the rest of that Nation were always reckoned Aliens and absolute Enemies so that from Hen. II. to Hen. VIII none were admitted to be Subjects or received any benefit by the English Laws but such as purchased Charters of Denization and it was no Capital Offence to kill any of them since the Laws did neither protect their lives nor Revenge their Deaths so that living in the Bogs and Woods on the Mountains they upon all occasions declared their Malice and Hatred against the English Colonies planted near them However the English were still Owners and Possessors of the Kingdom and kept themselves almost Entire for the first Hundred years after their Arrival not suffering the Irish to live promiscuously among them but by an High Hand Kept them in due Obedience and Subjection to the Crown of England and when they afterwards grew more careless and intermingled among them whereby the english learnt their beastly Manners and Customs there were very severe Laws made against them so that in the Reign of King Edward III. It was declared High Treason to Marry with the Irish or to let them Nurse their Children and to use the Irish Language Names or Apparel was made a Premunire that is to lose their Estates and be perpetually imprisoned And though in after Ages the English endeavoured to Civilize the People and introduce the English Laws Language Habit and Customs among them thereby to reduce them to Civility yet such was their Rough Rebellious Disposition and their implacable Malice to the English that nothing could Attemper or Reduce them to any Tolerable patience or perswade them to live peaceably among them So that in all times as well when they were admitted into the Condition of Subjects as while they were Esteemed and Treated as Enemies they took all Advantages most perfidiously to rise up and imbrue their Hands in the Blood of their English Neighbours and Ireland hath long continued a true Aceldama or Field of Blood and a dismal Sepulchre for the English Nation for after their intermixing with the Irish they Barbarouslâ— Degenerated into their Manners and Customs inso much that-by their intestine Broils and the Mischievous Attempts of the Irish upon them the English from their first Access to Ireland till the Reign of Queen Elizabeth being above 380 years had no setled Peace nor Comfortable Subsistance amongst them but were in such perpetual Troubles and so over-worn with misery that they could scarce Survive the Universal Calamity that over-spread the face of the whole Kingdom Whereupon that excellent Queen in the beginning of her Reign out of her Pious Intentions and Affections to her People took care to Redress these Disorders and sending over Prudent and Religious Governors made a great Reformation by many good Laws Enacted against the Barbarous Customs of the Irish and for the Execution of Justice throughout the Countrey which were reduced into Shires and Sheriffs and others Ministers of Justice placed in them and the High Powers Usurpations and Extortions of the Irish were Restramed and several Destructive Customs Repressâ—d The two Presidential Courts of Munster and Connaught were then Instituted and special Order taken for Free Schools to be Erected for Educating Youth throughout the Kingdom But these and other Courses for the Advancement of True Religion and Civility were Highly Disagreeable to the loose Humours of the Natives who pretended the English Government was Insupportable and began Desperately to struggle for their Liberty several Plots were laid some by those who were of the Old English by Extraction and divers Rebellions and petty Revolts happened during that Queens Reign which she timely Supprest either by Force and Favour often Renewing her kindness to them upon their continued provocations Restoring some Rebellious Lords to their Forfeited Estates and Commands and Bestowing New Titles of Honour upon others But all was in vain the Malignant impressions of Irreligion and Barbarism Transmitted from their Ancestors either by Infusion or Natural Generation had so irrefragably Stiffened their Necks and hardened their Hearts that they still retained all their wicked Customs and Inclinations without change in their Affections or Manners having their Eyes inflamed and their minds inraged with Rancor and Revenge against the English Nation breathing forth nothing but their Ruine Destruction and â—tter Extirpation and resolving at once to Disburthen the whole Kingdom and their Posterity of them and deliver themselves from their Subjection to the Crown of England a desperate Rebellion was raised by the Earl of Tyrone who had received Titles of Honour from the Queen a Command of Horse and Foot great proportions of Land and other Favours which he now ingratefully Cancell'd ingaging most of the Irish and some English Degenerate Families in his Treacherous Designs and likewise calling in some Foreign Forces to his Assistance The Queen perceiving that no Obligations would secure the Irish Loyalty Resolved to Reduce them by Force which was done in a short time and Tyrone brought upon his Knees though not without the Expence of much English Blood above a Million of Money the Country miserably wasted and a general Desolation and Famine over-spreading the Land King James at his first coming to the Crown conceiving that the powerful Conjunction of England and Scotland would overcome the Irish and contain them in their due Obedience resolved not to take any Advantage of these Forfeitures and great Confiscations which he was most justly Intituled to by Tyrones Rebellion but restored all the Natives to the entire possession of their own Lands After which for six years the Countrey was indifferent quiet when Tyrone made a second Insurrection and drew in the whole Province of Ulster who were absolutely at his Devotion to joyn with him but his Plot failed him for not finding himself in a Capacity to Resist the English Forces he fled into Spain promising speedily to return with Forreign Succors but by the care of the Government this Designed Rebellion was quell'd in the beginning and Tyrone never came back After which King James being justly provoked by the High Ingratitude of these Traytors caused their Persons to be Attainted and their Lands to be Seized and Distributed them among Brittish Undertakers many of whom came over and Setled in the Province of Ulster with their Families and Built several good Towns and Castles in divers parts of the Country whereby much Civility was introduced and the whole Kingdom began to Flourish in Costly Buildings and all manner of Improvements and the very Irish seemed to be much satisfied with the Peace and Tranquillity they enjoyed King Charles the I. was no less Indulgent to them for in 1640. upon the Complaint and Remonstrance sent him from both Houses of Parliament then Sitting at Dublin Representing the Heavy Pressures they had suffered under the Government of the E. of Strafford he made present Provision for their Redress Constituting Sir William Parsons and Sir John Burlace Lords Justices of that Kingdom who declared against the late proceedings
to rouse them out to weed them not to rake them over not to tread them down but utterly to root them up this lesson the Tyrant himself taught me for demanding once of him by way of Parable how Land might be freed from certain ravenous Fowls that annoyed it he advised us to watch where they bred and fire their Nests about their Ears let us go then and fall upon these Cormorants which shrowd themselves in our possessions and let us destroy them that neither nest nor root neither seed nor stalk neither branch nor stump remain of this cursed and ungracious Generation He had scarce ended his Oration when the People with shouts of Joy extolled him as the Defender of their Lives and Liberties assuring him of their utmost assistance and so joining their Forces they with a running Camp in a very short time cleared every corner of the 〈◊〉 of the Norwegians razing their Castles to 〈…〉 killing all that resisted and banishing 〈…〉 whereby every Prince again recovered his own Government The Histories of Denmark relate that some time before this Fridlenus King of the Danes arriving in Ireland besieged Dublin but perceiving it hard to take by reason of the strength of the Walls he contrived to catch a number of Swallows who had their Nests in the Houses within the City and tying Wildfire to their feet they flying home set the Houses on Fire which whilst the Citizens endeavoured to quench they entred the City after which Gonno the third King of Denmark though a Pagan Married Thyra Daughter to the Christian King Etheldred of Brittain by whom he had two Sons Canute and Harold who first invaded England and then Ireland where at the Siege of Dublin Canute was slain who for his Valour was so extreamly beloved by his Father that he vowed to kill him with his own hands who should bring him Tydings of his Death Gonno was now very old and blind pleasing himself in nothing more than hearing of the Victories of his Sons when therefore Q. Thyra had notice of her Sons Death which neither she nor any other durst discover to him she contrived to clothe her Husband all in Mourning and prepared all other things usual at a Funeral and then used many lamentable expressions of grief for the loss of some Friend which Gonno perceiving