the Liberty of the Subjects of Ireland yet was it made at the Prayer of the Commons upon just and important cause For the Governors of that Realm especially such as were of that Country Birth Poynings Act made at the request of the Commons of Ireland had laid many opprssions upon the Commons And amongst the rest they had imposed Laws upon them not tending to the general good but to serve private turns and to strengthen their particular factions This moved them to refer all Laws that were to be past in Ireland to be considered corrected and allowed first by the State of England which had alwaies been tender and careful of the good of this people and had long since made them a Civil Rich and Happy Nation if their own Lords and Governors there had not sent bad intelligence into England Besides this he took special Order that the Summons of Parliament should go into all the Shires of Ireland and not to the four Shires onely within the English Pale for out of that little Precinct there were no Lords Knights or Burgesses Summoned to the Parliament neither did the Kings Writ run in any other part of the Kingdom and for that cause specially he caused all the Acts of Parliament lately before holden by the Viscount of Gormanston to be repealed and made void On these foundations they have raised many superstructures both of Law and Government enacted in their own Parliaments summoned by the Lord Deputy at the Kings appointment Amongst many inconveniences which have been observed in the Laws of England in relation to the Government of Ireland whereof a reformation was wisht this was a main one That when any of the Irish intended to go into Rebellion Entailing of Lands supported the Rebellions in Ireland they would convey away all their Lands and Lordships to Feoffees in trust whereby they reserved to themselves but a State for term of life which being determined by the sword or by the halter their Lands straight came to their heirs and the Crown of England defrauded of the intent of the Law which laid that grievous punishment upon Traytors to forfeit all their Lands to the Prince to the end that men might the rather be terrified from committing treasons for many which would little esteem of their own lives yet for remorse of their Wives and Children would be with-held from that heinous crime This appeared plainly in the late Earl of Desmond For before his breaking forth into open Rebellion he had conveyed secretly all his Lands to Feoffees of trust in hope to have cut off her Majesty from the Escheat of his Lands which inconvenience though well enough avoided at that time by an Act of Parliament obtained with much difficulty which by cutting off and frustrating all such conveyances as had at any time by the space of twelve years before his Rebellion been made within the compass whereof the fraudulent Feoffment and many the like of others his accomplices and fellow traytors were contained gave all his Lands to the Queen yet were it not an endless trouble supposing such Acts were easily brought to pass that no Traitor or Fellon should be attainted but a Parliament must be called for bringing of his Lands to the Crown which the Law giveth it Although since the time of St. Patrick Anno 430 Christianity was never extinct in Ireland Religion yet the Government being hailed into contrary factions the Nobility lawless the multitude wilful it came to pass that Religion waxed with the temporal common sort cold and feeble untill the Conquest by King Henry the Second did settle it The Honourable state of Marriage they much abused either in contracts unlawful meetings the Levitical and Canonical degrees of prohibition or in divorcements at pleasure or in omitting Sacramental solemnities or in retaining either Concubines or Harlots for Wives yea where the Clergy were faint they could be content to Marry for a year and a day of probation and at the years end to return her home upon any light quarrels if the Gentlewomans friends were weak and unable to avenge the injury Never was there heard of so many dispensations for Marriage as those men show I pray God grant they were all authentick and builded upon sufficient warrant The Disorders of the Church of Ireland about the latter end of Q. Elizabeths Reign and the causes of it About the latter end of Queen Elizabeths Reign the Church of Ireland was infested not onely with gross Symony greedy covetousness fleshly incontinency careless sloath and generally a disordered life in the common Clergy-men But besides all these had their particular enormities for all the Irish Priests which then enjoyed the Church-livings were in a manner meer Lay-men saving that they had taken holy Orders but otherwise they did go and live like Lay-men follow all kind of Husbandry and other worldly affairs as other Irish men did They neither read Scriptures nor preach to the People nor administer Communion but Baptism they did for they Christened then after the Popish fashion onely they took the Tithes and Offerings and gathered what fruit else they might of their Livings the which they converted as badly and some of them they said paid as due Tributes and Shares of their Livings to their Bishops I mean