which brought great crowds of pilgrims. The feast
+of the Porziuncula was kept here long after the abbey had fallen to
+ruins, and the friars dispersed, and was known as the Abbey Day. Until
+the last few years stations were held there regularly, on the 2nd of
+October.
+
+Clonmel Monastery was founded, about 1269, by the Desmonds; Drogheda, in
+1240, by the Plunkets.
+
+Some convents of Carmelite friars were also founded in the thirteenth
+century, but as yet they have not been fortunate enough to obtain the
+services of a historian, so that we can only briefly indicate the sites.
+The Convent of Dublin, for White Friars, was founded by Sir Robert
+Bagot, in 1274. The date of the establishment of the house at
+Leighlin-bridge has not been ascertained; but it was probably erected by
+the Carews, at the end of the reign of Henry III. There were also
+convents at Ardee, Drogheda, Galway, Kildare, and Thurles. The Convent
+of Kildare was the general seminary for the Order in Ireland; and one of
+its friars, David O'Brege, is styled "the burning light, the mirror and
+ornament of his country."
+
+In 1248 the young men of Connaught inaugurated the periodical
+rebellions, which a statesman of modern times has compared to the
+dancing manias of the middle ages. Unfortunately for his comparison,
+there was a cause for the one, and there was no cause for the other.
+They acted unwisely, because there was not the remotest possibility of
+success; and to rebel against an oppression which cannot be remedied,
+only forges closer chains for the oppressed. But it can scarcely be
+denied that their motive was a patriotic one. Felim's son, Hugh, was the
+leader of the youthful band. In 1249 Maurice FitzGerald arrived to crush
+the movement, or, in modern parlance, "to stamp it out"--not always a
+successful process; for sparks are generally left after the most careful
+stamping, which another method might effectually have quenched. Felim at
+once fled the country. The English made his nephew, Turlough, ruler in
+his place; but the following year Felim made a bold swoop down from the
+Curlieus, expelled the intruder, and drove off a cattle prey. After this
+proof of his determination and valour, the English made peace with him,
+and permitted him to retain his own dominions without further
+molestation. Florence MacCarthy was killed this year, and Brian O'Neill,
+Lord of Tyrone, submitted to the Lord Justice--thereby freeing the
+invaders from two troublesome combatants. The next year, however, the
+English, who were not particular about treaties, invaded the north, and
+were repulsed with such loss as to induce them to treat the enemy with
+more respect for the time.
+
+Under the year 1249 the Annals mention a defeat which the Irish suffered
+at Athenry, which they attribute to their refusal to desist from warfare
+on Lady Day, the English having asked a truce in honour of the Blessed
+Virgin. They also record the death of Donough O'Gillapatrick, and say
+that this was a retaliation due to the English; for he had killed,
+burned, and destroyed many of them. He is characterized, evidently with
+a little honest pride, as the third greatest plunderer of the English.
+The names of the other two plunderers are also carefully chronicled;
+they were Connor O'Melaghlin and Connor MacCoghlan. The "greatest
+plunderer" was in the habit of going about to reconnoitre the English
+towns in the disguise of pauper or poet, as best suited him for the
+time; and he had a quatrain commemorating his exploits:--
+
+    "He is a carpenter, he is a turner,
+     My nursling is a bookman;
+     He is selling wine and hides,
+     Where he sees a gathering."
+
+The quatrain, if of no other value, gives us an idea of the commodities
+bartered, and the tradesmen who offered their goods at Irish fairs in
+English towns during the thirteenth century.
+
+In 1257 there was a fierce conflict between the Irish, under Godfrey
+O'Donnell, and the English, commanded by Maurice FitzGerald. The
+conflict took place at Creadrankille, near Sligo. The leaders engaged in
+single combat, and were both severely wounded: eventually the invaders
+were defeated and expelled from Lower Connaught. Godfrey's wound
+prevented him from following up his success, and soon after the two
+chieftains died. The circumstances of Maurice's death have been already
+recorded. The death of O'Donnell is a curious illustration of the
+feeling of the times. During his illness, Brian O'Neill sent to demand
+hostages from the Cinel-Connaill. The messengers fled the moment they
+had fulfilled their commission. For all reply, O'Donnell commanded his
+people to assemble, to place him on his bier, and to bear him forth at
+their head. And thus they met the enemy. The battle took place on the
+banks of the river Swilly, in Donegal. O'Donnell's army conquered. The
+hero's bier was laid down in the street of a little village at Connal,
+near Letterkenny, and there he died.
+
+O'Neill again demanded hostages; but while the men deliberated what
+answer they should give, Donnell Oge returned from Scotland, and though
+he was but a youth of eighteen, he was elected chieftain. The same year
+the long-disused title of Monarch of Ireland was conferred on O'Neill by
+some of the Irish kings. After a conference at Caol Uisge, O'Neill and
+O'Connor turned their forces against the English, and a battle was
+fought near Downpatrick, where the Irish were defeated.[332] O'Neill was
+killed, with fifteen of the O'Kanes and many other chieftains, A.D.
+1260. The English were commanded by the then Viceroy, Stephen Longespe,
+who was murdered soon after by his own people.
+
+In the south the English suffered a severe reverse. The Geraldines were
+defeated by Connor O'Brien in Thomond, and again at Kilgarvan, near
+Kenmare, by Fineen MacCarthy. The Annals of Innisfallen give long
+details of this engagement, the sight of which is still pointed out by
+the country people. John FitzThomas, the founder of the Dominican
+Monastery at Tralee, was killed. The MacCarthys immediately proceeded to
+level all the castles which had been erected by the English; they were
+very numerous in that district. Soon after the hero of the fight was
+killed himself by the De Courcys.
+
+The Annals mention an instance of a man who had taken a bell from the
+Church of Ballysadare, and put it on his head when attacked by the
+enemy, hoping that he might escape with his prize and his life, from the
+respect always shown to everything consecrated to God's service; but he
+was killed notwithstanding. This incident is mentioned as characteristic
+of the age. After the defeat narrated above, Hanmer says, "the
+Geraldines dared not put a plough into the ground in Desmond." The next
+year, 1262, Mac William Burke marched with a great army as far as
+Elphin. He was joined by the Lord Justice and John de Verdun. They
+marked out a place for a castle at Roscommon, and plundered all that
+remained after Hugh O'Connor in Connaught. He, in his turn,
+counterburned and plundered so successfully, that the English were glad
+to ask for peace. The result was a conference at the ford of
+Doire-Chuire. A peace was concluded, after which "Hugh O'Connor and Mac
+William Burke slept together in the one bed, cheerfully and happily; and
+the English left the country on the next day, after bidding farewell to
+O'Connor."
+
+After this fraternal demonstration, Burke led an army into Desmond, and
+an engagement took place with MacCarthy on the side of Mangerton
+Mountain, where both English and Irish suffered great losses. Gerald
+Roche, who is said to be the third best knight of his time in Ireland,
+was slain by MacCarthy.[333] Burke was soon after created Earl of
+Ulster.[334] He and FitzGerald waged war against each other in 1264, and
+desolated the country with their raids. The Lord Justice sided with
+FitzGerald, who succeeded in taking all Burke's castles in Connaught.
+
+The quarrels of the invaders now became so general, that even the Lord
+Justice was seized at a conference by FitzMaurice FitzGerald, and was
+detained prisoner, with several other nobles, for some time. During the
+wars between De Burgo (or Burke) and FitzGerald, the good people of Ross
+threatened to defend their town from all invaders; and to effect this
+purpose the council commanded all the citizens to assist in erecting the
+necessary fortifications. Even the ladies[335] and clergy[336] took part
+in the works, which were soon and successfully completed.
+
+An Anglo-Norman poet commemorated this event in verse, and celebrates
+the fame of Rose, a lady who contributed largely to the undertaking,
+both by her presence and her liberal donations. He informs us first of
+the reason for this undertaking. It was those two troublesome knights,
+"sire Morice e sire Wauter," who would not permit the world to be at
+peace. He assures us that the citizens of New Ross were most anxious for
+peace, because they were merchants, and had an extensive trade, which
+was quite true; but he adds that they were determined to defend their
+rights if attacked, which was also true.
+
+The poet also compliments the ladies, and thinks that the man would be
+happy who could have his choice of them. He also informs us they were to
+build a "Ladies' Gate," where there should be a prison in which all who
+gave offence to the fair sex should be confined at their pleasure. Of a
+surety, New Ross must have been the paradise of ladies in those days. We
+have not ascertained whether its fair citizens retain the same potent
+sway in the present century.
+
+Felim O'Connor died in 1265. The Four Masters give his obituary thus:
+"Felim, son of Cathal Crovderg O'Connor, the defender and supporter of
+his own province, and of his friends on every side, the expeller and
+plunderer of his foes; a man full of hospitality, prowess, and renown;
+the exalter of the clerical orders and men of science; a worthy materies
+[_sic_] of a King of Ireland for his nobility, personal shape, heroism,
+wisdom, clemency, and truth; died, after the victory of unction and
+penance, in the monastery of the Dominican friars at Roscommon, which he
+had himself granted to God and that Order."
+
+He was succeeded by his son, Hugh, "who committed his regal depredation
+in Offaly." It appears to have been considered a customary thing for a
+new sovereign to signalize himself, as soon as possible, by some display
+of this description. He succeeded so well in this same depredation, that
+the Lord Justice was alarmed, and came to assist De Burgo. The latter
+proposed a conference at Carrick-on-Shannon; but Hugh O'Connor suspected
+treachery, and contrived to get the Earl's brother, William Oge, into
+his hands before the conference commenced. The Earl "passed the night in
+sadness and sorrow." At daybreak a fierce conflict ensued. Turlough
+O'Brien, who was coming to assist the Connacians, was met on his way,
+and slain in single combat by De Burgo. But his death was fearfully
+avenged; great numbers of the English were slain, and immense spoils
+were taken from them. De Burgo died the following year, in Galway
+Castle, after a short illness, A.D. 1271.
+
+[Illustration: CURTAIN CAVE, TIPPERARY.]
+
+[Illustration: BERMINGHAM TOWER, DUBLIN CASTLE]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[328] _Life_.--Annals, vol. iii. p. 189.
+
+[329] _Christ_.--Annals, vol. iii. p. 281.
+
+[330] _Find_.--_Ib._ vol. iii. p. 275.
+
+[331] _Usher's Island_.--This was once a fashionable resort. Moira House
+stood here. It was ornamented so beautifully, that John Wesley observed,
+when visiting Lady Moira, that one of the rooms was more elegant than
+any he had seen in England. Here, in 1777, Charles Fox was introduced to
+Grattan. Poor Pamela (Lady Edward FitzGerald) was at Moira House on the
+evening of her husband's arrest; and here she heard the fatal news on
+the following morning, her friends having concealed it from her until
+then. In 1826 it was converted into a mendicity institution, and all its
+ornamental portions removed.
+
+[332] _Defeated_.--O'Neill's bard, MacNamee, wrote a lament for the
+chieftains who fell in this engagement. He states that the head of
+"O'Neill, King of Tara, was sent to London;" and attributes the defeat
+of the Irish to the circumstance of their adversaries having fought in
+coats-of-mail, while they had only satin shirts:--
+
+"Unequal they entered the battle, The Galls and the Irish of Tara; Fair
+satin shirts on the race of Conn, The Galls in one mass of iron."
+
+He further deplores the removal of the chief's noble face from Down,
+lamenting that his resurrection should not be from amongst the
+limestone-covered graves of the fathers of his clan at Armagh.
+
+[333] _MacCarthy_.--Four Masters, vol. iii. p. 389.
+
+[334] _Ulster_.--The Annals of Innisfallen say he obtained this title in
+1264, after his marriage with Maud, daughter of Hugh de Lacy the
+younger.
+
+[335]
+
+_Ladies_.--"Tantz bele dames ne vi en fossee, Mult fu cil en bon sire
+nee, Re purreit choisir a sa volonte."
+
+
+
+[336]
+
+_Clergy_.--"E les prestres, quant on chante, Si vont ovrir au fosse, E
+travellent mut durement, Plus qe ne funt autre gent."
+
+This ballad has been published, with a translation by W. Crofton Croker.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+Reign of Edward I.--Social State of Ireland--English Treachery--Irish
+Chieftains set at Variance--The Irish are refused the Benefit of English
+Law--Feuds between the Cusacks and the Barretts--Death of Boy
+O'Neill--The Burkes and the Geraldines--Quarrel between FitzGerald and
+De Vesci--Possessions obtained by Force or Fraud--Why the Celt was not
+Loyal--The Governors and the Governed--Royal Cities and their
+Charters--Dublin Castle, its Officers, Law Courts--A Law Court in the
+Fourteenth Century--Irish Soldiers help the English King--A Murder for
+which Justice is refused--Exactions of the Nobles--Invasion of
+Bruce--Remonstrance to the Pope--The Scotch Armies withdrawn from
+Ireland.
+
+[A.D. 1271--1326.]
+
+
+It was now nearly a century since the Anglo-Normans invaded Ireland.
+Henry III. died in 1272, after a reign of fifty-six years. He was
+succeeded by his son, Edward I., who was in the Holy Land at the time of
+his father's death. In 1257 his father had made him a grant of Ireland,
+with the express condition that it should not be separated from England.
+It would appear as if there had been some apprehensions of such an event
+since the time of Prince John. The English monarchs apparently wished
+the benefit of English laws to be extended to the native population, but
+their desire was invariably frustrated by such of their nobles as had
+obtained grants of land in Ireland, and whose object appears to have
+been the extermination and, if this were not possible, the depression of
+the Irish race.
+
+Ireland was at this time convulsed by domestic dissensions. Sir Robert
+D'Ufford, the Justiciary, was accused of fomenting the discord; but he
+appears to have considered that he only did his duty to his royal
+master. When sent for into England, to account for his conduct, he
+"satisfied the King that all was not true that he was charged withal;
+and for further contentment yielded this reason, that in policy he
+thought it expedient to wink at one knave cutting off another, and that
+would save the King's coffers, and purchase peace to the land. Whereat
+the King smiled, and bid him return to Ireland." The saving was
+questionable; for to prevent an insurrection by timely concessions, is
+incomparably less expensive than to suppress it when it has arisen. The
+"purchase of peace" was equally visionary; for the Irish never appear to
+have been able to sit down quietly under unjust oppression, however
+hopeless resistance might be.
+
+The Viceroys were allowed a handsome income; therefore they were
+naturally anxious to keep their post. The first mention of salary is
+that granted to Geoffrey de Marisco. By letters-patent, dated at
+Westminster, July 4th, 1226, he was allowed an annual stipend of L580.
+This was a considerable sum for times when wheat was only 2s. a quarter,
+fat hogs 2s. each, and French wine 2s. a gallon.
+
+Hugh O'Connor renewed hostilities in 1272, by destroying the English
+Castle of Roscommon. He died soon after, and his successor had but brief
+enjoyment of his dignity. In 1277 a horrible act of treachery took
+place, which the unfortunate Irish specially mention in their
+remonstrance to Pope John XXII., as a striking instance of the
+double-dealing of the English and the descendants of the Anglo-Normans
+then in Ireland, Thomas de Clare obtained a grant of Thomond from Edward
+I. It had already been secured to its rightful owners, the O'Briens, who
+probably paid, as was usual, an immense fine for liberty to keep their
+own property. The English Earl knew he could only obtain possession by
+treachery; he therefore leagued with Roe O'Brien, "so that they entered
+into gossipred with each other, and took vows by bells and relics to
+retain mutual friendship;" or, as the Annals of Clonmacnois have it,
+"they swore to each other all the oaths in Munster, as bells, relics of
+saints, and bachalls, to be true to each other for ever."
+
+The unfortunate Irish prince little suspected all the false oaths his
+friend had taken, or all the villany he premeditated. There was another
+claimant for the crown as usual, Turlough O'Brien. He was defeated, but
+nevertheless the Earl turned to his side, got Brian Roe into his hands,
+and had him dragged to death between horses. The wretched perpetrator of
+this diabolical deed gained little by his crime,[337] for O'Brien's sons
+obtained a victory over him the following year. At one time he was so
+hard pressed as to be obliged to surrender at discretion, after living
+on horse-flesh for several days. In 1281 the unprincipled Earl tried the
+game of dissension, and set up Donough, the son of the man he had
+murdered, against Turlough, whom he had supported just before. But
+Donough was slain two years after, and Turlough continued master of
+Thomond until his death, in 1306. De Clare was slain by the O'Briens, in
+1286.
+
+In 1280 the Irish who lived near the Anglo-Norman settlers presented a
+petition to the English King, praying that they might be admitted to the
+privileges of the English law. Edward issued a writ to the then Lord
+Justice, D'Ufford, desiring him to assemble the lords spiritual and
+temporal of the "land of Ireland," to deliberate on the subject. But the
+writ was not attended to; and even if it had been, the lords "spiritual
+and temporal" appear to have decided long before that the Irish should
+not participate in the benefit of English laws, however much they might
+suffer from English oppression. A pagan nation pursued a more liberal
+policy, and found it eminently successful. The Roman Empire was held
+together for many centuries, quite as much by the fact of her having
+made all her dependencies to share in the benefits of her laws, as by
+the strong hand of her cohorts. She used her arms to conquer, and her
+laws to retain her conquests.
+
+In 1281 a sanguinary engagement took place at Moyne, in the county Mayo,
+between the Cusacks and the Barretts. The latter were driven off the
+field. The Annals say: "There were assisting the Cusacks in this battle
+two of the Irish, namely, Taichleach O'Boyle and Taichleach O'Dowda, who
+surpassed all that were there in bravery and valour, and in agility and
+dexterity in shooting."[338] There was a battle this year also between
+the Cinel-Connaill and the Cinel-Owen, in which the former were
+defeated, and their chieftain, Oge O'Donnell, was slain. This encounter
+took place at Desertcreaght, in Tyrone.
+
+Hugh Boy O'Neill was slain in 1283. He is styled "the head of the
+liberality and valour of the Irish; the most distinguished in the north
+for bestowing jewels and riches; the most formidable and victorious of
+his tribe; and the worthy heir to the throne of Ireland." The last
+sentence is observable, as it shows that the English monarch was not
+then considered King of Ireland. In 1285 Theobald Butler died at
+Berehaven. After his death a large army was collected by Lord Geoffrey
+Geneville, and some other English nobles. They marched into Offaly,
+where the Irish had just seized the Castle of Leix. Here they had a
+brief triumph, and seized upon a great prey of cows; but the native
+forces rallied immediately, and, with the aid of Carbry O'Melaghlin,
+routed the enemy completely. Theobald de Verdun lost both his men and
+his horses, and Gerald FitzMaurice was taken prisoner the day after the
+battle, it is said through the treachery of his own followers. The Four
+Masters do not mention this event, but it is recorded at length in the
+Annals of Clonmacnois. They add: "There was a great snow this year,
+which from Christmas to St. Brigid's day continued."
+
+The two great families of De Burgo and Geraldine demand a special
+mention. The former, who were now represented by Richard de Burgo (the
+Red Earl), had become so powerful, that they took precedence even of the
+Lord Justice in official documents. In 1286 the Earl led a great army
+into Connaught, destroying the monasteries and churches, and "obtaining
+sway in everyplace through which he passed." This nobleman was the
+direct descendant of FitzAldelm de Burgo, who had married Isabella, a
+natural daughter of Richard Coeur de Lion, and widow of Llewellyn,
+Prince of Wales. Walter de Burgo became Earl of Ulster in right of his
+wife, Maud, daughter of the younger Hugh de Lacy. The Red Earl's
+grandson, William, who was murdered, in 1333, by the English of Ulster,
+and whose death was most cruelly revenged, was the third and last of the
+De Burgo Earls of Ulster. The Burkes of Connaught are descended from
+William, the younger brother of Walter, the first Earl.
+
+John FitzThomas FitzGerald, Baron of Offaly, was the common ancestor of
+the two great branches of the Geraldines, whose history is an object of
+such peculiar interest to the Irish historian. One of his sons, John,
+was created Earl of Kildare; the other, Maurice, Earl of Desmond.
+
+In 1286 De Burgo laid claim to that portion of Meath which Theobald de
+Verdun held in right of his mother, the daughter of Walter de Lacy. He
+besieged De Verdun in his Castle of Athlone, A.D. 1288, but the result
+has not been recorded. De Toleburne, Justiciary of Ireland, died this
+year; the King seized on all his property, to pay debts which he owed to
+the crown. It appears he was possessed of a considerable number of
+horses.[339]
+
+Jean de Samford, Archbishop of Dublin, administered the affairs of the
+colony until 1290, when he was succeeded by Sir William de Vesci, a
+Yorkshire man, and a royal favourite.
+
+In 1289 Carbry O'Melaghlin possessed a considerable amount of power in
+Meath, and was therefore extremely obnoxious to the English settlers. An
+army was collected to overthrow his government, headed by Richard Tuite
+(the Great Baron), and assisted by O'Connor, King of Connaught. They
+were defeated, and "Tuite, with his kinsmen, and Siccus O'Kelly, were
+slain."
+
+Immediately after the arrival of the new Lord Justice, a quarrel sprung
+up between him and FitzGerald, Baron of Offaly. They both appeared
+before the Council; and if Hollinshed's account may be credited, they
+used language which would scarcely be tolerated in Billingsgate.
+FitzGerald proposed an appeal to arms, which was accepted by his
+adversary. Edward summoned both parties to Westminster. FitzGerald came
+duly equipped for the encounter, but De Vesci had fled the country. He
+was, however, acquitted by Parliament, on the ground of informality, and
+the affair was referred to the royal decision. According to Hollinshed's
+account, the King observed, that "although de Vesci had conveyed his
+person to France, he had left his land behind him in Ireland;" and
+bestowed the lordships of Kildare and Rathangan on his adversary.
+
+Wogan was Viceroy during the close of this century, and had ample
+occupation pacifying the Geraldines and Burkes--an occupation in which
+he was not always successful. Thomas FitzMaurice, "of the ape," father
+of the first Earl of Desmond, had preceded him in the office of
+Justiciary. This nobleman obtained his cognomen from the circumstances
+of having been carried, when a child, by a tame ape round the walls of a
+castle, and then restored to his cradle without the slightest injury.
+
+The English possessions in Ireland at the close of this century
+consisted of the "Liberties" and ten counties--Dublin, Louth, Kildare,
+Waterford, Tipperary, Cork, Limerick, Kerry, Roscommon, and part of
+Connaught. The "Liberties" were those of Connaught and Ulster, under De
+Burgo; Meath, divided between De Mortimer and De Verdun; Wexford,
+Carlow, and Kilkenny, under the jurisdiction of the respective
+representatives of the Marshal heiresses; Thomond, claimed by De Clare;
+and Desmond, partly controlled by the FitzGeralds. Sir William Davies
+says: "These absolute palatines made barons and knights; did exercise
+high justice in all points within their territories; erected courts for
+criminal and civil cases, and for their own revenues, in the same forms
+as the King's courts were established at Dublin; made their own judges,
+sheriffs, coroners, and escheators, so as the King's writ did not run in
+these counties (which took up more than two parts of the English
+colonies), but only in the church-lands lying within the same, which
+were called the 'Cross,' wherein the King made a sheriff; and so in each
+of these counties-palatine there were two sheriffs, one of the Liberty,
+and another of the Cross. These undertakers were not tied to any form of
+plantation, but all was left to their discretion and pleasure; and
+although they builded castles and made freeholds, yet there were no
+tenures or services reserved to the crown, but the lords drew all the
+respect and dependency of the common people unto themselves." Hence the
+strong objection which the said lords had to the introduction of English
+law; for had this been accomplished, it would have proved a serious
+check to their own advancement for the present time, though, had they
+wisdom to have seen it, in the end it would have proved their best
+safeguard and consolidated their power. The fact was, these settlers
+aimed at living like the native princes, oblivious or ignorant of the
+circumstance, that these princes were as much amenable to law as the
+lowest of their subjects, and that they governed by a prescriptive right
+of centuries. If they made war, it was for the benefit of the tribe, not
+for their individual aggrandizement; if they condemned to death, the
+sentence should be in accordance with the Brehon law, which the people
+knew and revered. The settlers owned no law but their own will; and the
+unhappy people whom they governed could not fail to see that their sole
+object was their own benefit, and to obtain an increase of territorial
+possessions at any cost.
+
+On the lands thus plundered many native septs existed, whom neither war
+nor famine could quite exterminate. Their feelings towards the new lord
+of the soil can easily be understood; it was a feeling of open
+hostility, of which they made no secret. They considered the usurper's
+claim unjust; and to deprive him of the possessions which he had
+obtained by force or fraud, was the dearest wish of their hearts.
+
+This subject should be very carefully considered and thoroughly
+understood, for much, if not all, of the miseries which Ireland has
+endured, have arisen from the fatal policy pursued at this period. How
+could the Celt be loyal to the Anglo-Norman, who lived only to oppress
+him, to drive him from his ancestral home, and then to brand him with
+the foul name of rebel, if he dared resist? Had he not resisted, he
+would have been branded with a worse name--a coward.
+
+Such portions of the country as lay outside the land of which the
+Anglo-Normans had possessed themselves, were called "marches." These
+were occupied by troops of natives, who continually resisted the
+aggressions of the invader, always anxious to add to his territory.
+These troops constantly made good reprisals for what had been taken, by
+successful raids on the castle or the garrison. Fleet-footed, and well
+aware of every spot which would afford concealment, these hardy Celts
+generally escaped scot-free. Thus occupied for several centuries, they
+acquired a taste for this roving life; and they can scarcely be
+reproached for not having advanced in civilization with the age, by
+those who placed such invincible obstacles to their progress.[340]
+
+The most important royal castles, after Dublin, were those of Athlone,
+Roscommon, and Randown. They were governed by a constable, and supplied
+by a garrison paid out of the revenues of the colony. The object of
+these establishments was to keep down the natives, who were accordingly
+taxed to keep the garrisons. The people quite understood this, and it
+was not an additional motive for loyalty. The battlements of the castle
+were generally adorned with a grim array of ghastly skulls, the heads of
+those who had been slain in the warfare so constantly going on. But the
+attempt to strike terror into the Irish utterly failed, and new
+candidates passed into the ranks. How, indeed, could they die more
+gloriously than in the service of their country?
+
+The royal cities held charters direct from the crown of England. These
+cities were Dublin, Waterford, Limerick, and Cork. Some idea has
+already been given of the streets and the size of Dublin. The Castle
+was the most important building, at least to the civil portion of
+the community. It contained within its walls a chapel, a jail, and a
+mill--characteristic of the age. The mill was styled the "King's Mill."
+The chaplains had each an annual salary of fifty shillings--not an
+insufficient provision, if we calculate that the penny then was nearly
+the same value as the shilling now; moreover, they had two shillings
+each for wax, and probably fees besides. The chapel was under the
+patronage of St. Thomas of Canterbury, who, when he had been martyred,
+sent to heaven, and could give no more inconvenient reproofs, stood very
+high in royal favour. The Castle was partly encompassed by a moat,
+called the "Castlegripe;" the walls were fortified with bastions, and
+had various gates, towers, and narrow entrances, which were defended by
+strong doors and portcullises. The chief communication with the city was
+by a drawbridge on the southern side of Castle-street. Rolls of the
+fourteenth century exhibit disbursements for repairs, ropes, bolts, and
+rings, from which we gather that everything was kept ready for immediate
+service.
+
+The hostages which were exacted from the Anglo-Norman lords, as well as
+from the Irish chieftains, were kept in the Castle at their own expense.
+They can hardly have found their position very pleasant, as at any
+moment they might be called on to submit to the operation of having
+their eyes put out, or to be hanged. The judges and other officials held
+their courts in the Castle. In the Court of Exchequer the primitive
+method of using counters for calculating[341] was still continued. These
+were laid in rows upon the "chequered" cloth which covered the table.
+Square hazel rods, notched[342] in a particular manner, styled tallies
+and counter-tallies, were employed as vouchers.
+
+The Red Book of the Exchequer contains a curious sketch of "the
+Exchequer of the King of England in Dublin." Six officers of the court
+are at the top; to the left, three judges; to the right, three suitors;
+a sheriff is seated at the bottom. The crier is in the act of adjourning
+the court, exclaiming "_a demain_," showing that even in Ireland
+Norman-French was still the language of law, and probably of courtesy.
+The officer to the left, supposed to be the Second Remembrancer, holds a
+parchment containing the words, "_Preceptum fuit Vice-comiti, per breve
+hujus Scaccarii_." The Chief Remembrancer occupies himself with a pen
+and an Exchequer roll, commencing "_Memorandum quod X deg. die Maij_," &c.;
+while the Clerk of the Pipe prepares a writ, placed on his left knee,
+his foot resting on the table. The Marshal of the Exchequer addresses
+the usher, and holds a document inscribed, "_Exiit breve Vice-comiti_."
+One of the judges exclaims, "_Soient forfez_;" another, _"Voyr dire_."
+On the chequered-covered table, before the judges, are the Red Book, a
+bag with rolls, the counters used for computation, and a document
+commencing with the words, "_Ceo vous_," &c. The sheriff sits at the
+bottom, wearing the leathern cap used by such officers when their
+accounts were under examination in the Exchequer. Three suitors stand at
+the right side of the picture. One, with uplifted hand, says, "_Oz de
+brie_;" another, extending his arm, cries, "_Chalange_;" the third, with
+sword at his side, laced boots, and ample sleeves, holds the thumb of
+his left hand between the fore and middle finger of his right, and
+exclaims, "_Soite oughte_." Thus affording us an interesting and
+truthful picture of a law court in the fourteenth century.
+
+The crown revenues and customs were frequently pawned out to
+associations of Italian money-lenders; and the "Ricardi" of Lucca, and
+"Frescobaldi" of Florence, had agents in the principal towns in Ireland.
+The royal treasure was deposited in the Castle, in a coffer with three
+locks. The keys were confided to different persons, and no payment could
+be made unless the three were present; still, as might be expected from
+men, the sole object of whose lives appears to have been to enrich
+themselves at the expense of others, the accounts were not always
+satisfactory. Even the Viceroys were accused of conniving at and sharing
+in frauds, notwithstanding the salary of L500 per annum and their other
+emoluments, with the permission to levy provisions of all kinds for "the
+king's price," which was far below the current value.
+
+The Castle garrison consisted of archers and halberdiers; the Constable,
+Warders, and Guardian of Works and Supplies, being the principal
+officers. The Constable was generally a nobleman of high rank, and
+received an annual salary[343] of L18 5s.
+
+It will be remembered that Sir John Wogan had been appointed Viceroy at
+the close of the thirteenth century. He brought about a two years' truce
+between the Geraldines and Burkes (De Burgos), and then summoned a
+Parliament at Kilkenny, A.D. 1295. The roll of this Parliament contains
+only twenty-seven names. Richard, Earl of Ulster, is the first on the
+list. The principal Acts passed were: one for revising King John's
+division of the country into counties; another for providing a more
+strict guard over the marches, so as to "keep out the Irish." The Irish
+were not permitted to have any voice in the settlement of the affairs,
+of their country, and it was a rebellious symptom if they demurred.
+Nevertheless, in 1303, King Edward was graciously pleased to accept the
+services of Irish soldiers, in his expedition against Scotland. It is
+said that, in 1299, his army was composed principally of Welsh and
+Irish, and that on this occasion they were royally feasted at Roxburgh
+Castle.
+
+The O'Connors of Offaly were for nearly two centuries the most heroic,
+and therefore the most dangerous, of the "Irish enemies." Maurice
+O'Connor Faly and his brother, Calvagh, were the heads of the sept. The
+latter had obtained the soubriquet of "the Great Rebel," from his
+earnest efforts to free his country. He had defeated the English in a
+battle, in which Meiller de Exeter and several others were slain; he had
+taken the Castle of Kildare; therefore, as he could not be taken himself
+by fair means, treachery was employed.
+
+The chiefs of Offaly were invited to dinner on Trinity Sunday, A.D.
+1315, by Sir Pierce MacFeorais (Peter Bermingham). As they rose up from
+table they were cruelly massacred, one by one, with twenty-four of their
+followers. This black deed took place at Bermingham's own Castle of
+Carbury,[344] county Kildare. Bermingham was arraigned before King
+Edward, but no justice was ever obtained for this foul murder.
+
+In the year 1308, Piers Gaveston, the unworthy favourite of Edward II.,
+was appointed Viceroy. The English barons had long been disgusted by his
+insolence, and jealous of his influence. He was banished to France--or
+rather a decree to that effect was issued--but Ireland was substituted,
+for it was considered a banishment to be sent to that country. Gaveston,
+with his usual love of display, was attended by a magnificent suite, and
+commenced his Viceroyalty in high state. He was accompanied by his wife,
+Marguerite, who was closely connected with the royal family.
+
+The Templars had been suppressed and plundered by royal command; but
+though this evil deed was accomplished without much trouble, there were
+Irish clans whose suppression was not so easily effected. The O'Tooles
+and O'Briens, styled by the Anglo-Normans "les Ototheyles et les
+Obrynnes," stood their ground so well, that they had put the late
+Viceroy to flight this very year, and promised some active employment
+for his successor.
+
+Edward appears to have had apprehensions as to the kind of reception his
+favourite was likely to receive from the powerful Earl of Ulster; he
+therefore wrote him a special letter, requesting his aid and counsel for
+the Viceroy. But De Burgo knew his own power too well; and instead of
+complying with the royal request, he marched off to Drogheda, and then
+to Trim, where he employed himself in giving sumptuous entertainments,
+and conferring the honour of knighthood on his adherents. The favourite
+was recalled to England at the end of a year. Edward had conducted him
+to Bristol, on his way to Ireland; he now went to meet him at Chester,
+on his return. Three years later he paid the forfeit of his head for all
+these condescensions.
+
+In 1309 De Wogan was again appointed Governor. The exactions of the
+nobles had risen to such a height, that some of their number began to
+fear the effects would recoil on themselves. High food rates and fearful
+poverty then existed, in consequence of the cruel exactions of the
+Anglo-Normans on their own dependents. They lived frequently in their
+houses, and quartered their soldiers and followers on them, without
+offering them the smallest remuneration. A statute was now made which
+pronounced these proceedings "open robbery," and accorded the right of
+suit in such cases to the crown. But this enactment could only be a dead
+letter. We have already seen how the crown dealt with the most serious
+complaints of the natives; and even had justice been awarded to the
+complainant, the right of eviction was in the hands of the nearest
+noble, and the unfortunate tenant would have his choice between
+starvation in the woods or marauding on the highways, having neither the
+_dernier resort_ of a workhouse or emigration in that age.
+
+The Viceroy had abundant occupation suppressing the feuds both of the
+Irish and the colonists. Civil war raged in Thomond, but the quarrels
+between the Anglo-Norman settlers in the same province, appear to have
+been more extensive and less easily appeased. In a note to the Annals of
+Clonmacnois, MacGeoghegan observes, that "there reigned more
+dissentions, strife, warrs, and debates between the Englishmen
+themselves, in the beginning of the conquest of this kingdome, than
+between the Irishmen; as by perusing the warrs between the Lacies of
+Meath, John Coursey, Earle of Ulster, William Marshal, and the English
+of Meath and Munster, Mac Gerald, the Burke, Butler, and Cogan, may
+appear."
+
+The famous invasion of Ireland by Bruce took place on the 16th of May,
+A.D. 1315. On that day Edward landed on the coast of Ulster, near
+Carrickfergus, with six thousand men. He was attended by the heroes of
+Bannockburn; and as a considerable number of native forces soon joined
+them, the contingent was formidable. Although a few of the Irish had
+assisted Edward II. in his war against Scotch independence, the
+sympathies of the nation were with the cause of freedom; and they gladly
+hailed the arrival of those who had delivered their own country, hoping
+they would also deliver Ireland. It was proposed that Edward Bruce
+should be made King of Ireland. The Irish chieftain, Donnell O'Neill,
+King of Ulster, in union with the other princes of the province, wrote a
+spirited but respectful remonstrance to the Holy See, on the part of the
+nation, explaining why they were anxious to transfer the kingdom to
+Bruce.
+
+In this document the remonstrants first state, simply and clearly, that
+the Holy Father was deceived; that they were persuaded his intentions
+were pure and upright; and that his Holiness only knew the Irish through
+the misrepresentations of their enemies. They state their wish "to save
+their country from foul and false imputations," and to give a correct
+idea of their state. They speak, truthfully and mournfully, "of the sad
+remains of a kingdom, which has groaned so long beneath the tyranny of
+English kings, of their ministers and their barons;" and they add, "that
+some of the latter, though born in the island, continued to exercise the
+same extortions, rapine, and cruelties, as their ancestors inflicted."
+They remind the Pontiff that "it is to Milesian princes, and not to the
+English, that the Church is indebted for those lands and possessions of
+which it has been stripped by the sacrilegious cupidity of the English."
+They boldly assert "it was on the strength of false statements" that
+Adrian transferred the sovereignty of the country to Henry II, "the
+probable murderer of St. Thomas a Becket." Details are then given of
+English oppression, to some of which we have already referred. They
+state the people have been obliged to take refuge, "like beasts, in the
+mountains, in the woods, marshes, and caves. Even _there_ we are not
+safe. They envy us these desolate abodes." They contrast the engagements
+made by Henry to the Church, and his fair promises, with the grievous
+failure in their fulfilment. They give clear details of the various
+enactments made by the English, one of which merits special attention,
+as an eternal refutation of the false and base charge against the Irish
+of having refused to accept English laws, because they were a lawless
+race. They state (1) "that no Irishman who is not a prelate can take the
+law against an Englishman, but every Englishman may take the law against
+an Irishman." (2) That any Englishman may kill an Irishman, "falsely and
+perfidiously, _as often happened_, of whatsoever rank, innocent or
+guilty, and yet he cannot be brought before the English tribunals; and
+further, that the English murderer can seize the property of his
+victim." When such was the state of Ireland, as described calmly in an
+important document still extant, we cannot be surprised that the people
+eagerly sought the slightest hope of redress, or the merest chance of
+deliverance from such oppression.[345] In conclusion, the Irish princes
+inform his Holiness, "that in order to obtain their object the more
+speedily and securely, they had invited the gallant Edward Bruce, to
+whom, being descended from their most noble ancestors, they had
+transferred, as they justly might, their own right of royal domain."
+
+A few years later Pope John wrote a letter to Edward III., in which he
+declares that the object of Pope Adrian's Bull had been entirely
+neglected, and that the "most unheard-of miseries and persecutions had
+been inflicted on the Irish." He recommends that monarch to adopt a very
+different policy, and to remove the causes of complaint, "lest it might
+be too late hereafter to apply a remedy, when the spirit of revolt had
+grown stronger."
+
+The accounts of Bruce's Irish campaign have not been very clearly given.
+The Four Masters mention it briefly, notwithstanding its importance; the
+fullest account is contained in the Annals of Clonmacnois, which agree
+with the Annals of Connaught. Dundalk, Ardee, and some other places in
+the north, were taken in rapid succession, and a good supply of victuals
+and wine was obtained from the former place. The Viceroy, Sir Edmund le
+Botiller, marched to attack the enemy; but the proud Earl of Ulster
+refused his assistance, and probably the Justiciary feared to offend him
+by offering to remain. Meanwhile, Felim, King of Connaught, who had
+hitherto been an ally of the Red Earl, came over to the popular side;
+and the English forces suffered a defeat at Connor, in which William de
+Burgo and several knights were taken prisoners. This battle was fought
+on the 10th of September, according to Grace's Annals, and the battle of
+Dundalk on the 29th of July.
+
+After the battle of Connor, the Earl of Ulster fled to Connaught, where
+he remained a year; the remainder of his forces shut themselves up in
+Carrickfergus. Bruce was proclaimed King of Ireland, and marched
+southward to pursue his conquests. The Earl of Moray was sent to
+Edinburgh to invite King Robert over, and the Scotch armies prepared to
+spend the winter with the De Lacys in Westmeath.
+
+When the Christmas festivities were concluded, Bruce again took the
+field, and defeated the Viceroy at Ardscull, in the co. Kildare, In the
+month of February some of the chief nobles of the English colony met in
+Dublin, and signed a manifesto, in which they denounced the traitorous
+conduct of the Scotch enemy, in trying to wrest Ireland from their Lord,
+"Monsieur Edward," taking special care to herald forth their own praises
+for loyalty, and to hint at the compensation which might be required for
+the same.
+
+But the Irish were again their own enemies; and to their miserable
+dissensions, though it can never justify the cruelties of their
+oppressors, must be attributed most justly nearly all their misfortunes.
+Had the Irish united against the invaders, there can be no doubt that,
+with the assistance of the Scotch army, they would have obtained a
+complete and glorious victory, though it may be doubtful whether any
+really beneficial results would have accrued to the country should
+disunion continue. When Felim O'Connor joined Bruce, Rory O'Connor and
+his clan commenced depredations on his territory. Felim returned to give
+him battle, and defeated him with terrible slaughter. Thus men and time
+were lost in useless and ignoble strife. Rory was slain in this
+engagement--a fate he richly merited; and Felim was once more free to
+fight for his country. He was joined by the O'Briens of Thomond, and
+they marched together to attack Athenry, which was defended by Burke and
+Bermingham. A fierce conflict ensued. The Irish fought with their usual
+valour; but English coats-of-mail were proof against their attacks, and
+English cross-bows mowed down their ranks.
+
+The brave young Felim was slain, with 11,000 of his followers; and the
+Irish cause was irretrievably injured, perhaps more by the death of the
+leader than by the loss of the men. This disaster took place on the 10th
+of August, 1316.
+
+Still the Irish were not daunted. The O'Tooles and O'Byrnes rose in
+Wicklow, the O'Mores in Leix. Robert Bruce came over to Ireland. The
+Franciscan friars, always devoted to their country, made themselves
+specially obnoxious by encouraging their countrymen to die in defence of
+their country. They were threatened and cajoled by turns, but with
+little effect.[346] Edward Bruce again appeared before Carrickfergus.
+The siege was protracted until September, when Robert Bruce arrived, and
+found the English so hard pressed, that they ate hides, and fed on the
+bodies of eight Scots whom they had made prisoners.[347] In the year
+1317, the Scottish army was computed at 20,000 men, besides their Irish
+auxiliaries. After Shrovetide, King Robert and his brother crossed the
+Boyne, and marched to Castleknock, near Dublin, where they took Hugh
+Tyrrell prisoner, and obtained possession of the fortress. There was no
+little fear in Dublin Castle thereupon, for the Anglo-Normans distrusted
+each other. And well they might. The De Lacys had solemnly pledged their
+fidelity, yet they were now found under the standard of Bruce. Even De
+Burgo was suspected; for his daughter, Elizabeth, was the wife of the
+Scottish King. When the invading army approached Dublin, he was seized
+and confined in the Castle. It will be remembered that Dublin had been
+more than once peopled by the citizens of Bristol. They were naturally
+in the English interest, and disposed to offer every resistance. They
+fortified Dublin so strongly, even at the expense of burning the suburbs
+and pulling down churches, that Bruce deemed it more prudent to avoid an
+encounter, and withdrew towards the Salmon Leap; from whence he led his
+forces southward as far as Limerick, without encountering any serious
+opposition.
+
+But a reverse was even then at hand. An Anglo-Irish army was formed,
+headed by the Earl of Kildare; famine added its dangers; and on the 1st
+of May Robert Bruce returned to Scotland, leaving his brother, Edward,
+with the Earl of Moray, to contend, as best they could, against the
+twofold enemy. In 1318 a good harvest relieved the country in some
+measure from one danger; two Cardinals were despatched from Rome to
+attempt to release it from the other. On the 14th October, in the same
+year, the question was finally decided. An engagement took place at
+Faughard, near Dundalk. On the one side was the Scotch army, headed by
+Bruce, and assisted (from what motive it is difficult to determine) by
+the De Lacys and other Anglo-Norman lords; on the other side, the
+English army, commanded by Lord John Bermingham. The numbers on each
+side have been differently estimated; but it is probable the death of
+Edward Bruce was the turning point of the conflict. He was slain by a
+knight named John Maupas, who paid for his valour with his life.
+Bermingham obtained the Earldom of Louth and the manor of Ardee as a
+reward for Bruce's head; and the unfortunate Irish were left to their
+usual state of chronic resistance to English oppression. The head of the
+Scottish chieftain was "salted in a chest," and placed unexpectedly,
+with other heads, at a banquet, before Edward II. The English King
+neither swooned nor expressed surprise; but the Scotch ambassadors, who
+were present, rushed horror-stricken from the apartment. The King,
+however, was "right blyth," and glad to be delivered so easily of a
+"felon foe." John de Lacy and Sir Robert de Coulragh, who had assisted
+the said "felon," paid dearly for their treason; and as they were
+Anglo-Normans, and subjects of the English crown, the term was justly
+applied to them, however cruel the sentence. They were starved to death
+in prison, "on three morsels of the worst bread, and three draughts of
+foul water on alternate days, until life became extinct."
+
+Since this chapter was written, Mr. O'Flanagan has kindly presented me
+with his valuable _History of Dundalk_, from which I am permitted to
+make the following extracts, which throw much additional light upon the
+subject:--[348]
+
+"'In the ninth year of King Edward's reign,' writes Hollinshed, 'Edward
+Bruce, brother to Robert Bruce, King of Scots, entered the north part of
+Ireland, with 6,000 men. There were with him divers captains of high
+renown among the Scottish nation, of whom were these:--The Earls of
+Murray and Monteith, the Lord John Stewart, the Lord John Campbell, the
+Lord Thomas Randolf, Fergus of Ardrossan, John Wood, and John Bisset.
+They landed near to Cragfergus, in Ulster, and joining with the Irish (a
+large force of whom was led out by Fellim, son of Hugh O'Conor). Thus
+assisted, he conquered the Earldom of Ulster, and gave the English there
+divers great overthrows, took the town of Dundalk, spoiled and burned
+it, with a great part of Orgiel. They burned churches and abbeys, with
+the people whom they found in the same, sparing neither man, woman, nor
+child. Then was the Lord Butler chosen Lord Justice, who made the Earl
+of Ulster and the Geraldines friends, and reconciled himself with Sir
+John Mandeville, thus seeking to preserve the residue of the realm which
+Edward Bruce meant wholly to conquer, having caused himself to be
+crowned King of Ireland.'
+
+"Dundalk was heretofore the stronghold of the English power, and the
+head-quarters of the army for the defence of the Pale. At the north, as
+Barbour preserves in his metrical history of Robert Bruce:
+
+    "'At Kilsaggart Sir Edward lay,
+    And wellsom he has heard say
+    That at Dundalk was assembly
+    Made of the lords of that country.'
+
+"It was not, however, within this town that the ceremony of Bruce's
+coronation took place, but, according to the best avouched tradition, on
+the hill of Knock-na-Melin, at half a mile's distance.
+
+"Connaught the while was torn with dissensions and family feuds, of
+which availing himself, 'the Lord Justice' (to resume the narrative of
+Hollinshed) 'assembled a great power out of Munster and Leinster, and
+other parts thereabouts; and the Earl of Ulster, with another army, came
+in unto him near unto Dundalk. There they consulted together how to deal
+in defending the country against the enemies; but, hearing the Scots
+were withdrawn back, the Earl of Ulster followed them, and, fighting
+with them at "Coiners," he lost the field. There were many slain on both
+parts; and William de Burgh, the Earl's brother, Sir John Mandeville,
+and Sir Alan FitzAlan were taken prisoners.' Bruce's adherents
+afterwards ravaged other parts of the Pale, Meath, Kildare, &c., but met
+with much, resistance. At length 'Robert le Bruce, King of Scots, came
+over himself, landed at Cragfergus, to the aid of his brother, whose
+soldiers most wickedly entered into churches, spoiling and defacing the
+same of all such tombs, monuments, plate, copes, and other ornaments
+which they found and might lay hands on.' Ultimately 'the Lord John
+Bermingham, being general of the field, and having with him divers
+captains of worthy fame, namely--Sir Richard Tuiyte, Sir Miles Verdon,
+Sir John Cusack, Sirs Edmund, and William, and Walter Bermingham, the
+Primate of Armagh, Sir Walter de la Pulle, and John Maupas (with some
+choice soldiers from Drogheda), led forth the King's power to the number
+of 1,324 able men, against Edward Bruce, who had, with his adherents
+(the Lord Philip Moubray, the Lord Walter Soulis, the Lord Allan Stuart,
+with three brothers, Sir Walter Lacy, Sir Robert and Aumar Lacy, John
+Kermerelyn, Walter White, and about 3,000 others, writes Pembridge),
+encamped, not two miles from Dundalk, with 3,000 men, there abiding the
+Englishmen to fight with them if they came forward, which they did with
+all convenient speed, being as desirous to give battle as the Scots were
+to receive it. The Primate of Armagh, personally accompanying the
+English power, and blessing the enterprise, gave them such comfortable
+exhortation as he thought served the time ere they began to encounter,
+and herewith buckling together, at length the Scots fully and wholly
+were vanquished, and 2,000 of them slain, together with the Captain,
+Edward Bruce. Maupas, that pressed into the throng to encounter with
+Bruce hand to hand, was found, in the search, dead, aloft upon the slain
+body of Bruce. The victory thus obtained, upon St. Calixtus' day, made
+an end of the Scottish kingdom in Ireland; and Lord Bermingham, sending
+the head of Bruce into England, presented it to King Edward, who, in
+recompense, gave him and his heirs male the Earldom of Louth, and the
+Baronies of Ardee and Athenry to him and his heirs general for ever,' as
+hereafter noticed.
+
+"'Edward Bruce,' say the Four Masters, 'a man who spoiled Ireland
+generally, both English and Irish, was slain by the English, by force of
+battle and bravery, at Dundalk; and MacRory, Lord of the Hebrides,
+MacDonell, Lord of the Eastern Gael (in Antrim), and many others of the
+Albanian or Scottish chiefs were also slain; and no event occurred in
+Ireland for a long period from which so much benefit was derived as
+that, for a general famine prevailed in the country during the three
+years and a half he had been in it, and the people were almost reduced
+to the necessity of eating each other.' Edward Bruce was, however,
+unquestionably a man of great spirit, ambition, and bravery, but fiery,
+rash, and impetuous, wanting that rare combination of wisdom and valour
+which so conspicuously marked the character of his illustrious brother.
+
+"During the sojourn of Edward Bruce in this kingdom, he did much to
+retard the spread of English rule. Having for allies many of the
+northern Irish, whose chieftain, O'Neill, invited him to be King over
+the Gael in Ireland, and whose neighbourhood to the Scottish coast made
+them regard his followers as their fellow-countrymen, he courted them on
+all occasions, and thus the Irish customs of gossipred and
+fostering--preferring the Brehon laws to statute law, whether enacted at
+Westminster or by the Parliaments of the Pale--destroyed all traces of
+the rule which the English wished to impose upon the province of Ulster.
+Many of the English settlers--Hugh de Lacy, John Lord Bissett, Sir Hugh
+Bissett, and others--openly took part with Bruce.
+
+"The eastern shores of Ulster, Spenser informs us, previous to Bruce's
+arrival, bounded a well-inhabited and prosperous English district,
+having therein the good towns of Knockfergus, Belfast, Armagh, and
+Carlingford; but in process of time became 'outbounds and abandoned
+places in the English Pale.' According to the metrical history of
+Barbour, Edward Bruce was by no means disposed to continue a subject,
+while his brother reigned King; and, though Robert conferred his
+hereditary Earldom of Carrick upon him, it by no means satisfied his
+ambitious projects:--
+
+    "'The Erle of Carrick, Schyr Eduward,
+    That stouter was than a libbard,
+    And had na will to be in pess,
+    Thoucht that Scotland to litill was
+    Till his brother and hym alsua,
+    Therefor to purpose he gav ta
+    That he of Irland wold be king.'
+
+"Shortly after his landing at Carrickfergus he proceeded towards the
+Pale. Dundalk, then the principal garrison within the Pale, had all the
+Englishry of the country assembled in force to defend it, when the Scots
+proceeded to the attack, 'with banners all displayit.' The English sent
+out a reconnoitering party, who brought back the cheering news, the
+Scots would be but 'half a dinner' to them. This dinner, however, was
+never eaten. The town was stormed with such vigour that the streets
+flowed with the blood of the defenders; and such as could escape fled
+with the utmost precipitancy, leaving their foes profusion of victuals
+and great abundance of wine. This assault took place 29th June, 1315. It
+was upon this success the Scots crowned Edward Bruce King of Ireland, on
+the hill of Knocknamelan, near Dundalk, in the same simple national
+manner in which his brother had been inaugurated at Scone.
+
+"The new monarch, however, was not disposed to rest inactive, and his
+troops had many skirmishes with Richard de Burgh, called the Red Earl of
+Ulster, who drove them as far as Coleraine. There they were in great
+distress; and they would have suffered much from hunger and want, had
+not a famous pirate, Thomas of Down, or Thomas Don, sailed up the Bann
+and set them free. De Burgh's army were supplied with provisions from a
+distance; and one of Bruce's famous leaders, named Randolph, Earl of
+Murray, who commanded the left wing at Bannockburn, having surprised the
+convoy on its way to De Burgh's camp, equipped his men in the clothes of
+the escort, advanced at dusk with his cavalry, and the banner of the
+English flaunting in the night wind. A large party of De Burgh's force,
+perceiving, as they thought, the approach of the expected provisions,
+advanced unguardedly to drive off the cattle, when they were vigorously
+assailed by the Scots, shouting their war-cry, and they were chased back
+with the loss of a thousand slain. De Burgh's army included all the
+chivalry of Ireland--that is, the English portion, viz.:--'The Butlers,
+earls two, of Kildare and Desmond; Byrnhame (Bermingham), Widdan
+(Verdon), and FitzWaryne, and Schyr Paschall off Florentyne, a Knight of
+Lombardy; with the Mandvillas, Bissetts, Logans, Savages, and Schyr
+Nycholl off Kilkenave.' _The Ulster Journal_ thinks this list of
+Barbour's incorrect; certainly Sir Edmond Butler was not among them, nor
+probably either of the Geraldine lords. Some lords of Munster, however,
+were present--Power, Baron of Donisle; Sir George Lord Roche, and Sir
+Roger Hollywood, of county Meath.
+
+"On the 10th September, A.D. 1315, De Burgh, being reinforced, marched
+to attack Bruce's position; but the Scots, leaving their banners flying
+to deceive the Anglo-Irish, fell upon their flank and gained the
+victory. This gave them Coleraine; and next day they bore off a great
+store of corn, flour, wax, and wine, to Carrickfergus.
+
+"This success gave to the Gael of the north an opportunity of declaring
+their exultation. Bruce, whose royal authority was previously confined
+to his Scottish troops, was proclaimed King of Ireland, and addressed as
+such.
+
+"He then sent the Earl of Murray to Edinburgh, where the King of
+Scotland kept his court, entreating him to join him in Ireland.
+
+    "'For war thai both in to that land
+    Thai suld find nane culd thaim withstand.'
+
+"Robert gladly promised compliance, but was for some time prevented by
+the exigencies of his own kingdom. Murray returned with a small
+reinforcement, but 500 men, and landed at Dundalk, where Edward Bruce
+met him. This was in the December of 1315.
+
+"In January, 1316, Edward Bruce led his forces into the county of
+Kildare, and was stoutly opposed by the Lord Justiciary, or Viceroy, Sir
+Edward Butler, who, backed by the Geraldines, under John Fitzgerald,
+first Earl of Kildare, bravely repulsed the invaders. They retreated
+with the loss of Sir Walter Murray and Sir Fergus of Ardrossan, with
+seventy men, as Clyn records. A new ally for the Palesmen arrived at
+this juncture--Mortimer, Lord of Meath, in right of his wife, Joan de
+Joinville. He assembled a large force, and endeavoured to intercept the
+Scots at Kells, but, on the eve of the onset, was deserted by the Lacys
+and others, who left him almost defenceless. The season and scarcity
+made war against the Scots, and vast numbers perished from hunger. Bruce
+was forced to retreat once more northward, where his chief adherents
+lay. The citadel of Carrickfergus resisted the attacks of Bruce's army
+for a year. It was in this town that (probably in September, 1316)
+Robert, King of Scotland, with a strong force, came to his brother's
+help. Barbour gives the number who accompanied Robert at 5,000. This was
+enough to make the Viceroy take heed for his government. He hasted,
+Barbour says:
+
+    "'To Dewellyne, in full gret by,
+    With othyr lordis that fled him by,
+    And warnysit both castyls and towness
+    That war in their possessionnys.'
+
+"The stout defence of Dublin is already mentioned; and, as on the fate
+of this metropolis the duration of English rule depended in Ireland, the
+public spirit and intrepidity of the citizens of Dublin ought, according
+to Lord Hailes, be held in perpetual remembrance. The citizens took the
+defence of the city into their own hands. The chief civic dignity was at
+that time most worthily borne by Robert Nottingham, who seems to have
+distanced the celebrated Sir Richard Whittington considerably, being
+_seventeen times_ Mayor of Dublin. Knowing the close connexion between
+the Earl of Ulster and the Bruces (he was father of the Queen of Scots),
+the Mayor headed a strong band of citizens, and resolved to make him a
+hostage for the safety of the city. This was not effected without loss
+of life. The Mayor succeeded, and announced 'he would put the earl to
+death if the city was attacked.' This prompt step had the desired
+effect. Robert Bruce feared to risk his father-in-law's life, and,
+instead of entering the city, turned aside and encamped. Time was
+gained, of which the citizens promptly availed themselves. That night
+the blazing suburbs told they were ready to anticipate the fire of
+Moscow, rather than allow their invaders to possess their capital. They
+also worked so hard to strengthen the walls, that the Scots, seeing such
+determination, broke up their camp and retired. The value set upon the
+earl as a hostage was so great, that, although the King of England
+instantly wrote for his liberation, he was detained until the Scots left
+the kingdom.
+
+"Disappointed in their efforts on Dublin, the Scots ravaged the Pale,
+burned Naas, plundered Castledermot, passed on to Gowran, and advanced
+to Callan; thence they went to Limerick. Sir Edmond Butler followed with
+an army of 30,000 well-armed men; but, at the express desire of Roger
+Mortimer, Earl of March, the Lord Deputy, who was himself desirous of
+having the command against the King of Scots, delayed the encounter.
+
+"Mortimer did not accomplish this; for, shortly after, Robert hastened
+to his own kingdom, leaving a great number of his bravest knights to
+carry on the war for his brother. Edward continued in the north for
+several months, and once more proceeded south.
+
+    "'For he had not then in that land
+      Of all men, I trow, two thousand,
+      Owtane (except) the Kings of Irischery
+      That in great route raid him by,
+      Towart Dundalk he tuk the way.'
+
+"When the Viceroy was aware of the advance of the Scots towards the
+Pale, he assembled a great army, said to amount to '20,000 trappit
+horse,' and an equal number of foot.
+
+"The approach of this immensely superior force did not dishearten the
+brother of the lion-hearted King of Scotland. He declared he would fight
+were they sixfold more numerous.
+
+"In vain his officers and allies counselled caution; in vain the Irish
+chiefs recommended him to avoid a pitched battle, and harass the enemy
+by skirmishing. Edward indignantly bade them 'draw aside, and look on,'
+which Barbour declares they did. A very interesting account on the
+battle on St. Callixtus' day is given in the _Ulster Archaeological
+Journal_. The battle was on Sunday, 14th October, 1318. According to
+Barbour, Edward Bruce had a presentiment of his death, and would not use
+his usual coat-armour. The legend is, that having the idea the fall of
+King Edward Bruce would decide the battle, Sir John Bermingham, leader
+of the Anglo-Irish army, disguised himself as a friar, passed into the
+Scottish camp, and, being shown the king, who was hearing Mass, craved
+alms, so as to induce Bruce to look up from his prayer-book. This gave
+Bermingham the opportunity of marking well his face, in order to single
+him out in the fray. The king ordered relief to be given to the
+importunate friar; but the eager glance of the intrusive applicant so
+disquieted him--agitated, doubtless, from the idea of his small force
+being about to engage at such desperate odds--that he presently caused
+the attendants to look for the friar, but he was nowhere to be found.
+This caused him to array one Gib Harper in his armour, and appoint Lord
+Alan Stewart general of the field. The fight commenced with a rapid
+charge on the Scots by the Anglo-Irish under Bermingham. With him were
+divers lords and a great army. The force was chiefly composed, however,
+of yeomanry, or, as an ancient record says, 'the common people, with a
+powerful auxiliary _dextram Dei_.' Bermingham, believing Lord Stewart
+was Bruce, singled him out, and, after a terrible combat, slew him,
+whereon the Scots fled. According to the _Howth Chronicle_, few escaped,
+their loss being 1,230 men. Bruce's death is generally ascribed to John
+Mapas, one of the Drogheda contingent. The _Ulster Journal_
+states:--'There can be little doubt that the ancient Anglo-Irish family
+of "Mape," of Maperath, in the shire of Meath, was descended from this
+distinguished slayer of Edward Bruce.' The heiress of John Mapas, Esq.,
+of Rochestown, county of Dublin, was married to the late Richard Wogan
+Talbot, Esq., of Malahide. After the defeat at Dundalk, the small
+remnant of the Scottish invaders yet alive fled northward, where they
+met a body of troops sent by King Robert as a reinforcement to his
+brother. They could not make head against the victorious troops of
+Bermingham, so they made their way to the coast, burning and destroying
+the country through which they passed."
+
+
+[Illustration: BUTLER'S TOMB, FRIARY CHURCH, CLONMEL.]
+
+[Illustration: CARRICKFERGUS.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[337] _Crime_.--We really must enter a protest against the way in which
+Irish history is written by some English historians. In Wright's
+_History of Ireland_ we find the following gratuitous assertion offered
+to excuse De Clare's crime: "Such a refinement of cruelty _must_ have
+arisen from a suspicion of treachery, or from some other grievous
+offence with which we are not acquainted." If all the dark deeds of
+history are to be accounted for in this way, we may bid farewell to
+historical justice. And yet this work, which is written in the most
+prejudiced manner, has had a far larger circulation in Ireland than Mr.
+Haverty's truthful and well-written history. When Irishmen support such
+works, they must not blame their neighbours across the Channel for
+accepting them as truthful histories.
+
+[338] _Shooting_.--Four Masters, vol. iii. p. 435. These champions
+appear to have been very famous. They are mentioned in the Annals of
+Ulster and in the Annals of Clonmacnois, with special commendations for
+their skill. The following year O'Dowda was killed by Adam Cusack. It is
+hoped that he is not the same person as "the Cusack" whom he had
+assisted just before.
+
+[339] _Horses_.--As votaries of the turf maybe interested in knowing the
+appellations of equine favourites in the thirteenth century, we subjoin
+a sample of their names: Lynst, Jourdan, Feraunt de Trim, Blanchard de
+Londres, Connetable, Obin the Black, &c.
+
+[340] _Progress_.--The following passage is taken from a work published
+a few years ago. It is not a work of any importance, but it had some
+circulation in its day; and like many other works then published, was
+calculated to do immense mischief, by quoting the false statements of
+Cambrensis as authority, and by giving grotesque sketches of Irish
+character, which were equally untrue. The writer says: "They [the Irish
+chieftains] opposed the introduction of English law, because they had a
+direct interest in encouraging murder and theft." The fact was, as we
+have shown, that the Irish did their best to obtain the benefit of
+English law; but the English nobles who ruled Ireland would not permit
+it, unquestionably "because _they_ had a direct interest encouraging
+murder and theft."
+
+[341] _Calculating_.--We derived the word from _calculus_, a white
+stone, the Romans having used small white stones for arithmetical
+purposes. Probably they taught this custom to the aboriginal English,
+whose descendants retained it long after.
+
+[342] _Notched_.--Quite as primitive an arrangement as the _quipus_, and
+yet used in a condition of society called civilized.
+
+[343] _Salary_.--The value may be estimated by the current price of
+provisions: cows from 5s. to 13s. 4d. each; heifers, 3s. 4d. to 5s.;
+sheep, 8d. to 1s.; ordinary horses, 13s. 4d. to 40s.; pigs, 1s. 6d. to
+2s.; salmon, 6d. each; wheat, corn, and malt varied with the produce of
+the season. Most of the details given above have been taken from Mr.
+Gilbert's _Viceroys_.
+
+[344] _Carbury_.--Extensive ruins still mark the site.
+
+[345] _Oppression_.--The original Latin is preserved by Fordun.
+Translations may be found in the Abbe MacGeoghegan's _History of
+Ireland_, p. 323, and in Plowden's _Historical Review_. We append one
+clause, in which these writers complain of the corruption of manners
+produced by intercourse with the English settlers: "Quod sancta et
+columbina ejus simplicitas, ex eorum cohabitatione et exemplo reprobo,
+in serpentinam calliditatem mirabiliter est mutata."
+
+[346] _Effect_.--See Theiner, _Vet. Man. Hiber. et Scot._ p. 188, for
+the efforts made by the Holy See to procure peace. The Pope's letter to
+Edward III. will be found at p. 206. It is dated _Avinione, iii. Kal.
+Junii, Pontificatus nostri anno secundo._
+
+[347] _Prisoners_.--Gilbert's _Viceroys_, p. 138.
+
+[348] _Subject.--History of Dundalk_, pp. 46-58.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+The Butlers--Quarrels of the Anglo-Norman Nobles--Treachery and its
+Consequences--The Burkes proclaim themselves Irish--Opposition
+Parliaments--The Statute of Kilkenny and its Effects--Mistakes of
+English Writers--Social Life in Ireland described by a French
+Knight--"Banishment" to Ireland--Richard II. visits Ireland.
+
+[A.D. 1326-1402.]
+
+
+Richard de Burgo, the Red Earl, died in 1326. He took leave of the
+nobles after a magnificent banquet at Kilkenny. When he had resigned his
+possessions to his grandson, William, he retired into the Monastery of
+Athassel, where he expired soon after. In the same year Edward II.
+attempted to take refuge in Ireland, from the vengeance of his people
+and his false Queen, the "she-wolf of France." He failed in his attempt,
+and was murdered soon after--A.D. 1327.
+
+The Butler family now appear prominently in Irish history for the first
+time. It would appear from Carte[349] that the name was originally
+Walter, Butler being an addition distinctive of office. The family was
+established in Ireland by Theobald Walter (Gaultier), an Anglo-Norman of
+high rank, who received extensive grants of land from Henry II.,
+together with the hereditary office of "Pincerna," Boteler, or Butler,
+in Ireland, to the Kings of England. In this capacity he and his
+successors were to attend these monarchs at their coronation, and
+present them, with the first cup of wine. In return they obtained many
+privileges. On account of the quarrels between this family and the De
+Burgos, De Berminghams, Le Poers, and the southern Geraldines, royal
+letters were issued, commanding them, under pain of forfeiture, to
+desist from warring on each other. The result was a meeting of the
+factious peers in Dublin, at which they engaged to keep the "King's
+peace." On the following day they were entertained by the Earl of
+Ulster; the next day, at St. Patrick's, by Maurice FitzThomas; and the
+third day by the Viceroy and his fellow Knights Hospitallers, who had
+succeeded the Templars at Kilmainham. The Earldoms of Ormonde[350] and
+Desmond were now created. The heads of these families long occupied an
+important place in Irish affairs. Butler died on his return from a
+pilgrimage to Compostella, and was succeeded by his eldest son,
+Jacques--"a liberal, friendly, pleasant, and stately youth"--who was
+married this year to King Edward's cousin, Eleanor, daughter of the Earl
+of Essex. The Desmond peerage was created in 1329, when the County
+Palatine[351] of Kerry was given to that family.
+
+The quarrels of these nobles seemed to have originated, or rather to
+have culminated, in an insulting speech made by Poer to FitzGerald, whom
+he designated a "rhymer." The "King's peace" did not last long; and in
+1330 the Lord Justice was obliged to imprison both Desmond and Ulster,
+that being the only method in which they could be "bound over to keep
+the peace." The following year Sir Anthony de Lucy was sent to Ireland,
+as he had a reputation for summary justice. He summoned a Parliament in
+Dublin; but as the barons did not condescend to attend, he adjourned it
+to Kilkenny. This arrangement also failed to procure their presence. He
+seized Desmond, who had been placed in the care of the Sheriff of
+Limerick, and conveyed him to Dublin Castle. Several other nobles were
+arrested at the same time. Sir William Bermingham was confined with his
+son in the Keep of Dublin Castle, which still bears his name. He was
+hanged there soon after. De Lucy was recalled to England, probably in
+consequence of the indignation which was excited by this execution.[352]
+
+The years 1333 and 1334 were disgraced by fearful crimes, in which the
+English and Irish equally participated. In the former year the Earl of
+Ulster seized Walter de Burgo, and starved him to death in the Green
+Castle of Innishowen. The sister of the man thus cruelly murdered was
+married to Sir Richard Mandeville, and she urged her husband to avenge
+her brother's death. Mandeville took the opportunity of accompanying the
+Earl with some others to hear Mass at Carrickfergus,[353] and killed him
+as he was fording a stream. The young Earl's death was avenged by his
+followers, who slew 300 men. His wife, Maud, fled to England with her
+only child, a daughter, named Elizabeth,[354] who was a year old. The
+Burkes of Connaught, who were the junior branch of the family, fearing
+that she would soon marry again, and transfer the property to other
+hands, immediately seized the Connaught estates, declared themselves
+independent of English law, and renounced the English language and
+customs. They were too powerful to be resisted with impunity; and while
+the ancestor of the Clanrickardes assumed the Irish title of Mac William
+_Oughter_, or the Upper, Edmund Burke, the progenitor of the Viscounts
+of Mayo, took the appellation of Mac William _Eighter_, or the Lower.
+This was not the last time when English settlers identified themselves,
+not merely from policy, but even from inclination, with the race whom
+they had once hated and oppressed.
+
+In 1334 the English and Irish marched into Munster to attack MacNamara,
+and added the guilt of sacrilege to their other crimes, by burning a
+church, with 180 persons and two priests in it, none of whom were
+permitted to escape. Another outrage was committed by the settlers, who
+appear to have been quite as jealous of each others property as the
+Irish clans; for we find that one Edmund Burke drowned another of the
+same name in Lough Mask, and, as usual a war ensued between the
+partisans of each family. After a sanguinary struggle, Turlough O'Connor
+drove the murderer out of the province. But this prince soon after
+ruined himself by his wickedness. He married Burke's widow, and put away
+his own lawful wife; from which it may be concluded that he had avenged
+the crime either from love of this woman, or from a desire to possess
+himself of her husband's property. His immoral conduct alienated the
+other chieftains, and after three years' war he was deposed.
+
+Edward had thrown out some hints of an intended visit to Ireland,
+probably to conceal his real purpose of marching to Scotland. Desmond
+was released on bail in 1333, after eighteen months' durance, and
+repaired with some troops to assist the King at Halidon Hill. Soon after
+we find him fighting in Kerry, while the Earl of Kildare was similarly
+occupied in Leinster. In 1339 twelve hundred Kerry men were slain in one
+battle. The Anglo-Norman, FitzNicholas, was among the number of
+prisoners. He died in prison soon after. This gentleman, on one
+occasion, dashed into the assize court at Tralee, and killed Dermod, the
+heir of the MacCarthy More, as he sat with the judge on the bench. As
+MacCarthy was Irish, the crime was suffered to pass without further
+notice.
+
+In 1341 Edward took sweeping measures for a general reform of the
+Anglo-Norman lords, or, more probably, he hoped, by threats of such
+measures, to obtain subsidies for his continental wars. The colonists,
+however, were in possession, and rather too powerful to brook such
+interference. Sir John Morris was sent over to carry the royal plans
+into execution; but though he took prompt and efficient measures, the
+affair turned out a complete failure. The lords refused to attend his
+Parliament, and summoned one of their own, in which they threw the blame
+of maladministration on the English officials sent over from time to
+time to manage Irish affairs. They also protested strongly against the
+new arrangement, which proposed that all the offices then held in
+Ireland should be filled by Englishmen having no personal interest
+whatever in Ireland. The certainty that they would have a personal
+interest in it the very moment there was a chance of bettering their
+fortunes thereby, appears to have been quite overlooked. The settlers,
+therefore were allowed to continue their career as before, and felt all
+the secure for their effectual resistance of the royal interference.
+
+In 1334 Sir Ralph Ufford, who had married Maud Plantagenet, the widow of
+the Earl of Ulster, was appointed Justiciary of Ireland. He commenced
+with a high hand, and endeavoured especially to humble the Desmonds. The
+Earl refused to attend the Parliament, and assembled one of his own at
+Callan; but the new Viceroy marched into Leinster with an armed force,
+seized his lands, farmed them out for the benefit of the crown, got
+possession of the strongholds of Castleisland and Inniskisty in Kerry,
+and hanged Sir Eustace Poer, Sir William Grant, and Sir John Cottrell,
+who commanded these places, on the charge of illegal exactions of coigne
+and livery.[355] The Viceroy also contrived to get the Earl of Kildare
+into his power; and it is probable that his harsh measures would have
+involved England in an open war with her colony and its English
+settlers, had not his sudden death put an end to his summary exercise of
+justice.
+
+It is said that his wife, Maud, who could scarcely forget the murder of
+her first husband, urged him on to many of these violent acts; and it
+was remarked, that though she had maintained a queenly state on her
+first arrival in Ireland, she was obliged to steal away from that
+country, with Ufford's remains enclosed in a leaden coffin, in which her
+treasure was concealed. Her second husband was buried near her first, in
+the Convent of Poor Clares, at Camposey, near Ufford, in Suffolk.
+
+The Black Death broke out in Ireland in the year 1348. The annalists
+give fearful accounts of this visitation. It appeared in Dublin first,
+and so fatal were its effects, that four thousand souls are said
+to have perished there from August to Christmas. It was remarked
+that this pestilence attacked the English specially, while the
+"Irish-born"--particularly those who lived in the mountainous parts of
+the country--escaped its ravages. We have already mentioned the account
+of this calamity given by Friar Clynn, who fell a victim to the plague
+himself, soon after he had recorded his mournful forebodings. Several
+other pestilences, more or less severe, visited the country at intervals
+during the next few years.
+
+Lionel, the third son of Edward III., who, it will be remembered, was
+Earl of Ulster in right of his wife, Isabella, was now appointed
+Viceroy. He landed in Dublin, on the 15th September, 1360, with an army
+of one thousand men. From the first moment of his arrival he exercised
+the most bitter hostility to the Irish, and enhanced the invidious
+distinction between the English by birth and the English by descent.
+Long before his arrival, the "mere Irishman" was excluded from the
+offices of mayor, bailiff, or officer in any town within the English
+dominions, as well as from all ecclesiastical promotion. Lionel carried
+matters still further, for he forbid any "Irish by birth to come near
+his army." But he soon found that he could not do without soldiers, even
+should they have the misfortune to be Irish; and as a hundred of his
+best men were killed soon after this insulting proclamation, he was
+graciously pleased to allow all the King's subjects to assist him in his
+war against the enemy. He soon found it advisable to make friends with
+the colonists, and obtained the very substantial offering of two years'
+revenue of their lands, as a return for his condescension.
+
+In 1367 the Viceroy returned to England, but he was twice again
+intrusted with office in Ireland. During the last period of his
+administration, he held the memorable Parliament at Kilkenny, wherein
+the famous "Statute of Kilkenny" was enacted. This statute is another
+proof of the fatal policy pursued towards the Irish, and of the almost
+judicial blindness which appears to have prevented the framers of it,
+and the rulers of that unfortunate nation, from perceiving the folly or
+the wickedness of such enactments.
+
+It was a continuance of the old policy. The natives of the country were
+to be trampled down, if they could not be trampled out; the English and
+Irish were to be kept for ever separate, and for ever at variance. How,
+then, could the Irish heart ever beat loyally towards the English
+sovereign? How could the Irish people ever become an integral portion of
+the British Empire? Pardon me for directing your attention specially to
+this statute. It will explain to you that the Irish were not allowed to
+be loyal; it will excuse them if they have sometimes resented such cruel
+oppressions by equally cruel massacres and burnings--if they still
+remembered these wrongs with that statute before them, and the
+unfortunate fact that its enactments were virtually continued for
+centuries.
+
+This statute enacts (1) that any alliance with the Irish by marriage,
+nurture of infants, or gossipred [standing sponsors], should be
+punishable as high treason; (2) that any man of English race taking an
+Irish name, or using the Irish language, apparel, or customs, should
+forfeit all his lands; (3) that to adopt or submit to the Brehon law was
+treason; (4) that the English should not make war upon the natives
+without the permission of Government; (5) that the English should not
+permit the Irish to pasture or graze upon their lands, nor admit them to
+any ecclesiastical benefices or religious houses, nor entertain their
+minstrels or rhymers. (6) It was also forbidden to impose or cess any
+soldiers upon the _English_ subjects against their will, under pain of
+felony; and some regulations were made to restrain the abuse of
+sanctuary, and to prevent the great lords from laying heavy burdens upon
+gentlemen and freeholders.
+
+I shall ask you to consider these statutes carefully; to remember that
+they were compiled under the direction of a crown prince, and confirmed
+by the men who had the entire government of Ireland in their hands. The
+first was an open and gross insult to the natives, who were treated as
+too utterly beneath their English rulers to admit of their entering into
+social relations with them. The settlers who had lived some time in the
+country, were ascertaining every day that its inhabitants were not
+savages, and that they considered the ties of honour which bound them to
+those whom they "fostered," or for whom they stood sponsors, as of the
+most sacred description. Their own safety and interests, if not common
+feelings of humanity and affection, led them to form these connexions,
+which were now so ruthlessly denounced. But it led them also to treat
+the Irish with more respect, and placed them on some sort of social
+equality with themselves; and this was clearly a crime in the eyes of
+those who governed the country. The second clause had a similar object,
+and insulted the deepest feelings of the Celt, by condemning his
+language, which he loved almost as his life, and his customs, which had
+been handed down to him by an ancestry which the Anglo-Norman nobles
+might themselves have envied. The third enactment was an outrage upon
+common justice. It has been already shown that the Irish were _refused_
+the benefit of the English law; you will now see that their own law was
+forbidden. Some of these laws are at present open to public inspection,
+and show that the compilers, who wrote immediately after the
+introduction of Christianity into Ireland, and the original lawgivers,
+who existed many centuries before the Christian era, were by no means
+deficient in forensic abilities. Whatever feuds the Irish may have had
+between their clans, there is every reason to believe that justice was
+impartially administered long before the English settlement. That it was
+not so administered after that settlement, the preceding history, nay,
+even the very subject under discussion, sufficiently proves.
+
+The fourth clause might have been beneficial to the Irish, if it had
+been strictly observed. The other enactments were observed; but this,
+which required the consent of the Government to make war on the natives,
+was allowed to remain a dead letter. In any case, the Government would
+seldom have refused any permission which might help to lessen the number
+of the "Irish enemy."
+
+The last enactments, or series of enactments, were simply barbarous. The
+Irish were an agricultural nation; therefore they were not permitted to
+be agriculturists. Their wealth consisted solely in their flocks;
+therefore every obstacle should be placed to their increase. So much for
+the poor. The higher classes had formerly some hope of advancement if
+they chose to enter the English service in the army; to do so now they
+must renounce their Irish name, their language, and their customs. They
+might also have chosen the ecclesiastical state; from this now they are
+completely barred.
+
+Most fatal, most unjust policy! Had it been devised for the express
+purpose of imbittering the feelings of the Irish Celt eternally against
+the Saxon ruler, it could not have succeeded more effectually. The laws
+of Draco were figuratively said to have been written in blood: how many
+bloody deeds, at which men have stood aghast in horror and dismay, were
+virtually enacted by the Statute of Kilkenny? The country-loving,
+generous-hearted Celt, who heard it read for the first time, must have
+been more or less than human, if he did not utter "curses, not loud, but
+deep," against the framers of such inhuman decrees. If Englishmen
+studied the history of Ireland carefully, and the character of the
+Celtic race, they would be less surprised at Irish discontent and
+disloyalty. An English writer on Irish history admits, that while "there
+is no room to doubt the wisdom of the policy which sought to prevent the
+English baron from sinking into the unenviable state of the persecuted
+Irish chieftain, still less is there an apology to be offered for the
+iniquity of the attempt to shut the great mass of the Irish people out
+from the pale of law, civilization, and religion. The cruelty of
+conquest never broached a principle more criminal, unsound, or
+unsuccessful."[356] It is to be regretted that a more recent and really
+liberal writer should have attempted this apology, which his own
+countryman and namesake pronounced impossible. The author to whom we
+allude grants "it sounds shocking that the killing of an Irishman by an
+Englishman should have been no felony;" but he excuses it by stating,
+"nothing more is implied than that the Irish were not under English
+jurisdiction, but under the native or Brehon law."[357] Unfortunately
+this assertion is purely gratuitous. It was made treason by this very
+same statute even to submit to the Brehon law; and the writer himself
+states that, in the reign of Edward I., "a large body of the Irish
+petitioned for the English law, and offered 8,000 marks as a fee for
+that favour."[358] He states that an Irishman who murdered an
+Englishman, would only have been fined by his Brehon. True, no doubt;
+but if an Englishman killed an Irishman, he escaped scot-free. If,
+however, the Irishman was captured by the Englishman, he was executed
+according to the English law. If a regulation had been made that the
+Englishman should always be punished for his crimes by English law, and
+the Irishman by Irish law,[359] and if this arrangement had been carried
+out with even moderate impartiality, it would have been a fair
+adjustment, however anomalous.
+
+A little episode of domestic life, narrated by Froissart, is a
+sufficient proof that the social state of the Irish was neither so wild
+nor so barbarous as many have supposed; and that even a Frenchman might
+become so attached to the country as to leave it with regret, though, at
+the same time, it was not a little difficult to find an English Viceroy
+who would face the political complications which the Statute of Kilkenny
+had made more troublesome than ever. Froissart's account runs thus: He
+was waiting in the royal chamber at Eltham one Sunday, to present his
+treatise "On Loves" to Henry II.; and he takes care to tell us that the
+King had every reason to be pleased with the present, for it was
+"handsomely written and illuminated," bound in crimson velvet, decorated
+with ten silver-gilt studs, and roses of the same. While he was awaiting
+his audience, he gossiped with Henry Crystede, whom he describes as a
+very agreeable, prudent, and well-educated gentleman, who spoke French
+well, and had for his arms a chevron gules on a field argent, with three
+besants gules, two above the chevron, and one below.
+
+Crystede gave him a sketch of his adventures in Ireland, which we can
+but condense from the quaint and amusing original. He had been in the
+service of the Earl of Ormonde, who kept him out of affection for his
+good horsemanship. On one occasion he was attending the Earl, mounted on
+one of his best horses, at a "border foray" on the unfortunate Irish,
+with whom he kept up constant warfare. In the pursuit his horse took
+fright, and ran away into the midst of the enemy, one of whom, by a
+wonderful feat of agility, sprang up behind him, and bore him off to his
+own house. He calls the gentleman who effected the capture "Brian
+Costeree," and says he was a very handsome man, and that he lived in a
+strong house in a well barricaded city.
+
+Crystede remained here for seven years, and married one of the daughters
+of his host, by whom he had two children. At the end of this period his
+father-in-law was taken prisoner in an engagement with the Duke of
+Clarence, and Crystede's horse, which he rode, was recognized. Evidently
+the knight must have been a person of some distinction, for he states
+that the Duke of Clarence and the English officers were so well pleased
+to hear of the "honorable entertainment" he had received from "Brian
+Costeree," that they at once proposed to set him at liberty, on
+condition that he should send Crystede to the army with his wife and
+children. At first "he refused the offer, from his love to me, his
+daughter, and our children." Eventually the exchange was made. Crystede
+settled at Bristol. His two daughters were then married. One was settled
+in Ireland. He concluded the family history by stating that the Irish
+language was as familiar to him as English, for he always spoke it to
+his wife, and tried to introduce it, "as much as possible," among his
+children.
+
+On the retirement of the Duke of Clarence, in 1367, the Viceroyalty was
+accepted by Gerald, fourth Earl of Desmond, styled "the poet." He was
+one of the most learned men of the day, and thereby, as usual, obtained
+the reputation of practising magic. Yet this refined and educated
+nobleman wished to have his son fostered in an Irish family, and,
+despite the Statute of Kilkenny, obtained a special permission to that
+effect--another evidence that social life among the natives could not
+have been quite what the malice of Cambrensis, and others who wrote from
+hearsay reports, and not from personal knowledge, have represented it.
+
+Sir Richard Pembridge refused the office of Viceroy in 1369. He was
+stripped of all his lands and offices held under the crown, as a
+punishment for his contumacy, but this appears to have had no effect
+upon his determination. It was decided legally, however, that the King
+could neither fine nor imprison him for this refusal, since no man could
+be condemned to go into exile. High prices were now offered to induce
+men to bear this intolerable punishment. Sir William de Windsor asked
+something over L11,000 per annum for his services, which Sir John Davis
+states exceeded the whole revenue of Ireland. The salary of a Lord
+Justice before this period was L500 per annum, and he was obliged to
+support a small standing army. The truth was, that the government of
+Ireland had become every day more difficult, and less lucrative. The
+natives were already despoiled of nearly all their possessions, and the
+settlement of the feuds of the Anglo-Norman nobles was neither a
+pleasant nor a profitable employment. In addition to this, Edward was
+levying immense subsidies in Ireland, to support his wars in France and
+Scotland. At last the clergy were obliged to interfere. The Archbishop
+of Cashel opposed these unreasonable demands, and solemnly
+excommunicated the King's collector, and all persons employed in raising
+the obnoxious taxes.
+
+Richard II. succeeded his grandfather, A.D. 1377. As he was only in his
+eleventh year, the government was carried on by his uncles. The Earl of
+March was sent to Ireland as Justiciary, with extraordinary powers. He
+had married Philippa, daughter of Lionel, Duke of Clarence, by his first
+wife, and in her right became Earl of Ulster. One of the Irish princes
+who came to his court, was treacherously arrested and thrown into
+prison. The injustice was resented, or, perhaps, we should rather say,
+feared, by the English nobles as well as the Irish chieftains, who took
+care to keep out of the way of such adventures, by absenting themselves
+from the Viceregal hospitalities. Roger Mortimer succeeded his father,
+and was followed by Philip de Courtenay, the King's cousin. He was
+granted the office for ten years, but, in the interval, was taken into
+custody by the Council of Regency, for his peculations.
+
+There was war in Connaught between the O'Connors, in 1384, and fierce
+hostility continued for years after between the families of the O'Connor
+Don (Brown) and the O'Connor Roe (Red). Richard II. had his favourites
+as usual; and in a moment of wild folly he bestowed the sovereignty of
+Ireland on the Earl of Oxford, whom he also created Marquis of Dublin.
+His royal master accompanied him as far as Wales, and then, determining
+to keep the Earl near his person, despatched Sir John Sydney to the
+troublesome colony.
+
+A royal visit was arranged and accomplished soon after; and on the 2nd
+October, A.D. 1394, Richard II. landed on the Irish shores. The country
+was in its normal state of partial insurrection and general discontent;
+but no attempt was made to remove the chronic cause of all this
+unnecessary misery. There was some show of submission from the Irish
+chieftains, who were overawed by the immense force which attended the
+King. Art MacMurrough, the heir of the ancient Leinster kings, was the
+most formidable of the native nobles; and from his prowess and success
+in several engagements, was somewhat feared by the invaders. He refused
+to defer to any one but Richard, and was only prevailed on to make terms
+when he found himself suddenly immured in Dublin Castle, during a
+friendly visit to the court.
+
+The King's account of his reception shows that he had formed a tolerably
+just opinion of the political state of the country. He mentions in a
+letter from Dublin, that the people might be divided into three
+classes--the "wild Irish, or enemies," the Irish rebels, and the English
+subjects; and he had just discernment enough to see that the "rebels had
+been made such by wrongs, and by want of close attention to their
+grievances," though he had not the judgment or the justice to apply the
+necessary remedy. His next exploit was to persuade the principal Irish
+kings to receive knighthood in the English fashion. They submitted with
+the worst possible grace, having again and again repeated that they had
+already received the honour according to the custom of their own
+country. The dealings of the Anglo-Norman knights, with whom they
+already had intercourse, were not likely to have inspired them with very
+sublime ideas of the dignity. They might, indeed, have been chevaliers
+_sans peur_, but the latter part of the flattering appellation could not
+be applied.
+
+The customs of the Irish nobles were again made a subject of ridicule,
+as they had been during the visit of Prince John; though one should have
+supposed that an increased knowledge of the world should have led to a
+wiser policy, if not to an avoidance of that ignorant criticism, which
+at once denounces everything foreign as inferior.[360] Richard returned
+to England in 1395, after nine months of vain display. He appointed
+Roger Mortimer his Viceroy. Scarcely had the King and his fleet sailed
+from the Irish shores, when the real nature of the proffered allegiance
+of seventy-two kings and chieftains became apparent. The O'Byrnes rose
+up in Wicklow, and were defeated by the Viceroy and the Earl of Ormonde;
+the MacCarthys rose up in Munster, and balanced affairs by gaining a
+victory over the English. The Earl of Kildare was captured by Calvagh
+O'Connor, of Offaly, in 1398; and, in the same year, the O'Briens and
+O'Tooles avenged their late defeat, by a great victory, at Kenlis, in
+Ossory.
+
+In 1399 King Richard paid another visit to Ireland. His exactions and
+oppressions had made him very unpopular in England, and it is probable
+that this expedition was planned to divert the minds of his subjects. If
+this was his object, it failed signally; for the unfortunate monarch was
+deposed by Parliament the same year, and was obliged to perform the act
+of abdication with the best grace he could. His unhappy end belongs to
+English history. Richard again landed in state at Waterford, and soon
+after marched against the indomitable MacMurrough. His main object,
+indeed, appears to have been the subjugation of this "rebel," who
+contrived to keep the English settlers in continual alarm. A French
+chronicler again attended the court, and narrated its proceedings. He
+describes MacMurrough's stronghold in the woods, and says that they did
+not seem much appalled at the sight of the English army. A special
+notice is given of the chieftain's horse, which was worth 400 cows.[361]
+The chieftain's uncle and some others had made an abject submission to
+the English monarch, who naturally hoped that MacMurrough would follow
+their example. He, therefore, despatched an embassy to him, to repair
+the "wrongs" which he had inflicted on the settlers, for which he
+demanded reparation. The Leinster king, however, could neither be
+frightened nor persuaded into seeing matters in that light, and,
+probably, thought the term rebel would be more appropriately applied to
+those who resisted the native rulers of the country. He declared that
+for all the gold in the world he would not submit.
+
+[Illustration: Interview between MacMurrough and the Officers of Richard
+the Strong.]
+
+Richard's army was on the verge of starvation, so he was obliged to
+break up his camp, and march to Dublin. Upon his arrival there,
+MacMurrough made overtures for peace, which were gladly accepted, and
+the Earl of Gloucester proceeded at once to arrange terms with him. But
+no reconciliation could be effected, as both parties refused to yield.
+When Richard heard the result, "he flew into a violent passion, and
+swore by St. Edward he would not leave Ireland until he had MacMurrough
+in his hands, dead or alive." How little he imagined, when uttering the
+mighty boast, that his own fate was even then sealed! Had he but the
+grace to have conciliated instead of threatened, a brave and loyal band
+of Irish chieftains would soon have surrounded him, and the next chapter
+of English history would have been less tragic. Disastrous accounts soon
+reached him from England, which at once annihilated his schemes of Irish
+conquest or revenge. His own people were up in arms, and the
+prescriptive right to grumble, which an Englishman is supposed to enjoy
+par _excellence_, had broken out into overt acts of violence. War was
+inaugurated between York and Lancaster, and for years England was
+deluged with blood.
+
+
+[Illustration: BUTTS' CROSS, KILKENNY.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[349] _Carte_.--See his _Life of the Duke of Ormonde_, folio edition, p.
+7.
+
+[350] _Ormonde_.--The name Ormonde is intended to represent the Irish
+appellative _Ur-Mhumhain_, or Eastern Munster. This part of the country
+was the inheritance of _Cairbre Musc_.
+
+[351] _Palatine_.--The Lords-Palatine were endowed with extraordinary
+power, and were able to exercise a most oppressive tyranny over the
+people under their government.
+
+[352] _Execution_.--Bermingham was related to De Lucy, which perhaps
+induced him to deal more harshly with him. De Lucy's Viceroyalty might
+otherwise have been popular, as he had won the affections of the people
+by assisting them during a grievous famine. See page 329 for an
+illustration of the scene of this tragedy.
+
+[353] _Carrickfergus_.--See illustration at the commencement of this
+chapter.
+
+[354] _Elizabeth_.--This lady was married to Lionel, third son of Edward
+III., in 1352. This prince was created in her right Earl of Ulster. The
+title and estates remained in possession of different members of the
+royal family, until they became the special inheritance of the crown in
+the reign of Edward IV.
