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
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
thereof she most happily brought it to an end by the utter overthrow of the said Tyrone and the Spanish Forces at the Siege of Kingsale under the prudent conduct of the Lord Montjoy then Lord Deputy of Ireland in the eighth year after it brake forth which Rebellion had been begun upon private grudges intermixed with ambition cherished by contempt and parsimony in England spread over all Ireland by pretext of restoring the Romish Religion and hope of unbridled licentiousness and impunity Strengthened by the light credulity of some and secret favour of others which were of great authority as also by one or two prosperous successes Spanish Pentions Spanish Forces and Papal Indulgences and protected by the wicked emulations of the English by a by-partite Government the covetousness of the old Soldiers the cunning practices of Tyrone by his dissembled truces and submissions by the protections of Malefactors bought for money the most cumbersom difficulty of places and by the desperate kind of men safer in the nimbleness of their heels than stableness in Battle The waies propounded in Q. Elizabeths Reign to establish a perpetual peace in Ireland This War proving thus difficult and very tedious and like to have been also very dangerous in case Tyrone and the Spaniards had prevailed at Kingsale caused many wise and worthy persons of the English party to advise of the best ways that could be thought on how the Irish after the suppression of this Rebellion might be assuredly contained in their future Obedience to the Crown of England and not be subject to those frequent relapses whereof the English and the honester sort of Irish had too often had a sad experience in the conclusion of which debate it was generally agreed upon that the fittest remedy and expedient to prevent all those future mischiefs and inconveniences would be upon the subduing of Tyrone and his Confederates to transplant the Rebels of Vlster into Leinster and those of Leinster into Vlster and to give all their Lands to such English as should be invited to come out of England to Plant the same with such Estates as should be thought meet and for such rents as in the whole would maintain four thousand five hundred Soldiers and those disposed of as now they are in very advantageous and well fortified Garrisons which might prove an exceeding good thing both to her Highness to have so many old Soldiers alwaies ready at a call to what purpose soever she please to imploy them and also to have that Land thereby so strengthened that it should neither fear any forreign Invasion nor practice which the Irish should ever attempt but should keep them under in continual awe and firm obedience This was therefore a notorious Error and proved as you have heard of sad consequence to the first English Adventurers and Conquerers of this Kingdome not to have ascertained by way of Chiefry to be raised yearly out of the Conquered Lands a â—ompetent maintenance for the perpetual continuing of five or six thousand Soldiers in pay which should have been disposed of in several strong Garrisons through all Ireland as aforesaid then would have followed that the Laws of England might have been as freely communiâ—ated to the Irish as well as to the English Colonies without any need of turning the Irish into Desarts and Mountains still to continue them in their Barbarisme but rather to have made use of them as the present English Planters do for their Tenants and Labourers to the great benefit and security of the Publick as well as the Private advantage of the English in Ireland And this was the course which the Romans observed in the Conquest of England for they planted some of their Legions in all places convenient the which they caused the Counntry to maintain by cutting upon every portion of Land a reasonable rent which they called Romescot the which might not surcharge the Tenant or Free-holder and might defray the pay of the Garrisons And this hath been alwaies observed by all Princes in all Countries to them newly subdued to set Garrisons amongst them to keep them in duty whose burthen they made them to bear and the want of this Ordinance in the first Conquest of Ireland by Henry the Second was the cause of the so short decay of that Government and the quick recovery again of the Irish therefore by all means this was to be provided for And this was thought to be worthy of blame that in the Planting of Munster after the suppression of the Earl of Desmond's Rebellion Anno 1580. that no care was had of this Ordinance nor any strength of Garrison provided for by a certain allowance out of all the forfeited Lands but only the present profit looked into and the safe continuance thereof for ever thereafter neglected Under every of those English men were to be placed some of those Irish to be Tenants for a certain Rent according to the quantity of such Land as every man should have alloted to him and should be able to Weild wherein this special regard was to be had that in no place