those which were Irish as they received them duly Which shameful abuses the English Governours could not redress because they knew not the parties so offending for the Irish Bishops had their Clergy in such aw and subjection under them that they durst not complain of them so as they might do to them what they pleased for they knowing their own unworthiness and incapacity and that they were still removeable at their Bishops will yielded to what pleased him and he took what he listed yea and some of them whose Diocesses were in remote parts somewhat out of the Worlds eye did not at all bestow the Benefices which were in their own donation upon any but kept them in their own hands and did set their own Servants and horse-boys to take up the Tithes and Fruits of them with the which some of them purchased great Lands and built fair Castles upon the same Of which abuse if any question were moved they had a very seemly colour and excuse that they had no worthy Ministers to bestow them upon but kept them so unbestowed for any such sufficient person as should be offered unto them To meet with this mischief there was a Statute enacted in Ireland which seems to have been grounded upon a good meaning That whatsoever English-man of good conversation and sufficiency should be brought to any of the Bishops and nominated unto any Living within their Diocess that were presently void that he should without any contradiction be admitted thereunto before any Irish which good Law though it had been well observed and that none of the Bishops had transgressed the same yet it wrought no Reformation thereof for many defects First there
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
they should Reign in Ireland nay they were come that height by these great Possessions that they could not brook that the Crown of England it self should have any Jurisdiction or Power over them For many of these Lords to whom our Kings had granted these petty Kingdoms did by Vertue and Colour of these Grants claim and exercise Jura Regalia within their Territories in so much as there were no less than eight Counties Palatines in Ireland at one time The first English Conquerors exercise Regal Power These absolute Palatines made Barons and Knights did exercise high Justice in all points within their Territories erected Courts for Criminal and Civil Causes and for their own Revenues in the same form as the Kings Courts were established at Dublin made their own Judges Seneschalls Sheriffs Coroners and Escheators so as the Kings Writ did not run in those Counties which took up more then two parts of the English Colonies but onely in Church Lands lying within the same which were called the Cross wherein the King made a Sheriff And so in each of these Counties Palatines there were two Sheriffs one of the Liberty and another of the Cross whereby it is manifest how much the Kings Jurisdictions was restrained and the power of these Lords enlarged by these high Priviledges Again these great undertakers were not tied to any form of Plantation but all was left to their discretion and pleasure And although they builded Castles and made Freeholders yet were there no tenures or services reserved to the Crown but the Lords drew all the respect and dependancy of the common people unto themselves Now let us see what inconveniences did arise by these large and ample Grants of Lands and Liberties to the first Adventurers in the Conquest The great inconveniences that ensued the Grant of whole Provinces and petit Kingdoms to the first English Conquerors of Ireland Without doubt by these Grants of whole Provinces and petty Kingdoms these few English Lords pretended to be Proprietors of all the Land so as their was no possibility left of settling the Natives in their Possessions and by consequence the Conquest became impossible without the utter extirpation of all the Irish which these English Lords were not able to perform nor perhaps willing if they had ability Notwithstanding because they did still hope to become Lords of those Lands which were possessed by the Irish whereunto they pretended Title by their large Grants And because they did fear that if the Irish were received into the Kings protection and made Liege-men and Free Subjects the State of England would establish them in their possessions by Grants from the Crown reduce their Countries into Counties ennoble some of them and enfranchise all and make them amensurable to the Law which would have abridged and cut off a great part of that greatness which they had promised unto themselves They therefore perswaded the King of England that it was unfit to communicate the Laws of England unto them and that it was the best policy to hold them as Aliens and Enemies and to prosecute them with a continual War whereby they obtained another Royal Prerogative and Power Which was to make War and Peace at their Pleasure in every part of the Kingdom which gave them an absolute command over the Bodies Lands and Goods of the English Subjects there And besides the Irish inhabiting the Lands fully Conquered and reduced being in the condition of Slaves and Villains did render a greater Profit and Revenue than if they