+
+[355] _Coigne and livery_.--This was an exaction of money, food, and
+entertainment for the soldiers, and fodder for their horses. A tax of a
+similar kind existed among the ancient Irish; but it was part of the
+ordinary tribute paid to the chief, and therefore was not considered an
+exaction.
+
+[356] _Unsuccessful_.--_Ireland, Historical and Statistical_, vol. i. p.
+200.
+
+[357] _Law_.--_Irish History and Irish Character_, p. 69.
+
+[358] _Favour_.--_Ibid_. p. 70.
+
+[359] _Irish law_.--A considerable amount of testimony might be produced
+to prove that the Irish were and are peculiarly a law-loving people;
+but, in the words of the writer above-quoted, "a people cannot be
+expected to love and reverence oppression, because it is consigned to a
+statute-book, and called law."--p. 71. The truth is, that it was and is
+obviously the interest of English writers to induce themselves to
+believe that Irish discontent and rebellion were caused by anything or
+everything but English oppression and injustice. Even in the present day
+the Irish are supposed to be naturally discontented and rebellious,
+because they cannot submit silently to be expelled from their farms
+without any compensation or any other means of support, either from
+political or religious motives, and because they object to maintain a
+religion contrary to their conscience, and which is admitted by its own
+members to be "clearly a political evil." See concluding remarks in Mr.
+Goldwin Smith's interesting little volume.
+
+[360] _Inferior_.--While these sheets were passing through the press, we
+chanced to meet the following paragraph in an English paper. The article
+was headed "International Courtesy," apropos of the affair at
+Dinan:--"Prince John pulling the beards of the Irish chiefs is the
+aggravated type of a race which alienated half a continent by treating
+its people as colonial, and which gave India every benefit but civility,
+till Bengal showed that it was strong, and Bombay that it could be
+rich," And yet it would be quite as unjust to accuse a whole nation of
+habitual insolence to foreigners and dependents, as to blame every
+Englishman, in the reigns of John or Richard, for the insults offered to
+the Irish nation.
+
+[361]
+
+_Cows_.--"Un cheval ot sans sele ne arcon, Qui lui avint conste, ce
+disoit-on,  Quatre cens vaches, tant estoil bel et bon."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+Henry IV.--A Viceroy's Difficulties--The Houses of York and
+Lancaster--The Colony almost Bankrupt--Literary Ladies in Ireland--A
+Congress of Literati--The Duke of York is made Viceroy--Affection of the
+Irish for him--Popularity of the Yorkists in Ireland--A Book given for a
+Ransom--Desolating Effects of the Wars of the Roses--Accession of Henry
+VII.--Insurrection of the Yorkists--Simnel is crowned in
+Dublin--Warbeck's Insurrection--Poyning's Parliament--Poyning's Law and
+its Effects--The Earl of Kildare accused of Treason--His Defence and
+Pardon--His Quickwitted Speeches--He is acquitted honorably--His Letter
+to the Gherardini--Ariosto.
+
+[A.D. 1402-1509.]
+
+
+A scion of royalty was again sent to administer law--we cannot say
+truthfully to administer justice--in Ireland. On the accession of Henry
+IV., his second son, Thomas, Duke of Lancaster, was made Viceroy, and
+landed at Bullock, near Dalkey, on Sunday, November 13, 1402. As the
+youth was but twelve years of age, a Council was appointed to assist
+him. Soon after his arrival, the said Council despatched a piteous
+document from "Le Naas," in which they represent themselves and their
+youthful ruler as on the very verge of starvation, in consequence of not
+having received remittances from England. In conclusion, they gently
+allude to the possibility--of course carefully deprecated--of "peril and
+disaster" befalling their lord, if further delay should be permitted.
+The King, however, was not in a position to tax his English subjects;
+and we find the prince himself writing to his royal father on the same
+matter, at the close of the year 1402. He mentions also that he had
+entertained the knights and squires with such cheer as could be procured
+under the circumstances, and adds: "I, by the advice of my Council, rode
+against the Irish, your enemies, and did my utmost to harass them."[362]
+Probably, had he shared the cheer with "the Irish his enemies," or even
+showed them some little kindness, he would not have been long placed in
+so unpleasant a position for want of supplies.
+
+John Duke, the then Mayor of Dublin, obtained the privilege of having
+the sword borne before the chief magistrate of that city, as a reward
+for his services in routing the O'Byrnes of Wicklow. About the same time
+John Dowdall, Sheriff of Louth, was murdered in Dublin, by Sir
+Bartholomew Vernon and three other English gentlemen, who were outlawed
+for this and other crimes, but soon after received the royal pardon. In
+1404 the English were defeated in Leix. In 1405 Art MacMurrough
+committed depredations at Wexford and elsewhere, and in 1406 the
+settlers suffered a severe reverse in Meath.
+
+Sir Stephen Scroope had been appointed Deputy for the royal Viceroy, and
+he led an army against MacMurrough, who was defeated after a gallant
+resistance. Teigue O'Carroll was killed in another engagement soon
+after. This prince was celebrated for learning, and is styled in the
+Annals[363] "general patron of the literati of Ireland." A few years
+before his death he made a pilgrimage to Rome, and was honorably
+received on his return by Richard II., at Westminster. In 1412 the
+O'Neills desolated Ulster with their feuds, and about the same time the
+English merchants of Dublin and Drogheda armed to defend themselves
+against the Scotch merchants, who had committed several acts of piracy.
+Henry V. succeeded his father in 1413, and appointed Sir John Stanley
+Lord Deputy. He signalized himself by his exactions and cruelties, and,
+according to the Irish account, was "rhymed to death" by the poet Niall
+O'Higgin, of Usnagh, whom he had plundered in a foray. Sir John Talbot
+was the next Governor. He inaugurated his career by such martial
+exploits against the enemy, as to win golden opinions from the
+inhabitants of "the Pale." Probably the news of his success induced his
+royal master to recall him to England, that he might have his assistance
+in his French wars.
+
+His departure was a general signal for "the enemy" to enact reprisals.
+O'Connor despoiled the Pale, and the invincible Art MacMurrough
+performed his last military exploit at Wexford (A.D. 1416), where he
+took 340 prisoners in one day. He died the following year, and Ireland
+lost one of the bravest and best of her sons. The Annals describe him as
+"a man who had defended his own province, against the English and Irish,
+from his sixteenth to his sixtieth year; a man full of hospitality,
+knowledge, and chivalry." It is said that he was poisoned by a woman at
+New Ross, but no motive is mentioned for the crime. His son, Donough,
+who has an equal reputation for valour, was made prisoner two years
+after by the Lord Deputy, and imprisoned in the Tower of London.
+O'Connor of Offaly, another chieftain who had also distinguished himself
+against the English, died about this time. He had entered the Franciscan
+Monastery of Killeigh a month before his death.
+
+The Irish of English descent were made to feel their position painfully
+at the close of this reign, and this might have led the new settlers to
+reflect, if capable of reflection, that their descendants would soon
+find themselves in a similar condition. The commons presented a petition
+complaining of the extortions and injustices practised by the Deputies,
+some of whom had left enormous debts unpaid. They also represented the
+injustice of excluding Irish law students from the Inns of Court in
+London. A few years previous (A.D. 1417), the settlers had presented a
+petition to Parliament, praying that no Irishman should be admitted to
+any office or benefice in the Church, and that no bishop should be
+permitted to bring an Irish servant with him when he came to attend
+Parliament or Council. This petition was granted; and soon after an
+attempt was made to prosecute the Archbishop of Cashel, who had presumed
+to disregard some of its enactments.
+
+Henry VI. succeeded to the English throne while still a mere infant,
+and, as usual, the "Irish question" was found to be one of the greatest
+difficulties of the new administration. The O'Neills had been carrying
+on a domestic feud in Ulster; but they had just united to attack the
+English, when Edward Mortimer, Earl of March, assumed the government of
+Ireland (A.D. 1425). He died of the plague the following year; but his
+successor in office, Lord Furnival, contrived to capture a number of the
+northern chieftains, who were negotiating peace with Mortimer at the
+very time of his death. Owen O'Neill was ransomed, but the indignation
+excited by this act served only to arouse angry feelings; and the
+northerns united against their enemies, and soon recovered any territory
+they had lost.
+
+Donough MacMurrough was released from the Tower in 1428, after nine
+years' captivity. It is said the Leinster men paid a heavy ransom for
+him. The young prince's compulsory residence in England did not lessen
+his disaffection, for he made war on the settlers as soon as he returned
+to his paternal dominions. The great family feud between the houses of
+York and Lancaster, had but little effect on the state of Ireland.
+Different members of the two great factions had held the office of Lord
+Justice in that country, but, with one exception, they did not obtain
+any personal influence there. Indeed, the Viceroy of those days, whether
+an honest man or a knave, was sure to be unpopular with some party.
+
+The Yorkists and Lancastrians were descended directly from Edward III.
+The first Duke of York was Edward's fifth son, Edmund Plantagenet; the
+first Duke of Lancaster was John of Gaunt, the fourth son of the same
+monarch. Richard II. succeeded his grandfather, Edward III., as the son
+of Edward the Black Prince, so famed in English chivalry. His arrogance
+and extravagance soon made him unpopular; and, during his absence in
+Ireland, the Duke of Lancaster, whom he had banished, and treated most
+unjustly, returned to England, and inaugurated the fatal quarrel. The
+King was obliged to return immediately, and committed the government of
+the country to his cousin, Roger de Mortimer, who was next in succession
+to the English crown, in right of his mother, Philippa, the only child
+of the Duke of Clarence, third son of Edward III. The death of this
+nobleman opened the way for the intrusion of the Lancastrians, the Duke
+of Lancaster having obtained the crown during the lifetime of Richard,
+to the exclusion of the rightful heir-apparent, Edmund, Earl of March,
+son to the late Viceroy.
+
+The feuds of the Earl of Ormonde and the Talbots in Ireland, proved
+nearly as great a calamity to that nation as the disputes about the
+English succession. A Parliament was held in Dublin in 1441, in which
+Richard Talbot, the English Archbishop of Dublin. proceeded to lay
+various requests before the King, the great object of which was the
+overthrow of the Earl, who, by the intermarrying of his kinsmen with the
+Irish, possessed great influence among the native septs contiguous to
+his own territory. The petitioners pray that the government may be
+committed to some "mighty English lord," and they moderately request
+that the said "mighty lord" may be permitted to create temporal peers.
+They hint at the Earl's age as an objection to his administration of
+justice, and assert that "the Lieutenant should be a mighty, courageous,
+and laborious man, to keep the field and make resistance against the
+enemy." But the great crime alleged against him, is that "he hath
+ordained and made Irishmen, and grooms and pages of his household,
+knights of the shire." These representations, however, had but little
+weight in the quarter to which they were addressed, for Ormonde was a
+stout Lancastrian; and if he had sinned more than his predecessors, his
+guilt was covered by the ample cloak of royal partiality. However, some
+appearance of justice was observed. Sir Giles Thornton was sent over to
+Ireland to make a report, which was so very general that it charged no
+one in particular, but simply intimated that there was no justice to be
+had for any party, and that discord and division prevailed amongst all
+the King's officers. The system of appointing deputies for different
+offices was very properly condemned; and the rather startling
+announcement made, that the annual expenses of the Viceroy and his
+officers exceeded all the revenues of Ireland for that year by L4,456.
+In fact, it could not be otherwise; for every official, lay and
+ecclesiastical, English and Anglo-Irish, appear to have combined in one
+vast system of peculation, and, when it was possible, of wholesale
+robbery. Even the loyal burghers of Limerick, Cork, and Galway had
+refused to pay their debts to the crown, and the representatives of
+royalty were not in a position to enforce payment. The Talbot party
+seems to have shared the blame quite equally with the Ormondes, and the
+churchmen in power were just as rapacious as the seculars. After having
+ruined the "mere Irish," the plunderers themselves were on the verge of
+ruin; and the Privy Council declared that unless an immediate remedy was
+applied, the law courts should be closed, and the royal castles
+abandoned. Further complaints were made in 1444; and Robert Maxwell, a
+groom of the royal chamber, was despatched to Ireland with a summons to
+Ormonde, commanding him to appear before the King and Council.
+
+The Earl at once collected his followers and adherents in Drogheda,
+where they declared, in the presence of the King's messenger, as in duty
+bound, that their lord had never been guilty of the treasons and
+extortions with which he was charged, and that they were all thankful
+for "his good and gracious government:" furthermore, they hint that he
+had expended his means in defending the King's possessions. However, the
+Earl was obliged to clear himself personally of these charges in London,
+where he was acquitted with honour by his royal master.[364]
+
+His enemy, Sir John Talbot, known better in English history as the Earl
+of Shrewsbury, succeeded him, in 1446. This nobleman had been justly
+famous for his valour in the wars with France, and it is said that even
+mothers frightened their children with his name. His success in Ireland
+was not at all commensurate with his fame in foreign warfare, for he
+only succeeded so far with the native princes as to compel O'Connor Faly
+to make peace with the English Government, to ransom his sons, and to
+supply some beeves for the King's kitchen. Talbot held a Parliament at
+Trim, in which, for the first time, an enactment was made about personal
+appearance, which widened the fatal breach still more between England
+and Ireland. This law declared that every man who did not shave[365] his
+upper lip, should be treated as an "Irish enemy;" and the said shaving
+was to be performed once, at least, in every two weeks.
+
+In the year 1447 Ireland was desolated by a fearful plague, in which
+seven hundred priests are said to have fallen victims, probably from
+their devoted attendance on the sufferers. In the same year Felim
+O'Reilly was taken prisoner treacherously by the Lord Deputy; and
+Finola, the daughter of Calvagh O'Connor Faly, and wife of Hugh Boy
+O'Neill, "the most beautiful and stately, the most renowned and
+illustrious woman of all her time in Ireland, her own mother only
+excepted, retired from this transitory world, to prepare for eternal
+life, and assumed the yoke of piety and devotion in the Monastery of
+Cill-Achaidh."
+
+This lady's mother, Margaret O'Connor, was the daughter of O'Carroll,
+King of Ely, and well deserved the commendation bestowed on her. She was
+the great patroness of the _literati_ of Ireland, whom she entertained
+at two memorable feasts. The first festival was held at Killeigh, in the
+King's county, on the Feast-day of _Da Sinchell_ (St. Seanchan, March
+26). All the chiefs, brehons, and bards of Ireland and Scotland were
+invited, and 2,700 guests are said to have answered the summons. The
+Lady Margaret received them clothed in cloth of gold, and seated in
+queenly state. She opened the "congress" by presenting two massive
+chalices of gold on the high altar of the church--an act of duty towards
+God; and then took two orphan children to rear and nurse--an act of
+charity to her neighbour. Her noble husband, who had already
+distinguished himself in the field on many occasions, remained on his
+charger outside the church, to welcome his visitors as they arrived. The
+second entertainment was given on the Feast of the Assumption, in the
+same year, and was intended to include all who had not been able to
+accept the first invitation. The chronicler concludes his account with a
+blessing on Lady Margaret, and a curse on the disease which deprived the
+world of so noble an example: "God's blessing, the blessing of all the
+saints, and every blessing, be upon her going to heaven; and blessed be
+he that will hear and read this, for blessing her soul."[366] It is
+recorded of her also, that she was indefatigable in building churches,
+erecting bridges, preparing highways, and providing mass-books. It is a
+bright picture on a dark page; and though there may not have been many
+ladies so liberal or so devoted to learning at that period in Ireland,
+still the general state of female education could not have been
+neglected, or such an example could not have been found or appreciated.
+Felim O'Connor, her son, died in the same year as his mother; he is
+described as "a man of great fame and renown." He had been ill of
+decline for a long time, and only one night intervened between the death
+of the mother and the son, A.D. 1451. Calvagh died in 1458, and was
+succeeded by his son, Con, who was not unworthy of his noble ancestry.
+
+In 1449 the Duke of York was sent to undertake the Viceregal dignity and
+cares. His appointment is attributed to the all-powerful influence of
+Queen Margaret. The immortal Shakspeare, whose consummate art makes us
+read history in drama, and drama in history,[367] has commemorated this
+event, though not with his usual ability. The object of sending him to
+Ireland was to deprive the Yorkists of his powerful support and
+influence, and place the affairs of France, which he had managed with
+considerable ability, in other hands. In fact, the appointment was
+intended as an honorable exile. The Irish, with that natural veneration
+for lawful authority which is so eminently characteristic of the Celtic
+race, were ever ready to welcome a prince of the blood, each time hoping
+against hope that something like ordinary justice should be meted out
+from the fountain-head. For once, at least, they were not disappointed;
+and "noble York" is represented, by an English writer of the sixteenth
+century, as consoling himself "for every kinde of smart," with the
+recollection of the faithful love and devotion of the Irish people.[368]
+
+The royal Duke arrived in Ireland on the 6th of July, 1447. He was
+accompanied by his wife, famous for her beauty, which had obtained her
+the appellation of the "Rose of Raby," and famous also as the mother of
+two English kings, Edward IV. and Richard III. This lady was the
+daughter of Neville, Earl of Westmoreland, whose rather numerous family,
+consisting of twenty-two children, had all married amongst the highest
+families. The Duke was Earl of Ulster in right of Duke Lionel, from whom
+he was descended; but instead of marching at once to claim his
+possessions, he adopted such conciliatory measures as secured him the
+services and affections of a large body of Irish chieftains, with whose
+assistance he soon subdued any who still remained refractory. His
+popularity increased daily. Presents were sent to him by the most
+powerful and independent of the native chieftains. Nor was his "fair
+ladye" forgotten, for Brian O'Byrne, in addition to an offering of four
+hundred beeves to the Duke, sent "two hobbies"[369] for the special use
+of the "Rose of Raby." Indeed, it was reported in England that "the
+wildest Irishman in Ireland would before twelve months be sworn
+English." Such were the fruits of a conciliatory policy, or rather of a
+fair administration of justice.
+
+The cities of Cork, Kinsale, and Youghal, now sent in petitions to the
+Viceroy, complaining bitterly of the way in which the English noblemen
+"fall at variance among themselves," so that the whole country was
+desolated. The settlers of Waterford and Wexford made similar complaints
+against an Irish chieftain, O'Driscoll, whom they describe as "an Irish
+enemy to the King and to all his liege people of Ireland." The Duke
+pacified all parties, and succeeded in attaching the majority of the
+nation more and more to his person and his interests. His English
+friends, who looked on his residence in Ireland as equivalent to
+banishment and imprisonment, were actively employed in promoting his
+return. The disgraceful loss of the English possessions in France, and
+probably still more the haughty and unconciliatory policy adopted by the
+Queen, had strengthened the Yorkist party, and emboldened them to
+action. The Duke was requested to return to England, where the
+insurgents in Kent had already risen under the leadership of the famous
+Jack Cade, whose origin is involved in hopeless obscurity, and whose
+character has been so blackened by writers on the Lancastrian side that
+it is equally incomprehensible. He called himself John Mortimer, and
+asserted that he was cousin to the Viceroy. A proclamation, offering one
+thousand marks for his person, "quick or dead," described him as born in
+Ireland. In consequence of the nonpayment of the annuity which had been
+promised to the Duke during his Viceroyalty, he had been obliged to
+demand assistance from the Irish, who naturally resisted so unjust a
+tax. After useless appeals to the King and Parliament, he returned to
+England suddenly, in September, 1450, leaving Sir James Butler, the
+eldest son of the Earl of Ormonde, as his Deputy.
+
+The history of the Wars of the Roses does not belong to our province; it
+must, therefore, suffice to say, that when his party was defeated in
+England for a time, he fled to Ireland, where he was enthusiastically
+received, and exercised the office of Viceroy at the very time that an
+act of attainder was passed against him and his family. He soon returned
+again to his own country; and there, after more than one brilliant
+victory, he was slain at the battle of Wakefield, on the 31st December,
+1460. Three thousand of his followers are said to have perished with
+him, and among the number were several Irish chieftains from Meath and
+Ulster. The Geraldines sided with the House of York, and the Butlers
+with the Lancastrians: hence members of both families fell on this fatal
+field on opposite sides.
+
+The Earl of Kildare was Lord Justice on the accession of Edward IV., who
+at once appointed his unfortunate brother, the Duke of Clarence, to that
+dignity. The Earls of Ormonde and Desmond were at war (A.D. 1462), and a
+pitched battle was fought between them at Pilltown, in the county
+Kilkenny, where the former was defeated with considerable loss. His
+kinsman, MacRichard Butler, was taken prisoner; and we may judge of the
+value of a book,[370] and the respect for literature in Ireland at that
+period, from the curious fact that a manuscript was offered and accepted
+for his ransom.
+
+The eighth Earl of Desmond, Thomas, was made Viceroy in 1462. He was a
+special favourite with the King. In 1466 he led an army of the English
+of Meath and Leinster against O'Connor Faly, but he was defeated and
+taken prisoner in the engagement. Teigue O'Connor, the Earl's
+brother-in-law, conducted the captives to Carbury Castle, in Kildare,
+where they were soon liberated by the people of Dublin. The Irish were
+very successful in their forays at this period. The men of Offaly
+devastated the country from Tara to Naas; the men of Breffni and Oriel
+performed similar exploits in Meath. Teigue O'Brien plundered Desmond,
+and obliged the Burkes of Clanwilliam to acknowledge his authority, and
+only spared the city of Limerick for a consideration of sixty marks.
+
+The Earl of Desmond appears to have exerted himself in every way for the
+national benefit. He founded a college in Youghal, with a warden, eight
+fellows, and eight choristers. He obtained an Act for the establishment
+of a university at Drogheda, which was to have similar privileges to
+that of Oxford. He is described by native annalists--almost as loud in
+their praises of learning as of valour--as well versed in literature,
+and a warm patron of antiquaries and poets. But his liberality proved
+his ruin. He was accused of making alliances and fosterage of the King's
+Irish enemies; and perhaps he had also incurred the enmity of the Queen
+(Elizabeth Woodville), for it was hinted that she had some share in his
+condemnation. It is at least certain that he was beheaded at Drogheda,
+on the 15th of February, 1467, by the command of Typtoft, Earl of
+Worcester, who was sent to Ireland to take his place as Viceroy, and to
+execute the unjust sentence. The Earl of Kildare was condemned at the
+same time; but he escaped to England, and pleaded his cause so well with
+the King and Parliament, that he obtained his own pardon, and a reversal
+of the attainder against the unfortunate Earl of Desmond.
+
+During the reigns of Edward IV., Edward V., and the usurper Richard,
+there was probably more dissension in England than there ever had been
+at any time amongst the native Irish chieftains. Princes and nobles were
+sacrificed by each party as they obtained power, and regicide might
+almost be called common. The number of English slain in the Wars of the
+Roses was estimated at 100,000. Parliament made acts of attainder one
+day, and reversed them almost on the next. Neither life nor property was
+safe. Men armed themselves first in self-defence, and then in
+lawlessness; and a thoughtful mind might trace to the evil state of
+morals, caused by a long period of desolating domestic warfare, that
+fatal indifference to religion which must have permeated the people,
+before they could have departed as a nation from the faith of their
+fathers, at the mere suggestion of a profligate monarch. The English
+power in Ireland was reduced at this time to the lowest degree of
+weakness. This power had never been other than nominal beyond the Pale;
+within its precincts it was on the whole all-powerful. But now a few
+archers and spearmen were its only defence; and had the Irish combined
+under a competent leader, there can be little doubt that the result
+would have been fatal to the colony. It would appear as if Henry VII.
+hoped to propitiate the Yorkists in Ireland, as he allowed the Earl of
+Kildare to hold the office of Lord Deputy; his brother, Thomas
+FitzGerald, that of Chancellor; and his father-in-law, FitzEustace, that
+of Lord Treasurer. After a short time, however, he restored the Earl of
+Ormonde to the family honours and estates, and thus a Lancastrian
+influence was secured. The most important events of this reign, as far
+as Ireland is concerned, are the plots of Simnel and Perkin Warbeck, and
+the enactments of Poyning's Parliament. A contemporary Irish chronicler
+says: "The son of a Welshman, by whom the battle of Bosworth field was
+fought, was made King; and there lived not of the royal blood, at that
+time, but one youth, who came the next year (1486) in exile to
+Ireland."[371]
+
+The native Irish appear not to have had the least doubt that Simnel was
+what he represented himself to be. The Anglo-Irish nobles were nearly
+all devoted to the House of York; but it is impossible now to determine
+whether they were really deceived, or if they only made the youth a
+pretext for rebellion. His appearance is admitted by all parties to have
+been in his favour; but the King asserted that the real Earl of Warwick
+was then confined in the Tower, and paraded him through London[372] as
+soon as the pseudo-noble was crowned in Ireland. Margaret, Dowager
+Duchess of Burgundy, was the great promoter of the scheme. She
+despatched Martin Swart, a famous soldier, of noble birth, to Ireland,
+with 2,000 men. The expedition was fitted out at her own expense. The
+English Yorkists joined his party, and the little army landed at Dublin,
+in May, 1487. On Whit-Sunday, the 24th of that month, Lambert Simnel was
+crowned in the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity. After the ceremony he was
+borne in state, on the shoulders of tall men to the Castle. One of his
+bearers, a gigantic Anglo-Irishman, was called Great Darcy. Coins were
+now struck, proclamations issued, and all the writs and public acts of
+the colony executed in the name of Edward VI.
+
+Soon after, Simnel's party conducted him to England, where they were
+joined by a few desperate men of the Yorkist party. The battle of Stoke,
+in Nottinghamshire, terminated the affair. The youth and his tutor were
+captured, and the principal officers were slain. According to one
+account, Simnel was made a turnspit in the royal kitchen; according to
+another authority[373] he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. It
+would appear as if Henry was afraid to visit the Earl of Kildare too
+heavily for his transgressions, as he retained him in the office of Lord
+Deputy.
+
+The use of fire-arms appears to have become general in Ireland about
+this period (1487), as the Annals mention that an O'Rourke was slain by
+an O'Donnell, "with a ball from a gun;" and the following year the Earl
+of Kildare destroyed the Castle of Balrath, in Westmeath, with ordnance.
+The early guns were termed hand-cannons and hand-guns, to distinguish
+them from the original fire-arms, which were not portable, though there
+were exceptions to this rule; for some of the early cannons were so
+small, that the cannonier held his gun in his hand, or supported it on
+his shoulder, when firing it.[374]
+
+In 1488 Sir Richard Edgecumbe was sent to Ireland to exact new oaths of
+allegiance from the Anglo-Norman lords, whose fidelity Henry appears to
+have doubted, and not without reason. The commissioner took up his
+lodgings with the Dominican friars, who appear to have been more devoted
+to the English interests than their Franciscan brethren; but they did
+not entertain the knight at their own expense, for he complains
+grievously of his "great costs and charges." A Papal Bull had been
+procured, condemning all who had rebelled against the King. This was
+published by the Bishop of Meath, with a promise of absolution and royal
+pardon for all who should repent. Edgecumbe appears to have been at his
+wit's end to conciliate the "rebels," and informs us that he spent the
+night in "devising as sure an oath as he could." The nobles at last came
+to terms, and took the proffered pledge in the most solemn manner, in
+presence of the Blessed Sacrament. This accomplished, the knight
+returned to England; and on his safe arrival, after a stormy passage,
+made a pilgrimage to Saint Saviour's, in Cornwall.
+
+It is quite impossible now to judge whether these solemn oaths were made
+to be broken, or whether the temptation to break them proved stronger
+than the resolution to keep them. It is at least certain that they were
+broken, and that in a year or two after the Earl of Kildare had received
+his pardon under the Great Seal. In May, 1492, the Warbeck plot was
+promulgated in Ireland, and an adventurer landed on the Irish shores,
+who declared himself to be Richard, Duke of York, the second son of
+Edward IV., who was supposed to have perished in the Tower. His stay in
+Ireland, however, was brief, although he was favourably received. The
+French monarch entertained him with the honours due to a crowned head;
+but this, probably, was merely for political purposes, as he was
+discarded as soon as peace had been made with England. He next visited
+Margaret, the Dowager Duchess of Burgundy, who treated him as if he were
+really her nephew.
+
+Henry now became seriously alarmed at the state of affairs in Ireland,
+and sent over Sir Edward Poyning, a privy counsellor and a Knight of the
+Garter, to the troublesome colony. He was attended by some eminent
+English lawyers, and what was of considerably greater importance, by a
+force of 1,000 men. But neither the lawyers nor the men succeeded in
+their attempt, for nothing was done to conciliate, and the old policy of
+force was the rule of action, and failed as usual. The first step was to
+hunt out the abettors of Warbeck's insurrection, who had taken refuge in
+the north: but the moment the Deputy marched against them, the Earl of
+Kildare's brother rose in open rebellion, and seized Carlow Castle. The
+Viceroy was, therefore, obliged to make peace with O'Hanlon and
+Magennis, and to return south. After recovering the fortress, he held a
+Parliament at Drogheda, in the month of November, 1494. In this
+Parliament the celebrated statute was enacted, which provided that
+henceforth no Parliament should be held in Ireland until the Chief
+Governor and Council had first certified to the King, under the Great
+Seal, as well the causes and considerations as the Acts they designed to
+pass, and till the same should be approved by the King and Council. This
+Act obtained the name of "Poyning's Law." It became a serious grievance
+when the whole of Ireland was brought under English government; but at
+the time of its enactment it could only affect the inhabitants of the
+Pale, who formed a very small portion of the population of that country;
+and the colonists regarded it rather favourably, as a means of
+protecting them against the legislative oppressions of the Viceroys.
+
+The general object of the Act was nominally to reduce the people to
+"whole and perfect obedience." The attempt to accomplish this desirable
+end had been continued for rather more than two hundred years, and had
+not yet been attained. The Parliament of Drogheda did not succeed,
+although the Viceroy returned to England afterwards under the happy
+conviction that he had perfectly accomplished his mission. Acts were
+also passed that ordnance[375] should not be kept in fortresses without
+the Viceregal licence; that the lords spiritual and temporal were to
+appear in their robes in Parliament, for the English lords of Ireland
+had, "through penuriousness, done away the said robes to their own great
+dishonour, and the rebuke of all the whole land;" that the "many
+damnable customs and uses," practised by the Anglo-Norman lords and
+gentlemen, under the names of "coigne, livery, and pay," should be
+reformed; that the inhabitants on the frontiers of the four shires
+should forthwith build and maintain a double-ditch, raised six feet
+above the ground on the side which "meared next unto the Irishmen," so
+that the said Irishmen should be kept out; that all subjects were to
+provide themselves with cuirasses and helmets, with English bows and
+sheaves of arrows; that every parish should be provided with a pair of
+butts,[376] and the constables were ordered to call the parishioners
+before them on holidays, to shoot at least two or three games.
+
+The Irish war-cries[377] which had been adopted by the English lords
+were forbidden, and they were commanded to call upon St. George or the
+King of England. The Statutes of Kilkenny were confirmed, with the
+exception of the one which forbid the use of the Irish language. As
+nearly all the English settlers had adopted it, such an enactment could
+not possibly have been carried out. Three of the principal nobles of the
+country were absent from this assembly: Maurice, Earl of Desmond, was in
+arms on behalf of Warbeck; Gerald, Earl of Kildare, was charged with
+treason; and Thomas, Earl of Ormonde, was residing in England. The Earl
+of Kildare was sent to England to answer the charges of treason which
+were brought against him. Henry had discovered that Poyning's mission
+had not been as successful as he expected, and what, probably,
+influenced him still more, that it had proved very expensive.[378] He
+has the credit of being a wise king in many respects, notwithstanding
+his avariciousness; and he at once saw that Kildare would be more useful
+as a friend, and less expensive, if he ceased to be an enemy. The result
+was the pardon of the "rebel," his marriage with the King's first
+cousin, Elizabeth St. John, and his restoration to the office of Deputy.
+His quick-witted speeches, when examined before the King, took the royal
+fancy. He was accused of having burned the Cathedral of Cashel, to
+revenge himself on the Archbishop, who had sided with his enemy, Sir
+James Ormonde. There was a great array of witnesses prepared to prove
+the fact; but the Earl excited shouts of laughter by exclaiming: "I
+would never have done it, had it not been told me the Archbishop was
+within."
+
+The Archbishop was present, and one of his most active accusers. The
+King then gave him leave to choose his counsel, and time to prepare his
+defence. Kildare exclaimed that he doubted if he should be allowed to
+choose the good fellow whom he would select. Henry gave him his hand as
+an assurance of his good faith. "Marry," said the Earl, "I can see no
+better man in England than your Highness, and will choose no other." The
+affair ended by his accusers declaring that "all Ireland could not rule
+this Earl," to which Henry replied: "Then, in good faith, shall this
+Earl rule all Ireland."[379]
+
+In August, 1489, Kildare was appointed Deputy to Prince Henry, who was
+made Viceroy. In 1498 he was authorized to convene a Parliament, which
+should not sit longer than half a year. This was the first Parliament
+held under Poyning's Act. Sundry regulations were made "for the
+increasing of English manners and conditions within the land, and for
+diminishing of Irish usage." In 1503 the Earl's son, Gerald, was
+appointed Treasurer for Ireland by the King, who expressed the highest
+approval of his father's administration. He married the daughter of Lord
+Zouch of Codnor during his visit to England, and then returned with his
+father to Ireland. Both father and son were treated with the utmost
+consideration at court, and the latter took an important part in the
+funeral ceremonies for the King's eldest son, Arthur. The Earl continued
+in office during the reign of Henry VII. An interesting letter, which he
+wrote in reply to an epistle from the Gherardini of Tuscany, is still
+extant. In this document he requests them to communicate anything they
+can of the origin of their house, their numbers, and their ancestors. He
+informs them that it will give him the greatest pleasure to send them
+hawks, falcons, horses, or hounds, or anything that he can procure which
+they may desire. He concludes:
+
+"God be with you; love us in return.
+
+"GERALD, Chief in Ireland of the family of Gherardini, Earl of Kildare,
+Viceroy of the most serene Kings of England in Ireland."
+
+Eight years after this letter was written, Ariosto writes thus of a
+brave old man, whose fame had passed long before to distant lands:
+
+    "Or guarda gl' Ibernisi: appresso il piano
+     Sono due squadre; e il Conte di Childera
+     Mena la pinna; e il Conte di Desmonda,
+     Da fieri monti ha tratta la seconda."
+
+[Illustration: ROUND TOWER, DONAGHMORE, CO. MEATH.]
+
+[Illustration: RUINS OF SELSKER ABBEY, WEXFORD.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[362] _Them_.--Gilbert's _Viceroys_, p. 292.
+
+[363] _Annals_.--Four Masters, vol. iv. p. 791.
+
+[364] _Master_.--Gilbert's _Viceroys_, p. 347.
+
+[365] _Shave_.--There are no monumental effigies of Henry VI. His
+remains were removed several times by Richard III., who was annoyed at
+the popular belief that he worked miracles; but the costume of the
+period may be studied in an engraving by Strutt, from a scene depicted
+in the Royal M.S., 15E 6, which represents Talbot in the act of
+presenting a volume of romances to the King and Queen. Henry was
+notoriously plain in his dress, but his example was not followed by his
+court. Fairholt says: "It would appear as if the English nobility and
+gentry sought relief in the invention of all that was absurd in apparel,
+as a counter-excitement to the feverish spirit engendered by civil
+war."--_History of Costume_, p. 146.
+
+[366] _Soul_.--Duald Mac Firbis.--_Annals_.
+
+[367] _History_.--The scene is laid at the Abbey of Bury. A _Poste_
+enters and exclaims--
+
+"_Poste_.--Great lords, from Ireland am I come amain, To signify that
+rebels there are up, And put the Englishmen unto the sword. Send
+succours (lords), and stop the rage betime, Before the wound do grow
+uncurable; For being green, there is great hope of help."
+
+_--King Henry VI. Part ii. Act 3._
+
+
+
+[368]
+
+_People_.--"I twise bore rule in Normandy and Fraunce, And last
+lieutenant in Ireland, where my hart Found remedy for every kinde of
+smart; For through the love my doings there did breede, I had my helpe
+at all times in my neede."
+
+--_Mirrour for Magistrates_, vol. ii. p. 189.
+
+Hall, in his _Union of the Two Noble Houses_ (1548), wrote that York
+"got him such love and favour of the country [Ireland] and the
+inhabitants, that their sincere love and friendly affection could never
+be separated from him and his lineage."
+
+[369] _Hobbies_.--Irish horses were famous from an early period of our
+history. They were considered presents worthy of kings. The name
+_hobbies_ is a corruption of _hobilarius_, a horseman. It is probable
+the term is derived from the Spanish _caballo_, a horse. There were
+three different Irish appellations for different kinds of horses,
+_groidh, each_, and _gearran_. These words are still in use, but
+_capall_ is the more common term.
+
+[370] _Book_.--This ancient MS. is still in existence, in the Bodleian
+Library in Oxford (Laud, 610). It is a copy of such portions of the
+Psalter of Cashel as could then be deciphered, which was made for
+Butler, by Shane O'Clery, A.D. 1454. There is an interesting memorandum
+in it in Irish, made by MacButler himself: "A blessing on the soul of
+the Archbishop of Cashel, i.e., Richard O'Hedigan, for it was by him the
+owner of this book was educated. This is the Sunday before Christmas;
+and let all those who shall read this give a blessing on the souls of
+both."
+
+[371] _Ireland_.--_The Annals of Ulster_, compiled by Maguire, Canon of
+Armagh, who died A.D. 1498.
+
+[372] _London_.--The Irish Yorkists declared that this youth was a
+counterfeit. The Earl of Lincoln, son of Elizabeth Plantagenet, sister
+of Richard III., saw and conversed with the boy at the court at Shene,
+and appeared to be convinced that he was not his real cousin, for he
+joined the movement in favour of Simnel immediately after the interview.
+Mr. Gilbert remarks in his _Viceroys_, p. 605, that the fact of all the
+documents referring to this period of Irish history having been
+destroyed, has been quite overlooked. A special Act of Poyning's
+Parliament commanded the destruction of all "records, processes,
+ordinances, &c., done in the 'Laddes' name."
+
+[373] _Authority_.--Gilbert's _Viceroys_, p. 605. The English Parliament
+attainted those English gentlemen and nobles who had fought against the
+King at Stoke, but they took no notice of the English in Ireland, who
+were the real promoters of the rebellion. This is a curious and valuable
+illustration of the state of affairs in that country.
+
+[374] _Firing it_.--A valuable paper on this subject, by Sir S.R.
+Meyrick, will be found in the _Archaeologia_, vol. xxii. The people of
+Lucca are supposed to have been the first to use hand-cannons, at the
+beginning of the fifteenth century. Cannon-balls were first made of
+stone, but at the battle of Cressy the English "shot small balls of
+iron." For popular information on this subject, see Fairholt, _History
+of Costume_.
+
+[375] _Ordnance_.--In 1489 six hand-guns or musquets were sent from
+Germany to the Earl of Kildare, which his guard bore while on sentry at
+Thomas Court, his Dublin residence. The word "Pale" came to be applied
+to that part of Ireland occupied by the English, in consequence of one
+of the enactments of Poyning's Parliament, which required all the
+colonists to "pale" in or enclose that portion of the country possessed
+by the English.
+
+[376] _Butts_.--We give an illustration, at the head of this chapter, of
+the Butts' Cross, Kilkenny.
+
+[377] _War-cries_.--That of the Geraldines of Kildare was _Cromadh-abu_,
+from Croom Castle, in Limerick; the war-cry of the Desmond Geraldines
+was _Seanaid-abu_, from Shannid Castle.
+
+[378] _Expensive_.--English writers accuse Henry of miserable
+avariciousness. He is accused of having consented to the execution of
+Sir William Stanley, who had saved his life, for the sake of his
+enormous wealth.--Lingard's _History of England_, vol. v. p. 308. He is
+also accused, by a recent writer, of having seized the Wealth of the
+Queen Dowager, because he chose to believe that she had assisted
+Simnel.--_Victoria History of England_, p. 223.
+
+[379] _Ireland_.--On one occasion, when the Earl and Sir James Ormonde
+had a quarrel, the latter retired into the chapter-house of St.
+Patrick's Cathedral, the door of which he closed and barricaded. The
+Earl requested him to come forth, and pledged his honour for his safety.
+As the knight still feared treachery, a hole was cut in the door,
+through which Kildare passed his hand; and after this exploit, Ormonde
+came out, and they embraced each other.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+The Reign of Henry VIII.--The Three Eras in Irish History: Military
+Violence, Legal Iniquity, and Religious Oppression--The Earl of
+Kildare--Report on the State of Ireland--The Insurrection of Silken
+Thomas--His Execution with his five Uncles--First Attempt to introduce
+the Reformation in Ireland--Real Cause of the English Schism--The King
+acts as Head of the Church--The New Religion enacted by Law, and
+enforced by the Sword--How the Act was opposed by the Clergy, and how
+the Clergy were disposed of--Dr. Browne's Letter to Henry--The Era of
+Religious Persecution--Massacre of a Prelate, Priest, and
+Friars--Wholesale Plunder of Religious Property.
+
+[A.D. 1509-1540.]
+
+
+We have now approached one of the most important standpoints in Irish
+history. An English writer has divided its annals into three eras, which
+he characterizes thus: first, the era of military violence; second, the
+era of legal iniquity; third, the era of religious persecution.[380] We
+may mark out roughly certain lines which divide these periods, but
+unhappily the miseries of the two former blended eventually with the yet
+more cruel wrongs of the latter. Still, until the reign of Henry VIII.,
+the element of religious contention did not exist; and its importance as
+an increased source of discord, may be easily estimated by a careful
+consideration of its subsequent effects. Nevertheless, I believe that
+Irish history has not been fairly represented by a considerable number
+of writers, who are pleased to attribute all the sufferings and wrongs
+endured by the people of that country to religious grounds.
+
+Ireland was in a chronic state of discontent and rebellion, in the eras
+of military violence and legal iniquity, which existed some centuries
+before the era of religious persecution; but, unquestionably all the
+evils of the former period were enhanced and intensified, when the power
+which had so long oppressed and plundered, sought to add to bodily
+suffering the still keener anguish of mental torture.
+
+In the era of military violence, a man was driven from his ancestral
+home by force of arms; in the era of legal iniquity, he was treated as a
+rebel if he complained; but in the era of religious persecution, his
+free will, the noblest gift of God to man--the gift which God Himself
+will not shackle--was demanded from him; and if he dared act according
+to the dictates of his conscience, a cruel death or a cruel confiscation
+was his portion. And this was done in the name of liberty of conscience!
+While England was Catholic, it showed no mercy to Catholic Ireland; I
+doubt much, if Ireland had become Protestant to a man, when England had
+become Protestant as a nation, that she would have shown more
+consideration for the Celtic race. But the additional cruelties with
+which the Irish were visited, for refusing to discard their faith at the
+bidding of a profligate king, are simply matters of history.
+
+Henry succeeded his father in the year 1509. The Earl of Kildare was
+continued in his office as Deputy; but the King's minister, Wolsey,
+virtually ruled the nation, until the youthful monarch had attained his
+majority; and he appears to have devoted himself with considerable zeal
+to Irish affairs. He attempted to attach some of the Irish chieftains to
+the English interest, and seems in some degree to have succeeded. Hugh
+O'Donnell, Lord of Tir-Connell, was hospitably entertained at Windsor,
+as he passed through England on his pilgrimage to Rome. It is said that
+O'Donnell subsequently prevented James IV. of Scotland from undertaking
+his intended expedition to Ireland; and, in 1521, we find him described
+by the then Lord Deputy as the best disposed of all the Irish chieftains
+"to fall into English order."
+
+Gerald, the ninth and last Catholic Earl of Kildare, succeeded his
+father as Lord Deputy in 1513. But the hereditary foes of his family
+were soon actively employed in working his ruin; and even his sister,
+who had married into that family, proved not the least formidable of his
+enemies. He was summoned to London; but either the charges against him
+could not be proved, or it was deemed expedient to defer them, for we
+find him attending Henry for four years, and forming one of his retinue
+at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. Kildare was permitted to return to
+Dublin again in 1523, but he was tracked by Wolsey's implacable hatred
+to his doom.[381] In 1533 he was confined in the Tower for the third
+time. The charges against him were warmly urged by his enemies. Two of
+his sisters were married to native chieftains; and he was accused of
+playing fast and loose with the English as a baron of the Pale--with the
+Irish as a warm ally.[382] Two English nobles had been appointed to
+assist him, or rather to act the spy upon his movements, at different
+times. One of these, Sir Thomas Skeffington, became his most dangerous
+enemy.
+
+In 1515 an elaborate report on the state of Ireland was prepared by the
+royal command. It gives a tolerably clear idea of the military and
+political condition of the country. According to this account, the only
+counties really subject to English rule, were Louth, Meath, Dublin,
+Kildare, and Wexford. Even the residents near the boundaries of these
+districts, were obliged to pay "black mail" to the neighbouring Irish
+chieftains. The King's writs were not executed beyond the bounds
+described; and within thirty miles of Dublin, the Brehon law was in full
+force. This document, which is printed in the first volume of the "State
+Papers" relating to Ireland, contains a list of the petty rulers of
+sixty different states or "regions," some of which "are as big as a
+shire; some more, some less." The writer then gives various opinions as
+to the plans which might be adopted for improving the state of Ireland,
+which he appears to have taken principally from a curious old book,
+called _Salus Populi_.[383] Both writers were of opinion that war to the
+knife was the only remedy for Ireland's grievances. It was at least
+clear that if dead men could tell no tales, neither could dead men rebel
+against oppression; and the writer of the report concludes, "that if the
+King were as wise as Solomon the Sage, he shall never subdue the wild
+Irish to his obedience without dread of the sword." Even this he admits
+may fail; for he adds, "so long as they may resist and save their lives,
+they will never obey the King." He then quotes the _Salus Populi_, to
+show the advantages which England might derive if the Irish united with
+her in her wars on foreign countries, and observes, "that if this land
+were put once in order as aforesaid, it would be none other but a very
+paradise, delicious of all pleasaunce, in respect and regard of any
+other land in this world; inasmuch as there never was stranger nor alien
+person, great or small, that would leave it willingly, notwithstanding
+the said misorder, if he had the means to dwell therein honestly."
+
+It cannot now be ascertained whether Kildare had incited the Irish
+chieftains to rebellion or not. In 1520, during one of his periods of
+detention in London, the Earl of Surrey was sent over as Deputy with a
+large force. It would appear as if a general rising were contemplated at
+that time, and it was then the Earl wrote the letter[384] already
+mentioned to O'Carroll. The new Viceroy was entirely ignorant of the
+state of Ireland, and imagined he had nothing to do but conquer. Several
+successful engagements confirmed him in this pleasing delusion; but he
+soon discovered his mistake, and assured the King that it was hopeless
+to contend with an enemy, who were defeated one day, and rose up with
+renewed energy the next. As a last resource he suggested the policy of
+conciliation, which Henry appears to have adopted, as he empowered him
+to confer the honour of knighthood on any of the Irish chieftains to
+whom he considered it desirable to offer the compliment, and he sent a
+collar of gold to O'Neill. About the same time Surrey wrote to inform
+Wolsey, that Cormac Oge MacCarthy and MacCarthy Reagh were "two wise
+men, and more conformable to order than some English were;" but he was
+still careful to keep up the old policy of fomenting discord among the
+native princes, for he wrote to the King that "it would be dangerful to
+have them both agreed and joined together, as the longer they continue
+in war, the better it should be for your Grace's poor subjects here."
+
+Surrey became weary at last of the hopeless conflict, and at his own
+request he was permitted to return to England and resign his office,
+which was conferred on his friend, Pierse Butler,[385] of Carrick,
+subsequently Earl of Ormonde. The Scotch had begun to immigrate to
+Ulster in considerable numbers, and acquired large territories there;
+the Pale was almost unprotected; and the Irish Privy Council applied to
+Wolsey for six ships-of-war, to defend the northern coasts, A.D. 1522.
+The dissensions between the O'Neills and O'Donnells had broken out into
+sanguinary warfare.
+
+The Earl of Kildare left Ireland for the third and last time, in
+February, 1534. Before his departure he summoned a Council at Drogheda,
+and appointed his son, Thomas, to act as Deputy in his absence. On the
+Earl's arrival in London, he was at once seized and imprisoned in the
+Tower. A false report was carefully circulated in Ireland that he had
+been beheaded, and that the destruction of the whole family was even
+then impending. Nor was there anything very improbable in this
+statement. The English King had already inaugurated his sanguinary
+career. One of the most eminent English laymen, Sir Thomas More, and one
+of her best ecclesiastics, Bishop Fisher, had been accused and beheaded,
+to satisfy the royal caprice. When the King's tutor and his chancellor
+had been sacrificed, who could hope to escape?
+
+The unfortunate Earl had advised his son to pursue a cautious and gentle
+policy; but Lord Thomas' fiery temper could ill brook such precaution,
+and he was but too easily roused by the artful enemies who incited him
+to rebellion. The reports of his father's execution were confirmed. His
+proud blood was up, and he rushed madly on the career of
+self-destruction. On the 11th of June, 1534, he flung down the sword of
+state on the table of the council-hall at St. Mary's Abbey, and openly
+renounced his allegiance to the English monarch. Archbishop Cromer
+implored him with tears to reconsider his purpose, but all entreaties
+were vain. Even had he been touched by this disinterested counsel, it
+would probably have failed of its effect; for an Irish bard commenced
+chanting his praises and his father's wrongs, and thus his doom was
+sealed. An attempt was made to arrest him, but it failed. Archbishop
+Allen, his father's bitterest enemy, fled to the Castle, with several
+other nobles, and here they were besieged by FitzGerald and his
+followers. The Archbishop soon contrived to effect his escape. He
+embarked at night in a vessel which was then lying at Dame's Gate; but
+the ship was stranded near Clontarf, either through accident or design,
+and the unfortunate prelate was seized by Lord Thomas' people, who
+instantly put him to death. The young nobleman is said by some
+authorities to have been present at the murder, as well as his two
+uncles: there is at least no doubt of his complicity in the crime. The
+sentence of excommunication was pronounced against him, and those who
+assisted him, in its most terrible form.
+
+Ecclesiastical intervention was not necessary to complete his ruin. He
+had commenced his wild career of lawless violence with but few
+followers, and without any influential companions. The Castle of
+Maynooth, the great stronghold of the Geraldines, was besieged and
+captured by his father's old enemy, Sir William Skeffington. In the
+meanwhile the intelligence of his son's insurrection had been
+communicated to the Earl, and the news of his excommunication followed
+quickly. The unfortunate nobleman succumbed beneath the twofold blow,
+and died in a few weeks. Lord Thomas surrendered himself in August,
+1535, on the guarantee of Lord Leonard and Lord Butler, under a solemn
+promise that his life should be spared.[386] But his fate was in the
+hands of one who had no pity, even where the tenderest ties were
+concerned. Soon after the surrender of "Silken Thomas," his five uncles
+were seized treacherously at a banquet; and although three of them had
+no part in the rebellion, the nephew and the uncles were all executed
+together at Tyburn, on the 3rd of February, 1537. If the King had hoped
+by this cruel injustice to rid himself of the powerful family, he was
+mistaken. Two children of the late Earl's still existed. They were sons
+by his second wife, Lady Elizabeth Grey. The younger, still an infant,
+was conveyed to his mother in England; the elder, a youth of twelve
+years of age, was concealed by his aunts, who were married to the
+chieftains of Offaly and Donegal, and was soon conveyed to France, out
+of the reach of the enemies who eagerly sought his destruction. It is
+not a little curious to find the native princes, who had been so cruelly
+oppressed by his forefathers, protecting and helping the hapless youth,
+even at the risk of their lives. It is one of many evidences that the
+antipathy of Celt to Saxon is not so much an antipathy of race or
+person, as the natural enmity which the oppressed entertains towards the
+oppressor.
+
+Henry made his first appearance at establishing his spiritual supremacy
+in the year 1534, by appointing an Augustinian friar, who had
+already[387] become a Protestant, to the see of Dublin. He was
+consecrated by Cranmer, always the servile instrument of the royal
+pleasure. The previous events in England, which resulted in the national
+schism, are too well known to require much observation. It must be
+admitted as one of the most patent facts of history, that the English
+King never so much as thought of asserting his supremacy in spiritual
+matters, until he found that submission to Papal supremacy interfered
+with his sinful inclinations. If Pope Clement VII. had dissolved the
+marriage between Queen Catherine and Henry VIII. in 1528, Parliament
+would not have been asked to legalize the national schism in 1534. Yet
+it would appear as if Henry had hesitated for a moment before he
+committed the final act of apostacy. It was Cromwell who suggested the
+plan which he eventually followed. With many expressions of humility he
+pointed out the course which might be pursued. The approbation of the
+Holy See, he said, was the one thing still wanting. It was plain now
+that neither bribes nor threats could procure that favour. But was it so
+necessary as the King had hitherto supposed? It might be useful to avert
+the resentment of the German Emperor; but if it could not be obtained,
+why should the King's pleasure depend on the will of another? Several of
+the German princes had thrown off their allegiance to the Holy See: why,
+then, should not the English King? The law could legalize the King's
+inclination, and who dare gainsay its enactments? Let the law declare
+Henry the head of the Church, and he could, as such, give himself the
+dispensations for which he sought. The law which could frame articles of
+faith and sanction canons, could regulate morals as easily as it could
+enact a creed.
+
+Such counsel was but too acceptable to a monarch resolved to gratify his
+passions at all hazards, temporal or spiritual. Cromwell was at once
+appointed a member of the Privy Council. He received a patent for life
+of the Chancellorship of the Exchequer, and he was authorized to frame
+the necessary bills, and conduct them through the two houses.[388]
+Parliament complied without hesitation; the clergy in convocation made a
+show of opposition, which just sufficed to enhance their moral
+turpitude, since their brief resistance intimated that they acted
+contrary to their consciences in giving their final assent. The royal
+supremacy in matters ecclesiastical, was declared to be the will of God
+and the law of the land.
+
+The King's mistress was now made his wife, by the same authority which
+had made the King head of the Church; and it was evident that the
+immediate cause of the separation of the English nation from the
+Catholic Church was the desire of the monarch, that his profligacy
+should obtain some kind of sanction. But this commencement of the
+Anglican Establishment, however true, is so utterly disreputable, that
+English historians have been fain to conceal, as far as might be, the
+real cause, and to justify the schism by bringing grave charges[389]
+against the Church. This, after all, is a mere _petitio principii_. It
+has been already remarked that England was demoralized socially to an
+extraordinary degree, as a nation always has been by a continuance of
+civil war. The clergy suffered from the same causes which affected the
+laity, and the moral condition of the ecclesiastical body was not all
+that could be desired. These were remote causes, which acted powerfully
+as they rolled along the stream of time, and which broke the barriers of
+faith like an overwhelming torrent, when an additional impetus was
+given. But it should be distinctly remembered (1) that the direct act of
+schism was committed when Henry required Parliament and Convocation to
+exalt him to the spiritual supremacy; and (2) that the sins of churchmen
+and the faith of the Church are two distinct questions. There may have
+been more corruption of life and morals, both in the laity and the
+priesthood of the Catholic Church at the Reformation, than at any other
+period of the Church's history; but the Jews had been commanded to obey
+the Scribes and Pharisees, because they sat in Moses' seat, at the very
+time when the Lamb of God could find no milder term to describe their
+hypocrisy and iniquity than that of a generation of vipers.
+
+If schism is admitted to be a sin, it is difficult to see how any amount
+of crime with which other individuals can be charged, even justly,
+lessens the guilt of the schismatic. There can be little doubt that the
+members of the Church are most fervent and edifying in their lives, when
+suffering from persecution. Ambition has less food when there are no
+glittering prizes within its reach. Faith is more sincere when there are
+no motives for a false profession, and every natural motive to conceal
+religious belief. The Irish clergy were never charged with the gross
+crimes which have been mentioned in connexion with some few of their
+brethren in England. Those who ministered outside the Pale, lived in
+poverty and simplicity. The monasteries were not so richly endowed as
+the English conventual houses; and, perhaps, this freedom from the
+world's goods, served to nerve them for the coming trial; and that their
+purer and more fervent lives saved the Irish Church and people from
+national apostacy.
+
+Soon after Dr. Browne's arrival in Ireland, he received an official
+letter from Cromwell, containing directions for his conduct there. He is
+informed it is "the royal will and pleasure of his Majesty, that his
+subjects in Ireland, even as those in England, should obey his commands
+in spiritual matters as in temporal, and renounce their allegiance to
+the See of Rome." This language was sufficiently plain. They are
+required to renounce their allegiance to the See of Rome, simply because
+"the King wills it." The affair is spoken of as if it were some
+political matter, which could easily be arranged. But the source of this
+prelate's authority was simply political; for Henry writes to him thus:
+"Let it sink into your remembrance, that we be as able, for the not
+doing thereof, to remove you again, and put another man of more virtue
+and honesty into your place, as we were at the beginning to prefer you."
+Browne could certainly be in no doubt from whom he had received his
+commission to teach and preach to the people of Ireland; but that nation
+had received the faith many centuries before, from one who came to them
+with very different credentials; and years of oppression and most cruel
+persecution have failed in inducing them to obey human authority rather
+than divine.
+
+Dr. Browne soon found that it was incomparably easier for Henry to issue
+commands in England, than for him to enforce them in Ireland. He
+therefore wrote to Cromwell, from Dublin, on "the 4th of the kal. of
+December, 1535," and informed him that he "had endeavoured, almost to
+the danger and hazard of my temporal life, to procure the nobility and
+gentry of this nation to due obedience in owning of his Highness their
+supreme head, as well spiritual as temporal; and do find much oppugning
+therein, especially by my brother Armagh, who hath been the main
+oppugner, and so hath withdrawn most of his suffragans and clergy within
+his see and diocese. He made a speech to them, laying a curse on the
+people whosoever should own his Highness' supremacy, saying, that
+isle--as it is in their Irish chronicles, _insula sacra_--belongs to
+none but the Bishop of Rome, and that it was the Bishop of Rome that
+gave it to the King's ancestors."[390] Dr. Browne then proceeds to
+inform his correspondent that the Irish clergy had sent two messengers
+to Rome.[391] He states "that the common people of this isle are more
+zealous in their blindness, than the saints and martyrs were in truth;"
+and he advises that a Parliament should at once be summoned, "to pass
+the supremacy by Act; for they do not much matter his Highness'
+commission, which your lordship sent us over." Truly, the nation which
+had been so recently enlightened in so marvellous a manner, might have
+had a little patience with the people who could not so easily discern
+the new light; and, assuredly, if the term "Church by law established"
+be applicable to the Protestant religion in England, it is, if possible,
+still more applicable to the Protestant Establishment in Ireland, since
+the person delegated to found the new religion in that country, has
+himself stated it could only be established there by Act of Parliament.
+
+The Parliament was summoned in 1536; but, as a remote preparation, the
+Lord Deputy made a "martial circuit" of Ireland, hoping thereby to
+overawe the native septs, and compel their submission to the royal will
+and pleasure. "This preparation being made," _i.e.,_ the "martial
+circuit"--I am quoting from Sir John Davies;[392] I request the reader's
+special attention to the statement--"he first propounded and passed in
+Parliament these Lawes, which made the great alteration in the State
+Ecclesiastical, namely, the Act which declared King Henry VIII. to be
+Supreme Head of the Church of Ireland; the Act prohibiting Apeales to
+the Church of Rome; the Act for first fruites and twentieth part to be
+paid to the King; and lastly, the Act that did utterly abolish the
+usurped Authoritie of the Pope. Next, for the increase of the King's
+Revenew. By one Act he suppressed sundry Abbayes and Religious Houses,
+and by another Act resumed the Lands of the Absentees."
+
+The royal process of conversion to the royal opinions, had at least the
+merits of simplicity. There is an old rhyme--one of those old rhymes
+which are often more effectual in moving the hearts of the multitude
+than the most eloquent sermons, and truer exponents of popular feeling
+than Acts of Parliament--which describes the fate of Forrest, the
+Franciscan friar, confessor of the King's only lawful wife and the
+consequences of his temerity in denying the King's supremacy:--
+
+     "Forrest, the fryar,
+      That obstinate lyar,
+    That wilfully will be dead;
+      Incontinently
+      The Gospel doth deny,
+    The King to be supreme head."
+
+There is a grand and simple irony in this not easily surpassed. Some
+very evident proofs had been given in England, that to deny the King's
+spiritual supremacy was "wilfully to be dead," although neither the King
+nor the Parliament had vouchsafed to inform the victims in what part of
+the Gospel the keys of the kingdom of heaven had been given to a
+temporal prince. Still, as I have observed, the royal process was
+extremely simple--if you believed, you were saved; if you doubted, you
+died.
+
+With the example of Sir Thomas More[393] before their eyes, the
+Anglo-Norman nobles and gentlemen, assembled in Parliament by the royal
+command, were easily persuaded to do the royal bidding. But the
+ecclesiastics were by no means so pliable. Every diocese had the
+privilege of sending two proctors to Parliament; and these proctors
+proved so serious an obstacle, that Lords Grey and Brabazon wrote to
+Cromwell, that they had prorogued the Parliament in consequence of the
+"forwardness and obstinacy of the proctors, of the clergy, and of the
+bishops and abbots;" and they suggest that "some means should be
+devised, whereby they should be brought to remember their duty better,"
+or that "means may be found which shall put these proctors from a voice
+in Parliament."[394] The means were easily found--the proctors were
+forbidden to vote.[395] The Act was passed. Every one who objected to it
+having been forbidden to vote, Henry's agents on the Continent
+proclaimed triumphantly that the Irish nation had renounced the
+supremacy of Rome. A triumph obtained at the expense of truth, is but
+poor compensation for the heavy retribution which shall assuredly be
+demanded of those who have thus borne false witness against their
+neighbour. Men forget too often, in the headlong eagerness of
+controversy, that truth is eternal and immutable, and that no amount of
+self-deceit or successful deception of others can alter its purity and
+integrity in the eyes of the Eternal Verity.
+
+The Irish Parliament, or, we should say more correctly, the men
+permitted to vote in Ireland according to royal directions, had already
+imitated their English brethren by declaring the marriage of Henry and
+Catherine of Arragon null and void, and limiting the succession to the
+crown to the children of Anna Boleyn. When this lady had fallen a victim
+to her husband's caprice, they attainted her and her posterity with
+equal facility. A modern historian has attempted to excuse Henry's
+repudiation of his lawful wife, on the ground of his sincere anxiety to
+prevent disputes about the succession.[396] But the King's subsequent
+conduct ought surely to have deterred any one from attempting so rash an
+apology. To doubt the royal supremacy, or the right of the lady, who for
+the time being held a place in Henry's affections, to royal honours, was
+an evidence of insincerity in devotion to himself which he could not
+easily pardon.
+
+As it was now ascertained that the Irish people would not apostatize as
+a nation, an expedient was prepared for their utter extirpation. It
+would be impossible to believe that the human heart could be guilty of
+such cruelty, if we had not evidence of the fact in the State Papers. By
+this diabolical scheme it was arranged to till or carry away their
+cattle, and to destroy their corn while it was green. "The very living
+of the Irishry," observes the writer, "doth clearly consist in two
+things; and take away the same from them, and they are past power to
+recover, or yet to annoy any subject in Ireland. Take first from them
+their corn--burn and destroy the same; and then have their cattle and
+beasts, which shall be most hardest to come by, and yet, with guides and
+policy, they be often had and taken." Such was the arrangement; and it
+was from no want of inclination that it was not entirely carried out,
+and the "Irishry" starved to death in their own land.
+
+The title of King of Ireland had not as yet been given to English
+monarchs, but the ever-subservient Parliament of this reign granted
+Henry this addition to his privileges, such as it was. We have already
+seen the style in which the "supreme head of the Church" addressed the
+bishops whom he had appointed; we shall now give a specimen of their
+subserviency to their master, and the fashion in which they executed his
+commands, before returning to secular history.
+
+Henry's letter to Dr. Browne is dated July 7th, 1537; the Bishop's reply
+is given on the 27th September, 1537. He commences by informing his most
+excellent Highness that he had received his most gracious letter on the
+7th September, and that "it made him tremble in body for fear of
+incurring his Majesty's displeasure," which was doubtless the most
+truthful statement in his epistle. He mentions all his zeal and efforts
+against Popery, which, he adds, "is a thing not little rooted among the
+inhabitants here." He assures the King of his activity in securing the
+twentieth part and first-fruits for the royal use (what had been given
+to God was now given to Caesar), and states what, indeed, could not be
+denied, that he was the "first spiritual man who moved" for this to be
+done. He concludes with the fearful profanity of "desiring of God, that
+the ground, should open and swallow him up the hour or minute that he
+should declare the Gospel of Christ after any sort than he had done
+heretofore, in rebuking the Papistical power, _or in any other point
+concerning the advancement of his Grace's affairs_."
+
+Such a tissue of profanity and absurdity was seldom penned; but men who
+could write and act thus were fitting instruments for a man, who made it
+a point of conscience to commit immoral crimes that he might preserve
+the succession; who kept his mistress in the same palace with his queen;
+and only went through the form of marriage when he found his real or
+pretended wishes about the same succession on the point of being
+realized in a manner that even he could not fail to see would scarcely
+be admitted as legal or legitimate by public opinion, whatever an
+obsequious Parliament might do. It is at least certain that such letters
+never were addressed by Catholic prelates to the Holy See, and that
+those who speak of its tyranny and priestcraft, and the absolute
+submission it requires from its subjects, would do well to remember the
+trite motto, _Audi alteram partem_, and to inquire whether a similar
+charge might not be made more justly against the founders of the
+Protestant Establishment.
+
+Dr. Browne and the Lord Deputy now rivalled each other in their efforts
+to obtain the royal approbation, by destroying all that the Irish people
+held most sacred, determined to have as little cause as possible for
+"the trembling in body" which the King's displeasure would effect. They
+traversed the land from end to end, destroying cathedrals, plundering
+abbeys, and burning relics--all in the name of a religion which
+proclaimed liberty of conscience to worship God according to individual
+conviction, as the great boon which it was to confer on the nation.
+However full of painful interest these details may be, as details they
+belong to the province of the ecclesiastical historian. The Four Masters
+record the work of desecration in touching and mournful strains. They
+tell of the heresy which broke out in England, and graphically
+characterize it as "the effect of pride, vain-glory, avarice, and
+sensual desire." They mention how "the King and Council enacted new laws
+and statutes after their own will." They observe that all the property
+of the religious orders was seized for the King; and they conclude thus:
+"They also made archbishops and bishops for themselves; and although
+great was the persecution of the Roman emperors against the Church, it
+is not probable that so great a persecution as this ever came upon the
+world; so that it is impossible to tell or narrate its description,
+unless it should be told by him saw it."[397]
+
+The era of religious persecution was thus inaugurated; and if Ireland
+had made no martyrs of the men who came to teach her the faith, she was
+not slow to give her best and noblest sons as victims to the fury of
+those who attempted to deprive her of that priceless deposit. Under the
+year 1540, the Four Masters record the massacre of the Guardian and
+friars of the Convent at Monaghan, for refusing to acknowledge the
+spiritual supremacy of the King. Cornelius, Bishop of Down, a Franciscan
+friar, and Father Thomas FitzGerald, a member of the noble family of the
+Geraldines, and a famous preacher, were both killed in the convent of
+that Order in Dublin. Father Dominic Lopez has given a detailed account
+of the sufferings of the religious orders in Ireland during the reign of
+Henry VIII., in a rare and valuable work, entitled, _Noticias Historicas
+de las tres florentissimas Provincias del celeste Ordem de la Ssma.
+Trinidad_.[398] I shall give two instances from this history, as a
+sample of the fashion in which the new doctrine of the royal supremacy
+was propagated. In 1539 the Prior and religious of the Convent of
+Atharee were commanded to take the oath of supremacy, and to surrender
+their property to the crown. The Superior, Father Robert, at once
+assembled his spiritual children, and informed them of the royal
+mandate. Their resolution was unanimous; after the example of the early
+Christians, when threatened with martyrdom and spoliation by heathen
+emperors, they at once distributed their provisions, clothing, and any
+money they had in hand amongst the poor, and concealed the sacred
+vessels and ornaments, so that not so much as a single emblem of our
+redemption was left to be desecrated by men professing to believe that
+they had been redeemed by the cross of Christ. Father Robert was
+summoned thrice to recognize the new authority. Thrice he declined;
+declaring that "none had ever sought to propagate their religious tenets
+by the sword, except the pagan emperors in early ages, and Mahomet in
+later times. As for himself and his community, they were resolved that
+no violence should move them from the principles of truth: they
+recognized no head of the Catholic Church save the Vicar of Jesus
+Christ; and as for the King of England, they regarded him not even as a
+member of that holy Church, but as head of the synagogue of Satan." The
+conclusion of his reply was a signal for massacre. An officer instantly
+struck off his head with one blow. As the prisons were already full of
+"recusants," the friars were placed in confinement in private houses,
+some were secretly murdered, and others were publicly hanged in the
+market-place. These events occurred on the 12th and 13th of February,
+1539.
+
+An almost similar tragedy was enacted in the Trinitarian Convent of
+Limerick, where the Prior was coadjutor to the Bishop of that city. He
+also assembled the brethren, exhorted them to perseverance, distributed
+their few poor possessions, and concealed the sacred vessels. On the
+feast of St. John Baptist, 24th June, in the year of grace 1539, he
+preached in his cathedral against the new heresy, and exhorted his flock
+to persevere in the faith. The emissaries of Government were afraid to
+attack him openly; but that evening they visited him at his private
+residence, and offered him his choice between death and apostacy. For
+all reply the venerable prelate knelt down, and exclaimed: "O Lord, on
+this morning I offered to Thee on the altar the unbloody sacrifice of
+the body of my Saviour; grant that I may now offer, to Thy greater
+honour and glory, the sacrifice of my own life." Then he turned towards
+a picture of the most holy Trinity, which was suspended in his room, and
+scarce had time to pronounce the aspiration of his Order, "_Sancta
+Trinitas, unus Deus, miserere nobis_," ere his head was severed from his
+body, and he entered upon the beatific vision of the Three in One, for
+Whom he had so gladly sacrificed his life.
+
+The Protestant Archbishop, Dr. Browne, the Lord Chancellor, and some
+other members of the Council, set out on a "visitation" of the four
+counties of Carlow, Wexford, Waterford, and Tipperary, in which the
+church militant was for the nonce represented by the church military.
+They transmitted an account of their expedition, and the novel fashion
+in which they attempted to propagate the Gospel, to England, on the 18th
+January, 1539. One brief extract must suffice as a specimen of their
+proceedings. "The day following we kept the sessions there [at Wexford].
+There was put to execution four felons, accompanied with another, a
+friar, whom we commanded to be hanged in his habit, and so to remain
+upon the gallows for a mirror to all his brethren to live truly."[399]
+
+There was One, whom from reverence I name not here, who said, when about
+to die, that, when "lifted up, He should draw all men unto Him."
+Centuries have rolled by since those most blessed words were uttered,
+but they have been verified in the disciples as well as in the Master.
+The "lifting up" of a friar upon the gallows, or of a bishop upon the
+block, has but served to draw men after them; and the reformations they
+failed to effect during their lives, by their preaching and example,
+have been accomplished after and because of their martyrdoms.
+
+The reformers now began to upbraid each other with the very crimes of
+which they had accused the clergy in England. When mention is made of
+the immense sums of money which were obtained by the confiscation of
+religious houses at this period, it has been commonly and naturally
+supposed, that the religious were possessors of immense wealth, which
+they hoarded up for their own benefit; and although each person made a
+vow of poverty, it is thought that what was possessed collectively, was
+enjoyed individually. But this false impression arises (1) from a
+mistaken idea of monastic life, and (2) from a misapprehension as to the
+kind of property possessed by the religious.
+
+A brief account of some of the property forfeited in Ireland, will
+explain this important matter. We do not find in any instance that
+religious communities had large funds of money. If they had extensive
+tracts of land, they were rather the property of the poor, who farmed
+them, than of the friars, who held them in trust. Any profit they
+produced made no addition to the fare or the clothing of the religious,
+for both fare and clothing were regulated by certain rules framed by the
+original founders, and which could not be altered. These rules
+invariably required the use of the plainest diet and of the coarsest
+habits. A considerable portion--indeed, by far the most considerable
+portion--of conventual wealth, consisted in the sacred vessels and
+ornaments. These had been bestowed on the monastic churches by
+benefactors, who considered that what was used in the service of God
+should be the best which man could offer. The monk was none the richer
+if he offered the sacrifice to the Eternal Majesty each morning in a
+chalice of gold, encrusted with the most precious jewels; but if it were
+right and fitting to present that chalice to God for the service of His
+Divine Majesty, who shall estimate the guilt of those who presumed to
+take the gift from Him to whom it had been given? We know how terrible
+was the judgment which came upon a heathen monarch who dared to use the
+vessels which had belonged to the Jewish Temple, and we may believe that
+a still more terrible judgment is prepared for those who desecrate
+Christian churches, and that it will be none the less sure, because,
+under the new dispensation of mercy, it comes less swiftly.
+
+All the gold and silver plate, jewels, ornaments, lead, bells, &c., were
+reserved by special command for the King's use.[400] The church-lands
+were sold to the highest bidder, or bestowed as a reward on those who
+had helped to enrich the royal coffers by sacrilege. Amongst the records
+of the sums thus obtained, we find L326 2s. 11d., the price of divers
+pieces of gold and silver, of precious stones, silver ornaments, &c.;
+also L20, the price of 1,000 lbs. of wax. The sum of L1,710 2s. was
+realized from the sale of sacred vessels belonging to thirty-nine
+monasteries. The profits on the spoliation of St. Mary's, Dublin,
+realized L385. The destruction of the Collegiate Church of St. Patrick
+must have procured an enormous profit, as we find that Cromwell received
+L60 for his pains in effecting the same. It should also be remembered
+that the value of a penny then was equal to the value of a shilling now,
+so that we should multiply these sums at least by ten to obtain an
+approximate idea of the extent of this wholesale robbery.
+
+The spoilers now began to quarrel over the spoils. The most active or
+the most favoured received the largest share; and Dr. Browne grumbled
+loudly at not obtaining all he asked for. But we have not space to
+pursue the disedifying history of their quarrels. The next step was to
+accuse each other. In the report of the Commissioners appointed in 1538
+to examine into the state of the country, we find complaints made of the
+exaction of undue fees, extortions for baptisms and marriages, &c. They
+also (though this was not made an accusation by the Commissioners)
+received the fruits of benefices in which they did not officiate, and
+they were accused of taking wives and dispensing with the sacrament of
+matrimony. The King, whatever personal views he might have on this
+subject, expected his clergy to live virtuously; and in 1542 he wrote to
+the Lord Deputy, requiring an Act to be passed "for the continency of
+the clergy," and some "reasonable plan to be devised for the avoiding of
+sin." However, neither the Act nor the reasonable plan appear to have
+succeeded. In 1545, Dr. Browne writes: "Here reigneth insatiable
+ambition; here reigneth continually coigne and livery, and callid
+extortion." Five years later, Sir Anthony St. Leger, after piteous
+complaints of the decay of piety and the increase of immorality,
+epitomizes the state of the country thus: "I never saw the land so far
+out of good order."[401] Pages might be filled with such details; but
+the subject shall be dismissed with a brief notice of the three props of
+the Reformation and the King's supremacy in Ireland. These were Dr.
+Browne of Dublin, Dr. Staples of Meath, and Dr. Bale of Ossory. The
+latter writing of the former in 1553, excuses the corruption of his own
+reformed clergy, by stating that "they would at no hand obey; alleging
+for their vain and idle excuse, the lewd example of the Archbishop of
+Dublin, who was always slack in things pertaining to God's glory." He
+calls him "an epicurious archbishop, a brockish swine, and a dissembling
+proselyte," and accuses him in plain terms of "drunkenness and
+gluttony." Dr. Browne accuses Dr. Staples of having preached in such a
+manner, "as I think the three-mouthed Cerberus of hell could not have
+uttered it more viperously." And Dr. Mant, the Protestant panegyrist of
+the Reformation and the Reformers, admits that Dr. Bale was guilty of
+"uncommon warmth of temperament"--a polite appellation for a most
+violent temper; and of "unbecoming coarseness"--a delicate definement of
+a profligate life. His antecedents were not very creditable. After
+flying from his convent in England, he was imprisoned for preaching
+sedition in York and London. He obtained his release by professing
+conformity to the new creed. He eventually retired to Canterbury, after
+his expulsion from Kilkenny by the Catholics, and there he died, in
+1563.
+
+[Illustration: SCULPTURES AT DEVENISH.]
+
+[Illustration: BOSS ISLAND.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[380] _Persecution_.--Smith's _Ireland Hist. and Statis_. vol. i. p.
+327.
+
+[381] _Doom_.--See _The Earls of Kildare_, vol. i. p. 106, for Wolsey's
+reasons for not removing him from the Viceroyalty, notwithstanding his
+dislike.
+
+[382] _Ally_.--He was charged with having written a letter to O'Carroll
+of Ely, in which he advised him to keep peace with the Pale until a
+Deputy should come over, and then to make war on the English. The object
+of this advice is not very clear.
+
+[383] _Salus Populi_.--There is a copy of this book in MS. in the
+British Museum. The name of the author is not known.
+
+[384] _Letter_.--The deposition accusing Kildare is printed in the
+"State Papers," part iii. p. 45. The following is an extract from the
+translation which it gives of his letter to O'Carroll. The original was
+written in Irish: "Desiring you to kepe good peas to English men tyll an
+English Deputie come there; and when any English Deputie shall come
+thydder, doo your beste to make warre upon English men there, except
+suche as bee towardes mee, whom you know well your silf."
+
+[385] _Pierse Butler_.--Called by the Irish, Red Pierse. Leland gives a
+curious story about him. He was at war with MacGillapatrick, who sent an
+ambassador to Henry VIII. to complain of the Earl's proceedings. The
+messenger met the English King as he was about to enter the royal
+chapel, and addressed him thus: "Stop, Sir King! my master,
+Gillapatrick, has sent me to thee to say, that if thou wilt not punish
+the Red Earl he will make war on thee." Pierse resigned his title in
+favour of Sir Thomas Boleyn, in 1527, and was created Earl of Ossory;
+but after the death of the former he again took up the old title, and
+resigned the new.
+
+[386] _Spared._--It is quite evident from the letter of the Council to
+Henry VIII. (State Papers, ciii.), that a promise was made. Henry admits
+it, and regrets it in his letter to Skeffington (S.P. cvi.): "The doyng
+whereof [FitzGerald's capture], albeit we accept it thankfully, yet, if
+he had been apprehended after such sorte as was convenable to his
+deservynges, the same had been muche more thankfull and better to our
+contentacion."
+
+[387] _Already_.--Mant describes him as a man "whose mind was happily
+freed from the thraldom of Popery," before his appointment.--_History of
+the Church of Ireland_, vol. i. p. 111.
+
+[388] _Houses_.--Lingard, vol. vi. p. 203.
+
+[389] _Charges_.--Mr. Froude has adopted this line with considerable
+ability, in his _History of England_. He has collected certain
+statements, which he finds in the books of the Consistory Courts, and
+gives details from these cases which certainly must "shock his readers"
+considerably, as he expects. He leaves it to be implied that, as a rule,
+ecclesiastics lived in open immorality. He gives names and facts
+concerning the punishment of priests for vicious lives (_History of
+England_, vol. i. pp. 178-180); and asserts that their offences were
+punished lightly, while another measure was dealt out to seculars. He
+might as well select the cases of scandal given by Protestant clergymen
+in modern times from the law books, and hold them up as specimens of the
+lives of all their brethren. The cases were exceptions; and though they
+do prove, what is generally admitted, that the moral condition of the
+clergy was not all that could be desired in individual cases, they also
+prove that such cases were exceptional, and that they were condemned by
+the Church, or they would not have been punished. With regard to the
+punishment, we can scarcely call it a light penance for a _priest_ to be
+compelled to go round the church barefoot, to kneel at each altar and
+recite certain prayers, and this while High Mass was singing. It was a
+moral disgrace, and keener than a corporal punishment. The writer also
+evidently misunderstands the Catholic doctrine of absolution, when he
+says that a fine of six-and-eightpence was held sufficient penalty for a
+mortal sin.
+
+[390] _Ancestors_.--See the _Phoenix_, a collection of valuable papers,
+published in London, 1707; and the _Harleian Miscellany_, &c.
+
+[391] _Rome_.--This was the invariable practice of the Irish Church. It
+will be remembered how letters and expostulations had been sent to the
+Holy See in regard to the temporal oppressions of the English settlers.
+
+[392] _Davies.--Cause why Ireland was never Subdued_.--Thorn's Reprints,
+vol. i. p. 694.
+
+[393] _More_.-Sir Thomas More's son-in-law, Roper, gives the following
+account of his condemnation: "Mr. Rich, pretending friendly talk with
+him, among other things of a set course, said this unto him: 'Admit
+there were, sir, an Act of Parliament that the realm should take me for
+king; would not you, Master More, take me for King?' 'Yes, sir,' quoth
+Sir Thomas More, 'that I would.' 'I put the case further,' quoth Mr.
+Rich, 'that there were an Act of Parliament that all the realm should
+take me for Pope; would not you then, Master More, take me for Pope?'
+'For answer, sir,' quoth Sir Thomas More, 'to your first case, the
+Parliament may well, Master Rich, meddle with the state of temporal
+princes; but to make answer to your other case, I will put you this
+case. Suppose the Parliament should make a law that God should not be
+God, would you then, Master Rich, say that God were not God?' 'No, sir,'
+quoth he, 'that I would not, sith no Parliament may make any such law.'
+'No more,' quoth Sir Thomas More, 'could the Parliament make the King
+supreme head of the Church.' Upon whose only report was Sir Thomas
+indicted for high treason on the statute to deny the King to be supreme
+head of the Church, into which indictment were put these heinous
+words--maliciously, traitorously, and diabolically."
+
+[394] _Parliament_.--State Papers, vol. ii. p. 437.
+
+[395] _Vote_.--Irish Statutes, 28th Henry VIII. c. xii.
+
+[396] _Succession_.--Froude, vol. i. p. 94. He also quotes Hall to the
+effect that "all indifferent and discreet persons judged that it was
+right and necessary." Persons who were "indifferent" enough to think
+that any reason could make a sin necessary, or "discreet" enough to mind
+losing their heads or their property, were generally of that opinion.
+But Henry's difficulties in divorcing his wife are a matter of history.
+
+[397] _Saw it_,--Four Masters, vol. v. p. 1445.
+
+[398] _Trinidad_.--Madrid, 1714.
+
+[399] _Truly_.--State Papers, vol. iii. p. 108.
+
+[400] _Use_.--28th Henry VIII. cap. xvi. In Shirley's _Original
+Letters_, p. 31, we find the following order from the Lord Protector,
+Somerset, to the Dean of St. Patrick's: "Being advertised that one
+thousand ounces of plate of crosses and such like things remaineth in
+the hands of you, we require you to deliver the same to be employed to
+his Majesty's use," &c. He adds that the Dean is to receive "L20 in
+ready money" for the safe keeping of the same.
+
+[401] _Order_.--The original letter may be seen in Shirley, pp. 41, 42.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+Creation of the Earls of Thomond and Clanrickarde--How the King procured
+Money--Prayers in English--Opposition of Dr. Dowdall--Accession of Queen
+Mary--Joy of the Irish--The Catholic Service restored
+Publicly--Accession of Queen Elizabeth--Shane O'Neill obtains his
+Dominions--Parliament assembled--Unfair Dealing--Martyrs in the Reign of
+Elizabeth--The Protestant Archbishop advises Persecution--Cruelties
+enacted by English Officers--Shane O'Neill--The Deputy tries to get him
+Poisoned or Assassinated, with the Queen's Concurrence--His Visit to
+England--He refuses to Dress in the English Fashion.
+
+[A.D. 1540-1567.]
+
+
+Every official was now required to take the oath of supremacy, and the
+consequences of refusal were too well known to be estimated lightly. It
+has been asserted by several historians, that no Irish clergyman
+suffered death during this reign; but this statement is quite incorrect.
+A careful examination of the State Papers and of the private records of
+the religious orders, prove the contrary. In the spring of the year
+1540, Lord Leonard Grey was recalled, and Sir William Brereton was
+appointed Chief Justice. Grey was soon after committed to the Tower, on
+a charge of high treason, and was executed in the following year. The
+usual feuds between the Irish chieftains and the settlers were continued
+during this period, as well as the usual feuds between the chiefs of
+each party. Sir Anthony St. Leger, who was appointed Deputy at the close
+of the year 1540, tried to reconcile the Ormondes and the Desmonds, and
+describes the latter as "undoubtedly a very wise and discreet
+gentleman"--a character which must be taken with some qualifications.
+
+On the 1st of July, 1543, Murrough O'Brien was created Earl of Thomond
+and Baron of Inchiquin; and De Burgo, known by the soubriquet of
+Ulich-na-gceann ("of the heads"), from the number of persons whom he
+decapitated in his wars, was created Earl of Clanrickarde and Baron of
+Dunkellin. These titles were conferred by the King, with great pomp, at
+Greenwich; but the Irish chieftains paid for the honour, if honour it
+could be called where honour was forfeited, by acknowledging the royal
+supremacy.
+
+The Four Masters record the following events under the year 1545:--A
+dispute between the Earl of Ormonde and the Lord Justice. Both repaired
+to the King of England to decide the quarrel, and both swore that only
+one of them should return to Ireland. "And so it fell out; for the Earl
+died in England, and the Lord Justice returned to Ireland." Sir Richard
+Cox asserts that the Earl and thirty-five of his servants were poisoned,
+at a feast at Ely House, Holborn, and that he and sixteen of them died;
+but he does not mention any cause for this tragedy. It was probably
+accidental, as the Earl was a favourer of the reformed religion, and not
+likely to meet with treachery in England. The Irish annalists do not
+even allude to the catastrophe; the Four Masters merely observe, that
+"he would have been lamented, were it not that he had greatly injured
+the Church by advice of the heretics."[402]
+
+Great dearth prevailed this year, so that sixpence of the old money was
+given for a cake of bread in Connaught, or six white pence in Meath.
+
+In 1546 they mention a rising of the Geraldines, "which did
+indescribable damages;" and two invasions of the Lord Justice in Offaly,
+who plundered and spoiled, burning churches and monasteries, crops and
+corn. They also mention the introduction of a new copper coin into
+Ireland, which the men of Ireland were obliged to use as silver.
+
+The immense sums which Henry had accumulated by the plunder of religious
+houses, appear to have melted away, like snow-wreaths sunshine, long
+before the conclusion of his reign. His French and Scotch wars
+undoubtedly exhausted large supplies; his mistresses made large demands
+for their pleasures and their needy friends; yet there should have been
+enough, and to spare, for all these claims. When the monasteries were
+destroyed, the English clergy trembled for their own existence. The King
+could easily have dispensed with their services, and deprived them of
+their revenues. They were quite aware of their precarious tenure of
+office, and willingly agreed, in 1543, to give Henry ten per cent, on
+their incomes for three years, after the deduction of the tenths already
+vested in the crown. Their incomes were thus ascertained, and a loan was
+demanded, which, when granted, was made a gift by the ever-servile
+Parliament.
+
+In 1545 a benevolence was demanded, though benevolences had been
+declared illegal by Act of Parliament. This method of raising money had
+been attempted at an early period of his reign; but the proposal met
+with such spirited opposition from the people, that even royalty was
+compelled to yield. A few years later, when the fatal result of
+opposition to the monarch's will and pleasure had become apparent, he
+had only to ask and obtain. Yet neither percentage, nor tenths, nor
+sacrilegious spoils, sufficed to meet his expenses; and, as a last
+expedient, the coin was debased, and irreparable injury inflicted on the
+country.
+
+On the 28th of January, 1547, Edward VI. was crowned King of England.
+The Council of Regency appointed by Henry was set aside, and Seymour,
+Duke of Somerset, appointed himself Protector. St. Leger was continued
+in the office of Lord Deputy in Ireland; but Sir Edward Bellingham was
+sent over as Captain-General, with a considerable force, to quell the
+ever-recurring disturbances. His energetic character bore down all
+opposition, as much by the sheer strength of a strong will as by force
+of arms. In 1549 the Earl of Desmond refused to attend a Council in
+Dublin, on the plea that he wished to keep Christmas in his own castle.
+Bellingham, who had now replaced St. Leger as Lord Deputy, set out at
+once, with a small party of horse, for the residence of the refractory
+noble, seized him as he sat by his own fireside, and carried him off in
+triumph to Dublin.
+
+In 1548 O'Connor and O'More were expelled from Offaly and Leix, and
+their territory usurped by an Englishman, named Francis Bryan. Cahir Roe
+O'Connor, one of the sept, was executed in Dublin, and a number of the
+tribe were sent to assist in the Scotch wars. The political cabals in
+England consequent on the youth of the King, who nominally governed the
+country, occasioned frequent changes in the Irish administration.
+
+In 1551 the Lord Deputy Crofts succeeded Sir Thomas Cusack, and led an
+army into Ulster against the Scotch settlers, who had long been regarded
+with a jealous eye by the English Government; but he was defeated both
+at this time and on a subsequent occasion. No Parliament was convened
+during this short reign, and the affairs of the country were
+administered by the Privy Council. Dr. Browne and Dr. Staples were
+leading members. The Chancellor, Read, and the Treasurer, Brabazon, were
+both English. The Irish members were Aylmer, Luttrell, Bath, Howth, and
+Cusack, who had all recently conformed, at least exteriorly, to the new
+religion.
+
+The most important native chieftain of the age was Shane O'Neill. His
+father, Con, surnamed Baccagh ("the lame"), had procured the title of
+Baron of Dungannon, and the entail of the earldom of Tyrone, from Henry
+VII., for his illegitimate son, Ferdoragh. He now wished to alter this
+arrangement; but the ungrateful youth made such charges against the old
+man, that he was seized and imprisoned by the Deputy. After his death
+Shane contended bravely for his rights. The French appear to have made
+some attempt about this period to obtain allies in Ireland, but the
+peace which ensued between that country and England soon terminated such
+intrigues.
+
+All efforts to establish the new religion during this reign was equally
+unsuccessful. On Easter Sunday, A.D. 1551, the liturgy was read for the
+first time in the English tongue, in Christ Church Cathedral. As a
+reward for his energy in introducing the reform in general, and the
+liturgy in particular, Edward VI. annexed the primacy of all Ireland to
+the see of Dublin by Act of Parliament. There was one insuperable
+obstacle, however, in the way of using the English tongue, which was
+simply that the people did not understand it. Even the descendants of
+the Anglo-Norman were more familiar with the Celtic dialect, and some
+attempt was made at this time to procure a Latin translation of the
+Protestant communion service.[403]
+
+Dr. Dowdall had been appointed, in 1543, to the primatial see of Armagh,
+by Henry VIII., who naturally hoped he would prove a ready instrument in
+his service; but, to the surprise of the court, he put himself at the
+head of the orthodox party, and was one of the most faithful opposers of
+the introduction of the Protestant form of prayer. In 1552 he was
+obliged to seek refuge on the Continent. On the death of Dr. Wauchop,
+petitions were sent to Rome, requesting his appointment to the see of
+Armagh. He was proposed in Consistory on the 1st of March, 1553.
+
+Mary succeeded to the crown in 1553. A Protestant writer explains the
+difference between the religious persecutions of her reign, and those
+which occurred during the reign of Henry VIII., with admirable
+discrimination and impartiality: "The religious persecutions which
+prevailed in this reign, proceeded altogether from a different cause
+from that which stands as an everlasting blot on the memory of Henry
+VIII. In Henry's instance, people were tortured and murdered in the name
+of religion, but the real cause was their opposition to the will of an
+arbitrary tyrant; whereas those who suffered under Mary, were martyred
+because the Queen conscientiously believed in those principles to which
+she clung with such pertinacity."[404] One of the principal of these
+victims was Archbishop Cranmer, who had already caused several persons
+to suffer in the flames for differing from his opinions, and thus almost
+merited his fate. It is a curious fact that several Protestants came to
+Ireland during this reign, and settled in Dublin; they were subsequently
+the founders of respectable mercantile families.
