the policy of the King of Meth the only Irish Prince then in favour with the Tyrant These Northern Nations were the first that brought the Irish acquainted with Traffick and Commerce and with building of Castles and Fortresses only upon the Sea-coasts having hitherto known no other defence but Woods Boggs or Stoakes And last of all by the English in K. Henry 2ds reign An. 1172. After this the Roytelets or petty Princes enjoying their former Dominions till the year 1172. in which Dermot Mac Morogh King of Lynster having forced the Wife of Maurice O Rorke King of Meth was driven by him out of his Kingdome who applying himself to Henry the Second of England for succor received Aid under the leading of Richard de Clare Sir-named Strongbow Earle of Pembroke to be restored to his Kingdom by whose good success and the rest of the Adventurers upon the Arrival of Henry the Second in Ireland his very Presence without drawing his Sword prevailed so far as that all the petty Kings or great Lords within Lynster Connaght and Munster submitted themselves unto him promising to pay him Tribute and acknowledging him their chief and Soveraign Lord But as the Conquest was but slight and superficial so the Irish Submissions were but weak and fickle assurances to hold in Obedience so considerable a Kingdom for no sooner were the Kings of Englands backs turned but the Irish returned to their former Rebellions and the Kings of England had here no more power or profit than the great ones of the Country were pleased to give them for they governed their People by the Brehon Law they made their own Magistrates and Officers pardoned and punished all Malefactors within their several Countries made War and Peace one with the other without controulment and this they did not only during the Reign of King Henry the Second but also in the times succeeding even until the Reign of Queen Elizabeth which Conquest became thus imperfect by reason of two great Defects first in the faint prosecution of the War and next in the loosness of the Civil Government The Conquest of Ireland by the English imperfect till of late by reason of two defects viz. first faint Prosecution of the War the Causes of it As touching the carriage of Martial Affairs from the seventeenth year of King Henry the Second at what time the first overture was made for the Conquest of Ireland until the nine and thirtieth year of Queen Elizabeth when that Royal Army was sent over to suppress the the Rebellion of Tyrone which in the end made an universal and absolute Conquest of all the Irishry It is very evident that the English either raised here or sent hither from time to time out of England were alwaies too weak to Subdue and Master so many Warlike Nations or Septs of the Irish as did possess this Island and besides their weakness they were ill paid and worse Governed And if at any time there arrived out of England an Army of competent strength and power it did rather terrifie than break or subdue this People being ever broken and dissolved by some one accident and impediment or other before the perfection of the Conquest of it as namely Henry the Second by the Rebellion of his Sons King John Henry the Third and Edward the Second by the Barrons Wars Edward the First by his Wars in Wales and Scotland Edward the Third and Henry the Fift by the Wars of France Richard the Second Henry the Fourth Henry the Sixth and Edward the Fourth by Domestick contention for the Crown of England it self Richard the Third not worth mentioning as having never got the quiet possession of England but was cast out by Henry the Seventh within two years and an half after his Usurpation And Henry the Seventh himself though he made the happy Union of the two Houses of York and Lancaster yet for more than half the space of his Reign there were walking Spirits of the House of York which he could not conjure down without the expence of some Bloud and Treasure Henry the Eighth was diverted by his two Expeditions into France at the first and latter part of his Reign and in the middle thereof wholly taken up with the troubles created to him by the great alteration of Ecclesiastical Affairs And lastly the Infancy of King Edward and the Coverture of Queen Mary which were both not-abilities in Law did likewise in fact disable them to accomplish the Conquest of Ireland so that all the Kings of England coming thus far short as to the perfecting of the true Conquest of Ireland let us examine what other impediments were given thereunto in point of Martial Affairs by the Adventurers themselves that first undertook the Conquest of this Kingdom upon their own account That the first English Adventurers had good success in Ireland during the first forty years It doth appear that for the space of about forty years after the first landing of the English in Ireland till the seventeenth year of King John during all which time there was no Army transmitted out of England to finish the Conquest of Ireland that the Adventurers and Colonies already planted there proceeded with so much good success as they gained very large portions of ground in every Province As namely the Earl of Strongbow by his Marriage with the Daughter of Mac Morrogh in Lynster the Laâ—ies in Meth the Giraldines and other Adventurers in Munster the Andeleyes Gernons Clintons Russels and other Voluntaries of Sir John de Courcies retinue in Vlster and the Bourkes planted by William Fitz-Adelme in Connaght The English Colonies being thus dispersed through all the Provinces of Ireland were necessitated But being necessitated for a long time to maintain a bordering War against the Irish at the charge of the English Planters from the twelfth year of King John till the six and thirtieth year of King Edward the Third being about an hundred and fifty years to maintain a continual bordering War between them and the Irish without receiving during all that time any supply either of Men or Money out of England to manage the same So that all the chief Governours of the Realm and the English Lords who had gotten such great Possessions and Royalties as that they presumed to make War and Peace at their pleasure without the least advice or direction from the State being forced to levy all their Forces within the Land who being ill Paid and worse Governed it so came to pass the publick Revenues of Ireland being then inconsiderable to sustain such a charge that as well the Ordinary Forces which stood continually as the extraordinary which were levied by the chief Governour upon Journeys and general Hostings were for the most part laid upon the poor Subjects descended of English race which burden was in some measure tollerable during the Reign of King Henry the Third and Edward the First but afterwards became insupportable in the time of King
the chief causes that obstructed the Conquest of Ireland till about the latter end of Queen Elizabeths reign as to Martial Affairs And secondly loosness in the Civil Government of Ireland for not communicating the Laws of England to the Irish I shall now endeavour in the next place to give some satisfaction touching those defects that were observed to be in the Civil Policy and Government of this Kingdome which gave no less impediment to the full Conquest thereof which doth first consist in this That the Crown of England did not from the beginning give Laws to the Irishry though the Irish did often desire to be admitted to the benefit of it and protection of the English Laws but could not obtain it For although King Henry the Second before his return out of Ireland held a Counfel or Parliament at Lismore where the Laws of England were willingly accepted off by all the Irishry and that confirm'd by their Oaths And though King John in the twelfth year of his Reign did establish the English Laws and Customes here and the Courts of Judicature at Dublin and placed Sheriffs and other Ministers to rule and govern the people according to the Laws of England yet it is evident by all the Records of this Kingdome that onely the English Colonies and some few Septs of the Irishry as O Neal of Vlster O Malaghlin of Meath O Connagher of Connaght O Brien of Thomond and Mac Muorrogh of Lynster who were enfranchised by special Charters were admitted to the benefit and protection of the Laws of England for in them onely the English Laws were published and put in execution and in them onely did the Itinerant Judges make their Circuits and Visitations of Justice as namely in the Counties of Dublin Kildare Meth Vriel Catherlogh Kilkenny Wexford Waterford Cork Limrick Kerry and Typperary and not in the Countries possessed by the Irishry which contained at least two third parts of the Kingdome and even in these Counties the said Laws stretcht no farther then the Lands of the English Colonies did extend so that the Irish were not only disabled to bring any actions but they were so far out of the protection of the Law as it was often adjudged no Fellony to kill a meer Irish man in time of Peace from whence it came to pass that in all the Parliament Rolls which are extant from the 40th year of Edward the Third when the Statutes of Kilkenny were enacted till the Reign of King Henry the Eighth we find the degenerate and disobedient English called Rebels but the Irish which were not in the Kings Peace are called Enemies Whereby it it is manifest that such as had the Government of Ireland under the Crown of England did intend to maintain a perpetual Separation and Enmity between the English and the Irish pretending that the English should in the end be able to root out the Irish which the English not being able to effect caused a perpetual War between both Nations which continued four hundred and odd years and might have continued to the worlds end if in the end of Queen Elizabeths Reign the Irishry had not been broken and Conquered by the Sword and since the beginning of King James his Reign had not been protected and governed by the Law Contrary to the practice of the Romans and others c. who communicated their Laws to the Conquered This was contrary to the practice of the Roman State which Conquered so many barbarous and civil Nations and therefore knowing by experience the best and readiest way of making a perfect and absolute Conquest refused not to communicate their Laws to the rude and barbarous people whom they had conquered neither did they ever put them out of their Protection after they had once submitted themselves but rather the better to assure their conquest by all the means imaginable they could allured them to Civility and Learning whereof the antient Britains were a famous instance This was also against the practise William the Conqueror used who governed both the Normans and the English under one Law And against the prudent course that hath been observed in the reducing of Wales partly perform'd by King Edward the First and altogether finished by King Henry the Eighth by dividing the whole Countrey into Shires and Circuits and establishing a Common-wealth amongst them according to the English Government by means whereof that entire Countrey was in a short time so securely setled in Peace and Obedience and hath attained to that civility of manners and plenty of all things as now we find it not inferiour to the best parts of England That the over great proportions of Land granted to the first Conquerors of Ireland occasioned great inconveniencies The next Error in the Civil Policy which hindered the perfection of the Conquest of Ireland did consist in the distribution of the Lands and Possessions which were won and conquered from the Irish For the Scopes of Land which were granted to the first Adventurers were too large and the Liberties and Royalties which they obtained therein were too great for Subjects though it stood with reason that they should be liberally rewarded out of the fruits of their own labours since they managed the War upon their own account and received no pay from the Crown of England whereupon ensued divers inconveniencies that gave great impediment to the Conquest for first Earl Strongbow was entituled to the whole Kingdom of Lynster partly by Invasion and partly by Marriage albeit he surrendered the same entirely to King Henry the Second his Soveraign The manner how Ireland was divided amongst the first Engâ—ish Conquerors for that with his License he came over and with the aid of his Subjects he had gained that great Inheritance yet did the King regrant back again to him and his Heiâ—s all that Province reserving only the City of Dublin and the Cantreds next adjoyning with the Maritine Towns and principal Forts and Castles Next the same King granted to Robert Fitz-Stephen and Miles Cogan the whole Kingdom of Corke from Lismore to the Sea To Philip le Bruce he gave the whole Kingdome of Lymrick with the Donation of Bishopricks and Abbies except the City and one Cantred of Land adjoyning To Sir Hugh de Lacy all Meath To Sir John de Courcy all Vlster To William Bourke Fitz-Adelin the greatest part of Connaght In like manner Sir Thomas de Clare obtained a grant of all Thomond and Otho de Grandison of all Tipperary and Robert le Poor of the Territory of Waterford the City it self and the Cantred of the Oastmen only excepted And thus was alâ— Ireland Cantonized among ten Persons of the English Nation And though they had not gained the Possession of one third part of the whole Kingdom yet in Title they were owners and Lords of all so as nothing was left to be granted to the Natives whose petty Kings and Great ones our great English Lords could not endure