had been the Kings Free Subjects and therefore for these two causes last expressed they were not willing to root out all the Irishry Again Those large Scopes of Land and great Liberties with absolute Power to make War and Peace did raise the English Lords to that height of Pride and Ambition as they could not endure one another but grew to a mortal War and Dissention amongst themselves insomuch that whole Towns and Countries have often times been destroyed by their Contentions which brought forth divers mischiefs that did not onely disable the English to finish the Conquest of all Ireland but did endanger the loss of what was already gained And of Conquerors made themselves Slaves to that Nation which they did intend to Conquer For whensoever one English Lord had vanquished another the Irish waited and took the opportunity and fell upon that Country which had received the blow and so daily recovered some part of the Lands which were possessed by the English Colonies Besides The English Lords to strengthen their Parties did Ally themselves with the Irish and drew them in to dwell amongst them and gave their Children to be fostered by them and having no other means to pay or reward them suffered them to take Coyn and Livery upon the English Free-holder which oppression was so intollerable as that the better sort were enforced to quit their Free-holds and fly into England and never returned though many Laws were made in both Realms to remand them back again and the rest which remained became degenerate and meer Irish as is before declared And the English Lords finding the Irish Exactions to be more profitable then the English Rents and Services and loving the Irish tyranny which was tyed to no Rules of Law or Honor better than a just and lawful Seigniory did reject and cast off the English Law and Government received the Irish Laws and Customes took as aforesaid Irish Sir-names refused to come to the Parliaments which were summoned by the King of Englands Authority and scorned to obey the English Knights which were sent to command and govern this Kingdome Why the Kings of England Granted such large Proportions of Land to the first Conquerors of Ireland But this ought withal to be taken into consideration that as these Grants of little Kingdomes and great Royalties to a few private persons did produce the mischiefs spoken of before So the true cause of making those Grants did proceed from this That the Kings of England being otherwise imployed and diverted did not make the Conquest of Ireland their own work and undertook it not royally at their own charge but as it was first begun by particular Adventurers so they left the prosecution thereof to them and other Adventurers who came to seek their Fortunes in Ireland wherein if they could prevail they thought it in Reason and Honor they could do no less than make them Proprietors of such Scopes of Land as they could Conquer People and Plant at their own charge reserving only the Sovereign Lordship to the Crown of England But if the Lyon had gone to hunt himself the shares of the inferiour Beasts had not been so great If the Invasion had been made by an Army transmitted furnished and supplyed onely at the Kings charges and wholly paid with the Kings Treasure as the Armies of Queen Elizabeth and King James were as the Conquest had been sooner atchieved so the Servitors had been contented
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
Henry the Seconds time and soon after p. 23. That when the Roman Generals had with the publick charge Conquered many Kingdoms and Common-wealths they were rewarded with honorable Offices and Triumphs and not made Lords and Proprietors of whole Kingdoms and Provinces p. 31. That William Duke of Normandy in the Conquest of England which he made his own work distributed sundry Lordships and Monnors unto his followers but gave not away whole Shires and Counties as was done in Ireland in Demesne to any of his Servitors whom he desired to advance p. ib. The like did Edward the First in the Conquest of Wales p. 32. That as the best policy was not observed in the distribution of the Conquered Lands in Ireland by the first English Adventurers so were they deceived in the choice of the fitttest places to settle their Plantations in p. 34. That the Nature of the Irish Customs are such that of necessity they make those people Rebels who make use of the same to all good Government and to the destruction of the Common-wealth wherein they live p. 37. That the frequent Rebellions in Ireland in Queen Elizabeths Reign especially that notorious one of the Earl of Tyrone and his Adherents chiefly fomented by the Pope and the King of Spain did so far provoke the Queen as that she made an absolute Conquest of the Irishry p. 44 That upon the finishing of the said Conquest to the end the long for wished perpetual Peace and Settlememt of that Kingdom might be established on firm foundations 't was propounded as the fittest expedient that all the forfeited Lands in Ireland might be disposed of to such English as should be brought out of England to plant the same paying thereout yearly by way of Quit-Rent a reasonable consideration to the Crown