+
+Although the English people had adopted the reformed religion
+nationally, there were still a few persons whom neither favour nor
+indifference could induce to renounce the ancient faith; and this brief
+respite from persecution tended to confirm and strengthen those who
+wavered. In Ireland, always Catholic, the joy was unbounded. Archbishop
+Dowdall immediately prepared to hold a provincial synod at Drogheda,
+where enactments were made for depriving the conforming prelates and
+priests. Happily their number was so few that there was but little
+difficulty in making the necessary arrangements. The only prelates that
+were removed were Browne, of Dublin; Staples, of Meath; Lancaster, of
+Kildare; and Travers, of Leighlin. Goodacre died a few months after his
+intrusion into the see of Armagh; Bale, of Ossory, fled beyond the seas;
+Casey, of Limerick, followed his example. All were English except the
+latter, and all, except Staples, were professing Protestants at the time
+of their appointment to their respective sees. Bale, who owed the
+Kilkenny people a grudge, for the indignant and rather warm reception
+with which they treated him on his intrusion into the see, gives a
+graphic account of the joy with which the news of Edward's death was
+received. The people "flung up their caps to the battlements of the
+great temple;" set the bells ringing; brought out incense and holy
+water, and formed once more a Catholic procession, chanting the _Sancta
+Maria, ora pro nobis_, as of old. In fact, "on the accession of Mary to
+the throne, so little had been done in the interest of the Reformation,
+that there was little or nothing to undo. She issued a licence for the
+celebration of Mass in Ireland, where no other service was or had been
+celebrated worth mentioning, and where no other supreme head had been
+ever in earnest acknowledged but the Pope."[405]
+
+But the Irish obtained no temporal advantages during this reign--an
+illustration of the truth of what I have before remarked, that the
+nation has suffered almost as much from political as from religious
+causes. The work of extermination still went on. The boundaries of the
+Pale were increased thereby. Leix was designated the Queen's county, and
+the fort of Campa obtained the name of Maryborough, in compliment to the
+Queen. Offaly was named the King's county, and the fortress of Daingean,
+Philipstown, in compliment to her Spanish consort.
+
+In the year 1553 Gerald and Edward, the sons of the late Earl of
+Kildare, returned from exile, and were restored to the family honours
+and possessions. The Four Masters say that "there was great rejoicing
+because of their arrival, for it was thought that not one of the
+descendants of the Earls of Kildare or of the O'Connors Faly would ever
+again come to Ireland." They also mention that Margaret, a daughter of
+O'Connor Faly, went to England, "relying on the number of her friends
+and relatives there, and her knowledge of the English language, to
+request Queen Mary to restore her father to her." Her petition was
+granted, but he was soon after seized again by the English officials,
+and cast into prison.
+
+Shane O'Neill made an unsuccessful attempt to recover his paternal
+dominions, in 1557. The following year his father died in
+captivity,[406] Dublin, and he procured the murder of Ferdoragh, so that
+he was able to obtain his wishes without opposition. Elizabeth had now
+ascended the English throne (A.D. 1558), and, as usual, those in power,
+who wished to retain office, made their religion suit the views of the
+new ruler. The Earl of Sussex still continued Viceroy, and merely
+reversed his previous acts. Sir Henry Sidney also made his worldly
+interests and his religious views coincide. A Parliament was held in
+Dublin, in 1560, on the 12th of January. It was composed of seventy-six
+members, the representatives of ten counties, the remainder being
+citizens and burgesses of those towns in which the royal authority was
+predominant. "It is little wonder," observes Leland, "that, in despite
+of clamour and opposition, in a session of a few weeks, the whole
+ecclesiastical system of Queen Mary was entirely reversed." Every
+subject connected with this assembly and its enactments, demands the
+most careful consideration, as it has been asserted by some
+writers--who, however, have failed to give the proofs of their
+assertion--that the Irish Church and nation conformed at this time to
+the Protestant religion. This certainly was not the opinion of the
+Government officials, who were appointed by royal authority to enforce
+the Act, and who would have been only too happy could they have reported
+success to their mistress.
+
+A recent writer, whose love of justice has led him to take a position in
+regard to Irish ecclesiastical history which has evoked unpleasant
+remarks from those who are less honest, writes thus: "There was not even
+the show of free action in the ordering of that Parliament, nor the
+least pretence that liberty of choice was to be given to it. The
+instructions given to Sussex, on the 10th of May 1559, for making
+Ireland Protestant by Act of Parliament, were peremptory, and left no
+room for the least deliberation. Sussex had also other instructions
+(says Cox) to him and the Council, to set up the worship of God as it is
+in England, and make such statutes next Parliament as were lately made
+in England, _mutatis mutandis_. [Hist. Angl. Part I. p.313.] It is plain
+that her Majesty's command is not sufficient warrant for a national
+change of faith, and that a convocation of bishops only is not the
+proper or legal representative assembly of the Church. It is also plain
+that the acts of an unwilling Parliament, and that Parliament one which
+does not deserve the name of a Parliament, cannot be justly considered
+as the acts of either the Irish Church or the Irish people."[407]
+
+The official list of the members summoned to this Parliament, has been
+recently published by the Irish Archaeological Society. More than
+two-thirds of the upper house were persons of whose devotion to the
+Catholic faith there has been no question; there were but few members in
+the lower house. No county in Ulster was allowed a representative, and
+only one of its borough towns, Carrickfergus, was permitted to elect a
+member. Munster furnished twenty members. No county members were allowed
+in Connaught, and it had only two boroughs, Galway and Athenry, from
+which it could send a voice to represent its wishes. The remaining fifty
+members were chosen from a part of Leinster. In fact, the Parliament was
+constituted on the plan before-mentioned. Those who were considered
+likely to agree with the Government, were allowed to vote; those of
+whose dissent there could be no doubt, were not allowed a voice in the
+affairs of the nation.
+
+It might be supposed that, with the exception of a few members of the
+upper house, such a Parliament would at once comply with the Queen's
+wishes; but the majority made no secret of their intention to oppose the
+change of religion, and the penal code which should be enacted to
+enforce it. The Deputy was in an unpleasant Position. Elizabeth would
+not easily brook the slightest opposition to her wishes. The Deputy did
+not feel prepared to encounter her anger, and he determined to avoid the
+difficulty, by having recourse to a most unworthy stratagem. First, he
+prorogued the house from the 11th of January to the 1st of February,
+1560; and then took advantage of the first day of meeting, when but few
+members were present, to get the Act passed; secondly, he solemnly swore
+that the law should never be carried into execution, and by this false
+oath procured the compliance of those who still hesitated. I shall give
+authority for these statements.
+
+The letter of Elizabeth, with her positive instructions to have the law
+passed, was dated October 18, 1559, and may be seen _in extenso_ in the
+_Liber Munerum Hibernia_, vol. i. p.113. There are several authorities
+for the dishonest course pursued by the Lord Deputy. The author of
+_Cambrensis Eversus_ says: "The Deputy is said to have used force, and
+the Speaker treachery. I heard that it had been previously announced in
+the house that Parliament would not sit on that very day on which the
+laws against religion were enacted; but, in the meantime, a private
+summons was sent to those who were well known to be favourable to the
+old creed."[408] Father George Dillon, who died in 1650, a martyr to his
+charity in assisting the plague-stricken people of Waterford, gives the
+following account of the transaction: "James Stanihurst, Lord of
+Corduff, who was Speaker of the lower house, by sending private summons
+to some, without any intimation to the more respectable Irish who had a
+right to attend, succeeded in carrying that law by surprise. As soon as
+the matter was discovered, in the next full meeting of Parliament, there
+was a general protest against the fraud, injustice, and _deliberate
+treachery_ of the proceeding; but the Lord Justice, having solemnly
+sworn that the law would never be carried into execution, the
+remonstrants were caught in the dexterous snare, and consented that the
+enactment should remain on the statute-book."[409] Dr. Rothe
+corroborates these statements, and records the misfortunes which
+followed the Speaker's family from that date.[410] Dr. Moran[411] has
+very acutely observed, that the day appointed for the opening of
+Parliament was the festival of St. Brigid, which was always kept with
+special solemnity in Ireland; therefore, the orthodox members would
+probably have absented themselves, unless informed of some business
+which absolutely required their attendance.
+
+The Loftus MS., in Marsh's Library, and Sir James Ware, both mention the
+positive opposition of the Parliament to pass this law, and the mission
+of the Earl of Sussex to consult her Majesty as to what should be done
+with the refractory members. If he then proposed the treachery which he
+subsequently carried out, there is no reason to suppose her Majesty
+would have been squeamish about it, as we find she was quite willing to
+allow even more questionable methods to be employed on other occasions.
+
+The Loftus MS. mentions a convocation of bishops which assembled this
+year, "by the Queen's command, for establishing the Protestant
+religion." The convocation was, if possible, a greater failure than the
+Parliament. If the bishops had obeyed the royal command, there would
+have been some record of their proceedings; but until the last few
+years, when the _ipse dixit_ of certain writers was put forward as an
+argument--for proof it cannot be called--that the Irish Catholic bishops
+had conformed to the Protestant religion, so wild a theory was not even
+hazarded. It would be impossible here to go into details and proofs of
+the nonconformity of each bishop. The work has been already undertaken,
+with admirable success, by an Anglican clergyman.[412] I shall, however,
+give some of the impediments offered to the progress of the Reformation
+in the time of Queen Elizabeth, and of the cruel persecutions which were
+inflicted on those who dared to wish for liberty to worship God
+according to their conscience.
+
+Notwithstanding the solemn promise of the Lord Deputy, the penal
+statutes against Catholics were carried out. In 1563 the Earl of Essex
+issued a proclamation, by which all priests, secular and regular, were
+forbidden to officiate, or even to reside in Dublin. Fines and penalties
+were strictly enforced for absence from the Protestant service; before
+long, torture and death were inflicted. Priests and religious were, as
+might be expected, the first victims. They were hunted into mountains
+and caves; and the parish churches and few monastic chapels which had
+escaped the rapacity of Henry VIII., were sacrificed to the sacrilegious
+emissaries of Elizabeth. Curry gives some account of those who suffered
+for the faith in this reign. He says: "Among many other Roman Catholic
+bishops and priests, there were put to death for the exercise of their
+function in Ireland, Globy O'Boyle, Abbot of Boyle, and Owen O'Mulkeran,
+Abbot of the Monastery of the Holy Trinity, hanged and quartered by Lord
+Grey, in 1580. John Stephens suffered the same punishment from Lord
+Burroughs, for saying Mass, in 1597; Thady O'Boyle was slain in his own
+monastery at Donegal; six friars were slain at Moynihigan; John
+O'Calyhor and Bryan O'Freeor were killed at their monastery in Ulster,
+with Felimy O'Hara, a lay brother. Eneus Penny was massacred at the
+altar of his own parish church, Killagh. Fourteen other priests died in
+Dublin Castle, either from hard usage, or the violence of torture."
+
+Dr. Adam Loftus, the Protestant Archbishop of Armagh, was one of the
+most violent persecutors of the Catholics. In his first report to the
+Queen, dated May 17th, 1565, he describes the nobility of the Pale as
+all devoted to the ancient creed; and he recommends that they should be
+fined "in a good round sum," which should be paid to her Majesty's use,
+and "sharply dealt withal."[413] An original method of conversion,
+certainly! But it did not succeed. On the 22nd of September, 1590, after
+twenty-five years had been spent in the fruitless attempt to convert the
+Irish, he writes to Lord Burleigh, detailing the causes of the general
+decay of the Protestant religion in Ireland, and suggesting "how the
+same may be remedied." He advises that the ecclesiastical commission
+should be put in force, "for the people are poor, and fear to be fined."
+He requests that he and such commissioners as are "well affected in
+religion, may be permitted to imprison and fine all such as are
+obstinate and disobedient;" and he has no doubt, that "within a short
+time they will be reduced to good conformity." He concludes: "And _this
+course of reformation_, the sooner it is begun the better it will
+prosper; and the longer it is deferred, the more dangerous it will be."
+When remember that such words were written, and such deeds were enacted,
+by the head of the Protestant Church in Ireland, and sanctioned by the
+head of the Protestant Church in England, they may surely be content to
+allow modern controversialists the benefit of their pleasant dream that
+Catholic bishops conformed. If they had conformed to such doctrines and
+such practice, it can scarcely be seen what advantage the Anglican
+Establishment could gain from their parentage.
+
+Seven years later, when the same prelate found that the more the Church
+was persecuted the more she increased, he wrote to advise pacification:
+"The rebels are increased, and grown insolent. I see no other cure for
+this cursed country but pacification, [he could not help continuing]
+until, hereafter, when the fury is passed, her Majesty may, with more
+convenience, correct the heads of those traitors."[414] The prelate was
+ably seconded by the Lord Deputy. Even Sir John Perrot, who has the name
+of being one of the most humane of these Governors, could not refrain
+from acts of cruelty where Catholics were concerned. On one occasion he
+killed fifty persons, and brought their heads home in triumph to
+Kilmallock, where he arranged them as a trophy round the cross in the
+public square. In 1582 he advised her Majesty "that friars, monks,
+Jesuits, priests, nuns, and such like vermin, who openly uphold the
+Papacy, should be executed by martial law."[415] The English officers
+seem to have rivalled each other in acts of cruelty. One is said to have
+tied his victim to a maypole, and then punched out his eyes with his
+thumbs.[416] Others amused themselves with flinging up infants into the
+air, and catching them on the points of their swords.[417] Francis
+Crosby, the deputy of Leix, used to hang men, women, and children on an
+immense tree which grew before his door, without any crime being imputed
+to them except their faith, and then to watch with delight how the
+unhappy infants hung by the long hair of their martyred mothers.[418]
+
+Father Dominic a Rosario, the author of _The Geraldines_, scarcely
+exceeded truth when he wrote these memorable words: "This far famed
+English Queen has grown drunk on the blood of Christ's martyrs; and,
+like a tigress, she has hunted down our Irish Catholics, exceeding in
+ferocity and wanton cruelty the emperors of pagan Rome." We shall
+conclude this painful subject for the present with an extract from
+O'Sullivan Beare: "All alarm from the Irish chieftains being ceased, the
+persecution was renewed with all its horrors. A royal order was
+promulgated, that all should renounce the Catholic faith, yield up the
+priests, receive from the heretical minister the morality and tenets of
+the Gospel. Threats, penalties and force were to be employed to enforce
+compliance. Every effort of the Queen and her emissaries was directed to
+despoil the Irish Catholics of their property, and exterminate them.
+More than once did they attempt this, for they knew that not otherwise
+could the Catholic religion be suppressed in our island, _unless by the
+extermination of those in whose hearts it was implanted_; nor could
+their heretical teachings be propagated, while the natives were alive to
+detest and execrate them."[419]
+
+In 1561 Sussex returned from England with reinforcements for his army,
+and marched to Armagh, where he established himself in the Cathedral.
+From thence he sent out a large body of troops to plunder in Tyrone, but
+they were intercepted by the redoubtable Shane O'Neill, and suffered so
+serious a defeat as to alarm the inhabitants of the Pale, and even the
+English nation. Fresh supplies of men and arms were hastily despatched
+from England, and the Earls of Desmond, Ormonde, Kildare, Thomond, and
+Clanrickarde assembled round the Viceregal standard to assist in
+suppressing the formidable foe. And well might they fear the
+lion-hearted chieftain! A few years later, Sidney describes him as the
+only strong man in Ireland. The Queen was warned, that unless he were
+speedily put down, she would lose Ireland, as her sister had lost
+Calais. He had gained all Ulster by his sword, and ruled therein with a
+far stronger hand, and on a far firmer foundation, than ever any English
+monarch had obtained in any part of Ireland. Ulster was his _terra
+clausa_; and he would be a bold, or, perhaps I should rather say, a rash
+man, who dare intrude in these dominions. He could muster seven thousand
+men in the field; and though he seldom hazarded a general engagement, he
+"slew in conflicts 3,500 soldiers and 300 Scots of Sidney's army."[420]
+The English chronicler, Hooker, who lived in times when the blaze and
+smoke of houses and haggards, set on fire by Shane, could be seen even
+from Dublin Castle, declares that it was feared he intended to make a
+conquest over the whole land.
+
+Even his letters are signed, if not written, in royal style.[421] He
+dates one _Ex finibus de Tirconail_, when about to wage war with the
+neighbouring sept of O'Donnell; he dates another, _Ex silvis meis_,
+when, in pursuance of his Celtic mode of warfare, he hastened into his
+woods to avoid an engagement with the English soldiers; he signs himself
+_Misi O'Neill_--Me, the O'Neill. As this man was too clever to be
+captured, and too brave to be conquered, a plan was arranged, with the
+full concurrence of the Queen, by which he might be got rid of by poison
+or assassination. Had such an assertion been made by the Irish
+annalists, it would have been scouted as a calumny on the character of
+"good Queen Bess;" but the evidence of her complicity is preserved in
+the records of the State Paper Office. I shall show presently that
+attempts at assassination were a common arrangement for the disposal of
+refractory Irish chieftains during this reign.
+
+The proposal for this diabolical treachery, and the arrangements made
+for carrying it out, were related by Sussex to the Queen. He writes
+thus: "In fine, I brake with him to kill Shane, and bound myself by my
+oath to see him have a hundred marks of land to him and to his heirs for
+reward. He seemed desirous to serve your Highness, and to have the land,
+but fearful to do it, doubting his own escape after. I told him the ways
+he might do it, and how to escape after with safety; which he offered
+and promised to do." The Earl adds a piece of information, which, no
+doubt, he communicated to the intended murderer, and which, probably,
+decided him on making the attempt: "I assure your Highness he may do it
+without danger if he will; and if he will not do what he may in your
+service, there will be done to him what others may."[422]
+
+Her Majesty, however, had a character to support; and whatever she may
+have privately wished and commanded, she was obliged to disavow
+complicity publicly. In two despatches from court she expresses her
+"displeasure at John Smith's horrible attempt to poison Shane O'Neill in
+his wine." In the following spring John Smith was committed to prison,
+and "closely examined by Lord Chancellor Cusake." What became of John is
+not recorded, but it is recorded that "Lord Chancellor Cusake persuaded
+O'Neill to forget the poisoning." His clan, however, were not so easily
+persuaded, and strongly objected to his meeting the Viceroy in person,
+or affording him an opportunity which he might not live to forget. About
+this time O'Neill despatched a document to the Viceroy for his
+consideration, containing a list of "other evill practices devised to
+other of the Irish nation within ix or tenn yeares past." The first item
+mentions that Donill O'Breyne and Morghe O'Breyne, his son, "required
+the benefit of her Majesty's laws, by which they required to be tried,
+and thereof was denied;"[423] and that when they came to Limerick under
+the protection of the Lord Deputy, they were proclaimed traitors, and
+their lands and possessions taken from them. Several other violations of
+protection are then enumerated, and several treacherous murders are
+recorded, particularly the murder of Art Boy Cavanagh, at Captain
+Hearn's house, after he had dined with him, and of Randall Boye's two
+sons, who were murdered, one after supper, and the other in the tower,
+by Brereton, "who escaped without punishment."
+
+In October, 1562, Shane was invited to England, and was received by
+Elizabeth with marked courtesy. His appearance at court is thus
+described by Camden, A.D. 1562: "From Ireland came Shane O'Neill, who
+had promised to come the year before, with a guard of axe-bearing
+galloglasses, their heads bare, their long curling hair flowing on their
+shoulders, their linen garments dyed with saffron, with long open
+sleeves, with short tunics, and furry cloaks, whom the English wondered
+at as much as they do now at the Chinese or American aborigines."
+Shane's visit to London was considered of such importance, that we find
+a memorandum in the State Paper Office, by "Secretary Sir W. Cecil,
+March, 1562," of the means to be used with Shane O'Neill, in which the
+first item is, that "he be procured to change his garments, and go like
+an Englishman."[424] But this was precisely what O'Neill had no idea of
+doing. Sussex appears to have been O'Neill's declared and open enemy.
+There is more than one letter extant from the northern chief to the
+Deputy. In one of these he says: "I wonder very much for what purpose
+your Lordship strives to destroy me." In another, he declares that his
+delay in visiting the Queen had been caused by the "amount of
+obstruction which Sussex had thrown in his way, by sending a force of
+occupation into his territory without cause; for as long as there shall
+be one son of a Saxon in my territory against my will, from that time
+forth I will not send you either settlement or message, but will send my
+complaint through some other medium to the Queen." In writing to the
+Baron of Slane, he says that "nothing will please him [the Deputy] but
+to plant himself in my lands and my native territory, as I am told every
+day that he desires to be styled Earl of Ulster."
+
+The Lord Chancellor Cusack appears, on the contrary, to have constantly
+befriended him. On 12th January, 1568, he writes of O'Neill's
+"dutifulness and most commendable dealing with the Scots;" and soon
+after three English members of the Dublin Government complain that
+Cusack[425] had entrapped them into signing a letter to the unruly
+chieftain. There is one dark blot upon the escutcheon of this remarkable
+man. He had married the daughter of O'Donnell, Lord of one of the
+Hebrides. After a time he and his father-in-law quarrelled, and Shane
+contrived to capture O'Donnell and his second wife. He kept this lady
+for several years as his mistress; and his own wife is said to have died
+of shame and horror at his conduct, and at his cruel treatment of her
+father. English writers have naturally tried to blacken his character as
+deeply as possible, and have represented him as a drunkard and a
+profligate; but there appears no foundation for the former accusation.
+The foundation for the latter is simply what we have mentioned, which,
+however evil in itself, would scarcely appear so very startling to a
+court over which Henry VIII. had so long presided.
+
+After many attempts at assassination, _Shane-an-Diomais_ [John the
+Ambitious] fell a victim to English treachery. Sir William Piers, the
+Governor of Carrickfergus, invited some Scotch soldiers over to Ireland,
+and then persuaded them to quarrel with him, and kill him. They
+accomplished their purpose, by raising a disturbance at a feast, when
+they rushed on the northern chieftain, and despatched him with their
+swords. His head was sent to Dublin, and his old enemies took the poor
+revenge of impaling it on the Castle walls.
+
+The Earl of Sussex was recalled from Ireland in 1564, and Sir Henry
+Sidney was appointed Viceroy. The Earls of Ormonde and Desmond had again
+quarrelled, and, in 1562, both Earls were summoned to court by the
+Queen. Elizabeth was related to the Butlers through her mother's family,
+and used to boast of the loyalty of the house of Ormonde. The Geraldines
+adhered to the ancient faith, and suffered for it. A battle was fought
+at Affane, near Cappoquin, between the two parties, in which Desmond was
+wounded and made prisoner. The man who bore him from the field asked,
+tauntingly: "Where is now the proud Earl of Desmond?" He replied, with
+equal pride and wit: "Where he should be; upon the necks of the
+Butlers!"
+
+[Illustration: GOLD EAR-RING, TORQUE PATTERN, FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE
+R.I.A., FOUND AT CASTLEREA, CO. ROSCOMMON.]
+
+[Illustration: KILCOLMAN CASTLE.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[402] _Heretics_.--Annals, vol. v. p. 1493.
+
+[403] _Service_.--Shirley's _Original Letters_, p. 47. Dr. Browne gives
+an account of his signal failures in attempting to introduce the
+Protestant form of prayer in his letters to Cromwell. He says one
+prebendary of St. Patrick's "thought scorn to read them." He adds: "They
+be in a manner all the same point with me. There are twenty-eight of
+them, and yet scarce one that favoureth God's Word."--_State Papers_,
+vol. iii. p. 6.
+
+[404] _Pertinacity_.--_The Victoria History of England_, p. 256.
+
+[405] _Pope_.--_Lib. Mun. Hib_. part i. p. 37.
+
+[406] _Captivity_.--Lord Chancellor Cusack addressed a very curious
+"Book on the State of Ireland" to the Duke of Northumberland, in 1552,
+in which he mentions the fearful condition of the northern counties. He
+states that "the cause why the Earl was detained [in Dublin Castle] was
+for the wasting and destroying of his county." This Sir Thomas Cusack,
+who took a prominent part in public affairs during the reign of Queen
+Elizabeth, was a son of Thomas Cusack, of Cassington, in Meath, an
+ancient Norman-Irish family, who were hereditary seneschals and sheriffs
+of that county.--_Ulster Arch. Jour_. vol. iii p. 51.
+
+[407] _People.--The Irish Reformation_, by the Rev. W. Maziere Brady,
+D.D., fifth edition, pp. 32, 33.
+
+[408] _Creed_.--_Cambrensis Eversus_, vol. iii. p. 19.
+
+[409] _Book_.--_Orationes et Motiva_, p. 87.
+
+[410] _Date_.--_Analecta_, p. 387.
+
+[411] _Dr. Moran_.--_Archbishops of Dublin_, p. 68. Further information
+may be obtained also in Curry's _Historical Review_.
+
+[412] _Clergyman_.--The Rev. W. Maziere Brady, D.D. Mr. Froude remarks,
+in his _History of England_, vol. x. p. 480: "There is no evidence that
+any of the bishops in Ireland who were in office at Queen Mary's death,
+with the exception of Curwin, either accepted the Reformed Prayer-Book,
+or abjured the authority of the Pope." He adds, in a foot-note: "I
+cannot express my astonishment at a proposition maintained by Bishop
+Mant and others, that whole hierarchy of Ireland went over to the
+Reformation with the Government. In a survey of the country supplied to
+Cecil in 1571, after death and deprivation had enabled the Government to
+fill several sees, the Archbishops Armagh, Tuam, and Cashel, with almost
+every one of the Bishops of the respective provinces, are described as
+_Catholici et Confederati_. The Archbishop of Dublin, with the Bishops
+of Kildare, Ossory, and Ferns, are alone returned as 'Protestantes'"
+
+[413] _Withal_.--Shirley, _Original Letters_, p. 194.
+
+[414] _Traitors_.--Letter of October 18, 1597.--State Paper Office.
+
+[415] _Law_.--Letter to the Queen, in _Government of Ireland under Sir
+John Parrot_, p.4.
+
+[416] _Thumbs_.--Despatch of Castlerosse, in State Paper Office, London.
+
+[417] _Swords_.--O'Sullivan Beare, _Hist. Cath_. p. 238.
+
+[418] _Mothers_.--_Ibid_. p. 99.
+
+[419] _Them.--Hist. Cath_. p.133.
+
+[420] _Army_.--See Dr. Stuart's _History of Armagh_, p. 261.
+
+[421] _Style_.--In one of the communications from Sussex to O'Neill, he
+complains of the chieftain's letters as being "_nimis superbe
+scriptae_."--State Papers for 1561.
+
+[422] _May_.--Moore's _History of Ireland_, vol. iv. p.33.
+
+[423] _Denied_.--This document has been printed in the _Ulster Arch.
+Jour_. vol. ii, p.221, but the editor does not mention where the
+original was procured.
+
+[424] _Englishman_.--Moore, vol. iv. p. 37, has "like a gentleman," but
+the above is the correct reading. In 1584 Sir J. Perrot tried to get the
+Irish chieftains to attend Parliament clothed in the English fashion,
+and even offered them robes and cloaks of velvet and satin. The
+chieftains objected; the Lord Deputy insisted. At last one of them, with
+exquisite humour, suggested that if he were obliged to wear English
+robes, a Protestant minister should accompany him attired in Irish
+garments, so that the mirth and amazement of the People should be fairly
+divided between them.--_Sir J. Perrot's Life_, p.198.
+
+[425] _Cusack_.--One reason, perhaps, was that the Chancellor always
+treated O'Neill with the respect due from one gentleman to another.
+Flemyng mentions, in a letter to Cecil, November 29, 1563, that O'Neill
+told him, when about to take the oaths of his people to an agreement
+with the Queen, that "Cusack did not give them their oath so, _but let
+me give them their oath_."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+Spenser's Castle--Sidney's Official Account of Ireland--Miserable State
+of the Protestant Church--The Catholic Church and its Persecuted
+Rulers--The Viceroy's Administration--A Packed Parliament and its
+Enactments--Claim of Sir P. Carew--An Attempt to plant in
+Ulster--Smith's Settlement in the Ards--His Description of the Native
+Irish--He tries to induce Englishmen to join him--Smith is killed, and
+the attempt to plant fails--Essex next tries to colonize Ulster--He dies
+in Dublin--Sidney returns to Ireland--His Interview with
+Granuaile--Massacre at Mullamast--Spenser's Account of the State of
+Ireland.
+
+[A.D. 1567-1579.]
+
+
+Kilcolman Castle, with its fair domains, were bestowed on the poet
+Spenser, who had accompanied Lord Grey to Ireland in 1579. He has left a
+fearful description of the miseries of the country; but it scarcely
+exceeds the official report of Sir Henry Sidney, which must first be
+noticed. At the close of the month of January, 1567, the Lord Deputy set
+out on a visitation of Munster and Connaught. In his official account he
+writes thus of Munster: "Like as I never was in a more pleasant country
+in all my life, so never saw I a more waste and desolate land. Such
+horrible and lamentable spectacles are there to behold--as the burning
+of villages, the ruin of churches, the wasting of such as have been good
+towns and castles; yea, the view of the bones and skulls of the dead
+subjects, who, partly by murder, partly by famine, have died in the
+fields--as, in truth, hardly any Christian with dry eyes could behold."
+He declares that, in the territory subject to the Earl of Ormonde, he
+witnessed "a want of justice and judgment." He describes the Earl of
+Desmond as "a man devoid of judgment to govern, and will be to be
+ruled." The Earl of Thomond, he says, "had neither wit of himself to
+govern, nor grace or capacity to learn of others." The Earl of
+Clanrickarde he describes as "so overruled by a putative wife, as
+ofttimes, when he best intendeth, she forceth him to do the worst;" and
+it would appear that neither he nor his lady could govern their own
+family, for their sons were so turbulent they kept the whole country in
+disturbance. In Galway he found the people trying to protect themselves,
+as best they might, from their dangerous neighbours; and at Athenry
+there were but four respectable householders, who presented him with the
+rusty keys of their town--"a pitiful and lamentable present;" and they
+requested him to keep those keys, for "they were so impoverished by the
+extortions of the lords about them, as they were no longer able to keep
+that town."
+
+Well might he designate the policy by which the country had been
+hitherto governed as "cowardly," and contemn the practice of promoting
+division between the native princes, which was still practised. He adds:
+"So far hath that policy, or rather lack of policy, in keeping
+dissensions among them, prevailed, as now, albeit all that are alive
+would become honest and live in quiet, yet there are not left alive, in
+those two provinces, the twentieth person necessary to inhabit the
+same." Sidney at once proceeded to remedy the evils under which the
+unfortunate country groaned, by enacting other evils. We shall leave him
+to give his own account of his proceedings. He writes thus, in one of
+his official despatches: "I write not the names of each particular
+varlet that hath died since I arrived, as well by the ordinary course of
+the law, as of the martial law, as flat fighting with them, when they
+would take food without the good will of the giver, for I think it no
+stuff worthy the loading of my letters with; but I do assure you the
+number of them is great, and some of the best, and the rest tremble. For
+most part they fight for their dinner, and many of them lose their heads
+before they be served with supper. Down they go in every corner, and
+down they shall go, God willing."[426]
+
+When we remember Sidney's own description of the desolation of country,
+and read of the fashion in which he remedied that desolation we cannot
+wonder at the piteous account given a few years later by the English
+poet; for who could escape the threefold danger of "ordinary law,
+martial law, and flat fighting." Nor was the state of religious affairs
+at all more promising. The Deputy describes the kingdom as "overwhelmed
+by the most deplorable immorality and irreligion;"[427] the Privy
+Council, in their deliberations, gives a similar account. "As for
+religion, there was but small appearance of it; the churches uncovered,
+and the clergy scattered."[428] An Act of Parliament was then passed to
+remedy the evils which Acts of Parliament had created. In the preamble
+(11th Elizabeth, sess. iii. cap. 6) it mentions the disorders which
+Sidney had found, and complains of "the great abuse of the clergy in
+getting into the said dignities by force, simony, friendship, and other
+corrupt means, to the great overthrow of God's holy Church;" and for
+remedy, the Act authorizes the _Lord Deputy_ to appoint, for ten years,
+to all the ecclesiastical benefices of these provinces, with the
+exception of the cathedral churches of Waterford, Limerick, Cork, and
+Cashel.
+
+But it was soon evident that Acts of Parliament could not effect
+ecclesiastical reform, though they might enforce exterior conformity to
+a new creed. In 1576, Sidney again complains of the state of the Irish
+Church, and addresses himself, with almost blasphemous flattery to the
+head of that body, "as to the only sovereign salve-giver to this your
+sore and sick realm, the lamentable state of the most noble and
+principal limb thereof--the Church I mean--as foul, deformed, and as
+cruelly crushed as any other part thereof, only by your gracious order
+to be cured, or at least amended. I would not have believed, had I not,
+for a greater part, viewed the same throughout the whole realm." He then
+gives a detailed account of the state of the diocese of Meath, which he
+declares to be the best governed and best peopled diocese in the realm;
+and from his official report of the state of religion there, he thinks
+her Majesty may easily judge of the spiritual condition of less favoured
+districts. He says there are no resident parsons or vicars, and only a
+very simple or sorry curate appointed to serve them; of them only
+eighteen could speak English, the rest being "Irish ministers, or rather
+Irish rogues, having very little Latin, and less learning or
+civility."[429] In many places he found the walls of the churches thrown
+down, the chancels uncovered, and the windows and doors ruined or
+spoiled--fruits of the iconoclastic zeal of the original reformers and
+of the rapacity of the nobles, who made religion an excuse for plunder.
+He complains that the sacrament of baptism was not used amongst them,
+and he accuses the "prelates themselves" of despoiling their sees,
+declaring that if he told all he should make "too long a libel of his
+letter. But your Majesty may believe it, that, upon the face of the
+earth where Christ is professed, there is not a Church in so miserable a
+case."
+
+A Protestant nobleman, after citing some extracts from this document,
+concludes thus: "Such was the condition of a Church which was, half a
+century ago, rich and flourishing, an object of reverence, and a source
+of consolation to the people. It was now despoiled of its revenues; the
+sacred edifices were in ruins; the clergy were either ignorant of the
+language of their flocks, or illiterate and uncivilized intruders; and
+the only ritual permitted by the laws was one of which the people
+neither comprehended the language nor believed the doctrines. And this
+was called establishing the Reformation!"[430]
+
+It should be observed, however, that Sir Henry Sidney's remarks apply
+exclusively to the Protestant clergy. Of the state of the Catholic
+Church and clergy he had no knowledge, neither had he any interest in
+obtaining information. His account of the Protestant clergy who had been
+intruded into the Catholic parishes, and of the Protestant bishops who
+had been placed in the Catholic dioceses, we may presume to be correct,
+as he had no interest or object in misrepresentation; but his
+observation concerning the neglect of the sacrament of baptism, may be
+taken with some limitation. When a religious revolution takes place in a
+Catholic country, there is always a large class who conform exteriorly
+to whatever opinions maybe enforced by the sword. They have not the
+generosity to become confessors, nor the courage to become martyrs. But
+these persons rarely renounce the faith in their hearts; and sacrifice
+their conscience to their worldly interest, though not without
+considerable uneasiness. In such cases, these apparently conforming
+Protestants would never think of bringing their children to be baptized
+by a minister of the new religion; they would make no nice distinctions
+between the validity of one sacrament and another; and would either
+believe that sacraments were a matter of indifference, as the new creed
+implied, or if they were of any value that they should be administered
+by those who respected them and that their number should remain intact.
+In recent famine years, the men who risked their spiritual life to save
+their temporal existence, which the tempter would only consent to
+preserve on his own terms, were wont to visit the church, and bid
+Almighty God a solemn farewell until better times should come. They
+could not make up their minds to die of starvation, when food might be
+had for formal apostacy; they knew that they were denying their God when
+they appeared to deny their religion. It is more than probable that a
+similar feeling actuated thousands at the period of which we are
+writing; and that the poor Celt, who conformed from fear of the sword,
+took his children by night to the priest of the old religion, that he
+might admit them, by the sacrament of baptism, into the fold of the only
+Church in which he believed.
+
+It is also a matter of fact, that though the Protestant services were
+not attended, and the lives of the Protestant ministers were not
+edifying, that the sacraments were administered constantly by the
+Catholic clergy. It is true they date their letters "from the place of
+refuge" (_e loco refugii nostri_), which might be the wood nearest to
+their old and ruined parish-church, or the barn or stable of some
+friend, who dared not shelter them in his house; yet this was no
+hindrance to their ministrations; for we find Dr. Loftus complaining to
+Sir William Cecil that the persecuted Bishop of Meath, Dr. Walsh, was
+"one of great credit amongst his countrymen, and upon whom (as touching
+cause of religion) they wholly depend."[431] Sir Henry Sidney's efforts
+to effect reformation of conduct in the clergy and laity, do not seem to
+have been so acceptable at court as he might have supposed. His strong
+measures were followed by tumults; and the way in which he obtained
+possession of the persons of some of the nobles, was not calculated to
+enhance his popularity. He was particularly severe towards the Earl of
+Desmond, whom he seized in Kilmallock, after requiring his attendance,
+on pretence of wishing him to assist in his visitation of Munster. In
+October, 1567, the Deputy proceeded to England to explain his conduct,
+taking with him the Earl of Desmond and his brother, John, whom he also
+arrested on false pretences. Sidney was, however, permitted to return,
+in September, 1568. He landed at Carrickfergus, where he received the
+submission of Turlough O'Neill, who had been elected to the chieftaincy
+on the death of Shane the Proud.
+
+The first public act of the Lord Deputy was to assemble a Parliament, in
+which all constitutional rules were simply set at defiance (January
+17th, 1569). Mayors and sheriffs returned themselves; members were sent
+up for towns not incorporated, and several Englishmen were elected as
+burgesses for places they had never seen. One of these men, Hooker, who
+was returned for Athenry, has left a chronicle of the age. He had to be
+protected by a guard in going to his residence. Popular feeling was so
+strongly manifested against this gross injustice, that the judges were
+consulted as to the legality of proceedings of whose iniquity there
+could be no doubt. The elections for non-corporate towns, and the
+election of individuals by themselves, were pronounced invalid; but a
+decision was given in favour of non-resident Englishmen, which still
+gave the court a large majority.[432] In this Parliament--if, indeed, it
+could be called such--Acts were passed for attainting Shane O'Neill, for
+suppressing the name, and for annexing Tyrone to the royal possessions.
+Charter schools were to be founded, of which the teachers should be
+English and Protestants; and the law before-mentioned, for permitting
+the Lord Deputy to appoint persons to ecclesiastical benefices for ten
+years, was passed.
+
+Sir Philip Carew came to Ireland about this time, and renewed the claim
+of his family to possessions in Ireland. This plea had been rejected in
+the reign of Edward III.; but he now produced a forged roll, which the
+corrupt administration of the day readily admitted as genuine. His claim
+was made in right of Robert FitzStephen, one of the first adventurers;
+his demand included one-half of the "kingdom of Cork," and the barony of
+Idrone, in Carlow. Several engagements ensued, in one of which Carew
+boasted of having slain 400 Irish, and lost only one man. If his
+statement be true, it is probable the engagement was simply a massacre.
+The war became so formidable, that the MacCarthys, FitzGeralds,
+Cavanaghs, and FitzMaurices united against the "common enemy," and at
+last despatched emissaries to the Pope to implore his assistance. It is
+strange to find native Irish chieftains uniting with Anglo-Norman lords
+to resist an English settler.
+
+Sidney now began to put his plan of local governments into execution;
+but this arrangement simply multiplied the number of licensed
+oppressors. Sir Edward Fitton was appointed President of Connaught, and
+Sir John Perrot, of Munster. Both of these gentlemen distinguished
+themselves by "strong measures," of which cruelty to the unfortunate
+natives was the predominant feature. Perrot boasted that he would "hunt
+the fox out of his hole," and devoted himself to the destruction of the
+Geraldines. Fitton arrested the Earl of Clanrickarde, and excited a
+general disturbance. In 1570 the Queen determined to lay claim to the
+possessions in Ulster, graciously conceded to her by the gentlemen who
+had been permitted to vote according to her royal pleasure in the
+so-called Parliament of 1569. She bestowed the district of Ards, in
+Down, upon her secretary, Sir Thomas Smith. It was described as "divers
+parts and parcels of her Highness' Earldom of Ulster that lay waste, or
+else was inhabited with a wicked, barbarous, and uncivil people." There
+were, however, two grievous misstatements in this document. Ulster did
+not belong to her Highness, unless, indeed, the Act of a packed
+Parliament could be considered legal; and the people who inhabited it
+were neither "wicked, barbarous, nor uncivil." The tract of country thus
+unceremoniously bestowed on an English adventurer, was in the possession
+of Sir Rowland Savage. His first ancestor was one of the most
+distinguished of the Anglo-Norman settlers who had accompanied De Courcy
+to Ireland. Thus, although he could not claim the prescriptive right of
+several thousand years for his possessions, he certainly had the right
+of possession for several centuries. An attempt had been made about ten
+years before to drive him out of part of his territory, and he had
+written a letter to "The Right Hon. the Earl of Sussex,
+Lieutenant-General of Ireland," asking for "justice," which justice he
+had not obtained. He was permitted to hold the Southern Ards, because he
+could not be expelled from it without considerable difficulty, and
+because it was the least valuable part of his property.
+
+Smith confided the conduct of the enterprise to his natural son who has
+already been mentioned as the person who attempted to poison Shane
+O'Neill. The first State Paper notice of this enterprise is in a letter,
+dated February, 8, 1572, from Captain Piers to the Lord Deputy, stating
+that the country is in an uproar "at Mr. Smith coming over to plant in
+the north." There is a rare black letter still extant, entitled,
+["Letter by F.B. on the Peopling of the Ardes"] which Smith wrote to
+induce English adventurers to join him in his speculation. It is
+composed with considerable ability. He condemns severely the degeneracy
+of the early English settlers, "who allied and fostered themselves with
+the Irish." He says that "England was never fuller of people than it is
+at this day," and attributes this to "the dissolution of abbeys, which
+hath doubled the number of gentlemen and marriages." He says the younger
+sons who cannot "maintain themselves in the emulation of the world," as
+the elder and richer do, should emigrate; and then he gives glowing
+accounts of the advantages of this emigration.
+
+Strange to say, one of the principal inducements he offers is that the
+"churle of Ireland is very simple and toylsomme man, desiring nothing
+but that he may not be eaten out with ceasse [rent], coyne, and
+liverie." He passes over the subject of rent without any comment, but he
+explains very fully how "the churle is eaten up" with the exactions of
+"coyne and liverie." He says these laborious Irish will gladly come "to
+live under us, and to farm our ground;" but he does not say anything
+about the kind of treatment they were to receive in return for their
+labour. His next inducement is the immense sale (and profit) they might
+expect by growing corn; and he concludes by relieving their fears as to
+any objections which the inhabitants of this country might make to being
+dispossessed from their homes and lands, or any resistance they might
+offer. He considers it immaterial, "for the country of Lecale [which had
+been taken in a similar manner from Savage] was some time kept by
+Brereton with a hundred horses, and Lieutenant Burrows kept _Castle
+Rean_ [Castlereagh], and went daily one quarter of a mile to fetch his
+water, against five hundred Irish that lay again him."
+
+Smith concludes with "an offer and order" for those who wished to join
+in the enterprise. Each footman to have a pike,[433] or halberd, or
+caliver, and a convenient livery cloak, of red colour or carnation, with
+black facings. Each horseman to have a staffe[434] and a case of
+dagges,[435] and his livery[436] to be of the colour aforesaid.
+
+Strype wrote a life of Sir Thomas Smith, Bart., Oxford, 1620. He
+mentions this attempt at colonizing Ulster, having this good design
+therein: "that those half-barbarous people might be taught some
+civility." He speaks of "the hopeful gentleman," Sir Thomas Smith's son
+and concludes with stating how the expedition terminated: "But when
+matters went on thus fairly, Mr. Smith was intercepted and slain by a
+wild Irishman."
+
+Before his assassination Smith had written an account of his proceedings
+to his father, in which he says that "envy had hindered him more than
+the enemy," and that he had been ill-handled by some of his own
+soldiers, ten of whom he had punished. He also expresses some fear of
+the native Irish, whom he had tried to drive out of their lands, as he
+says they sometimes "lay wait to intrap and murther the maister
+himself."
+
+I have given details of this attempted plantation in Ulster, because it
+illustrates the subject; and each plantation which will be recorded
+afterwards, was carried out on the same plan. The object of the
+Englishman was to obtain a home and a fortune; to do this he was obliged
+to drive, the natives out of their homes, and to deprive them of their
+wealth, whether greater or less. The object of the Irishman was to keep
+out the intruder; and, if he could not be kept out, to get rid of him by
+fair means or foul.
+
+It is probable that the attempt of Smith was intended by Government
+principally as an experiment to ascertain whether the plantation could
+be carried out on a larger scale. The next attempt was made by Walter
+Devereux, Earl of Essex, who received part of the signories of Clannaboy
+and Ferney, provided he could expel the "rebels" who dwelt there. Essex
+mortgaged his estates to the Queen to obtain funds for the enterprise.
+He was accompanied by Sir Henry Kenlis, Lord Dacres, and Lord Norris'
+three sons.
+
+Sir William FitzGerald, the then Lord Deputy, complained loudly of the
+extraordinary powers granted to Essex; and some show of deference to his
+authority was made by requiring the Earl to receive his commission from
+him. Essex landed in Ireland in 1573, and the usual career of tyranny
+and treachery was enacted. The native chieftains resisted the invasion
+of their territories, and endeavoured to drive out the men whom they
+could only consider as robbers. The invaders, when they could not
+conquer, stooped to acts of treachery. Essex soon found that the
+conquest of Ulster was not quite so easy a task as he had anticipated.
+Many of the adventurers who had assumed his livery, and joined his
+followers, deserted him; and Brian O'Neill, Hugh O'Neill, and Turlough
+O'Neill rose up against him. Essex then invited Conn O'Donnell to his
+camp; but, as soon as he secured him, he seized his Castle of Lifford,
+and sent the unfortunate chieftain a prisoner to Dublin.
+
+In 1574 the Earl and Brian O'Neill made peace. A feast was prepared by
+the latter, to which Essex and his principal followers were invited; but
+after this entertainment had lasted for three days and nights, "as they
+were agreeably drinking and making merry, Brian, his brother, and his
+wife were seized upon by the Earl, and all his people put unsparingly to
+the sword-men, women, youths, and maidens--in Brian's own presence.
+Brian was afterwards sent to Dublin, together with his wife and brother,
+where they were cut in quarters. Such was the end of their feast. This
+wicked and treacherous murder of the lord of the race of Hugh Boy
+O'Neill, the head and the senior of the race of Eoghan, son of Nial of
+the Nine Hostages, and of all the Gaels, a few only excepted, was a
+sufficient cause of hatred and dispute to the English by the
+Irish."[437]
+
+Essex visited England in 1575, and tried to induce the Queen to give him
+further assistance in his enterprise. On her refusal, he retired to
+Ireland, and died in Dublin, on the 22nd September, 1576. It was
+rumoured he had died of poison, and that the poison was administered at
+the desire of the Earl of Leicester, who soon after divorced his own
+wife, and married the widow of his late rival Essex complained bitterly,
+in his letter to Sir Henry Sidney, of the way in which he had been
+treated in his projected plantation of Clannaboy, and protested against
+the injustice which had been done through him on O'Donnell, MacMahon,
+and others, who were always peaceable and loyal, but "whom he had, on
+the pledged word of the Queen, undone with fair promises." Probably,
+only for his own "undoing," he would have had but scant pity for others.
+
+Yet Essex could be generous and knightly with his friends, kind and
+courtly, at least to his English dependents. There are some curious
+accounts of his expenses while he was "_Lord-General of Ulster_," in a
+State Paper, from which it will appear that he could be liberal, either
+from natural benevolence or from policy. The entries of expenditure
+indicate a love of music, which he could easily gratify in Ireland,
+still famous for the skill of its bards. He gave ten shillings to the
+singing men of Mellifont, then inhabited by Edward Moore, to whom it had
+been granted at the suppression of monasteries. A harper at Sir John
+Bellew's received three shillings; "Crues, my Lord of Ormonde's harper,"
+received the large sum of forty shillings, but whether in compliment to
+the bard or the bard's master is doubtful. The Earl of Ormonde's
+"musicians" also got twenty shillings. But there are other
+disbursements, indicating that presents were gratefully received and
+vails expected. "A boy that brought your lordship a pair of greyhounds"
+had a small donation; but "M'Genis, that brought your lordship two
+stags," had 13s. 4_d_., a sum equivalent to L7 of our money. Nor were
+the fair sex forgotten, for Mrs. Fagan, wife of the Lord Mayor of
+Dublin, was presented with a piece of taffeta "for good entertainment."
+
+Sir Henry Sidney returned to Ireland in 1575. He tells us himself how he
+took on him, "the third time, that thanklesse charge; and so taking
+leave of her Majesty, kissed her sacred hands, with most gracious and
+comfortable wordes, departed from her at Dudley Castell, passed the
+seas, and arrived the xiii of September, 1575, as nere the city of
+Dublin as I could saufly; for at that tyme the city was greevously
+infested with the contagion of the pestilence."[438] He proceeded thence
+to Tredagh (Drogheda), where he received the sword of the then Deputy.
+He next marched northward, and attacked Sorley Boy and the Scotch, who
+were besieging Carrickfergus; and after he had conquered them, he
+received the submission of Turlough O'Neill and other Ulster chieftains.
+Turlough's wife, the Lady Agnes O'Neill, _nee_ M'Donnell, was aunt to
+the Earl of Argyle, and appears to have been very much in favour with
+the Lord Deputy.
+
+In the "depe of wynter" he went to Cork, were he remained from Christmas
+to Candlemas. He mentions his entertainment at Barry's Court with
+evident zest, and says "there never was such a Christmas kept in the
+same." In February he visited Thomond, and subdued "a wicked generation,
+some of whom he killed, and some he hanged by order of law." A nice
+distinction, which could hardly have been appreciated by the victims.
+The Earl of Clanrickarde caused his "two most bade and rebellious
+sonnes" to make submission, "whom I would to God I had then hanged."
+However, he kept them close prisoners, and "had a sermon made of them
+and their wickedness in the chief church in the town." John seems to
+have been the principal delinquent. Some time after, when they had been
+set at liberty, they rebelled again; and he records the first "memorable
+act" which one of them had done, adding, "which I am sure was
+John."[439]
+
+Sidney then marched into the west, and had an interview with the famous
+Grace O'Malley, or Granuaile, which he describes thus: "There came to me
+also a most famous femynyne sea captain, called Granuge I'Mally, and
+offered her services unto me wheresoever I would command her, with three
+galleys and two hundred fighting men. She brought with her her husband,
+for she was as well by sea as by land more than master's-mate with him.
+He was of the nether Burkes, and called by nickname Richard in Iron.
+This was a notorious woman in all the coasts of Ireland. This woman did
+Philip Sidney see and speak with; he can more at large inform you of
+her." Grana, or Grace O'Malley, was the daughter of a chieftain of the
+same patronymic. Her paternal clan were strong in galleys and ships.
+They owned a large territory on the sea-coast, besides the islands of
+Arran. Her first husband was Donnell O'Flaherty. His belligerent
+propensities could scarcely have been less than hers, for he is termed
+_Aith Chogaid_, or "of the wars." Her second husband, Sir Richard Burke,
+or Richard _an Iarainn_, is described by the Four Masters as a
+"plundering, warlike, unjust, and rebellious man." He obtained his
+soubriquet from the circumstance of constantly appearing in armour. It
+would appear from this account that Sidney's statement of the Lady Grana
+being "more than master's-mate with him," must be taken with some
+limitations, unless, indeed, he who ruled his foes abroad, failed to
+rule his wife at home, which is quite possible. The subjoined
+illustration represents the remains of one of her castles. It is
+situated near the lake of Borrishoole, in the county Mayo. The ruins are
+very striking, and evince its having once been an erection of
+considerable strength.
+
+[Illustration: CARRIG-A-HOOLY--GRACE O'MALLEY'S CASTLE.]
+
+Sir William Drury was made Lord President of Munster, 1576, in place of
+Sir John Perrot. Sir Nicholas Malby was installed in the same office in
+Connaught; but the barbarities enacted by his predecessor, Fitton, made
+the very name of president so odious, that Sidney gave the new Governor
+the title of Colonel of Connaught. The Earl of Desmond and Drury were
+soon at variance. Sidney says, in his _Memoir_, that the Earl "was still
+repyning at the government of Drury." After causing great apprehension
+to the governors, the Lord Deputy sent the whole party to Kilkenny, and
+found the "Earl hot, wilful, and stubborn; but not long after, as you
+know, he and his two brothers, Sir John and Sir James, fell into actual
+rebellion, in which the good knight, Sir William Drury, the Lord
+Justice, died, and he, as a malicious and unnatural rebel, still
+persisteth and liveth."
+
+In 1577 serious complications were threatened, in consequence of the
+pecuniary difficulties of the crown. An occasional subsidy had been
+granted hitherto for the support of the Government and the army; an
+attempt was now made to convert this subsidy into a tax. On previous
+occasions there had been some show of justice, however little reality,
+by permitting the Parliament to pass the grant; a scheme was now
+proposed to empower the Lord Deputy to levy assessments by royal
+authority, without any reference to Parliament. For the first time the
+Pale opposed the Government, and resisted the innovation. But their
+opposition was speedily and effectually silenced. The deputies whom they
+sent to London to remonstrate were committed to the Tower, and orders
+were despatched to Ireland that all who had signed the remonstrance
+should be consigned to Dublin Castle.
+
+It is said that Elizabeth was not without some misgivings as to the
+injustice with which her Irish subjects were treated, and that she was
+once so touched by the picture presented to her of their sufferings
+under such exactions, that she exclaimed: "Ah, how I fear lest it be
+objected to us, as it was to Tiberius by Bato, concerning the Dalmatian
+commotions! You it is that are in fault, who have committed your flocks,
+not to shepherds, but to wolves." Nevertheless, the "wolves" were still
+permitted to plunder; and any impression made on the royal feelings
+probably evaporated under the fascinating influence of her next
+interview with Leicester, and the indignation excited by a "rebel" who
+refused to resign his ancestral home quietly to some penniless
+adventurer. There had been serious difficulties in England in 1462, in
+consequence of the shameful state of the current coin; and the Queen has
+received considerable praise for having accomplished a reform. But the
+idea, and the execution of the idea, originated with her incomparable
+minister, Cecil, whose master-mind applied itself with equal facility to
+every state subject, however trifling or however important; and the loss
+and expenditure which the undertaking involved, was borne by the country
+to the last penny. Mr. Froude says it was proposed that the "worst money
+might be sent to Ireland, as the general dust-heap for the outcasting of
+England's vileness."[440] The standard for Ireland had always been under
+that of England, but the base proposal above-mentioned was happily not
+carried into execution. Still there were enough causes of misery in
+Ireland apart from its normal grievances. The Earl of Desmond wrote an
+elaborate and well-digested appeal to Lord Burleigh, complaining of
+military abuses, and assuring his Lordship that if he had "sene them
+[the poor who were burdened with cess], he would rather give them
+charitable alms than burden them with any kind of chardge." He mentions
+specially the cruelty of compelling a poor man to carry for five, eight,
+or ten miles, on his back, as many sheaves as the "horse-boies" choose
+to demand of him; and if he goes not a "good pace, though the poor soule
+be overburdened, he is all the waye beaten outt of all measure."
+
+Cess was also commanded to be delivered at the "Queen's price," which
+was considerably lower than the market price. Even Sidney was supposed
+to be too lenient in his exactions; but eventually a composition of
+seven years' purveyance, payable by instalments, was agreed upon, and
+the question was set at rest. The Queen and the English Council
+naturally feared to alienate the few nobles who were friendly to them,
+as well as the inhabitants of the Pale, who were as a majority in their
+interest.
+
+The Pale was kept in considerable alarm at this period, by the exploits
+of the famous outlaw, Rory Oge O'More. In 1577 he stole into Naas with
+his followers, and set the town on fire; after this exploit he retired,
+without taking any lives. He continued these depredations for eighteen
+years. In 1571 he was killed by one of MacGillapatrick's men, and the
+Pale was relieved from a most formidable source of annoyance. But the
+same year in which this brave outlaw terminated his career, is
+signalized by one of the most fearful acts of bloodshed and treachery on
+record. The heads of the Irish families of Offaly and Leix, whose
+extirpation had long been attempted unsuccessfully, were invited in the
+Queen's name, and under the Queen's protection, to attend a conference
+at the great rath on the hill of Mullach-Maistean (Mullamast). As soon
+as they had all assembled, they were surrounded by a treble line of the
+Queen's garrison soldiers, and butchered to a man in cold blood.
+
+This massacre was performed with the knowledge and approval of the
+Deputy, Sir Henry Sidney. The soldiers who accomplished the bloody work
+were commanded by Captain Francis Crosby, to whom the chief command of
+all the kerne in the Queen's pay was committed. We have already related
+some incidents in his career, which show how completely destitute he was
+of the slightest spark of humanity.[441]
+
+Sir Henry Sidney retired from office finally on the 26th of May, 1578.
+He dates his _Memoir_ from "Ludlow Castell, with more payne than harte,
+the 1st of March, 1582." In this document he complains bitterly of the
+neglect of his services by Government, and bemoans his losses in piteous
+strains. He describes himself as "fifty-four yeres of age, toothlesse
+and trembling, being five thousand pounds in debt." He says he shall
+leave his sons L20,000 worse off than his father left him. In one place
+he complains that he had not as much ground as would "feede a mutton,"
+and he evidently considers his services were worth an ampler
+remuneration; for he declares: "I would to God the country was yet as
+well as I lefte it almost fyve yeres agoe." If he did not succeed in
+obtaining a large grant for his services, it certainly was not for want
+of asking it; and if he did not succeed in pacifying the country, it was
+not for lack of summary measures. Even in his postscript he mentions how
+he hanged a captain of Scots, and he thinks "very nere twenty of his
+men."
+
+It seems almost needless to add anything to the official descriptions of
+Ireland, which have already been given in such detail; but as any remark
+from the poet Spenser has a special interest, I shall give some brief
+account of his _View of Ireland_. The work which bears this name is
+written with considerable prejudice, and abounds in misstatements. Like
+all settlers, he was utterly disgusted with the hardships he endured,
+though the poet's eye could not refuse its meed of admiration to the
+country in which they were suffered. His description of the miseries of
+the native Irish can scarcely be surpassed, and his description of the
+poverty of the country is epitomized in the well-known lines:--
+
+    "Was never so great waste in any place,
+     Nor so foul outrage done by living men;
+       For all the cities they shall sack and raze,
+     And the green grass that groweth they shall burn,
+     That even the wild beast shall die in starved den."[442]
+
+Yet this misery never touched his heart; for the remedy he proposes
+poses for Irish sufferings is to increase them, if possible, a
+thousandfold; and he would have troops employed to "tread down all
+before them, and lay on the ground all the stiff-necked people of the
+land." And this he would have done in winter, with a refinement of
+cruelty, that the bitter air may freeze up the half-naked peasant, that
+he may have no shelter from the bare trees, and that he may be deprived
+of all sustenance by the chasing and driving of his cows.
+
+It is probable that Spenser's "view" of Irish affairs was considerably
+embittered by his own sufferings there. He received his property on the
+condition of residence, and settled himself at Kilcolman Castle. Here he
+spent four years, and wrote the three first books of the _Faerie
+Queene_. He went to London with Sir Walter Raleigh to get them
+published. On his return he married a country girl, named Elizabeth--an
+act which was a disgrace to himself, if the Irish were what he described
+them to be. In 1598, during Tyrone's insurrection, his estate was
+plundered, his castle burned, and his youngest child perished in the
+flames. He then fled to London, where he died a year after in extreme
+indigence.
+
+His description of the condition of the Protestant Church coincides with
+the official account of Sidney. He describes the clergy as "generally
+bad, licentious, and most disordered;" and he adds: "Whatever
+disorders[443] you see in the Church of England, you may find in
+Ireland, and many more, namely, gross simony, greedy covetousness,
+incontinence, and careless sloth." And then he contrasts the zeal of the
+Catholic clergy with the indifference of "the ministers of the Gospel,"
+who, he says, only take the tithes and offerings, and gather what fruit
+else they may of their livings.
+
+[Illustration: THE HOUSE WHERE SIR WALTER RALEIGH LIVED.]
+
+[Illustration: SALTEE ISLANDS, WEXFORD.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[426] _Willing_.--Sidney's Despatches, British Museum, MSS. Cat. Titus
+B. x.
+
+[427] _Irreligion_.--Mant, vol. i. p.287.
+
+[428] _Scattered_.--Cox, vol. i. p.319.
+
+[429] _Civility_.--Sidney's _Letters and Memorials_, vol i. p.112.
+Sidney's memoir has been published _in extenso_ in the _Ulster Arch.
+Journal_, with most interesting notes by Mr. Hore of Wexford.
+
+[430] _Reformation_.--_Past and Present Policy of England towards
+Ireland_, p. 27. London, 1845.
+
+[431] _Depend_.--Shirley, p. 219. An admirable _History of the Diocese
+of Meath_, in two volumes, has been published lately by the Rev. A.
+Cogan, Catholic Priest of Navan. It is very much to be wished that this
+rev. author would extend his charitable labours to other dioceses
+throughout Ireland.
+
+[432] _Majority_.--Leland, vol. ii. p.241.
+
+[433] _Pike_.--This was probably the _Morris pike_ or _Moorish pike_,
+much used in the reign of Henry VIII and Elizabeth. The common pike was
+used very generally by foot soldiers until the reign of George II. The
+halberd was introduced during the reign of Henry VIII. It was peculiar
+to the royal guard, and is still carried by them. In Shirley's comedy,
+_A Bird in a Cage_ (1633), one of the characters is asked, "You are one
+of the guard?" and replies, "A Poor halberd man, sir." The caliver was
+quite recently introduced. It was a light kind of musket, fired without
+a rest. It derived its name from the _calibre_ or width of its bore.
+
+[434] _Staffe._--This was probably a cane staff. We read in _Piers
+Plowman's Vision_ of "hermits on a heap with hookyd staves."
+
+[435] _Dagges._--"Pistols."--"My _dagge_ was levelled at his heart."
+
+[436] _Livery_--It was usual for all retainers of a noble house to wear
+a uniform-coloured cloth in dress. Thus, in the old play of _Sir Thomas
+More_, we find:
+
+"That no man whatsoever Do walk without the _livery_ of his lord, Either
+in cloak or any other garment."
+
+
+
+[437] _Irish_.--Four Masters, vol. v. pp. 1678-9. Camden mentions the
+capture of O'Neill, and says Essex slew 200 of his men; but he does not
+mention the treachery with which this massacre was accomplished.
+
+[438] _Pestilence_.--Memoir or Narrative addressed to Sir Francis
+Walsingham, 1583. Ware says he wrote "Miscellanies of the Affairs of
+Ireland," but the MS. has not yet been discovered. The Four Masters
+notice the pestilence, which made fearful ravages.
+
+[439] _John_.--He was called _Shane Seamar Oge_, or John of the
+Shamrocks, from having threatened to live on shamrocks sooner than
+submit to the English. John was the younger of the two De Burgos or
+Burkes.
+
+[440] _Vileness.--Reign of Elizabeth_, vol. i, p. 458.
+
+[441] _Humanity_.--Dr. O'Donovan, with his usual conscientious accuracy,
+has given a long and most interesting note on the subject of this
+massacre, in the _Annals of the Four Masters_, vol. v.p. 1695. Dowling
+is the oldest writer who mentions the subject, and he expressly
+mentions Crosby and Walpole as the principal agents in effecting it.
+Dr. O'Donovan gives a curious traditional account of the occurrence, in
+which several Catholic families are accused of having taken part.
+
+[442] _Den.--Faerie Queene_, book iii c. 3.
+
+[443] _Disorders_.--"In many dioceses in England (A.D. 1561), a third of
+the parishes were left without a clergyman, resident or non-resident....
+The children grew up unbaptized; the dead buried their dead." Elizabeth
+had to remonstrate with Parliament upon the "open decays and ruins" of
+the churches. "They were not even kept commonly clean, and nothing was
+done to make them known to be places provided for divine service." "The
+cathedral plate adorned the prebendal sideboards and dinner-tables. The
+organ pipes were melted into dishes for their kitchens. The organ frames
+were carved into bedsteads, where the wives reposed beside their
+reverend lords. The copes and vestments were slit into gowns and
+bodices. Having children to provide for, the chapters cut down their
+woods, and worked their fines ... for the benefit of their own
+generation." "The priests' wives were known by their dress in the
+street, and their proud gait, from a hundred other women."--Froude,
+_Reign of Elizabeth_, vol. i. pp. 465-467.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+FitzMaurice obtains Help from Spain and from Rome--The Martyrs of
+Kilmallock--Death of FitzMaurice--Drury's Cruelties and Death--Arrival
+of San Jose--His Treachery--Massacre at the Fort del Ore--O'Neill shows
+Symptoms of Disaffection--Treacherous Capture of O'Donnell--Injustice to
+Tenants--O'Donnell attempts to Escape--O'Neill's Marriage with Mabel
+Bagnal--O'Donnell Escapes from Dublin Castle--Causes of
+Discontent--Cruel Massacre of Three Priests--Tortures and Death
+inflicted in Dublin on Bishop O'Hurley--O'Neill's Insurrection--His
+Interview with Essex--He marches to the South--His Fatal Reverse at
+Kinsale--The Siege of Dunboy--O'Neill's Submission--Foundation of
+Trinity College, Dublin, on the Site and with the Funds of a Catholic
+Abbey.
+
+[A.D. 1579-1605.]
+
+
+Exaggerated rumours were now spread throughout Munster, of the
+probability of help from foreign sources--A.D. 1579. James FitzMaurice
+had been actively employed on the Continent in collecting troops and
+assistance for the Irish Catholics. In France his requests were politely
+refused, for Henry III. wished to continue on good terms with Elizabeth.
+Philip II. of Spain referred him to the Pope. In Rome he met with more
+encouragement; and at the solicitation of the Franciscan Bishop of
+Killaloe, Cornelius O'Mullrain, Dr. Allen, and Dr. Saunders, he obtained
+a Bull, encouraging the Irish to fight for the recovery of religious
+freedom, and for the liberation of their country. An expedition was
+fitted out at the expense of the Holy See, and maintained eventually by
+Philip of Spain. At the earnest request of FitzMaurice, an English
+adventurer, named Stukeley, was appointed admiral. The military command
+was bestowed on Hercules Pisano, a soldier of some experience.
+
+Stukeley was reported to be an illegitimate son of Henry VIII. He was a
+wild and lawless adventurer, and entirely unfitted for such a command.
+At Lisbon he forsook his squadron, and joined the expedition which
+Sebastian, the romantic King of Portugal, was preparing to send to
+Morocco. FitzMaurice had travelled through France to Spain, from whence
+he proceeded to Ireland, with a few troops. He had three small vessels
+besides his own, and on his way he captured two English ships. He was
+accompanied by Dr. Saunders,[444] as Legate, the Bishop of Killaloe, and
+Dr. Allen.[445] They were entirely ignorant of Stukeley's desertion
+until their arrival in Ireland. The squadron reached Dingle on the 17th
+of July, 1579. Eventually they landed at Smerwick Harbour, and threw
+themselves into the Fort del Ore, which they fortified as best they
+could. If the Earl of Desmond had joined his brother at once, the
+expedition might have ended differently; but he stood aloof, fearing to
+involve himself in a struggle, the issue of which could scarcely be
+doubtful.
+
+A short time before the arrival of this little expedition, three persons
+had landed in disguise at Dingle, whom Desmond, anxious to show his zeal
+towards the ruling powers, consigned to the authorities in Limerick.
+They were discovered to be Dr. Patrick O'Haly, a Franciscan, and Bishop
+of Mayo, and Father Cornelius O'Rourke; the name of the third person has
+not been ascertained. On Sir William Drury's arrival at Kilmallock, they
+were brought before him, and condemned to torture and death. The torture
+was executed with unusual barbarity, for Drury was a man who knew no
+mercy. The confessors were first placed upon the rack, and then, as if
+the agony of that torment was not sufficient, their hands and feet were
+broken with large hammers, and other torments were added. When life was
+nearly extinct, they were released, and their martyrdom was finally
+accomplished by hanging. For fourteen days their bodies remained
+suspended in chains, and the soldiers used them as targets in their
+shooting exercises.
+
+The Earl of Desmond, however, soon joined his brother. John Geraldine
+allied himself with the movement from its commencement. A second
+expedition was fitted out in Spain, which reached Ireland on the 13th of
+September, 1580. It was commanded by Colonel Sebastian San Jose, who
+proved eventually so fearful a traitor to the cause he had volunteered
+to defend. Father Mathew de Oviedo, a member of the Franciscan Order,
+was the principal promoter of this undertaking. He was a native of
+Spain, and had been educated in the College of Salamanca, then famous
+for the learning and piety of its _alumni_. The celebrated Florence
+Conry, subsequently Archbishop of Tuam, was one of his companions; and
+when he entered the Franciscan novitiate, he had the society of eleven
+brethren who were afterwards elevated to the episcopate. Oviedo was the
+bearer of a letter from the Roman Pontiff, Gregory XIII., granting
+indulgences to those who joined the army.
+
+On the 18th of August, scarcely a month after he had landed in Ireland,
+James FitzMaurice was killed by Theobald and Ulick Burke, his own
+kinsmen. Their father, Sir William Burke, was largely rewarded for his
+loyalty in opposing the Geraldines; and, if Camden is to be believed, he
+died of joy in consequence of the favours heaped upon him. The death of
+FitzMaurice was a fatal blow to the cause. John Geraldine, however, took
+the command of the force; but the Earl hastened to Kilmallock to
+exculpate himself, as best he could, with the Lord Deputy. His apologies
+were accepted, and he was permitted to go free on leaving his only son,
+James, then a mere child, as hostage with Drury. The Geraldines were
+successful soon after in an engagement with the English; and Drury died
+in Waterford at the end of September. Ecclesiastical historians say that
+he had been cited by the martyrs of Kilmallock to meet them at Christ's
+judgment, and answer for his cruelties.
+
+Sir Nicholas Malby was left in command of the army, and Sir William
+Pelham was elected Lord Deputy in Dublin. The usual career of burning
+and plundering was enacted--"the country was left one levelled plain,
+without corn or edifices." Youghal was burned to the ground, and the
+Mayor was hanged at his own door. James Desmond was hanged and
+quartered, by St. Leger and Raleigh, in Cork. Pelham signalized himself
+by cruelties, and executed a gentleman who had been blind from his
+birth, and another who was over a hundred years of age.
+
+But the crowning tragedy was at hand. The expedition commanded by San
+Jose now arrived in Ireland. The Fort del Ore was once more occupied and
+strengthened; the courage of the insurgents was revived. Meanwhile Lord
+Grey was marching so southward with all possible haste. He soon reached
+the fort, and, at the same time, Admirals Winter and Bingham prepared to
+attack the place by sea. In a few days the courage of the Spanish
+commander failed, and he entered into treaty with the Lord Deputy. A
+bargain was made that he should receive a large share of the spoils. He
+had obtained a personal interview in the Viceroy's camp,[446] and the
+only persons for whom he made conditions were the Spaniards who had
+accompanied him on the expedition. The English were admitted to the
+fortress on the following day, and a feast was prepared for them. All
+arms and ammunition were consigned to the care of the English soldiers,
+and, this accomplished, the signal for massacre was given; and,
+according to Lord Grey's official[447] account, 600 men were slain in
+cold blood. So universal was the reprobation of this fearful tragedy,
+that Sir Richard Bingham tried to make it appear that it had not been
+premeditated. Grey's official despatch places the matter beyond
+question, and Dr. Saunders' letter supplies the details on authority
+which cannot be disputed.
+
+Three persons who had been treacherously given up to the Viceroy, were
+spared for special torments; those were--a priest named Lawrence, an
+Englishman named William Willick, and Oliver Plunket. They were offered
+liberty if they would renounce the faith; but on their resolute refusal,
+their legs and arms were broken in three places, and after they had been
+allowed to pass that night and the next day in torment, they were hanged
+and quartered. The State Papers confirm the account given by Saunders of
+these barbarities. The English officers now endeavoured to rival each
+other in acts of cruelty to obtain official commendation and royal
+favour. Sir Walter Raleigh was especially active in Cork, and brought a
+charge of treason against the Barrys and Roches, old English settlers;
+but Barry set fire to his castle, and took to the woods, where he joined
+Lord Desmond. Lord Roche was taken prisoner, but eventually escaped from
+his persecutors. Pretended plots were rumoured in all directions, and
+numbers of innocent persons were executed. William Burke was hanged in
+Galway, and forty-five persons were executed. The Geraldine cause was
+reduced to the lowest ebb by the treachery of Jose. The Earl of Desmond
+and his sons were fugitives in their own country. The latter was offered
+pardon if he would surrender Dr. Saunders, the Papal Legate, but this he
+resolutely refused. Saunders continued his spiritual ministrations until
+he was entirely worn out with fatigue, and he died, at the close of the
+year 1581, in a miserable hovel in the woods of Claenglass. He was
+attended by the Bishop of Killaloe, from whom he received the last rites
+of the Church.
+
+Immense rewards were now offered for the capture of the Geraldine
+leaders, but their faithful followers would not be bribed. John was at
+length seized, through the intervention of a stranger. He was wounded in
+the struggle, and died immediately after; but his enemies wreaked their
+vengeance on his remains, which were gibbeted at Cork. The Earl of
+Desmond was assassinated on the 11th of November, 1583, and the hopeless
+struggle terminated with his death. He had been hunted from place to
+place like a wild beast, and, according to Hooker, obliged to dress his
+meat in one place, to eat it in another, and to sleep in a third. He was
+surprised, on one occasion, while his soldiers were cooking their
+mid-day meal, and five-and-twenty of his followers were put to the
+sword; but he escaped, and fled to Kerry, where he was apprehended ended
+and slain. His head was sent to Elizabeth, and impaled on London-bridge,
+according to the barbarous practice of the time. His body was interred
+in the little chapel of Kilnamaseagh, near Castleisland. Complaints of
+the extreme severity of Lord Grey's administration had been sent to the
+English court. Even English subjects declared that he had "left her
+Majesty little to reign over but carcasses and ashes." He was therefore
+recalled. The administration was confided to Loftus, the Protestant
+Archbishop of Dublin, and Sir Henry Wallope, and an amnesty was
+proclaimed. Sir Thomas Norreys was appointed Governor of Munster, and
+Sir Richard Bingham, Governor of Connaught. In 1584 Sir John Perrot was
+made Deputy, and commenced his career by executing Beg O'Brien, who had
+taken an active part in the late insurrections, at Limerick, with a
+refinement of cruelty, as "a warning to future evil-doers."
+
+In 1585 Perrot held a Parliament in Dublin, from which, however, no very
+important enactments proceeded. Its principal object appears to have
+been the confiscation of Desmond's estates. This was opposed by many of
+the members; but the crown was determined to have them, and the crown
+obtained them. Thus lands to the extent of 574,628 acres were ready for
+new adventurers. The most tempting offers were made to induce Englishmen
+to plant; estates were given for twopence an acre; rent was only to
+commence after three years. No Irish families were to be admitted as
+tenants, though their labours might be accepted or compelled. English
+families were to be substituted in certain proportions; and on these
+conditions, Raleigh, Hatton, Norris, St. Leger, and others, obtained
+large grants. The Irish question was to be settled finally, but somehow
+it was not settled, though no one seemed exactly prepared to say why.
+
+Meanwhile Sir Richard Bingham was opposing the conciliatory policy of
+the Deputy, and hanged seventy persons at one session in Galway, in
+January, A.D. 1586. Perrot interfered; but the Burkes, who had been
+maddened by Bingham's cruelties, broke out into open rebellion; and he
+pointed to the revolt which he had himself occasioned, as a
+justification of his former conduct. The Scotch now joined the Burkes,
+but were eventually defeated by the President, the Irish annalists say,
+with the loss of 2,000 men. Another bloody assize was held in Galway,
+where young and old alike were victims.
+
+The state of Ulster was now giving considerable anxiety to the English
+Government. Hugh O'Neill was just commencing his famous career; and
+although he had fought under the English standard in Geraldine war, it
+was thought quite possible that he might set up a standard of his own.
+He had taken his seat in parliament as _Baron of Dungannon_. He had
+obtained the title of Earl of Tyrone. He had visited Elizabeth, and by a
+judicious mixture of flattery and deference, which she was never able to
+resist he obtained letters-patent under the Great Seal restoring his
+inheritance and his rank. He was even permitted, on his return, to keep
+up a standing army of six companies, "to preserve the peace of the
+north."
+
+In 1586 a thousand soldiers were withdrawn from Ireland to serve in the
+Netherlands; and as the country was always governed by force, it could
+scarcely be expected not to rebel when the restraint was withdrawn.
+O'Neill manifested alarming symptoms of independence. He had married a
+daughter of Sir Hugh O'Donnell, and Sir Hugh refused to admit an English
+sheriff into his territory. The Government had, therefore, no resource
+but war or treachery. War was impossible, when so large a contingent had
+been withdrawn; treachery was always possible; and even Sir John Perrot
+stooped to this base means of attaining his end. The object was to get
+possession of Hugh Roe O'Donnell, a noble youth, and to keep him as
+hostage. The treachery was accomplished thus: a vessel, laden with
+Spanish wine, was sent to Donegal on pretence of traffic. It anchored at
+Rathmullen, where it had been ascertained that Hugh Roe O'Donnell was
+staying with his foster-father, MacSweeny. The wine was distributed
+plentifully to the country people; and when MacSweeny sent to make
+purchases, the men declared there was none left for sale, but if the
+gentlemen came on board, they should have what was left. Hugh and his
+companions easily fell into the snare. They were hospitably entertained,
+but their arms were carefully removed, the hatches were shut down, the
+cable cut, and the ship stood off to sea. The guests who were not wanted
+were put ashore, but the unfortunate youth was taken to Dublin, and
+confined in the Castle.[448]
+
+In 1588 Sir John Perrot was succeeded by Sir William FitzWilliam, a
+nobleman of the most opposite character and disposition. Perrot was
+generally regretted by the native Irish, as he was considered one of the
+most humane of the Lord Deputies. The wreck of the Spanish Armada
+occurred during this year, and was made at once an excuse for increased
+severity towards the Catholics, and for acts of grievous injustice. Even
+loyal persons were accused of harbouring the shipwrecked men, as it was
+supposed they might have obtained some treasure in return for their
+hospitality. FitzWilliam, according to Ware, wished to "finger some of
+it himself," and invaded the territories of several Irish chieftains. A
+complete history of FitzWilliam's acts of injustice, and the consummate
+cruelty with which they were perpetrated, would be so painful to relate,
+that they can scarcely be recorded in detail. He farmed out the country
+to the highest bidders, who practised every possible extortion on the
+unfortunate natives. The favourite method of compelling them to yield up
+their lands without resistance, was to fry the soles of their feet in
+boiling brimstone and grease. When torture did not succeed, some unjust
+accusation was brought forward, and they were hanged. A tract preserved
+in Trinity College, Dublin, gives details of these atrocities, from
+which I shall only select one instance. A landlord was anxious to obtain
+the property of one of his tenants, an Irishman, who had lived
+"peaceably and quietly, as a good subject," for many years. He agreed
+with the sheriff to divide the spoil with him, if he would assist in the
+plot. The man and his servant were seized; the latter was hanged, and
+the former was sent to Dublin Castle, to be imprisoned on some pretence.
+The gentleman and the sheriff at once seized the tenant's property, and
+turned his wife and children out to beg. After a short time, "they, by
+their credit and countenance, being both English gentlemen, informed the
+Lord Deputy so hardly of him, as that, without indictment or trial, they
+executed him."[449]
+
+It was considered a grave reproach, and an evidence of barbarism, when
+Maguire sent word to the Lord Deputy, who wished to send a sheriff to
+Fermanagh: "Your sheriff will be welcome, but let me know his eric [the
+fine which would be levied on the district if he were killed], that if
+my people cut off his head, I may levy it on the country." One other
+instance from another source will sufficiently prove that the dread of
+an English sheriff was well founded. The chieftain of Oriel, Hugh
+MacMahon, had given a present of 600 cows to the Lord Deputy to
+recognize his rights. Sir Henry Bagnal the Marshal of Ireland, had his
+head-quarters at Newry, where his property had been principally acquired
+by deeds of blood, and he wished for a share of the spoil. A charge of
+treason was made against MacMahon after the cows had been accepted; a
+jury of common soldiers was empannelled to try the case. A few were
+Irish, and they were locked up without food until they agreed to give
+the required verdict of guilty, while the English jurors were permitted
+to go in and out as they pleased. The unfortunate chieftain was hanged,
+in two days after his arrest, at his own door; his property was divided
+amongst those whom we must call his murderers. The MacMahon sept were,
+however, permitted to retain a portion on payment of a "good fine,
+underhand," to the Lord Deputy.[450]
+
+In 1590, Hugh of the Fetters, an illegitimate son of the famous Shane
+O'Neill, was hanged by the Earl of Tyrone, for having made false charges
+against him to the Lord Deputy. This exercise of authority excited
+considerable fear, and the Earl was obliged to clear himself of blame
+before Elizabeth. After a brief detention in London, he was permitted to
+return to Ireland, but not until he had signed certain articles in the
+English interest, which he observed precisely as long as it suited his
+convenience. About this time his nephew, Hugh O'Donnell, made an
+ineffectual attempt to escape from Dublin Castle, but he was recaptured,
+and more closely guarded. This again attracted the attention of
+Government to the family; but a more important event was about to
+follow. O'Neill's wife was dead, and the chieftain was captivated by the
+beauty of Sir Henry Bagnal's sister. How they contrived to meet and to
+plight their vows is not known, though State Papers have sometimes
+revealed as romantic particulars. It has been discovered, however, from
+that invaluable source of information, that Sir Henry was furious, and
+cursed himself and his fate that his "bloude, which had so often been
+spilled in reppressinge this rebellious race, should nowe be mingled
+with so traitorous a stocke and kindred." He removed the from Newry to
+her sister's house, near Dublin, who was the wife of Sir Patrick
+Barnwell. The Earl followed Miss Bagnal thither. Her brother-in-law
+received him courteously; and while the O'Neill engaged the family in
+conversation, a confidential friend rode off with the lady, who was
+married to O'Neill immediately after.
+
+But a crisis was approaching; and while this event tended to embitter
+the English officials against the Earl, a recurrence of outrages against
+the northern chieftains prepared them for revolt. One of their leading
+men, O'Rourke, was executed this year (A.D. 1591) in London. He had
+taken refuge in Scotland some time before, from those who wished to take
+his life, as the easiest method of securing his property, but the Scots
+had given him up to the English Government. He was said to be one of the
+handsomest and bravest men of his times, and his execution excited
+universal pity. The apostate, Miler Magrath, attempted to tamper with
+his faith in his last moments, but the chieftain bade him rather to
+repent himself and to return to the faith of his fathers.
+
+Hugh O'Donnell made another attempt to escape from confinement at
+Christmas, A.D. 1592. He succeeded on this occasion, though his life was
+nearly lost in the attempt. Turlough Roe O'Hagan, his father's faithful
+friend, was the principal agent in effecting his release. Henry and Art
+O'Neill, sons of Shane the Proud, were companions in his flight. They
+both fell exhausted on their homeward journey. Art died soon after, from
+the effects of fatigue and exposure, and Hugh recovered but slowly. He
+continued ill during the remainder of the winter, and was obliged to
+have his toes amputated. As soon as he was sufficiently recovered, a
+general meeting of his sept was convened, when he was elected to the
+chieftaincy, and inaugurated in the usual manner. He then commenced
+incursions on the territories occupied by the English; but as the Earl
+of Tyrone was anxious to prevent a premature rebellion, he induced the
+Lord Deputy to meet him at Dundalk, where he obtained a full pardon for
+his escape from Dublin Castle, and a temporary pacification was
+arranged.
+
+In 1593 he collected another army; Turlough Luineach resigned his
+chieftaincy to the Earl of Tyrone; and Ulster became wholly the
+possession of its old chieftains--the O'Neill and O'Donnell. An open
+rebellion broke out soon after, in consequence of the exactions of two
+English officers on the territories of Oge O'Rourke and Maguire. Several
+trifling engagements took place. The Earl of Tyrone was placed in a
+difficult position. He was obliged to join the English side, while his
+heart and inclination were with his own people; but he contrived to send
+a messenger to Hugh Roe, who had joined Maguire's party, requesting him
+not to fight against him. He was placed in a still greater difficulty at
+the siege of Enniskillen, which took place the following year; but he
+compromised matters by sending his brother, Cormac O'Neill, with a
+contingent, to fight on the national side. Cormac met the English
+soldiers, who had been sent to throw provisions into the town, almost
+five miles from their destination, and routed them with great slaughter.
+The site of the engagement was called the "Ford of the Biscuits," from
+the quantity of that provision which he obtained there. An Irish
+garrison was left at Enniskillen, and the victorious party, after
+retaliating the cruelties which had been inflicted on the natives,
+marched into northern Connaught to attack Sir Richard Bingham.
+
+On the 11th of August, in this year, 1594, Sir William Russell was
+appointed Deputy in place of FitzWilliam. Tyrone appeared at the Castle
+soon after, and complained of the suspicions which were entertained of
+his loyalty, not, it is to be supposed, without a very clear personal
+conviction that they were well founded. The Viceroy would have received
+him favourably, but his old enemy, Bagnal, charged him with high
+treason. O'Neill's object was to gain time. He was unwilling to revolt
+openly, till he could do so with some prospect of success; and if his
+discretion was somewhat in advance of the average amount of that
+qualification as manifested by Irish chieftains hitherto, his valour
+redeemed him from all possible imputation of having made it an excuse
+for cowardice, or any conciliation with the "English enemy," which was
+not warranted by motives of prudence.
+
+Tyrone now offered to clear himself by the ordeal of single combat with
+his adversary, but Bagnal declined the offer. The following year (A.D.
+1595), the new Deputy took O'Byrne's Castle, at Glenmalure. One of the
+Kildare Geraldines revenged the injuries done to this chieftain, by
+making nocturnal attacks in the neighbourhood of Dublin; but he was soon
+captured, and hanged in Dublin. These and similar outrages excited
+popular feeling to an unwonted degree; but there were other wrongs
+besides the robberies of chieftains' estates, and their subsequent
+murder if they resisted oppression. The men whose lives the Irish nation
+have always held even more sacred than those of their most ancient
+chiefs, were daily slaughtered before their eyes, and the slaughter was
+perpetrated with cruelties which were so utterly uncalled-for, so
+barbarously inhuman, that they might well have excited the burning
+indignation of a heathen or a Turk.
+
+These men were the priests of the old faith which the Irish had received
+so many hundred years before, and which neither death nor torments could
+induce them to forsake. I shall mention but two of these outrages,
+premising that there were few places in Ireland where similar scenes had
+not been enacted. In the year 1588 three Franciscan fathers were
+martyred, who had devoted themselves for some years previously to the
+spiritual necessities of the people. Many Catholic families from Carlow,
+Wexford, and Wicklow had been obliged to fly into the mountainous
+districts of Leinster, to escape further persecution. The three fathers,
+John Molloy, Cornelius Dogherty, and Wilfred Ferral, were unwearied in
+their ministrations. They spoke to these poor creatures of the true
+Home, where all their sufferings should be rewarded with eternal joy--of
+how wise it was to exchange the passing things of time for the enduring
+goods of eternity; they visited the sick, they consoled the dying; above
+all, they administered those life-giving sacraments so precious to the
+Catholic Christian; and if, like the holy martyrs, persecuted by heathen
+emperors, they were obliged to offer the adorable sacrifice on a rock or
+in a poor hut, it was none the less acceptable to God, and none the less
+efficacious to the worshippers. These shepherds of the flock were
+specially obnoxious to the Government. They preached patience, but they
+were accused of preaching rebellion; they confirmed their people in
+their faith, but this was supposed to be equivalent to exciting them to
+resist their oppressors. The three fathers were at last seized by a
+party of cavalry, in a remote district of the Queen's county. They were
+tied hand and foot, and conducted with every species of ignominy to the
+garrison of Abbeyleix. Here they were first flogged, then racked, and
+finally hanged[451], drawn, and quartered. The soldiers, brutalized as
+man can be brutalized by familiarity with scenes of blood, scoffed at
+the agonies they inflicted, and hardened themselves for fresh
+barbarities. But there were men who stood by to weep and pray; and
+though they were obliged to conceal their tears, and to breathe their
+prayers softly into the eternal and ever-open ear of God, the lash which
+mangled the bodies of the men they revered lacerated their souls yet
+more deeply; and as they told to others the tale of patient suffering
+endured for Christ and His Church, the hearts of the people were bound
+yet closer to their faithful pastors, and they clung yet more ardently
+to the religion which produced such glorious examples.
+
+The other execution is, if possible, more barbarous. If the duty of an
+historian did not oblige me to give such details, I would but too gladly
+spare you the pain of reading and myself the pain of writing them. The
+name of Dermod O'Hurley has ever stood prominent in the roll of Irish
+martyrs. He was a man of more than ordinary learning, and of refined and
+cultivated tastes; but he renounced even the pure pleasures of
+intellectual enjoyments for the poor of Christ, and received for his
+reward the martyr's crown. After he had taught philosophy in Louvain and
+rhetoric at Rheims, he went to Rome, where his merit soon attracted the
+attention of Gregory XIII., who appointed him to the see of Cashel.
+O'Sullivan describes his personal appearance as noble and imposing, and
+says that "none more mild had ever held the crozier of St. Cormac." His
+position was not an enviable one to flesh and blood; but to one who had
+renounced all worldly ties, and who only desired to suffer like his
+Lord, it was full of promise. His mission was soon discovered; and
+though he complied with the apostolic precept of flying, when he was
+persecuted, from one city to another, he was at last captured, and then
+the long-desired moment had arrived when he could openly announce his
+mission and his faith.
+
+When he had informed his persecutors that he was a priest and an
+archbishop, they at once consigned him to "a dark and loathsome prison,
+and kept him there bound in chains till the Holy Thursday of the
+following year (1584)." He was then summoned before the Protestant
+Archbishop Loftus and Wallop. They tempted him with promises of pardon,
+honour, and preferment; they reasoned with him, and urged all the usual
+arguments of heretics against his faith; but when all had failed, they
+declared their determination to use "other means to change his purpose."
+They did use them-they failed. But these were the means: the Archbishop
+was again heavily ironed. He was remanded to prison. His persecutors
+hastened after him; and on the evening of Thursday, May 5, 1584, they
+commenced their cruel work. They tied him firmly to a tree, as his Lord
+had once been tied. His hands were bound, his body chained, and then his
+feet and legs were thrust into long boots, filled with oil, turpentine,
+and pitch, and stretched upon an iron grate, under which a slow fire was
+kindled. The spectacle which was exhibited when the instruments of
+torture were withdrawn has been described, but I cannot write the
+description. What sufferings he must have endured during that long
+night, no words could tell. Again he was tempted with the offer of
+earthly honours, and threatened with the vengeance of prolonged
+tortures. Through all his agony he uttered no word of complaint, and his
+countenance preserved its usual serene and tranquil expression. His
+sister was sent to him, as a last resource, to tempt him to apostatize,
+but he only bade her ask God's forgiveness for the crime she had
+committed. Meanwhile, the cruelties which had been executed on him
+became known; public feeling, as far as it was Catholic, was excited;
+and it was determined to get rid of the sufferer quietly. At early dawn
+of Friday, May 6, 1584, he was carried out to the place now called
+Stephen's-green, where what remained of human life was quickly
+extinguished, first by putting him again to torture, and then by
+hanging.
+
+O'Neill had hitherto acted merely on the defensive; but the memory of
+the events just related was still fresh in the minds of thousands, and
+it was generally felt that some effort must be made for freedom of
+conscience, if not for deliverance from political oppression. A
+conference was held at Dundalk. Wallop, the Treasurer, whose name has
+been so recently recorded in connexion with the torture of the
+Archbishop, and Gardiner, the Chief Justice, received the
+representatives of the northern chieftains, but no important results
+followed.
+
+In 1598 another conference was held, the intervening years having been
+spent in mutual hostilities, in which, on the whole, the Irish had the
+advantage. O'Neill's tone was proud and independent; he expected
+assistance from Spain, and he scorned to accept a pardon for what he did
+not consider a crime. The Government was placed in a difficult position.
+The prestige of O'Neill and O'Donnell was becoming every day greater. On
+the 7th of June, 1598, the Earl laid siege to the fort of the
+Blackwater, then commanded by Captain Williams, and strongly fortified.
+Reinforcements were sent to the besieged from England, but they were
+attacked _en route_ by the Irish, and lost 400 men at Dungannon. At last
+the Earl of Ormonde and Bagnal determined to take up arms--the former
+marching against the Leinster insurgents; the latter, probably but too
+willing, set out to encounter his old enemy and brother-in-law. He
+commanded a fine body of men, and had but little doubt on which side
+victory should declare itself.