c. born Subjects to the Crown of England paying ever to the King his Duties reserved Title to Meth. Hugh de Lacy Conquerour of Meth had Issue Walter de Lacy who held the same of King John paying a Fine of four thousand Marks Sterling and hence began all the several Claims there with Alegiance sworn and done by their Ancestors Title to Mounster At the very first arrival of Henry the Second the Princes of Mounster came universally and did homage voluntarily and acknowledged to him and his Heirs Duties and pays for ever John de Courcy Conquerour and Earl of Vlster dyed without Issue Title to Ulster Connaght King John Lord of Ireland gave the Earldome to Hugh de Lacy who who had Issue Walter and Hugh who died without Issue and one Daughter married to Reymond Burke Conquerour and Lord of Connaght Connaght descended to divers Heirs owing service to the Prince but Vlster returned by devolution to the special Inheritance and the Revenues of the Crown of England in this manner The said de Burgo had Issue Richard who had Issue John who had Issue William who was slain without Issue and a Daughter Elizabeth entitled to thirty thousand Marks yearly by the Earldome of Vlster whom Edward the Third gave in marriage to Lionel his second Son Duke of Clarence who had Issue a Daughter Philippe married to Edward Mortimer who had Issue Edmund Anne Elianor Edmund and Elianor died without Issue Anne was married to Richard Earl of Cambridge Son to Edmund of Langley Duke of York fift Son to Edward the Third which said Richard had Issue Richard Plantaginet Father to Edward the Fourth Father to Elizabeth Wife to Henry the Seventh and Mother to Henry the Eighth Father to Mary Edward the Sixth and Elizabeth Several Claims to the Land of Ireland Several claims to the Land of Ireland 1. Mac Gil-murrow King of Ireland with all his Petty Princes Lords and Captains summoned to King Arthurs Court held in Carlion Anno 519. did accordingly their homage and attended all the while his great Feast and Assembly lasted 2. The Monarch of all Ireland and all other both Reges and Reguli for them and for theirs for ever betook themselves to Henry the Second An. Dom. 1172. namely those of the South whiles he lay at Waterford Dermot K. of Corke which is the Nation of the Mac Cartyes at Cashel Donald K. of Limrick which is the Nation of the Obrenes Donald K. of Ossory Mac Shaghlon King of Ophaly at Divelin did the like Okernel King of Vriel Ororick King of Meth Roderick King of all Ireland and of Connaght This did they with consents and shouts of their People and King Henry returned without any Battle given Only Vlster remained which John de Courcy soon after conquered and Oneale Captain of all the Irish there came to Dublin to Richard the Second An. 1399. and freely bound himself by Oath and great Sums of Money to be true to the Crown of England 3. The same time O Brien of Thomond Oconar of Connaght Arthur Mac Murrow of Leinster and all the Irish Lords which had been somewhat disordered renewed their Obedience 4. When Ireland first received the Christian Faith they gave themselves into the Jurisdiction both Spiritual and Temporal of the See of Rome The Temporal Lordship Pope Adrian conferred upon Henry the Second and he gave the same to John his younger Son afterwards King of England and so it returned home to the Crown 5. Alexander the Third confirmed the Gift of Adrian as in both their Charters is expressed at large 6. Vivian the Legate on the Popes behalf did Accurse and Excommunicate all those that fell from the Obeysance of the Kings of England 7. The Clergy twice Assembled once at Cashell secondly at Armagh plainly determined the Conquest to be Lawful and threatnad all people under pain of Gods and holy Churches indignation to accept of the English Kings for their Lords from time to time 8. It would ask a Volume to recite the Name of such Irish Princes who since the Conquest have continually upon Occasions Revolts or Petitions sworn Truth and Faith to the Kings of England and from time to time received Honors Wages Fees Pardons and made Petitions And thus I think no reasonable man will doubt of a Right so old so continued so ratified and so many ways confessed The Kings Revenue in Ireland was spent and wholy exhausted in the publick service and therefore The Kings Revenue in Ireland wholy spent on that Kingdome in all the ancient Pipe-Rolls in the times of King Henry the Third Edward the First Edward the Second and Edward the Third between the Receipts and Allowances there is this entrie In Thesauro nihil For the Officers of the State and the Army spent all so as there was no surplusage of Treasure And here I may well take occasion to shew the vanity of that which is reported in the Story of Walsingham touching the Revenue of the Crown in Ireland which he saith did amount to thirty thousand Pounds a year in the time of King Edward the Third The vain story of 30000 l. yearly Revenue in E 3ds time refuted If this Writer had known that the Kings Courts had been established in Ireland more than a hundred years before King Edward the Third was born or had seen either the Parliament Rolls in England or the Records of the Receits and Issues in Ireland he had not left this vain report to Posterity for both the Benches and Exchequer were erected in the twelfth year of King John And it is Recorded in the Parliament Rolls of 21. of Edward the Third remaining in the Tower that the Commons of England made Petition that it might be enquired why the King received no benefit of his Land in Ireland considering he possessed more there than any of his Ancestors had before him Now if the King at that time when there were no standing Forces maintained there had received thirty thousand pounds yearly at his Exchequer in Ireland he must needs have made profit by that Land considering that the whole charge of the Kingdome in the 47th year of Edward the Third when the King did pay an Army there did amount to no more than eleven thousand and two hundred pounds per Annum as appeareth by the Contract of William Winsore Besides it is manifest by the Pipe-Rolls of that time whereof many are yet preserved in Breminghams Tower and are of better credit than any Monks story that during the Reign of King Edward the Third the Revenue of the Crown of Ireland both certain and casual did not rise unto ten thousand pound per Annum though the medium be taken of the best seven years that are be found in that Kings time The like Fable hath Hollingshead touching the Revenue of the Earldome of Vlster which saith he in the time of King Richard the Second was thirty thousand Marks by the year Whereas in
THE PRESENT STATE OF Ireland TOGETHER With some Remarques Upon the Antient State thereof Likewise a Description of the Chief Towns With a MAP of the Kingdome LONDON Printed by M. D. for Chr. Wilkinson at the Black-Boy in Fleet-Street and T. Burrell at the Golden-Ball under St. Dunstans Church 1673. THE EPISTLE TO THE READER MVch cannot be expected upon a Subject of this Nature from a private Person and one who was seconded with few other helps to accomplish his desires herein than to consult his own thoughts and a mall number of Books that lay by him However the Reader may be well assured there is nothing offered here to his consideration in relation to the Present or Antient State of Ireland as far as the Subject would possibly admit of the same but what is back'd with good Authority and faithfully related by the Author according to the best information he could obtain As for other matters here Essayed by way of conjecture the Author well hopes this mean attempt will shortly administer a fit occasion for a more knowing Person and abler Pen to render the World more ample satisfction touching the Publick Affairs and State of that Kingdome wherein it may seem strange how that this our Age affords many Treatises entituled The present State of Enngland France Italy Holland Venice Muscovy c. yet not any thing of that Nature since his Majesties happy Restauration hath been hitherto presented to publick view in relation to the State of Ireland though it be one of the chiefest Members of the British Empire as if either there were no such thing in Nature Or at least that the Affairs thereof afforded not any thing worthy of Note whereas indeed the continued infelicity of that unhappy Kingdome till of late might alone besides many other remarkes made mention of in this ensuing Treatise justly breed some curiosity in any knowing person to take into his consideration what were the true causes why that Realm whereof our Kings of England have born the Title of Sovereign Lords for the space of four hundred and odd years a period of time wherein divers great Monarchies have risen from Barbarism to Civility and fallen again to Ruine was not in all that space of time throughly subdued reduced to the obedience of the Crown of England although there hath been almost a continual War between the English and the Irish and why the manners of the meer Irish were so little altered till King James his Reign since the days of King Henry the Second as appeareth by the description made by Giraldus Cambrensis who lived and wrote in that time although there hath been since that time so many English Colonies planted in Ireland as that if the people had been numbred by the Poll such as were descended of English race would have been found more in number than the antient Natives To give therefore a brief account of the true causes of those disorders as also of the exquisite remedies applyed by the late Settlement of Ireland in order to a perfect Reformation of the same is one of the chief ends and design of this discourse wherein if it gives the Reader any competent satisfaction the Author will deem himself thereby well rewarded for his pains THE CONTENTS OF THE First Part. THat Ireland is supposed to be first Inhabited by the Britains page 1. That it was first Invaded by the Saxon Monarchs p. 3. Next by the Northern Nations about the year 830. of Danes Swedes and Normans all passing under the Names of Norwegians p. ib. And last of all by the English in K. Henry the Seconds time p. 4. That the Conquest of Ireland by the English ever since Henry the Seconds time till now of late was imperfect by reason of two great Defects the first whereof consisted in faint prosecution of the War and the next in in the loosness of the Civil Government p. 6. Of the faint prosecution of the War and the causes of it p. ib. That notwithstanding many obstructions yet the first English Adventurers during the first forty years gained many large proportions of Land in the Provinces of Leinster Munster Connaght and Ulster p. 8. That the English being for a long time necessitated to maintain a bordering War with the Irish wholy at the charge of the English Planters the English Plantations