of England towards the maintenance of a Standing Army in Ireland p. 46. The same method being observed by the Romans to continue their Conquered Couâ—tries in due Obedience to them And which should also have been also put in practice by the first English Conquerors of the Realm of Ireland p. 48. That all such Irish who had forfeited the said Lands were to be transplanted from one Province into another and to become only Tenants to the English p. 50. That King James being swayed by wilder Councels wholy waving the Transplantation of laying hold on the said forfeited Lands did by an Act of Olivion remit all manner of offences committed against the Crown by the said Earl of Tyrone and the rest of the Irish which mild resolution of his was like to be soon after ill requited by the said Earl and his Adherents who practicing a new Rebellion in the North of Ireland and failing therein fled upon the guilty conscience thereof to the Spanish Netherlands giving thereby an excellent opportunity to settle a brave British Plantation within the fix forfeited Counties in the Province of Ulster p. 50 51. How far King James proceeded in the Reformation and Settlement of Ireland by dividing the same into Counties and thereby consequently making way for the Laws of England to be put in execution in all parts of the Kingdome and by ascertaining also all mens Estates according to English tenure c. with many other publick Acts tending to the future good Government and welfare of that Realm p. ib. That notwithstanding all those excellent Constitutions yet the foundation of that settlement of Ireland not long after received a shake by the Irish denying to contribute towards the maintenance of a standing Army in Ireland An. 1627. except they might first obtain a Tolleration of the Romish Religion though the Lord Primate Usher in a set Speech in the presence of the Lord Deputy Falkland made use of many strong Arguments and reasons to press them thereunto p. 53. That the loss of this rare opportunity by the Irish to express the height of their Loyalty to his Majesty of England can never be sufficiently repented of by them p. 54. That the Lord Primate Usher wisely foresaw a storm impending which was not long after unhappily verified by the bloody Rebellion in Ireland Anno 1641. without the least provocation given by the English to the Irish to perpetrate so wicked an Act wherein were barbarously destroyed in a very short space of time by the Sword and Famin above a hundred and fifty thousand Protestants p. 54 to 64. That the English could not obtain an opportunity to be throughly revenged on the Irish for their inhumane slaughtering of their Country-men till the year 1649. from what time within the compass of about three years it is conceived there was not left undestroyed by the Sword Plague and Famin above the eighth part of all the Irish Nation Being a just judgment of God fallen upon them for their impious carriage towards the poor Protestant British Planters p. 66. That the Irish Nation being thus broken all the Romish-Irish Proprietors were commanded upon pain of death by a certain day to transplant themselves from the Provinces of Lynster Munster and Ulster into the Province of Connaght and County of Clare which was performed accordingly p. 67. A brief description of the admirable Strength of the Province of Connaght as well by Art as Natuâ—e As also of the lamentable waste condition all Ireland was reduced unto in the close of the War An. 1652 1653. p 67 to 70. That immediately after the said Transplantation of the Irish being in the year 1653. certain Regiments of the English Army were disbanded and setled upon the Lands fallen by Lot to them for their Arrears within the Provinces of Lynster Munster and Ulster p. 68. c. That both English and Irish within three years after were setled upon their respective proportions of Land assigned to them or fallen by Lot in all parts of Ireland p. 68 69. That within three years ensuing the said Settlement there appeared a strange alteration in the general state of Ireland from a most ruinous to a reviving Common-wealth p. 70 71. That as his Majesties Restauration crowned the joy of oll the English in Ireland so it did as much deject the Irish who immediately expected thereupon to be generally restored to their former Estates p. 72. What alteration hapened to the Settlement of Ireland since his Majesties Restauration p. 73 216 c. How that that perpetual Peace and Settlement of Ireland which was so solidly discoursed of and stoutly fought for in Queen Elizabeths Reign and very far proceeded in King James his time Is now fully perfected and confirmed by our Gracious Sovereign King Charles the Second to the glory of God and the great honor and profit of his Majesty and security of his three Kingdoms p. 74 to 79. THE CONTENTS OF THE Second Part. OF the Name of Ireland and its Climate p. 80. Of its Dimension p. 81. Of the Division Form Aire and Commodities of the Province of Lynster p. 82. Of Munster p. 84. Of Ulster p. 87. And of Connaght
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
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
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