wo is me said he you then fignifie the Death of my Son Canute whereunto she answered that he himself and not she had now discovered the Truth whereupon for grief thereof he instantly gave up the Ghost We find little material in the Irish Chronicles from this time till the Conquest thereof by King Henry the Second which how it was occasioned I shall now relate In the year 1167. Dermot Macmur King of Leinster possessed all the East parts of the Isle along the Seacoasts using great cruelty toward the Lords and Gentry it happened that Morrice King of Meath going far into the Country Dermot in the mean time stole away his Queen by her consent which Morrice upon his return resolving to revenge represented it to Roderick O Conor King of Connaught and Monarch of all Ireland beseeching his assistance against the vile Adulterer the People of Leinster detesting both Dermot and his quarrel for his former Tyrannies universally forlook him so that he was forced to fly to King Henry the Second for succour who was then imployed in his Wars in France Henry had before cast an eye upon Ireland because they always assisted the French with men and Adrian an Englishman being now Pope he obtained his consent for the Conquest thereof upon condition of reducing the Inhabitants to Christianity who were almost turn'd barbarous at this very time Dermot offered him his service of which he was very joyful but having Wars with France he had not opportunity to go with him and therefore taking an Oath of Fidelity and Obedience from him he took him into his Protection and for his more speedy assistance sent him into England honourably attended with Letters Patents to this effect ' Henry King of England Duke of Normandy and Aquitain and Earl of Anjou to all our Faithful Subjects Englishmen Normans Welchmen and Scots and to all other Nations whatsoever subject to our Dominion fendeth Greeting When these Letters shall come to your hands know ye that we have received Dermot Prince of Leinster into the bosom of our Grace and Benevolence wherefore whosoever of our loving Subjects within our Dominions will aid assist and restore him as our Leige-man and Faithful Subject be you assured that you have not only our license but shall receive our favour and thanks for the same with these Letters he arrived at Bristow where he agreed with Richard Strongbow Earl of Pembroke to give him his only Daughter in Marriage for which the Earl was the next Spring to settle him in his Kingdom which was to descend to him in right of his Wife after Dermots decease in the mean time Robert Fitz Stephens and Maurice Fitz-Gerald his Brother Gentlemen of Wales promised Dermot that if he would assure them an Estate in the Town of Wexford for ever they would assist him to begin the recovery of his Country while the Earl of Pembroke was providing stronger Forces and accordingly Dermot going over privately before they with Thirty Knights Sixty Esquires and Three Hundred Archers landed in Ireland being the first Englishmen that ever came thither and marching toward Wexford Dormet met with them with five Hundred Men and joining their Forces they soon took the Town of Wexford which was freely given to Fitz Stephens according to their Covenant and their Army daily increasing they prevailed so much that Roderick the Monarch assembled all the Petty Kings to defend their Country at length an Agreement was made whereby Dermot was restored to his former Estate and more Forces arriving from England Dermot incouraged thereby resolved to be revenged of those of Dublin who had been great Enemies to him and his Father and marching thither they soon submitted themselves to him Now arrived the Earl of Pembroke with a considerable aid wherewith he made such notable Conquests that King Henry growing jealous of his greatness sent an Edict to recal all the English out of Ireland but the troubles raised by Thomas Becket Arch-bishop of Canterbury hindred the Prosecution thereof Pembroke was then in Dublin where he was closely besieged by the Irish under Roderick Dermot dying some time before and was at last reduced to such extremity that they resolved to Sally forth and dye like men rather than starve and so issuing out with not above two or three hundred men they valiantly assaulted their Enemies Camp consisting of near Thirty Thousand with so much resolution that with great slaughter of them they obtained a Glorious Victory chasing their Enemies till night came on and then returning Triumphantly with abundance of Provisions and Rich Spoil into the City Roderick himself hardly escaping with his Life after which the Earl of
Pembroke coming into England surrendered Dublin and all the Castles and Forts on the Sea coasts to King Henry and thereby removed his Jealousie and was again received into favour In 1172 King Henry the Second landed with a considerable Army whom Roderick in behalf of himself and all the other petty Princes of that Kingdom acknowledged for his Soveraign Lord and the supream Prince of all that Island so that none refused obedience to Henry but only the Province of Ulster the Christmas after the King Royally feasted all those Princes who were become his Subjects at Dublin and then taught the Irish first to eat Cranes flesh which was before abhorred by them He then called a Synod where divers abuses were reformed and new Canons made for the future Government of the Church and among others That since it had pleased God to bring them under the English Dominion they should for the future observe all the Rites and Ceremonies of the English Church Soon after King Henry returned to England being summoned by the Pope to answer for the death of Thomas Becket which occasioned much Trouble In 1185. Henry made over all his Right and Title to Ireland to his youngest Son John after King of England who Landing at Waterford accompanyed with a few Dissolute Companions whose advice he only regarded caused great Commotions whereupon he went back again the same year After the Death of his Brother Richard the first John succeeded and came again into Ireland setling the Country and Banishing the Lacies for some Misdemeanors but upon submission gave them pardon though not without paying him great Fines In 1300. Edward the first sent for Aid out of Ireland to Assist him in his Wars against Scotland and after his Death the Scots invaded Ireland being Assisted by the Wild Irish whereby the Country was miserably ruined four Princes of Connaught joyning with them but by the valour of the English eleven Thousand were slain in one Fight among whom were the King of Connaught Okelley a great Lord and divers others The Death of Okelly is somewhat Remarkable The Lord Bremingham Commander of the English Army sent one John Hussey his Esquire into the Field to view the dead Bodies and search whether his old mortal Enemy Okelley were slain among the rest Hussey goes only with one man to turn up the Bodies and was presently espied by Okelley that lay lurking behind a bush who knowing Hussey to be a stout man came towards him and said Hussey thou seest I am Armed at all points as well as my Esquire thou art naked with thy Page only so that had I not a great kindness for thee for thine own sake I would slay thee for the sake of thy Master but if thou wilt come and serve me as I desire I promise upon St. Patricks Staff to make thee a Lord of a greater Estate in Connanght than thy Master hath in Ireland These words not prevailing upon Hussey a lusty fellow belonging to Okelly began to reproach him for refusing so fair an offer so that Hussey had now three to deal with he therefore dispatcht this fellow first and then struck Okelleys Esquire such a blow under the Ear that he laid him for dead Lastly he fell upon Okelley himself and instantly slew him and then perceiving the Esquire who was only astonished with the stroke to revive again he caused him to carry his Lords Head upon a Truncheon and presented it to Bremingham who for this notable Service Knighted Hussey and gave him large possessions the Successors of whose Family were after Lords of Galtrim In King Edward the Seconds Reign the Lord Roger Mortimer was sent over Justice into Ireland at which time Edward Bruce Brother to Robert Bruce King of Scotland who had taken several places and caused himself to be Crowned King of Ireland was slain in a great Battle wherein the Scots were vanquished one Mawpas an Englishman who rushed into the midst of the fight to encounter Bruce hand to hand was in the search found dead fallen upon the Body of Bruce This year 1320. An University was erected in Dublin about which time the Lady Alice Kettell with her two Companions Petronelle and Basell were charged with Inchantment and that they had conference every Night with a Spirit called Robin Artisson to whom they Sacrificed in the Highway 9 red Cocks and 11 Peacocks eyes and that this Lady swept the Streets of Kilkenny in the Twilight bringing all the filth to the Door of her Son William Outlaw muttering these words 'To the House of William my Son ' Go all the Wealth of Kilkenny Town The Lady made her escape but in searching her Closet saith my Author they found a Wafer of Sacramental Bread having the Devils Name stamped thereon instead of Jesus Christ and an Ointment wherewith she greazed a staff upon which she galloped through thick and