under any Landlord there should be many of them placed together but dispersed wide from their acquaintance and scattered far abroad through all the Country for that was the evil which was then found in Ireland that the Irish dwelt together by their Septs and several Nations so as they might practice or conspire what they pleased whereas if there had been English well placed amongst them they should not have been able once to stir or murmur but that it should be known and they shortned according to their demerits But King James being swayed by milder Councils How far K. James proceeded in the Reformation and settlement of Ireland though Tyrone and all his Adherents had absolutely submitted themselves both as to life and estate to be at his Majesties pleasure did by a General Act of State calâ—ed The Act of Oblivion published by Proclamation under the great Seal remit and utterly extinguish all offences against the Crown and all particular Trespasses between Subject and Subject done at any time before his Majesties Reign to all such as would come into the Justice of the Assize by a certain day and claim the benefit of this Act. And by the same Proclamation all the Irishry who for the most part in former times were left under the tyranny of their Lords and Chieftains and had no defence or Justice from the Crown were received into his Majesties immediate protection The Publick Peace being thus established the State proceeded next to establish the Publick Justice in every part of the Realm by dividing all Ireland into Shires and erecting Circuits in every Province and Governing all things therein according to the Laws of England But being it was impossible to make a Common-wealth in Ireland without performing another service which was the settling of all the Estates and Possessions as well of Irish as English throughout the Kingdome
Therefore whereas there was as you heard but one Free-holder in a whole Country which was the Lord himself the rest holding in Villenage and being subject to the Lords immeasurable Taxations whereby they had no encouragement to Build or Plant Now the Lords Estate was divided into two parts that which he held in Domain to himself which was still left unto him and that which was in the hands of the Tenants who had Estates made in their possessions according to the Common Law of England paying instead of uncertain Irish Impositions certain English Rents whereby the people have since set their minds upon repairing their Houses and Manuring their Lands to the great increase of the Private and Publick Revenues These proceedings bred such comfort and security in the hearts of all men as thereupon ensued for the space of about forty years the calmest and most universal Peace that ever was seen in Ireland But the foundation of this so long for wished The Foundation of that settlement shaken Anno 1627. by the Irish refusing to contribute towards the pay of a standing Army in Ireland and most delectable Peace was not so deeply laid but but that it received a shake by the first storm that threatned England for being engaged in a War with France and Spain about the beginning of his Majesties Reign King Charles the First and having therefore occasion to send some additional Forces into Ireland for the better assuring the Peace thereof in such a doubtful time of trouble A proposition was made by the then Lord Deputy Falkland to the chief of the Irish Nation for the contributing of a competent sum of Money towards the maintenance of those Forces to be established by way of a stanâ—ing Army in Ireland To which they would not condescend without a Toleration of Religion first obtained and then they would willingly maintain five hundred horse and five thousand foot wherein the Protestants must have born a share also But the Protestants not approving thereof The Lord Archbishop Vsher then Lord Primate of Ireland was desired by the said Lord Deputy at a great Assembly both of Irish and English met at his Majesties Castle at Dublin the last of April Anno 1627 to press the Irish by very strong Arguments to a condescention of the said proposition where amongst many other most excellent ones then made use of by his Lordship to induce them thereunto He declared that the resolution of those Gentlemen in denying to contribute unto the supplying of the Army sent thither for their defence did put him in mind of the Philosophers Observation That such as have respect to a few things are easily misled the present pressure which they sustained by the imposition of Souldiers and the desire they had to be cas'd of that burthen did so wholly possess their minds that they had onely an eye to the freeing of themselves from that incumbrance without looking at all to the Desolations that were like to come upon them by a long and heavy War which the having of an Army in a readiness might be a means to have prevented The lamentable effects said he of our last Wars in this Kingdome doth yet freeshly stick in our memories Neither can we so soon forget the depopulation of our Land when besides the cumbustions of War the extremity