in Ireland began thereupon to decay p. 9 10 11. That Morrice Fitz-Thomas Earl of Desmond was the first began that wicked Extortion of Coine Livery and Pay in K. Edward the Seconds time which soon after proved the utter ruine of all the English Colonies in Ireland except those few within the Pale which Interest of the English could never be put in a way of recovery again till about the beginning of Queen Eâ—izabeths Reign p. 12 13. That by reason of the said Earl of Desmond and divers other Grandees of the first English Conquerors getting vast Estates from the English Colonies in Ireland by those horrible oppressioins of Coin and Livery c. many of the English fled into England and the rest in a small tract of time so much degenerated into Irish manners as that they hated the very name of the English and took upon them Irish Nick-names p. 14 15. That those great English Lords the better to maintain their said unlawful Acquisitions became thereupon Arch Enemies both to the Government and the Laws of England refusing to appear at Parliaments and no way observing the Dictates and Command of the Chief Governors of that Realm p. 16 17. That by these means and by reason of the English Nobility and Gentry passing afterwards out of Ireland into England to be engaged in the Civil-Wars between York and Lancaster wherein most of them perished the Irish became victorious over all the English except those within the Pale without bloud or sweat p. 17 18. That it was a great hindrance to the full Conquest of Ireland that the first English Conquerors did not equally communicate the English Laws to the Irish as well as to English Planters ib. That by means thereof the English Conquerors maintained perpetual Enmity and War with the Irish for their own private ends and advantages to the distruction of the Country p. 19. That this was contrary to the practice of the Roman State who never refused to communicate their Laws to the rude and barbarous people they conquered p. 20. And to the practice of William the Conqueror who Governed both Normands and the English under one Law p. 21. And against the prudent course Edward the First observed in the reducing of Wales p. ib. That the next Error in the Civil pollicy was the over great proportions of Land with great Royalties and Liberties granted to the first English Adventurers in Ireland which occasioned many notorious inconveniencies p. 22. The reason why such vast proportions of Land were given to the first Adventurers in Ireland p. 30. The manner how Ireland was divided among the English Conquerors in
with lesser proportions For when Scipio Pompey and Caesar and other Generals of the Roman Armies as Subjects and Servants of that State and with the Publick Charge had Conquered many Kingdomes and Common-Weals we find them rewarded with Honorable Offices and Triumphs at their return and not made Lords and Proprietors of whole Provinces and Kingdomes which they had subdued to the Empire of Rome Likewise when the Duke of Normandy had Conquered England which he made his own work and perform'd it in his own person he distributed sundry Lordships and Manners unto his Followers but gave not away whole Shires and Countries in Demesne to any of his Servitors whom he most desired to advance Again From the time of the Norman Conquest till the Reign of King Edward the First many of our English Lords made War upon the Welch-men at their own charge the Lands which they gained they held to their own use were called Lords Marchers and had Royal Liberties within their Lordships Howbeit these particular Adventurers could never make a Conquest of Wales But when King Edward the First came in person with his Army thither kept his Residence and Court there made the reducing of Wales an enterprize of his own he finished that work in a Year or two whereof the Lords Marchers had not perform'd a third part with their continual Bordering War for two hundred Years And withall we may observe that though this King had now the Dominion of Wales in jure proprietatis as the Statute of Rutland affirmeth which before was subject unto him but in jure feodali And though he had lost divers principal Knights and Noble men in that War yet did he not reward his Servitors with whole Countries or Counties but with particular Mannors and Lordships As to Henry Lacie Earl of Lincoln he gave the Lordship of Denbigh and to Reighnold Gray the Lordship of Ruthen and so to others If the like course had been used in the winning and distribuiting of the Lands of Ireland that Island had been fully conquered before the Continent of Wales had been reduced But the truth is when private men attempt the Conquest of Countries at their own charge commonly their enterprizes do perish without success as when in the time of Queen Elizabeth Sir Thomas Smith undertook to recover the Ardes and Chatterton to reconquer the Fues and Orier The one lost his Son and the other himself and both their Adventures came to nothing And as for the Crown of England it hath had the like Fortune in the Conquest of this Land as some Purchasers have who desire to buy Land at too easie a Rate they find those cheap Purchasers so full of trouble as they spend twice as much as the Land is worth before they get the quiet possession thereof And as the best policy was not observed in the distribution of the Conquered Lands That the first English Adventurers in Ireland were deceived in the choice of the fittest places to settle their Plantations in so as I conceive that the first Adventurers intending to make a full Conquest of the Irish were deceived in the choice of the fittest places for their Plantation For they sate down and erected their Castles and Habitations in the Plains and open Countries where they found most fruitful and profitable Lands and turned the Irish into the Woods and Mountains Which as they were proper places for Out-laws and Thieves so were they their Natural Castles and Fortifications thither they drave their preys and stealths there they lurkt and lay in wait to do mischief These â—â—st places they kept unknown by making the ways and entries thereunto impassable there they kept their Creaghts or Herds of Cattle living by the Milk of the Cow without Husbandry or Tillage there they encreased and multiplyed unto infinite numbers by promiscuous generation among themselves there they made their Assemblies and Conspiracies without discovery But they discovered the weakness of the English dwelling in the open plains and thereupon made their Sallies and Retreats with great advantage Whereas on the other side if the English had builded their Castles and Towns in those places of fastness and had driven the Irish into the plains and open Countries where they might have had an eye and observation upon them the Irish had been easily kept in order and in short time reclaimed from their wildness There they would have used Tillage dwelt together in Town ships learned Mechanical Arts and Sciences The Woods had been wasted with the English Habitations as they were afterwards about the Forts of Mariborough and Philipston which were built in the fast places in Leinster and the ways and passages throughout Ireland would have been as clear and open as they are in England or Ireland at this day Having thus far recounted the manifold defects mischiefs and impediments that both in the Civil and Martial Affairs so long obstructed the ful Conquest of Ireland I should have here also briefly recited the many good Laws and Ordinances made and enacted from time to time by the Kings of England and the Parliaments in Ireland for redressing the said mischiefs and inconveniences but all fair endeavours and purposes of this kind proving abortive and ineffectual for want of the Sovereign Sword as well as the Royal Scepter to put the same in execution I shall now onely set forth the Nature of the Irish Customs with the evil Consequences thereof and then proceed to a conclusion of this discourse containing those Affairs that shall appear most remarkable in the reigns of Queen Elizabeth King James and King Charles the First and especially in the Reign of our present Gratious Sovereign King Charles the Second in order to the Reformation and good Government of this Realm If we consider the Nature of the Irish Customs The Nature of the Irish Customs destructive to all good Government we shall find that the people which doth use them must of necessity be Rebels to all good Government destroy the Common-Wealth wherein they live and bring Barbarisme and Desolation upon the richest and most fruitful Land of the World For whereas by the just and honorable Law of England and by the Laws of all other well governed Kingdoms and Common-wealths Murder Manslaughter Rape Robbery and Theft are punished with Death By the Irish Custom or Brehen Law the highest of these offences was punished onely with Fine which they called an Erick Therefore when Sir William Fitz-Williams being Lord Deputy told Maguire that he was to send a Sheriff into Farmannagh being lately before made a County your Sheriff said Maguire shall be welcome to me but let me know his Erick or the price of his head before hand that if my people cut it off I may cut the Erick upon the Country As for Oppression Extortion and other trespasses the weaker had never any remedy against the stronger whereby it came to pass that no man could enjoy his Life his Wife his Lands or
great loss whether it turned to the benefit of the Queen or no is not known But to the Treasurers and Paymasters without doubt it brought in good gain whose avarice which is a diligent searcher of hidden gains may seem to have devised it The Money now generally used in Ireland there being little of English because prohibited to be transported thither beyond the summe of five pounds as I take it for the better encouragement of Trade between both Kingdoms is most of all Spanish Coyn to wit pieces of Eight at 4 s. 6 d. the piece consisting of Plate pieces Mexico and old Peru with half and quarter pieces The new Perues whereof there was a good quantity being not long since called in and by reason they were thought to be abused and falsified converted into Plate to the great benefit of some in Dublin and the no small loss at that time of a great many people in Ireland A piece of old English Gold is hardly to be seen in Ireland except what is closely kept in private hands though there was a great proportion thereof before the late Wars which commonly passed from hand to hand in ordinary Payments There is a small quantity of Brass Coyn that is used there for the conveniency of change I have already hinted Buildings how that the Irish by reason of their Barbarous Laws and Customs did never build any Houses of Brick or Stone some few poor Religious Houses excepted before the Reign of King Henry the Second which seems as manifest as strange by the entertainment of the said King received at their chief City of Dublin Anno 1172. who was unavoidably necessitated for meer accommodation finding there no fit place for his reception to set up a long house made of smoothed Wattles after the manner of the Country wherein he pompously entertained the greâ—t Irish Lords and Princes at Christmas All their Forts Castles Stately Buildings and other Edifices were afterwards Erected by the English except as I said some of the Maritine Towns which were built by the Ostmanni or Easterlings who antiently came and Inhabited Ireland The Buildings of Ireland much improved by the last forty years Peace During the last forty years peace in Ireland there were many lovely Houses built through most part of that Kingdom by the English Nobility and Gentry with delicate improvements in Orchards Gardens and Inclosures correspondent thereunto There was also at the same time by way of imitation the like good indeavours of making handsome Improvements and Buildings by the better sort of Irish both in Towns and Country But the fair Dwellings of the English were so badly handled by the Irish in the heat of the War that scarce any part of them except the main Walls escaped from fireing upon which being generally made of Massy Stone the English have rebuilt and are building besides a great