thin as she pleased Petronelle was burnt at Kilkenny upon this account In the Reign of King Edward the Third 1329. The Irish in Meath and Leinster Rebelled and Vanquisht the Earl of Ormond burning fourscore English in a Church and committing woful outrages at length the Citizens of Wexford falling upon them slew 400 the rest being drowned in the Water of Slane At this time Sir Robert Savage a wealthy Knight dwelt in Ulster who to secure himself from the incursions of the Irish began to fortifie his Mannor Houses with Castles and Ditches exhorting his Son and Heir to do the same for the benefit of himself and Posterity Father says young Savage I remember the Proverb better a Castle of Bones than of Stones where I have the strength and courage of Men by the Grace of God I will never incumber my self with dead Walls my Fort shall be the youthful Blood of my Friends and where I have room to fight The Father in a fume left building but the neglect of this Counsel was the Ruin of that and many other English Families in Ulster This Savage having raised Forces against the Irish gave to every man before the fight a stout Cup of Aquavitae Wine or strong Ale and provided Plenty of Beef Venison and Fowls for their return which his Captains disliking considering the uncertainty of War since the Enemy might happen to feast upon the same they being so few against a multitude of Irish he smiling Gentlemen said he You are too full of Envy this World is but an Inn wherein we have no certain Interest but are only Tenants at the will of the Lord. If it please him to command us hence as from our Lodging and set other good fellows in our Room what hurt can it be for us to leave them meat for their Suppers Let them stoutly win it and eat it If they should come to our Houses we could not but welcom them with what the Countrey affords and therefore much good may it do them with all my Heart however I have such confidence in your Courage and Gallantry that I doubt
Adventurer to Aid him with his utmost Power and Dermot coming to him at Bristol an agreement was made that Strangebow should marry Dermots only Daughter Eva and after his Death should enjoy the Kingdom of Leinster of which she was Heiress after which Strangebow ingaging some other private Gentlemen in the Design they got together a party of 490 Men which they Transported in three Ships to Wexford in Ireland and there joyning with some of Dermots Forces they not only Reduced that Town but soon after possest themselves of all the Maritime Parts of Leinster King Henry upon the News of the prosperous reducement of so large a Territory by such inconsiderable Forces desirous to share with his Subjects both in the profit and glory of so great an Action Resolved to make an Expedition thither in Person when he Arrived there the Presence of so great a Prince had such a strange Influence on the Minds of the rude Savage Natives that partly by the Power of his Arms and partly by his Grace and Favour in receiving them upon their feigned Submissions he soon Subdued this Barbarous Divided People This happened in 1172. the King found the Land good and flourishing with plenty of all kind of Provisions the Soil Rich and Fertile the Air Sweet and Temperate the Heavens safe and commodious several Towns and Villages scattered up and down in several parts of the Countrey but the Buildings so Mean and Contemptible that when the King Arrived at Dublin their Chief City he found no place for Entertainment but was obliged to set up a long House made of Smoothed Wattles after the manner of that Country and therein kept his Christmas all their Forts Castles Stately Buildings and other Edifices were afterwards Erected by the English except some of their Maritime Towns which were Built by the Easterlings which formerly Inhabited there He found likewise several Monuments of Piety and other Remarkable Testimonies that the Christian Religion had been planted there about 400 years after Christ by some Holy and Learned Men from Forreign Par◠〈◊〉 Sedulius Paladius and Patricius the Famous Irish Staint born at Kirk Patrick near Glasgoâ— in Scotland who came hither out of a Pious Desire to propagate the Gospel and for the Conversion of a Barbarous People instructing them in the Principles of the Christian Faith and St Patricius with his unwearied endeavours had such great Success that some Authors write the Couren of Armagh was by him Erected into an Episcopal See 350 Bishops Consecrated great Numbers of Clergymen Instituted who notwithstanding the Notorious Ignorance and Debauchery of the Common People being most Monks by Profession and of strict and severe Lives were so admited by other Nations in those rude Times that in Respect to them Ireland was Termed the Isle of Saintsâ— But so quickly did Piety Decay that this Name was lost Yea the very Prints and Characters of Devotion Obliterated even among the Clergy themselves and so filthy and depraved were the manners of the Common People that when King Henry the II. designed to go thither he obtained a Bull of Pope Adrian to go over and Conquer Ireland and Reduce the Beastly Inhabitants into the way of Truth and the King at his Arrival found them so indeed being generally void of all manner of Civility Governed by no Setled Laws living like Beasts Biting and Devouring one another without all Rules Customs or Reasonable Constitutions either for Regulation of Property or against open Force and Violence most Notorious Murthers Rapes Robberies and other Acts of Inhumanity and Barbarism Raging without Controul or Punishment whereupon he without any manner of Scruple or further Inquisition into particular Titles resolving it seems to make good by the Sword the Popes Donation made a General Seizure of all the Lands of the whole Kingdom and without further Ceremony took them into his own hands And the more speedily to introduce Religion and Civility and Accomplish the Work so gloriously begun the King called a great Council at Lissemore where he caused the Laws of England to be received and Setled in Ireland which he United to the Imperial Crown of England and Distributed the whole Land among his English Officers and Souldiers A Learned Author in his Observations upon the Causes of the sudden Reducing of Ireland gives this as one Reason thereof That a Synod or Council of the Clergy being Assembled at Armagh and that point fully Debated it was unanimously agreed That the Sins of the People and particularly their buying of Englishmen from Pyrates and Detaining them under most miserable Bondage was one great occasion of the Heavy Judgment fallen upon the Nation and that Heaven by way of just Retaliation had now suffered them to be Reduced by the English to the same Slavery Whereupon they Ordered all the English in Captivity throughout the Land to be Released If so heavy a Judgment fell upon them for the hard usage of some few English what Expiation can they now pretend to make for the Effusion of so much Innocent Blood in 1641. when in two years time above three Hundred Thousand Protestants were cruelly Murthered in Cold Blood King John came into Ireland in his Minority to little purpose but upon a second general Defection in the 12 year of his Reign he made a second Expedition thither and Built several Forts and strong Castles many of which remain to this Day â—e Erected Courts of Judicature and setled the English Colonies and Civil Government King Richard II. upon the same occasion made two Voyages thither in Person but both these Princes to save English Blood and Treasure and having likewise Troâ—bles at Home were both content to suffer themselves to be abused by the feigned Submissions of the Irish who finding their present inability to resist such great Forces came from the farthest parts of the Kingdom to submit to their Merey and yet some have observed that they left not one True Subject more behind them than they found at their first Arrival However by the Presence of these Princes and the Care of the Governours set over them the first Adventurers and others of the English Nation drove the Irish out of all the Habitable parts of the Countrey especially those on the Sea-Coasts and afterwards grew so Potent that they Entertained private Animosities against each other yea their Dissentions were so great that at length they drew in the Irish whom they had driven up into the Mountains and ever esteemed their most deadly Enemies to take part in their Quarre's shamelesly using their Affistance for the Inlargement of their own private Territories against their own Compaâ—â—iots and Joynt Tenants in that good Land the Irish glad of the Occasion Fomented these Broils among the English whom they mortally hated to the utmost and notwithstanding the great Priviledges they enjoyed by their Protection always shewed the utmost Aversion to them and their Laws Insomuch that besides the five Irish Kings and their Families aforementioned