+
+The contingent set out for Armagh on the 14th of August, and soon
+reached the Yellow Ford, about two miles from that city, where the main
+body of the Irish had encamped. They were at once attacked on either
+flank by skirmishers from the hostile camp; but the vanguard of the
+English army advanced gallantly to the charge, and were soon in
+possession of the first entrenchments of the enemy. Although Bagnal's
+personal valour is unquestionable, he was a bad tactician. His leading
+regiment was cut to pieces before a support could come up; his divisions
+were too far apart to assist each other. Bagnal raised the visor of his
+helmet for one moment, to judge more effectually of the scene of combat,
+and that moment proved his last. A musket ball pierced his forehead, and
+he fell lifeless to the ground. Almost at the same moment an ammunition
+waggon exploded in his ranks--confusion ensued. O'Neill took advantage
+of the panic; he charged boldly; and before one o'clock the rout had
+become general.
+
+The English officers and their men fled to Armagh, and shut themselves
+up in the Cathedral; but they had left twenty-three officers and 1,700
+rank and file dead or dying on the field. "It was a glorious victory for
+the rebels," says Camden, "and of special advantage; for thereby they
+got both arms and provisions, and Tyrone's name was cried up all over
+Ireland." Ormonde thought that the "devil had bewitched Bagnal," to
+leave his men unsupported; the Irish annalists thought that Providence
+had interfered wonderfully on their behalf.[452] O'Neill retired for a
+time to recruit his forces, and to rest his men; and a revolt was
+organized under his auspices in Munster, with immense success. O'Donnell
+was making rapid strides; but a new Viceroy was on his way to Ireland,
+and it was hoped by the royalist party that he would change the aspect
+of affairs.
+
+Essex arrived on the 15th of April, 1599. He had an army of 20,000 foot
+and 2,000 horse--the most powerful, if not the best equipped force ever
+sent into the country. He at once issued a proclamation, offering pardon
+to all the insurgents who should submit, and he despatched
+reinforcements to the northern garrison towns, and to Wicklow and Naas.
+He then marched southward not without encountering a sharp defeat from
+Rory O'More. Be attacked the Geraldines, without much success, in Fermoy
+and Lismore, having, on the whole, lost more than he had accomplished by
+the expedition. An engagement took place between O'Donnell and Sir
+Conyers Clifford, in the pass of Balloghboy, on the 16th of August, in
+which Conyers was killed, and his army defeated. His body was recognized
+by the Irish, towards whom he had always acted honorably, and they
+interred the remains of their brave and noble enemy with the respect
+which was justly due to him.
+
+Essex wrote to England for more troops, and his enemies were not slow to
+represent his incapacity, and to demand his recall: but he had not yet
+lost grace with his royal mistress, and his request was granted. The
+Viceroy now marched into the northern provinces. When he arrived at the
+Lagan, where it bounds Louth and Monaghan, O'Neill appeared on the
+opposite hill with his army, and sent the O'Hagan, his faithful friend
+and attendant, to demand a conference. The interview took place on the
+following day; and O'Neill, with chivalrous courtesy, dashed into the
+river on his charger, and there conversed with the English Earl, while
+he remained on the opposite bank. It was supposed that the Irish
+chieftain had made a favourable impression on Essex, and that he was
+disposed to conciliate the Catholics. He was obliged to go to England to
+clear himself of these charges; and his subsequent arrest and execution
+would excite more sympathy, had he been as amiable in his domestic
+relations as he is said to have been in his public life.
+
+Ulster enjoyed a brief period of rest under the government of its native
+princes. In 1600 O'Neill proceeded southward, laying waste the lands of
+the English settlers, but promoting the restoration of churches and
+abbeys, and assisting the clergy and the native Irish in every possible
+way. Having lost Hugh Maguire, one of his best warriors, in an
+accidental engagement with St. Leger, the President of Munster, he
+determined to return to Ulster. A new Viceroy had just arrived in
+Ireland, and he attempted to cut off his retreat ineffectually.
+
+O'Neill had now obtained a position of considerable importance, and one
+which he appears to have used invariably for the general good. The fame
+of his victories[453] had spread throughout the Continent. It was well
+known now that the Irish had not accepted Protestant Reformation, and it
+appeared as if there was at last some hope of permanent peace in
+Ireland.
+
+[Illustration: Interview between Essex and O'Neill]
+
+Sir George Carew was sent over as President of Munster. He has left an
+account of his exploits in the _Pacata Hibernia_, which are not much to
+the credit of his humanity, but which he was pleased to consider refined
+strokes of policy. The English Government not only countenanced his
+acts, but gave the example of a similar line of conduct. James, son of
+Gerald, Earl of Desmond, who had long been imprisoned in London, was now
+sent to Ireland, and a patent, restoring his title and estates, was
+forwarded to Carew, with private instructions that it should be used or
+not, as might be found expedient. The people flocked with joy to meet
+the heir of the ancient house, but their enthusiasm was soon turned into
+contempt. He arrived on a Saturday, and on Sunday went to the Protestant
+service, for he had been educated in the new religion in London. His
+people were amazed; they fell on their knees, and implored him not to
+desert the faith of his fathers; but he was ignorant of their language
+as well as of their creed. Once this was understood, they showed how
+much dearer that was to them than even the old ties of kindred, so
+revered in their island; and his return from prayers was hailed by
+groans and revilings. The hapless youth was found to be useless to his
+employers; he was therefore taken back to London, where he died soon
+after of a broken heart.
+
+Attempts were made to assassinate O'Neill in 1601. L2,000 was offered to
+any one who would capture him alive; L1,000 was offered for his head;
+but none of his own people could be found to play the traitor even for
+so high a stake. The "Sugane Earl" was treacherously captured about the
+end of August, and was sent to London in chains, with Florence
+MacCarthy. But the long-expected aid from Spain had at last arrived. The
+fleet conveyed a force of 3,000 infantry, and entered the harbour of
+Kinsale on the 23rd of September, under the command of Don Juan
+d'Aquila. It would appear as if Spanish expeditions were not destined to
+succeed on Irish soil for only part of the expedition arrived safely,
+and they had the misfortune to land in the worst situation, and to
+arrive after the war had ceased. The northern chieftains set out at once
+to meet their allies when informed of their arrival; and O'Donnell, with
+characteristic impetuosity, was the first on the road. Carew attempted
+to intercept him, but despaired of coming up with "so swift-footed a
+general," and left him to pursue his way unmolested.
+
+The Lord Deputy was besieging Kinsale, and Carew joined him there. The
+siege was continued through the month of November during which time
+fresh reinforcements came from Spain; and on the 21st of December,
+O'Neill arrived with all his force. Unfortunately, the Spanish general
+had become thoroughly disgusted with the enterprise; and, although the
+position of the English was such that the Lord Deputy had serious
+thoughts of raising the siege, he insisted on decisive measures; and
+O'Neill was obliged to surrender his opinion, which was entirely against
+this line of action. A sortie was agreed upon for a certain night; but a
+youth in the Irish camp, who had been in the President's service
+formerly, warned him of the intended attack. This was sufficient in
+itself to cause the disaster which ensued. But there were other
+misfortunes. O'Neill and O'Donnell lost their way; and when they reached
+the English camp at dawn, found the soldiers under arms, and prepared
+for an attack. Their cavalry at once charged, and the new comers in vain
+struggled to maintain their ground, and a retreat which they attempted
+was turned into a total rout.
+
+A thousand Irish were slain, and the prisoners were hanged without
+mercy. The loss on the English side was but trifling. It was a fatal
+blow to the Irish cause. Heavy were the hearts and bitter the thoughts
+of the brave chieftains on that sad night. O'Neill no longer hoped for
+the deliverance of his country; but the more sanguine O'Donnell proposed
+to proceed at once to Spain, to explain their position to King Philip.
+He left Ireland in a Spanish vessel three days after the battle--if
+battle it can be called; and O'Neill marched rapidly back to Ulster with
+Rory O'Donnell, to whom Hugh Roe had delegated the chieftaincy of
+Tir-Connell.
+
+D'Aquila, whose haughty manners had rendered him very unpopular, now
+surrendered to Mountjoy, who received his submission with respect, and
+treated his army honorably. According to one account, the Spaniard had
+touched some English gold, and had thus been induced to desert the Irish
+cause; according to other authorities, he challenged the Lord Deputy to
+single combat, and wished them to decide the question at issue. In the
+meantime, O'Sullivan Beare contrived to get possession of his own Castle
+of Dunboy, by breaking into the wall at the dead of night, while the
+Spanish garrison were asleep, and then declaring that he held the
+fortress for the King of Spain, to whom he transferred his allegiance.
+Don Juan offered to recover it for the English by force of arms; but the
+Deputy, whose only anxiety was to get him quietly out of the country,
+urged his immediate departure. He left Ireland on the 20th of February;
+and the suspicions of his treachery must have had some foundation, for
+he was placed under arrest as soon as he arrived in Spain.
+
+The siege of Dunboy is one of the most famous and interesting episodes
+in Irish history. The castle was deemed almost impregnable from its
+situation; and every argument was used with Sir George Carew to induce
+him to desist from attacking it. It was then, indeed--
+
+    "Dunboy, the proud, the strong,
+    The Saxon's hate and trouble long."[454]
+
+But the Lord Deputy had resolved that it should be captured. The Lord
+President considered the enterprise would be by no means difficult, for
+"he declared that he would plant the ordnance without the losse of a
+man; and within seven dayes after the battery was begun, bee master of
+all that place."[455] There was considerable delay in the arrival of the
+shipping which conveyed the ordnance, and operations did not commence
+until the 6th of June. The defence of the castle was intrusted by
+O'Sullivan to Richard MacGeoghegan. The chief himself was encamped with
+Tyrrell in the interior of the country. The soldiers were tempted, and
+the governor was tempted, but neither flinched for an instant from their
+duty. The garrison only consisted of 143 fighting men, with a few pieces
+of cannon. The besieging army was about 3,000 strong, and they were
+amply supplied with ammunition. On the 17th of June, when the castle was
+nearly shattered to pieces, its brave defenders offered to surrender if
+they were allowed to depart with their arms; but the only reply
+vouchsafed was to hang their messenger, and to commence an assault.
+
+The storming party were resisted for an entire day with undaunted
+bravery. Their leader was mortally wounded, and Taylor took the command.
+The garrison at last retreated into a cellar into which the only access
+was a narrow flight of stone steps, and where nine barrels of gunpowder
+were stored. Taylor declared he would blow up the place if life were not
+promised to those who surrendered. Carew refused, and retired for the
+night, after placing a strong guard over the unfortunate men. The
+following morning he sent cannon-ball in amongst them, and Taylor was
+forced by his companions to yield without conditions. As the English
+soldiers descended the steps, the wounded MacGeoghegan staggered towards
+the gunpowder with a lighted candle, and was in the act of throwing it
+in, when he was seized by Captain Power, and in another moment he was
+massacred. Fifty-eight of those who had surrendered were hanged
+immediately; a few were reserved to see if they could be induced to
+betray their old companions, or to renounce their faith; but as they
+"would not endeavour to merit life"[456] they were executed without
+mercy. One of these prisoners was a Father Dominic Collins. He was
+executed in Youghal, his native town--a most unwise proceeding; for his
+fate was sure to excite double sympathy in the place where he was known,
+and, consequently, to promote double disaffection.[457] O'Sullivan Beare
+assigns the 31st of October as the day of his martyrdom.
+
+The fall of Dunboy was a fatal blow to the national cause. The news soon
+reached Spain. Hugh O'Donnell had been warmly received there; but the
+burst of grief which his people uttered when they saw him departing from
+his native land, was his death-keen, for he did not long survive his
+voluntary expatriation. The war might now be considered over--at least,
+until the victims recovered courage to fight once more for their own;
+but the victims had to be taught how dearly they should pay for each
+attempt at national independence. Captain Harvey was sent to Carberry,
+"to purge the country of rebels"[458] by martial law. Wilmot was sent to
+Kerry, with orders to extirpate whole districts, which arrangement is
+called "settling the country," in the official document from which I
+quote. On one occasion a number of wounded Irish soldiers were found,
+who are described as "hurt and sick men;" they were at massacred, and
+this is called putting them out of pain.[459]
+
+Donnell O'Sullivan now found his position hopeless, and commenced his
+famous retreat to Leitrim. He set out with about 1,000 people, of whom
+only 400 were fighting men; the rest were servants, women, and children.
+He fought all the way, and arrived at his destination with only
+thirty-five followers.[460]
+
+O'Neill now stood merely on the defensive. The land was devastated by
+famine; Docwra, Governor of Derry, had planted garrisons at every
+available point; and Mountjoy plundered Ulster. In August he prepared to
+attack O'Neill with a large army, and, as he informs Cecil, "by the
+grace of God, as near as he could, utterly to waste the country of
+Tyrone." O'Neill had now retired to a fastness at the extremity of Lough
+Erne, attended by his brother, Cormac Art O'Neill, and MacMahon.
+Mountjoy followed him, but could not approach nearer than twelve miles;
+he therefore returned to Newry. In describing this march to Cecil, he
+says: "O'Hagan protested to us, that between Tullaghoge and Toome there
+lay unburied 1,000 dead."
+
+The news of O'Donnell's death had reached Ireland; and his brother
+submitted to the Deputy. In 1603 Sir Garret More entered into
+negotiations with O'Neill, which ended in his submitting also. The
+ceremony took place at Mellifont, on the 31st of March. Queen Elizabeth
+had expired, more miserably than many of the victims who had been
+executed in her reign, on the 24th of March; but the news was carefully
+concealed until O'Neill had made terms with the Viceroy.
+
+Trinity College, Dublin, was founded during this reign. Sir John Perrot
+had proposed to convert St. Patrick's Cathedral into an university; but
+Loftus, the Protestant Archbishop, would not allow it, because,
+according to Leland, "he was particularly interested in the livings of
+this church, by leases and estates, which he had procured for himself
+and his kinsmen." When the Deputy, whom he cordially hated, had been
+withdrawn, he proposed a plan which gave him the credit of the
+undertaking without any expenditure on his part. The site he selected
+was in what was then called Hogges-green, now College-green; and the
+place was the "scite, ambit and presinct"[461] of the Augustinian
+Monastery of All Saints, which had been founded by Dermod MacMurrough,
+King of Leinster, A.D. 1166. Dr. Loftus, after obtaining this grant, and
+such rents as still belonged to the old Catholic monastery, endeavoured
+to raise a subscription to supply the further funds still necessary to
+complete the work. In this he signally failed; for those to whom he
+applied excused themselves on the plea of poverty. Other funds were
+therefore sought for, and easily obtained; and the revenues of some
+suppressed Catholic houses in Kerry, Mayo, and Ulster, were taken to
+endow and erect the Protestant University.
+
+[Illustration: RUIN--BLACKWATER.]
+
+[Illustration: TULLY CASTLE, COUNTY FERMANAGH.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[444] _Dr. Saunders_.--He has given a full and most interesting account
+of this expedition, in a letter to the Roman court. The original has
+been printed by Monsignor Moran, in his _Archbishops_, a work which
+every reader should possess.
+
+[445] _Dr. Allen_.--He was a medical man, and was killed in an
+engagement immediately after the arrival of the expedition.
+
+[446] _Camp_.--Dr. Saunders' letter, Moran's _Archbishops_, p. 202.
+
+[447] _Official_.--Lord Grey says, in his official despatch to the
+Queen, dated "From the camp before Smerwick, November 12, 1580:" "I sent
+streighte certeyne gentlemen to see their weapons and armouries laid
+down, and to guard the munition and victual, then left, from spoil;
+_then put in certeyne bandes, who streighte fell to execution. There
+were 600 slayn_." After this exploit, "Grey's faith"--_Graia
+fides_--became proverbial even on the Continent. Grey appears to have a
+touch of the Puritan (by anticipation) in his composition, for we find
+him using very unctuous language about one John Cheeke, who "so wrought
+in him God's Spirit, plainlie declairing him a child of His elected;"
+and he calls the Pope "a detestable shaveling." Raleigh is said to have
+had the execution of this butchery; his friend, Spenser, was "not far
+off," according to his own account. He has attempted to excuse his
+patron, Lord Grey, but his excuse simply shows that the massacre was
+reprobated by all persons not destitute of common humanity.
+
+[448] _Castle._--The Four Masters give a detailed account of this
+treachery, taken from the life of Hugh Roe O'Donnell, which was written
+by one of themselves. A copy of this work, in the handwriting of Edward
+O'Reilly, is still preserved in the Library of the Royal Irish Academy.
+
+[449] _Him._--This document was written by Captain Lee, and presented to
+the Queen in 1594. It is printed in _Desiderata Curiosa Hibernica_, vol.
+ii. p. 91.
+
+[450] _Deputy._--Four Masters, vol. vi. p. 1878. The State Papers
+clearly prove the Deputy's guilt.
+
+[451] _Hanged_.--It was usual to hang the Franciscans by their own cord,
+or to tie them together with their cords and hurl them from the summit
+of a tower or from a high rock into the sea.
+
+[452] _Behalf_.--The Four Masters give copious details of this important
+engagement, which O'Donovan has supplemented with copious notes, vol.
+vi. pp.2061-2075.
+
+[453] _Victories_.--The victory of the Blackwater was hailed with salvos
+of artillery from S. Angelo. The Pope and Philip III. of Spain
+corresponded with O'Neill constantly, the one about the affairs of the
+Church, the other with generous offers of assistance. At one time the
+Emperor sent him 22,000 crowns of gold.
+
+[454] _Long--Dunboy and other Poems_, by T.D. Sullivan, Esq.
+
+[455] _Place--Hibernia Pacata_, vol. ii. p. 559.
+
+[456] _Life.--Hib. Pac_. vol. ii. p. 578.
+
+[457] _Disaffection_.--Dr. Moran quotes a letter from Dublin, written
+26th Feb., 1603, which says that he imparted great edification to the
+faithful by his constancy, and that the whole city of Cork accompanied
+him with its tears.
+
+[458] _Rebels.--_Commission from the Lord Deputy to Harvey.--See the
+document _in extenso, Hib, Pac_. vol ii. p. 447.
+
+[459] _Pain.--Hib. Pac_. p. 659.
+
+[460] _Followers_.--The father and mother of the celebrated historian,
+O'Sullivan were amongst the number of those who reached Leitrim in
+safety. Philip, the author, had been sent to Spain while a boy in 1602,
+for his education: the whole family joined him there soon after. Dr.
+O'Donovan is not correct in his genealogy. It is well known that the
+real representative of the family is Murtough O'Sullivan, Esq., of
+Clohina, co. Cork.
+
+[461] _Presinct.--History of the University of Dublin_, by W.B.S.
+Taylor. London, 1845.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+Accession of King James--Joy of the Irish Catholics--Their
+Disappointment--Bishops, Priests, and Laity imprisoned for the
+Faith--Paul V. encourages the Catholics to Constancy--Plot to entrap
+O'Neill and O'Donnell--Flight of the Earls--Ulster is left to the Mercy
+of the English Nation--The Plantation commences--Chichester's
+Parliament, and how he obtained Members--Death of James I., and
+Accession of Charles--The Hopes of the Catholics are raised again--They
+offer a large sum of Money to obtain "Graces"--It is accepted, and the
+"Graces" are treacherously refused--The Plantation of Connaught--How
+Obedience was enforced and Resistance punished--Conspiracy to seize
+Dublin--Sir Phelim O'Neill-Massacre of Island Magee.
+
+[A.D. 1605-1642.]
+
+Great was the joy of the Irish nation when James the First of England
+and the Sixth of Scotland ascended the throne. The people supposed him
+to be a Catholic in heart, and a prince in feeling. They should have
+judged less favourably of one who could see his mother sacrificed
+without making one real effort to avert her doom. His weakness,
+obstinacy, and duplicity, helped to prepare the way for the terrible
+convulsion of English society, whose origin was the great religious
+schism, which, by lessening national respect for the altar, undermined
+national respect for the throne.
+
+The Irish Catholics, only too ready to rejoice in the faintest gleam of
+hope, took possession of their own churches, and hoped they might
+practise their religion openly. The Cathedral of Limerick was
+re-dedicated by Richard Arthur, the Cathedral of Cork and Cloyne by
+Robert Urigh, the Metropolitan Church of Cashel by Thomas Rachtar, the
+churches of Wexford by John Coppinger. Dr. White restored himself the
+churches of Clonmel, Kilkenny, and Ross, and other clergymen acted in
+like manner in other places. But the most open and remarkable
+manifestation of devotion to the old faith was in Cork, always famous
+for its Catholicity, for the generosity of its people, and their special
+devotion to literature and religion. All the Protestant Bibles and
+Prayer-books were publicly and solemnly burned, the churches were
+hallowed, and Smith says: "They had a person named a Legate from the
+Pope [Dr. Moran, who quotes this passage, supposes him to have been a
+Vicar-Apostolic], who went about in procession with a cross, and forced
+people to reverence it. They buried the dead with the Catholic
+ceremonies; and numbers took the sacrament to defend that religion with
+their lives and fortunes."[462]
+
+But the Catholics were soon undeceived. King James drank "to the eternal
+damnation of the Papists"[463] solemnly at a public dinner, no doubt to
+convince the sceptical of his Protestantism; and he divided his time
+very equally between persecuting the Puritans and the Catholics, when
+not occupied with his pleasures or quarrelling with his Parliament. The
+Puritans, however, had the advantage; popular opinion in England was on
+their side; they were sufficiently wealthy to emigrate if they pleased:
+while the Catholics were not only unpopular, but hated, and utterly
+impoverished by repeated fines and exactions.
+
+James' conduct on his accession was sufficiently plain. He was
+proclaimed in Dublin on the 28th September, 1605. A part of his
+proclamation ran thus: "We hereby make known to our subjects in Ireland,
+that no toleration shall ever be granted by us. This we do for the
+purpose of cutting off all hope that any other religion shall be
+allowed, save that which is consonant to the laws and statutes of this
+realm." The penal statutes were renewed, and enforced with increased
+severity. Several members of the Corporation and some of the principal
+citizens of Dublin were sent to prison; similar outrages on religious
+liberty were perpetrated at Waterford, Ross, and Limerick. In some cases
+these gentlemen were only asked to attend the Protestant church once,
+but they nobly refused to act against their conscience even once, though
+it should procure them freedom from imprisonment, or even from death.
+The Vicar-Apostolic of Waterford and Lismore wrote a detailed account of
+the sufferings of the Irish nation for the faith at this period to
+Cardinal Baronius. His letter is dated "Waterford, 1st of May, 1606." He
+says: "There is scarcely a spot where Catholics can find a safe retreat.
+The impious soldiery, by day and night, pursue the defenceless priests,
+and mercilessly persecute them. Up to the present they have only
+succeeded in seizing three: one is detained in Dublin prison, another in
+Cork, and the third, in my opinion, is the happiest of all triumphing in
+heaven with Christ our Lord; for in the excess of the fury of the
+soldiery, without any further trial or accusation, having expressed
+himself to be a priest, he was hanged upon the spot."
+
+He then narrates the sufferings of the Catholic laity, many of whom he
+says are reduced to "extreme poverty and misery;" "if they have any
+property, they are doubly persecuted by the avaricious courtiers." But
+so many have given a glorious testimony of their faith, he thinks their
+enemies and persecutors have gained but little. Thus, while one party
+was rejoicing in their temporal gain, the other was rejoicing in
+temporal loss; and while the former were preaching liberty of conscience
+as their creed, the latter were martyrs to it.
+
+Another letter to Rome says: "2,000 florins are offered for the
+discovery of a Jesuit, and 1,000 for the discovery of any other priest,
+or even of the house where he lives. Whenever the servants of any of the
+clergy are arrested, they are cruelly scourged with whips, until they
+disclose all that they know about them. Bodies of soldiers are dispersed
+throughout the country in pursuit of bandits and priests; and all that
+they seize on, they have the power, by martial law, of hanging without
+further trial. They enter private house, and execute whom they please,
+vieing with each other in cruelty. It is difficult to define the precise
+number of those who are thus put to death. All who are greedy and
+spend-thrifts, seek to make a prey of the property of Catholics. No
+doors, walls, no enclosures can stop them in their course. Whatever is
+for profane use they profess to regard as sacred, and bear it off; and
+whatever is sacred they seize on to desecrate. Silver cups are called
+chalices, and gems are designated as _Agnus Deis_: and all are,
+therefore, carried away. There are already in prison one bishop, one
+vicar-general, some religious, very many priests, and an immense number
+of the laity of every class and condition. In one city alone five of the
+aldermen were thrown into prison successively, for refusing to take the
+nefarious oath of allegiance, on their being nominated to the mayoralty;
+in another city, no less than thirty were likewise thrust into prison at
+Easter last, for having approached the holy communion in the Catholic
+Church."
+
+The Catholics protested against this treatment in vain. A petition was
+considered an offence, and the petitioners were sent to gaol for their
+pains.
+
+In 1611 the Bishop of Down and Connor was executed in Dublin. He had
+been seized, in 1587, by Perrot, and thrown into prison. He was released
+in 1593, and, according to Dr. Loftus, he took the oath of supremacy.
+This statement, however, is utterly incredible, for he devoted himself
+to his flock immediately after his release, and continued to administer
+the sacraments to them at the risk of his life, until June, 1611, when
+he was again arrested in the act of administering the sacrament of
+confirmation to a Catholic family. Father O'Luorchain was imprisoned
+with him, and they were both sentenced and executed together. At the
+trial the Bishop declared that the oath of spiritual supremacy was
+impious, and said that his enemies could not thirst more eagerly for his
+blood than he himself was desirous to shed it for Christ his Redeemer.
+This venerable prelate had attained his eightieth year, but he was full
+of the vigour of saintly heroism. When on the scaffold he asked the
+executioner to allow him to be the last victim, as he wished to spare
+Father O'Luorchain the terrible spectacle of his sufferings. But the
+good priest was not behind the Franciscan bishop in his zeal, and he
+exclaimed, with a touching grace of courtesy, which the occasion made
+sublime, that "it was not fitting for a bishop to be without a priest to
+attend him, and he would follow him without fear." And he did follow
+him, for the Bishop went first to his crown.
+
+There was great difficulty in procuring any one who would carry out the
+sentence. The executioner fled, and could not be found when he learned
+on whom he was to do his office. At last an English culprit, under
+sentence of death, undertook the bloody work, on a promise that his own
+life should be granted as his reward.
+
+Communications with Rome were still as frequent and as intimate as they
+had ever been since Ireland received the faith at the hands of the great
+Apostle. To be children of Patrick and children of Rome were convertible
+terms; and the Holy See watched still more tenderly over this portion of
+the Church while it was suffering and persecuted. Paul V. wrote a
+special letter to the Irish Catholics, dated from "St. Mark's, 22nd of
+September, 1606," in which he mourns over their afflictions, commends
+their marvellous constancy, which he says can only be compared to that
+of the early Christians, and exhorts them specially to avoid the sin of
+attending Protestant places of worship--a compliance to which they were
+strongly tempted, when even one such act might procure exemption, for a
+time at least, from severe persecution or death.
+
+On another occasion the same Pontiff writes thus: "You glory in that
+faith by which your fathers procured for their country the distinguished
+appellation of the Island of Saints. Nor have the sufferings which you
+have endured been allowed to remain unpublished; your fidelity and
+Christian fortitude have become the subject of universal admiration; and
+the praise of your name has long since been loudly celebrated in every
+portion of the Christian world."[464]
+
+O'Neill and O'Donnell may be justly considered the last of the
+independent native chieftains. When the latter died in exile, and the
+former accepted the coronet of an English earl, the glories of the olden
+days of princes, who held almost regal power, had passed away for ever.
+The proud title of "the O'Neill" became extinct; his country was made
+shire ground; he accepted patents, and held his broad acres "in fee;"
+sheriffs were admitted; judges made circuits; king's commissioners took
+careful note of place, person, and property; and such a system of
+espionage was established, that Davies boasts, "it was not only known
+how people lived and what they do, but it is foreseen what they purpose
+and intend to do;" which latter species of clairvoyance seems to have
+been largely practised by those who were waiting until all suspicions
+were lulled to rest, that they might seize on the property, and imprison
+the persons of those whose estates they coveted.
+
+In May, 1603, O'Neill had visited London, in company with Mountjoy and
+Rory O'Donnell. The northern chieftains were graciously received; and it
+was on this occasion that O'Neill renounced his ancient name for his new
+titles. O'Donnell was made Earl of Tyrconnel at the same time. The first
+sheriffs appointed for Ulster were Sir Edward Pelham and Sir John
+Davies. The latter has left it on record, as his deliberate opinion,
+after many years' experience, "that there is no nation of people under
+the sun that doth love equal and indifferent justice better than the
+Irish, or will rest better satisfied with the execution thereof,
+_although it be against themselves, so that they may have the protection
+and benefits of the law, when, upon just cause, they do desire it."_
+
+A plot was now got up to entrap O'Neill and O'Donnell. Their complicity
+in it has long been questioned, though Dr. O'Donovan appears to think
+that Moore has almost decided the question against them. Moore's
+evidence, however, is hardly complete, while there is unquestionable
+authority which favours the opinion that "artful Cecil" was intriguing
+to accomplish their destruction. Curry says, in his _Historical Review_:
+"The great possessions of these two devoted Irish princes, proved the
+cause of their ruin. After the successful issue of the plot-contriving
+Cecil's gunpowder adventure in England, he turned his inventive thoughts
+towards this country. A plot to implicate the great northern chieftains
+was soon set on foot, and finally proved successful. The conspiracy is
+thus related by a learned English divine, Dr. Anderson, in his _Royal
+Genealogies_, printed in London, 1736: 'Artful Cecil employed one St.
+Lawrence to entrap the Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel, the Lord Delvin,
+and other Irish chiefs, into a sham plot, which had no evidence but
+his.'"
+
+The next movement was to drop an anonymous letter at the door of the
+council-chamber, mentioning a design, as then in contemplation, for
+seizing the Castle of Dublin, and murdering the Lord Deputy. No names
+were mentioned, but it was publicly stated that Government had
+information in their possession which fixed the guilt of the conspiracy
+on the Earl of Tyrone. His flight, which took place immediately after,
+was naturally considered as an acknowledgment of his guilt. It is more
+probable that the expatriation was prompted by his despair.
+
+The Four Masters give a touching account of their departure, and
+exclaim: "Woe to the heart that meditated, woe to the mind that
+conceived, woe to the council that decided on the project of their
+setting out on the voyage!" The exiles left Rathmullen on the 14th of
+September, 1607. O'Neill had been with the Lord Deputy shortly before;
+and one cannot but suppose that he had then obtained some surmise of
+premeditated treachery, for he arranged his flight secretly and swiftly,
+pretending that he was about to visit London. O'Neill was accompanied by
+his Countess, his three sons, O'Donnell, and other relatives. They first
+sailed to Normandy, where an attempt was made by the English Government
+to arrest them, but Henry IV. would not give them up. In Rome they were
+received as confessors exiled for the faith, and were liberally
+supported by the Pope and the King of Spain. They all died in a few
+years after their arrival, and their ashes rest in the Franciscan Church
+of St. Peter-in-Montorio. Rome was indeed dear to them, but Ireland was
+still dearer; and the exiled Celt, whether expatriated through force or
+stern necessity, lives only to long for the old home, or dies weeping
+for it.
+
+The Red Hand of the O'Neills had hitherto been a powerful protection to
+Ulster. The attempts "to plant" there had turned out failures; but now
+that the chiefs were removed, the people became an easy prey.
+O'Dogherty, Chief of Innishowen, was insulted by Sir George Paulett, in
+a manner which no gentleman could be expected to bear without calling
+his insulter to account; and the young chieftain took fearful vengeance
+for the rude blow which he had received from the English sheriff. He got
+into Culmore Fort at night by stratagem, and then marched to Derry,
+killed Paulett, massacred the garrison, and burned the town. Some other
+chieftains joined him, and kept up the war until July; when O'Dogherty
+was killed, and his companions-in-arms imprisoned. Sir Arthur Chichester
+received his property in return for his suggestions for the plantation
+of Ulster, of which we must now make brief mention.
+
+There can be little doubt, from Sir Henry Docwra's own account, that
+O'Dogherty was purposely insulted, and goaded into rebellion. He was the
+last obstacle to the grand scheme, and he was disposed of. Ulster was
+now at the mercy of those who chose to accept grants of land; and the
+grants were made to the highest bidders, or to those who had paid for
+the favour by previous services. Sir Arthur Chichester evidently
+considered that he belonged to the latter class, for we find him
+writing[465] at considerable length to the Earl of Northampton, then a
+ruling member of King James' cabinet, to request that he may be
+appointed President of Ulster. He commences his epistle by stating how
+deeply he is indebted to his Lordship for his comfortable and kind
+letters, and the praise he has given him in public and private. He then
+bestows an abundant meed of commendation on his justice in return. He
+next explains his hopes and desires. He declares that he wishes for the
+Presidency of Ulster, "more for the service he might there do his
+Majesty, than for the profit he expects,"--a statement which the Earl no
+doubt read exactly as it was intended; and he says that he only mentions
+his case because "charitie beginnes with myeselfe," which, indeed,
+appears to have been the view of that virtue generally taken by all
+planters and adventurers. He concludes with delicately informing his
+correspondent, that if he can advance any friend of his in any way he
+will be most happy to do so. This letter is dated from the "Castle of
+Dublin, 7th of February, 1607." The date should read, according to the
+change of style, 1608. The Lord Deputy knew well what he was asking for.
+During the summer of the preceding year, he had made a careful journey
+through Ulster, with John Davies; and Carte has well observed, that
+"nobody knew the territories better to be planted;" and he might have
+added, that few persons had a clearer eye to their own advantage in the
+arrangements he made.
+
+[Illustration: CASTLE MONEA, CO. FERMANAGH.]
+
+The plan of the plantation was agreed upon in 1609. It was the old plan
+which had been attempted before, though with less show of legal
+arrangement, but with quite the same proportion of legal iniquity. The
+simple object was to expel the natives, and to extirpate the Catholic
+religion. The six counties to be planted were Tyrone, Derry, Donegal,
+Armagh, Fermanagh, and Cavan. These were parcelled out into portions
+varying from 2,000 to 4,000 acres, and the planters were obliged to
+build bawns and castles, such as that of Castle Monea, county Fermanagh,
+of which we subjoin an illustration. Tully Castle[466] was built by Sir
+John Hume, on his plantation. Both these castles afford good examples of
+the structures erected at this period. The great desiderata were
+proximity to water and rising ground--the beauty of the surrounding
+scenery, which was superadded at least at Tully Castle, was probably but
+little valued.
+
+Chichester now proposed to call a Parliament. The plantation of Ulster
+had removed some difficulties in the way of its accomplishment. The
+Protestant University of Dublin had obtained 3,000 acres there, and
+400,000 acres of tillage land had been partitioned out between English
+and Scotch proprietors. It was expressly stipulated that their tenants
+should be English or Scotch, and Protestants; the Catholic owners of the
+land were, in some cases, as a special favour, permitted to remain, if
+they took the oath of supremacy, if they worked well for their masters,
+and if they paid double the rent fixed for the others. Sixty thousand
+acres in Dublin and Waterford, and 385,000 acres in Westmeath, Longford,
+King's county, Queen's county, and Leitrim, had been portioned out in a
+similar manner. A Presbyterian minister, whose father was one of the
+planters, thus describes the men who came to establish English rule, and
+root out Popery: "From Scotland came many, and from England not a few;
+yet all of them generally the scum of both nations, who, from debt, or
+making and fleeing from justice, or seeking shelter, came hither, hoping
+to be without fear of man s justice, in a land where there was nothing
+or but little as yet of the fear of God.... Most of the people were all
+void of godliness.... On all hands atheism increased, and disregard of
+God; iniquity abounds, with contention, fighting, murder and
+adultery."[467]
+
+It was with such persons as these the lower house was filled. The upper
+house was composed of the Protestant bishops and English aristocracy,
+who were of course unanimous in their views. Chichester obtained ample
+powers to arrange the lower house. Forty new boroughs were formed, many
+of them consisting merely of a few scattered houses; some of them were
+not incorporated until after the writs were issued. The Catholics were
+taken by surprise as no notice had been given, either of the Parliament
+or the laws intended to be enacted. Six Catholic lords of the Pale
+remonstrated with the King, but he treated them with the utmost
+contempt. The house assembled; there was a struggle for the Speaker's
+chair. The Catholic party proposed Sir John Everard, who had just
+resigned his position as Justice of the King's Bench sooner than take
+the oath of supremacy; the court party insisted on having Sir John
+Davies. The Catholics protested, and sent a deputation to James, who
+first lectured[468] them to show his learning, and them imprisoned them
+to show his power. Some kind of compromise was eventually effected. A
+severe penal law was withdrawn; a large subsidy was voted. In truth, the
+Irish party acted boldly, considering their peculiar circumstances, for
+one and all refused to enter the old cathedral, which their forefathers
+had erected, when Protestant service was read therein on the day of the
+opening of Parliament; and even Lord Barry retired when he laid the
+sword of state before the Lord Deputy. We may excuse them for submitting
+to the attainder of O'Neill and O'Donnell, for there were few national
+members who had not withdrawn before the vote was passed.
+
+Chichester retired from the government of Ireland in 1616. In 1617 a
+proclamation was issued for the expulsion of the Catholic clergy, and
+the city of Waterford was deprived of its charter in consequence of the
+spirited opposition which its corporation offered to the oath of
+spiritual supremacy. In 1622 Viscount Falkland came over as Lord Deputy,
+and Usher, who was at heart a Puritan,[469] preached a violent sermon on
+the occasion, in which he suggested a very literal application of his
+text, "He beareth not the sword in vain." If a similar application of
+the text had been made by a Catholic divine, it would have been called
+intolerance, persecution, and a hint that the Inquisition was at hand;
+as used by him, it was supposed to mean putting down Popery by the
+sword.
+
+James I. died on the 27th March, 1625, and left his successor no very
+pleasant prospects in any part of his kingdom. He was pronounced by
+Sully to be "the wisest fool in Europe;" Henry IV. styled him "Captain
+of Arts and Clerk of Arms;" and a favourite epigram of the age is thus
+translated:--
+
+    "When Elizabeth was England's King,
+    That dreadful name thro' Spain did ring
+    How altered is the case, ah sa' me!
+    The juggling days of good Queen Jamie."
+
+On the accession of Charles I., in 1625, it was so generally supposed he
+would favour the Catholic cause, that the earliest act of the new
+Parliament in London was to vote a petition, begging the King to enforce
+the laws against recusants and Popish priests. The Viceroy, Lord
+Falkland, advised the Irish Catholics to propitiate him with a voluntary
+subsidy. They offered the enormous sum of L120,000, to be paid in three
+annual instalments, and in return he promised them certain "graces." The
+contract was ratified by royal proclamation, in which the concessions
+were accompanied by a promise that a Parliament should be held to
+confirm them. The first instalment of the money was paid, and the Irish
+agents returned home to find themselves cruelly deceived and basely
+cheated. Falkland was recalled by the Puritan party, on suspicion of
+favouring the Catholics; Viscount Ely and the Earl of Cork were
+appointed Lords Justices; and a reign of terror was at once commenced.
+
+The Protestant Archbishop of Dublin, Dr. Bulkely, was foremost in
+commencing the persecution. He marched, with the Mayor and a file of
+soldiers, to the Franciscan[470] church in Cook-street, on St. Stephen's
+Day, 1629, dispersed the congregation, seized the friars profaned the
+church, and broke the statue of St. Francis. The friars were rescued by
+the people, and the Archbishop had "to take to his heels and cry out for
+help," to save himself. Eventually the Franciscans established their
+novitiates on the Continent, but still continued their devoted
+ministrations to the people, at the risk of life and liberty. Their
+house in Cook-street was pulled down by royal order, and three other
+chapels and a Catholic seminary were seized and converted to the King's
+use. Wentworth assembled a Parliament in July, 1634, the year after his
+arrival in Ireland. Its subserviency was provided for by having a number
+of persons elected who were in the pay of the crown as military
+officers. The "graces" were asked for, and the Lord Deputy declared they
+should be granted, if the supply was readily voted. "Surely," he said,
+"so great a meanness cannot enter your hearts as once to suspect his
+Majesty's gracious regards of you, and performance with you, when you
+affix yourself upon his grace." This speech so took the hearts of the
+people, that all were ready to grant all that might be demanded; and six
+subsidies of L50,000 each were voted, though Wentworth only expected
+L30,000. In the meanwhile neither Wentworth nor the King had the
+slightest idea of granting the "graces" and the atrocious duplicity and
+incomparable "meanness" of the King is placed eternally on record, in
+his own letter to his favourite, in which he thanks him "for keeping off
+the envy [odium] of a necessary negative from me, of those unreasonable
+graces that people expected from me."[471] Wentworth describes himself
+how two judges and Sir John Radcliffe assisted him in the plan, and how
+a positive refusal was made to recommend the passing of the "graces"
+into law at the next session.
+
+"Charles' faith" might now safely rank with Grey's; and the poor
+impoverished Irishman, who would willingly have given his last penny, as
+well as the last drop of his blood, to save his faith, was again cruelly
+betrayed where he most certainly might have expected that he could have
+confided and trusted. One of the "graces" was to make sixty years of
+undisputed possession of property a bar to the claims of the crown; and
+certainly if there ever a country where such a demand was necessary and
+reasonable, it was surely Ireland. There had been so many plantations,
+it was hard for anything to grow; and so many settlements, it was hard
+for anything to be settled. Each new monarch, since the first invasion
+of the country by Henry II., had his favourites to provide for and his
+friends to oblige. The island across the sea was considered "no man's
+land," as the original inhabitants were never taken into account, and
+were simply ignored, unless, indeed, when they made their presence very
+evident by open resistance to this wholesale robbery. It was no wonder,
+then, that this "grace" should be specially solicited. It was one in
+which the last English settler in Ulster had quite as great an interest
+as the oldest Celt in Connemara. The Burkes and the Geraldines had
+suffered almost as much from the rapacity of their own countrymen as the
+natives, on whom their ancestors had inflicted such cruel wrongs. No
+man's property was safe in Ireland, for the tenure was depending on the
+royal will; and the caprices of the Tudors were supplemented by the
+necessities of the Stuarts.
+
+But the "grace" was refused, although, probably, there was many a recent
+colonist who would have willingly given one-half of his plantation to
+have secured the other to his descendants. The reason of the refusal was
+soon apparent. As soon as Parliament was dissolved, a Commission of
+"Defective Titles" was issued for Connaught. Ulster had been settled,
+Leinster had been settled, Munster had been settled; there remained only
+Connaught, hitherto so inaccessible, now, with advancing knowledge of
+the art of war, and new means of carrying out that art, doomed to the
+scourge of desolation.
+
+The process was extremely simple. The lawyers were set to work to hunt
+out old claims for the crown; and as Wentworth had determined to
+invalidate the title to every estate in Connaught, they had abundant
+occupation. Roscommon was selected for a commencement. The sheriffs were
+directed to select jurors who would find for the crown. The jurors were
+made clearly to understand what was expected from them, and what the
+consequences would be if they were "contumacious." The object of the
+crown was, of course, the general good of the country. The people of
+Connaught were to be civilized and enriched; but, in order to carry out
+this very desirable arrangement, the present proprietors were to be
+replaced by new landlords, and the country was to be placed entirely at
+the disposal of the Sovereign.[472]
+
+It was now discovered that the lands and lordships of De Burgo, adjacent
+to the Castle of Athlone, and, in fact, the whole remaining province,
+belonged to the crown. It would be useless here to give details of the
+special pleading on which this statement was founded; it is an
+illustration of what I have observed before, that the tenure of the
+English settler was quite as uncertain as the tenure of the Celt. The
+jury found for the King; and as a reward, the foreman, Sir Lucas Dillon,
+was graciously permitted to retain a portion of his own lands. Lowther,
+Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, got four shillings in the pound of
+the first year's rent raised under the Commission of "Defective Titles."
+The juries of Mayo and Sligo were equally complacent; but there was
+stern resistance made in Galway, and stern reprisals were made for the
+resistance. The jurors were fined L4,000 each and were imprisoned, and
+their estates seized until that sum was paid. The sheriff was fined
+L1,000, and, being unable to pay that sum, he died in prison. And all
+this was done with the full knowledge and the entire sanction of the
+"royal martyr."
+
+The country was discontented, and the Lord Deputy demanded more troops,
+"until the intended plantation should be settled." He could not see why
+the people should object to what was so very much for their own good,
+and never allowed himself to think that the disturbance had anything to
+do with the land question. The new proprietors were of the same opinion.
+Those who were or who feared to be dispossessed, and those who felt that
+their homes, whether humble or noble, could not be called their own,
+felt differently; but their opinion was as little regarded as their
+sufferings.
+
+The Earl of Ormonde's property was next attacked, but he made a prudent
+compromise, and his party was too powerful to permit of its refusal. A
+Court of Wards was also established about this time, for the purpose of
+having all heirs to estates brought up in the Protestant religion; and a
+High Commission Court was instituted, which rivalled the exactions of
+the Star Chamber in England.
+
+In 1640 another appeal was made by the King for assistance, and
+Wentworth headed the contribution with L20,000. He had devoted himself
+with considerable ability to increasing the Irish revenue and the trade
+of the country had improved, although the Irish woollen manufacture had
+been completely crushed, as it threatened to interfere with English
+commerce. The Lord Deputy now saw the advantage of procuring a standing
+army in Ireland, and he proceeded to embody a force of 10,000 foot and
+1,000 horse. These men were principally Irish and Catholics, as he knew
+they would be most likely to stand by the King in an hour of trial,
+notwithstanding the cruel persecutions to which they had been subjected.
+But the Deputy's own career was nearer its termination than he had
+anticipated. When he forsook the popular side in England, Pym had
+remarked significantly: "Though you have left us, I will not leave you
+while your head is on your shoulders." The Puritan faction never lost
+sight of a quarry when once they had it in sight, and it scarcely needed
+Stafford's haughtiness and devotion to the King to seal his doom. The
+unhappy King was compelled to sign his death-warrant; and the victim was
+executed on the 12th of May, 1641, redeeming in some manner, by the
+nobleness of his death, the cruelties, injustices, and duplicity of
+which he had been guilty during his life.
+
+The kingdom of England was never in a more critical state than at this
+period. The King was such only in name, and the ruling powers were the
+Puritan party, who already looked to Cromwell as their head. The
+resistance, which had begun in opposition to tyrannical enactments, and
+to the arbitrary exercise of authority by the King and his High Church
+prelates, was fast merging into, what it soon became, an open revolt
+against the crown, and all religion which did not square with the very
+peculiar and ill-defined tenets of the rebellious party. In 1641 the
+Queen's confessor was sent to the Tower, and a resolution was passed by
+both houses never to consent to the toleration of the Catholic worship
+in Ireland, or in any other part of his Majesty's dominions. The country
+party had determined to possess themselves of the command of the army;
+and whatever struggles the King might make, to secure the only support
+of his throne, it was clear that the question was to be decided in their
+favour. The conduct of Holles, Pym, Hampden, and Stroud was well known
+even in Ireland; and in Ireland fearful apprehensions were entertained
+that still more cruel sufferings were preparing for that unfortunate
+country.
+
+An insurrection was organized, and its main supports were some of the
+best and bravest of the old race, who had been driven by political and
+religious persecution to other lands, where their bravery had made them
+respected, and their honorable dealings had made them esteemed. Spain
+had received a considerable number of these exiles. In June, 1635, an
+Irish regiment in the Spanish service, commanded by Colonel Preston, had
+immortalized themselves by their heroic defence of Louvain. Wherever
+they went they were faithful to the sovereign under whom they served;
+and French and Spanish generals marvelled how the English nation could
+be so infatuated as to drive their noblest and bravest officers and men
+into foreign service. An important official document still exists in the
+State Paper Office, which was prepared by a Government spy, and which
+details the names, rank, and qualifications of many of these gentlemen.
+They were serving in Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Poland, and the Low
+Countries. Don Richard Burke--strange that the first on the list of
+Irish exiles should be of Anglo-Norman descent--was Governor of Leghorn,
+and had seen great service in Italy and in the West Indies; "Phellemy
+O'Neill, nephew to old Tyrone," lived with great respect in Milan. There
+were one hundred able to command companies, and twenty fit to be made
+colonels under the Archduchess alone. The list of the names would fill
+several pages, and those, it should be remembered, were leading men.
+There were, besides, to be considered, an immense number of Irish of the
+lower classes, who had accompanied their chiefs abroad, and served in
+their regiments. The report says: "They have long been providing of arms
+for any attempt against Ireland, and had in readiness five or six
+thousand arms laid up in Antwerp for that purpose, _bought out of the
+deduction of their monthly pay, as will be proved; and it is thought now
+they have doubled that proportion by those means_."[473]
+
+The reason of the increased sacrifice they made for their country, was
+probably the report that the moment was at hand when it might be
+available. The movement in Ireland was commenced by Roger O'More, a
+member of the ancient family of that name, who had been so unjustly
+expelled from their ancestral home in Leix; by Lord Maguire, who had
+been deprived of nearly all his ancient patrimony at Fermanagh, and his
+brother Roger; by Sir Phelim O'Neill of Kinnare, the elder branch of
+whose family had been expatriated; by Turlough O'Neill, his brother, and
+by several other gentlemen similarly situated. O'More was the chief
+promoter of the projected insurrection. He was eminently suited to
+become a popular leader for he was a man of great courage, fascinating
+address, and imbued with all the high honour of the old Celtic race. In
+May, 1641, Nial O'Neill arrived in Ireland with a promise of assistance
+from Cardinal Richelieu; and the confederates arranged that the rising
+should take place a few days before or after All Hallows, according to
+circumstances. In the meanwhile the exiled Earl of Tyrone was killed;
+but his successor, Colonel Owen Roe O'Neill, then serving in Flanders,
+entered warmly into all their plans.
+
+The King was now obliged to disband his Irish forces, and their
+commanders were sent orders for that purpose. They had instructions,
+however, to keep the men at home and together, so that they might easily
+be collected again if they could be made available, as, strange to say,
+the so-called "Irish rebels" were the only real hope which Charles had
+to rely on in his conflict with his disloyal English subjects. An
+understanding was soon entered into between these officers and the Irish
+party. They agreed to act in concert; and one of the former, Colonel
+Plunket, suggested the seizure of Dublin Castle. The 23rd of October was
+fixed on for the enterprise; but, though attempted, the attempt was
+frustrated by a betrayal of the plot, in consequence of an indiscretion
+of one of the leaders.
+
+The rage of the Protestant party knew no limits. The Castle was put in a
+state of defence, troops were ordered in all directions, and
+proclamations were issued. In the meantime the conspirators at a
+distance had succeeded better, but unfortunately they were not aware of
+the failure in Dublin until it was too late. Sir Phelim O'Neill was at
+the head of 30,000 men. He issued a proclamation, stating that he
+intended "no hurt to the King, or hurt of any of his subjects, English
+or Scotch;" but that his only object was the defence of Irish liberty.
+He added that whatever hurt was done any one, should be personally
+repaired. This proclamation was from "Dungannon, the 23rd of October,
+1641," and signed "PHELIM O'NEILL."
+
+A few days after he produced a commission, which he pretended he had
+received from the King, authorizing his proceedings; but he amply atoned
+for this _ruse de guerre_ afterwards, by declaring openly and honorably
+that the document was forged. The Irish were treated with barbarous
+severity, especially by Sir Charles Coote; while they were most careful
+to avoid any bloodshed, except what was justifiable and unavoidable in
+war. Dr. Bedell, the good and gentle Protestant Bishop of Kilmore, and
+all his people, were protected; and he drew up a remonstrance, from the
+tenor of which he appears to have given some sanction to the proceedings
+of the northern chieftains. The massacre of Island Magee took place
+about this period; and though the exact date is disputed, and the exact
+number of victims has been questioned, it cannot be disproved that the
+English and Scotch settlers at Carrickfergus sallied forth at night, and
+murdered a number of defenceless men, women, and children. That there
+was no regular or indiscriminate massacre of Protestants by the
+Catholics at this period, appears to be proved beyond question by the
+fact, that no mention of such an outrage was made in any of the letters
+of the Lords Justices to the Privy Council. It is probable, however,
+that the Catholics did rise up in different places, to attack those by
+whom they had been so severely and cruelly oppressed; and although there
+was no concerted plan of massacre, many victims, who may have been
+personally innocent, paid the penalty of the guilty. In such evidence as
+is still on record, ghost stories predominate; and even the Puritans
+seem to have believed the wildest tales of the apparition of
+Protestants, who demanded the immolation of the Catholics who had
+murdered them.
+
+[Illustration: ANCIENT DRINKING VESSEL OR METHER, FROM THE COLLECTION OF
+THE R.I.A.]
+
+[Illustration: TABLE AND CHAIR USED AT THE CONFEDERATION OF KILKENNY.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[462] _Fortunes._--Smith's _History of Kerry_, vol. ii. p. 97.
+
+[463] _Papists._--Oliver's _Collections_, quoted by Dr. Moran, p. 250.
+
+[464] _World._--Dr. Rothe, quoted by Monsignor Moran, p. 251.
+
+[465] _Writing_.--The original is in the Cot. Col. British Museum.
+
+[466] _Tully Castle_.--See heading of this chapter.
+
+[467] _Adultery_.--MS. History, by Rev. A. Stuart, quoted in Reid's
+_History of the Presbyterian Church_, vol. i. p. 96.
+
+[468] _Lectured_. The address of the Irish party to James is given in
+O'Sullivan Beare's _History_, p. 316, and also the King's reply, p. 323.
+A collection made throughout Ireland to defray the expenses of the
+delegates.
+
+[469] _Puritan_--Plowden's _History of Ireland_, vol. i. p. 338. "By his
+management and contrivance, he provided the whole doctrine of Calvin to
+be received as the public belief of the Protestant Church of Ireland,
+and ratified by Chichester in the King's name." Chichester himself was a
+thorough Puritan, and a disciple of Cartwright, who used to pray, "O
+Lord, give us grace and power as one man to set ourselves against them"
+(the bishops).
+
+[470] _Franciscan_.--An account of the sufferings of the Franciscans
+will be found in _St. Francis and the Franciscans_. The Poor Clares, who
+are the Second Order of St. Francis, were refounded and established in
+Ireland, by Sir John Dillon's sister, about this time, and suffered
+severe persecutions. Miss Dillon, the Abbess, was brought before the
+Lord Deputy; but her quiet dignity made such impression on the court,
+that she was dismissed without molestation for the time.
+
+[471] _From me_.--Stafford's State Letters, vol. i. p. 331.
+
+[472] _Sovereign_.--Strafford's Letters, vol. ii. p. 241.
+
+[473] _Means._--This curious document was first published in the
+_Nation_ of February 5th, 1859.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+English Adventurers speculate on Irish Disaffection--Coote's
+Cruelties--Meeting of Irish Noblemen and Gentlemen--Discontent of the
+People--The Catholic Priests try to save Protestants from their fury--A
+National Synod to deliberate on the State of Irish Affairs--The General
+Assembly is convened at Kilkenny--A Mint is established--A
+Printing-Press set up--Relations are entered into with Foreign States,
+and a Method of Government is organized--Differences of Opinion between
+the Old Irish and Anglo-Irish--A Year's Treaty is made--Arrival of
+Rinuccini--He lands at Kenmare--His Account of the Irish People--His
+Reception at Kilkenny--His Opinion of the State of Affairs--Divisions of
+the Confederates--Ormonde's Intrigues--The Battle of Benburb--Divisions
+and Discord in Camp and Senate--A Treaty signed and published by the
+Representatives of the English King--Rinuccini returns to Italy.
+
+[A.D. 1642-1649.]
+
+
+O'Neill now took the title of "Lord-General of the Catholic army in
+Ulster." A proclamation was issued by the Irish Government, declaring he
+had received no authority from the King; and the ruling powers were
+often heard to say, "that the more were in rebellion, the more lands
+should be forfeited to them."[474] A company of adventurers were already
+formed in London on speculation, and a rich harvest was anticipated.
+Several engagements took place, in which the insurgents were on the
+whole successful. It was now confidently stated that a general massacre
+of the Catholics was intended; and, indeed, the conduct of those engaged
+in putting down the rising, was very suggestive of such a purpose. In
+Wicklow, Sir Charles Coote put many innocent persons to the sword,
+without distinction of age or sex. On one occasion, when he met a
+soldier carrying an infant on the point of his pike, he was charged with
+saying that "he liked such frolics."[475] Carte admits that his temper
+was rather "sour;" but he relates incidents in his career which should
+make one think "barbarous" would be the more appropriate term. The Lords
+Justices approved of his proceedings; and Lord Castlehaven gives a
+fearful account of the conduct of troops sent out by these gentlemen,
+who "killed men, women, and children promiscuously; which procedure," he
+says, "not only exasperated the rebels, and _induced them to commit the
+like cruelties upon the English_, but frightened the nobility and gentry
+about; who, seeing the harmless country people, without respect of age
+or sex, thus barbarously murdered, and themselves then openly threatened
+as favourers of the rebellion, for paying the contributions they could
+not possibly refuse, resolved to stand upon their guard."[476]
+
+Before taking an open step, even in self-defence, the Irish noblemen and
+gentlemen sent another address to the King; but their unfortunate
+messenger, Sir John Read, was captured, and cruelly racked by the party
+in power--their main object being to obtain something from his
+confessions which should implicate the King and Queen. Patrick Barnwell,
+an aged man, was also racked for a similar purpose. The Lords Justices
+now endeavoured to get several gentlemen into their possession, on
+pretence of holding a conference. Their design was suspected, and the
+intended victims escaped; but they wrote a courteous letter, stating the
+ground of their refusal. A meeting of the principal Irish noblemen and
+gentlemen was now held on the Hill of Crofty, in Meath. Amongst those
+present were the Earl of Fingall, Lords Gormanstown, Slane, Louth,
+Dunsany, Trimbleston, and Netterville, Sir Patrick Barnwell and Sir
+Christopher Bellew; and of the leading country gentlemen, Barnwell,
+Darcy, Bath, Aylmer, Cusack, Malone, Segrave, &c. After they had been a
+few hours on the ground, the leaders of the insurgent party came up, and
+were accosted by Lord Gormanstown, who inquired why they came armed into
+the Pale. O'More replied that they had "taken up arms for the freedom
+and liberty of their consciences, the maintenance of his Majesty's
+prerogative, in which they understood he was abridged, and the making
+the subjects of this kingdom as free as those of England." Lord
+Gormanstown answered: "Seeing these be your true ends, we will likewise
+join with you therein."
+
+On the 1st of January, 1642, Charles issued a proclamation against the
+Irish rebels, and wished to take the command against them in person; but
+his Parliament was his master, and the members were glad enough of the
+excuse afforded by the troubles in Ireland to increase the army, and to
+obtain a more direct personal control over its movements. They voted
+away Irish estates, and uttered loud threats of exterminating Popery;
+but they had a more important and interesting game in hand at home,
+which occupied their attention, and made them comparatively indifferent
+to Irish affairs.
+
+Sir Phelim O'Neill was not succeeding in the north. He had been obliged
+to raise the siege of Drogheda, and the English had obtained possession
+of Dundalk. L1,000 was offered for his head, and L600 for the heads of
+some of his associates. Ormonde and Tichburne were in command of the
+Government forces, but Ormonde was considered to be too lenient; and two
+priests, Father Higgins and Father White, were executed by Coote, the
+one without trial, and the other without even the forms of justice,
+although they were under the Earl's protection. Carte says that Father
+Higgins' case excited special interest, for he had saved many
+Protestants from the fury of the Irish, and afforded them relief and
+protection afterwards. Indeed, at this period, the Catholic clergy were
+unwearied in their efforts to protect the Protestants. They must have
+been actuated by the purest motives of religion, which were none the
+less sacred to them because they could neither be understood nor
+appreciated by those whose whole conduct had been so different. Father
+Saul, a Jesuit, sheltered Dr. Pullen, the Protestant Dean of Clonfert,
+and his family; Father Everard and Father English, Franciscan friars,
+concealed many Protestants in their chapels, and even under their
+altars. Many similar instances are on record in the depositions
+concerning the murders and massacres of the times, at present in Trinity
+College, Dublin; though those depositions were taken with the avowed
+object of making out a case against the Catholics of having intended a
+general massacre. In Galway the Jesuits were especially active in
+charity to their enemies, and went through the town exhorting the
+people, for Christ's sake, our Lady's and St. Patrick's, to shed no
+blood. But although the Catholic hierarchy were most anxious to prevent
+outrages against humanity, they were by no means insensible to the
+outrages against justice, from which the Irish nation had so long
+suffered. They were far from preaching passive submission to tyranny, or
+passive acceptance of heresy. The Church had long since not only
+sanctioned, but even warmly encouraged, a crusade against the infidels,
+and the deliverance, by force of arms, of the holy places from
+desecration; it had also granted[477] similar encouragements and similar
+indulgences to all who should fight for "liberties and rights" in
+Ireland, and had "exhorted, urged, and solicited" the people to do so
+with "all possible affection." The Irish clergy could have no doubt that
+the Holy See would sanction a national effort for national liberty. The
+Archbishop of Armagh, therefore, convened a provincial synod, which was
+held at Kells, on the 22nd of March, 1641, which pronounced the war
+undertaken by the Catholics of Ireland lawful and pious, but denounced
+murders and usurpations, and took steps for assembling a national synod
+at Kilkenny during the following year.
+
+The Catholic cause, meanwhile, was not advancing through the country.
+The Irish were defeated in nearly every engagement with the English
+troops. The want of a competent leader and of unanimity of purpose was
+felt again, as it had so often been felt before; but the Church
+attempted to supply the deficiency, and, if it did not altogether
+succeed, it was at least a national credit to have done something in the
+cause of freedom.
+
+The synod met at Kilkenny, on the 10th of May, 1642. It was attended by
+the Archbishops of Armagh, Cashel, and Tuam, and the Bishops of Ossory,
+Elphin, Waterford and Lismore, Kildare Clonfert, and Down and Connor.
+Proctors attended for the Archbishop of Dublin, and for the Bishops of
+Limerick, Emly, and Killaloe. There were present, also, sixteen other
+dignitaries and heads of religious orders. They issued a manifesto
+explaining their conduct and, forming a Provisional Government,
+concluded their labours, after three days spent in careful deliberation.
+
+Owen Roe O'Neill and Colonel Preston arrived in Ireland in July, 1642,
+accompanied by a hundred officers, and well supplied with arms and
+ammunition. Sir Phelim O'Neill went at once to meet O'Neill, and
+resigned the command of the army; and all promised fairly for the
+national cause. The Scots, who had kept up a war of their own for some
+time, against both the King and the Catholics, were wasting Down and
+Antrim; and O'Neill was likely to need all his military skill and all
+his political wisdom in the position in which he was placed.
+
+Preston had landed in Wexford, and brought a still larger force; while
+all the brave expatriated Irishmen in foreign service, hastened home the
+moment there appeared a hope that they could strike a blow with some
+effect for the freedom of their native land.
+
+The General Assembly projected by the national synod in Kilkenny, held
+its first meeting on October 14, 1642,--eleven spiritual and fourteen
+temporal peers, with 226 commoners, representing the Catholic population
+of Ireland. It was, in truth, a proud and glorious day for the nation.
+For once, at least, she could speak through channels chosen by her own
+free will; and for once there dawned a hope of legislative freedom of
+action for the long-enslaved people. The old house is still shown where
+that Assembly deliberated--a Parliament all but in name. The table then
+used, and the chair occupied by the Speaker, are still preserved, as sad
+mementos of freedom's blighted cause.[478] The house used was in the
+market-place, The peers and commoners sat together; but a private room
+was allotted for the lords to consult in. Dr. Patrick Darcy, an eminent
+lawyer, represented the Chancellor and the judges. Mr. Nicholas Plunket
+was chosen as Speaker; the Rev. Thomas O'Quirk, a learned Dominican
+friar, was appointed Chaplain to both houses.
+
+The Assembly at once declared that they met as a provisional government,
+and not as a parliament. The preliminary arrangements occupied them
+until the 1st of November. From the 1st until the 4th, the committee was
+engaged in drawing up a form for the Confederate Government; on the 4th
+it was sanctioned by the two houses. Magna Charta, and the common and
+statute law of England, in all points not contrary to the Catholic
+religion, or inconsistent with the liberty of Ireland, were made the
+basis of the new Government. The administrative authority was vested in
+a Supreme Council, which was then chosen, and of which Lord Mountgarret
+was elected President.
+
+[Illustration: PARLIAMENT HOUSE, KILKENNY.]
+
+There were six members elected for each province. For Leinster, the
+Archbishop of Dublin, Lords Gormanstown and Mountgarret, Nicholas
+Plunket, Richard Belling, and James Cusack. For Ulster, the Archbishop
+of Armagh, the Bishop of Down, Philip O'Reilly, Colonel MacMahon, Heber
+Magennis, and Turlough O'Neill. For Munster, Viscount Roche, Sir Daniel
+O'Brien, Edmund FitzMaurice, Dr. Fennell, Robert Lambert, and George
+Comyn. For Connaught, the Archbishop of Tuam, Viscount Mayo, the Bishop
+of Clonfert, Sir Lucas Dillon, Geoffrey Browne, and Patrick Darcy. The
+Earl of Castlehaven, who had just escaped from his imprisonment in
+Dublin, was added as a twenty-fifth member. Generals were appointed to
+take the command of the forces--Owen Roe O'Neill, for Ulster; Preston,
+for Leinster; Barry, for Munster; and Burke, for Connaught. A seal was
+made, a printing-press set up, and a mint established. Money was coined
+and levied for the necessary expenses; and a levy of 31,700 men was
+prepared to be drilled by the new officers. Envoys were sent to solicit
+assistance from the Catholic courts of Europe; and the famous and
+learned Franciscan, Father Luke Wadding, applied himself to the cause
+with unremitting earnestness. Father John Talbot was employed in a
+similar manner in Spain.
+
+The Assembly broke up on the 9th of January, 1643, after sending a
+remonstrance to the King, declaring their loyalty, and explaining their
+grievances. The complicated state of English politics proved the ruin of
+this noble undertaking, so auspiciously commenced. Charles was anxious
+to make terms with men whom he knew would probably be the only subjects
+on whose loyalty he could thoroughly depend. His enemies--and the most
+cursory glance at English history during this period proves how many and
+how powerful they were--desired to keep open the rupture, and, if
+possible, to bring it down, from the high stand of dignified
+remonstrance, to the more perilous and lower position of a general and
+ill-organized insurrection. The Lords Justices Borlase and Parsons were
+on the look-out for plunder; but Charles had as yet sufficient power to
+form a commission of his own, and he sent the Marquis of Ormonde and
+some other noblemen to treat with the Confederates. Ormonde was a cold,
+calculating, and, if we must judge him by his acts, a cruel man; for, to
+give only one specimen of his dealings, immediately after his
+appointment, he butchered the brave garrison of Timolin, who had
+surrendered on promise of quarter.
+
+The Confederates were even then divided into two parties. The section of
+their body principally belonging to the old English settlers, were
+willing to have peace on almost any terms; the ancient Irish had their
+memories burdened with so many centuries of wrong, that they demanded
+something like certainty of redress before they would yield. Ormonde was
+well aware of the men with whom, and the opinions with which, he had to
+deal, and he acted accordingly. In the various engagements which
+occurred, the Irish were on the whole successful They had gained an
+important victory near Fermoy, principally through the headlong valour
+of a troop of mere boys who dashed down with wild impetuosity on the
+English, and showed what mettle there was still left in the country.
+Envoys were arriving from foreign courts, and Urban VIII. had sent
+Father Scarampi with indulgences and a purse of 30,000 dollars,
+collected by Father Wadding. It was, therefore, most important that the
+movement should be checked in some way; and, as it could not be
+suppressed by force, it was suppressed by diplomacy.
+
+On the 15th of September, 1643, a cessation of arms for one year was
+agreed upon; and the tide, which had set in so gloriously for Irish
+independence, rolled back its sobbing waves slowly and sadly towards the
+English coast, and never returned again with the same hopeful freedom
+and overpowering strength.
+
+The Irish, even those whose wisdom or whose ardour made them most
+dissatisfied with the treaty, observed it honorably. The Puritan party
+professed to regard the cessation as a crime, and therefore did not
+consider themselves bound to observe it. As they were in fact the ruling
+powers, the unfortunate Irish were, as usual, the victims. The troops,
+who had been trained and collected for the defence of their native land,
+were now sent to Scotland, to shed their blood in the royal cause. As
+honorable men, having undertaken the duty, they fulfilled it gloriously,
+and won the admiration even of their enemies by their undaunted valour.
+
+The unhappy English monarch was now besieged by petitions and
+counter-petitions. The Confederates asked for liberty of conscience; the
+Puritans demanded a stern enforcement of the penal laws. Complaints were
+made on both sides of the infringement of the cessation; but Munroe was
+the chief offender; and Owen O'Neill was summoned to consult with the
+Supreme Council in Kilkenny. Lord Castlehaven, who was utterly
+incompetent for such an appointment, was given the command of the army;
+and O'Neill, though he felt hurt at the unjust preference, submitted
+generously.
+
+In August, 1644, the cessation was again renewed by the General Assembly
+until December, and subsequently for a longer period. Thus precious
+time, and what was still more precious, the fresh energies and interests
+of the Confederates, were hopelessly lost. The King's generals, or
+rather it should be said the Parliamentary officers, observed or held
+these engagements at their convenience, and made treaties of their
+own--Inchiquin and Purcell making a truce between themselves in the
+south. As the King's affairs became daily more complicated, and his
+position more perilous, he saw the necessity for peace with his Irish
+subjects, and for allying himself with them, if possible. Had he treated
+them with more consideration, or rather with common justice and
+humanity, at the commencement of his reign, England might have been
+saved the guilt of regicide and Cromwell's iron rule. Ormonde had
+received ample powers from Charles to grant the Catholics every justice
+now; but Ormonde could not resist the inclination to practise a little
+subtle diplomacy, even at the risk of his master's kingdom and his
+master's head. The Confederate commissioners rejected his temporizing
+measures with contempt, though a few of their members, anxious for
+peace, were inclined to yield.
+
+When Inchiquin set out to destroy the growing crops early in summer,
+Castlehaven was sent against him, and obliged him to retire into Cork.
+At the same time Coote was overrunning Connaught and took possession of
+Sligo. The Irish forces again recovered the town; but, in the attempt,
+the Archbishop and two friars fell into the hands of the enemy, and were
+cruelly murdered. Charles now made another attempt to obtain the
+assistance of the Catholic party, and sent over Lord Herbert to Ireland
+on a secret mission for that purpose. This nobleman and his
+father-in-law, the Earl of Thomond, were almost romantically attached to
+the King, and had already advanced L200,000 for the support of the royal
+cause. He proceeded to Kilkenny, after a brief interview with Ormonde.
+England's difficulty proved Ireland's opportunity. Everything that could
+be desired was granted; and all that was asked was the liberty to
+worship God according to each man's conscience, and the liberty of
+action and employment, which is the right of every member of civil
+society who has not violated the rules of moral conduct which governors
+are bound to enforce. In return for the promise that they should enjoy
+the rights of subjects, the Irish Confederates promised to do the duty
+of subjects. They had already assisted more than one English King to
+rule his Scotch dominions; they were now to assist Charles to rule his
+English subjects; and they promised to send him 10,000 armed men, under
+the command of Lord Herbert. It was a great risk to trust a Stuart; and
+he made it a condition that the agreement should remain secret until the
+troops had landed in England.
+
+In the meantime Belling, the Secretary of the Supreme Council, was sent
+to Rome and presented to Innocent X., by Father Wadding, as the envoy of
+the Confederate Catholics, in February, 1645. On hearing his report, the
+Pope sent John Baptist Rinuccini[479], Archbishop of Fermo, to Ireland,
+as Nuncio-Extraordinary. This prelate set out immediately; and, after
+some detention at St. Germains, for the purpose of conferring with the
+English Queen, who had taken refuge there, he purchased the frigate _San
+Pietro_ at Rochelle, stored it with arms and ammunition; and, after some
+escapes from the Parliamentary cruisers, landed safely in Kenmare Bay,
+on the 21st of October, 1645. He was soon surrounded and welcomed by the
+peasantry; and after celebrating Mass in a poor hut,[480] he at once
+proceeded to Limerick. Here he celebrated the obsequies of the
+Archbishop of Tuam, and then passed on to Kilkenny. He entered the old
+city in state, attended by the clergy. At the entrance to the Cathedral
+he was met by the Bishop of Ossory, who was unable to walk in the
+procession. When the _Te Deum_ had been sung, he was received in the
+Castle by the General Assembly, and addressed them in Latin. After this
+he returned to the residence prepared for him.
+
+In a Catholic country, and with a Catholic people, the influence of a
+Papal Nuncio was necessarily preponderant, and he appears to have seen
+at a glance the difficulties and advantages of the position of Irish
+affairs and the Confederate movement. "He had set his mind," says the
+author of the _Confederation of Kilkenny_, "on one grand object--the
+freedom of the Church, in possession of all her rights and dignities,
+and the emancipation of the Catholic people from the degradation to
+which English imperialism had condemned them. The churches which the
+piety of Catholic lords and chieftains had erected, he determined to
+secure to the rightful inheritors. His mind and feelings recoiled from
+the idea of worshipping in crypts and catacombs; he abhorred the notion
+of a priest or bishop performing a sacred rite as though it were a
+felony; and despite the wily artifices of Ormonde and his faction, he
+resolved to teach the people of Ireland that they were not to remain
+mere dependents on English bounty, when a stern resolve might win for
+them the privileges of freemen."[481]
+
+The following extract from Rinuccini's own report, will show how
+thoroughly he was master of the situation in a diplomatic point of view:
+"From time immemorial two adverse parties have always existed among the
+Catholics of Ireland. The first are called the 'old Irish.' They are
+most numerous in Ulster, where they seem to have their head-quarters;
+for even the Earl of Tyrone placed himself at their head, and maintained
+a protracted war against Elizabeth. The second may be called the 'old
+English,'--a race introduced into Ireland in the reign of Henry II., the
+fifth king in succession from William the Conqueror; so called to
+distinguish them from the 'new English,' who have come into the kingdom
+along with the modern heresy. These parties are opposed to each other
+principally on the following grounds: the old Irish, entertaining a
+great aversion for heresy, are also averse to the dominion of England,
+and have Biased, generally speaking, to accept the investiture of Church
+property offered to them since the apostacy of the Kings of England from
+the Church. The others, on the contrary, enriched with the spoils of the
+monasteries, and thus bound to the King by obligation, no less than by
+interest, neither seek nor desire anything but the exaltation of the
+crown, esteem no laws but those of the realm, are thoroughly English in
+their feelings, and, from their constant familiarity with heretics, are
+less jealous of differences of religion."
+
+The Nuncio then goes on to state how even the military command was
+divided between these two parties,--O'Neill belonging to the old Irish
+interest, and Preston to the new. He also mentions the manner in which
+this difference of feeling extended to the lower classes, and
+particularly to those who served in the army.[482]
+
+I have given this lengthened extract from Rinuccini's report, because,
+with all the advantages of looking back upon the times and events, it
+would be impossible to explain more clearly the position of the
+different parties. It remains only to show how these unfortunate
+differences led to the ruin of the common cause.
+
+The Confederates now began to be distinguished into two parties, as
+Nuncionists and Ormondists. Two sets of negotiations were carried on,
+openly with Ormonde, and secretly with Glamorgan. The Nuncio, from the
+first, apprehended the treachery of Charles, and events proved the
+correctness of his forebodings. Glamorgan produced his credentials,
+dated April 30th, 1645, in which the King promised to ratify whatever
+terms he might make; and he further promised, that the Irish soldiers,
+whose assistance he demanded, should be brought back to their own
+shores, if these arrangements were not complied with by his master.
+Meanwhile a copy of this secret treaty was discovered on the Archbishop
+of Tuam, who had been killed at Sligo. It was used as an accusation
+against the King. Glamorgan was arrested in Dublin, and the whole scheme
+was defeated.
+
+The General Assembly met in Kilkenny, in January, 1646, and demanded the
+release of Glamorgan. He was bailed out; but the King disowned the
+commission, as Rinuccini had expected, and proved himself thereby
+equally a traitor to his Catholic and Protestant subjects. Ormonde took
+care to foment the division between the Confederate party, and succeeded
+so well that a middle party was formed, who signed a treaty consisting
+of thirty articles. This document only provided for the religious part
+of the question, that Roman Catholics should not be bound to take the
+oath of supremacy. An Act of oblivion was passed, and the Catholics were
+to continue to hold their possessions until a settlement could be made
+by Act of Parliament. Even in a political point of view, this treaty was
+a failure; and one should have thought that Irish chieftains and
+Anglo-Irish nobles had known enough of Acts of Parliament to have
+prevented them from confiding their hopes to such an uncertain future.
+
+The division of the command in the Confederate army had been productive
+of most disastrous consequences. The rivalry between O'Neill, Preston,
+and Owen Roe, increased the complication; but the Nuncio managed to
+reconcile the two O'Neills, and active preparations were made by Owen
+Roe for his famous northern campaign. The Irish troops intended for
+Charles had remained in their own country; the unfortunate monarch had
+committed his last fatal error by confiding himself to his Scotch
+subjects, who sold him to his own people for L400,000. Ormonde now
+refused to publish the treaty which had been just concluded, or even to
+enforce its observance by Monroe, although the Confederates had given
+him L3,000 to get up an expedition for that purpose.
+
+In the beginning of June, A.D. 1646, Owen Roe O'Neill marched against
+Monroe, with 5,000 foot and 500 horse. Monroe received notice of his
+approach; and although his force was far superior to O'Neill's, he sent
+for reinforcements of cavalry from his brother, Colonel George Monroe,
+who was stationed at Coleraine. But the Irish forces advanced more
+quickly than he expected; and on the 4th of June they had crossed the
+Blackwater, and encamped at Benburb. O'Neill selected his position
+admirably. He encamped between two small hills, with a wood in his rear.
+The river Blackwater protected him on the right, and an impassable bog
+on the left. Some brushwood in the front enabled him to conceal a party
+of musketeers; he was also well-informed of Monroe's movements, and took
+precautions to prevent the advance of his brother's forces. Monroe
+crossed the river at Kinard, at a considerable distance in the rear of
+his opponent, and then advanced, by a circuitous march, from the east
+and north. The approach was anticipated; and, on in the 5th of June,
+1646, the most magnificent victory ever recorded in the annals of Irish
+history was won. The Irish army prepared for the great day with solemn
+religious observances. The whole army approached the sacraments of
+penance and holy communion, and thus were prepared alike for death or
+victory. The chaplain deputed by the Nuncio addressed them briefly, and
+appealed to their religious feelings; their General, Owen Roe, appealed
+to their nationality. How deeply outraged they had been, both in their
+religion and in their national feelings, has been already mentioned; how
+they fought for their altars and their domestic hearths will now be
+recorded. O'Neill's skill as a military tactician, is beyond all praise.
+For four long hours he engaged the attention of the enemy, until the
+glare of the burning summer sun had passed away, and until he had
+intercepted the reinforcements which Monroe expected. At last the
+decisive moment had arrived. Monroe thought he saw his brother's
+contingent in the distance; O'Neill knew that they were some of his own
+men who had beaten that very contingent. When the Scotch general was
+undeceived, he resolved to retire. O'Neill saw his advantage, and gave
+the command to charge. With one loud cry of vengeance for desecrated
+altars and desolated homes, the Irish soldiers dashed to the charge, and
+Monroe's ranks were broken, and his men driven to flight. Even the
+General himself fled so precipitately, that he left his hat, sword, and
+cloak after him, and never halted until he reached Lisburn. Lord
+Montgomery was taken prisoner, and 3,000 of the Scotch were left on the
+field. Of the Irish only seventy men were killed, and 200 wounded. It
+was a great victory; and it was something more--it was a glorious
+victory; although Ireland remained, both as to political and religious
+freedom, much as it had been before. The standards captured on that
+bloody field were sent to the Nuncio at Limerick, and carried in
+procession to the Cathedral, where a solemn _Te Deum_ was chanted--and
+that was all the result that came of it. Confusion thrice confounded
+followed in the rear. The King issued orders, under the compulsion of
+the Scotch, which Lord Digby declared to be just the contrary of what he
+really wished; and Ormonde proclaimed and ratified the treaty he had
+formerly declined to fulfil, while the "old Irish" everywhere
+indignantly rejected it. In Waterford, Clonmel, and Limerick, the people
+would not permit it even to be proclaimed. The Nuncio summoned a
+national synod in Waterford, at which it was condemned; and a decree was
+issued, on the 12th of August, declaring that all who adhered to such
+terms should be declared perjurers. Even Preston declared for the
+Nuncio; and the clergy and the nobles who led the unpopular cause, were
+obliged to ask Ormonde's assistance to help them out of their
+difficulty. The Earl arrived at Kilkenny with an armed force; but fled
+precipitately when he heard that O'Neill and Preston were advancing
+towards him.
+
+Rinuccini now took a high hand. He entered Kilkenny in state, on the
+18th of September, and committed the members of the Supreme Council as
+prisoners to the Castle, except Darcy and Plunket. A new Council was
+appointed, or self-appointed, on the 20th, of which the Nuncio was
+chosen President. The imprisonment of the old Council was undoubtedly a
+harsh and unwise proceeding, which can scarcely be justified; but the
+times were such that prompt action was demanded, and the result alone,
+which could not be foreseen, could justify or condemn it.
+
+The Generals were again at variance; and although the new Council had
+decided on attacking Dublin, their plans could not be carried out.
+Preston was unquestionably playing fast and loose; and when the
+Confederate troops did march towards Dublin, his duplicity ruined the
+cause which might even then have been gained. A disgraceful retreat was
+the result. An Assembly was again convened at Kilkenny; the old Council
+was released; the Generals promised to forget their animosities: but
+three weeks had been lost in angry discussion; and although the
+Confederates bound themselves by oath not to lay down their arms until
+their demands were granted, their position was weakened to a degree
+which the selfishness of the contending parties made them quite
+incapable of estimating.
+
+The fact was, the Puritan faction in England was every day gaining an
+increase of power; while every hour that the Confederate Catholics
+wasted in discussion or division, was weakening their moral strength.
+Even Ormonde found himself a victim to the party who had long made him
+their tool, and was ordered out of Dublin unceremoniously, and obliged
+eventually to take refuge in France. Colonel Jones took possession of
+Dublin Castle for the rebel forces and defeated Preston in a serious
+engagement at Dungan Hill soon after his arrival in Ireland. O'Neill now
+came to the rescue; and even the Ormondists, having lost their leader,
+admitted that he was their only resource. His admirable knowledge of
+military tactics enabled him to drive Jones into Dublin Castle, and keep
+him there for a time almost in a state of siege.
+
+In the mean time Inchiquin was distinguishing himself by his cruel
+victories in the south of Ireland. The massacre of Cashel followed. When
+the walls were battered down, the hapless garrison surrendered without
+resistance, and were butchered without mercy. The people fled to the
+Cathedral, hoping there, at least, to escape; but the savage General
+poured volleys of musket-balls through the doors and windows, and his
+soldiers rushing in afterwards, piked those who were not yet dead.
+Twenty priests were dragged out as objects of special vengeance; and the
+total number of those were thus massacred amounted to 3,000.
+
+An engagement took place in November between Inchiquin and Lord Taaffe,
+in which the Confederates were again beaten and cruelly massacred. Thus
+two of their generals had lost both their men and their _prestige_, and
+O'Neill alone remained as the prop of a falling cause. The Irish now
+looked for help from foreign sources, and despatched Plunket and French
+to Rome, and Muskerry and Browne to France; but Ormonde had already
+commenced negotiations on his own account, and he alone was accredited
+at the court of St. Germains. Even at this moment Inchiquin had been
+treating with the Supreme Council for a truce; but Rinuccini, who
+detested his duplicity, could never be induced to listen to his
+proposals. A man who had so mercilessly massacred his own countrymen,
+could scarcely be trusted by them on so sudden a conversion to their
+cause; but, unhappily, there were individuals who, in the uncertain
+state of public affairs, were anxious to steer their barks free of the
+thousand breakers ahead, and in their eagerness forgot that, when the
+whole coast-line was deluged with storms, their best chance of escape
+was the bold resolution of true moral courage. The cautious politicians,
+therefore, made a treaty with Inchiquin, which was signed at Dungarvan,
+on the 20th of May. On the 27th of that month the Nuncio promulgated a
+sentence of excommunication against all cities and villages where it
+should be received, and, at the same time, he withdrew to the camp of
+Owen Roe O'Neill, against whom Inchiquin and Preston were prepared to
+march. It was a last and desperate resource, and, as might be expected,
+it failed signally of its intended effects. Various attempts to obtain a
+settlement of the question at issue by force of arms, were made by the
+contending parties; but O'Neill baffled his enemies, and the Nuncio
+withdrew to Galway.
+
+Ormonde arrived in Ireland soon after, and was received at Cork, on the
+27th of September, 1648, by Inchiquin. He then proceeded to Kilkenny,
+where he was received in great state by the Confederates. On the 17th of
+January, 1649, he signed a treaty of peace, which concluded the seven
+years' war. This treaty afforded the most ample indulgences to the
+Catholics, and guaranteed fairly that civil and religious liberty for
+which alone they had contended; but the ink upon the deed was scarcely
+dry, ere the execution of Charles I., on the 30th of January, washed out
+its enactments in royal blood; and civil war, with more than ordinary
+complications, was added to the many miseries of our unfortunate
+country.
+
+Rinuccini embarked in the _San Pietro_ once more, and returned to Italy,
+February 23, 1649. Had his counsels been followed, the result might have
+justified him, even in his severest measures; as it is we read only
+failure in his career; but it should be remembered, that there are
+circumstances under which failure is more noble than success.
+
+[Illustration: THOMAS FLEMYNG'S TOMB, COLLEGIATE CHURCH, YOUGHAL.]
+
+[Illustration: ST. LAWRENCE GATE, DROGHEDA.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[474] _Them_.--Castlehaven's _Memoirs_, p, 28.
+
+[475] _Frolics_.--Carte's _Ormonde_, vol. i. p. 245, folio edition.
+
+[476] _Guard_.--Castlehaven's _Memoirs_, p. 30. Coote's cruelties are
+admitted on all sides to have been most fearful. Leland speaks of "his
+ruthless and indiscriminate carnage."--_History of Ireland_, vol. iii.
+p. 146. Warner says "he was a stranger to mercy."--_History of the Irish
+Rebellion_, p. 135. "And yet this was the man," says Lord Castlehaven,
+"whom the Lords Justices picked out to entrust with a commission of
+martial-law, which he performed with delight, and with a wanton kind of
+cruelty."
+
+[477] _Granted_.--This most important and interesting document may be
+seen in O'Sullivan's _Hist. Cath_. p. 121. It is headed: "Gregory XIII.,
+to the Archbishops, Bishops, and other prelates, as also to the Catholic
+Princes, Earls, Barons, Clergy, Nobles, and People of Ireland, health
+and apostolic benediction." It is dated: "Given at Rome, the 13th day of
+May, 1580, the eighth of our pontificate."
+
+[478] _Cause_.--See illustration at head of this chapter.
+
+[479] _Rinuccini,_--A work was published in Florence, 1844, entitled
+_Nunziatura in Irlanda_, di M. Gio. Battista Rinuccini, &c. This work,
+which only forms a portion of the Rinuccini MS., throws much valuable
+light upon the history of the period. It is supposed to have been
+written by the Dean of Fermo, who attended the Nuncio during his
+official visit to Ireland. This volume also contains, in the original
+Italian, the report presented by Rinuccini to the Pope on his return
+from Ireland. Burke has given some extracts from the MS. in his
+_Hibernia Dominicana_, and Carte mentions it also; but otherwise these
+very important documents appear to have been quite overlooked.
+
+Since the publication of the first edition of this work, I have obtained
+a copy of a translation of the Nuncio's narrative, which appeared in the
+_Catholic Miscellany_ for 1829. This translation was made by a
+Protestant clergyman, from a Latin translation of the original, in the
+possession of Mr. Coke, of Holham, Norfolk. The Nuncio's account is one
+of great importance, but it would demand considerable space if treated
+of in detail. There was a very able article on the subject in the
+_Dublin Review_ for March, 1845.
+
+[480] _Hut_.--Some extracts from a curious and interesting letter,
+describing the voyage from France and the landing in Ireland of
+Rinuccini and his party, were published in the _Dublin Review_ for
+March, 1845. It is addressed to Count Thomas Rinuccini, but the writer
+is supposed to have been the Dean of Fermo. He gives a graphic
+description of their arrival at Kenmare--"al porto di Kilmar" and of the
+warm reception they met from the poor, and their courtesy--"La cortesia
+di quei poveri popoli dove Monsignor capito, fu incomparabile." He also
+says: "Gran cosa, nelle montagne e luoghi rozzi, e gente povera per le
+devastazioni fatte dei nemici eretici, trovai pero la nobilta della S.
+fede Catolica, giache auro vi fu uomo, o donna, o ragazzo, ancor che
+piccolo, che non me sapesse recitar il Pater, Ave, Credo, e i
+commandamenti della Santa Chiesa." "It is most wonderful that in this
+wild and mountainous place, and a people so impoverished by the
+heretical enemy, I found, nevertheless, the noble influence of the holy
+Catholic faith; for there was not a man or woman, or a child however
+young, who could not repeat the Our Father, Hail Mary, Creed, and the
+commands of Holy Church." We believe the same might be said at the
+present day of this part of Ireland. It is still as poor, and the people
+are still as well instructed in and as devoted to their faith now as in
+that century.
+
+[481] _Freemen_.--_Confederation of Kilkenny_, p. 117.
+
+[482] _Army,--Nunziatura in Irlanda_, p. 391.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+Cromwell arrives in Ireland--He marches to Drogheda--Cruel Massacre of
+the Inhabitants after promise of Quarter--Account of an
+Eyewitness--Brutality of the Cromwellian Soldiers--Ladies are not
+spared--Cromwell's Letters--He boasts of his Cruelties--Massacre and
+Treachery at Drogheda--Brave Resistance at Clonmel--Charles II. arrives
+in Scotland--The Duplicity of his Conduct towards the Irish--Siege of
+Limerick--Ireton's Cruelties and Miserable Death--The Banishment to
+Connaught--The Irish are sold as Slaves to Barbadoes--General Desolation
+and Misery of the People.
+
+[A.D. 1649-1655.]
+
+
+Cromwell was now master of England, and ruled with all that authority
+which is so freely granted to a revolutionary leader, and so often
+denied to a lawful monarch. The great body of the English stood aghast
+with horror when they discovered that regicide, and the substitution of
+an illegal tyranny for one which at least was legal, was the end of all
+their hopes. The new ruler was aware of the precariousness of his
+position. The safety of his head, as well as the continuance of his
+power, depended on the caprice of the multitude; and he saw that the
+sword alone could maintain him in the elevated position to which he had
+risen, and the still more elevated position to which he aspired. We
+scarcely imagine him to have been more religious or less humane than
+many of his contemporaries, though it is evident that he required a
+great show of the kind of religion then fashionable to support his
+character as a reformer, and that he considered himself obliged to
+exercise wholesale cruelties to consolidate his power.
+
+The rightful heir to the English throne was then at the Hague, uncertain
+how to act and whither he should turn his steps. He wished to visit
+Ireland, where he would have been received with enthusiastic loyalty by
+the Catholics; but Ormonde persuaded him, from sinister motives, to
+defer his intention. Ormonde and Inchiquin now took the field together.
+The former advanced to Dublin, and the latter to Drogheda. This town was
+held by a Parliamentary garrison, who capitulated on honorable terms.
+Monck and Owen O'Neill, in the meantime, were acting in concert, and
+Inchiquin captured supplies which the English General was sending to the
+Irish chief. Newry, Dundalk, and the often-disputed and famous Castle of
+Trim[483] surrendered to him, and he marched back to Ormonde in triumph.
+As there appeared no hope of reducing Dublin except by famine, it was
+regularly blockaded; and the Earl wrote to Charles to inform him that
+his men were so loyal, he could "persuade half his army to starve
+outright for his Majesty."