number upon new foundations many fair Structures But that which has been hitherto The Nasty Irish Cabbins a great blemish to Ireland and I doubt will ever hereafter be a blemish to the flourishing state of Ireland in point of Building is the great number of Nasty-Smoaky-Cabbins every where made up of Wattles without any Chimnies wherein the poorer sort of Irish do well which cannot be altogether ascribed to their meer poverty and antient custom but rather much more to the uncertainty of the tenure whereby they hold the same being Tenants only but from May to May that so they may more easily quit their Station and try their fortunes else where for an other year though many times to as little effect in case they find themselves over-much opprest by their Landlords Their Parish Churches were generally as meanly built in Ireland as their practice was in Religion but now that the Country comes to be inhabited by a more civil and better Principled people it may be justly hoped and likewise expected that there will be by degrees a Reformation in this particular as well as in other matters of less moment since the handsome building and adorning of Churches do conduce much to draw the rude people to the the reverencing and frequenting thereof CHAP. II. Of the Inhabitants their Laws Religion and Manners Of their Number Language Stature Dyet Attire Recreations Names and Sir-names I have already declared how it is most probable that the first Inhabitants of this Island came hither out of Britain Inhabitants and Laws now called England and Wales And therefore shall proceed to give some farther Account touching the Laws of this Realm both Ancient and Modern The Brehon Law by which the Irish governed themselves was a Rule of Right unwritten but delivered by Tradition from one to another in which often times there appeared great shew of Equity in determining the Right between party and party but in many things repugning quite both to Gods Law and Mans The partiality and impiety of the Brehon Irish Law As for example in the case of Murder the Brehon that is their Judge would compound between the Murderer and the Friends of the party Murdered which Prosecuted the Action that the Malefactor should give unto them or to the Child or Wife of him that is slain a recompence which they called an Eriach By which vile Law of theirs many Murders amongst them were made up and smothered And this Judge being as he was called the Lords Brehon adjudged for the most part a better share unto this Lord that is the Lord of the Soil or the head of that Sept and also unto himself for his judgment a greater portion then unto the Plaintiffs or parties grieved Sir Edward Poynings the best Reformer of the Laws of Ireland He that gave the fairest beginning to the Reformation of the Laws of Ireland of any till his time was Sir Edward Poynings Lord Deputy of Ireland in the Reign of King Henry the Seventh who finding in that Realm nothing but a common misery took the best course he possibly could to establish there a well governed Common-wealth and to that end he held a Parliament no less famous than that of Kilkenny and more available for the Reformation of the whole Kingdom For whereas all wise men did ever concur in opinion that the readiest way to Reform Ireland was to settle a form of Civil Government there conformable to that of England To bring this to pass Sir Edward Poynings did pass an Act whereby all the Statutes made in England before that time were enacted established and made of force in Ireland Neither did he only respect the time past but provided also for the time to come For he caused an other Law to be made that no Act should be propounded in any Parliament of Ireland but such as should be first Transmitted into England and approved by the King and Council there as good and expedient for that Land and so returned back again under the Great Seal of England This Act though it seem Prima facie to restrain
he termeth infinitam vim Britannicarum dictionum that the Britains first peopled this Land And although of a long time by reason of troubles and alterations the speech grew wholly out of use yet afterwards in success of time it was revived Secondly the British and Irish oft Matched together so that there grew among them great alliance and affinity to the fartherance of the Language Thirdly the first Conquerors in Henry the Seconds time that brake the Ice into this Land were Welch-men whose Names and Seats to this day are fresh in memory As for instance in the Dioces of Leighlin there is a Town called Villa Wallicorum the Town of Welch men Careg and Craig in the British or Welch Tongue is a Stone or Rock and of the Britains Carreggferggus Carreggmont-Griffiin Carregg in Shurie Carrigguaspin and Craigwading have their Names Likewise Llis in British is a Court or Palace of that in Ireland you have Lismore Lisfenyn Lislofty Lismakery Glan and Glyn are British words of them have you Glangibbon Glandoboy Glanreynold Glynburry Glyndelory Glynmoloura c. Inis an Island is British and Irish of which kind are Inissirocan Inishoven Inisdiok Inisuag Iniscorthie and the like Rath a Moat or round Trench whereof there are many in Ireland made by the Danes if Beda had not said that it was a Saxon word I would have said it had been British and how many names of places are compounded with it in Ireland were too long to reherse I will here give Stainhurst leave to conclude Omnes Insulae locos lucos Wallici nominis gloria implevit the renown of the Welch name saith he hath filled all the ways and woods of the Island The Irish are now generally bred both to read and speak the English Tongue The Irish are commonly of a large and handsome proportion of body clear of Skin and Hue. Their Women are well Favoured clear Coloured fair handed big and large suffered from their infancy to grow at Will nothing curious of their feature and proportion of body The Common sort of People in Ireland do feed generally upon Milk Dyet Butter Curds and Whey New bread made of Oat meal Beans Barly and Pease and sometimes of Wheat upon Festivals their bread being baked every day against the fire Most of their Drink is Butter-milk and Whey They feed much also upon Parsnips Potatoes and Water-cresses and in those Countreys bordering on the Sea upon Sea weeds as Dullusck Slugane but seldome eat Flesh The middle sott of the Irish Gentry differ not much from the same kind of Dyet save only that they oftner feed upon Flesh eat better Bread and drink Beer more frequently They are all of them when opportunity offers it self too much inclined to drink Beer and Vsquebagh to an excess And both Men and Women of all sorts extreamly addicted to take Tobacco in a most abundant manner The best sort of Irish do imitate the English both in Dyet and Apparel but not without a palpable difference most commonly in the mode of their Entertainment Atâ—â—â—e Trouses and Mantles were till King James and King Charles his Reign the general habit of the Irish their Mantles serving many times as a fit house for an Out-Law a meet bed for a Rebel and an apt cloak for a Thief But now the Men wear their cloaths altogether after the English fashion having converted their Mantles into Cloaks with which kind of wear they are much affected Formerly they used no Hats but Caps made of Irish Frize called Cappeenes and even now the middle sort of Gentry seldome wear Bands unless they go abroad amongst Strangers The Common sort of People both Men and Women wear no English Shoos but things called Irish Brogues thin soled somewhat like our Poumps and sowed altogether with Leather The ordinary sort ef Irish Women wear a kind of loose Gowns without stiffening with Petticoats and Wascoats without any Bodys having linnen Kerchers about their heads instead of head-cloaths and never using hats but covering their heads with their Mantles to save themselves from rain or the heat of the Sun The Irish Gentry are musically disposed Recreations therefore many of them play singular well upon the Irish-Harp they affect also to play at Tables The Common sort meet oftentimes in great numbers in plain Meadows or Ground to recreate themselves at a play called Bandy with Balls and crooked Sticks much after the manner of our play at Stoe-ball they are much given to Dancing after their Countrey way and the men to play upon the Jews-Harp and at Cards but for no great value The Irish Names Irish Names of Baptism are generally Teig Patrick Turlough Murrogh Mortoch Donoch Loughlin Dermot c. with many other Names made use of there as well as here in England as namely John Edmund Edward Thomas William James c. Sirnames For the better breaking of the Heads and Septs of the Irish which was one of their greatest strength and motive to lead them to Rebellion there was a law made in Ireland in the Reign of King Edward the Fourth by which it was commanded that whereas all men then used to be called by the name of their Septs according to the several Nations and had no Sirnames at all that from thenceforth each one should take upon himself a several Sirname either of his trade and faculty or of some quality of his body or mind or the place where he dwelt so as every one should be distinguished from the other or from the most part whereby they should not only not depend upon the head of their Sept as then they did but also in time learn quite to forget the Irish Nation And herewithall would I also wish all the O's and Mac's which the Heads of Septs have taken to their names to be utterly forbidden and extinguished For that the same being an Ordinance as some say first made by O Brien for for the strengthning of the Irish the abrogating thereof will as much infeeble them The custome of prefixing the vowel O to many of the chief Irish Sirnames began in the Reign of Brien Boria the son of Kennethy King of Ireland As for Mac in Sirnames it beareth no other signification then Fitz doth amongst the French and from them the English and Ap with the Welch And although it were more anciently used then the other yet it varied according to the Fathers Name and became not so soon fully settled in families CHAP. III. Of the Government THe Government Government of Ireland by Vice-Roys or Deputies were from the first entrance of the English under Henry the Second till King Edward the Third's days called Justicers of Ireland and Justicers and Keepers of the Land of Ireland then Lieutenants and their Vicegerent Deputies The Vice-Roys or Deputies of Ireland diversly named at sundry times Afterward they were at the Prince his pleasure tearmed somtimes Deputies somtimes Justicers and sometimes Lieutenants which is a