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
gallant and truly meritorious The Irish unanimously agreed to root the English out of Ireland It is not to be denyed but that the first and most bloudy executions were made in the Prevince of Vlster and there they continued longest to execute their rage and cruelty yet must it be acknowledged that all the other three Provinces did concur with them as it were with one common consent to destroy and pluck up by the roots all the British planted throughout the Kingdom And for this purpose they went on not only murdering stripping and driving out all of them Men Women and Children but they laid wast their Habitations burnt their evidences defaced in many places all the Monuments of Civility and Devotion the Courts and places of the English Government Nay as some of themselves exprest it they resolved not to leave them either Name or Posterity in Ireland Having thus far briefly rendered an account touching matter of fact That the Irish can pretend no grievances as motives to the last Rebellion An. 164â— transacted in this most bloudy Rebellion I shall in the next place take an occasion to enquire whether this desperate resolution of the Irish proceeded from the sense of some grievous oppressions imposed upon by their English Governours or rather meerly from an impetuous desire they had to draw the whole Government of the Kingdom of Ireland into their own hands Upon due consideration whereof I cannot find they had the least cause to complain of oppression for his late Majesties Indulgence was so great towards his Subjects of Ireland as that in the year 1640. upon their complaints and a general Remonstrance sent over unto him from both Houses of Parliament then sitting at Dublin by a Committee of four Temporal Lords of the Upper House and twelve Members of the House of Commons with instructions to represent the heavy pressures they had for some time suffered under the Government of the Earl of Strafford He took these Grievances into his Royal Consideration descended so far to their satisfaction as that he heard them himself and made present Provisions for their redress And upon the decease of Mr. Wandsford Master of the Rolls in Ireland and then Lord Deputy there under the said Earl of Strafford who still continued Lord Lieutenant of that Kingdom though then accused of High Treason and imprisoned in the Tower of London by the Parliament of England His Majesty sent a Commission of Government to the Lord Dillon of Kilkenny West and Sir William Parsons Knight and Baronet Master of the Wards in Ireland yet soon after finding the choice of the Lord Dillon to be much disgusted by the Committee he did at their Motion cause the said Commission to be Cancell'd and with their consent and approbation placed the Government upon Sir William Parsons and Sir John Borlace Knight Master of the Ordinance both esteemed persons of great Integrity and the Master of Wards by reason of his very long continued imployment in the State his particular knowledge of the Kingdom much valued and well beloved amongst the People They took the Sword upon the ninth of February 1640. And in the first place they aplyed themselves with all gentle lenitives to mollifie the sharp humours raised by the rigid passages in the former Government They declared themselves against all such proceedings lately used as they found any ways varying from the Common Law They gave all due encouragement to the Parliament then sitting to endeavour the reasonable ease and contentment of the people freely ascenting to all such Acts as really tended to a Legal Reformation They betook themselves wholly to the advice of the Councel and caused all matters as well of the Crown as Popular Interest to be handled in his Majesties Courts of Justice no way admitting the late exorbitancies so bitterly decryed in Parliament of Paper-Petitions or Bills in Civil Causes to be brought before them at the Councel-board or before any other by their Authority They by his Majesties gracious directions gave way to the Parliament to abate the Subsidies there given in the Earl of Straffords time and then in Collection from forty thousand pounds each Subsidy to twelve thousand pounds a piece so low did they think fit to reduce them And they were farther content because they saw his Majesty most absolutely resolved to give the Irish Agents full satisfaction to draw up two Acts to be passed in the Parliament most impetuously desired by the Natives The one was the Act of Limitations which unquestionably settled all Estates of Land in the Kingdom quietly enjoyed without claim or interruption for the space of sixty years immediately preceding The other was for the relinquishment of the right and title which his Majesty had to the four Counties in Connaght legally found for him by several Inquisitions taken in them and ready to be disposed upon a due Survey to British undertakers as also to some Territories of good extant in Mounster and the County of Clare upon the same title Thus was the present Government most sweetly tempered and carryed on with great lenity and moderation the Lords Justices and Councel wholly departing from