+
+Ormonde now moved his camp from Finglas to Rathmines, and at the same
+time reinforcements arrived for the garrison, under the command of
+Colonels Reynolds and Venables. The besiegers made an attempt to guard
+the river, and for this purpose, Major-General Purcell was sent to take
+possession of the ruined Castle of Bagotrath, about a mile from the
+camp. Ormonde professed to have expected an attack during the night, and
+kept his men under arms; but just as he had retired to rest, an alarm
+was given. Colonel Jones had made a sortie from the city; the sortie
+became for a brief moment an engagement, and ended in a total rout. The
+Earl was suspected; and whether he had been guilty of treachery or of
+carelessness, he lost his credit, and soon after left the kingdom.
+
+Cromwell had been made Lieutenant-General of the English army in
+Ireland, but as yet he had been unable to take the command in person.
+His position was precarious; and he wished to secure his influence still
+more firmly in his own country, before he attempted the conquest of
+another. He had succeeded so far in the accomplishment of his plans that
+his departure and his journey to Bristol were undertaken in royal style.
+He left the metropolis early in June, in a coach drawn by six gallant
+Flanders' mares, and concluded his progress at Milford Haven, where he
+embarked, reaching Ireland on the 14th of August, 1649. He was attended
+by some of the most famous of the Parliamentary Generals--his son,
+Henry, the future Lord Deputy; Monk, Blake, Ireton, Waller, Ludlow and
+others. He brought with him, for the propagation of the Gospel and the
+Commonwealth, L200,000 in money, eight regiments of foot, six of horse,
+several troops of dragoons, a large supply of Bibles,[484] and a
+corresponding provision of ammunition and scythes. The Bibles were to be
+distributed amongst his soldiers, and to be given to the poor
+unfortunate natives, who could not understand a word of their contents.
+The scythes and sickles were to deprive them of all means of living, and
+to preach a ghastly commentary on the conduct of the men who wished to
+convert them to the new Gospel, which certainly was not one of peace.
+Cromwell now issued two proclamations: one against intemperance, for he
+knew well the work that was before him, and he could not afford to have
+a single drunken soldier in his camp. The other proclamation prohibited
+plundering the country people: it was scarcely less prudent. His
+soldiers might any day become his masters, if they were not kept under
+strict control; and there are few things which so effectually lessen
+military discipline as permission to plunder: he also wished to
+encourage the country people to bring in provisions. His arrangements
+all succeeded.
+
+Ormonde had garrisoned Drogheda with 3,000 of his choicest troops. They
+were partly English, and were commanded by a brave loyalist, Sir Arthur
+Aston. This was really the most important town in Ireland; and Cromwell,
+whose skill as a military general cannot be disputed, at once determined
+to lay siege to it. He encamped before the devoted city on the 2nd of
+September, and in a few days had his siege guns posted on the hill shown
+in the accompanying illustration, and still known as Cromwell's Fort.
+Two breaches were made on the 10th, and he sent in his storming parties
+about five o'clock in the evening. Earthworks had been thrown up inside
+and the garrison resisted with undiminished bravery. The besieged at
+last wavered; quarter[485] was promised to them, and they yielded; but
+the promise came from men who knew neither how to keep faith or to show
+mercy. The brave Governor, Sir Arthur Aston, retired with his staff to
+an old mill on an eminence, but they were disarmed and slain in cold
+blood. The officers and soldiers were first exterminated, and then men,
+women, and children were put to the sword. The butchery occupied five
+entire days; Cromwell has himself described the scene, and glories in
+his cruelty. Another eyewitness, an officer in his army, has described
+it also, but with some faint touch of remorse.
+
+[Illustration: Massacre at Drogheda]
+
+[Illustration: CROMWELL'S FORT, DROGHEDA].
+
+A number of the townspeople fled for safety to St. Peter's Church, on
+the north side of the city, but every one of them was murdered, all
+defenceless and unarmed as they were; others took refuge in the church
+steeple, but it was of wood, and Cromwell himself gave orders that it
+should be set on fire, and those who attempted to escape the flames were
+piked. The principal ladies of the city had sheltered themselves in the
+crypts. It might have been supposed that this precaution should be
+unnecessary, or, at least, that English officers would respect their
+sex; but, alas for common humanity! it was not so. When the slaughter
+had been accomplished above, it was continued below. Neither youth nor
+beauty was spared. Thomas Wood, who was one of these officers, and
+brother to Anthony Wood, the Oxford historian, says he found in these
+vaults "the flower and choicest of the women and ladies belonging to the
+town; amongst whom, a most handsome virgin, arrayed in costly and
+gorgeous apparel, kneeled down to him with tears and prayer to save her
+life." Touched by her beauty and her entreaties he attempted to save
+her, and took her out of the church; but even his protection could not
+save her. A soldier thrust his sword into her body; and the officer,
+recovering from his momentary fit of compassion, "flung her down over
+the rocks," according to his own account, but first took care to possess
+himself of her money and jewels. This officer also mentions that the
+soldiers were in the habit of taking up a child, and using it as a
+buckler, when they wished to ascend the lofts and galleries of the
+church, to save themselves from being shot or brained. It is an evidence
+that they knew their victims to be less cruel than themselves, or the
+expedient would not have been found to answer.
+
+Cromwell wrote an account of this massacre to the "Council of State."
+His letters, as his admiring editor observes, "tell their own
+tale;"[486] and unquestionably that tale plainly intimates that whether
+the Republican General were hypocrite or fanatic--and it is probable he
+was a compound of both--he certainly, on his own showing, was little
+less than a demon of cruelty. Cromwell writes thus: "It hath pleased God
+to bless our endeavours at Drogheda. After battery we stormed it. The
+enemy were about 3,000 strong in the town. They made a stout resistance.
+I believe we put to the sword the whole number of defendants. I do not
+think thirty of the whole number escaped with their lives. Those that
+did are in safe custody for the Barbadoes. This hath been a marvellous
+great mercy." In another letter he says that this "great thing" was done
+"by the Spirit of God."
+
+These savage butcheries had the intended effect. The inhabitants of all
+the smaller towns fled at his approach, and the garrisons capitulated.
+Trim, Dundalk, Carlingford, and Newry, had yielded; but Wexford still
+held out. The garrison amounted to about 3,000 men, under the command of
+Colonel Sinnot, a brave loyalist. After some correspondence on both
+sides, a conference took place between four of the royalists and
+Cromwell, at which he contrived to bribe Captain Stafford, the Governor
+of the Castle. The conditions asked, preparatory to surrender, were
+liberty of conscience, and permission to withdraw in safety and with
+military honours. Cromwell's idea of liberty of conscience was as
+peculiar as his idea of honour. He wrote to the Governor of Ross to say
+that he would not "meddle with any man's conscience;" but adds: "If by
+liberty of conscience you mean a liberty to exercise the Mass, I judge
+it best to use plain dealing, and to tell you now, where the Parliament
+of England have power, that will not be allowed of;"[487] which, in
+plain English, meant that he professed liberty of conscience, but
+allowed it only to such as agreed with himself. Of his estimation of
+honour, his dealings at Wexford afford a fair sample. As soon as he had
+found that Stafford could be bribed, he denounced the proposals of the
+garrison as abominable and impudent. The traitor opened the
+castle-gates, and the Parliamentary troops marched in. The besieged were
+amazed and panic-struck; yet, to their eternal credit, they made what
+even Cromwell admits to have been a "stiff resistance." The massacre of
+Drogheda was renewed with all its horrors, and the treacherous General
+held in his hand all the time the formal offer of surrender which had
+been made by the townspeople and his own reply. He informs the
+Parliament that he did not intend to destroy the town, but his own
+letter reveals his treachery; and he congratulates his correspondents on
+the "unexpected providence" which had befallen them. He excuses the
+massacre on the plea of some outrages which had been offered to the
+"poor Protestants," forgetting what incomparably greater cruelties had
+been inflicted by the Protestants on the Catholics, both for their
+loyalty and for their religion.
+
+MacGeoghegan mentions the massacre of two hundred women, who clung round
+the market-cross for protection.[488] His statement is not corroborated
+by contemporary authority; but there appears no reason to doubt that it
+may have taken place, from what has already been recorded at Drogheda on
+unquestionable authority. Owen Roe and Ormonde now leagued together for
+the royal cause, but their union was of short duration, for the Irish
+chieftain died almost immediately, and it was said, not without
+suspicion of having been poisoned by wearing a "pair of russet boots,"
+sent to him by one Plunket, of Louth, who afterwards boasted of his
+exploit. His death was an irreparable loss to the Irish cause; for his
+noble and upright conduct had won him universal esteem, while his
+military prowess had secured him the respect even of his enemies. New
+Ross surrendered to Cromwell on the 18th of October and Luke Taaffe, the
+Commander, joined Ormonde at Kilkenny. The garrisons of Cork, Youghal,
+Kinsale, and Bandon, revolted to Cromwell, through the intervention of
+Lord Broghill, son of the Earl of Cork, who became one of the leading
+Parliamentary officers. On the 24th of November, Cromwell attempted to
+take Waterford; but finding the place too strong for him, he marched on
+to Dungarvan. Here the garrison surrendered at discretion, and his
+troops proceeded to Cork through Youghal.
+
+The Irish had now begun to distrust Ormonde thoroughly; even the
+citizens of Waterford refused to admit his soldiers into their town.
+Indeed, the distrust was so general, that he had considerable difficulty
+in providing winter quarters for his troops, and he wrote to ask
+permission from the exiled King to leave the country. The month of
+January, 1650, was spent by Cromwell in continuing his victorious march.
+He set out from Youghal on the 29th, and approached as near Limerick as
+he dared, taking such castles as lay in his way, and accepting the keys
+of Cashel and other towns, where the authorities surrendered
+immediately. On the 22nd of March he arrived before Kilkenny, to meet a
+resistance as hopeless as it was heroic. A fearful pestilence had
+reduced the garrison from 1,200 men to about 400, yet they absolutely
+refused to obey the summons to surrender, but, after a brave resistance,
+they were obliged to yield; and Cromwell hastened on to Clonmel, where
+he had to encounter the most formidable resistance he experienced in his
+Irish campaigns. The garrison was commanded by Hugh Dubh O'Neill. The
+Bishop of Ross attempted to raise the siege, but was taken and hanged by
+Broghill, because he would not desire the defenders of Carrigadrohid to
+surrender. The first attack on Clonmel took place on the 9th of May, and
+O'Neill determined to resist with the energy of despair, and the full
+knowledge of the demon vengeance with which the Puritans repaid such
+deeds of valour. When the place was no longer tenable, he withdrew his
+troops under cover of darkness; and the English General found next
+morning that he had been outwitted, and that nothing remained for his
+vengeance but the unfortunate townspeople.
+
+Pressing demands were now made by the Parliament for his return to
+England, where the royalists had also to be crushed and subdued; and
+after committing the command of his army to Ireton, he sailed from
+Youghal, on the 20th of May, leaving, as a legacy to Ireland, a name
+which was only repeated to be cursed, and an increase of miseries which
+already had seemed incapable of multiplication. In the meantime the
+Irish clergy held frequent conferences, and made every effort in their
+power to obtain peace for their unfortunate country. Ormonde became
+daily more and more distrusted; the people of Limerick and of Galway had
+both refused to receive him; and on the 6th of August the clergy met in
+synod at Jamestown, in the county Leitrim, and sent him a formal
+message, requesting his withdrawal from the kingdom, and asking for the
+appointment of some one in whom the people might have confidence. His
+pride was wounded, and he refused to retire until he should be compelled
+to do so; but the bishops published a declaration, denouncing his
+government, and threatening to impeach him before the King. They were
+yet to learn that the King, whom they served so faithfully, and in whom,
+despite all past disappointments, they confided so loyally, could be
+guilty of the greatest duplicity and the basest subterfuge.
+
+Charles II. landed in Scotland on the 28th of June, 1650, and soon after
+signed the Covenant, and a declaration in which he stated the peace with
+Ireland to be null and void, adding, with equal untruthfulness and
+meanness, that "he was convinced in his conscience of the sinfulness and
+unlawfulness of it, and of allowing them [the Catholics] the liberty of
+the Popish religion; for which he did from his heart desire to be deeply
+humbled before the Lord." Ormonde declared, what was probably true, that
+the King had been obliged to make these statements, and that they meant
+nothing; but neither his protestations nor his diplomacy could save him
+from general contempt; and having appointed the Marquis of Clanrickarde
+to administer the Government of Ireland for the King, he left the
+country, accompanied by some of the leading royalists, and, after a
+stormy passage, arrived at St. Malo, in Brittany, early in the year
+1651. The Irish again sacrificed their interests to their loyalty, and
+refused favourable terms offered to them by the Parliamentary party;
+they even attempted to mortgage the town of Galway, to obtain money for
+the royal cause, and an agreement was entered into with the Duke of
+Lorraine for this purpose; but the disasters of the battle of Worcester,
+and the triumphs of the republican faction, soon deprived them of every
+hope.
+
+It will be remembered that Cromwell had passed by Limerick at a
+respectful distance; but the possession of that city was none the less
+coveted. Ireton now prepared to lay siege to it. To effect this, Coote
+made a feint of attacking Sligo; and when he had drawn off
+Clanrickarde's forces to oppose him, marched back hastily, and took
+Athlone. By securing this fortress he opened a road into Connaught; and
+Ireton, at the same time, forced the passage of the river at
+O'Briensbridge, and thus was enabled to invest Limerick. Lord Muskerry
+marched to its relief; but he was intercepted by Lord Broghill, and his
+men were routed with great slaughter. The castle at the salmon weir was
+first attacked; and the men who defended it were butchered in cold
+blood, although they had surrendered on a promise of quarter. At length
+treachery accomplished what valour might have prevented. The plague was
+raging in the city, and many tried to escape; but were either beaten
+back into the town, or killed on the spot by Ireton's troopers. The
+corporation and magistrates were in favour of a capitulation; but the
+gallant Governor, Hugh O'Neill, opposed it earnestly. Colonel Fennell,
+who had already betrayed the pass at Killaloe, completed his perfidy by
+seizing St. John's Gate and Tower, and admitting Ireton's men by night.
+On the following day the invader was able to dictate his own terms.
+2,500 soldiers laid down their arms in St. Mary's Church, and marched
+out of the city, many dropping dead on road of the fearful pestilence.
+Twenty-four persons were exempted from quarter. Amongst the number were
+a Dominican prelate, Dr. Terence O'Brien, Bishop of Emly, and a
+Franciscan, Father Wolfe. Ireton had special vengeance for the former,
+who had long encouraged the people to fight for their country and their
+faith, and had refused a large bribe[489] which the Cromwellian General
+had offered him if he would leave the city. The ecclesiastics were soon
+condemned; but, ere the Bishop was dragged to the gibbet, he turned to
+the dark and cruel man who had sacrificed so many lives, and poured such
+torrents of blood over the land, summoning him, in stern and prophetic
+tones, to answer at God's judgment-seat for the evils he had done. The
+Bishop and his companion were martyred on the Eve of All Saints, October
+31st, 1651. On the 26th of November Ireton was a corpse. He caught the
+plague eight days after he had been summoned to the tribunal of eternal
+justice; and he died raving wildly of the men whom he had murdered, and
+accusing everyone but himself of the crime he had committed.
+
+[Illustration: Ireton condemning the Bishop of Limerick.]
+
+Several of the leading gentry of Limerick were also executed; and the
+traitor Fennell met the reward of his treachery, and was also hanged.
+Hugh O'Neill was saved through the remonstrances of some of the
+Parliamentary officers, who had the spirit to appreciate his valour and
+his honorable dealing.
+
+Ludlow now took the command, and marched to assist Coote, who was
+besieging Galway. This town surrendered on the 12th of May, 1652. The
+few Irish officers who still held out against the Parliament, made the
+best terms they could for themselves individually; and there was a brief
+peace, the precursor of yet more terrible storms.
+
+I have already given such fearful accounts of the miseries to which the
+Irish were reduced by confiscations, fines, and war, that it seems
+useless to add fresh details; yet, fearful as are the records given by
+Spenser of 1580, when neither the lowing of a cow nor the voice of a
+herdsman could be heard from Dunquin, in Kerry, to Cashel, in Munster,
+there seems to have been a deeper depth of misery after Cromwell's
+massacres. In 1653 the English themselves were nearly starving, even in
+Dublin; and cattle had to be imported from Wales. There was no tillage,
+and a licence was required to kill lamb.[490] The Irish had fled into
+the mountains, the only refuge left to them now; and the Parliamentary
+officers were obliged to issue proclamations inviting their return, and
+promising them safety and protection. But the grand object of the
+revolutionary party was still to carry out the wild scheme of unpeopling
+Ireland of the Irish, and planting it anew with English--a scheme which
+had been so often attempted, and had so signally failed, that one
+marvels how it could again have been brought forward. Still there were
+always adventurers ready to fight for other men's lands, and subjects
+who might be troublesome at home, whom it was found desirable to occupy
+in some way abroad. But a grand effort was made now to get rid of as
+many Irishmen as possible in a peaceable manner. The valour of the Irish
+soldier was well known abroad;[491] and agents from the King of Spain,
+the King of Poland, and the Prince de Conde, were contending for those
+brave fellows, who were treated like slaves in their native land; and
+then, if they dared resist, branded with the foul name of rebels. If a
+keen had rung out loud and long when O'Donnell left his native land
+never to return, well might it ring out now yet more wildly. In May,
+1652, Don Ricardo White shipped 7,000 men for the King of Spain; in
+September, Colonel Mayo collected 3,000 more; Lord Muskerry took 5,000
+to Poland; and, in 1654, Colonel Dwyer went to serve the Prince de Conde
+with 3,500 men. Other officers looked up the men who had served under
+them, and expatriated themselves in smaller parties; so that, between
+1651 and 1654, 34,000 Irishmen had left their native land; and few,
+indeed, ever returned to its desolate shores.
+
+But their lot was merciful compared with the fate of those who still
+remained. In 1653 Ireland was considered sufficiently depopulated by war
+and emigration to admit of a commencement of the grand planting. The
+country was again portioned out; again the ruling powers selected the
+best portion of the land for themselves and their favourites; again the
+religion of the country was reformed, and Protestant prelates were
+condemned as loudly, though they were not hunted as unmercifully, as
+Popish priests; again the wild and lawless adventurer was sent to eject
+the old proprietor, who might starve or beg while the intruder held his
+lands, and sheltered himself in his mansion, while a new cruelty was
+enacted, a new terror devised, a new iniquity framed, and this by rulers
+who talked so loudly of political and religious liberty. It was not
+convenient, more probably, it was not possible, to massacre all the
+native population who still survived; so they were to be
+banished--banished to a corner of their own land, imprisoned there
+safely by their ruthless conquerors, and there, without hope or help, it
+was supposed they must soon die out quietly.
+
+This is the official proclamation which was issued on the subject: "The
+Parliament of the Commonwealth of England, having, by an Act lately
+passed (entitled an Act for the Settling of Ireland), declared that it
+is not their intention to extirpate this whole nation ... it is ordered
+that the Governor and Commissioners of Revenue ... do cause the said Act
+of Parliament, with this present declaration, to be published and
+proclaimed in their respective precincts, by beat of drum and sound of
+trumpet, on some market-day within ten days after the same shall come
+unto them within their respective precincts."
+
+We may imagine the dismay and anguish which this announcement caused.
+The old Irish chieftain and the Anglo-Irish lord still had some kind of
+home and shelter on their own estate--it might be but an outhouse or a
+barn; it was certainly on the worst and least cultivated portion of
+their land, for the old castle had long since been taken from them, and
+their broad acres transferred to others. Yet, though they tilled the
+soil of which they so lately had been the lords, this little spot was
+home: there the wife and mother loved her little ones as tenderly as in
+the stately halls which her husband or his fathers had so lately
+possessed. It was home, and if not the dear old home, it was, perhaps,
+loved all the more for its sorrowful proximity to the ancestral
+castle--for the faint hope that the rightful owner might still be
+restored. But the trumpet had sounded the nation's doom. Confiscation
+and banishment, wholesale plunder and untold iniquity, reigned supreme.
+The name of the God of justice was invoked to sanction[492] the grossest
+outrages upon justice; and men who professed to have freed their own
+nation from the tyranny of kingcraft and of Popery, perpetrated a
+tyranny on another nation, which has made the name of their leader a
+byword and a curse.
+
+The majority of the Catholic nobility and gentry were banished; the
+remainder of the nation, thus more than decimated, were sent to
+Connaught. On the 26th of September, 1653, all the property of the Irish
+people was declared to belong to the English army and adventurers, "and
+it was announced that the Parliament had assigned Connaught [America was
+not then accessible] for the habitation of the Irish nation, whither
+they must transplant, with their wives, and daughters, and children,
+before 1st May following, under the penalty of death, if found on this
+side of the Shannon after that day."[493] It must not be supposed that
+this death penalty was a mere threat; I shall give instances to prove
+the contrary. Any man, woman, or child who had disobeyed this order, no
+matter from what cause, could be instantly executed in any way, by any
+of these soldiers or adventurers, without judge, jury, or trial. It was
+in fact constituting a special commission for the new comers to
+murder[494] all the old inhabitants.
+
+Connaught was selected for two reasons: first, because it was the most
+wasted province of Ireland; and secondly, because it could be, and in
+fact was, most easily converted into a national prison, by erecting a
+_cordon militaire_ across the country, from sea to sea. To make the
+imprisonment more complete, a belt four miles wide, commencing one mile
+to the west of Sligo, and thence running along the coast and the
+Shannon, was to be given to the soldiery to plant. Thus, any Irishman
+who attempted to escape, would be sure of instant capture and execution.
+
+The Government, as it has been already remarked, reserved the best part
+of the land for themselves. They secured the towns, church-lands, and
+tithes, and abolished the Protestant Church, with all its officers,
+which had been so recently declared the religion of the country. A
+"Church of Christ" was now the established religion, and a Mr. Thomas
+Hicks was approved by the "Church of Christ" meeting at Chichester
+House, as one fully qualified to preach and dispense the Gospel as often
+as the Lord should enable him, and in such places as the Lord should
+make his ministry most effectual. The Parliament also reserved for
+themselves the counties of Dublin, Kildare, Carlow, and Cork; and from
+these lands and the church property they were to enrich themselves, and,
+with what they could spare, to reward the leading regicides and rebels.
+The adventurers were next provided for. They claimed L960,000. This was
+divided into three lots, to be paid in lands in Munster, Leinster, and
+Ulster. All these were to be drawn by lot; and a lottery was held at
+Grocers' Hall, London, which commenced at eight o'clock in the morning,
+on the 20th of July, 1653, at which time and place men who professed the
+advancement of the Christian religion to be the business of their lives,
+openly and flagrantly violated the most solemn and explicit commands of
+that very belief which they declared themselves so zealous in upholding.
+The soldiers and officers were to obtain whatever was left after the
+adventurers had been satisfied.
+
+A book was written by a Franciscan father, called _Threnodia
+Hiberno-Catholica, sive Planctus Universalis totius Cleri et Populi
+Regni Hiberniae_,[495] in which the writer states he had heard a great
+Protestant statesman give three reasons why this transplantation was
+confined to the gentry, and why the poor, who had not been either
+transported or hanged, were allowed to remain: (1) because the English
+wanted them to till the ground; (2) they hoped they would become
+Protestants when deprived of their priests; (3) because the settlers
+required servants, or else they should have worked for themselves.
+
+But the fatal day at length arrived, and those who had dared to linger,
+or to hope that so cruel a sentence would not be finally executed, were
+at once undeceived. The commissioners had been in trouble all the
+winter: the people who were to be driven out of their farms refused to
+sow for those who were to succeed them; and the very plotters of the
+iniquity began to tremble for the consequences which might accrue to
+themselves. They fasted, they prayed, and they wrote pages of their
+peculiar cant, which would be ludicrous were it not profane. They talked
+loudly of their unworthiness for so great a service, but expressed no
+contrition for wholesale robbery. Meanwhile, however, despite cant,
+fasts, and fears, the work went on. The heads of each family were
+required to proceed to Loughrea before the 31st of January, 1654, to
+receive such allotments as the commissioners pleased to give them, and
+that they might erect some kind of huts on these allotments, to shelter
+their wives and daughters when they arrived. The allotment of land was
+proportioned to the stock which each family should bring; but they were
+informed that, at a future day, other commissioners were to sit at
+Athlone, and regulate even these regulations, according to their real or
+supposed affection or disaffection to the Parliament. All this was
+skilfully put forward, that the unfortunate people might transplant the
+more quietly, in the hope of procuring thereby the good-will of their
+tyrants; but the tyrants were quite aware that the stock would probably
+die from the fatigue of transportation and the want of food; then the
+land could be taken from the victim, and, as a last favour, he might be
+allowed to remain in the poor hut he had erected, until misery and
+disease had terminated his life also.
+
+Remonstrances and complaints were sent to the faction who governed
+England, but all was in vain. The principal petitioners were the
+descendants of the English nobles; they were now, by a just retribution,
+suffering themselves the very miseries which they had so ruthlessly
+inflicted on the native Irish. The petitioners, says Mr.
+Prendergast,[496] were the noble and the wealthy, men of ancient English
+blood, descendants of the invaders--the FitzGeralds, the Butlers, the
+Plunkets, the Barnwalls, Dillons, Cheevers, Cusacks, names found
+appended to various schemes for extirpating or transplanting the Irish,
+after the subduing of Lord Thomas FitzGerald's rebellion in 1535--who
+were now to transplant as Irish. The native Irish were too poor to pay
+scriveners and messengers to the Council, and their sorrows were
+unheard; though under their rough coats beat hearts that felt as great
+pangs at being driven from their native homes as the highest in the
+land.
+
+One of these English families demands special mention. Edmund Spenser's
+grandson was now commanded to transplant, as though he to had been "mere
+Irish" and the very estate near Fermoy, which had been confiscated from
+the FitzGeralds seventy years before, and which the poet had obtained
+thus fraudulently, was now confiscated anew, and granted to Cromwell's
+soldiers. William Spenser protested; he pleaded his grandfather's name,
+he pleaded his grandfather's services, especially the odium he had
+incurred amongst the Irish by the way in which he had written of them;
+and lastly, William Spenser declares of himself that he had utterly
+renounced Popery since he came to years of discretion. But even
+Cromwell's interference could not save him; the soldiers were determined
+to have his lands, and they had them.
+
+The commissioners appointed to conduct the transplanting had a busy
+time. They were overwhelmed with petitions: the heads of families
+demanding permission to return and save their crops; the women
+requesting to remain a few months longer for a similar purpose, when the
+men were not permitted to return. Hundreds of petitions were sent from
+aged and bedridden persons, to obtain leave to die in peace where they
+were. Then there were complaints from the officers who had charge of
+driving the people into the plantation; and above all, there was a
+charge, a grave charge, against the Irish people--they were as
+stiff-necked, wicked, and rebellious[497] as ever, and could not be
+brought to see that they were created for no other end than to be
+sacrificed for the benefit of English adventurers; and, moreover, they
+were declared to be a most treacherous race, for, years after, they
+might revenge all this kindness, by murdering the men who had taken
+possession of their lands and farms; and some had absolutely refused to
+transplant, and preferred death.
+
+The manner in which these difficulties were met is thus recorded in a
+letter which was written for publication in London:--
+
+     "_Athy, March_ 4, 1664-5.
+
+     "I have only to acquaint you that the time prescribed for the
+     transplantation of the Irish proprietors, and those that have been
+     in arms and abettors of the rebellion, being near at hand, the
+     officers are resolved to fill the gaols and to seize them; by which
+     this bloody people will know that they [the officers] are not
+     degenerated from English principles; though I presume we shall be
+     very tender of hanging any except leading men; yet we shall make no
+     scruple of sending them to the West Indies, where they will serve
+     for planters, and help to plant the plantation that General
+     Venables, it is hoped, hath reduced."
+
+So examples were made. Mr. Edward Hetherington was hanged in Dublin, on
+the 3rd of April, 1655, with placards on his breast and back, on which
+were written, "For not transplanting;" and at the summer assizes of
+1658, hundreds were condemned to death for the same cause, but were
+eventually sent as slaves to Barbadoes. The miseries of those who did
+transplant was scarcely less than those of the persons who were
+condemned to slavery. Some committed suicide, some went mad, all were
+reduced to the direst distress. The nobles of the land were as cruelly
+treated and as much distrusted as the poorest peasant. The very men who
+had laid down their arms and signed articles of peace at Kilkenny, were
+not spared; and the excuse offered was, that the Act of Parliament
+overrode the articles. One of the gentlemen thus betrayed was Lord
+Trimbleston, and his tomb may still be seen in the ruined Abbey of
+Kilconnell, with the epitaph:--
+
+"HERE LIES MATHEW, LORD BARON OF TRIMBLESTON,
+ONE OF THE TRANSPLANTED."
+
+
+[Illustration: SCULPTURES AT DEVENISH.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[483] _Trim_ For an illustration of this castle, see p. 560.
+
+[484] _Bibles_.--See _The Cromwellian Settlement of Ireland_, by John P.
+Prendergast, Esq.--a most important work, and one which merits the
+careful consideration of all who wish to understand this period of Irish
+history, and one of the many causes of Irish disaffection. The scythes
+and sickles were to the corn, that the Irish might be starved if they
+could not be conquered.
+
+[485] _Quarter_.--Cromwell says, in his letters, that quarter was not
+promised; Leland and Carte say that it was.
+
+[486] _Tale_.--_Cromwell's Letters and Speeches_, vol. i. p. 456. The
+simplicity with which Carlyle attempts to avert the just indignation of
+the Irish, by saying that the garrison "consisted mostly of Englishmen,"
+coupled with his complacent impression that eccentric phrases can excuse
+crime, would be almost amusing were it not that he admits himself to be
+as cruel as his hero.--vol. i. p. 453. A man who can write thus is past
+criticism. If the garrison did consist mainly of Englishmen, what
+becomes of the plea, that this barbarity was a just vengeance upon the
+Irish for the "massacre."
+
+[487] _Allowed of_.--_Letters and Speeches_, vol. i. p. 477.
+
+[488] _Protection_.--Dr. French, the Catholic Bishop of Ferns, has given
+an account of the storming of Wexford, in a letter to the Papal Nuncio,
+in which he states that the soldiers were not content with simply
+murdering their victims, but used "divers sorts of torture." As he was
+then in the immediate neighbourhood, he had every opportunity of being
+correctly informed. Cromwell must have sanctioned this, if he did not
+encourage it.
+
+[489] _Bribe_.--40,000 golden crowns, and free leave to emigrate where
+he chose.--_Hib. Dom._ p. 448.
+
+[490] _Lamb._.--_Cromwellian Settlement_, p. 16. See also Petty's
+_Political Anatomy of Ireland._
+
+[491] _Abroad_.--The Prince of Orange declared they were born soldiers.
+Sir John Norris said that he "never beheld so few of any country as of
+Irish that were idiots or cowards," Henry IV. of France said that Hugh
+O'Neill was the third soldier of the age; and declared that no nation
+had such resolute martial men.--_Cromwellian Settlement_, p. 22.
+
+[492] _Sanction_.--See _Cromwellian Settlement_, p. 61, for a specimen
+of the "Bible stuff with which they crammed their heads and hardened
+their hearts."
+
+[493] _Day_.--_Cromwellian Settlement_, p. 163.
+
+[494] _Murder_.--"Whenever any unwary person chanced to pass these
+limits he was knocked on the head by the first officer or soldier who
+met him. Colonel Astell killed _six women_ in this way."--_Ibid_. p.
+164.
+
+[495] _Hiberniae_.--_The Wail of the Irish Catholics; or, Groans of the
+Whole Clergy and People, &c._ By Father Maurice Morison, of the Minors
+of Strict Observance, an eyewitness of these cruelties. Insbruck, A.D.
+1659. This religious had remained in Ireland, like many of his brethren,
+in such complete disguise, that their existence was not even suspected.
+In order to minister the more safely to their afflicted people, they
+often hired as menials in Protestant families and thus, in a double
+sense, became the servants of all men. Father Maurice was in the
+household of Colonel Ingolsby, the Parliamentary Governor of Limerick.
+
+[496] _Prendergast.--Cromwellian Settlement_, p. 34. We can only
+recommend this volume to the consideration of our readers. It would be
+impossible, in anything less than a volume, to give the different
+details which Mr. Prendergast has brought together with so much
+judgment, and at the expense of years of research. We might have
+selected some cases from his work, but, on the whole, we think it will
+be more satisfactory to the reader to peruse it in its entirety. It may
+be obtained from our publishers, Messrs. Longmans and Co.,
+Paternoster-row, London.
+
+[497] _Rebellious_.--If the subject were not so serious, the way in
+which the officials wrote about the feelings of the Irish would almost
+provoke a smile. They say: "It is the nature of this people to be
+rebellious; and they have been so much the more disposed to it, having
+been highly exasperated by the transplanting work." Surely they could
+not be expected to be anything else but rebellious and exasperated!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+The Irish transported as Slaves to Barbadoes--The Three Beasts who were
+to be hunted: the Wolf, the Priest, and the Tory--Origin and Causes of
+Agrarian Outrages--Cases of Individual Wrongs--Lord Roche--Mr. Luttrel
+Accession of Charles II.--His Base Conduct towards the Irish
+Loyalists--Gross Injustice towards the Irish Catholic Landowners--The
+Remonstrance opposed by the Clergy--A Quarrel in the House of Lords The
+Popish Plot--Ormonde's Difficulties--Seizure and Imprisonment of the
+Archbishop of Dublin--Imprisonment and Execution of the Most Rev. Dr.
+Plunkett, Archbishop of Armagh.
+
+[A.D.-1655-1681.]
+
+
+Many of the Irish soldiers who had entered into the service of foreign
+princes, were obliged to leave their wives and families behind. When we
+recall the number of those who were thus expatriated, it will not seem
+surprising that thousands of young children were left utterly destitute.
+These boys and girls, however, were easily disposed of by the
+Government; and Sir William Petty states, that 6,000 were sent out as
+slaves to the West Indies. The Bristol sugar merchants traded in these
+human lives, as if they had been so much merchandize; and merchandize,
+in truth, they were, for they could be had for a trifle, and they
+fetched a high price in the slave-market. Even girls of noble birth were
+subjected to this cruel fate. Morison mentions an instance of this kind
+which came to his own knowledge. He was present when Daniel Connery, a
+gentleman of Clare, was sentenced to banishment, by Colonel Ingoldsby,
+for harbouring a priest. Mrs. Connery died of destitution, and three of
+his daughters, young and beautiful girls, were transported as slaves to
+Barbadoes.[498]
+
+A court was established for the punishment of "rebels and malignants;"
+the former consisting of persons who refused to surrender their houses
+and lands, and the latter being those who would not act contrary to
+their conscientious convictions in religious matters. These courts were
+called "Cromwell's Slaughter-houses." Donnellan, who had acted as
+solicitor to the regicides, at the trial of Charles I., held the first
+court at Kilkenny, October 4, 1652. Lord Louther held a court in Dublin,
+in February, 1653, for the special purpose of trying "all massacres and
+murders committed since the 1st day of October, 1641." The inquiries,
+however, were solely confined to the accused Catholics; and the result
+proved the falsehood of all the idle tales which had been circulated of
+their having intended a great massacre of Protestants, for convictions
+could only be obtained against 200 persons, and even these were
+supported by forged and corrupt evidence.[499] Sir Phelim O'Neill was
+the only person convicted in Ulster, and he was offered his life again
+and again, and even on the very steps of the scaffold, if he would
+consent to criminate Charles I.
+
+As the majority of the nation had now been disposed of, either by
+banishment, transportation, or hanging, the Government had time to turn
+their attention to other affairs. The desolation of the country was
+such, that the smoke of a fire, or the sign of a habitation, was
+considered a rare phenomenon. In consequence of this depopulation, wild
+beasts had multiplied on the lands, and three "beasts" were especially
+noted for destruction. In the Parliament held at Westminster in 1657,
+Major Morgan, member for the county Wicklow, enumerated these beasts
+thus: "We have three beasts to destroy that lay burdens upon us. The
+first is the wolf, on whom we lay L5 a head if a dog, and L10 if a
+bitch. The second beast is a priest, on whose head we lay L10; if he be
+eminent, more. The third beast is a Tory, on whose head, if he be a
+public Tory, we lay L20; and forty shillings on a private Tory."[500]
+
+Wolves had increased so rapidly, that the officers who left Ireland for
+Spain, in 1652, were forbidden to take their dogs with them, and were
+thus deprived of the pleasure and the pride (for Irish dogs were famous)
+of this consolation in their exile. Public hunts were ordered, and every
+effort made to keep down beasts of prey. But the whole blame was thrown
+on the second beast. It was declared solemnly that if there had been no
+priests there would have been no wolves.[501] The syllogism ran somewhat
+in this fashion:--
+
+The Popish priests are the cause of every misery in Ireland;
+
+The wolves are a misery:
+
+Therefore the priests are to blame for the existence of the wolves.
+
+"By a similar process of reasoning," observes Mr. Prendergast, "it is
+proved that the Irish have caused the ruin, the plundering, and the
+desolation of the country, from the first invasion, for so many ages."
+And this is undoubtedly true; for if there had been no Irish, no Irish
+could have been plundered; and if there had been no plunder, there could
+not have been the misery of the plundered. The number of wolves to be
+destroyed may be estimated from the fact, that some lands valued at a
+high rate were let for a stipulated number of wolves' heads in lieu of
+rent. But the wolves were more easily got rid of than the priests. The
+priests were accustomed to be persecuted, and accustomed to be hunted.
+They came to Ireland, as a general rule, with the full knowledge that
+this would be their fate, and that if they ended their lives, after a
+few years' ministration, by hanging, without any extra torture, it was
+the best they could hope for, as far as this world was concerned. Some,
+however, would have preferred the torture, expecting an additional
+recompense for it in the next. But there were parts of the country where
+it was incomparably more difficult to hunt out a priest than a wolf; so
+the Government gave notice, on the 6th of January, 1653, that all
+priests and friars who were willing to transport themselves, should have
+liberty to do so for twenty days. But the priests and friars had no idea
+of leaving the country. They had gone abroad, at the risk of their
+lives, to fit themselves in some of the splendid continental colleges
+for their duties, and to obtain authority to administer the sacraments;
+they returned, at the risk of their lives, to fulfil their mission; and
+they remained, at the risk of their lives, to devote them to their own
+people, for whose sakes they had renounced, not only earthly pleasures
+and joys, but even that quiet and peaceful life, which, as Christian
+priests, they might have had in foreign lands. The people for whom they
+suffered were not ungrateful. Poor as they were, none could be found to
+take the proffered bribe. Long lists may be found of priests who were
+captured and executed, and of the men who received the rewards for their
+capture; but you will not see a real Irish name amongst them; you will
+perceive that the priest-catchers were principally English soldiers; and
+you will remark that the man in whose house the priest was discovered
+generally shared his fate. But it was useless. They were hung, they were
+tortured, they were transported to Barbadoes, and, finally, such numbers
+were captured, that it was feared they would contaminate the very
+slaves, and they were confined on the island of Innisboffin, off the
+coast of Connemara. Yet more priests came to take the place of those who
+were thus removed, and the "hunt" was still continued.
+
+The number of secular priests who were victims to this persecution
+cannot be correctly estimated. The religious orders, who were in the
+habit of keeping an accurate chronicle of the entrance and decease of
+each member, furnish fuller details. An official record, drawn up in
+1656, gives the names of thirty Franciscans who had suffered for the
+faith; and this was before the more severe search had commenced. The
+martyrdom of a similar number of Dominicans is recorded almost under the
+same date; and Dr. Burgat[502] states that more than three hundred of
+the clergy were put to death by the sword or on the scaffold, while more
+than 1,000 were sent into exile.
+
+The third "beast" was the Tory. The Tory was the originator of agrarian
+outrages in Ireland, or we should rather say, the English planters were
+the originators, and the Tories the first perpetrators of the crime. The
+Irish could scarcely be expected to have very exalted ideas of the
+sanctity and inviolable rights of property, from the way in which they
+saw it treated. The English made their will law, and force their
+title-deed. The Anglo-Normans dispossessed the native Irish, the
+followers of the Tudors dispossessed the Anglo-Normans, and the men of
+the Commonwealth dispossessed them all. Still the Celt, peculiarly
+tenacious of his traditions, had a very clear memory of his ancient
+rights, and could tell you the family who even then represented the
+original proprietor, though that proprietor had been dispossessed five
+or six hundred years. The ejectments from family holdings had been
+carried out on so large a scale, that it can scarcely be a matter of
+surprise if some of the ejected resented this treatment. There were
+young men who preferred starving in the woods to starving in Connaught;
+and after a time they formed into bands in those vast tracts of land
+which had been wholly depopulated. The men were desperate. It is
+difficult to see how they could have been anything else, when driven to
+desperation. They were called robbers; but there was a general confusion
+about _meum_ and _tuum_ which they could not understand. Strangers had
+taken possession of their cattle, and they did not comprehend why they
+should not try to obtain it again in any possible way. Young men, whose
+fathers had landed estates of L2,000 a-year, which were quietly divided
+amongst Cromwell's Life-Guards, while the proprietor was sent out to
+beg, and his daughters compelled to take in washing or do needlework,
+could scarcely be expected to take such a change in their circumstances
+very calmly. A man who had been transplanted from an estate worth L2,500
+a year near Dublin, which his family had owned for four hundred years,
+and whose daughters were given the munificent gratuity of L10 a-piece by
+the Council Board, and forbidden for the future to ask for any further
+assistance, might certainly plead extenuating circumstances[503] if he
+took to highway robbery. Such circumstances as these were common at this
+period; and it should be borne in mind that the man whose holding was
+worth but L40 a-year felt the injustice, and resented the inhumanity of
+his expulsion, quite as much as the nobleman with L4,000. So the Tories
+plundered their own property; and, if they could be captured, paid the
+penalty with their lives; but, when they were not caught, the whole
+district suffered, and some one was made a scapegoat for their crime,
+though it did not seem much to matter whether the victim could be
+charged with complicity or not. After some years, when even the sons of
+the proprietors had become old inhabitants, and the dispossessed
+generation had passed away, their children were still called Tories.
+They wandered from village to village, or rather from hovel to hovel,
+and received hospitality and respect from the descendants of those who
+had been tenants on the estates of their forefathers, and who still
+called them gentlemen and treated them as such, though they possessed
+nothing but the native dignity, which could not be thrown off, and the
+old title-deeds, which were utterly worthless, yet not the less
+carefully treasured. Yet, these men were condemned by their oppressors
+because they did not work for their living, and because they still
+remembered their ancient dignity, and resented their ancient wrongs. To
+have worked and to have forgotten might have been wiser; but those who
+are accustomed to ease are slow to learn labour, even with the best
+intentions; and those who had inflicted the wrongs were scarcely the
+persons who should have taunted the sufferers with the miseries they had
+caused.
+
+Charles II. commenced his reign _de facto_ in 1660, under the most
+favourable auspices. People were weary of a Commonwealth which had
+promised so much and performed so little; of the name of liberty without
+the reality; of the exercise of kingly power without the appurtenances
+or right of majesty. But the new monarch had been educated in a bad
+school. Surrounded with all the prestige of royalty without its
+responsibilities, and courted most ardently by followers whose only
+object was their own future advancement, which they hoped to secure by
+present flattery, it is scarcely a matter of surprise that Charles
+should have disappointed the hopes of the nation. In England public
+affairs were easily settled. Those who had been expelled from their
+estates by the Cromwellian faction, drove out[504] by the new
+proprietors; but in Ireland the case was very different. Even the
+faithful loyalists, who had sacrificed everything for the King, and had
+so freely assisted his necessities out of their poverty, were now
+treated with contempt, and their claims silenced by proclamation; while
+the men who had been most opposed to the royal interest, and most cruel
+in their oppression of the natives, were rewarded and admitted into
+favour. Coote and Broghill were of this class. Each tried to lessen the
+other in opinion of their royal master as they ran the race for favour,
+and each boasted of services never accomplished, and of loyalty which
+never existed. The two enemies of each other and of the nation were now
+appointed Lord Justices of Ireland; and a Parliament was assembled on
+the 8th of May, 1661, the first meeting of the kind which had been held
+for twenty years.
+
+The Catholic, or national interest, was certainly not represented; for
+there were present seventy-two Protestant peers, and only twenty-one
+Catholics; while the House of Commons comprised two hundred and sixty
+members, all of whom were burgesses except sixty-four, and the towns had
+been so entirely peopled by Cromwell's Puritan followers, that there
+could be no doubt what course they would pursue. An attempt was now made
+to expel the few Catholics who were present, by requiring them to take
+the oath of supremacy. The obsequious Parliament voted L30,000 to the
+Duke of Ormonde, whose career of duplicity was crowned with success. It
+is almost amusing to read his biographer's account[505] of the favours
+bestowed on him, and the laudations he bestows on his master for his
+condescension in accepting them. Carte would have us believe that
+Ormonde was a victim to his king and his country, and that the immense
+sums of money he received did not nearly compensate him for his outlays.
+Posterity will scarcely confirm the partiality of the biographer.
+
+The Bill of Settlement was opposed by the Irish Catholics through their
+counsel, but their claims were rejected and treated with contempt.
+Charles had told his Parliament, on his restoration, that he expected
+they would have a care of his honour and of the promise he had made.
+This promise had been explicitly renewed by Ormonde for the King, before
+he left for Breda; but the most solemn engagements were so regularly
+violated when Irish affairs were concerned, that nothing else could have
+been expected. A Court of Claims was at length established, to try the
+cases of ejectment which had occurred during the Commonwealth; but this
+excited so much indignation and alarm amongst the Protestants, that all
+hope of justice was quickly at an end, and the time-serving Ormonde
+closed the court. The grand occupation of each new reign, for the last
+few centuries, appears to have been to undo what had been done in the
+preceding reigns. An Act of Explanation was now passed, and a Protestant
+militia raised, to satisfy that party. It was provided by the new Act
+that the Protestants were, in the first place, and especially, to be
+settled; that any doubt which arose should be decided in their favour;
+and that no Papist, who, by the qualifications of the former Act, had
+not been adjudged innocent should at any future time be reputed
+innocent, or entitled to claim any lands or settlements. It will be
+remembered that Ormonde had cut short the sittings of the court to
+satisfy Protestant clamour; in consequence of this, more than 8,000
+Catholic claimants were condemned to forfeit their estates, without even
+the shadow of an inquiry, but with the pretence of having justice done
+to them, or, as Leland has expressed it, "without the justice granted to
+the vilest criminal--that of a fair and equal trial."[506]
+
+Although it would seem to the ordinary observer that the Catholics had
+been dealt with severely, the dominant faction were still dissatisfied;
+and Ormonde was obliged to threaten a dissolution, and to expel some
+members for complicity in a plot to overthrow the English Government,
+which had just been discovered, and of which the ringleader was a man
+named Blood. It was now ascertained that the Cromwellian distribution of
+lands had been carried out with the most shameful injustice towards the
+very Government which had sanctioned it; and that the soldiers, who went
+with texts of Scripture on their lips, and swords in their hands, to
+destroy Popery, had cheated[507] their officers and self-elected rulers
+with shameless audacity.
+
+The famous Remonstrance was drawn up about this time. It was prepared by
+Peter Walsh, a Franciscan friar, who was a protege of Ormonde's, and who
+devoted more attention to politics than to his religious duties. The
+Remonstrance contained expressions which were by no means consonant with
+that pure Catholic feeling for which the Irish had been always
+remarkable; but it suited the Duke's purpose all the better, and he
+induced a considerable number of the nobility, and some of the clergy,
+to affix their signatures to it. They were little aware, in giving
+expression to the loyalty they so sincerely felt, that they were
+supposed to countenance disrespect to the Church which they so deeply
+revered. A synod of the Irish bishops and clergy was therefore held in
+Dublin, to consider the document, June 11th, 1666. Although
+ecclesiastics were then under the penal laws, and liable to suffer at
+any moment, Ormonde connived at the meeting, hoping that his ends would
+be thereby attained. He has himself left his object on record. It was to
+"sow divisions among the clergy;" and Lord Orrery had written to him,
+being well aware of his plans, suggesting that this was a fitting time
+for their accomplishment. But the clergy were not so easily deceived;
+and even the miserable friar has left it on record, that out of 1,850
+ecclesiastics, regular and secular, only sixty-nine signed the
+Remonstrance. The synod now prepared another document; and if the
+expression of loyalty was all that Ormonde required, he should have been
+fully satisfied; but, unfortunately, this was not the case, and he bided
+his time to avenge himself bitterly on the men who refused to sacrifice
+their conscience to his will.
+
+During the same year (1660), the Irish sent over a contribution of
+15,000 bullocks, to relieve the distress which occurred in London after
+the Great Fire. In return for their charity, they were assured that this
+was a mere pretence to keep up the cattle trade with England; and
+accordingly an Act was passed in which the importation of Irish cattle
+was forbidden, and termed a "nuisance," and language was used which, in
+the present day, would be considered something like a breach of
+privilege. The Duke of Buckingham, whose farming interests were in
+England, declared "that none could oppose the Bill, except such as had
+Irish estates or Irish understandings." Lord Ossory protested that "such
+virulence became none but one of Cromwell's counsellors;" and he being
+the eldest of the Duke of Ormonde, and having Irish interests, opposed
+it. Several noble lords attempted to draw their swords. Ossory
+challenged Buckingham; Buckingham declined the challenge. Ossory was
+sent to the Tower; the word "nuisance" remained; some members of the
+"Cabal" said it should have been "felony;" and the Irish trade was
+crushed. Even the Puritan settlers in Ireland began to rebel at this,
+for they, too, had begun to have "Irish interests," and could not quite
+see matters relative to that country in the same light as they had done
+when at the other side of the Channel. At last they became openly
+rebellious. Some soldiers mutinied for arrears of pay, and seized
+Carrickfergus Castle--ten of them were executed, and peace was restored;
+but the old Cromwellians, both in England and Ireland, gave considerable
+anxiety to the Government; and, indeed, it seems marvellous that they
+should not have revolted more openly and in greater force.
+
+So many complaints were made of Ormonde's administration, that he was
+now removed for a time. He was succeeded by Lord Berkeley, in May, 1670,
+a nobleman whose honest and impartial government earned him the respect
+of all who were not interested in upholding a contrary line of conduct.
+The Catholics offered him an address, which was signed by two prelates,
+who held a prominent position, not only in their Church, but also in the
+history of the period; these were Dr. Plunkett, Archbishop of Armagh,
+and Dr. Talbot, Archbishop of Dublin. Colonel Richard Talbot, who was
+afterwards created Earl of Tyrconnel by James II., had been, for some
+time, the accredited agent of the Irish Catholics at the English court;
+he now (A.D. 1671) attempted to obtain some examination into the claims
+of those who had been ejected from their estates during the
+Commonwealth. After some delay and much opposition, a commission was
+appointed; but although the "Popish Plot" had not yet made its
+appearance, a wild "no Popery" cry was raised, and the King was obliged
+to recall Lord Berkeley, and substitute the Earl of Essex. Even this did
+not quiet the storm. On the 9th of March, 1673, an address was presented
+to the King by the Commons in England, demanding the persecution of
+Papists in Ireland; and the weak monarch, all the more afraid of
+appearing to show partiality, because of his apprehension that Popery
+might be the true religion, and his still more serious apprehensions
+that his people might find out his opinion, at once complied, and even
+recalled the Commission of Enquiry.
+
+In 1677 Ormonde was again appointed Viceroy, and he held the office
+during the ensuing seven years, at an advanced age, and a period of
+extraordinary political excitement. The "Popish treason" was the first
+and the most fearful of these panics. Ormonde was at Kilkenny when he
+received the first intimation of the conspiracy, October 3, 1678; but he
+had too much knowledge of the world to credit it for a moment. Like
+other politicians of that, and indeed of other ages, he was obliged to
+keep up his reputation by appearing to believe it in public, while in
+private[508] he treated the whole affair with the contempt it merited.
+It was soon reported that the plot had extended to Ireland, and
+Archbishop Talbot was selected as the first victim. The prelate then
+resided with his brother, Colonel Talbot, at Carton, near Maynooth. He
+was in a dying state; but although his enemies might well have waited
+for his end, he was taken out of his bed, carried to Dublin, and
+confined a prisoner in the Castle. He died two years later. "He was the
+last distinguished captive destined to end his days in that celebrated
+state prison, which has since been generally dedicated to the peaceful
+purposes of a reflected royalty."[509] His brother was arrested, but
+allowed to go beyond the seas; and a Colonel Peppard was denounced in
+England as one of the leading Irish traitors. But the Colonel was quite
+as imaginary as the plot. No such person existed, and a _non est
+inventis_ was all the return that could be made to the most active
+inquiries. There was one illustrious victim, however, who was found, who
+was executed, and who was not guilty, even in thought, of the crime of
+which he was accused.
+
+Oliver Plunkett had been Archbishop of Armagh since the death of Dr.
+O'Reilly, in 1669. He belonged to the noble family of Fingall; but he
+was more respected for his virtues and his office than even for his
+rank. He was now accused of being in correspondence with the French; it
+was a favourite charge against Catholics at that time, and one which
+could be easily brought forward by men who did not mind swearing to a
+lie, and not easily disproved by men who could only assert their
+innocence. Lord Shaftesbury was the great patron of Titus Oates, the
+concocter of the plot, and the perjured murderer of scores of innocent
+men. It was a serious disappointment to find that no evidence of a
+conspiracy could be found in Ireland. Carte, who certainly cannot be
+suspected of the faintest shadow of preference for an Irishman or a
+Catholic, says that every effort was made to drive the people into
+rebellion. He gives the reason for this, which, from former experience,
+one fears must be true. "There were," he says, "too many Protestants in
+Ireland who wanted another rebellion, that they might increase their
+estates by new forfeitures." "It was proposed to introduce the Test Act
+and all the English penal laws into Ireland; and that a proclamation
+should be forthwith issued for encouraging all persons that could make
+any further discoveries of the horrid Popish plot, to come in and
+declare the same."
+
+Unfortunately for the credit of our common humanity, persons can always
+be found who are ready to denounce their fellow-creatures, even when
+guiltless, from mere malice. When, to the pleasure of gratifying a
+passion, there is added the prospect of a reward, the temptation becomes
+irresistible; and if the desire of revenge for an injury, real or
+imaginary, be superadded, the temptation becomes overwhelming. In order
+to satisfy the clamours of the "no Popery" faction, an order had been
+issued, on the 16th of October, 1677, for the expulsion of all
+ecclesiastics from Ireland; and a further proclamation was made,
+forbidding Papists to enter into the Castle of Dublin, or any fort or
+citadel; and so far, indeed, did this childish panic exceed others of
+its kind, that orders were sent to the great market-towns, commanding
+the markets to be held outside the walls, to prevent the obnoxious
+Catholics from entering into the interior. Rewards were offered of L10
+for an officer, L5 for a trooper, and L4 for a soldier, if it could be
+proved that he attended Mass; and how many were sworn away by this
+bribery it would be difficult to estimate. On the 2nd of December, a
+strict search was ordered for the Catholic ecclesiastics who had not yet
+transported themselves. Dr. Plunkett had not left the country. At the
+first notice of the storm he withdrew, according to the apostolic
+example, to a retired situation, where he remained concealed, more in
+hope of martyrdom than in fear of apprehension.
+
+The prelate had never relaxed in his duties towards his flock, and he
+continued to fulfil those duties now with equal vigilance. One of the
+most important functions of a chief shepherd is to oversee the conduct
+of those who govern the flock of Christ under him. There was a Judas in
+the college of the Apostles, and many Judases have been found since
+then. The Archbishop had been obliged to excommunicate two of his
+priests and two friars, who had been denounced by their superiors for
+their unworthy lives. The unhappy men resented the degradation, without
+repenting of the crimes which had brought it upon them. They were ready
+for perjury, for they had renounced truth; and the gratification of
+their malice was probably a far stronger motive than the bribe for the
+capture of a bishop. The holy prelate was seized on the 6th December,
+1679. Even Ormonde wished to have spared him, so inoffensive and
+peaceful had been his life. He was arraigned at the Dundalk assizes; but
+although every man on the grand jury was a Protestant, from whom, at
+least, less partiality might be expected towards him than from members
+of his own Church, the perjured witnesses refused to come forward.
+Indeed, the prelate himself had such confidence in his innocence, and in
+the honorable dealing of his Protestant fellow-countrymen, when their
+better judgment was not bewildered by fanaticism, that he declared in
+London he would put himself on trial in Ireland before any Protestant
+jury who knew him, and who knew the men who swore against him, without
+the slightest doubt of the result.
+
+Jones, the Protestant Bishop of Meath, was, unfortunately for himself,
+influenced by fanaticism. He had served in Cromwell's army,[510] and had
+all that rancorous hatred of the Catholic Church so characteristic of
+the low class from whom the Puritan soldiery were drawn. He was
+determined that the Archbishop should be condemned; and as men could not
+be found to condemn him in Ireland, he induced Lord Shaftesbury to have
+him taken to London. The Archbishop was removed to Newgate, about the
+close of October, 1680, and so closely confined, that none of his
+friends could have access to him. He spent his time in prayer, and his
+gaolers were amazed at his cheerfulness and resignation. His trial took
+place on the 8th of June, 1681; but he was not allowed time to procure
+the necessary witnesses, and the court would not allow certain records
+to be put in, which would have proved the character of his accusers. Six
+of the most eminent English lawyers were arrayed against him. The legal
+arrangements of the times deprived him of the assistance of counsel, but
+they did not require the judges to help out the men who swore against
+him: this, however, they did do.
+
+The prelate was condemned to die. The speech of the judge who pronounced
+sentence was not distinguished by any very special forensic acumen. Dr.
+Plunkett had been charged by the witnesses with political crimes; the
+judge sentenced[511] him for his religious convictions; and, by a
+process of reasoning not altogether peculiar to himself, insisted that
+his supposed treason was a necessary result of the faith he professed.
+The Archbishop suffered at Tyburn, on Friday, July 11, 1681. He went to
+his death rejoicing, as men go to a bridal. His dying declaration
+convinced his hearers of his innocence; and, perhaps, the deep regret
+for his martyrdom, which was felt by all but the wretches who had
+procured his doom, tended to still the wild storm of religious
+persecution, or, at least, to make men see that where conscience was
+dearer than life, conscientious convictions should be respected. It is
+at least certain, that his name was the last on the long roll of
+sufferers who had been executed at Tyburn for the faith. Blood was no
+longer exacted there as the price which men should pay for liberty of
+belief. It were well had that liberty been allowed by men to their
+fellow-men in after years, without fines or confiscations--without those
+social penalties, which, to a refined and sensitive mind, have in them
+the bitterness of death, without the consolations of martyrdom.
+
+[Illustration: ANCIENT PITCHER, FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE R.I.A., FOUND
+IN A CRANNOGE, AT LOUGH TAUGHAN, LECALE, CO. DOWN.]
+
+[Illustration: OLDERFLEET CASTLE, LARNE.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[498] _Barbadoes_.--_Threnodia Hib._ p. 287.
+
+[499] _Evidence_.--In a work written expressly to excite feeling in
+England against the Irish, it is stated that they [the Irish] failed in
+the massacre.--See _Cromwellian Settlement_, p. 5, for further evidence.
+
+[500] _Tory.--Cromwellian Settlement_, p. 150.
+
+[501] _No wolves_--Declaration printed at Cork, 1650.
+
+[502] _Dr. Burgat.--Brevis Relatio_. Presented to the Sacred
+Congregation in 1667. Dr. Moran's little work, _Persecution of the Irish
+Catholics_, gives ample details on this subject; and every statement is
+carefully verified, and the authority given for it.
+
+[503] _Circumstances_.--Lord Roche and his daughters were compelled to
+go on foot to Connaught, and his property was divided amongst the
+English soldiers. His wife, the Viscountess Roche, was hanged without a
+shadow of evidence that she had committed the crime of which she was
+accused. Alderman Roche's daughters had nothing to live on but their own
+earnings by washing and needlework; and Mr. Luttrell, the last case
+mentioned above, was allowed as a favour to occupy his _own stables_
+while preparing to transplant.
+
+[504] _Drove out_.--Carte's _Ormonde_, vol ii. p. 398.
+
+[505] _Accounts_--Carte's _Ormonde_, vol. ii. pp. 398, 399. He considers
+all "bounties" to him as mere acts of justice.
+
+[506] _Trial_.--Chief Justice Nugent, afterwards Lord Riverston, in a
+letter, dated Dublin, June 23rd, 1686, and preserved in the State Paper
+Office, London, says: "There are 5,000 in this kingdom who were never
+outlawed."
+
+[507] _Cheated_.--Books were found in the office of the surveyor for the
+county Tipperary alone, in which only 50,000 acres were returned as
+unprofitable, and the adventurers had returned 245,207.--Carte's
+_Ormonde_, vol. ii. p. 307. "These soldiers," says Carte, "were for the
+most part Anabaptists, Independents, and Levellers." Equal roguery was
+discovered in other places.
+
+[508] _Private_.--For full information on this subject, see Carte's
+_Ormonde_, vol. ii. pp. 476-482. I will give one extract to verify the
+statement above. "The Duke of Ormonde had, in truth, difficulties enough
+to struggle with in the government of Ireland, to preserve that kingdom
+in peace, and yet to give those who wished to imbroil it no handle of
+exception to the measures he took for that end."--vol. ii. p. 477.
+
+[509] _Royalty_.--D'Arcy M'Gee's _History of Ireland_, vol ii p. 560.
+
+[510] _Army_.--Carte says "he was Scout-Master-General."--_Ormonde_,
+vol. ii. p. 473.
+
+[511] _Sentenced_.--See Dr. Moran's _Memoir of the Most Rev. Dr.
+Plunkett_. This interesting work affords full details of the character
+of the witnesses, the nature of the trial, and the Bishop's saintly end.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+Glimpses of Social Life in the Seventeenth Century--Literature and
+Literary Men--Keating--the Four Masters--Colgan--Ward--Usher--Ware--
+Lynch--Trade--Commerce depressed by the English--Fairs--Waterford
+Rugs--Exportation of Cattle forbidden--State of Trade in the Principal
+Towns--Population--Numbers employed in different Trades--Learned
+Professions--Physicians--Establishment of their College in
+Dublin--Shopkeepers--Booksellers--Coffee-houses--Clubs--Newspapers--
+Fashionable Churches--Post-houses and Post-offices established--
+Custom-house--Exchange--Amusements--Plays at the Castle--The First
+Theatre set up in Werburgh-street--Domestics Manners and Dress--
+Food-A Country Dinner Party in Ulster.
+
+[A.D. 1600-1700.]
+
+
+Notwithstanding the persecutions to which the Irish had been subjected
+for so many centuries, they preserved their love of literature, and the
+cultivated tastes for which the Celt has been distinguished in all ages.
+Indeed, if this taste had not existed, the people would have sunk into
+the most degraded barbarism; for education was absolutely forbidden, and
+the object of the governing powers seems to have been to reduce the
+nation, both intellectually and morally, as thoroughly as possible. In
+such times, and under such circumstances, it is not a little remarkable
+to find men devoting themselves to literature with all the zest of a
+freshman anticipating collegiate distinctions, while surrounded by
+difficulties which would certainly have dismayed, if they did not
+altogether crush, the intellects of the present age. I have already of
+the mass of untranslated national literature existing country and in
+continental libraries. These treasures of mental labour are by no means
+confined to one period of our history; but it could scarcely be expected
+that metaphysical studies or the fine arts could flourish at a period
+when men's minds were more occupied with the philosophy of war than with
+the science of Descartes, and were more inclined to patronize a new
+invention in the art of gunnery, than the _chef d'oeuvre_ of a limner or
+sculptor. The Irish language was the general medium of conversation in
+this century. No amount of Acts of Parliament had been able to repress
+its use, and even the higher classes of English settlers appear to have
+adopted it by preference. Military proclamations were issued in this
+language;[512] or if the Saxon tongue were used, it was translated for
+the general benefit into the vernacular. During the Commonwealth,
+however, the English tongue made some way; and it is remarkable that the
+English-speaking Irish of the lower classes, in the present day, have
+preserved the idioms and the accentuation used about this period. Many
+of the expressions which provoke the mirth of the modern Englishman, and
+which he considers an evidence of the vulgarity of the uneducated Irish,
+may be found in the works of his countrymen, of which he is most justly
+proud.
+
+The language of Cromwell's officers and men, from whom the Celt had such
+abundant opportunities of learning English, was (less the cant of
+Puritanism) the language of Shakspeare, of Raleigh, and of Spenser. The
+conservative tendencies of the Hibernian preserved the dialect intact,
+while causes, too numerous for present detail, so modified it across the
+Channel, that each succeeding century condemned as vulgarism what had
+been the highest fashion with their predecessors. Even as Homeric
+expressions lingered for centuries after the blind bard's obit had been
+on record, so the expressions of Chaucer, Spenser, and Shakspeare, may
+still be discovered in provincial dialects in many parts of the British
+Isles. I do not intend to quote _Tate and Brady_ as models of
+versification and of syntax; but if the best poets of the age did not
+receive the commission to translate the Psalms into verse, it was a poor
+compliment to religion. We find the pronunciation of their rhymes
+corresponding with the very pronunciation which is now condemned as
+peculiarly Irish. Newton also rhymes _way_ and _sea_, while one can
+scarcely read a page of Pope[513] without finding examples of
+pronunciation now supposed to be pure Hibernicism. In the Authorized
+Protestant version of the Bible, _learn_ is used in the sense of _to
+teach_, precisely as it is used in Ireland at the present day: "If thy
+children shall keep my covenant and my testimonies that I shall _learn_
+them" and their use of the term _forninst_ is undoubtedly derived from
+an English source, for we find it in Fairfax's _Tasso_.[514]
+
+History and theology were the two great studies of the middle ages, and
+to these subjects we find the _literati_ of Ireland directing special
+attention. The importance and value of Latin as a medium of literary
+intercommunication, had been perceived from an early period: hence that
+language was most frequently employed by Irish writers after it had
+become known in the country. It is unquestionably a national credit,
+that no amount of suffering, whether inflicted for religious or
+political opinions, deprived the Irish of historians.[515] Some of their
+works were certainly compiled under the most disadvantageous
+circumstances.
+
+None of the writers whom we shall presently enumerate, worked for hope
+of gain, or from any other motive save that of the purest patriotism.
+Keating, whose merits are becoming more and more recognized since modern
+research has removed Celtic traditions from the region of fable to the
+tableland of possibility, wrote his _History_ principally in the Galtee
+Mountains, where he had taken refuge from the vengeance of Carew,[516]
+Lord President of Munster. Although he had received a high education in
+the famous College of Salamanca, for the sake of his people he preferred
+suffering persecution, and, if God willed it, death, to the peaceful
+life of literary quiet which he might have enjoyed there. He wrote in
+his mother-tongue, although master of many languages; and in consequence
+of this choice his work remained in MS. for many years. When it came to
+light, those who were ignorant of the MS. materials of ancient Irish
+history, were pleased to suppose that he had invented a considerable
+portion, and supplied the remainder from the _viva voce_ traditions of
+the country people. Unfortunately, he was not sufficiently master of the
+science of criticism to give the authorities which he had used so
+carefully, and to prove their value and authenticity. But truth has at
+length triumphed. Several of the works from which he has quoted have
+been discovered; and it has been shown that, wild as some of his legends
+may read in the garb in which he has given them, there is proof that
+important facts underlie the structure, though it has been somewhat
+overembellished by a redundant fancy.
+
+[Illustration: TUBRID CHURCHYARD--BURIAL-PLACE OF THE HISTORIAN
+KEATING.]
+
+Keating was also a poet. Many of his pieces are still well known and
+highly popular in Munster, and copies of nearly all of them are
+preserved by the Royal Irish Academy. One of his ballads has been
+"coaxed" into verse by D'Arcy M'Gee, in his _Gallery of Irish Writers_.
+It is entitled "Thoughts on Innisfail." I shall give one verse as a
+specimen, and as an illustration of the popular feelings of the time:
+
+    "And the mighty of Naas are mighty no more,
+    Like the thunders that boomed 'mid the banners of yore;
+    And the wrath-ripened fields, 'twas they who could reap them;
+    Till they trusted the forsworn, no foe could defeat them."
+
+[Illustration: INSCRIPTION IN HONOUR OF KEATING.]
+
+The poet-priest must have died at an advanced age, though the precise
+date of his demise has not been ascertained. He has also left some
+religious works; and his "Shaft of Death" is well known and much admired
+both by divines and Celtic scholars.[517]
+
+O'Sullivan Beare's history is too well known to require more than a
+passing mention. It was said that he wrote as fiercely as he fought.
+Archbishop Usher, with whom he had many a literary feud, appears to have
+been of this opinion; for, after having described O'Sullivan as an
+"egregious liar," he was so sensitive to any counter abuse he might
+receive in return, that he carefully cut out every disparaging epithet
+which the historian used from the copy of his reply, which at present
+lies, with Usher's other works, in the Library of Trinity College,
+Dublin.
+
+The Four Masters are included amongst the Irish writers of this century,
+but I have already given ample details of their labours. The _Acta
+Sanctorum_ of Colgan, and Ward's literary efforts in a foreign land for
+his country, are beyond all praise. Usher and Ware were also amongst the
+giants of these days; and, considering the state of political and
+religious excitement amongst which they lived and wrote, it is
+incomparably marvellous that they should not have dipped their pens
+still deeper into the gall of controversy and prejudice. Usher was one
+of the _Hibernis ipsis Hiberniores_, for his family came to Ireland with
+King John; but he admired and wrote Celtic history with the enthusiasm
+of a Celt, and he gathered materials for other men's work with patient
+industry, however he may have allowed party spirit to influence and warp
+his own judgment in their use. Usher was Ware's most ardent patron.
+Habits of indefatigable research did for him, in some degree, what
+natural genius has done for others. Nor was he slow to recognize or
+avail himself of native talent; and there can be no doubt, if he had
+lived a few years longer after his acquaintance with MacFirbis, that
+Irish literature would have benefited considerably by the united efforts
+of the man of power, who was devoted to learning, and the man of gifts,
+who had the abilities which neither position nor wealth can purchase.
+John Lynch, the Bishop of Killala, and the indefatigable and successful
+impugner of Cambrensis, was another literary luminary of the age. His
+career is a fair sample of the extraordinary difficulties experienced by
+the Irish in their attempts to cultivate intellectual pursuits, and of
+their undaunted courage in attaining their end. Usher has himself
+recorded his visit to Galway, where found Lynch, then a mere youth,
+teaching a school of humanity (A.D. 1622). "We had proofe," he says,
+"during our continuance in that citie, how his schollars profitted under
+him, by the verses and orations which they brought us."[518] Usher then
+relates how he seriously advised the young schoolmaster to conform to
+the popular religion; but, as Lynch declined to comply with his wishes,
+he was bound over, under sureties of L400 sterling, to "forbear
+teaching." The tree of knowledge was, in truth, forbidden fruit, and
+guarded sedulously by the fiery sword of the law. I cannot do more than
+name a few of the other distinguished men of this century. There was
+Florence Conry, Archbishop of Tuam, and founder of the Irish College of
+Louvain. He was one of the first to suggest and to carry out the idea of
+supplying Irish youth with the means of education on the Continent,
+which they were denied at home. It is a fact, unexampled in the history
+of nations, that a whole race should have been thus denied the means of
+acquiring even the elements of learning, and equally unexampled is the
+zeal with which the nation sought to procure abroad the advantages from
+which they were so cruelly debarred at home. At Louvain some of the most
+distinguished Irish scholars were educated. An Irish press was
+established within its halls, which was kept constantly employed, and
+whence proceeded some of the most valuable works of the age, as well as
+a scarcely less important literature for the people, in the form of
+short treatises on religion or history. Colleges were also established
+at Douay, Lisle, Antwerp, Tournay, and St. Omers, principally through
+the exertions of Christopher Cusack, a learned priest of the diocese of
+Meath. Cardinal Ximenes founded an Irish College at Lisbon, and Cardinal
+Henriquez founded a similar establishment at Evora. It is a remarkable
+evidence of the value which has always been set on learning by the
+Catholic Church, that even in times of persecution, when literary
+culture demanded such sacrifices, she would not admit uneducated persons
+to the priesthood. The position which the proscribed Catholic priesthood
+held in Ireland at this period, compared with that which the favoured
+clergy of the Established Church held in England, is curious and
+significant. Macaulay says of the latter: "A young levite--such was the
+phrase then in use--might be had for his board, a small garret, and ten
+pounds a year; and might not only perform his own professional
+functions, but might also save the expenses of a gardener or a groom.
+Sometimes the reverend man nailed up the apricots, and sometimes he
+curried the coach-horses. He cast up the farrier's bills. He walked ten
+miles with a message or a parcel. He was permitted to dine with the
+family, but he was expected to content himself with the plainest
+fare--till he was summoned to return thanks for the repast, from a great
+part of which he had been excluded."[519]
+
+In Ireland there were few learned men in the Established Church, and
+even Usher seems to have been painfully indifferent to the necessity of
+superior education, as well as regular ordination, for his clergy. In
+1623 Dr. Blair was invited to Ireland by Lord Clannaboy, to take the
+living of Bangor, vacated by the death of the Rev. John Gibson, "sence
+Reformacione from Popary the first Deane of Down." Dr. Blair objected
+both to episcopal government and to use the English Liturgy; yet he
+"procured a free and safe entry to the holy ministry," which, according
+to his own account, was accomplished thus. His patron, Lord Clannaboy,
+informed "the Bishop Echlin how opposite I was to episcopacy and their
+liturgy, and had the influence to procure my admission on easy and
+honorable terms." At his interview with the Bishop, it was arranged that
+Dr. Blair was to receive ordination from Mr. Cunningham and the
+neighbouring clergy, and the Bishop was "to come in among them in no
+other relation than a presbyter." These are the Bishop's own words; and
+his reason for ordaining at all was: "I must ordain you, else neither I
+nor you can answer the law nor brook the land." In 1627 Blair had an
+interview with Archbishop Usher, and he says "they were not so far from
+agreeing as he feared." "He admitted that all those things [episcopacy
+and a form of prayer] ought to have been removed, but the constitution
+and laws of the place and time would not permit that to be done." A few
+years later Mr. John Livingstone thus relates his experience on similar
+subjects. He had been appointed also by Lord Clannaboy to the parish of
+Killinchy; and, "because it was needful that he should be ordained to
+the ministry, and the Bishop of Down, in whose diocese Killinchy was,
+being a corrupt and timorous man, and would require some engagement,
+therefore my Lord Clannaboy sent some with me, and wrote to Mr. Andrew
+Knox, Bishop of Raphoe, who told me he knew my errand, and that I came
+to him because I had scruples against episcopacy and ceremonies,
+according as Mr. Josiah Welsh and some others had done before; and that
+he thought his old age was prolonged for little other purpose than to
+perform such ceremonies." It was then arranged that he should be
+ordained as Dr. Blair and others had been. The Bishop gave him the book
+of ordination, and said, "though he durst not answer it to the State,"
+that he might draw a line over anything he did not approve of, and that
+it should not be read. "But," concludes Mr. Livingstone, "I found that
+it had been so marked by some others before, that I needed not mark
+anything; so the Lord was pleased to carry that business far beyond
+anything that I have thought, or almost ever desired."[520]
+
+Such facts as these were well known to the people; and we can scarcely
+be surprised that they increased their reverence for the old clergy, who
+made such sacrifices for the attainment of the learning necessary for
+their ministry, and who could not minister, even if they would, without
+having received the office and authority of a priest by the sacrament of
+orders.
+
+But literary efforts in Ireland were not confined to the clergy;
+O'Flaherty and MacFirbis devoted themselves with equal zeal to the
+dissemination and preservation of knowledge; and we envy not the man who
+can read without emotion the gentle complaint of the former, in his
+_Ogygia_: "I live a banished man within the bounds of my native soil--a
+spectator of others enriched by my birthright." And again: "The Lord
+hath wonderfully recalled the royal heir to his kingdom, with the
+applause of all good men; but He hath not found me worthy to be restored
+to the kingdom of my cottage. Against Thee, O Lord, have I sinned: may
+the Lord be blessed for ever!"
+
+The customs and dress of the upper classes in Ireland were probably much
+the same as those of a similar rank in England.[521] Commerce was so
+constantly restricted by English jealousy, that it had few opportunities
+of development. In a curious old poem, called the _Libel of English
+Policie_, the object of which was to impress on the English the
+necessity of keeping all trade and commerce in their own hands, we find
+Irish exports thus enumerated:--
+
+    "Hides and fish, salmon, hake, herring,
+    Irish wool and linen cloth, falding
+    And masternes good be her marchandie;
+    Hertes, birds, and others of venerie,
+    Skins of otter, squirrel and Irish hare,
+    Of sheep, lambe, and fore is her chaffere,
+    Felles of kids, and conies great plentie."
+
+It will be observed that this list contains only the natural produce of
+the country; and had any attempt been made to introduce or encourage
+manufactures, some mention would have been made of them. The silver and
+gold mines of the country are alluded to further on, and the writer very
+sensibly observes, that if "we [the English] had the peace and good-will
+of the wild Irish, the metal might be worked to our advantage." In the
+sixteenth century the Irish sent raw and tanned hides, furs, and
+woollens to Antwerp,[522] taking in exchange sugar, spices, and mercery.
+The trade with France and Spain for wines was very considerable; fish
+was the commodity exchanged for this luxury; and even in 1553, Philip
+II. of Spain paid[523] L1,000 yearly--a large sum for that period--to
+obtain liberty for his subjects to fish upon the north coast of Ireland.
+Stafford, in speaking of the capture of Dunboy Castle, says that
+O'Sullivan made L500 a-year by the duties which were paid to him by
+foreign fishermen, "although the duties they paid were very
+little."[524]
+
+Stanihurst has described a fair in Dublin, and another in Waterford,
+where he says the wares were "dog-cheap." These fairs continued for six
+days, and merchants came to them from Flanders and France, as well as
+from England. He gives the Waterford people the palm for commerce,
+declares they are "addicted to thieving," that they distil the best
+_aqua vitae_, and spin the choicest rugs in Ireland. A friend of his, who
+took a fancy to one of these "choice rugs," being "demurrant in London,
+and the weather, by reason of a hard hoar frost, being somewhat nipping,
+repaired to Paris Garden, clad in one of the Waterford rugs. The
+mastiffs had no sooner espied him, but deeming he had been a bear, would
+fain have baited him; and were it not that the dogs were partly muzzled
+and partly chained, he doubted not he should have been well tugged in
+this Irish rug."
+
+After the plantation of Ulster, Irish commerce was allowed to flourish
+for a while; the revenue of the crown doubled; and statesmen should have
+been convinced that an unselfish policy was the best for both countries.
+But there will always be persons whose private interests clash with the
+public good, and who have influence enough to secure their own advantage
+at the expense of the multitude. Curiously enough, the temporary
+prosperity of Ireland was made a reason for forbidding the exports which
+had produced it. A declaration was issued by the English Government in
+1637, which expressly states this, and places every possible bar to its
+continuance. The Cromwellian settlement, however, acted more effectually
+than any amount of prohibitions or Acts of Parliament, and trade was
+entirely ruined by it for a time. When it again revived, and live cattle
+began to be exported in quantities to England, the exportation was
+strictly forbidden. The Duke of Ormonde, who possessed immense tracts of
+land in Ireland, presented a petition, with his own hands, against the
+obnoxious measure, and cleverly concluded it with the very words used by
+Charles himself, in the declaration for the settlement of Ireland at the
+Restoration, trusting that his Majesty "would not suffer his good
+subjects to weep in one kingdom when they rejoiced in another." Charles,
+however, wanted money; so Ireland had to wait for justice. A vote,
+granting him L120,000, settled the matter; and though for a time cattle
+were smuggled into England, the Bill introduced after the great fire of
+London, which we have mentioned in the last chapter, settled the matter
+definitively. The Irish question eventually merged into an unseemly
+squabble about prerogative, but Charles was determined "never to kiss
+the block on which his father lost his head."[525] He overlooked the
+affront, and accepted the Bill, "nuisance" and all. One favour, however,
+was granted to the Irish; they were graciously permitted to send
+contributions of cattle to the distressed Londoners in the form of
+salted beef. The importation of mutton, lamb, butter, and cheese, were
+forbidden by subsequent Acts, and salted beef, mutton, and pork were not
+allowed to be exported from Ireland to England until the general dearth
+of 1757.
+
+The commercial status of the principal Irish towns at this period (A.D.
+1669), is thus given by Mr. Bonnell, the head collector of Irish customs
+in Dublin: "Comparing together the proceeds of the duties for the six
+years ending December, 1669, received from the several ports of Ireland,
+they may be thus ranked according to their worth respectively, expressed
+in whole numbers, without fractions, for more clearness of
+apprehension:----
+
+"Rate.     Ports.    Proportion      Rate.   Ports      Proportion
+                      per cent.                          per cent.
+  1       Dublin         40                 { Drogheda       3
+  2       Cork           10            5    { Londonderry    3
+        { Waterford      7                  { Carrickfergus  3
+  3     { Galway         7                  { Ross           1
+        { Limerick       5                  { Wexford        1
+  4     { Kinsale        5             6    { Dundalk        1
+        { Youghal        5                  { Baltimore      1
+                                            { Sligo          1"
+
+"Killybeg, Dungarvan, Donaghadee, Strangford, Coleraine, and Dingle, are
+mentioned as "under rate."
+
+The linen trade had been encouraged, and, indeed, mainly established in
+Ireland, by the Duke of Ormonde. An English writer[526] says that
+200,000 pounds of yarn were sent annually to Manchester, a supply which
+seemed immense in that age; and yet, in the present day, would hardly
+keep the hands employed for forty-eight hours. A political economist of
+the age gives the "unsettledness of the country" as the first of a
+series of reasons why trade did not flourish in Ireland, and, amongst
+other remedies, suggests sumptuary laws and a tax upon celibacy, the
+latter to weigh quite equally on each sex.[527] Sir William Petty does
+not mention the trade but he does mention the enormous amount of
+tobacco[528] consumed by the natives. It is still a disputed question
+whether the so-called "Danes' pipes," of which I give an illustration,
+were made before the introduction of tobacco by Sir Walter Raleigh, or
+whether any other narcotizing indigenous plant may have been used. Until
+one, at least, of these pipes shall have been found in a position which
+will indicate that they must have been left there at an earlier period
+than the Elizabethan age, the presumption remains in favour of their
+modern use.
+
+[Illustration: "DANES' PIPES," FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE R.I.A.]
+
+I shall now give some brief account of the domestic life of our
+ancestors 200 years ago, and of the general state of society, both in
+the upper and lower classes. Petty estimates the population of Ireland
+at 1,100,000, or 200,000 families. Of the latter he states that 160,000
+have no fixed hearths; these, of course, were the very poorest class,
+who lived then, as now, in those mud hovels, which are the astonishment
+and reprobation of foreign tourists. There were 24,000 families who had
+"one chimney," and 16,000 who had more than one. The average number
+appears to be four. Dublin Castle had 125, and the Earl of Heath's
+house, twenty-seven. There were, however, 164 houses in Dublin which had
+more than ten.
+
+Rearing and tending cattle was the principal employment of the people,
+as, indeed, it always has been. There were, he estimates, 150,000
+employed in this way, and 100,000 in agriculture. "Tailors and their
+wives" are the next highest figure--45,000. Smiths and apprentices,
+shoemakers and apprentices, are given at the same figure--22,500.
+Millers and their wives only numbered 1,000, and the fishery trade the
+same. The woolworkers and their wives, 30,000; but the number of
+alehouse-keepers is almost incredible. In Dublin, where there were only
+4,000 families, there was, at one time, 1,180 alehouses and ninety-one
+public brewhouses. The proportion was equally great throughout the
+country; and if we may judge from the Table of Exports from Belfast
+before-mentioned, the manufacture was principally for home consumption,
+as the returns only mention three barrels of beer to Scotland, 124 ditto
+to the Colonies, 147 to France and Flanders, nineteen to Holland, and
+forty-five to Spain and the Mediterranean. There are considerable
+imports of brandy and wines, but no imports of beer. We find, however,
+that "Chester ale" was appreciated by the faculty as a medicament, for
+Sir Patrick Dun, who was physician to the army during the wars of 1688,
+sent two dozen bottles of Chester ale, as part of his prescription, to
+General Ginkles, Secretary-at-War, in the camp at Connaught, in 1691. He
+added two dozen of the best claret, and at the same time sent a "lesser
+box," in which there was a dozen and a-half potted chickens in an
+earthen pot, and in another pot "foure green geese." "This," writes the
+doctor, "is the physic I advise you to take; I hope it will not be
+nauseous or disagreeable to your stomach-a little of it upon a
+march."[529] It is to be supposed such prescriptions did not diminish
+the doctor's fame, and that they were appreciated as they deserved.
+
+A century previous (A.D. 1566), Thomas Smyth seems to have been the
+principal, if not the only English practitioner in Dublin; and although
+he sold his drugs with his advice, his business did not pay. However,
+Thomas was "consoled" and "comforted," and "induced to remain in the
+country," by the united persuasions of the Lord Deputy, the Counsellors
+of State, and the whole army. The consolation was administered in the
+form of a concordat, dated April 25th, 1566, by which an annual stipend
+was settled on him, the whole army agreeing to give him one day's pay,
+and every Counsellor of State twenty shillings, "by reason of his long
+contynuance here, and his often and chardgeable provision of druggs and
+other apothecarie wares, which have, from tyme to tyme, layen and
+remained in manner for the most part unuttered; for the greater part of
+this contray folke ar wonted to use the mynisterie of their leeches and
+such lyke, and neglecting the apothecarie's science, the said Thomas
+thereby hath been greatly hyndered, and in manner enforced to abandon
+that his faculty."[530] It was only natural that the English settler
+should distrust the _leeche_ who gathered his medicines on the hillside
+by moonlight, "who invoked the fairies and consulted witches;" and it
+was equally natural that the native should distrust the Saxon, who could
+kill or cure with those magical little powders and pills, so
+suspiciously small, so entirely unlike the traditionary medicants of the
+country. In a list still preserved of the medicines supplied for the use
+of Cromwell's army, we may judge of the "medicants" used in the
+seventeenth century. They must have been very agreeable, for the
+allowance of sugar, powder and loaf, of "candie," white and brown, of
+sweet almonds and almond cakes, preponderates wonderfully over the
+"rubarcke, sarsaparill, and aloes."[531] Mr. Richard Chatham was
+Apothecary-General, and had his drugs duty free by an order, dated at
+"ye new Customs' House, Dublin, ye 24th of June, 1659."
+
+Dr. William Bedell was the first who suggested the foundation of a
+College of Physicians. On the 15th of April, 1628, he wrote to Usher
+thus: "I suppose it hath been an error all this while to neglect the
+faculties of law and physic, and attend only to the ordering of one poor
+college of divines." In 1637 a Regius Professor of Physic was nominated.
+In 1654 Dr. John Stearne was appointed President of Trinity Hall, which
+was at this time set apart "for the sole and proper use of physicians;"
+and, in 1667, the physicians received their first charter from Charles
+II. The new corporation obtained the title of "The President and College
+of Physicians." It consisted of fourteen Fellows, including the
+President, Dr. Stearne. Stearne was a grand-nephew of Archbishop Usher,
+and was born in his house at Ardbraccan, county Meath. He was a man of
+profound learning; and although he appears to have been more devoted to
+scholastic studies than to physic, the medical profession in Ireland may
+well claim him as an ornament and a benefactor to their faculty. The
+College of Physicians was without a President from 1657 until 1690, when
+Sir Patrick Dun was elected. The cause of this was the unfortunate
+illiberality of the Provost and Fellows of Trinity College, who refused
+to confirm the election of Dr. Crosby, simply because he was a Roman
+Catholic. In 1692 the College received a new charter and more extended
+privileges; and these, with certain Acts of Parliament, form its present
+constitution.
+
+In medieval cities the castle was the centre round which the town
+extended itself. Dublin was no exception to this rule, and in this
+century we find High-street and Castle-street the fashionable resorts.
+The nobility came thither for society, the tradesmen for protection.
+Castle-street appears to have been the favourite haunt of the
+bookselling fraternity, and Eliphud Dobson (his name speaks for his
+religious views) was the most wealthy bookseller and publisher of his
+day. His house was called the Stationers' Arms, which flourished in the
+reign of James II. The Commonwealth was arbitrary in its requirements,
+and commanded that the printer (there was then only one) should submit
+any works he printed to the Clerk of the Council, to receive his
+_imprimatur_ before publishing the same. The Williamites were equally
+tyrannical, for Malone was dismissed by them from the office of State
+Printer, and tried in the Queen's Bench, with John Dowling, in 1707, for
+publishing "A Manuall of Devout Prayers," for the use of Roman
+Catholics.[532]
+
+There were also a great number of taverns and coffee-houses in this
+street; the most noted was the Rose Tavern, which stood nearly opposite
+to the present Castle steps. Swift alludes to this in the verses which
+he wrote on his own death, in 1731:--
+
+    "Suppose me dead; and then suppose
+    A club assembled at the _Rose."_
+
+Political clubs, lawyers' clubs, and benevolent clubs, all assembled
+here; and the Friendly Brothers of St. Patrick had their annual dinner
+at the _Rose_, at the primitive hour of four o'clock, annually, on the
+17th of March, having first transacted business and heard a sermon at
+St. Patrick's.
+
+The first Dublin newspaper was published in this century, by Robert
+Thornton, bookseller, at the sign of the Leather Bottle, in
+Skinner's-row, A.D. 1685. It consisted of a single leaf of small folio
+size, printed on both sides, and written in the form of a letter, each
+number being dated, and commencing with the word "sir." The fashionable
+church was St. Michael's in High-street. It is described, in 1630, as
+"in good reparacion; and although most of the parishioners were
+recusants, it was commonly full of Protestants, who resorted thither
+every Sunday to hear divine service and sermon." This church had been
+erected originally for Catholic worship. Meanwhile the priests were
+obliged to say Mass wherever they could best conceal themselves; and in
+the reign of James I. their services were solemnized in certain back
+rooms in the houses of Nicholas Quietrot, Carye, and the Widow O'Hagan,
+in High-street.[533] Amongst the fashionables who lived in this locality
+we find the Countess of Roscommon, Sir P. Wemys, Sir Thady Duff, and
+Mark Quin, the Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1667. Here, too, was established
+the first Dublin post-house, for which the nation appears to have been
+indebted indirectly to Shane O'Neill, of whose proceedings her Majesty
+Queen Elizabeth was anxious to be cognizant with as little delay as
+possible. In 1656, it having been found that the horses of the military,
+to whom postal communications had been confided previously, were "much
+wearied, and his Highness' affayres much prejudiced for want of a
+post-office to carry publique letters," Evan Vaughan was employed to
+arrange postal communications, and was made Deputy Postmaster. Major
+Swift was the Postmaster at Holyhead, and he was allowed L100 a-year for
+the maintenance of four boatmen, added to the packet boats, at the rate
+of _8d_. per diem and 18s. per month for wages. Post-houses were
+established in the principal towns in Ireland about the year 1670, by
+means of which, for 8_d_. or 12_d_., letters could be conveyed, twice a
+week, to the "remotest parts of Ireland," and which afforded "the
+conveniency of keeping good correspondence."
+
+The Dublin Philosophical Society held their first meetings on Cork-hill,
+at the close of this century, and it is evident that there were many men
+in that age who had more than ordinary zeal for scientific research. Dr.
+Mullen has left a detailed account of the difficulties under which he
+dissected an elephant, which had been burned to death in the booth where
+it was kept for exhibition on the 17th June, 1682. According to Haller,
+oculists are indebted to him for some important discoveries connected
+with the organs of vision.[534]
+
+The old Custom-house stood on the site of houses now comprised in that
+part of Dublin known as Wellington-quay. Here a locality was selected,
+in the reign of James I., for the purpose of "erecting cranes and making
+wharves." This street, now so busy and populous, was then in the
+suburbs, and is described in the lease, A.D. 1620, as "a certain parcel
+of ground, lying in or near Dame-street, street, in the suburbs of the
+city of Dublin." A new Custom-house was erected about the period of the
+Restoration, with the addition of a council-chamber, where the Privy
+Council and Committees of the House of Commons were accustomed to
+assemble. By an order of the Privy Council, 19th September, 1662, the
+Custom-house-quay was appointed the sole place for landing and lading
+the exports and imports of the city of Dublin. In 1683 the public
+Exchange of Dublin was transferred from Cork House to the Tholsel, a
+building erected early in the reign of Edward II., and described by
+Camden as built of hewn stone. Here the Mayor was elected on Michaelmas
+Day, and the citizens held their public meetings. A clock was set up in
+1560, no doubt very much to the admiration of the citizens. A new
+Tholsel or City Hall was erected in 1683, on the same site, and there
+was a "'Change," where merchants met every day, as in the Royal Exchange
+in London. Public dinners were given here also with great magnificence;
+but from the marshy nature of the ground on which the building had been
+set up, it fell to decay in 1797, and a new Sessions-house was erected
+in Greenstreet.
