he termeth infinitam vim Britannicarum dictionum that the Britains first peopled this Land And although of a long time by reason of troubles and alterations the speech grew wholly out of use yet afterwards in success of time it was revived Secondly the British and Irish oft Matched together so that there grew among them great alliance and affinity to the fartherance of the Language Thirdly the first Conquerors in Henry the Seconds time that brake the Ice into this Land were Welch-men whose Names and Seats to this day are fresh in memory As for instance in the Dioces of Leighlin there is a Town called Villa Wallicorum the Town of Welch men Careg and Craig in the British or Welch Tongue is a Stone or Rock and of the Britains Carreggferggus Carreggmont-Griffiin Carregg in Shurie Carrigguaspin and Craigwading have their Names Likewise Llis in British is a Court or Palace of that in Ireland you have Lismore Lisfenyn Lislofty Lismakery Glan and Glyn are British words of them have you Glangibbon Glandoboy Glanreynold Glynburry Glyndelory Glynmoloura c. Inis an Island is British and Irish of which kind are Inissirocan Inishoven Inisdiok Inisuag Iniscorthie and the like Rath a Moat or round Trench whereof there are many in Ireland made by the Danes if Beda had not said that it was a Saxon word I would have said it had been British and how many names of places are compounded with it in Ireland were too long to reherse I will here give Stainhurst leave to conclude Omnes Insulae locos lucos Wallici nominis gloria implevit the renown of the Welch name saith he hath filled all the ways and woods of the Island The Irish are now generally bred both to read and speak the English Tongue The Irish are commonly of a large and handsome proportion of body clear of Skin and Hue. Their Women are well Favoured clear Coloured fair handed big and large suffered from their infancy to grow at Will nothing curious of their feature and proportion of body The Common sort of People in Ireland do feed generally upon Milk Dyet Butter Curds and Whey New bread made of Oat meal Beans Barly and Pease and sometimes of Wheat upon Festivals their bread being baked every day against the fire Most of their Drink is Butter-milk and Whey They feed much also upon Parsnips Potatoes and Water-cresses and in those Countreys bordering on the Sea upon Sea weeds as Dullusck Slugane but seldome eat Flesh The middle sott of the Irish Gentry differ not much from the same kind of Dyet save only that they oftner feed upon Flesh eat better Bread and drink Beer more frequently They are all of them when opportunity offers it self too much inclined to drink Beer and Vsquebagh to an excess And both Men and Women of all sorts extreamly addicted to take Tobacco in a most abundant manner The best sort of Irish do imitate the English both in Dyet and Apparel but not without a palpable difference most commonly in the mode of their Entertainment Atâ—â—â—e Trouses and Mantles were till King James and King Charles his Reign the general habit of the Irish their Mantles serving many times as a fit house for an Out-Law a meet bed for a Rebel and an apt cloak for a Thief But now the Men wear their cloaths altogether after the English fashion having converted their Mantles into Cloaks with which kind of wear they are much affected Formerly they used no Hats but Caps made of Irish Frize called Cappeenes and even now the middle sort of Gentry seldome wear Bands unless they go abroad amongst Strangers The Common sort of People both Men and Women wear no English Shoos but things called Irish Brogues thin soled somewhat like our Poumps and sowed altogether with Leather The ordinary sort ef Irish Women wear a kind of loose Gowns without stiffening with Petticoats and Wascoats without any Bodys having linnen Kerchers about their heads instead of head-cloaths and never using hats but covering their heads with their Mantles to save themselves from rain or the heat of the Sun The Irish Gentry are musically disposed Recreations therefore many of them play singular well upon the Irish-Harp they affect also to play at Tables The Common sort meet oftentimes in great numbers in plain Meadows or Ground to recreate themselves at a play called Bandy with Balls and crooked Sticks much after the manner of our play at Stoe-ball they are much given to Dancing after their Countrey way and the men to play upon the Jews-Harp and at Cards but for no great value The Irish Names Irish Names of Baptism are generally Teig Patrick Turlough Murrogh Mortoch Donoch Loughlin Dermot c. with many other Names made use of there as well as here in England as namely John Edmund Edward Thomas William James c. Sirnames For the better breaking of the Heads and Septs of the Irish which was one of their greatest strength and motive to lead them to Rebellion there was a law made in Ireland in the Reign of King Edward the Fourth by which it was commanded that whereas all men then used to be called by the name of their Septs according to the several Nations and had no Sirnames at all that from thenceforth each one should take upon himself a several Sirname either of his trade and faculty or of some quality of his body or mind or the place where he dwelt so as every one should be distinguished from the other or from the most part whereby they should not only not depend upon the head of their Sept as then they did but also in time learn quite to forget the Irish Nation And herewithall would I also wish all the O's and Mac's which the Heads of Septs have taken to their names to be utterly forbidden and extinguished For that the same being an Ordinance as some say first made by O Brien for for the strengthning of the Irish the abrogating thereof will as much infeeble them The custome of prefixing the vowel O to many of the chief Irish Sirnames began in the Reign of Brien Boria the son of Kennethy King of Ireland As for Mac in Sirnames it beareth no other signification then Fitz doth amongst the French and from them the English and Ap with the Welch And although it were more anciently used then the other yet it varied according to the Fathers Name and became not so soon fully settled in families CHAP. III. Of the Government THe Government Government of Ireland by Vice-Roys or Deputies were from the first entrance of the English under Henry the Second till King Edward the Third's days called Justicers of Ireland and Justicers and Keepers of the Land of Ireland then Lieutenants and their Vicegerent Deputies The Vice-Roys or Deputies of Ireland diversly named at sundry times Afterward they were at the Prince his pleasure tearmed somtimes Deputies somtimes Justicers and sometimes Lieutenants which is a
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