of famine grew so great that the very Women in some places by the way side have surprized the men that rod by to feed themselves with the flesh of the Horse of the Rider and that now again said he here is a storm towards wheresoever it will light every wise man will easily foresee which if we be not careful to meet with in time our State may prove irrecoverable when it will be too late to think of had I wist Proceeding farther he recounted to them how that in the days of King Henry the Eighth the Earl of Desmond had made an offer of the Kingdom of Ireland to the French King Ireland offered to Sale to the French King in days of K. Henry the Eighth the Instrument whereof remains yet upon Record in the Court of Paris and that the Bishop of Rome afterwards transfer'd the Title of all our Kingdoms unto Charles the Fift which new Grants were confirmed unto his Son Philip in the time of Queen Elizabeth with a resolution to settle the Crown of Ireland upon the Spanish Infanta Which Donations of the Popes howsoever they were in themselves of no value yet would they serve for a fair colour to a Potent Pretender who is able to supply by the power of the Sword whatsoever therein may be thought defective Whereunto might be added that of late in Spain at the very same time when the Treaty of the Match was in hand there was a Book published with great approbation there by one of Irish Birth Philip O Sullevan wherein the Spaniard is taught that the ready way to establish his Monarchy for that is the only thing he mainly aimeth at and is plainly there confessed is first to set upon Ireland which being quickly obtained the Conquest of Scotland of England next then of the Low-Countries is foretold with great facility will follow after Neither have we more cause saith my Lord in this regard A distinction of the Irish. to be afraid of a forreign Invasion than to be jealous of a Domestick Rebellion Where least I be mistaken as your Lordships have been lately I must of necessity put a difference betwixt the Inhabitants of this Nation some of them are descended of the Race of the antient English or otherwise hold their Estates from the Crown and have Possessions of their own to stick to who easily may be trusted against a forreign Invader although they differ from the State in matter of Religion for proof of which fidelity in this kind he saith he need go no farther than the late Wars in the time of the Earl of Tyrone wherein they were assaulted with as powerful Temptations to move them from their Loyalty as possibly could be afterwards presented unto them for at that time not only the King of Spain did confederate himself with the Rebels and landed his Forces at Kingsale for their assistance but the Bishop of Rome also with his Breves and Bulls sollicited the Nobility and Gentry of Ireland to Revolt from their Obedience to the Queen declaring that the English did fight against the Catholick Religion and ought to be oppugned as much as the Turks importing the same favours to such as should set upon them as he doth unto such as fight against the Turks and finally promising unto them that the God of Peace would tread down their Enemies under their feet speedily And yet for all the Popes promises and threatnings which were also seconded by a Declatation of the Divines of Salamanca and Valledolid not only the Lords and Gentlemen did constantly continue their Allegiance to the Queen but were also encouraged so to do by the Priests of
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
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
THE PRESENT STATE OF Ireland TOGETHER With some Remarques Upon the Antient State thereof Likewise a Description of the Chief Towns With a MAP of the Kingdome LONDON Printed by M. D. for Chr. Wilkinson at the Black-Boy in Fleet-Street and T. Burrell at the Golden-Ball under St. Dunstans Church 1673. THE EPISTLE TO THE READER MVch cannot be expected upon a Subject of this Nature from a private Person and one who was seconded with few other helps to accomplish his desires herein than to consult his own thoughts and a mall number of Books that lay by him However the Reader may be well assured there is nothing offered here to his consideration in relation to the Present or Antient State of Ireland as far as the Subject would possibly admit of the same but what is back'd with good Authority and faithfully related by the Author according to the best information he could obtain As for other matters here Essayed by way of conjecture the Author well hopes this mean attempt will shortly administer a fit occasion for a more knowing Person and abler Pen to render the World more ample satisfction touching the Publick Affairs and State of that Kingdome wherein it may seem strange how that this our Age affords many Treatises entituled The present State of Enngland France Italy Holland Venice Muscovy c. yet not any thing of that Nature since his Majesties happy Restauration hath been hitherto presented to publick view in relation to the State of Ireland though it be one of the chiefest Members of the British Empire as if