+
+Nor did the good people of Dublin neglect to provide for their
+amusements. Private theatricals were performed in the Castle at the
+latter end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, if not earlier. The sum of
+one-and-twenty shillings and two groats was expended on wax tapers for
+the play of "Gorbodne," "done at the Castle," in September, 1601.
+Miracle and mystery plays were enacted as early as 1528, when the Lord
+Deputy was "invited to a new play every day in Christmas;" where the
+Tailors acted the part of Adam and Eve, it is to be supposed because
+they initiated the trade by introducing the necessity for garments; the
+Shoemakers, the story of Crispin and Crispianus; the Vintners, Bacchus
+and his story; the Carpenters, Mary and Joseph; the Smiths represented
+Vulcan; and the Bakers played the comedy of Ceres, the goddess of corn.
+The stage was erected on Hogges-green, now College-green; and probably
+the entertainment was carried out _al fresco_. The first playhouse
+established in Dublin was in Werburgh-street, in 1633. Shirley's plays
+were performed here soon after, and also those of "rare Ben Jonson."
+Ogilvy, Shirley's friend, and the promoter of this enterprise, was
+appointed Master of the Revels in Ireland in 1661; and as his first
+theatre was ruined during the civil war, he erected a "noble theatre,"
+at a cost of L2,000, immediately after his new appointment, on a portion
+of the Blind-quay. Dunton describes the theatres, in 1698, as more
+frequented than the churches, and the actors as "no way inferior to
+those in London." The Viceroys appear to have been very regular in their
+patronage of this amusement; and on one occasion, when the news reached
+Dublin of the marriage of William of Orange and Mary, the Duke of
+Ormonde, after "meeting the nobility and gentry in great splendour at
+the play, passed a general invitation to all the company to spend that
+evening at the Castle."[535]
+
+The inventory of the household effects of Lord Grey, taken in 1540,
+affords us ample information on the subject of dress and household
+effects. The list commences with "eight tun and a pype of Gaskoyne
+wine," and the "long board in the hall." A great advance had been made
+since we described the social life of the eleventh century; and the
+refinements practised at meals was not the least of many improvements. A
+_bord-clothe_ was spread on the table, though forks were not used until
+the reign of James I. They came from Italy, to which country we owe many
+of the new fashions introduced in the seventeenth century. In _The Boke
+of Curtosye_ there are directions given not to "foule the _bord-clothe_
+wyth the knyfe;" and Ben Jonson, in his comedy of "The Devil is an Ass,"
+alludes to the introduction of forks, and the consequent disuse of
+napkins:
+
+         "The laudable use of forks,
+    Brought into custom here as they are in Italy,
+    To th' sparing o' napkins."
+
+The English edition of the _Janua Linguarum_ of Comenius, represents the
+fashion of dining in England during the Commonwealth. The table was
+simply a board placed on a frame or trestles, which was removed after
+the meal to leave room for the dancers. Old Capulet's hall was prepared
+thus:
+
+    "A hall! a hall! give room, and foot it, girls!
+     More light, ye knaves, and turn the table up."
+
+The head of the table, where the principal person sat, was called the
+"board-end;" and as one long table was now used instead of several
+smaller ones, the guests of higher and lower degree were divided by the
+massive saltcellar, placed in the centre of the table. Thus, in Ben
+Jonson, it is said of a man who treats his inferiors with scorn, "He
+never drinks below the salt." The waiters, after settling the cloth,
+placed the spoons, knives, forks, bread, and napkins beside the
+trenchers. The butler served out the drink from the cupboard, the origin
+of our modern sideboard. The "cobbord," erroneously supposed to have
+been like our modern cupboard, is specially mentioned amongst Lord
+Grey's effects. Lord Fairfax, in his directions to his servants, written
+about the middle of the seventeenth century, says: "No man must fill
+beer or wine the cupboard keeper," and he should know which of his "cups
+for beer and which for wine, for it were a foul thing to mix them
+together." There was another reason, however, for this arrangement--much
+"idle tippling" was cut off thereby; for as the draught of beer or wine
+had to be asked for when it was needed, demand was not likely to be so
+quick as if it were always at hand. There were also cups of "assaye,"
+from which the cupbearer was obliged to drink before his master, to
+prove that there was no poison in the liquor which he used. The cupboard
+was covered with a carpet, of which Lord Grey had two. These carpets, or
+tablecovers, were more or less costly, according to the rank and state
+of the owner. His Lordship had also "two chares, two fformes, and two
+stooles." Chairs were decidedly a luxury at that day. Although the name
+is of Anglo-Norman origin, they did not come into general use until a
+late period; and it was considered a mark of disrespect to superiors,
+for young persons to sit in their presence on anything but hard benches
+or stools. The Anglo-Saxons called their seats _sett_ and _stol_, a name
+which we still preserve in the modern stool. The hall was ornamented
+with rich hangings, and there was generally a _traves_, which could be
+used as a curtain or screen to form a temporary partition. The floor was
+strewn with rushes, which were not removed quite so frequently as would
+have been desirable, considering that they were made the repository of
+the refuse of the table. Perfumes were consequently much used, and we
+are not surprised to find "a casting bottel, dooble gilte, for
+rose-water," in the effects of a Viceroy of the sixteenth century. Such
+things were more matters of necessity than of luxury at even a later
+period. Meat and pudding were the staple diet of the upper classes in
+1698. Wright[536] gives a long and amusing extract from a work published
+by a foreigner who had been much in England at this period, and who
+appears to have marvelled equally at the amount of solid meat consumed,
+the love of pudding, and the neglect of fruit at dessert.
+
+We are able, fortunately, to give a description of the fare used during
+the same period in Ireland, at least by the upper classes, who could
+afford to procure it. Captain Bodley, a younger brother of the founder
+of the famous Bodleian Library in Oxford, has left an account of a
+journey into Lecale, in Ulster, in 1603, and of the proceedings of his
+companions-in-arms, and the entertainment they met with. His "tour" is
+full of that gossiping, chatty, general information, which gives an
+admirable idea of the state of society. This is his description of a
+dinner: "There was a large and beautiful collar of brawn, with its
+accompaniments, to wit, mustard and Muscatel wine; there were
+well-stuffed geese (such as the Lord Bishop is wont to eat at
+Ardbraccan), the legs of which Captain Caulfield always laid hold of for
+himself; there were pies of venison and various kinds of game; pasties
+also, some of marrow, with innumerable plums; others of it with
+coagulated milk, such as the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London almost
+always have at their feasts; others, which they call tarts, of divers
+shapes, materials, and colours, made of beef, mutton, and veal." Then he
+relates the amusements. After dinner they rode, and in the evening they
+played cards, and had, "amongst other things, that Indian tobacco of
+which I shall never be able to make sufficient mention." Later in the
+evening "maskers" came to entertain them; and on one occasion, their
+host gave them up his own "good and soft bed, and threw himself upon a
+pallet in the same chamber."[537]
+
+The large stand-bed, or four-post, was then coming into use, and was,
+probably, the "good and soft bed" which the host resigned to the use of
+the officers, and which, if we may judge by the illustration of this
+piece of furniture, would conveniently hold a considerable number of
+persons. The pallet was placed on the truckle-bed, which rolled under
+the large bed, and was generally used by a servant, who slept in his
+master's room. The reader will remember the speech of Mine Host of the
+Garter, in the "Merry Wives of Windsor," who says of Falstaff's room:
+"There's his chamber, his house, his castle, his standing-bed and
+truckle-bed."
+
+However interesting the subject may be, there is not space to go into
+further details. The inventory of Lord Grey's personal effects can
+scarcely be given as a picture of costume in this century, for even a
+few years produced as considerable changes in fashion then as now.
+Dekker, in his _Seven Deadly Sinnes of London_, describes an
+Englishman's suit as being like a traitor's body that had been hanged,
+drawn, and quartered, and set up in several places; and says: "We that
+mock every nation for keeping one fashion, yet steal patches from every
+one of them to piece out our pride, and are now laughing-stocks to them.
+The block for his head alters faster than the feltmaker can fit him, and
+hereupon we are called in scorn block-heads." The courtiers of Charles
+II. compensated themselves for the stern restraints of Puritanism, by
+giving way to the wildest excesses in dress and manners. Enormous
+periwigs were introduced, and it became the fashion for a man of _ton_
+to be seen combing them on the Mall or at the theatre. The hat was worn
+with a broad brim, ornamented with feathers; a falling band of the
+richest lace adorned the neck; the short cloak was edged deeply with
+gold lace; the doublet was ornamented in a similar manner--it was long,
+and swelled out from the waist; but the "petticoat breeches" were the
+glory of the outer man, and sums of money were spent on ribbon and lace
+to add to their attractions.
+
+The ladies' costume was more simple, at least at this period; they
+compensated themselves, however, for any plainness in dress, by
+additional extravagances in their head-dresses, and wore
+"heart-breakers," or artificial curls, which were set out on wires at
+the sides of the face. Patching and painting soon became common, and
+many a nonconformist divine lifted up his voice in vain against these
+vanities. Pepys has left ample details of the dress in this century;
+and, if we may judge from the entry under the 30th of October, 1663,
+either he was very liberal in his own expenditure, and very parsimonious
+towards his wife, or ladies' attire was much less costly than
+gentlemen's, for he murmurs over his outlay of about L12 for Mrs. Pepys
+and L55 for himself. The country people, however, were attired more
+plainly and less expensively, while many, probably--
+
+    "Shook their heads at folks in London,"
+
+and wondered at the follies of their superiors.
+
+The arms and military accoutrements of the period have already been
+mentioned incidentally, and are illustrated by the different costumes in
+our engravings, which Mr. Doyle has rendered with the minutest accuracy
+of detail. This subject, if treated at all, would require space which we
+cannot afford to give it. The Life Guards were embodied by Charles II,
+in 1681, in imitation of the French "Gardes des Corps." The Coldstream
+were embodied by General Monk, in 1660, at the town from whence they
+obtained their name.
+
+From an account in the Hamilton MSS., published in the _Ulster_
+_Archaeological Journal_, it would appear that it was usual, or, at least
+not uncommon, for young men of rank to go abroad for some time, attended
+by a tutor, to perfect themselves in continental languages. It need
+scarcely be said that travelling was equally tedious and expensive. A
+journey from Dublin to Cork occupied several days; postchaises are a
+comparatively modern invention; and Sir William Petty astonished the
+good people of Dublin, in the seventeenth century, by inventing some
+kind of carriage which could be drawn by horses. With his description of
+the condition of the lower classes in Ireland at this period, I shall
+conclude this chapter. The accompanying figure represents the costume of
+the Irish peasant about the fifteenth century. The dress was found on
+the body of a male skeleton, in the year 1824, which was preserved so
+perfectly, that a coroner was called to hold an inquest on it. The
+remains were taken from a bog in the parish of Killery, co. Sligo. The
+cloak was composed of soft brown cloth; the coat of the same material,
+but of finer texture. The buttons are ingeniously formed of the cloth.
+The trowsers consists of two distinct parts, of different colours and
+textures; the upper part is thick, coarse, yellowish-brown cloth; the
+lower, a brown and yellow plaid.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"The diet of these people is milk, sweet and sour, thick and thin; but
+tobacco, taken in short pipes seldom burned, seems the pleasure of their
+lives. Their food is bread in cakes, whereof a penny serves a week for
+each; potatoes from August till May; muscles, cockles, and oysters, near
+the sea; eggs and butter, made very rancid by keeping in bogs. As for
+flesh they seldom eat it. Their fuel is turf in most places." The
+potatoe, which has brought so many national calamities on the country,
+had been then some years in the country, but its use was not yet as
+general as it has become since, as we find from the mention of "bread in
+cakes" being an edible during a considerable part of the year.
+
+[Illustration: CASTLE CAULFIELD, COUNTY TYRONE.]
+
+[Illustration: SCENE OF THE BATTLE OF THE BOYNE.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[512] _Language_--A proclamation in Irish, issued by Tyrone in 1601, is
+still extant, with a contemporary English translation.--_See Ulster
+Arch. Jour_. vol. vi. p. 57.
+
+[513] _Pope_.--He rhymes spirit and merit; fit and yet; civil and devil;
+obey and tea.
+
+[514] _Tasso_.--
+
+"The land fornenst the Greekish shore he held."
+
+Chaucer, too, uses _faute_ for _fault_ in the _Canterbury Tales_.
+
+[515] _Historians_.--Max Mueller--_Lectures on the Science of Language_,
+p. 271--states, that labourers in country parishes in England do not use
+more than 300 words. A friend of mine, who is an excellent Irish
+scholar, assures me the most illiterate Irish-speaking peasant would use
+at least 500.
+
+[516] _Carew_.--The tradition of the country says that this vengeance
+was excited by the complaints of a lady, with whom the Lord President
+had some gallantries, and whose conduct Keating had reproved publicly.
+
+[517] _Scholars_.--We have been favoured with an accurate photograph of
+this inscription, by William Williams, Esq., of Dungarvan, from which
+the engraving given above has been made. The view of Tubrid Churchyard
+is also engraved from a sketch with which he has favoured us. It is
+hoped that many Irishmen in distant lands will look with no little
+interest on these beautifully executed engravings, and breathe a
+blessing on the memory of the good and gifted priest. A Keating Society
+was established a few years ago, principally through the exertions of
+Mr. Williams and the Rev. P. Meany, C.C. A Catechism in Irish has
+already appeared, and other works will follow in due time.
+
+[518] _Brought us_.--Regal Visitation Book. A.D. 1622, MS., Marsh's
+Library, Dublin.
+
+[519] _Excluded_.--_History of England_, People's Edition, part ii. p.
+156.
+
+[520] _Desired_.--See the Hamilton Manuscripts, _Ulster Arch. Jour_.
+vol. iii. pp. 155-147. Blair complains also that his patron "would
+receive the sacrament kneeling."
+
+[521] _England_.--"The diet, housing, and clothing of the 16,000
+families above-mentioned [those were the middle class] is much the same
+as in England; nor is the French elegance unknown in many of them, nor
+the French and Latin tongues. The latter whereof is very frequent among
+the poorest Irish, and chiefly in Kerry, most remote from
+Dublin."--_Political Anatomy of Ireland_, Petty, p. 58.
+
+[522] _Antwerp_.--_Descrittione dei Paesi Bassi:_ Anvers, 1567.
+
+[523] _Paid_.--_The Sovereignly of the British Seas:_ London, 1651.
+
+[524] _Little_.--_Hib. Pac_.
+
+[525] _Head_.--The tract entitled _Killing no Murder_, which had
+disturbed Cromwell's "peace and rest," and obliged him to live almost as
+a fugitive in the country over which he had hoped to reign as a
+sovereign, still left its impression on English society. The miserable
+example of a royal execution was a precedent which no amount of
+provocation should have permitted.
+
+[526] _Writer_.--_Merchant's Map of Commerce:_ London, 1677.
+
+[527] _Sex_.--_The Interest of Ireland in its Trade and Wealth_, by
+Colonel Lawrence: Dublin, 1682.
+
+[528] _Tobacco_.--A Table of the Belfast Exports and Imports for the
+year 1683, has been published in the _Ulster Arch. Jour._ vol. iii. p.
+194, which fully bears out this statement, and is of immense value in
+determining the general state of Irish commerce at this period. There
+are, however, some mistakes in the quotations of statistics, probably
+misprints.
+
+[529] _March_.--Gilbert's _Dublin_, vol. i. p. 178.
+
+[530] _Faculty._--Document in the State Paper Office, Dublin, entitled
+_Smyth's Information for Ireland._
+
+[531] _Aloes._--_Ulster Arch. Jour._ vol. iii. p. 163.
+
+[532] _Roman Catholics_.--The noisy and violent opposition which was
+made to a Catholic if he attempted to enter either a trade or a
+profession, would scarcely be credited at the present day; yet it should
+be known and remembered by those who wish to estimate the social state
+of this country accurately and fairly. After the Revolution, the
+Protestant portion of the Guild of Tailors petitioned William III. to
+make their corporation exclusively Protestant, and their request was
+granted.
+
+[533] _High-street_.--Gilbert's _Dublin_, vol. i. p. 220.
+
+[534] _Vision_.--Gilbert's _Dublin_, vol. ii. p. 149.
+
+[535] _Castle_.--Gilbert's _Dublin_, vol. ii. p. 69. There is a curious
+account in the _Quarterly Journal of the Kilkenny Archaeological
+Society_, July, 1862, p. 165, of a comic playbill, issued for a Kilkenny
+theatre, in May, 1793. The value of the tickets was to be taken, if
+required, in candles, bacon, soap, butter, and cheese, and no one was to
+be admitted into the boxes without shoes and stockings; which leads one
+to conclude that the form of admission and style of attire were not
+uncommon, or there would have been no joke in the announcement.
+
+[536] _Wright.--Domestic Manners_, pp. 465, 466: "Oh! what an excellent
+thing is an English pudding! Make a pudding for an Englishman, and you
+will regale him, be he where he will."
+
+[537] _Chamber_.--This most interesting and amusing journal is published
+in the _Ulster Arch. Jour_. vol. iii. p. 73, with a translation and
+notes. The original is in Latin.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+Accession of James II.--Position of Public Affairs--Birth of an
+Heir--Landing of William of Orange--Arrival of King James in
+Ireland--The Siege of Derry--Cruelties of the Enniskilleners--Disease in
+Schomberg's Camp--The Battle of the Boyne--James' Defeat and Disgraceful
+Plight--The Siege of Athlone--The Siege of Limerick--Marlborough appears
+before Cork--William raises the Siege of Limerick and returns to
+England--The Siege of Athlone, Heroic Valour of its Defenders--The
+Battle of Aughrim--Surrender of Limerick.
+
+[A.D. 1688-1691.]
+
+
+King James' accession again raised the hopes of the Catholics, and again
+they were doomed to disappointment; while the Protestants, who had their
+fears also, soon learned that policy would bend itself to popularity.
+Colonel Richard Talbot was now raised to the peerage as Earl of
+Tyrconnel, and appointed Commander-in-Chief of the forces, with an
+authority independent of the Lord Lieutenant. His character, as well as
+that of his royal master, has been judged rather by his political
+opinions than by facts, and both have suffered considerably at the hands
+of a modern historian, who has offered more than one holocaust to the
+manes of his hero, William of Orange.
+
+The moderate and cautious Clarendon was appointed Viceroy, and did his
+best to appease the fears of the Protestants; but he was soon succeeded
+by Tyrconnel, whose zeal for Irish interests was not always tempered by
+sufficient moderation to conciliate English politicians. He had fought
+against O'Neill; he had opposed Rinuccini; he had served in the Duke of
+Ormonde's army; he had helped to defend Drogheda against the
+Republicans, and had lain there apparently dead, and thus escaped any
+further suffering; he was of the Anglo-Irish party, who were so
+faithfully loyal to the crown, and whose loyalty was repaid with such
+cold indifference; yet his virtues have been ignored, and Macaulay
+accuses him of having "adhered to the old religion, like the Celts,"
+which was true, and of "having taken part with them in the rebellion of
+1641," which was not true.
+
+James commenced his reign by proclaiming his desire for religious
+liberty. Individually he may not have been much beyond the age in
+opinion on this subject, but liberty of conscience was necessary for
+himself. He was a Catholic, and he made no secret of his religion; he
+was, therefore, obliged from this motive, if from no other, to accord
+the same boon to his subjects. The Quakers were set free in England, and
+the Catholics were set free in Ireland. But the Puritan faction, who had
+commenced by fighting for liberty of conscience for themselves, and who
+ended by fighting to deny liberty of conscience to others, were quite
+determined that neither Quakers nor Catholics should worship God as they
+believed themselves bound to do. Such intolerance, unhappily, was not
+altogether confined to the illiterate. Coke, in a previous generation,
+had declared that it was felony even to counsel the King to tolerate
+Catholics; and Usher, that it was a deadly sin. The King had neither the
+good sense nor the delicacy of feeling to guide him through these
+perils. His difficulties, and the complications which ensued, belong to
+the province of the English historian, but they were not the less felt
+in Ireland.
+
+The Protestants professed to be afraid of being massacred by the
+Catholics; the Catholics apprehended a massacre from the Protestants.
+Catholics were now admitted to the army, to the bar, and to the senate.
+Protestants declared this an infringement of their rights, and forgot
+how recently they had expelled their Catholic fellow-subjects, not
+merely from honours and emoluments, but even from their altars and their
+homes.
+
+An event now occurred which brought affairs to a crisis. The King's
+second wife, Mary of Modena, gave him an heir, and the heir appeared
+likely to live (A.D. 1688). William of Orange, who had long flattered
+himself that he should one day wear the crown of England, saw that no
+time should be lost if he intended to secure the prize, and commenced
+his preparations with all the ability and with all the duplicity for
+which his career has been admired by one party, and denounced by the
+other, according as political and religious opinions viewed the deceit
+under the strong light of the ability, or the ability under the glare of
+the deceit. The Protestant party could not but see all that was to be
+apprehended if a Catholic heir should succeed to the throne, and they
+sacrificed their loyalty to their interests, if not to their principles.
+
+William arrived in England on the 5th of November, 1688. He professed to
+have come for the purpose of investigating the rumours which had been so
+industriously circulated respecting the birth of the heir who had barred
+his pretensions, and to induce the King to join the league which had
+been just formed against France; but he took care to come provided with
+an armament, which gave the lie to his diplomatic pretensions; and as
+soon as he had been joined by English troops, of whose disaffection he
+was well aware, his real motive was no longer concealed. James fled to
+France, whither he had already sent his Queen and heir. Still there was
+a large party in England who had not yet declared openly for the
+usurper; and had not James entirely alienated the affection of his
+subjects by his tyrannical treatment of the Protestant bishops, his
+conduct towards the University of Oxford, and the permission, if not the
+sanction, which he gave to Jeffreys in his bloody career, there can be
+little doubt that William should have fought for the crown on English
+ground as he did on Irish.
+
+Ulster was principally peopled by Protestant Presbyterians, from the
+north of Scotland. They were not likely to be very loyal even to a
+Stuart, for the Irish had been called over to Scotland before now to
+defend royal rights; they had not very defined religious opinions,
+except on the subject of hatred of Popery and Prelacy. It cannot be a
+matter of surprise, therefore, that these men hailed the prospect of a
+new sovereign, whose opinions, both religious and political, coincided
+with their own. If he, too, had very general views as to the rights of
+kings, and no very particular view as to rights of conscience being
+granted to any who did not agree with him, he was none the less
+acceptable.
+
+Tyrconnel had neither men, money, nor arms, to meet the emergency. He
+had to withdraw the garrison from Derry to make up the contingent of
+3,000 men, which he sent to assist the King in England; but they were
+immediately disarmed, and the young men of Derry closed their gates, and
+thus were the first to revolt openly against their lawful King. The
+native Irish had been loyal when loyalty cost them their lives, without
+obtaining for them any increased liberty to exercise their religion;
+they were, therefore, not less likely to be loyal now, when both civil
+and religious liberty might depend upon their fealty to the crown. The
+Enniskilleners revolted; and the whole of Ulster, except Charlemont and
+Carrickfergus, declared for William of Orange.
+
+James determined to make an effort to regain his throne; and by this act
+rendered the attempt of his son-in-law simply a rebellion. Had the King
+declined the contest, had he violated the rules of government so grossly
+as no longer to merit the confidence of his people, or had there been no
+lawful heir to the throne, William's attempt might have been legitimate;
+under the circumstances, it was simply a successful rebellion. The King
+landed at Kinsale, on the 12th of March, 1689, attended by some Irish
+troops and French officers. He met Tyrconnel in Cork, created him a
+duke, and then proceeded to Bandon, where he received the submission of
+the people who had joined the rebellion. On his arrival in Dublin, he
+summoned a Parliament and issued proclamations, after which he proceeded
+to Derry, according to the advice of Tyrconnel. Useless negotiations
+followed; and James returned to Dublin, after having confided the
+conduct of the siege to General Hamilton. If that officer had not been
+incomparably more humane than the men with whom he had to deal, it is
+probable that the 'Prentice Boys of Derry would not have been able to
+join in their yearly commemoration of victory. The town was strongly
+fortified, and well supplied with artillery and ammunition; the
+besiegers were badly clad, badly provisioned, and destitute of almost
+every thing necessary to storm a town. Their only resource was to starve
+out the garrison; but of this resource they were partly deprived by the
+humanity of General Hamilton, who allowed a considerable number of men,
+women, and children to leave Derry, and thus enabled its defenders to
+hold out longer. Lundy, who urged them to capitulate to King James, was
+obliged to escape in disguise; and Major Baker, assisted by the Rev.
+George Walker, a Protestant clergyman, then took the command. According
+to the statements of the latter, the garrison amounted to 7,500 men, and
+they had twenty-two cannon, which alone gave them an immense advantage
+over the royal army. So much has been already said and written, and sung
+of the bravery of the Derry men, that nothing more remains to say. That
+they were brave, and that they bravely defended the cause which they had
+adopted, there is no doubt; but if polemics had not mingled with
+politics in the encounter, it is quite possible that we should have
+heard no more of their exploits than of those other men, equally gallant
+and equally brave. The Enniskilleners, who have obtained an unenviable
+notoriety for their merciless cruelty in war, occupied the King's troops
+so as to prevent them from assisting the besiegers. Several encounters
+took place between the Derry men and the royalists, but with no other
+result than loss of lives on each side. On the 13th of June, a fleet of
+thirty ships arrived from England with men and provisions; but the Irish
+had obtained the command of the river Foyle, and possession of Culmore
+Fort at the entrance, so that they were unable to enter. De Rosen was
+now sent by James to assist Hamilton. He proposed and carried out the
+barbarous expedition of driving all the Protestants whom he could find
+before the walls, and threatening to let them starve there to death
+unless the garrison surrendered. His plan was strongly disapproved by
+the King, it disgusted the Irish, and exasperated the besieged. The next
+day they erected a gallows on the ramparts, and threatened to hang their
+prisoners then and there if the unfortunate people were not removed. It
+is to the credit of the Derry men that they shared their provisions to
+the last with their prisoners, even while they were dying themselves of
+starvation. Perhaps the example of humanity set to them by General
+Hamilton was not without its effect, for kindness and cruelty seem
+equally contagious in time of war. Kirke's squadrons at last passed the
+forts, broke the boom, and relieved the garrison, who could not have
+held out forty-eight hours longer. It was suspected that English gold
+had procured their admittance, and that the officers who commanded the
+forts were bribed to let them pass unscathed. The siege was at once
+raised; the royal army withdrew on the 5th of August; and thus
+terminated the world-famed siege of Derry.
+
+James now held his Parliament in Dublin, repealed the Act of Settlement,
+passed the Act of Attainder, and issued an immense quantity of base
+coin. He has been loudly condemned by some historians for these
+proceedings; but it should be remembered (1) that the Act of Settlement
+was a gross injustice, and, as such, it was but justice that it should
+be repealed. Had the measure been carried out, however severely it might
+have been felt by the Protestant party, they could not have suffered
+from the repeal as severely as the Catholics had suffered from the
+enactment. (2) The Act of Attainder simply proclaimed that the
+revolutionists were rebels against their lawful King, and that they
+should be treated as such. (3) The utterance of base coin had already
+been performed by several Governments, and James only availed himself of
+the prerogatives exercised by his predecessors.
+
+The day on which the siege of Derry was raised, the royalists met with a
+severe reverse at Newtownbutler. They were under the command of Lord
+Mountcashel, when attacked by the Enniskilleners. The dragoons had
+already been dispirited by a reverse at Lisnaskea; and a word of
+command[538] which was given incorrectly, threw the old corps into
+confusion, from which their brave leader in vain endeavoured to rally
+them. Colonel Wolseley, an English officer, commanded the
+Enniskilleners; and the cruelties with which they hunted down the
+unfortunate fugitives, has made the name almost a byword of reproach.
+Five hundred men plunged into Lough Erne to escape their fury, but of
+these only one was saved. Lord Mountcashel was taken prisoner, but he
+escaped eventually, and fled to France. Sarsfield, who commanded at
+Sligo, was obliged to retire to Athlone; and the victorious Williamites
+remained masters of that part of the country.
+
+Schomberg arrived[539] at Bangor, in Down, on the 13th of August, 1689,
+with a large army, composed of Dutch, French Huguenots, and new levies
+from England. On the 17th he marched to Belfast, where he met with no
+resistance; and on the 27th Carrickfergus surrendered to him on
+honorable terms, after a siege of eight days, but not until its
+Governor, Colonel Charles MacCarthy More, was reduced to his last barrel
+of powder. Schomberg pitched on Dundalk for his winter quarters, and
+entrenched himself there strongly; but disease soon broke out in his
+camp, and it has been estimated that 10,000 men, fully one-half of the
+force, perished of want and dysentery. James challenged him to battle
+several times, but Schomberg was too prudent to risk an encounter in the
+state of his troops; and the King had not the moral courage to make the
+first attack. Complaints soon reached England of the condition to which
+the revolutionary army was reduced. If there were not "own
+correspondents" then in camp, it is quite clear there were very sharp
+eyes and very nimble pens. Dr. Walker, whose military experience at
+Derry appears to have given him a taste for campaigning, was one of the
+complainants. William sent over a commission to inquire into the matter,
+who, as usual in such cases, arrived too late to do any good. The men
+wanted food, the horses wanted provender, the surgeons and apothecaries
+wanted medicines for the sick.[540] In fact, if we take a report of
+Crimean mismanagement, we shall have all the details, minus the
+statement that several of the officers drank themselves to death, and
+that some who were in power were charged with going shares in the
+embezzlement of the contractor, Mr. John Shales, who, whether guilty or
+not, was made the scapegoat on the occasion, and was accused, moreover,
+of having caused all this evil from partiality to King James, in whose
+service he had been previously. Mr. John Shales was therefore taken
+prisoner, and sent under a strong guard to Belfast, and from thence to
+London. As nothing more is heard of him, it is probable the matter was
+hushed up, or that he had powerful accomplices in his frauds.
+
+[Illustration: THE CASTLE OF TRIM.]
+
+Abundant supplies arrived from England, which, if they could not restore
+the dead, served at least to renovate the living; and Schomberg was
+ready to take the field early in the year 1690, notwithstanding the loss
+of about 10,000 men. James, with the constitutional fatuity of the
+Stuarts, had lost his opportunity. If he had attacked the motley army of
+the revolutionary party while the men were suffering from want and
+disease, and while his own troops were fresh and courageous, he might
+have conquered; the most sanguine now could scarcely see any other
+prospect for him than defeat. He was in want of everything; and he had
+no Englishmen who hoped for plunder, no French refugees who looked for a
+new home, no brave Dutchmen who loved fighting for its own sake, to fall
+back upon in the hour of calamity. His French counsellors only agreed to
+disagree with him. There was the ordinary amount of jealousy amongst the
+Irish officers--the inevitable result of the want of a competent leader
+in whom all could confide. The King was urged by one party (the French)
+to retire to Connaught, and entrench himself there until he should
+receive succours from France; he was urged by another party (the Irish)
+to attack Schomberg without delay. Louvais, the French Minister of War,
+divided his hatred with tolerable impartiality between James and
+William: therefore, though quite prepared to oppose the latter, he was
+by no means so willing to assist the former; and when he did send men to
+Ireland, under the command of the Count de Lauzan, he took care that
+their clothing and arms should be of the worst description. He received
+in exchange a reinforcement of the best-equipped and best-trained
+soldiers of the Irish army. Avaux and De Rosen were both sent back to
+France by James; and thus, with but few officers, badly-equipped troops,
+and his own miserable and vacillating counsel, he commenced the war
+which ended so gloriously or so disastrously, according to the different
+opinions of the actors in the fatal drama. In July, 1690, some of James'
+party were defeated by the Williamites at Cavan, and several of his best
+officers were killed or made prisoners. Another engagement took place at
+Charlemont; the Governor, Teigue O'Regan, only yielded to starvation. He
+surrendered on honorable terms; and Schomberg, with equal humanity and
+courtesy, desired that each of his starving men should receive a loaf of
+bread at Armagh.
+
+William had intended for some time to conduct the Irish campaign in
+person. He embarked near Chester on the 11th of June, and landed at
+Carrickfergus on the 14th, attended by Prince George of Denmark, the
+Duke of Wurtemburg, the Prince of Hesse Darmstadt, the Duke of Ormonde,
+and the Earls of Oxford, Portland, Scarborough, and Manchester, with
+other persons of distinction. Schomberg met him half-way between
+Carrickfergus and Belfast. William, who had ridden so far, now entered
+the General's carriage, and drove to Belfast, where he was received with
+acclamations, and loud shouts of "God bless the Protestant King!" There
+were bonfires and discharges of cannon at the various camps of the
+Williamites. The officers of several regiments paid their respects to
+him in state. On the 22nd the whole army encamped at Loughbrickland,
+near Newry. In the afternoon William came up and reviewed the troops,
+pitching his tent on a neighbouring eminence.[541] The army comprised a
+strange medley of nationalities. More than half were foreigners; and on
+these William placed his principal reliance, for at any moment a
+reaction might take place in favour of the lawful King. The Williamite
+army was well supplied, well trained, admirably commanded, accustomed to
+war, and amounted to between forty and fifty thousand. The Jacobite
+force only consisted of twenty thousand,[542] and of these a large
+proportion were raw recruits. The officers, however, were brave and
+skilful; but they had only twelve field-pieces, which had been recently
+received from France. On the 22nd, news came that James had encamped
+near Dundalk; on the 23rd he marched towards Drogheda. On the same day
+William went to Newry; he was thoroughly aware of the movements of his
+hapless father-in-law, for deserters came into his camp from time to
+time. James obtained his information from an English officer, Captain
+Farlow, and some soldiers whom he made prisoners at a trifling
+engagement which took place between Newry and Dundalk.
+
+James now determined on a retreat to the Boyne through Ardee. His design
+was to protract the campaign as much as possible,--an arrangement which
+suited his irresolute habits; but where a kingdom was to be lost or won,
+it only served to discourage the troops and to defer the decisive
+moment.
+
+The hostile forces confronted each other for the first time on the banks
+of the Boyne, June 30, 1689. The Jacobite army was posted on the
+declivity of the Hill of Dunore--its right wing towards Drogheda, its
+left extending up the river. The centre was at the small hamlet of
+Oldbridge. Entrenchments were hastily thrown up to defend the fords, and
+James took up his position at a ruined church on the top of the Hill of
+Dunore. The Williamite army approached from the north, their brave
+leader directing every movement, and inspiring his men with courage and
+confidence. He obtained a favourable position, and was completely
+screened from view until he appeared on the brow of the hill, where his
+forces debouched slowly and steadily into the ravines below. After
+planting his batteries on the heights, he kept up an incessant fire on
+the Irish lines during the afternoon of the 30th. But James' officers
+were on the alert, even if their King were indifferent. William was
+recognized as he approached near their lines to reconnoitre. Guns were
+brought up to bear on him quietly and stealthily; "six shots were fired
+at him, one whereof fell and struck off the top of the Duke Wurtemberg's
+pistol and the whiskers of his horse, and another tore the King's coat
+on his shoulder."[543]
+
+William, like a wise general as he was, took care that the news of his
+accident should not dispirit his men. He showed himself everywhere, rode
+through the camp, was as agreeable as it was in his nature to be; and
+thus made capital of what might have been a cause of disaster. In the
+meantime James did all that was possible to secure a defeat. At one
+moment he decided to retreat, at the next he would risk a battle; then
+he sent off his baggage and six of his field-pieces to Dublin, for his
+own special protection; and while thus so remarkably careful of himself,
+he could not be persuaded to allow the most necessary precaution to be
+taken for the safety of his army. Hence the real marvel to posterity is,
+not that the battle of the Boyne should have been lost by the Irish, but
+that they should ever have attempted to fight at all. Perhaps nothing
+but the inherent loyalty of the Irish, which neither treachery nor
+pusillanimity could destroy, and the vivid remembrance of the cruel
+wrongs always inflicted by Protestants when in power, prevented them
+from rushing over _en masse_ to William's side of the Boyne. Perhaps, in
+the history of nations, there never was so brave a resistance made for
+love of royal right and religious freedom, as that of the Irish officers
+and men who then fought on the Jacobite side.
+
+The first attack of William's men was made at Slane. This was precisely
+what the Jacobite officers had anticipated, and what James had
+obstinately refused to see. When it was too late, he allowed Lauzan to
+defend the ford, but even Sir Nial O'Neill's gallantry was unavailing.
+The enemy had the advance, and Portland's artillery and infantry crossed
+at Slane. William now felt certain of victory, if, indeed, he had ever
+doubted it. It was low water at ten o'clock; the fords at Oldbridge were
+passable; a tremendous battery was opened on the Irish lines; they had
+not a single gun to reply, and yet they waited steadily for the attack.
+The Dutch Blue Guards dashed into the stream ten abreast, commanded by
+the Count de Solmes; the Londonderry and Enniskillen Dragoons followed,
+supported by the French Huguenots. The English infantry came next, under
+the command of Sir John Hanmer and the Count Nassau. William crossed at
+the fifth ford, where the water was deepest, with the cavalry of his
+left wing. It was a grand and terrible sight. The men in the water
+fought for William and Protestantism; the men on land fought for their
+King and their Faith. The men were equally gallant. Of the leaders I
+shall say nothing, lest I should be tempted to say too much. James had
+followed Lauzan's forces towards Slane. Tyrconnel's valour could not
+save the day for Ireland against fearful odds. Sarsfield's horse had
+accompanied the King. The Huguenots were so warmly received by the Irish
+at the fords that they recoiled, and their commander, Caillemont, was
+mortally wounded. Schomberg forgot his age, and the affront he had
+received from William in the morning; and the man of eighty-two dashed
+into the river with the impetuosity of eighteen. He was killed
+immediately, and so was Dr. Walker, who headed the Ulster Protestants.
+William may have regretted the brave old General, but he certainly did
+not regret the Protestant divine. He had no fancy for churchmen meddling
+in secular affairs, and a rough "What brought him there?" was all the
+reply vouchsafed to the news of his demise. The tide now began to flow,
+and the battle raged with increased fury. The valour displayed by the
+Irish was a marvel even to their enemies. Hamilton was wounded and taken
+prisoner. William headed the Enniskilleners, who were put to flight soon
+after by the Irish horse, at Platten, and were now rallied again by
+himself. When the enemy had crossed the ford at Oldbridge, James ordered
+Lauzan to march in a parallel direction with Douglas and young Schomberg
+to Duleek. Tyrconnel followed. The French infantry covered the retreat
+in admirable order, with the Irish cavalry. When the defile of Duleek
+had been passed, the royalist forces again presented a front to the
+enemy. William's horse halted. The retreat was again resumed; and at the
+deep defile of Naul the last stand was made. The shades of a summer
+evening closed over the belligerent camps. The Williamites returned to
+Duleek; and eternal shadows clouded over the destinies of the
+unfortunate Stuarts--a race admired more from sympathy with their
+miseries, than from admiration of their virtues.
+
+Thus ended the famous battle of the Boyne. England obtained thereby a
+new governor and a national debt; Ireland, fresh oppression, and an
+intensification of religious and political animosity, unparalleled in
+the history of nations.
+
+James contrived to be first in the retreat which he had anticipated, and
+for which he had so carefully prepared. He arrived in Dublin in the
+evening, and insulted Lady Tyrconnel by a rude remark about the
+fleetness of her husband's countrymen in running away from the battle;
+to which she retorted, with equal wit and truth, that his Majesty had
+set them the example. He left Dublin the next morning, having first
+insulted the civil and military authorities, by throwing the blame of
+the defeat on the brave men who had risked everything in his cause.
+Having carefully provided for his own safety by leaving two troops of
+horse at Bray to defend the bridge, should the enemy come up, he
+hastened towards Duncannon, where he arrived at sunrise. Here he
+embarked in a small French vessel for Kinsale, and from thence he sailed
+to France, and was himself the bearer of the news of his defeat. The
+command in Ireland was intrusted to Tyrconnel, who gave orders that the
+Irish soldiery should march at once to Limerick, each under the command
+of his own officer. William entered Dublin on Sunday, July 7th. He was
+received with acclamations by the Protestants, who were now relieved
+from all fear lest the Catholics should inflict on them the sufferings
+they had so remorselessly inflicted on the Catholics. Drogheda,
+Kilkenny, Duncannon, and Waterford, capitulated to the victorious army,
+the garrisons marching to Limerick, towards which place William now
+directed his course. Douglas was sent to besiege Athlone; but the
+Governor, Colonel Grace, made such brave resistance there, he was
+obliged to withdraw, and join William near Limerick.
+
+The French officers, who had long since seen the hopelessness of the
+conflict, determined to leave the country. Lauzan, after having surveyed
+Limerick, and declared that it might be taken with "roasted apples,"
+ordered all the French troops to Galway, where they could await an
+opportunity to embark for France. But the brave defenders of the devoted
+city were not deterred. The Governor consulted with Sarsfield,
+Tyrconnel, and the other officers; and the result was a message to
+William, in reply to his demand for a surrender, to the effect, that
+they hoped to merit his good opinion better by a vigorous defence of the
+fortress, which had been committed to them by their master, than by a
+shameful capitulation. By a skilfully executed and rapid march,
+Sarsfield contrived to intercept William's artillery on the Keeper
+Mountains, and after killing the escort, bursting the guns, and blowing
+up the ammunition, he returned in triumph to Limerick. His success
+animated the besieged, and infuriated the besiegers. But the walls of
+Limerick were not as stout as the brave hearts of its defenders. William
+sent for more artillery to Waterford; and it was found that two of the
+guns which Sarsfield had attempted to destroy, were still available.
+
+The trenches were opened on the 17th of August. On the 20th the garrison
+made a vigorous sortie, and retarded the enemy's progress; but on the
+24th the batteries were completed, and a murderous fire of red-hot shot
+and shells was poured into the devoted city. The trenches were carried
+within a few feet of the palisades, on the 27th; and a breach having
+been made in the wall near St. John's Gate, William ordered the assault
+to commence. The storming party were supported by ten thousand men. For
+three hours a deadly struggle was maintained. The result seemed
+doubtful, so determined was the bravery evinced on each side.
+Boisseleau, the Governor, had not been unprepared, although he was taken
+by surprise, and had opened a murderous cross-fire on the assailants
+when first they attempted the storm. The conflict lasted for nearly
+three hours. The Brandenburg regiment had gained the Black Battery, when
+the Irish sprung a mine, and men, faggots, and stones were blown up in a
+moment. A council of war was held; William, whose temper was not the
+most amiable at any time, was unusually morose. He had lost 2,000 men
+between the killed and the wounded, and he had not taken the city, which
+a French General had pronounced attainable with "roasted Apples." On
+Sunday, the 31st of August, the siege was raised. William returned to
+England, where his presence was imperatively demanded. The military
+command was confided to the Count de Solmes, who was afterwards
+succeeded by De Ginkell; the civil government was intrusted to Lord
+Sidney, Sir Charles Porter, and Mr. Coningsby.
+
+Lauzan returned to France with Tyrconnel, and the Irish forces were
+confided to the care of the Duke of Berwick, a youth of twenty, with a
+council of regency and a council of war to advise him. Under these
+circumstances it was little wonder that there should We been
+considerable division of opinion, and no little jealousy, in the royal
+camp; and even then the seeds were sowing of what eventually proved the
+cause of such serious misfortune to the country.
+
+The famous Marlborough appeared before Cork with an army of 1,500 men,
+on the 22nd of September, and the garrison were made prisoners of war
+after a brief and brave resistance; but the conditions on which they
+surrendered were shamefully violated. Kinsale was next attacked; but
+with these exceptions, and some occasional skirmishes with the
+"Rapparees," the winter passed over without any important military
+operations.
+
+Tyrconnel returned to Ireland in January, with a small supply of money
+and some provisions, notwithstanding the plots made against him by
+Luttrell and Purcell. He brought a patent from James, creating Sarsfield
+Earl of Lucan. A French fleet arrived in May, with provisions, clothing,
+and ammunition. It had neither men nor money; but it brought what was
+supposed to be a fair equivalent, in the person of St. Ruth, a
+distinguished French officer, who was sent to take the command of the
+Irish army. In the meantime Ginkell was organizing the most effective
+force ever seen in Ireland: neither men nor money was spared by the
+English Parliament. And this was the army which the impoverished and
+ill-provisioned troops of the royalists were doomed to encounter.
+
+Hostilities commenced on 7th June, with the siege of Ballymore Castle,
+in Westmeath. The Governor surrendered, and Athlone was next attacked.
+This town is situated on the river Shannon. Its position must be
+thoroughly understood, to comprehend the heroic bravery with which it
+was defended. It will be remembered that Athlone was one of the towns
+which the English of the Pale had fortified at the very commencement of
+their invasion of Ireland. That portion of the city which lay on the
+Leinster or Pale side of the river, had never been strongly fortified,
+and a breach was made at once in the wall. Ginkell assaulted it with
+4,000 men, and the defenders at once withdrew to the other side; but
+they held the bridge with heroic bravery, until they had broken down two
+of the arches, and placed the broad and rapid Shannon between themselves
+and their enemies. St. Ruth had arrived in the meantime, and posted his
+army, amounting to about 15,000 horse and foot, at the Irish side of the
+river. The English had now raised the works so high on their side, that
+they were able to keep up an incessant fire upon the town. According to
+their own historian, Story, they threw in 12,000 cannon balls and 600
+bombs, and the siege cost them "nigh fifty tons of powder." The walls
+opposite to the batteries were soon broken down, and the town itself
+reduced to ruins. The besiegers next attempted to cross in a bridge of
+boats, but the defenders turned their few field-pieces on them. They
+then tried to mend the broken bridge; huge beams were flung across, and
+they had every hope of success. _But_ they knew not yet what Irish
+valour could dare. Eight or ten devoted men dashed into the water, and
+tore down the planks, under a galling fire; and, as they fell dead or
+dying into the river, others rushed to take the places of their fallen
+comrades, and to complete the work.
+
+St. Ruth now ordered preparations to be made for an assault, and desired
+the ramparts on the Connaught side of the town to be levelled, that a
+whole battalion might enter abreast to relieve the garrison when it was
+assailed. But the Governor, D'Usson, opposed the plan, and neglected the
+order. All was now confusion in the camp. There never had been any real
+head to the royalist party in Ireland; and to insure victory in battle,
+or success in any important enterprise where multitudes are concerned,
+it is absolutely essential that all should act with union of purpose.
+Such union, where there are many men, and, consequently, many minds, can
+only be attained by the most absolute submission to one leader; and this
+leader, to obtain submission, should be either a lawfully constituted
+authority, or, in cases of emergency, one of those master-spirits to
+whom men bow with unquestioning submission, because of the majesty of
+intellect within them. There were brave men and true men in that camp at
+Athlone, but there was not one who possessed these essential requisites.
+
+According to the Williamite historian, Ginkell was informed by traitors
+of what was passing, and that the defences on the river side were
+guarded by two of the "most indifferent Irish regiments." He immediately
+chose 2,000 men for the assault, distributed a gratuity of guineas
+amongst them, and at a signal from the church bell, at six in the
+evening, on the 30th of June, the assault was made, and carried with
+such rapidity, that St. Ruth, who was with the cavalry at a distance,
+was not aware of what had happened until all was over. St. Ruth at once
+removed his army to Ballinasloe, twelve miles from his former post, and
+subsequently to Aughrim. Tyrconnel was obliged to leave the camp, the
+outcry against him became so general.
+
+St. Ruth's ground was well chosen. He had placed his men upon an
+eminence, and each wing was protected by a morass or bog. The
+Williamites came up on Sunday, July 11th, while the Irish were hearing
+Mass. In this instance, as in so many others, it is impossible to
+ascertain correctly the numerical force of each army. The historians on
+either side were naturally anxious to magnify the numbers of their
+opponents, and to lessen their own. It is at least certain, that on
+this, as on other occasions, the Irish were miserably deficient in all
+the appliances of the art of war, while the English were admirably
+supplied. The most probable estimate of the Irish force appears to be
+15,000 horse and foot; and of the English 20,000. Ginkell opened fire on
+the enemy as soon as his guns were planted. Some trifling skirmishes
+followed. A council of war was held, and the deliberation lasted until
+half-past four in the evening, at which time a general engagement was
+decided on. A cannonade had been kept up on both sides, in which the
+English had immensely the advantage, St. Ruth's excellently chosen
+position being almost useless for want of sufficient artillery. At
+half-past six Ginkell ordered an advance on the Irish right centre,
+having previously ascertained that the bog was passable. The defenders,
+after discharging their fire, gradually drew the Williamites after them
+by an almost imperceptible retreat, until they had them face to face
+with their main line. Then the Irish cavalry charged with irresistible
+valour, and the English were thrown into total disorder. St. Ruth, proud
+of the success of his strategies and the valour of his men, exclaimed,
+"Le jour est a nous, mes enfans." But St. Ruth's weak point was his left
+wing, and this was at once perceived and taken advantage of by the Dutch
+General. Some of his infantry made good their passage across the morass,
+which St. Ruth had supposed impassable; and the men, who commanded this
+position from a ruined castle, found that the balls with which they had
+been served did not suit their fire-arms, so that they were unable to
+defend the passage. St. Ruth at once perceived his error. He hastened to
+support them with a brigade of horse; but even as he exclaimed, "They
+are beaten; let us beat them to the purpose," a cannon-ball carried off
+his head, and all was lost. Another death, which occurred almost
+immediately after, completed the misfortunes of the Irish. The infantry
+had been attended and encouraged by Dr. Aloysius Stafford, chaplain to
+the forces; but when "death interrupted his glorious career,"[544] they
+were panic-struck; and three hours after the death of the general and
+the priest, there was not a man of the Irish army left upon the field.
+But the real cause of the failure was the fatal misunderstanding which
+existed between the leaders. Sarsfield, who was thoroughly able to have
+taken St Ruth's position, and to have retrieved the fortunes of the day,
+had been placed in the rear by the jealousy of the latter, and kept in
+entire ignorance of the plan of battle. He was now obliged to withdraw
+without striking a single blow. The cavalry retreated along the highroad
+to Loughrea; the infantry fled to a bog, where numbers were massacred,
+unarmed and in cold blood.
+
+The loss on both sides was immense, and can never be exactly estimated.
+Harris says that "had not St. Ruth been taken off, it would have been
+hard to say what the consequences of this day would have been."[545]
+Many of the dead remained unburied, and their bones were left to bleach
+in the storms of winter and the sun of summer. There was one exception
+to the general neglect. An Irish officer, who had been slain, was
+followed by his faithful dog. The poor animal lay beside his master's
+body day and night; and though he fed upon other corpses with the rest
+of the dogs, he would not permit them to touch the treasured remains. He
+continued his watch until January, when he flew at a soldier, who he
+feared was about to remove the bones, which were all that remained to
+him of the being by whom he had been caressed and fed. The soldier in
+his fright unslung his piece and fired, and the faithful wolf-dog laid
+down and died by his charge.[546]
+
+Ginkell laid siege to Galway a week after the battle of Aughrim. The
+inhabitants relied principally upon the arrival of Balldearg O'Donnell
+for their defence; but, as he did not appear in time, they capitulated
+on favourable terms, and the Dutch General marched to Limerick.
+
+Tyrconnel died at Limerick, of apoplexy, while he was preparing to put
+the city into a state of defence. He was a faithful and zealous
+supporter of the royal cause, and devoted to the Irish nation. His
+loyalty has induced one party to blacken his character; his haughty and
+unconciliatory manner prevented his good qualities from being fully
+appreciated by the other.
+
+The real command now devolved on M. D'Usson, the Governor of Limerick.
+Active preparations for the siege were made on both sides. Ginkell
+contrived to communicate with Henry Luttrell, but his perfidy was
+discovered, and he was tried by court-martial and imprisoned. Sixty
+cannon and nineteen mortars were planted against the devoted city, and
+on the 30th the bombardment commenced. The Irish horse had been
+quartered on the Clare side of the Shannon; but, through the treachery
+or indifference of Brigadier Clifford, who had been posted, with a
+strong body of dragoons, to prevent such an attempt, Ginkell threw
+across a pontoon-bridge, and sent over a large detachment of horse and
+foot, on the morning of the 16th, which effectually cut off
+communication between the citizens and their camp. On the 22nd he made a
+feint of raising the siege, but his real object was to lull suspicion,
+while he attacked the works at the Clare end of Thomond-bridge. The
+position was bravely defended by Colonel Lacy, but he was obliged to
+yield to overpowering numbers; and the Town-Major, fearing that the
+enemy would enter in the _melee_ with the Irish, drew up the bridge. The
+English gave no quarter, and, according to their own account, 600 men
+were slaughtered on the spot. This was the last engagement. Sarsfield
+recommended a surrender. Resistance was equally hopeless and useless; it
+could only end in a fearful sacrifice of life on both sides. A parley
+took place on the 23rd, and on the 24th a three days' truce was
+arranged. Hostages were exchanged, and a friendly intercourse was
+established. On the 3rd of October, 1691, the Treaty was signed. The
+large stone is still shown which was used as a table on the occasion.
+What that Treaty contained, and how it was violated, are matters which
+demand a careful and impartial consideration.
+
+[Illustration: THE TREATY STONE, LIMERICK.
+
+This stone was placed on a handsome pedestal a few years since, by the
+then Mayor of Limerick.]
+
+[Illustration: SITE OF THE BATTLE OF AUGHRIM.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[538] _Command_.--Mountcashel gave the word "right face;" it was
+repeated "right about face." Colonel Hamilton and Captain Lavallin were
+tried in Dublin by court-martial for the mistake, and the latter was
+shot.
+
+[539] _Arrived_.--The journals of two officers of the Williamite army
+have been published in the _Ulster Arch. Jour_., and furnish some
+interesting details of the subsequent campaign. One of the writers is
+called Bonnivert, and was probably a French refugee; the other was Dr.
+Davis, a Protestant clergyman, who obtained a captaincy in William's
+army, and seemed to enjoy preaching and fighting with equal zest.
+
+[540] _Sick_.--Harris' _Life of King William_, p. 254, 1719. Macaulay's
+account of the social state of the camp, where there were so many
+divines preaching, is a proof that their ministrations were not very
+successful, and that the lower order of Irish were not at all below the
+English of the same class in education or refinement. "The moans of the
+sick were drowned by the blasphemy and ribaldry of their companions.
+Sometimes, seated on the body of a wretch who had died in the morning,
+might be seen a wretch destined to die before night, cursing, singing
+loose songs, and swallowing usquebaugh to the health of the devil. When
+the corpses were taken away to be buried, the survivors grumbled. A dead
+man, they said, was a good screen and a good stool. Why, when there was
+so abundant a supply of such useful articles of furniture, were people
+to be exposed to the cold air, and forced to crouch on the moist
+ground?"--Macaulay's _History of England_, People's Ed. part viii. p.
+88.
+
+[541] _Eminence_.--Journal of Captain Davis, published in the _Ulster
+Archaeological Journal_, vol. iv.
+
+[542] _Twenty thousand_.--Captain Davis' Journal.
+
+[543] _Shoulder_.--Davis' Journal The coat was exhibited at the meeting
+of the British Association in Belfast, in 1852. It had descended as an
+heirloom through Colonel Wetherall, William's aide-de-camp, who took it
+off him after the accident.
+
+[544] _Career_.--_History of the King's Inns_, p. 239.
+
+[545] _Been.--Life of William III_. p. 327.
+
+[546] _Charge_.--See the _Green Book_, p. 231, for some curious stories
+about this engagement, and for a detailed account of St. Ruth's death.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+Formation of the Irish Brigade--Violation of the Treaty of
+Limerick--Enactment of the Penal Laws--Restrictions on Trade--The
+Embargo Laws--The Sacramental Test introduced--The Palatines--The Irish
+forbidden to enlist in the Army--Dean Swift and the Drapier's
+Letters--Attempts to form a Catholic Association--Irish Emigrants defeat
+the English in France, Spain, and America--The Whiteboys--An Account of
+the Cause of these Outrages, by an English Tourist--Mr. Young's Remedy
+for Irish Disaffection--The Peculiar Position and Difficulties of Irish
+Priests--The Judicial Murder of Father Nicholas Sheehy--Grattan's Demand
+for Irish Independence--The Volunteers--A Glimpse of Freedom.
+
+[A.D. 1691-1783.]
+
+
+St. John's Gate and the Irish outworks were surrendered to the English;
+the English town was left for the Irish troops to occupy until their
+departure for France. The men were to have their choice whether they
+would serve under William III. or under the French. A few days after
+they were mustered on the Clare side of the Shannon, to declare which
+alternative they preferred. An Ulster battalion, and a few men in each
+regiment, in all about 1,000, entered the service of Government; 2,000
+received passes to return home; 11,000, with all the cavalry,
+volunteered for France, and embarked for that country in different
+detachments, under their respective officers. They were warmly received
+in the land of their adoption; and all Irish Catholics to France were
+granted the privileges of French citizens, without the formality of
+naturalization. And thus was formed the famous "Irish Brigade," which
+has become a household word for bravery and the glory of the Irish
+nation.
+
+The Treaty, as I have said, was signed on the 3rd of October, 1691. The
+preamble states that the contracting parties were Sir Charles Porter and
+Thomas Coningsby, Lords Justices, with the Baron de Ginkell as
+Commander-in-Chief, on the part of William and Mary; Sarsfield, Earl of
+Lucan, Viscount Galmoy, Colonel Purcell, Colonel Cusack, Sir J. Butler,
+Colonel Dillon, and Colonel Brown, on the part of the Irish nation. The
+articles were fifty-two in number. They guaranteed to the Catholics (1)
+the free exercise of their religion; (2) the privilege of sitting in
+Parliament; (3) freedom of trade; (4) the safety of the estates of those
+who had taken up arms for King James; (5) a general amnesty; (6) all the
+honours of war to the troops, and a free choice for their future
+destination. The articles run to considerable length, and cannot,
+therefore, be inserted here; but they may be seen _in extenso_ in
+MacGeoghegan's _History of Ireland_, and several other works. So little
+doubt had the Irish that this Treaty would be solemnly observed, that
+when the accidental omission of two lines was discovered in the clean
+copy, they refused to carry out the arrangements until those lines had
+been inserted. The Treaty was confirmed by William and Mary, who pledged
+"the honour of England" that it should be kept inviolably, saying: "We
+do, for us, our heirs and successors, as far as in us lies, ratify and
+confirm the same, and every clause, matter, and thing therein
+contained." Two days after the signing of the Treaty, a French fleet
+arrived in the Shannon, with 3,000 soldiers, 200 officers, and 10,000
+stand of arms. Sarsfield was strongly urged to break faith with the
+English; but he nobly rejected the temptation. How little did he foresee
+how cruelly that nation would break faith with him!
+
+Two months had scarcely elapsed after the departure of the Irish troops,
+when an English historian was obliged to write thus of the open
+violation of the articles: "The justices of the peace, sheriffs, and
+other magistrates, presuming on their power in the country, dispossessed
+several of their Majesties' Catholic subjects, not only of their goods
+and chattels, but also of their lands and tenements, to the great
+reproach of their Majesties' Government."[547] These complaints were so
+general, that the Lords Justices were at last obliged to issue a
+proclamation on the subject (November 19, 1691), in which they state
+that they had "received complaints from all parts of Ireland of the
+ill-treatment of the Irish who had submitted; and that they [the Irish]
+were so extremely terrified with apprehensions of the continuance of
+that usage, that some of those who had quitted the Irish army and went
+home, with the resolution not to go to France, were then come back
+again, and pressed earnestly to go thither, rather than stay in Ireland,
+where, contrary to the public faith, as well as law and justice, they
+were robbed in their persons and abused in their substance." Let it be
+remembered that this was an official document, and that it emanated from
+the last persons who were likely to listen to such complaints, or
+relieve them if they could possibly have been denied.
+
+The men who had hoped for confiscations that they might share the
+plunder, now began to clamour loudly. It was necessary to get up a
+popular cry against Papists, as the surest means of attaining their end.
+Individuals who had as little personal hatred to the Pope as they had to
+the Grand Turk, and as little real knowledge of the Catholic Faith as of
+Mahometanism, uttered wild cries of "No Popery!" and "No Surrender!"
+William, whose morals, if not his professions, proclaimed that he was
+not troubled with any strong religious convictions, was obliged to yield
+to the faction who had set him on the throne. Probably, he yielded
+willingly; and was thus able, in some measure, to make a pretence of
+doing under pressure what he really wished to do of his own will.
+
+On the 28th of October, 1692, the Parliament in Dublin rejected a Bill
+which had been sent from England, containing restrictions on certain
+duties, solely to proclaim their independence. A few days after they
+were taught a lesson of obedience. Lord Sidney came down to the House
+unexpectedly, and prorogued Parliament, with a severe rebuke, ordering
+the Clerk to enter his protest against the proceedings of the Commons on
+the journals of the House of Lords. The hopes of the English were
+raised, and the Parliament brought forward the subject of the Limerick
+articles, with torrents of complaints against the Irish in general, and
+the Irish Catholics in particular. William received their remonstrance
+coolly, and the matter was allowed to rest for a time. In 1695 Lord
+Capel was appointed Viceroy. He at once summoned a Parliament, which sat
+for several sessions, and in which some of the penal laws against
+Catholics were enacted. As I believe the generality even of educated
+persons, both in England and Ireland, are entirely ignorant of what
+these laws really were, I shall give a brief account of their
+enactments, premising first, that seven lay peers and seven Protestant
+bishops had the honorable humanity to sign a protest against them.
+
+(1) The Catholic peers were deprived of their right to sit in
+Parliament. (2) Catholic gentlemen were forbidden to be elected as
+members of Parliament. (3) It denied all Catholics the liberty of
+voting, and it excluded them from all offices of trust, and indeed from
+_all remunerative_ employment, however insignificant.[548] (4) They were
+fined L60 a-month for absence from the Protestant form of worship. (5)
+They were forbidden to travel five miles from their houses, to keep
+arms, to maintain suits at law, or to be guardians or executors. (6) Any
+four justices of the peace could, without further trial, banish any man
+for life if he refused to attend the Protestant service. (7) Any two
+justices of the peace could call any man over sixteen before them, and
+if he refused to abjure the Catholic religion, they could bestow his
+property on the next of kin. (8) No Catholic could employ a Catholic
+schoolmaster to educate his children; and if he sent his child abroad
+for education, he was subject to a fine of L100, and the child could not
+inherit any property either in England or Ireland. (9) Any Catholic
+priest who came to the country should be hanged. (10) Any Protestant
+suspecting any other Protestant of holding property[549] in trust for
+any Catholic, might file a bill against the suspected trustee, and take
+the estate or property from him. (11) Any Protestant seeing a Catholic
+tenant-at-will on a farm, which, in his opinion, yielded one-third more
+than the yearly rent, might enter on that farm, and, by simply swearing
+to the fact, take possession. (12) Any Protestant might take away the
+horse of a Catholic, no matter how valuable, by simply paying him L5.
+(13) Horses and wagons belonging to Catholics, were in all cases to be
+seized for the use of the militia. (14) Any Catholic gentleman's child
+who became a Protestant, could at once take possession of his father's
+property.
+
+I have only enumerated some of the enactments of this code, and I
+believe there are few persons who will not be shocked at their atrocity.
+Even if the rights of Catholics had not been secured to them by the
+Treaty of Limerick, they had the rights of men; and whatever excuse, on
+the ground of hatred of Popery as a religion, may be offered for
+depriving men of liberty of conscience, and of a share in the government
+of their country, there can be no excuse for the gross injustice of
+defrauding them of their property, and placing life and estate at the
+mercy of every ruffian who had an interest in depriving them of either
+or of both. Although the seventeenth century has not yet been included
+in the dark ages, it is possible that posterity, reading these
+enactments, may reverse present opinion on this subject.
+
+But though the Parliament which sat in Dublin, and was misnamed Irish,
+was quite willing to put down Popery and to take the property of
+Catholics, it was not so willing to submit to English rule in other
+matters. In 1698 Mr. Molyneux, one of the members for the University of
+Dublin, published a work, entitled _The Case of Irelands being bound by
+Acts of Parliament in England, stated_. But Mr. Molyneux's book was
+condemned by the English Parliament; and after a faint show of
+resistance, the Irish members succumbed. The next attention which the
+English Houses paid to this country, was to suppress the woollen trade.
+In 1698 they passed a law for the prevention of the exportation of wool
+and of manufactures from Ireland, "under the forfeiture of goods and
+ship, and a penalty of L500 for every such offence." The penal laws had
+made it "an offence" for a man to practise his religion, or to educate
+his children either in Ireland or abroad; the trade laws made it "an
+offence" for a man to earn[550] his bread in an honest calling. The
+lower class of Protestants were the principal sufferers by the
+destruction of the woollen trade; it had been carried on by them almost
+exclusively; and it is said that 40,000 persons were reduced to utter
+destitution by this one enactment. In addition to this, navigation laws
+were passed, which prohibited Irish merchants from trading beyond seas
+in any ships except those which were built in England. The embargo laws
+followed, of which twenty-two were passed at different periods during
+forty years. They forbade Irish merchants, whether Protestant or
+Catholic, to trade with any foreign nation, or with any British colony,
+direct-to export or import _any article_, except to or from British
+merchants resident in England. Ireland, however, was allowed one
+consolation, and this was the permission to import rum duty free. I am
+certain that none of the honorable members who voted such laws had the
+deliberate intention of making the Irish a nation of beggars and
+drunkards; but if the Irish did not become such, it certainly was not
+the fault of those who legislated for their own benefit, and, as far as
+they had the power to do so, for her ruin, politically and socially.
+
+William had exercised his royal prerogative by disposing, according to
+his own inclination, of the estates forfeited by those who had fought
+for the royal cause. His favourite, Mrs. Villiers, obtained property
+worth L25,000 per annum. In 1799 the English Parliament began to inquire
+into this matter, and the Commons voted that "the advising and passing
+of the said grants was highly reflecting upon the King's honour."
+William had already began to see on what shifting sands the poor fabric
+of his popularity was erected. He probably thought of another case in
+which his honour had been really pledged, and in which he had been
+obliged to sacrifice it to the clamours of these very men. He had failed
+in the attempt to keep his Dutch Guards; his last days were embittered;
+and had not his death occurred soon after, it is just possible that even
+posterity might have read his life in a different fashion.
+
+Anne succeeded to the throne in 1702; and the following year the Duke of
+Ormonde was sent to Ireland as Lord Lieutenant. The House of Commons
+waited on him with a Bill "to prevent the further growth of Popery." A
+few members, who had protested against this Act, resigned their seats,
+but others were easily found to take their places, whose opinions
+coincided with those of the majority. The Queen's Tory advisers objected
+to these strong measures, and attempted to nullify them, by introducing
+the clause known as the "Sacramental Test," which excludes from public
+offices all who refused to receive the sacrament according to the forms
+of the Established Church. As dissenters from that Church had great
+influence in the Irish Parliament, and as it was well known that their
+abhorrence of the Church which had been established by law was little
+short of their hatred of the Church which had been suppressed by law, it
+was hoped that they would reject the bill; but they were assured that
+they would not be required to take the test, and with this assurance
+they passed the Act. It seems to those who look back on such
+proceedings, almost a marvel, how men, whose conscience forbade them to
+receive the sacrament according to certain rites, and who, in many
+cases, certainly would have resigned property, if not life, sooner than
+act contrary to their religious convictions, should have been so blindly
+infatuated as to compel other men, as far as they had power to do so, to
+violate their conscientious convictions. The whole history of the
+persecutions which Catholics have endured at the hands of Protestants of
+all and every denomination, is certainly one of the most curious phases
+of human perversity which the philosopher can find to study.
+
+Two of the gentlemen, Sir Toby Butler and Colonel Cusack, who had signed
+the Treaty of Limerick, petitioned to be heard by counsel against the
+Bill. But appeals to honour and to justice were alike in vain, when
+addressed to men who were destitute of both. The petitioners were
+dismissed with the insulting remark, that if they suffered from the Act
+it was their own fault, since, if they complied with its requirements,
+honours and wealth were at their command. But these were men who would
+not violate the dictates of conscience for all that the world could
+bestow on them, and of this one should think they had already given
+sufficient proof. The Bill was passed without a dissentient voice; and
+men who would themselves have rebelled openly and violently if the
+Sacramental Test had been imposed on them, and who would have talked
+loudly of liberty of conscience, and the blasphemy of interfering with
+any one's religious convictions, now, without a shadow of hesitation,
+imposed this burden upon their fellow-men, and were guilty of the very
+crime of persecution, with which they so frequently charged their
+Catholic fellow-subjects.
+
+One Act followed another, each adding some new restriction to the last,
+or some fresh incentive for persecution. In 1709 an attempt was made to
+plant some Protestant families from Germany in various parts of the
+country. These settlements obtained the name of Palatines. But it was
+labour lost. Sir John Chichester once observed, that it was useless to
+endeavour to root Popery out of Ireland, for it was impregnated in the
+very air. A few of the Palatines, like other settlers, still kept to
+their own religion; but the majority, as well as the majority of other
+settlers, learned to understand and then to believe the Catholic
+faith--learned to admire, and then to love, and eventually to amalgamate
+with the long-suffering and noble race amongst whom they had been
+established.
+
+It would appear that Queen Anne wished her brother to succeed her on the
+throne; but he had been educated a Catholic, and he resolutely rejected
+all temptations to renounce his faith. Her short and troubled reign
+ended on the 1st of August, 1714. Before her death the Parliament had
+chosen her successor. Her brother was proscribed, and a reward of
+L50,000 offered for his apprehension. The rebellion in favour of James
+III., as he was called on the Continent, or the Pretender, as he was
+called by those who had no resource but to deny his legitimacy, was
+confined entirely to Scotland; but the Irish obtained no additional
+grace by their loyalty to the reigning monarch. A new proclamation was
+issued, which not only forbid them to enlist in the army, but offered
+rewards for the discovery of any Papist who had presumed to enlist, in
+order that "he might be turned out, and punished with the utmost
+severity of the law." In the next reign we shall see how the suicidal
+effect of this policy was visited on the heads of its promoters.
+
+The Irish Parliament now came into collision with the English on a case
+of appellate jurisdiction, but they were soon taught their true
+position, and with becoming submission deferred to their fate. The Irish
+Parliament had long been such merely in name; and the only power they
+were allowed to exercise freely, was that of making oppressive and
+unjust enactments against their Catholic fellow-subjects. It is a poor
+consolation, but one which is not unfrequently indulged, when those who
+are oppressed by others become themselves in turn the oppressors of
+those who are unfortunate enough to be in their power.
+
+A new phase in Irish history was inaugurated by the versatile talents,
+and strong will in their exercise, which characterized the famous Dr.
+Jonathan Swift. The quarrels between Whigs and Tories were at their
+height. Swift is said to have been a Whig in politics and a Tory in
+religion. He now began to write as a patriot; and in his famous
+"Drapier's Letters" told the Government of the day some truths which
+were more plain than palatable.[551] An Englishman named Wood had
+obtained a patent under the Broad Seal, in 1723, for the coinage of
+copper halfpence. Even the servile Parliament was indignant, and
+protested against a scheme[552] which promised to flood Ireland with bad
+coin, and thus to add still more to its already impoverished condition.
+There was reason for anxiety. The South Sea Bubble had lately ruined
+thousands in England, and France was still suffering from the
+Mississippi Scheme. Speculations of all kinds were afloat, and a
+temporary mania seemed to have deprived the soberest people of their
+ordinary judgment. Dr. Hugh Boulter, an Englishman, was made Archbishop
+of Armagh, and sent over mainly to attend to the English interests in
+Ireland. But he was unable to control popular feeling; and Swift's
+letters accomplished what the Irish Parliament was powerless to effect.
+Although it was well known that he was the author of these letters, and
+though a reward of L300 was offered for the discovery of the secret, he
+escaped unpunished. In 1725 the patent was withdrawn, and Wood received
+L3,000 a year for twelve years as an indemnification--an evidence that
+he must have given a very large bribe for the original permission, and
+that he expected to make more by it than could have been made honestly.
+One of the subjects on which Swift wrote most pointedly and effectively,
+was that of absentees. He employed both facts and ridicule; but each
+were equally in vain. He describes the wretched state of the country;
+but his eloquence was unheeded. He gave ludicrous illustrations of the
+extreme ignorance of those who governed in regard to those whom they
+governed. Unfortunately the state of things which he described and
+denounced has continued, with few modifications, to the present day; but
+on this subject I have said sufficient elsewhere.
+
+George I. died at Osnaburg, in Germany, on the 10th of June, 1727. On
+the accession of his successor, the Catholics offered an address
+expressing their loyalty, but the Lords Justices took care that it
+should never reach England. The next events of importance were the
+efforts made by Dr. Boulter, the Protestant Primate, to establish
+Charter Schools, where Catholic children might be educated; and his
+equally zealous efforts to prevent Catholics, who had conformed
+exteriorly to the State religion, from being admitted to practise at the
+Bar. It may be observed in passing, that these men could scarcely have
+been as degraded in habits and intellect as some historians have been
+pleased to represent them, when they could at once become fit for
+forensic honours, and evinced such ability as to excite the fears of the
+Protestant party. It should be remarked that their "conversion" was
+manifestly insincere, otherwise there would have been no cause for
+apprehension.
+
+The country was suffering at this period from the most fearful distress.
+There were many causes for this state of destitution, which were quite
+obvious to all but those who were interested in maintaining it. The
+poorer classes, being almost exclusively Catholics, had been deprived of
+every means of support. Trade was crushed, so that they could not become
+traders; agriculture was not permitted, so that they could not become
+agriculturists. There was, in fact, no resource for the majority but to
+emigrate, to steal, or to starve. To a people whose religion always had
+a preponderating influence on their moral conduct, the last alternative
+only was available, as there was not the same facilities for emigration
+then as now. The cultivation of the potato had already become general;
+it was, indeed, the only way of obtaining food left to these
+unfortunates. They were easily planted, easily reared; and to men liable
+at any moment to be driven from their miserable holdings, if they
+attempted to effect "improvements," or to plant such crops as might
+attract the rapacity of their landlords, they were an invaluable
+resource. The man might live who eat nothing but potatoes all the year
+round, but he could scarcely be envied or ejected for his wealth. In
+1739 a severe frost destroyed the entire crop, and a frightful famine
+ensued, in which it was estimated that 400,000 persons perished of
+starvation.
+
+In 1747 George Stone succeeded Dr. Hoadley as Primate of Ireland. His
+appointment was made evidently more in view of temporals than
+spirituals, and he acted accordingly. Another undignified squabble took
+place in 1751 and 1753, between the English and Irish Parliaments, on
+the question of privilege. For a time the "patriot" or Irish party
+prevailed; but eventually they yielded to the temptation of bribery and
+place. Henry Boyle, the Speaker, was silenced by being made Earl of
+Shannon; Anthony Malone was made Chancellor of the Exchequer; and the
+opposition party was quietly broken up.
+
+An attempt was now made to form a Catholic Association, and to obtain by
+combination and quiet pressure what had been so long denied to
+resistance and military force. Dr. Curry, a physician practising in
+Dublin, and the author of the well-known _Historical and Critical Review
+of the Civil Wars of Ireland;_ Charles O'Connor, of Belanagar, the Irish
+antiquary, and Mr. Wyse, of Waterford, were the projectors and promoters
+of this scheme. The clergy stood aloof from it, fearing to lose any
+liberty they still possessed if they demanded more; the aristocracy held
+back, fearing to forfeit what little property yet remained to them, if
+they gave the least excuse for fresh "settlements" or plunderings. A few
+Catholic merchants, however, joined the three friends; and in
+conjunction they prepared an address to the Duke of Bedford, who was
+appointed Lord Lieutenant in 1757. The address was favourably received,
+and an answer returned after some time. The Government already had
+apprehensions of the French invasion, and it was deemed politic to give
+the Catholics some encouragement, however faint. It is at least certain
+that the reply declared, "the zeal and attachment which they [the
+Catholics] professed, would never be more seasonably manifested than at
+the present juncture."
+
+Charles Lucas now began his career of patriotism; for at last Irish
+Protestants were beginning to see, that if Irish Catholics suffered,
+Irish interests would suffer also; and if Irish interests suffered, they
+should have their share in the trial. A union between England and
+Ireland, such as has since been carried out, was now proposed, and
+violent excitement followed. A mob, principally composed of Protestants,
+broke into the House of Lords; but the affair soon passed over, and the
+matter was dropped.
+
+George II. died suddenly at Kensington, and was succeeded by his
+grandson, George III. But I shall request the attention of the reader to
+some remarks of considerable importance with regard to foreign events,
+before continuing the regular course of history. The predilections of
+the late King for his German connexions, had led him into war both with
+France and Spain; the imprudence of ministers, if not the unwise and
+unjust policy of colonial government, involved the country soon after in
+a conflict with the American dependencies. In each of these cases
+expatriated Irishmen turned the scale against the country from which
+they had been so rashly and cruelly ejected. In France, the battle of
+Fontenoy was won mainly by the Irish Brigade, who were commanded by
+Colonel Dillon; and the defeat of England by the Irish drew from George
+II. the well-known exclamation: "Cursed be the laws that deprive me of
+such subjects!" In Spain, where the Irish officers and soldiers had
+emigrated by thousands, there was scarcely an engagement in which they
+did not take a prominent and decisive part. In Canada, the agitation
+against British exactions was commenced by Charles Thompson, an Irish
+emigrant, and subsequently the Secretary of Congress; Montgomery,
+another Irishman, captured Montreal and Quebec; O'Brien and Barry, whose
+names sufficiently indicate their nationality, were the first to command
+in the naval engagements; and startled England began to recover slowly
+and sadly from her long infatuation, to discover what had, indeed, been
+discovered by the sharp-sighted Schomberg[553] and his master long
+before, that Irishmen, from their habits of endurance and undaunted
+courage, were the best soldiers she could find, and that, Celts and
+Papists as they were, her very existence as a nation might depend upon
+their co-operation.
+
+The agrarian outrages, the perpetrators of which were known at first by
+the name of Levellers, and eventually by the appellation of Whiteboys,
+commenced immediately after the accession of George III. An English
+traveller, who carefully studied the subject and who certainly could
+have been in no way interested in misrepresentation, has thus described
+the cause and the motive of the atrocities they practised. The first
+cause was the rapacity of the landlords, who, having let their lands far
+above their value, on condition of allowing the tenants the use of
+certain commons, now enclosed the commons, but did not lessen the rent.
+The bricks were to be made, but the straw was not provided; and the
+people were told that they were idle. The second cause was the exactions
+of the tithemongers, who were described by this English writer as
+"harpies who squeezed out the very vitals of the people, and by process,
+citation, and sequestration, dragged from them the little which the
+landlord had left them." It was hard for those who had been once owners
+of the soil, to be obliged to support the intruders into their property
+in affluence; while they, with even the most strenuous efforts, could
+barely obtain what would keep them from starvation. It was still harder
+that men, who had sacrificed their position in society, and their
+worldly prospects, for the sake of their religion, should be obliged to
+support clergymen and their families, some of whom never resided in the
+parishes from which they obtained tithes, and many of whom could not
+count above half-a-dozen persons as regular members of their
+congregation.
+
+Mr. Young thus suggests a remedy for these crimes, which, he says, were
+punished with a "severity which seemed calculated for the meridian of
+Barbary, while others remain yet the law of the land, which would, if
+executed, tend more to raise than to quell an insurrection. From all
+which it is manifest, that the gentlemen of Ireland never thought of a
+radical cure, from overlooking the real cause of disease, which, in
+fact, lay in themselves, and not in the wretches they doomed to the
+gallows. Let them change their own conduct entirely, and the poor will
+not long riot. Treat them like men, who ought to be as free as
+yourselves; put an end to that system of religious persecution, which,
+for seventy years, has divided the kingdom against itself--in these two
+circumstances lies the cure of insurrection; perform them completely,
+and you will have an affectionate poor, instead of oppressed and
+discontented vassals."[554]
+
+How purely these outrages were the deeds of desperate men, who had been
+made desperate by cruel oppression, and insensible to cruelty by cruel
+wrongs, is evident from the dying declaration of five Whiteboys, who
+were executed, in 1762, at Waterford and who publicly declared, and took
+God to witness, "that in all these tumults it never did enter into their
+thoughts to do anything against the King or Government."[555]
+
+It could not be expected that the Irish priest would see the people
+exposed to all this misery--and what to them was far more painful to all
+this temptation to commit deadly sin--without making some effort in
+their behalf. There may have been some few priests, who, in their zeal
+for their country, have sacrificed the sacredness of their office to
+their indignation at the injury done to their people--who have mixed
+themselves up with feats of arms, or interfered with more ardour than
+discretion in the arena of politics; but such instances have been rare,
+and circumstances have generally made them in some degree excusable. The
+position of the Irish priest in regard to his flock is so anomalous,
+that some explanation of it seems necessary in order to understand the
+accusations made against Father Nicholas Sheehy, and the animosity with
+which he was hunted to death by his persecutors. While the priest was
+driven from cave to mountain and from mountain to cave, he was the
+consoler of his equally persecuted people. The deep reverence which
+Catholics feel for the office of the priesthood, can scarcely be
+understood by those who have abolished that office, as far as the law of
+the land could do so; but a man of ordinary intellectual attainments
+ought to be able to form some idea of the feelings of others, though he
+may not have experienced them personally; and a man of ordinary humanity
+should be able to respect those feelings, however unwise they may seem
+to him. When education was forbidden to the Irish, the priest obtained
+education in continental colleges; and there is sufficient evidence to
+show that many Irish priests of that and of preceding centuries were men
+of more than ordinary abilities. The Irish, always fond of learning, are
+ever ready to pay that deference to its possessors which is the best
+indication of a superior mind, however uncultivated. Thus, the
+priesthood were respected both for their office and for their erudition.
+The landlord, the Protestant clergyman, the nearest magistrate, and,
+perhaps, the tithe-proctor, were the only educated persons in the
+neighbourhood; but they were leagued against the poor peasant; they
+demanded rent and tithes, which he had no means of paying; they refused
+justice, which he had no means of obtaining. The priest, then, was the
+only friend the peasant had. His friendship was disinterested--he gained
+nothing by his ministration but poor fare and poor lodging; his
+friendship was self-sacrificing, for he risked his liberty and his life
+for his flock. He it was--
+
+    "Who, in the winter's night,
+    When the cold blast did bite,
+    Came to my cabin door,
+    And, on the earthen floor,
+    Knelt by me, sick and poor;"
+
+and he, too, when the poor man was made still poorer by his sickness,
+
+    "Gave, while his eyes did brim,
+    What I should give to him."[556]
+
+But a time came when the priest was able to do more. Men had seen, in
+some measure, the absurdity, if not the wickedness, of persecuting the
+religion of a nation; and at this time priests were tolerated in
+Ireland. Still, though they risked their lives by it, they could not see
+their people treated unjustly without a protest. The priest was
+independent of the landlord; for, if he suffered from his vengeance, he
+suffered alone, and his own sufferings weighed lightly in the balance
+compared with the general good. The priest was a gentleman by education,
+and often by birth; and this gave him a social status which his
+uneducated people could not possess.[557] Such, was the position of
+Father Nicholas Sheehy, the parish priest of Clogheen. He had interfered
+in the vain hope of protecting his unfortunate parishioners from
+injustice; and, in return, he was himself made the victim of injustice.
+He was accused of encouraging a French invasion--a fear which was always
+present to the minds of the rulers, as they could not but know that the
+Irish had every reason to seek for foreign aid to free them from
+domestic wrongs. He was accused of encouraging the Whiteboys, because,
+while he denounced their crimes, he accused those who had driven them to
+these crimes as the real culprits. He was accused of treason, and a
+reward of L300 was offered for his apprehension. Conscious of his
+innocence, he gave himself up at once to justice, though he might easily
+have fled the country. He was tried in Dublin and acquitted. But his
+persecutors were not satisfied. A charge of murder was got up against
+him; and although the body of the man could never be found, although it
+was sworn that he had left the country, although an _alibi_ was proved
+for the priest, he was condemned and executed. A gentleman of property
+and position came forward at the trial to prove that Father Sheehy had
+slept in his house the very night on which he was accused of having
+committed the murder; but the moment he appeared in court, a clergyman
+who sat on the bench had him taken into custody, on pretence of having
+killed a corporal and a sergeant in a riot. The pretence answered the
+purpose. After Father Sheehy's execution Mr. Keating was tried; and, as
+there was not even a shadow of proof, he was acquitted. But it was too
+late to save the victim.
+
+At the place of execution, Father Sheehy most solemnly declared, on the
+word of a dying man, that he was not guilty either of murder or of
+treason; that he never had any intercourse, either directly or
+indirectly, with the French; and that he had never known of any such
+intercourse being practised by others. Notwithstanding this solemn
+declaration of a dying man, a recent writer of Irish history says,
+"there can be no doubt" that he was deeply implicated in treasonable
+practices, and "he seems to have been" a principal in the plot to murder
+Lord Carrick. The "no doubt" and "seems to have been" of an individual
+are not proofs, but they tend to perpetuate false impressions, and do
+grievous injustice to the memory of the dead. The writer has also
+omitted all the facts which tended to prove Father Sheehy's innocence.
+
+In 1771 a grace was granted to the Catholics, by which they were allowed
+to take a lease of fifty acres of bog, and half an acre of arable land
+for a house; but this holding should not be within a mile of any town.
+In 1773 an attempt was made to tax absentees; but as they were the
+principal landowners, they easily defeated the measure. A pamphlet was
+published in 1769, containing a list of the absentees, which is in
+itself sufficient to account for any amount of misery and disaffection
+in Ireland. There can be no doubt of the correctness of the statement,
+because the names of the individuals and the amount of their property
+are given in full. Property to the amount of L73,375 belonged to persons
+who _never_ visited Ireland. Pensions to the amount of L371,900 were
+paid to persons who lived out of Ireland. Property to the amount of
+L117,800 was possessed by persons who visited Ireland occasionally, but
+lived abroad. Incomes to the amount of L72,200 were possessed by
+officials and bishops, who generally lived out of Ireland. The state of
+trade is also treated in the same work, in which the injustice the
+country has suffered is fully and clearly explained.
+
+The American war commenced in 1775, and the English Parliament at once
+resolved to relieve Ireland of some of her commercial disabilities. Some
+trifling concessions were granted, just enough to show the Irish that
+they need not expect justice except under the compulsion of fear, and
+not enough to benefit the country. Irish soldiers were now asked for and
+granted; but exportation of Irish commodities to America was forbidden,
+and in consequence the country was reduced to a state of fearful
+distress. The Irish debt rose to L994,890, but the pension list was
+still continued and paid to absentees. When the independence of the
+American States was acknowledged by France, a Bill for the partial
+relief of the Catholics passed unanimously through the English
+Parliament. Catholics were now allowed a few of the rights of citizens.
+They were permitted to take and dispose of leases, and priests and
+schoolmasters were no longer liable to prosecution.
+
+Grattan had entered Parliament in the year 1775. In 1779 he addressed
+the House on the subject of a free trade[558] for Ireland; and on the
+19th of April, 1780, he made his famous demand for Irish independence.
+His address, his subject, and his eloquence were irresistible. "I wish
+for nothing," he exclaimed, "but to breathe in this our land, in common
+with my fellow-subjects, the air of liberty. I have no ambition, unless
+it be the ambition to break your chain and to contemplate your glory. I
+never will be satisfied as long as the meanest cottager in Ireland has a
+link of the British chain clinging to his rags; he may be naked, but he
+shall not be in irons. And I do see the time is at hand, the spirit is
+gone forth, the declaration is planted; and though great men should
+apostatize, yet the cause will live; and though the public speaker
+should die, yet the immortal fire shall outlast the organ which conveyed
+it; and the breath of liberty, like the word of the holy man, will not
+die with the prophet, but survive him."
+
+The country was agitated to the very core. A few links of the chain had
+been broken. A mighty reaction set in after long bondage. The
+newly-freed members of the body politic were enjoying all the delicious
+sensations of a return from a state of disease to a state o partial
+health. The Celt was not one to be stupefied or numbed by long
+confinement; and if the restraint were loosened a little more, he was
+ready to bound into the race of life, joyous and free, too happy to
+mistrust, and too generous not to forgive his captors. But, alas! the
+freedom was not yet granted, and the joy was more in prospect of what
+might be, than in thankfulness of what was.
+
+[Illustration: Grattan demanding Irish Independence.]
+
+The Volunteer Corps, which had been formed in Belfast in 1779, when the
+coast was threatened by privateers, had now risen to be a body of
+national importance. They were reviewed in public, and complimented by
+Parliament. But they were patriots. On the 28th of December, 1781, a few
+of the leading members of the Ulster regiments met at Charlemont, and
+convened a meeting of delegates from all the Volunteer Associations, at
+Dungannon, on the 15th of February, 1782. The delegates assembled on the
+appointed day, and Government dared not prevent or interrupt their
+proceedings. Colonel William Irvine presided, and twenty-one resolutions
+were adopted, demanding civil rights, and the removal of commercial
+restraints. One resolution expresses their pleasure, as Irishmen, as
+Christians, and as Protestants, at the relaxation of the penal laws.
+This resolution was suggested by Grattan to Mr. Dobbs, as he was leaving
+Dublin to join the assembly. It was passed with only two dissentient
+votes.
+
+The effect of this combined, powerful, yet determined agitation, was
+decisive. On the 27th of May, 1782, when the Irish Houses met, after an
+adjournment of three weeks, the Duke of Portland announced the
+unconditional concessions which had been made to Ireland by the English
+Parliament. Mr. Grattan interpreted the concession in the fullest sense,
+and moved an address, "breathing the generous sentiments of his noble
+and confiding nature." Mr. Flood and a few other members took a
+different and more cautious view of the case. They wished for something
+more than a simple repeal of the Act of 6 George I., and they demanded
+an express declaration that England would not interfere with Irish
+affairs. But his address was carried by a division of 211 to 2; and the
+House, to show its gratitude, voted that 20,000 Irish seamen should be
+raised for the British navy, at a cost of L100,000, and that L50,000
+should be given to purchase an estate and build a house for Mr. Grattan,
+whose eloquence had contributed so powerfully to obtain what they hoped
+would prove justice to Ireland.
+
+[Illustration: GOLDSMITH'S WELL.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[547] _Government_.--Harris' _Life of William III_. p. 357.
+
+[548] _Insignificant_.--A petition was sent in to Parliament by the
+Protestant porters of Dublin, complaining of Darby Ryan for employing
+Catholic porters. The petition was respectfully received, and referred
+to a "Committee of Grievances."--_Com. Jour_. vol. ii. f. 699. Such an
+instance, and it is only one of many, is the best indication of the
+motive for enacting the penal laws, and the cruelty of them.
+
+[549] _Property_.--It will be remembered that at this time Catholics
+were in a majority of at least five to one over Protestants. Hence
+intermarriages took place, and circumstances occurred, in which
+Protestants found it their interest to hold property for Catholics, to
+prevent it from being seized by others. A gentleman of considerable
+property in the county Kerry, has informed me that his property was held
+in this way for several generations.
+
+[550] _Earn_.--One of the articles of the "violated Treaty" expressly
+provided that the poor Catholics should be allowed to exercise their
+trade. An Act to prevent the further growth of Popery was passed
+afterwards, which made it forfeiture of goods and imprisonment for any
+Catholic to exercise a trade in Limerick or Galway, except seamen,
+fishermen, and day labourers, and they were to be licensed by the
+Governor, and not to exceed twenty.--_Com. Jour_. vol. iii. f. 133.
+
+[551] _Palatable_.--In his fourth letter he says: "Our ancestors reduced
+this kingdom to the obedience of England, in return for which we have
+been rewarded with a worse climate, the privilege of being governed by
+laws to which we do not consent, a ruined trade, a house of peers
+without jurisdiction, almost an incapacity for all employments, and the
+dread of Wood's halfpence."
+
+[552] _Scheme_.--The very bills of some of the companies were so
+absurd, that it is marvellous how any rational person could have been
+deceived by them. One was "for an undertaking which shall be in due time
+revealed." The undertaker was as good as his word. He got L2,000 paid in
+on shares one morning, and in the afternoon the "undertaking" was
+revealed, for he had decamped with the money. Some wag advertised a
+company "for the invention of melting down sawdust and chips, and
+casting them into clean deal boards, without cracks or knots."
+
+[553] _Schomberg_.--He wrote to William of Orange, from before Dundalk,
+that the English nation made the worst soldiers he had ever seen,
+because they could not bear hardships; "yet," he adds, "the Parliament
+and people have a prejudice, that an English new-raised soldier can beat
+above six of his enemies."--Dalrymple's _Memoirs_, vol. ii. p. 178.