The Battle Victory of K. William at The River Boyn in Ireland Iuly 1. 1690 THE HISTORY OF THE KINGDOM OF Ireland Being an Account of all the Battles Sieges and other considerable Transactions both Civil and Military during the late Wars there till the entire Reduction of that Countrey by the Victorious Arms of our most Gracious Soveraign King William To which is prefixed A Brief Relation of the Ancient Inhabitants and first Conquest of that Nation by King Henry II. and of all the remarkable Passages in the Reign of every King to this time Particularly the Horrid Rebellion and Massacre in 1641. With the Popish and Arbitrary Designs that were carried on there in the last Reigns By R. B. LONDON Printed for Nath. Crouch at the Bell in the Poultrey near Cheapside 1693. TO THE Reader THE Kingdom of Ireland has for several Ages been an Aceldama or Field of Slaughter watered with the Blood of English Men occasioned by their Repeated Rebellions and inveterate aversion to the English Nation in pursuance whereof they have left no Treacheries Murders or Villanies unattempted being incouraged thereto by their Ignorant and Superstitious Priests to whose Dictates this Stupid People entirely Submit and who endeavour to Foment and Cherish this Inexorable hatred formerly under pretence of Recovering their Liberty but since the Reformation upon account of Difference in Religion which made them very Troublesom to the Renowned Queen Elizabeth and as one Chief occasion of the Horrid and Bloody Massacre in 1641. In the late Reigns they were somewhat quieter receiving much Favour and Countenance from the Court but upon his present Majesties Glorious Expedition into this Kingdom they made an absolute Defection from the Crown of England and had Totally Reduced that Country to Popish Idolatry and French Slavery if his Majesties Victorious Arms and Admirable Conduct had not by the Blessing of Heaven Reconquered and Reduced this Stubborn Nation to their former Subjection Of which the following History gives a brief Account as well as of the Ancient Inhabitants thereof and of all Considerable Matters from its first Conquest to this time which being full of Variety and Delight I doubt not will be as Acceptable to the Reader as my former Mean Endeavours of this Kind R. B. THE HISTORY Of the Kingdom of IRELAND IRELAND hath been always accounted a Land of wonders and many strange Relations have been made thereof though the greatest wonder seems to be that such incredible stories should be told and so firmly believed as they are by the Irish and divers others to this very day To give you a taste of them we find it recorded in their Histories that in the North of Munster there are two Islands a greater and less in the first never any Woman or Female Creature entreth but they instantly dye as hath been experimented by Bitches and She Cats brought thither to that purpose The Cock Birds Sing and hop upon the Trees but the Hens avoid it as a fatal place The lesser is called the Living Isle because none can dye therein and therefore those that dwell here when they are even tyred with living by reason of Sickness or Old age desire to be conveyed thither and no sooner arrive but they give up the Ghost In the West part of Connaught say they there is an Island called Aren to which St. Brendan doth often resort the Air whereof is so great an enemy to putrefaction that they never bury the Bodies of the dead but are kept above ground without the least smell or offence so that a Son may there view his Father Grandfather and all his Relations for many Ages past In Ulster is a Lake thirty thousand paces long and fifteen thousand broad out of which ariseth the noble Northern River called Bane wherein there are abundance of great Fish so that the Nets are oft broken It is believed by the Inhabitants that there were very wicked vicious people formerly living in this place and there was an Old Prophecy in every ones mouth that when ever a Well which was therein and was continually covered and lockt up carefully should be left open so great a quantity of Water should issue thereout as would forthwith overflow the whole adjacent Countrey It happened that an Old Beldam coming to fetch Water heard her Child cry upon which running away in haste she forgot to cover the Spring and coming back to do it the Land was so over-run that it was past her help and at length She her Child and all in that Territory were drowned which caused this Pool that remains to this day A strange Spring is likewise discoursed of in Ulster wherewith if a man wash his hair or beard they presently turn grey and another of a contrary quality making all grey hair black I have seen a man saith my Author who washing half his beard with this Water it was all White the other part remaining Brown In Connaught is a Well on the Top of a Hill that Ebbs and Flows equally with the Sea yet the Water 's fresh At Castlenock near Dublin is a Window neither glazed nor latticed yet a Candle being set there in the greatest wind or storm burns as quietly as in the greatest calm and a Spring the water whereof is wholesome to humane Bodies but poison to Beasts In Kildare is a curious Field upon an Hill where the Irish say a great Battle will one time or other be fought between the Irish and English with such vast effusion of bloud that a Mill in a Valley hard by shall be turned Four and twenty hours with the streams thereof In a Plain in this County they relate those stones were formerly placed which are now on Salisbury Plain and conveyed thither with sleight of hand by Merlin the Welch Prophet at the request of Aurelius Ambrosius King of the Brittains In the South part of Munster is an Island blest by St. Brendane a famous she Saint in this Island with this strange quality That if any Hare Stag or other wild Beast be chased thereabout it makes toward this Islet swimming over a small stream into it whither the Dogs dare not pursue but standing on this side the Bank see their Enemy sit there securely protected by some invisible Bars from danger But the most Remarkable wonder of all is that of St. Patricks Purgatory thus described by the Superstitious Irish Writers In Ulster there is a Pool which incompasseth an Island in one part whereof stands a Church exceedingly inlightened by the glorious appearance of Angels the rest of the Isle is dark and horrid seeming only a Den for Devils and Evil Spirits wherein is a Pit which by a door leadeth into a Cave of Stone divided into seven parts which is called St. Patricks Purgatory for when this Irish Saint preached the Gospel to them and told them of Joys eternal in another life for the Godly and miserable Torments to the Wicked the People came and spake thus to him Sir
from declared Enemies I am none of King Henry's Deputy I am his Mortal Foe I have more mind to Conquer than to Govern to meet him in the Field than to serve him as an Officer if all the Hearts in England and Ireland who have cause fol to do would joyn in this quarrel as I hope they will they would soon make him repent his Tyranny and Cruelty for which the Ages to come may justly Register him amongst the most Barbarous Tyrants of Abominable and Hateful Memory The Lord Chancellor taking Lord Thomas by the hand requested him for the love of God to hear a few words and then made a most Passionate Oration accompanied with many Tears to disswade him from this rash Enterprize but all in vain for Lord Thomas thus proceeded It is very easie for the sound to give Counsel to the Sick if the Case were yours you would be as impatient it may be as I as you require me to Honour my Prince so Duty binds me to Reverence my Parents therefore he that Tyrannically designs to kill my innocent Father and threatens my Destruction I will never acknowledge to be my King if as you intimate I happen to miscarry I had rather dye valiantly and at Liberty than live under Henry in Slavery and Bondage With these words delivering up the Sword he flung away like a Madman and assembling all the Irish he could get together they committed several Outrages and Mischiefs and Scizing upon Alen Arch-Bishop of Dublin his Old Enemy his followers murdered him At length after many Skirmishes he was by the Lord Deputy Gray perswaded to submit himself to the King and going to England was committed to the Tower Orders being sent to Ireland for apprehending his five Uncles who were all Seized namely James Walter Oliver John and Richard Fitz Gerald though two of them always opposed their Nephews Proceedings but King Henry being incensed against them because he was informed that as long as any Geraldine breathed in the Countrey he could never Conquer it resolved to be rid of them all Thus were the Five Brethren Sailing to England some comforting themselves with the Kings Mercy and others with their own Innocency when Richard Fitz-Gerald who was more Bookish than the rest chanced to ask the Master what the Name of his Ship was who answering it was called the Cow nay then good Brethren quoth he I utterly despair of our return to Ireland for I remember I have heard an Old Prophecy that Five Brethren to an Earl should be carryed into England in the Belly of a Cow and never come back again At which words the rest began to howl and Lament in a grievous manner which seemed very strange to the Spectators that Five such Valiant Gentlemen should be so disturbed at an Old Prophecy However what he foretold proved true for they no sooner arrived but Thomas Fitz-Gerald was Executed at Tower-Hill and the Five Brethren Hanged and Quartered at Tyburn the Old Earl of Kildare died for grief in the Tower and Gerald the Younger Brother of Thomas flying out of Ireland Travelled many Forreign Countries and at length Died at Naples Soon after