truth though the Lordships of Connaght and Meath which were then parcel of the Inheritance of the Earl of Vlster be added to the Accompt the Revenue of that Earldome came not to the third part of that he writeth For the Accompt of the Profits of Vlster yet remaining in Breminghams Tower made by William Fitz-Warren Seneschall and Farmer of the Lands in Vlster seized into the Kings hands after the death of Walter de Burgo Earl of Vlster from the fifth year of Edward the Third until the eighth year do amount but to nine hundred and odd pounds at what time the Irishry had not made so great an invasion upon Earldome of Vlster as they had done in the time of King Richard the Second As vain a thing it is that hath been seen written in an ancient Manuscript touching the Customes of Ireland in the time of King Edward the Third that those duties in those days should yearly amount to ten thousand Marks which to search and view of the Records there can justly be controlled For upon the late reducing about the beginning of King James his Reign of this ancient Inheritance of the Crown which had been deteined in most of the Port Towns of that Realm The Customs of Ireland of little value till King James his Reign being but 1000 l. per An. for the space of one hundred years and upwards some pains being taken to visit all the Pipe Rolls wherein the Accompts of Customs are conteined those duties were found to be answered in every Port for two hundred and fifty years together but could not find that at any time they did exceed a thousand Pounds per Annum and no marvel for the Subsidy Poundage was not then known and the greatest profit did arise by the Cocquet of Hides for Wooll and Wooll-fells were ever of little value in that Kingdome till of late The Profit of the Custome-house in Ireland in the last year of King James his Reign did amount to thirty thousand Pounds per Annum The Customes of Ireland advanced to 30000 l. per An. in the last year of K. James his Reign And what great improvements were made thereof by the Earl of Strafford in the time of his Government I cannot find because they fell together with him But what that branch of the Revenue now comes to together with the rest paid yearly to his Majesties Exchequer in Ireland I shall here render a particular account of which at first view considering that Countrey is not yet half Planted with People may be much wondred at But when I call to mind Sir Audley Mervyns expressions Speaker of the House of Commons in Ireland delivered in a Speech of his to his Grace the Duke of Ormond then Lord Lieutenant of that Kingdome Feb. 13. 1662. being these viz. That they did understand the usual proceedings of Parliaments to begin at Grievances and to conclude with Supplies But that they had inverted that Order by applying themselves in the first place to the settling a constant Revenue for his Majesty and granting other Temporary Aides far above their Abilities though far less than what his Majesties goodness might challenge from them then the wonder ceases for as I have already observ'd while the Popish Irish party bore sway in the Publick Assemblies of that Realm they appeared averse not only to contribute towards the Publick Charge unless upon their own Terms though the occasions were never so urgent and they in a condition more able to discharge the same than now of late But repented themselves of those good Acts they had once consented to in this kind in order to his Majesties Service which they evidently expressed by their forward accepting the abatement of the fore-mentioned Subsidies in the Earl of Straffords time from forty thousand Pounds each Subsidy to twelve thousand pounds a piece An Act far different from the behaviour of those Loyal English hearts in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth who contributed so freely to supply her Majesties necessities in the Publick Concern as that sometimes she refused their kindnesses accounting the Money in the purses of her good Subjects to be as ready for her Service when occasion required as if they had been lock'd up in her own Coffers The particulars of his Majesties present Revenue in Ireland The particulars of his Majesties present Revenue in Ireland amounting to 219500 l. according the Demise made by King Charles the Second to John Forth and his Partners by Indenture bearing date July 12. 1669. are as followeth viz. His Revenue arising by Hearth-Money Licenses to Retail Wine and Strong-Waters the New Quit-Rents given to his Majesty by the Acts of Setlement and Explanation the Chief Rents Fee Farm Rents Rent-Service Rent-Charge Rents See Rents reserved upon Leases exceeding one and twenty years Copy hold and all other antient Crown Rents set for seven years commencing at Christmas 1668. rendring yearly for the same ninety one thousand and five hundred Pounds And his Majesties Revenue arising by Customes and imported Excise set for six years commencing at Christmas An. 1669. rendering yearly seventy five thousand Pounds And his Majesties Revenue arising by Inland Excise and by Licenses to retaile Ale and Beer set for four years and three quarters from March 25. 1671. rendering yearly fifty three thousand Pounds for the first four years and thirty nine thousand seven hundred and fifty three thousand Pounds during the last three quarters amounting in the whole yearly to two hundred nineteen thousand five hundred Pounds The Grant made to the Lord Ranelagh of all the Revenue of Ireland continues to Decemb. 26. 1675. So that by this we may see in part what hopeful advantages are like in time to accrew to the Crown of England by having Ireland for the most part inhabited by Protestant British Planters whose Loyalty and Industry will I make no doubt cause that Kingdome to become in a short time a most flourishing Countrey A Table for Reducing Plantation Acres into English and Ascertaining the Kings Rent in the several Provinces of IRELAND according to the Explanatory Act viz. For every English Statute Acre in the Province of Leinster 3 d. Munster 2 d. ob Connaght 1 d. q. Vlster 2 d Irish English Acres Leinster Munster Vlster Connaght Ir. A. En. A. R. P. Pts. l. s. d. q. l. s. d. q. l. s. d. q. l. s. d. q. 1 1 2 9 21 0 4 3 0 3 3 0 3 1 0 2 2 2 3 0 38 42 0 9 3 0 7 1 0 6 2 0 4 3 3 4 3 17 63 1 2 2 0 11 0 0 0 3 0 7 1 4 0 1 36 84 1 7 2 1 2 2 1 1 0 0 9 3 5 8 0 15 105 0 2 1 1 6 1 1 4 1 1 0 0 6 9 2 35 5 2 5 1 1 9 3 1 7 2 1 2 2 7 11 1 14 26 2 10 0 2 1 2 1 10 3 1 5 0 8 12 3 33 44 3 2 3 2 5 1 2 2 0 1 7
England being Holy Head twelve hours Saile with a prosperous Gale of Wind and about twenty Leagues distance from this place The first affords it an excellent conveniency for all manner of businesses to be transacted to and from this City as well by Water as Land into all parts of the Kingdome with as little charge as possibly may be The other a rare advantage for the maintenance of Traffick and Commerce with England and all other parts of the World especially with the City of London from whence upon the least notice given Merchantable Goods of all kinds are soon dispatched hither or into any other parts of this Realm as occasion requires And that with far more speed than formerly by reason of the late erecting of Post-houses in all the principal Towns and Cities of this Kingdome which accommodates all persons with the conveniency of keeping good correspondency by way of Letters and that most commonly twice a week with any even the remotest part of Ireland at the charge of eight pence or twelve pence which could not formerly be brought to pass under ten or twenty shillings and that sometimes with so slow a dispatch as gave occasion many times of no small prejudice to the parties concern'd All these conveniencies and advantages have so far contributed to the present splendor and great increase of this City as that it now may be justly conceived to be grown within this fifty or sixty years twice as large and for handsomness of Building beyond all compare of what it might any way pretend unto in any former Age. Dublin thus wholy deriving her present lustre and happiness from the late prosperous Settlement of Ireland under the English Government being but a very mean and inconsiderable Metropolis for so Noble a Kingdom during the long continued misgovernment of that Realm bares in some particulars somewhat a like resemblance with that of the City of London Which first since quitting our selves from our expensive Relation and Correspondency with the Church of Rome The declining of our unprofitable Contests with France The Reducing of Ireland to an Orderly Common-wealth And last of all by the happy Union of the two Kingdoms of England and Scotland in the Person of King James of blessed memory thereby succesfully affording us a veny fit opportunity of turning the curreâ—t of all our vast former expences both of Blood and Treasure into the honorable and profitable undertaking of a gallant Trade with both the Indies and many other parts of the World But especially by planting of already very considerable Colonies in the West-Indies hath grown since the beginning of Queen Elizabeths Reign till this present being about an hundred and twelve years to be twice as large and much more beautiful then ever it was since the first foundation thereof being some two thousand five hundred years agoe It is therefore well observed That there is required to the Magnificence and Splendor of Cities First a Navigable River or some such easie passage by Sea which will bring thither a continual Concourse and Trade of Merchants as at Venice London Amsterdam Secondly some Staple-Manufactories and Commodities which will draw the like resort of Merchants though the conveniency of Sea or Rivers invite them not As at Newremberge in Germany a drie Town but mightily Traded Thirdly the Palace of the Prince for ubi Imperator ibi Roma where the Court is there will be a continual confluence of Nobles Gentry and Merchants and all sorts of Trades And by this means Madrid not long since a poor and beggerly Village is grown the most populous City in all Spain Fourthly the residence of the Nobility beautifieth a City with Stately and Magnificent Buildings which makes the Cities of Italy so much excel our in England their Nobles dwelling in the Cities and ours for the most part in their Country-Houses Fiftly the Seats or Tribunals of Justice on which both Advocates and Clients are to give attendance as in the Parliamentary Cities in France and in Spires in Germany Sixthly Universities and Schools of Learning to which the Youth from all parts are to make resort which hath been long the chief cause of the flourishing of Oxford Cambridge Bononia in Italy and other Cities of good Note beyond the Seas Seventhly Immunity from Tolls and Taxes most men being desirous to inhabite there where their Income will be greatest their Priviledges largest and their disbursments least So Naples Venice Florence having been dessolated by Plagues were again suddenly re-peopled by granting large Immunities to all comers in All which Requisites are as I conceive inherent and inseparable in and to the above mentioned two Cities to wit London and Dublin The City of Dublin in times past for the due Administration of Civil Government had a Provost for the Chief Magistrate But in the year of Mans Redemption 1409. King Henry the Fourth granted them liberty to Elect every year a Mayor and two Bayliffs and that the Mayor should have a guilt Sword carried before him for ever And Edward the Sixth to heap more honour upon this place changed the two Bayliffs afterwards into Sheriffs And of late our Gracious Sovereign King Charles the Second honored this City with a Lord Mayor So that there is nothing wanting here that may serve to make the State of a City most magnificent and flourishing FINIS Books Printed for Christopher Wilkinson and Thomas Burrell AErius Redivivus Or the History of the Presbyterians Containing the Beginnings Progress and Successes of that Active Sect. Their Oppositions to Monarchical and Episcopal Government Their Innovations in the Church and their Embroilments of the Kingdoms and States of Christendom in the persuit of their Designs from the year 1536. to the year 1647. By Peter Heylin D. D. in Folio Price bound 10 s. Regale Necessarium or the Legality Reason and Necessity of the Rites and Priviledges justly claimed by the Kings Servants and which ought to be allowed unto them By Fabian Philips Esq in Quarrto Price bound 5 s. God the King and the Church to wit Government both Civil and Sacred together Instituted Publick Solemnities in Consecrated places from the beginning Celebrated true Zeal in opposition to Luke-warmness consistent with moderation stated And throughout all the Church of England in the strictness of its Uniformity against both false accusers and false Brethren vindicated Being the Subject of Eight Sermons Preached in several places and now Published by George Seignior Fellow of Trinity Colledge in Cambridge and Domestick Chaplain to the Right Honorable the Earle of Burlington in Octavo Price bound 2 s. The Gentlemans Companion a Learned discourse Written Originally in French now faithfully Englished by a well-wisher to the English Gentry Octavo price bound 3 s. A Catalogue of the Baronets of England by William Dugdale Esq price bound 1 s. Poems upon the War Pestilence and Fire Octavo price 1 s. A short Exposition of the Catechisme of the Church of England by Edward Boughen D. D. in Octavo Price stitcht 6. d. Two Cases of Conscience viz. the Engagement and a Rash Vow deliberately iterated Resolved by the Right Reverend Father in God Robert Sanderson late Lord Bishop of Lincoln Twelves Price bound 6. d. Divine Breathings or a Pious Soul Thirsting after Christ in 24. Price bound 1. s.