either there were no such thing in Nature Or at least that the Affairs thereof afforded not any thing worthy of Note whereas indeed the continued infelicity of that unhappy Kingdome till of late might alone besides many other remarkes made mention of in this ensuing Treatise justly breed some curiosity in any knowing person to take into his consideration what were the true causes why that Realm whereof our Kings of England have born the Title of Sovereign Lords for the space of four hundred and odd years a period of time wherein divers great Monarchies have risen from Barbarism to Civility and fallen again to Ruine was not in all that space of time throughly subdued reduced to the obedience of the Crown of England although there hath been almost a continual War between the English and the Irish and why the manners of the meer Irish were so little altered till King James his Reign since the days of King Henry the Second as appeareth by the description made by Giraldus Cambrensis who lived and wrote in that time although there hath been since that time so many English Colonies planted in Ireland as that if the people had been numbred by the Poll such as were descended of English race would have been found more in number than the antient Natives To give therefore a brief account of the true causes of those disorders as also of the exquisite remedies applyed by the late Settlement of Ireland in order to a perfect Reformation of the same is one of the chief ends and design of this discourse wherein if it gives the Reader any competent satisfaction the Author will deem himself thereby well rewarded for his pains THE CONTENTS OF THE First Part. THat Ireland is supposed to be first Inhabited by the Britains page 1. That it was first Invaded by the Saxon Monarchs p. 3. Next by the Northern Nations about the year 830. of Danes Swedes and Normans all passing under the Names of Norwegians p. ib. And last of all by the English in K. Henry the Seconds time p. 4. That the Conquest of Ireland by the English ever since Henry the Seconds time till now of late was imperfect by reason of two great Defects the first whereof consisted in faint prosecution of the War and the next in in the loosness of the Civil Government p. 6. Of the faint prosecution of the War and the causes of it p. ib. That notwithstanding many obstructions yet the first English Adventurers during the first forty years gained many large proportions of Land in the Provinces of Leinster Munster Connaght and Ulster p. 8. That the English being for a long time necessitated to maintain a bordering War with the Irish wholy at the charge of the English Planters the English Plantations in Ireland began thereupon to decay p. 9 10 11. That Morrice Fitz-Thomas Earl of Desmond was the first began that wicked Extortion of Coine Livery and Pay in K. Edward the Seconds time which soon after proved the utter ruine of all the English Colonies in Ireland except those few within the Pale which Interest of the English could never be put in a way of recovery again till about the beginning of Queen Eâ—izabeths Reign p. 12 13. That by reason of the said Earl of Desmond and divers other Grandees of the first English Conquerors getting vast Estates from the English Colonies in Ireland by those horrible oppressioins of Coin and Livery c. many of the English fled into England and the rest in a small tract of time so much degenerated into Irish manners as that they hated the very name of the English and took upon them Irish Nick-names p. 14 15. That those great English Lords the better to maintain their said unlawful Acquisitions became thereupon Arch Enemies both to the Government and the Laws of England refusing to appear at Parliaments and no way observing the Dictates and Command of the Chief Governors of that Realm p. 16 17. That by these means and by reason of the English Nobility and Gentry passing afterwards out of Ireland into England to be engaged in the Civil-Wars between York and Lancaster wherein most of them perished the Irish became victorious over all the English except those within the Pale without bloud or sweat p. 17 18. That it was a great hindrance to the full Conquest of Ireland that the first English Conquerors did not equally communicate the English Laws to the Irish as well as to English Planters ib. That by means thereof the English Conquerors maintained perpetual Enmity and War with the Irish for their own private ends and advantages to the distruction of the Country p. 19. That this was contrary to the practice of the Roman State who never refused to communicate their Laws to the rude and barbarous people they conquered p. 20. And to the practice of William the Conqueror who Governed both Normands and the English under one Law p. 21. And against the prudent course Edward the First observed in the reducing of Wales p. ib. That the next Error in the Civil pollicy was the over great proportions of Land with great Royalties and Liberties granted to the first English Adventurers in Ireland which occasioned many notorious inconveniencies p. 22. The reason why such vast proportions of Land were given to the first Adventurers in Ireland p. 30. The manner how Ireland was divided among the English Conquerors in