the Lord Deputy Gray was Beheaded on Tower-Hill being accused for holding Correspondence with the Fitz-Geralds though many thought him Innocent thereof In the Three and Thirtieth of King Henry the Eight the Title of King of Ireland was by a Parliament setled upon him and his Successors for ever whereas before they were only called Lords of Ireland During the short Reigns of King Edward the Sixth and Queen Mary our Chronicles relate little of any Transactions in Ireland In 1566. The Seventh of Queen Elizabeth for the great Fame of her Wisdom Donald Mac Carti More a great Potentate of Ireland came and delivered up into her hands all his ample Territories which she restored to him again and in requital created him Earl of Glencare giving him many Presents and paying the expence of his Voyage In 1570 O Brian Earl of Thomond not brooking the severe Government of Edward Fitton President of Connaught entered into a Conspiracy which being ready to break forth was strangely discovered For the day before they meant to take up Arms Fitton knowing nothing of it sent word to the Earl in a friendly manner that the next day he and some of his Friends would come and dine with him the Earl having a guilty Conscience thought his designs were revealed and that Fitton would rather come as an Enemy than a Guest Whereupon he presently fled to France where he confessed the whole to Queen Elizabeths Ambassador by whose Intercession he was afterwards pardoned and restored Four years after Sir Henry Sydney Lord Deputy going into Ulster several Irish Grandees submitted themselves and were received into favour In 1583 the famous Rebel Gerald Fitz-Gerald the eleventh Earl of Desmond of this Family having a long time escaped the English in his lurking places was now discovered by a Common Souldier in a poor Cottage and there slain his Head was sent into England and set upon London-bridge This end had this great Lord who possessed whole Countreys and had at least five hundred Gentlemen of his own Name and Race all whom and his own Life also he lost within three years very few of his Family being left alive And this disaster he fell into by being Trayterous to his Prince at the instigation of certain Popish Priests of whom the chief was one Nicholas Sanders an Englishman who at the same time died miserably of Famine for running mad upon his ill success he wandred up and down the Mountains finding nothing to sustain him In 1558 the Bourks raised a Rebellion the Irish declaring they would have one of that Family rule over them or some other Lord out of Spain neither could they be quieted till the President of Connaughts Brother following them into the Woods drove away five thousand head of their Cattel so that after forty days half starved they came forth and submitted themselves But the President understanding that about this time two thousand Scotch Islanders were landed and joined with the Irish and ready to break into Connaught he musters up his Men to give them Battel but they flying to Bogs and Woods he retires back as though in fear thereby to draw them to the firm ground and then set upon them with his whose force slaying three thousand which was all their number except fourscore by which notable Victory the insolent attempts of the Scotch Islanders were wholly crushed In 1590. Hugh Cavelock so called because he had been so long kept in Fetters the Son of Chan O Neal accused Hugh Earl of Tyrone for holding correspondence with the Spaniards in 88. who to prevent the accusation took a Cord and with his own hands strangled Hugh For which being sent for over he was pardoned upon Condition of future obedience and reducing the Countrey to Civility After this Mac-Mahon a potentate of Ireland compelled those under him to
as varying from the Common Law and abated the Subsidy that was given in the Earl of Straffords time from 40000 to 12000 l. and soon after Robert Sydney Earl of Leicester was made Lord Lieutenant The Roman Catholicks likewise privately enjoyed the free Exercise of their Religion and by the over-great indulgence of the late Governors had their Titular Archbishops Bishops Vicars General Provincial Consistories Deans Abbots Priors and Nuns who without Controul exercised a voluntary Jurisdiction over them they had also their Priests Jesuits and Fryers who came in great Numbers from Forreign Parts and without restraint Setled themselves in all the Chief Towns Villages Noble-Men and Gentlemens Houses and none of the Laws were put in Execution against them and the Ancient Animosities between the two Nations seemed to be Buryed so that they lived together in Peace for 40 years Marriages and all other indearments of Friendship passing between them and the Irish Lords and Gentlemen found such Advantage by the English Commerce and Cohabitation in the great Improvement of their Lands and Native Commodities beyond what they ever formerly enjoyed that Phelini O Neal and many other principal Leaders in the Succeeding Rebellion had not long before turned their Irish Tennants out of their Lands and exposed them to starve upon the Mountains and took the English for their Tenants who gave them greater Rents and payed them more certainly These and many other Symptoms of a Flourishing Kingdom seemed to declare That the Peace and Tranquillity of the Nation was fully Setled and humanly probable so to continue and the Irish Army Raised for the Invasion of Scotland was peaceably Disbanded and no Noise of War temained in the Coasts In this great Calm the English continued in a most deep Security when on a sudden the Irish Papists raised a Rebellion so execrable in its self so oâ—ious to God and the whole World as no Age Kingdom nor People can parallel the Horrid Cruelties and Abominable Murthers that were without Number as well as without Mercy committed upon the Brittish Inhabitants throughout the Land of what Sex Age or Condition soever which was long before presaged by some discerning Persons particularly by the excellent Learned and Religious Archbishop Usher of Armagh who amongst many other extraordinary Gifts and Graces wherewith he was endowed had a wonderful Spirit of Prophecy from which among many other things he foretold this Bloody Rebellion 40 years beâ—re it came to pass in a Sermon preached at Dublin in 1601. where from Ezekiel 4.6 Discoursing concerning the Prophets bearing the iniquity of Judah 40 Days the Lord therein appointing a Day for a year he made this direct Application in Relation to the Connivance at Popery at that time From this year says he will I reckon the Sin of Ireland that those whom you now imbrace shall be your Ruine and you shall bear your Iniquity Which Prediction proved exactly true for from that time 1601. to 1641. was just 40 years It is observed that the Irish have naturally a dull and deep Reservedness which makes them carry on their Business with much Silence and Secrecy but yet it is Admirable to consider how this mischievous Plot which was generally to be acted by several Persons in divers places at the same time should without Noise be brought to the very point of Execution without any Notice or Intimation given to any two of that huge Multitude of Persons who were designed to be Sacrificed in it there not being any certain Discovery made of it till Oct. 22. which happened in the manner following Owen O Covally a Gentleman of a meer Irish Family but had long lived among the English being a Servant to Sir John Clothwarthy and Trained up in the Protestant Religion came to the Lord Justice Parsons about nine a Clock that Evening and gave an account of a Wicked and Damnable Plot contrived by the Irish Papists for Seising the Castle of Dublin the very next Day with all the Arms and Ammunition therein And at the same Hour all other Forts and Magazines of Arms in the Kingdom and that all the Protestants and English who would not joyn with them should be cut off and thereby the Papists would be possest of the Government and Kingdom at the same instant upon this Discovery the Lords Justices and Councils caused Recruits to be put into the Castle and the City to be Guarded and then endeavoured to seise the Traytors many of whom came into the City that Night and Hugh Mac-Mahon Esquire Grandson to the Rebel Tyrone and the Lord Mac-Guire Two of the principal Conspirators were made Prisoners but several others of the chief escaped that Night So that only 30 of the most inconsiderable were taken the great ones having too many Friends in the City who furthered their escape Mac-Malion being Examined before the Council without much Difficulty confest the Plot Resolutely telling them That on that very Day Oct. 23. 1641. All the Forts and strong Places in Ireland would be taken That he with the Lord Mac-Guire Hugh Birn Captain Brian O Neal and several other Irish Gentlemen were come up expresly to Surprise the Castle of Dublin that 20 Men out of each County were to be there to joyn with them That all the Popish Lords and Gentlemen in the Kingdom were ingaged in this Plot that what was that Day to be done in other Parts of the Country was so far Advanced by that time as it was impossible for the Wit of Man to prevent it and added that it was true they had him now in their power and might use him how they pleased but he was sure he should be Revenged The next Day News Arrived that the Irish were Risen in the Province of Ulster Plundering Burning and Massacring the poor English and the Rebellion appeared to be general over all the Northern part of the Kingdom and every Hour people Arrived at Dublin like Jobs Messengers telling the Story of their own Sufferings and the fearful Murthers of the Protestants in all parts from whence they came The Rebels grew stronger every Day and by the latter end of October had got possession of all the Towns Forts Castles and Gentlemens Houses in seven whole Counties and half the County of Doun except London-Derry Colrain and the Town and Castle of Inniskilling this impetuous Torrent of Success seemed to proceed from the great Security and Confidence the English had in the Irish with whom they lived peaceably and quietly and to whom they had not given the least provocation So that in the Northern Countries they were suddenly swallowed up and over-run before they could make any manner of Resistance For most of the English having either Irish Tenants Servants Landlords or Familiar Neighbours So soon as the Country began to rise about them many fled to them for preservation and with great Confidence put their Lives Wives Children and all they had into their Power but these generally either betrayed them into the