ere long afford yearly some competent supply of money towards the filling of the English Exchequer by way of retaliation in lieu of those many and great Summs sent at several times out of England for the support of this so long unhappy Kingdom The premisses being therefore seriously and duly considered I think I may safely conclude that that Eternal Peace of Ireland so solidly discoursed of and stoutly fought for in Q. Elizabeths time And very far proceeded in by K. James Is now absolutely established as I said according to all humane appearance by his gracious Majesty our dread Sovereign K. Charles the Second who long may he live in all earthly happiness so that I suppose it may be now more truly said then ever that Ireland which formerly served but as a Grave to bury our best men and a Gulf to swallow our greatest Treasures is brought by the prudence and policy of her late Kings and Lord Deputies to be an Orderly Common-Wealth civil in it self and in time like to prove profitable to the Prince and at all times a good additional strength to the Brittish Empire PART II. CHAP. I. Of Its Name Climate Dimensions Division Aire Soil Commodities Money and Buildings Name Climate IReland was once called Scotia from the Scots who inhabited there and Scotia major to distinguish it from Scotland in the Isle of Britain But the general Name hereof is Ireland by the Latins called Hibernia by the Greeeks Iernia And though some frame a wrested Etymology from Iberus a Spanish Captain and some from Irnaulph once a supposed Duke hereof as others ab Hyberno aâre the winter-like and inclement air Yet probably the Name proceeded from Erin which signifieth in their own language a Western Land And yet we must not pretermit the Etymon given us by Bochartus more neer the name than most of his other Fancies who will have it called Hibernia from Ibernae a Phaenician word signifying the farthest Habitation there being no Country known amongst the Antients which lay West of Ireland and is seated under the eighth and tenth Climates the longest day being 16 hours and a half in the Southern and 17 hours 3 quarters in the Northern parts It is in length 300. and in breadth Dimension 120. Miles in shape some have formed it like an Egge and others compared it to the Fore-leg of a Boar if the simile breed no offence contains by computation about fifteen millions of Acres it is about halfe as big as England and Wales and much about the same bigness as Scotland including the Islands thereunto belonging Division It was divided antiently into five Provinces each one a Kingdom in it self that is to say 1. Leinster 2. Meath 3. Vlster 4. Connaght and 5. Mounster but of late time the Province of Meath is reckoned for a member or part of Leinster within these four Provinces according to the latest Division are conteined 2328. Parishes Leinster This Province the Natives call Leighingh the Britains Lein in Latine Lagenia in the antient lives of the Saints Lagen and in English Leinster It lyeth Eastward along the Hibernicum Sea on Connaght side Westward it is bounded with the River Shanon the North with the Territory of Louth and the South with part of the Province of Mâ—â—nster The Country butteth upon England as Mounster and Connaght do on Spain The Form Form thereof is Triangle and sides not much unequal from her South-East unto the West point about 80 miles from thence to her North-west about 70 miles and her East coast along the Irish Sea-shore eighty miles the Circumference upon two hundred and seventy miles The Aire Aire is clear and gentle mixt with a temperate disposition yeilding neither extremity of Heat or Cold according to the seasonable times of the Year and the natural condition of the Continent The Soil is generally Fruitful Plentiful both in Fish and Flesh and in other Victuals as Butter Cheese and Milk It is Fertile in Corn Cattle and Pasture ground and now in a much better way of improving than formerly in regard the English do generally affect to inhabite in this Province more than in any other part of Ireland by reason of its neerer Neighbourhood to the Metropolitan City of Dublin and bordering so neer upon England doth thereby consequently afford them both more pleasure and profit It is well watered with Rivers and indifferently well Wooded except the County of Develin which complains much of that want being so destitute of Wood that they are compelled to use a clammy kind of fat Turff for their Fuel or Sea-coal brought out of England The Commodities Commodities of this Country do chiefly consist in Cattle Sea-Fowl and Fish It breeds many excellent good Horses called Irish Hobbies which have not the same pace that other Horses have in their course but a soft and round amble setting very easily Division This Province containeth the Counties of Kilkenny Caterlogh Queens County Kings County Kildare East-Meath West-Meath Weshford Wicklo and Dublin In which are comprehended 926. Parishes whereof 47. Towns of Note and 102. Castles well fortified and able to make good resistance against an Enemy The English being forced to fortifie themselves in their Plantations with strong holds and fortresses against the incursious of the Natives Mounster This Province is called in Irish Mawn in a more ordinary construction of Speech Wown in Latin Momonia and in English Mounster lyeth open Southward to the Virginean Sea Northward it fronteth part of Connaght The East is Neighboured by Leinster And the West is altogether washed with the Ocean Westward The Form Form thereof is quadrant or four-square and in length extended from Ballattimore Bay in her South unto the Bay of Galoway in her North is about 90. miles Her broadest part from East to West is from Waterford Haven to Feriter Haven and containeth an hundred miles The whole Circumference by following the Promontories and Inlets are above four hundred and forty miles The Aire Aire mild and temperate neither too chilling Cold not tâ—o schorching Hot. The Soil in some parts Hilly looking a loft with Wooddy Wild and Solitary Mountains Yet the Vallies below are garnished with Corn-fields And generally all both pleasant for Sight and fertile for Soil The general Commodities Commodities of this Province are Corn Cattel Wood Wool and Fish The last whereof it affords in every place plenty and abundance of all sorts But none so well known for the Store of Herrings that are taken there as is the Promontory called Eraugh that lies between Bautre and Ballatimore Bay Whereunto every year a great Fleet of Spaniards and Portugals resort even in the midst of Winter to Fish also for Cods Division It was in times past divided into many parts as Towoun that is North Mounster whereof Twomond al-Thomond or County of Clare was accounted part of it Deswoun that is South Mounster Hierwoun that is