the rigour of former courses did gently unbend themselves into a happy and just compliance with the seasonable desires of the people And his Majesty that he might farther testify his own settled resolution for the continuation thereof with the same tender hand over them having first given full satisfaction in all things to the said Committee of Parliament still attending their dispatch did about the latter end of May 1641. declare Kobert Earl of Leicester Lord Lieutenant General of the Kingdom of Ireland He was Heir to Sir Philip Sidney his Unckle as well as to Sir Henry Sidney his Grandfather who with great Honour and much Integrity long continued Chief Governour of Ireland during the Reign of Queen Elizabeth and being a person of excellent Abilities by Nature great Acquisitions from his own private Industry and publick Imployment abroad of exceeding great Temper and Moderation was never engaged in any publick pressures of the Common-wealth and therefore most likely to prove a just and gentle Governour most pleasing and acceptable to the people The Romish Catholicks privately enjoyed the exercise of their Religion through all Ireland Moreover the Romish Catholicks privately enjoyed the free exercise of their Religion throughout the whole Kingdom according to the Doctrine of the Church of Rome They had by the over great indulgence of the late Governours their Titular Arch-bishops Bishops Vicars general Provincial Consistories Deans Abbots Priors Nuns who all lived freely though somewhat covertly among them and without controul exercised a voluntary jurisdiction over them they had their Priests Jesuits and Fryars who were of late years exceedingly multiplyed and in great numbers returned out of Spain Italy and other forreign parts where the Children of the Natives of Ireland that way devoted were sent usually to receive their Education And these without
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
those parts so as now the whole Kingdome began exceedingly to flourish in costly Buildings and all manner of improvements the people to multiply and increase and the very Irish seemed to be much satisfied with the benefits of that peaceable Government and general tranquility which they so happily enjoyed 6. By the purchase of great quantities of Land by the Eng. in Ireland during the last forty years peace 6. During the continuance of this happy peace which lasted about forty years divers English purchased great quantities of Land in Ireland to plant upon 7. And last of all by that universal and most bloudy Rebellion in the year 1441. the Irish propriety except a few of all the Lands and Towns in the Provinces of Munster 7. Last of all by that universal and most a body Rebellion An. 1641. Leinster and Vlster became forfeited and was as I said disposed of between the Soldiers Adventurers and forty nine men Large proportions of Land were also purchased about the same time by the English in the Province of Connaght from the transplanted Irish at Loughreagh and Athlone so that upon the whole matter according to this account the Irish have by their desperate bloudy endeavours of rooting the English wholy out of Ireland dispossessed themselves and their posterity out of above three parts of four of the whole propriety thereof and therefore afforded the English opportunity and advantage to establish for the future such a firm settlement therein That the English by their late vast acquisitions in Ireland will be the better enabled thereby to breed up able Protestant Lawyers Divines for the service of the Church State of Ireland to the great strengthning of the Civil Government as they could never expect or hope for unless by such an inhumane and uuparalleld provocation Besides those particular advantages the English have obtained by these their late vast acquisitions in Ireland whereof a hint before As namely by having already upon the matter a sufficient number of able Protestants to serve as Parliament men High Sheriffs Justices of the Peace Grand and Petty Juries in most Counties in Ireland This one benefit more will be of no small moment to them which is that by their enjoying such plentiful Estates in that Realm they will thereby the better enabled to breed up a sufficient number of Learned Protestant Lawyers and Divines to serve the Publick which will very much tend to the strengthning of the Civil Government of that Kingdom A considerable part of the Profits whereof while in the possession of the Irish being disposed of for the carrying on of the forreign Education they most pernitiously imployed to the ruine of their own Countrey That the Romish Clergy and the Popish Lawyers were great instruments in the first plotting carrying on the Rebellion An. 1641. For it was observed that there were two sorts of persons who did most eminently appear in laying those main Fundamentals whereupon the bloudy Superstructures of the last Rebellion were afterwards easily reared up And these were such of the Popish Lawyers as were Natives of the Kingdome and those of the Romish Clergy of several degrees and orders For the first they had in regard of their Knowledge in the Laws of the Land very great reputation