was a Jesuitical Stratagem contrived by Rice and Neagle as one of them afterward boasted carryed on without the privity of any but the Lord Deputy and themselves and every Body told the Lord Montjoy that it was all Sham and Trick only to amuse the Protestants and remove him out of the way who was most likely to Head them Yet the Lord Tyrconnel Swore most Solemnly that he was in earnest in this Message and that he knew the French Court would oppose it to the utmost who regarded only their own interest and did not care if Ireland were sunk into the Pit of Hell so they could give the Prince of Orange a Diversion but for 3 Months but said he if the King be perswaded to Ruin his fastest Friends only to gratifie France and do himself no Service he is neither so Merciful nor Wise as I believe him to be If he recover England Ireland will fall in course but he can never expect to conquer England by Ireland If he Attempts it he ruins Ireland to do himself no kindness but rather to exasperate England the more against him and make his Restoration impossible intimating that if the King would not do it he would look on his refusal to be forced on him by those in whose power he was and that he should think himself obliged to do it without his consent The Lord Montjoy alledged That his going into France could not influence the Councils in England who could reduce the Kingdom without his Assistance and that he must either obey the Deputy or Declare War against him and K. James's interest which he did not think safe since he had no Order nor Incouragement from England but on the contrary all the Advice he had from thence was to be quiet and not to meddle that he was obliged to K. James and neither his Conscience nor Gratitude would permit him in his present Circumstances to make War on his own Authority against him whilst there was any possibility of doing the business peaceably Upon these Motives L. Montjoy proceeds in this Negotiation and took Shipping with Rice at Waterford in Jan. 1688. Tyrconnel having first granted these General Concessions to the Protefâ—ants 1. That no more Commissions should be given out nor new Men raised 2. That no more of the Army should be sent to the North. 3. That none should be questioned for what was past 4. That no private House should be obliged to quarter Souldiers These he sent about the Kingdom by Letters yet the Lord Montjoy was no sooner gone but according to his usual Falshood he denied all and was angry at the Dispersing the Letters Soon after came News that the Lord Montjoy was made a Prisoner in the Bastile in France which more Exasperated the Protestants against K. James as a Violator of Publick Faith to his Subjects and likewise ruined the little Reputation that his Lord Deputy had among them Soon after a French Engineer Landed at Cork and came with all Expedition to Dublin assuring Tyrconnel that K. James would be suddenly with him and that nothing was to be feared from England till the end of the Summer upon this the face of things quickly altered and the little hopes that had hitherto supported the English now utterly vanished so that there appeared a necessity of associating together and getting into the Castles and best places of strength they had for the Defence and Preservation of their Lives some Protestants had a while before put themselves into a posture of Defence in the North c. but Proclamations were issued out by the Council signed by several Protestants commanding them to go to their respective homes under the penalty of being proceeded against as Traytors which proved fatal to the English they judging thereby the danger was not so great as they imagined But at length matters were reduced to such extremity that no course remained to preserve the Protestants but of making their escape for though the Lord Kingstone Sir Arthur Royden and others endeavoured to have secured several places yet matters were managed so indiscreetly that all proved ineffectual and their inconsiderable Forces were soon Defeated After which Tyrconnel Disarmed all the Protestants throughout the Kingdom in one Day In the Cities and Towns they shut up the Gates and none were suffered to pass in or out without being strictly searcht for Arms under pretence of which they â—â—so came into the English Houses and often Seiz'd 〈◊〉 â—heir Plate and Mony or what else they could meet with in this Confusion which lasted several days during which most of the Horses which belonged to English Gentlemen and Farmers was seized in the Country for the Kings use which were brought into the Towns where the Soldiers were quartered in so great numbers in private as well as publick Houses that the English had scarce Beds to lye on About this time Collonel Hamilton is sent with an Army to the North of Ireland and though more early in the year than usual yet the Judges were sent into the Country on pretence to punish the Thieves and Robbers that plundred the Protestants but the Design was to Condemn those poor Protestants that had taken up Arms and Defended their Houses against them and likewise to raise Mony for the Army their being very little in the Exchequer And the Judges read a Letter in every County directed from the Government to the principal Gentlemen and to the Minister and Popish Priest of every Parish requiring them to Summon their Parishioners together and perswade them to Subscribe to the utmost of their Ability for the Subsistance of the Kings Forces assuring them that he would be soon at the Head of them with a confiderable Assistance from France and that they who had no Mony should send in Meal Malt Beef Cheese Butter Herrings or else Leather Brogs Stockins Wool Cloth Linnen or any other Goods the Country afforded This was a great Oppression to the Protestants who though they had but very little left by the Rabble yet must Contribute largely or else were reckoned well-wishers to the Kings Enemies The Lord Galmoy was likewise sent with Forces to Guard the passages between the North of Ireland and those parts of Munster and Connaught that adjoyned to Ulster to prevent the South and Western Protestants from joyning who being a Malicious and Bloody Papist first drew Blood there causing two Gentlemen who had taken Arms for their own Defence under Collonel Sandason to be Hanged on a Sign-post at Belniot and their Heads being cut off were kickt about the Streets by his Soldiers like Foot-balls at Ornagh he took 2 others upon the same pretence and caused the Son first to Hang his Father and carry his Head on a pole through the Streets crying this is the Head of a Traytor and then the young Man himself was Hanged It was also Reported that some of his Dragoons meeting with a Clergymans Wife whose Husband had fled Northward several of them one