with lesser proportions For when Scipio Pompey and Caesar and other Generals of the Roman Armies as Subjects and Servants of that State and with the Publick Charge had Conquered many Kingdomes and Common-Weals we find them rewarded with Honorable Offices and Triumphs at their return and not made Lords and Proprietors of whole Provinces and Kingdomes which they had subdued to the Empire of Rome Likewise when the Duke of Normandy had Conquered England which he made his own work and perform'd it in his own person he distributed sundry Lordships and Manners unto his Followers but gave not away whole Shires and Countries in Demesne to any of his Servitors whom he most desired to advance Again From the time of the Norman Conquest till the Reign of King Edward the First many of our English Lords made War upon the Welch-men at their own charge the Lands which they gained they held to their own use were called Lords Marchers and had Royal Liberties within their Lordships Howbeit these particular Adventurers could never make a Conquest of Wales But when King Edward the First came in person with his Army thither kept his Residence and Court there made the reducing of Wales an enterprize of his own he finished that work in a Year or two whereof the Lords Marchers had not perform'd a third part with their continual Bordering War for two hundred Years And withall we may observe that though this King had now the Dominion of Wales in jure proprietatis as the Statute of Rutland affirmeth which before was subject unto him but in jure feodali And though he had lost divers principal Knights and Noble men in that War yet did he not reward his Servitors with whole Countries or Counties but with particular Mannors and Lordships As to Henry Lacie Earl of Lincoln he gave the Lordship of Denbigh and to Reighnold Gray the Lordship of Ruthen and so to others If the like course had been used in the winning and distribuiting of the Lands of Ireland that Island had been fully conquered before the Continent of Wales had been reduced But the truth is when private men attempt the Conquest of Countries at their own charge commonly their enterprizes do perish without success as when in the time of Queen Elizabeth Sir Thomas Smith undertook to recover the Ardes and Chatterton to reconquer the Fues and Orier The one lost his Son and the other himself and both their Adventures came to nothing And as for the Crown of England it hath had the like Fortune in the Conquest of this Land as some Purchasers have who desire to buy Land at too easie a Rate they find those cheap Purchasers so full of trouble as they spend twice as much as the Land is worth before they get the quiet possession thereof And as the best policy was not observed in the distribution of the Conquered Lands That the first English Adventurers in Ireland were deceived in the choice of the fittest places to settle their Plantations in so as I conceive that the first Adventurers intending to make a full Conquest of the Irish were deceived in the choice of the fittest places for their Plantation For they sate down and erected their Castles and Habitations in the Plains and open Countries where they found most fruitful and profitable Lands and turned the Irish into the Woods and Mountains Which as they were proper places for Out-laws and Thieves so were they their Natural Castles and Fortifications thither they drave their preys and stealths there they lurkt and lay in wait to do mischief These â—â—st places they kept unknown by making the ways and entries thereunto impassable there they kept their Creaghts or Herds of Cattle living by the Milk of the Cow without Husbandry or Tillage there they encreased and multiplyed unto infinite numbers by promiscuous generation among themselves there they made their Assemblies and Conspiracies without discovery But they discovered the weakness of the English dwelling in the open plains and thereupon made their Sallies and Retreats with great advantage Whereas on the other side if the English had builded their Castles and Towns in those places of fastness and had driven the Irish into the plains and open Countries where they might have had an eye and observation upon them the Irish had been easily kept in order and in short time reclaimed from their wildness There they would have used Tillage dwelt together in Town ships learned Mechanical Arts and Sciences The Woods had been wasted with the English Habitations as they were afterwards about the Forts of Mariborough and Philipston which were built in the fast places in Leinster and the ways and passages throughout Ireland would have been as clear and open as they are in England or Ireland at this day Having thus far recounted the manifold defects mischiefs and impediments that both in the Civil and Martial Affairs so long obstructed the ful Conquest of Ireland I should have here also briefly recited the many good Laws and Ordinances made and enacted from time