Edward the Second For Morrice Fitz-Thomas Earl of Desmond being chief Commander of the Army against the Scots began that wicked extortion of Coyn and Livery and pay that is he and his Army took Horse-meat Mans-meat and Money at their pleasure without giving any Ticket or other satisfaction for the same This wicked imposition made High Treason by the Statute of 11. The English Plantations in Ireland began to decay H. 4. became afterwards so habitual and general a fault of all the Governours and Commanders of the Army in this Land that in a short time it inforced because the great English Lords and Captains had power to impose this charge when and where they pleased many of the poor English Free-holders to give unto those Lords a great part of their Lands that they might hold the rest free from that extortion And many others not being able to endure so intollerable a burthen did utterly quit their Free-holds and returned into England by means whereof the English Colonies did soon grow poor and feeble and the English Lords became rich and mighty for having placed Irish Tenants upon the Lands relinquished by the English upon whom they levied all Irish exactions and with whom they married fostered and made Gossips so as within one age both English Lords and Free-holders became degenerate and meer Irish in their Language Apparel Arms and manner of fight and all other Customs of life whatsoever That Morrice Fitz-Thomas Earl of Desmond was the first began that wicked Custome of Coyn and Livery But that I may not quit my self so soon of this subject before I give a more particular satisfaction to the Reader touching the evil consequences that ensued upon the general practice of this wicked Extortion of Coin and Livery which indeed was one of the chiefest causes of the sudden decay and ruine of the first English Colonies in Ireland he may be pleased to understand that the forementioned Thomas Fitz-Morrice Earl of Desmond did soon by these oppressive courses grow from a mean to a mighty Estate in so much that his ancient inheritance being not one thousand Marks yearly he became able to dispend every way ten thousand pound per Annum These possessions being thus unlawfully gained could not be maintained by the just and honorable Laws of England which would have restored the true owners to their Land again And therefore this Great Man found no better means to continue and uphold his ill purchased greatness then by rejecting the English Laws and Government and assuming in lieu thereof the barbarous Customs of the Irish whereupon followed the defection of those four Counties Which proved the utter ruine of the first English Colonies in Ireland except those within the Pale containing the greatest parts of Munster viz. Kerry Limrick Cork and Waterford from the obedience of the Law and so successively by the same means and much about the same time the rest of the English Lords and Free-holders in Ireland except those of the English Pale fell away from the English Law and Government in the end of King Edward the Second's Reign and in the beginning of King Edward the third And truly it is here a fit subject of wonder All the English Colonies in Ireland except those within the Pale degenerate into meer Irish manners to consider to what height of baseness the English arrived unto by this defection in so much as within less time then the Age of a Man they had no marks or differences left amongst them of that Noble Nation from which they were descended for they did not onely forget the English Language and scorn the use thereof but grew to be ashamed of their very English Names though they were Noble and of great Antiquity and took Irish Sir-names and Nick-names Namely the two most potent families of the Bourkes in Connaght after the house of the Red Earl failed of Heirs Males called their Chiefs Mac William Eighter and Mac William Oughter In the same Province Bremingham Baron of Athenry called himself Mac Yeoris D'Execester or d' Exon was called Mac Jordan Mangle or d' Angulo took the name of Mac Costello Of the inferiour Families of the Bourks one was called Mac Hubbard another Mac David In Munster of the great Families of the Geraldines planted there one was called Mac Morrice chief of the house of Lixnaw and another Mac Gibbon who was also called the White Knight The chief of the Baron of Dunboyns house who is a branch of the House of Ormond took Sir-names of Mac Pheris Condon of the County of Waterford was called Mac Majoke and the Arch-Deacon of the County of Kilkenny Mac Odo And this they did in contempt and hatred of the English Name and Nation of whom these degenerated Families became more mortal enemies then the meer Irish The Native Subjects of Ireland The Civil War of York and Lancaster furthered the ruine of the English Colonies in Ireland of English Race in Henry the 6th's time seeing the Kingdome thus utterly ruined passed in such numbers into England as one Law was made there to transmit them back again and another Law made in Ireland to stop their passage in every Port and Creek And as one ill fortune happens in the neck of another the greatest part of the Nobility and Gentry of Meth past over afterwards into England and were slain with Richard Duke of York who had been long Lord Lieutenant of Ireland at the Battle of Wakefield in York-shire after whose death while the Wars between the two Houses of York and Lancaster were in their heat almost all the good English blood which was left in Ireland was spent in these civil dissentions so as the Irish became Victorious over all without blood or sweat except onely that little Canton of Land as aforesaid called the English Pale containing the Counties of Dublin Louth Kildare and Meth which last hath since the time of King Henry the Eight been subdivided into three Counties that is to say East-Meath West-Meath and Longford which onely maintained a bordering War and retained the form of an English Government so that by the fourteenth of King Edward the Fourth the State of Ireland was grown to so low an ebbe upon an English account that at their erecting a Fraternity of men of Armes called the Brotherhood of S. George for the defence of the said Pale they exceeded not in number above 200. being all the standing Forces that were then in Ireland and as they were Natives of the Kingdom so the Kingdom it self did pay their wages without expecting any Treasure out of England However the great Lords of the natural Irish and degenerate English being divided into many factions and never conjoyned in any one principle of common interest and thereby consequently becoming very inconsiderable this small spot of ground was valiantly maintained for a long time by the weak but united Forces of the Kings of England Having proceeded thus far in examining
Goods in safety if a mightier man then himself had an appetite to take the same from him Wherein they were little better then Cannibals who do hunt one another and he that hath most strength and swiftness doth eat and devour all his followers Again In England and all well ordered Common-wealths men have certain Estates in their Lands and possessions and their inheritances descend from Father to Son which doth give them an encouragement to Build and Plant and to improve their Lands and to make them better for their Posterities But by the Irish Custome of Tanistry the Chieftains of every Country and the Chief of every Sept had no longer Estate then for life in their Chieferies the inheritance whereof did rest in no man And these Chieferies though they had some portions of Land allotted to them did consist chiefly in Cuttings and Cosheries and other Irish Exactions whereby they did spoil and impoverish the People at their pleasure And when their Chieftains were dead their Sons or next Heirs did not succeed them but their Tanists who were Elective and purchased their Elections by strong hand And by the Irish Custom of Gavelkind the inferiour Tennanties were partible amongst all the Males of the Sept both Bastards and Legitimate and after partition made if any one of the Sept had died his portion was not divided among his Sons but the Chief of the Sept made a new partition of all the Lands belonging to that Sept and gave every one his part according to his antiquity That the Irish Custome of Tanistry made all their possessions uncertain These two Irish Customs made all their Possessions uncertain being shuffled changed and removed so often from one to another by new Elections and partitions which uncertainty of Estates hath been the true cause of such Desolations and Barbarismes in this Land as the like was never seen in any Country that professes the name of Christ For though the Irish be a Nation of great Antiquity and wanted neither Wit nor Valour and though they had received the Christian Faith above twelve hundred years since and were Lovers of Musick and Poetry and all kind of Learning and possessed a Land abounding with all things necessary for the Civil life of man yet which is strange to be related they did never build any houses of Brick or Stone some few poor Religious Houses excepted before the Reign of King Henry the Second though they were Lords of this Island for many hundred years before and since the Conquest attempted by the English Albeit when they saw as Build Castles upon their Borders they did onely in imitation of us erect some few piles for the Captains of the Country yet may it be confidently affirm'd that never any particular person either before or since did build any Stone or Brick House for his private Habitation but such as have lately obtained Estates according to the course of the Law of England Neither did any of them in all this time plant any Gardens or Orchards Inclose or improve their Lands live together in settled Villages or Towns nor made any provision for Posterity which being against all common sense and reason must needs be imputed to those unreasonable Customs which made their Estates so uncertain and transitory in their possessions For who would plant improve And therefore unwilling to improve or build upon that Land which a stranger whom he knew not should possesse after his death For that as Solomon noteth is one of the strangest vanities under the sun And this was the true reason why Vlster and all the Irish Countries were found so wast and desolate about the beginning of King James's Reign and so would have continued to the worlds end if these Customs were not abolished by the Law of England The ill conconsequences of Gavelkind Custom in Ireland Again That Irish Custome of Gavelkind did breed another mischief for thereby every man being born to Land as well Bastard as Legitimate they all held themselves to be Gentlemen And though their Portions were never so small and themselves never so poor for Gavelkind must needs in the end make a poor Gentility yet did they scorn to descend to Husbandry or Merchandize or to learn any Mechanical Art or Science And this is the true cause why there were never any Corporate Towns erected in the Irish Countries The Maritine Towns in Ireland first built by the Ostmen or Easterlings As for the Maritine Cities and Towns most certain it is that they were Built and Peopled by the Ostmen or Easterlings for the Natives of Ireland never performed so good a work as to build a City Besides these poor Gentlemen were so affected unto their small portions of Land as they rather chose to live at home by Theft Extortion and Coshering then to seek any better fortunes abroad which encreased their Septs or Sir-names into such numbers as there are not to be found in any Kingdome of Europe so many Gentlemen of one Blood Family and Sir-name as there were of late of the O Neals in Vlster of the Bourkes in Cannaght of the Geraldines and Butlers in Munster and Leinster And the like may be said of inferiour Bloods and Families whereby it came to pass in times of trouble and dissention that they made great parties and factions adhering to one another with much constancy because they were tyed together Vinculo Sanguinis whereas Rebels and Malefactors which are tyed to their Leaders by no bond either of Duty or Blood do more easily break and fall off one from another And besides their Co-habitation in one Territory or Country gave them opportunity suddenly to assemble and conspire and rise in Multitudes against the Crown And even till of late in the time of Peace there was found this inconvenience that there could hardly be an indifferent trial had between the King and the Subject or between party and party by reason of this general Kindred and Consanguinity The Irish by their frequent Rebellions became fully Conquered by Queen Elizabeth And now are we arrived at that remarkable time being about the latter end of Queen Elizabeths Reign wherein was laid the foundation of that eternal peace of Ireland so solidly discoursed of and stoutly fought for in her time and soon after very far proceeded in by King James of blessed memory But fully perfected according to all humane appearance by our Gracious Sovereign King Charles the Second for though Queen Elizabeth through the whole course of her Reign studyed by all the ways and means possible she could to retain the Irish Nation in their dutiful obedience to her Howbeit by their frequent Rebellions being often excited thereunto by the Pope and the King of Spain and especially by that last and general one so diligently managed by that notorious and ungrateful Rebel Tyrone and his Adherents they so far provoked her as that by imploying as it were her whole care and strength for the suppression