after another Ravished her and then ript up her Belly and exposed her with a dead Man upon her At Tipperary an English Gentleman seeing some Dragoons marching towards his House shut up his Doors it being late in the Evening as if they were gone to Bed but 16 of them coming thither and not being quickly admitted they forced open his Doors calling him Traytor for shutting them against the Kings Forces and having pillaged all things of value they then deflowred his Daughter and only Child before his Face all 16 lay with her and 3 of them as was affirmed by his Family after she was actually dead These were the beginnings of the Villainies which the Protestants suffered from these execrable Wretches While things were in this posture K. James was hourly expected by the Irish and almost every Post a false Alarm is given that he was Landed Bonfiâ—es being made and Guns Discharged in the several Garrisons and that so often that not only Protestants but also many Papists thought it to be but a sham of Tyrconnels to Discourage the Protestants and obtain better Terms from them But at length March 12. 1689. he Landed at Kingsale at which the Protestants and some Papists seemed not very well satisfied nay the first were so indifferent that for a Fortnight after he Arrived they would not believe it because they imagined he had no great kindness for them however they thought he would have made their condition more easie for the present and spoke them fair considering that the Irish depended upon many Friends which they boasted they had in Scotland and England But K. James soon let the World know he was not fond of such Dependencies for coming to Cork where he was received by the Mayor and Aldermen in their Formalities the Recorder in a long Speech magnified the Irish Loyalty and Valour saying That he now hoped His Majesty was convinced of their Fidelity and that they were better Subjects than the Church of England Men to this part of the Speech the K. Replyed That he acknowledged all the Recorder had said to be true and that he hoped by their Forces and the Assistance he should receive from his Brother of France to be restored to his Throne in spight of those Slaves of the Church of England at this very time the Judges held the Assizes there and one Brown a Gentleman of about 500 pound a year who had been in Arms against the Rapparees being there a Prisoner he put himself on his Tryal and Petitioned K. James thinking that he would begin with an Act of Mercy and give him his Life but on the contrary he left him to the Law whereby he was sure to be Condemned and accordingly was Hanged and Quartered from hence K. James took his Journey to Dublin where he was received with all Demonstrations of Joy imaginable by Tyrconnel and the Popish Party who lookt upon him as their only Support Champion and Deliverer He was no sooner Arrived but the Irish discovered what his future Designs were in their common talk at publick Houses declaring openly That the King would have such a Powerful Army of French Irish and Scots Roman-Catholicks as should force the English into Obedience That he did not think of returning into England by the means of any Protestant Friends but by a French power So that when he came to his Throne he might Rule as he thought fit that the Protestants of Ireland might feed themselves with what hopes they pleased but they should quickly find the K. would neither value nor regard them That the K. had a long time Caressed the Damn'd Church of England as they called it and that he could do no good with them but now he would do his Business without them and so find an opportunity of shaking them quite off that they did not doubt but to be in the midst of England by Midsummer and make that the Seat of War thereby preserving their own Country Estates and Tenants and living on the Churls as they called the English who they said were Rich and a giddy inconstant People not being satisfied with any kind of Government and would they doubted not be soon divided and broken among themselves so that they did not fear carrying their Point King James himself by his Discourses and Actions soon confirmed the same For he had but 2 Considerable Protestants in his Army Sir Thomas Newcomer and Collonel Russell these he immediately Disbanded without any other Objection but their Religion and declared to Collonel Sarsfield who desired Commissions for 2 of his Protestant Relations and offered to be bound for their Fidelity That he would Trust no Protestant and was heard to say as he came out of his Chappel upon occasion of some of his Courtiers Discoursing about Protestants That a Protestant Stunk in his Nostrils And as his words so his Deeds discovered his Abhorrence of them for he had not been long in Dublin when the Wife of one Maxwell who was Condemned for betaking himself with some others to a strong House in Queens County for the Security of their Lives presented a Petition to the King to pardon her Husband This poor Woman had by her piteous intreaties prevailed with the High Sheriff to reprieve him for 15 Days that she might use her interest to save him though against the command of the Bloody Lord Gilmoy who ordered him to be presently executed she accordingly went to Dublin hoping that the King might be perswaded to do one Act of Grace being just come to the City and the High Sheriff went with her and promised her Admittance to the Presence where she appeared in the most lamentable condition that was possible to excite Compassion having 4 or five small Children hanging about her all in Tears and delivered her Petition praying his Majesty to pardon or at least to Reprieve her poor Husband for some time which she delivered in such melting Terms as moved the very Irish Nobility then present to second her Request and might have Mollified the hardest Heart in the World but the Answer she had from King James was Woman your Husband shall dye and the High Sheriff was severely Reprimanded for not executing him according to his Warrant and Threatned that if the Prisoner escaped he should dye for him and was commanded to hang him immediately which was done accordingly There are several other instances of this kind and it may easily be imagined how great an Incouragement this kind of Behaviour in a Prince was to the rude Soldiers to Treat the poor Protestants not only in the Country but even in Dublin under the very eye of the Government in a Barbarous manner It was ordinary with them to take the meat that the poor people had provided for their Families without thanks or payment noâ— could a Protestant be abroad after Sunset without danger of his Life One Power Bred a Protestant but turned Papist in K. James time coming to his House one Evening was set upon
6 Officers to a wood near the place where the Caâ—non were taken and soon after they came back again on Horse-back and he fired his Pistoâ—â—on those that guarded the Cannon upon which 7 or 8 Soldiers who before thought them Friends fired their Musquets at him and killed his Horse wounding hiâ— in several places and then to put him out of is pain one of the Soldiers Club'd his Musquet to have knockt out his Brains upon which one of his Company Cryed out hold your hand it is General Mackarty Whereupon Captain Cooper coming up gave him and the rest quarter and asking him why he so rashly hazarded his Life when he might have escaped He replyed That he now found the Kingdom like to be lost his Army being the best for Number that K. James had unless those before Derry who were then much broken and that he came with a Design to loose his Life and was sorry he had mist of his End being unwilling to out-live that Day This was a most Remarkable Victory obtained under the Command of the Valiant Collonel Woolsey the Irish were reckoned 5000 and the English not above 2000 the Enemy confest that 3000 of their Men were wanting they lost 7 Cannon 14 Barrels of Powder a great quantity of Cannon and Musquet Ball and all their Drums and Colours the English loft not above 20 Men and 40 or 50 wounded and hereby the Siege of Inniskillin was prevented which by a Letter found about Mackarty was designed to have been Besieged in a few Days by this Party who were to be joyned with another Detachment under the D. or Berwick It has been since published that this great Defeat partly happened by a fatal mistake in the Word of Command among the Irish for the Inniskillin Men charged the Irish Right Wing very smartly which Mackarty perceiving Ordered some of his Men to face to the Right and March to Relieve their Friends the Officer that received the Orders mistook and Commanding the Men in stead of Facing to the Right to Face to the Right about and so March The Irish in the Reer seeing their Front look with their Faces towards them and move thought they had been Running and so without more adoe threw down their Arms and run away The rest seeing their Men run in the Reer run after them for Company and were most of them Cut off or drowned in the Beggs and Loughs so unhappy may a small thing prove to a great Body of Men and at other times a little thing in appearance proves very Advantagious For we read of a Roman at Plough who stood with his Ox-Yoak in in a Gap and stopt the Soldiers that were running away this made them face about and gain the Field though all Men must acknowledge in that Action of the Inniskilliners as well as at London-Derry there was a great deal to be Attributed to their Valour but more to the providence of God Another Remarkable Passage is Related That before the Fight about an hour and half after Sun-set the People of Inniskillin saw from thence a great Light in the Air above Newtown Butler where Mackarty then lay with his Army which coutinued for some hours so that they concluded the Irish had set that Town and all the Country about on Fire or raised some Fire in the Country to give notice to Lieutenant General Sarsfield to joyn with them but after the fight was over upon inquiry into the matter they found there was no fire that Night raised among them This is the more observable because the like was seen at Glaslough before the Action they had there with the Irish of the Garrison of Charlemont whom they Defcated March 13. before killing their Leader and about 200 of his Men. with the loss only of one Captain about a week before this happened at 11 a Clock in a very dark Night several Pillars of fire appeared in the Air pointed from towards Charlemont which were so light they might have read by them and continued thus 2 hours to the Observation of all People there The like account we have from Dr. Robert Maxwell late Bishop of