and trust they now began to stand up like great Patriots for the vindication of the liberties of the Subject and redress of their pretended grievances The Irish Lawyers drew a great party in the house of Commons to adhere to them and having by their bold appearing therein made a great party in the House of Commons then sitting at Dublin some of them did there Magisterially obtrude as undoubted maxims of Law the pernicious speculations of their own brain which though plainly discerned to the full virulency and tending to Sedition yet so strangely were many of the Protestants and well meaning men in the House blinded with an apprehension of ease and redress and so stupified with their bold accusations of the Government as most thought not fit others durst not stand up to contradict their fond Assertions so as what they spake was received with great acclamation and much applause by most of the Protestant Members of the Hou e many of which under specious pretenses of publick Zeal to that that Countrey they had inveigled into their party And then it was that having impeached Sir Richard Bolton Lord Chancellor of Ireland of High Treason together with the prime Officers and Ministers of State that were of English birth some of those great Masters took upon them with much confidence to declare the Law to make new Expositions of their own upon the Text to frame their Queries challenges fitter to be taken to a long wilfully overgrown misgovernment than to be made against an an Authority that had for many years strugled against the beloved irregularities of a stubborne people and which had prevailed far beyond former times towards the allaying of the long continued distempers of the Kingdom They disdained the moderate quallifications of the Judges who gave them modest answers such as the Law and duty to their Sovereign would admit But those would not serve their turn they resolved upon an alteration in the Government and drawing of it wholly into the hands of the Natives which they knew they could not compass in a Parliamentary way and therefore only made preparatives there and delivered such desparate Maxims which being diffused abroad would fit and dispose the people to a change As they declared it to be Law that being killed in Rebellion though found by matter of Record would give the King no forfeiture of Estate that though many thousands stood up in Arms in a Kingdom The Irish Lawyers offer'd to maintain absurd positions in point of Law to promote the Rebellion An. 1641. working all manner of destruction yet if they professed not to rise against the King that it was no Rebellion That if a man were Outlaw'd for Treason and his land thereby vested in the Crown or given away by the King his Heir might come afterwards and be admitted to reverse the Outlawry and recover his Ancestors Estate And many other positions of perilous consequence tending to sedition and disturbance did they continue to publish during that Session and by the power and strength of their party so far did they prevail at last as they presumed to attempt a suspension of Poynings Act anâ— indeed intended the utter abrogation of that Statute which remains as one of the greatest tyes and best monuments the English have of their entire dominion over the Irish Nation and the annexion of that Kingdom to the Imperial Crown of England They farther assumed power of Judicature to the Parliament in Criminal and Capital Offences a Right which no former age hath left any president for neither would this admit the Example And thus carrying all things before them they continued the Session of Parliament begun in May
The Life-Guard did consist of a hundred Men besides Officers and each of the other twenty nine Troops consisted of forty five men besides Officers only the Troops belonging to the general Officers had each of them fifty Men besides Officers viz. the Lord Lieutenants the Lieutenant Generals the Major Generals the Commissary Generals and the Scout-Master Generals Each Company in the Regiment of Guards did consist of an hundred Men besides Officers and each of the afforesaid sixty Companies consted of sixty Men besides Officers the whole Standing Army in Ireland amounting then to 1598 Horse and 4250 Foot The yearly pay of the whole Army with Horse and Foot Guards amounted to 140664 l. 8 s. 6 d. In the Militia of Ireland there are 103 Troops of Horse The Militia of Ireland 127 Companies of Foot by the instructions from the Lord Lieutenant and Council to the Commissioners of Array in each County each Troop was to consist of 50 Men besides Officers and every Company of 100 private Soldiers the whole Militia of Ireland amounting to 5150 Horse besides Officers and 12700 Foot besides Officers Since the aforesaid Establishment made in 1669. there have been several Reducements and alterations in the Army of Ireland and as it admits of more so it will be more than difficult to be exact in particulars This being premised I shall proceed to tell the Reader A caution against training the Irish to the Feats of Arms as being of ill coâ—sequence to tâ—e English Inte est in Ireland that hence forwards there will be no more need of training up the Irish together