several factions the Popish Irish party of the supream Counsel against the Popes Nuntio and his party afterwards some English and Irish for and others against my Lord of Ormonds Peace and at last some of the Protestant party and of the Irish for the King and some others of both parties for the Rump-Parliament but all in a confusion till the year 1649. The English find an opportunity to be throughly revenged en the Irish Anno 1649. c. At what time a considerable Army of English being transported into Ireland where after two Disputes the one at Dublin and the other at Tredagh the Royal party there finding no probability of effecting any thing advantageous to his Majesties Service joyning their forces with those newly landed out of England so bore down the Irish that in less space than three years there was scarce an Irish man through all Ireland that durst hold up his hand against them and by a necessary severity put in practice for the soon finishing of the War the whole Kingdome became upon a sudden so depopulated that considering what vast numbers of people were destroyed by the Sword Famine and Plague it is thought that in the conclusion of the said War there was not left living the eighth part of all the Irish Nation a just judgment of God inflicted on them for their notorious Barbarisme committed in their massacring the English The Irishry being thus broken the Irish Proprietors of Lands within the Provinces of Munster Leinster The Irish being broken are Transplanted into the Provinces of Connaght and County of Clare and Vlster were commanded by Proclamation by a certain day upon pain of Death to Transplant themselves into the Province of Connaght and County of Clare there to receive their proportions of Land according to their Qualifications the which very speedily and submissively they performed accordingly This Province of Connaght and County of Clare for their Natural and Artificial strength are worth the noting being altogether environed on the West and South-west part thereof by the vast Ocean and almost encompassed on the East and North-East part thereof in the whole length from North to South for the space of one hundred and forty miles or thereabouts with the great for the most part impassable River Shannon except by Boat or Bridge And on all sides and parts of the said Province of Connaght and County of Clare so beset with mighty strong Garrisons as namely Limrick Galloway Athlone James-Town the Forts of Slego and Belick in the County of Mayo with many other Garrisons of lesser moment and yet of no small strength that should the Irish at any time appear to stir in the least to oppose the Ruling power it were no less then wilfully to expose themselves to immediate slaughter and the mercy of the Sword This service being thus perform'd together with the turning out about the same time by degrees all the Popish Irish Proprietors out of all the strong Towns and Cities in Ireland Some part of the English Army disbanded after the Irish Transplantation and bringing in Protestant Planters as fast as they could to succed them in their habitations soon after followed the disbanding of certain Regiments of the Army who received their respective proportions of Land for their Arrears in the Provinces of Lynster Munster and Vlster according to their Lots upon every Acre whereof was imposed a certain Chiefry or Quit-Rent to be yearly paid after the expiration of five years towards the defraying of the Publick charge of the Kingdome The same method was soon after observed in satisfying the Arrears of the rest of the Army And about the same time the Commissioners sate at Athlone for determining the Qualifications of the Irish who having there received their doom immediately posted to Lougreah to get their respective proportions of Land to be assigned to them either in Connaght or the County of Clare according to the tenor of their said determined Qualifications from Commissioners siting at Lougreah for that purpose upon every Acre whereof a Quit-Rent was also imposed to be paid yearly after the expiration of five years as aforesaid towards the Publick charge All these things being effected The English and Irish setled upon their respective proportions of Lands within the compass of three years Whereupon followed a strange alteration in the general Face and State of Ireland and brought to this pass within the compass of three years or thereabouts this settlement having been first begun Anno 1653. there appeared within three or four years following such a strange alteration in the general Face and State of Ireland as might justly work much admiration in any sober man who having travelled over a considerable part of this Realm in the years 1652 and 1653. should on one side but consider what a dreadful wast Country he had beheld where for ten sometimes twenty or thirty Miles together nay indeed almost all the Kingdom over except about the English Garrisons one should not behold The lamentable condition all Ireland was reduced unto in the close of the War An. 1652 1653. Man Bird or Beast appear the very wild Fowls of the Aire and the wild Beasts of the Field being either dead or having departed out of those Desolations and thousands of Irish daily starving for want of Food did in this extremity ordinarily feed on the Souldiers Horses for which no satisfaction was in any times received but with the loss of their lives Nay the Famin grew generally at last to that height that the Irish did not only feed upon Horses but upon dead Corps taken out of the Graves the English Army and all those that followed them being in the mean time necessitated to be upon the matter wholy supplyed out of England with all manner of Provisions as well as Pay I say these things being seriously considered could not choose but pierce a heart of Stone with grief and sorrow Ireland reviving again from its ruinous coâ—dition But on the other side what true hearted English man or indeed any Christian but would have rejoyced to see a considerable number of all sorts of people repairing securely from all parts of the Country four times in the year to receive Justice in the four Courts of Judicature at Dublin according to the nature of their Complaints To see the Judges twice a year ride through all the Circuits in Ireland bravely attended and entertained by the Sheriffs Justices of the Peace and many other persons of good quality being all English accompanied also with many Irish both Gentry and Commons To see moreover both English and Irish together with the additional number of many thousands of English Welch and Scots with some Dutch that yearly Transported themselves hither to Plant diligently applying themselves all over Ireland to Tillage and breeding of of all sorts of Cattle with a competent proportion whereof the whole Country became in a few years indifferently well Planted
Affairs of that Kingdome expecting direction from hence the delays whereof were oftentimes through other greater affairs most irksome the oportunities there in the mean time past away and greater danger did often grow which by such timely prevention might easily have been stopped And this is worthily observed by Machiavel in his discourses upon Livie where he commendeth the manner of the Romans Government in giving absolute Power to all their Councellors and Governors which if they abused they afterwards should dearly answer And the contrary thereof he reprehendeth in the States of Venice of Florence and many other Principalities of Italy who use to limit their chief Officers so strictly as that thereby they have oftentimes lost such happy occasions as they could never come unto again The like whereof who so hath been conversant in the Government of Ireland especially during Queen Elizabeths Reign hath too often seen to their great hindrance and hurt That besides the want of Power there were eminent defects observed in the managemet of the publick Affairs of Ireland Besides this want of Power which did hinder the good Reformation of Ireland there were eminent defects noted in the mangement of the publick Affairs of that Kingdom by some of the chief Governors thereof who seeing the end of their Government to draw nigh and some mischiefs and practices growing up which afterwards might work trouble to the next succeeding Governor would not attempt the redress or cutting off thereof either for fear they should leave the Realm unquiet at the end of their Government or that the next that came should receive the same too quiet and so happily win more praise thereof than they before And therefore they would not seek at all to repress that evil but would either by granting protection for a time or holding some emparlance with the Rebel or by treaty of Comissioners or by other like devices only smother and keep down the flame of the mischief so it might not break out in their time of Government what came afterwards they cared not or rather wish'd the worst To this may be added The savoring of the Irish and depressing of the English an ill practice by some of the Lord Deputies of Ireland that when the Irish have been broken by the Sword of one Governour and thereby consequently made fit and capable for subjection another succeeding as it were into his harvest and finding an open way made for what course he pleased bent not to that point which the former intended but rather quite contrary and as it were in scorn of the former and in vain vaunt of his own Councels would tread down and disgrace all the English and set up and countenance the Irish all that he he could thereby to make them more tractable and buxome to his Government wherein he thought much amiss for surely his Government could not be sound and wholsome for that Realm it being so contrary to the former For it was even as two Physicians should take one sick body in hand at two sundry times of which the former would minister al things meet to purge and keep under the body the other to pamper and strengthen it suddenly again whereof what is to be looked for but a most dangerous relapse Therefore by all means it ought to be fore-seen and assured that after once entering into this course of Reformation there be afterwards no remorse nor drawing back for the sight of any such rueful objects as must thereupon follow nor for compassion of their Calamities seeing that by no other means it is possible to cure them and that these are not of will but of very urgent necessâ—ty The Lord Lieutenant The Lord Deputies of Ireland assâ—sted by a Privy Councel or Lord Deputy of Ireland hath for his assistance a Privy Councel attending on him though resident for the most part at Dublin and in emergencies or cases of more difficult nature proceedeth many times in an arbitrary way without formalities of Law Sir Henry Sidney Lord Deputy of Ireland in Queen Elizabeths time The Lords Presidents of Connaght and Mounster instituted in Queen Elizabeths time to enure and acquaint the People of Mounster and Connaght with the English Government again which had not been in use among them for the space of two hundred years before he instituted two Presidency Courts in those two Provinces placing Sir Edward Fitton in Connaght and John Perrot in Mounster The Lord President of Mounster hath one Assistant twelve learned Lawyers and a Secretary CHAP. IV. Of the Title changed from Lord to King of Ireland in the time of Henry the Eighth Of the Titles of the Crown to every part of Ireland and to the whole diverse ways And several claims to the Land of Ireland Of the Revenue and Strength Title altered from Lord to King SIR Anthony Saint-Leger Lord Deputy of Ireland in a Parliament which he held the 33. of Henry 8. caused an Act to pass which gave unto King Henry the Eighth his Heirs and Successors the Name Stile and Title of King of Ireland Whereas before that time the Kings of England were stiled but Lords of Ireland Although indeed they were absolute Monarchs thereof and had in right all Royal and Imperial Jurisdiction and Power there as they had in the Realm of England And yet because in the vulgar conceit the name of King is higher than the name of Lord assuredly the assuming of this Title hath not a little raised the Sovereignity of the Kings of England in the minds of this people And because it hath been doubted by some whether we might Lawfully fight against the Irish I shall for farther satisfaction here insert the Right and Title the Crown of England hath to the Kingdom of Ireland as to every part of it and to the whole divers ways I will begin with the Pedigree of William Earl Marshal Title to Leinster for thereupon depend many Records in Ireland and the King of Englands Right to Leinster Walter Fitz Richard who came from Normandy with William the Conqueror died Lord Strongbow of Strigule alias Chepstow without Issue to whom succeeded his Sisters Son who was created the first Earl of Pembroke and had Issue Richard the inheritor of Leinster by a Covenant and Marriage of Eva the Sole Daughter of Mac Murrough King of Leinster This Richard conveyed to Henry the Second all his Title and held of him the Lordship of Leinster in four Counties Wexford Catherlagh Ossory and Kildare Richard left Issue a Daughter Issabel married to William Earl Marshal of England now Earl of Pembroke Lord Strongbow and Lord of Leinster William had Issue five Sons who died without Issue when every of them except the youngest had successively possessed their Fathers Lands and five Daughters Maud Jone Issabel Sibil and Eve among whom the Patrimony was parted Anno 31. H. 3. Of these Daughters bestowed in Marriage are descended many Noble Houses as the Mortimers Bruises Clares