Kilmore of what happened in the Rebellion of 1641. who relates that 56 Protestants Men Women and Children were taken out of his House and Drowned by the Irish at Curbridg and that 3 or 4 Nights before in the dark of the Moon about one a Clock in the Night a Light was observed in manner of a long Pillar to shine for a great way through the Air and refracted upon the North Gabel of his House it gave so great a light about an hour together that divers of the Watch Read both Letters and Books of a very small Character thereby which the Doctor believed did presage that Bloody Massacre which insued It is difficult to enter into the reason of these things but this is only matter of Fact and every Man is left to his own Conjectures in them During these Transactions in Ireland K. William gives out Commissions in England to Raise 18 Regiments of Foot and 4 or 5 of Horse and the Leavies went on with such speed that the greatest part were Raised Armed and Clothed in 6 Weeks and August 12. they were Imbarqued at High-Lake near Chester for Ireland being about 10000 Foot and Horse and 3 Days after they Landed near Carrickfergus incamping in the Fields that Night the Garrison Apprehending a Siege burnt their Suburbs and prepared for their Defence Whereupon Duke Schomberg General of all their Majesties Forces sent 5 Regiments to incamp before the Town and more the next day which Surrounded it whereupon they desired a Parley and required time to send to K. James for Succors which the General absolutely refused and with his Mortars and Cannon played upon the Town Four days after they beat another Parley desiring to March out with their Drums beating c. but this was denyed During the Parley the Duke visited all the Trenches and opserwed the Walls of the Castle and a poor Dutchman was shot from the Walls making his returns to Reproaches against K. William saying That their King was a Tinker King and had nothing but brass Mony He was not nimble enough at getting off when the Parley was over and so lost his Life for his Jest 's sake Aug. 25. The Guns play'd furiously and made a great Breach in the Walls which the Irish seeing and fearing our Men would enter they got a great number of Cattel together and drove them all as near the top of the Breach as they could force them to go keeping themselves close behind them several of the Cattel were killed by the shot and as they fell the Irish threw Earth Stones and Wood upon them but this they thought would not hold long and so desired a third Parley and at length it was agreed that they should March out with their Arms and some Baggage which they did accordingly and the English Forces took possession of Carickfergus as they
the Town from Pâ—undring Upon which a Party of Horse under the D of Ormond went to take possession of the place Jâ—â—y 19. The K. dined with the D. at his Castle of Kilkenny which Count Lauzun had â—â—â—â—ved with all the Fâ—â—niture in a good Condition the Cellars being well furnish'd with â—ine which they had not time to drink at their going off Col. Eâ—nger was sent from thence with 1000 Horse and Dragoons to seâ—â—re the Town of Wex ord which was deserted by the Irish Garriâ—on As also Clonmel whither Count Schomberg marched with a Body of Horse being one of the strongest Towns in Ireland cost Cromwel 2000 men in taking it the Irish pretended to defend it now and levelled the Suburbs and Hedges but at length march'd off having got 300 l. of the People to secure it from burning and plunder July 22. Maj. Gen. Kirk sent a Trumpet to Summon the Town of Waterford to surrender which they refused in very civil Terms but at length on the 25. they delivered it up on Articles and at the same time the strong Fort of Duncannon 7 miles below Waterford was surrendred upon the like terms The K. went into Wâ—terford and took care that none should be disturbed in their Persons or Goods At the King's return to his Camp His Majesty held a Council where he declared his resolution to go for Engl. upon some accounts he had from thence leaving Count Solms Commander in Chief But a few days after having advice from England that the French were gone off the Coast and had only burnt a small Village in the West His Majesty resolved to return to the Army and Aug. 8. the L. Portland and Brigadier Stuart were sent toward Lymerick with about 1100 Horse Foot and the next day the whole Army advanced The K. having ordered their several Posts sent a Trumpet to Summon the Town it seems a great part of the Ganison were for surrendring it but Mons Boiselean the French Governor the D. of Berwick and Col. Sarsfield much opposed it telâ—ng the Soldiers That there were great Divisions Insurrections in England That the Dauphin was landed there with 50000 men and that the P. of Orange would be obliged soon to draw home his Army to England The Trumpeter was sent back from Mons Boiseleau with a Letter directed to Sir R. Southwell Secretary of State not sending directly to the King because it is thought he would avoid giving him the Title of Majesty That he was surprized at the Summons and that he thought the best way to gain the P. of Orange's good opinion was by a vigorous defence of that Town which his Majesty had intrusted him withal The next morning a Cornet deserted the Enemy who told K William That a great many were for surrendring That Câ—â—nt Lauzun with the French were encampt nigh Galloway the Irish refusing to receive them into the Town because themselves had done so some time before at Lymerick That Tyrconnel with most of the Irish Horse and some Foot were encamped about 8 miles on the other side of Lymerick That there were 14 Regiments of Foot 3 of Horse and 2 of Dragoons then in the Town This City is very strong both by Nature and Art and the Irish had now added some new Fortifications to it In 1651. Lieut. Gen. Ireton laid Siege to it for several Months and did not take it at last for it was in some measure betray'd to him by one Col. Stennel and others of the Irish who against the Governors consent received in a or 300 men thereby getting Possession of the Town Ireton Hanged the Mayor and several others that were still for defending it When His Majesty sate down before Lymerick he had only a Field-Train of Artillery because some imagined the Town would have surrendred upon Summons But it being refused Six Cannon called Pounders two 18 Pounders a great quantity of Ammunition Provisions tin Boats and abundance of other materials were upon the Road from Dublin under the Convoy of 2 Troops of Col. Villars Horse of which Sarsfield having intelligence by a French Gunner who went over to the Enemy he passed the River in the Night with a Body of Horse for being satisfied that if this Train arrived before Lymerick it would not be able to hold it he resolved to run the hazard of destroying them If he succeeded he broke our measures if not he designed for France as he afterward declared The K. had notice of his march and to prevent the worst ordered 500 Horse to march and meet the Guns but by some neglect in the Officers it was 1 or 2 a Clock in the morning before the Party marched which they then did very slowly till about an hour after they saw a great light in the Air and heard a strange rumbling noise which they imagined to be the blowing up of the Train as really it was For on Sunday night Aug. 11. the Guns lay at Cashel and on Monday they marched beyond Cullen to a little old ruinous Castle called Ballemedy not 7 miles from the Camp and being so near did not fear an Enemy especially having no notice and therefore being weary of marthing had turn'd most of their Horses to grass leaving a very slender Guard and the greatest part went to sleep but some never awaked in this World for Sarsheld lurking among the Mountains all the day being guided through by-ways to the very spot he unawares fell in upon them and cut several to pieces with some Waggoners and Country People that were coming to the Camp with Provisions The Chief Officer seeing how it was Commanded to Sound to Horse but those that went to fetch them up were killed by the way The Officers and others after the best resistance they could make were forc't to shift for themselves with loss of Horses and Goods a Lieutenant and some few Troopers were kill'd in all about 60. The Irish got what Horses they could some broke the Boats others the Guns and drawing all the Carriages and Waggons with Bread and Ammunition together in an heap what they could not carry away they laid a Train and fired at their going off blowing up all with an astonishing noise whereby every thing that would burn was reduced to Ashes The Party of Horse that were sent against them came when the business was over in sight of the Enemies Reer but wheeling toward the Left to intercept their passage over the Shannon they unhappily went another way This was very unwelcome News in the Camp however the Siege went on and several more Guns were planted and Firings continued briskly from divers Batteries Aug. 12. Brigadier Stuart went with a Detachement of Men and 〈◊〉 Field-pieces toward Castle Connel upon whose approach the Garâ—rison consisting in 126 surrendred and were brought Prisoners to the Camp Aug. 19. Our Batteries plaid upon the Walls and Houses of Lymerick and the K. riding softly up toward Cromwel's-Fort as his Horse was entring a