+According to the records of the War Office in France, 450,000 Irishmen
+died in the service of that country from 1691 to 1745, and, in round
+numbers, as many more from 1745 to the Revolution.
+
+[554] _Vassals_.--Young's _Tour_, vol. ii. pp. 41, 42. It should be
+remembered that Mr. Young was an Englishman and a Protestant, and that
+he had no property in Ireland to blind him to the truth.
+
+[555] _Government_,--Curry's _Historical Review_, vol. ii. p. 274,
+edition of 1786. This work affords a very valuable and accurate account
+of the times, written from personal knowledge.
+
+[556] _Him_.--The ballad of _Soggarth Aroon_ (priest, dear) was written
+by John Banim, in 1831. It is a most true and vivid expression of the
+feelings of the Irish towards their priests.
+
+[557] _Possess_.--While these pages were passing through the press, a
+circumstance has occurred which so clearly illustrates the position of
+the Irish priest, that I cannot avoid mentioning it. A gentleman has
+purchased some property, and his first act is to give his three tenants
+notice to quit. The unfortunate men have no resource but to obey the
+cruel mandate, and to turn out upon the world homeless and penniless.
+They cannot go to law, for the law would be against them. They are not
+in a position to appeal to public opinion, for they are only farmers.
+The parish priest is their only resource and their only friend. He
+appeals to the feelings of their new landlord in a most courteous
+letter, in which he represents the cruel sufferings these three families
+must endure. The landlord replies that he has bought the land as a
+"commercial speculation," and of course he has a right to do whatever he
+considers most for his advantage; but offers to allow the tenants to
+remain if they consent to pay double their former rent--a rent which
+would be double the real value of the land. Such cases are constantly
+occurring, and are constantly exposed by priests; and we have known more
+than one instance in which fear of such exposure has obtained justice. A
+few of them are mentioned from time to time in the Irish local papers.
+The majority of cases are entirely unknown, except to the persons
+concerned; but they are remembered by the poor sufferers and their
+friends. I believe, if the people of England were aware of one-half of
+these ejectments, and the sufferings they cause, they would rise up as a
+body and demand justice for Ireland and the Irish; they would marvel at
+the patience with which what to them would be so intolerable has been
+borne so long.
+
+[558] _Free trade_,--A very important work was published in 1779, called
+_The Commercial Restraints of Ireland Considered_. It is a calm and
+temperate statement of facts and figures. The writer shows that the
+agrarian outrages of the Whiteboys were caused by distress, and quotes a
+speech Lord Northumberland to the same effect.--_Com. Res._, p. 59.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+Celebrated Irishmen of the Eighteenth Century--BURKE--- His School and
+College Life--Early Hatred of Oppression--Johnson's Estimate of
+Burke--_Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful_--Commencement of his
+Political Career--Opinions on the American Question-English Infatuation
+and Injustice--Irishmen Prominent Actors in the American Revolution--Its
+Causes and Effects--Burke on Religious Toleration--Catholic
+Emancipation--His Indian Policy--MOORE--His Poetry and
+Patriotism--CURRAN--SWIFT--LUCAS--FLOOD--GRATTAN--EARL OF
+CHARLEMONT--Irish Artists, Authors, and Actors--SHERIDAN--Scene in the
+House of Lords during the Impeachment of Warren Hastings--GOLDSMITH.
+
+[A.D. 1700-1800.]
+
+
+Each century of Irish history would require a volume of its own, if the
+lives of its eminent men were recorded as they should be; but the
+eighteenth century may boast of a host of noble Irishmen, whose fame is
+known even to those who are most indifferent to the history of that
+country. It was in this century that Burke, coming forth from the Quaker
+school of Ballitore, his mind strengthened by its calm discipline, his
+intellect cultivated by its gifted master, preached political wisdom to
+the Saxons, who were politically wise as far as they followed his
+teaching, and politically unfortunate when they failed to do so. His
+public career demands the most careful consideration from every
+statesman who may have any higher object in view than the mere fact of
+having a seat in the cabinet; nor should it be of less interest or value
+to those whose intellectual capacities are such as to enable them to
+grasp any higher subject than the plot of a sensational novel. It was in
+this century also that Moore began to write his world-famed songs, to
+amaze the learned by his descriptions of a country which he had never
+seen, and to fling out those poetical hand grenades, those pasquinades
+and squibs, whose rich humour and keenly-pointed satire had so much
+influence on the politics of the day. It was in this century that
+Sheridan, who was the first to introduce Moore to London society,
+distinguished himself at once as dramatist, orator, and statesman, and
+left in his life and death a terrible lesson to his nation of the
+miseries and degradations consequent on indulgence in their besetting
+sin. It was in this century that Steele, the bosom friend of Addison,
+and his literary equal, contributed largely to the success and
+popularity of the _Spectator_, the _Guardian_, and the _Tatler,_ though,
+as usual, English literature takes the credit to itself of what has been
+accomplished for it by Irish writers.[559]
+
+Burke is, however, unquestionably both the prominent man of his age and
+of his nation in that age; and happily we have abundant material for
+forming a correct estimate of his character and his works. Burke was
+born in Dublin, on the 1st of January, 1730. His father was an attorney
+in good business, and of course a Protestant, as at that period none,
+except those who professed the religion of a small minority, were
+permitted to govern the vast majority, or to avail themselves of any
+kind of temporal advancement. The mother of the future statesman was a
+Miss Nagle, of Mallow, a descendant of whose family became afterwards
+very famous as the foundress of a religious order.[560] The family
+estate was at Castletown-Roche, in the vicinity of Doneraile; this
+property descended to Garrett, Edmund's elder brother. A famous school
+had been founded by a member of the Society of Friends at Ballitore, and
+thither young Burke and his brother were sent for their education The
+boys arrived there on the 26th May, 1741. A warm friendship soon sprang
+up between Edmund and Richard Shackleton, the son of his master, a
+friendship which only terminated with death. We have happily the most
+ample details of Burke's school-days in the _Annals of Ballitore_, a
+work of more than ordinary interest written by Mrs. Leadbeater, the
+daughter of Burke's special friend. His native talent was soon developed
+under the care of his excellent master, and there can be little doubt
+that the tolerant ideas of his after life were learned, or at least
+cultivated, at the Quaker school.
+
+One instance of the early development of his talent for humour, and
+another of his keen sense of injustice, must find record here. The
+entrance of the judges to the county town of Athy was a spectacle which
+had naturally special attraction for the boys. All were permitted to go,
+but on condition that each of the senior pupils should write a
+description of what he had seen in Latin verse. Burke's task was soon
+accomplished--not so that of another hapless youth, whose ideas and
+Latinity were probably on a par. When he had implored the help of his
+more gifted companion, Edmund determined at least that he should
+contribute an idea for his theme, but for all reply as to what he had
+noticed in particular on the festal occasion, he only answered, "A fat
+piper in a brown coat." However Burke's ideas of "the sublime" may have
+predominated, his idea of the ludicrous was at this time uppermost; and
+in a few moments a poem was composed, the first line of which only has
+been preserved--
+
+    "Piper erat fattus, qui brownum tegmen habebat."
+
+"He loved humour," writes Mrs. Leadbeater,[561] "and my father was very
+witty. The two friends sharpened their intellect and sported their wit
+till peals of laughter in the schoolroom often caused the reverend and
+grave master to implore them, with suppressed smiles, to desist, or he
+should have to turn them out, as their example might be followed, where
+folly and uproar would take the place of humour and wisdom."
+
+His hatred of oppression and injustice was also manifested about this
+time. A poor man was compelled to pull down his cabin, because the
+surveyor of roads considered that it stood too near the highway. The boy
+watched him performing his melancholy task, and declared that, if he
+were in authority, such scenes should never be enacted. How well he kept
+his word, and how true he was in manhood to the good and holy impulses
+of his youth, his future career amply manifests.
+
+Burke entered Trinity College, Dublin, in 1744; Goldsmith entered
+college the following year, and Flood was a fellow-commoner; but these
+distinguished men knew little of each other in early life, and none of
+them were in any way remarkable during their academic career. In 1753
+Burke arrived in London, and occupied himself in legal studies and the
+pursuit of literature. His colloquial gifts and his attractive manner
+won all hearts, while his mental superiority commanded the respect of
+the learned. Even Johnson, who was too proud to praise others, much as
+he loved flattery himself, was fain to give his most earnest word of
+commendation to the young Irishman, and even admitted that he envied
+Burke for being "continually the same," though he could not refrain from
+having a fling at him for not being a "good listener"--a deadly sin in
+the estimation of one who seldom wished to hear any other voice but his
+own. Burke, sir, he exclaimed to the obsequious Boswell--Burke is such a
+man, that if you met him for the first time in the street, and conversed
+with him for not five minutes, he'd talk to you in such a manner, that,
+when you parted, you would say that is an extraordinary man.[562]
+
+Some essays in imitation of Dr. Charles Lucas, and a translation of part
+of the second Georgic of Virgil, which, in finish of style, is, at
+least, not inferior to Dryden, were among the earliest efforts of his
+gifted pen; and, no doubt, these and other literary occupations gave him
+a faculty of expressing thought in cultivated language, which was still
+further developed by constant intercourse with Johnson, ever ready for
+argument, and his club, who were all equally desirous to listen when
+either spoke. His _Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful_, unfortunately
+better known in the present day by its title than by its contents, at
+once attracted immense attention, and brought considerable pecuniary
+help to the author. But the constant pressure of intellectual labour
+soon began to tell upon a constitution always delicate. His health gave
+way entirely, and he appeared likely to sink into a state of physical
+debility, entirely incompatible with any mental exertion. He applied for
+advice to Dr. Nugent; the skilful physician saw at once that something
+more was required than medicine or advice. It was one of those cases of
+suffering to which the most refined and cultivated minds are especially
+subjected--one of those instances which prove, perhaps, more than any
+others, that poor humanity has fallen low indeed. The master-mind was
+there, the brilliant gems of thought, the acute power of reasoning, that
+exquisitely delicate sense of feeling, which has never yet been
+accurately defined, and which probably never can be--which waits for
+some unseen mystic sympathy to touch it, and decide whether the chord
+shall be in minor or major key--which produces a tone of thought, now
+sublime, and now brimming over with coruscations of wit from almost the
+same incidents; and yet all those faculties of the soul, though not
+destroyed, are held in abeyance, because the body casts the dull shadow
+of its own inability and degradation over the spirit--because the spirit
+is still allied to the flesh, and must suffer with it.
+
+There was something more than perfect rest required in such a case. Rest
+would, indeed, recruit the body, worn out by the mind's overaction, but
+the mind also needed some healing process. Some gentle hand should
+soothe the overstrained chords of thought, and touch them just
+sufficiently to stimulate their action with gentlest suasion, while it
+carefully avoided all that might irritate or weary. And such help and
+healing was found for Burke, or, haply, from bodily debility, mental
+weakness might have developed itself into mental malady; and the
+irritability of weakness, to which cultivated minds are often most
+subjected, might have ended, even for a time, if not wisely treated, in
+the violence of lunacy. It was natural that the doctor's daughter should
+assist in the doctor's work; and, perhaps, not less natural that the
+patient should be fascinated by her. In a short time the cure was
+perfected, and Burke obtained the greatest earthly blessing for which
+any man can crave--a devoted wife, a loving companion, a wise adviser,
+and, above all, a sympathizing friend, to whom all which interested her
+husband, either in public or private, was her interest as much as, and,
+if possible, even more than his. Burke's public career certainly opened
+with happy auspices. He was introduced by the Earl of Charlemont to Mr.
+Hamilton in 1759, and in 1761 he returned to Ireland in the capacity of
+private secretary to that gentleman. Mr. Hamilton has acquired, as is
+well known, the appellation of "single speech," and it is thought he
+employed Burke to compose his oration; it is probable that he required
+his assistance in more important ways. But the connexion was soon
+dissolved, not without some angry words on both sides. Hamilton taunted
+Burke with having taken him out of a garret, which was not true, for
+Burke's social position was scarcely inferior to his own; Burke replied
+with ready wit that he regretted having _descended_ to know him.
+
+In the year 1765, when Lord Grenville was driven from office by the
+"American Question," the Marquis of Rockingham succeeded him, appointed
+Burke his private secretary, and had him returned for the English
+borough of Wendover. His political career commenced at this period.
+Then, as now, Reform, Ireland, and America were the subjects of the day;
+and when one considers and compares the politics of the eighteenth and
+the nineteenth centuries, the progress of parliamentary intellectual
+development is not very encouraging. The speeches of honorable members,
+with some few very honorable exceptions, seem to run in the same groove,
+with the same utter incapacity of realizing a new idea, or a broad and
+cosmopolitan policy. There were men then, as there are men now, who
+talked of toleration in one breath, and proclaimed their wooden
+determination to enforce class ascendency of creed and of station in the
+next. There were men who would tax fresh air, and give unfortunate
+wretches poisonous drinks on the cheapest terms. There were men whose
+foreign policy consisted in wringing all that could be wrung out of
+dependencies, and then, when the danger was pointed out, when it was
+shown that those dependencies were not only likely to resist, but were
+in a position to resist--to a position in which neither shooting nor
+flogging could silence, if it did not convince--they hid their heads,
+with ostrich-like fatuity, in the blinding sands of their own ignorance,
+and declared there could be no danger, for _they_ could not discern it.
+
+I have said that there were three great political questions which
+occupied the attention of statesmen at that day. I shall briefly glance
+at each, as they form a most important standpoint in our national
+history, and are subjects of the first interest to Irishmen and to Irish
+history; and as Burke's maiden speech in the House of Commons was made
+in favour of conciliating America, I shall treat that question first.
+The facts are brief and significant but by no means as thoroughly known
+or as well considered as they should be, when we remember their
+all-important results--results which as yet are by no means fully
+developed.[563] The actual contest between the English nation and her
+American colonies commenced soon after the accession of George III.;
+but, as early as the middle of the eighteenth century, Thomas Pownal,
+Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Massachusetts, South Carolina, and
+New Jersey came to England, and published a work on the administration
+of the colonies. He seems even then to have had a clear view of the
+whole case. There is an old proverb about the last grain of rice
+breaking the back of the camel, but we must remember that the load was
+made up of many preceding grains. The Stamp Act and Tea Duty were
+unquestionably the last links of an attempted chain of slavery with
+which England ventured to fetter the noblest of her colonies, but there
+were many preceding links. Pownal's work affords evidence of the
+existence of many. The crown, he said, _in theory_ considered the lands
+and plantations of the colonists its own, and attempted a far greater
+control over the personal liberty of the subject than it dared to claim
+in England. The people, on the other hand, felt that they had by no
+means forfeited the rights of Englishmen because they had left England;
+and that, if they submitted to its laws, they should at least have some
+share in making them. A series of petty collisions, which kept up a
+state of constant irritation, prepared the way for the final
+declaration, which, flung aside the bonds of allegiance, and freed the
+people from the galling chains by which that allegiance was sought to be
+maintained. A wise policy at home might have averted the fatal
+disruption for a time, but it is doubtful that it could have been
+averted for many years, even if the utter incapacity of an obstinate
+sovereign, and the childish vindictiveness of a minister, had not
+precipitated the conclusion.
+
+The master intellect of Burke at once grasped the whole question, and
+his innate sense of justice suggested the remedy. Unfortunately for
+England, but happily for America, Burke was beyond his age in breadth of
+policy and in height of honour. Englishmen of the nineteenth century
+have very freely abused Englishmen of the eighteenth century for their
+conduct on this occasion; and more than one writer has set down the
+whole question as one in which "right" was on the side of England, but
+he argues that there are circumstances under which right should be
+sacrificed to policy. I cannot agree with this very able writer.[564]
+The question was not one of right, but of justice; and the English
+nation, in the reign of George III., failed to see that to do justice
+was both morally and politically the wisest course. The question of
+right too often develops itself into the question of might. A man easily
+persuades himself that he has a right to do what he has the power and
+the inclination to do; and when his inclination and his opportunities
+are on the same side, his moral consciousness becomes too frequently
+blinded, and the question of justice is altogether overlooked.
+
+It was in vain that Burke thundered forth denunciations of the childish
+policy of the Treasury benches, and asked men to look to first
+principles, who could hardly be made comprehend what first principles
+were. He altogether abandoned the question of right, in which men had so
+puzzled themselves as almost to lose sight of the question of policy.
+The King would tax the colony, because his nature was obstinate, and
+what he had determined to do he would do. To such natures reasoning is
+much like hammering on iron--it only hardens the metal. The minister
+would tax the colony because the King wished it; and he had neither the
+strength of mind nor the conscientiousness to resist his sovereign. The
+Lords stood on their dignity, and would impose the tax if only to show
+their power. The people considered the whole affair one of pounds
+shillings, and pence, and could not at all see why they should not wring
+out the last farthing from a distant colony--could not be taught to
+discern that the sacrifice of a few pounds at the present moment, might
+result in the acquisition of a few millions at a future day.
+
+Burke addressed himself directly to the point on all these questions. He
+laid aside the much-abused question of right; he did not even attempt to
+show that right and justice should not be separated, and that men who
+had no share in the government of a country, could not be expected in
+common justice to assist in the support of that country. He had to
+address those who could only understand reasons which appealed to their
+self-interest, and he lowered himself to his audience. The question he
+said was, "not whether you have a right to render your people miserable,
+but whether it is not your interest to make them happy. It is not what a
+lawyer tells me I _may_ do, but what humanity, reason, and justice, tell
+me I _ought_ to do."
+
+The common idea about the separation of the States from England, is
+simply that they resisted a stamp duty and a tax on tea; the fact is, as
+I have before hinted, that this was simply the last drop in the cup.
+Previous to this period, the American colonies were simply considered as
+objects of English aggrandizement. They were treated as states who only
+existed for the purpose of benefiting England. The case was in fact
+parallel to the case of Ireland, and the results would probably have
+been similar, had Ireland been a little nearer to America, or a little
+further from England. For many years the trade of America had been kept
+under the most vexatious restrictions. The iron found there must be sent
+to England to be manufactured; the ships fitted out there must be at
+least partly built in England; no saw-mills could be erected, no colony
+could trade directly with another colony, nor with any nation except
+England. This selfish, miserable policy met with a well-deserved fate.
+Even Pitt exclaimed indignantly, in the House of Commons: "We are told
+that America is obstinate--that America is almost in open rebellion. I
+rejoice that she has resisted. Three millions of people, so dead to all
+sentiments of liberty as voluntarily to become slaves, would have been
+fit instruments to enslave their fellow-subjects."
+
+In 1765 an agitation was commenced in Philadelphia, by Mr. Charles
+Thompson, an Irishman, who, after ten years devoted to the cause of his
+adopted country, was appointed the Secretary of Congress. It has been
+well remarked, that the Irish, and especially the Irish Catholics, were,
+of the three nationalities, the most devoted to forwarding the
+Revolution; and we cannot wonder that it was so, since the Government
+which had driven them from their native land, ceased not to persecute
+them in the land of their exile.[565] The first naval engagement was
+fought under the command of Jeremiah O'Brien, an Irishman.[566] John
+Barry, also an Irishman, took the command of one of the first
+American-built ships of war. The first Continental Regiment was composed
+almost exclusively of Irish-born officers and men, and was the first
+Rifle Regiment ever organized in the world. Thompson, its first, and
+Hand, its second colonel, were natives of Ireland. At the siege of
+Boston the regiment was particularly dreaded by the British.
+
+In 1764 Franklin came to England[567] for the second time, and was
+examined before the House of Commons on the subject of the Stamp Act. He
+was treated with a contemptuous indifference, which he never forgot; but
+he kept his court suit, not without an object; and in 1783, when he
+signed the treaty of peace, which compelled England to grant humbly what
+she had refused haughtily, he wore the self-same attire. Well might the
+immortal Washington say to Governor Trumbull: "There was a day, sir,
+when this step from our then acknowledged parent state, would have been
+accepted with gratitude; but that day is irrevocably past."
+
+In 1774, Burke was called upon by the citizens of Bristol to represent
+them in Parliament, and he presented a petition from them to the House
+in favour of American independence; but, with the singular inconsistency
+of their nation, they refused to re-elect him in 1780, because he
+advocated Catholic Emancipation.
+
+The same principle of justice which made Burke take the side of America
+against England, or rather made him see that it would be the real
+advantage of England to conciliate America, made him also take the side
+of liberty on the Catholic question. The short-sighted and narrow-minded
+politicians who resisted the reasonable demands of a colony until it was
+too late to yield, were enabled, unfortunately, to resist more
+effectually the just demands of several millions of their own people.
+
+It is unquestionably one of the strangest of mental phenomena, that
+persons who make liberty of conscience their boast and their watchword,
+should be the first to violate their own principles, and should be
+utterly unable to see the conclusion of their own favourite premises. If
+liberty of conscience mean anything, it must surely mean perfect freedom
+of religious belief for all; and such freedom is certainly incompatible
+with the slightest restraint, with the most trifling penalty for
+difference of opinion on such subjects. Again, Burke had recourse to the
+_argumentum ad hominum_, the only argument which those with whom he had
+to deal seemed capable of comprehending.
+
+"After the suppression of the great rebellion of Tyrconnel by William of
+Orange," writes Mr. Morley,[568] "ascendency began in all its vileness
+and completeness. The Revolution brought about in Ireland just the
+reverse of what it effected in England. Here it delivered the body of
+the nation from the attempted supremacy of a small sect; there it made a
+small sect supreme over the body of the nation." This is in fact an
+epitome of Irish history since the so-called Reformation in England, and
+this was the state of affairs which Burke was called to combat. On all
+grounds the more powerful party was entirely against him. The merchants
+of Manchester and Bristol, for whose supposed benefit Irish trade had
+been ruined, wished to keep up the ascendency, conceiving it to be the
+surest way of replenishing their coffers. The majority of Irish
+landlords, who looked always to their own immediate interest, and had
+none of the far-sighted policy which would enable them to see that the
+prosperity of the tenant would, in the end, most effectively secure the
+prosperity of the landlord, were also in favour of ascendency, which
+promised to satisfy their land hunger, and their miserable greed of
+gain. The Protestant Church was in favour of ascendency: why should it
+not be, since its ministers could only derive support from a people who
+hated them alike for their creed and their oppressions, at the point of
+the sword and by the "brotherly agency of the tithe-procter," who, if he
+did not assist in spreading the Gospel, at least took care that its
+so-called ministers should lack no luxury which could be wrung from a
+starving and indignant people?[569]
+
+There were but two acts of common justice required on the part of
+England to make Ireland prosperous and free. It is glorious to say, that
+Burke was the first to see this, and inaugurate the reign of concession;
+it is pitiful, it is utterly contemptible, to be obliged to add, that
+what was then inaugurated is not yet fully accomplished. Burke demanded
+for Ireland political and religious freedom. Slowly some small
+concessions of both have been made when England has feared to refuse
+them. Had the grant been made once for all with manly generosity, some
+painful chapters of Irish history might have been omitted from this
+volume--some moments, let us hope, of honest shame might have been
+spared to those true-hearted Englishmen who deplore the fatuity and the
+folly of their countrymen. In 1782 the Irish Volunteers obtained from
+the fears of England what had been vainly asked from her justice.
+Burke's one idea of good government may be summed up in the words, "Be
+just, and fear not." In his famous _Letter to Sir Hercules Langrishe_,
+written in 1792, upon the question of admitting the Catholics to the
+elective franchise, he asks: "Is your government likely to be more
+secure by continuing causes of grounded discontent to two-thirds of its
+subjects? Will the constitution be made more solid by depriving this
+large part of the people of all concern or share in the representation?"
+
+His Indian policy was equally just. "Our dealings with India," says an
+English writer, "originally and until Burke's time, so far from being
+marked with virtue and wisdom, were stained with every vice which can
+lower and deprave human character. How long will it take only to
+extirpate these traditions from the recollections of the natives? The
+more effectually their understandings are awakened by English efforts,
+the more vividly will they recognize, and the more bitterly resent, the
+iniquities of our first connexion with them." The Indian policy of
+England and her Irish policy might be written with advantage in parallel
+columns. It would, at least, have the advantage of showing Irishmen that
+they had been by no means worse governed than other dependencies of that
+professedly law and justice loving nation.
+
+I have treated, briefly indeed, and by no means as I should wish, of two
+of the questions of the day, and of Burke's policy thereon; of the third
+question a few words only can be said. Burke's idea of Reform consisted
+in amending the administration of the constitution, rather than in
+amending the constitution itself. Unquestionably a bad constitution well
+administered, may be incomparably more beneficial to the subject than a
+good constitution administered corruptly. Burke's great leading
+principle was: Be just--and can a man have a nobler end? To suppress an
+insurrection cruelly, to tax a people unjustly, or to extort money from
+a nation on false pretences, was to him deeply abhorrent. His first
+object was to secure the incorruptibility of ministers and of members of
+parliament. When the post of royal scullion could be confided to a
+member of parliament, and a favourable vote secured by appointing a
+representative of the people to the lucrative post of turnspit in the
+king's kitchen, administration was hopelessly corrupt. There were
+useless treasurers for useless offices. Burke gave the example of what
+he taught; and having fixed the Paymaster's salary at four thousand
+pounds a year, was himself the first person to accept the diminished
+income.
+
+He has been accused of forsaking his liberal principles in his latter
+days, simply and solely from his denunciations of the terrible excesses
+of the French Revolution. Such reprobation was rather a proof that he
+understood the difference between liberty and licentiousness, and that
+his accusers had neither the intellect nor the true nobility to
+discriminate between the frantic deeds of men, whose bad passions, long
+indulged, had led them on to commit the crimes of demons, and those
+noble but long-suffering patriots, who endured until endurance became a
+fault, and only resisted for the benefit of mankind as well as for their
+own.
+
+So much space has been given to Burke, that it only remains to add a few
+brief words of the other brilliant stars, who fled across the Channel in
+the vain pursuit of English patronage--in the vain hope of finding in a
+free country the liberty to ascend higher than the rulers of that free
+country permitted in their own.
+
+Moore was born in the year 1780, in the city of Dublin. His father was
+in trade, a fact which he had the manliness to acknowledge whenever such
+acknowledgment was necessary. He was educated for the bar, which was
+just then opened for the first time to the majority of the nation, so
+long governed, or misgoverned, by laws which they were neither permitted
+to make or to administer. His poetical talents were early manifested,
+and his first attempts were in the service of those who are termed
+patriots or rebels, as the speaker's opinion varies. That he loved
+liberty and admired liberators can scarcely be doubted, since even later
+in life he used to boast of his introduction to Thomas Jefferson, while
+in America, exclaiming: "I had the honour of shaking hands with the man
+who drew up the Declaration of American Independence." His countryman,
+Sheridan introduced him to the Prince of Wales. His Royal Highness
+inquired courteously if he was the son of a certain baronet of the same
+name. "No, your Royal Highness," replied Moore; "I am the son of a
+Dublin grocer." He commenced writing his immortal _Melodies_ in 1807,
+soon after his marriage. But he by no means confined himself to such
+subjects. With that keen sense of humour almost inseparable from, and
+generally proportionate to, the most exquisite sensibility of feeling,
+he caught the salient points of controversy in his day, and no doubt
+contributed not a little to the obtaining of Catholic Emancipation by
+the telling satires which he poured forth on its opposers. His
+reflections, addresed to the _Quarterly Review_, who recommended an
+increase of the Church Establishment as the grand panacea of Irish ills,
+might not be an inappropriate subject of consideration at the present
+moment. It commences thus:
+
+    "I'm quite of your mind: though these Pats cry aloud,
+      That they've got too much Church, tis all nonsense and stuff;
+    For Church is like love, of which Figaro vowed,
+      That even _too much_ of it's not quite enough."
+
+Nor was his letter to the Duke of Newcastle, who was an obstinate
+opposer of Catholic Emancipation, less witty, or less in point at the
+present time, for the Lords would not emancipate, whatever the Commons
+might do:
+
+    "While intellect, 'mongst high and low,
+      Is hastening on, they say,
+    Give me the dukes and lords, who go,
+      Like crabs, the other way."
+
+Curran had been called to the bar a few years earlier. He was the son of
+a poor farmer in the county of Cork, and won his way to fame solely by
+the exercise of his extraordinary talent. Curran was a Protestant; but
+he did not think it necessary, because he belonged to a religion which
+professed liberty of conscience, to deny its exercise to every one but
+those of his own sect. He first distinguished himself at a contested
+election. Of his magnificent powers of oratory I shall say nothing,
+partly because their fame is European, and partly because it would be
+impossible to do justice to the subject in our limited space. His
+terrible denunciations of the horrible crimes and cruelties of the
+soldiers, who were sent to govern Ireland by force, for those who were
+not wise enough or humane enough to govern it by justice--his scathing
+denunciations of crown witnesses and informers, should be read at length
+to be appreciated fully.[570]
+
+Swift's career is also scarcely less known. He, too, was born in Dublin
+of poor parents, in 1667. Although he became a minister of the
+Protestant Church, and held considerable emoluments therein, he had the
+honesty to see, and the courage to acknowledge, its many corruptions.
+The great lesson which he preached to Irishmen was the lesson of
+nationality; and, perhaps, they have yet to learn it in the sense in
+which he intended to teach it. No doubt, Swift, in some way, prepared
+the path of Burke; for, different as were their respective careers and
+their respective talents, they had each the same end in view. The
+"Drapier" was long the idol of his countrymen, and there can be little
+doubt that the spirit of his writings did much to animate the patriots
+who followed him--Lucas, Flood, and Grattan. Lucas was undoubtedly one
+of the purest patriots of his time. His parents were poor farmers in the
+county Clare, who settled in Dublin, where Lucas was born, in 1713; and
+in truth patriotism seldom develops itself out of purple and fine linen.
+Flood, however, may be taken in exception to this inference; his father
+was a Chief Justice of the Irish King's Bench. When elected a member of
+the Irish House, his first public effort was for the freedom of his
+country from the atrocious imposition of Poyning's Law. Unfortunately,
+he and Grattan quarrelled, and their country was deprived of the immense
+benefits which might have accrued to it from the cordial political union
+of two such men.
+
+But a list of the great men of the eighteenth century, however brief,
+would be certainly most imperfect if I omitted the name of the Earl of
+Charlemont, who, had his courage been equal to his honesty of purpose,
+might have been enrolled not merely as an ardent, but even as a
+successful patriot. He was one of the _Hibernis ipsis Hiberniores_,--one
+of those who came to plunder, and who learned to respect their victims,
+and to repent their oppressions. It is probable that the nine years
+which the young Earl spent in travelling on the Continent, contributed
+not a little to his mental enlargement. On his return from countries
+where freedom exists with boasting, to a country where boasting exists
+without a corresponding amount of freedom, he was amazed and shocked at
+the first exhibition of its detestable tyranny of class. A grand
+procession of peers and peeresses was appointed to receive the
+unfortunate Princess Caroline; but, before the Princess landed, the
+Duchess of Bedford was commanded to inform the Irish peeresses that they
+were not to walk, or to take any part in the ceremonial. The young Earl
+could not restrain his indignation at this utterly uncalled-for insult.
+He obtained a royal audience, and exerted himself with so much energy,
+that the obnoxious order was rescinded. The Earl's rank, as well as his
+patriotism, naturally placed him at the head of his party; and he
+resolutely opposed those laws which Burke had designated as a "disgrace
+to the statute-books of any nation, and so odious in their principles,
+that one might think they were passed in hell, and that demons were the
+legislators." In 1766, his Lordship brought a bill into the House of
+Lords to enable a poor Catholic peasant to take a lease of a cabin and a
+potato-garden; but, at the third reading, the Lords rushed in
+tumultuously, voted Lord Charlemont out of the chair, and taunted him
+with being little better than a Papist. The failure and the taunt
+bewildered an intellect never very clear; and, perhaps, hopelessness
+quenched the spirit of patriotism, which had once, at least, burned
+brightly. In fear of being taunted as a Papist, like many a wiser man,
+he rushed into the extreme of Protestant loyalty, and joined in the
+contemptible outcry for Protestant ascendency.
+
+The eighteenth century was also rife in Irishmen whose intellects were
+devoted to literature. It claims its painters in Barrett, who was
+actually the founder of the Royal Academy in England, and in Barry, the
+most eminent historical painter of his age; its poets in Parnell,
+Goldsmith, Wade, O'Keeffe, Moore, and many others; its musician in
+Kelly, a full list of whose operatic music would fill several pages; its
+authors in Steele, Swift, Young, O'Leary, Malone, Congreve, Sheridan,
+and Goldsmith; and its actors in Macklin, Milliken, Barry, Willis, and
+Woffington.
+
+Sheridan was born in Dublin, in the year 1757. He commenced his career
+as author by writing for the stage; but his acquaintance with Fox, who
+soon discerned his amazing abilities, led him in another direction. In
+1786 he was employed with Burke in the impeachment of Warren Hastings.
+The galleries of the House of Lords were filled to overflowing; peers
+and peeresses secured seats early in the day; actresses came to learn
+declamation, authors to learn style. Mrs. Siddons, accustomed as she was
+to the simulation of passion in herself and others, shrieked and swooned
+while he denounced the atrocities of which Hastings had been guilty.
+Fox, Pitt, and Byron, were unanimous in their praise. And on the very
+same night, and at the very same time, when the gifted Celt was
+thundering justice to India into the ears of Englishmen, his _School for
+Scandal_, one of the best comedies on the British stage, was being acted
+in one theatre, and his _Duenna_, one of its best operas, was being
+performed in another.
+
+Sheridan died in 1816, a victim to intemperance, for which he had not
+even the excuse of misfortune. Had not his besetting sin degraded and
+incapacitated him, it is probable he would have been prime-minister on
+the death of Fox. At the early age of forty he was a confirmed drunkard.
+The master mind which had led a senate, was clouded over by the fumes of
+an accursed spirit; the brilliant eyes that had captivated a million
+hearts, were dimmed and bloodshot; the once noble brain, which had used
+its hundred gifts with equal success and ability, was deprived of all
+power of acting; the tongue, whose potent spell had entranced thousands,
+was scarcely able to articulate. Alas, and a thousand times alas! that
+man can thus mar his Maker's work, and stamp ruin and wretchedness where
+a wealth of mental power had been given to reign supreme.
+
+Goldsmith's father was a Protestant clergyman. The poet was born at
+Pallas, in the county Longford. After a series of adventures, not always
+to his credit, and sundry wanderings on the Continent in the most
+extreme poverty, he settled in London. Here he met with considerable
+success as an author, and enjoyed the society of the first literary men
+of the day. After the first and inevitable struggles of a poor author,
+had he possessed even half as much talent for business as capacity for
+intellectual effort, he might soon have obtained a competency by his
+pen; but, unfortunately, though he was not seriously addicted to
+intemperance, his convivial habits, and his attraction for the gaming
+table, soon scattered his hard-won earnings. His "knack of hoping,"
+however, helped him through life. He died on the 4th April, 1774. His
+last words were sad indeed, in whatever sense they may be taken. He was
+suffering from fever, but his devoted medical attendant, Doctor Norton,
+perceiving his pulse to be unusually high even under such circumstances,
+asked, "Is your mind at ease?" "No, it is not," was Goldsmith's sad
+reply; and these were the last words he uttered.
+
+[Illustration: GOLDSMITH'S MILL AT AUBURN]
+
+[Illustration: BANTRY BAY--SCENE OF THE LANDING OF THE FRENCH.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[559] _Writers_.--As a general rule, when Irishmen succeed either in
+literature, politics, or war, the credit of their performances is
+usually debited to the English; when they fail, we hear terrible
+clamours of Irish incapacity. Thackeray commences his "_English_
+Humourists of the Eighteenth Century" with Swift, and ends them with
+Goldsmith! I do not suppose he had any intention of defrauding the
+Celtic race; he simply followed the usual course. Irishmen are, perhaps,
+themselves most to blame, for much of this is caused by their suicidal
+deference to a dominant race.
+
+[560] _Order_.--The Presentation Order was founded by Miss Nano Nagle,
+of Cork.
+
+[561] _Leadbeater.--Annals of Ballitore_, vol. i. p. 50, second edition,
+1862. I shall refer to this interesting work again.
+
+[562] _Man_.--The exact words are: "If a man were to go by chance at the
+same time with Burke, under a shed to shun a shower, he would say: 'This
+is an extraordinary man.'"--_Boswell's Johnson_, vol. iv. p. 245.
+Foster's version is as above.
+
+[563] _Developed_.--Since this sentence was penned, I find, with great
+satisfaction, that a similar view has been taken by a recent writer. See
+_Secularia; or, Surveys on the Main Stream of History_, by S. Lucas, p.
+250. He opens a chapter on the revolt of the American States thus: "The
+relations of Great Britain to its colonies, past and present, are an
+important part of the history of the world; and the form which these
+relations _may hereafter take, will be no small element in the political
+future._ Even our Professors of History ... abstain from noticing their
+system of government, or _the predisposing motives to their subsequent
+revolt._." The italics are our own. Neglect of the study of Irish
+history is, I believe, also, one of the causes why Irish grievances are
+not remedied by the English Government. But grievances may get settled
+in a way not always satisfactory to the neglecters of them, while they
+are waiting their leisure to investigate their cause.
+
+[564] _Writer_.--Morley. _Edmund Burke, an Historical Study:_ Macmillan
+and Co., 1867. A masterly work, and one which every statesman, and every
+thinker would do well to peruse carefully. He says: "The question to be
+asked by every statesman, and by every citizen, with reference to a
+measure that is recommended to him as the enforcement of a public right,
+is whether the right is one which it is to the public advantage to
+enforce."--p. 146.
+
+[565] _Exile_.--Maguire's _Irish in America_, p. 355: "It would seem as
+if they instinctively arrayed themselves in hostility to the British
+power; a fact to be explained alike by their love of liberty, and _their
+vivid remembrance of recent or past misgovernment_." The italics are our
+own. The penal laws were enacted with the utmost rigour against
+Catholics in the colonies, and the only place of refuge was Maryland,
+founded by the Catholic Lord Baltimore. Here there was liberty of
+conscience for all, but here only. The sects who had fled to America to
+obtain "freedom to worship God," soon manifested their determination
+that no one should have liberty of conscience except themselves, and
+gave the lie to their own principles, by persecuting each other for the
+most trifling differences of opinion on religious questions, in the
+cruelest manner. Cutting off ears, whipping, and maiming were in
+constant practice. See Maguire's _Irish in America_, p. 349; Lucas'
+_Secularia_, pp. 220-246.
+
+[566] _Irishman_.--See Cooper's _Naval History_.
+
+[567] _England_.--He wrote to Thompson, from London, saying that he
+could effect nothing: "The sun of liberty is set; we must now light up
+the candles of industry." The Secretary replied, with Celtic vehemence:
+"Be assured we shall light up torches of a very different kind." When
+the Catholics of the United States sent up their celebrated Address to
+Washington, in 1790, he alludes in one part of his reply to the immense
+assistance obtained from them in effecting the Revolution: "I presume
+that your fellow-citizens will not forget the patriotic part which you
+took in the accomplishment of their revolution and the establishment of
+their government, or the important assistance they received from a
+nation in which the Roman Catholic religion is professed."
+
+[568] _Morley_.--_Edmund Burke, an Historical Study_, p. 181.
+
+[569] _People_.--Chesterfield said, in 1764, that the poor people in
+Ireland were used "worse than negroes." "Aristocracy," said Adam Smith,
+"was not founded in the natural and respectable distinctions of birth
+and fortune, but in the most odious of all distinctions, those of
+religious and political prejudices--distinctions which, more than any
+other, animate both the insolence of the oppressors, and the hatred and
+indignation of the oppressed."--Morley's _Edmund Burke_, p. 183.
+
+[570] _Fully_.--See _Curran's Letters and Speeches:_ Dublin, 1865.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+The Volunteers deserted by their Leaders--Agrarian Outrages and their
+Cause--Foundation of the United Irishmen--Cruelties of the
+Orangemen--Government Spies and Informers--Lord Moira exposes the
+Cruelty of the Yeomanry in Parliament--Mr. Orr's Trial and
+Death--Details of the Atrocities enacted by the Military from a
+Protestant History--Tom the Devil--Cruelties practised by Men of
+Rank--Licentiousness of the Army--Death of Lord Edward FitzGerald--The
+Rising--Martial Law in Dublin--The Insurrection in Wexford--Massacres at
+Scullabogue House and Wexford-bridge by the Insurgents--How the Priests
+were rewarded for saving Lives and Property--The Insurrection in
+Ulster--The State Prisoners--The Union.
+
+[A.D. 1783-1800.]
+
+
+Parliament was dissolved on the 15th of July, 1783, and summoned to meet
+in October. The Volunteers now began to agitate on the important
+question of parliamentary reform, which, indeed, was necessary, for
+there were few members who really represented the nation. The close
+boroughs were bought and sold openly and shamelessly, and many members
+who were returned for counties were not proof against place or bribes.
+But the Volunteers had committed the fatal mistake of not obtaining the
+exercise of the elective franchise for their Catholic fellow-subjects:
+hence the Irish Parliament obtained only a nominal freedom, as its acts
+were entirely in the hands of the Government through the venality of the
+members. On the 10th of November, one hundred and sixty delegates
+assembled at the Royal Exchange, Dublin. They were headed by Lord
+Charlemont, and marched in procession to the Rotundo. The Earl of
+Bristol, an eccentric, but kind and warm-hearted character, who was also
+the Protestant Bishop of Derry, took a leading part in the
+deliberations. Sir Boyle Roche, an equally eccentric gentleman, brought
+a message from Lord Kenmare to the meeting, assuring them that the
+Catholics were satisfied with what had been granted to them. He had
+acted under a misapprehension; and the Bishop of Derry, who was in fact
+the only really liberal member of the corps, informed the delegates that
+the Catholics had held a meeting, with Sir Patrick Bellew in the chair,
+in which they repudiated this assertion. Several plans of reform were
+now proposed; and a Bill was introduced into the House by Mr. Flood, on
+the 29th of November, and warmly opposed by Mr. Yelverton, who was now
+Attorney-General, and had formerly been a Volunteer. A stormy scene
+ensued, but bribery and corruption prevailed. The fate of the Volunteers
+was sealed. Through motives of prudence or of policy, Lord Charlemont
+adjourned the convention _sine die_; and the flame, which had shot up
+with sudden brilliancy, died out even more rapidly than it had been
+kindled. The Volunteers were now deserted by their leaders, and assumed
+the infinitely dangerous form of a democratic movement. Such a movement
+can rarely succeed, and seldom ends without inflicting worse injuries on
+the nation than those which it has sought to avert.
+
+The delegates were again convened in Dublin, by Flood and Napper Tandy.
+They met in October, 1784, and their discussions were carried on in
+secret. Everywhere the men began to arm themselves, and to train others
+to military exercises. But the Government had gained a victory over them
+in the withdrawal of their leaders, and the Attorney-General attempted
+to intimidate them still further by a prosecution. In 1785 a Bill was
+introduced for removing some of the commercial restraints of the Irish
+nation; it passed the Irish House, but, to satisfy popular clamours in
+England, it was returned with such additions as effectually marred its
+usefulness. Grattan now saw how grievously he had been mistaken in his
+estimate of the results of all that was promised in 1782, and he
+denounced the measure with more than ordinary eloquence. It was rejected
+by a small majority, after a debate which lasted till eight o'clock in
+the morning; and the nationality of the small majority purchased the
+undying hatred of the English minister, William Pitt. The people were
+still suffering from the cruel exactions of landlords and
+tithe-proctors. Their poverty and misery were treated with contempt and
+indifference, and they were driven to open acts of violence, which could
+not be repressed either by the fear of the consequences, or the earnest
+exhortations of the Catholic bishops and clergy.[571]
+
+In the north some disturbances had originated as early as 1775, amongst
+the Protestant weavers, who suffered severely from the general
+depression of trade, and the avariciousness of commercial speculators.
+Their association was called "Hearts of Steel." The author of the
+_United Irishman_ mentions one instance as a sample of many others, in
+which the ruling elder of a Presbyterian congregation had raised the
+rents on a number of small farms, and excited in consequence severe acts
+of retaliation from them.[572] In 1784 two parties commenced agrarian
+outrages in Ulster, called respectively Peep-o'-Day Boys and Defenders.
+As the Catholics sided with one party, and the Protestants with another,
+it merged eventually into a religious feud. The former faction assumed
+the appellation of Protestant Boys, and at last became the Orange
+Society, whose atrocities, and the rancorous party-spirit which they so
+carefully fomented, was one of the principal causes of the rebellion of
+1798. The Catholics had assumed the name of Defenders, from being
+obliged to band in self-defence; but when once a number of uneducated
+persons are leagued together, personal feeling and strong passions will
+lead to acts of violence, which the original associates would have
+shrunk from committing.
+
+Pitt was again thwarted by the Irish Parliament on the Regency question,
+when the insanity of George III. required the appointment of his heir as
+governor of England. The Marquis of Buckingham, who was then Lord
+Lieutenant, refused to forward their address; but the members sent a
+deputation of their own. This nobleman was open and shameless in his
+acts of bribery, and added L13,000 a-year to the pension list, already
+so fatally oppressive to the country. In 1790 he was succeeded by the
+Earl of Westmoreland, and various clubs were formed; but the Catholics
+were still excluded from them all. Still the Catholics were an immense
+majority nationally; the French Revolution had manifested what the
+people could do; and the rulers of the land, with such terrible examples
+before their eyes, could not for their own sakes afford to ignore
+Catholic interests altogether. But the very cause which gave hope was
+itself the means of taking hope away. The action of the Irish Catholics
+was paralyzed through fear of the demonlike cruelties which even a
+successful revolution might induce; and the general fear which the
+aristocratic party had of giving freedom to the uneducated classes,
+influenced them to a fatal silence. Again the middle classes were left
+without leaders, who might have tempered a praiseworthy nationality with
+a not less praiseworthy prudence, and which might have saved both the
+nation and some of its best and bravest sons from fearful suffering. A
+Catholic meeting was held in Dublin, on the 11th of February, 1791, and
+a resolution was passed to apply to Parliament for relief from their
+disabilities. This was in truth the origin of the United Irishmen. For
+the first time Catholics and Protestants agreed cordially and worked
+together harmoniously. The leading men on the Catholic committee were
+Keogh, M'Cormic, Sweetman, Byrne, and Branghall; the Protestant leaders
+were Theobald Wolfe Tone and the Hon. Simon Butler. Tone visited Belfast
+in October, 1791, and formed the first club of the Society of United
+Irishmen. He was joined there by Neilson, Simms, Russell, and many
+others. A club was then formed in Dublin, of which Napper Tandy became a
+leading member. The fundamental resolutions of the Society were
+admirable. They stated: "1. That the weight of English influence in the
+government of this country is so great, as to require a cordial union
+among all the people of Ireland, to maintain that balance which is
+essential to the preservation of our liberties and the extension of our
+commerce. 2. That the sole constitutional mode by which this influence
+can be opposed, is by a complete and radical reform of the
+representation of the people in Parliament. 3. That no reform is just
+which does not include every Irishman of every religious persuasion."
+
+Tone had already obtained considerable influence by his political
+pamphlets, which had an immense circulation. There can be no doubt that
+he was tinctured with republican sentiments; but it was impossible for
+an Irish Protestant, who had any real sympathy with his country, to feel
+otherwise: it had endured nothing but misery from the monarchical form
+of government. The Catholics, probably, were only prevented from
+adopting similar opinions by their inherent belief in the divine right
+of kings. In 1791 the fears of those who thought the movement had a
+democratic tendency, were confirmed by the celebration of the
+anniversary of the French Revolution in Belfast, July, 1791; and in
+consequence of this, sixty-four Catholics of the upper classes presented
+a loyal address to the throne. The Catholic delegates met in Dublin in
+December, 1792, and prepared a petition to the King representing their
+grievances. It was signed by Dr. Troy, the Catholic Archbishop of
+Dublin, and Dr. Moylan, on behalf of the clergy. Amongst the laity
+present were Lords Kenmare, Fingall, Trimbleston, Gormanstown, and
+French. Five delegates were appointed to present the petition, and they
+were provided with a very large sum of money, which induced those in
+power to obtain them an audience. They were introduced to George III. by
+Edmund Burke. His Majesty sent a message to the Irish Parliament,
+requesting them to remove some of the disabilities; but the Parliament
+treated the message with contempt, and Lord Chancellor FitzGibbon
+brought in a Bill to prevent any bodies from meeting by delegation for
+the future.
+
+In 1793 a Relief Bill was passed, in consequence of the war with France;
+a Militia Bill, and the Gunpowder and Convention Bills, were also
+passed, the latter being an attempt to suppress the Volunteers and the
+United Irishmen. A meeting of the latter was held in February, 1793, and
+the chairman and secretary were brought before the House of Lords, and
+sentenced to six months' imprisonment and a fine of L500 each. The
+following year, January, 1794, Mr. Rowan was prosecuted for an address
+to the Volunteers, made two years before. Even Curran's eloquence, and
+the fact that the principal witness was perjured, failed to obtain his
+acquittal. He was sentenced to two years' imprisonment and a fine of
+L500. His conviction only served to increase the popular excitement, as
+he was considered a martyr to his patriotism. An address was presented
+to him in Newgate by the United Irishmen, but he escaped on the 1st of
+May, and got safely to America, though L1,000 was offered for his
+apprehension.
+
+The English minister now appears to have tried the old game of driving
+the people into a rebellion, which could be crushed at once by the
+sword, and would spare the necessity of making concessions; or of
+entangling the leaders in some act of overt treason, and quashing the
+movement by depriving it of its heads. An opportunity for the latter
+manoeuvre now presented itself. A Protestant clergyman, who had resided
+many years in France, came to the country for the purpose of opening
+communications between the French Government and the United Irishmen.
+This gentleman, the Rev. William Jackson, confided his secret to his
+solicitor, a man named Cockayne. The solicitor informed Mr. Pitt, and by
+his desire continued to watch his victim, and trade on his open-hearted
+candour, until he had led him to his doom. The end of the unfortunate
+clergyman was very miserable. He took poison when brought up for
+judgment, and died in the dock. His object in committing this crime was
+to save his property for his wife and children, as it would have been
+confiscated had his sentence been pronounced.
+
+The Viceroyalty of Earl FitzWilliam once more gave the Irish nation some
+hope that England would grant them justice. But he was soon recalled;
+Lord Camden was sent in his stead; and the country was given up to the
+Beresford faction, who were quite willing to co-operate in Mr. Pitt's
+plan of setting Protestants and Catholics against each other, of
+exciting open rebellion, and of profiting by the miseries of the nation
+to forge new chains for it, by its parliamentary union with England.
+Everything was done now that could be done to excite the Catholics to
+rebellion. The Orangemen, if their own statement on oath[573] is to be
+trusted, were actually bribed to persecute the Catholics; sermons[574]
+were preached by Protestant ministers to excite their feelings; and when
+the Catholics resisted, or offered reprisals, they were punished with
+the utmost severity, while their persecutors always escaped. Lord
+Carhampton, grandson of the worthless Henry Luttrell, who had betrayed
+the Irish at the siege of Limerick, commanded the army, and his cruelty
+is beyond description. An Insurrection Act was passed in 1796;
+magistrates were allowed to proclaim counties; suspected persons were to
+be banished the country or pressed into the fleet, without the shadow of
+trial; and Acts of Indemnity[575] were passed, to shield the magistrates
+and the military from the consequences of any unlawful cruelties which
+fanaticism or barbarity might induce them to commit.
+
+Grattan appealed boldly and loudly against these atrocities. "These
+insurgents," he said, "call themselves Protestant Boys--that is, a
+banditti of murderers, committing massacre in the name of God, and
+exercising despotic power in the name of liberty." The published
+declaration of Lord Gosford and of thirty magistrates, who attempted to
+obtain some justice for the unfortunate subjects of these wrongs, is
+scarcely less emphatic. It is dated December 28, 1795: "It is no secret
+that a persecution, accompanied with all the circumstances of ferocious
+cruelty which have in all ages distinguished this calamity, is now
+raging in this country; neither age, nor sex, nor even acknowledged
+innocence, is sufficient to excite mercy or afford protection. The only
+crime which the unfortunate objects of this persecution are charged
+with, is a crime of easy proof indeed; it is simply a profession of the
+Roman Catholic faith. A lawless banditti have constituted themselves
+judges of this species of delinquency, and the sentence they pronounce
+is equally concise and terrible; it is nothing less than a confiscation
+of all property and immediate banishment--a prescription that has been
+carried into effect, and exceeds, in the number of those it consigns to
+ruin and misery, every example that ancient or modern history can
+supply. These horrors are now acting with impunity. The spirit of
+justice has disappeared from the country; and the supineness of the
+magistracy of Armagh has become a common topic of conversation in every
+corner of the kingdom."
+
+One should have supposed that an official declaration from such an
+authority, signed by the Governor of Armagh and thirty magistrates,
+would have produced some effect on the Government of the day; but the
+sequel proved that such honorable exposure was as ineffective as the
+rejected petition of millions of Catholics. The formation of the
+yeomanry corps filled up the cup of bitterness. The United Irishmen,
+seeing no hope of constitutional redress, formed themselves into a
+military organization. But, though the utmost precautions were used to
+conceal the names of members and the plans of the association, their
+movements were well known to Government from an early period. Tone, in
+the meantime, came to France from America, and induced Carnot to send an
+expedition to Ireland, under the command of General Hoche. It ended
+disastrously. A few vessels cruised for a week in the harbour of Bantry
+Bay; but, as the remainder of the fleet, which was separated by a fog,
+did not arrive, Grouchy, the second in command, returned to France.
+
+Meanwhile, the Society of United Irishmen spread rapidly, and especially
+in those places where the Orangemen exercised their cruelties. Lord
+Edward FitzGerald now joined the movement; and even those who cannot
+commend the cause, are obliged to admire the perfection of his devoted
+self-sacrifice to what he believed to be the interests of his country.
+His leadership seemed all that was needed to secure success. His gay and
+frank manner made him popular; his military bearing demanded respect;
+his superior attainments gave him power to command; his generous
+disinterestedness was patent to all. But already a paid system of
+espionage had been established by Government. A set of miscreants were
+found who could lure their victims to their doom--who could eat and
+drink, and talk and live with them as their bosom friends, and then sign
+their death-warrant with the kiss of Judas. There was a regular gang of
+informers of a low class, like the infamous Jemmy O'Brien, who were
+under the control of the Town-Majors, Sirr and Swan. But there were
+gentlemen informers also, who, in many cases, were never so much as
+suspected by their dupes. MacNally, the advocate of the United Irishmen,
+and Mr. Graham, their solicitor, were both of that class. Thomas
+Reynolds, of Killeen Castle, entered their body on purpose to betray
+them. Captain Armstrong did the same. John Hughes, a Belfast bookseller,
+had himself arrested several times, to allay their suspicions. John
+Edward Nevill was equally base and treacherous. However necessary it may
+be for the ends of government to employ spies and informers, there is no
+necessity for men to commit crimes of the basest treachery. Such men and
+such crimes will ever be handed down to posterity with the reprobation
+they deserve.
+
+Attempts were now made to get assistance from France. Mr. O'Connor and
+Lord Edward FitzGerald proceeded thither for that purpose; but their
+mission was not productive of any great result. The people were goaded
+to madness by the cruelties which were committed on them every day; and
+it was in vain that persons above all suspicion of countenancing either
+rebels or Papists, protested against these enormities in the name of
+common humanity. In 1797 a part of Ulster was proclaimed by General
+Lalor, and Lord Moira described thus, in the English House of Lords, the
+sufferings of the unhappy people: "When a man was taken up on suspicion,
+he was put to the torture; nay, if he were merely accused of concealing
+the guilt of another, the punishment of picketing, which had for some
+years been abolished as too inhuman even in the dragoon service, was
+practised. I have known a man, in order to extort confession of a
+supposed crime, or of that of some of his neighbours, picketed until he
+actually fainted; picketed a second time, until he fainted again;
+picketed a third time, until he once more fainted; and all upon mere
+suspicion. Nor was this the only species of torture; many had been taken
+and hung up until they were half dead, and then threatened with a
+repetition of this cruel treatment unless they made confession of the
+imputed guilt. These," continued his Lordship, "were not particular acts
+of cruelty, exercised by men abusing the power committed to them, _but
+they formed part of a system_. They were notorious; and no person could
+say who would be the next victim of this oppression and cruelty." As
+redress was hopeless, and Parliament equally indifferent to cruelties
+and to remonstrances, Mr. Grattan and his colleagues left the Irish
+House to its inhumanity and its fate.
+
+In the autumn of this year, 1797, Mr. Orr, of Antrim, was tried and
+executed, on a charge of administering the oath of the United Irishmen
+to a soldier. This gentleman was a person of high character and
+respectability. He solemnly protested his innocence; the soldier, stung
+with remorse, swore before a magistrate that the testimony he gave at
+the trial was false. Petitions were at once sent in, praying for the
+release of the prisoner, but in vain; he was executed on the 14th of
+October, though no one doubted his innocence; and "Orr's fate" became a
+watchword of and an incitement to rebellion. Several of the jury made a
+solemn oath after the trial that, when locked up for the night to
+"consider" their verdict, they were supplied abundantly with
+intoxicating drinks, and informed one and all, that, if they did not
+give the required verdict of guilty, they should themselves be
+prosecuted as United Irishmen. Mr. Orr was offered his life and liberty
+again and again if he would admit his guilt; his wife and four young
+children added their tears and entreaties to the persuasions of his
+friends; but he preferred truth and honour to life and freedom. His end
+was worthy of his resolution. On the scaffold he turned to his faithful
+attendant, and asked him to remove his watch, as he should need it no
+more. Mr. Orr was a sincere Protestant; his servant was a Catholic. His
+last words are happily still on record. He showed the world how a
+Protestant patriot could die; and that the more sincere and deep his
+piety, the less likely he would be to indulge in fanatical hatred of
+those who differed from him. "You, my friend," he said to his weeping
+and devoted servant--"you, my friend, and I must now part. Our stations
+here on earth have been a little different, and our mode of worshipping
+the Almighty Being that we both adore. Before His presence we shall
+stand equal. Farewell! Remember Orr!"[576]
+
+Alas! there was more to remember than the fate of this noble victim to
+legal injustice. I have before alluded to that strange phenomenon of
+human nature, by which men, who, at least, appear to be educated and
+refined, can, under certain circumstances, become bloodthirsty and
+cruel. The demon enters into the man, and make him tenfold more
+demoniacal than himself. But fearful as the deeds of officers and men
+have been in India, where the unhappy natives were shattered to atoms
+from the cannons' mouths: or, in more recent times, when men, and even
+women, have all but expired under the lash; no deeds of savage vengeance
+have ever exceeded those which were perpetrated daily and hourly in
+Ireland, before the rebellion of 1798. For the sake of our common
+humanity I would that they could be passed over unrecorded; for the sake
+of our common humanity I shall record them in detail, for it may be that
+the terror of what men can become when they give way to unrestrained
+passions, may deter some of my fellow-creatures from allowing themselves
+to participate in or to enact such deeds of blood. Historical justice,
+too, demands that they should be related. Englishmen have heard much of
+the cruelties of Irish rebels at Wexford, which I shall neither palliate
+nor excuse. Englishmen have heard but little of the inhuman atrocities
+which excited that insurrection, and prompted these reprisals. And let
+it be remembered, that there are men still living who saw these
+cruelties enacted in their childhood, and men whose fathers and nearest
+relations were themselves subjected to these tortures. To the Celt, so
+warm of heart and so tenacious of memory, what food this is for the
+tempter, who bids him recall, and bids him revenge, even now, these
+wrongs! What wonder if passion should take the place of reason, and if
+religion, which commands him to suffer patiently the memory of injuries
+inflicted on others, often harder to bear than one's own pain, should
+sometimes fail to assert its sway![577]
+
+I shall give the account of these atrocities in the words of a
+Protestant historian first. The Rev. Mr. Gordon writes thus, in his
+narrative of these fearful times: "The fears of the people became so
+great at length, that they forsook their houses in the night, and slept
+(if, under such circumstances, they could sleep) in the ditches and the
+women were even delivered in that exposed condition, _These facts were
+notorious at the time_.... Some abandoned their house from fear of being
+whipped; and this infliction many persons appeared to fear _more than
+death itself_. Many unfortunate men were strung up as it were to be
+hanged, but were let down now and then, to try if strangulation would
+oblige them to become informers." He then goes on to relate at length
+how the magistrates tortured smiths and carpenters at once, because it
+was supposed from their trade they must have made pikes; and how they,
+at last, professed to know a United Irishman by his face, and "never
+suffered any person whom they deigned to honour with this distinction,
+to pass off without convincing proof of their attention." He also
+mentions the case of a hermit named Driscoll, whose name and the same
+details of his sufferings are given in Clancy's account of the
+insurrection. This man was strangled three times, and flogged four
+times, because a Catholic prayer-book was found in his possession, on
+which it was _supposed_ that he used to administer oaths of disloyalty.
+
+I shall now give the account of another historian. Plowden writes thus;
+"These military savages [the yeomanry corps--it will be remembered what
+Lord Moira said of them in Parliament] were permitted, both by
+magistrates and officers, in open day, to seize every man they wished or
+chose to suspect as a _Croppy_, and drag him to the guardhouse, where
+they constantly kept a supply of coarse linen caps, besmeared inside
+with pitch; and when the pitch was well heated, they forced the cap on
+his head; and sometimes the melted pitch, running into the eyes of the
+unfortunate victim, superadded blindness to his other tortures. They
+generally detained him till the pitch had so cooled, that the cap could
+not be detached from the head without carrying with it the hair and
+blistered skin; they then turned him adrift, disfigured, often blind,
+and writhing with pain. They enjoyed with loud bursts of laughter the
+fiendlike sport--the agonies of their victim. At other times, they
+rubbed moistened gunpowder into the hair, in the form of a cross, and
+set fire to it; and not unfrequently sheared off the ears and nose of
+the unfortunate Croppy." Plowden then details the atrocities of a
+sergeant of the Cork Militia, who was called _Tom the Devil_. He
+concludes: "It would be uncandid to detail only instances of the
+brutality of the lower orders, whilst evidence is forthcoming of persons
+of fortune and education being still more brutalized by its deleterious
+spirit." He then mentions an instance, on the authority of both an
+eyewitness and the victim, in which Lord Kingsborough, Mr. Beresford,
+and an officer whose name he did not know, tortured two respectable
+Dublin tradesmen, one named John Fleming, a ferryman, the other Francis
+Gough, a coachmaker. The nobleman superintended the flagellation of
+Gough, and at every stroke insulted him with taunts and inquiries how he
+liked it. The unfortunate man was confined to his bed in consequence,
+for six months after the infliction. On Whit-Sunday, 1798, these men
+were again tortured with pitchcaps by the gentlemen. Other instances
+might be added, but these will suffice to show the feeling which
+actuated the rulers who permitted, and the men who perpetrated, these
+deeds of blood. "With difficulty," says Mr. Plowden, "does the mind
+yield reluctant consent to such debasement of the human species. The
+spirit which degrades it to that abandonment is of no ordinary
+depravity. The same spirit of Orangeism moved the colonel in Dublin, and
+his sergeant at Wexford. The effect of that spirit can only be faintly
+illustrated by facts. Those have been verified to the author by the
+spectator and the sufferer."[578]
+
+From a letter of Lady Napier's, never intended for publication, and
+above all suspicion of any sympathy with the lower order of Irish, it
+will be seen how the tenantry of the Duke of Leinster were driven to
+revolt. It is dated Castletown, 27th June, 1798, and addressed to the
+Duke of Richmond. "The cruel hardships put on his tenants preferably to
+all others, has driven them to despair, and they join the insurgents,
+saying: 'It is better to die with a pike in my hand, than be shot like a
+dog at my work, or to see my children faint for want of food before my
+eyes.'"
+
+Sir Ralph Abercrombie was appointed to command the army in Ireland, in
+1797; but he threw up his charge, disgusted with atrocities which he
+could not control, and which he was too humane even to appear to
+sanction.[579] He declared the army to be in a state of licentiousness,
+which made it formidable to every one but the enemy. General Lake, a
+fitting instrument for any cruelty, was appointed to take his place; and
+Lord Castlereagh informs us that "measures were taken by Government to
+cause a premature explosion." It would have been more Christian in the
+first place, and more politic in the second place, if Government had
+taken measures to prevent any explosion at all.[580]
+
+On the 12th of March, 1798, the Leinster delegates, who had been long
+since betrayed, were seized by Major Swan, in Dublin. Fifteen persons
+were present, the greater number of whom were Protestants. Emmet,
+MacNevin, Jackson, and Sweetman, were seized the same day. Arthur
+O'Connor had already been arrested on his way to France, with Father
+Coigley. The latter was convicted on May 22, at Maidstone, and hanged on
+evidence so inconclusive, that Lord Chancellor Thurlow said: "If ever a
+poor man was murdered, it was Coigley!" The arrest of Lord Edward
+FitzGerald occurred soon after. The room in which he was arrested and
+the bed on which he lay is still shown, for the brave young noble had
+won for himself the heart's love of every true Irishman. The story of
+his life would occupy more space than can be given to it. To abridge it
+would be to destroy more than half of its real interest. A severe wound
+which he received in the struggle with his captors, combined with the
+effects of excitement and a cruel imprisonment, caused his death. He was
+a chevalier _sans peur et sans reproche_. Even his enemies, and the
+enemies of his country, could find no word to say against him. With him
+died the best hopes of the United Irishmen, and with his expiring breath
+they lost their best prospect of success.[581]
+
+Lord Edward died on the 4th of June. The 23rd of May had been fixed for
+the rising; but informations were in the hands of the Government.
+Captain Armstrong had betrayed the Sheares, two brothers who had devoted
+themselves to the cause of their country with more affection than
+prudence. The base traitor had wound himself into their confidence, had
+dined with them, and was on the most intimate social relations with
+their family. On the 12th of July he swore their lives away; and two
+days after they were executed, holding each other's hands as they passed
+into eternity.
+
+The rising did take place, but it was only partial. The leaders were
+gone, dead, or imprisoned; and nothing but the wild desperation, which
+suggested that it was better to die fighting than to die inch by inch,
+under inhuman torture, could have induced the people to rise at all. The
+ferocity with which the insurrection was put down, may be estimated by
+the cruelties enacted before it commenced. Lord Cornwallis, in his
+Government report to the Duke of Portland, declared that "murder was the
+favourite pastime" of the militia. He declared that the principal
+persons in the country and the members of Parliament were averse to all
+conciliation, and "too much heated to see the effects which their
+violence must produce." To General Ross he writes: "The violence of our
+friends, and their folly in endeavouring to make it a religious war,
+added to the ferocity of our troops, who delight in murder, must
+powerfully counteract all plans of conciliation; and the conversation,
+even at my table, where you will suppose I do all I can to prevent it,
+always turns on hanging, shooting, burning, &c.; and if a priest has
+been put to death, the greatest joy is expressed by the whole company."
+
+On the 23rd of May, Dublin was placed under martial law; the citizens
+were armed, the guard was trebled, the barristers pleaded with
+regimentals and swords, and several of the lamplighters were hung from
+their own lamp-posts for neglecting to light the lamps. The country
+people were prepared to march on the city, but Lord Roden and his
+Foxhunters soon put down their attempt. The next morning the dead were
+exhibited in the Castle-yard, and the prisoners were hanged at
+Carlisle-bridge. Sir Watkins Wynn and his Ancient Britons distinguished
+themselves by their cruelties. The Homsperg Dragoons and the Orange
+Yeomanry equalled them in deeds of blood. The fighting commenced in
+Kildare, on the 24th, by an attack on Naas, which was repelled by Lord
+Gosport. Two of his officers and thirty men were killed, and the people
+were shot down and hanged indiscriminately. "Such was the brutal
+ferocity of some of the King's troops," says Plowden, "that they half
+roasted and eat the flesh of one man, named Walsh, who had not been in
+arms." At Prosperous the insurgents attacked and burned the barracks,
+and piked any of the soldiers who attempted to escape from the flames.
+This regiment, the North Cork Militia, had been specially cruel in their
+treatment of the people, who were only too willing to retaliate. A troop
+of dragoons, commanded by Captain Erskine, was almost annihilated at Old
+Kilcullen. But reverses soon followed. At Carlow the insurgents met with
+a severe defeat; and the defenceless and innocent inhabitants, who fled
+into their houses for shelter from the fire, were cruelly and ruthlessly
+burned to death in their own habitations by the military.
+
+A body of 2,000 men, under a leader named Perkins, encamped on the Hill
+of Allan, and agreed with General Douglas to lay down their arms. The
+General was honorable and humane, but his subordinates were not so.
+Major-General Duff, to whom the arms were to have been delivered up,
+ordered his troops to fire on the people, when they had assembled for
+that purpose. Lord Roden's cavalry cut them down, and an immense number
+were slaughtered in cold blood. Another attack took place at Tara, where
+the Irish were again defeated. The insurrection now broke out in
+Wexford. The people in this part of the country had not joined the
+movement in any way, until the arrival of the North Cork Militia,
+commanded by Lord Kingsborough. The men paraded in orange ribbons, fired
+at the peaceful country people, and employed pitchcaps and torture,
+until their victims were driven to desperation. The county was
+proclaimed on the 27th of April, by the magistrates; and before any riot
+had taken place, Mr. Hunter Gowan paraded through Gorey at the head of
+his yeomanry, with a human finger on the point of his sword, which was
+subsequently used to stir their punch in the evening.
+
+On Whit-Sunday, the 27th of May, the yeomen burned the Catholic Chapel
+of Boulavogue. Father John Murphy, the parish priest, who had hitherto
+tried to suppress the insurrection, placed himself at the head of the
+insurgents. The men now rose in numbers, and marched to Enniscorthy,
+which they took after some fighting. Vinegar Hill, a lofty eminence
+overlooking the town, was chosen for their camp. Some of the leading
+Protestant gentlemen of the county had either favoured or joined the
+movement; and several of them had been arrested on suspicion, and were
+imprisoned at Wexford. The garrison of this place, however, fled in a
+panic, caused by some successes of the Irish troops, and probably from a
+very clear idea of the kind of retaliation they might expect for their
+cruelties. Mr. Harvey, one of the prisoners mentioned above, was now
+released, and headed the insurgents; but a powerful body of troops,
+under General Loftus, was sent into the district, and eventually
+obtained possession of New Ross, which the Irish had taken with great
+bravery, but which they had not been able to hold for want of proper
+military discipline and command. They owed their defeat to
+insubordination and drunkenness. A number of prisoners had been left at
+Scullabogue House, near Carrickburne Hill. Some fugitives from the Irish
+camp came up in the afternoon, and pretended that Mr. Harvey had given
+orders for their execution, alleging, as a reason, what, indeed, was
+true, that the royalists massacred indiscriminately. The guard resisted,
+but were overpowered by the mob, who were impatient to revenge without
+justice the cruelties which had been inflicted on them without justice.
+A hundred were burned in a barn, and thirty-seven were shot or piked.
+This massacre has been held up as a horrible example of Irish treachery
+and cruelty. It was horrible, no doubt, and cannot be defended or
+palliated; but, amid these contending horrors of cruel war, the question
+still recurs: Upon whom is the original guilt of causing them to be
+charged?
+
+Father Murphy[582] was killed in an attack on Carlow, and his death
+threw the balance strongly in favour of the Government troops, who
+eventually proved victorious. After the battle of Ross, the Wexford men
+chose the Rev. Philip Roche as their leader, in place of Mr. Bagenal
+Harvey, who had resigned the command. The insurgents were now guilty of
+following the example of their persecutors, if not with equal cruelty,
+at least with a barbarity which their leaders in vain reprobated. The
+prisoners whom they had taken were confined in the jail, and every
+effort was made to save them from the infuriated people. But one savage,
+named Dixon, would not be content without their blood; and while the
+army and their leaders were encamped on Vinegar Hill, he and some other
+villains as wicked as himself found their way into the jail, and marched
+the prisoners to the bridge, held a mock trial, and then piked
+thirty-five of their victims, and flung them into the water. At this
+moment a priest, who had heard of the bloody deed, hastened to the spot;
+and after in vain commanding them to desist, succeeded at last in making
+them kneel down, when he dictated a prayer that God might show them the
+same mercy which they would show to the surviving prisoners. This had
+its effect; and the men who waited in terror to receive the doom they
+had so often and so mercilessly inflicted on others, were marched back
+to prison.
+
+The camp on Vinegar Hill was now beset on all sides by the royal troops.
+An attack was planned by General Lake, with 20,000 men and a large train
+of artillery. General Needham did not arrive in time to occupy the
+position appointed for him; and after an hour and a-half of hard
+fighting, the Irish gave way, principally from want of gunpowder. The
+soldiers now indulged in the most wanton deeds of cruelty. The hospital
+at Enniscorthy was set on fire, and the wounded men shot in their beds.
+At Wexford, General Moore prevented his troops from committing such
+outrages; but when the rest of the army arrived, they acted as they had
+done at Enniscorthy. Courts-martial were held, in which the officers
+were not even sworn, and victims were consigned to execution with
+reckless atrocity. The bridge of Wexford, where a Catholic priest had
+saved so many Protestant lives, was now chosen for the scene of
+slaughter; and all this in spite of a promise of amnesty. Father Roche
+and Mr. Keogh were the first victims of the higher classes; Messrs.
+Grogan, Harvey, and Colclough were hanged the following day. A mixed
+commission was now formed of the magistrates, who were principally
+Orangemen, and the military, whose virulence was equally great. The Rev.
+Mr. Gordon, the Protestant clergyman whose account I have principally
+followed, as above all suspicion, declares that "whoever could be proved
+to have saved an Orangeman or royalist from assassination, his house
+from burning, or his property from plunder, was considered as having
+influence amongst the revolters, and consequently as a rebel commander."
+The reward for their charity now was instant execution. The Rev. John
+Redmond, the Catholic priest of Newtownbarry, had saved Lord Mountmorris
+and other gentlemen from the fury of the exasperated people, and had
+preserved his house and property from plunder. He was now sent for by
+this nobleman; and, conscious of his innocence, and the benefits he had
+rendered him, he at once obeyed the summons. On his arrival, he was
+seized, brought before the court, and executed on the pretence of having
+been a commander in the rebel army. He had, indeed, commanded, but the
+only commands he ever uttered were commands of mercy. Well might Mr.
+Gordon sorrowfully declare, that he had "heard of hundreds of United
+Irishmen, during the insurrection, who have, at the risk of their lives,
+saved Orangemen; but I have not heard of a single Orangeman who
+encountered any danger to save the life of a United Irishman." With
+equal sorrow he remarks the difference in the treatment of females by
+each party. The Irish were never once accused of having offered the
+slightest insult to a woman; the military, besides shooting them
+indiscriminately with the men, treated them in a way which cannot be
+described, and under circumstances which added a more than savage
+inhumanity to their crime.
+
+The next act of the fatal drama was the execution of the State
+prisoners. The rising in Ulster had been rendered ineffective, happily
+for the people, by the withdrawal of some of the leaders at the last
+moment. The command in Antrim was taken by Henry McCracken, who was at
+last captured by the royalists, and executed at Belfast, on the 17th of
+June. At Saintfield, in Down, they were commanded by Henry Monroe, who
+had been a Volunteer, and had some knowledge of military tactics. In an
+engagement at Ballinahinch, he showed considerable ability in the
+disposal of his forces, but they were eventually defeated, and he also
+paid the forfeit of his life. A remnant of the Wexford insurrection was
+all that remained to be crushed. On the 21st of June, Lord Cornwallis
+was sent to Ireland, with the command both of the military forces and
+the civil power. On the 17th of July an amnesty was proclaimed; and the
+majority of the State prisoners were permitted eventually to leave the
+country, having purchased their pardon by an account of the plans of the
+United Irishmen, which were so entirely broken up that their honour was
+in no way compromised by the disclosure.
+
+Several men, however, were executed, in whose fate the country had, for
+many reasons, more than ordinary interest. To have pardoned them would
+have been more humane and better policy. These were the two Sheares,
+M'Cann, and Mr. William Byrne. Their history will be found in the _Lives
+of the United Irishmen_, by Dr. Madden, a work of many volumes, whose
+contents could not possibly be compressed into the brief space which the
+limits of this work demands.
+
+Some painfully interesting details of this fearful period may be found
+in the _Annals of Ballitore_, a work already referred to in this volume.
+The writer being a member of the Society of Friends, must be beyond all
+suspicion of partiality for rebels or Papists; yet, happily, like many
+members of that Society, was distinguished for humanity and toleration
+for the opinions of others. Her account of '98, being the annals of a
+family and a village, is, perhaps, almost better calculated to give an
+exact idea of the state of the times than a work comprising a more
+extended range of observation; and yet what was suffered in Ballitore
+was comparatively trifling when compared with the sufferings of other
+villages and towns. The first trial was the quartering of the yeomen,
+"from whose bosom," writes this gentle lady, "pity seemed banished." The
+Suffolk Fencibles and the Ancient Britons were next quartered on the
+unfortunate inhabitants. Then commenced the cruel torturing, for which
+the yeomen and militia obtained an eternal reprobation; the public
+floggings, of which she writes thus--"the torture was excessive, and the
+victims were long in recovering, and in almost every case it was applied
+fruitlessly;" yet these demons in human form never relaxed their
+cruelty. "The village, once so peaceful, exhibited a scene of tumult and
+dismay; and the air rang with the shrieks of the sufferers, and the
+lamentations of those who beheld them suffer."[583] Then follow fearful
+details, which cannot be given here, but which prove how completely the
+people were driven into rebellion, and how cruelly they were punished.
+Reprisals, of course, were made by the unfortunate victims; and on one
+occasion, Mrs. Leadbeater relates how Priest Cullen begged the life of a
+young man on his knees, and, as a reward of his humanity, was
+apprehended soon after, and condemned to death. The most cruel scene of
+all was the murder of the village doctor, a man who had devoted himself
+unweariedly to healing the wounds of both parties; but because he
+attended the "rebels," and showed them any acts of common humanity, he
+was taken before a court-martial, and "hacked to death" by the yeomen
+with their swords. "He was alone and unarmed when seized," writes Mrs.
+Leadbeater, "and I believe had never raised his hand to injure any one."
+
+The French allies of Irish insurgents appear to have a fatality for
+arriving precisely when their services are worse than useless. On the
+22nd of August, 1798, Humbert landed at Killala with a small French
+force, who, after a number of engagements, were eventually obliged to
+surrender at discretion.
+
+Ireland having been reduced to the lowest state of misery and servitude,
+the scheme for which much of this suffering had been enacted was now
+proposed and carried out. The first parliamentary intimation was given
+in a speech from the throne, on the 22nd of January, 1799; a pamphlet
+was published on the subject by Mr. Cooke, the Under-Secretary; but it
+required more cogent arguments than either speeches from the throne or
+pamphlets to effect the object of Government. Mr. Pitt had set his heart
+upon the Union, and Mr. Pitt had determined that the Union should be
+carried out at any expense of honour. The majority of the Irish lawyers
+protested against it. The Irish people, as far as they dared do so,
+opposed it. At a meeting of the Irish bar, on the 9th of December, there
+were 166 votes against the Union and only thirty-two in favour of it.
+The published correspondence of Lord Cornwallis and Lord Castlereagh has
+revealed an amount of nefarious corruption and treachery at which
+posterity stands aghast. "These noblemen," writes Sir Jonah Barrington,
+"seemed to have been created for such a crisis, and for each other. An
+unremitting perseverance, an absence of all political compunctions, an
+unqualified contempt of public opinion, and a disregard of every
+constitutional principle, were common to both." But Lord Cornwallis had
+some compunctions; for he wrote to General Ross, describing his office
+as "the most cursed of all situations," and expressing, in language more
+forcible than gentlemanly, his ardent desire to "kick those whom his
+public duty obliged him to court."
+
+The immediate arrangements made for carrying out the Union were
+extremely simple. A scale of "compensation" was arranged--a word which
+could, by a slight perversion of the ordinary meaning of the English
+language, be used as a new form of expressing what was formerly called
+bribery. Every one was promised everything that he wished for, if he
+would only consent to the measure. The Catholics were to have
+emancipation, the Protestants ascendency, the bar promotion, the people
+higher wages, the boroughmongers magnificent compensation. FitzGibbon,
+who had been made Lord Clare, and was then Chancellor, bribed,
+threatened, and cajoled the Upper House; Mr. Secretary Cooke employed
+himself with equal ability in the Lower House. Grattan had left Ireland;
+Flood was in retirement; the members of the bar who had voted against
+the Union were dismissed from office, and the Prime Serjeant, Mr.
+FitzGerald, was the first victim. The thirty-two who formed the minority
+were at once removed. I have not space for the details of the various
+attempts which were made to pass the unpopular measure. Barrington has
+given a list of the members for the Union, and the rewards they
+received. His description of the last night of the Irish Parliament is
+too graphic to be omitted:--
+
+     "The Commons' House of Parliament, on the last evening, afforded
+     the most melancholy example of a fine, independent people,
+     betrayed, divided, sold, and, as a State, annihilated. British
+     clerks and officers were smuggled into her Parliament, to vote away
+     the constitution of a country to which they were strangers, and in
+     which they had neither interest nor connexion. They were employed
+     to cancel the royal charter of the Irish nation, guaranteed by the
+     British Government, sanctioned by the British Legislature, and
+     unequivocally confirmed by the words, the signature, and the Great
+     Seal of their monarch.
+
+     "The situation of the Speaker on that night was of the most
+     distressing nature. A sincere and ardent enemy of the measure, he
+     headed its opponents; he resisted with all the power of his mind,
+     the resources of his experience, his influence, and his eloquence.
+     It was, however, through his voice that it was to be proclaimed and
+     consummated. His only alternative (resignation) would have been
+     unavailing, and could have added nothing to his character. His
+     expressive countenance bespoke the inquietude of his feeling;
+     solicitude was perceptible in every glance, and his embarrassment
+     was obvious in every word he uttered.
+
+     "The galleries were full, but the change was lamentable; they were
+     no longer crowded with those who had been accustomed to witness the
+     eloquence and to animate the debates of that devoted assembly. A
+     monotonous and melancholy murmur ran through benches, scarcely a
+     word was exchanged amongst the members, nobody seemed at ease, no
+     cheerfulness was apparent, and the ordinary business, for a short
+     time, proceeded in the usual manner.
+
+     "At length the expected moment arrived. The order of the day for
+     the third reading of the Bill for a 'Legislative Union between
+     Great Britain and Ireland,' was moved by Lord Castlereagh.
+     Unvaried, tame, coldblooded, the words seemed frozen as they issued
+     from his lips; and, as a simple citizen of the world, he seemed to
+     have no sensation on the subject.
+
+     "At that moment he had no country, no God but his ambition: he made
+     his motion, and resumed his seat with the utmost composure and
+     indifference.
+
+     "Confused murmurs again ran through the House; it was visibly
+     affected. Every character in a moment seemed involuntary rushing to
+     its index--some pale, some flushed, some agitated; there were few
+     countenances to which the heart did not despatch some messenger.
+     Several members withdrew before the question could be repeated, and
+     an awful momentary silence succeeded their departure. The Speaker
+     rose slowly from that chair which had been the proud source of his
+     honours and of his high character; for a moment he resumed his
+     seat, but the strength of his mind sustained him in his duty,
+     though his struggle was apparent. With that dignity which never
+     failed to signalize his official actions, he held up the Bill for a
+     moment in silence; he looked steadily around him on the last agony
+     of the expiring Parliament. He at length repeated, in an emphatic
+     tone, 'As many as are of opinion that _this Bill_ do pass, say
+     aye.' The affirmative was languid but indisputable; another
+     momentary pause ensued; again his lips seemed to decline their
+     office; at length, with an eye averted from the object which he
+     hated, he proclaimed, with a subdued voice, 'The Ayes have it.' The
+     fatal sentence was now pronounced; for an instant he stood
+     statue-like; then indignantly, and with disgust, flung the Bill
+     upon the table, and sunk into his chair with an exhausted spirit.
+
+     "An independent country was thus degraded into a province--Ireland,
+     as a nation, was extinguished."
+
+[Illustration: LYNCH'S HOUSE, GALWAY.]
+
+[Illustration: SWORDS' CASTLE, COUNTY DUBLIN.]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[571] _Clergy_.--Barrington says, in his _Rise and Fall of the Irish
+Nation_, p. 67, the Catholic clergy had every inclination to restrain
+their flocks within proper limits, and found no difficulty in effecting
+that object. The first statement is unquestionably true; the second
+statement is unfortunately disproved by many painful facts.
+
+[572] _Them_.--Vol. ii. p. 93.
+
+[573] _Oath_.--I give authority for these details. In the spring of
+1796, three Orangemen swore before a magistrate of Down and Armagh, that
+the Orangemen frequently met in committees, amongst whom were some
+members of Parliament, who gave them money, and promised that they
+should not suffer for any act they might commit, and pledged themselves
+that they should be provided for by Government. The magistrate informed
+the Secretary of State, and asked how he should act; but he never
+received any answer, for further details on this head, see Plowden's
+_History of the Insurrection_.
+
+[574] _Sermons_.--On the 1st of July, 1795, the Rev. Mr. Monsell, a
+Protestant clergyman of Portadown, invited his flock to celebrate the
+anniversary of the battle of the Boyne by attending church, and preached
+such a sermon against the Papists that his congregation fell on every
+Catholic they met going home, beat them cruelly, and finished the day by
+murdering two farmer's sons, who were quietly at work in a
+bog.--Mooney's _History of Ireland_, p. 876.
+
+[575] _Indemnity_.--Lord Carhampton sent 1,300 men on board the fleet,
+on mere suspicion. They demanded a trial in vain. An Act of Indemnity
+was at once passed, to free his Lordship from any unpleasant
+consequences.
+
+[576] _Remember Orr_.--_Lives and Times of the United Irishmen_, second
+series, vol. ii. p. 380.
+
+[577] _Sway_.--An important instance of how the memory or tradition of
+past wrongs excites men to seize the first opportunity of revenge, if
+not of redress, has occurred in our own times. It is a circumstance
+which should be very carefully pondered by statesmen who have the real
+interest of the whole nation at heart. It is a circumstance, as a sample
+of many other similar cases, which should be known to every Englishman
+who wishes to understand the cause of "Irish disturbances." One of the
+men who was shot by the police during the late Fenian outbreak in
+Ireland, was a respectable farmer named Peter Crowley. His history tells
+the motive for which he risked and lost his life. His grandfather had
+been outlawed in the rebellion of '98. His uncle, Father Peter O'Neill,
+had been imprisoned and _flogged most barbarously, with circumstances of
+peculiar cruelty_, in Cork, in the year 1798. The memory of the insult
+and injury done to a priest, who was entirely guiltless of the crimes
+with which he was charged, left a legacy of bitterness and hatred of
+Saxon rule in the whole family, which, unhappily, religion failed to
+eradicate. Peter Crowley was a sober, industrious, steady man, and his
+parish priest, who attended his deathbed, pronounced his end "most happy
+and edifying." Three clergymen and a procession of young men, women, and
+children, scattering flowers before the coffin, and bearing green
+boughs, attended his remains to the grave. He was mourned as a patriot,
+who had loved his country, not wisely, but too well; and it was believed
+that his motive for joining the Fenian ranks was less from a desire of
+revenge, which would have been sinful, than from a mistaken idea of
+freeing his country from a repetition of the cruelties of '98, and from
+her present grievances.
+
+[578] _Sufferer_.--Plowden, _Hist_. p. 102.
+
+[579] _Sanction_.--His son says: "His estimate of the people led him to
+appreciate justly the liveliness of their parts. But while he knew their
+vices, and the origin of them, he knew that there was in their character
+much of the generosity and warmth of feeling which made them acutely
+sensitive when they were treated considerately and kindly. His judgment
+of the upper classes of society, and of the purity and wisdom of the
+government, was less favorable. He saw that the gentry were imperfectly
+educated; that they were devoted to the pursuits of pleasure and
+political intrigue; and that they were ignorant or neglectful of the
+duties imposed on them as landlords, and as the friends and protectors
+of those who depended on them for their existence."--_Memoir of Sir
+Ralph Abercrombie_, p. 72.
+
+[580] _All_.--Lord Holland says, in his _Memoirs of the Whig Party_:
+"The fact is incontestable that the people of Ireland were driven to
+resistance, which, _possibly_, they meditated before, by the free
+quarters and excesses of the soldiery, which are not permitted in
+civilized warfare, even in an enemy's country." The state prisoners
+declared the immediate cause of the rising was "the free quarters, the
+house-burnings, the tortures, and the military executions."
+
+[581] _Success_.--The real betrayer of this brave but unfortunate
+nobleman has only been discovered of late years. Dr. Madden was the
+first to throw light upon the subject. He discovered the item of L1,000
+entered in the _Secret Service Money-book_, as paid to F.H. for the
+discovery of L.E.F. The F.H. was undoubtedly Francis Higgins, better
+known as the Sham Squire, whose infamous career has been fully exposed
+by Mr. Fitzpatrick. In the fourth volume of the _United Irishmen_, p.
+579, Dr. Madden still expresses his doubt as to who was the person
+employed by Higgins as "setter." It evidently was some one in the
+secrets of Lord Edward's party. The infamous betrayer has been at last
+discovered, in the person of Counsellor Magan, who received at various
+times large sums of money from Government for his perfidy. See the _Sham
+Squire_, p. 114. Higgins was buried at Kilbarrack, near Clontarf. In
+consequence of the revelations of his vileness, which have been lately
+brought before the public, the tomb was smashed to pieces, and the
+inscription destroyed. See Mr. Fitzpatrick's _Ireland before the Union_,
+p. 152.
+
+[582] _Murphy_.--Rev. Mr. Gordon says: "Some of the soldiers of the
+Ancient British regiment cut open the dead body of Father Michael
+Murphy, after the battle of Arklow, took out his heart, roasted his
+body, and oiled their boots with the grease which dropped from
+it."--_History of the Rebellion_, p. 212.
+
+[583] _Suffer.--Annals of Ballitore_, vol. i. p. 227.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+The State of Ireland before and after the Union--Advancement of Trade
+before the Union--Depression after it--Lord Clare and Lord Castlereagh
+in the English Parliament--The Catholic Question becomes a Ministerial
+Difficulty--The Veto--The O'Connell Sept--Early Life of Daniel
+O'Connell--The Doneraile Conspiracy--O'Connell as Leader of the Catholic
+Party--The Clare Election--O'Connell in the English House of
+Parliament--Sir Robert Peel--George IV. visits Ireland--Disturbances in
+Ireland from the Union to the year 1834, and their Causes--Parliamentary
+Evidence--The "Second Reformation"--Catholic Emancipation--Emigration,
+its Causes and Effects--Colonial Policy of England--Statistics of
+American Trade and Population--Importance of the Irish and Catholic
+Element in America--Conclusion.
+
+[A.D. 1800-1868.]
+
+
+It is both a mistake and an injustice to suppose that the page of Irish
+history closed with the dawn of that summer morning, in the year of
+grace 1800, when the parliamentary union of Great Britain and Ireland
+was enacted. I have quoted Sir Jonah Barrington's description of the
+closing night of the Irish Parliament, because he writes as an
+eyewitness, and because few could describe its "last agony" with more
+touching eloquence and more vivid truthfulness; but I beg leave, in the
+name of my country, to protest against his conclusion, that "Ireland, as
+a nation, was extinguished." There never was, and we must almost fear
+there never will be, a moment in the history of our nation, in which her
+independence was proclaimed more triumphantly or gloriously, than when
+O'Connell, the noblest and the best of her sons, obtained Catholic
+Emancipation.
+
+The immediate effects of the dissolution of the Irish Parliament were
+certainly appalling. The measure was carried on the 7th of June, 1800.
+On the 16th of April, 1782, another measure had been carried, to which I
+must briefly call your attention. That measure was the independence of
+the Irish Parliament. When it passed, Grattan rose once more in the
+House, and exclaimed: "Ireland is now a nation! In that new character I
+hail her, and bowing to her august presence, I say, _Esto perpetua!"_
+period of unexampled prosperity followed. The very effects of a reaction
+from conditions under which commerce was purposely restricted and trade
+paralyzed by law, to one of comparative freedom, could not fail to
+produce such a result. If the Parliament had been reformed when it was
+freed, it is probable that Ireland at this moment would be the most
+prosperous of nations. But the Parliament was not reformed. The
+prosperity which followed was rather the effect of reaction, than of any
+real settlement of the Irish question. The land laws, which
+unquestionably are _the_ grievance of Ireland, were left untouched, an
+alien Church was allowed to continue its unjust exactions; and though
+Ireland was delivered, her chains were not all broken; and those which
+were, still hung loosely round her, ready for the hand of traitor or of
+foe. Though nominally freed from English control, the Irish Parliament
+was not less enslaved by English influence. Perhaps there had never been
+a period in the history of that nation when bribery was more freely
+used, when corruption was more predominant. A considerable number of the
+peers in the Irish House were English by interest and by education; a
+majority of the members of the Lower House were their creatures. A man
+who ambitioned a place in Parliament, should conform to the opinions of
+his patron; the patron was willing to receive a "compensation" for
+making his opinions, if he had any, coincide with those of the
+Government. Many of the members were anxious for preferment for
+themselves or their friends; the price of preferment was a vote for
+ministers. The solemn fact of individual responsibility for each
+individual act, had yet to be understood. Perhaps the lesson has yet to
+be learned.