to time by the Kings of England and the Parliaments in Ireland for redressing the said mischiefs and inconveniences but all fair endeavours and purposes of this kind proving abortive and ineffectual for want of the Sovereign Sword as well as the Royal Scepter to put the same in execution I shall now onely set forth the Nature of the Irish Customs with the evil Consequences thereof and then proceed to a conclusion of this discourse containing those Affairs that shall appear most remarkable in the reigns of Queen Elizabeth King James and King Charles the First and especially in the Reign of our present Gratious Sovereign King Charles the Second in order to the Reformation and good Government of this Realm If we consider the Nature of the Irish Customs The Nature of the Irish Customs destructive to all good Government we shall find that the people which doth use them must of necessity be Rebels to all good Government destroy the Common-Wealth wherein they live and bring Barbarisme and Desolation upon the richest and most fruitful Land of the World For whereas by the just and honorable Law of England and by the Laws of all other well governed Kingdoms and Common-wealths Murder Manslaughter Rape Robbery and Theft are punished with Death By the Irish Custom or Brehen Law the highest of these offences was punished onely with Fine which they called an Erick Therefore when Sir William Fitz-Williams being Lord Deputy told Maguire that he was to send a Sheriff into Farmannagh being lately before made a County your Sheriff said Maguire shall be welcome to me but let me know his Erick or the price of his head before hand that if my people cut it off I may cut the Erick upon the Country As for Oppression Extortion and other trespasses the weaker had never any remedy against the stronger whereby it came to pass that no man could enjoy his Life his Wife his Lands or
in abundance with all sorts of Fish sprinkled with many very sweet Islands and goodly Lakes like little Inland-Seas which will carry even Ships upon their waters adorned with goodly Woods even fit for building of Houses and Ships so commodiously as that if some Prince in the World had them they would soon hope to be Lords of all the Seas and ere long of all the World Also full of very good Forts and Havens opening upon England as inviting us to come unto them to see what excellent Commodities that Country can afford besides the Soil it self most fertile fit to yeild all kind of Fruit that shall be committed thereunto And lastly the Heavens most mild and temperate though somewhat more moist in the parts towards the West How far Ireland differs from England in Aire and Commodities Ireland differs not much from England for all manner of Commodities either for Feeding or Cloathing or for Pleasure or Profit but only in this that the Aire thereof though very wholsome and delectable is neither so clear nor subtil as ours of England by reason of the Sun being frequently overshadowed with clouds even almost as well in Summer as in Winter which is therefore nothing favourable for the ripening of Corn and Fruits but so grateful to the ground that it causeth grass to grow abundantly not only fresh and long but withal very sweet for all kind of Cattle and in Winter is more subject to Wind than Snow or Frost the Wool of this Country is said to be not of so fine a grain as that of England but the Sheep of as large a body and so all other kind of Cattle if bred there after the way of England Coal they have none but what is neer Kilkenny and that in no great quantity however plentifully supplied with Fuel by reason of their neighbouring Boggs though otherwise over-plentifully dispersed through all parts of the Kingdom Iron Ore they have none as I take it but what is brought out of England which occasions as I suppose so few Iron Mills in Ireland there being of late years but two that I have heard off viz. one at Mountrath in the Kings County and another at Corfew in the County of Wexford neer the Town of Wexford the fewness whereof I presume is no great loss to that Country the Woods there the over-plenty whereof was formerly complained of being now of late too much destroyed even to admiration Some Mines of Lead have been found there of late by the industry of the English the chief whereof was that called the Silver Mines in the County of Typperary not far from Limrick out of which was extracted some proportion of Silver which gave it the Denomination England and Ireland may be esteemed without doubt to be two of the most plentiful Kingdoms for Provisions for the extent of them of any in the whole World but that which causes the vast difference between the value of the Stock and Lands of the one and the other though both conveniently situated for Trade is that of Traffick and Commerce and till of late the sloathfulness of the people of Ireland in not disposing themselves to Manufactury a great rectification whereof may be well hoped will fall out even in this our Age whereunto there is already given a very fair beginning by the British Planters Money The Irish till of late times