153 3 21 â—9 1 18 5 3 1 8 10 1 1 5 7 3 19 2 3 96 155 2 0 80 1 18 10 2 1 9 2 0 1 5 1 0 19 5 1 97 157 0 19 â—01 1 19 3 2 1 9 5 2 1 6 2 1 19 7 3 98 158 2 39 1 1 19 8 1 1 9 9 1 1 6 5 2 19 10 0 99 159 1 18 22 2 0 1 0 1 10 0 3 1 6 8 3 1 00 0 2 100 161 3 37 43 2 0 6 0 1 10 4 2 1 7 0 0 1 00 3 0 110 178 0 29 11 2 4 6 2 1 13 5 2 1 9 8 1 1 2 3 1 120 194 1 0 100 2 8 7 3 1 16 5 0 1 12 4 3 1 4 3 2 130 210 2 2 68 2 12 7 1 1 19 5 3 1 15 1 1 1 6 3 3 140 226 3 4 36 2 16 8 0 2 2 6 1 1 17 9 2 1 8 4 1 150 247 3 36 4 3 0 9 0 2 5 6 0 2 0 6 0 1 10 4 2 160 259 0 27 93 3 4 9 2 2 8 7 1 2 3 2 2 1 12 4 3 170 275 1 19 61 3 8 10 0 2 11 7 2 2 5 10 3 1 14 5 0 180 291 2 11 29 3 12 10 3 2 14 8 0 2 8 7 1 1 16 5 1 190 307 3 2 118 3 16 11 1 2 17 8 2 2 11 3 2 1 18 5 3 200 323 3 34 86 4 1 0 0 3 0 9 0 2 14 0 0 2 0 5 3 250 404 3 33 47 5 1 2 3 3 15 11 1 3 7 6 0 2 10 7 2 300 485 3 32 8 6 1 5 3 4 11 1 2 4 1 0 0 3 0 9 0 350 566 3 30 90 7 1 8 3 5 6 3 2 4 14 6 0 3 10 10 2 400 647 3 29 51 8 1 11 3 6 1 5 3 5 8 0 0 4 1 0 0 450 728 3 28 12 9 2 2 3 6 6 8 0 6 1 5 3 4 11 1 1 500 809 3 26 94 10 2 5 3 7 11 10 1 6 14 11 3 5 1 2 3 550 890 3 25 55 11 2 8 3 8 7 0 2 7 8 5 3 5 11 4 1 600 971 3 24 16 12 2 11 3 9 2 2 3 8 1 11 3 6 1 5 3 650 1052 3 22 98 13 3 2 3 9 17 5 0 8 15 5 3 6 11 7 1 700 1133 3 21 59 14 3 5 3 10 12 7 1 9 8 11 3 7 1 8 3 750 1214 3 20 20 15 3 8 3 11 7 9 2 10 2 5 3 7 11 10 1 800 1295 3 18 102 16 3 11 2 12 2 11 3 10 15 11 3 8 1 11 3 850 1376 3 17 63 17 04 2 7 12 18 2 0 11 9 5 3 8 12 1 1 900 1457 3 16 24 18 04 5 2 13 13 4 1 12 2 11 3 9 2 2 3 950 1538 3 14 100 19 04 â— 2 14 8 6 2 12 16 5 3 9 12 4 1 1000 1619 3 13 67 20 04 11 2 15 3 6 2 13 9 11 3 10 2 5 3 1500 2429 3 0 40 30 07 5 1 22 15 7 0 20 4 11 2 15 3 8 2 2000 3239 2 27 13 40 09 1 10 30 7 5 1 26 19 11 2 20 4 1 12 2500 4049 2 13 107 50 12 4 3 37 19 3 2 33 14 11 1 25 6 2 1 3000 485â— 2 0 8 60 14 10 2 45 11 1 3 40 9 11 0 30 7 5 0 3500 5669 1 27 53 70 17 3 1 53 8 0 0 â—7 4 11 0 35 8 8 0 4000 6479 1 14 26 80 19 10 0 60 14 10 2 53 19 10 3 40 9 10 3 4500 7139 1 0 120 91 02 3 3 68 6 8 3 60 14 10 3 45 11 1 3 5000 8099 0 27 39 101 04 9 2 75 18 7 0 67 9 10 2 50 12 4 2 5500 8909 0 14 66 111 07 3 1 83 10 5 2 â—4 4 10 1 55 13 7 1 6000 7919 0 01 39 121 09 9 0 91 2 3 3 80 19 10 1 60 14 10 1 6500 10528 3 28 12 131 122 3 98 14 2 0 87 14 100 65 16 1 0 7000 11338 3 14 106 141 148 2 106 6 0 1 94 9 100 70 17 3 3 8000 12958 2 28 52 161 19 8 0 121 9 9 0 107 199 2 80 199 2 9000 14578 0 01 119 182 0â— 7 â— 136 13 5 2 121 9 9 1 91 02 3 1 10000 16198 1 15 65 202 00 7 0 151 17 2 1 134 19 9 0 101 04 9 0 11000 17818 0 29 11 222 14 6 2 167 00 10 3 148 9 8 3 111 07 2 3 12000 19438 0 02 78 242 19 6 0 182 04 7 2 161 19 8 2 121 09 8 2 13000 21057 3 16 24 263 04 5 2 197 08 4 0 175 9 8 0 131 12 2 0 14000 22677 2 29 91 283 09 5 0 212 12 0 3 188 19 7 3 141 14 7 3 15000 24297 2 03 37 303 14 4 2 227 15 9 1 202 9 7 2 151 17 2 2 20000 32396 2 31 09 404 19 2 0 303 14 4 1 269 19 6 0 202 09 6 0 30000 48595 0 06 74 607 08 9 0 455 11 6 2 404 19 3 0 303 14 3 0 40000 64793 1 22 18 809 18 4 0 607 08 8 3 339 19 0 0 404 19 0 0 50000 80991 2 37 83 1012 07 11 1 759 05 10 3 674 18 9 0 506 03 9 0 Strength Seeing the Irish Nation by reason of their barbarous Laws and Customs could never upon their own soore put themselves in any hopeful way of erecting a Common-wealth in Ireland The Irish Nation inconsiderable but by their dependency on the Crown of England either before or since the Conquest of it by K. Henry the Second And that it is most evident unless they were bred under The manner how the English did again extend their bounds beyond the narrow Limits of the English Pale since the beginning of Q. Elizabeths reign and a little before and protected by the English Laws and Government they had never been otherwise looked upon in the World but as a mean and despicable people I shall therefore since a true measure of the strength of Ireland must be taken upon an English accout here briefly relate by what ways and means the English since the beginning of Quen Elizabeths Reign and a little before did again extend their power and interest in Ireland beyond the nâ—rrow Limtis of the English Pale 1. Viz. By the Rebellion of the Moors and Connors in the Reign of Ed. 6. and Q. Mary 1. In the first place I find that Sir Edward Bellingham being Lord Deputy of Ireland in King Edward the Sixths time was the first Deputy since the Reign of King Edward the Third that by a Martial course extended the border beyond the Limits of the English Pale by beating and breaking the Moors and Connors and building the Forts of Leix and Offaly To which work Thomas Earl of Sussex Lord Deputy of Ireland in Queen Marys Reign
did put the last hand to who having rooted out these two Rebellious Septs planted English Colonies in their rooms which in all the tumultuous times ever since kept their Habitations their Loyalty and Religion unless destroyed by the last Rebellion An. 1641. 2. 2. By the Rebellion of too Earl of Desmond An. 1583. In the five and twentieth year of Queen Elizabeths Reign Anno 1583 that infamous Rebel and Traytor to his Countrey Girald fitz Girald or Giraldides the eleventh Earl of Desmond of his Family when his men were consumed with Famin and Sword which had barbarously vowed to forswear God before they would forsake him and when he had escaped the hands of the Victorious English almost two years by lurking in uncertain corners was now by a common Soldier found in a little Cottage and unknown till having his Arm almost cut off he discovered himself and was slain being run through the body in many places his head being sent over into England was fixed upon a pole on London Bridge such end had this most powerful man in Ireland who derived his Pedigree from Maurice fitz Giralde of Winsor an Englishman most renowned amongst the first Conquerors of Ireland in the year 1170. He had goodly Lands and Possessions yea whole Provinces with Kerry a County-Palatine and very many Castles and a number of Tenements and Adherents and of his own Stock and Sir-name he had about five hundred Gentlemen at his Devotion Of all which and of his life also he was dispoyled within three years very few of the Family being left after he had broken his Allegiance to his Prince through the perswasion of certain Priests amongst whom the chiefest of all was Nicholas Sanders an Englishman who almost at the same instant was most miserably famished to death who being forsaken of all company and troubled in mind for the adverse success of the Rebellion he wandered up and down through Woods Forrests and Hills and found no comfort In his Pouch were found certain Orations and Epistles written to confirm the Rebels stuffed with large promises from the Bishop of Rome and the Spaniard By the downfal of this great Earl and his Adherents there fell such a great proportion of Land to the Crown in the Counties of Cork Kerrey and and Limrick as gave occasion to a brave English Plantation to be setled in those Southern parts of Ireland in the Reigns of King James and King Charles the first 3. 3. By the Rebellion of Edm. Burgh of Castle-Barry An. 1585. In the twenty seventh year of Queen Elizabeths Reign Anno 1585. Edmund Burgh of Castle Barry with his Sons and Adherents namely the Clan-Gibbons Clandonells and Joyes all of the Province of Connaght after they had drawn the Scots to their assistance and done the Countrey a great deal of mischief by their Rebellion were taken and condemned for Treason by means whereof there was a good portion of Land got to renew an English Colony in the Province of Connaght 4. By the Rebellion of Hugh Roe-Mac Mahone a great Lord in Ulster An. 1590. 4. In the one and thirtieth year of her Reign Anno 1590. by the Rebellion of Hugh Roe-Mac Mahon a great Lord in the Territory of Monaghan in Vlster for that he had with Banners displayed and exacted of his people Contributions due according to the barbarous manner of the Countrey being condemn'd and hanged his most large Lands and Livings were divided betwixt the English and certain of the Mac Mahons to hold the same paying certain yearly Rent to the Queen according to the Laws of England and this to the end that they might weaken that Family strong and powerful of Tenants and Adherents and blot out the Tyranny of Mac Mahone together with Title For by this Title those of that Family waxed insolent which by right or wrong took upon them the denomination Hereupon Brion O-Rerke a great Lord in the neighbour Countrey of Brenn and one who marvellously favoured and affected the Spaniards fearing lest the same might befal him took Arms against the Queen but being hunted into Scotland was very willingly delivered by King James to Queen Elizabeth who was Arraigned Anno 1591. in Westminster Hall for that he had excited and harboured Alexander Mac Conell and others against the Queen had commanded the Queens Picture painted in a Table to be hung at a horses taile and hurried about in scorn and disgracefully cut in pieces had entertained into his house certain Spaniards which were Shipwracked contrary to the Lord Deputies Proclamation had burnt down to Ashes the Houses of the Queens faithful Subjects by his Incendiaries had slain many of them and had offered Ireland into the possession of the King of Scots Sentence of death being pronounced upon him after a few days he suffered a Traytors death at Tiburn with a most obstinate mind This Traytors Land did also farther contribute towards the resetling of an English Plantation in the North of Ireland 5. By the dâ—signed Rebellion and flight of the Earl of Tyrone and his Adherents An. 1609. 5. In the sixth year of King James his Reign being Anno 1609. The Earl of Tyrone and Tirconnel Sir John O Daugherty and other great men of the North possessed of large Territories and great Jurisdictions conteining in the whole six Counties who being both uncapable of Loyalty and impatient of seeing the Kings Judges Justices and other Ministers of State to hold their Sessions and execute their Commissions of Oyre and Terminer within the parts where they commanded out of a guilty conscience having laid the foundation of a Rebellion but not being able to bring the same to effect forsook the Countrey and went into Spain leaving their whole Estates to the Kings disposal By whose directions their Lands were seized upon and sould to several Purchasers the City of London enfeoffed in a great part of them a great Plantation made in Vlster of English Welch and Scots by the united name of British Plantation By means whereof the foundations of some good Towns whereof London was one soon after encompassed with Stone walls were presently laid several Castles and Houses of strength built in several parts of the Countrey and great numbers of British Inhabitants setled there to the great comfort and security of the Kingdom And the same course was taken likewise for the better assurance of the peace of the Countrey in the Plantation of several parts of Leinster where the Irish had made incursions and violently expelled the Old English out of their Possessions And though the King was by due course of Law justly entitled to all their whole Estates there yet he was gratiously pleased to take but one fourth part of their Lands which was delivered over likewise into the hands of the British undertakers who with great cost and much industry planted themselves so firmly as they became of great security to the Countrey and were a most special means to introduce civility in