with the English in the Feats of Arms which as I hinted already sorted very ill with the English Interest in Ireland especially since the nine and twentieth year of Queen Elizabeths Reign being An. 1587. In which year Sir John Perot then Lord Deputy of Ireland being called home and having delivered up his Charge to Sir Will. Fitz-Williams the appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland it was observed that till that time the English men had very easie Wars in Ireland eight hundred Foot and three hundred Horse was holden an Invincible Army Randolph with six hundred English easily discomfited O-Neale with four thousand Irish Colier in the year 1571. with his one onely Company defeated a thousand Hebridanes in Connaght Three hundred Horse overthrew the Butlers with a great rabble of Rebels and to omit other such like two Companies of Foot won in one day above twenty Castles of the Irish But after they were by Perots commandment trained daily at home taught to use their weapons and discharge their Pieces at a Mark that they might be the more ready Servitors against the Hebridanes and afterwards being bred up â—n thâ— Netherland Wars they had leaâ—ned the manner of fortifications they â—hen and ever after certainly exercised the English with 〈…〉 difficult War This puts me in mind of another like passage I have read in a discription of Novum Belgium or New Netherland in America now called New-Yorke where relating the story how upon complaint made by King Charles the first to the States of Holland a little before the last unhappy Civil Wars in England of some of the Hollanders incroaching upon some parts of his Territories in Virginia then called New-Nederland but now New-Yorke the States having by publick Instrument utterly disclaimed any pretensions thereunto the Hollanders then inhabiting there did seem willing to be gone and leave all they had there for the sum of two thousand five hundred pounds yet taking advantage of the trouble which not long after followed in England they not only raised their demands to a greater height but furnished the Native Indians with Arms and taught them how to use their Weapons A most mischievous and wicked act not only tending to the dammage and discouragement of the then present Adventurers but even to the Extirpation of all the Christians out of those Countries But the best was they were the first that smarted by it the Savages thus Armed and Trained fell foul upon them destroying their Farm-houses and forcing them to betake themselves to their Forts and Fortresses How far the application of this Story may fit the Subject in hand as the matter stands in controversie between the Protestant party and Papists in Ireland I refer to the consideration of the judicious Reader The manner of Electing Parliament Men in this Kingdome Election is the same with that in England but the Acts are drawn up and pass'd differently as also those in Scotland where the Lords of the Articles after the Parliament is met prepare the Bills but here the Lord Lieutenant and Councel usually draw up such Bills as they think fit and transmit them to his Majesty and Councel in England where they come under a new Debate and if approved returned back under the Great Seal to the Lord Lieutenant who offers them to the Parliament Each House may reject them or else must consent to them in terminis without any alteration When any Bills are thus by both Houses agreed to then they are presented to the Lord Lieutenant who gives the Royal Assent The Law whereby the Houses are not trusted with the framing of their own Bills is called Poynings Law of which look back to page 106. A List of what Places Returns Parliament Men in IRELAND COm Ardmagh 2 Bor. of Ardmagh 2 Bor. of Charlemont 2 6 Com. Antrym 2 Bor. of Belfast 2 Bor. of Carickfergus 2 Bor. of Lisbon 2 Bor. of Antrym 2 10 Com. Catherlaugh 2 Bor. Catherlaugh 2 Bor. Old Leighlin 2 6 Com. Corke 2 City of Corke 2 Bor. of Mallow 2 Bor. of Baltimore 2 Bor. Cloghnekilty 2 Bor. Bandon Bridge 2 Bor. Kinsayle 2 Bor. Youghall 2 16 Com. Cavan 2 Borough of Cavan 2 Bor. of Belturbet 2 6 Com. Clare 2 Bor. of Inish 2 4 Com. Dublin 2 City of Dublin 2 Univer of Dublin 3 Bor. of Newcastle 2 Bor. of Swords 2 11 Com. Down 2 Bor. Down 2 Bor. Newtown 2 Bor. Newâ—y 2 Balkillaleagh 2 Bor. Bangor 2 Bor. Hilsborough 2 14 Com. Donegal 2 Bor Lifford 2 Bor. Ballyshannon 2 Bor. Killbeggs 2 Bor. Donegall 2 Bâ—r. St. Johns town 2 12 Villa de Drogheda 2 2 Com. Gallway 2 Bor. Gallway 2 Bor. Athenry 2 Bor. Tuam 2 8 Com. Fermanagh 2 Bor. Eniskilling 2 4 Com. Kerry 2 Bor. Traley 2 Bor. Dingleicough 2 Bor. Ardfart 2 8 Com. Kilkenny 2 Bor. Callen 2 Bor. Thomas town 2 Bor. Gowran 2 Bor. Emisteoge 2 Bor. Knoctopher 2 Bor. St. Kennis 2 Civit. Kilkenny 2 16 Com. Kildare 2 Bor. Kildare 2 Bor. Naas 2 Bor. Athy 2 8 Com. Regis 2 Bor. Philips town 2 Bor. Banagher 2 6 Com. Letrim 2 Bor. James-town 2 Bor. Carricdrumrusck 2 6 Com. Lymrick 2 Civit. Lymrick 2 Bor. Kilmallock 2 Bor. Askeaton 2 8 Com. Longford 2 Town of Longford 2 Bor. St. Johns town 2 Bor. Lainsborough 2 8 Com. Louth 2 Bor. Carlingford 2 Bor. Dundalke 2 Bor. Atherdee 2 8
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