did for the most part mannage their Trade and Commerce amongst themselves by exchange of Wares Trade driven formerly in Ireland hy Commutation of Commodities and commutation of Commodities having little or no coyn stirring even amongst their greatest Lords and Noblemen And no great marvel it should be so in Ireland since that of old the most usual material of money amongst the Roman Provinces was seldome Gold or Silver but Brass sometimes Leather Corium forma publica percussum as Seneca hath it This last kind of Money was by Frederick the Second made current when he besieged Millaine The like is said to have been used here in England in the time of the Barons Wars and why not since no longer ago than in the year 1574 the Hollanders then being in their Extremities made money of Past-board But this happened only in case of necessity The Metals of Gold and Silver having for many hundred years though not in such abundance been the principal instrument of Exchange and Barter and so questionless will continue to the end of the World English Moneys prohibited to be transported out of England into Ireland In the three and fortieth year of Queen Elizabeths Reign being Anno 1601. It was commanded by Proclamation as also King Henry the Seventh had provided by Act of Parliament that no man should carry over English money into Ireland for as much as the Rebels drew unto themselves a great part thereof to buy Ammunition and Provision for the Wars and from thence the Merchants carried it into forraign Countries to the great detriment of England There was therefore a serious deliberation then had about changing the Irish Coyâ— by mingling some Brass with it foâ— that the Irish War drew yearly oâ—â— of England 160000 l. Sterling Here upon some were of opinion that thâ— Charges of the War might be abâ—ted that all the good Money migâ—â— by Exchange be drawn out of Ireland into England that so the Râ—bels when the good Money faileâ— would be excluded from all Coâ—merce with Forreigners and of necessity weakned Others argued 〈◊〉 the contrary that this change woulâ— redound to the dishonor of the Queen and the dammage of the Subject that the good Money of Ireland could not be drawn thence without a great charge to the Queen that the gain gotten thereby if new Money were Coyned in England would not when the Accounts were cast up countervail the Charges of carrying over A Mint not profitable to be set vp in Ireland and much less if it were Coyned in Ireland where a Mint must needs be set up at great Charges and Minters must be hired for great wages Neither could the Commerce of the Rebels with Forreigners be impeached whilst there was Silver in the new Coyn which the Merchant knew well enough how to seperate unto whom it is all one whether he receive one piece of Money or three of the same value and that it was to be feared least the Souldiers would mutiny for thereby their pay would be diminished But Buckhurst Lord Treasusurer a man very skilful in Money matters with much ado extorted from the Queen out of necessity for that is the Law of Time which he urged that the Money should be changed for a time to be called back again afterwards to the highest value for she many times said that this would depress her Fame and be grievous to the Army Yet did the Army continue without tumult and commotion through the Queens rare happiness which retained her Authority with her People joyned with love To the Army certainly it proved a
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
c. born Subjects to the Crown of England paying ever to the King his Duties reserved Title to Meth. Hugh de Lacy Conquerour of Meth had Issue Walter de Lacy who held the same of King John paying a Fine of four thousand Marks Sterling and hence began all the several Claims there with Alegiance sworn and done by their Ancestors Title to Mounster At the very first arrival of Henry the Second the Princes of Mounster came universally and did homage voluntarily and acknowledged to him and his Heirs Duties and pays for ever John de Courcy Conquerour and Earl of Vlster dyed without Issue Title to Ulster Connaght King John Lord of Ireland gave the Earldome to Hugh de Lacy who who had Issue Walter and Hugh who died without Issue and one Daughter married to Reymond Burke Conquerour and Lord of Connaght Connaght descended to divers Heirs owing service to the Prince but Vlster returned by devolution to the special Inheritance and the Revenues of the Crown of England in this manner The said de Burgo had Issue Richard who had Issue John who had Issue William who was slain without Issue and a Daughter Elizabeth entitled to thirty thousand Marks yearly by the Earldome of Vlster whom Edward the Third gave in marriage to Lionel his second Son Duke of Clarence who had Issue a Daughter Philippe married to Edward Mortimer who had Issue Edmund Anne Elianor Edmund and Elianor died without Issue Anne was married to Richard Earl of Cambridge Son to Edmund of Langley Duke of York fift Son to Edward the Third which said Richard had Issue Richard Plantaginet Father to Edward the Fourth Father