+
+One of the first acts of the Irish independent Parliament, was to order
+the appointment of a committee to inquire into the state of the
+manufactures of the kingdom, and to ascertain what might be necessary
+for their improvement. The hearts of the poor, always praying for
+employment, which had been so long and so cruelly withheld from them,
+bounded with joy. Petitions poured in on every side. David Bosquet had
+erected mills in Dublin for the manufacture of metals; he prayed for
+help. John and Henry Allen had woollen manufactories in the county
+Dublin; they prayed for help. Thomas Reilly, iron merchant, of the town
+of Wicklow, wished to introduce improvements in iron works. James Smith,
+an Englishman, had cotton manufactories at Balbriggan; he wished to
+extend them. Anthony Dawson, of Dundrum, near Dublin, had water mills
+for making tools for all kinds of artisans; this, above all, should be
+encouraged, now that there was some chance of men having some use for
+tools. Then there were requests for aid to establish carpet
+manufactories, linen manufactories, glass manufactories, &c.; and Robert
+Burke, Esq., of the county Kildare, prayed for the loan of L40,000 for
+seven years, that he might establish manufactories at Prosperous. These
+few samples of petitions, taken at random from many others, will enable
+the reader to form some faint idea of the state of depression in which
+Ireland was kept by the English nation--of the eagerness of the Irish to
+work if they were only permitted to do so.
+
+The Irish revenue for the year 1783 was, in round numbers, L900,000,
+which amounted to a tax of about six shillings per annum on each person.
+It was distributed thus:
+
+For the interest of the National Debt,       L120,000
+Army and Ordnance, Civil Government, and
+other funds,                                  450,000
+Pensions, grants, bounties, and aids to
+manufacturers,                                250,000
+Surplus unappropriated,                        80,000
+                                             --------
+Total,                                       L900,000
+
+More than L200,000 was spent during that year in erecting forts,
+batteries, and other public buildings, which gave employment to the
+people in certain districts. Large sums were granted to the poor of Cork
+and Dublin for coals; and large grants were made to encourage
+manufactures. I have observed, however, in carefully examining these
+grants, which are by far too numerous for insertion, that they were
+principally, and, indeed, I might say exclusively, made to persons in
+Dublin and its neighbourhood, in the north of Ireland, and in the
+_cities_ of Cork and Limerick. Hence, the prosperity of Ireland was only
+partial, and was confined exclusively, though, probably, not
+intentionally, to certain districts. This will explain why the misery
+and starvation of the poor, in the less favoured parts of the country,
+were a principal cause of the fearful insurrection which occurred within
+a few short years.
+
+Lord Clare proclaimed, in the House of Parliament, that "no nation on
+the habitable globe had advanced in cultivation, commerce, and
+manufactures, with the same rapidity as Ireland, from 1782 to 1800."
+_The population increased from three millions to five._ There were 5,000
+carpenters fully employed in Dublin; there were 15,000 silk-weavers. Nor
+should we be surprised at this; for Dublin possesses at the present day
+substantial remains of her former prosperity, which are even now the
+admiration of Europe. All her great public buildings were erected at
+this period. The Custom-house was commenced, and completed in ten years,
+at a cost of a quarter of a million sterling. The Rotundo was commenced
+in 1784. The Law Courts, the most elegant and extensive in the British
+Empire, were begun in 1786. In 1788 there were 14,327 dwelling-houses in
+Dublin, and 110,000 inhabitants. Two hundred and twenty peers and three
+hundred commoners had separate residences. Dublin was fashionable, and
+Dublin prospered.[584]
+
+I have already said that corruption soon did its fatal work. It
+sanctioned, nay, it compelled, the persecution of the majority of the
+nation for their religious creed; and with this persecution the last
+flame of national prosperity expired, and the persecutors and the
+persecuted shared alike in the common ruin. In 1792 Lord Edward
+FitzGerald denounced the conduct of the House in these ever-memorable
+words: "I do think, sir, that the Lord Lieutenant and the majority of
+this House are the worst subjects the King has;" and when a storm arose,
+the more violent from consciousness that his words were but too true,
+for all retraction he would only say:
+
+"I am accused of having said that I think the Lord Lieutenant and the
+majority of this House are the worst subjects the King has. I said so;
+'tis true; and I am sorry for it."
+
+On the 1st of January, 1801, a new imperial standard was exhibited on
+London Tower, and on the Castles of Dublin and Edinburgh. It was formed
+of the three crosses of St. George, St. Patrick, and St. Andrew, and is
+popularly known as the Union Jack. The _fleur de lis_ and the word
+France were omitted from royal prerogatives and titles; and a
+proclamation was issued appointing the words _Dei Gratia, Britaniarum
+Rex, Fidei Defensor_. The _Dublin Gazette_ of July, 1800, contained the
+significant announcement of the creation of sixteen new peerages. The
+same publication for the last week of the year contained a fresh list of
+twenty-six others. Forty-two creations in six months were rather an
+extensive stretch of prerogative; and we cannot be surprised if the
+majority of the nation had more respect for the great untitled, whose
+ancestry were known, and were quite above accepting the miserable bribe
+of a modern peerage.
+
+Strangely enough, from the very day on which the Union was proclaimed,
+the Catholic question became a ministerial difficulty. Pitt's
+administration failed on this very point, although it had seemed
+invincible a few weeks before. The obstinacy of the King, which, indeed,
+almost amounted to a monomania, was the principal cause. He made it a
+personal matter, declared it the "most jacobinical thing he had ever
+heard of;" and he informed the world at large that he would consider any
+man who proposed it his personal enemy. Pitt resigned. Opinions varied
+as to his motives. He returned to office in 1804, having promised that
+he would not again press the subject; and he adhered to his
+determination until his death. The Irish nobles, who had worked hardest
+to carry the Union, were somewhat disappointed as to the result. Lord
+Clare was told by the Duke of Bedford, that the Union had not
+transferred his dictatorial powers to the Imperial Parliament. He
+retired to Ireland deeply chagrined, and was soon borne to his grave,
+amid the revilings of the people whom he had betrayed. Lord Castlereagh,
+who had been less accustomed to command, and had less difficulty in
+stooping to conquer, succeeded better with his English friends, and in a
+few years he ruled the cabinets of Europe; while the Iron Duke, another
+Irishman, dictated to their armies.
+
+In 1803 the flame of insurrection again broke out, and again French aid
+was expected, and the expedition ended in disappointment. Napoleon
+himself regretted that he had turned his armies towards Egypt, instead
+of towards Ireland. Emmet's career was brief, and would probably have
+been almost forgotten, but for his famous speech at the moment of
+receiving sentence, and for the history of his love and her devoted
+attachment to his memory.
+
+In 1805 Grattan entered the Imperial Parliament, at the request of Fox.
+An English constituency was found for him. At the same time, Plunket was
+brought into the house by Pitt; and thus these two famous men, the one
+so full of the brilliant, and the other so full of the powerful, gifts
+of mental science, again pleaded their country's cause together, and in
+perfect harmony, though differing on some political points. When Grattan
+first rose to address the British Senate, there was a hushed attention
+to his every word; as his eloquence kindled with his subject, there were
+suppressed murmurs of approbation; when he had concluded, there were
+thunders of applause. His subject was a petition from the Irish
+Catholics, which was presented to both Houses in 1805. The division gave
+339 to 124 against going into committee; still it was something gained,
+when Englishmen even listened to Irish grievances, or made some effort
+to understand them.
+
+The _Veto_ was now suggested. The object of this was to allow the crown
+a passive voice, if not an active one, in the nomination of Catholic
+bishops. Happily for the Catholic Church in Ireland, the proposal was
+steadily rejected, though with a determination which brought even
+members of the same Church into collision. Connexion with the State
+might have procured temporal advantages, but they would have been in
+truth a poor compensation for the loss of that perfect freedom of action
+so essential to the spiritual advancement of the Church.
+
+The Duke of Richmond came to Ireland in 1807, with Sir Arthur Wellesley
+as Chief Secretary. The young man, whose fame was yet unattained, showed
+himself as clearheaded in the cabinet as in the camp. He made every
+attempt to suppress the party demonstrations which have been the curse
+of Ireland, and induced the Wexford people to discontinue their annual
+celebration of the battle of Vinegar Hill. If he could have suppressed a
+few other anniversaries in the north, it would have been a blessing to
+the United Kingdom. In 1806 Mr. Grattan was returned for Dublin, and
+generously refused the sum of L4,000, which his constituents had
+collected to pay his expenses. The Catholic question was now constantly
+coming up, and more than one cabinet was formed and dissolved according
+to the views of the different members on that matter. A new element of
+vitality had been introduced by the relaxation of the penal laws. Men
+were no longer afraid to ask for a grace which they wanted, lest they
+should lose a grace which they had. The people found that they might
+speak their real opinions without apprehensions of attempts at
+conversion in the shape of pitchcaps and half-hangings; and when the
+people were ready for a leader, the leader was ready for the people; and
+Daniel O'Connell took the place in the guidance of the Irish nation,
+which he will never lose in their memory and in their affections.
+
+The history of Ireland and the life of O'Connell are convertible terms
+for five-and-forty years. O'Connell represented Ireland, and Ireland was
+represented by O'Connell. We have had our great men and our good men,
+our brave men and our true men; but, to my poor thinking, the greatest
+of our men was O'Connell--for who ever approached him in his mighty
+power of ruling a nation by moral suasion only? the best of our men was
+O'Connell, for who dare assert that he was ever unfaithful to his
+country or to his country's faith? the bravest of our men was O'Connell,
+equally fearless in every danger, moral or physical; and the truest of
+our men was O'Connell, dying of a broken heart in a faraway land,
+because he saw his country's cause all but ruined--because he knew that
+with his failing breath one of his country's surest helpers would pass
+from her for ever. A _thoughtfully_ written "History of the life and
+Times of O'Connell," by some one really competent to do justice to the
+subject, is much wanted. I believe that posterity will do justice to his
+memory as one of the best and noblest patriots which the world has ever
+seen--a justice which as yet has been scarcely accorded to him as fully
+as he has merited. Had O'Connell accomplished no other work for Ireland
+than this--the giving of a tone of nationality and manliness to the
+people--he had accomplished a most glorious work. He taught Irishmen
+that chains do not make the slave, but rather the spirit in which the
+chains are worn. He awoke, in the hearts of his countrymen, that love of
+freedom, which is the first step towards making a successful effort to
+obtain it. He showed them how they might intimidate their oppressors
+without injuring themselves--a lesson eminently necessary where the
+oppressors are incomparably more powerful than the oppressed.
+
+The sept of O'Connell, from which this noble man was descended held a
+prominent position among the early Milesian clans. Pure Celtic blood ran
+in his veins; the fire of Celtic wit sparkled in his utterances; the
+lighthearted happiness of a Celtic spirit guided his actions; and the
+undaunted bravery of a Celtic warrior's courage looked out of his clear
+beaming eye. A nobleman, in truth, was Daniel O'Connell--a nobleman of
+whom any nation might justly be proud--a nobleman to whom we must hope
+that Ireland will yet raise some monument of enduring fame. The
+O'Connell sept were driven from their ancestral homes, in 1172, by
+Raymond, Strongbow's son-in-law. Their territory lay along the Shannon.
+They were now compelled to take refuge in a wild and desolate part of
+Kerry, too wild and too desolate to attract English cupidity. A MS. is
+still preserved in the British Museum, written by one of the O'Connell
+family; it is in the Irish language, and bears date 1245. In this
+document mention is made of a Daniel O'Connell, who proceeded to the
+north of Ireland, at the head of a large body of men, to resist an
+invading force. The Celts were successful; and when they had won the
+day, the chieftain and his vanquished foes feasted together. In 1586
+Richard O'Connell was High Sheriff of Kerry; but, from the accession of
+William III., until the illustrious Liberator obtained some degree of
+freedom for his country, all the O'Connells were prescribed from
+positions of emolument, for having held with unswerving fidelity to the
+old faith.
+
+O'Connell was born on the 6th of August, 1775, "the very year," as he
+himself says, in a letter to the _Dublin Evening Post_, "in which the
+stupid obstinacy of British oppression _forced_ the reluctant people of
+America to seek for security in arms, and to commence that bloody
+struggle for national independence, which has been in its results
+beneficial to England, whilst it has shed glory, and conferred liberty,
+pure and sublime, on America." He was educated at St. Omers, and it is
+said manifested some inclination for the priesthood; but there can be no
+doubt that his vocation lay in another direction, as he was incomparably
+too deeply religious and too thoroughly honest not to have obeyed the
+call of God at any cost, had such a favour been vouchsafed to him. It is
+said, whatever his dislike of physical force may have been in
+after-life, that he unquestionably knew how to use the _argumentum
+baculinum_ in his early days; and that more than one student was made to
+feel the effects thereof, when attempting ill-natured jokes on the
+herculean Celt. During his residence abroad he had some opportunities of
+witnessing the fearful effects of the French Revolution; and it is
+probable that a remembrance of these scenes, added to his own admirably
+keen common sense, saved him from leading his countrymen on to deeds of
+open violence. He was called to the Irish bar in the memorable year of
+1798. For some time he failed to obtain practice; for who would confide
+their case to a young Catholic lawyer, when the fact of his creed alone
+would be sufficient to condemn his client in the eyes of Protestant
+juries, judges, and attorneys? His maiden speech was made in opposition
+to the Union, even as his life was spent in the most strenuous efforts
+to obtain the reversal of that most fatal measure. A meeting was held in
+the Royal Exchange, Dublin, at the close of the year 1799, to petition
+against it; but even as O'Connell was denouncing, in his most eloquent
+language, the new attempt at national degradation, Major Sirr and his
+file of military rushed into the apartment, and separated the assembly.
+O'Connell now retired into private life, and, with the marvellous
+foresight of true genius, devoted himself to storing up that forensic
+knowledge which he felt sure he should one day use for the benefit of
+his countrymen.
+
+One of the most important instances in which O'Connell's legal acumen
+saved the lives of his countrymen, is known as the "Doneraile
+Conspiracy;" and as all the facts are eminently illustrative of the
+history of Ireland at that period, and of the character and abilities of
+one of her most distinguished sons, I shall relate the circumstances.
+Several Protestant gentlemen in the neighbourhood of Doneraile, had been
+making those abortive efforts to "convert" their tenants from Popery,
+which usually end in no small amount of ill-feeling on both sides;
+another of these gentlemen, with equal zeal and equal want of common
+sense and common humanity, had devoted himself to hunting out real or
+supposed rebels. This gentleman had at last brought on himself an armed
+attack, for which he deserved little pity. He contrived, however, to
+capture one of his assailants, who, of course, was hung. The gentlemen
+having thus excited the unfortunate peasantry, pointed to the results of
+their own folly as though these results had been the cause of it; and an
+informer came forward, who, with the usual recklessness of his atrocious
+class, accused some of the most respectable farmers of the district of
+having entered into a conspiracy to murder the Protestant gentlemen,--a
+cruel return certainly had it been true, for their earnest efforts to
+convert the natives from "the errors of Popery to those of the
+Protestant Church." A special commission was sent down; the wildest
+excitement prevailed on all sides; and, as was usual in such cases, the
+bitterest prejudice against the unfortunate accused. The
+Solicitor-General led for the crown: the defence was a simple denial. In
+such cases the examination of the approvers is the great point for the
+accused, and should be confided to the ablest counsel. One of the
+unfortunate prisoners was a respectable farmer, aged seventy, of whom
+the highest character was given. But it was all in vain; after five
+minutes' deliberation, the jury gave in the verdict of guilty. As the
+men were to be made an "example of," they were sentenced to be hanged in
+six days. This was on Saturday. The next lot of prisoners was to be
+tried at nine o'clock on Monday morning. There was one universal cry for
+"O'Connell," from the great multitude who knew these poor victims were
+perfectly innocent. On Saturday night a farmer mounted the best horse
+that could be found in Cork, and, after a night of incessant riding, he
+reached Derrynane Abbey on Sunday morning at nine o'clock. His name was
+William Burke: let it be transmitted with all honour to posterity! He
+told his errand to one who never listened unmoved to the tale of his
+country's sorrows and wrongs; and he assured O'Connell that, unless he
+were in Cork by nine next morning, the unfortunate prisoners, "though
+innocent as the child unborn," would all be hanged. The great man at
+once prepared for his journey; and so wild was the joy of Burke, so sure
+was he that there would now be a hope, if not a certainty, of justice,
+that only the earnest entreaties of O'Connell could induce him to remain
+a few hours to rest his weary horse. On the same good horse he set out
+again, and reached Cork at eight o'clock on Monday morning, having
+travelled 180 miles in thirty-eight hours. Scouts had been posted all
+along the road to watch the man's return: even as he passed through each
+little village, there was an anxious crowd waiting the word of life or
+death. "O'Connell's coming, boys!" was enough; and a wild cheer, which
+rent the very mountains, told how keenly an act of justice could be
+appreciated by the most justice-loving people upon earth. And O'Connell
+did come. He has himself described the sensations of that midnight
+journey, through all the autumn beauties of the most beautiful scenery
+in the United Kingdom. And then he exclaims: "After that glorious feast
+of soul, I found myself settled down amid all the rascalities of an
+Irish court of justice."
+
+The Solicitor-General was actually addressing the jury, when the shouts
+of the excited crowd announced the arrival of one who, by this act of
+his life alone, deserves, _par excellence_, the proud and glorious title
+of the LIBERATOR. He entered the courthouse, apologized for his
+unprofessional attire; and as he had no refreshment, and there was no
+time to lose, he requested permission of the judges to have a bowl of
+milk and some sandwiches sent to him. The Solicitor-General resumed his
+address, but had not proceeded far before the stentorian voice of
+O'Connell was heard exclaiming: "That's not law." The bench decided in
+his favour. He was rapidly swallowing as much food as was necessary to
+sustain nature, and once more, with his mouth full, he exclaims: "That's
+no longer law; the Act is repealed." Again the mortified counsel
+proceeded with his case, and once more O'Connell's knowledge of law
+served him in good stead. "The learned Solicitor," he exclaimed, "has
+_no right_ to make such a statement; the crown cannot give such matters
+in evidence." For the third time the ruling was in favour of the
+Liberator. Then came the all-important cross-examination of the
+approvers; and the men who had lied so well and so boldly on Saturday,
+prevaricated, cursed, and howled under the searching questions of their
+new examiner; Nowlan, the vilest of the lot, exclaiming at last: "It's
+little I thought I'd have to meet you, Counsellor O'Connell." Alas!
+thrice-wretched man, who thought still less of another Court and another
+Judgment. O'Connell won the day. He threatened the very
+Solicitor-General with impeachment before the House of Commons, for the
+way he conducted the case. He taunted him, bewildered him, scolded him,
+laughed at him, as he only could do; and when at last the unfortunate
+man came out with some observation about "false _facts_," O'Connell
+threw the whole court into a roar of laughter by directing attention to
+the bull, and by his inimitable imitation of his English accent. The
+jury could not agree, and the men were acquitted. Another trial came on
+next day, and it was then discovered that one of the approvers differed
+in most important matters from his statements on oath before the
+magistrates of Doneraile, and in what he now stated. This was enough;
+and the jury brought in a verdict of not guilty, though, on the very
+same evidence, a verdict of guilty had been given on Saturday. As an
+act, however, of great clemency, the men who had been sentenced to be
+hanged in six days, were now _only_ transported.
+
+During the time of O'Connell's retirement and study, he had but too many
+opportunities of knowing how little justice was likely to be meted out
+to Irishmen accused, justly or unjustly, of political crimes; and,
+doubtless, he directed his studies to those special points most likely
+to be helpful hereafter. Robert Emmet's execution took place in October,
+1803; and from that hour, until the accession of the Whigs to office, in
+1806, Ireland was ruled by martial law. The Habeas Corpus Act and trial
+by jury were suspended, and the jails and transport ships were crowded
+with the victims of military ferocity and magisterial vengeance. In the
+debate of 1805, when the Catholic petition was brought into the House of
+Commons by Mr. Fox, and treacherously opposed by Pitt, Mr. Ponsonby
+exclaimed, speaking of the Irish Catholics: "I know them well; and I
+know, at the same time, that whatever is good in them, they owe to
+themselves; whatever is bad in them, they owe to you, and to your bad
+government." Mr. Grattan accused the English Tories of "running about
+like old women in search of old prejudices; _preferring to buy foreign
+allies by subsidies, rather than to subsidize fellow-subjects by
+privileges."_ He might have said by justice, for the Irish have never
+asked for privileges; they ask simply for the same justice as is shown
+to English subjects. Mr. Foster, the last Speaker of the Irish House of
+Commons, declared that, "under the Union Act, by compact, the Protestant
+boroughs were suppressed, and a compensation of L1,400,000 paid to
+Protestant owners, and not one shilling to the Catholics."
+
+O'Connell came prominently forward as a leader of the Catholic party in
+1810. A meeting was held in the Royal Exchange, Dublin, to petition for
+Repeal of the Union, at which the High Sheriff of that city presided,
+and many distinguished men were present--a proof that, however corrupted
+Irish Parliaments may have been by English gold, there was still some
+advantage to be gained to the country by possessing even a partial
+independence. O'Connell's speech was published, and circulated widely.
+To give the full details of his career as a leader of the people, would
+require a volume the size of the present work; to give even a
+sufficiently comprehensive outline, would require several chapters: I
+can but hope that some able hand will take up the subject, and with
+equal earnestness do I hope that it may be some one really capable of
+doing justice to it. One who would write the "Life and Times of
+O'Connell" as such a work should be written, would require to bring more
+than ordinary abilities to the task, and would deserve, at the hands of
+his countrymen, the highest expression of gratitude which they could
+give. Such a work would be incomparably the noblest monument which could
+be dedicated to his memory.
+
+[Illustration: O'Connell refusing to take the Oath.]
+
+The Clare election is undoubtedly the culminating point in O'Connell's
+career. Men stood aghast in amazement at the boldness of the man who
+presumed to make such an attempt. Even his friends could scarcely
+believe that he was in earnest, or that he was wise. His success was a
+splendid example of what the energy and determination of one single man
+could accomplish. Well might the Lord Chancellor declare that "this
+business must bring the Roman Catholic question to a crisis and a
+conclusion." The words were prophetic; the prophecy was realized. On the
+5th of March, 1829, Mr. Peel moved a committee of the whole House, "to
+go into the consideration of the civil disabilities of his Majesty's
+Roman Catholic subjects." The motion was carried by a majority of 188.
+On the 15th of May, 1829, O'Connell appeared in the House to take his
+seat. He was introduced by Lords Ebrington and Dungannon. The House was
+thronged. The very peeresses came to gaze upon the arch-agitator,
+expecting to see a demagogue, and to hear an Irish brogue. There were
+whispers of surprise when they saw a gentleman, and a man who could
+speak, with the versatility of true talent, to suit his audience. The
+card containing the oath was handed to O'Connell; he read a portion of
+it over in an audible voice--the portion which required him to say that
+"the sacrifice of the Mass, and the invocation of the Blessed Virgin
+Mary and other saints, as now practised in the Church of Rome, are
+impious and idolatrous;" and to deny the dispensing power of the Pope,
+which never existed, except in the imagination of its framers. With a
+courteous bow he said, in a voice to be heard throughout the House: "I
+decline, Mr. Clerk, to take this oath: part of it I know to be false;
+another part I believe not to be true."
+
+Again he sought the votes of the electors of Clare, and again he was
+returned by them. On the 13th of April, 1829, the royal signature was
+affixed to the Act of Emancipation, and Irishmen were no longer refused
+the rights of citizens because they respected the rights of conscience.
+
+In the year 1812, the late Sir Robert Peel came to Ireland as Chief
+Secretary, unfortunately destitute of the enlargement of mind and the
+native genius of his predecessor, Sir Arthur Wellesley. His abilities,
+however great, were not such as to enable him to understand a
+nationality distinct from his own; and hence he could not deal with the
+Irish, either to his credit, or for their advantage. From the year 1815
+to 1817 the conduct of the English Parliament towards Ireland was
+regulated with the nicest attention to the movements of the General who
+ruled the Continent. In 1817 an Act was passed, which, with admirable
+policy, excused Catholic officers, naval and military, from forswearing
+transubstantiation. In 1821 George IV. visited Ireland. It was the first
+time that an English King had come to Ireland as the acknowledged
+sovereign of the people. Their hopes were high; and the deference for
+royalty, so eminently characteristic of the Celt, had at last found an
+opportunity of expressing itself. All that loyalty could do was done;
+all that the warmest heart could say was said. The King appeared
+impressed by demonstrations so entirely new to him; he wore a large
+bunch of shamrocks constantly during his brief stay; but before the
+shamrocks were faded, Irish wants and Irish loyalty were alike
+forgotten.
+
+In the year 1824 the subject of Irish disturbances was carefully
+inquired into by Select Committees of both Houses of Parliament. Some
+extracts from their reports will give the best and most correct idea of
+the state of the country from the Union to the year 1834, when another
+investigation was made. In 1807 the county Limerick was alarmingly
+disturbed. In 1812 the counties of Tipperary, Waterford, Kilkenny,
+Limerick, Westmeath, Roscommon, and the King's county, were the theatre
+of the same sanguinary tumults. Limerick and Tipperary remained under
+the Insurrection Act until 1818. In 1820 there were serious disturbances
+in Galway, and in 1821, in Limerick.
+
+These disturbances are thus accounted for Maxwell Blacker, Esq.,
+Barrister, who was appointed to administer the Insurrection Act, in
+1822, in the counties of Cork and Tipperary: "The immediate cause of the
+disturbance I consider to be the great increase of population, and the
+fall in the price of produce after the war; the consequence of which
+was, that it was impossible to pay the rent or the tithes that had been
+paid when the country was prosperous." Sir Matthew Barrington, Crown
+Solicitor of the Munster Circuit for seventeen years, was asked: "Do you
+attribute the inflammable state of the population to the state of misery
+in which they generally are?" "I do, to a great extent; I seldom knew
+any instance when there was sufficient employment for the people that
+they were inclined to be disturbed; if they had plenty of work and
+employment, they are generally peaceable." John Leslie Foster, Esq.,
+M.P., in his examination, states: "I think the proximate cause [of the
+disturbances] is the extreme physical misery of the peasantry, coupled
+with their liability to be called upon for the payment of different
+charges, which it is often perfectly impossible for them to meet."
+Matthew Singleton, Esq., Chief Magistrate of Police in the Queen's
+county, said, on his examination: "I have seen, and I know land to be
+set one-third above its value."
+
+It would be useless to give more of this evidence, for the details are
+always the same. The people were almost starving. They could scarcely
+get a sufficiency of the poorest food, yet they were compelled to pay
+rent and tithes far above the value of their land. If they were unable,
+they were thrown out upon the wayside to die like dogs.
+
+There can be no doubt that the outrages thus perpetrated were very
+fearful. Every man's hand was against them, and their hand was against
+every man. They shot their landlords, and they "carded" the
+tithe-proctors. Gentlemen's houses were barricaded, even in the daytime.
+Many families of the higher classes lived in a state of siege. The
+windows were made bullet-proof; the doors were never opened after
+nightfall. It was a fearful state of society for a Christian country,
+and the guilt and disgrace of it was surely on those who had caused it.
+Yet we do not find that the knowledge of these facts produced any effect
+upon the men who heard them, and who alone had it in their power to
+apply the remedy. Still something was done; and although it is one of
+the stern facts of history, one can scarcely choose but smile at the
+simplicity of those who planned and carried out such a scheme for the
+improvement of Ireland.
+
+The "second reformation" was commenced in 1827. The Catholic priests
+were challenged to controversy; even laymen interfered. Theology and
+theological differences became the town and table-talk of Ireland.
+Bibles and tracts were distributed in all directions amongst the
+starving poor, food and clothing were occasionally added; yet,
+notwithstanding these powerful inducements, the people starved and
+remained Catholics. Writs of ejectment were then tried; and the Irish
+poor had their choice between the Bible and beggary--but they chose
+beggary.
+
+So far did the Bible craze go, that it almost amounted to a monomania.
+One noble lord, to show his reverence for that book, and to convince his
+tenantry of the estimation in which he held it, flung every volume of
+his library into the lake of his demesne, and with the Bible in his
+hand, which commanded him to feed the hungry, refused to feed them
+unless they complied with his commands. Moore's satires were,
+unquestionably, the best weapons against such fanaticism. Sheil wrote in
+the _Gazette de France_, and hundreds of pens wrote in the American
+papers. A loud cry of "Shame!" arose in every quarter of the world; the
+echo reached the ears of the promoters of the movement; and the force of
+public opinion succeeded in suppressing the futile attempt.
+
+The influence of Irish emigrants in America was already beginning to be
+felt. Large sums of money poured in from that country to swell the
+Catholic rent, and a considerable portion of the funds were employed by
+O'Connell in providing for men who had been ejected by their landlords,
+for refusing either to believe a creed, or to give a vote contrary to
+their conscience. He even threatened to buy up the incumbrances on some
+of these gentlemen's estates, to foreclose their mortgages, and to sell
+them out. His threat, added to his well-known determination, was not
+without its effect.
+
+The whole subject of Irish emigration may be safely predicted to be the
+key which will unlock the future fate of Great Britain. It is true that,
+at this moment, every effort is being made by the English nation to
+conciliate America; it remains to be seen how Americans will be disposed
+to accept present flattery as a compensation for past injustice, and
+scarcely past contempt. A better knowledge of Irish history might
+prevent some fatal mistakes on both sides of the Atlantic. I have,
+therefore, felt it a duty to devote the concluding pages of this
+_History_ to this important subject.
+
+The great tide of western emigration was undoubtedly caused, in part, by
+the sufferings of the famine year; but these sufferings were in
+themselves an effect, rather than a cause; and we must look to more
+remote history for the origin of the momentous exodus. It has, indeed,
+been well observed, that "when a man leaves his country for one subject
+to foreign rule, it must, in general, be that he does not care for it,
+or that it does not care for him; it must either be that he is so little
+attached to the institutions of his own country, that he is willing to
+submit to those of another; or that he despises the latter sufficiently
+to look forward to replacing them by those of his own."[585] No
+unprejudiced person can for a moment doubt which of these causes has
+been most active in producing Irish emigration. The Irishman's love of
+home and of his native land, is a fact beyond all dispute: his
+emigration, then, can have no other cause than this, that his country,
+or the country which governs his native land, does not care for him; and
+when we find noble lords and honorable members suggesting "the more
+emigration the better," we cannot doubt that he is the victim to
+indifference, if not to absolute dislike. Undoubtedly, if the Irishman
+did not care for his country, and if the Englishman, when planted in
+Ireland, did not become equally discontented and rather more indignant
+than his predecessors under English rule in Ireland, the arrangement
+might be a very admirable one; but Irishmen, to the third and fourth
+generation, do not forget their country, neither do they forget why they
+have been compelled to leave it. A work has been published lately on the
+subject of the Irish in America. It is much to be regretted, that the
+very able writer did not give statistics and facts, as well as
+inferences and anecdotes. A history of the Irish in America, should
+include statistics which could not be disputed, and facts which could
+not be denied. The facts in the work alluded to are abundant, and most
+important; but they should have been prefaced by an account of the
+causes which have led to emigration, and as accurate statistics as
+possible of its results.
+
+Some few English writers have had the honesty to admit that their
+colonial policy has not been the most admirable; "nor should we forget,"
+says the author of the _History of the United States_, "that the spirit
+in which these colonies were ruled from England was one, in the main, of
+intense selfishness. The answer of Seymour, an English Attorney-General
+under William and Mary, or towards the close of the seventeenth century,
+to the request of Virginia, for a college, when her delegate begged him
+to consider that the people of Virginia had souls to be saved as well as
+the people of England: Souls! damn your souls! plant tobacco!" is
+scarcely an unfair exponent of that spirit.[586] Another writer says:
+"Historians, in treating of the American rebellion, have confined their
+arguments too exclusively to the question of internal taxation, and the
+right or policy of exercising this prerogative. The true source of the
+rebellion lay deeper--in our traditional colonial policy."[587] One more
+quotation must suffice: "The legal rights of those colonies have been
+perpetually violated. Those which were strong enough were driven to
+separation; those which adhered to us in that great contest, or which we
+have subsequently acquired or founded, are either denied constitutions,
+or, if the local authorities oppose the will of the Imperial Parliament,
+find their constitutions changed, suspended, or annulled."[588] It will
+be remembered that the original colonists of America were principally
+Englishmen, who were driven from their own country by religious
+intolerance; yet no sooner had they established themselves in their new
+home, than they commenced to practise even more fearful persecutions on
+others than those from which they had fled. There was one honorable
+exception; the Roman Catholics who fled from persecution in England,
+never, even in the plenitude of their power, attempted the slightest
+persecution, religious, social, or legal.
+
+It will be seen, then, that the first emigrants to America from the
+British dominions, could not have had any special attachment to the
+country they had left; that, on the contrary, their feelings were
+embittered against the mother country before their departure from her
+shores; and after that departure she did nothing to allay the
+irritation, but much to increase it. For several centuries after the
+arrival of the "May Flower," the number of emigrants from England and
+Ireland were, probably, tolerably equal, and by no means numerous. It
+was not an age of statistics, and no accurate statistics can be given.
+
+The disruption between the States and England, or rather the causes
+which led to it, re-opened whatever feelings there may have been against
+the mother country, and at the same time increased its bitterness a
+hundredfold. The tide of Irish emigration had set in even then--slowly,
+indeed, but surely; and it will be remembered that the Irish in America,
+few though they were, became the foremost to fan the flame of rebellion,
+and were amongst the first to raise the standard of revolt. The States
+obtained a glorious freedom--a freedom which, on the whole, they have
+used wisely and well; and even their bitterest enemies cannot deny that
+they have formed a powerful nation--a nation which may yet rule the
+destinies of the world. Let us endeavour now to estimate in some degree
+the influence of Irish emigration on American society. If the history of
+Ireland were written in detail up to the present day, fully one-fourth
+the detail should comprise a history of the Irish in America. Never in
+the world's history has an emigration been so continuous or so
+excessive; never in the world's history have emigrants continued so
+inseparably united, politically and socially, to the country which they
+have left. The cry of "Ireland for the Irish," is uttered as loudly on
+the shores of the Mississippi as on the shores of the Shannon. It is
+almost impossible to arrive at accurate statistics of the number of
+Irish in America, but a fair approximation may be obtained. The
+population of America, according to a recent writer, was, in 1840,
+17,063,353; in 1850, it had risen to 23,191,876; it is now [1868],
+35,000,000. In 1842, the imports were in value, $100,162,087; the
+exports, $104,691,534; and the tonnage was 2,092,391. In 1859, the
+imports were $383,768,130; the exports were $356,789,462; and the
+tonnage was 5,146,037. This increase is beyond all historical
+precedence, and a future historian, who found such amazing statistics of
+increase, and knew nothing of emigration, would be strangely puzzled to
+account for it. But if he searched the files of an old English or Irish
+newspaper office, whatever might have been the creed or politics of its
+proprietors, he would soon arrive at a satisfactory solution. In the
+_Irish Times_, the leading Irish paper of the day, he would find the
+following reference to the present history of Ireland: "The Emigration
+Commissioners notice with some surprise the fact, that, during the past
+year [1867], the emigrants from Ireland were better clothed, and carried
+with them better furnished kits, than either the English or foreign
+emigrants. During the past year, 51,000 Irish emigrants left Liverpool
+alone--a regiment nearly one thousand strong every week. The loss of
+100,000 persons annually, chiefly of the labouring classes, and
+generally strong, active, well-built men, affords matter for serious
+consideration. If the Government be contented that 100,000 yearly of the
+Irish population _should, increase the power of America_ [the italics
+are our own], they have but to refuse those generous and considerate
+measures which alone can keep our people at home, by giving them a
+chance of progressing as they do in America."
+
+This is the honestly avowed opinion of a Protestant paper, whose editors
+are beyond all suspicion of writing to encourage "Popery," or preach
+Fenianism. An admirable parliamentary comment has just occurred in the
+rejection of the Protestant Church Suspension Bill by the House of
+Lords, though there is no doubt that the good sense and the native
+justice of the English nation will at length compel its acceptance.
+
+The fact is, that at this moment nearly one-half the population of
+America are Irish and Catholics. The writer lately quoted, cannot
+refrain from a sneer at the "low Irish" in America, to whom he
+attributes the "insult and injury" which he is pleased to consider that
+Americans manifest to foreign nations, and especially to England; he
+forgets the old sources of injury, which no American can forget; and he
+forgets, also, how easily the same "low Irish" might have been prevented
+from exhibiting the feeling which he attributes to them.
+
+Let those who wish to understand the present history of Ireland, read
+Mr. Maguire's _Irish in America_, carefully and thoughtfully. If they do
+so, and if they are not blinded by wilful prejudices, they must admit
+that the oft-repeated charges against Irishmen of being improvident and
+idle are utterly groundless, unless, indeed, they can imagine that the
+magic influence of a voyage across the Atlantic can change a man's
+nature completely. Let them learn what the Irishman can do, and does do,
+when freed from the chains of slavery, and when he is permitted to reap
+some reward for his labour. Let him learn that Irishmen do not forget
+wrongs; and if they do not always avenge them, that is rather from
+motives of prudence, than from lack of will. Let him learn that the
+Catholic priesthood are the true fathers of their people, and the true
+protectors of their best interests, social and spiritual. Let him read
+how the good pastor gives his life for his sheep, and counts no journey
+too long or too dangerous, when even a single soul may be concerned. Let
+him judge for himself of the prudence of the same priests, even as
+regards the temporal affairs of their flocks, and see how, where they
+are free to do so, they are the foremost to help them, even in the
+attainment of worldly prosperity. Let him send for Sadlier's _Catholic
+Directory for the United States and Canada_, and count over the Catholic
+population of each diocese; read the names of priests and nuns, and see
+how strong the Irish element is there. Nay, let him send for one of the
+most popular and best written of the Protestant American serials, and he
+will find an account of Catholics and the Catholic religion, which is to
+be feared few English Protestants would have the honesty to write, and
+few English Protestant serials the courage to publish, however strong
+their convictions. The magazine to which I refer, is the _Atlantic
+Monthly;_ the articles were published in the numbers for April and May,
+1868, and are entitled "Our Roman Catholic Brethren." Perhaps a careful
+perusal of them would, to a thoughtful mind, be the best solution of the
+Irish question. The writer, though avowing himself a Protestant, and
+declaring that under no circumstances whatever would he be induced to
+believe in miracles, has shown, with equal candour and attractiveness,
+what the Catholic Church is, and what it can do, when free and
+unfettered. He shows it to be the truest and best friend of humanity; he
+shows it to care most tenderly for the poor and the afflicted; and he
+shows, above all, how the despised, exiled Irish are its best and truest
+supports; how the "kitchen often puts the parlour to the blush;" and the
+self-denial of the poor Irish girl assists not a little in erecting the
+stately temples to the Almighty, which are springing up in that vast
+continent from shore to shore, and are only lessened by the demands made
+on the same willing workers for the poor father and mother, the young
+brother or sister, who are supported in their poverty by the alms sent
+them freely, generously, and constantly by the Irish servant-girl.
+
+[Illustration: Ireland and America]
+
+Nor have the Catholics of America overlooked the importance of literary
+culture. A host of cheap books and serials are in circulation, and are
+distributed largely and freely in convent schools, collegiate
+establishments, and country parishes; and with a keen appreciation of
+the religious necessities of the great mass of non-Catholics, of which,
+unfortunately, English Catholics are oblivious, tracts are published in
+thousands for general reading, and given to travellers in the railcars,
+and steamboats. Nor has a higher class of literature been overlooked.
+The gifted superior of the Congregation of St. Paul has been mainly
+instrumental in getting up and superintending the labours of the
+_Catholic Publication Society_, which, in addition to the multitude of
+valuable works it has published, sends forth its monthly magazine, well
+entitled _The Catholic World_, which is unquestionably the best serial
+of its kind, and may vie with those conducted by the most gifted
+Protestant writers of the day, while it is far superior to anything
+which has as yet been published by the Catholics of this country.
+
+Such is a brief outline, and scarcely even an outline, of the _present_
+history of Ireland, in which the hearts of so many of our people are in
+one country, while their bodies are in another. There is another phase
+of this present history on which I could have wished to have dwelt much
+longer; I mean the political union between America and Ireland. So long
+as Irish emigration continues--I should rather say, so long as real
+Irish grievances are permitted to continue--so long will this state of
+things be dangerous to England. Justice to Ireland may be refused with
+impunity just so long as there is peace between England and America; but
+who shall dare predict how long that peace will continue, when, as must
+assuredly happen in a few short years, the Irish in America, or their
+direct descendants, shall form the preponderating class, and therefore
+guide the political affairs of that mighty people?
+
+The maps which are appended to this edition of the _Illustrated History
+of Ireland_, will, it is hoped, be found not only interesting, but
+important. Irishmen in America will see, by a glance at the map of
+family names, the territories in Ireland formerly held by their
+ancestors. Statistics showing the fearful depopulation of the country,
+which, notwithstanding all the boasts of those who advocated it, has not
+benefited those who remain, will be found in another map. The third map
+is not less important; by that will be seen the immense preponderance of
+Catholics to Protestants; and it will suggest, no doubt, to thoughtful
+minds, the injustice of sacrificing the multitude to the individual few.
+
+A few words must also be said about the two full-page illustrations
+which have been added to this Edition. One of the most important events
+in the life of O'Connell has been chosen for the one; and, alas! one of
+the most frequent occurrences in Irish history, from the first English
+invasion to the present day, has been chosen for the other. In the
+engraving of O'Connell, it was impossible to preserve the likeness, as
+the expression demanded by the incident could not be produced from any
+of the portraits extant; with regard to the eviction scene, it is
+unfortunately true to the life. Those who have read Mr. Maguire's _Irish
+in America_, will recognize the special subject represented. Those who
+read the Irish local papers of the day, may continually peruse accounts
+of evictions; but only an eyewitness can describe the misery, and
+despair of the unfortunate victims. When shall the picture be reversed?
+When will Irishmen return from America, finding it possible to be as
+free and as prosperous here? Finding that a man who is willing to toil
+may obtain a fair remuneration for his labour, and that a man may have
+the rights of men;--then, and not till then, may we hope that Irish
+history will, for the future, be a record of past injustice, amply
+compensated for by present equity.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[584] _Prospered_.--This gives an average of about eight persons to each
+house. There were 22,276 inhabited houses in Dublin in 1861, and the
+population was 254,480. This would leave an average of eleven persons to
+each house. There are only seventy-five carpenters in _Thom's
+Directory_, and sixty-four cabinet makers: if we give them an average of
+ten men each in their employment, it would not give more than 680 at the
+trade in all.
+
+[585] _Own_.--_History of the United States_, p. 3. Ludlow and Hughes;
+Macmillan, London, 1862. The title of this work is singularly
+infelicitous, for it is merely a sketchy and not very clear account of
+the late war in America.
+
+[586] _Spirit_.--_History of the United States_, p. 7.
+
+[587] _Policy_.--Morley's _Burke_, p. 153.
+
+[588] _Annulled_.--_Historical and Philosophical Essays_, Senior, vol.
+i. p. 197.
+
+
+
+APPENDIX.
+
+
+The letter given below, which is from the pen of a distinguished
+Protestant clergyman, appears to me of such importance, that I place it
+here to be a permanent record for the future historian of Ireland, as an
+important opinion on the present history of this country, but too well
+supported by facts.
+
+     TO ISAAC BUTT, ESQ., LL.D.
+
+     My DEAR BUTT,--If every other man in the world entertained doubts
+     of my sincerity, you, at least, would give me credit for honesty
+     and just intentions. I write to you accordingly, because my mind
+     has been stirred to its inmost depths by the perusal of your
+     address in my native city of Limerick. I do not regard the subject
+     of your address as a political one. It ought to be regarded solely
+     as a question of humanity, justice, common sense, and common
+     honesty. I wish my lot had never been cast in rural places. As a
+     clergyman, I hear what neither landlords nor agents ever heard. I
+     see the depression of the people; their sighs and groans are before
+     me. They are brought so low as often to praise and glorify those
+     whom, in their secret hearts, are the objects of abhorrence. All
+     this came out gradually before me. Nor did I feel as I ought to
+     have felt in their behalf, until, in my own person and purse, I
+     became the victim of a system of tyranny which cries from earth to
+     heaven for relief. Were I to narrate my own story, it would startle
+     many of the Protestants of Ireland. There are good landlords--never
+     a better than the late Lord Downshire, or the living and beloved
+     Lord Roden. But there are too many of another state of feeling and
+     action. There are estates in the north where the screw is never
+     withdrawn from its circuitous and oppressive work. Tenant-right is
+     an unfortunate and delusive affair, simply because it is invariably
+     used to the landlord's advantage. Here we have an election in
+     prospect, and in many counties no farmer will be permitted to think
+     or act for himself. What right any one man has to demand the
+     surrender of another's vote I never could see. It is an act of
+     sheer felony--a perfect "stand-and-deliver" affair. To hear a man
+     slavishly and timorously, say, "I must give my vote as the landlord
+     wishes," is an admission that the Legislature, which bestowed the
+     right of voting on the tenant, should not see him robbed of his
+     right, or subsequently scourged or banished from house and land,
+     because he disregarded a landlord's nod, or the menace of a
+     land-agent. At no little hazard of losing the friendship of some
+     who are high, and good, and kind, I write as I now do.
+
+     Yours, my dear Butt, very sincerely,
+
+     THOMAS DREW.
+
+     Dundrum, Cough, co. Down, Sept. 7, 1868.
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+
+A.
+
+Abbey, the Black, Kilkenny, 318.
+  of Mellifont, 231.
+  of St. Mary, 317.
+  of Holy Cross, 317.
+  of Dunbrody, 289.
+  of Tintern, 317.
+  of St. Saviour's, Dublin, 318.
+  of St. Thomas the Martyr, 287.
+  of Boyle, 316.
+Abercrombie, Sir Ralph, 623.
+Act of Emancipation passed, 647.
+Adamnan, St., 172.
+Adrian's Bull, 274.
+Aedh, St., 221.
+Aengus, St., 179
+  his Festology, 180
+  his Chronicle, 41.
+Aengus Grove, Synod at, 227.
+Aengus, King, baptism of, 123
+  his death, 130
+  ancestor of the O'Keeffes, O'Sullivans, O'Callahans, and MacCarthys, 130.
+Africa, Phoenician circumnavigation of, 69.
+Agrarian outrages and their causes, 613.
+Agricola, 95.
+Aideadh Chonchobair, legend of, 127.
+Ailbhe, Princess, 105.
+Ainmire, Hugh, 167.
+All Hallows Eve, 88n.
+Altan, St., 177.
+Amalgaidh, King, and his seven sons, 123.
+Amato, prelate who consecrated St. Patrick, 115.
+Amlaff the Dane, 195
+  in Dublin, 191.
+Ancient pitcher, 240.
+  fireplaces, 240.
+  shoes, 252.
+  brooch, 270.
+  boot, 251.
+Andrew, St., Church of, in Henry II.'s time, 272.
+Anglo-Irish and old Irish, their differences at Kilkenny, 487.
+Annals of Ulster, 39
+  compiled by Four Masters, 51
+  accounts in, confirmed _ab extra_, 68
+  poetry from, 198
+  kept with great care, 233
+  dedication of, 53
+  quotations from, 58, 59, 75, 88, 90, 94, 132, 144, 198, 199, 218,
+    232n, 265, 283, 388, 307, 312n. 313.
+  of Tighernach, 48.
+  of Innis MacNerinn, 39.
+  of Innisfallen, 39.
+  of Boyle, 39.
+  of Clonmacnois, 60n.
+  of Loch Ce, 115.
+  of Ballitore, 630.
+  preserved by Celtic Race, 67.
+Anselm, St., commends the Irish prelates, 229.
+Antiquities of pre-Christian Erinn, 148.
+Antwerp, Irish soldiers in, 478.
+Aqua vini and aqua vitae, 245.
+Architecture of Tara, 167.
+Ardmore round tower, 237.
+Armagh, See of, 114
+  founded, 120
+  streets of, 187n.
+Arnold on pedigree, 85n.
+  on history taught by verse, 86n.
+Athlone, siege of, 568
+  castle of, 314
+  bridge built, 308n.
+Attacotti, revolt of the, 96.
+Augustinians, Order of, 316.
+
+
+B.
+
+Bachall Isu, St. Patrick's, 114
+  its wanton destruction, 115.
+Ballitore, sufferings in, 630.
+Balor of the Evil Eye, 64.
+Banbha, the Lady, 43.
+Banqueting hall at Tara, 160.
+Baptism, ceremonies at, 229.
+Baraid, a Scandinavian chief, 195.
+Barbadoes, the Irish seat as slaves to, 515.
+Bards of Erinn, or files, 40.
+Barretts, feud between Cusacks and, 332.
+Barrington, Sir Jonah, on the last night of Irish Parliament, 639.
+Barry, an Irishman, 601.
+Barrys and Roches, 445.
+Battle of Magh Tuireadh, 61.
+  of Sliabh Mis, 75.
+  at Taillten, 75.
+  between the Firbolgs and Tuatha De Dananns, 62.
+  Connor, 343.
+  of Geisill, 78n.
+  of Bealagh Mughna (Ballaghmoon), Kildare, 193.
+  of Dundalk, 201.
+  of Sulcoit, near Tipperary, 205.
+  of Belach-Lechta, near Macroom, co. Cork, 207.
+  of Glen-Mama (Glen of the Gap), near Dunlavin, 208.
+  of Clontarf, 214.
+  of Downpatrick, 325.
+  of Benburb, 493.
+  of the Boyne, 563.
+  of Aughrim, 570.
+  of the Ford of Comar, Westmeath, 160.
+  of Magh-Rath, 171.
+  of Almhain (near Kildare), 186.
+  of Desertcreaght, 332.
+  of St. Callixtus' day, 352.
+  of Ford of the Biscuits, 451.
+Beare, O'Sullivan, his History, 534.
+Beasts, the three, to be hunted, 517.
+Bede's account of Ireland, 79
+  on Irish saints, 173.
+Belgium, MSS. preserved in, 46.
+Beltinne, or fire of Baal, 119
+  origin of, 164.
+Benignus, St., St. Patrick's successor in the See of Armagh. 116.
+Berchau, St., 162.
+Beresford faction, 616.
+Bill, curious, of a play, 547n.
+Bishops, Protestant, indifferent about regular ordination, 536.
+Black Death. 86.
+Blefed or pestilence, 162.
+Bog butter and cheese, 246.
+Bohun, Humphrey de, 270.
+Bonnell, his statistics, 540.
+Book, a, given for a ransom, 377.
+Books preserved, list of, 39, 44
+  list of lost, 39, 40.
+Book of Chronicum Scotorum, 39.
+  of Laws, 40.
+  of Ballymote, 37.
+  of Leinster, 40.
+  of Lecain, 37
+    when written, 50n.
+  Annals of Ulster, 39.
+    of Innisfallen, 39.
+    of Boyle, 39.
+    of Four Masters, 51.
+    of Tighernach, 39.
+    of Inis MacNerinn, 39.
+    of Clonmacnois, 60n.
+  Speckled, 37.
+  Cuilmenn, 40.
+  Saltair of Tara, 39
+    when written 40.
+  of Uachongbhail, 39.
+  Cin Droma Snechta, 39
+    when compiled, 43.
+  Saltair of Cashel, 39
+    when compiled, 44.
+  Saltair of Cormac, 41.
+  of St. Mochta, 44.
+  of Cuana, 44.
+  of Dubhdaleithe, 44.
+  Saltair of Temair, 43.
+  Saltair-na-Rann, 41.
+  of Leabhar buidhe Slaine, 44.
+  of Leabhar na h-Uidhre, 44.
+  of Eochaidh O'Flannagain, 44.
+  of Inis an Duin, 44.
+  Short, of St. Buithe's Monastery, 44.
+  of Flann of St. Buithe's Monastery, 44.
+  of Flann of Dungeimhin (Dungiven, co. Derry), 44.
+  of Dun da Leth Ghlas (Downpatrick), 44.
+  of Doire (Derry), 44.
+  of Sabhall Phatraic (co. Down), 44.
+  of Uachongbhail (Navan), 44.
+  Leabhar dubh Molaga, 44.
+  Leabhar buidhe Moling, 44.
+  Leabhar buidhe Mhic Murchadha, 44.
+  Leabhar Arda Macha. 44.
+  Leabhar ruadh Mhic Aedhagain, 44.
+  Leabhar breac Mhic Aedhagain, 44.
+  of O'Scoba of Cluain Mhic Nois (or Clonmacnois), 44.
+  of Leabhar fada Leithghlinne, 44.
+Book of Invasions, 54.
+  of Duil Droma Ceata, 44
+  of Clonsost, (Queen's county), 44.
+  of Trias Thaumaturgas, 52.
+  of Hispania Illustrata, 70,
+  of Acaill, 104.
+  of Armagh, 109.
+  of Rights, 253n.
+Boromean Tribute, the origin of, 98
+  remitted, 185.
+Boulter, Dr., 581.
+Bran Dubh, bravery and stratagem of, 168.
+Bravery of the Dalcassians, 218.
+Breas, the warrior, 62.
+Brehon laws, 147
+  by whom compiled, 144.
+Brendan, St. and his voyages, 169.
+Brian Boroimhe, 205
+  avenges the death of Mahoun, 207
+  deposes Malachy, 209
+  his wife, 211
+  his death, 217
+  romantic ballad of the lady, 209
+  originator of surnames, 210n.
+Brigid, St., her birthplace, 131.
+Briton, origin of name, 60.
+Brodir, the apostate Dane, 212
+  kills Brian Boroimhe, 217.
+Browne, Dr., 395.
+Bruce, invasion of, 350.
+Bruce's, Edward, campaign, 342
+  his death, 345.
+Brunehalt, Queen, 173.
+Burke, MacWilliam, 299
+  head of the Burke family in Ireland, 299.
+Burke, MacWilliam, 326
+  wars of, with the FitzGeralds, 326
+  defeat of, by O'Connor, 328.
+Burke, celebrated statesman of 18th century, 593
+  his school days, 594
+  his hatred of oppression, 595
+  his marriage, 596
+  becomes secretary, 597
+  his maiden speech, 598
+  on Indian policy, 604.
+Burkes and Geraldines, 333.
+Burgat, Dr., his Brevis Relatio, 518n.
+Burgo, Richard de, 309.
+Burnt Njal, quotations from, 217.
+Butlers, the, their history, 354.
+
+
+C.
+
+Caesar, his accounts of the Druids, 138.
+Cairbre, Satire of, 63.
+Cairbre, Cinn-Cait, 97.
+Cairbres, the three, 102.
+Caligraphy, Irish skilled in, 185.
+Callaghan of Cashel, 196.
+Cambridge, treatise on origin of, 71.
+Camden on Ogygia, 72.
+Cannibalism, charge of, refuted, 74.
+Cannon-balls first used, 381n.
+Canons, St. Patrick's, 117.
+Carew's, Sir P., claim, 428.
+Carhampton, Lord, cruelties of, 617n.
+Carmelite monasteries, 323.
+Cashel, the Saltair of, 44.
+  the Synod of, 275.
+  massacre at, 496.
+Castlehaven Memoirs, 482n.
+Casts for celts, 246.
+Cataldus, St., 178.
+Catalogue of lost books, 44.
+Cathair Crofinn, a circular fort, 165.
+Cathal Carragh, 296.
+Cathal Crovderg, 296.
+Catholic Emancipation, 647.
+  worship publicly restored, 411,
+  Association, 583.
+  priests, their peculiar position and difficulties, 586.
+  question, a ministerial difficulty, 639.
+  delegates met in Dublin, 615.
+Catholics, Orangemen bribed to persecute, 616n
+  penal laws against, 576.
+Cauldrons as tribute, 241.
+Cavalry, 309n.
+Ceann Cruach, great ancient idol of the Irish, 121.
+Ceasair, taking of Erinn by, 54
+  landing in Ireland of, 57.
+Celedabhaill, his quatrains, 198.
+Celestine, Pope, sends St. Patrick to Ireland, 115.
+Celsus, St., 227
+  when buried, 227.
+Celtic language, antiquity of, 147
+  remains of, 46.
+Celtic literature, 37.
+Celtic and Roman history, 81.
+Celts, description of, 160.
+Chariots used in Ireland, 167.
+Charlemont, Earl of, his life, 607.
+Charles I., reign of, 473
+  his "faith," 475.
+Charles II., reign of, 520
+  his treatment of the loyalists, 521.
+Chesterfield and Adam Smith on Ireland, 603.
+Chichester, Sir John, 580.
+Chichester's Parliament, 471.
+Chieftains, Irish, 303.
+Child, interment of a, 157n.
+Christ, the age of, 94.
+Christian missions, 108.
+Christianity, introduction of, 112.
+Chronicle of Cormac MacCullinan, 41.
+  of Aengus Ceile De, 41.
+  of Richard of Cirencester, 139.
+Chronicum Scotorum, 58
+  compiled by, 50
+  account in, 57
+  on Partholan's landing in Ireland, 58.
+Chronology, difficulties of, 44
+  Irish, 80.
+Cin Droma Snechta, 39
+  quotations from, 43
+  on Irish immigration, 58.
+Circular forts, 165.
+Cistercians, Order of, 316.
+Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria, 155.
+Clanrickarde, Earl of, 356.
+Clare, Lord, on Irish cultivation, 638.
+Clare election, the, 649.
+Clarence, Duke of, 371.
+Clergy, state of the Catholic, in the reign of Elizabeth, 426.
+Clonmacnois, the Annals of, 60n.
+Clubs in the seventeenth century, 545
+Clynn, the annalist, 319.
+Cobhthach Cael, 90.
+Codex, containing Venerable Bede's works, 47.
+Coigley, Father, arrested and hanged, 624.
+Colgan, his labours, 52
+  mention of, 534.
+College of Physicians, establishment of, in Dublin, 543.
+Colleges, continental, established for Irish students, 535.
+Colonists--Scythians, Greeks, 68.
+Colonization, proofs of our early, 55
+  the last, 75.
+Columba, St., and the Bards, 168.
+Columbanus, St., his rule, 173
+  on papal supremacy, 176.
+Commercial status of Irish towns, 540.
+Comyn, John, Archbishop of Dublin, 291
+  his imprisonment, 295.
+Conchessa, 112.
+Confessions, St. Patrick's, 113.
+Conaire II., 103
+  collects laws, 104.
+Conn of the Hundred Battles, 101.
+Conn's half of Ireland, 102.
+Connaught, ancient, 64
+  massacre in, 297
+  three claimants for, 307
+  rising of the men, 323
+  plantation of, 475.
+Conor Mac Nessa, legend of, 127
+  death of, 128.
+Controversy, theological, of the "Three Chapters," 175.
+Cooke, Mr., publishes a pamphlet, 631.
+Coote's cruelties, 482.
+Cork Militia, cruelties of the, 626.
+Cormac, author of Saltair of Tara, 104.
+Council at Tara, 172.
+Courcy, John de, in Ulster, 286
+  his valour, 286
+  his defeat in Antrim, 288
+  his death. 298.
+Craftine, the poet, 91.
+Crannoges, 159.
+Cranmer, Archbishop, 410.
+Cremation not usual in Erinn, 155.
+Crom Chonaill, the, 162.
+Cromlechs, 155
+  in the Phoenix Park, 161.
+Cromwell arrives in Ireland, 500
+  marches to Drogheda, 500
+  massacre at Drogheda. 501
+  letters, 502
+  his cruelties, 503
+  brutality of his soldiers, 503
+  his massacre at Wexford, 503.
+Cromwellian settlement in Ireland, 512n.
+Crovderg, Hugh, 307
+  his death, 308.
+Cruelties of English officers, 417.
+Crystede, his account of Ireland, 363.
+Cuilmenn, the, 40.
+Culdees, the, 182
+  question on the 179n.
+Curia Regis, held at Lismore, 273.
+Curragh of Kildare, 255.
+Curran, his life, 606.
+Cusack, Sir Thomas. 409
+  favours O'Neill, 421.
+Custom-house built, 638.
+
+
+D.
+
+Da Derga, destruction of the court of, 91.
+Dagges, 413n.
+Dalriada, the Irish, 131.
+Danes, Malachy's exploits against the, 207
+  in Ireland, 204
+  cruelties of the, 190
+  divided into Black and White Gentiles, 191
+  found sea-port towns, 200
+  supposed conversion of, 204
+  pipes, 241
+  the Dalcassians fight the, 205.
+Danish fortress in Dublin, 278n
+  the first invasion, 188
+  attempted second invasion, 224
+  pirates, first raid of the, 188
+  valour, battle of Clontarf, 215.
+Dante, 385.
+D'Alton on the Round Towers, 163
+  on History, Religion, &c., of Ancient Ireland, 68n.
+Dathi, 107.
+Defective Titles, Commission of, 475.
+Derry, siege of, 558.
+Dervorgil, the Lady, 234.
+Desmond, Earls of, their ancestors and descendants, 282n.
+  Castle, 221.
+  Earl of, his witty reply, 384.
+Destruction of the idols, 121.
+Details of the atrocities of the military, 621.
+Diarmaid, Princess, pursuit of, 106.
+Diarmaid's reign, misfortunes of, 167.
+Dicho, St. Patrick's first convert, 116.
+Dinnseanchus, a topographical work, 164.
+Dog, story of a faithful, 571.
+Domhnach, Gaedhilic term for Sunday, 121.
+Domhnach Airgid, 134n.
+Dominican Order in Ireland, 318.
+Donatus, St., 178.
+Doneraile Conspiracy, 643.
+Dowdall, Dr., opposition of, 410.
+Downpatrick, battle of, 325.
+Drapier's Letters, the, 581.
+Dress of the poorer classes in Ireland in seventeenth century, 552.
+Drink of the ancient Irish, 243.
+Drinking vessels of different kinds, 243.
+Druids and their teaching, 137.
+Drumceat, first convention held at, 167.
+Drury, his cruelties, 443
+  his death, 443
+Dubhdaleithe, Book of, 44.
+Dublin in the seventeenth century, 544.
+Dublin, fashionable and prosperous, 638.
+Dubtach salutes St. Patrick at Tara, 121.
+Duke of Clarence, Viceroy, 371.
+Duke of York, viceroyalty of, 375.
+Dunboy, siege of, 460.
+Duncheadh, St., 221.
+Dundalk, battle of, 201.
+
+
+E.
+
+Early missionaries. 108.
+Eber, 84.
+Ecclesiastics, cruelties practised on, 452.
+Ecclesiastical property, confiscation of, 403.
+Edward I., reign of, 329.
+Elizabeth, Queen, accession of, 412
+  martyrs in the reign of, 416.
+Emania, Palace of, 89.
+Embargo laws, 578.
+Emmet's career, 640.
+Enda, St., 169.
+English, invasion of the, 257.
+  come to Ireland for instruction, 178.
+  quarrels of, barons, 300.
+  law refused to Ireland, 362.
+  writers, mistakes of, 361.
+  schism, real cause of, 394.
+  Irish emigrants defeat the, 584.
+Enniskilleners, cruelties of the, 559.
+Eras, three, in Irish history, 387.
+Eremon, reign of, 77
+  his death, 78
+  families descended from, 84.
+Eric, or compensation for murder, 146.
+Erinn, St. Patrick's mission to, 112.
+  ancient chronicles of, 48n.
+  pre-Noahacian colonization of, 55.
+  takings of, 57.
+  early geographical accounts of, 72.
+  social accounts of, 73.
+  ancient laws of, 144.
+  religion of, 137.
+  customs of, 139.
+  language of, 147.
+  antiquities of, 153.
+  five great roads of ancient, 101.
+Essex, Earl of, tries to colonize Ulster, 432
+  his interview with O'Neill, 456
+  his death, 433.
+Ethnea, Princess, 123.
+Eva, her marriage with Strongbow, 264.
+Exchequer of the King of England in Dublin, fourteenth century, 339.
+Exiled Irishmen, 478.
+
+
+F.
+
+Fairs, Irish, seventeenth century, 538.
+Falkland, Lord, suspected of favouring the Catholics, 473.
+Fauna, description of, 253.
+Fene-men, the, 42n.
+Fenian poems and tales, 87
+  ascribed to, 105.
+Fes, or triennial assembly, 163.
+Fethlimia, Princess, 122.
+Fiacc's Hymn, Scholiast on, 111.
+Fidh Aengussa, the Synod of, 227.
+Fifth taking of Ireland, 62,
+Fiacre, St., 177.
+Finnachta Fleadhach, the Hospitable, 171.
+Finnen, St., 162,
+Fintan, son of Bochra, the Irish historian, 40.
+Firbolg chiefs, division of Ireland by, 60
+  battles of, 62.
+Fish in Ireland, 80n
+  anecdote on, 72n.
+FitzAldelm, his viceroyalty, 285
+  his death, 299.
+FitzGerald, war between De Burgo and, 326.
+FitzGerald, war between De Vesci and, 333.
+FitzGerald, Lord Edward, joins the United Irishmen, 618
+  arrest of, 624
+  his death, 624.
+Fithil, the poet, 40.
+FitzMaurice obtains foreign aid, 441
+  his death, 443.
+FitzStephen, 260.
+FitzWilliam, Earl, viceroyalty, of 616.
+Flahertach, Abbot, and King of Munster, 194
+Flann, his Synchronisms, 49
+  synchronizes the chiefs and monarchs with the kings of Erinn, 50.
+Flann, King, his reign, 192.
+Flint used to make weapons of defence, 160.
+Flood, his life, 607.
+Flora, description of, 253.
+Foillan, St., 177.
+Fomorians, the, 60-64.
+Food of the ancient Irish, 241
+  of poorer classes in seventeenth century, 553.
+Ford of the Biscuits, battle of, 451.
+Fothadh of the Canons, 180.
+Franciscan Order in Ireland, 319
+  their patriotism, 344
+  their convents, 312
+  remarkable spring, 319
+  persecution of, 474.
+Friars Preachers, Order of, 318.
+Fridolin, St., 178.
+Froude's History of England,
+  quotations from his account of the English clergy, 440.
+Fursey, St., 177.
+
+
+G.
+
+Gall, St., 177.
+Galls, description of, 187n.
+
+Gallic Church, labours of the Irish in 177.
+Gaul, the Celts of, 73.
+  Irish saints venerated in, 183.
+Geisill, battle of, 78n.
+Genealogies, differences between, and pedigrees, 80-82.
+  Milesian, 79.
+  peculiar historical value of, 80.
+  and pedigrees, 51.
+General Assembly at Kilkenny, 485.
+Geographical accounts of Ireland, 72
+George I., 582.
+Geraldines, rising of, 1534, 390
+  ancestor of the, 333
+  their wars, 334
+  defeated at Kenmare, 325.
+Germanus, St., his Canons, 117.
+Gertrude, St., daughter of King Pepin, 177.
+Gherardini, letter from the, 384.
+Gilla Caemhain, an Irish writer, 49
+  gives annals of all times, 49.
+Ginkell, General, 568.
+Glundubh, Nial, lamentation for, 196.
+Gold ornaments, 157.
+Goldsmith, his life, 609.
+Gordon's, Mr., account of the atrocities of the military, 628, 629.
+Gormgal, St., 221.
+Gormflaith, Brian Boroimhe's wife, 210.
+Gospels, the, used by St. Patrick, 134.
+Graces, the, 474.
+Grammatica Celtica, 46.
+Granard and Staigue, 237.
+Grattan's demand for Irish independence, 590
+  his life, 607
+  entrance into the Imperial Parliament, 640.
+Grainne, pursuit of, and Diarmaid, 106.
+Greeks said to have visited Ireland, 139.
+Grey, Lord, desecrates churches, 133.
+Grey, John de, 301.
+Guaire, his hostility to St. Columba, 167.
+
+
+H.
+
+Harp, when first used as an emblem, 249.
+Haverty's History of Ireland, 221n.
+Henry II. lands in Ireland, 270
+  produces the Bull, 274
+  makes his son Lord of Ireland, 287
+  holds a synod at Cashel, 273
+  his palace, 272
+Henry IV., his reign, 368
+  his death, 294.
+Henry V., 369.
+Henry VI., Wars of the Roses, 371.
+Henry VII., 379.
+Henry VIII., 387
+  persecutions during the reign of, 401
+  Dr. Browne's letter to, 399.
+Herodotus, quotations from, 69.
+Hibernia, the first buried in, 57.
+Himantiliginos, game of, 141.
+Himerus and Iberus, 70.
+Hispania Illustrata, 70.
+Historians of Erinn, 40.
+Historians of the seventeenth century, 531.
+Historic Tales, 86.
+Historical value of genealogies, 80, 87.
+History, Ecclesiastical, 227.
+History of the Exile, 91.
+Hoggen's Butt, and Le Hogges, 272.
+Holy wells not superstitious, 143.
+Honorius III., 305.
+Howth family founded, 298n.
+Hua Alta, race of, 125.
+Hy-Figeinte (Munster), 125.
+Hy-Kinsallagh (co. Carlow), 125.
+Hymn of St. Fiacc, 117.
+  of St. Patrick, 120.
+Hy-Nials, contention between the, 223
+  palace of, 224
+  the northern, 192
+  divided into two clans, 204.
+
+
+I
+
+Idols, worship of, 88.
+Immoralities of the reformed clergy, 404.
+Imperial standard, 639.
+Inchiquin, 488
+  massacre at Cashel by, 496.
+Innocent I., 100.
+Innocent X., 490.
+Insult to the Irish peeresses, 608.
+Insurrection in Wexford, 626.
+  in Ulster, 629.
+Ireland, climate of, 80,
+  colonization of, 57.
+  article on, in Rees' Cyclopaedia, 67.
+  last colonization of, 75.
+  ancient laws of, 144.
+  antiquarian remains in, 153.
+  first mill in, 165.
+  fauna and flora of, 253.
+  literary ladies in, 374.
+  persecutions in, 388.
+Ireland, ecclesiastical property forfeited in, 403.
+  plantations attempted in, 429, 432.
+  social life in, seventeenth century, 529.
+  before the Union, and after, 637.
+  early geographical account of, 72.
+  early social account of, 73.
+  Bede's account of, 79.
+  the Romans feared to invade, 95.
+  Saxon invasion of, 185.
+  first Danish invasion of, 188
+    second invasion, 224.
+  the circuit of, 197.
+  Murtough's circuit of, 224.
+  Spenser's account of, 439.
+  division of, by the Firbolg chiefs, 60.
+  receives the faith generously, 111.
+  given the name of Hibernia, 70.
+  the first writer who names, 71.
+  called Iernis, 71.
+Ireton's cruelties and miserable death, 507.
+Irish genealogies, their rise, 85.
+  keen, 141.
+  painters, 608.
+  musicians, 608.
+  MSS., 45.
+  authors, 608.
+  actors, 608.
+  missionaries, 173.
+  missionary saints, 178.
+  poetry, 180.
+  poets, 605.
+  bishops at the Council of Lateran, 289.
+  war-cries forbidden, 383.
+  pedigrees, their importance, 81.
+  people transplanted as slaves to Barbadoes, 514.
+  chronology compared with Roman, 81.
+  schools and scholars, 183.
+  alphabet, 152.
+  butter and cheese, 246.
+  fireplace, 247.
+  clothing, 250.
+  priests, their devotion to the people, 587.
+  communications with Rome, 490.
+  old, the, and the new English, 491.
+  priests, their peculiar position, 586.
+  history, materials for, 39.
+  martyr, the first, 125.
+  saints, 167.
+  religious, 221.
+Irish king sent to the Isle of Man, 225.
+  Rinuccini's account of the, 491.
+  Catholic landowners, injustice towards, 509.
+  Brigade, formation of, 574.
+Irishmen, celebrated, of the eighteenth century, 592,
+Iron Duke, 639.
+Island Magee, massacre of, 481.
+Ita, St. 169.
+
+
+J.
+
+Jackson, Rev. William, his miserable death, 616.
+James I., his reign, 463.
+James II., his reign, 555
+  arrival in Ireland, 557.
+Japhet, Milesians descended from, 84.
+Jerome's, St., statement on Ireland, 74.
+John of the Shamrocks, 434.
+John, Prince, receives title of King of Ireland, 287
+  his visit to Ireland, 292
+  second visit to Ireland, 302
+  succeeds to the English crown, 296
+  starves a bishop to death, 301
+  letter of Innocent III. to, 295
+  death, 304.
+Josephus, 68.
+Judgment of a king, 103.
+
+
+K.
+
+Kadlubeck, historian of Poland, 48.
+Keating, the historian, 531.
+  on Erinn, 43n.
+  quotations from, on the division of Ireland, 60.
+  on descent from the Scythians, 68.
+  on the battle of Bealagh Mughna, 193.
+  books referred to by, 45.
+  on colour, as a distinction of rank, 89n.
+  on battle of Dundalk, 203.
+  burial-place, 532.
+  inscription in honour of, 533.
+Kennedy, Prince of Munster, 202.
+Kildare, Earl of, and Henry VII., 384.
+  accused of treason, 384.
+  last Catholic Earl of, 387.
+  letter of, 388.
+Kildare, Monastery of, 132.
+Kilian, St., 177.
+Kincora, Brian's "Happy Family" at, 209
+  destruction of, 226.
+Knights of the Royal Branch, 125.
+Kunrann the poet, 187.
+
+
+L.
+
+Lacy, De, made Viceroy of Ireland, 289
+  endeavours to become King of Ireland, 291
+  cruel death, 293
+  family become extinct, 311.
+Lady physicians, 66.
+Laeghaire, King, holds a pagan festival, 119
+  receives St. Patrick at Tara, 120
+  his oath, 129
+  his death, 129
+  his burial, 129n.
+Lammas-day, 164.
+Landing of the Picts, 79.
+  of Partholan, 58.
+  of Ceasair, 57.
+Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, 228.
+Langton, Stephen, Archbishop of Canterbury, 301.
+Language of ancient Erinn, 147
+  writing in pre-Christian Erinn, 148
+  Ogham writing, 150.
+Laws, the Brehon code of, 144
+  its peculiarities, 145.
+  of the Innocents, 172.
+  of succession, 146.
+  of ancient Erinn, 144.
+Leix, St. Patrick's visit to, 124
+  cruelties of the deputy of, 417.
+Lewis, Sir G.C., 85n.
+Lhind, quotations from, 95n.
+Lia Fail, 76
+  or Stone of Destiny, 165
+  mention of, 165.
+Life, social, previous to the English invasion, 237.
+Limerick, siege of, by Ireton. 506
+  by William of Orange, 566
+  by Ginkell, 571.
+Linen trade, 251, 540.
+Literary ladies in Ireland, 374
+Literary men of the seventeenth century, 531.
+Livin, St., 178.
+Londres, Henry de, made Governor of Ireland, 306
+  surnamed Scorch Villain, 306.
+Louvain collection, 46
+  friars, 52.
+Loyola, St. Ignatius, 120n.
+Lucas, his life, 607.
+
+
+M.
+
+Macaille, St., 131.
+MacArt's, Cormac, Saltair. 40
+  his reign, 103
+  his death, 105.
+Macaulay, Lays of Ancient Rome, 247n.
+Maccallin, St., 221.
+MacCarthy, King of Desmond, 229.
+MacCarthy More murdered at Tralee, 357.
+MacCullinan, Cormac, priest and king, 192
+  his reign, 193
+  his death, 193n.
+MacCumhaill, Finn, 105
+  his courtship with the Princess Ailbhe, 105.
+MacFirbis, quotations from, 54, 58
+  his book on pedigrees, 85
+  his pedigrees of the ancient Irish and Anglo-Norman families, 50
+  murdered, 51.
+MacGilluire, Coarb of St. Patrick, 315.
+MacLiag, the poet, 210n.
+MacMurrough, Dermod, King of Leinster, 233
+  attends synod at Mellifont, 234
+  his interview with Henry II., 258
+  Henry grants him letters-patent, 259
+  his death, 266.
+MacMurrough, Art, 367
+  his death, 370.
+MacNally, advocate of the United Irishmen, 618.
+Macutenius on St. Patrick's Canons, 118.
+Maelmuire, "servant of Mary," 227n.
+Maelruain, St., of Tallaght, 179.
+Magna Charta, 305.
+Magog and his colony, 68
+  his descendants, 84.
+Magrath, Miler, the apostate, 78.
+Mahoun, brother to Brian, 204
+  is murdered, 206.
+Mailduf, St., 178.
+Malachy, St., 229
+  visits Rome, 231
+  death of, 231.
+Malachy II., 198
+  exploits against the Danes, 208
+  wins his "collar of gold," 208
+  Brian deposes, 209
+  his death, 218.
+Manners and Customs of Ancient Greece, 141.
+Marco Polo, 46.
+Marisco, De, his treachery, 311
+  his death, 312.
+Mary, Queen, 410.
+Massacre of a prelate, priest, and friars, 402
+  of a bishop, 466
+  at Wexford-bridge, 628
+  at Cashel, 496
+  at Wexford, 503
+  of three priests, 445
+  of three Franciscans, 453
+  at Drogheda, 501
+  at Mullamast, 438
+  at Fort del Ore, 444
+  at Scullabogue House, 627.
+Mellifont, Abbey of, 231
+  Synod at, 231
+  founded, 317.
+Meloughlin, King of Meath, 191.
+Metalogicus, the, of John of Salisbury, 275n.
+Milcho, St. Patrick's master in captivity, 116.
+Milesian genealogies, 84, 88.
+Milesians, landing of the, 75
+  they conquer, 77.
+Milford Haven, 292.
+Milidh, fleet of the sons of, entrance into Ireland, 75.
+Mississippi Scheme, 584.
+Mochta, St., 151.
+Moira, Lord, exposes the cruelty of the yeomanry, 619.
+Moling, St., 109.
+Monastery of Kildare, St. Brigid's, 132.
+  Kilcrea, 321.
+  of Bobbio, 176.
+  of Timoleague, 321,
+  of Tallaght, 179.
+  of St. Columbkille, 293.
+  of Cluain Eidhneach, 179.
+  of Donegal, 321
+    desolation and plunder of, 189.
+  of Clonbroney, 188n.
+  of St. Columba, 230, 234.
+  of Ibrach (Ivragh), Kerry, 230.
+  of Lismore, 226.
+  of St. Kevin, 235.
+  of Dunbrody, 289.
+  of St. Peter's of Lemene, near Chambery, 381.
+  of Clonfert, 170.
+  of Mellifont, 234.
+  of Clonmacnois, 221.
+  Irrelagh (Muckross), 322.
+  Clonmel, 322.
+  Drogheda, 322.
+  Cill-Achaidh, 374.
+Montgomery, 584.
+Montmarisco, 237
+  becomes a monk, 289
+Monroe, 493.
+Monroe, Henry, 629.
+Moore, his History, 37
+  his partiality for Malachy, 209
+  on religion, 111
+  his life, 605.
+Morann the good, and his collar of gold, 97.
+MSS. preserved in Trinity College, 44.
+  of ancient Irish history, 39n.
+  Celtic, preserved in Belgium, 45.
+  Continental, 45n.
+  in British Museum, 46.
+  Stowe collection of, 45n.
+MSS., Latin, 46.
+  Loftus, 415.
+  Burgundian, 46.
+  legendary and historical, of Irish history, 39.
+Muckross Abbey, 322.
+Muircheartach, first Christian king of Ireland, 131.
+Muircheartach, his circuit of Ireland, 197
+  killed by Blacaire, 197.
+Murphy, Father, killed, 628.
+Murrough's game of chess, 211.
+Murtough of the Leathern Cloaks, 196.
+
+
+N.
+
+Neamhnach, the well, 164.
+Napier's, Lady, letter respecting the tenantry of Duke of Leinster, 623.
+Nathi, King, 116.
+National joy at the restoration of Catholic worship, 464.
+Nemedh, arrival of, 59.
+Nemenians, emigration of, 60, 62.
+Nemthur, St. Patrick's birthplace, 110.
+Nennius, 69.
+Nesta, her beauty and infamy, 259.
+Nestor, 48.
+Netterville, John, Archbishop of Armagh, 318.
+Newspapers in seventeenth century, 545.
+Newtownbutler, engagement at, 595.
+Nial of the Nine Hostages, 106.
+Nial Black Knee, 194.
+Nicholas, St., College of, 51.
+Niebuhr, his theory of history, 82.
+  on the story of Tarpeia, 82n.
+  on learning by verse, 86.
+Noah, genealogies from, 58.
+Normans, their arrival in Ireland, 257.
+  their luxurious habits, 272.
+  Cambrensis' account of them, 277.
+  the, ridicule the Irish nobles, 293.
+  feuds of the, in Ireland, 300.
+  their treachery, 311.
+  Viceroys, 285.
+Nuada of the Silver Hand, 61
+  his privy council, 64.
+Numa Pompilius, 89.
+
+
+O.
+
+O'Brien, Turlough, Monarch of Ireland, 222
+  his death, 223.
+O'Brien, Donnell, King of Thomond, 271.
+O'Briens, from whom descended, 84.
+O'Clery, Michael, one of the Four Masters, 52
+  his literary labours and piety, 54
+  his first work, Trias Thaumaturgas, 52
+  rewrote the Book of Invasions, 54
+  patronized by Fearghal O'Gara, 53.
+O'Connell, Daniel, in the House of Parliament, 647
+  obtains Catholic Emancipation, 647
+  represented Ireland, 641
+  his life, 642
+  his maiden speech, 643
+  Doneraile Conspiracy, 643.
+O'Curry, when Moore visited, 37
+  his opinion of early Irish civilization, 104
+  his labours, 38
+  on Erinn, 48n
+  on Keating's statement of Irish descent, 68
+  on Cormac's writings, 104n
+  on the Bachall Isu, 115
+  on Brehon Laws, 145
+  on Irish saints, 178
+  on musical instruments, 250
+  on Irish martyrs, 416.
+O'Connor, Hugh, 308.
+  Felim, 309, 313.
+  of Offaly, 339.
+  Roderic, 235.
+  expelled from Offaly, 408
+    returns to Ireland, 411.
+  Margaret, a literary lady, 374.
+  Nuala, 321
+    establishes the monastery of Franciscans at Donegal, 321
+    her death, 322.
+  Arthur, 624.
+O'Connor Faly, Margaret, visits England, 411.
+O'Daly, the poet, 303.
+O'Donnell, Hugh, entertainment of, at Windsor, 387.
+O'Donnell, Hugh Roe, his treacherous capture, 447
+  leaves Ireland, 459.
+O'Donnell More, died at Assaroe, 313.
+O'Donovan, Dr., quotations from, on Brehon laws, 144.
+Odran, St., 147.
+O'Duffy, Catholicus, 304.
+O'Duffy, Donnell, 233.
+O'Flaherty, his Chronology, 81.
+Ogham writing, 149.
+Oghma, Danann prince, invented the writing called Ogham Craove, 76.
+Ogygia of the Greeks, 72.
+Ogygia, account in, of ancient writings, 148n.
+O'Hagan, the Abbot Imar, 229.
+O'Hartigan, Kenneth, 221.
+O'Hurly, Dr., 453.
+Ollamh Fodhla, 89.
+Ollamh, office and qualifications of a, 83, 86.
+O'Loughlin, Donnell, 226.
+O'Loughlins of Tyrone, 231.
+O'More, Rory Oge, 437
+  Roger, 480.
+O'Neill, Donough, 207
+O'Neill, Shane, 409
+  feared by the English, 418
+  attempts to poison him, 419
+  Lord Chancellor Cusack persuades him to forget the poisoning, 420
+  he is killed treacherously, 422.
+O'Neill, Hugh, marriage of, 450
+  his insurrection, 454
+  defeats Bagnal, 455
+  his interview with Essex, 456
+  attempts to assassinate him, 458
+  his power decreases, 461
+  plot to entrap him, 468
+  his flight and death in Rome, 469.
+O'Neill, Sir Phelim, 480
+  marches against Monroe, 493.
+O'Neill, Owen Roe, 480.
+O'Neill, Hugh Boy, slain in 1283, 332.
+O'Neill, Donnell, 198,
+Ormonde, the Duke of. 483
+  his intrigues, 492.
+Orpheus, first writer who mention Ireland, 71.
+Orr, Mr., his trial and death, 620.
+O'Toole, St. Laurence, Archbishop of Dublin, 234
+  his genealogy, 235
+  Abbot of St. Kevin's monastery, at Glendalough, 235
+  his patriotism, 267
+  his journey to France, 290
+  sent as ambassador to Henry II., 281
+  his death, 290.
+Oirdnidhe, Hugh, the legislator, 179.
+
+
+P.
+
+Palatines, the, 580.
+Palladius, St., mission of, 109.
+Palliums, 231.
+Partholan, landing of, 58.
+Partholyan, English traditions of, 71.
+Patrick, St., his birthplace, 112
+  visits Tara, 120
+  his successful preaching, 123
+  relic of his hand, 134
+  his copy of the Gospels, 134
+  his burial-place, 133
+  devotion of his servant, 125
+  his death, 126
+  his vision, 113
+  his prayer for Ireland, 135
+  destruction of the idols, 121
+  his Hymn, 120
+  his captivity, 113.
+Peep-o'-Day Boys and Defenders, 613.
+Pelasgian remains, 158.
+Pembroke, Earl of, plots against, 311.
+Penal Laws, enactment of, 576.
+Perrot, Sir John, 417.
+Petrie, Dr., quotations from, on Brehon laws, 115.
+Petty, Sir William, 541.
+Philosophical Society, the Dublin, 546.
+Phoenician colonization of Spain, 70
+  circumnavigation of Africa, 69.
+Physicians, establishment of their college in Dublin, 543
+Picts, landing of the, 79.
+Pitt, William, 613.
+Plantation of Connaught, 510
+  of Ulster, 469.
+Plowden's account of the atrocities of the military, 602.
+Plunkett, Dr., his trial and execution, 528.
+Plunkett, Lord, in parliament, 640.
+Poyning's Parliament, 379
+  law, and its effects, 382.
+Presentation Order, 593n.
+Priests, cruel massacre of, 496
+  their efforts to save Protestants, 483.
+Protestant Church, state of, 425.
+
+
+Q.
+
+Quipus used as a register by the Indians, 150.
+
+
+R.
+
+Raith Beothaigh (Rath Beagh), an ancient burial-place, 78.
+Raleigh, Sir Walter, 439.
+Rath at Leighlin, 200
+  of the Synods, 165.
+Reformation, attempts to introduce the, 415.
+Reformed clergy, preaching of, 405.
+Religious houses and their founders, 316.
+Remonstrance to the Holy See, 341.
+Reports on the state of Ireland, 648
+Richard I., accession of, 294.
+Richard II., visits Ireland, 365.
+Rinuccini, 489n
+  lands at Kenmare, 490
+  reception in Kilkenny, 491
+  returns to Italy, 497.
+Rock of Cashel, 193.
+Rodanus, St., 162.
+Romantic Tales, 91.
+Rose Tavern, 544.
+Rotundo built, 638.
+Round Tower controversy, 153.
+Rowan, A. Hamilton, 615
+Rufus, William, boast of, 257.
+
+
+S.
+
+Sacramental test, 579.
+Saltair of Temair, 41.
+  na-Rann, 41.
+  of Cashel, 44.
+  of Cormac, 41.
+San Jose, arrival of, 443.
+Saviour's, St., Dublin, 318.
+Schomberg's camp, disease in, 560.
+Scots, 69.
+Scraball, 164.
+Scythian colonists, 68
+  Irish claim descent from, 65.
+Seanchaidhe, poet, 83n.
+Seanchus Mor, language of, 145
+  translator of, 145.
+Sedulus, St., 178.
+Segetius, priest, 115.
+Senchan Torpeist, 40.
+Severe winters and pestilences in Ireland, 223.
+Sheehy, Father Nicholas, judicial murder of, 589.
+Sheridan, his life, 608.
+Shrines of the three saints, 133.
+Sidney's official account of Ireland, 423
+  his interview with Granuaile, 434.
+Silken Thomas, his rebellion, 391
+  his execution, 392.
+Silver shields, 89.
+Simnel crowned in Dublin, 380.
+Simon, Rabbi, 68.
+Sitric arrival of, 195
+  treachery of, 201.
+Smith, Adam, on Ireland, 603.
+Smithfield, origin of the name, 241n.
+South Sea Bubble, 581.
+Spenser's Castle, 423
+  grandson, 513
+  description of Irish misery, 439.
+Sreng, warrior, 62.
+Statements in our annals confirmed by a Jewish writer, 68.
+Statute of Kilkenny and its effects, 359.
+Stierman, 48.
+Sterne, Dr., 544.
+Strafford, Earl of, 77.
+Strongbow, Earl of Clare, arrives in Ireland, 263
+  genealogy, 263
+  marriage of, and Eva, 264
+  proclaims himself king of Leinster, 266
+  returns to England. 268
+  death of, 282
+  his seal, 284.
+Succession, law of, 146.
+Superstitions, Irish, 142.
+Swan, Major, 624.
+Swift, Dean, 581
+  his writings, 581
+  his life, 607.
+Swords and chariots of ancient Ireland, 167.
+
+
+T.
+
+Tacitus, 95.
+Tain bo Chuailgne, the expedition of, 92
+  the story of, 93.
+Talbot, Archbishop, 525.
+Tanaiste, 147.
+Tandy, Napper, 612.
+Tara, account of ancient, 163
+  site of, 41
+  cursing of, 162.
+Taverns and coffee-houses, 544.
+Theatre, the first, in Dublin, 547.
+Thomas, St., of Canterbury, 266.
+Thompson, Charles, Secretary of Congress, 601.
+Threnodia Hiberno-Catholica, 511.
+Tighernach's Annals, 49
+  uses the dominical letter, 49
+  mentions the lunar cycle, 49
+  quotes historical writers, 49
+  his home, 48.
+Tighearnmas, 88.
+Timoleague, Monastery of, 321.
+Tithes introduced into Ireland, 232.
+Tom the Devil, 622.
+Tone, Theobald Wolfe, 614.
+Tradition, its use in history, 40.
+Trias Thaumaturgas, 52.
+Trinity College, foundation of, 462.
+Tuatha De Dananns, fifth taking of Ireland by, 61
+  their skill as artificers, 61
+  battles of, 62, 75
+  dynasty passed away, 76.
+Tuathal, reign of, 98.
+Tuite, Richard (the great baron), 333.
+Turgesius the Dane, 189.
+Tussach, St, 126.
+
+
+U.
+
+Ugaine Mor, reign of, 90.
+Ultan, St., 171.
+Union, the, 632.
+United Irishmen, the, 618.
+Usher, Archbishop, 534
+  his indifference about orders, 536
+  on St. Patrick's Canons, 117
+  as an historian, 534.
+Usher's Island, 318n.
+
+
+V.
+
+Veto, the, 643.
+Victorious, 113n.
+Vinegar Hill, the battle of, 627.
+Volunteers, the, 591.
+Virgilius, St., 178.
+Vivian, Cardinal, 286
+  entombs the relics of the three saints anew, 294.
+
+
+W.
+
+Warbeck's plot, 381.
+Ware, 415.
+Ward, Father, 52.
+Waterford rugs, 539.
+Wellesley, Chief Secretary, 640.
+Wesley, John, his remark about Moira House, 318n.
+Wheat planted early, 243.
+White and Black Gentiles, 191.
+Whiteboys, the, 584.
+Wilde, Sir W., 79n.
+Wives purchased in Erinn, 43
+  exchanged, 229.
+Words and Places, 58n.
+Wood's halfpence, 581.
+Wren, veneration for the, 140.
+
+
+Y.
+
+Yeomanry, fearful cruelties of the, 630.
+York, house of, 371
+  Duke of, made Viceroy, 375.
+Yorkists, popularity in Ireland, 376.
+  insurrection of the, 378.
+Youghal, foundation of Convent of, 318
+  College of, 378
+  burned down, 443.
+Young's remedy for Irish disaffection, 585.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF IRELAND
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