to Elizabeth Wife to Henry the Seventh and Mother to Henry the Eighth Father to Mary Edward the Sixth and Elizabeth Several Claims to the Land of Ireland Several claims to the Land of Ireland 1. Mac Gil-murrow King of Ireland with all his Petty Princes Lords and Captains summoned to King Arthurs Court held in Carlion Anno 519. did accordingly their homage and attended all the while his great Feast and Assembly lasted 2. The Monarch of all Ireland and all other both Reges and Reguli for them and for theirs for ever betook themselves to Henry the Second An. Dom. 1172. namely those of the South whiles he lay at Waterford Dermot K. of Corke which is the Nation of the Mac Cartyes at Cashel Donald K. of Limrick which is the Nation of the Obrenes Donald K. of Ossory Mac Shaghlon King of Ophaly at Divelin did the like Okernel King of Vriel Ororick King of Meth Roderick King of all Ireland and of Connaght This did they with consents and shouts of their People and King Henry returned without any Battle given Only Vlster remained which John de Courcy soon after conquered and Oneale Captain of all the Irish there came to Dublin to Richard the Second An. 1399. and freely bound himself by Oath and great Sums of Money to be true to the Crown of England 3. The same time O Brien of Thomond Oconar of Connaght Arthur Mac Murrow of Leinster and all the Irish Lords which had been somewhat disordered renewed their Obedience 4. When Ireland first received the Christian Faith they gave themselves into the Jurisdiction both Spiritual and Temporal of the See of Rome The Temporal Lordship Pope Adrian conferred upon Henry the Second and he gave the same to John his younger Son afterwards King of England and so it returned home to the Crown 5. Alexander the Third confirmed the Gift of Adrian as in both their Charters is expressed at large 6. Vivian the Legate on the Popes behalf did Accurse and Excommunicate all those that fell from the Obeysance of the Kings of England 7. The Clergy twice Assembled once at Cashell secondly at Armagh plainly determined the Conquest to be Lawful and threatnad all people under pain of Gods and holy Churches indignation to accept of the English Kings for their Lords from time to time 8. It would ask a Volume to recite the Name of such Irish Princes who since the Conquest have continually upon Occasions Revolts or Petitions sworn Truth and Faith to the Kings of England and from time to time received Honors Wages Fees Pardons and made Petitions And thus I think no reasonable man will doubt of a Right so old so continued so ratified and so many ways confessed The Kings Revenue in Ireland was spent and wholy exhausted in the publick service and therefore The Kings Revenue in Ireland wholy spent on that Kingdome in all the ancient Pipe-Rolls in the times of King Henry the Third Edward the First Edward the Second and Edward the Third between the Receipts and Allowances there is this entrie In Thesauro nihil For the Officers of the State and the Army spent all so as there was no surplusage of Treasure And here I may well take occasion to shew the vanity of that which is reported in the Story of Walsingham touching the Revenue of the Crown in Ireland which he saith did amount to thirty thousand Pounds a year in the time of King Edward the Third The vain story of 30000 l. yearly Revenue in E 3ds time refuted If this Writer had known that the Kings Courts had been established in Ireland more than a hundred years before King Edward the Third was born or had seen either the Parliament Rolls in England or the Records of the Receits and Issues in Ireland he had not left this vain report to Posterity for both the Benches and Exchequer were erected in the twelfth year of King John And it is Recorded in the Parliament Rolls of 21. of Edward the Third remaining in the Tower that the Commons of England made Petition that it might be enquired why the King received no benefit of his Land in Ireland considering he possessed more there than any of his Ancestors had before him Now if the King at that time when there were no standing Forces maintained there had received thirty thousand pounds yearly at his Exchequer in Ireland he must needs have made profit by that Land considering that the whole charge of the Kingdome in the 47th year of Edward the Third when the King did pay an Army there did amount to no more than eleven thousand and two hundred pounds per Annum as appeareth by the Contract of William Winsore Besides it is manifest by the Pipe-Rolls of that time whereof many are yet preserved in Breminghams Tower and are of better credit than any Monks story that during the Reign of King Edward the Third the Revenue of the Crown of Ireland both certain and casual did not rise unto ten thousand pound per Annum though the medium be taken of the best seven years that are be found in that Kings time The like Fable hath Hollingshead touching the Revenue of the Earldome of Vlster which saith he in the time of King Richard the Second was thirty thousand Marks by the year Whereas in
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